Steve

It seems our posts crossed. Thanks for continuing the discussion on Lord Lovel. That sort of confirms what I had gleaned; interesting that it was regarded by some as a burlesque/parody. Maybe this was precisely because of the somewhat gothic nature of the story (Walpole in particular being bonkers about the gothic), the romantic rose ending, plus the bits of what I have called 'cliche' (would kids today call it a 'trope'?) including the 'milk white horse'? What do you think?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Hill_House