Note 296 — A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY (continued 2)

Richard Bentley, only son of Dr. Bentley, the Master of Trinity. He designed beautiful illustrations for Walpole’s edition-de-luxe of six of Gray’s poems, including the Elegy, and gave much assistance in the architectural treatment of Strawberry Hill. Walpole was under no delusion about their joint experiments in Gothic. “Neither Mr. Bentley nor my workmen had studied the science,” he wrote to Thomas Barrett (June 5, 1788); “my house therefore is but a sketch for beginners.”