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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10590-0.txt b/10590-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..759d37c --- /dev/null +++ b/10590-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10351 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10590 *** + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU + +Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) + + +By + + +LEWIS MELVILLE + + +_WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY AUBREY HAMMOND, AND SIXTEEN OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + + +To +EDITH AND JOHN CABOURN + + + + +PREFACE + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu has her niche in the history of medicine as +having introduced inoculation from the Near East into England; but her +principal fame is as a letter-writer. + +Of her gifts as a correspondent she was proud, and with reason. It was +in all sincerity that in June, 1726, she wrote to her sister, Lady Mar: +"The last pleasures that fell in my way was Madame Sévigné's letters: +very pretty they are, but I assert, without the least vanity, that mine +will be full as entertaining forty years hence. I advise you, therefore, +to put none of them to the use of waste paper." And again, later in the +year, she said half-humorously to the same correspondent: "I writ to you +some time ago a long letter, which I perceive never came to your hands: +very provoking; it was certainly a _chef d'oeuvre_ of a letter, and +worthy any of the Sévigné's or Grignan's, crammed with news." That Lady +Mary's belief in herself was well founded no one has disputed. Even +Horace Walpole, who detested her and made attacks on her whenever +possible, said that "in most of her letters the wit and style are +superior to any letters I have ever read but Madame de Sévigné's." A +very pleasant tribute from one who had a goodly conceit of himself as a +letter-writer. + +Walpole, as a correspondent, was perhaps more sarcastic and more witty; +Cowper undoubtedly more tender and more gentle; but Lady Mary had +qualities all her own. She had powers of observation and the gift of +description, which qualities are especially to be remarked in the +letters she wrote when abroad with her husband on his Mission to the +Porte. She had an ironic wit which gave point to the many society +scandals she narrated, a happy knack of gossip, and a style so easy as +to make reading a pleasure. + +Some of the incidents which Lady Mary retails with so much humour may be +accepted as not outraging the conventions of the early eighteenth +century when it was customary to call a spade a spade; when gallantry +was gallantry indeed, and the pursuit of it openly conducted. What is +not mentioned by those who have written about her is that she was +possessed of a particularly unsavoury strain of impropriety which +outraged even the canons of her age. Some twenty years after her death, +it was mentioned in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ that Dr. Young, the +author of _Night Thoughts_, had a little before his death destroyed a +great number of her letters, assigning as a reason of his doing so that +they were too indecent for public inspection. Only the other day I had +confirmation of this from a distinguished man of letters who wrote to +me: "I have somewhere hidden away a copy of a letter by Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu, which was sent to me by a well-known collector about +thirty-five years ago, because he couldn't destroy it and wouldn't for +worlds be found dead with it in his possession--so terrific is it in +character. I'll tell you about it some day when we meet: I can't write +it. In any case you couldn't use it or even refer to it.... I suppose +that my friend quite felt that the document, however objectionable, +should not, on literary grounds, be destroyed. What my executors will +think of me for having it in my possession, the Devil only knows." + +Whether this strain permeated the diary which Lady Mary left behind her +when she eloped in 1712, and which was destroyed by one of her sisters, +no one can say; but it is a curious fact that the diary she kept in +later years was destroyed by her devoted daughter, Lady Bute. "Though +Lady Bute always spoke of Lady Mary with great respect," wrote Lady +Louisa Stuart, "yet it might be perceived that she knew it had been too +much her custom to note down and enlarge upon all the scandalous rumours +of the day, without weighing their truth or even their probability; to +record as certain facts stories that perhaps sprang up like mushrooms +from the dirt, and had as brief an existence, but tended to defame +persons of the most spotless character. In this age, she said everything +got into print sooner or later; the name of Lady Mary Wortley would be +sure to attract curiosity; and were such details ever made public, they +would neither edify the world, nor do honour to her memory." + +Lady Bute heard that her mother's letters were in existence, and, +fearful of what they might contain, purchased them. "It is known that +when on her way to die, as it proved, in her own country, Lady Mary gave +a copy of the letters to Mr. Snowden, minister of the English church at +Rotterdam, attesting the gift by her signature," Lady Louisa Stuart has +written. "This showed it was her wish that they should eventually be +published; but Lady Bute, hearing only that a number of her mother's +letters were in a stranger's hands, and having no certainty what they +might be, to whom addressed, or how little of a private matter, could +not but earnestly desire to obtain them, and readily paid the price +demanded--five hundred pounds. In a few months she saw them appear in +print. Such was the fact, and how it came about nobody at this time of +day need either care or inquire." + +With regard to other correspondence of Lady Mary, Sir Robert Walpole +returned to her the letters she had written to his second wife, Molly +Skerritt, after the death of that lady; and when Lord Hervey died, his +eldest son sealed up and sent her her letters, with an assurance that he +had read none of them. To Lord Hervey's heir, Lady Louisa Stuart has +mentioned, Lady Mary wrote a letter of thanks for his honourable +conduct, adding that she could almost regret he had not glanced his eye +over a correspondence which would have shown him what so young a man +might perhaps be inclined to doubt--the possibility of a long and steady +friendship subsisting between two persons of different sexes without the +least mixture of love. Much pleased with this letter, he preserved it; +and, when Lady Mary came to England, showed it to Lady Bute desiring +she would ask leave for him to visit her mother. + +It is to be presumed that Lady Mary, or her daughter, Lady Bute, +destroyed these collections. For her part, Lady Mary returned letters +that she had received from Lord Hervey, but only those that belonged to +the last fourteen years of an acquaintance that had endured twice so +long. These are for the greater number platonic in character, although +there are a few phrases of a freer kind. Croker, who edited Lord +Hervey's _Memoirs_, mentions that Hervey, answering one of her letters +in 1737, in which she had complained that she was too old to inspire +passion, after paying a compliment to her charms more gallant than +decorous, said: "I should think anybody a great fool that said he liked +spring better than summer merely because it is further from autumn, or +that they loved green fruit better than ripe only because it was further +from being rotten. I ever did, and believe ever shall, like women best-- + + "Just in the noon of life--those golden days, + When the mind ripens as the form decays." + +Lady Mary was then in her forty-ninth year, being six years Hervey's +senior. + +Lady Louisa Stuart, writing in 1837--that is, seventy-five years after +the death of her grandmother, Lady Mary--wrote indignantly of the +attacks that had been made upon her ancestress. "The multitude of +stories circulated about her--as about all people who were objects of +note in their day--increase, instead of lessening, the difficulty," she +said. "Some of these may be confidently pronounced inventions, simple +and purely false; some, if true, concerned a different person; some were +grounded upon egregious blunders; and not a few upon jests, mistaken by +the dull and literal for earnest. Others, again, where a little truth +and a great deal of falsehood were probably intermingled, nobody now +living can pretend to confirm, or contradict, or unravel. Nothing is so +readily believed, yet nothing is usually so unworthy of credit, as tales +learned from report, or caught up in casual conversation. A circumstance +carelessly told, carelessly listened to, half comprehended, and +imperfectly remembered, has a poor chance of being repeated accurately +by the first hearer; but when, after passing through the moulding of +countless hands, it comes, with time, place, and person, gloriously +confounded, into those of a bookmaker ignorant of all its bearings, it +will be lucky indeed if any trace of the original groundwork remains +distinguishable." + +Lady Mary's most redoubtable assailants were Pope and Horace Walpole, +and both were biassed. The story of Pope's quarrel with her is told in +the following pages. Walpole, it has been suggested, disliked her much +because she had championed his father's mistress, Molly Skerritt, +against the mother to whom he was devoted. Pope, of course, knew her +well; but Walpole, who was twenty-eight years her junior, only met her +in her late middle age. Walpole's prejudice was so great what when Lady +Mary said, "People wish their enemies dead--but I do not. I say, give +them the gout, give them the stone," he reported it solemnly. + +Of course, it is not to be assumed that Lady Mary had not her full share +of malice--she was undoubtedly well equipped with that useful +quality--and she did not turn the other cheek when she was assailed. She +could even stand up to the vitriolic Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and +stand up so effectively that they tacitly agreed to an armed neutrality +that verged perilously upon friendship. The young Duke of Wharton +sometimes beat her in open fight, but she harboured no very angry +feelings towards him. As regards Pope, if it was not tit-for-tat with +him, at least she gave him hard knocks. Pope, great poet as he was, +never played fair in war. + +"Lady Mary, quite contrary," she might have been dubbed, for she was +frequently in trouble. The Rémond scandal, that will presently be +unfolded, was a thing apart; but her witty tongue made her many enemies +and cost her many friends. Had the contents of her letters about London +society become known at the time, nearly every man's and all women's +hands would have been against her. She had, in fact, little that was +kind to say about people; when she had, she usually refrained from +mentioning it. + +In this work Lady Mary's letters, either whole or in part, are given +only in so far as they have biographical or historical value. At the +same time I have, wherever possible, allowed Lady Mary to tell her +story, or to give her impressions, in her own words. The quotations have +been taken, by kind permission of Messrs. J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., from +the edition of the letters in their "Everyman Library" (edited by Mr. +Ernest Rhys), with an introduction by Mr. R. Brimley Johnson. + +The first edition of the letters appeared in three volumes in 1763, +believed to have been edited by John Cleland. A fourth volume, issued in +1763, is regarded by Sir Leslie Stephen as of doubtful authenticity. +James Dallaway, in 1803, brought out an enlarged collection and added to +it the poems, and a second edition, with some new letters, appeared +fourteen years later. Lady Mary's great-grandson, Lord Wharncliffe, +edited the correspondence in 1837, and this, revised by Mr. Moy Thomas, +was reprinted in 1861 and again in 1887. + +There have been published selections from the correspondence by Mr. A.R. +Ropes (1892) and by Mr. Hannaford Bennett (1923). + +The principal authorities for the life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu are +the Memoirs of James Dallaway prefixed to an edition of the _Works_ +(1803) and the _Introductory Anecdotes_ in a new edition (1837) by Lady +Louisa Stuart, the daughter of Lady Bute and the granddaughter of Lady +Mary. There is another account of Lady Mary by the late Moy Thomas in +revised editions of the letters and writings (1861 and 1887). Sir Leslie +Stephen was responsible for the memoir in the _Dictionary of National +Biography_. In 1907 appeared _Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her Times_, +by that sound authority on the eighteenth century, "George Paston," who +was so fortunate as to discover many scores of letters hitherto +unpublished. + +Other sources of information are to be found in Pope's Correspondence, +Spence's _Anecdotes_, Dilke's _Papers of a Critic,_ Cobbetts _Memorials +of Twickenham_, the Stuart MSS. at Windsor Castle, the MSS. of the Duke +of Beaufort, and the Lindsay MSS. + +My thanks--though not, perhaps, the thanks of my readers--are especially +due to that ripe scholar Mr. Hannaford Bennett, who suggested this work +to me. I am indebted to Mr. M.H. Spielmann and other friends and +correspondents for information and suggestions. Finally, I must +acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mrs. E. Constance Monfrino in the +preparation of this biography. + +LEWIS MELVILLE. + +_London, +March, 1925_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD (1689-1703) + +Birth of Mary Pierrepont, after Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Account of +the Pierrepont family--Lady Mary's immediate ancestors--Her father, +Evelyn Pierrepont, succeeds to the Earldom of Kingston in 1790--The +extinct marquisate of Dorchester revived in his favour--His +marriage--Issue of the marriage--Death of his wife--Lady Mary stays with +her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont--Her early taste for +reading--She learns Latin, and, presently, Italian--Encouraged in her +literary ambitions by her uncle, William Feilding, and Bishop +Burnet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of +Epictetus--An attractive child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as +hostess to her father + + +CHAPTER II + +GIRLHOOD (1703-1710) + +Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu +attracted by her looks and her literary gifts. Assists her in her +studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the +day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume +of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him by Steele--Montagu a staunch Whig--His +paternal interest for Lady Mary does not endure--He becomes a suitor for +her hand--Lady Mary's devotion and respect for him--Her flirtations--She +and Montagu correspond through the medium of his sister, Anne--Lady +Mary's mordant humour--Her delight in retailing society scandal--The +death of Anne Wortley--Lady Mary and Montagu henceforth communicate +direct--Her first letter to him + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTSHIP, ELOPEMENT, AND MARRIAGE (1710-1712) + +A lengthy courtship--Montagu a laggard lover--Lady Mary and Montagu +exchange views on married life--Montagu proposes for her to Lord +Dorchester--Dorchester refuses, since Montagu will not make +settlements--Montagu's views on settlements expressed (by Steele) in the +_Tatler_--Although not engaged, the young people continue to +correspond--Lord Dorchester produces another suitor of his daughter--She +consents to an engagement--The preparations for the wedding--She +confides the whole story to Montagu--She breaks off the engagement--She +and Montagu decide to elope--She runs up to London--Marriage--Lady +Mary's diary destroyed by her sister, Lady Frances Pierrepont + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY MARRIED LIFE (1712-1714) + +An uneventful existence--Montagu's Parliamentary duties take him to +London--Lady Mary stays mostly in the country--Correspondence--Montagu a +careless husband, but very careful of his money--Later he becomes a +miser--Lady Mary does not disguise the tedium of her existence-- +Concerning a possible reconciliation with her father--Lord +Pierrepont of Hanslope--Lord Halifax--Birth of a son, christened after +his father, Edward Wortley Montagu--The mother's anxiety about his +health--Family events--Lady Evelyn Pierrepont marries Baron (afterwards +Earl) Gower--Lady Frances Pierrepont marries the Earl of Mar--Lord +Dorchester marries again--Has issue, two daughters--The death of Lady +Mary's brother, William. His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the +Dukedom of Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in +1714--The death of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in +the country--Lady Mary's alarm for her son + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I (1714) + +Lady Mary shows an increasing interest in politics--She tries to incite +her husband to be ambitious--Montagu not returned to the new +Parliament--His lack of energy--Correspondence--The Council of +Regency--The King commands Lord Townshend to form a Government--The +Cabinet--Lord Halifax, First Lord of the Treasury--Montagu appointed a +Lord Commissioner of the Treasury--Correspondence--The unsatisfactory +relations between Lady Mary and Montagu + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU'S ACCOUNT OF THE COURT OF GEORGE I + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716) + +The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British +throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her +first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing +incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England +generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal +Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady +Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's +passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters-- +Count de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary +and the Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets +and wits of the day--Gray's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on +her--"Court Poems" + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE (1716-1718)--I + +Montagu loses his place at the Treasury--His antagonism against +Walpole--Lady Mary, "Dolly" Walpole, and Molly Skerritt--The Earl and +Countess of Mar leave England--Montagu appointed Ambassador to the +Porte--Leaves England for Constantinople, accompanied by his wife-- +Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople--Rotterdam--Vienna--Lady +Mary at Court--Her gown--Her interest in clothes--Viennese society-- +Gallantry--Lady Mary's experience--Court Tarrocco--Precedence at +Vienna--A nunnery--The Montagus visit the German Courts--A dangerous +drive--Prince Frederick (afterwards Prince of Wales)--Herrenhausen + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTS (1716-1718)--II + +Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her +description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes +acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her +belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr. +Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady +Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu +recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a +daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her +sister, Lady Mar + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCANDAL + +Montagu re-enters the House of Commons--His miserliness--Pope refers to +it--Comments on Society--Lady Mary and a first-class scandal--Rémond-- +His admiration for her--Her imprudent letters to him--The South Sea +Bubble--Lady Mary speculates for Remond--She loses money for him--He +demands to be re-imbursed--He threatens to publish her letters--She +states the case in letters to Lady Mar--Lady Mary meets Pope--His letters +to her when she was abroad--He affects to be in love with her--Her +matter-of-fact replies--Her parody of his verses, "On John Hughes and +Sarah Drew" + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT TWICKENHAM + +The Montagus take a house at Twickenham--Lady Mary's liking for country +life--Neighbours and visitors--Pope--Bononcini, Anastasia Robinson, +Senesino--Lord Peterborough--Sir Geoffrey Kneller--Henrietta +Howard--Lord Bathurst--The Duke of Wharton--His early history--He comes +to Twickenham--His relations with Lady Mary--Horace Walpole's reference +to them--Pope's bitter onsaught on the Duke--An Epilogue by Lady +Mary--"On the Death of Mrs. Bowes"--The Duke quarrels with Lady Mary + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FAMOUS QUARREL + +Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other +admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on +her thereafter--Writer of her as "Sappho"--Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to +protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mar's malicious tongue +and pen--Mrs. Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"--Lady Mary, Lord +Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady +Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE CONTINENT (1739-1744) + +Lady Mary leaves England--She does not return for twenty years Montagu +supposed to join her--The domestic relations of the Montagus--A +septennial act for marriage--Lady Mary corresponds with her +husband--Dijon--Turin--Venice--Bologna--Florence--The Monastery of La +Trappe--Horace Walpole at Florence--His comments on Lady Mary and her +friends--Reasons for his dislike of her--Rome--The Young Pretender and +Henry, Cardinal York--Wanderings--Cheapness of life in Italy--Lady +Mary's son, Edward--He is a great trouble to his parents--His absurd +marriage--His extravagance and folly--Account of his early years--He +visits Lady Mary at Valence--Her account of the interviews + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LADY MARY AS A READER + +Her fondness for reading--Her difficulty to get enough books while +abroad--Lady Bute keeps her supplied--Lady Mary's catholic taste in +literature--Samuel Richardson--The vogue of _Clarissa Harlowe_--Lady Mary +tells a story of the Richardson type--Henry Fielding--_Joseph +Andrews--Tom Jones--_Her high opinion of Fielding and Steele--Tobias +Smollett--_Peregrins Pickle_--Lady Vare's _Memoirs of a Lady of +Quality_--Sarah Fielding--Minor writers--Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +Swift_--Bolingbroke's works--Addison and Pope--Dr. Johnson + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADY MARY ON EDUCATION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS + +The choice of books for children's reading--The dangers of a narrow +education--Lady Mary advocates the higher education of women--Girls +should be taught languages--Lady Mary's theories of education for +girls--Women writers in Italy--A "rumpus" made by ladies in the House of +Lords--Woman's Rights--Lady Mary's views on religion + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON THE CONTINENT (1745-1760) + +Lady Mary stays at Avignon--She removes to Brescia--And then to +Lovere--She abandons all idea of Montagu joining her abroad--Her house +at Lovere--Her daily round--Her health--Her anxiety about her son--An +amazing incident--A serious illness--A novel in a letter--Her +correspondence attracts the attention of the Italian authorities--Sir +James and Lady Frances Steuart--Politics--She is in the bad books of the +British Resident at Venice--Lord Bute--The philosophy of Lady +Mary--Letters to Lady Bute and Sir James Steuart + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAST YEARS (1760-1762) + +Lady Mary writes the history of her own times--Her health--Death of +Edward Wortley Montagu--His will--Lady Mary ponders the idea of +returning to England--She leaves Italy--She is held up at Rotterdam--She +reaches London--Horace Walpole visits her--Her last illness--Her +fortitude--Her death--She leaves one guinea to her son + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (age 8) at the Kit-Cat Club--_Frontispiece_ + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Lady Mary Pierrepont + +Evelyn Pierrepont, first Duke of Kingston + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1720 + +Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Frances, Countess of Mar + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Alexander Pope + +Joseph Addison + +Henrietta Louisa, Countess of Pomfret + +Horace Walpole + +John, Lord Hervey of Ickworth + +Mary, Countess of Bute + +Edward Wortley Montagu, Junior + + + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: + +Her Life and Letters + +(1689-1762) + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD (1689-1703) + +Birth of Mary Pierrepont, after Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Account of +the Pierrepont family--Lady Mary's immediate ancestors--Her father, +Evelyn Pierrepont, succeeds to the Earldom of Kingston in 1690--The +extinct marquisate of Dorchester revived in his favour--His +marriage--Issue of the marriage--Death of his wife--Lady Mary stays with +her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont--Her early taste for +reading--She learns Latin, and, presently, Italian--Encouraged in her +literary ambitions by her uncle, William Feilding, and Bishop +Bumet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of +Epictetus--An attractve child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as +hostess to her father. + + +Mary Pierrepont, afterwards Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, was born in May, +1689, and was baptised on the twenty-sixth day of that month at St. +Paul's, Covent Garden. In the register is the entry: "Mary, daughter of +Evelyn Pierrepoint, Esquire, and Lady Mary, his wife." + +The event, it may be remarked, was not one of any considerable social +interest, for the Hon. Evelyn Pierrepont was merely a younger son and +remote from the succession to the Earldom of Kingston. + +The Pierreponts of Holme Pierrepont were a Nottinghamshire family of +considerable antiquity, though of no particular distinction. One Robert +Pierrepont, who was born in 1584, the son of Sir Henry by Frances, +sister of William, first Earl of Devonshire, was the first of the family +upon whom a peerage was bestowed. He was created in 1627 Baron +Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont and Viscount Newark, and in the following +year was elevated to the dignity of Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, Co. +York. A zealous royalist, he was in 1643 appointed Lieutenant-General of +the King's forces in the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon, +Cambridge, and Norfolk, and soon after taking up this command was +accidentally shot near Gainsborough, when being carried off in a pinnace +as a prisoner to Hull by the Parliamentary Army. He married in 1601 +Gertrude, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir William Reyner, of Orton +Longueville, Co. Huntingdon. She survived her husband six years. + +The second Earl was Henry Pierrepont, who was born in 1607. From 1628, +when his father was given the earldom, he was known under the style of +Viscount Newark. In that year he was elected Member of Parliament for +Nottingham, and he represented that constituency until 1641, when he was +summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony as Lord +Pierrepont. He, too, was an ardent supporter of the King, and was a +member of His Majesty's Council of War at Oxford. He was created +Marquess of Dorchester in 1645. After the Restoration he was in high +favour at Whitehall. He was Commissioner of Claims at the Coronation of +Charles II, and in 1662 and again in 1673 he acted as Joint Commissioner +of the office of Earl Marshal. He was twice married, but had no direct +heirs, and on his death in 1680 the marquessate became extinct. + +The earldom passed to the family of the younger brother of the last +holder. This was the great grandfather of Lady Mary, William Pierrepont, +who deservedly earned the title of "Wise William." He sided with the +Parliament, and during the Long Parliament, in the proceedings of which +he took an active part, he sat for Great Wenlock. He was one of the +Commissioners selected to treat with Charles in 1642, and after the +failure to open negotiations he was anxious to retire from public +affairs. However, he was persuaded not to resign, and in 1644 was +appointed one of the Committee of both Kingdoms. He became a leader of +the independent party, and did not always see eye to eye with Cromwell. +He quarrelled with his party, disapproving of its attitude towards +Purge's Pride and the trial of the King. After this he took little part +in politics, though the Protector sought, and he gave on occasions, his +advice. In February, 1660, he was elected to the new Council of State at +the head of the list, and in the Convention Parliament represented +Nottingham. In the negotiations with Charles II he was a moderating +influence. Afterwards, he retired into private life. He died in 1678 or +1679. His eldest son, Robert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir +John Evelyn, pre-deceased his father, dying in 1666, and the earldom +passed to his eldest son, Robert, who died unmarried in 1682. The title +then went to his next brother, William, who died without issue eight +years later. + +A younger brother of Robert and William, Evelyn Pierrepont, now +succeeded as (fifth) earl. He was the father of Lady Mary. Born in 1665, +he was returned to Parliament for East Retford in 1689, but his stay in +the House of Commons was brief, for in the following year the peerage +descended to him. In December, 1706, the higher dignity that had once +been in his family was revived in his favour, and he was created Earl of +Dorchester, with a special remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to +his uncle Gervase Pierrepont, who had himself been raised to the peerage +as Lord Pierrepont of Ardglass in Ireland and later was given the +dignity of Lord Pierrepont of Hanslope in Buckinghamshire. Lord +Pierrepont died in 1715, and both his titles became extinct. + +The Marquess married Mary, daughter of William Feilding, third Earl of +Denbigh, by his first wife, Mary, sister of John, first Baron of +Kingston, in the peerage of Ireland. Lady Mary was, therefore, a +relation of the novelist, Henry Fielding, whose surname was spelt +differently because, he explained, his branch of the family was the only +one that could spell correctly. + +Of this marriage, there was issue: + +(i.) William, who took the style of Viscount Newark until 1706, and then +was known as Earl of Kingston until his death in 1713, at the age of +twenty-one. He had married before 1711 Rachel, daughter of Thomas +Baynton, of Little Charfield, Wilts, who outlived her husband eight +years. There was a son, Evelyn, who succeeded to the peerage. + +(ii.) Lady Mary, the subject of this memoir. + +(iii.) Lady Frances, who in 1714 became the second wife of John Erskine, +sixth or eleventh Earl of Mar; and + +(iv.) Lady Evelyn, who married John, second Baron, and afterwards first +Earl Gower, and died in June, 1727. + +In the winter of 1697, when Lady Mary was eight years old, her mother +died. After this, the little girl was allowed to run rather wild. Lord +Kingston was very much a man about town and a gallant, and was too +greatly occupied with his affairs and his parliamentary duties, which +took him often from home, to concern himself about her education. In +fact, before her mother's death, it would seem that Lady Mary spent +months at her grandmother's, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont, at her house at +West Dean. When she was in her ninth year she returned to Holme +Pierrepont, where, as she later complained, she was left "to the care of +an old governess, who, though perfectly good and pious, wanted +capacity." + +Lady Mary early had a taste for books, and enjoyed to the full the +library, where she no doubt read much that was good for her, and a good +deal that was not. She read everything that she could lay her hands on, +the old romances, poetry, and plays. One account has it that she was +taught Greek and Latin by her brother's tutor; but Sir Leslie Stephen +was doubtful about the Greek and inclined to the belief that she taught +herself Latin. Later, certainly, she taught herself Italian, and quoted +Tasso in her letters. In her studies she was encouraged by her uncle, +William Feilding, and also by Bishop Burnet, of whom she said many +years later: "I knew him in my very early youth, and his condescension +in directing a girl in her studies is an obligation I can never forget." +She had literary aspirations, and just after her twenty-first birthday +she submitted to Burnet, with the following letter, a translation of +"Encheiridion" of Epictetus from the Latin version. This will be found +in the collected works. + + +"July 20, 1710. + +"My Lord, + +"Your hours are so well employed, I hardly dare offer you this trifle to +look over; but then, so well am I acquainted with the sweetness of +temper which accompanies your learning, I dare ever assure myself of a +pardon. You have already forgiven me greater impertinencies, and +condescended yet further in giving me instructions and bestowing some of +your minutes in teaching me. This surprising humility has all the effect +it ought to have on my heart; I am sensible of the gratitude I owe to so +much goodness, and how much I am ever bound to be your servant. Here is +the work of one week of my solitude--by the many faults in it your +lordship will easily believe I spent no more time upon it; it was hardly +finished when I was obliged to begin my journey, and I had not leisure +to write it over again. You have it here without any corrections, with +all its blots and errors: I endeavoured at no beauty of style, but to +keep as literally as I could to the sense of the author. My only +intention in presenting it, is to ask your lordship whether I have +understood Epictetus? The fourth chapter, particularly, I am afraid I +have mistaken. Piety and greatness of soul set you above all misfortunes +that can happen to yourself, and the calumnies of false tongues; but +that same piety which renders what happens to yourself indifferent to +you, yet softens the natural compassion in your temper to the greatest +degree of tenderness for the interests of the Church, and the liberty +and welfare of your country: the steps that are now made towards the +destruction of both, the apparent danger we are in, the manifest growth +of injustice, oppression, and hypocrisy, cannot do otherwise than give +your lordship those hours of sorrow, which, did not your fortitude of +soul, and reflections from religion and philosophy, shorten, would add +to the national misfortunes, by injuring the health of so great a +supporter of our sinking liberties. I ought to ask pardon for this +digression; it is more proper for me in this place to say something to +excuse an address that looks so very presuming. My sex is usually forbid +studies of this nature, and folly reckoned so much our proper sphere, we +are sooner pardoned any excesses of that, than the least pretensions to +reading or good sense. We are permitted no books but such as tend to the +weakening and effeminating of the mind. Our natural defects are every +way indulged, and it is looked upon as in a degree criminal to improve +our reason, or fancy we have any. We are taught to place all our art in +adorning our outward forms, and permitted, without reproach, to carry +that custom even to extravagancy, while our minds are entirely +neglected, and, by disuse of reflections, filled with nothing but the +trifling objects our eyes are daily entertained with. This custom, so +long established and industriously upheld, makes it even ridiculous to +go out of the common road, and forces one to find as many excuses, as if +it were a thing altogether criminal not to play the fool in concert with +other women of quality, whose birth and leisure only serve to render +them the most useless and most worthless part of the creation. There is +hardly a character in the world more despicable, or more liable to +universal ridicule, than that of a learned woman; those words imply, +according to the received sense, a talking, impertinent, vain, and +conceited creature. I believe nobody will deny that learning may have +this effect, but it must be a very superficial degree of it. Erasmus was +certainly a man of great learning, and good sense, and he seems to have +my opinion of it, when he says _Foemina qui_ [sic] _vere sapit, non +videtur sibi sapere; contra, quae cum nihil sapiat sibi videtur sapere, +ea demum bis stulta est_. The Abbé Bellegarde gives a right reason for +women's talking overmuch: they know nothing, and every outward object +strikes their imagination, and produces a multitude of thoughts, which, +if they knew more, they would know not worth their thinking of. I am not +now arguing for an equality of the two sexes. I do not doubt God and +nature have thrown us into an inferior rank, we are a lower part of the +creation, we owe obedience and submission to the superior sex, and any +woman who suffers her vanity and folly to deny this, rebels against the +law of the Creator, and indisputable order of nature; but there is a +worse effect than this, which follows the careless education given to +women of quality, its being so easy for any man of sense, that finds it +either his interest or his pleasure, to corrupt them. The common method +is, to begin by attacking their religion: they bring them a thousand +fallacious arguments, which their excessive ignorance hinders them from +refuting: and I speak now from my own knowledge and conversation among +them, there are more atheists among the fine ladies than the loosest +sort of rakes; and the same ignorance that generally works out into +excess of superstition, exposes them to the snares of any who have a +fancy to carry them to t'other extreme. I have made my excuses already +too long, and will conclude in the words of Erasmus:--_Vulgus sentit +quod lingua Latina, non convenit foeminis, quia parum facit ad tuendam +illarum pundicitiam, quoniam rarum et insolitum est foeminam scire +Latinam; attamen consuetudo omnium malarum rerum magistra. Decorum est +foeminam in Germania nata_ [sic] _discere Gallice, ut loquatur_ _cum his +qui sciunt Gallice; cur igitur habetur indecorum discere Latine, ut +quotidie confabuletur cum tot autoribus tam facundis, tam eruditis, tam +sapientibus, tam fides consultoribus. Certe mihi quantulumcunque cerebri +est, malim in bonis studiis consumere, quam in precibus sine mente +dictis, in pernoctibus conviviis, in exhauriendis, capacibus pateris, +&c."_ + + +This was not the sort of letter that in the opening years of the +eighteenth century even Bishops received from young ladies of rank, who +usually took their pleasure in other and lighter ways. Lady Mary, +however, loved to exercise her pen. She later composed some imitations of +Ovid, and tried her hand at one or two romances in the French manner. +She thus acquired a facility of expression that stood her in good stead +when she came to write those letters that constitute her principal claim +to fame. + +Lady Mary was an attractive child, and her father was very proud of her, +especially when she was in what may be called the kitten stage. The +story is told that, when she was about eight years old, he named her as +a "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club, and as she was not known to the majority +of the members he sent for her, where, on her arrival, she was received +with acclamation by the Whig wits there assembled. + +Sometimes Lady Mary in her girlhood stayed at Thoresby, and occasionally +came up to her father's London house, which was in Arlington Street, +which visits, accepting the story told by her granddaughter, Lady Louisa +Stuart, cannot have been an unmixed delight. "Some particulars, in +themselves too insignificant to be worth recording, may yet interest the +curious, by setting before them the manners of our ancestors," Lady +Louisa says. "Lord Dorchester, having no wife to do the honours of his +table at Thoresby, imposed that task upon his eldest daughter, as soon +as she had bodily strength for the office: which in those days required +no small share. For this mistress of a country mansion was not only to +invite--that is urge and tease--her company to eat more than human +throats could conveniently swallow, but to carve every dish, when +chosen, with her own hands. The greater the lady, the more indispensable +the duty. Each joint was carried up in its turn, to be operated upon by +her, and her alone; since the peers and knights on either hand were so +far from being bound to offer their assistance, that the very master of +the house, posted opposite her, might not act as her croupier, his +department was to push the bottle after dinner. As for the crowd of +guests, the most inconsiderable among them--the curate, or subaltern, or +squire's younger brother--if suffered through her neglect to help +himself to a slice of the mutton placed before him, would have chewed +it in bitterness and gone home an affronted man, half inclined to give a +wrong vote at the next election. There were then professed +carving-masters, who taught young ladies the art scientifically; from +one of whom Lady Mary said she took lessons three times a week that she +might be perfect on her father's public days, when, in order to perform +her functions without interruption, she was forced to eat her own dinner +alone an hour or two beforehand." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GIRLHOOD (1703-1710) + +Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu +attracted by her looks and her literary gifts--Assists her in her +studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the +day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume +of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him by Steele--Montagu a staunch Whig--His +paternal interest for Lady Mary does not endure--He becomes a suitor for +her hand--Lady Mary's devotion and respect for him--Her flirtations--She +and Montagu correspond through the medium of his sister, Anne--Lady +Mary's mordant humour--Her delight in retailing society scandal--The +death of Anne Wortley--Lady Mary and Montagu henceforth communicate +direct--Her first letter to him. + + +At the age of fourteen the precocious Lady Mary, when on a visit to +Wharncliffe Lodge, some thirty miles from Thoresby, made a conquest that +was vastly to influence her life. The conquest was no less a person than +Edward Wortley Montagu, son of Sidney Wortley Montagu, who was the +second son of Edward, first Earl of Sandwich, the famous Admiral of +Charles II. Sidney had taken the name of Wortley on his marriage to +Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Wortley. To Sidney Wortley Montagu, of +whom there is to-day little known, is an interesting reference in a +letter from the Earl of Danby to his wife, dated from Kiveton, September +6, 1684: "I have had Mr. Montague with me--my Lord Sandwich his son--who +lives at Wortley, and calls himself by that name, and is really a very +fine gentleman and told me he was sorry that any of his relations--much +more of his name--should have carried themselves so unjustly towards me, +and he hoped I would not have the worse opinion of him for their +ill-behaviour." + +Edward Wortley Montagu, who was then twenty-five, was already a person +of some distinction. He was a good classical scholar, acquainted with +modern languages, and versed in what his grand-daughter, Lady Louisa +Stuart, styled "polite literature." He was interested in the pretty, +clever girl, and encouraged her to talk to him of her reading and +writing. "When I was very young," she said, as is recorded in the +_Anecdotes_ of the Rev. Joseph Spence, "I was a great admirer of Ovid's +'Metamorphosis,' and that was one of the reasons that set me upon the +thoughts of stealing the Latin language. Mr. Wortley was the only person +to whom I communicated my design, and he encouraged me in it. I used to +study five or six hours a day for two years in my father's library, and +so got that language whilst everybody else thought I was reading nothing +but novels and romances." + +Montagu affected the company of men of letters. He was intimate with +Addison, a close friend of Steele, and on terms with Congreve, Vanbrugh, +and Garth, the author of _The Dispensary._ Steele, in fact, dedicated +the second volume of the _Tatler_ to him. + + +"SIR, + +"When I send you this Volume, I am rather to make a Request than a +Dedication. I must desire, that if you think fit to throw away any +Moments on it, you would not do it after reading those excellent Pieces +with which you are usually conversant. The Images which you will meet +with here, will be very feint, after the Perusal of the _Greeks_ and +_Romans_, who are your ordinary Companions. I must confess I am obliged +to you for the Taste of many of their Excellencies, which I had not +observed till you pointed them to me. I am very proud that there are +some things in these Papers which I know you pardon, and it is no small +Pleasure to have one's Labours suffered by the Judgment of a Man who so +well understands the true Charms of Eloquence and Poesie. But I direct +this Address to you, not that I think I can entertain you with my +Writings, but to thank you for the new Delight I have from your +Conversation in those of other men. + +"May you enjoy a long Continuance of the true Relish of the Happiness +Heaven hath bestowed on you. I know not how to say a more affectionate +Thing to you, than to wish you may be always what you are, and that you +may ever think, as I know you now do, that you have a much larger +Fortune than you want. I am, + +"Sir, + +"Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant, + +"ISAAC BICKERSTAFF." + + +Montagu was also interested in politics. He was a staunch Whig, and in +favour with the leaders of his party. He sat in the House of Commons +from 1705 to 1713 as member for Huntingdon, where there was family +interest. It was not, however, until after the accession of George I +that he held office. + +At first, it may be, Montagu took some kind of paternal interest in Lady +Mary. This attitude did not long endure. When the change in his feelings +took place there is no means of knowing. He does not seem to have been a +passionate man, nor a very ardent lover, but there is no doubt that at +this period he inspired the girl with a very real devotion and respect, +even though perhaps her heart was not deeply engaged. + +Montagu would have had the girl find her pleasures exclusively in books +and in his own conversation. She, at the age of twenty, on the other +hand, was full of the joy of life and liked the various social pleasures +that came her way. Naturally, she tried the effect of her good looks and +wit on men. In fact, she was fond of flirting, and as it must probably +have been impossible to flirt with Montagu, she indulged herself in that +agreeable pastime with more than one other--to the great annoyance of +that pompous prig of an admirer of hers. The following letter, dated +September 5, 1709, written to Anne Wortley for her brother's perusal, +was clearly an endeavour to sooth away the man's jealousy. + + +"September 5, 1709. + +"My dear Mrs. Wortley, as she has the entire power of raising, can also, +with a word, calm my passions. The kindness of your last recompenses me +for the injustice of your former letter; but you cannot sure be angry at +my little resentment. You have read that a man who, with patience, hears +himself called heretic, can never be esteemed a good Christian. To be +capable of preferring the despicable wretch you mention to Mr. Wortley, +is as ridiculous, if not as criminal, as forsaking the Deity to worship +a calf. Don't tell me any body ever had so mean an opinion of my +inclinations; 'tis among the number of those things I would forget. My +tenderness is always built upon my esteem, and when the foundation +perishes, it falls: I must own, I think it is so with every body--but +enough of this: you tell me it was meant for raillery--was not the +kindness meant so too? I fear I am too apt to think what is amusement +designed in earnest--no matter, 'tis for my repose to be deceived, and I +will believe whatever you tell me. + +"I should be very glad to be informed of a right method, or whether +there is such a thing alone, but am afraid to ask the question. It may +be reasonably called presumption in a girl to have her thoughts that +way. You are the only creature that I have made my confidante in that +case: I'll assure you, I call it the greatest secret of my life. Adieu, +my dear, the post stays, my next shall be longer." + + +Lady Mary was probably more complaisant on paper than actually in her +conduct of life. She desired male as well as female companionship; she +liked the admiration and the flattery of men, and, no doubt, did her +best to evoke it. It is strange, however, that with her beauty--for that +she was in her early years beautiful has generally been accepted--she +was not unduly attractive to men. It may be that her good looks brought +young men to her feet, and that her tongue drove them away. In no age +has a clever woman been very popular with the other sex, and in the +early years of the eighteenth century, when girls could do little more +than read and write--and not always so much--wit such as hers and the +readiness of reply with which she was gifted must have been a deterrent. +What could the ordinary social butterfly think of a Lady Mary who had as +a friend Mary Ansell, the author of a _Serious Proposal to Ladies--_ +what, though perhaps not one of them had read the book? + +Still, there was enough levity in Lady Mary's behaviour in society for +her to think it desirable to make some explanation to Montagu. + + +"[Indorsed '9 April,' 1711.] + +"I thought to return no answer to your letter, but I find I am not so +wise as I thought myself. I cannot forbear fixing my mind a little on +that expression, though perhaps the only insincere one in your whole +letter--I would die to be secure of your heart, though but for a +moment:--were this but true, what is there I would not do to secure you? + +"I will state the case to you as plainly as I can; and then ask yourself +if you use me well. I have shewed, in every action of my life, an esteem +for you that at least challenges a grateful regard. I have trusted my +reputation in your hands; I have made no scruple of giving you, under my +own hand, an assurance of my friendship. After all this, I exact nothing +from you: if you find it inconvenient for your affairs to take so small +a fortune, I desire you to sacrifice nothing to me; I pretend no tie +upon your honour: but, in recompence for so clear and so disinterested a +proceeding, must I ever receive injuries and ill usage? + +"I have not the usual pride of my sex; I can bear being told I am in the +wrong, but tell it me gently. Perhaps I have been indiscreet; I came +young into the hurry of the world; a great innocence and an undesigning +gaiety may possibly have been construed coquetry and a desire of being +followed, though never meant by me. I cannot answer for the [reflections] +that may be made on me: all who are malicious attack the careless and +defenceless: I own myself to be both. I not anything I can say more to +shew my perfect desire of pleasing you and making you easy, than to +proffer to be confined with you in what manner you please. Would any +woman but me renounce all the world for one? or would any man but you +be insensible of such a proof of sincerity?" + + +From an early age Lady Mary indulged her somewhat mordant humour, not +less in her letters than in her conversation, and as that quality must +have some subject upon which to exercise itself, she was generally on +the look-out for some tit-bit of scandal which she could relate in her +own inimitable manner. + + +"Next to the great ball, what makes the most noise is the marriage of an +old maid, who lives in this street, without a portion, to a man of +£7,000 _per annum_, and they say £40,000 in ready money," she wrote to +Mrs. Hewet about the beginning of 1709. "Her equipage and liveries +outshine anybody's in town. He has presented her with £3,000 in jewels; +and never was man more smitten with these charms that had lain invisible +for these forty years; but, with all his glory, never bride had fewer +enviers, the dear beast of a man is so filthy, frightful, odious, and +detestable. I would turn away such a footman, for fear of spoiling my +dinner, while he waited at table. They were married on Friday, and came +to church _en parade_ on Sunday. I happened to sit in the pew with them, +and had the honour of seeing Mrs. Bride fall fast asleep in the middle +of the sermon, and snore very comfortably; which made several women in +the church think the bridegroom not quite so ugly as they did before. +Envious people say 'twas all counterfeited to please him, but I believe +that to be scandal; for I dare swear, nothing but downright necessity +could make her miss one word of the sermon. He professes to have married +her for her devotion, patience, meekness, and other Christian virtues he +observed in her; his first wife (who has left no children) being very +handsome, and so good natured as to have ventured her own salvation to +secure his. He has married this lady to have a companion in that +paradise where his first has given him a title. I believe I have given +you too much of this couple; but they are not to be comprehended in few +words." + + +Here is another malicious story that appealed to Lady Mary's wayward +fancy, + + +"Mrs. Braithwayte, a Yorkshire beauty," she wrote to the same +correspondent in March, 1712, "who had been but two days married to a +Mr. Coleman, ran out of bed _en chemise_, and her husband followed her +in his, in which pleasant dress they ran as far as St. James's Street, +where they met with a chair, and prudently crammed themselves both into +it, observing the rule of dividing the good and bad fortune of this +life, resolved to run all hazards together, and ordered the chairmen to +carry them both away, perfectly representing, both in love and +nakedness, and want of eyes to see that they were naked, our first happy +parents. Sunday last I had the pleasure of hearing the whole history +from the lady's own mouth." + + +Love-affairs, other people's love-affairs anyhow, had an attraction for +Lady Mary. "You talk of the Duke of Leeds," she wrote. "I hear that he +has placed his heroic love upon the bright charms of a pewterer's wife; +and, after a long amour, and many perilous adventures, has stolen the +fair lady, which, in spite of his wrinkles and grandchild, persuade +people of his youth and gallantry." The nobleman in question, Peregrine +Osborne, second Duke of Leeds, was then fifty-six--which, after all, +regarded from the standpoint of to-day, is not such a great age as is +suggested by the story. + +If Montagu objected to the indiscretions of Lady Mary, it does not +appear that he was in any hurry to get married to her. Of course, it may +be--it is only fair to him to say--that Lady Mary held him temporarily +at bay, preferring the frivolities of those of her own age to the +austere attentions of one who acted as if he might have been her father. + +For some years she and Montagu were apparently content with writing long +letters to each other when they were not both in town. When the +correspondence started is uncertain. The first letter of Lady Mary that +has been preserved is dated Thoresby, May 2, 1709; but there can be no +doubt that they had been in regular communication before then. + +It is specially to be noted that the earlier letters of Lady Mary were +addressed to Montagu's sister, Anne. It is evident, however, that they +were definitely written for his perusal, and it is equally clear that +Anne's replies were inspired, and sometimes, if not always, drafted by +him. This practice continued until the death of Anne Wortley in March, +1710. Yet there seems to have been no reason for this camouflage. In +1709 Lady Mary was twenty years of age, and Montagu was a very eligible +_parti_. + +The respectful, highfalutin gallantry that is the key-note of the +correspondence recalls the correspondence that presently was exchanged +between Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and the octogenarian Earl +of Peterborough. + +Some typical passages from the letters to "My dear Mrs. Wortley" may be +given--it should be mentioned that it was the social custom of the day +to address as "Mrs." maiden ladies as well as married women. + + +"Thoresby, August 8, 1709. + +"I know no pretence I have to your good opinion but my hearty desiring +it; I wish I had that imagination you talk of, to render me a fitter +correspondent for you, who can write so well on every thing. I am now so +much alone, I have leisure to pass whole days in reading, but am not at +all proper for so delicate an employment as choosing you books. Your own +fancy will better direct you. My study at present is nothing but +dictionaries and grammars. I am trying whether it be possible to learn +without a master; I am not certain (and dare hardly hope) I shall make +any great progress; but I find the study so diverting I am not only +easy, but pleased with the solitude that indulges it. I forget there is +such a place as London, and wish for no company but yours. You see, my +dear, in making my pleasures consist of these unfashionable diversions, +I am not of the number who cannot be easy out of the mode. I believe +more follies are committed out of complaisance to the world, than in +following our own inclinations--Nature is seldom in the wrong, custom +always; it is with some regret I follow it in all the impertinencies of +dress; the compliance is so trivial it comforts me; but I am amazed to +see it consulted even in the most important occasions of our lives; and +that people of good sense in other things can make their happiness +consist in the opinions of others, and sacrifice every thing in the +desire of appearing in fashion. I call all people who fall in love with +furniture, clothes, and equipage, of this number, and I look upon them +as no less in the wrong than when they were five years old, and doated +on shells, pebbles, and hobby-horses: I believe you will expect this +letter to be dated from the other world, for sure I am you never heard +an inhabitant of this talk so before. I suppose you expect, too, I +should conclude with begging pardon for this extreme tedious and very +nonsensical letter; quite contrary, I think you will be obliged to me +for it. I could not better show my great concern for your reproaching me +with neglect I knew myself innocent of, than proving myself mad in three +pages." + + +"August 21, 1709. + +"I am infinitely obliged to you, my dear Mrs. Wortley, for the wit, +beauty, and other fine qualities, you so generously bestow upon me. Next +to receiving them from Heaven, you are the person from whom I would +chuse to receive gifts and graces: I am very well satisfied to owe them +to your own delicacy of imagination, which represents to you the idea of +a fine lady, and you have good nature enough to fancy I am she. All this +is mighty well, but you do not stop there; imagination is boundless. +After giving me imaginary wit and beauty, you give me imaginary +passions, and you tell me I'm in love: if I am, 'tis a perfect sin of +ignorance, for I don't so much as know the man's name: I have been +studying these three hours, and cannot guess who you mean. I passed the +days of Nottingham races, [at] Thoresby, without seeing or even wishing +to see one of the sex. Now, if I am in love, I have very hard fortune to +conceal it so industriously from my own knowledge, and yet discover it +so much to other people. 'Tis against all form to have such a passion as +that, without giving one sigh for the matter. Pray tell me the name of +him I love, that I may (according to the laudable custom of lovers) sigh +to the woods and groves hereabouts, and teach it to the echo. You see, +being I am _[sic]_ in love, I am willing to be so in order and rule: I +have been turning over God knows how many books to look for precedents. +Recommend an example to me; and, above all, let me know whether 'tis +most proper to walk in the woods, encreasing the winds with my sighs, or +to sit by a purling stream, swelling the rivulet with my tears; may be, +both may do well in their turns:--but to be a minute serious, what do +you mean by this reproach of inconstancy? I confess you give me several +good qualities I have not, and I am ready to thank you for them, but +then you must not take away those few I have. No, I will never exchange +them; take back the beauty and wit you bestow upon me, leave me my own +mediocrity of agreeableness and genius, but leave me also my sincerity, +my constancy and my plain dealing; 'tis all I have to recommend me to +the esteem either of others or myself. How should I despise myself if I +could think I was capable of either inconstancy or deceit! I know not +how I may appear to other people, nor how much my face may belie my +heart, but I know that I never was or can be guilty of dissimulation or +inconstancy--you will think this vain, but 'tis all that I pique myself +upon. Tell me you believe me and repent of your harsh censure. Tell it +me in pity to my uneasiness, for you are one of those few people about +whose good opinion I am in pain. I have always took so little care to +please the generality of the world, that I am never mortified or +delighted by its reports which is a piece of stoicism born with me; but +I cannot be one minute easy while you think ill of + +"Your faithful--" + + +"This letter is a good deal grave, and, like other grave things, dull; +but I won't ask pardon for what I can't help." + + +Was the sentiment expressed in the following letter, written about the +same time as that printed above, intended for Anne or her brother, or +both? + + +"When I said it cost nothing to write tenderly, I believe I spoke of +another sex; I am sure not of myself: 'tis not in my power (I would to +God it was!) to hide a kindness where I have one, or dissemble it where +I have none. I cannot help answering your letter this minute, and +telling you I infinitely love you, though, it may be, you'll call the +one impertinence, and the other dissimulation; but you may think what +you please of me, I must eternally think the same things of you." + + +Lady Mary was occasionally wearisome owing to the reiteration of the +assurance that she believed her letters to be dull, the more so as she +certainly was conscious of the skill with which she composed them. "What +do you mean by complaining I never write to you in the quiet situation +of mind I do to other people?" she asks Anne Wortley. "My dear, people +never write calmly, but when they write indifferently." + +After a letter dated September 5, 1709, a passage from which has been +printed here, there is a break in the (preserved) correspondence. In the +spring of the following year Anne Wortley died, and Lady Mary, on March +28, paid tribute to her departed friend, addressing herself for the +first time direct to Montagu. + + +"Perhaps you'll be surprized at this letter; I have had many debates +with myself before I could resolve on it. I know it is not acting in +form, but I do not look upon you as I do upon the rest of the world, and +by what I do for _you_, you are not to judge my manner of acting with +others. You are brother to a woman I tenderly loved; my protestations of +friendship are not like other people's, I never speak but what I mean, +and when I say I love, 'tis for ever. I had that real concern for Mrs. +Wortley, I look with some regard on every one that is related to her. +This and my long acquaintance with you may in some measure excuse what I +am now doing. I am surprized at one of the 'Tatlers' you send me; is it +possible to have any sort of esteem for a person one believes capable of +having such trifling inclinations? Mr. Bickerstaff has very wrong +notions of our sex. I can say there are some of us that despise charms +of show, and all the pageantry of greatness, perhaps with more ease than +any of the philosophers. In contemning the world, they seem to take +pains to contemn it; we despise it, without taking the pains to read +lessons of morality to make us do it. At least I know I have always +looked upon it with contempt, without being at the expense of one +serious reflection to oblige me to it. I carry the matter yet farther; +was I to choose of two thousand pounds a year or twenty thousand, the +first would be my choice. There is something of an unavoidable +_embarras_ in making what is called a great figure in the world; [it] +takes off from the happiness of life; I hate the noise and hurry +inseparable from great estates and titles, and look upon both as +blessings that ought only to be given to fools, for 'tis only to them +that they are blessings. The pretty fellows you speak of, I own +entertain me sometimes; but is it impossible to be diverted with what +one despises? I can laugh at a puppet-show; at the same time I know +there is nothing in it worth my attention or regard. General notions are +generally wrong. Ignorance and folly are thought the best foundations +for virtue, as if not knowing what a good wife is was necessary to make +one so. I confess that can never be my way of reasoning; as I always +forgive an _injury_ when I think it not done out of malice, I never +think myself _obliged_ by what is done without design." + + +Lady Mary, who was now one-and-twenty, was no bread-and-butter miss. She +knew her mind and had the gift to express herself, and in this same +letter she very prettily rebukes her laggard lover. + + +"Give me leave to say it, (I know it sounds vain,) I know how to make a +man of sense happy; but then that man must resolve to contribute +something towards it himself. I have so much esteem for you, I should be +very sorry to hear you was unhappy; but for the world I would not be the +instrument of making you so; which (of the humour you are) is hardly to +be avoided if I am your wife. You distrust me--I can neither be easy, +nor loved, where I am distrusted. Nor do I believe your passion for me +is what you pretend it; at least I am sure was I in love I could not +talk as you do. Few women would have spoke so plainly as I have done; +but to dissemble is among the things I never do. I take more pains to +approve my conduct to myself than to the world; and would not have to +accuse myself of a minute's deceit. I wish I loved you enough to devote +myself to be for ever miserable, for the pleasure of a day or two's +happiness. I cannot resolve upon it. You must think otherwise of me, or +not at all." + +"I don't enjoin you to burn this letter," she said in conclusion. "I +know you will. 'Tis the first I ever writ to one of your sex, and shall +be the last. You must never expect another. I resolve against all +correspondence of the kind--my resolutions are seldom made and never +broken." + + +Whatever happened to most of Lady Mary's resolutions, this one, at +least, was not kept. Actually, Lady Mary was not quite so emancipated at +this time of her life as she may have imagined. She never sent a letter, +except in fear and trembling. "I hazard a great deal if it falls +into other hands, and I write for all that," was her constant cry. Yet, +there was nothing in the correspondence, save the fact of it, to offend +even a most austere maiden aunt of the day. + +The correspondence, of course, continued. The lovers, if so they can be +called, now indulged in a slightly acid academic discussion, or rather a +number of slightly acid academic discussions, about marriage. It is +evident that Montagu held strong views as to the duty of a wife; so +undoubtedly did Lady Mary--only, the trouble was, the views were by no +means identical. If he were determined to set himself up as the strong +loquacious man, his _fiancée_ was certainly not prepared meekly to obey +his behests in silence. They indulged in a somewhat candid examination +of each other's character--and of their own. It is really rather +amusing, this careful cold-blooded dissection of their feelings. It is a +safe guess that at this game Lady Mary scored heavily. + + +"I wish, with all my soul, I thought as you do," she wrote on April 25, +1710. "I endeavour to convince myself by your arguments, and am sorry my +reason is so obstinate, not to be deluded into an opinion, that 'tis +impossible a man can esteem a woman. I suppose I should then be very +easy at your thoughts of me; I should thank you for the wit and beauty +you give me, and not be angry at the follies and weaknesses; but, to my +infinite affliction, I can believe neither one nor t'other. One part of +my character is not so good, nor t'other so bad, as you fancy it. Should +we ever live together, you would be disappointed both ways; you would +find an easy equality of temper you do not expect, and a thousand faults +you do not imagine. You think, if you married me, I should be +passionately fond of you one month, and of somebody else the next: +neither would happen. I can esteem, I can be a friend, but I don't know +whether I can love. Expect all that is complaisant and easy, but never +what is fond, in me. You judge very wrong of my heart, when you suppose +me capable of views of interest, and that anything could oblige me to +flatter any body. Was I the most indigent creature in the world, I +should answer you as I do now, without adding or diminishing. I am +incapable of art, and 'tis because I will not be capable of it. Could I +deceive one minute, I should never regain my own good opinion; and who +could bear to live with one they despised? If you can resolve to live +with a companion that will have all the deference due to your +superiority of good sense, and that your proposals can be agreeable to +those on whom I depend, I have nothing to say against them." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTSHIP, ELOPEMENT, AND MARRIAGE (1710-1712) + +A lengthy courtship--Montagu a laggard lover--Lady Mary and Montagu +exchange views on married life--Montagu proposes for her to Lord +Dorchester--Dorchester refuses, since Montagu will not make +settlements--Montagu's views on settlements expressed (by Steele) in the +_Tatler_--Although not engaged, the young people continue to +correspond--Lord Dorchester produces another suitor for his +daughter--She consents to an engagement--The preparations for the +wedding--She confides the whole story to Montagu--She breaks off the +engagement--She and Montagu decide to elope--She runs up to +London--Marriage--Lady Mary's diary destroyed by her sister, Lady +Frances Pierrepont. + + +After seven years or so of acquaintance, matters at last looked like +coming to a head. It would appear that Montagu, tentatively at least, +had put the question, because Lady Mary gives her views as to the life +they should lead after marriage. She is not averse from travelling; she +has no objection to leaving London; in fact, she would be willing to +spend a few months in the country, if it so pleased him. It is all so +extraordinarily unloverlike. There is too much philosophy about it. Love +does not see so clearly. + + +"Where people are tied for life, 'tis their mutual interest not to grow +weary of one another," she wrote on April 25, 1710. "If I had all the +personal charms that I want, a face is too slight a foundation for +happiness. You would be soon tired with seeing every day the same thing. +Where you saw nothing else, you would have leisure to remark all the +defects; which would increase in proportion as the novelty lessened, +which is always a great charm. I should have the displeasure of seeing a +coldness, which, though I could not reasonably blame you for, being +involuntary, yet it would render me uneasy; and the more, because I know +a love may be revived which absence, inconstancy, or even infidelity, +has extinguished; but there is no returning from a _dégout_ given by +satiety." + + +Perhaps Lady Mary believed that, while it is well to hope for the best, +it is sound policy to prepare for the worst. + +Montagu may have found some comfort in the lady's assurance that if she +had a choice between two thousand a year or twenty thousand a year she +would choose the smaller income. + +An apartment in London would satisfy Lady Mary. She would not choose to +live in a crowd, but would like to have a small circle of agreeable +people--she was very precise as to her desires: actually she wants to +see eight or nine pleasant folk. She does not believe that she can find +entire happiness in solitude, not even (or perhaps especially not) in a +solitude of two; and she is at least as sure that he would not either. +Anyhow she has not the slightest intention of taking the chance. + +It becomes increasingly clear that she had had about enough of this +epistolary philandering, and she indicated this in no uncertain manner. +"I will never think of anything without the consent of my family," she +wrote. "Make no answer to this, if you can like me on my own terms. 'Tis +not to me you must make the proposals; if not, to what purpose is our +correspondence?" + +And now comes a touch of the spur: "However, preserve me your +friendship, which I think of with a great deal of pleasure. If ever you +see me married, I flatter myself you'll see a conduct you would not be +sorry your wife should imitate." + +Even this did not bring Montagu to the point of asking Lord Dorchester +for the hand of his daughter. The correspondence, however, still +continued, and soon they were hard at it again. + + +"Kindness, you say, would be your destruction," she wrote in August, +1710. "In my opinion, this is something contradictory to some other +expressions. People talk of being in love just as widows do of +affliction. Mr. Steele has observed, in one of his plays, the most +passionate among them have always calmness enough to drive a hard +bargain with the upholders. I never knew a lover that would not +willingly secure his interest as well as his mistress; or, if one must +be abandoned, had not the prudence (among all his distractions) to +consider, a woman was but a woman, and money was a thing of more real +merit than the whole sex put together. Your letter is to tell me, you +should think yourself undone if you married me; but if I would be so +tender as to confess I should break my heart if you did not, then you'd +consider whether you would or no; but yet you hoped you should not. I +take this to be the right interpretation of--even your kindness can't +destroy me of a sudden--I hope I am not in your power--I would give a +good deal to be satisfied, &c. + +"As to writing--that any woman would do that thought she writ well. Now +I say, no woman of common sense would. At best, 'tis but doing a silly +thing well, and I think it is much better not to do a silly thing at +all. You compare it to dressing. Suppose the comparison just: perhaps +the Spanish dress would become my face very well; yet the whole town +would condemn me for the highest extravagance if I went to court in it, +though it improved me to a miracle. There are a thousand things, not ill +in themselves, which custom makes unfit to be done. This is to convince +you I am so far from applauding my own conduct, my conscience flies in +my face every time I think on't. The generality of the world have a +great indulgence to their own follies: without being a jot wiser than my +neighbours, I have the peculiar misfortune to know and condemn all the +wrong things I do. + +"You beg to know whether I would not be out of humour. The expression is +modest enough; but that is not what you mean. In saying I could be easy, +I have already said I should not be out of humour: but you would have me +say I am violently in love; that is, finding you think better of me than +you desire, you would have me give you a just cause to contemn me. I +doubt much whether there is a creature in the world humble enough to do +that. I should not think you more unreasonable if you was in love with +my face, and asked me to disfigure it to make you easy. I have heard of +some nuns that made use of that expedient to secure their own happiness; +but, amongst all the popish saints and martyrs, I never read of one +whose charity was sublime enough to make themselves deformed, or +ridiculous, to restore their lovers to peace and quietness. In short, if +nothing can content you but despising me heartily, I am afraid I shall +be always so barbarous to wish you may esteem me as long as you live." + + +At last Montagu formally approached Lord Dorchester, who had no +objection whatever to him as a suitor for the hand of Lady Mary. They +could not come to terms in the matter of settlements. Dorchester +demanded that the estates should be put into entail. Also he desired +that his future son-in-law should provide a town residence for Lady +Mary. This did not seem unreasonable, but Montagu did not see his way to +agree to them. He was willing enough to make all proper provision for +his wife, but he declined absolutely to settle his landed property upon +a son who, as he put it, for aught he knew, might prove unworthy to +inherit it, who might be a spendthrift, an idiot, or a villain--as a +matter of fact, the only son of the marriage turned out most things he +should not. Anyhow, Montagu held strong views on the subject, and these +he expounded to Richard Steele, who presented them in No. 223 of the +_Tatler_ (September 12, 1710). + + +"That this method of making settlements was first invented by a griping +lawyer, who made use of the covetous tempers of the parents of each +side, to force two young people into these vile measures of diffidence +for no other end, but to increase the skins of parchment, by which they +were put into each other's possession out of each other's power. The law +of our country has given an ample and generous provision for the wife, +even the third of her husband's estate, and left to her good-humour and +his gratitude the expectation of farther provision, but the fantastical +method of going farther, with relation to the heirs, has a foundation in +nothing but pride, and folly: for as all men with their children as like +themselves, and as much better as they can possibly, it seems monstrous +that we should give out of ourselves the opportunities of rewarding and +discouraging them according to their defects. The wife institution has +no more sense in it, than if a man should begin a deed with 'Whereas no +man living knows how long he shall continue to be a reasonable creature, +or an honest man, and whereas I.B. am going to enter into the state of +matrimony with Mrs. D., therefore I shall from henceforth make it +indifferent to me whether from this time forward I shall be a fool or +knave. And therefore, in full and perfect health of body, and a sound +mind, not knowing which of my children will prove better or worse, I +give to my first-born, be he perverse, ungrateful, impious, or cruel, +the lump and bulk of my estate, and leave one year's purchase only to +each of my younger children, whether they shall be brave or beautiful, +modest or honourable, from the time of the date hereof, wherein I resign +my senses, and hereby promise to employ my judgment no farther in the +distribution of my worldly goods from the date hereof, hereby farther +confessing and covenanting, that I am henceforth married, and dead in +law....' + +"How strangely men are sometimes partial to themselves, appears by the +rapine of him, that has a daughter's beauty under his direction. He will +make no scruple of using it to force from her lover as much of his +estate, as is worth ten thousand pounds, and at the same time, as a +justice on the bench, will spare no pains to get a man hanged that has +taken but a horse from him. + +"It is to be hoped that the legislature will in due time take this kind +of robbery into consideration, and not suffer men to prey upon each +other when they are about making the most solemn league, and entering +into the strictest bonds. The only sure remedy is to fix a certain rate +on every woman's fortune, one price for that of a maid, and another for +that of a widow: for it is of infinite advantage, that there should be +no frauds or uncertainties in the sale of our women." + + +Unless Montagu were tactless beyond the general, the position as regards +himself and Lord Dorchester must indeed have been hopeless before he +inspired the paper in the _Tatler_ on settlements. Anyhow, Montagu, who +was used to having his way, and was probably very cross at being +thwarted on this occasion, would not yield a step; and Lord Dorchester +maintained his attitude that philosophic theories were all very well in +their way, but he would not sanction a marriage that involved the risk +of his grandchildren being left beggars. + +Lady Mary was powerless in the matter, but, although her father said +there was no engagement between her and Montagu, the young people +continued their correspondence with unabated vigour. + + +"I am going to comply with your request, and write with all the +plainness I am capable of," she replied in November, 1710, to one of +Montagu's effusions. "I know what may be said upon such a proceeding, +but am sure you will not say it. Why should you always put the worst +construction upon my words? Believe me what you will, but do not believe +I can be ungenerous or ungrateful. I wish I could tell you what answer +you will receive from some people, or upon what terms. If my opinion +could sway, nothing should displease you. Nobody ever was so +disinterested as I am. I would not have to reproach myself (I don't +suppose you would) that I had any way made you uneasy in your +circumstances. Let me beg you (which I do with the utmost sincerity) +only to consider yourself in this affair; and, since I am so unfortunate +to have nothing in my own disposal, do not think I have any hand in +making settlements. People in my way are sold like slaves; and I cannot +tell what price my master will put on me. If you do agree, I shall +endeavour to contribute, as much as lies in my power, to your happiness. +I so heartily despise a great figure, I have no notion of spending money +so foolishly; though one had a great deal to throw away. If this breaks +off, I shall not complain of you: and as, whatever happens, I shall +still preserve the opinion you have behaved yourself well. Let me +entreat you, if I have committed any follies, to forgive them; and be so +just to think I would not do an ill thing." + + +Shortly afterwards, Lady Mary wrote again to Montagu. "I have tried to +write plainly," she said; and she did not have to reproach herself with +failure. It had now come to a struggle for mastery, and she would not +yield a foot of her ground. + + +"Indeed I do not at all wonder that absence, and variety of new faces, +should make you forget me; but I am a little surprised at your curiosity +to know what passes in my heart (a thing wholly insignificant to you), +except you propose to yourself a piece of ill-natured satisfaction, in +finding me very much disquieted. Pray which way would you see into my +heart? You can frame no guesses about it from either my speaking or +writing; and, supposing I should attempt to show it you, I know no other +way. + +"I begin to be tired of my humility: I have carried my complaisances to +you farther than I ought. You make new scruples; you have a great deal +of fancy; and your distrusts being all of your own making, are more +immovable than if there was some real ground for them. Our aunts and +grandmothers always tell us that men are a sort of animals, that, if +they are constant, 'tis only where they are ill used. 'Twas a kind of +paradox I could never believe: experience has taught me the truth of it. +You are the first I ever had a correspondence with, and I thank God I +have done with it for all my life. You needed not to have told me you +are not what you have been: one must be stupid not to find a difference +in your letters. You seem, in one part of your last, to excuse yourself +from having done me any injury in point of fortune. Do I accuse you of +any? + +"I have not spirits to dispute any longer with you. You say you are not +yet determined: let me determine for you, and save you the trouble of +writing again. Adieu for ever! make no answer. I wish, among the variety +of acquaintance, you may find some one to please you; and can't help the +vanity of thinking, should you try them all, you won't find one that +will be so sincere in their treatment, though a thousand more deserving, +and every one happier. 'Tis a piece of vanity and injustice I never +forgive in a woman, to delight to give pain; what must I think of a man +that takes pleasure in making me uneasy? After the folly of letting you +know it is in your power, I ought in prudence to let this go no farther, +except I thought you had good nature enough never to make use of that +power. I have no reason to think so: however, I am willing, you see, to +do you the highest obligation 'tis possible for me to do; that is, to +give you a fair occasion of being rid of me." + + +There is now another break in the (preserved) correspondence until the +end of February, 1711, and then Lady Mary, writing with more than a +tinge of bitterness, broke off all relations with him--or, at least, +affected to do so. + + +"I intended to make no answer to your letter; it was something very +ungrateful, and I resolved to give over all thoughts of you. I could +easily have performed that resolve some time ago, but then you took +pains to please me; now you have brought me to esteem you, you make use +of that esteem to give me uneasiness; and I have the displeasure of +seeing I esteem a man that dislikes me. Farewell then: since you will +have it so, I renounce all the ideas I have so long flattered myself +with, and will entertain my fancy no longer with the imaginary pleasure +of pleasing you. How much wiser are all those women I have despised than +myself! In placing their happiness in trifles, they have placed it in +what is attainable. I fondly thought fine clothes and gilt coaches, +balls, operas, and public adoration, rather the fatigues of life; and +that true happiness was justly defined by Mr. Dryden (pardon the romantic +air of repeating verses), when he says, + + 'Whom Heav'n would bless it does from pomps remove + And makes their wealth in privacy and love.' + +These notions had corrupted my judgment as much as Mrs. Biddy Tipkin's. +According to this scheme, I proposed to pass my life with you. I yet do +you the justice to believe, if any man could have been contented with +this manner of living, it would have been you. Your indifference to me +does not hinder me from thinking you capable of tenderness, and the +happiness of friendship; but I find it is not to me you'll ever have +them; you think me all that is detestable; you accuse me of want of +sincerity and generosity. To convince you of your mistake, I'll show you +the last extremes of both. + +"While I foolishly fancied you loved me, (which I confess I had never +any great reason for, more than that I wished it,) there is no condition +of life I could not have been happy in with you, so very much I liked +you--I may say loved, since it is the last thing I'll ever say to you. +This is telling you sincerely my greatest weakness; and now I will +oblige you with a new proof of generosity--I'll never see you more. I +shall avoid all public places; and this is the last letter I shall send. +If you write, be not displeased if I send it back unopened. I force my +inclinations to oblige yours; and remember that you have told me I could +not oblige you more than by refusing you. Had I intended ever to see you +again, I durst not have sent this letter. Adieu." + + +The above letter was evidently sent in a fit of pique. Certainly the +position must have been almost unbearable to a young woman of spirit. +Here was Lady Mary, in her twenty-second or twenty-third year, for all +practical purposes betrothed, and her father and her lover quarrelling +over settlements. Her friends were all getting married and having +establishments of their own, and she more or less in disgrace, living at +one or other of her father's houses. + +Nothing came of her announcement that she desired no further relation +with Montagu. She could not bring herself definitely to break with +Montagu, and he would neither wed her nor give her up. The +correspondence continued with unabated vigour. + + +"I am in pain about the letter I sent you this morning," she wrote in +March, 1911. "I fear you should think, after what I have said, you +cannot, in point of honour, break off with me. Be not scrupulous on that +article, nor affect to make me break first, to excuse your doing it; I +would owe nothing but to inclination: if you do not love me, I may have +the less esteem of myself, but not of you: I am not of the number of +those women that have the opinion of their persons Mr. Bayes had of his +play, that 'tis the touchstone of sense, and they are to frame their +judgment of people's understanding according to what they think of them. + +"You may have wit, good humour, and good nature, and not like me. I +allow a great deal for the inconstancy of mankind in general, and my own +want of merit in particular. But 'tis a breach, at least, of the two +last, to deceive me. I am sincere: I shall be sorry if I am not now what +pleases; but if I (as I could with joy) abandon all things to the care +of pleasing you, I am then undone if I do not succeed.--Be generous." + + +It was about this time that she confided her troubles to Mrs. Hewet. +"At present, my domestic affairs go on so ill, I want spirits to look +round," she wrote. "I have got a cold that disables my eyes and +disorders me every other way. Mr. Mason has ordered me blooding, to +which I have submitted, after long contestation. You see how stupid I +am; I entertain you with discourses of physic, but I have the oddest +jumble of disagreeable things in my head that ever plagued poor mortals; +a great cold, a bad peace, people I love in disgrace, sore eyes, the +horrid prospect of a civil war, and the thought of a filthy potion to +take. I believe nobody ever had such a _mélange_ before." + +The unsatisfactory situation, apparently, might have continued +indefinitely, for, even if Montagu had been more pressing, Lady Mary, in +spite of her independent attitude, was most reluctant, indeed, almost +determined, not to marry without her father's consent. + +In the early summer of 1712, however, Lord Dorchester created a crisis. +Thinking, perhaps, that his daughter might one day get out of hand and, +in despair, defy him, he decided to find her a husband other than +Montagu. At first, from a sense of weariness and from filial duty, Lady +Mary inclined to obey the parental injunction--to her father's great +delight. All the preparations for the wedding were put in train--then, +ultimately, Lady Mary declared that she could not and would not go +through with it on any terms. Who the bridegroom was she does not +mention, but, in a manner somewhat involved, she in a letter in July, +1912, confided the whole story to Montagu. + + +"I am going to write you a plain long letter. What I have already told +you is nothing but the truth. I have no reason to believe I am going to +be otherwise confined than by my duty; but I, that know my own mind, +know that is enough to make me miserable. I see all the misfortune of +marrying where it is impossible to love; I am going to confess a +weakness may perhaps add to your contempt of me. I wanted courage to +resist at first the will of my relations; but, as every day added to my +fears, those, at last, grew strong enough to make me venture the +disobliging them. A harsh word damps my spirits to a degree of silencing +all I have to say. I knew the folly of my own temper, and took the +method of writing to the disposer of me. I said everything in this +letter I thought proper to move him, and proffered, in atonement for not +marrying whom he would, never to marry at all. He did not think fit to +answer this letter, but sent for me to him. He told me he was very much +surprized that I did not depend on his judgment for my future happiness; +that he knew nothing I had to complain of, &c.; that he did not doubt I +had some other fancy in my head, which encouraged me to this +disobedience; but he assured me, if I refused a settlement he had +provided for me, he gave me his word, whatever proposals were made him, +he would never so much as enter into a treaty with any other; that, if I +founded any hopes upon his death, I should find myself mistaken, he +never intended to leave me anything but an annuity of £400 per annum; +that, though another would proceed in this manner after I had given so +just a pretence for it, yet he had [the] goodness to leave my destiny +yet in my own choice, and at the same time commanded me to communicate +my design to my relations, and ask their advice. As hard as this may +sound, it did not shock my resolution; I was pleased to think, at any +price, I had it in my power to be free from a man I hated. I told my +intention to all my nearest relations. I was surprised at their blaming +it, to the greatest degree. I was told, they were sorry I would ruin +myself; but, if I was so unreasonable, they could not blame my F. +[father] whatever he inflicted on me. I objected I did not love him. +They made answer, they found no necessity of loving; if I lived well +with him, that was all was required of me; and that if I considered this +town, I should find very few women in love with their husbands, and yet +a many happy. It was in vain to dispute with such prudent people; they +looked upon me as a little romantic, and I found it impossible to +persuade them that living in London at liberty was not the height of +happiness. However, they could not change my thoughts, though I found I +was to expect no protection from them. When I was to give my final +answer to----, I told him that I preferred a single life to any other; +and, if he pleased to permit me, I would take that resolution. He +replied, he could not hinder my resolutions, but I should not pretend +after that to please him; since pleasing him was only to be done by +obedience; that if I would disobey, I knew the consequences; he would +not fail to confine me, where I might repent at leisure; that he had +also consulted my relations, and found them all agreeing in his +sentiments. He spoke this in a manner hindered my answering. I retired +to my chamber, where I writ a letter to let him know my aversion to the +man proposed was too great to be overcome, that I should be miserable +beyond all things could be imagined, but I was in his hands, and he +might dispose of me as he thought fit. He was perfectly satisfied with +this answer, and proceeded as if I had given a willing consent.--I +forgot to tell you, he named you, and said, if I thought that way, I was +very much mistaken; that if he had no other engagements, yet he would +never have agreed to your proposals, having no inclination to see his +grandchildren beggars. + +"I do not speak this to endeavour to alter your opinion, but to shew the +improbability of his agreeing to it. I confess I am entirely of your +mind. I reckon it among the absurdities of custom that a man must be +obliged to settle his whole estate on an eldest son, beyond his power to +recall, whatever he proves to be, and make himself unable to make happy +a younger child that may deserve to be so. If I had an estate myself, I +should not make such ridiculous settlements, and I cannot blame you for +being in the right. + +"I have told you all my affairs with a plain sincerity. I have avoided +to move your compassion, and I have said nothing of what I suffer; and I +have not persuaded you to a _treaty_, which I am sure my family will +never agree to. I can have no fortune without an entire obedience. + +"Whatever your business is, may it end to your satisfaction. I think of +the public as you do. As little as _that_ is a woman's care, it may be +permitted into the number of a woman's fears. But, wretched as I am, I +have no more to fear for myself. I have still a concern for my friends, +and I am in pain for your danger. I am far from taking ill what you say, +I never valued myself as the daughter of----, and ever despised those +that esteemed me on that account. With pleasure I could barter all that, +and change to be any country gentleman's daughter that would have reason +enough to make happiness in privacy. My letter is too long. I beg your +pardon. You may see by the situation of my affairs 'tis without design." + + +The marriage with the gentleman unknown was thus called off--to the very +considerable anger of Lord Dorchester. Lord Pierrepont wrote offering to +come to her aid, by representing to her father the hardship he was +inflicting by endeavouring to force her inclination. He went so far as +to say that he would assist her to marry a man of moderate means, if +there were such an one in her heart. She was little used to sympathy, +and the proposal affected her deeply. "The generosity and goodness of +this letter wholly determines my softest inclinations on your side," she +wrote with unusual gentleness to Montagu on a Thursday night in August. +"You are in the wrong to suspect me of artifice; plainly showing me the +kindness of your heart (if you have any there for me) is the surest way +to touch mine, and I am at this minute more inclined to speak tenderly +to you than ever I was in my life--so much inclined I will say nothing. +I could wish you would leave England, but I know not how to object to +anything that pleases you. In this minute I have no will that does not +agree with yours." + +There is a reference in the letter just printed to a meeting of Lady +Anne and Montagu, but how often they saw each other at this time there +is no knowing. + +However, it must have been in August that, failing the consent of Lord +Dorchester to their marriage, they made up their minds to elope. From +whom the suggestion first came, who can say? Let it be hoped for the +sake of maiden modesty it came from Montagu. What drove them to this +step may well have been the fear that Lord Dorchester might, to all +intents and purposes, imprison his daughter on one of his estates. Even +at the eleventh hour, Lady Mary was determined that there should be no +misunderstanding between her and her _fiancé_. She wrote to him saying +that if she came to him in this way, she would come to him without a +portion. To this part of her letter he vouchsafed no reply, so she again +touched upon the matter. + + +"You made no reply to one part of my letter concerning my fortune. I am +afraid you flatter yourself that my F. [father] may be at length +reconciled and brought to reasonable terms. I am convinced, by what I +have often heard him say, speaking of other cases like this, he never +will. The fortune he has engaged to give with me, was settled on my B. +[brother]'s marriage, on my sister and on myself; but in such a manner, +that it was left in his power to give it all to either of us, or divide +as he thought fit. He has given it all to me. Nothing remains for my +sister, but the free bounty of my F. [father] from what he can save; +which, notwithstanding the greatness of his estate, may be very little. +Possibly, after I have disobliged him so much, he may be glad to have +her so easily provided for, with money already raised; especially if he +has a design to marry himself, as I hear. I do not speak this that you +should not endeavour to come to terms with him, if you please; but I am +fully persuaded it will be to no purpose." + + +Lady Mary assured Montagu that Lord Dorchester's attitude was this: She +had consented to an engagement with another man, that she had let him +incur an expenditure of some four hundred pounds for a trousseau, and +that, by breaking it off, had made him look foolish. In fact, her +father, she added, had given her clearly to understand that he would +entertain no dealings whatsoever with any suitor other than the one of +his choice, that he would send her to his estate in the north of +England, and that it was his intention to leave her, on his death, only +an annuity of four hundred pounds. + +As a good sportsman she at the last moment gave Montagu a chance to +retreat. + + +"He [my father] will have a thousand plausible reasons for being +irreconcileable, and 'tis very probable the world will be of his side. +Reflect now for the last time in what manner you must take me. I shall +come to you with only a night-gown and petticoat, and that is all you +will get with me. I told a lady of my friends what I intended to do. You +will think her a very good friend when I tell you she has proffered to +lend us her house if we would come there the first night. I did not +accept of this till I had let you know it. If you think it more +convenient to carry me to your lodgings, make no scruple of it. Let it +be where it will: if I am your wife I shall think no place unfit for me +where you are. I beg we may leave London next morning, wherever you +intend to go. I should wish to go out of England if it suits with your +affairs. You are the best judge of your father's temper. If you think it +would be obliging to him, or necessary for you, I will go with you +immediately to ask his pardon and his blessing. If that is not proper at +first, I think the best scheme is going to the Spa. When you come back, +you may endeavour to make your father admit of seeing me, and treat with +mine (thought I persist in thinking it will be to no purpose). But I +cannot think of living in the midst of my relations and acquaintance +after so unjustifiable a step:--unjustifiable to the world,--but I think +I can justify myself to myself. I again beg you to hire a coach to be at +the door early Monday morning, to carry us some part of our way, +wherever you resolve our journey shall be. If you determine to go to +that lady's house, you had better come with a coach and six at seven +o'clock to-morrow. She and I will be in the balcony that looks on the +road: you have nothing to do but to stop under it, and we will come down +to you. Do in this what you like best. After all, think very seriously. +Your letter, which will be waited for, is to determine everything. I +forgive you a coarse expression in your last, which, however, I wish had +not been there. You might have said something like it without expressing +it in that manner; but there was so much complaisance in the rest of it +I ought to be satisfied. You can shew me no goodness I shall not be +sensible of. However, think again, and resolve never to think of me if +you have the least doubt, or that it is likely to make you uneasy in +your fortune. I believe to travel is the most likely way to make a +solitude agreeable, and not tiresome: remember you have promised it." + + +Even in this hour of excitement Lady Mary did not lose her head, and she +asked for a settlement that would make her easy in her mind. + + +"Tis something odd for a woman that brings nothing to expect anything; +but after the way of my education, I dare not pretend to live but in +some degree suitable to it. I had rather die than return to a dependancy +upon relations I have disobliged. Save me from that fear if you love me. +If you cannot, or think I ought not to expect it, be sincere and tell me +so. 'Tis better I should not be yours at all, than, for a short +happiness, involve myself in ages of misery. I hope there will never be +occasion for this precaution; but, however, 'tis necessary to make it. I +depend entirely on your honour, and I cannot suspect you of any way +doing wrong. Do not imagine I shall be angry at anything you can tell +me. Let it be sincere; do not impose on a woman that leaves all things +for you." + + +No woman could be more sensible than was Lady Mary at this time, and +she gave expression to the most exemplary sentiments. + + +"A woman that adds nothing to a man's fortune ought not to take from his +happiness. If possible I would add to it; but I will not take from you +any satisfaction you could enjoy without me." + +"If we marry, our happiness must consist in loving one another: 'tis +principally my concern to think of the most probable method of making +the love eternal." + +"There is one article absolutely necessary--to be ever beloved, one must +be ever agreeable." + +"Very few people that have settled entirely in the country but have +grown at length weary of one another. The lady's conversation generally +falls into a thousand impertinent effects of idleness, and the gentleman +falls _in_ love with his dogs and horses and _out_ of love with +everything else." + + +And so on. + +Possibly if Lady Mary had had less brains and more passion, if she had +not so calmly worked out the permutations and combinations of married +life, the alliance might have been more successful. She, with all her +intelligence, did not seem to realise that matrimony is not an affair of +rules and regulations, of aphorisms and epigrams, nor that the lines on +which husband and wife shall conduct themselves to a happy ending can be +settled by a study of vulgar fractions. + +Anyhow, the plunge was at last taken--with some not unnatural +trepidation on the part of the twenty-three-year-old bride. On Friday +night, August 15, 1712, she wrote to Montagu: + + +"I tremble for what we are doing.--Are you sure you will love me for +ever? Shall we never repent? I fear and I hope. I forsee all that will +happen on this occasion. I shall incense my family in the highest +degree. The generality of the world will blame my conduct, and the +relations and friends of ---- will invent a thousand stories of me; yet, +'tis possible, you may recompense everything to me. In this letter, +which I am fond of, you promise me all that I wish. Since I writ so far, +I received your Friday letter. I will be only yours, and I will do what +you please. + +"You shall hear from me again to-morrow, not to contradict, but to give +some directions. My resolution is taken. Love me and use me well." + + +The wedding licence is dated August 16, and the marriage took place in a +day or two. + +The bride had the active assistance of her uncle, William Feilding, who +may have been present at the ceremony; and the full sympathy of her +brother, Lord Kingston, who, however, did not accompany her, perhaps +deeming it impolitic to quarrel with his father. + +The family must have thought that Lord Dorchester would examine Lady +Mary's papers, for her sister, Lady Frances destroyed all she could +find, including, unfortunately, a diary that Lady Mary had kept for +several years. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY MARRIED LIFE (1712-1714) + +An uneventful existence--Montagu's Parliamentary duties take him to +London--Lady Mary stays mostly in the country--Correspondence--Montagu a +careless husband, but very careful of his money--Later he becomes a +miser--Lady Mary does not disguise the tedium of her existence-- +Concerning a possible reconciliation with her father--Lord Pierrepont +of Hanslope--Lord Halifax--Birth of a son, christened after his father, +Edward Wortley Montagu--The mother's anxiety about his health--Family +events--Lady Evelyn Pierrepont marries Baron (afterwards Earl) Gower--Lady +Frances Pierrepont marries the Earl of Mar--Lord Dorchester marries +again--Has issue, two daughters--the death of Lady Mary's brother, +William--His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the Dukedom of +Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in 1714--The death +of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in the country-- +Lady Mary's alarm for her son. + + +The records for the first years of the married life of Edward and Lady +Mary Wortley Montagu are scanty indeed. From the wedding day until 1716, +when they went abroad, Lady Mary's life was, for months together, as +uneventful as that of the ordinary suburban housewife. Montagu's +parliamentary duties took him frequently to town, and kept him there for +prolonged periods, during which he certainly showed no strong desire for +her to join him. Lady Mary, indeed, spent most of the time in the +country. Sometimes she stayed at the seat of her father-in-law, +Wharncliffe Lodge, near Sheffield; occasionally she visited Lord +Sandwich at Hinchinbrooke; for a while they stayed at Middlethorpe, in +the neighbourhood of Bishopthorpe and York. From time to time they hired +houses in other parts of Yorkshire. The honeymoon lasted from August +until October, 1712, when Montagu had to go to Westminster. + +The first letter of this period is dated characteristically: "Walling +Wells, October 22, which is the first post I could write. Monday night +being so fatigued and sick I went straight to bed from the coach." It +starts: + + +"I don't know very well how to begin; I am perfectly unacquainted with a +proper matrimonial stile. After all, I think 'tis best to write as if we +were not married at all. I lament your absence, as if you were still my +lover, and I am impatient to hear you are got safe to Durham, and that +you have fixed a time for your return." + + +Marriage made Lady Mary more human. She no longer dwelt upon the various +points that in her maidenhood days she had thought would be conducive to +happiness in matrimonial life; she was now, anyhow for the moment, in +love with her husband, or at least persuaded herself that this was the +case, and was at pains to inform him of the fact. + + +"I have not been very long in this family; and I fancy myself in that +described in the 'Spectator,'" the letter of October 22 continues. "The +good people here look upon their children with a fondness that more than +recompenses their care of them. I don't perceive much distinction in +regard to their merits; and when they speak sense or nonsense, it +affects the parents with almost the same pleasure. My friendship for the +mother, and kindness for Miss Biddy, make me endure the squalling of +Miss Nanny and Miss Mary with abundance of patience: and my foretelling +the future conquests of the eldest daughter, makes me very well with the +family.--I don't know whether you will presently find out that this +seeming impertinent account is the tenderest expressions of my love to +you; but it furnishes my imagination with agreeable pictures of our +future life; and I flatter myself with the hopes of one day enjoying +with you the same satisfactions; and that, after as many years +together, I may see you retain the same fondness for me as I shall +certainly mine for you, and the noise of a nursery may have more charms +for us than the music of an opera. + +[_Torn_] "as these are the sure effect of my sincere love, since 'tis +the nature of that passion to entertain the mind with pleasures in +prospect; and I check myself when I grieve for your absence, by +remembering how much reason I have to rejoice in the hope of passing my +whole life with you. A good fortune not to be valued!--I am afraid of +telling you that I return thanks for it to Heaven, because you will +charge me with hypocrisy; but you are mistaken: I assist every day at +public prayers in this family, and never forget in my private +ejaculation how much I owe to Heaven for making me yours. 'Tis +candle-light, or I should not conclude so soon. + +"Pray, my dear, begin at the top, and read till you come to the bottom." + + +Montagu, for his part, was somewhat careless as regards correspondence--for +which offence she rebuked him more than once, but in the most flattering +manner. + + +"I am at present in so much uneasiness, my letter is not likely to be +intelligible, if it all resembles the confusion of my head. I sometimes +imagine you not well, and sometimes that you think of it small +importance to write, or that greater matters have taken up your +thoughts. This last imagination is too cruel for me. I will rather fancy +your letter has miscarried, though I find little probability to think +so. I know not what to think, and am very near being distracted, amongst +my variety of dismal apprehensions. I am very ill company to the good +people of the house, who all bid me make you their compliments. Mr. +White begins your health twice every day. You don't deserve all this if +you can be so entirely forgetful of all this part of the world. I am +peevish with you by fits, and divide my time between anger and sorrow, +which are equaly troublesome to me. 'Tis the most cruel thing in the +world, to think one has reason to complain of what one loves. How can +you be so careless?--is it because you don't love writing? You should +remember I want to know you are safe at Durham. I shall imagine you have +had some fall from your horse, or ill accident by the way, without +regard to probability; there is nothing too extravagant for a woman's +and a lover's fears. Did you receive my last letter? if you did not, the +direction is wrong, you won't receive this, and my question is in vain. +I find I begin to talk nonsense, and 'tis time to leave off. Pray, my +dear, write to me, or I shall be very mad." + + +Montagu was, not to put too fine a point on it, a careless husband. Not +only did he neglect to write to his wife, but he neglected, or forgot, +to keep her adequately supplied with money. She had more than once to +remind him of this. "I wish you would write again to Mr. Phipps, for I +don't hear of any money, and am in the utmost necessity for it," she +told him in November, 1712. Montagu, even at this time a well-to-do man, +found it difficult to part with his money. A couple of years later, Lady +Mary had again to say to him: "Pray order me some money, for I am in +great want, and must run into debt if you don't do it soon." Even in +these days Montagu evidently had begun to be miserly. With all his +riches, he never spent a crown when a smaller sum would suffice, and +during most of his life he, as Sir Leslie Stephen put it, "devoted +himself chiefly to saving money." + +In the winter of 1712, Lady Mary, who was with child, suffered much from +ill-health, and this was to some extent aggravated by intense boredom, +although of that boredom she wrote good-humouredly enough. + + +"I don't believe you expect to hear from me so soon, if I remember you +did not so much as desire it, but I will not be so nice to quarrel with +you on that point; perhaps you would laugh at that delicacy, which is, +however, an attendant of a tender friendship," she wrote to her husband +from Hinchinbrooke at the beginning of December, 1712. + +"I opened the closet where I expected to find so many books; to my great +disappointment there were only some few pieces of the law, and folios of +mathematics; my Lord Hinchinbrook and Mr. Twiman having disposed of the +rest. But as there is no affliction, no more than no happiness, without +alloy, I discovered an old trunk of papers, which to my great diversion +I found to be the letters of the first Earl of Sandwich; and am in hopes +that those from his lady will tend much to my edification, being the +most extraordinary lessons of economy that ever I read in my life. To +the glory of your father, I find that _his_ looked upon him as destined +to be the honour of the family. + +"I walked yesterday two hours on the terrace. These are the most +considerable events that have happened in your absence; excepting that a +good-natured robin red-breast kept me company almost all the afternoon +with so much good humour and humanity as gives me faith for the piece of +charity ascribed to these little creatures in the Children in the Wood, +which I have hitherto thought only a poetical ornament to that history. + +"I expect a letter next post to tell me you are well in London and that +your business will not detain you long from her that cannot be happy +without you." + + +Even in these early days of marriage Montagu seemed to have no love for +domestic life, and often he stayed in London when he could have been in +the country with his wife, or had her with him in town. "As much as you +say I love the town, if you think it necessary for your interest to stay +some time here, I would not advise you to neglect a certainty for an +uncertainty? but I believe if you pass the Christmas here, great matters +will be expected from your hospitality: however, you are a better judge +than I am." So Lady Mary wrote from Hinchinbrooke in the first week of +December. She did not disguise from him the tedium of her existence. + + +"I continue indifferently well, and endeavour as much as I can to +preserve myself from spleen and melancholy; not for my own sake; I think +that of little importance; but in the condition I am, I believe it may +be of very ill consequence; yet, passing whole days alone as I do, I do +not always find it possible, and my constitution will sometimes get the +better of my reason. Human nature itself, without any additional +misfortunes, furnishes disagreeable meditations enough. Life itself to +make it supportable, should not be considered too near; my reason +represents to me in vain the inutility of serious reflections. The idle +mind will sometimes fall into contemplations that serve for nothing but +to ruin the health, destroy good humour, hasten old age and wrinkles, +and bring on an habitual melancholy. 'Tis a maxim with me to be young as +long as one can: there is nothing can pay one for that invaluable +ignorance which is the companion of youth; those sanguine groundless +hopes, and that lively vanity, which make all the happiness of life. To +my extreme mortification I grow wiser every day than other [sic]. I +don't believe Solomon was more convinced of the vanity of temporal +affairs than I am; I lose all taste of this world, and I suffer myself +to be bewitched by the charms of the spleen, though I know and foresee +all the irremediable mischiefs arising from it. I am insensibly fallen +into the writing you a melancholy letter, after all my resolutions to +the contrary; but I do not enjoin you to read it: make no scruple of +flinging it into the fire at the first dull line. Forgive the ill +effects of my solitude, and think me as I am, + +"Ever yours." + + +There was still hope in the hearts of Lady Mary and her husband that it +might be possible to effect a reconciliation with Lord Dorchester. Since +apparently the Marquess was not directly approachable by either of them, +they perforce had to seek an intermediary. Such an one, they trusted at +one time, would be one of Lady Mary's relatives, Lord Pierrepont of +Hanslope. To this matter there are many allusions in the correspondence, +"The Bishop of Salisbury writes me word that he hears my Lord Pierrepont +declares very much for us," Lady Mary wrote from Hinchinbrooke early in +December to her husband in town. "As the Bishop is no infallible +prelate, I should not depend much on that intelligence; but my sister +Frances tells me the same thing. Since it is so, I believe you'll think +it very proper to pay him a visit, if he is in town, and give him thanks +for the good offices you hear he has endeavoured to do me, unasked. If +his kindness is sincere, 'tis too valuable to be neglected. However, the +very appearance of it may be of use to us. If I know him, his desire of +making my Father appear in the wrong, will make him zealous for us. I +think I ought to write him a letter of acknowledgment for what I hear he +has already done." Very shortly after, however, it appears that Lord +Pierrepont was a broken reed upon which to rely. "I did not expect," Lady +Mary said bitterly, "that my Lord Pierrepont would speak at all in our +favour, much less show zeal upon that occasion, that never showed any in +his life." You cannot put it plainer than that. + +One who did really endeavour to bring about the resumption of friendly +relations was Montagu's cousin, Charles Montagu, first Baron Halifax of +Halifax, who was afterwards created first Earl of Halifax. + +To judge from Lady Mary's comments, sometimes when Montagu did write it +had been better he should not have done so. + + +"I am alone, without any amusements to take up my thoughts. I am in +circumstances in which melancholy is apt to prevail even over all +amusements, dispirited and alone, and you write me quarrelling letters," +she rebuked him on one occasion. + +"I hate complaining; 'tis no sign I am easy that I do not trouble you +with my head-aches, and my spleen; to be reasonable one should never +complain but when one hopes redress. A physician should be the only +confidant of bodily pains; and for those of the mind, they should never +be spoke of but to them that can and will relieve 'em. Should I tell you +that I am uneasy, that I am out of humour, and out of patience, should I +see you half an hour the sooner? I believe you have kindness enough for +me to be very sorry, and so you would tell me; and things remain in +their primitive state; I chuse to spare you that pain; I would always +give you pleasure. I know you are ready to tell me that I do not ever +keep to these good maxims. I confess I often speak impertinently, but I +always repent of it. My last stupid letter was not come to you, before I +would have had it back again had it been in my power; such as it was, I +beg your pardon for it." + + +In May, 1713, Lady Mary was delivered of a boy, who was christened after +his father, Edward Wortley Montagu. Some account of his unsatisfactory +career will be given in a later chapter. As an infant, he suffered from +ill-health. + + +"I am in abundance of pain about our dear child: though I am convinced +in my reason 'tis both silly and wicked to set one's heart too fondly on +anything in this world, yet I cannot overcome myself so far as to think +of parting with him with the resignation that I ought to do," the mother +wrote from Middlethorpe at the end of July. "I hope and I beg of God he +may live to be a comfort to us both. They tell me there is nothing +extraordinary in want of teeth at his age, but his weakness makes me +very apprehensive; he is almost never out of my sight. Mrs. Behn says +that the cold bath is the best medicine for weak children, but I am very +fearful and unwilling to try any hazardous remedies. He is very cheerful +and full of play." + +"I hope the child is better than he was," she mentioned a little later; +"but I wish you would let Dr. Garth know he has a bigness in his joints, +but not much; his ankles seem chiefly to have a weakness. I should be +very glad of his advice upon it, and whether he approves rubbing them +with spirits, which I am told is good for him." Then came more +favourable news about young Edward. "I thank God this cold well agrees +with the child; and he seems stronger and better every day," Lady Mary +was able to report. "But I should be very glad, if you saw Dr. Garth, if +you asked his opinion concerning the use of cold baths for young +children. I hope you love the child as well as I do; but if you love me +at all, you'll desire the preservation of his health, for I should +certainly break my heart for him." Garth, it may be assumed, was the +famous Samuel Garth, afterwards physician-in-ordinary to George I and +author of _The Dispensary_. His views on cold baths for children of +fifteen months have not been handed down to posterity by Lady Mary. + + +Meantime things were happening in the Pierrepont family. Lady Mary's +sister, Lady Frances, had, on March 8, 1712, married John, second Baron +Gower, who afterwards was created Earl Gower. Lady Mary's other sister, +Lady Evelyn, on July 26, 1714, became the second wife of John Erskine, +sixth or eleventh Earl of Mar of the Erskine line, who presently came +into prominence as an adherent of the Pretender in the rebellion of '15, +after which he fled the country. He was created Duke of Mar by the +Pretender. Finally, the Marquess of Dorchester, being then in his +fiftieth year, took for his second wife, on August 2, 1714, Lady +Isabella Bentinck, fifth daughter of William, first Earl of Portland and +his first wife, Anne, sister of Edward, first Earl of Jersey. There was +issue of this marriage two daughters: Caroline, who married Thomas +Brand, of Kempton, Hertfordshire; and Anne, who died unmarried in 1739 +at the age of twenty. + +Already, on July 1, 1723, had died Lord Dorchester's only son and heir, +William, who took the style of Earl of Kingston. He had married Rachel, +daughter of Thomas Baynton, of Little Chalfield, Wiltshire, by whom he +had one son, named Evelyn, after his grandfather, whom he succeeded in +1726 as the second Duke of Kingston. + +The career of Evelyn was undistinguished. Born in 1711, his aunt, Lady +Mary, said of him at the age of fifteen: "The Duke of Kingston has +hitherto had so ill an education, 'tis hard to make any judgment of him; +he has his spirit, but I fear will never have his father's sense. As +young gentlemen go, 'tis possible he may make a good figure among them." +Than which it would be unkind to say anything more cutting. Of course, +honours came to him. He was created Knight of the Garter in 1741, in +which year he was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber. He rose to the +rank of colonel in the army in 1745, and twenty-seven years later was +promoted General; but it does not appear that he saw any service. The +second Duke of Kingston will, however, always be remembered for his +marriage in 1769 with the beautiful and notorious Elizabeth Chudleigh, +who was nine years his junior. She had in 1744 married secretly Augustus +John Hervey, afterwards sixth Earl of Bristol, who survived until +December, 1779. She had long been living with the Duke, but in 1769 she +obtained a divorce _a mensa et thoro_, which she believed erroneously +annulled the marriage. The Duke died in 1773, when all his titles became +extinct. His Duchess was in the following year tried before the House of +Lords for bigamy, found guilty, but, pleading benefit of peerage, was +discharged. Thus, she carried out the prognostication of Lord Chief +Justice Mansfield, who had opposed the prosecution. "The arguments about +the place of trial suggest to my mind the question about the propriety +of any trial at all," he said in a debate in the House of Lords. "_Cui +bono_? What utility is to be obtained? Suppose a conviction to be the +result?--the lady makes your lordships a courtesy, and you return a +bow." She survived, living on the continent, until 1788. As an epitaph +for her there can be nothing better than a remark of Horace Walpole: "I +can tell you nothing more extraordinary, nor would any history figure +near hers. It shows genius to strike anything so new as her +achievements. Though we have many uncommon personages, it is not easy +for them to be so superiorly particular." + +More generally interesting than these domestic matters was the political +situation. Queen Anne's life had for some time been hanging in the +balance. It was thought that she might linger for some time, but there +was no hope of her recovery. The fight that was carried on between the +supporters of the Hanoverian succession and the adherents of the +Pretender is, of course, a matter of history. On August 5, 1714, came to +the Elector of Hanover, James Craggs, junior, with a letter from the +Privy Council, dated July 31, announcing the precarious state of Anne's +health, and conveying assurances that in the event of her demise every +precaution would be taken to safeguard the rights of George Lewis. The +same night messengers arrived at Hanover from London with the news of +the death of the Queen, who had passed away on July 31, shortly after +the departure of Craggs. + +During the interval between the proclamation of the accession of George +I and his arrival, which did not take place until September 17, the +country was in a disturbed state, and it is not unnatural that Lady Mary +in Yorkshire was alarmed for the safety of herself and the child. + + +"I cannot forbear taking it something unkindly that you do not write to +me, when you may be assured I am in a great fright, and know not +certainly what to expect upon this sudden change," she wrote from +Middlethorpe to Montagu. "The Archbishop of York has been come to +Bishopthorpe but three days. I went with my cousin to-day to see the +King proclaimed, which was done; the Archbishop walking next the Lord +Mayor, all the country gentry following, with greater crowds of people +than I believed to be in York, vast acclamations, and the appearance of +a general satisfaction. The Pretender afterwards dragged about the +streets and burned. Ringing of bells, bonfires, and illuminations, the +mob crying Liberty and Property! and Long live King George! This morning +all the principal men of any figure took post for London, and we are +alarmed with the fear of attempts from Scotland, though all Protestants +seem unanimous for the Hanover succession. The poor young ladies at +Castle Howard are as much afraid as I am, being left all alone, without +any hopes of seeing their father again (though things should prove well) +this eight or nine months. They have sent to desire me very earnestly to +come to them, and bring my boy; 'tis the same thing as pensioning in a +nunnery, for no mortal man ever enters the doors in the absence of their +father, who is gone post. During this uncertainty, I think it will be a +safe retreat; for Middlethorpe stands exposed to plunderers, if there be +any at all." + + +A day or two later this letter was followed by another: + + +"You made me cry two hours last night. I cannot imagine why you use me +so ill; for what reason you continue silent, when you know at any time +your silence cannot fail of giving me a great deal of pain; and now to a +higher degree because of the perplexity that I am in, without knowing +where you are, what you are doing, or what to do with myself and my dear +little boy. However (persuaded there can be no objection to it), I +intend to go to-morrow to Castle Howard, and remain there with the young +ladies, 'till I know when I shall see you, or what you would command. +The Archbishop and everybody else are gone to London. We are alarmed +with a story of a fleet being seen from the coasts of Scotland. An +express went from thence through York to the Earl of Mar. I beg you +would write to me. 'Till you do I shall not have an easy minute. I am +sure I do not deserve from you that you should make me uneasy. I find I +am scolding, 'tis better for me not to trouble you with it; but I cannot +help taking your silence very unkindly." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I (1714) + +Lady Mary shows an increasing interest in politics--She tries to incite +her husband to be ambitious--Montagu not returned to the new +Parliament--His lack of energy--Correspondence--The Council of +Regency--The King commands Lord Townshend to form a Government--The +Cabinet--Lord Halifax, First Lord of the Treasury--Montagu appointed a +Lord Commissioner of the Treasury--Correspondence--The unsatisfactory +relations between Lady Mary and Montagu. + + +At the time of the death of Queen Anne Lady Mary began to show an +increased interest in polities, at least in so far as the career of +Montagu was bound up with it. She began to try to persuade her husband +to be, to some extent at least, ambitious. It may be that she was not +happy at the thought of being married to a man who was regarded as a +nonentity. She was always urging him to put his best foot forward. +Sometimes she wrote to him as to a naughty child. "I am very much +surprised that you do not tell me in your last letter that you have +spoke to my Father," she said in August, 1714. "I hope after staying in +the town on purpose, you do not intend to omit it. I beg you would not +leave any sort of business unfinished, remembering those two necessary +maxims, Whatever you intend to do as long as you live do as soon as you +can; and to leave nothing to be done by another that 'tis possible to do +yourself." What sort of a man must Montagu have been at the age of +thirty-six that his wife should deem it necessary to give him such +first-aid advice? + +Montagu was evidently of a procrastinating turn of mind. He had, as has +been said, sat for Huntingdon in the House of Commons from 1705 until +1713. In the latter year Parliament was dissolved on August 8, but +Montagu had made no definite plans as regards his future political +career--for some reason or other his father reserved for himself the +seat for Huntingdon. Montagu found no other constituency, and +consequently did not sit in the new Parliament that assembled on the +following November 11. + + +"I suppose you may now come in at Aldburgh, and I heartily wish you was +in Parliament," Lady Mary wrote to him. "I saw the Archbishop [of +York]'s list of the Lords Regents appointed, and perceive Lord Wharton +is not one of them; by which I guess the new scheme is not to make use +of any man grossly infamous in either party; consequently, those who +have been honest in regard to both, will stand fairest for preferment. +You understand these things much better than me; but I hope you will be +persuaded by me and your other friends (who I don't doubt will be of +opinion) that 'tis necessary for the common good for an honest man to +endeavour to be powerful, when he can be the one without losing the +first more valuable title; and remember that money is the source of +power. I hear that Parliament sits but six months; you know best whether +'tis worth any expense or bustle to be in for so short a time." + + +Lady Mary's letters now contain many references to political affairs, +anyhow in so far as they directly concern Montagu. + + +"I hope you are convinced I was not mistaken in my judgment of Lord +Pelham; he is very silly but very good-natured. I don't see how it can +be improper for you to get it represented to him that he is obliged in +honour to get you chose at Aldburgh, and may more easily get Mr. Jessop +chose at another place. I can't believe but you may manage it in such a +manner, Mr. Jessop himself would not be against it, nor would he have so +much reason to take it ill, if he should not be chose, as you have after +so much money fruitlessly spent. I dare say you may order it so that it +may be so, if you talk to Lord Townshend about it, &c. I mention this, +because I cannot think you can stand at York, or anywhere else, without +a great expense. Lord Morpeth is just now of age, but I know not whether +he'll think it worth while to return from travel upon that occasion. +Lord Carlisle is in town, you may if you think fit make him a visit, and +enquire concerning it. After all, I look upon Aldburgh to be the surest +thing. Lord Pelham is easily persuaded to any thing, and I am sure he +may be told by Lord Townshend that he has used you ill; and I know he'll +be desirous to do all things in his power to make it up. In my opinion, +if yon resolve upon an extraordinary expense to be in Parliament, you +should resolve to have it turn to some account. Your father is very +surprizing if he persists in standing at Huntingdon; but there is +nothing surprizing in such a world as this." + + +Later in August Lady Mary wrote again on the same subject, and this +letter shows that she had been at pains to acquire some practical +knowledge of borough-mongering. + + +"You seem not to have received my letters, or not to have understood +them; you had been chose undoubtedly at York, if you had declared in +time; but there is not any gentleman or tradesman disengaged at this +time; they are treating every night. Lord Carlisle and the Thompsons +have given their interest to Mr. Jenkins. I agree with you of the +necessity of your standing this Parliament, which, perhaps, may be more +considerable than any that are to follow it; but, as you proceed, 'tis +my opinion, you will spend your money and not be chose. I believe there +is hardly a borough unengaged. I expect every letter should tell me you +are sure of some place; and, as far as I can perceive you are sure of +none. As it has been managed, perhaps it will be the best way to deposit +a certain sum in some friend's hands, and buy some little Cornish +borough: it would, undoubtedly, look better to be chose for a +considerable town; but I take it to be now too late. If you have any +thoughts of Newark, it will be absolutely necessary for you to enquire +after Lord Lexington's interest; and your best way to apply yourself to +Lord Holdernesse, who is both a Whig and an honest man. He is now in +town, and you may enquire of him if Brigadier Sutton stands there; and +if not, try to engage him for you. Lord Lexington is so ill at the Bath, +that it is a doubt if he will live 'till the election; and if he dies, +one of his heiresses, and the whole interest of his estate, will +probably fall on Lord Holdernesse. + +"'Tis a surprise to me that you cannot make sure of some borough, when +so many of your friends bring in several Parliament-men without trouble +or expense. 'Tis too late to mention it now, but you might have applied +to Lady Winchester, as Sir Joseph Jekyl did last year, and by her +interest the Duke of Bolton brought him in for nothing; I am sure she +would be more zealous to serve me than Lady Jekyl. You should understand +these things better than me. I heard, by a letter last post, that Lady +M. Montagu and Lady Hinchinbrooke are to be Bedchamber Ladies to the +Princess, and Lady Townshend Groom of the Stole. She must be a strange +Princess if she can pick a favourite out of them; and as she will be one +day Queen, and they say has an influence over her husband, I wonder they +don't think fit to place women about her with a little common sense." + + +Again, in the middle of September Lady Mary returned to the subject of +Montagu finding a seat in the House: + + +"I cannot be very sorry for your declining at Newark, being very +uncertain of your success; but I am surprized you do not mention where +you intend to stand. Dispatch, in things of this nature, if not a +security, at least delay is a sure way to lose, as you have done, being +easily chose at York, for not resolving in time, and Aldburgh, for not +applying soon enough to Lord Pelham. Here are people here had rather +choose Fairfax than Jenkins, and others that prefer Jenkins to Fairfax; +but both parties, separately, have wished to me you would have stood, +with assurances of having preferred you to either of them. At Newark, +Lord Lexington has a very considerable interest. If you have any +thoughts of standing, you must endeavour to know how he stands affected; +though I am afraid he will assist Brigadier Sutton, or some other Tory. +Sir Matthew Jenison has the best interest of any Whig; but he stood last +year himself, and will, perhaps, do so again. Newdigate will certainly +be chose there for one. Upon the whole, 'tis the most expensive and +uncertain place you can stand at. Tis surprizing to me, that you are all +this while in the midst of your friends without being sure of a place, +when so many insignificant creatures come in without any opposition. +They say Mr. Strickland is sure at Carlisle, where he never stood +before. I believe most places are engaged by this time. I am very sorry, +for your sake, that you spent so much money in vain last year, and will +not come in this, when you might make a more considerable figure than +you could have done then. I wish Lord Pelham would compliment Mr. Jessop +with his Newark interest, and let you come in at Aldburgh." + + +On the death of the Queen, the Council, which had assembled at +Kensington Palace, adjourned to St. James's. By the Regency Bill the +administration of the government (in the event of the King being absent +from the realm at the time of his accession to the throne) devolved upon +the holders for the time being of the Great Officers of State: the +Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Thomas Tenison), the Lord Chancellor +(Simon, Lord Harcourt), the Lord President (John, Duke of +Buckinghamshire), the Lord High Treasurer (Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury), +the Lord Privy Seal (William, Earl of Dartmouth), the First Lord of the +Admiralty (Thomas, Earl of Strafford), and the Lord Chief Justice of the +King's Bench (Sir Thomas Parker, afterwards Earl of Macclesfield). Under +another clause of the Regency Act the Sovereign was entitled to nominate +a number of Lords Justices. Baron von Bothmer, the Hanovarian Envoy +Extraordinary to the Court of St. James's, opened the sealed packet +containing the Commission of Regency, drawn up by George after the death +of his mother. The King's nominees were the Archbishop of York, the +Dukes of Shrewsbury,[1] Somerset, Bolton, Devonshire, Kent, Argyll, +Montrose, and Roxborough; the Earls of Pembroke, Anglesea, Carlisle, +Nottingham, Abingdon, Scarborough, and Oxford; Viscount Townshend; and +Barons Halifax and Cowper. Marlborough was not in the Commission, but he +was appointed Captain-General of the Forces. + +[Footnote 1: The Commission was, of course, made out before the Duke of +Shrewsbury was given the White Staff, the possession of which made him a +Lord Justice in virtue of his office.] + +From The Hague, where he arrived on September 5, 1714, George I sent +authority to Charles, Viscount Townshend, to form a Cabinet, with power +to nominate his colleagues. Townshend took the office of Secretary of +State for the Northern Department, and appointed James Stanhope +Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Lord Halifax became +First Lord of the Treasury; Lord Cowper, Lord Chancellor; the Earl of +Nottingham, Lord President; the Marquis of Wharton, Lord Privy Seal; the +Earl of Oxford, First Lord of the Admiralty; the Earl of Sunderland, +Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; Robert Walpole, Paymaster-General of the +Forces. As Captain-General Marlborough was in the Cabinet. + +Lord Halifax, when making out the Commission of the Treasury, invited +his cousin Montagu to be one of the Commissioners, although the latter +had not secured a seat in Parliament. "It will be surprizing to add," +says Lady Mary, "that he hesitated to accept it at a time when his +father was alive and his present income very small; but he had certainly +refused it if he had not been persuaded to it by a rich old uncle of +mine, Lord Pierrepont, whose fondness for me gave him expectations of a +large legacy." Lady Mary, though glad enough that her husband had been +given a place, was not over and above delighted that it was one so +modest. + + +_Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to her Husband_ + +[Enclosed, September 24, 1714.] + +"Though I am very impatient to see you, I would not have you, by +hastening to come down, lose any part of your interest. I am surprized +you say nothing of where you stand. I had a letter from Mrs. Hewet last +post, who said she heard you stood at Newark, and would be chose without +opposition; but I fear her intelligence is not at all to be depended on. +I am glad you think of serving your friends; I hope it will put you in +mind of serving yourself. I need not enlarge upon the advantages of +money; every thing we see, and every thing we hear, puts us in +remembrance of it. If it was possible to restore liberty to your +country, or limit the encroachments of the prerogative, by reducing +yourself to a garret, I should be pleased to share so glorious a poverty +with you; but as the world is, and will be, 'tis a sort of duty to be +rich, that it may be in one's power to do good; riches being another +word for power, towards the obtaining of which the first necessary +qualification is impudence, and (as Demosthenes said of pronunciation in +oratory) the second is impudence, and the third, still, impudence. No +modest man ever did or ever will make his fortune. Your friend Lord +H[alifa]x, R. W[alpo]le, and all other remarkable instances of quick +advancement, have been remarkably impudent. The Ministry is like a play +at Court; there's a little door to get in, and a great crowd without, +shoving and thrusting who shall be foremost: people who knock others +with their elbows, disregard a little kick of the shins, and still +thrust heartily forwards, are sure of a good place. Your modest man +stands behind in the crowd, is shoved about by every body, his cloaths +tore, almost squeezed to death, and sees a thousand get in before him, +that don't make so good a figure as himself. + +"I don't say it is impossible for an impudent man not to rise in the +world; but a moderate merit, with a large share of impudence, is more +probable to be advanced, than the greatest qualifications without it. + +"If this letter is impertinent, it is founded upon an opinion of your +merit, which, it if is a mistake, I would not be undeceived in: it is my +interest to believe (as I do) that you deserve every thing, and are +capable of every thing; but nobody else will believe you if they see you +get nothing." + + +[Postmark, October 6, 1714.] + +"I cannot imagine why you should desire that I should not be glad, +though from a mistake, since, at least, it is an agreeable one. I +confess I shall ever be of opinion, if you are in the Treasury, it will +be an addition to your figure and facilitate your election, though it is +no otherwise advantageous; and that, if you have nothing when all your +acquaintance are preferred, the world generally will not be persuaded +that you neglect your fortune, but that you are neglected." + + +[Endorsed, October 9, 1714.] + +"You do me wrong in imagining (as I perceive you do) that my reason for +being solicitous for your having that place, was in view of spending +more money than we do. You have no cause of fancying me capable of such +a thought. I don't doubt but Lord H[alifa]x will very soon have the +Staff, and it is my belief you will not be at all the richer: but I +think it looks well, and may facilitate your election; and that is all +the advantage I hope from it. When all your intimate acquaintance are +preferred, I think you would have an ill air in having nothing; upon +that account only, I am sorry so many considerable places are disposed +on [_sic_]. I suppose, now, you will certainly be chose somewhere or +other; and I cannot see why you should not pretend to be Speaker. I +believe all the Whigs would be for you, and I fancy you have a +considerable interest amongst the Tories, and for that reason would be +very likely to carry it. 'Tis impossible for me to judge of this so well +as you can do; but the reputation of being thoroughly of no party, is (I +think) of use in this affair, and I believe people generally esteem you +impartial; and being chose by your country is more honourable than +holding _any_ place from _any_ king." + + +The relations between Lady Mary and her husband did not improve. Not +only did he neglect to write to her when he left her in the country, but +he does not at any time appear to have had any desire to have her with +him in town. Lady Mary showed extreme, in fact overmuch, forbearance, +but towards the end of November her patience gave out: "I cannot forbear +any longer telling you, I think you use me very unkindly." + + +"I don't say so much of your absence, as I should do if you was in the +country and I in London; because I would not have you believe I am +impatient to be in town, when I say I am impatient to be with you; but I +am very sensible I parted with you in July and 'tis now the middle of +November," she went on to say. "As if this was not hardship enough, you +do not tell me you are sorry for it. You write seldom, and with so much +indifference as shews you hardly think of me at all. I complain of ill +health, and you only say you hope 'tis not so bad as I make it. You +never enquire after your child. I would fain flatter myself you have +more kindness for me and him than you express; but I reflect with grief +a man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable, is +generally proud of those that [are] shameful and silly." + + +Lady Mary, once having given vent to her feeling of injustice, was not +concerned to mince her words: "You seem perfectly pleased with our +separation, and indifferent how long it continues.... When I reflect on +your behaviour, I am ashamed of my own: I think I am playing the part of +my Lady Winchester. At least be as generous as My Lord; and as he made +early confession of his aversion, own to me your inconstancy, and upon +my word I will give you no more trouble about it.... For my part, as +'tis my first, this is my last complaint, and your next of the kind +shall go back enclosed to you in blank paper." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU'S ACCOUNT OF THE COURT OF GEORGE I + + +Lady Mary, then, had been in Yorkshire when the Queen died, and was +still in the country, much against her will, when the King arrived on +September 18. Soon after, however, she came to town, and, so to speak, +looked around the Court. Her "Account of the Court of George I" is not +always accurate, and is certainly often prejudiced. It is not the less +interesting because the writer did not mince her words, even when +discussing the character of her friend, "Dolly" Walpole. Notwithstanding, +this bird-eye view of the royal and political circles at the accession +of the first of the Hanoverian monarchs is so valuable as to deserve +inclusion in this work. + + +"The new Court with all their train was arrived before I left the +country. The Duke of Marlborough was returned in a sort of triumph, with +the apparent merit of having suffered for his fidelity in the +succession, and was reinstated in his office of general, &c. In short, +all people who had suffered any hardship or disgrace during the late +ministry would have it believed that it was occasioned by their +attachment to the House of Hanover. Even Mr. Walpole, who had been sent +to the Tower for a piece of bribery proved upon him, was called a +confessor to the cause. But he had another piece of good luck that yet +more contributed to his advancement, he had a very handsome sister, +whose folly had lost her reputation in London; but the yet greater folly +of Lord Townshend, who happened to be a neighbour in Norfolk to Mr. +Walpole, had occasioned his being drawn in to marry her some months +before the Queen died. + +"Lord Townshend had that sort of understanding which commonly makes men +honest in the first part of their lives; they follow the instruction of +their tutor, and, till somebody thinks it worth while to show them a new +path, go regularly on in the road where they are set. Lord Townshend had +then been many years an excellent husband to a sober wife, a kind master +to all his servants and dependants, a serviceable relation whenever it +was in his power, and followed the instinct of nature in being fond of +his children. Such a sort of behaviour without any glaring absurdity, +either in prodigality or avarice, always gains a man the reputation of +reasonable and honest; and this was his character when the Earl of +Godolphin sent him envoy to the States, not doubting but he would be +faithful to his orders, without giving himself the trouble of +criticising on them, which is what all ministers wish in an envoy. +Robethon, a French refugee (secretary to Bernstorff, one of the Elector +of Hanover's ministers), happened to be at The Hague, and was civilly +received by Lord Townshend, who treated him at his table with the +English hospitality; and he was charmed with a reception which his birth +and education did not entitle him to. Lord Townshend was recalled when +the Queen changed her ministry, his wife died, and he retired into the +country, where (as I have said before) Walpole had art enough to make +him marry his sister Dolly. At that time, I believe, he did not propose +much more advantage by the match than to get rid of a girl that lay +heavy on his hands. + +"When King George ascended the throne, he was surrounded by all his +German ministers and playfellows, male and female. Baron Goertz was the +most considerable among them both for birth and fortune. He had managed +the King's treasury, for thirty years, with the utmost fidelity and +economy; and had the true German honesty, being a plain, sincere and +unambitious man. Bernstorff, the Secretary, was of a different turn. He +was avaricious, artful, and designing, and had got his share in the +King's councils by bribing his women. Robethon was employed in these +matters, and had the sanguine ambition of a Frenchman. He resolved there +should be an English ministry of his choosing; and, knowing none of them +personally but Townshend, he had not failed to recommend him to his +master, and his master to the King, as the only proper person for the +important post of Secretary of State; and he entered upon that office +with universal applause, having at that time a very popular character, +which he might probably have retained for ever if he had not been +entirely governed by his wife and her brother Robert Walpole, whom he +immediately advanced to be Paymaster, esteemed a post of exceeding +profit, and very necessary for his indebted estate. + +"But he had yet higher views, or rather he found it necessary to move +higher, lest he should not be able to keep that. The Earl of Wharton, +now Marquis, both hated and despised him. His large estate, the whole +income of which was spent in the service of the party and his own parts, +made him considerable, though his profligate life lessened that weight +that a more regular conduct would have given him. + +"Lord Halifax, who was now advanced to the dignity of Earl, and graced +with the Garter, and First Commissioner of the Treasury, treated him +with contempt. The Earl of Nottingham, who had the real merit of having +renounced the ministry in Queen Anne's reign, when he thought they were +going to alter the succession, was not to be reconciled to Walpole, whom +he looked upon as stigmatised for corruption. + +"The Duke of Marlborough, who in his old age was making the same figure +at Court that he did when he first came into it--I mean, bowing and +smiling in the antechamber while Townshend was in the closet,--was not, +however, pleased with the Walpole, who began to behave to him with the +insolence of new favour, and his Duchess, who never restrained her +tongue in her life, used to make public jokes of the beggary she first +knew him in, when her caprice gave him a considerable place, against the +opinion of Lord Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough. + +"To balance these, he had introduced some friends of his own, by his +recommendation to Lord Townshend (who did nothing but by his +instigation). Colonel Stanhope was made the Secretary of State. He had +been unfortunate in Spain, and there did not want those who attributed +it to ill conduct; but he was called generous, brave, true to his +friends, and had an air of probity which prejudiced the world in his +favour. + +"The King's character may be comprised in very few words. In private +life he would have been called an honest blockhead; and Fortune that +made him a king, added nothing to his happiness, only prejudiced his +honesty, and shortened his days. No man was ever more free from +ambition; he loved money, but loved to keep his own, without being +rapacious of other men's. He would have grown rich by saving, but was +incapable of laying schemes for getting; he was more properly dull than +lazy, and would have been so well contented to have remained in his +little town of Hanover, that if the ambition of those about him had not +been greater than his own, we should never have seen him in England; and +the natural honesty of his temper, joined with the narrow notions of a +low education, made him look upon his acceptance of the crown as an act +of usurpation, which was always uneasy to him. But he was carried by the +stream of the people about him, in that, as in every action of his life. +He could speak no English, and was past the age of learning it. Our +customs and laws were all mysteries to him, which he neither tried to +understand, nor was capable of understanding if he had endeavoured it. +He was passively good-natured, and wished all mankind enjoyed quiet, if +they would let him do so. + +"The mistress that followed him hither was so much of his own temper, +that I do not wonder at the engagement between them. She was duller than +himself, and consequently did not find out that he was so; and had lived +in that figure at Hanover almost forty years (for she came hither at +three score) without meddling in any affairs of the Electorate, content +with the small pension he allowed her, and the honour of his visits when +he had nothing else to do, which happened very often. She even refused +coming hither at first, fearing that the people of England, who, she +thought, were accustomed to use their kings barbarously, might chop off +his head in the first fortnight; and had not love or gratitude enough to +venture being involved in his ruin. And the poor man was in peril of +coming hither without knowing where to pass his evenings; which he was +accustomed to do in the apartments of women free from business. But +Madame Keilmansegg saved him from this misfortune. She was told that +Mademoiselle Schulenburg scrupled this terrible journey, and took the +opportunity of offering her service to his Majesty, who willingly +accepted it, though he did not facilitate it to her by the payment of +debts, which made it very difficult for her to leave Hanover without +permission of her creditors. But she was a woman of wit and spirit, and +knew very well of what importance this step was to her fortune. She got +out of the town in disguise, and made the best of her way in a +post-chaise to Holland, from whence she embarked with the King, and +arrived at the same time with him in England; which was enough to make +her called his mistress, or at least so great a favourite that the whole +Court began to pay her uncommon respect. + +"This lady deserves that I should be a little particular in her +character, there being something in it worth speaking of. She was past +forty; she had never been a beauty, but certainly very agreeable in her +person when adorned with youth; and had once appeared so charming to the +King, that it was said the divorce and ruin of his beautiful Princess, +the Duke of Celle's daughter, was owing to the hopes her mother (who was +declared mistress to the King's father, and all-powerful in his Court,) +had of setting her daughter in her place; and that project did not +succeed, by the passion which Madame Kielmansegg took for M. Kielmansegg, +who was a son of a merchant of Hamburg, and after having a child by him, +there was nothing left for her but to marry him. Her ambitions ran mad +with the disappointment, and died in that deplorable manner, leaving +£40,000 which she had heaped by the favour of the Elector, to this +daughter, which was very easily squandered by one of her temper. She was +both luxurious and generous, devoted to her pleasures, and seemed to have +taken Lord Rochester's resolution of avoiding all sorts of self-denial. +She had a greater vivacity in conversation than ever I knew in a German +of either sex. She loved reading, and had a taste of all polite learning. +Her humour was easy and sociable. Her constitution inclined her to +gallantry. She was well-bred and amusing in company. She knew both how +to please and be pleased, and had experience enough to know it was hard +to do either without money. Her unlimited expenses had left her with +very little remaining, and she made what haste she could to make +advantage of the opinion the English had of her power with the King, by +receiving the presents that were made her from all quarters, and which +she knew very well must cease when it was known that the King's idleness +carried him to her lodgings without either regard for her advice, or +affection for her person, which time and very bad paint had left without +any of the charms which had once attracted him. His best-beloved mistress +remained still at Hanover, which was the beautiful Countess of Platen. + +"Perhaps it will be thought a digression in this place to tell the story +of his amour with her; but, as I write only for myself, I shall always +think I am at liberty to make what digressions I think fit, proper or +improper; besides that in my opinion can set the King's character in a +clearer light. That lady was married to Madame Kielmansegg's brother, +the most considerable man in Hanover for birth and fortune; and her +beauty was as far beyond that of any of the other women that appeared. +However, the King saw her every day without taking notice of it, and +contented himself with his habitual commerce with Mademoiselle +Schulenburg. + +"In those little Courts there is no distinction of much value but what +arises from the favour of the Prince, and Madame Platen saw with great +indignation that all her charms were passed over unregarded; and she +took a method to get over this misfortune which would never have entered +into the head of a woman of sense, and yet which met with wonderful +success. She asked an audience of his Highness, who granted it without +guessing what she meant by it; and she told him that as nobody could +refuse her the first rank in that place, it was very mortifying to see +his Highness not show her any mark of favour; and as no person could be +more attached to his person than herself, she begged with tears in her +fine eyes that he would alter his behaviour to her. The Elector, very +much astonished at this complaint, answered that he did not know any +reason he had given her to believe he was wanting in respect for her, +and that he thought her not only the greatest lady, but the greatest +beauty of the court. 'If that be true, sire,' replied she, sobbing, 'why +do you pass all your time with Mademoiselle Schulenburg, while I hardly +receive the honour of a visit from you?' His Highness promised to mend +his manners, and from that time was very assiduous in waiting upon her. +This ended in a fondness, which her husband disliked so much that he +parted with her, and she had the glory of possessing the heart and +person of her master, and to turn the whole stream of courtiers that +used to attend Mademoiselle Schulenburg to her side. However, he did not +break with his first love, and often went to her apartment to cut paper, +which was his chief employment there; which the Countess of Platen +easily permitted him, having often occasion for his absence. She was +naturally gallant; and, after having thus satisfied her ambition, +pursued her warmer inclinations. + +"Young Craggs came about this time to Hanover, where his father sent him +to take a view of that court in his tour of travelling. He was in his +first bloom of youth and vigour, and had so strong an appearance of that +perfection, that it was called beauty by the generality of women: though +in my opinion there was a coarseness in his face and shape that had more +the air of a porter than a gentleman; and, if fortune had not interposed +her almighty power, he might by his birth have appeared in that figure; +his father being nothing more considerable at his first appearance in +the world than footman to Lady Mary Mordaunt, the gallant Duchess of +Norfolk, who had always half a dozen intrigues to manage. Some servant +must always be trusted in affairs of that kind and James Craggs had the +good fortune to be chose for that purpose. She found him both faithful +and discreet, and he was soon advanced to the dignity of _valet-de-chambre._ + +"King James II had an amour with her after he was upon the throne, and +respected the Queen enough to endeavour to keep it entirely from her +knowledge. James Craggs was the messenger between the King and the +Duchess, and did not fail to make the best use of so important a trust. +He scraped a great deal of money from the bounty of this royal lover, +and was too inconsiderable to be hurt by his ruin; and did not concern +much for that of his mistress, which by lower intrigues happened soon +after. This fellow, from the report of all parties, and even from that +of his professed enemies, had a very uncommon genius; a head well turned +for calculation, great industry, and was so just an observer of the +world, that the meanness of his education never appeared in his +conversation. + +"The Duke of Marlborough, who was sensible how well he was qualified for +affairs that required secrecy, employed him as his procurer both for +women and money, and he acquitted himself so well of these trusts as to +please his master, and yet raise a considerable fortune, by turning his +money in the public funds, the secret of which came often to his +knowledge by the Duke's employing him. He had this only son, whom he +looked on with the partiality of a parent, and resolved to spare nothing +in his education that could add to his figure. + +"Young Craggs had great vivacity, a happy memory, and flowing elocution, +he was brave and generous, and had an appearance of open-heartedness in +his manner that gained him a universal good-will, if not a universal +esteem. It is true there appeared a heat and want of judgment in all his +words and actions, which did not make him valuable in the eyes of cool +judges, but Madame Platen was not of that number. His youth and fire +made him appear very well worthy of his passionate addresses. Two people +so well disposed towards each other were very soon in the closest +engagement; and the first proof Madame Platen gave him of her affection +was introducing him to the favour of the Elector, who took it on her +word that he was a young man of extraordinary merit, and he named him +for Cofferer at his first accession to the Crown of England, and I +believe it was the only place that he then disposed of from any +inclination of his own. This proof of Madame Platen's favour hindered +her coming hither. + +"Bernstorff was afraid she might meddle in the distribution of places +that he was willing to keep in his own hands; and he represented to the +King that the Roman Catholic religion that she professed was an +insuperable objection to her appearance at the Court of England, at +least so early; but he gave her private hopes that things might be so +arranged as to make her admittance easy when the King was settled in his +new dominions. And with this hope she consented without much concern to +let him go without her; not reflecting that weak minds lose all +impressions by even short absences. But as her own understanding did not +furnish her with very great refinements, she was troubled with none of +the fears that would have affected a stronger head, and had too good an +opinion of her own beauty to believe anything in England could efface +it, while Madame Kielmansegg attached herself to the one thing +necessary--getting what money she could by the sale of places, and the +credulity of those who thought themselves very polite in securing her +favour. + +"Lord Halifax was one of this number; his ambition was unbounded, and he +aimed at no less than the Treasurer's staff, and thought himself in a +fine road for it by furnishing Madame Kielmansegg both with money and a +lover. Mr. Methuen was the man he picked out for that purpose. He was +one of the Lords of the Treasury; he was handsome and well-made; he had +wit enough to be able to affect any part he pleased and a romantic turn +in his conversation that could entertain a lady with as many adventures +as Othello,--and it is no ill way of gaining Desdemonas. Women are very +apt to take their lovers' characters from their own mouths; and if you +will believe Mr. Methuen's account of himself, neither Artamenes nor +Oroondates ever had more valour, honour, constancy, and discretion. Half +of these bright qualities were enough to charm Madame Kielmansegg, and +they were soon in the strictest familiarity, which continued for +different reasons, to the pleasure of both parties, till the arrival of +Mademoiselle Schulenburg, which was hastened by the German ministers, +who envied the money accumulated by Madame Kielmansegg, which they +longed to turn into another channel, which they thought would be more +easily drawn into their own hands. They took care to inform Mademoiselle +Schulenburg of the fond reception all the Germans met with in England, +and gave her a view of the immense fortune that waited her here. This +was enough to cure her fears, and she arrived accompanied by a young +niece who had already made some noise at Hanover. She had projected the +conquest of the Prince of Wales, and had so far succeeded as to obtain +his favours for some months, but the Princess, who dreaded a rival to +her power, soon put an end to the correspondence, and she was no longer +possessed of his good graces when she came hither. + +"I have not yet given the character of the Prince. The fire of his +temper appeared in every look and gesture; which, being unhappily under +the direction of a small understanding, was every day throwing him upon +some indiscretion. He was naturally sincere, and his pride told him that +he was placed above constraint; not reflecting that a high rank carries +along with it a necessity if a more decent and regular behaviour than is +expected from those who are not set in so conspicuous a light. He was +far from being of that opinion, that he looked on all men and women he +saw as creatures he might kick or kiss for his diversion; and whenever +he met with any opposition in those designs, he thought his opposers +insolent rebels to the will of God, who created them for his use, and +judged of the merit of all people by their submission to his orders, or +the relation they had to his power. And in this view, he looked upon the +Princess, as the most meritorious of her sex; and she took care to keep +him in that sentiment by all the arts she was mistress of. He had +married her by inclination; his good-natured father had been so +complaisant as to let him choose a wife for himself. She was of the +house of Anspach, and brought him no great addition either of money or +alliance; but was at that time esteemed a German beauty, and had genius +which qualified her for the government of a fool; and made her +despicable in the eyes of men of sense; I mean a low cunning, which gave +her an inclination to cheat all the people she conversed with, and often +cheated herself in the first place, by showing her the wrong side of her +interest, not having understanding enough to observe that falsehood in +conversation, like red on the face, should be used very seldom, and very +sparingly, or they destroy that interest and beauty which they are +designed to heighten. + +"Her first thought on her marriage was to secure to herself the sole and +whole direction of her spouse; and to that purpose she counterfeited the +most extravagant fondness for his person; yet, at the same time, so +devoted to his pleasures (which she often told him were the rule of all +her thoughts and actions), that whenever he thought proper to find them +with other women, she even loved whoever was instrumental to his +entertainment, and never resented anything but what appeared to her a +want of respect for him; and in this light she really could not help +taking notice that the presents made to her on her wedding were not +worthy of his bride, and at least she ought to have had all his mother's +jewels. This was enough to make him lose all respect for his indulgent +father. He downright abused his ministers, and talked impertinently to +his old grandmother the Princess Sophia, which ended in such a coldness +towards all his family as left him entirely under the government of his +wife. + +"The indolent Elector contented himself with showing his resentment by +his silence towards him; and this was the situation the family first +appeared in when they came into England. This behaviour did not, +however, hinder schemes being laid by various persons of gratifying +their ambition, or making their fortunes, by particular attachments to +each of the Royal Family." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716) + +The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British +throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her +first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing +incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England +generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal +Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady +Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's +passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters--Count +de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary and the +Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets and wits of +the day--Gay's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on her--"Court Poems." + + +It is beyond question that the accession to the British throne gave no +thrill of pleasure to the King. He was fifty-four years of age, and had +no desire to change his state. It was necessary for him, as the present +writer has said elsewhere, now to go from a country where he was +absolute, to another where, so far from being supreme, when King and +people differed on a matter of vital importance, the monarch had to give +way--the price of resistance having been fixed, at worst at death, at +best exile or civil war. He had to go from a country where he was the +wealthiest and most important personage to another where he would be +merely regarded as a minor German princeling set up as a figurehead, and +where many of the gentry were wealthier than he. This point was +appreciated by Lady Mary when she went to Hanover in November, 1716, for +she wrote from there to the Countess of Bristol: "I have now made the +tour of Germany, and cannot help observing difference between +travelling here and in England. One sees none of those fine seats of +noblemen that are so common among us, nor anything like a country +gentleman's house, though they have many situations perfectly fine. But +the whole people are divided into absolute sovereignties, where all the +riches and magnificence are at Court, or communities of merchants, such +as Nuremberg and Frankfort, where they live always in town for the +convenience of trade." + +Worse than all George must set forth by no means sure of his reception, +and with no love, nor even liking, for the people over whom he was +called to reign. That he did go at all is greatly to his credit, for he +was doubtful if he would be allowed to remain, and he never revisited +Hanover without some suspicion that he might not be able to return to +England. He would have been a much happier man if he could have remained +at his beloved Herrenhausen. He never felt he owed Britain anything, and +indeed he did not: the throne had been settled on his mother, not for +love of her, but simply because she was the only alternative to the +succession of the dreaded Roman Catholic heirs. So George came as a +visitor, rather submitting to be King of England, than anxious for the +honour, prepared to be forced by circumstances to return, little +dreaming that two hundred years later his descendants would be firmly +seated upon his throne. + +It may be mentioned that Lady Mary, as she became better acquainted with +the King, grew to like him. In the letter from Hanover just quoted, she +says: "His Majesty dines and sups constantly in public. The Court is +very numerous, and his affability and goodness make it one of the most +agreeable places in the world to me." The King was indeed at his best +when in residence at Herrenhausen. Lord Peterborough said that George +was so happy there that he believed he had forgot _the accident that +occurred to him and his family on the 1st of August_, 1714. + +It may be that, the King having taken a great fancy to Lady Mary, +modified that lady's earlier impression. When she and her husband went +to Hanover, the King, as she mentioned in one of her letters to Lady +Bristol, "has had the goodness to appoint us a lodging in one part of +the Palace, without which we should be very ill accommodated; for the +vast number of English crowds the town so much, it is very good luck to +be able to get one sorry room in a miserable tavern. I dined to-day with +the Portuguese ambassador, who thinks himself very happy to have two +wretched parlours in an inn." + +Lady Mary was, indeed, in high favour at the Courts of Hanover and St. +James's. "Mr. Wortley and his lady are here," the British Minister at +Hanover, John Clavering, wrote in December, 1716, to Lady Cowper. "They +were so very impatient to see his Majesty that they travelled night and +day from Vienna here. Her Ladyship is mighty gay and airy, and occasions +a great deal of discourse. Since her arrival the King has took but +little notice of any other lady, not even of Madame Kielmansegg, which +the ladies of Hanover don't relish very much; for my part, I can't help +rejoicing to see his Majesty prefer us to the Germans." + +It was evidently before that the following incident occurred. Lady Mary +often went to St. James's, but, as it was very dull there, was often +glad to go instead to some less august and more amusing assembly. One +evening Lady Mary particularly desired to leave early, and induced the +Duchess of Kendal to persuade the King to dismiss her. The King +reluctantly acquiesced, though, when Lady Mary made her bow, he declared +it was an act of perfidy to run away, but, in spite of that and other +complimentary remarks, she at last contrived to make her escape. + +At the foot of the staircase she met Mr. Secretary Craggs, who, seeing +her leave so early, enquired if the King had retired, but she reassured +him on that point, and dwelt complacently on the King's reluctance to +let her go. Craggs made no remark, but took her in his arms, ran +upstairs, and deposited her in the ante-chamber, whereupon the pages at +once threw open the doors leading to the King's apartment. + +"_Ah! la re-voilà _," cried his Majesty and the Duchess of Kendal, and +expressed their pleasure that she had changed her mind, but Lady Mary +was so flustered that, instead of maintaining a discreet silence she +burst out, "Oh, Lord, Sir, I have been so frightened!" and related her +adventure. + +She had scarcely finished relating her adventure, when the door was +thrown open, and Mr. Secretary Craggs was announced. He entered calmly, +and made his bow as if nothing had happened, but the King strode up to +him, and said angrily: "_Mais, comment, donc, Monsieur Craggs, est ce +que c'est l'usage de ce pays de porter des belles dames comme un sac de +froment_?" ("Is it the custom of this country to carry about fair ladies +as if they were a sack of wheat?") The culprit was dumbfounded by the +unexpected attack, and glanced reproachfully at Lady Mary for having +betrayed him, but, soon finding his wits, parried with, "There is +nothing I would not do for your Majesty's satisfaction." + +One of the reasons for the early unpopularity of George I was that he +brought with him a large suite from Hanover. + +The household that accompanied him numbered sixty-three. There was Baron +von Kielmansegg, who was Master of the Horse; Count von Platen, son of +the late Prime Minister of Hanover; and Baron von Hardenburg, Marshal of +the Court. With them came the Lutheran clergyman, Braun; a group of +physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries; five body-servants, including +the Turks, Mahomet and Mustapha; four pages, two trumpeters, a carver, +twelve footmen, eighteen cooks, three cellarmen, two housemaids, and one +washerwoman. It may be mentioned that in 1696 there were only two +washerwomen for the three hundred and seven persons, exclusive of +royalty, that at this date made up the Court of Hanover. + +The political staff that came included twenty-three persons. Baron von +Bothmer was already in England. Now arrived Baron von Bernstorff, Prime +Minister of Hanover; Baron von Schlitz-Goertz, Hanoverian Finance +Minister; Baron von Hattorf, Hanoverian Minister of War; and John +Robethon. + +To these men, who advised the King in his capacity of Elector of +Hanover, there would have been no objection had they confined their +energies to administering that country. This, unfortunately, was not the +case. Some of them, at least, notably Bernstorff and Robethon, meddled +in English politics, and most of them desired high office, lucrative +appointments, peerages, and other grants. It is certain that they must +have known that they were barred from such delights by an Act of 1700 +which carefully guarded against foreigners acquiring any share in the +government of this country. Nothing, in fact, could be more definite +than clause three of the "Act for the further limitation of the Crown": +"No person born out of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or +the dominions thereunto belonging (although he be naturalised or made a +denizen, except such as are born of English parents)," so runs clause +three of the above-mentioned Act, "shall be capable of the Privy +Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any +office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant +of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown to himself or to +any other or others in trust for him." Still, Acts of Parliament have +been repealed, and the invaders may well have hoped that, with the +King's support, their influence might increase until they were strong +enough to have the clause revoked. + +As a matter of fact, nothing of the kind happened, and no Hanoverian +statesman or court officer was appointed to any place of profit under +the Crown or rewarded for his services in the Electorate by the grant of +a British peerage. It may be noted that the Hanoverian officials, fond +as all Germans were and are of wordy distinctions, styled themselves +"Koenigliche-Gross-britannische-Kurfuerstlich-Braunschweig-Lueneburgische" +(Royal-British-Electoral-Brunswick-Luenburg) councillors or magistrates. + +The Hanoverians who were on the political side or held posts in the +Household might, by the exercise of a little tact, have lived down an +unpopularity that was the result of circumstances rather than arising +from any personal animosity. That they did not do so may be ascribed +partly, anyhow, to their own fault. + +On the other hand, nothing probably would have overcome the prejudice +against the ladies who followed George to this country. These were the +Countess Ehrengard Melusina von der Schulenburg, who, in 1716, was +created Duchess of Munster in the Irish peerage, and three years after +Duchess of Kendal, by which latter title she is more generally known, +and the Baroness von Kielmansegg (_née_ Platen), who was presently +elevated to the dignity of Countess of Darlington. It was generally +assured that these ladies were the King's mistresses, and they were +accordingly disliked not only at Court but also by the mob. One of them +when driving in London was assailed by terms of abuse--as she understood +scarcely any English, she could only go by the tone of the voices--and +putting her head out of the coach said: "Good people, why abuse us? We +come for all your goods." "Yes, damn you," cried someone, "and for our +chattels, too." The man in the crowd only voiced the general opinion, +and, it must be said, the general opinion was not far removed from the +truth. + +Of course, the Jacobites made the most of this, and, as Horace Walpole +has related, "the seraglio was food for all the venom of the Jacobites, +and, indeed, nothing could be grosser that was vomited out in lampoons, +libels, and every channel of abuse against the Sovereign and the new +Court and chanted even in their hearing in the public streets." + +It is mentioned in _Walpoliana_ that "this couple of rabbits, the +favourites, as they were called, occasioned much jocularity on their +first importation." Some of the jocularity was aroused by their +appearance. The style of beauty, or what passed for beauty, in each +country was markedly different. Hear Lady Mary Wortley Montagu writing +from Hanover in December, 1716: "I have now got into the regions of +beauty," she told Lady Rich. "All the women have literally rosy cheeks, +snowy foreheads and bosoms, jet eye-brows, and scarlet lips, to which +they generally add coal-black hair. These perfections never leave them +till the hour of their death, and have a very fine effect by candle-light, +but I could wish they were handsome with a little more variety. They +resemble one another as much as Mrs. Salmon's Court of Great Britain, +and are in much danger of melting away by too near approaching the fire +which they for that reason carefully avoid, though it is now such +excessively cold weather, that I believe they suffer extremely by that +piece of self-denial." + +The Duchess of Kendal at the time of the accession of George I was +forty-seven years of age. The King's mother, the Electress Sophia, had +commented on her to Mrs. Howard: "Look at that mawkin, and think of her +being my son's passion." If a family portrait, now in the possession of +Count Werner Schulenburg, may be trusted, she was what is called "a fine +figure of a woman"; she had blue eyes and fair hair. She was so tall +that she was nicknamed in England "the May-pole." She was certainly +determined to make the most of her opportunities, and the more eager +because at the beginning of the reign she was very doubtful whether +George I would not have hurriedly to retire to Hanover for good and all. +So doubtful of the likelihood of the duration of the Hanoverian line in +this country was she that at first she declined to accompany the +Elector, and she only changed her mind when she found the Baroness von +Kielmansegg had decided to go to England. She was in high favour with +George, and took every advantage of her influence. She left an immense +fortune, which was acquired in ways into which an eulogistic biographer +of the lady would not enquire. Certainly, she received for her good +offices large sums of money from the promoters of the South Sea Act, she +accepted bribes to secure peerages, and, it is said on the authority of +Sir Robert Walpole, that Bolingbroke presented her with £11,000 to +endeavour to secure his restoration to the royal favour. It may be +remarked, _en passant_, that Spence records that Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu said to him: "I would never be acquainted with Lord Bolingbroke, +because I always looked upon him as a vile man." + +Duchess of Kendal was not content with indulging her passion for money; +she, in matters of politics, acted as the hidden hand behind the +throne--any services that she rendered were, it is certain, adequately +remunerated. Her ascendancy over the King was unquestionable, and +Walpole was compelled to admit that she "was in effect as much Queen of +England as ever any was, that he did everything by her." She not only +used her power in connection with home affairs, but also in matters of +foreign policy, and the Count de Broglie, French Minister of the Court +of St. James, was urgent in his endeavours to secure her support. + +"As the Duchess of Kendal seemed to express a wish to see me often, I +have been very attentive to her, being convinced that it is highly +essential to the advantage of your Majesty's service to be on good terms +with her, for she is closely united with the three ministers who now +govern," the Count wrote to Louis XV on July 6, 1724, and four days +later returned to the subject: "The more I consider state affairs, the +more I am convinced that the Government is entirely in the hands of Mr. +Walpole, Lord Townshend, and the Duchess of Newcastle, who are on the +best terms with the Duchess of Kendal. The King visits her every +afternoon from five till eight, and it is there that she endeavours to +penetrate the sentiments of his Britannic majesty for the purpose of +consulting the three ministers, and pursuing the measures which may be +thought necessary for accomplishing their designs. She sent me word that +she was desirous of my friendship, and that I should place confidence in +her. I assured her that I would do everything in my power to merit her +esteem and friendship. I am convinced that she may be advantageously +employed in promoting your Majesty's service, and that it will be +necessary to employ her, though I will not trust her further than is +absolutely necessary." To these letters Louis replied on July 18: "There +is no doubt that the Duchess of Kendal, having a great ascendancy over +the King of Great Britain, and maintaining strict union with his +ministers, must materially influence their principal resolutions. You +will neglect nothing to acquire a share of her confidence, from a +conviction that nothing can be more conducive to my interests. There is, +however, a manner of giving additional value to the marks of confidence +you bestow on her in private, by avoiding in public all appearances +which might seem too pointed, by which means you will avoid falling into +the inconvenience of being suspected by those who are not friendly to +the Duchess, at the same time that a kind of mysteriousness in public on +the subject of your confidence, will give rise to a firm belief of your +having formed a friendship mutually sincere." + +The case of Lady Darlington was different. It was assured generally that +she, too, was a mistress of the King, a view that Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu accepted, and one which was endorsed by the historians and +biographers for more than a century. The first English writer to +discover the truth was Carlyle, who in his _Life of Frederick the Great_ +said: "Miss Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington, was, and is, believed +by the gossiping English to have been a second simultaneous Mistress of +His Majesty's, but seems after all to have been his Half-Sister and +nothing more." She was, in fact, a daughter of the Countess of Platen +(_née_ Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbach), not, indeed, by that lady's +husband, but by Ernest Augustus, Duke (afterwards Elector) of Hanover, +the father of George I. Only Lady Cowper seems to have known this, and +to have accepted it as a fact. Yet there was no secrecy concerning the +paternity of the Countess, and it was, of course, well-known in the +German Courts. Further, it was overlooked that in the patent of nobility +in 1721 there is a reference to the royal blood of the recipient of the +title, and actually the patent, in addition to the Great Seal, had a +miniature of the King and the arms of the houses of Platen, Kielmansegg, +and Great Britain (Brunswick-Lueneburg) with the bar-sinister.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Refutation of the scandal is to be found in a work +published in Hanover in 1902: "_Briefe des Hertzogs Ernst August zu +Braun schweig-Lüneburg an Johann Franz Diedrich von Wendt aus dem Jahren +1705 bis 1726_," edited by Erich Graf Kielmansegg.] + +All this at this time must have been very distressing to Lady Darlington, +for she was very careful of her reputation, as the following amusing +incident, given in Lady Cowper's Diary (February 4, 1716) indicates: +"Madame Kielmansegg had been told that the Prince, afterwards George II, +had said that she intrigued with all the men at Hanover. She came to +complain of this to the Princess, who replied, she did not believe the +Prince had said so, it not being his custom to speak in that manner. +Madame Kielmansegg cried and said it had made her despised, and that +many of her acquaintance had left her upon that story, but that her +husband had taken all the care she could to vindicate her reputation, +and thereupon she drew forth a certificate under her husband's hand, in +which he certified, in all the due forms, that she had always been a +faithful wife to him, and that he had never had any cause to suspect her +honesty. The Princess smiled, and said she did not doubt it at all, and +that all the trouble was very unnecessary, and that it was a very bad +reputation that wanted such a support." + +In appearance, Lady Darlington was a contrast to the Duchess of Kendal. +She was in her youth a good-looking woman, but as the years passed she +became immensely corpulent, and Horace Walpole, who saw her at his +mother's when he was a child, thus described her: "Two fierce black +eyes, large and rolling between two lofty arched eye-brows, two acres of +cheeks spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed, and was +not distinguished from the lower part of her body, and no part +restrained by stays." He christened her "Elephant and Castle." + +For a while, Lady Mary was popular also with the Prince of Wales, who +was attracted by her looks and her vivacity. It is recorded that on one +occasion when Lady Mary appeared in a gown more than usually becoming +the Prince called his wife from the card table to admire her. The +Princess came, looked, and then said calmly, "Lady Mary always dresses +so well," and went on with her game. + +It was impossible, however, even for the most tactful person in the +world to be on good terms with the King and the Prince of Wales. It is +said of George I that he was of an affectionate disposition and that +throughout his life he hated only three people in the world: his mother, +who was dead, his wife, who was imprisoned at Ahlden, and his son. It +has been said that the trouble began when in his early youth the Prince +expressed sympathy with his mother; it may be that it started from the +fact that the Prince was the son of a woman who had sullied the honour +of the Royal House. It is, however, unnecessary to look for reasons; to +hate the heir-apparent was a tradition with the Georges. + +Matters did not improve after the accession of George I to the British +throne. He disliked his daughter-in-law, Caroline, daughter of John +Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Anspach, and spoke of her as "_Cette +diablesse Madame la Princesse."_ The opposition was not slow to take +advantage of the rift, and planted itself on the side of his Royal +Highness. It proposed, on the Civil List vote, a separate revenue of +£100,000 for the Prince--which infuriated the King, as it was intended +to do. + +In 1716 George was anxious to visit his beloved Hanover, but he was torn +between the desire to do so and the dislike to leave his son in England +as Regent during his absence. Indeed, he almost decided not to go, +unless he could join others with the Prince in the administration and +limit his authority by the most rigorous restriction. To this, however, +the Government could not consent, and Townshend stated that "on a +careful persual of precedents, finding no instance of persons being +joined in commission with the Prince of Wales, and few, if any, +restrictions, they were of opinion that the constant tenour of ancient +practice could not conveniently be receded from." + +Lady Mary, like the rest of the world, found the Court dull, and she +much preferred to spend her time in the more congenial society of men of +letters. Addison, she knew, and Steele, and Arbuthnot, and Jervas, and +Gay, who presently paid her a pretty compliment in _Mr. Pope's Welcome +from Greece,_ wherein he inserted tributes to the ladies of the Court: + + "What lady's that to whom he gently bends? + Who knows her not? Ah, those are Wortley's eyes. + How art thou honour'd, number'd with her friends; + For she distinguishes the good and wise." + +Pope, too, wrote of her with appreciation: + + TO LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU + + I + + In beauty or wit, + No mortal as yet + To question your empire has dared. + But men of discerning + Have thought that in learning, + To yield to a lady was hard. + + II + + Impertinent schools, + With musty dull rules, + Have reading to females denied; + So Papists refuse + The Bible to use + Lest flocks should be wise as their guides. + + III + + Twas woman at first + (Indeed she was curst) + In knowledge that tasted delight, + And sages agree + The laws should decree + To the first possessor the right. + + IV + + Then bravely, fair dame, + Resume the old claim, + Which to your whole sex does belong; + And let men receive + From a second bright Eve + The knowledge of right and of wrong. + + V + + But if the first Eve + Hard doom did receive, + When only one apple had she, + What a punishment new + Shall be found out for you, + Who tasting, have robb'd the whole tree! + +The acquaintance with Pope began shortly after Lady Mary came to town in +the autumn of 1714. It soon developed into friendship. "Lady Mary +Wortley," Jervas wrote to the poet, probably in 1715 or early in the +following year, "ordered me by express this morning, _cedente Gayo et +ridente Fortescuvio_, to send you a letter, or some other proper notice, +to come to her on Thursday about five, which I suppose she meant in the +evening." + +There appeared in March, 1716, a volume bearing the title _Court Poems_, +the authorship being attributed to "A Lady of Quality," who, it soon +became known, was Lady Mary. The book was issued by Roberts, who had +received the three sets of verses contained in it from the notorious +piratical publisher, Edmund Curll. How the manuscript "fell" into the +hands of Curll it is not easy to imagine. Curll's account is that they +were found in a pocket-book taken up in Westminster Hall on the last day +of the trial of the Jacobite Lord Winton. Anyhow, however it came about, +the volume was published in 1716, when it was found to contain "The +Basset Table," "The Drawing Room," and "The Toilet." + +Curll was an excellent publicity agent for his wares. He wrote, or +caused to be written, a most intriguing "advertisement" about the +authorship of the poems: + + +"Upon reading them over at St. James' Coffee House, they were attributed +by the general voice to be the productions of a lady of quality. When I +produced them at Button's, the poetical jury there brought in a +different verdict; and the foreman strenuously insisted upon it that Mr. +Gay was the man. Not content with these two decisions, I was resolved to +call in an umpire, and accordingly chose a gentleman of distinguished +merit, who lives not far from Chelsea. I sent him the papers, which he +returned next day, with this answer: "Sir, depend upon it these lines +could come from no other hand than the judicious translator of Homer." +Thus, having impartially given the sentiments of the Town, I hope I may +deserve thanks for the pains I have taken in endeavouring to find out +the author of these valuable performances, and everybody is at liberty +to bestow the laurel as they please." + + +Pope was furious, and there is a story that he invited Curll to drink +wine with him at a coffee-house, and put in his glass some poison that +acted as an emetic. What is certain is that the poet wrote a pamphlet +with the title, "A full and true Account of a horrid and barbarous +Revenge by Poison on the body of Edmund Curll." + +The three pieces in _Court Poems_ were claimed by Lady Mary as her own, +but this claim was disputed. Pope declared himself the author of "The +Basset Table," and it was printed among his works, and he asserted that +"'The Toilet' is almost wholly Gay's," there being "only five or six +lines in it by that lady." "The Toilet" is included in his collected +edition of Gay's poems. + +The whole matter is best explained by that sound student of the +eighteenth century, "George Paston," who suggests that the truth seems +to be that the verses were handed round in manuscript to be read and +corrected by the writer's literary friends, and therefore they owe +something to the different hands. "George Paston" goes on to say: "Lady +Mary was not unaware of the danger of this proceeding, for Richardson +the painter relates that on one occasion she showed Pope a copy of her +verses in which she intended to make some trifling alterations, but +refused his help, saying, 'No, Pope, no touching, for then whatever is +good for anything will pass for yours, and the rest for mine.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--I (1716) + +Montagu loses his place at the Treasury--His antagonism against +Walpole--Lady Mary, "Dolly" Walpole, and Molly Skerritt--The Earl and +Countess of Mar leave England--Montagu appointed Ambassador to the +Porte--Leaves England for Constantinople, accompanied by his +wife--Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople--Rotterdam--Vienna-- +Lady Mary at Court--Her gown--Her interest in clothes--Viennese +society--Gallantry--Lady Mary's experience--Count Tarrocco--Precedence +at Vienna--A nunnery--The Montagus visit the German Courts--A dangerous +drive--Prince Frederick (afterwards Prince of Wales)--Herrenhausen. + + +Edward Wortley Montagu did not long hold office. Lord Halifax, First +Lord of the Treasury in the Townshend Administration, died in May, 1715, +when his place was taken by Lord Carlisle, who, however, held it only +until the following October. Carlisle was succeeded by Sir Robert +Walpole, promoted from the less important but far more lucrative post of +Paymaster-General. In the new Commission of the Treasury Montagu's name +did not appear. Why Montagu was removed has not transpired; it may, +indeed, be that he resigned, for he had a strong dislike for the new +Minister. There may also have been some family sentiment in the matter, +for while Lady Mary was an intimate friend of Walpole's harum-scarum +sister, "Dolly," who was now Lady Townshend, Lady Walpole was very +decidedly her enemy. Lady Mary presently had her tit-for-tat with Lady +Walpole by "taking up" Walpole's mistress, Molly Skerritt. + +It may be here mentioned that Lady Mar was at this time living with her +husband at Paris, at St. Germain, and that she remained abroad for the +rest of her life. She had left England owing to the conduct of Lord Mar +in taking an active part in the rebellion of '15. He had set up the +Pretender's standard at Braemar, had suffered defeat at Sheriffmuir, and +had been so fortunate as to escape with his master to Gravelines. In +gratitude for his services, the Pretender created Lord Mar a Duke. Mar +lived until 1732, dying at the age of fifty-seven, and he spent the +years in losing the confidence of the Jacobites and endeavouring to +ingratiate himself with the Hanoverian Kings of England--in which latter +quest he was markedly unsuccessful. His Scotch estates were confiscated, +and his title attained--the attainder of the earldom was not reversed +until 1824. + +Montagu, having tasted the sweets of office, even so minor a place as +that of a Lord of the Treasury, was not content to enjoy such pleasures +as a private life could afford. He desired to be somebody. Probably he +worried the Government of the day, possibly he pointed out to the +leaders of the Whig Party that he was possessed of parts that should +not, in justice to his country, be ignored. He may even have approached +the Throne. It is not inconceivable that he made himself a nuisance to +all concerned. + +Anyhow, it was ultimately decided that something must be done with him. +But what? Austria and Turkey were at war in 1716; what better than to +send Montagu as Ambassador to the Porte, with a mission to endeavour to +reconcile the protagonists? He was appointed to this post on June 5. + +It was while accompanying her husband on this mission that Lady Mary +wrote her famous "Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople," which +constitute a very important document on the state of Europe at the time. +It is by no means certain, however, that, in the first instance, these +reflections were all cast in letter-form; it is much more likely that +some were written in a diary. The letters appear as addressed to the +Countess of Bristol, to the Princess of Wales, to Mrs. Thistlethwayte, +to Lady Rich, to Alexander Pope, to the Abbé Conti, to Miss Sarah +Chiswell, to Mrs. Hewet, to Lady Mary's sister, the Countess of Mar, and +others. + +At the beginning of August, 1716, Montagu, with his wife and son, and, +it is to be presumed, his suite, left England, and, after a very bad +crossing, landed at Rotterdam. From that city, the cleanliness of which +surprised and delighted Lady Mary--"you may see the Dutch maids washing +the pavement of the street with more application than ours do our +bed-chambers"--the party proceeded by way of the Hague, Nimeguen, +Cologne, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Wurzberg, and Ratisbon to Vienna, where +they arrived during the first week in September. + +Lady Mary was all impatient to go to Court, for, as she put it, "I am +not without a great impatience to see a beauty that has been the +admiration of so many nations," but she was forced to stay for a gown, +without which there was no waiting on the Empress. Presently the gown +was ready, and Lady Mary was presented. + + +"I was squeezed up in a gown" (she wrote to her sister, Lady Mar), "and +adorned with a gorget and the other implements thereunto belonging: a +dress very inconvenient, but which certainly shews the neck and shape to +great advantage. I cannot forbear in this place giving you some +description of the fashions here which are more monstrous and contrary +to all common sense and reason, than 'tis possible for you to imagine. +They build certain fabrics of gauze on their heads about a yard high, +consisting of three or four stories fortified with numberless yards of +heavy ribbon. The foundation of this structure is a thing they call a +_Bourle_ which is exactly of the same shape and kind, but about four +times as big, as those rolls our prudent milk-maids make use of to fix +their pails upon. This machine they cover with their own hair, which +they mix with a great deal of false, it being a particular beauty to +have their heads too large to go into a moderate tub. Their hair is +prodigiously powdered, to conceal the mixture, and set out with three or +four rows of bodkins (wonderfully large, that stick [out] two or three +inches from their hair), made of diamonds, pearls, red, green, and +yellow stones, that it certainly requires as much art and experience to +carry the load upright, as to dance upon May-day with the garland. Their +whalebone petticoats outdo ours by several yards circumference, and +cover some acres of ground. + +"You may easily suppose how much this extraordinary dress sets off and +improves the natural ugliness with which God Almighty has been pleased +to endow them all generally. Even the lovely Empress herself is obliged +to comply, in some degree, with these absurd fashions, which they would +not quit for all the world." + + +The above passage is the more interesting because it has so often been +asserted that Lady Mary took no interest in dress. As a matter of fact, +however, there are several indications in her letters that she thought a +good deal about clothes. + +"My little commission is hardly worth speaking of; if you have not +already laid out that small sum in St. Cloud ware, I had rather have it +in plain lutestring of any colour," she wrote in June, 1721, to her +sister, Lady Mar, at Paris. + +"I would have no black silk, having bought here," she said on another +occasion; and again, "My paper is done, and I will only put you in mind +of my lutestring, which I beg you will send me plain, of what colour you +please." "Dear Sister, adieu," she wrote in 1723. "I have been very free +in this letter, because I think I am sure of its going safe. I wish my +nightgown may do the same: I only choose that as most convenient to you; +but if it was equally so, I had rather the money was laid out in plain +lutestring, if you could send me eight yards at a time of different +colours, designing it for linings; but if this scheme is impracticable, +send me a nightgown _à la mode_." + +Apparently Lady Mar was careless or forgetful of the commission, for a +little later Lady Mary was writing pathetically: "I wish you would think +of my lutestring, for I am in terrible want of linings." + +The account of the Austrian Court of the day, as given by Lady Mary, is +invaluable, for there is no other available written by an English person +accustomed to another Court. + +Lady Mary's descriptions of Viennese society are also delightful, and if +she wrote of the royal circle with respect, she bubbled over with +merriment when writing of folk less highly placed. A letter of hers to +Lady Rich is too delicious to be omitted. + + +"I have compassion for the mortifications that you tell me befall our +little friend, and I pity her much more, since I know that they are only +owing to the barbarous customs of our country. Upon my word, if she was +here, she would have no other fault but being something too young for +the fashion, and she has nothing to do but to transplant hither about +seven years hence, to be again a young and blooming beauty. I can assure +you that wrinkles, or a small stoop in the shoulders, nay, even grey +hair itself, is no objection to the making new conquests. I know you +cannot easily figure to yourself a young fellow of five-and-twenty +ogling my Lady Suffolk with passion, or pressing to lead the Countess of +Oxford from an opera. But such are the sights I see every day, and I +don't perceive any body surprised at them but myself. A woman, till +five-and-thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly +make no noise in the world till about forty. I don't know what your +ladyship may think of this matter; but 'tis a considerable comfort to +me, to know there is upon earth such a paradise for old women; and I am +content to be insignificant at present, in the design of returning when +I am fit to appear nowhere else. I cannot help lamenting upon this +occasion, the pitiful case of too many good English ladies, long since +retired to prudery and ratafia, whom if their stars had luckily +conducted hither, would still shine in the first rank of beauties; and +then that perplexing word reputation has quite another meaning here than +what you give it at London; and getting a lover is so far from losing, +that 'tis properly getting reputation; ladies being much more +respected in regard to the rank of their lovers, than that of their +husbands. + +"But what you'll think very odd, the two sects that divide our whole +nation of petticoats, are utterly unknown. Here are neither coquettes +nor prudes. No woman dares appear coquette enough to encourage two +lovers at a time. And I have not seen any such prudes as to pretend +fidelity to their husbands, who are certainly the best-natured set of +people in the world, and they look upon their wives' gallants as +favourably as men do upon their deputies, that take the troublesome part +of their business off of their hands; though they have not the less to +do; for they are generally deputies in another place themselves; in one +word, 'tis the established custom for every lady to have two husbands, +one that bears the name, and another that performs the duties. And these +engagements are so well known, that it would be a downright affront, and +publicly resented, if you invited a woman of quality to dinner, without +at the same time inviting her two attendants of lover and husband, +between whom she always sits in state with great gravity. These +sub-marriages generally last twenty years together, and the lady often +commands the poor lover's estate even to the utter ruin of his family; +though they are as seldom begun by any passion as other matches. But a +man makes but an ill figure who is not in some commerce of this nature; +and a woman looks out for a lover as soon as she's married, as part of +her equipage, without which she could not be genteel; and the first +article of the treaty is establishing the pension, which remains to the +lady though the gallant should prove inconstant; and this chargeable +point of honour I look upon as the real foundation of so many wonderful +instances of constancy. I really know several women of the first +quality, whose pensions are as well known as their annual rents, and yet +nobody esteems them the less; on the contrary, their discretion would be +called in question, if they should be suspected to be mistresses for +nothing; and a great part of their emulation consists in trying who +shall get most; and having no intrigue at all is so far a disgrace that, +I'll assure you, a lady, who is very much my friend here, told me but +yesterday, how much I was obliged to her for justifying my conduct in a +conversation on my subject, where it was publicly asserted that I could +not possibly have common sense, that I had been about town above a +fortnight, and had made no steps towards commencing an amour. My friend +pleaded for me that my stay was uncertain; and she believed that was the +cause of my seeming stupidity and this was all she could find to say in +my justification." + + +But Lady Mary, though only twenty-seven, and therefore, according to her +own account, much too youthful for the gallants of Vienna, yet had an +experience: + + +"But one of the pleasantest adventures I ever met in my life was last +night, and which will give you a just idea after what a delicate manner +the _belles passions_ are managed in this country. I was at the assembly +of the Countess of ----, and the young Count of ---- led me down stairs, +and he asked me how long I intended to stay here? I made answer that my +stay depended on the emperor, and it was not in my power to determine +it. Well, madam, (said he), whether your time here is to be long or +short, I think you ought to pass it agreeably, and to that end you must +engage in a little affair of the heart.--My heart (answered I gravely +enough) does not engage very easily, and I have no design of parting +with it. I see, madam, (said he sighing,) by the ill nature of that +answer, that I am not to hope for it, which is a great mortification to +me that am charmed with you. But, however, I am still devoted to your +service; and since I am not worthy of entertaining you myself, do me the +honour of letting me know whom you like best among us, and I'll engage +to manage the affair entirely to your satisfaction.--You may judge in +what manner I should have received this compliment in my own country, +but I was well enough acquainted with the way of this, to know that he +really intended me an obligation, and thanked him with a grave +courtesy for his zeal to serve me, and only assured him that I had no +occasion to make use of it. + +"Thus you see, my dear, gallantry and good-breeding are as different, in +different climates, as morality and religion. Who have the rightest +notions of both, we shall never know till the day of judgment, for which +great day of _éclaircissement_, I own there is very little impatience in +your, &c." + + +Love-making was indeed one of the principal pastimes at Vienna. There +was Count Tarrocco (who was in attendance on the Prince of Portugal), +and, as she told Lady Mar, "just such a Roman Catholic as you." "He +succeeds greatly with the devout beauties here," she went on to say; +"his first overtures in gallantry are disguised under the luscious +strains of spiritual love, that were sung formerly by the sublimely +voluptuous Fenelon and the tender Madam Guion, who turned the spirit of +carnal love to divine objects; thus the Count begins with the spirit and +ends generally with the flesh, when he makes his addresses to holy +virgins." Presently, she teased her sister about this same young man. +"Count Tarrocco is just come in," she wrote. "He is the only person I +have excepted in my general order to receive no company--I think I see +you smile--but I am not so far gone as to stand in need of absolution; +though as my heart is deceitful, and the Count very agreeable, you may +think that even though I should not want an absolution, I would +nevertheless be glad to have an indulgence.--No such thing. However, as +I am a heretic, and you no confessor, I shall make no more declarations +on this head.--The design of the Count's visit is a ball;--more +pleasure--I shall be surfeited." + +The "phlegm of the country" surprised Lady Mary, who declared that it +was not from Austria that one could write with vivacity--and by her +letters at once disproved her statement. According to her, amours and +quarrels were carried on calmly and almost good-temperedly. Strong +feelings only came into play when points of ceremony were concerned. A +man not only scorned to marry a woman of family less illustrious than +his own, but even to make love to her--"the pedigree is much more +considered by them than either the complexion or features of their +mistresses. Happy are the shes that can number among their ancestors +Counts of the Empire; they have neither occasion for beauty, money, or +good conduct to get them husbands." How far this passion for rank and +precedence went is indicated by an amusing incident related by Lady +Mary. + + +"'Tis not long since two coaches, meeting in a narrow street at night, +the ladies in them not being able to adjust the ceremonial of which +should go back, sat there with equal gallantry till two in the morning, +and were both so fully determined to die upon the spot, rather than +yield in a point of that importance, that the street would never have +been cleared till their deaths, if the emperor had not sent his guards +to part them; and even then they refused to stir, till the expedient was +found out of taking them both out in chairs exactly at the same moment; +after which it was with some difficulty the _pas_ was decided between +the two coachmen, no less tenacious of their rank than the ladies." + + +Lady Mary herself was, of course, unaffected, because, as the wife of an +ambassador, she, by their own customs, had the _pas_ before all other +ladies--to the great envy of the town. + +Lady Mary, who had had enough of solitude during her long residence in +Yorkshire, now in Vienna was determined to enjoy herself and flung +herself into all the social gaieties. She went everywhere and met +everyone. She dined at the villa of Count Schönbrunn, the +Vice-Chancellor; she attended all the assemblies of Madame Rabutin and +the other leaders of society, and all the "gala days"; she danced; she +went to the theatre, and, then, as a contrast, to a nunnery, which left +her unhappy, as, indeed, she put on record: + + +"I was surprised to find here the only beautiful young woman I have +seen at Vienna, and not only beautiful, but genteel, witty, and +agreeable, of a great family, and who had been the admiration of the +town. I could not forbear shewing my surprise at seeing a nun like her. +She made me a thousand obliging compliments, and desired me to come +often. It will be an infinite pleasure to me, (said she, sighing,) to +see you; but I avoid, with the greatest care, seeing any of my former +acquaintance, and whenever they come to our convent, I lock myself in +my cell. I observed tears come into her eyes, which touched me +extremely, and I began to talk to her in that strain of tender pity she +inspired me with; but she would not own to me that she is not perfectly +happy. I have since endeavoured to learn the real cause of her +retirement, without being able to get any other account, but that every +body was surprised at it, and nobody guessed the reason. + +"I have been several times to see her; but it gives me too much +melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried alive, and I am +not surprised that nuns have so often inspired violent passions; the +pity one naturally feels for them, when they seem worthy of another +destiny, making an easy way for yet more tender sentiments; and I never +in my life had so little charity for the Roman-catholic religion as +since I see the misery it occasions; so many poor unhappy women! and the +gross superstition of the common people, who are, some or other of them, +day and night offering bits of candle to the wooden figures that are set +up almost in every street. The processions I see very often, are a +pageantry as offensive, and apparently contradictory to all common +sense, as the pagodas of China. God knows whether it be the womanly +spirit of contradiction that works in me; but there never before was so +much zeal against popery in the heart of, + +"Dear madam, &c." + + +In November the Montagus interrupted their stay at Vienna to visit some +of the German Courts. They went to Prague, where the attire of the +ladies amused Lady Mary. "I have been visited by some of the most +considerable ladies, whose relations I know at Vienna," she wrote to +Lady Mar. "They are dressed after the fashions there, as people at +Exeter imitate those of London; that is, the imitation is more excessive +than the original; 'tis not easy to describe what extraordinary figures +they make. The person is so much lost between head-dress and petticoat, +they have as much occasion to write upon their backs 'This is a woman,' +for the information of travellers, as ever sign-post painter had to +write, 'This is a bear.'" From Prague to Dresden, travelling thither by +a most alarming route: + + +"You may imagine how heartily I was tired with twenty-four hours' +post-travelling [to Dresden], without sleep or refreshment (for I can +never sleep in a coach, however fatigued). We passed by moonshine the +frightful precipices that divide Bohemia from Saxony, at the bottom of +which runs the river Elbe; but I cannot say that I had reason to fear +drowning in it, being perfectly convinced that, in case of a tumble, it +was utterly impossible to come alive to the bottom. In many places the +road is so narrow, that I could not discern an inch of space between the +wheels and the precipice. Yet I was so good a wife not to wake Mr. +Wortley, who was fast asleep by my side, to make him share in my fears, +since the danger was unavoidable, till I perceived by the bright light +of the moon, our postilions nodding on horseback, while the horses were +on a full gallop, and I thought it very convenient to call out to desire +them to look where they were going. My calling waked Mr. Wortley, and he +was much more surprised than myself at the situation we were in, and +assured me that he had passed the Alps five times in different places, +without ever having gone a road so dangerous. I have been told since it +is common to find the bodies of travellers in the Elbe; but, thank God, +that was not our destiny; and we came safe to Dresden, so much tired +with fear and fatigue, it was not possible for me to compose myself to +write." + + +From Dresden the travellers visited Leipzig, and then went to Brunswick, +and afterwards to Hanover, where they paid their respects to George I. +It was there that Lady Mary first made the acquaintance of the eldest +son of the Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis, himself presently Prince +of Wales and father of George III. He was then nine years of age. + + +"I am extremely pleased that I can tell you, without either flattery or +partiality, that our young Prince has all the accomplishments that it is +possible to have at his age, with an air of sprightliness and +understanding, and something so very engaging and easy in his behaviour, +that he needs not the advantage of his rank to appear charming. I had +the honour of a long conversation with him last night, before the King +came in. His governor retired on purpose (as he told me afterwards) that +I might make some judgment of his genius, by hearing him speak without +constraint; and I was surprised at the quickness and politeness that +appeared in every thing he said; joined to a person perfectly agreeable, +and the fine fair hair of the Princess." + + +Amazed as Lady Mary was at the size of the Palace at Hanover which, she +said, was capable of holding a greater court than that of St. James's, +and the opera-house which was larger than that at Vienna, what +principally amazed her was the orangery at Herrenhausen and what +principally delighted her was the use of stoves, then unknown in +England. + + +"I was very sorry that the ill weather did not permit me to see +Herrenhausen in all its beauty; but, in spite of the snow, I thought the +gardens very fine" (she wrote with enthusiasm to Lady Mar). "I was +particularly surprised at the vast number of orange trees, much larger +than I have ever seen in England, though this climate is certainly +colder. But I had more reason to wonder that night at the King's table. +There was brought to him from a gentleman of this country, two large +baskets full of ripe oranges and lemons of different sorts, many of +which were quite new to me; and, what I thought worth all the rest, two +ripe bananas, which, to my taste, are a fruit perfectly delicious. You +know they are naturally the growth of Brazil, and I could not imagine +how they could come there but by enchantment. Upon enquiry, I learnt +that they have brought their stoves to such perfection, they lengthen +the summer as long as they please, giving to every plant the degree of +heat it would receive from the sun in its native soil. The effect is +very near the same; I am surprised we do not practise in England so +useful an invention. + +"This reflection naturally leads me to consider our obstinacy in shaking +with cold six months in the year, rather than make use of stoves, which +are certainly one of the greatest conveniences of life; and so far from +spoiling the form of a room, they add very much to the magnificence of +it, when they are painted and gilt, as at Vienna, or at Dresden, where +they are often in the shape of china jars, statues, or fine cabinets, so +naturally represented, they are not to be distinguished. If ever I +return, in defiance to the fashion, you shall certainly see one in the +chamber of, + +"Dear sister, &c." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--II(1717-1718) + +Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her +description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes +acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her +belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr. +Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady +Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu +recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a +daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her +sister, Lady Mar. + + +The Montagus returned to Vienna for the new year (1717), but late in +January went to Peterwaradin, thence to Belgrade, and arrived at +Adrianople at the end of March. It was in Adrianople that Lady Mary made +acquaintance with the Turkish Bath, which so impressed her that she sent +home a long account of it. It was not until about 1860 that they became +popular in England, a century and a half later. + + +"I went to the bagnio about ten o'clock. It was already full of women. +It is built of stone, in the shape of a dome, with no windows but in the +roof, which gives light enough, There were five of these domes joined +together, the outmost being less than the rest, and serving only as a +hall, where the portress stood at the door. Ladies of quality generally +give this woman the value of a crown or ten shillings; and I did not +forget that ceremony. The next room is a very large one paved with +marble, and all round it, raised, two sofas of marble, one above +another. There were four fountains of cold water in this room, falling +first into marble basins, and then running on the floor in little +channels made for that purpose, which carried the streams into the next +room, something less than this, with the same sort of marble sofas but +so hot with steams of sulphur proceeding from the baths joining to it, +it was impossible to stay there with one's clothes on. The two other +domes were the hot baths, one of which had cocks of cold water turning +into it, to temper it to what degree of warmth the bathers have a mind +to. + +"I was in my travelling habit, which is a riding dress, and certainly +appeared very extraordinary to them. Yet there was not one of them that +shewed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me with +all the obliging civility possible. I know no European court where the +ladies would have behaved themselves in so polite a manner to a +stranger. I believe in the whole, there were two hundred women, and yet +none of those disdainful smiles, or satiric whispers, that never fail in +our assemblies when any body appears that is not dressed exactly in the +fashion. They repeated over and over to me, "Uzelle, pék uzelle," which +is nothing but Charming, very charming.--The first sofas were covered +with cushions and rich carpets, on which sat the ladies; and on the +second, their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of rank by +their dress, all being in the state of nature, that is, in plain +English, stark naked, without any beauty or defect concealed. Yet there +was not the least wanton smile or immodest gesture amongst them. They +walked and moved with the same majestic grace which Milton describes of +our general mother. There were many amongst them as exactly proportioned +as ever any goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian,--and +most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful +hair divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided +either with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the +Graces. + +"I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, +that if it was the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly +observed. I perceived that the ladies with the finest skins and most +delicate shapes had the greatest share of my admiration, though their +faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions. To +tell you the truth, I had wickedness enough to wish secretly that Mr. +Jervas[3] could have been there invisible. I fancy it would have very +much improved his art, to see so many fine women naked, in different +postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking coffee or +sherbet, and many negligently lying on their cushions, while their +slaves (generally pretty girls of seventeen or eighteen) were employed +in braiding their hair in several pretty fancies. In short, it is the +women's coffee-house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal +invented, &c.--They generally take this diversion once a-week, and stay +there at least four or five hours without getting cold by immediate +coming out of the hot bath into the cold room, which was very surprising +to me. The lady that seemed the most considerable among them, entreated +me to sit by her, and would fain have undressed me for the bath. I +excused myself with some difficulty. They being all so earnest in +persuading me, I was at last forced to open my shirt, and shew them my +stays; which satisfied them very well, for, I saw, they believed I was +so locked up in that machine, that it was not in my own power to open +it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband." + +[Footnote 3: Charles Jervas (1675?-1739), portrait painter and +translator of _Don Quixote_, the friend of Pope.] + + +Lady Mary was much amused by this last, and referred to the incident in +conversation with Joseph Spence. "One of the highest entertainments in +Turkey," she told him, "is having you to their baths, and when I was +introduced the lady of the house came to undress me, which is another +high compliment that they pay to strangers. After she had slipped off my +gown and seen my stays she was much struck at the sight of them and +cried out to the other ladies in the bath 'Come hither and see how +cruelly the poor English ladies are used by their husbands. You need +boast indeed of the superior liberties allowed you, when they lock you +up in a box!'" + +Lady Mary had a Turkish dress made for her, which she frequently wore, +when she found that the English costume made her unpleasantly +conspicuous. "The ladies at Constantinople used to be extremely +surprised to see me go always with my bosom uncovered," she noted. "It +was in vain that I told them that everybody did the same thing among us, +and alleged everything I could in defence of it. They could never be +reconciled to so immodest a custom, as they thought it; and one of them, +after I had been defending it to my utmost, said: 'Oh, my Sultana, you +can never defend the manners of your country, even with all your wit; +but I see that you are in pain for them, and shall, therefore, press it +no further.'" + +Lady Mary was proud of her appearance in her Turkish clothes, and has +given a minute description of them: + + +"The first piece of my dress is a pair of drawers, very full, that reach +to my shoes, and conceal the legs more modestly than your petticoats. +They are of a thin rose-coloured damask, brocaded with silver flowers, +my shoes are of white kid leather, embroidered with gold. Over this +hangs my smock, of a fine white silk gauze, edged with embroidery. This +smock has wide sleeves, hanging half way down the arm, and is closed at +the neck with a diamond button; but the shape and colour of the bosom +very well to be distinguished through it. The _antery_ is a waistcoat, +made close to the shape, of white and gold damask, with very long +sleeves falling back, and fringed with deep gold fringe, and should have +diamond or pearl buttons. My _caftan_, of the same stuff with my +drawers, is a robe exactly fitted to my shape, and reaching to my feet, +with very long strait falling sleeves. Over this is the girdle, of about +four fingers broad, which all that can afford have entirely of diamonds +or other precious stones; those who will not be at that expense, have +it of exquisite embroidery on satin; but it must be fastened before with +a clasp of diamonds. The _curdee_ is a loose robe they throw off or put +on according to the weather, being of a rich brocade (mine is green and +gold), either lined with ermine or sables; the sleeves reach very little +below the shoulders. The head-dress is composed of a cap, called +_talpock_, which is in winter of fine velvet embroidered with pearls or +diamonds, and in summer of a light shining silver stuff. This is fixed +on one side of the head, hanging a little way down with a gold tassel, +and bound on either side with a circle of diamonds (as I have seen +several) or a rich embroidered handkerchief. On the other side of the +head, the hair is laid flat; and here the ladies are at liberty to shew +their fancies; some putting flowers, others a plume of heron's feathers, +and, in short, what they please; but the most general fashion is a large +_bouquet_ of jewels, made like natural flowers; that is the buds of +pearl; the roses, of different coloured rubies; the jessamines, of +diamonds; the jonquils, of topazes, &c., so well set and enamelled, 'tis +hard to imagine any thing of that kind so beautiful. The hair hangs at +its full length behind, divided into tresses braided with pearl or +ribbon, which is always in great quantity." + + +Much that Lady Mary wrote was of great value in exploding many +ill-founded beliefs at home as regards Turkish life, and especially +concerning the manners and customs of Turkish women. + + +"As to their morality or good conduct, I can say, like Harlequin, that +'tis just as it is with you; and the Turkish ladies don't commit one sin +the less for not being Christians. Now I am a little acquainted with +their ways, I cannot forbear admiring either the exemplary discretion or +extreme stupidity of all the writers that have given accounts of them. +'Tis very easy to see they have more liberty than we have. No woman, of +what rank soever, being permitted to go into the streets without two +muslins; one that covers her face all but her eyes, and another that +hides the whole dress of her head, and hangs half way down her back, and +their shapes are wholly concealed by a thing they call a _ferigee_, +which no woman of any sort appears without; this has strait sleeves, +that reach to their finger-ends, and it laps all round them, not unlike +a riding-hood. In winter 'tis of cloth, and in summer plain stuff or +silk. You may guess how effectually this disguises them, [so] that there +is no distinguishing the great lady from her slave. 'Tis impossible for +the most jealous husband to know his wife when he meets her; and no man +dare either touch or follow a woman in the street. + +"This perpetual masquerade gives them entire liberty of following their +inclinations without danger of discovery. The most usual method of +intrigue is, to send an appointment to the lover to meet the lady at a +Jew's shop, which are as notoriously convenient as our Indian-houses; +and yet, even those who don't make use of them, do not scruple to go to +buy pennyworths, and tumble over rich goods, which are chiefly to be +found amongst that sort of people. The great ladies seldom let their +gallants know who they are; and it is so difficult to find it out, that +they can very seldom guess at her name they have corresponded with above +half a year together. You may easily imagine the number of faithful +wives very small in a country where they have nothing to fear from a +lover's indiscretion, since we see so many that have the courage to +expose themselves to that in this world, and all the threatened +punishment of the next, which is never preached to the Turkish damsels. +Neither have they much to apprehend from the resentment of their +husbands; those ladies that are rich having all their money in their own +hands, which they take with them upon a divorce, with an addition which +he is obliged to give them. + +"Upon the whole, I look upon the Turkish women as the only free people +in the empire: the very Divan pays a respect to them; and the Grand +Signior himself, when a pasha is executed, never violates the privileges +of the _harem_ (or women's apartment), which remains unsearched and +entire to the widow. They are queens of their slaves, whom the husband +has no permission so much as to look upon, except it be an old woman or +two that his lady chooses. 'Tis true their law permits them four wives; +but there is no instance of a man of quality that makes use of this +liberty, or of a woman of rank that would suffer it. When a husband +happens to be inconstant (as those things will happen), he keeps his +mistress in a house apart, and visits her as privately as he can, just +as it is with you. Amongst all the great men here, I only know the +_tefterdar_ (i.e., treasurer), that keeps a number of she slaves for his +own use (that is, on his own side of the house; for a slave once given +to serve a lady is entirely at her disposal), and he is spoken of as a +libertine, or what we should call a rake, and his wife won't see him, +though she continues to live in his house. + +"Thus, you see, dear sister, the manners of mankind do not differ so +widely as our voyage writers would make us believe. Perhaps it would be +more entertaining to add a few surprising customs of my own invention; +but nothing seems to me so agreeable as truth, and I believe nothing so +acceptable to you." + + +The most fortunate thing that happened to Lady Mary, and through her to +England, during her stay in Adrianople, was being made acquainted with +the practice of inoculation, then widely in vogue in Turkey. Though she +had no medical knowledge, she made enquiries as to its effect, and soon +became convinced that it was very highly beneficial. She was the more +interested because an attack of small-pox had somewhat dimmed her +beauty. It was to Miss Sarah Chiswell that she unburdened herself of the +discovery she had made. + + +"Those dreadful stories you have heard of the plague have very little +foundation in truth. I own I have much ado to reconcile myself to the +sound of a word which has always given me such terrible ideas, though I +am convinced there is little more in it than a fever. As a proof of +which we passed through two or three towns most violently infected. In +the very next house where we lay (in one of those places) two persons +died of it. Luckily for me, I was so well deceived that I knew nothing +of the matter; and I was made believe, that our second cook who fell ill +here had only a great cold. However, we left our doctor to take care of +him, and yesterday they both arrived here in good health; and I am now +let into the secret that he has had the _plague_. There are many that +escape it; neither is the air ever infected. I am persuaded it would be +as easy to root it out here as out of Italy and France; but it does so +little mischief, they are not very solicitous about it, and are content +to suffer this distemper instead of our variety, which they are utterly +unacquainted with. + +"_A propos_ of distempers, I am going to tell you a thing that I am sure +will make you wish yourself here. The small-pox, so fatal, and so +general amongst us, is here entirely harmless by the invention of +_ingrafting_, which is the term they give it. There is a set of old +women who make it their business to perform the operation every autumn, +in the month of September, when the great heat is abated. People send to +one another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the +small-pox; they make parties for this purpose, and when they are met +(commonly fifteen or sixteen together), the old woman comes with a +nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox, and asks +what veins you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that you +offer to her with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a +common scratch), and puts into the vein as much venom as can lie upon +the head of her needle, and after binds up the little wound with a +hollow bit of shell; and in this manner opens four or five veins. The +Grecians have commonly the superstition of opening one in the midde of +the forehead, in each arm, and on the breast, to mark the sign of the +cross; but this has a very ill effect, all these wounds leaving little +scars, and is not done by those that are not superstitious, who choose +to have them in the legs, or that part of the arm that is concealed. The +children or young patients play together all the rest of the day, and +are in perfect health to the eighth. Then the fever begins to seize +them, and they keep their beds two days, very seldom three. They have +very rarely above twenty or thirty in their faces, which never mark; and +in eight days' time they are as well as before their illness. Where they +are wounded, there remain running sores during the distemper, which I +don't doubt is a great relief to it. Every year thousands undergo this +operation; and the French embassador says pleasantly, that they take the +small-pox here by way of diversion, as they take the waters in other +countries. There is no example of any one that has died in it; and you +may believe I am very well satisfied of the safety of this experiment, +since I intend to try it on my dear little son. + +"I am patriot enough to take pains to bring this useful invention into +fashion in England; and I should not fail to write to some of our +doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that I +thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their +revenue for the good of mankind. But that distemper is too beneficial to +them not to expose to all their resentment the hardy wight that should +undertake to put an end to it. Perhaps, if I live to return, I may, +however, have courage to war with them. Upon this occasion admire the +heroism in the heart of your friend, &c." + + +The immediate history of inoculation, so far as Lady Mary is concerned, +may here briefly be given. She first heard of the practice in March, +1717, and within a year her faith in its effect was so strong that in +the spring of the following year she had her son inoculated at Pera--he +was the first English person to undergo the operation. "The boy was +engrafted last Tuesday," she wrote to her husband the following Sunday, +"and is at this time singing and playing, and very impatient for his +supper.... I cannot engraft the girl; her nurse has not had the +small-pox." It is amusing to learn that the inoculation of the young +Edward Wortley Montagu proved presently to have an advantage which was +certainly not at the time of the operation present to the mind of the +mother. At the age of six or thereabouts, the child ran away from +Westminster school--he was always running away from school--and a reward +of £20 and expenses was offered to whoever found him. The advertisement +gave the following clue: there are "two marks by which he is easily +known, _viz_., on the back of each arm, about two or three inches above +the wrist, a small roundish scar, less than a silver penny, like a large +mark of the small-pox." + +When Lady Mary returned to London, she carried out her intention to +introduce the operation. Dr. Maitland, who had been physician to the +mission to the Porte, set up in practice and inoculated under her +patronage. The "heathen rite" was vigorously preached against by the +clergy and was violently abused by the medical faculty. Undismayed by +the powerful opposition, however, she persevered in season and out, +until her efforts were crowned with success. She was fortunate in +enlisting the co-operation of that distinguished doctor, Richard Mead, +celebrated by Pope in his "Epistle to Bolingbroke," + + "I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise." + +Mead, in 1720, when an epidemic of the plague was feared in London, +published a treatise: "A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential +Contagion and the Methods to be used to Prevent it." It was reprinted +seven times within a year, and an eighth edition appeased in 1722. Lady +Mary obtained permission, in 1721, to experiment on seven condemned +criminals. Mead supervised the inoculations, and all recovered. In the +following year two members of the royal family underwent the operation +successfully. Thereafter, it became, in most circles, fashionable. + +"I suppose," Lady Mary wrote with pardonable pride to Lady Mar in the +spring of 1722, "that the same faithful historians give you regular +accounts of the growth and spreading of the inoculation of the +small-pox, which is become almost a general practice, attended with +great success." Elated as she was at the success that had resulted from +her persistent efforts, she was correspondingly distressed when a young +relative died of the disease. "I am sorry to inform you of the death, of +our nephew, my sister Gower's son, of the small-pox," she said in a +letter to Lady Mar in July, 1723. "I think she has a great deal of +regret it, in consideration of the offer I made her, two years together, +of taking the child home to my house, where I would have inoculated him +with the same care and safety I did my own. I know nobody that has +hitherto repented the operation; though it has been very troublesome to +some fools, who had rather be sick by the doctor's prescriptions, than +in health in rebellion to the college." + +Among those who supported Lady Mary's campaign was Steele, who +congratulated her upon her "godlike delight" of saving "many thousand +British lives every year." He wrote on the subject in the _Plain Dealer_ +(July 3, 1724), in an article that attracted much attention: + + +"It is the Observation of some Historian; but I forget where I met with +it: that _England has ow'd to Women the greatest Blessings she has been +distinguish'd by_. In the Case, we are now upon, this Reflection will +stand justified.-- + +"We are indebted to the Reason and Courage of a _Lady_, for the +Introduction of this Art; which gives such Strength in its Progress, +that the Memory of its Illustrious Foundress will be render'd Sacred by +it, to future Ages. + +"This Ornament of her Sex, and Country, who ennobles her own _Nobility_, +by her Learning, Wit, and Vertues, accompanying her Consort into +_Turkey_, observ'd the Benefit of this Practice, with its Frequency, +even among those obstinate _Proedestinarians_; and brought it over, for +the Service, and the Safety, of her Native _England_; where she +consecrated its first effects on the Persons of her own fine Children! +And has, already, receiv'd this Glory from it, 'That the Influence of +her example has reach'd as high as the Blood Royal.' And our noblest, +and most ancient Families, in Confirmation of her happy Judgment, add +the daily Experience of those, who are most dear to them. + +"I Have seen a short Poetical Essay, on the Occasion we are now treating +of. I wou'd say, if I meant the Verses an _Encomium_ they shou'd be +envied for,' That their _Subject_ need not blush at them!' + + _On Lady_ Mary Wortley Montagu's _bringing with her, out of + _ Turkey, _the Art of Inoculating the_ Small-Pox. + + _When_ Greece, _reviving into short Delight, + Felt Pride, and Comfort, at_ Our _Muse's Sight: + The Rival'd_ Nine _no sooner saw her Face, + But ev'n their_ Envy _gave their_ Wonder _Place! + Charm'd into_ Love, _of what eclips'd their Fame! + They mak'd_ Apollo, _with her pow'rful Name. + See!--God of_ Grecian _Wit!_ Urania _cries, + How sweet a_ Muse, _the Western World supplies! + Say, shou'd she ask some Favour, from your throne, + What could you_ bid _her_ take, _that's not_ her own? + _Sparkling in Charms, the heav'nly Stranger view + So_ grac'd! _she scarce can owe a_ Beam _to_ You! + Beauty, _with Love_, her _Pow'r to_ Yours _prefers: + And_ Wit, _and_ Learning, _are already_, Hers! + _Rous'd, at her_ name,--_receding from her Eyes, + The gazing God rose slow, in soft Surprise! + Fair_ Miracle, _he said,--and paus'd a while: + Then, thus_,--Sweet Glory, _of your envied Isle! + Charm'd, and oblig'd, lest, we ungrateful seem, + Bear hence, at least_, one Mark _of our Esteem._ + One, _Of my three great Claims_, your _Wish may fit; + Whose Voice is_ Musick: _and whose Thoughts are_ Wit! + Physick, _alone, remains, to grant you, here-- + A _Skill! your godlike_ Pity _will_ endear. + _Form'd to give_ Wounds, _which must no Ease procure, + _ Atone _your Influ'nce, by new Arts, to_ cure, + _Beauty's chief Foe, a fear'd, and fierce_ Disease! + _Bows, at my Beck; and knows its_ God's _Decrees. + Breath'd, in this_ Kiss, _take Pow'r to tame its Rage: + And, from its Rancour_, free _the rescu'd Age. + High, o'er each Sex, in_ Double _Empire, fit: + Protecting_ Beauty, _and inspiring Wit_. + + +When Lady Mary had been abroad for a year, she became homesick and began +to long for England. It was really very dull for her in Turkey, even +though she could pass the time of day in the language of the country. +Supervising the nurses of her child did not take a large share of her +tune; and she found only a mild excitement in going into the bazaar in +native woman's attire to collect Oriental rugs and whatnot. + + +"To say truth, I am sometimes very weary of this singing, and dancing, +and sunshine, and wish for the smoke and impertinencies in which you +toil, though I endeavour to persuade myself that I live in a more +agreeable variety than you do; and that Monday, setting of partridges-- +Tuesday, reading English--Wednesday, studying the Turkish language (in +which, by the way, I am already very learned)--Thursday, classical +authors--Friday, spent in writing--Saturday, at my needle--and Sunday, +admitting of visits, and hearing music, is a better way of disposing +the week, than Monday, at the drawing-room--Tuesday, Lady Mohun's-- +Wednesday, the opera--Thursday, the play--Friday, Mrs. Chetwynd's, &c., +a perpetual round of hearing the same scandal, and seeing the same +follies acted over and over, which here affect me no more than they do +other dead people. I can now hear of displeasing things with pity, and +without indignation. The reflection on the great gulf between you and me, +cools all news that come hither. I can neither be sensibly touched with +joy nor grief, when I consider that possibly the cause of either is +removed before the letter comes to my hands. But (as I said before) this +indolence does not extend to my few friendships; I am still warmly +sensible of yours and Mr. Congreve's, and desire to live in your \ +remembrances, though dead to all the world beside." + + +There is no doubt that it was to her pen that Lady Mary had recourse in +her endeavours to overcome ennui. A perusal of the letters written +during this first sojourn in Europe shows that nothing escaped her eye, +trivial or serious, from the washing of the Rotterdam pavements to the +dwarfs at the Court of Vienna, from the palaces of the great to the +cosmetics used by the women. + +Occasionally Lady Mary became impatient at the ignorance of her friends +as regards the Near East. + + +"I heartily beg your ladyship's pardon; but I really could not forbear +laughing heartily at your letter, and the commissions you are pleased to +honour me with" (she wrote to one of her acquaintances from Belgrade +Village in June, 1717). + +"You desire me to buy you a Greek slave, who is to be mistress of a +thousand good qualities. The Greeks are subjects, and not slaves. Those +who are to be bought in that manner, are either such as are taken in +war, or stolen by the Tartars from Russia, Circassia, or Georgia, and +are such miserable, awkward, poor wretches, you would not think any of +them worthy to be your housemaids. 'Tis true that many thousands were +taken in the Morea; but they have been, most of them, redeemed by the +charitable contributions of the Christians, or ransomed by their own +relations at Venice. The fine slaves that wait upon the great ladies, or +serve the pleasures of the great men, are all bought at the age of eight +or nine years old, and educated with great care, to accomplish them in +singing, dancing, embroidery, &c. They are commonly Circassians, and +their patron never sells them, except it is as a punishment for some +very great fault. If ever they grow weary of them, they either present +them to a friend, or give them their freedom. Those that are exposed to +sale at the markets are always either guilty of some crime, or so +entirely worthless that they are of no use at all. I am afraid you will +doubt the truth of this account, which I own is very different from our +common notions in England; but it is no less truth for all that. + +"Your whole letter is full of mistakes from one end to the other. I see +you have taken your ideas of Turkey from that worthy author Dumont, who +has written with equal ignorance and confidence. 'Tis a particular +pleasure to me here, to read the voyages to the Levant, which are +generally so far removed from the truth, and so full of absurdities, I +am very well diverted with them. They never fail giving you an account +of the women, whom 'tis certain they never saw, and talking very wisely +of the genius of the men, into whose company they are never admitted; +and very often describe mosques, which they dare not peep into. The +Turks are very proud, and will not converse with a stranger they are not +assured is considerable in his own country. I speak of the men of +distinction; for, as to the ordinary fellows, you may imagine what ideas +their conversation can give of the general genius of the people. + +"I am more inclined, out of a true female spirit of contradiction, to +tell you the falsehood of a great part of what you find in authors; as, +for example, in the admirable Mr. Hill, who so gravely asserts, that he +saw in Sancta Sophia a sweating pillar, very balsamic for disordered +heads. There is not the least tradition of any such matter; and I +suppose it was revealed to him in a vision during his wonderful stay in +the Egyptian catacombs; for I am sure he never heard of any such miracle +here. + +"'Tis also very pleasant to observe how tenderly he and all his brethren +voyage-writers lament the miserable confinement of the Turkish ladies, +who are perhaps freer than any ladies in the universe, and are the only +women in the world that lead a life of uninterrupted pleasure exempt +from cares; their whole time being spent in visiting, bathing, or the +agreeable amusement of spending money, and inventing new fashions. A +husband would be thought mad that exacted any degree of economy from his +wife, whose expenses are no way limited but by her own fancy. 'Tis his +business to get money, and hers to spend it: and this noble prerogative +extends itself to the very meanest of the sex. Here is a fellow that +carries embroidered handkerchiefs upon his back to sell, as miserable a +figure as you may suppose such a mean dealer, yet I'll assure you his +wife scorns to wear anything less than cloth of gold; has her ermine +furs, and a very handsome set of jewels for her head. They go abroad +when and where they please. Tis true they have no public places but the +bagnios, and there can only be seen by their own sex; however, that is a +diversion they take great pleasure in." + + +In the meantime, Montagu's conduct of affairs was much criticised at +home, and Lord Stanhope's Administration, which had come into power in +April, 1717, decided to recall him. This invidious task fell upon his +old friend Addison, now Secretary of State for the Southern Department. +The recall was notified to those concerned in a circular letter dated +October 13. Addison, in a private letter dated September 28, notified +him of the impending change: + + +"Having been confined to my chamber for some time by a dangerous fit of +sickness, I find, upon my coming abroad, some things have passed which I +think myself obliged to communicate to you, not as the Secretary to the +Ambassador, but as an humble servant to his friend.... Our great men are +of opinion that your being possessed [of the reversion of certain +places] (which they look upon as sure and sudden) it would be agreeable +to your inclinations, as well as for the King's service, which you are +so able to promote in Parliament, rather to return to your own country +than to live at Constantinople. For this reason, they have thought of +relieving Mr. Stanyan, who is now at the Imperial Court, and of joining +Sir Robert Sutton with him in the mediation of a peace between the +Emperor and the Turks. I need not suggest to you that Mr. Stanyan is in +great favour at Vienna, and how necessary it is to humour that Court in +the present juncture. Besides, as it would have been for your honour to +have acted as sole mediator in such a negotiation, perhaps it would not +have been so agreeable to you to act only in commission. This was +suggested to me the other day by one of our first ministers, who told me +that he believed Sir R. Sutton's being joined in a mediation, which was +carried on by my Lord Paget singly, would be shocking to you, but that +they could be more free with a person of Mr. Stanyan's quality. I find +by his Majesty's way of speaking of you, that you are much in his favour +and esteem, and I fancy you would find your ease and advantage more in +being nearer his person than at the distance you are from him at +present. I omit no opportunity of doing you justice where I think it is +for your service, and wish I could know your mind as to these several +particulars by a more speedy and certain conveyance, that I might act +accordingly to the utmost of my powers. Madame Kielmansegg and my Lady +Hervey desire me to forward the enclosed to my Lady Mary Wortley, to +whom I beg you will deliver them with my most humble regards." + + +What Montagu's feelings were can only be imagined. It is almost certain +that he felt himself vastly aggrieved. Nothing could have been more +delicate or complimentary than Addison's letter, but it did not, and +could not, disguise the main fact. It was easy for the Secretary of +State to suggest that at least one reason for the recall was that +Montagu must be anxious to return, but that certainly could not have +deceived the Ambassador who was, indeed, so little anxious to get home +that he remained at Constantinople until the following June. Likewise, +the statement that he would be able to promote the King's service in +Parliament, flattering as it read, meant, of course, nothing at all. +Certainly, though Montagu sat in the House of Commons until his death, +office was never offered him in any Administration. + +Lady Mary found herself again with child. Whether this pleased her or +not no one can say, but in a letter to Mrs. Thistlethwayte she treated +the incident divertingly enough. + + +"I wish I could return your goodness with some diverting accounts from +hence. But I know not what part of the scenes here would gratify your +curiosity, or whether you have any curiosity at all for things so far +distant. To say the truth, I am, at this present writing, not very much +turned for the recollection of what is diverting, my head being wholly +filled with the preparations necessary for the increase of my family, +which I expect every day. You may easily guess at my uneasy situation. +But I am, however, in some degree comforted, by the glory that accrues +to me from it, and a reflection on the contempt I should otherwise fall +under. You won't know what to make of this speech: but, in this country, +it is more despicable to be married and not fruitful, than it is with us +to be fruitful before marriage. They have a notion, that, whenever a +woman leaves off bringing children, it is because she is too old for +that business, whatever her face says to the contrary, and this opinion +makes the ladies here so ready to make proofs of their youth (which is +as necessary, in order to be a received beauty, as it is to shew the +proofs of nobility, to be admitted knight of Malta), that they do not +content themselves with using the natural means, but fly to all sorts of +quackeries, to avoid the scandal of being past child-bearing, and often +kill themselves by them. Without any exaggeration, all the women of my +acquaintance that have been married ten years, have twelve or thirteen +children; and the old ones boast of having had five-and-twenty or thirty +a-piece, and are respected according to the number they have produced. +When they are with child, it is their common expression to say, They +hope God will be so merciful to them to send two this time; and when I +have asked them sometimes, How they expected to provide for such a flock +as they desire? they answered, That the plague will certainly kill half +of them; which, indeed, generally happens, without much concern to the +parents, who are satisfied with the vanity of having brought forth so +plentifully. + +"The French Ambassadress is forced to comply with this fashion as well +as myself. She has not been here much above a year, and has lain in +once, and is big again. What is most wonderful is, the exemption they +seem to enjoy from the curse entailed on the sex. They see all company +the day of their delivery, and, at the fortnight's end, return visits, +set out in their jewels and new clothes. I wish I may find the influence +of the climate in this particular. But I fear I shall continue an +Englishwoman in that affair." + + +Lady Mary gave birth to a daughter, Mary, in February. "I don't mention +this as one of my diverting adventures," she wrote to Lady Mar, "though +I must own that it is not half so mortifying here as in England, there +being as much difference as there is between a little cold in the head, +which sometimes happens here, and the consumptive cough, so common in +London. Nobody keeps their house a month for lying in; and I am not so +fond of any of our customs to retain them when they are not necessary. I +returned my visits at three weeks' end." + +So soon as possible after this domestic event, preparations for the +return journey were made. The party went by sea to Tunis, thence to +Genoa, Turin, Lyons, and Paris. Their arrival at Paris in October was +notified by Lady Mar to her husband: "You'll be surprised to hear 657 +[i.e., Lady Mary] is here. She arrived the day after me. You may believe +how much incognito I am. 'Twas in vain to attempt being so. Twould fill +a whole letter to tell you the people that have been to see me. I was +very much pleased at seeing 657 and she appeared to be the same." The +sisters had not met for three years. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCANDAL + +Montagu re-enters the House of Commons--His miserliness--Pope refers to +it--Comments on Society--Lady Mary and a first-class scandal--Rémond-- +His admiration for her--Her imprudent letters to him--The South Sea +Bubble--Lady Mary speculates for Rémond--She loses money for him--He +demands to be re-imbursed--He threatens to publish her letters--She +states the case in letters to Lady Mar--Lady Mary meets Pope--His letters +to her when she was abroad--He affects to be in love with her--Her +matter-of-fact replies--Her parody of his verses, "On John Hughes and +Sarah Drew." + + +Montagu, on his return to England, again entered the House of Commons, +where he represented Huntingdon from 1722 to 1734, and then for +Peterborough from 1734 to 1747 and from 1754 to 1761. Whether it was +lack of ambition or just want of appreciation of his talents by the +leaders of his party, there is no evidence. Even with his family +connections and his wealth, he was never offered a place in any +Administration, nor, it must be confessed, did he in any way distinguish +himself in Parliament. As the years passed, his chief pleasure, if +indeed it was not his only one, was in the hoarding of money--in this +pursuit he was splendidly successful. From references to Lady Mary in +contemporary correspondence, it would appear that she too had no small +streak of the miser in her. Pope, after his quarrel with her, referred +to Montagu as "Worldly," "Shylock," and "Gripus," and in the fourth +Epistle of the _Essay on Man_ wrote: + + "Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life? + Look but on Gripus and Gripus' wife." + +Also he lampooned them under the style of Avidieu and Avidieu's wife, +who + + "Sell their presented partridges or fruits, + And humbly live on rabbits and on roots; + One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine, + And is at once their vinegar and wine. + But on some lucky day (as when they found + A lost bank note, or heard their son was drowned), + At such a feast old vinegar to spare + Is what two souls so generous cannot bear: + Oil, though it stink, they drop by drop impart, + But souse the cabbage with a bounteous heart." + +Lady Mary took her place, as of right, as a leader of society, and for a +while plunged into the gaieties of the town. "Public places flourish +more than ever," she wrote to her sister. "We have assemblies for every +day in the week, besides Court, operas, and masquerades. With youth and +money, 'tis certainly possible to be well diverted in spite of malice +and ill-nature, though they are more and more powerful every day. For my +part, as it is my established opinion that this globe of ours is no +better than a Holland cheese, and the walkers about in it mites, I +possess my soul in patience, let what will happen--and I should feel +tolerably easy, though a great rat came and ate half of it." That is a +philosophical outlook with a vengeance! + +However, Lady Mary managed on the whole to enjoy herself. "The town +improves in gaiety every day; the young people are younger than they +used to be, and all the old are grown young. Nothing is talked of but +entertainments of gallantry by land and water, and we insensibly begin +to taste all the joys of arbitrary power. Politics are no more; nobody +pretends to wince or kick under their burdens; but we go on cheerfully +with our bells at our ears, ornamented with ribands, and highly +contented with our present condition; so much for the general state of +the nation," she made her comment on polite circles. "We are much +mistaken here as to our ideas of Paris--to hear gallantry has deserted +it, sounds as extraordinary to me as a want of ice in Greenland. +We have nothing but ugly faces in this country, but more lovers than +ever. There are but three pretty men in England, and they are all in +love with me, at this present writing. This will amaze you extremely; +but if you were to see the reigning girls at present, I will assure you, +there is very little difference between them and old women." + +Lady Mary could never resist a good story, and, indeed, never made any +attempt to do so, and she usually wrote them down to amuse Lady Mar. + + +"'Tis but reasonable I should conclude with a farce, that I may not +leave you in ill humour. I have so good an opinion of your taste, to +believe Harlequin in person will never make you laugh so much as the +Earl of Stair's furious passion for Lady Walpole (aged fourteen and some +months). Mrs. Murray undertook to bring the business to bear, and +provided the opportunity (a great ingredient you'll say); but the young +lady proved skittish. She did not only turn this heroic flame into +present ridicule, but exposed all his generous sentiments, to divert her +husband and father-in-law. His lordship is gone to Scotland; and if +there was anybody wicked enough to write about it, there is a subject +worthy the pen of the best ballad-maker in Grub-street." + + * * * * * + +"Lord Townshend has renewed his lease of life by his French journey, and +is at present situated in his house in Grosvenor-street in perfect +health. My good lady is coming from the Bath to meet him with the joy +you may imagine. Kitty Edwin has been the companion of his [her?] +pleasures there. The alliance seems firmer than ever between them, after +their Tunbridge battles, which served for the entertainment of the +public. The secret cause is variously guessed at; but it is certain Lady +Townshend came into the great room gently behind her friend, and tapping +her on the shoulder with her fan, said aloud, _I know where, how, and +who_. These mysterious words drew the attention of all the company, +and had such an effect upon poor Kitty, she was carried to her lodgings +in strong hysterics. However, by the intercession of prudent mediators +peace was concluded; and if the conduct of these heroines was considered +in a true light, perhaps it might serve for an example even to higher +powers, by showing that the surest method to obtain a lasting and +honourable peace, is to begin with vigorous war. But leaving these +reflections, which are above my capacity, permit me to repeat my desire +of hearing often from you. Your letters would be my greatest pleasure if +I had flourished in the first years of Henry the Eighth's court; judge +then how welcome they are to me in the present desolate state of this +deserted town of London." + + +Lady Mary's own morals were more than once assailed; but this did not +prevent her humorous attack on society at large: "Those things [Bills of +Divorce] grow more fashionable every day, and in a little time won't be +at all scandalous. The best expedient for the public, and to prevent the +expense of private families, would be a general act of divorcing all the +people of England. You know those that pleased might marry again; and it +would save the reputation of several ladies that are now in peril of +being exposed every day." + +Not long after Lady Mary had returned to England, about the winter of +1720, she, who loved to retail malicious stories about others, found +herself, to her great dismay, the subject of a first-class scandal. + +When Lady Mary was in Paris, Rémond was introduced to her by the Abbé +Conti. He had seen a letter or two addressed by her to the Abbé, and +expressed himself with enthusiasm of her brilliance as a correspondent. +Presently he came to England, and sought out Lady Mary, who was no more +immune from flattery than most folk of either sex. How far the intimacy +developed from the platonic to the amorous it is impossible to say. That +Rémond made love to her there can be little doubt. Sir Leslie Stephen +holds the view that she did not encourage his passion. Anyhow, it is +beyond question that she wrote him imprudent letters, which he was +prudent enough to keep. + +Lady Mary basked in the admiration of Rémond, and thought to reward him +for his intelligence, at no cost to herself, by putting him on to "a +good thing." Also, getting a little fearsome of his very marked +attentions, or perhaps it was only wearying of them, she thought, as she +confessed to her sister, the Countess of Mar, it would be the more easy +to rid herself of this somewhat turbulent lover. + +At this time the famous "boom" known as the South Sea Bubble was at the +height of its brief career. The South Sea Company had taken over the +National Debt, on terms, and its stock, carefully manipulated, rose by +leaps and bounds. In 1714 the stock stood at 85. After the defeat of the +rebellion of 1715, it was quoted at prices varying from par to 106. In +the autumn of 1719, when rumours of its great scheme were spread about +the town, it rose to 126. Early in the following year it could not be +purchased for less than 400. It fluctuated wildly, going up and down +hundreds of points. On June 2, 1720, it went up in the morning to 890, +in the afternoon fell to 640; and many who were speculating in +differences were utterly ruined. Later in the day it recovered, though +only to 770. Ultimately it rose to 1,000. Of course the prices were +fictitious, but everyone in society tried their luck, and while some +came out of it with a fortune, the majority lost practically every penny +they had. The directors, most of whom were guilty of fraud, made vast +sums of money. That astute financier, Robert Walpole, speculated on a +vast scale, sold out before the slump, and realised a fortune more than +sufficient to enable him to rebuild Houghton and to gather together his +famous collection of pictures. On the other hand the Duke of Portland, +who held on too long, was so hard hit that he had to solicit the post of +Captain-General of Jamaica. + +Rémond held some South Sea stock, and, acting on Lady Mary's advice, +sold out at a considerable profit. Not content with his gains, however, +he insisted, just before his departure for France, on leaving in Lady +Mary's hands £900 for investment as opportunity should arise. +Reluctantly Lady Mary consented--she would probably have agreed almost +to anything, so anxious was she that Rémond should leave the country. + +On August 22, 1720, Pope, with the best intentions in the world, wrote +to Lady Mary: "I was made acquainted last night that I might depend upon +it as a certain gain to buy the South Sea stock at the present price, +which will assuredly rise in some weeks or less. I can be as sure of +this as the nature of any such thing will allow, from the first and best +hands, and therefore have despatched the bearer with all speed to you." +No doubt the phrase "the first and best hands," was intended to convey +the fact that his informant was his friend and neighbour, James Craggs +the younger, the Secretary of State who was so deeply involved in the +affairs of the South Sea Company that when the "bubble" burst he only +escaped prosecution by conveniently dying of small-pox. Acting on the +hint given by Pope, Lady Mary purchased stock for herself and Rémond. +The stock fell rapidly--in August it stood at 750 and in December at +130. What she lost is not known, but she had been sufficiently involved +to make her desire to sell her diamonds, and more than once she asked +Lady Mar if there was a market for the jewels in Paris. Rémond's £900 +had dwindled to £400. On receiving these distressful tidings, the +Frenchman believed, or affected to believe, that he had been swindled, +and he threatened, unless he were repaid in full, he would publish Lady +Mary's letters to him. Lady Mary's fear was lest the matter should come +to the cognisance of her husband: it would certainly be unfair to +Montagu to suggest that he might not have forgiven his wife for a +love-affair; but he would certainly never have pardoned her any +transaction that cost him money. + +Many malicious things were said about this business. Walpole gave a +version utterly discreditable to Lady Mary, and Pope, after the quarrel, +referred to the matter in the second book of the _Dunciad_: + + "Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris + Of wrongs from Duchesses and Lady Maries." + +The case was put by Lady Mary in a series of letters to her sister, Lady +Mar, to whom she could unburden herself freely, and who might be able to +influence Rémond, who was then at Paris. + + +[1721.] + +"From the tranquil and easy situation in which you left me, dear sister, +I am reduced to that of the highest degree of vexation, which I need not +set out to you better than by the plain matter of fact, which I heartily +wish I had told you long since; and nothing hindered me but a certain +_mauvaise honte_ which you are reasonable enough to forgive, as very +natural, though not very excusable where there is nothing to be ashamed +of; since I can only accuse myself of too much good-nature, or at worst +too much credulity, though I believe there never was more pains taken to +deceive any body. In short, a person whose name is not necessary, +because you know it, took all sorts of methods, during almost two years +[_sic_], to persuade me that there never was so extraordinary an +attachment (or what you please to call it) as they had for me. This +ended in coming over to make me a visit against my will, and, as was +pretended, very much against their interest. I cannot deny I was very +silly in giving the least credit to this stuff. But if people are so +silly, you'll own 'tis natural for any body that is good-natured to pity +and be glad to serve a person they believe unhappy upon their account. +It came into my head, out of a high point of generosity (for which I +wish myself hanged), to do this creature all the good I possibly could, +since 'twas impossible to make them happy their own way. I advised him +very strenuously to sell out of the subscription, and in compliance to +my advice he did so; and in less than two days saw he had done very +prudently. After a piece of service of this nature, I thought I could +more decently press his departure, which his follies made me think +necessary for me. He took leave of me with so many tears and grimaces +(which I can't imagine how he could counterfeit) as really moved my +compassion; and I had much ado to keep to my first resolution of +exacting his absence, which he swore would be his death. I told him that +there was no other way in the world I would not be glad to serve him in, +but that his extravagances made it utterly impossible for me to keep him +company. He said that he would put into my hands the money that I had +won for him, and desired me to improve it, saying that if he had enough +to buy a small estate, and retire from the world, 'twas all the +happiness he hoped for in it. I represented to him that if he had so +little money as he said, 'twas ridiculous to hazard at all. He replied +that 'twas too little to be of any value, and he would either have it +double or quit. After many objections on my side and replies on his, I +was so weak to be overcome by his entreaties, and flattered myself also +that I was doing a very heroic action, in trying to make a man's fortune +though I did not care for his addresses. He left me with these +imaginations, and my first care was to employ his money to the best +advantage. I laid it all out in stock, the general discourse and private +intelligence then scattered about being of a great rise. You may +remember it was two or three days before the fourth subscription, and +you were with me when I paid away the money to Mr. Binfield. I thought I +had managed prodigious well in selling out the said stock the day after +the shutting the books (for a small profit) to Cox and Cleeve, +goldsmiths of very good reputation. When the opening of the books came, +my men went off, leaving the stock upon my hands, which was already sunk +from near nine hundred pounds to four hundred pounds. I immediately writ +him word of this misfortune, with the sincere sorrow natural to have +upon such an occasion, and asked his opinion as to the selling the stock +remaining in. He made me no answer to this part of my letter, but a long +eloquent oration of miseries of another nature. I attributed this +silence to his disinterested neglect of his money; but, however, +resolved to make no more steps in his business without direct orders, +after having been so unlucky. This occasioned many letters to no +purpose; but the very post after you left London, I received a letter +from him, in which he told me that he had discovered all my tricks; that +he was convinced I had all his money remaining untouched: and he would +have it again, or he would print all my letters to him; which though, +God knows, very innocent in the main, yet may admit of ill +constructions, besides the monstrousness of being exposed in such a +manner. I hear from other people that he is liar enough to publish that +I have borrowed the money of him; though I have a note under his hand, +by which he desires me to employ it in the funds, and acquits me of +being answerable for the losses that may happen. At the same time, I +have attestations and witnesses of the bargains I made, so that nothing +can be clearer than my integrity in this business; but that does not +hinder me from being in the utmost terror for the consequences (as you +may easily guess) of his villany; the very story of which appears so +monstrous to me, I can hardly believe myself while I write it; though I +omit (not to tire you) a thousand aggravating circumstances. I cannot +forgive myself the folly of ever regarding one word he said; and I see +now that his lies have made me wrong several of my acquaintances, and +you among the rest, for having said (as he told me) horrid things +against me to him. 'Tis long since that your behaviour has acquitted you +in my opinion; but I thought I ought not to mention, to hurt him with +you, what was perhaps more misunderstanding, or mistake, than a designed +lie. But he has very amply explained his character to me. What is very +pleasant is, that, but two posts before, I received a letter from him +full of higher flights than ever. I beg your pardon (dear sister) for +this tedious account; but you see how necessary 'tis for me to get my +letters from this madman. Perhaps the best way is by fair means; at +least, they ought to be first tried. I would have you, then (my dear +sister), try to make the wretch sensible of the truth of what I advance, +without asking for the letters, which I have already asked for. Perhaps +you may make him ashamed of his infamous proceedings by talking of me, +without taking notice that you know of his threats, only of my dealings. +I take this method to be the most likely to work upon him. I beg you +would send me a full and true account of this detestable affair +(enclosed to Mrs. Murray). If I had not been the most unlucky creature +in the world, his letter would have come while you were here, that I +might have shewed you both his note and the other people's. I knew he +was discontented, but was far from imagining a possibility of this +thing. I give you a great deal of trouble, but you see I shall owe you +the highest obligation if you can serve me: the very endeavouring of it +is a tie upon me to serve you the rest of my life without reserve and +with eternal gratitude." + + +[Twickenham, 1721.] + +"I am now at Twickenham: 'tis impossible to tell you, dear sister, what +agonies I suffer every post-day; my health really suffers so much from +my fears, that I have reason to apprehend the worst consequences. If +that monster acted on the least principles of reason, I should have +nothing to fear, since 'tis certain that after he has exposed me he will +get nothing by it. Mr. Wortley can do nothing for his satisfaction I am +not willing to do myself. I desire not the least indulgence of any kind. +Let him put his affair into the hands of any lawyer whatever. I am +willing to submit to any examination; 'tis impossible to make a fairer +offer than this is: whoever he employs may come to me hither on several +pretences. I desire nothing from him, but that he would send no letters +nor messages to my house at London, where Mr. Wortley now is. I am come +hither in hopes of benefit from the air, but I carry my distemper about +me in an anguish of mind that visibly decays my body every day. I am too +melancholy to talk of any other subject. Let me beg you (dear sister) to +take some care of this affair, and think you have it in your power to do +more than save the life of a sister that loves you." + + +[Twickenham, 1721.] + +"I give you many thanks (my dear sister) for the trouble you have given +yourself in my affair; but am afraid 'tis not yet effectual. I must beg +you to let him know I am now at Twickenham, and that whoever has his +procuration may come here on divers pretences, but must by no means go +to my house at London. I wonder you can think Lady Stafford has not writ +to him; she shewed me a long plain letter to him several months ago; as +a demonstration he received it, I saw his answer. 'Tis true she treated +him with the contempt he deserved, and told him she would never give +herself the trouble of writing again to so despicable a wretch. She is +willing to do yet further, and write to the Duke of Villeroi about it, +if I think it proper. Rémond does nothing but lie, and either does not, +or will not, understand what is said to him. You will forgive me +troubling you so often with this business; the importance of it is the +best excuse; in short, + + '--'tis joy or sorrow, peace or strife. + 'Tis all the colour of remaining life.' + +I can foresee nothing else to make me unhappy, and, I believe, shall +take care another time not to involve myself in difficulties by an +overplus of heroic generosity. + +"I am, dear sister, ever yours, with the utmost esteem and affection. If +I get over this cursed affair, my style may enliven." + + +[June, 1721.] + +"I have just received your letter of May 30th, and am surprised, since +you own the receipt of my letter, that you give me not the least hint +concerning the business that I writ so earnestly to you about. Till that +is over, I am as little capable of hearing or repeating news, as I +should be if my house was on fire. I am sure, a great deal must be in +your power; the hurting of me can be in no way his interest. I am ready +to assign, or deliver the money for £500 stock, to whoever he will name, +if he will send my letters into Lady Stafford's hands; which, were he +sincere in his offer of burning them, he would readily do. Instead of +that, he has writ a letter to Mr. W. [Wortley] to inform him of the +whole affair: luckily for me, the person he has sent it to assures me it +shall never be delivered; but I am not the less obliged to his good +intentions. For God's sake, do something to set my mind at ease from +this business, and then I will not fail to write you regular accounts of +all your acquaintance." + + +[July (?), 1721.] + +"I cannot enough thank you, dear sister, for the trouble you give +yourself in my affairs, though I am still so unhappy to find your care +very ineffectual. I have actually in my present possession a formal +letter directed to Mr. Wortley to acquaint him with the whole business. +You may imagine the inevitable eternal misfortunes it would have thrown +me into, had it been delivered by the person to whom it was intrusted. I +wish you would make him sensible of the infamy of this proceeding, which +can no way in the world turn to his advantage. Did I refuse giving the +strictest account, or had I not the clearest demonstration in my hands +of the truth and sincerity with which I acted, there might be some +temptation to this baseness; but all he can expect by informing Mr. +Wortley is to hear him repeat the same things I assert; he will not +retrieve one farthing, and I am for ever miserable. I beg no more of him +than to direct any person, man or woman, either lawyer, broker, or a +person of quality, to examine me; and as soon as he has sent a proper +authority to discharge me on enquiry, I am ready to be examined. I think +no offer can be fairer from any person whatsoever; his conduct towards +me is so infamous, that I am informed I might prosecute him by law if he +was here; he demanding the whole sum as a debt from Mr. Wortley, at the +same time I have a note under his hand signed to prove the contrary. I +beg with the utmost earnestness that you would make him sensible of his +error. I believe 'tis very necessary to say something to fright him. I +am persuaded, if he was talked to in a style of that kind, he would not +dare to attempt to ruin me. I have a great inclination to write +seriously to your lord about it, since I desire to determine this affair +in the fairest and the clearest manner. I am not at all afraid of making +any body acquainted with it; and if I did not fear making Mr. Wortley +uneasy (who is the only person from whom I would conceal it), all the +transactions should have been long since enrolled in Chancery. I have +already taken care to have the broker's depositions taken before a +lawyer of reputation and merit. I deny giving him no satisfaction; and +after that offer, I think there is no man of honour that would refuse +signifying to him that as 'tis all he can desire, so, if he persists in +doing me an injury, he may repent it. You know how far 'tis proper to +take this method, I say nothing of the uneasiness I am under, 'tis far +beyond any expression; my obligation would be proportionable to any body +that would deliver me from it, and I should not think it paid by all the +services of my life." + + +[Twickenham, June (?), 1721.] + +"Dear Sister, + +"Having this occasion, I would not omit writing, though I have received +no answer to my two last. The bearer is well acquainted with my affair, +though not from me, till he mentioned it to me first, having heard it +from those to whom Rémond had told it with all the false colours he +pleased to lay on. I shewed him the formal commission I had to employ +the money, and all the broker's testimonies taken before Delpeeke, with +his certificate. Your remonstrances have hitherto had so little effect, +that R. [Rémond] will neither send a letter of attorney to examine my +accounts, or let me be in peace. I received a letter from him but two +posts since, in which he renews his threats except I send him the whole +sum, which is as much in my power as it is to send a million. I can +easily comprehend that he may be ashamed to send a procuration, which +must convince the world of all the lies he has told. For my part, I am +so willing to be rid of the plague of hearing from him, I desire no +better than to restore him with all expedition the money I have in my +hands; but I will not do it without a general acquittance in due form, +not to have fresh demands every time he wants money. If he thinks that +he has a larger sum to receive than I offer, why does he not name a +procurator to examine me? If he is content with that sum, I only insist +on the acquittance for my own safety. I am ready to send it to him, with +full license to tell as many lies as he pleases afterwards. I am weary +with troubling you with repetitions which cannot be more disagreeable to +you than they are to me. I have had, and still have, so much vexation +with this execrable affair, 'tis impossible to describe it. I had rather +talk to you of any thing else, but it fills my whole head." + + +Lady Mary was no coward, but when she heard that Rémond intended to come +to London in connection with this business, she was at first in despair +However, she summoned her courage to aid, and asked Lady Mar to tell him +that if he was spoiling for a fight she would do her best to indulge him. + + +"I send you, dear sister, by Lady Lansdowne this letter, accompanied +with the only present that was ever sent me by that monster. I beg you +to return it immediately. I am told he is preparing to come to London. +Let him know that 'tis not at all necessary for receiving his money or +examining my accounts; he has nothing to do but to send a letter of +attorney to whom he pleases (without exception), and I will readily +deliver up what I have in my hands, and his presence will not obtain one +farthing more: his design then can only be to expose my letters here. I +desire you would assure him that my first step shall be to acquaint my +Lord Stair[4] with all his obligations to him, as soon as I hear he is +in London; and if he dares to give me further trouble, I shall take care +to have him rewarded in a stronger manner than he expects; there is +nothing more true than this; and I solemnly swear, that if all the +credit or money that I have in the world can do it, either for +friendship or hire, I shall not fail to have him used as he deserves; +and since I know this journey can only be designed to expose me, I shall +not value what noise is made. Perhaps you may prevent it; I leave you to +judge of the most proper method; 'tis certain no time should be lost; +fear is his predominant passion, and I believe you may fright him from +coming hither, where he will certainly find a reception very +disagreeable to him." + +[Footnote 4: John Dalrymple, second Earl of Stair (1673-1747), British +Ambassador at Paris, 1715-1720.] + + +"September 6, 1721. + +"I have consulted my lawyer, and he says I cannot, with safety to +myself, deposit the money I have received into other hands, without the +express order of Rémond; and he is so unreasonable, that he will neither +send a procuration to examine my accounts, or any order for me to +transfer his stock into another name. I am heartily weary of the trust, +which has given me so much trouble, and can never think myself safe till +I am quite got rid of it: rather than be plagued any longer with the +odious keeping, I am willing to abandon my letters to his discretion. I +desire nothing more of him than an order to place his money in other +hands, which methinks should not be so hard to obtain, since he is so +dissatisfied with my management; but he seems to be bent to torment me, +and will not even touch his money, because I beg it of him. I wish you +would represent these things to him; for my own part, I live in so much +uneasiness about it, that I sometimes weary of life itself." + + +[October (?) 1721.] + +"I cannot forbear (dear sister) accusing you of unkindness that you take +so little care of a business of the last consequence to me. R. [Rémond] +writ to me some time ago, to say if I would immediately send him £2,000 +sterling, he would send me an acquittance. As this was sending him +several hundreds out of my own pocket, I absolutely refused it; and, in +return, I have just received a threatening letter, to print I know not +what stuff against me. I am too well acquainted with the world (of which +poor Mrs. Murray's affair is a fatal instance), not to know that the +most groundless accusation is always of ill consequence to a woman; +besides the cruel misfortune it may bring upon me in my own family. If +you have any compassion either for me or my innocent children, I am sure +you will try to prevent it. The thing is too serious to be delayed. I +think (to say nothing either of blood or affection), that humanity and +Christianity are interested in my preservation. I am sure I can answer +for my hearty gratitude and everlasting acknowledgment of a service much +more important than that of saving my life." + + +In Lady Mary's correspondence there is no further reference to this +sorry business, and so it cannot be said how it ended. Nor can it be +decided whether Rémond really believed he had been swindled or whether +he was just a blackmailer. + +The intimacy between Lady Mary and Pope is especially interesting +because it culminated in one of the most famous quarrels in the literary +annals of this country, and second only to that between Pope and +Addison. + +When Lady Mary went abroad in 1716 Pope, who always wanted to make the +best of both worlds, thought, it has been related by his biographers, of +what dramatic situation describing the separation of lovers would best +suit him to express his feelings, and he found exactly what he wanted on +the supposed authentic letters of Eloisa to Abelard. Pope sent Lady Mary +a volume of his poems, saying: "Among the rest you have all I am worth, +that is, my works. There are few things in them but what you have +already seen, except the 'Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard,' in which you +will find one passage that I cannot tell whether to wish you should +understand or not." + +Pope corresponded with Lady Mary during the two years of her stay +abroad. The first letter from Pope begins: + + +"So natural as I find it is to me to neglect every body else in your +company, I am sensible I ought to do anything that might please you, and +I fancied upon recollection, our writing the letter you proposed was of +that nature. I therefore sate down to my part of it last night, when I +should have gone out of town. Whether or no you will order me, in +recompense, to see you again, I leave to you, for indeed I find I begin +to behave myself worse to you than to any other woman, as I value you +more, and yet if I thought I should not see you again, I would say some +things here, which I could not to your person. For I would not have you +die deceived in me, that is, go to Constantinople without knowing that I +am to some degree of extravagance, as well as with the utmost reason, +madam, your, etc." + + +Some passages from Pope's subsequent letters must be given to indicate +the lines on which this correspondence was conducted. + + +"You may easily imagine how desirous I must be of correspondence with a +person who had taught me long ago, that it was as possible to esteem at +first sight, as to love; and who has since ruined me for all the +conversation of one sex and almost all the friendship of the other. I am +but too sensible, through your means, that the company of men, wants a +certain softness to recommend it, and that of women wants everything +else. How often have I been quietly going to take possession of that +tranquility and indolence I had so long found in the country, when one +evening of your conversation has spoiled me for a solitaire too! Books +have lost their effect upon me, and I was convinced since I saw you, +that there is something more powerful than philosophy, and since I heard +you, that there is one alive wiser than all the sages. A plague of +female wisdom! it makes a man ten times more uneasy than his own. What +is very strange, Virtue herself, when you have the dressing of her, is +too amiable for one's repose. What a world of good might you have done +in your time, if you had allowed half the fine gentlemen who have seen +you to have but conversed with you! They would have been strangely +caught, while they thought only to fall in love with a fair face, and +you had bewitched them with reason and virtue, two beauties that the +very fops pretend to have an acquaintance with." + + +"August 20, 1716. + +"Madam, + +"You will find me more troublesome than ever Brutus did his evil genius, +I shall meet you in more places than one, and often refreshen your +memory before you arrive at your Philippi. These shadows of me (my +letters) will be haunting you from time to time, and putting you in mind +of the man who has really suffered by you, and whom you have robbed of +the most valuable of his enjoyments, your conversation. The advantage of +learning your sentiments by discovering mine, was what I always thought +a great one, and even with the risk I run of manifesting my own +indiscretion. You then rewarded my trust in you the moment it was given, +for you pleased and informed me the minute you answered. I must now be +contented with slow returns. However, it is some pleasure, that your +thoughts upon paper will be a more lasting possession to me, and that I +shall no longer have cause to complain of a loss I have so often +regretted, that of anything you said, which I happened to forget. In +earnest, Madam, if I were to write you as often as I think of you, it +must be every day of my life. I attend you in spirit through all your +ways, I follow in books of travel through every stage, I wish for you, +fear for you through whole folios, you make me shrink at the past +dangers of dead travellers, and when I read an agreeable prospect or +delightful place, I hope it yet subsists to give you pleasure. I inquire +the roads, the amusements, the company of every town and country you +pass through, with as much diligence, as if I were to set out next week +to overtake you. In a word no one can have you more constantly in mind, +not even your guardian-angel (if you have one), and I am willing to +indulge so much Popery as to fancy some Being takes care of you who +knows your value better than you do yourself. I am willing to think that +Heaven never gave so much self-neglect and resolution to a woman, to +occasion her calamity, but am pious enough to believe those qualities +must be intended to her benefit and her glory." + + +Pope's letters of this period to Lady Mary were all written in a strain +of adulation, which may well have pleased Lady Mary and must certainly +have amused her. She can, however, scarcely have been led into any +self-deception as regards the sincerity of her correspondent, in spite +of the fact that in one of the earliest epistles he addressed to her he +subscribed himself: "I am, with all unalterable esteem and sincerity, +Madam, your most faithful, obedient, humble servant." Yet, no doubt, she +was pleased enough to read: "I communicated your letter to Mr. Congreve; +he thinks of you as he ought, I mean as I do, for one always thinks that +to be just as it ought.... We never meet but we lament over you: we pay +a kind of weekly rites to your memory, when we strew flowers of rhetoric +and offer such libations to your name as if it were a profaneness to +call toasting." Well, alcoholic refreshment by any other name is just as +potent. It must have been grateful and comforting to be told when in +exile: "I must tell you, too, that the Duke of Buckingham has been more +than once your high priest in performing the office of your praises: and +upon the whole I believe there are few men who do not deplore your +departure, as women that sincerely do." + +Most excellent Pope, who would play at make-believe. It is almost a pity +that he could not persuade the lady that he meant even a tithe of what +he wrote to her. Listen to him again: "For my part, I hate a great many +women for your sake, and undervalue all the rest. 'Tis you who are to +blame, and may God revenge it upon you, with all those blessings and +earthy prosperities which the divines tell us, are the cause of our +perdition: for if He makes you happy in this world, I dare trust your +own virtue to do it in the other." These poets! + +Lady Mary took all this in the right way, and as love-letters appraised +them at their true value. "Perhaps you'll laugh at me for thanking you +very gravely for all the obliging concern you express for me," she wrote +from Vienna in September, with, perhaps, just a touch of irony. "'Tis +certain that I may, if I please, take the fine things you say to me for +wit and raillery; and it may be, it would be taking them right. But I +never in my life was half so well disposed to believe you in earnest; +and that distance which makes the continuation of your friendship +improbable, has very much increased my faith for it, and I find that I +have (as well as the rest of my sex), whatever face I set on't, a strong +disposition to believe in miracles." As regards the rest, her side of +the correspondence was matter-of-fact to such a degree that it suggests +that she adopted that tone in order to lease him. Her replies can +scarcely have given Pope any satisfaction. From Vienna she gave him a +detailed account of the opera and the theatre; from Belgrade she told +him of the war and of an Arabic scholar and also of the climate; from +Adrianople she discoursed of the Hebrus, of the lads of the village, of +Addison and Theocritus, pays him compliments on his translation of +Homer, and a copy of some Turkish verses; and so on. The most striking +thing about her letters is the absence of the personal note, which is so +often introduced when she was writing to others. They read more like +essays than communications to a friend. + +Pope, in a letter dated September 1, 1718, sent Lady Mary a copy of his +verses. + + ON JOHN HUGHES AND SARAH DREW + + When Eastern lovers fear'd the fun'eral fire + On the same pile the faithful pair expire! + Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found, + And blasted both, that it might neither wound. + Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw well pleas'd, + Sent his own lightning and the victims seiz'd. + + I + Think not by vig'rous judgment seiz'd, + A pair so faithful could expire; + Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleas'd, + And snatch'd them in celestial fire. + + II + Live well, and fear no sudden fate: + When God calls virtue to the grave; + Alike 'tis justice, soon or late, + Mercy alike to kill or save. + Virtue unmov'd can hear the call. + And face the flash that melts the ball. + +These verses she acknowledged in a letter which, written while on the +homeward path, she sent from Dover, where she arrived at the beginning +of November. + + +"I have this minute received a letter of yours, sent me from Paris. I +believe and hope I shall very soon see both you and Mr. Congreve; but as +I am here in an inn, where we stay to regulate our march to London, bag +and baggage, I shall employ some of my leisure time in answering that +part of yours that seems to require an answer. + +"I must applaud your good nature, in supposing that your pastoral lovers +(vulgarly called haymakers) would have lived in everlasting joy and +harmony, if the lightning had not interrupted their scheme of happiness. +I see no reason to imagine that John Hughes and Sarah Drew were either +wiser or more virtuous than their neighbours. That a well-set man of +twenty five should have a fancy to marry a brown woman of eighteen, is +nothing marvellous; and I cannot help thinking, that, had they married, +their lives would have passed in the common track with their fellow +parishioners. His endeavouring to shield her from the storm, was a +natural action, and what he would have certainly done for his horse, if +he had been in the same situation. Neither am I of opinion, that their +sudden death was a reward of their mutual virtue. You know the Jews were +reproved for thinking a village destroyed by fire more wicked than those +that had escaped the thunder. Time and chance happen to all men. Since +you desire me to try my skill in an epitaph, I think the following lines +perhaps more just, though not so poetical as yours: + + Here lies John Hughes and Sarah Drew; + Perhaps you'll say, what's that to you? + Believe me, friend, much may be said + On this poor couple that are dead. + On Sunday next they should have married; + But see how oddly things are carried! + On Thursday last it rain'd and lighten'd; + These tender lovers, sadly frighten'd, + Shelter'd beneath the cocking hay, + In hopes to pass the storm away; + But the bold thunder found them out + (Commissioned for that end, no doubt), + And, seizing on their trembling breath, + Consign'd them to the shades of death. + Who knows if 'twas not kindly done? + For had they seen the next year's sun, + A beaten wife and cuckold swain + Had jointly curs'd the marriage chain; + Now they are happy in their doom, + For P. has wrote upon their tomb. + +"I confess, these sentiments are not altogether so heroic as yours; but +I hope you will forgive them in favour of the two last lines. You see +how much I esteem the honour you have done them; though I am not very +impatient to have the same, and had rather continue to be your stupid +living humble servant, than be celebrated by all the pens in Europe. + +"I would write to Mr. Congreve, but suppose you will read this to him, +if he enquires after me." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT TWICKENHAM + +The Montagus take a house at Twickenham--Lady Mary's liking for country +life--Neighbours and visitors--Pope--Bononcini, Anastasia Robinson, +Senesino--Lord Peterborough--Sir Geoffrey Kneller--Henrietta +Howard--Lord Bathurst--The Duke of Wharton--His early history--He comes +to Twickenham--His relations with Lady Mary--Horace Walpole's reference +to them--Pope's bitter onslaught on the Duke--An Epilogue by Lady +Mary--"On the death of Mrs. Bowes"--The Duke quarrels with Lady Mary. + + +Pope went to live at Twickenham in 1718, and it was generally believed +that it was by his persuasion that the Montagus rented a house in that +little riverside hamlet. It was not until 1722 that they bought "the +small habitation." + +Lady Mary divided her time between London and Twickenham, but apparently +enjoyed herself more at her country retreat. "I live in a sort of +solitude that wants very little of being such as I would have it," she +wrote to her sister, Lady Mar, in August, 1721. As a matter of fact, the +solitude was more imaginary than real, for round about there was a small +colony of friends. + +She was, indeed, very rarely lonely. "My time is melted away in almost +perpetual concerts," she told her sister. "I do not presume to judge, +but I'll assure you I am a very hearty as well as an humble admirer. I +have taken my little thread satin beauty into the house with me; she is +allowed by Bononcini to have the finest voice he ever heard in England. +He and Mrs. Robinson and Senesino lodge in this village, and sup often +with me: and this easy indolent life would make me the happiest +in the world, if I had not this execrable affair [of Rémond] still +hanging over my head." To Anastasia Robinson there is more than one +allusion in Lady Mary's correspondence, and she gives a most amusing +account of an incident in that lady's career. + + +"Could one believe that Lady Holdernesse is a beauty, and in love? and +that Mrs. Robinson is at the same time a prude and a kept mistress? and +these things in spite of nature and fortune. The first of these ladies +is tenderly attached to the polite Mr. Mildmay, and sunk in all the joys +of happy love, notwithstanding she wants the use of her two hands by a +rheumatism, and he has an arm that he cannot move. I wish I could send +you the particulars of this amour, which seems to me as curious as that +between two oysters; and as well worth the serious enquiry of the +naturalists. The second heroine has engaged half the town in arms, from +the nicety of her virtue, which was not able to bear the too near +approach of Senesino in the opera; and her condescension in accepting of +Lord Peterborough for her champion, who has signalised both his love and +courage upon this occasion in as many instances as ever Don Quixote did +for Dulcinea. Poor Senesino, like a vanquished giant, was forced to +confess upon his knees that Anastasia was a nonpariel of virtue and +beauty. Lord Stanhope, as dwarf to the said giant, joked of his side, +and was challenged for his pains. Lord Delawar was Lord Peterborough's +second; my lady miscarried--the whole town divided into parties on this +important point. Innumerable have been the disorders between the two +sexes on so great an account, besides half the house of peers being put +under arrest. By the providence of Heaven, and the wise cares of his +Majesty, no bloodshed ensued. However, things are now tolerably +accommodated; and the fair lady rides through the town in triumph, in +the shining berlin of her hero, not to reckon the essential advantage of +£100 a month, which 'tis said he allows her." + + +This story is, as a matter of fact, not far removed from the truth. It +omits, however, the fact that Lord Peterborough, then about sixty years +of age, had married Anastasia Robinson in 1722; but the marriage was +secret, although Lady Oxford was present at the ceremony, and it was not +made public until thirteen years later, although long before there were +many who suspected it. He died in the same year that the announcement +was made. His widow survived him by a score of years. + +Sir Godfrey Kneller had a house at Twickenham, and, at the instigation +of Pope, sat to him for her portrait, upon which the following lines +(generally ascribed to Pope) were written: + + "The playful smiles around the dimpled mouth. + That happy air of majesty and truth; + So would I draw (but oh! 'tis vain to try, + My narrow genius does the power deny;) + The equal lustre of the heav'nly mind, + Where ev'ry grace with every virtue's join'd; + Learning not vain, and wisdom not severe, + With greatness easy, and with wit sincere; + With just description show the work divine, + And the whole princess in my work should shine." + +Mrs. Howard, afterwards the Countess of Suffolk, was a neighbour from +1723, when the Prince of Wales, whose mistress she was, provided her +with funds for the purchase of Marble Hill. However, though, of course, +she and Lady Mary were acquainted, there was at no time any intimacy +between them. Lady Mary, in fact, does not appear to have liked +Henrietta Howard. At least she on more than one occasion tittle-tattled +about her. "The most surprising news is Lord Bathurst's assiduous court +to their Royal Highnesses, which fills the coffee-houses with profound +speculations. But I, who smell a rat at a profound distance, do believe +in private that Mrs. Howard and his lordship have a friendship that +borders upon 'the tender.' + + "And though in histories, learned ignorance + Attributes all to cunning or to chance, + Love in that grave disguise does often smile, + Knowing the cause was kindness all the while." + +So Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar in 1724, and shortly after returned to +the subject in another epistle: "You may remember I mentioned in my last +some suspicions of my own in relation to Lord Bathurst, which I really +never mentioned, for fifty reasons, to anyone whatsoever; but, as there +is never smoke without some fire, there is very rarely fire without some +smoke. These smothered flames, though admirably covered with whole heaps +of politics laid over them, were at last seen, felt, heard, and +understood; and the fair lady given to understand by her commanding +officer, that if she showed under other colours, she must expect to have +her pay retrenched. Upon which the good Lord was dismissed, and has not +attended the drawing-room since. You know one cannot help laughing, when +one sees him next, and I own I long for that pleasurable moment." + +To Twickenham came Philip, Duke of Wharton, and leased a villa, later +called The Grove, at the farther end of the hamlet from London. Of all +the lads of the village there was none for wildness like unto him. Born +in 1698, and therefore nine years younger than Lady Mary, he had at an +early age made himself conspicuous by unbridled excesses. Soon after the +death of his father, Thomas, first Marquess of Wharton, in 1715, his +conduct created so much scandal at home, that his guardians sent him +abroad in the custody of a tutor. To the horror of that unfortunate +person, his charge enrolled himself as an adherent of the Pretender, and +went to pay his respects at Avignon. The Duke had talent beyond the +ordinary. He could write fairly well, make an excellent speech, and had +a keen sense of wit. When he went to Paris, the British Ambassador, Lord +Stair, took it upon himself to give this madcap some sound advice. He +extolled the virtues of the late Marquess of Wharton, and, "I hope," he +said, "you will follow so illustrious an example of fidelity to your +Prince and love to your country." "I thank your Excellency for your good +counsel," replied the visitor courteously, "and as your Excellency had +also a worthy and discerning father, I hope that you will likewise copy +so bright an example, and tread in all his footsteps,"--an effective +though a brutal rejoinder, for the first Lord Stair had betrayed his +Sovereign. Young Wharton, on his return, however, showed by his conduct +that his visit to Avignon had been little more than a prank, for while +he had accepted a dukedom from the Pretender, he, in 1718, being still a +minor, accepted a dukedom from the British Sovereign--the single +instance of such a dignity being conferred upon a minor. + +Wharton, who did everything in haste, had in his seventeenth year eloped +with Martha, daughter of Major-General Richard Holmes, and married her +in the Fleet on March 2, 1715. As was only to be expected from a person +so volatile he from the beginning neglected his wife; but, as is put +quaintly in that unreliable work, _Memoirs of a Certain Island adjacent +to the Kingdom of Utopia_, which was concocted by Mrs. Eliza Haywood, +"after some years of continu'd extravagance, the Duke, either through +the natural Inconsistency of his Temper, or the Reflection how much he +had been drawn in by his unworthy Companions to embezel his Estate ... +began to think there were Comforts in Retirement; and falling into the +Conversation of the sober part of Mankind, more than he had done, was +persuaded by them to take home his Dutchess.... He brought her to his +House; but Love had no part in his Resolution. He lived with her indeed +but she is with him as a Housekeeper, as a Nurse." The relations were, +however, more intimate than Mrs. Haywood believed, for in March, 1719, a +son was born to them. + + +"The Duke of Wharton has brought his Duchess to town, and is fond of her +to distraction; in order to break the hearts of all other women that +have any claim on him," Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar. "He has public +devotions twice a day, and assists at them in person with exemplary +devotion; and there is nothing pleasanter than the remarks of some pious +ladies on the conversion of such a sinner." + + +The letter from which the above passage is an extract must have been +written not later than the early spring of 1720, for after that date +the Duke and Duchess of Wharton did not again live together. The +immediate cause of the separation was that Wharton had forbidden his +wife to come to London where small-pox was raging at the time. She, +however, whether irked by the dulness of the country, or thinking by her +presence to guard her husband against those temptations to which he was +prone, followed him to the town, where the infant sickened of the +epidemic and died. After one great scene, they never met again. + +There is mention of the Duke in another letter of Lady Mary to Lady Mar, +dated February, 1724: + + +"In general, gallantry never was in so elevated a figure as it is at +present. Twenty very pretty fellows (the Duke of Wharton being president +and chief director) have formed themselves into a committee of +gallantry. They call themselves _Schemers_; and meet regularly three +times a week, to consult on gallant schemes for the advantage and +advancement of that branch of happiness.... I consider the duty of a +true Englishwoman is to do what honour she can to her native country; +and that it would be a sin against the pious love I bear the land of my +nativity, to confine the renown due to the Schemers within the small +extent of this little island, which ought to be spread wherever men can +sigh, or women wish. 'Tis true they have the envy and curses of the old +and ugly of both sexes, and a general persecution from all old women; +but this is no more than all reformations must expect in their +beginning." + + +More than one writer has asserted that it was the wit and beauty of Lady +Mary that drew him thither. At the time the Duke was twenty-four and the +lady nine years older. Certainly he paid her marked attention, but as he +paid marked attention to all women who had not a hump or a squint-- +sometimes, maybe, he even overlooked the squint--it is as impossible to +say whether he was in love with her as it is to assert that she was in +love with him. From the little that is known of their intimacy, it would +seem that they were merely good comrades--good comrades of the type that +might bite or scratch at any moment. Horace Walpole, who was more than +usually malicious where Lady Mary was concerned, could scarcely induce +himself to allow her any qualities. "My Lady Stafford,"[5] he wrote to +George Montagu in 1751, "used to live at Twickenham when Lady Mary +Wortley and the Duke of Wharton lived there; she had more wit than both +of them. What would I give to have had Strawberry Hill twenty years ago! +I think anything but twenty years. Lady Stafford used to say to her +sister, 'Well, child, I have come without my wit to-day'; that is, she +had not taken her opium, which she was forced to do if she had any +appointment, to be in particular spirits." + +[Footnote 5: Claude Charlotte, Countess of Stafford, wife of Henry, Earl of +Stafford, and daughter of Philibert, Count of Grammont, and Elizabeth +Hamilton, his wife.] + +Horace Walpole alluded to Lady Mary and the Duke in "The Parish Register +of Twickenham": + + "Twickenham, where frolic Wharton revelled + Where Montagu, with locks dishevelled. + Conflict of dirt and warmth combin'd, + Invoked--and scandalised the _Nine_." + +What Pope thought of the Duke he expressed with the utmost vigour: + + "Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days, + Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise: + Born with whate'er could win it from the wise, + Women and fools must like him, or he dies: + Though wondering senates hung on all he spoke. + The club must hail him master of the joke. + Shall parts so various aim at nothing new? + He'll shine a Tully and a Wilmot too. + Then turns repentant, and his God adores + With the same spirit that he drinks and whores; + Enough, if all around him but admire, + And now the punk applaud, and now the friar. + Thus with each gift of nature and of art, + And wanting nothing but an honest heart; + Grown all to all; from no one vice exempt, + And most contemptible, to shun contempt: + His passion still, to covet general praise, + His life, to forfeit it a thousand ways; + A constant bounty which no friend has made; + An angel tongue, which no man can persuade; + A fool, with more of wit than half mankind; + Too rash for thought, for action too refined: + A tyrant to his wife his heart approves; + A rebel to the very king he loves; + He dies, sad outcast of each church and state, + And, harder still! flagitious, yet not great. + Ask you why Wharton broke through every rule? + 'Twas all for fear the knaves should call him fool." + +The Duke wrote a play on Mary Queen of Scots--of which only four lines +have been preserved: + + "Sure were I free, and Norfolk were a prisoner, + I'd fly with more impatience to his arms, + Than the poor Israelite gaz'd on the serpent. + When life was the reward of every look." + +It is usually stated that this play was written at some time between +1728 and 1730, but it is certain that it was begun at this time-- +probably it was never finished. Perhaps only the scenario was drawn up, +and a few scenes outlined; but that so much at least was done while the +author was at Twickenham is proved conclusively by the fact that at this +time Lady Mary composed for the play an epilogue, designed to be spoken +by Mrs. Oldfield. + + "What could luxurious woman wish for more. + To fix her joys, or to extend her pow'r? + Their every wish was in this Mary seen. + Gay, witty, youthful, beauteous, and a queen. + Vain useless blessings with ill-conduct join'd! + Light as the air, and fleeting as the wind. + Whatever poets write, and lovers vow. + Beauty, what poor omnipotence hast thou? + Queen Bess had wisdom, council, power and laws; + How few espous'd a wretched beauty's cause? + Learn thence, ye fair, more solid charms to prize, + Contemn the idle flatt'rers of your eyes. + The brightest object shines but while 'tis new. + That influence lessens by familiar view. + Monarchs and beauties rule with equal sway, + All strive to serve, and glory to obey, + Alike unpitied when depos'd they grow-- + Men mock the idol of their former vow. + Two great examples have been shown to-day, + To what sure ruin passion does betray, + What long repentance to short joys is due, + When reason rules, what glory must ensue. + If you will love, love like Eliza then, + Love for amusement, like those traitors, men. + Think that the pastime of a leisure hour + She favor'd oft--but never shar'd her pow'r. + The traveller by desert wolves pursued, + If by his heart the savage foe's subdu'd, + The world will still the noble act applaud, + Though victory was gain'd by needful fraud. + Such is, my tender sex, our helpless case, + And such the barbarous heart, hid by the begging face, + By passion fir'd, and not withheld by shame, + They cruel hunters are, we trembling game. + Trust me, dear ladies, (for I know 'em well), + They burn to triumph, and they sigh to tell: + Cruel to them that yield, cullies to them that sell. + Believe me, 'tis far the wiser course, + Superior art should meet superior force: + Hear, but be faithful to your int'rest still: + Secure your hearts--then fool with whom you will." + +At Twickenham the Duke seems in some degree to have relied for his +entertainment upon his pen. There he wrote his articles for the _True +Briton_, and also indited various trifles in verse. Never neglecting an +opportunity to indulge his humour, when Lady Mary Wortley Montagu wrote +a poem on the untimely death of a friend, he could not refrain from +presenting her with a parody. + + + ON THE DEATH OF MRS. BOWES + + _By Lady Mary Wortley Montagu_ + + "Hail, happy bride! for thou art truly bless'd, + Three months of rapture crown'd with endless rest. + Merit like yours was Heav'n's peculiar care, + You lov'd--yet tasted happiness sincere: + To you the sweets of love were only shown, + The sure succeeding bitter dregs unknown. + You had not yet the fatal change deplor'd + The tender lover for th' imperious lord, + Nor felt the pains that jealous fondness brings, + Nor wept that coldness from possession springs, + Above your sex distinguish'd in your fate, + You trusted--yet experienc'd no deceit. + Soft were your hours, and wing'd with pleasure flew, + No vain repentance gave a sign to you, + And if superior bliss heav'n can bestow, + With fellow-angels you enjoy it now." + + + THE ANSWER + + _By the Duke of Wharton_ + + "Hail, Poetess! for thou art truly blest, + Of wit, of beauty, and of love possest, + Your muse does seem to bless poor Bowes's fate, + But far 'tis from you to desire her state, + In every line your wanton soul appears. + Your verse, tho' smooth, scarce fit for modest ears, + No pangs of jealous fondness doth thou shew. + And bitter dregs of love thou ne'er didst know: + The coldness that your husband oft has mourn'd, + Does vanish quite, when warm'd on Turkish ground. + For Fame does say, if Fame don't lying prove, + You paid obedience to the Sultan's love. + Who, fair one, then, was your imperious Lord? + Not Montagu, but Mahomet the word: + Great as your wit, just so is Wortley's love, + Your next attempt will be on thund'ring Jove, + The little angels you on Bowes bestow. + But gods themselves are only fit for you." + + +No writer of verses likes to have fun poked at them, even in the form of +friendly banter, but Lady Mary seems to have borne the affliction +admirably. + +Two persons with such impish humour could not but frequently find +themselves at loggerheads, but their liking for each other's society was +genuine, and quarrels were followed by peace-making. "Sophia [as she +nicknamed the young man] and I have been quite reconciled, and are now +quite broke, and I believe not likely to piece up again," Lady Mary +wrote to her sister. This was in February, 1725, and a little later in +the year the breach was widened by the really outrageous conduct of the +Duke: + + +"Sophia and I have an immortal quarrel; which though I resolve never to +forgive, I can hardly forbear laughing at. An acquaintance of mine is +married, whom I wish very well to: Sophia has been pleased, on this +occasion, to write the most infamous ballad that ever was written; where +both the bride and bridegroom are intolerably mauled, especially the +last, who is complimented with the hopes of cuckoldom, and forty other +things equally obliging, and Sophia has distributed this ballad in such +a manner as to make it pass for mine, on purpose to pique the poor +innocent soul of the new-married man, whom I should be the last of +creatures to abuse. I know not how to clear myself of this vile +imputation, without a train of consequences I have no mind to fall into. +In the mean time, Sophia enjoys the pleasure of heartily plaguing both +me and that, person." + + +Probably this "immortal quarrel" would have been made up, but at the +beginning of July the Duke went abroad never to return. "Sophia is going +to Aix-la-Chapelle, and thence to Paris," Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar. +"I dare swear she'll endeavour to get acquainted with you. We are broke +to an iremediable degree. Various are the persecutions I have endured +from her this winter, in all of which I remain neuter, and shall +certainly go to heaven from the passive meekness of my temper." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FAMOUS QUARREL + +Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other +admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on +her thereafter--Writes of her as "Sappho"--Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to +protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mary's malicious tongue +and pen--Mrs. Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"--Lady Mary, Lord +Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady +Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter. + + +Of Pope, it is curious to relate, though he was a near neighbour, she +saw less and less. It has been suggested that the first rift in the lute +was her parody of his verses about the lovers struck by lightning; but +even he, most sensitive of men, can scarcely have been seriously offended. +So far as is known, only two letters passed between them after 1719. + + +"I pass my time in a small snug set of dear intimates, and go very +little into the _grand monde_, which has always had my hearty contempt" +(she wrote to Lady Mar in the spring of 1722). "I see sometimes Mr. +Congreve, and very seldom Mr. Pope, who continues to embellish his house +at Twickenham. He has made a subterranean grotto, which he has furnished +with looking-glass, and they tell me it has a very good effect. I here +send you some verses addressed to Mr. Gay, who wrote him a +congratulatory letter on the finishing his house. I stifled them here, +and I beg they may die the same death at Paris, and never go further +than your closet: + + 'Ah, Friend, 'tis true--this truth you lovers know-- + In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow, + In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes + Of hanging mountains, and of sloping greens: + Joy lives not here; to happier seats it flies, + And only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes. + + What is the gay parterre, the chequer'd shade, + The morning bower, the ev'ning colonnade, + But soft recesses of uneasy minds, + To sigh unheard in, to the passing winds? + So the struck deer in some sequestrate part + Lies down to die, the arrow at his heart; + There, stretch'd unseen in coverts hid from day, + Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away.' + + +It may here be remarked that in Epistle VIII of the _Moral Essays_ Pope +had a line: + + "And other beauties envy Wortley's eyes"; + +but in a reprint of the poem he substituted [Lady] "Worsley" for +"Wortley" in order to give the impression that "Wortley" had been a +misprint. + +Pope's quarrel with Lady Mary began in or about 1722. The cause is +obscure. Many reasons have been advanced. Lady Mary in her +correspondence gives no clue as to the breach. + +It has been said that it arose out of the fact that Pope lent the +Montagus a pair of sheets and that they were returned unwashed, to the +great indignation of his mother who lived with him. It is difficult to +believe this. + +Others have it that he was jealous of the favour which Lady Mary +accorded to the Duke of Wharton and Lord Hervey. Certainly he lampooned +the Duke, and he was never weary of writing insultingly about the other. + +Most probable is the account given by Lady Louisa Stuart, Lady Mary's +grand-daughter, which is to the effect that Pope made a declaration of +love, and that Lady Mary received it with shrieks of laughter. If Pope +were serious, it must have galled him indeed, though nothing can excuse +the malignity with which he pursued her for years and years. And if he +were not in earnest, he would probably have been nearly, if not quite, +as indignant. + +Anyhow, it is a sorry story, and a blot on the scutcheon of the poet, +who, good-hearted as he usually was, was cursed by the gift, refined to +a rare degree, of alienating his friends, more often than not for some +fancied slight. Addison he lampooned, and from Dennis and Philips he +parted company. "Leave him as soon as you can," Addison had warned Lady +Mary. "He will certainly play you some devilish trick else: he has an +appetite for satire." Lady Mary presently must have wished that she had +followed this sage counsel. + +When Pope fought, he fought with the gloves off; and not the sex or the +age or the standing of the subject of his wrath deterred him a whit. + + "Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things + As pride in slaves, and avarice in kings; + And at a peer, or peeress, shall I fret, + Who starves a sister, or forswears a debt?" + +Thus Pope in the First Dialogue of the _Epilogue to the Satires._ The +reference to forswearing a debt, is, of course, to the Rémond business; +"who starves a sister" is an allusion to Lady Mary and Lady Mar.[6] + +[Footnote 6: _See_ p. 200 of this work.] + +Pope returned to the attack again and again. In _The Satires of Dr. John +Donne Versified_, he inserted the following lines, although there is +nothing in the original to warrant the stroke at Lady Mary: + + "Yes, thank my stars! as early as I knew + This town, I had the sense to hate it too: + Yet here, as e'en in hell, there must be still + One giant vice, so excellently ill. + That all beside, one pities, not abhors: + As who knows Sappho, smiles at other whores." + +Again, in the _Epistle to Martha Blount_: + + "As Sappho's diamonds with her dirty smock; + Or Sappho at her toilet's greasy task, + With Sappho radiant at an evening mask." + +Pope would not admit that he alluded to Lady Mary as Sappho, but +everyone realised that this was so. Lady Mary, much distressed, begged +Lord Peterborough to urge Pope to refrain. The mission was undertaken +reluctantly, and the result was scarcely satisfactory. "He said to me," +Lord Peterborough wrote to Lady Mary, "what I had taken the liberty of +saying to you, that he wondered how the town would apply these lines to +any but some noted common woman; that he would yet be more surprised if +you should take them to yourself; he named to me four remarkable +poetesses and scribblers, Mrs. Centlivre, Mrs. Heywood, Mrs. Manley, and +Mrs. Behn, assuring me that such only were the objects of his satire." + + +Much upset, Lady Mary wrote the following letter to Arbuthnot: + + +January 3 [1735]. + +"Sir, + +"I have perused the last lampoon of your ingenious friend, and am not +surprised you did not find me out under the name of Sappho, because +there is nothing I ever heard in our characters or circumstances to make +a parallel, but as the town (except you, who know better) generally +suppose Pope means me, whenever he mentions that name, I cannot help +taking notice of the horrible malice he bears against the lady signified +by that name, which appears to be irritated by supposing her writer of +the Verses to the Imitator of Horace. Now I can assure him they were +wrote (without my knowledge) by a gentleman of great merit, whom I very +much esteem, who he will never guess, and who, if he did know, he durst +not attack; but I own the design was so well meant, and so excellently +executed, that I cannot be sorry they were written. I wish you would +advise poor Pope to turn to some more honest livelihood than libelling; +I know he will allege in his excuse that he must write to eat, and he +has now grown sensible that nobody will buy his verses except their +curiosity is piqued to it, to see what is said of their acquaintance; +but I think this method of gain so exceeding vile that it admits of no +excuse at all.--Can anything be more detestable than his abusing poor +Moore, scarce cold in his grave, when it is plain he kept back his poem, +while he lived, for fear he should beat him for it? This is shocking to +me, though of a man I never spoke to and hardly knew by sight; but I am +seriously concerned at the worse scandal he has heaped on Mr. Congreve, +who was my friend, and whom I am obliged to justify, because I can do it +on my own knowledge, and, which is yet farther bring witness of it, from +those who were then often with me that he was so far from loving Pope's +rhyme, both that--and his conversation were perpetual jokes to him, +exceeding despicable in his opinion, and he has often made us laugh in +talking of them, being particularly pleasant on that subject. As to +Pope's being born of honest parents, I verily believe it, and will add +one praise to his mother's character, that (though I only knew her very +old) she always appeared to me to have much better sense than himself. I +desire, sir, as a favour, that you would show this letter to Pope, and +you will very much oblige, sir, + +"Your humble servant." + + +Lady Mary was not a person, after severe chastisement, to turn the other +cheek, and Pope was well aware of it. He believed that more than one +social satire upon him came from her pen; and he especially suspected +her of having written, or anyhow of having had a hand in the composition +of _A Pop upon Pope_, in which an account was given of a whipping in Ham +Walk which was said to have been administered to him. The poet was so +furious--he regarded it as an indirect attack on his physical deformity, +of which he was always so conscious--that he actually inserted an +announcement in the papers that no such incident had ever occurred-- +thereby drawing yet more attention to the lampoon. "You may be certain I +shall never reply to such a libel as Lady Mary's," he wrote to +Fortescue. "It is a pleasure and comfort at once to find out that with +so much mind as so much malice must have to accuse or blacken my +character, it can fix upon no one ill or immoral thing in my life and +must content itself to say, my poetry is dull and my person ugly." + +Lady Mary, in a letter to Arbuthnot, denied the authorship of _A Pop +upon Pope_: + + +"Sir, + +"Since I saw you I have made some inquiries, and heard more, of the +story you was so kind to mention to me. I am told Pope has had the +surprising impudence to assert he can bring the lampoon when he pleases +to produce it, under my own hand; I desire he may be made to keep to +this offer. If he is so skilful in counterfeiting hands, I suppose he +will not confine that great talent to the gratifying his malice, but +take some occasion to increase his fortune by the same method, and I may +hope (by such practices) to see him exalted according to his merit, +which nobody will rejoice at more than myself. I beg of you, sir (as an +act of justice), to endeavour to set the truth in an open light, and +then I leave to your judgment the character of those who have attempted +to hurt mine in so barbarous a manner. I can assure you (in particular) +you named a lady to me (as abused in this libel) whose name I never +heard before, and as I never had any acquaintance with Dr. Swift am an +utter stranger to all his affairs and even his person, which I never saw +to my knowledge, and am now convinced the whole is a contrivance of +Pope's to blast the reputation of one who never injured him. I am not +more sensible of his injustice, than I am, sir, of your [_sic_] candour, +generosity, and good sense I have found in you, which has obliged me to +be with a very uncommon warmth your real friend, and I heartily wish for +an opportunity of showing I am so more effectually than by subscribing +myself your very + +"Humble servant." + + +Whether, in spite of her denial, Lady Mary had a hand in _A Pop upon +Pope_ cannot be said; but it is certainly safe to believe that the +following lines were written by her, in conjunction, the gossip of the +day had it, with Lord Hervey, with some assistance from Mr. Wyndham, +then tutor to the Duke of Cumberland: + + "VERSES ADDRESSED TO THE IMITATOR OF THE FIRST SATIRE OF THE + SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. + + _By a Lady_ + + "Nor thou the justice of the world disown. + That leaves thee thus an outcast and alone: + For though in law the murder be to kill, + In equity the murder is the will. + Then while with coward hand you stab a name, + And try at least to assassinate our fame, + Like the first bold assassin be thy lot, + Ne'er be thy guilt forgiven or forgot; + But as thou hat'st by hatred by mankind, + And with the emblem of thy crooked mind + Marked on thy back, like Cain, by God's own hand, + Wander like him accursed through the land." + +It was this malignant attack upon his person that inspired Pope's lines +in the _Epistle to Arbuthnot_: + + "Once, and but once, his heedless youth was bit, + And liked that dangerous thing, a female wit. + Safe, so he thought, though all the prudent chid; + He writ no libels, but my lady did; + Great odds, in amorous or poetic game, + Where woman's is the sin, and man's the shame." + +With the following extract from a letter written by Lady Mary from +Florence in 1740 this unpleasing incident may be dismissed: + + +"The word malignity, and a passage in your letter, call to my mind the +wicked wasp of Twickenham: his lies affect me now no more; they will be +all as much despised as the story of the seraglio and the handkerchief, +of which I am persuaded he was the only inventor. That man has a +malignant and ungenerous heart; and he is base enough to assume the mask +of a moralist, in order to decry human nature, and to give a decent vent +to his hatred of man and woman kind.--But I must quit this contemptible +subject, on which a just indignation would render my pen so fertile, +that after having fatigued you with a long letter, I would surfeit you +with a supplement twice as long." + + +At Twickenham Lady Mary interested herself in planning alterations in +the house and gardens. "There is a sort of pleasure," she said, "in +shewing one's own fancy on one's own ground." The longer she stayed at +the riverside, the better she liked it. "I am at present at Twickenham," +she wrote in July, 1723, "which is become so fashionable, and the +neighbourhood so much enlarged, that 'tis more like Tunbridge or the +Bath than a country retreat." + + +"I am now at the same distance from London that you are from Paris, and +could fall into solitary amusements with a good deal of taste; but I +resist it, as a temptation of Satan, and rather turn my endeavours to +make the world as agreeable to me as I can, which is the true +philosophy; that of despising it is of no use but to hasten wrinkles" +(she wrote to Lady Mar in 1725). "I ride a good deal, and have got a +horse superior to any two-legged animal, he being without a fault. I +work like an angel. I receive visits upon idle days, and I shade my life +as I do my tent-stitch, that is, make as easy transitions as I can from +business to pleasure; the one would be too flaring and gaudy without +some dark shades of t'other; and if I worked altogether in the grave +colours, you know 'twould be quite dismal. Miss Skerritt is in the house +with, me, and Lady Stafford has taken a lodging at Richmond: as their +ages are different, and both agreeable in their kind, I laugh with the +one, or reason with the other, as I happen to be in a gay or serious +humour; and I manage my friends with such a strong yet with a gentle +hand, that they are both willing to do whatever I have a mind to." + + +"Molly," that is, Maria Skerritt or Skirrett, is best known for her +connection with Sir Robert Walpole. There was nothing clandestine about +the relationship: it was openly avowed. Miss Skerritt, who was the +daughter of a London merchant, had great good looks and an ample +fortune, and Walpole declared that she was indispensable to his +happiness. She was received everywhere, and moved in fashionable +society. It was to Lady Walpole and Molly Skerritt that Gay alluded in +the song that he put in the mouth of Macheath (who was meant for Robert +Walpole): + + "How happy could I be with either, + Were t'other dear Charmer away!" + +Lady Walpole survived until the summer of 1738, and after her death the +others married. The second Lady Walpole died of a miscarriage in June, +1739, to the great and enduring sorrow of her husband. For the surviving +child, Walpole, when he accepted a peerage in 1742, secured the rank of +an earl's daughter. + +Lady Mary now spent her time between London and Twickenham. At Court, +she was as popular as ever with the King; and she was liked in literary +circles, and on good terms with Young, Arbuthnot, Garth, and the rest of +the set. "I see every body but converse with nobody but _des amies +choisses_; in the first rank of these are Lady Stafford and dear Molly +Skerritt, both of whom have now the additional merit of being old +acquaintances, and never having given me any reason to complain of +either of 'em. I pass some days with the Duchess of Montagu, who might +be a reigning beauty if she pleased. I see the whole town every Sunday, +and select a few that I retain to supper. In short, if life could be +always what it is, I believe I have so much humility in my temper I +could be contented without anything better than this two or three +hundred years but, alas! + + 'Dulness, and wrinkles, and disease, must come, + And age, and death's irrevocable doom.'" + +Lady Mary, who had some two-score years still to live, began at this +time to deplore her increasing age. "For my own part," she wrote to +Lady Mar, "I have some coteries where wit and pleasure reign, and I +should not fail to amuse myself tolerably enough, but for the d----d +d----d quality of growing older every day, and my present joys are made +imperfect by fears of the future." However, this depression was not +always on her, and later she was writing: + + +"I think this is the first time in my life that a letter of yours has +lain by me two posts unanswered. You'll wonder to hear that short +silence is occasioned by not having a moment unemployed at Twickenham; +but I pass many hours on horseback, and, I'll assure you, ride +stag-hunting, which I know you'll stare to hear of. I have arrived to +vast courage and skill that way, and am as well pleased with it as with +the acquisition of a new sense: his Royal Highness [the Prince of Wales] +hunts in Richmond Park, and I make one of the _beau monde_ in his train. +I desire you after this account not to name the word old woman to me any +more: I approach to fifteen nearer than I did ten years ago, and am in +hopes to improve every year in health and vivacity." + + +Lady Mary's tongue made her many enemies in society, and when her tongue +failed her she brought her pen into action. Her love of scandal must +have gone far to make her unpopular, and if her letters to her sister at +Paris had been published she would have found herself with scarcely a +friend in the world. + +Correspondence between Lady Mary, from London or Twickenham, to her +sister, the Countess of Mar, at Paris, was a very one-sided affair. This +was, in part, owing to the fact that Lord Mar was, of course, suspect, +and that letters to him or to members of his family and household were +(in all probability) intercepted in this country. Lady Mary, who had +suspected this more than once, became more and more convinced that her +suspicions were justified. "I have writ to you at least five-and-forty +letters, dear sister, without receiving any answer, and resolved not to +confide in post-house fidelity any more, being firmly persuaded that +they never came to your hands, or you would not refuse one line to let +me know how you do, which is and ever will be of great importance to +me." That was written at Christmas, 1722, and though in the meantime +Lady Mary heard from her sister, she realised that if she wanted her +letters to arrive she must be careful as to the topics upon which she +discoursed. "Letters are so surely opened, I dare say nothing to you +either of our intrigues or duels, both of which would afford great +matter of mirth and speculation." The difficulties of communication did +not decrease. "I have writ to you twice since I received yours in answer +to that I sent by Mr. de Caylus," she remarked a little later; "but I +believe none of what I send by the post ever come to your hands, nor +ever will while they are directed to Mr. Waters, for reasons that you +may easily guess. I wish you would give me a safer direction; it is very +seldom I can have the opportunity of a private messenger, and it is very +often that I have a mind to write to my dear sister." + + +Lady Mary, of course, often stayed in London, and in her correspondence +are many references to her friends and her doings. + + +"Operas flourish more than ever, and I have been in a tract of going +every time," she wrote to her sister in April, 1723. "The people I live +most with are none of your acquaintance; the Duchess of Montagu +excepted, whom I continue to see often. Her daughter Belle is at this +instant in the paradisal state of receiving visits every day from a +passionate lover, who is her first love; whom she thinks the finest +gentleman in Europe, and is, besides that, Duke of Manchester. Her mamma +and I often laugh and sigh reflecting on her felicity, the consummation +of which will be in a fortnight. In the mean time they are permitted to +be alone together every day and all the day." + + +Mary's very best vein is the following letter, written about the same +time, and also addressed to her sister: + + +"I am yet in this wicked town, but purpose to leave it as soon as the +Parliament rises. Mrs. Murray and all her satellites have so seldom +fallen in my way, I can say little about them. Your old friend Mrs. +Lowther is still fair and young, and in pale pink every night in the +Parks; but, after being highly in favour, poor I am in utter disgrace, +without my being able to guess wherefore, except she fancied me the +author or abettor of two vile ballads written on her dying adventure, +which I am so innocent of that I never saw [them]. _A propos_ of +ballads, a most delightful one is said or sung in most houses about our +dear beloved plot, which has been laid firstly to Pope, and secondly to +me, when God knows we have neither of us wit enough to make it. Mrs. +Hervey lies-in of a female child. Lady Rich is happy in dear Sir +Robert's absence, and the polite Mr. Holt's return to his allegiance, +who, though in a treaty of marriage with one of the prettiest girls in +town (Lady Jane Wharton), appears better with her than ever. Lady Betty +Manners is on the brink of matrimony with a Yorkshire Mr. Monckton of +£3,000 per annum: it is a match of the young duchess's making, and she +thinks matter of great triumph over the two coquette beauties, who can +get nobody to have and to hold; they are decayed to a piteous degree and +so neglected that they are grown constant and particular to the two +ugliest fellows in London. Mrs. Pulteney condescends to be publicly kept +by the noble Earl of Cadogan; whether Mr. Pulteney has a pad nag +deducted out of the profits for his share I cannot tell, but he appears +very well satisfied with it. This is, I think, the whole state of love; +as to that of wit, it splits itself into ten thousand branches; poets +increase and multiply to that stupendous degree, you see them at every +turn, even in embroidered coats and pink-coloured top-knots; making +verses is almost as common as taking snuff, and God can tell what +miserable stuff people carry about in their pockets, and offer to +their acquaintances, and you know one cannot refuse reading and taking a +pinch. This is a very great grievance, and so particularly shocking to +me, that I think our wise lawgivers should take it into consideration, +and appoint a fast-day to beseech Heaven to put a stop to this +epidemical disease, as they did last year for the plague with great +success." + + +Another typical letter from Lady Mary contains a story of the class that +strongly appealed to her: + + +"The most diverting story about town at present is in relation to +Edgcombe; though your not knowing the people concerned so well as I do, +will, I fear hinder you from being so much entertained by it. I can't +tell whether you know a tall, musical, silly, ugly thing, niece to Lady +Essex Roberts, who is called Miss Leigh. She went a few days ago to +visit Mrs. Betty Tichborne, Lady Sunderland's sister, who lives in the +house with her, and was denied at the door; but, with the true manners +of a great fool, told the porter that if his lady was at home she was +very positive she would be very glad to see her. Upon which she was +shewed up stairs to Miss Tichborne, who was ready to drop down at the +sight of her, and could not help asking her in a grave way how she got +in, being denied to every mortal, intending to pass the evening in +devout preparation. Miss Leigh said she had sent away her chair and +servants, with intent of staying till nine o'clock. There was then no +remedy, and she was asked to sit down; but had not been there a quarter +of an hour when she heard a violent rap at the door, and somebody +vehemently run up stairs. Miss Tichborne seemed much surprised, and said +she believed it was Mr. Edgcombe, and was quite amazed how he took it +into his head to visit her. During these excuses enter Edgcombe, who +appeared frighted at the sight of a third person. Miss Tichborne told +him almost at his entrance that the lady he saw there was perfect +mistress of music, and as he passionately loved it, she thought she +could not oblige him more than by desiring her to play. Miss Leigh very +willingly sat to the harpsichord; upon which her audience decamped to +the adjoining room, and left her to play over three or four lessons to +herself. They returned, and made what excuses they could, but said very +frankly they had not heard her performance, and begged her to begin +again; which she complied with, and gave them the opportunity of a +second retirement. Miss Leigh was by this time all fire and flame to see +her heavenly harmony thus slighted; and when they returned, told them +she did not understand playing to an empty room. Mr. Edgcombe begged ten +thousand pardons, and said, if she would play _Godi_, it was a tune he +died to hear, and it would be an obligation he should never forget. She +made answer she would do him a much greater favour by her absence, which +she supposed was all that was necessary at that time; and ran down +stairs in a great fury to publish as fast as she could; and was so +indefatigable in this pious design, that in four-and-twenty hours all +the people in town had heard the story. My Lady Sunderland could not +avoid hearing this story, and three days after, invited Miss Leigh to +dinner, where, in the presence of her sister and all the servants, she +told her she was very sorry she had been so rudely treated in her house; +that it was very true Mr. Edgcombe had been a perpetual companion of her +sister's these two years, and she thought it high time he should explain +himself, and she expected her sister should act in this matter as +discreetly as Lady K. [Katherine] Pelham had done in the like case; who +had given Mr. Pelham four months to resolve in, and after that he was +either to marry her or to lose her for ever. Sir Robert Sutton +interrupted her by saying, that he never doubted the honour of Mr. +Edgcombe, and was persuaded he could have no ill design in his family. +The affair stands thus, and Mr. Edgcombe has four months to provide +himself elsewhere; during which time he has free egress and regress; and +'tis seriously the opinion of many that a wedding will in good earnest +be brought about by this admirable conduct. + +"I send you a novel instead of a letter, but, as it is in your power to +shorten it when you please, by reading no farther than you like, I will +make no excuses for the length of it." + + +Lady Mary had contracted an intimacy with Griselda Baillie, the wife of +Mr. (afterwards Sir A.) Murray, of Stanhope, after her return from +abroad, and there is frequent mention of her in the correspondence; but +the friendship came to an abrupt end in 1725. + + +"Among the rest a very odd whim has entered the little head of Mrs. +Murray: do you know she won't visit me this winter?" Lady Mary wrote to +Lady Mar. "I, according to the usual integrity of my heart, and +simplicity of my manners, with great _naïveté_ desired to explain with +her on the subject, and she answered that she was convinced that I had +made the ballad upon her, and was resolved never to speak to me again. I +answered (which was true), that I utterly defied her to have any one +single proof of my making it, without being able to get any thing from +her, but repetitions that she knew it. I cannot suppose that any thing +you have said should occasion this rupture, and the reputation of a +quarrel is always so ridiculous on both sides, that you will oblige me +in mentioning it to her, for 'tis now at that pretty pass, she won't +curtsey to me whenever she mets me, which is superlatively silly (if she +really knew it), after a suspension of resentment for two years +together." + + +Mrs. Murray had had an unpleasant adventure with her footman, Arthur +Grey, who had broken into her bedroom. Lady Mary had written and +circulated _An Epistle from Arthur Grey,_ and later another, and an +improper, ballad had appeared under the title of _Virtue in Danger_. +Mrs. Murray was firmly convinced that both pieces came from the same +pen. + +Lady Mar, on receipt of the above letter, proposed to act as peacemaker. +"I give you thanks for the good offices you promise with regard to Mrs. +Murray," Lady Mary wrote to her in reply, "and I shall think myself +sincerely obliged to you, as I already am on many accounts. 'Tis very +disagreeable in her to go about behaving and talking as she does, and +very silly into the bargain." + + +"Mrs. Murray is in open war with me in such a manner as makes her very +ridiculous without doing me much harm; my moderation having a very +bright pretence of shewing itself" (she wrote to Lady Mar). "Firstly, +she was pleased to attack me in very Billingsgate at a masquerade, where +she was as visible as ever she was in her own clothes. I had the temper +not only to keep silence myself, but enjoined it to the person with me; +who would have been very glad to have shewn his great skill in sousing +upon that occasion. She endeavoured to sweeten him by very exorbitant +praises of his person, which might even have been mistaken for making +love from a woman of less celebrated virtue; and concluded her oration +with pious warnings to him, to avoid the conversation of one so unworthy +his regard as myself, who to her certain knowledge loved another man. +This last article, I own, piqued me more than all her preceding +civilities. The gentleman she addressed herself to had a very slight +acquaintance with me, and might possibly go away in the opinion that she +had been confidante in some very notorious affair of mine. However, I +made her no answer at the time, but you may imagine I laid up these +things in my heart; and the first assembly I had the honour to meet her +at, with a meek tone of voice, asked her how I had deserved so much +abuse at her hands, which I assured her I would never return. She denied +it in the spirit of lying; and in the spirit of folly owned it at +length. I contented myself with telling her she was very ill advised, +and thus we parted. But two days ago, when Sir Geoffrey Kneller's +pictures were to be sold, she went to my sister Gower, and very civily +asked if she intended to bid for your picture; assuring her that, if she +did, she would not offer at purchasing it. You know crimp and quadrille +incapacitate that poor soul from ever buying any thing; but she told me +this circumstance; and I expected the same civility from Mrs. Murray, +having no way provoked her to the contrary. But she not only came to the +auction, but with all possible spite bid up the picture, though I told +her that, if you pleased to have it, I would gladly part with it to you, +though to no other person. This had no effect upon her, nor her malice +any more on me than the loss of ten guineas extraordinary, which I paid +upon her account. The picture is in my possession, and at your service +if you please to have it. She went to the masquerade a few nights +afterwards, and had the good sense to tell people there that she was +very unhappy in not meeting me, being come there on purpose to abuse me. +What profit or pleasure she has in these ways I cannot find out. This I +know, that revenge has so few joys for me, I shall never lose so much +time as to undertake it." + +So early as 1721, Lady Mary, writing to Lady Mar, mentions that "the +most considerable incident that has happened a good while, was the +ardent affection that Mrs. Hervey and her dear spouse[7] took to me. +They visited me twice or thrice a day, and were perpetually cooing in my +rooms. I was complaisant a great while; but (as you know) my talent has +never lain much that way. I grew at last so weary of those birds of +paradise, I fled to Twickenham, as much to avoid their persecutions as +for my own health, which is still in a declining way." Lady Mary did not +like Lady Hervey, the beautiful "Molly" Lepell, whom Gay eulogised: + + "Hervey, would you know the passion + You have kindled in my breast? + Trifling is the inclination + That by words can be expressed. + + In my silence see the lover; + True love is by silence known; + In my eyes you'll best discover, + All the power of your own." + +[Footnote 7: The Hon. John Hervey (1696-1743), younger son of John, +first Earl of Bristol; known as Lord Hervey after the death of his elder +brother Carr in 1723; Vice-Chamberlain of George II's Household, 1730; +created Baron Hervey of Ickworth, 1733, Lord Privy Seal, 1740-1742.] + +For Hervey, however, Lady Mary came to have a strong liking that many +believed to have, as she would have said, bordered upon "the tender"; +although it is on record that she once remarked that she divided the +human race into men, women, and Herveys. They met whenever they could; +when they could not meet they corresponded. Pope bitterly resented the +intimacy between Lady Mary and Hervey, and in the _Epistle of Arbuthnot_ +gave vent to the malignity with which his soul had been for years +overflowing: + + "P. Let Sporus tremble. + + A. What? That thing of silk; + Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk? + Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? + Who breaks a butterfly on the wheel? + + P. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, + This painted Child of dirt, that stinks and stings; + Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, + Yet wit ne'er tastes and beauty ne'er enjoys: + So well-bred spaniels civilly delight + In mumbling of the game they dare not bite. + Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, + As shallow streams run dimpling all the way. + Whether in florid impotence he speaks, + And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks; + Or at the ear of Eve,[8] familiar toad. + Half froth, half venom, spits himself abroad, + In pun, or politics, or tales, or lies. + Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies. + His wit all see-saw, between that and this, + Now high, now low, now make up, now miss, + And he himself one vile antithesis. + Amphibious thing! that acting either part, + The trifling head, or the corrupted heart; + Fop at the hostel, flatterer at the board, + Now trips a lady, and now struts a Lord. + Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have expressed, + A cherub's face--a reptile all the rest. + Beauty that shocks you, parts that none can trust, + Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust." + +[Footnote 8: Queen Caroline.] + +This was a heavy price to pay for the favours even of Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu. + +Whatever the relations between Lady Mary and Hervey, Lady Hervey was not +indulgent to them, which may have inspired Lady Mary to write to her +sister: "Lady Hervey, by aiming too high, has fallen very low; and is +reduced to trying to persuade folks she has an intrigue, and gets nobody +to believe her; the man in question taking a great deal of pains to +clear himself of the scandal." Lady Hervey and Mrs. Murray were active +partisans of Lord Grange in his persecution of Lady Mary, and aided him +in his attempts to get possession of her sister, Lady Mar. + +The bad terms on which Lady Mary and Lady Hervey were is most clearly +defined by Lady Louisa Stuart: "At the time of Lady Mary Wortley's return +home [in 1762, after an absence abroad of more than twenty years], Lady +Hervey was living in great intimacy with Lady Bute, for whom she +professed, and it is believed really felt, the highest esteem and +admiration. On hearing of her mother's arrival, she came to her, owning +herself embarrassed by the fear of giving her pain or offence, but yet +compelled to declare that formerly something had passed between her and +Lady Mary which made any renewal of their acquaintance impossible; +therefore, if she forbore visiting her, she threw herself upon Lady +Bute's friendship and candour for pardon. No explanation followed. Lady +Bute, who must have early seen the necessity of taking care not to be +entangled in her mother's quarrels, which, to speak truth, were seldom +few in number, only knew that there had been an old feud between her, +Lady Hervey, and Lady Hervey's friend, Mrs. (or Lady) Murray; the +particulars of which, forgotten even then by everybody but themselves, +may well be now beyond recall." + +During this period there were several domestic happenings in Lady Mary's +family. + +On March 5, 1726, died her father, the Duke of Kingston. After the +accession of George I, the Marquess of Dorchester (as he then was) was +high in favour at Court, and honours were showered upon him with a +lavish hand. He was in 1714 appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, and +in the same year Chief Justice in Eyre, north of Trent, which latter +dignity he held for two years. In August, 1715, he was created Duke of +Kingston upon Hull, in the county of Yorkshire. He held the high office +of Lord Privy Seal from 1716 to 1719 in the Administrations of Townshend +and Stanhope, in the latter year becoming Lord President of the Council. +When Walpole became First Lord of the Treasury, the Duke again became +Lord Privy Seal, and held the post until his death. He was given the +Garter in 1719, and was four times named as one of the Lord Justices of +the Realm during the King's absences from England on visits to Hanover. +He had married, secondly, Isabella, fifth daughter of William Bentinck, +first Earl of Portland, by his first wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Edward +Villiers, who survived him two years. + +The Duke had never really forgiven Lady Mary for eloping. Her defiance +of him hurt his pride inordinately. Everyone else to some degree at +least he could control; his young daughter not at all. Only so far were +they ever reconciled that he would occasionally visit the Montagus at +their London house and play with the children. + +In his later years the Duke's health was unsatisfactory, but it was not +thought that the end was so near. "I have now to tell you of the +surprising death of my father, and a great deal of surprising management +of the people about him, which I leave informing you until another time, +being now under some spirit of hurry myself," Lady Mary wrote to Lady +Mar in March, 1726. "I am unfeignedly sorry that I cannot send you word +of a considerable legacy for yourself." On April 15 she supplemented +this account; but not to a degree to make it very intelligible: + + +"To be sure, the shock must be very great to you whenever you heard it; +as indeed it was to us all here, being so sudden. It is to no purpose +now to relate particulars, but only renewing our grief. I can't forbear +telling you the Duchess has behaved very oddly in endeavouring to get +the guardianship of the young Duke and his sister, contrary to her +husband's will; but the boy, when he was fourteen, confirmed the +trustees his grandfather left; so that ended all disputes; and Lady +Fanny is to live with my aunt Cheyne. There is a vast number of things +that have happened, and some people's behaviour so extraordinary in this +melancholy business, that it would be great ease of mind if I could tell +it you; but I must not venture to speak too freely in a letter." + + +A week or so later, some further details were forthcoming: + + +"I received yours, dear sister, this minute, and am very sorry both for +your past illness and affliction; though _au bout du compte_, I don't +know why filial piety should exceed fatherly fondness. So much by way of +consolation. As to the management at that time--I do verily believe, if +my good aunt and sister had been less fools, and my dear mother-in-law +less mercenary, things might have had a turn more to your advantage and +mine too; when we meet, I will tell you many circumstances which would +be tedious in a letter. I could not get my sister Gower to join to act +with me, and mamma and I were in an actual scold when my poor father +expired; she has shewn a hardness of heart upon this occasion that would +appear incredible to any body not capable of it themselves. The addition +to her jointure is, one way or other, £2000 per annum; so her good Grace +remains a passable rich widow, and is already presented by the town with +a variety of young husbands; but I believe her constitution is not good +enough to let her amorous inclinations get the better of her covetous." + + +Lady Mary was very angry, because she heard that at the end her father +had really expressed a great deal of kindness to her, and even a desire +of talking to her, which the Duchess would not permit. However, he left +her in his will, she having married without a settlement, £6,000 for her +separate use during her life, with reversion to her daughter. + +As regards the heir, she wrote: "The Duke of Kingston has hitherto had so +ill an education, 'tis hard to make any judgment of him; he has spirit, +but I fear he will never have his father's good sense. As young noblemen +go, 'tis possible he may make a good figure among them." + +The young Duke was sent to France, and there was much discussion as to +what should be done with his sister, Lady Frances Pierrepont. Her having +£400 per annum for maintenance, has, Lady Mary remarked ironically, +"awakened the consciences of half her relations to take care of her +education, and (excepting myself) they have all been squabbling about +her. My sister Gower carries her off to-morrow morning to Staffordshire. +The lies, twaddles, and contrivances about this affair are innumerable. +I should pity the poor girl if I saw she pitied herself." + +Lady Gower did not long enjoy her victory over her friends and her fond +relations, for she died in June, 1727. + +In May, 1732, Lord Mar died at Aix-la-Chapelle. Lady Mary's sister, Lady +Mar, in later years suffered from mental irregularity. Her brother-in-law, +James Erskine, Lord Grange, endeavoured to secure possession of her +person by some process of law, but was thwarted by Lady Mary, who +obtained a warrant from the King's Bench. For years Lady Mar remained in +her sister's custody. She survived until 1761. There was a rumour that +Lady Mary treated her badly, but there is no reason to believe that +there was any substantial ground for the accusation. + +Lady Mary's daughter, Mary, married in 1736, John Stuart, third Earl of +Bute, the favourite of the Princess of Wales, and afterwards Prime +Minister. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE CONTINENT (1739-1744) + +Lady Mary leaves England--She does not return for twenty years--Montagu +supposed to join her--The domestic relations of the Montagus--A +septennial act for marriage--Lady Mary corresponds with her +husband--Dijon--Turin--Venice--Bologna--Florence--The Monastery of La +Trappe--Horace Walpole at Florence--His comments on Lady Mary and her +friends--Reasons for his dislike of her--Rome--The Young Pretender and +Henry, Cardinal York--Wanderings--Cheapness of life in Italy--Lady +Mary's son, Edward--He is a great trouble to his parents--His absurd +marriage--His extravagance and folly--Account of his early years--He +visits Lady Mary at Valence--Her account of the interviews. + + +In July, 1739, Lady Mary went abroad. She did not return until the +beginning of 1762, a few months before her death. + +She went abroad without her husband, and, indeed, they never met again. +At first, apparently, he had intended to join her--at least so she gave +Lady Pomfret to understand: + + +"You have put me to a very difficult choice, yet, when I consider we are +both in Italy, and yet do not see one another, I am astonished at the +capriciousness of my fortune" (she wrote from Venice late in 1739). "My +affairs are so uncertain, I can answer for nothing that is future. I +have taken some pains to put the inclination for travelling into Mr. +Wortley's head, and was so much afraid he would change his mind, that I +hastened before him in order (at least) to secure my journey. He +proposed following me in six weeks, his business requiring his presence +at Newcastle. Since that, the change of scene that has happened in +England has made his friends persuade him to attend parliament this +session: so that what his inclinations, which must govern mine, will be +next spring I cannot absolutely foresee. For my own part, I like my own +situation so well that it will be a displeasure to me to change it. To +postpone such a conversation as yours a whole twelvemonth is a terrible +appearance; on the other hand, I would not follow the example of the +first of our sex, and sacrifice for a present pleasure a more lasting +happiness. In short, I can determine nothing on this subject. When you +are at Florence, we may debate it over again." + + +So little is known of the domestic relations of the Montagus that it is +hazardous to advance a conjecture. One writer has suggested that there +was a quarrel over money, but there are no grounds to support this. +Another has it that Lady Mary's flirtations or intrigues did not meet +with her husband's approval. Yet another thinks that Montagu found his +wife with her sharp tongue, very ill to live with. + +The Montagus had been married for seven-and-twenty years; their younger +child was now twenty-one. Since Montagu assisted Lady Mary as a girl +with her Latin studies, they do not seem to have had much in common. +Lady Mary cut a figure in the social world; Montagu was a nonentity in +political life and seemed content so to be. Perhaps they were tired of +each other, and welcomed a separation that at the outset was intended +only to be temporary. "It was from the customs of the Turks that I first +had the thought of a septennial bill for the benefit of married +persons," Lady Mary once said to Joseph Spence; and it is more than +likely that she would have taken advantage of such an Act of Parliament +had it been in existence. + +That there was no definite breach is evident from the fact that husband +and wife corresponded, though it must be confessed that her letters to +her husband are almost uniformly dull, except when the topic is their +son. On the other hand, there was certainly no especial degree of +friendship between them, and in one of her letters Lady Mary said +pointedly: "You do not seem desirous to hear news, which makes me not +trouble you with any." For the rest there are descriptions of the places +which Lady Mary visited and an account of the people she met. + +Lady Mary proceeded from Dover to Calais, and thence to Dijon, where she +arrived in the middle of August. Wherever she went she found herself +among friends. "There is not any town in France where there is not +English, Scotch or Irish families established; and I have met with +people who have seen me (though often such as I do not remember to have +seen) in every town I have passed through; and I think the farther I go, +the more acquaintance I meet," she told her husband. At Dijon there were +no less than sixteen families of fashion. Lord Mansel had lodgings in +the house with her at Dijon, and Mrs. Whitsted, a daughter of Lord +Bathurst, resided in the same street. She met Lady Peterborough, and +just missed the Duke of Rutland, at St. Omer. At Port Beauvoisin she ran +across Lord Carlisle. + +From Turin, she travelled, on the advice of Lord Carlisle, to Vienna, +which he declared was the best place in Italy in which to stay. The fact +that it was the intention of Lady Pomfret to remove from Sienna to +Vienna was the deciding factor. She liked the latter city so well that +she remained there until August of the following year (1740). It had one +great merit in Lady Mary's eyes, that it was cheap. Next to that, she +derived pleasure from the consideration with which she was treated. "I +like this place extremely, and am of opinion you would do so too: as to +cheapness, I think 'tis impossible to find any part of Europe where both +the laws and customs are so contrived purposely to avoid expenses of all +sorts; and here is a universal liberty that is certainly one of the +greatest _agréments_ in life. We have foreign ambassadors from all parts +of the world, who have all visited me. I have received visits from many +of the noble Venetian ladies; and upon the whole I am very much at my +ease here. If I was writing to Lady Sophia, I would tell her of the +comedies and operas which are every night, at very low prices; but I +believe even you will agree with me that they are ordered to be as +convenient as possible, every mortal going in a mask, and consequently +no trouble in dressing, or forms of any kind." So Lady Mary wrote to +Lady Pomfret on October 10; and a few days later she supplemented the +information in a letter to her husband: + + +"I find myself very well here. I am visited by the most considerable +people of the town, and all the foreign ministers, who have most of them +made great entertainments for me. I dined yesterday at the Spanish +ambassador's, who even surpassed the French in magnificence. He met me +at the hall-door, and the lady at the stair-head, to conduct me through +the long apartment; in short, they could not have shown me more honours, +if I had been an ambassadress. She desired me to think myself patrona +del casa, and offered me all the services in her power, to wait on me +where I pleased, &c. They have the finest palace in Venice. What is very +convenient, I hear it is not at all expected I should make any dinners, +it not being the fashion for anybody to do it here but the foreign +ministers; and I find I can live here very genteelly on my allowance. I +have already a very agreeable general acquaintance; though when I came, +here was no one I had ever seen in my life, but the Cavaliere Grimani +and the Abbé Conti. I must do them [the] justice to say they have taken +pains to be obliging to me. The Procurator brought his niece (who is at +the head of his family) to wait on me; and they invited me to reside +with them at their palace on the Brent, but I did not think it proper to +accept of it. He also introduced me to the Signora Pisani Mocenigo, who +is the most considerable lady here. The Nuncio is particularly civil to +me; he has been several times to see me, and has offered me the use of +his box at the opera. I have many others at my service, and, in short +it, is impossible for a stranger to be better received than I am. Here +are no English, except a Mr. Bertie and his governor, who arrived two +days ago, and who intends but a short stay." + + +Lady Mary thoroughly enjoyed herself at Venice, where she found a +variety of occupations to occupy her time. In the mornings she was +"wrapt up among my books with antiquarians and virtuosi"; in the +afternoons there were visits to pay and receive; in the evenings dinners +(at other people's expense--which fact did not detract from her +pleasure), assemblies, and the theatre and the opera. In fact, she found +there every delight except scandal, but that she did not miss, because +she said, she "never found any pleasure in malice." So strange a thing +is human nature that perhaps she believed it! + + +"Upon my word, I have spoken my real thoughts in relation to Venice; but +I will be more particular in my description, lest you should find the +same reason of complaint you have hitherto experienced" (she wrote in +November to Lady Pomfret). "It is impossible to give any rule for the +agreeableness of conversation; but here is so great a variety, I think +'tis impossible not to find some to suit every taste. Here are foreign +ministers from all parts of the world, who, as they have no Court to +employ their hours, are overjoyed to enter into commerce with any +stranger of distinction. As I am the only lady here at present, I can +assure you I am courted, as if I was the only one in the world. As to +all the conveniences of life, they are to be had at very easy rates; and +for those that love public places, here are two playhouses and two +operas constantly performed every night, at exceeding low prices. But +you will have no reason to examine that article, no more than myself; +all the ambassadors having boxes appointed them; and I have every one of +their keys at my service, not only for my own person, but whoever I +please to carry or send. I do not make much use of this privilege, to +their great astonishment. It is the fashion for the greatest ladies to +walk the streets, which are admirably paved; and a mask, price sixpence, +with a little cloak, and the head of a domino, the genteel dress to +carry you everywhere. The greatest equipage is a gondola, that holds +eight persons, and is the price of an English chair. And it is so much +the established fashion for everybody to live their own way, that +nothing is more ridiculous than censuring the actions of another. This +would be terrible in London, where we have little other diversion; but +for me, who never found any pleasure in malice, I bless my destiny that +has conducted me to a part where people are better employed than in +talking of the affairs of their acquaintance. It is at present excessive +cold (which is the only thing I have to find fault with), but in +recompense we have a clear bright sun, and fogs and factions things +unheard of in this climate." + + +Certainly everybody did the utmost to make Venice agreeable to Lady +Mary. With all her good opinion of herself and of her position, she +found herself treated with more distinction than she "could possibly +expect." When, on Christmas Eve, she went to see the ceremony of High +Mass celebrated by the Doge, she was surprised to find that he had set +aside for her and the Prince of Wolfenbuttel a gallery, to which none +were admitted but their parties. "A greater compliment could not have +been paid me if I had been a sovereign Princess." To her husband she +wrote: "It is impossible to be better treated, I may even say more +courted, than I am here." + +All the English who came to Venice, as a matter of course paid their +respects to Lady Mary. + + +"Lord Fitzwilliam arrived here three days ago; he came to see me the +next day, as all the English do, who are much surprised at the +civilities and familiarity which I am with the noble ladies. Everybody +tells me 'tis what never was done but to myself; and I own I have a +little vanity in it, because the French ambassador told me when I first +came, that though the Procurator Grimani might persuade them to visit +me, he defied me to enter into any sort of intimacy with them: instead +of which they call me out almost every day on some diversion or other, +and are desirous to have me in all their parties of pleasure. I am +invited to-morrow to the Foscarini to dinner, which is to be followed +by a concert and a ball, where I shall be the only stranger, though here +are at present a great number come to see the regatta, which is fixed +for the 29th of this month, N.S. I shall see it at the Procurator +Grimani's, where there will be a great entertainment that day. My own +house is very well situated to see it, being on the Grand Canal; but I +would not refuse him and his niece, since they seem desirous of my +company, and I shall oblige some other ladies with my windows. They are +hired at a great rate to see the show." + +There was just one fly in the ointment. "I am impatient to hear good +sense pronounced in my native tongue; having only heard my language out +of the mouths of boys and governors for these five months" (she +complained to Lady Pomfret). "Here are inundations of them broke in upon +us this carnival, and my apartment must be their refuge; the greater +part of them having kept an inviolable fidelity to the languages their +nurses taught them; their whole business abroad (as far as I can +perceive) being to buy new clothes, in which they shine in some obscure +coffee-house, where they are sure of meeting only one another; and after +the important conquest of some waiting gentlewoman of an opera queen, +whom perhaps they remember as long as they live, return to England +excellent judges of men and manners. I find the spirit of patriotism so +strong in me every time I see them, that I look on them as the greatest +blockheads in nature; and, to say truth, the compound of booby and +_petit maître_ makes up a very odd sort of animal." + +It was not until the middle of August (1740) that Lady Mary left Venice, +going first to Bologna, where she stayed a day or two "to prepare for +the dreadful passage of the Apennines." On her way to Florence, she +visited the monastery of La Trappe--her account of which may be given as +a companion portrait to that of the nunnery printed in an earlier +chapter. + + +"The monastery of La Trappe, is of French origin, and one of the most +austere and self-denying orders I have met with. In this gloomy retreat +it gave me pain to observe the infatuation of men, who have devoutly +reduced themselves to a much worse condition than that of the beasts. +Folly, you see, is the lot of humanity, whether it arises in the flowery +paths of pleasure, or the thorny ones of an ill-judged devotion. But of +the two sorts of fools, I shall always think that the merry one has the +most eligible fate; and I cannot well form a notion of that spiritual +and ecstatic joy, that is mixed with sighs, groans, hunger, and thirst, +and the other complicated miseries of monastic discipline. It is a +strange way of going to work for happiness to excite an enmity between +soul and body, which Nature and Providence have designed to live +together in union and friendship, and which we cannot separate like man +and wife when they happen to disagree. The profound silence that is +enjoined upon the monks of La Trappe is a singular circumstance of their +unsociable and unnatural discipline, and were this injunction never to +be dispensed with, it would be needless to visit them in any other +character than as a collection of statues; but the superior of the +convent suspended in our favour that rigorous law, and allowed one of +the mutes to converse with me, and answer a few discreet questions. He +told me that the monks of this order in France are still more austere +than those of Italy, as they never taste wine, flesh, fish, or eggs; but +live entirely upon vegetables. The story that is told of the institution +of this order is remarkable, and is well attested, if my information is +good. Its founder was a French nobleman whose name was Bouthillior de +Rancé, a man of pleasure and gallantry, which were converted into the +deepest gloom of devotion by the following incident. His affairs obliged +him to absent himself, for some time, from a lady with whom he had lived +in the most intimate and tender connexions of successful love. At his +return to Paris he proposed to surprise her agreeably, and, at the same +time, to satisfy his own impatient desire of seeing her, by going +directly and without ceremony to her apartment by a back stair, which he +was well acquainted with--but think of the spectacle that presented +itself to him at his entrance into the chamber that had so often been +the scene of love's highest raptures! his mistress dead--dead of the +small-pox--disfigured beyond expression--a loathsome mass of putrified +matter--and the surgeon separating the head from the body, because the +coffin had been made too short! He stood for a moment motionless in +amazement, and filled with horror--and then retired from the world, shut +himself up in the convent of La Trappe, where he passed the remainder of +his days in the most cruel and disconsolate devotion.--Let us quit this +sad subject." + + +The news that Lady Mary was coming to Florence came to the ears of +Horace Walpole, who was staying there. If he had not yet made her +acquaintance, he certainly knew much about her. "On Wednesday we expect +a third she-meteor," he wrote to Richard West, July 31, 1740. "Those +learned luminaries the Ladies Pomfret and Walpole[9] are to be joined by +the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. You have not been witness to the rhapsody +of mystic nonsense which these two fair ones debate incessantly, and +consequently cannot figure what must be the issue of this triple +alliance: we have some idea of it. Only figure the coalition of prudery, +debauchery, sentiment, history, Greek, Latin, French, Italian and +metaphysics; all, except the second, understood by halves, by quarters, +or not at all. You shall have the journals of this notable academy." +Walpole sent, some seven weeks later, an account of the lady to the Hon. +Henry Seymour Conway: "Did I tell you Lady Mary Wortley is here? She +laughs at my Lady Walpole, scolds my Lady Pomfret, and is laughed at by +the whole town. Her dress, her avarice, and her impudence must amaze any +one that never heard her name. She wears a foul mob, that does not cover +her greasy black locks, that hang loose, never combed or curled, +mazarine blue wrapper, that gapes open and discovers a canvas petticoat. +Her face swollen violently on one side is partly covered with a +plaister, and partly with white paint, which for cheapness she has +bought so coarse, that you would not use it to wash a chimney." + +[Footnote 9: The wife of the eldest son of Sir Robert Walpole, who in +1723 was created Baron Walpole. He later succeeded as (second) Earl of +Orford.] + +In another letter, to Richard West (October 2, 1740), Walpole gives an +account of the "Academy." "But for the Academy, I am not of it; but +frequently in company with it," he wrote. "Tis all disjointed. Madame +----,[10] who, though a learned lady, has not lost her modesty and +character, is extremely scandalised with the two other dames, especially +with Moll Worthless,[11] who knows no bounds. She is at rivalry with +Lady W---- [12] for a certain Mr.----, whom perhaps you knew at +Oxford.... He fell into sentiments with my Lady W., and was happy to +catch her at platonic love; but as she seldom stops there, the poor man +will be frightened out of his senses when she shall break the matter to +him, for he never dreamt that her purposes were so naught. Lady Mary is +so far gone that to get him from the mouth of her antagonist, she +literally took him out to dance country dances at a formal ball, where +there was no measure kept in laughing at her.... She played at Pharaoh +two or three times at Princess Craon's, where she cheats horse and foot. +She is really entertaining: I have been reading her works, which she +lends out in manuscript; but they are too womanish: I like few of her +performances." + +[Footnote 10: Lady Pomfret.] +[Footnote 11: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.] +[Footnote 12: Lady Walpole.] + +Lady Mary was, of course, entirely ignorant of Horace Walpole's feelings +about her, of which naturally he showed no sign in social intercourse +with her. "I saw him often both at Florence and Genoa, and you may +believe I know him," she told her daughter. "I was well acquainted with +Mr. Walpole at Florence, and indeed he was particularly civil to me," +she wrote on another occasion. "I have great encouragement to ask favour +of him, if I did not know that few people have so good memories to +remember so many years backwards as have passed since I have seen him. +If he has treated the character of Queen Elizabeth with disrespect [in +_A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England_], all the women +should tear him to pieces, for abusing the glory of their sex. Neither +is it just to put her in the list of authors, having never published +anything, though we have Mr. Camden's authority that she wrote many +valuable pieces, chiefly Greek translations. I wish all monarchs would +bestow their leisure hours on such studies: perhaps they would not be +very useful to mankind; but it may be asserted, for a certain truth, +their own minds could be more improved than by the amusements of +quadrille or Cavagnole." + +Lady Mary need not have feared that Walpole had forgotten her; he bore +her much in mind to his dying day, and found never a kind thing to say +about her. It may be presumed that his animosity arose from the fact +that Lady Mary had championed Molly Skerritt against his mother, when +Miss Skerritt was living openly as the mistress of Sir Robert Walpole. +Yet, though he wrote so abusively about her, he concerned himself with a +new edition of the _Court Poems_, though with what right has never +transpired. "I have lately had Lady Mary Wortley's Ecloques published; +but they don't please, though so excessively good," he wrote to Sir +Horace Mann, November 24, 1747. "I say so confidently, for Mr. Chute +agrees with me: he says, for the _Epistle from Arthur Grey_, scarce any +woman could have written it, and no man; for a man who had had +experience enough to paint such sentiments so well, would not have had +warmth enough left. Do you know anything of Lady Mary? Her adventurous +son is come in Parliament, but has not opened." + +From Florence, Lady Mary repaired to Rome. There, she did not see the +Chevalier de St. George, but she did see his two sons, Charles Edward, +the Young Pretender, and Henry, Cardinal York. "The eldest seems +thoughtless enough, and is really not unlike Mr. Lyttelton in his shape +and air," she wrote to Montagu. "The youngest is very well made, dances +finely, and has an ingenuous countenance; he is but fourteen years of +age. The family live very splendidly, yet pay everybody, and (wherever +they get it) are certainly in no want of money." + +Lady Mary seems to have had no prepared itinerary, but to have wandered +as the spirit moved her--Naples, Leghorn, Turin, Genoa. The cheapness of +Italy appealed to her frugal mind. + +"The manners of Italy are so much altered since we were here last, the +alteration is scarce credible. They say it has been by the last war. The +French, being masters, introduced all their customs, which were eagerly +embraced by the ladies, and I believe will never be laid aside; yet the +different governments make different manners in every state. You know, +though the republic is not rich, here are many private families vastly +so, and live at a great superfluous expense: all the people of the first +quality keep coaches as fine as the Speaker's, and some of them two or +three, though the streets are too narrow to use them in the town; but +they take the air in them, and their chairs carry them to the gates. The +liveries are all plain: gold or silver being forbidden to be worn within +the walls, the habits are all obliged to be black, but they wear +exceeding fine lace and linen; and in their country-houses, which are +generally in the faubuurg, they dress very rich, and have extreme fine +jewels. Here is nothing cheap but houses. A palace fit for a prince may +be hired for fifty pounds per annum; I mean unfurnished. All games of +chance are strictly prohibited, and it seems to me the only law they do +not try to evade: they play at quadrille, piquet, &c., but not high. +Here are no regular public assemblies. I have been visited by all of the +first rank, and invited to several fine dinners, particularly to the +wedding of one of the house of Spinola, where there were ninety-six sat +down to table, and I think the entertainment one of the best I ever saw. +There was the night following a ball and supper for the same company, +with the same profusion. They tell me that all their great marriages are +kept in the same public manner. Nobody keeps more than two horses, all +their journeys being post; the expense of them, including the coachman, +is (I am told) fifty pounds per annum. A chair is very near as much; I +give eighteen francs a week for mine. The senators can converse with no +strangers during the time of their magistracy, which lasts two years. +The number of servants is regulated, and almost every lady has the same, +which is two footmen, a gentleman-usher, and a page, who follows her +chair. + + +Certainly the simple life appealed to Lady Mary, but much as she liked +Geneva the cost of living irked her. "Everything is as dear as it is at +London," she complained to her husband in November, 1741. "'Tis true, as +all equipages are forbidden, that expense is entirely retrenched.... The +way of living is absolutely the reverse of that in Italy. Here is no +show, and a great deal of eating; there is all the magnificence +imaginable, and no dinners but on particular occasions; yet the +difference of the prices renders the total expense very near equal.... +The people here are very well to be liked, and this little republic has +an air of the simplicity of old Rome in its earliest age. The +magistrates toil with their own hands, and their wives literally dress +their dinners against their return from their little senate. Yet without +dress and equipage 'tis as dear living here for a stranger, as in places +where one is obliged to both, from the price of all sort of provision, +which they are forced to buy from their neighbours, having almost no +land of their own." How much more agreeable, from Lady Mary's point of +view, was Chambery: "Here is the most profound peace and unbounded +plenty that is to be found in any corner of the universe; but not one +rag of money. For my part, I think it amounts to the same thing, whether +one is obliged to give several pence for bread, or can have a great deal +of bread for a penny, since the Savoyard nobility here keep as good +tables, without money, as those in London, who spend in a week what +would be here a considerable yearly revenue. Wine, which is equal to the +best burgundy, is sold for a penny a quart, and I have a cook for very +small wages, that is capable of rivalling Chloé." + +"My girl gives me great prospect of satisfaction, but my young rogue of +a son is the most ungovernable little rake that ever played truant," +Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar in July, 1727, when the boy was fourteen and +the girl nine years old. + + +It has already been mentioned that young Edward, who was placed at +Westminster School at the early age of five, ran away. In fact, he ran +away more than once. "My blessed offspring has already made a great +noise in the world," his mother told Lady Mar in July, 1726. "That young +rake, my son, took to his heels t'other day and transported his person +to Oxford; being in his own opinion thoroughly qualified for the +University. After a good deal of search we found and reduced him, much +against his will, to the humble condition of a schoolboy. It happens +very luckily that the sobriety and discretion is of my daughter's side; +I am sorry the ugliness is so too, for my son grows extremely handsome." +The lad was incorrigible. In the following year he disappeared for some +months, to be found selling fish at Blackwall. + + +"My cousin is going to Paris, and I will not let her go without a letter +for you, my dear sister, though I was never in a worse humour for +writing" (the anxious mother wrote to her sister). "I am vexed to the +blood by my young rogue of a son; who has contrived at his age to make +himself the talk of the whole nation. He is gone knight-erranting, God +knows where; and hitherto 'tis impossible to find him. You may judge of +my uneasiness by what your own would be if dear Lady Fanny was lost. +Nothing that ever happened to me has troubled me so much; I can hardly +speak or write of it with tolerable temper, and I own it has changed +mine to that degree I have a mind to cross the water, to try what effect +a new heaven and a new earth will have upon my spirit." + + +Later, Edward ran away again, joining the crew of a ship going to +Oporto, and was not discovered in that city until a considerable period +had elapsed since his flight. + +He capped all his follies by marrying at the age of twenty a woman of no +social standing and much older than himself. + +His parents were at their wits' end. It was hopeless to treat him as a +rational being. His wife was induced to accept a pension to leave him, +and he himself was put in charge of a keeper. Several times he had to be +kept in close confinement. He was, however, by no means devoid of +brains, and in the autumn of 1741 he had sufficiently recovered to be +entered as a student at the University of Leyden. His allowance was £300 +a year, which he found so insufficient for the indulgence of his tastes +that he was soon considerably in debt. + +In Lady Mary's correspondence there are many letters to her husband +about their son. + + +"Genoa, Aug. 15, 1741. + +"I am sorry to trouble you on so disagreeable a subject as our son, but +I received a letter from him last post, in which he solicits your +dissolving his marriage, as if it was wholly in your power, and the +reason he gives for it, is so that he may marry more to your +satisfaction. It is very vexatious (though no more than I expected) that +time has no effect, and that it is impossible to convince him of his +true situation. He enclosed this letter in one to Mr. Birtles, and tells +me that he does not doubt that debt of £200 is paid. You may imagine +this silly proceeding occasioned me a dun from Mr. Birtles. I told him +the person that wrote the letter, was, to my knowledge, not worth a +groat, which was all I thought proper to say on the subject." + + +"Lyons, April 23, 1742. + +"I am very glad you have been prevailed on to let our son take a +commission: if you had prevented it, he would have always said, and +perhaps thought, and persuaded other people, you had hindered his +rising in the world; though I am fully persuaded that he can never make +a tolerable figure in any station of life. When he was at Morins, on his +first leaving France, I then tried to prevail with him to serve the +Emperor as volunteer; and represented to him that a handsome behaviour +one campaign might go a great way in retrieving his character; and +offered to use my interest with you (which I said I did not doubt would +succeed) to furnish him with a handsome equipage. He then answered, he +supposed I wished him killed out of the way. I am afraid his pretended +reformation is not very sincere. I wish time may prove me in the wrong. +I here enclose the last letter I received from him; I answered it the +following post in these words: + +"'I am very glad you resolve to continue obedient to your father, and +are sensible of his goodness towards you. Mr. Birtles showed me your +letter to him, in which you enclosed yours to me, where you speak to him +as your friend; subscribing yourself his faithful humble servant. He was +at Genoa in his uncle's house when you was there, and well acquainted +with you; though you seem ignorant of everything relating to him. I wish +you would make such sort of apologies for any errors you may commit. I +pray God your future behaviour may redeem the past, which will be a +great blessing to your affectionate mother.' + +"I have not since heard from him; I suppose he knew not what to say to +so plain a detected falsehood. It is very disagreeable to me to converse +with one from whom I do not expect to hear a word of truth, and who, I +am very sure, will repeat many things that never passed in our +conversation. You see the most solemn assurances are not binding from +him, since he could come to London in opposition to your commands, after +having so frequently protested he would not move a step except by your +order. However, as you insist on my seeing him, I will do it, and think +Valence the properest town for that interview; it is but two days' +journey from this place; it is in Dauphiné. + +"I shall stay here till I have an answer to this letter. If you order +your son to go to Valence, I desire you would give him a strict command +of going by a feigned name. I do not doubt your returning me whatever +money I may give him; but as I believe, if he receives money from me, he +will be making me frequent visits, it is clearly my opinion I should +give him none. Whatever you may think proper for his journey, you may +remit to him." + + +"Lyons, April 25 [1742]. + +"On recollection (however inconvenient it may be to me on many +accounts), I am not sorry to converse with my son. I shall at least have +the satisfaction of making a clear judgment of his behaviour and temper: +which I shall deliver to you in the most sincere and unprejudiced +manner. You need not apprehend that I shall speak to him in passion. I +do not know that I ever did in my life. I am not apt to be over-heated +in discourse, and am so far prepared, even for the worst on his side, +that I think nothing he can say can alter the resolution I have taken of +treating him with calmness. Both nature and interest (were I inclined to +follow blindly the dictates of either) would determine me to wish him +your heir rather than a stranger; but I think myself obliged both by +honour, conscience and my regard for you, no way to deceive you; and I +confess, hitherto I see nothing but falsehood and weakness through his +whole conduct. It is possible this person may be altered since I saw +him, but his figure then was very agreeable and his manner insinuating. +I very well remember the professions he made to me, and do not doubt he +is as lavish of them to other people. Perhaps Lord Carteret may think +him no ill match for an ugly girl that sticks upon his hands. The +project of breaking his marriage shows at least his devotion +counterfeit, since I am sensible it cannot be done but by false witness. +His wife is not young enough to get gallants, nor rich enough to buy +them. + +"I make choice of Valence for our interview as a town where we are not +likely to find any English, and he may if he pleases be quite unknown; +which it is hardly possible to be in any capital town either of France +or Italy. + + +"Lyons, May 2 [1742]. + +"I received this morning yours of April 12, and at the same time the +enclosed which I send you. Tis the first I have received since the +detection of that falsehood in regard to Mr. Birtles. I always send my +letters open, that Mr. Clifford (who has the character of sense and +honesty) might be witness of what I said; and he not left at liberty to +forge orders he never received. I am very glad I have done so, and am +persuaded that had his reformation been what you suppose it, Mr. +Clifford would have wrote to me in his favour. I confess I see no +appearance of it. His last letter to you, and this to me, seems to be no +more in that submissive style he has used, but like one that thinks +himself well protected. I will see him, since you desire it, at Valence; +which is a by-town, where I am less likely to meet with English than any +town in France; but I insist on his going by a feigned name, and coming +without a servant. People of superior fortunes to him (to my knowledge) +have often travelled from Paris to Lyons in the _diligence_; the expense +is but one hundred livres, £5 sterling, all things paid. It would not be +easy to me, at this time, to send him any considerable sum; and whatever +it is, I am persuaded, coming from me, he would not be satisfied with +it, and make his complaints to his companions. As to the alteration of +his temper, I see the same folly throughout. He now supposes (which is +at best downright childish) that one hour's conversation will convince +me of his sincerity. I have not answered his letter, nor will not, till +I have your orders what to say to him." + + +[Avignon] May 6 [1742]. + +"I here send you enclosed the letter I mentioned of your son's; the +packet in which it was put was mislaid in the journey; it will serve to +show you how little he is to be depended on. I saw a Savoyard man of +quality at Chambery, who knew him at Venice, and afterwards at Genoa, +who asked me (not suspecting him for my son) if he was related to my +family. I made answer he was some relation. He told me several tricks of +his. He said, that at Genoa he had told him that an uncle of his was +dead and had left him £5,000 or £6,000 per annum, and that he was +returning to England to take possession of his estate; in the meantime +he wanted money; and would have borrowed some of him, which he refused. +I made answer that he did very well. I have heard of this sort of +conduct in other places; and by the Dutch letters you have sent me I am +persuaded he continues the same method of lying which convinces me that +his pretended enthusiasm is only to cheat those that can be imposed on +by it. However, I think he should not be hindered accepting a +commission. I do not doubt it will be pawned or sold in a twelvemonth; +which will prove to those that now protect him how little he deserves +it. I am now at Avignon, which is within one day's journey of Valence." + + +"Avignon, May 23 [1742]. + +"I received this morning yours of April 12 and 29th, and at the same +time one from my son at Paris, dated the 4th instant. I have wrote to +him this day, that on his answer I will immediately set out to Valence, +and shall be glad to see him there. I suppose you are now convinced I +have never been mistaken in his character; which remains unchanged, and +what is yet worse, I think is unchangeable. I never saw such a +complication of folly and falsity as in his letter to Mr. Gibson. +Nothing is cheaper than living in an inn in a country town in France; +they being obliged to ask no more than twenty-five sous for dinner, and +thirty for supper and lodging, of those that eat at the public table; +which all the young men of quality I have met have always done. It is +true I am forced to pay double, because I think the decency of my sex +confines me to eat in my chamber. I will not trouble you with detecting +a number of other falsehoods that are in his letters. My opinion on the +whole (since you give me leave to tell it) is, that if I was to speak +in your place, I would tell him, 'That since he is obstinate in going +into the army, I will not oppose it; but as I do not approve, I will +advance no equipage till I know his behaviour to be such as shall +deserve my future favour. Hitherto he has always been directed, either +by his own humour, or the advice of those he thought better friends to +him than myself. If he renounces the army, I will continue to him his +former allowance; notwithstanding his repeated disobedience, under the +most solemn professions of duty. When I see him act like a sincere +honest man, I shall believe well of him; the opinion of others, who +either do not know him or are imposed on by his pretences, weighs +nothing with me." + + +On May 30 Lady Mary went from Avignon to Valence, where about a week +later her son visited her. She at once sent a full account to Montagu. + + +"Avignon, June 10 [1742.] + +"I am just returned from passing two days with our son, of whom I will +give you the most exact account I am capable of. He is so much altered +in his person, I should scarcely have known him. He has entirely lost +his beauty, and looks at least seven years older than he is; and the +wildness that he always had in his eyes is so much increased it is +downright shocking, and I am afraid will end fatally. He is grown fat, +but is still genteel, and has an air of politeness that is agreeable. He +speaks French like a Frenchman, and has got all the fashionable +expressions of that language, and a volubility of words which he always +had, and which I do not wonder should pass for wit with inconsiderate +people. His behaviour is perfectly civil, and I found him very +submissive; but in the main, no way really improved in his +understanding, which is exceedingly weak; and I am convinced he will +always be led by the person he converses with either right or wrong, not +being capable of forming any fixed judgment of his own. As to his +enthusiasm, if he had it, I suppose he has already lost it; since I +could perceive no turn of it in all his conversation. But with his head +I believe it is possible to make him a monk one day and a Turk three +days after. He has a flattering, insinuating manner, which naturally +prejudices strangers in his favour. He began to talk to me in the usual +silly cant I have so often heard from him, which I shortened by telling +him I desired not to be troubled with it; that professions were of no +use where actions were expected; and that the only thing could give me +hopes of a good conduct was regularity and truth. He very readily agreed +to all I said (as indeed he has always done when he has not been +hot-headed). I endeavoured to convince him how favourably he has been +dealt with, his allowance being much more than, had I been his father, I +would have given in the same case. The Prince of Hesse, who is now +married to the Princess of England, lived some years at Geneva on £300 +per annum. Lord Hervey sent his son at sixteen thither, and to travel +afterwards, on no larger pension than £200; and, though without a +governor, he had reason enough, not only to live within the compass of +it, but carried home little presents for his father and mother, which he +showed me at Turin. In short, I know there is no place so expensive, but +a prudent single man may live in it on £100 per annum, and an +extravagant one may run out ten thousand in the cheapest. Had you (said +I to him) thought rightly, or would have regarded the advice I gave you +in all my letters, while in the little town of Islestein, you would have +laid up £150 per annum; you would now have had £750 in your pocket; +which would have almost paid your debts, and such a management would +have gained you the esteem of the reasonable part of mankind. I +perceived this reflection, which he had never made himself, had a very +great weight with him. He would have excused part of his follies, by +saying Mr. G. had told him it became Mr. W.'s son to live handsomely. I +made answer, that whether Mr. G. had said so or no, the good sense of +the thing was noway altered by it; that the true figure of a man was +the opinion the world had of his sense and probity, and not the idle +expenses, which were only respected by foolish or ignorant people; that +his case was particular, he had but too publicly shown his inclination +to vanities, and the most becoming part he could now act would be owning +the ill use he had made of his father's indulgence, and professing to +endeavour to be no further expense to him, instead of scandalous +complaints, and being always at his last shirt and last guinea, which +any man of spirit would be ashamed to own. I prevailed so far with him +that he seemed very willing to follow this advice; and I gave him a +paragraph to write to G., which I suppose you will easily distinguish +from the rest of his letter. He asked me if you had settled your estate. +I made answer, that I did not doubt (like all other wise men) you always +had a will by you; but that you had certainly not put anything out of +your power to change. On that, he began to insinuate, that if I could +prevail on you to settle the estate on him, I might expect anything from +his gratitude. I made him a very clear and positive answer in these +words: 'I hope your father will outlive me, and if I should be so +unfortunate to have it otherwise, I do not believe he will leave me in +your power, But was I sure of the contrary, no interest nor no necessity +shall ever make me act against my honour or conscience; and I plainly +tell you, that I will never persuade your father to do anything for you +till I think you deserve it.' He answered by great promises of future +good behaviour, and economy. He is highly delighted with the prospect of +going into the army; and mightily pleased with the good reception he had +from Lord Stair, though I find it amounts to no more than telling him he +was sorry he had already named his aides-de-camp, and otherwise should +have been glad of him in that post. He says Lord Carteret has confirmed +to him his promise of a commission. + +"The rest of his conversation was extremely gay. The various things he +has seen has given him a superficial universal knowledge. He really +knows most of the modern languages, and if I could believe him, can read +Arabic, and has read the Bible in Hebrew. He said it was impossible for +him to avoid going back to Paris; but he promised me to lie but one +night there, and go to a town six posts from thence on the Flanders +road, where he would wait your orders, and go by the name of Mons. du +Durand, a Dutch officer; under which name I saw him. These are the most +material passages, and my eyes are so much tired I can write no more at +this time. I gave him 240 livres for his journey." + + +No amount of admonition had any effect upon Edward. At the age of thirty +he was as irresponsible as he was when he was thirteen years old. He +promised his mother at Avignon most solemnly to reform, and at once got +into mischief. "I am persuaded," Lady Mary said, "whoever protects him +will be very soon convinced of the impossibility of his behaving like a +rational creature." + + +Avignon, November 20, 1743. + +"As to my son's behaviour at Montelimart, it is nothing more than a +proof of his weakness; and how little he is to be depended on in his +most solemn professions. He told me that he had made acquaintance with a +lady on the road, who has an assembly at her house at Montelimart, and +that she had invited him thither. I asked immediately if she knew his +name. He assured me no, and that he passed for a Dutch officer by the +name of Durand. I advised him not go thither, since it would raise a +curiosity concerning him, and I was very unwilling it should be known +that I had conversed with him, on many accounts. He gave me the most +solemn assurances that no mortal should know it; and agreed with me in +the reasons I gave him for keeping it an entire secret; yet rid straight +to Montelimart, where he told at the assembly that he came into this +country purely on my orders, and that I had stayed with him two days at +Orange; talking much of my kindness to him, and insinuating that he had +another name, much more considerable than that he appeared with. I knew +nothing of this, till several months after, that a lady of that country +came hither, and meeting her in company, she asked me if I was +acquainted with Monsieur Durand. I had really forgot he had ever taken +that name, and made answer no; and that if such a person mentioned me, +it was probably some _chevalier d'industrie_ who sought to introduce +himself into company by a supposed acquaintance with me. She made +answer, the whole town believed so, by the improbable tales he told +them; and informed me what he had said; by which I knew what I have +related to you. + +"I expect your orders in relation to his letters." + + +Edward was still anxious to join the army, and his parents were not +averse to the scheme. Lady Mary, however, thought that certain +precautions should be taken in the event of his securing a commission. +"It is my opinion," she wrote to Montagu in January, 1744, "he should +have no distinction, in equipage, from any other cornet; everything of +that sort will only serve to blow his vanity and consequently heighten +his folly. Your indulgence has always been greater to him than any other +parent's would have been in the same circumstances. I have always said +so, and thought so. If anything can alter him, it will be thinking +firmly that he has no dependence but on his own conduct for a future +maintenance." + + +Edward obtained a commission, and was present at Fontenoy. + +On his return to England, in 1747, he was elected to Parliament for the +family borough of Huntingdon. This he held until 1754, when he was +returned for the borough of Bossiney, in Cornwall, which he represented +for the next eight years. + +Of his subsequent career it is not necessary to say anything here, +except that his father left him an annuity of £1,000 a year, to be +increased to £2,000 on his mother's death. Lady Mary in her will +bequeathed him one guinea. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LADY MARY AS A READER + +Her fondness for reading--Her difficulty to get enough books while +abroad--Lady Bute keeps her supplied--Lady Mary's catholic taste in +literature--Samuel Richardson--The vogue of _Clarissa Harlowe_--Lady +Mary tells a story of the Richardson type--Henry Fielding--_Joseph +Andrews--Tom Jones_--Her high opinion of Fielding and Steele--Tobias +Smollett--_Peregrine Pickle--_Lady Vane's _Memoirs of a Lady of +Quality_--Sarah Fielding--Minor writers--Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +Swift_--Bolingbroke's works--Addison and Pope--Dr. Johnson. + + +In her quiet retreat, Lady Mary found plenty of time for books. "I yet +retain and carefully cherish my taste for reading," she wrote to her +daughter in 1752. "If relays of eyes were to be hired like post-horses, +I would never admit any but select companions: they afford a constant +variety of entertainment, and is almost the only one pleasing in the +enjoyment and inoffensive in the consequence." + +Her trouble was that she could not get books enough to occupy her time. +She was always asking Lady Bute to send her some, and was duly grateful +when they reached her. "I fancy you are now saying, 'tis a sad thing to +grow old; what does my poor mamma mean by troubling me with criticisms +on books that nobody but herself will ever read? You must allow +something to my solitude." And again: "I thank God my taste still +continues for the gay part of reading. Wiser people may call it +trifling, but it serves to sweeten life to me, and is worst better than +the generality of conversation." + +Lady Mary's taste in books was catholic. She has seen the "Memoirs of +her old friend, the Duchess of Maryborough," but would be glad of the +_Apology for a late Resignation_ and of Colin Campbell's books on +_Architecture_. She has read Mrs. Lennox's _The Female Quixote_, and +much of Sarah Fielding; and she desires Henry Fielding's posthumous +works, with his _Memoirs of Jonathan Wild_ and _The Journey to the Next +World;_ also the _Memoirs of Verocand_, a man of pleasure, and those of +a Young Lady. "You will call all this trash, trumpery, etc.," she said +to her daughter. "I can assure you I was more entertained by G. Edwards +than H. St. John, of whom you have sent me duplicates. I see new story +books with the same pleasure your eldest daughter does a new dress, or +the youngest a new baby. I thank God, I can find playthings for my age. +I am not of Cowley's mind, that this world is + + 'A dull, ill-acted comedy;' + +nor of Mr. Philips's, that it is + + 'A too well-acted tragedy.' + + +"I look upon it as a very pretty farce, for those that can see it in +that light. I confess a severe critic, that would examine by ancient +rules, might find many defects, but 'tis ridiculous to judge seriously +of a puppet-show. Those that can laugh, and be diverted with +absurdities, are the wisest spectators, be it of writings, actions, or +people." + + +Presently Lady Mary is asking for books the names of which she has seen +in the-newspapers: "_Fortunate Mistress, Accomplished Rake, Mrs. +Charke's Memoirs, Modern Lovers, History of Two Orphans, Memoirs of +David Ranger, Miss Mostyn, Dick Hazard, History of a Lady Platonist, +Sophia Shakespear, Jasper Banks, Frank Hammond, Sir Andrew Thompson, Van +a Clergyman's Son, Cheantles and Celemena_. I do not doubt at least the +greater part of these are trash, lumber, etc.; however, they will serve +to pass away the idle time, if you will be so kind as to send them to +your most affectionate mother." + +Richardson Lady Mary liked in spite of herself, as so many others then +and since have done, though it is true that she spoke of the "very +extraordinary (and I think undeserved) success of Pamela, which, she +said, was all the fashion at Paris and Versailles, and is still the joy +of the chambermaids of all nations." + + +"I was such an old fool as to weep over _Clarissa Harlowe_, like any +milkmaid of sixteen over the ballad of the _Lady's Fall_" (she wrote to +her daughter). "To say truth, the first volume softened me by a near +resemblance of my maiden days; but on the whole 'tis most miserable +stuff. Miss How, who is called a young lady of sense and honour, is not +only extreme silly, but a more vicious character than Sally Martin, +whose crimes are owing at first to seduction, and afterwards to +necessity; while this virtuous damsel, without any reason, insults her +mother at home and ridicules her abroad; abuses the man she marries; and +is impertinent and impudent with great applause. Even that model of +affection, Clarissa, is so faulty in her behaviour as to deserve little +compassion. Any girl that runs away with a young fellow, without +intending to marry him, should be carried to Bridewell or to Bedlam the +next day. Yet the circumstances are so laid as to inspire tenderness, +notwithstanding the low style and absurd incidents; and I look upon this +and _Pamela_ to be two books that will do more general mischief than the +works of Lord Rochester. There is something humorous in _R. Random_, +that makes me believe that the author is H. Fielding. I am horribly +afraid I guess too well the writer of those abominable insipidities of +_Cornelia, Leonora_, and the _Ladies' Drawing Room_." + +"This Richardson is a strange fellow," she said in another letter. "I +heartily despise him, and eagerly read him, nay, sob over his works in a +most scandalous manner." + +"I have now read over Richardson--he sinks horribly in his third volume +(he does so in his story of _Clarissa_). When he talks of Italy, it is +plain he is no better acquainted with it than he is with the kingdom of +Mancomugi. He might have made his Sir Charles's amour with Clementina +begin in a convent, where the pensioners sometimes take great liberties, +but that such familiarity should be permitted in her father's house, is +as repugnant to custom, as it would be in London for a young lady of +quality to dance on the ropes at Bartholomew fair: neither does his hero +behave to her in a manner suitable to his nice notions. It was +impossible a discerning man should not see her passion early enough to +check it, if he had really designed it. His conduct puts me in mind of +some ladies I have known, who could never find out a man to be in love +with them, let him do or say what he would, till he made a direct +attempt, and then they were so surprised, I warrant you! Nor do I +approve Sir Charles's offered compromise (as he calls it). There must be +a great indifference as to religion on both sides, to make so strict a +union as marriage tolerable between people of such distinct persuasions. +He seems to think women have no souls, by agreeing so easily that his +daughters should be educated in bigotry and idolatry.--You will perhaps +think this last a hard word; yet it is not difficult to prove, that +either the papists are guilty of idolatry, or the pagans never were so. +You may see in Lucian (in his vindication of his images), that they did +not take their statues to be real gods, but only the representations of +them. The same doctrine may be found in Plutarch; and it is all the +modern priests have to say in excuse for their worshipping wood and +stone, though they cannot deny, at the same time, that the vulgar are +apt to confound that distinction." + + +Lady Mary frequently re-read Richardson, and not seldom referred to them +in her correspondence. + + +"It is certain there are as many marriages as ever. Richardson is so +eager for the multiplication of them, I suppose he is some parish +curate, whose chief profit depends on weddings and christenings. He is +not a man-midwife; for he would be better skilled in physic than to +think fits and madness any ornament to the characters of his heroines: +though his Sir Charles had no thoughts of marrying Clementina till she +had lost her wits, and the divine Clarissa never acted prudently till +she was in the same condition, and then very wisely desired to be +carried to Bedlam, which is really all that is to be done in that case. +Madness is as much corporal distemper as the gout or asthma, never +occasioned by affliction, or to be cured by the enjoyment of their +extravagant wishes. Passion may indeed bring on a fit, but the disease +is lodged in the blood, and it is not more ridiculous to attempt to +relieve the gout by an embroidered slipper, than to restore reason by +the gratification of wild desires. + +"Richardson is as ignorant in morality as he is in anatomy, when he +declares abusing an obliging husband, or an indulgent parent, to be an +innocent recreation. His Anna How and Charlotte Grandison are +recommended as patterns of charming pleasantry, and applauded by his +saint-like dames, who mistake pert folly for wit and humour, and +impudence and ill nature for spirit and fire. Charlotte behaves like a +humorsome child, and should have been used like one, and*** well whipped +in the presence of her friendly confidante Harriet. Lord Halifax very +justly tells his daughter, that a husband's kindness is to be kindly +received by a wife, even when he is drunk, and though it is wrapped up +in never so much impertinence. Charlotte acts with an ingratitude that I +think too black for human nature, with such coarse jokes and low +expressions as are only to be heard among the lowest class of people. +Women of that rank often plead a right to beat their husbands, when they +don't cuckold them; and I believe this author was never admitted into +higher company, and should confine his pen to the amours of housemaids, +and the conversation at the steward's table, where I imagine he has +sometimes intruded, though oftener in the servants hall: yet, if the +title be not a puff, this work has passed three editions. I do not +forgive him his disrespect of old china, which is below nobody's taste, +since it has been the D. of Argyll's, whose understanding has never been +doubted either by his friends or enemies. + +"Richardson never had probably money enough to purchase any, or even a +ticket for a masquerade, which gives him such an aversion to them; +though his intended satire against them is very absurd on the account of +his Harriet, since she might have been carried off in the same manner if +she had been going from supper with her grandmamma. Her whole behaviour, +which he designs to be exemplary, is equally blamable and ridiculous. +She follows the maxim of Clarissa, of declaring all she thinks to all +the people she sees, without reflecting that in this mortal state of +imperfection, fig-leaves are as necessary for our minds as our bodies, +and 'tis as indecent to show all we think, as all we have. He has no +idea of the manners of high life: his old Lord M. talks in the style of +a country justice, and his virtuous young ladies romp like the wenches +round a maypole. Such liberties as pass between Mr. Lovelace and his +cousins, are not to be excused by the relation. I should have been much +astonished if Lord Denbigh should have offered to kiss me; and I dare +swear Lord Trentham never attempted such an impertinence to you." + +Lady Mary was in sore trouble about Richardson. She would not like him, +she was angry with him, yet could never away with him. When she heard of +an adventure at Lovere, she, who herself had a gift for novel-writing, +must needs send an account of it to Lady Bute, saying that it exactly +resembled and, she believed, was copied from _Pamela_. "I know not under +what constellation that foolish stuff was wrote, but it has been +translated into more languages than any modern performance I ever heard +of," she added. "No proof of its influence was ever stronger than this +story, which in Richardson's hands would serve very well to furnish out +seven or eight volumes: I shall make it as short as I can." + + +As an example of Lady Mary's skill in narrative, her account of the +Richardsonian adventure is well worth reprinting. + + +"Here is a gentleman's family, consisting of an old bachelor and his +sister, who have fortune enough to live with great elegance, though +without any magnificence, possessed of the esteem of all their +acquaintance, he being distinguished by his probity, and she by her +virtue. They are not only suffered but sought by all the best company, +and indeed are the most conversable, reasonable people in the place. She +is an excellent housewife, and particularly remarkable for keeping her +pretty house as neat as any in Holland. She appears no longer in public, +being past fifty, and passes her time chiefly at home with her work, +receiving few visitants. This Signora Diana, about ten years since, saw, +at a monastery, a girl about eight years old, who came thither to beg +alms for her mother. Her beauty, though covered with rags, was very +observable, and gave great compassion to the charitable lady, who +thought it meritorious to rescue such a modest sweetness as appeared in +her face from the ruin to which her wretched circumstances exposed her. +She asked her some questions, to which she answered with a natural +civility that seemed surprising; and finding the head of her family (her +brother) to be a cobbler, who could hardly live by that trade, and her +mother too old to work for her maintenance, she bid the child follow her +home; and sending for her parent, proposed to her to breed the little +Octavia for her servant. This was joyfully accepted, the old woman +dismissed with a piece of money, and the girl remained with the Signora +Diana, who bought her decent clothes, and took pleasure in teaching her +whatever she was capable of learning. She learned to read, write, and +cast accounts, with uncommon facility; and had such a genius for work, +that she excelled her mistress in embroidery, point, and every operation +of the needle. She grew perfectly skilled in confectionary, had a good +insight into cookery, and was a great proficient in distillery. To these +accomplishments she was so handy, well bred, humble and modest, that not +only her master and mistress, but everybody that frequented the house, +took notice of her. She lived thus near nine years, never going out but +to church. However, beauty is as difficult to conceal as light; hers +began to make a great noise. Signora Diana told me she observed an +unusual concourse of pedling women that came on pretext to sell +penn'orths of lace, china, etc., and several young gentlemen, very well +powdered, that were perpetually walking before her door, and looking up +at the windows. These prognostics alarmed her prudence, and she listened +very willingly to some honourable proposals that were made by many +honest, thriving tradesmen. She communicated them to Octavia, and told +her, that though she was sorry to lose so good a servant, yet she +thought it right to advise her to choose a husband. The girl answered +modestly, that it was her duty to obey all her commands, but she found +no inclination to marriage; and if she would permit her to live single, +she should think it a greater obligation than any other she could +bestow. Signora Diana was too conscientious to force her into a state +from which she could not free her, and left her to her own disposal. +However, they parted soon after; whether (as the neighbours say) Signor +Aurelio Ardinghi, her brother, looked with too much attention on the +young woman, or that she herself (as Diana says) desired to seek a place +of more profit, she removed to Bergamo, where she soon found preferment, +being strongly recommended by the Ardinghi family. She was advanced to +be first waiting-woman to an old countess, who was so well pleased with +her service, she desired, on her death bed, Count Jeronimo Sosi, her +son, to be kind to her. He found no repugnance to this act of obedience, +having distinguished the beautiful Octavia from his first sight of her; +and, during the six months that she had served in the house, had tried +every art of a fine gentleman, accustomed to victories of that sort, to +vanquish the virtue of this fair virgin. He has a handsome figure, and +has had an education uncommon in this country, having made the tour of +Europe, and brought from Paris all the improvements that are to be picked +up there, being celebrated for his grace in dancing, and skill in +fencing and riding, by which he is a favourite among the ladies, and +respected by the men. Thus qualified for conquest, you may judge of his +surprise at the firm yet modest resistance of this country girl, who was +neither to be moved by address, nor gained by liberality, nor on any +terms would be prevailed on to stay as his housekeeper, after the death +of his mother. She took that post in the house of an old judge, where +she continued to be solicited by the emissaries of the count's passion, +and found a new persecutor in her master, who, after three months' +endeavour to corrupt her, offered her marriage. She chose to return to +her former obscurity, and escaped from his pursuit, without asking any +wages, and privately returned to the Signora Diana. She threw herself at +her feet, and, kissing her hands, begged her, with tears, to conceal her +at least some time, if she would not accept of her service. She +protested she had never been happy since she left it. While she was +making these submissions, Signor Aurelio entered. She entreated his +intercession on her knees, who was easily persuaded to consent she +should stay with them, though his sister blamed her highly for her +precipitate flight, having no reason, from the age and character of her +master, to fear any violence, and wondered at her declining the honour +he offered her. Octavia confessed that perhaps she had been too rash in +her proceedings, but said, that he seemed to resent her refusal in such +a manner as frighted her; she hoped that after a few days' search he +would think no more of her; and that she scrupled entering into the holy +bands of matrimony, where her heart did not sincerely accompany all the +words of the ceremony. Signora Diana had nothing to say in contradiction +to this pious sentiment; and her brother applauded the honesty which +could not be perverted by any interest whatever. She remained concealed +in their house, where she helped in the kitchen, cleaned the rooms, and +redoubled her usual diligence and officiousness. Her old master came to +Lovere on pretence of adjusting a lawsuit, three days after, and made +private inquiry after her; but hearing from her mother and brother (who +knew nothing of her being here) that they had never heard of her, he +concluded she had taken another route, and returned to Bergamo; and she +continued in this retirement near a fortnight. + +"Last Sunday, as soon as the day was closed, arrived at Signer Aurelio's +door a handsome equipage in a large bark, attended by four well-armed +servants on horseback. An old priest stepped out of it, and desiring to +speak with Signora Diana, informed her he came from the Count Jeronimo +Sosi to demand Octavia; that the count waited for her at a village four +miles from hence, where he intended to marry her; and had sent him, who +was engaged to perform the divine rite, that Signora Diana might resign +her to his care without any difficulty. The young damsel was called for, +who entreated she might be permitted the company of another priest with +whom she was acquainted: this was readily granted; and she sent for a +young man that visits me very often, being remarkable for his sobriety +and learning. Meanwhile, a valet-de-chambre presented her with a box, in +which was a complete genteel undress for a lady. Her laced linen and +fine nightgown were soon put on, and away they marched, leaving the +family in a surprise not to be described. + +"Signor Aurelio came to drink coffee with me next morning: his first +words were, he had brought me the history of Pamela. I said, laughing, I +had been tired with it long since. He explained himself by relating this +story, mixed with great resentment for Octavia's conduct. Count +Jeronimo's father had been his ancient friend and patron; and this +escape from his house (he said) would lay him under a suspicion of +having abetted the young man's folly, and perhaps expose him to the +anger of all his relations, for contriving an action he would rather +have died than suffered, if he had known how to prevent it. I easily +believed him, there appearing a latent jealousy under his affliction, +that showed me he envied the bridegroom's happiness, at the same time he +condemned his extravagance. + +"Yesterday noon, being Saturday, Don Joseph returned, who has got the +name of Parson Williams by this expedition: he relates, that when the +bark which carried the coach and train arrived, they found the amorous +count waiting for his bride on the bank of the lake: he would have +proceeded immediately to the church; but she utterly refused it, till +they had each of them been at confession; after which the happy knot was +tied by the parish priest. They continued their journey, and came to +their palace at Bergamo in a few hours, where everything was prepared +for their reception. They received the communion next morning, and the +count declares that the lovely Octavia has brought him an inestimable +portion, since he owes to her the salvation of his soul. He has +renounced play, at which he had lost a great deal of time and money. She +has already retrenched several superfluous servants, and put his family +into an exact method of economy, preserving all the splendour necessary +to his rank. He has sent a letter in his own hand to her mother, +inviting her to reside with them, and subscribing himself her dutiful +son: but the countess has sent another privately by Don Joseph, in which +she advises the old woman to stay at Lovere, promising to take care she +shall want nothing, accompanied with a token of twenty sequins, which is +at least nineteen more than ever she saw in her life. + +"I forgot to tell you that from Octavia's first serving the old lady, +there came frequent charities in her name to her poor parent, which +nobody was surprised at, the lady being celebrated for pious works, and +Octavia known to be a great favourite with her. It is now discovered +that they were all sent by the generous lover, who has presented Don +Joseph very handsomely, but he has brought neither letter nor message to +the house of Ardinghi, which affords much speculation." + + +Lady Mary followed this narrative with her reflections. She was sure +that all these adventures proceeded from artifice on one side and +weakness on the other. "An honest, tender mind," she says, "is betrayed +to ruin by the charms that make the fortune of a designing head, which, +when joined with a beautiful face, can never fail of advancement, except +barred by a wise mother, who locks up her daughters from view till +nobody cares to look on them." She instanced the case of "my poor +friend" the Duchess of Bolton, who "was educated in solitude, with some +choice books, by a saint-like governess: crammed with virtue and good +qualities, she thought it impossible not to find gratitude, though she +failed to give passion; and upon this plan threw away her estate, was +despised by her husband, and laughed at by the public." Lady Mary +compared the case of the Duchess with that of "Polly, bred in an +ale-house, and produced on the stage, who has obtained wealth and title, +and found the way to be esteemed." This particular instance hardly +furnishes the basis for the general rule laid down by her: "So useful is +early experience--without it half of life is dissipated in correcting +the errors that we have been taught to receive as indisputable truths." +According to all accounts Charles Paulet, third Duke of Bolton, was at +the age of twenty-eight forced by his father to marry Lady Anne Vaughan, +only daughter and heiress of John, Earl of Carbery. When the old Duke +died in 1722 they separated. Some years later the Duke took for his +mistress Lavinia Fenton, the "Polly" in Gay's "Beggar's Opera." On the +death of his wife in 1751 he married her. + +Henry Fielding, was Lady Mary's second cousin; but there had never been +any intimacy between them, although some acquaintance. The novelist was +eighteen years the younger. In 1727, when he was twenty and near the +beginning of his career as a playwright, he had consulted her about his +comedy, "Love in Several Masques," of which, when it was published in +the following year, he sent her a copy. "I have presumed to send your +Ladyship a copy of the play which you did me the honour of reading three +acts last spring and hope it may meet as light a censure from your +Ladyship's judgment as then; for while your goodness permits me (what I +esteem the greatest and indeed only happening of my life) to offer my +unworthy performances to your perusal, it will be entirely from your +sentence that they will be regarded or disesteemed by me." Fielding +wrote Lady Mary another letter about four years later: "I hope your +Ladyship will honour the scenes which I presume to lay before you, with +your perusal. As they are written on a model I never yet attempted, I am +exceedingly anxious less they should find less mercy from you than my +lighter productions. It will be a slight compensation to 'The Modern +Husband' that your Ladyship's censure will defend him from the +possibility of any other reproof, since your least approbation will +always give me pleasure, infinitely superior to the loudest applauses of +a theatre. For whatever has passed your judgment may, I think, without +any imputation of immodesty, refer want of success to want of judgment +in an audience. I shall do myself the honour of waiting upon your +Ladyship at Twickenham to receive my sentence." + +One evening when she arrived home, after having ridden twenty miles in +the moonlight, she found a box of books, and pouncing upon her cousin +Fielding's works, sat up all night reading. + +"I think _Joseph Andrews_ better than his _Foundling._[13] I believe I +was the more struck with it, having at present a Fanny in my own house, +not only by the name, which happens to be the same, but the +extraordinary beauty, joined with an understanding yet more +extraordinary at her age, which is but few months past sixteen: she is +in the post of my chambermaid. I fancy you will tax my discretion for +taking a servant thus qualified; but my woman, who is also my +housekeeper, was always teasing me with her having too much work, and +complaining of ill-health, which determined me to take her a deputy; and +when I was at Lovere, where I drank the waters, one of the most +considerable merchants there pressed me to take this daughter of his: +her mother has an uncommon good character, and the girl has had a +better education than is usual for those of her rank; she writes a good +hand, and has been brought up to keep accounts, which she does to great +perfection; and had herself such a violent desire to serve me, that I +was persuaded to take her: I do not yet repent it from any part of her +behaviour. But there has been no peace in the family ever since she came +into it; I might say the parish, all the women in it having declared +open war with her, and the men endeavouring at treaties of a different +sort: my own woman puts herself at the head of the first party, and her +spleen is increased by having no reason for it, the young creature never +stirring from my apartment, always at needle, and never complaining of +anything." + +[Footnote 13: _The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling_.] + + +Later Lady Mary has more to say about Fielding's books: + + +"H. Fielding has given a true picture of himself and his first wife, in +the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Booth, some compliments to his own figure +excepted; and, I am persuaded, several of the incidents he mentions are +real matters of fact. I wonder he does not perceive Tom Jones and Mr. +Booth are sorry scoundrels. All these sort of books have the same fault, +which I cannot easily pardon, being very mischievous. They place a merit +in extravagant passions, and encourage young people to hope for +impossible events, to draw them out of the misery they chose to plunge +themselves into, expecting legacies from unknown relations, and generous +benefactors to distressed virtue, as much out of nature as fairy +treasures. Fielding has really a fund of true humour, and was to be +pitied at his first entrance into the world, having no choice, as he +said himself, but to be a hackney writer, or a hackney coachman. His +genius deserved a better fate; but I cannot help blaming that continued +indiscretion, to give it the softest name, that has run through his +life, and I am afraid still remains. I guessed _Random_ to be his though +without his name. I cannot think _Ferdinand Count Fathom_ wrote by the +same hand, it is every way so much below it." + + +Adventures of Roderick Random_ (1748) and _The Adventures of Ferdinand +Count Fathom_ (1753) were published anonymously. Lady Mary was not the +only one to attribute _Roderick Random_ to Fielding, and it was actually +translated into French in his name. + +When Lady Mary heard of Fielding's death, she expressed deep regret: + + +"I am sorry for H. Fielding's death, not only as I shall read no more of +his writings, but I believe he lost more than others, as no man enjoyed +life more than he did, though few had less reason to do so, the highest +of his preferment being raking in the lowest sinks of vice and misery. I +should think it a nobler and less nauseous employment to be one of the +staff-officers that conduct the nocturnal weddings. His happy +constitution (even when he had, with great pains, half demolished it) +made him forget everything when he was before a venison pasty, or over a +flask of champagne; and I am persuaded he has known more happy moments +than any prince upon earth. His natural spirits gave him rapture with +his cook-maid, and cheerfulness when he was fluxing in a garret. There +was a great similitude between his character and that of Sir Richard +Steele. He had the advantage both in learning and, in my opinion, +genius: they both agreed in wanting money in spite of all their friends, +and would have wanted it, if their hereditary lands had been as +extensive as their imagination; yet each of them was so formed for +happiness; it is a pity he was not immortal." + + +Writing of imaginative prose literature generally, Lady Mary wrote: + + +"The general want of invention which reigns among our writers, inclines +me to think it is not the natural growth of our island, which has not +sun enough to warm the imagination. The press is loaded by the servile +flock of imitators. Lord B. [Bolingbroke] would have quoted Horace in +this place. Since I was born, no original has appeared excepting +Congreve and Fielding, who would, I believe, have approached nearer to +his excellences, if not forced by necessity to publish without +correction, and throw many productions into the world he would have +thrown into the fire if meat could have been got without money, or money +without scribbling. The greatest virtue, justice, and the most +distinguishing prerogative of mankind, writing, when duly executed, do +honour to human nature; but when degenerated into trades, are the most +contemptible ways of getting bread. I am sorry not to see any more of +Peregrine Pickle's performances: I wish you would tell me his name." + + +It appears strange that Lady Mary should have been ignorant, when she +wrote the above passage in July or August, 1755, of the authorship of +_Roderick Random_, for in January of that year she had evinced an +interest in Smollett: "I am sorry my friend Smollett loses his time in +translations; he has certainly a talent for invention, though I think it +flags a little in his last work. _Don Quixote_ is a difficult +undertaking: I shall never desire to read any attempt to redress him. +Though I am a mere piddler in the Spanish language, I had rather take +pains to understand him in the original than sleep over a stupid +translation." + + +_Peregrine Pickle_, however, Lady Mary had read shortly after its +appearance in 1751: + + +"I began by your direction with _Peregrine Pickle_. I think Lady Vane's +_Memoirs_[14] contain more truth and less malice than any I ever read in +my life. When she speaks of her own being disinterested, I am apt to +believe she really thinks herself so, as many highwaymen, after having +no possibility of retrieving the character of honesty, please themselves +with that of being generous, because, whatever they get on the road, +they always spend at the next ale-house, and are still as beggarly as +ever. Her history, rightly considered, would be more instructive to +young women than any sermon I know. They may see there what +mortifications and variety of misery are the unavoidable consequences of +gallantries. I think there is no rational creature that would not prefer +the life of the strictest Carmelite to the round of hurry and misfortune +she has gone through. Her style is clear and concise, with some strokes +of humour, which appear to me so much above her, I can't help being of +opinion the whole has been modelled by the author of the book in which +it is inserted, who is some subaltern admirer of hers. I may judge +wrong, she being no acquaintance of mine, though she has married two of +my relations. Her first wedding was attended with circumstances that +made me think a visit not at all necessary, though I disobliged Lady +Susan by neglecting it; and the second, which happened soon after, made +her so near a neighbour, that I rather choose to stay the whole summer +in town than partake of her balls and parties of pleasure, to which I +did not think it proper to introduce you; and had no other way of +avoiding it, without incurring the censure of a most unnatural mother +for denying you diversions that the pious Lady Ferrers permitted to her +exemplary daughters. Mr. Shirley has had uncommon fortune in making the +conquest of two such extraordinary ladies, equal in their heroic +contempt of shame, and eminent above their sex, the one for beauty, and +the other wealth, both which attract the pursuit of all mankind, and +have been thrown into his arms with the same unlimited fondness. He +appeared to me gentile [_sic_], well bred, well shaped and sensible; but +the charms of his face and eyes, which Lady Vane describes with so much +warmth, were, I confess, always invisible to me, and the artificial part +of his character very glaring, which I think her story shows in a strong +light." + +[Footnote 14: Frances Anne Hawes (1713-1788) married Lord William +Douglas in 1731, and after his death, William, second Viscount Vane, in +1735. She was notorious for profligacy and extravagance of all kinds. +She was responsible for the scandalous _Memoirs of a Lady of Quality_ +which she paid Smollett to insert in _Peregrine Pickle_.] + + +Of minor novelists Lady Mary had also something to say from time to +time. + + +"Sally [Fielding] has mended her style in her last volume of _David +Simple_, which conveys a useful moral, though she does not seem to have +intended it: I mean, shows the ill consequences of not providing against +casual losses, which happen to almost everybody. Mrs. Orgueil's +character is well drawn, and is frequently to be met with. The _Art of +Tormenting_, the _Female Quixote_[15] and _Sir C. Goodville_ are all +sale work. I suppose they proceed from her pen, and heartily pity her, +constrained by her circumstances to seek her bread by a method, I do not +doubt, she despises. Tell me who is that accomplished countess she +celebrates. I left no such person in London; nor can I imagine who is +meant by the English Sappho mentioned in Betsy Thoughtless, whose +adventures and those of Jenny Jessamy, gave me some amusement." + +[Footnote 15: By Charlotte Lennox.] + +"I have read _The Cry_[16] and if I would write in the style to be +admired by good Lord Orrery, I would tell you _The Cry_ made me ready to +cry, and the _Art of Tormenting_ tormented me very much. I take them to +be Sally Fielding's, and also the _Female Quixote_; the plan of that is +pretty, but ill executed: on the contrary, the fable of _The Cry_ is the +most absurd I ever saw, but the sentiments generally just; and I think, +if well dressed, would make a better body of ethics than Bolingbroke's. +Her inventing new words, that are neither more harmonious or significant +than those already in use, is intolerable. + +[Footnote 16: By Sarah Fielding and Miss Collier.] + +"The next book I laid my hand on was _The Parish Girl_ which interested +me enough not to be able to quit it till it was read over, though the +author has fallen into the common mistake of romance-writers; intending +a virtuous character, and not knowing how to draw it; the first step of +his heroine (leaving her patroness's house) being altogether absurd and +ridiculous, justly entitling her to all the misfortunes she met with. + +"Candles came (and my eyes grown weary), I took up the next book, merely +because I supposed from the title it could not engage me long. It was +_Pompey the Little_,[17] which has really diverted me more than any of +the others, and it was impossible to go to bed till it was finished. It +was a real and exact representation of life, as it is now acted in +London, as it was in my time, and as it will be (I do not doubt) a +hundred years hence, with some little variation of dress, and perhaps +government. I found there many of my acquaintance. Lady T. and Lady O. +are so well painted, I fancied I heard them talk, and have heard them +say the very things there repeated.... + +[Footnote 17: By Francis Coventry.] + +"I opened my eyes this morning on _Leonora_, from which I defy the +greatest chemist in morals to extract any instruction; the style most +affectedly florid, and naturally insipid, with such a confused heap of +admirable characters, that never were, or can be, in human nature. I +flung it aside after fifty pages, and laid hold of _Mrs. Philips_, where +I expected to find at least probable, if not true facts, and was not +disappointed. There is a great similitude in the genius and adventures +(the one being productive of the other) between Madame Constantia and +Lady Vane: the first mentioned has the advantage in birth and, if I am +not mistaken, in understanding: they have both had scandalous lawsuits +with their husbands, and are endowed with the same intrepid assurance. +Con. seems to value herself also on her generosity, and has given the +same proofs of it. The parallel might be drawn out to be as long as any +of Plutarch's; but I dare swear you are already heartily weary of my +remarks, and wish I had not read so much in so short a time, that you +might not be troubled with my comments; but you must suffer me to say +something of the polite Mr. Ste, whose name I should never have guessed +by the rapturous description his mistress makes of his person, having +always looked upon him as one of the most disagreeable fellows about +town, as odious in his outside as stupid in his conversation, and I +should as soon have expected to hear of his conquests at the head of an +army as among women; yet he has been, it seems, the darling favourite of +the most experienced of the sex, which shows me I am a very bad judge of +merit. But I agree with Mrs. Philips, that, however profligate she may +have been, she is infinitely his superior in virtue; and if her +penitence is as sincere as she says, she may expect their future fate to +be like that of Dives and Lazarus." + + +Lady Mary received from her daughter a copy of Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swift_, published in 1751, six years +after the death of Swift. This book so aroused the ire of Lady Mary +that, writing of it, she attacked everyone concerned. + + +"Lord Orrery's work has extremely entertained, and not at all surprised +me, having the honour of being acquainted with him, and knowing him for +one of those danglers after wit, who, like those after beauty, spend +their time in humbly admiring, and are happy in being permitted to +attend, though they are laughed at, and only encouraged to gratify the +insatiate vanity of those professed wits and beauties who aim at being +publicly distinguished in those characters. Dean Swift, by his +lordship's own account, was so intoxicated with the love of flattery, he +sought it amongst the lowest of the people, and the silliest of women; +and was never so well pleased with any companions as those that +worshipped him while he insulted them. It is a wonderful condescension +in a man of quality to offer his incense in such a crowd, and think it +an honour to share a friendship with Sheridan, &c., especially being +himself endowed with such universal merit as he displays in these +Letters, where he shows that he is a poet, a patriot, a philosopher, a +physician, a critic, a complete scholar, and most excellent moralist; +shining in private life as a submissive son, a tender father, and +zealous friend. His only error has been that love of learned ease which +he has indulged in a solitude, which has prevented the world from being +blest with such a general, minister, or admiral, being equal to any of +these employments, if he would have turned his talents to the use of the +public. Heaven be praised, he has now drawn his pen in its service, and +given an example to mankind that the most villanous actions, nay, the +coarsest nonsense, are only small blemishes in a great genius. I happen +to think quite contrary, weak woman as I am. I have always avoided the +conversation of those who endeavour to raise an opinion of their +understanding by ridiculing what both law and decency obliges them to +revere; but, whenever I have met with any of those bright spirits who +would be smart on sacred subjects, I have ever cut short their discourse +by asking them if they had any lights and revelations by which they +would propose new articles of faith? Nobody can deny but religion is a +comfort to the distressed, a cordial to the sick, and sometimes a +restraint on the wicked; therefore, whoever would argue or laugh it out +of the world, without giving some equivalent for it, ought to be treated +as a common enemy: but, when this language comes from a churchman, who +enjoys large benefices and dignities from that very Church he openly +despises, it is an object of horror for which I want a name, and can +only be excused by madness, which I think the Dean was strongly touched +with. His character seems to me a parallel with that of Caligula; and +had he had the same power would have made the same use of it. That +emperor erected a temple to himself, where he was his own high priest, +preferred his horse to the highest honours in the state, professed +enmity to [the] human race, and at last lost his life by a nasty jest on +one of his inferiors, which I dare swear Swift would have made in his +place. There can be no worse picture made of the Doctor's morals than he +has given us himself in the letters printed by Pope. We see him vain, +trifling, ungrateful to the memory of his patron, the Earl of Oxford, +making a servile court where he had any interested views, and meanly +abusive when they were disappointed, and, as he says (in his own +phrase), flying in the face of mankind, in company with his adorer Pope. +It is pleasant to consider, that, had it not been for the good nature +of these very mortals they contemn, these two superior beings were +entitled, by their birth and hereditary fortune, to be only a couple of +link-boys. I am of opinion their friendship would have continued, though +they had remained in the same kingdom: it had a very strong +foundation--the love of flattery on the one side, and the love of money +on the other. Pope courted with the utmost assiduity all the old men +from whom he could hope a legacy, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord +Peterborough, Sir G. Kneller, Lord Bolingbroke, Mr. Wycherley, Mr. +Congreve, Lord Harcourt, &c., and I do not doubt projected to sweep the +Dean's whole inheritance, if he could have persuaded him to throw up his +deanery, and come to die in his house; and his general preaching against +money was meant to induce people to throw it away, that he might pick it +up. There cannot be a stronger proof of his being capable of any action +for the sake of gain than publishing his literary correspondence, which +lays open such a mixture of dulness and iniquity, that one would imagine +it visible even to his most passionate admirers, if Lord Orrery did not +show that smooth lines have as much influence over some people as the +authority of the Church in these countries, where it cannot only veil, +but sanctify any absurdity or villany whatever. It is remarkable that +his lordship's family have been smatterers in wit and learning for three +generations: his grandfather has left monuments of his good taste in +several rhyming tragedies, and the romance of Parthenissa. His father +began the world by giving his name to a treatise wrote by Atterbury and +his club, which gained him great reputation; but (like Sir Martin +Marall, who would fumble with his lute when the music was over) he +published soon after a sad comedy of his own, and, what was worse, a +dismal tragedy he had found among the first Earl of Orrery's papers. +People could easier forgive his being partial to his own silly works, as +a common frailty, than the want of judgment in producing a piece that +dishonoured his father's memory. + +"Thus fell into dust a fame that had made a blaze by borrowed fire. To +do justice to the present lord, I do not doubt this fine performance is +all his own, and is a public benefit, if every reader has been as well +diverted with it as myself. I verily believe it has contributed to the +establishment of my health." + + +Nor was Lady Mary more kindly about the writings and character of Lord +Bolingbroke, for whom she had always had a feeling even more of hatred +than disapproval. + +"I have now read over the books you were so good to send, and intend to +say something of them all, though some are not worth speaking of" (she +wrote to her daughter). "I shall begin, in respect to his dignity, with +Lord Bolingbroke, who is a glaring proof how far vanity can blind a man, +and how easy it is to varnish over to one's self the most criminal +conduct. He declares he always loved his country, though he confesses he +endeavoured to betray her to popery and slavery; and loved his friends, +though he abandoned them in distress, with all the blackest +circumstances of treachery. His account of the Peace of Utrecht is +almost equally unfair or partial: I shall allow that, perhaps, the views +of the Whigs, at that time, were too vast and the nation, dazzled by +military glory, had hopes too sanguine; but sure the same terms that the +French consented to, at the treaty of Gertruydenberg, might have been +obtained; or if the displacing of the Duke of Marlborough raised the +spirits of our enemies to a degree of refusing what they had before +offered, how can he excuse the guilt of removing him from the head of a +victorious army, and exposing us to submit to any articles of peace, +being unable to continue the war? I agree with him, that the idea of +conquering France is a wild, extravagant notion, and would, if possible, +be impolitic; but she might have been reduced to such a state as would +have rendered her incapable of being terrible to her neighbours for some +ages: nor should we have been obliged, as we have done almost ever +since, to bribe the French ministers to let us live in quiet. So much +for his political reasonings, which, I confess, are delivered in a +florid, easy style; but I cannot be of Lord Orrery's opinion, that he is +one of the best English writers. Well-turned periods or smooth lines are +not the perfection either of prose or verse; they may serve to adorn, +but can never stand in the place of good sense. Copiousness of words, +however ranged, is always false eloquence, though it will ever impose on +some sort of understandings. How many readers and admirers has Madame de +Sévigné, who only gives us, in a lively manner and fashionable phrases, +mean sentiments, vulgar prejudices, and endless repetitions? Sometimes +the tittle-tattle of a fine lady, sometimes that of an old nurse, always +tittle-tattle; yet so well gilt over by airy expressions, and a flowing +style, she will always please the same people to whom Lord Bolingbroke +will shine as a first-rate author. She is so far to be excused, as her +letters were not intended for the press; while her labours to display to +posterity all the wit and learning he is master of, and sometimes spoils +a good argument by a profusion of words, running out into several pages +a thought that might have been more clearly expressed in a few lines, +and, what is worse, often falls into contradiction and repetitions, +which are almost unavoidable to all voluminous writers, and can only be +forgiven to those retailers whose necessity compels them to diurnal +scribbling, who load their meaning with epithets, and run into +digressions, because (in the jockey phrase) it rids the ground, that is, +covers a certain quantity of paper, to answer the demand of the day. A +great part of Lord B.'s letters are designed to show his reading, which, +indeed, appears to have been very extensive; but I cannot perceive that +such a minute account of it can be of any use to the pupil he pretends +to instruct; nor can I help thinking he is far below either Tillotson or +Addison, even in style, though the latter was sometimes more diffuse +than his judgment approved, to furnish out the length of a daily +_Spectator_. I own I have small regard for Lord B. as an author, and the +highest contempt for him as a man. He came into the world greatly +favoured both by nature and fortune, blest with a noble birth, heir to +a large estate, endowed with a strong constitution, and, as I have +heard, a beautiful figure, high spirits, a good memory and a lively +apprehension, which was cultivated by a learned education: all these +glorious advantages being left to the direction of a judgment stifled by +unbounded vanity, he dishonoured his birth, lost his estate, ruined his +reputation, and destroyed his health, by a wild pursuit of eminence even +in vice and trifles. + +"I am far from making misfortune a matter of reproach. I know there are +accidental occurences not to be foreseen or avoided by human prudence, +by which a character may be injured, wealth dissipated, or a +constitution impaired: but I think I may reasonably despise the +understanding of one who conducts himself in such a manner as naturally +produces such lamentable consequences, and continues in the same +destructive paths to the end of a long life, ostentatiously boasting of +morals and philosophy in print, and with equal ostentation bragging of +the scenes of low debauchery in public conversation, though deplorably +weak both in mind and body, and his virtue and his vigour in a state of +non-existence. His confederacy with Swift and Pope puts me in mind of +that of Bessus and his sword-men, in the _King and no King_,[18] who +endeavour to support themselves by giving certificates of each other's +merit. Pope has triumphantly declared that they may do and say whatever +silly things they please, they will still be the greatest geniuses +nature ever exhibited. I am delighted with the comparison given of their +benevolence, which is indeed most aptly figured by a circle in the +water, which widens till it comes to nothing at all; but I am provoked +at Lord B.'s misrepresentation of my favourite Atticus, who seems to +have been the only Roman that, from good sense, had a true notion of the +times in which he lived, in which the republic was inevitably perishing, +and the two factions, who pretended to support it, equally endeavouring +to gratify their ambition in its ruin. A wise man, in that case, would +certainly declare for neither, and try to save himself and family from +the general wreck, which could not be done but by a superiority of +understanding acknowledged on both sides. I see no glory in losing life +or fortune by being the dupe of either, and very much applaud that +conduct which could preserve an universal esteem amidst the fury of +opposite parties. We are obliged to act vigorously, where action can do +any good; but in a storm, when it is impossible to work with success, +the best hands and ablest pilots may laudably gain the shore if they +can. Atticus could be a friend to men without engaging in their +passions, disapprove their maxims without awaking their resentment, and +be satisfied with his own virtue without seeking popular fame: he had +the reward of his wisdom in his tranquillity, and will ever stand among +the few examples of true philosophy, either ancient or modern.... + +[Footnote 18: A play by Beaumont and Fletcher, licensed for the stage in +1611.] + +"I must add a few words on the _Essay on Exile_, which I read with +attention, as a subject that touched me. I found the most abject +dejection under a pretended fortitude. That the author felt it, can be +no doubt to one that knows (as I do) the mean submissions and solemn +promises he made to obtain a return, flattering himself (I suppose) he +need only appear to be at the head of the administration, as every +ensign of sixteen fancies he is in a fair way to be a general on the +first sight of his commission. + +"You will think I have been too long on the character of Atticus. I own +I took pleasure in explaining it. Pope thought himself covertly very +severe on Mr. Addison by giving him that name; and I feel indignation +when he is abused, both from his own merit, and having been your +father's friend; besides that it is naturally shocking to see any one +lampooned after his death by the same man who had paid him the most +servile court while he lived and was highly obliged by him." + + +As a periodical writer she compared Johnson unfavourably with Steele and +Addison: + + +"The _Rambler_ is certainly a strong misnomer; he always plods in the +beaten road of his predecessors, following the _Spectator_ (with the +same pace a pack-horse would do a hunter) in the style that is proper to +lengthen a paper. These writers may, perhaps, be of service to the +public, which is saying a great deal in their favour. There are numbers +of both sexes who never read anything but such productions, and cannot +spare time, from doing nothing, to go through a sixpenny pamphlet. Such +gentle readers may be improved by a moral hint, which, though repeated +over and over, from generation to generation, they never heard in their +lives. I should be glad to know the name of this laborious author." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADY MARY ON EDUCATION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS + +The choice of books for children's reading--The dangers of a narrow +education--Lady Mary advocates the higher education of women--Girls +should be taught languages--Lady Mary's theories of education for +girls--Women writers in Italy--A "rumpus" made by ladies in the House of +Lords--Woman's Rights--Lady Mary's views on religion. + + +In spite of her own fondness for books, Lady Mary was not a wholehearted +believer in reading for young folk, unless the choice of volumes was +carefully made by some competent person. This point she emphasised in +one of her letters to her daughter. + +"I can't forbear saying something in relation to my granddaughters, who +are very near my heart. If any of them are fond of reading, I would not +advise you to hinder them (chiefly because it is impossible) seeing +poetry, plays, or romances; but accustom them to talk over what they +read, and point out to them, as you are very capable of doing, the +absurdity often concealed under fine expressions, where the sound is apt +to engage the admiration of young people. I was so much charmed, at +fourteen, with the dialogue of Henry and Emma, I can say it by heart to +this day, without reflecting on the monstrous folly of the story in +plain prose, where a young heiress to a fond father is represented +falling in love with a fellow she had only seen as a huntsman, a +falconer, and a beggar, and who confesses, without any circumstances of +excuse, that he is obliged to run his country, having newly committed a +murder. She ought reasonably to have supposed him, at best, a +highwayman; yet the virtuous virgin resolves to run away with him, to +live among the banditti, and wait upon his trollop, if she had no other +way of enjoying his company. This senseless tale is, however, so well +varnished with melody of words and pomp of sentiments, I am convinced it +has hurt more girls than ever were injured by the lewdest poems extant." + + +Life, Lady Mary was at pains to insist upon, is a much better instructor +for the young than any story-book, however innocuous it may seem to +grown-up people, who for the greater number have not the faculty of +seeing how the tale would have affected them in their childhood. + + +"I congratulate my granddaughters on being born in an age so much +enlightened. Sentiments are certainly extreme silly, and only qualify +young people to be the bubbles of all their acquaintance. I do not doubt +the frequency of assemblies has introduced a more enlarged way of +thinking; it is a kind of public education, which I have always thought +as necessary for girls as for boys. A woman married at five-and-twenty, +from under the eye of a strict parent, is commonly as ignorant as she +was at five; and no more capable of avoiding the snares, and struggling +with the difficulties, she will infallibly meet with in the commerce of +the world. The knowledge of mankind (the most useful of all knowledge) +can only be acquired by conversing with them. Books are so far from +giving that instruction, they fill the head with a set of wrong notions, +from whence spring the tribes of Clarissas, Harriets, &c. Yet such was +the method of education when I was in England, which I had it not in my +power to correct; the young will always adopt the opinions of all their +companions, rather than the advice of their mothers." + + +"Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundations of vice," Mary +Astell had laid down as an axiom, and Lady Mary was always propounding +this to her daughter. + + +"I am extremely concerned to hear you complain of ill health, at a time +of life when you ought to be in the flower of your strength. I hope I +need not recommend to you the care of it: the tenderness you have for +your children is sufficient to enforce you to the utmost regard for the +preservation of a life so necessary to their well-being. I do not doubt +your prudence in their education: neither can I say anything particular +relating to it at this distance, different tempers requiring different +management. In general, never attempt to govern them (as most people do) +by deceit: if they find themselves cheated, even in trifles, it will so +far lessen the authority of their instructor, as to make them neglect +all their future admonitions. And, if possible, breed them free from +prejudices; those contracted in the nursery often influence the whole +life after, of which I have seen many melancholy examples. I shall say +no more of this subject, nor would have said this little if you had not +asked my advice: 'tis much easier to give rules than to practise them. I +am sensible my own natural temper is too indulgent: I think it the least +dangerous error, yet still it is an error. I can only say with truth, +that I do not know in my whole life having ever endeavoured to impose on +you, or give a false colour to anything that I represented to you. If +your daughters are inclined to love reading, do not check their +inclination by hindering them of the diverting part of it; it is as +necessary for the amusement of women as the reputation of men; but teach +them not to expect or desire any applause from it. Let their brothers +shine, and let them content themselves with making their lives easier by +it, which I experimentally know is more effectually done by study than +any other way. Ignorance is as much the fountain of vice as idleness, +and indeed generally produces it. People that do not read, or work for a +livelihood, have many hours they know not how to employ; especially +women, who commonly fall into vapours, or something worse." + + +Mary was an advocate, one of the earliest advocates, for the higher +education of woman. Although she had educated herself, she realised that +the circumstances in her case were exceptional, and no doubt it was also +borne in on her that she had been an exceptional girl even as she was a +remarkable woman. It was not so much lack of education against which she +tilted, as ill-directed studies. + + +"You have given me a great deal of satisfaction by your account of your +eldest daughter. I am particularly pleased to hear she is a good +arithmetician; it is the best proof of understanding: the knowledge of +numbers is one of the chief distinctions between us and the brutes. If +there is anything in blood, you may reasonably expect your children +should be endowed with an uncommon share of good sense. Mr. Wortley's +family and mine have both produced some of the greatest men that have +been born in England: I mean Admiral Sandwich, and my grandfather, who +was distinguished by the name of Wise William. I have heard Lord Bute's +father mentioned as an extraordinary genius, though he had not many +opportunities of showing it; and his uncle, the present Duke of Argyll, +has one of the best heads I ever knew. I will therefore speak to you as +supposing Lady Mary not only capable, but desirous of learning; in that +case by all means let her be indulged in it. You will tell me I did not +make it a part of your education: your prospect was very different from +hers. As you had no defect either in mind or person to hinder, and much +in your circumstances to attract, the highest offers, it seemed your +business to learn how to live in the world, as it is hers to know how to +be easy out of it. It is the common error of builders and parents to +follow some plan they think beautiful (and perhaps is so), without +considering that nothing is beautiful that is displaced. Hence we see so +many edifices raised that the raisers can never inhabit, being too large +for their fortunes. Vistas are laid open over barren heaths, and +apartments contrived for a coolness very agreeable in Italy, but killing +in the north of Britain: thus every woman endeavours to breed her +daughter a fine lady, qualifying her for a station in which she will +never appear, and at the same time incapacitating her for that +retirement to which she is destined. Learning, if she has a real taste +for it, will not only make her contented, but happy in it. No +entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She +will not want new fashions, nor regret the loss of expensive diversions, +or variety of company, if she can be amused with an author in her +closet. To render this amusement extensive, she should be permitted to +learn the languages. I have heard it lamented that boys lose so many +years in mere learning of words: this is no objection to a girl, whose +time is not so precious: she cannot advance herself in any profession, +and has therefore more hours to spare; and as you say her memory is +good, she will be very agreeably employed this way. There are two +cautions to be given on this subject: first, not to think herself +learned when she could read Latin, or even Greek. Languages are more +properly to be called vehicles of learning than learning itself, as may +be observed in many schoolmasters, who, though perhaps critics in +grammar, are the most ignorant fellows upon earth. True knowledge +consists in knowing things, not words. I would wish her no further a +linguist than to enable her to read books in their originals, that are +often corrupted, and always injured, by translations. Two hours' +application every morning will bring this about much sooner than you can +imagine, and she will have leisure enough besides to run over the +English poetry, which is a more important part of a woman's education +than it is generally supposed. Many a young damsel has been ruined by a +fine copy of verses, which she would have laughed at if she had known it +had been stolen from Mr. Waller. I remember, when I was a girl, I saved +one of my companions from destruction, who communicated to me an epistle +she was quite charmed with. As she had a natural good taste, she +observed the lines were not so smooth as Prior's or Pope's, but had more +thought and spirit than any of theirs. She was wonderfully delighted +with such a demonstration of her lover's sense and passion, +a little pleased with her own charms, that had force enough to inspire +such elegancies. In the midst of this triumph I showed her that they +were taken from Randolph's poems, and the unfortunate transcriber was +dismissed with the scorn he deserved. To say truth, the poor plagiary +was very unlucky to fall into my hands; that author being no longer in +fashion, would have escaped any one of less universal reading than +myself. You should encourage your daughter to talk over with you what +she reads; and, as you are very capable of distinguishing, take care she +does not mistake pert folly for wit and humour, or rhyme for poetry, +which are the common errors of young people, and have a train of ill +consequences. The second caution to be given her (and which is most +absolutely necessary) is to conceal whatever learning she attains, with +as much solicitude as she would hide crookedness or lameness; the parade +of it can only serve to draw on her the envy, and consequently the most +inveterate hatred, of all he and she fools, which will certainly be at +least three parts in four of all her acquaintance. The use of knowledge +in our sex, besides the amusement of solitude, is to moderate the +passions, and learn to be contented with a small expense, which are the +certain effects of a studious life; and it may be preferable even to +that fame which men have engrossed to themselves, and will not suffer us +to share. You will tell me I have not observed this rule myself; but you +are mistaken: it is only inevitable accident that has given me any +reputation that way. I have always carefully avoided it, and ever +thought it a misfortune. The explanation of this paragraph would +occasion a long digression, which I will not trouble you with, it being +my present design only to say what I think useful for the instruction of +my granddaughter, which I have much at heart. If she has the same +inclination (I should say passion) for learning that I was born with, +history, geography, and philosophy will furnish her with materials to +pass away cheerfully a longer life than is allotted to mortals. I +believe there are few heads capable of making Sir I. Newton's +calculations, but the result of them is not difficult to be understood by +a moderate capacity. Do not fear this should make her affect the character +of Lady----, or Lady----, or Mrs.----: those women are ridiculous, +not because they have learning but because they have it not. One thinks +herself a complete historian, after reading Echard's Roman History; +another a profound philosopher, having got by heart some of Pope's +unintelligible essays; and a third an able divine, on the strength of +Whitefield's sermons: thus you hear them screaming politics and +controversy. + +"It is a saying of Thucydides, ignorance is bold, and knowledge +reserved. Indeed, it is impossible to be far advanced in it without +being more humbled by a conviction of human ignorance, than elated by +learning. At the same time I recommend books, I neither exclude work nor +drawing. I think it as scandalous for a woman not to know how to use a +needle, as for a man not to know how to use a sword. I was once +extremely fond of my pencil, and it was a great mortification to me when +my father turned off my master, having made a considerable progress for +a short time I learnt. My over-eagerness in the pursuit of it had +brought a weakness on my eyes, that made it necessary to leave it off; +and all the advantage I got was the improvement of my hand. I see, by +hers, that practice will make her a ready writer: she may attain it by +serving you for a secretary, when your health or affairs make it +troublesome to you to write yourself; and custom will make it an +agreeable amusement to her. She cannot have too many for that station of +life which will probably be her fate. The ultimate end of your education +was to make you a good wife (and I have the comfort to hear that you are +one): hers ought to be, to make her happy in a virgin state. I will not +say it is happier; but it is undoubtedly safer than any marriage. In a +lottery, which there are (at the lowest computation) ten thousand blanks +to a prize, it is the most prudent choice not to venture. I have always +been so thoroughly persuaded of this truth, that, notwithstanding the +flattering views I had for you (as I never intended you a sacrifice to +my vanity), I thought I owed you the justice to lay before you all the +hazards attending matrimony: you may recollect I did so in the strongest +manner. Perhaps you may have more success in the instructing your +daughter: she has so much company at home, she will not need seeking it +abroad, and will more readily take the notions you think fit to give her. +As you were alone in my family, it would have been thought a great +cruelty to suffer you no companions of your own age, especially having +so many near relations, and I do not wonder their opinions influenced +yours. I was not sorry to see you not determined on a single life, +knowing it was not your father's intention, and contented myself with +endeavouring to make your home so easy that you might not be in haste to +leave it." + + +Lady Mary's views on the education of children were well in advance of +her day. They were certainly not the stereotyped opinions current among +governesses or even parents somewhat more enlightened than the rest, and +evidently she had given much consideration to the subject before she put +her thoughts on paper. + + +"People commonly educate their children as they build their houses, +according to some plan they think beautiful, without considering whether +it is suited to the purposes for which they are designed. Almost all +girls of quality are educated as if they were to be great ladies, which +is often as little to be expected, as an immoderate heat of the sun in +the north of Scotland. You should teach yours to confine their desires +to probabilities, to be as useful as is possible to themselves, and to +think privacy (as it is) the happiest state of life. I do not doubt you +giving them all the instructions necessary to form them to a virtuous +life; but 'tis a fatal mistake to do this without proper restrictions. +Vices are often hid under the name of virtues, and the practice of them +followed by the worst of consequences. Sincerity, friendship, piety, +disinterestedness, and generosity, are all great virtues; but, +without discretion, become criminal. I have seen ladies indulge their +own ill humour by being very rude and impertinent, and think they +deserved approbation by saying I love to speak truth. One of your +acquaintance made a ball the next day after her mother died, to show she +was sincere. I believe your own reflection will furnish you with but too +many examples of the ill effects of the rest of the sentiments I have +mentioned, when too warmly embraced. They are generally recommended to +young people without limits or distinction, and this prejudice hurries +them into great misfortunes, while they are applauding themselves in the +noble practice (as they fancy) of very eminent virtues. + +"I cannot help adding (out of my real affection to you), I wish you +would moderate that fondness you have for your children. I do not mean +you should abate any part of your care, or not do your duty to them in +its utmost extent: but I would have you early prepare yourself for +disappointments, which are heavy in proportion to their being +surprising. It is hardly possible, in such a number, that none should be +unhappy; prepare yourself against a misfortune of that kind. I confess +there is hardly any more difficult to support; yet it is certain +imagination has a great share in the pain of it, and it is more in our +power than it is commonly believed to soften whatever ills are founded +or augmented by fancy. Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil--I +mean, acute pain; all other complaints are so considerably diminished by +time, that it is plain the grief is owing to our passion, since the +sensation of it vanishes when that is over. + +"There is another mistake, I forgot to mention, usual in mothers: if any +of their daughters are beauties, they take great pains to persuade them +that they are ugly, or at least that they think so, which the young +woman never fails to believe springs from envy, and is perhaps not much +in the wrong. I would, if possible, give them a just notion of their +figure, and show them how far it is valuable. Every advantage has its +price, and may be either over or undervalued. It is the common +doctrine of (what are called) good books, to inspire a contempt of +beauty, riches, greatness, &c., which has done as much mischief among +the young of our sex as an over eager desire of them. They should look +on these things as blessings where they are bestowed, though not +necessaries that it is impossible to be happy without." + + +Of course, all these expressions of opinions, although here gathered +together, were spread over a term of years. Yet, Lady Mary had from time +to time some qualms as to how her admonitions would be received by her +daughter, although, as she was careful once to point out: "I do not give +them as believing my age has furnished me with superior wisdom, but in +compliance with your desire." + + +"I cannot help writing a sort of apology for my laster letter, +foreseeing that you will think it wrong, or at least Lord Bute will be +extremely shocked at the proposal of a learned education for daughters, +which the generality of men believe as great a profanation as the clergy +would do if the laity should presume to exercise the functions of the +priesthood. I desire you would take notice, I would not have learning +enjoined them as a task, but permitted as a pleasure, if their genius +leads them naturally to it. I look upon my granddaughters as a sort of +lay nuns: destiny may have laid up other things for them, but they have +no reason to expect to pass their time otherwise than their aunts do at +present; and I know, by experience, it is in the power of study not only +to make solitude tolerable, but agreeable. I have now lived almost seven +years in a stricter retirement than yours in the Isle of Bute, and can +assure you, I have never had half an hour heavy on my hands, for want of +something to do. Whoever will cultivate their own mind, will find full +employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the +planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing, as exotic fruits +and flowers. The vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural +product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search +after knowledge (every branch of which is entertaining), and the longest +life is too short for the pursuit of it; which, though in some regards +confined to very strait limits, leaves still a vast variety of +amusements to those capable of tasting them, which is utterly impossible +for those that are blinded by prejudices which are the certain effect of +an ignorant education. My own was one of the worst in the world, being +exactly the same as Clarissa Hawlowe's; her pious Mrs. Norton so +perfectly resembling my governess, who had been nurse to my mother, I +could almost fancy the author was acquainted with her. She took so much +pains, from my infancy, to fill my head with superstitious tales and +false notions, it was none of her fault I am not at this day afraid of +witches and hobgoblins, or turned methodist. Almost all girls are bred +after this manner. I believe you are the only woman (perhaps I might +say, person) that never was either frighted or cheated into anything by +your parents. I can truly affirm, I never deceived anybody in my life, +excepting (which I confess has often happened undesignedly) by speaking +plainly; as Earl Stanhope used to say (during his ministry) he always +imposed on the foreign ministers by telling them the naked truth, which, +as they thought impossible to come from the mouth of a statesman, they +never failed to write informations to their respective courts directly +contrary to the assurances he gave them: most people confounding the +ideas of sense and cunning, though there are really no two things in +nature more opposite: it is, in part, from this false reasoning, the +unjust custom prevails of debarring our sex from the advantages of +learning, the men fancying the improvement of our understandings would +only furnish us with more art to deceive them, which is directly +contrary to the truth. Fools are always enterprising, not seeing the +difficulties of deceit, or the ill consequences of detection. I could +give many examples of ladies whose ill conduct has been very notorious, +which has been owing to that ignorance which has exposed them to +idleness, which is justly called the mother of mischief. There is +nothing so like the education of a woman of quality as that of a prince: +they are taught to dance, and the exterior part of what is called good +breeding, which, if they attain, they are extraordinary creatures in +their kind, and have all the accomplishments required by their +directors. The same characters are formed by the same lessons, which +inclines me to think (if I dare say it) that nature has not placed us in +an inferior rank to men, no more than the females of other animals, +where we see no distinction of capacity; though, I am persuaded, if +there was a commonwealth of rational horses (as Doctor Swift has +supposed), it would be an established maxim among them, that a mare +could not be taught to pace. I could add a great deal on this subject, +but I am not now endeavouring to remove the prejudices of mankind; my +only design is, to point out to my granddaughters the method of being +contented with that retreat, to which probably their circumstances will +oblige them, and which is perhaps preferable to all the show of public +life. It has always been my inclination. Lady Stafford (who knew me +better than anybody else in the world, both from her own just +discernment, and my heart being ever as open to her as myself) used to +tell me, my true vocation was a monastery; and I now find, by +experience, more sincere pleasure with my books and garden, than all the +flutter of a court could give me. + +"If you follow my advice in relation to Lady Mary, my correspondence may +be of use to her; and I shall very willingly give her those instructions +that may be necessary in the pursuit of her studies. Before her age I +was in the most regular commerce with my grandmother, though the +difference of our time of life was much greater, she being past +forty-five when she married my grandfather. She died at ninety-six, +retaining, to the last, the vivacity and clearness of her understanding, +which was very uncommon. You cannot remember her, being then in your +nurse's arms. I conclude with repeating to you, I only recommend, but am +far from commanding, which I think I have no right to do. I tell you my +sentiments, because you desired to know them, and hope you will receive +them with some partiality, as coming from + +"Your most affectionate mother." + + +One of Lady Mary's friends was Cardinal Gerolamo Guerini, a distinguished +scholar as well as a great churchman. One day, in October, 1753, he sent +a request, by one of his chief chaplains, that Lady Mary would send him +her printed works for the shelves that he was dedicating to English +literature in the library attached to the college at Brescia that he had +founded. + + +"I was struck dumb for some time with this astonishing request; when I +recovered my vexatious surprise (foreseeing the consequence), I made +answer, I was highly sensible of the honour designed me, but, upon my +word, I had never printed a single line in my life. I was answered in a +cold tone, his Eminence could send for them to England, but they would +be a long time coming, and with some hazard; and that he had flattered +himself I would not refuse him such a favour, and I need not be ashamed +of seeing my name in a collection where he admitted none but the most +eminent authors. It was to no purpose to endeavour to convince him. He +would not stay to dinner, though earnestly invited; and went away with +the air of one that thought he had reason to be offended. I know his +master will have the same sentiments, and I shall pass in his opinion +for a monster of ingratitude, while it is the blackest of vices in my +opinion, and of which I am utterly incapable--I really could cry for +vexation. + +"Sure nobody ever had such various provocations to print as myself. I +have seen things I have wrote, so mangled and falsified, I have scarce +known them. I have seen poems I never read, published with my name at +length; and others, that were truly and singly wrote by me, printed +under the names of others. I have made myself easy under all these +mortifications, by the reflection I did not deserve them, having never +aimed at the vanity of popular applause; but I own my philosophy is not +proof against losing a friend, and it may be making an enemy of one to +whom I am obliged." + + +In this letter to Lady Mar, in which Lady Mary explains her plight, she +goes on to deliver herself of her sentiments concerning the difference +of opinion as regards women writers that was current in Italy and in +England. + +Lady Mary held strong views on what are called to-day, or at least were +so called until they were lately in the main conceded, women's rights. +Although she said that she did not complain that it was men, and men +only, who were privileged to exercise the power of government, it is not +unlikely that she yielded this point in order the more effectively to +emphasise some other. Anyhow she was unfeignedly pleased to be able to +record (to Lady Pomfret, March, 1737) a "rumpus" made by ladies who +regarded their exclusion from a debate in Parliament as unwarrantable. + + +"I confess I have often been complimented, since I have been in Italy, +on the books I have given the public. I used at first to deny it with +some warmth; but, finding I persuaded nobody, I have of late contented +myself with laughing whenever I heard it mentioned, knowing the +character of a learned woman is far from being ridiculous in this +country, the greatest families being proud of having produced female +writers; and a Milanese lady being now professor of mathematics in the +university of Bologna, invited thither by a most obliging letter, wrote +by the present Pope, who desired her to accept of the chair, not as a +recompense for her merit, but to do honour to a town which is under his +protection. To say truth, there is no part of the world where our sex is +treated with so much contempt as in England. I do not complain of men +for having engrossed the government: in excluding us from all degrees of +power, they preserve us from many fatigues, many dangers, and perhaps +many crimes. The small proportion of authority that has fallen to my +share (only over a few children and servants) has always been a burden, +and never a pleasure, and I believe every one finds it so who acts from +a maxim (I think an indispensable duty), that whoever is under my power +is under my protection. Those who find a joy in inflicting hardships, +and seeing objects of misery, may have other sensations; but I have +always thought corrections, even when necessary, as painful to the giver +as to the sufferer, and am therefore very well satisfied with the state +of subjection we are placed in: but I think it the highest injustice to +be debarred the entertainment of my closet, and that the same studies +which raise the character of a man should hurt that of a woman. We are +educated in the grossest ignorance, and no art omitted to stifle our +natural reason; if some few get above their nurses' instructions, our +knowledge must rest concealed, and be as useless to the world as gold in +the mine. I am now speaking according to our English notions, which may +wear out, some ages hence, along with others equally absurd. It appears +to me the strongest proof of a clear understanding in Longinus (in every +light acknowledged one of the greatest men among the ancients), when I +find him so far superior to vulgar prejudices as to choose his two +examples of fine writing from a Jew (at that time the most despised +people upon earth) and a woman. Our modern wits would be so far from +quoting, they would scarce own they had read the works of such +contemptible creatures, though, perhaps, they would condescend to steal +from them, at the same time they declared they were below their notice. +This subject is apt to run away with me; I will trouble you with no more +of it." + +"Here is no news to be sent you from this place, which has been for this +fortnight and still continues overwhelmed with politics, and which are +of so mysterious a nature, one ought to have some of the gifts of Lilly +or Partridge to be able to write about them; and I leave all those +dissertations to those distinguished mortals who are endowed with the +talent of divination though I am at present the only one of my sex who +seems to be of that opinion, the ladies having shown their zeal and +appetite for knowledge in a most glorious manner. At the last warm +debate in the House of Lords, it was unanimously resolved there should +be no crowd of unnecessary auditors; consequently the fair sex were +excluded, and the gallery destined to the sole use of the House of +Commons. Notwithstanding which determination, a tribe of dames resolved +to show on this occasion that neither men nor laws could resist them. +These heroines were Lady Huntingdon, the Duchess of Queensberry, the +Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Westmorland, Lady Cobham, Lady Charlotte +Edwin, Lady Archibald Hamilton and her daughter, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. +Pendarves, and Lady Frances Saunderson. I am thus particular in their +names, since I look upon them to be the boldest assertors, and most +resigned sufferers for liberty, I ever read of. They presented +themselves at the door at nine o'clock in the morning, where Sir William +Saunderson respectfully informed them that the Chancellor had made an +order against their admittance. The Duchess of Queensberry, as head of +the squadron, pished at the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer, and desired +him to let them upstairs privately. After some modest refusals, he swore +by G--he would not let them in. Her Grace, with a noble warmth, +answered, by G--they would come in in spite of the Chancellor and the +whole House. This being reported, the Peers resolved to starve them out; +an order was made that the doors should not be opened till they had +raised their siege. These Amazons now showed themselves qualified for +the duty of even foot soldiers; they stood there till five in the +afternoon, without either sustenance or evacuation, every now and then +playing volleys of thumps, kicks, and raps against the door, with so +much violence that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. When the +Lords were not to be conquered by this, the two duchesses (very well +apprised of the use of stratagems in war) commanded a dead silence of +half an hour; and the Chancellor, who thought this a certain proof of +their absence (the Commons also being very impatient to enter), gave +order for the opening of the door, upon which they all rushed in, pushed +aside their competitors, and placed themselves in the front rows of the +gallery. They stayed there till after eleven, when the House rose; and +during the debate gave applause, and showed marks of dislike, not only +by smiles and winks (which have always been allowed in these cases), but +by noisy laughs and apparent contempts; which is supposed the true +reason why poor Lord Hervey spoke miserably. I beg your pardon, dear +madam, for this long relation; but 'tis impossible to be short on so +copious a subject; and you must own this action very well worthy of +record, and I think not to be paralleled in history, ancient or modern." + + +Lady Mary, however, was less concerned with "the open door" for women in +politics: her primary desire was that a woman should have the right, +within reason, to live her own life, and not merely be a chattel of her +husband. There is the conduct of her own married life to prove her +sincerity. + +Her view of the Turkish woman has already been given, as also has her +opinion that marriages should be for the limited period of seven years. +Now, she gave her opinion of the woman question in Italy, and it would +seem that, realising that her own marriage has been anything but +satisfactory to either party, she wrote from her heart. + + +"I cannot let pass in silence the prodigious alteration, since Misson's +writing, in regard to our sex. This reformation (or, if you please, +depravation) began so lately as the year 1732, when the French overran +this part of Italy; but it has been carried on with such fervour and +success, that the Italian go far beyond their patterns, the Parisian +ladies, in the extent of their liberty. I am not so much surprised at +the women's conduct, as I am amazed at the change in the men's +sentiments. Jealousy, which was once a point of honour among them, is +exploded to that degree, it is the most infamous and ridiculous of all +characters; and you cannot more affront a gentleman than to suppose +him capable of it. Divorces are also introduced, and frequent enough; +they have long been in fashion in Genoa; several of the finest and +greatest ladies there having two husbands alive. The constant pretext is +impotency, to which the man often pleads guilty, and though he marries +again, and has children by another wife, the plea remains good by saying +he was so in regard to his first; and when I told them that in England a +complaint of that kind was esteemed so impudent no reasonable woman +would submit to make it, I was answered we lived without religion, and +that their consciences obliged them rather to strain a point of modesty +than to live in a state of damnation. However, as this method is not +without inconvenience (it being impracticable where there is children), +they have taken another here: the husband deposes upon oath that he has +had a commerce with his mother-in-law, on which the marriage is declared +incestuous and nullified, though the children remain legitimate. You +will think this hard on the old lady, who is scandalised; but it is no +scandal at all, nobody supposing it to be true, without circumstances to +confirm it; but the married couple are set free to their mutual content; +for I believe it would be difficult to get a sentence of divorce, if +either side made opposition: at least I have heard no example of it." + + +Lady Mary made no secret of her views upon marriage; and though she did +not so frequently air her religious beliefs, she often pondered the +subject, and when challenged to speak was not reticent. As regards +sacred matters, she always had the courage of her convictions, even as +she had in mundane affairs. + + +"I always, if possible, avoid controversial disputes: whenever I cannot +do it, they are very short" (she wrote to her daughter in October, +1755). "I ask my adversary if he believes in the Scripture? When that is +answered affirmatively their church may be proved, by a child of ten +years old, contradictory to it, in their most important points. My +second question is, if they think St. Peter and St. Paul knew the true +Christian religion? The constant reply is, O yes. Then say I, purgatory, +transubstantiation, invocation of saints, adoration of the Virgin, +relics (of which they might have had a cartload), the observation of +Lent, is no part of it, since they neither taught nor practised any of +these things. Vows of celibacy are not more contrary to nature, than to +the positive precept of St. Paul. He mentions a very common case, in +which people are obliged, by conscience, to marry. No mortal can promise +that case shall never be theirs, which depends on the disposition of the +body as much as a fever; and 'tis as reasonable to engage never to feel +the one as the other. He tells us, the marks of the Holy Spirit are +charity, humility, truth, and long suffering. Can anything be more +uncharitable than damning eternally so many millions for not believing +what they never heard? or prouder than calling their head a Vice-god? +Pious frauds are avowedly permitted, and persecution applauded: these +maxims cannot be dictated by the spirit of peace, which is so warmly +preached in the Gospel. The creeds of the apostles, and council of Nice, +do not speak of the mass, or real presence, as articles of belief; and +Athanasius asserts, whosoever believes according to them shall be saved. +Jesus Christ, in answer to the lawyer, bids him love God above all +things, and his neighbour as himself, as all that is necessary to +salvation. When he describes the last judgment, he does not examine what +sect, or what church, men were of, but how far they had been beneficent +to mankind. Faith cannot determine reward or punishment, being +involuntary, and only the consequence of conviction: we do not believe +what we please, but what appears to us with the face of truth. As I do +not mistake exclamation, invective, or ridicule for argument, I never +recriminate on the lives of their popes and cardinals, when they urge +the character of Henry the Eighth; I only answer, good actions are often +done by all men through interested motives, and 'tis the common method +of Providence to bring good out of evil: history, both sacred and +profane, furnishes many examples of it. When they tell me I have forsook +the worship of my ancestors, I say I have had more ancestors heathen +than Christian, and my faith is certainly ancienter than theirs, since I +have added nothing to the practice of the primitive professors of +Christianity. As to the prosperity or extent of the dominion of their +church, which Cardinal Bellarmin counts among the proofs of its +orthodoxy, the Mahometans, who have larger empires, and have made a +quicker progress, have a better plea for the visible protection of +Heaven. If the fopperies of their religion were only fopperies, they +ought to be complied with, wherever it is established, like any +ridiculous dress in fashion; but I think them impieties: their devotions +are scandal to humanity from their nonsense; the mercenary deceits and +barbarous tyranny of their ecclesiastics, inconsistent with moral +honesty. If they object the diversity of our sects as a mark of +reprobation, I desire them to consider, that objection has equal force +against Christianity in general. When they thunder with the names of +fathers and councils, they are surprised to find me as well (often +better) acquainted with them than themselves. I show them the variety of +their doctrines, their virulent contests and various factions, instead +of that union they boast of. I have never been attacked a second time in +any of the towns where I have resided, and perhaps shall never be so +again after my last battle, which was with an old priest, a learned man, +particularly esteemed as a mathematician, and who has a head and heart +as warm as poor Whiston's. When I first came hither, he visited me every +day, and talked of me everywhere with such violent praise, that, had we +been young people, God knows what would have been said. I have always +the advantage of being quite calm on a subject which they cannot talk of +without heat. He desired I would put on paper what I had said. I +immediately wrote one side of a sheet, leaving the other for his answer. +He carried it with him, promising to bring it the next day, since which +time I have never seen it, though I have often demanded it, being of +my defective Italian. I fancy he sent it to his friend the Archbishop of +Milan. I have given over asking for it, as a desperate debt. He still +visits me, but seldom, and in a cold sort of a way. When I have found +disputants I less respected, I have sometimes taken pleasure in raising +their hopes by my concessions: they are charmed when I agree with them +in the number of the sacraments; but are horridly disappointed when I +explain myself by saying the word sacrament is not to be found either in +Old or New Testament; and one must be very ignorant not to know it is +taken from the listing oath of the Roman soldiers, and means nothing +more than a solemn, irrevocable engagement. Parents vow, in infant +baptism, to educate their children in the Christian religion, which they +take upon themselves by confirmation; the Lord's Supper is frequently +renewing the same oath. Ordination and matrimony are solemn vows of a +different kind: confession includes a vow of revealing all we know, and +reforming what is amiss: extreme unction, the last vow, that we have +lived in the faith we were baptised: in this sense they are all +sacraments. As to the mysteries preached since, they were all invented +long after, and some of them repugnant to the primitive institution." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON THE CONTINENT (1745-1760) + +Lady Mary stays at Avignon--She removes to Brescia--And then to +Lovere--She abandons all idea of Montagu joining her abroad--Her house +at Lovere--Her daily round--Her health--Her anxiety about her son--An +amazing incident--A serious illness--A novel in a letter--Her +correspondence attracts the attention of the Italian authorities--Sir +James and Lady Frances Steuart--Politics--She is in the bad books of the +British Resident at Venice--Lord Bute--The philosophy of Lady +Mary--Letters to Lady Bute and Sir James Steuart. + + +Lady Mary liked Avignon so well that she stayed there until July 1746. +Then she moved to Brescia, where she stayed for a year, and then took up +her quarters at Lovere, a small place in Lombardy on the Lake d'Iseo, a +most attractive spot, as she was at pains to tell her daughter at some +length. For some time she alternated between Lovere and Brescia. + + +"I am now in a place the most beautifully romantic I ever saw in my +life: it is the Tunbridge of this part of the world, to which I was sent +by the doctor's order, my ague often returning, notwithstanding the +loads of bark I have taken" (she wrote to her daughter from Lovere, July +24, 1747). "To say truth, I have no reason to repent my journey, though +I was very unwilling to undertake it, it being forty miles, half by land +and half by water; the land so stony I was almost shook to pieces, and I +had the ill luck to be surprised with a storm on the lake, that if I had +not been near a little port (where I passed a night in a very poor inn), +the vessel must have been lost. A fair wind brought me hither next +morning early. I found a very good lodging, a great deal of good +company, and a village in many respects resembling Tunbridge Wells, not +only in the quality of the waters, which is the same, but in the manner +of the buildings, most of the houses being separate at little distances, +and all built on the sides of hills, which indeed are far different from +those of Tunbridge, being six times as high: they are really vast rocks +of different figures, covered with green moss, or short grass, +diversified by tufts of trees, little woods, and here and there +vineyards, but no other cultivation, except gardens like those on +Richmond-hill. The whole lake, which is twenty-five miles long, and +three broad, is all surrounded with these impassable mountains, the +sides of which, towards the bottom, are so thick set with villages (and +in most of them gentlemen's seats), that I do not believe there is +anywhere above a mile distance one from another, which adds very much to +the beauty of the prospect. + +"We have an opera here, which is performed three times in the week. I +was at it last night, and should have been surprised at the neatness of +the scenes, goodness of the voices and justness of the actors, if I had +not remembered I was in Italy. Several gentlemen jumped into the +orchestra, and joined in the concert, which I suppose is one of the +freedoms of the place, for I never saw it in any great town. I was yet +more amazed (while the actors were dressing for the farce that concluded +the entertainment) to see one of the principal among them, and as errant +a _petit maitre_ as if he had passed all his life at Paris, mount the +stage, and present us with a cantata of his own performing. He had the +pleasure of being almost deafened with applause. The ball began +afterwards, but I was not witness of it, having accustomed myself to +such early hours, that I was half asleep before the opera finished: it +begins at ten o'clock, so that it was one before I could get to bed, +though I had supped before I went, which is the custom. + +"I am much better pleased with the diversions on the water, where all +the town assembles every night, and never without music; but we have +none so rough as trumpets, kettle-drums, and French horns: they are all +violins, lutes, mandolins, and flutes doux. Here is hardly a man that +does not excel in some of these instruments, which he privately +addresses to the lady of his affections, and the public has the +advantage of it by his adding to the number of the musicians. + +"The fountain where we drink the waters rises between two hanging hills, +and is overshadowed with large trees, that give a freshness in the +hottest time of the day. The provisions are all excellent, the fish of +the lake being as large and well tasted as that of Geneva, and the +mountains abounding in game, particularly blackcocks, which I never saw +in any other part of Italy." + + +Lady Mary, though still corresponding with her husband, had clearly +given up all idea of returning to England or of Montagu joining her +abroad. She was quite content with her state, which, after all, so far +as we know, was her own choice. She took a house at Lovere, and +interested herself in improving it and developing the grounds. + + +"I have been these six weeks, and still am, at my dairy-house, which +joins to my garden" (she wrote to her daughter in July, 1748). "I +believe I have already told you it is a long mile from the castle, which +is situated in the midst of a very large village, once a considerable +town, part of the walls still remaining, and has not vacant ground +enough about it to make a garden, which is my greatest amusement, it +being now troublesome to walk, or even go in the chaise till the +evening. I have fitted up in this farm-house a room for myself--that is +to say, strewed the floor with rushes, covered the chimney with moss and +branches, and adorned the room with basins of earthen-ware (which is +made here to great perfection) filled with flowers, and put in some +straw chairs, and a couch bed, which is my whole furniture. This spot of +ground is so beautiful, I am afraid you will scarce credit the +description, which, however, I can assure you, shall be very literal, +without any embellishment from imagination. It is on a bank, forming a +kind of peninsula, raised from the river Oglio fifty feet, to which you +may descend by easy stairs cut in the turf, and either take the air on +the river, which is as large as the Thames at Richmond, or by walking +[in] an avenue two hundred yards on the side of it, you find a wood of a +hundred acres, which was all ready cut into walks and ridings when I +took it. I have only added fifteen bowers in different views, with seats +of turf. They were easily made, here being a large quantity of +underwood, and a great number of wild vines, which twist to the top of +the highest trees, and from which they make a very good sort of wine +they call _brusco_. I am now writing to you in one of these arbours, +which is so thickly shaded, the sun is not troublesome, even at noon. +Another is on the side of the river, where I have made a camp kitchen, +that I may take the fish, dress, and eat it immediately, and at the same +time see the barks, which ascend or descend every day to or from Mantua, +Guastalla, or Pont de Vie, all considerable towns. This little wood is +carpeted, in their succeeding seasons, with violets and strawberries, +inhabited by a nation of nightingales, and filled with game of all +kinds, excepting deer and wild boar, the first being unknown here, and +not being large enough for the other. + +"My garden was a plain vineyard when it came into my hands not two years +ago, and it is, with a small expense, turned into a garden that (apart +from the advantage of the climate) I like better than that of +Kensington. The Italian vineyards are not planted like those in France, +but in clumps, fastened to trees planted in equal ranks (commonly +fruit-trees), and continued in festoons from one to another, which I +have turned into covered galleries of shade, that I can walk in the heat +without being incommoded by it. I have made a dining-room of verdure, +capable of holding a table of twenty covers; the whole ground is three +hundred and seventeen feet in length, and two hundred in breadth. You +see it is far from large; but so prettily disposed (though I say it), +that I never saw a more agreeable rustic garden, abounding with all sort +of fruit, and produces a variety of wines. I would send you a piece [_sic_] +if I did not fear the customs would make you pay too dear for it." + + +Lady Mary was now in her sixtieth year, and asked for nothing better +than peace and comfort. Her manner of life she described as being as +regular as that of any monastery. She rose at six, and after an early +breakfast worked in the garden. Then she visited the dairy and inspected +her chickens--at one time she had two hundred of them--and her turkeys, +geese, ducks, and peacocks, her bees and her silkworms. At eleven she +read for an hour, and after an early dinner would take a siesta. Then +she played picquet or whist with some friendly priests. In the evening +she walked in the woods, or rode, or went on the lake. "I enjoy every +amusement that solitude can afford," she said. "I confess I sometimes +wish for a little conversation, but I reflect that the commerce of the +world gives more uneasiness than pleasure, and quiet is all the hope +that can reasonably be indulged at my age." It would not have been Lady +Mary if she had not kept a keen eye on the pence. She was delighted to +be able to say in relation to her house and grounds that "all things +have hitherto prospered under my care; my bees and silkworms are +doubled, and I am told that, without accidents, my capital will be so in +two years' time." She enjoyed the more her evening now and her fish at +dinner, because neither cost her anything. "The fishery of this part of +the river belongs to me; and my fisherman's little boat (where I have a +green lutestring awning) serves me for a barge. He and his sons are my +rowers without expense, he being very well paid by the profit of the +fish, which I give him on condition of having every day one dish for my +table." + +Age dealt gently with Lady Mary. At the age of sixty-two, she could say +that her hearing and her memory were good, and her sight better than she +had any right to expect. She had appetite enough to relish what she ate, +slept as soundly as she had ever done, and had never a headache. Still, +the fact was forced upon her that she was no longer so young as she had +been--which unpleasing reflection she accepted philosophically enough. + + +"I no more expect to arrive at the age of the Duchess of Marlborough[19] +than to that of Methusalem; neither do I desire it" (she wrote to Lady +Bute in the early spring of 1751). "I have long thought myself useless +to the world. I have seen one generation pass away; and it is gone; for +I think there are very few of those left that flourished in my youth. +You will perhaps call these melancholy reflections: they are not so. +There is a quiet after the abandoning of pursuits, something like the +rest that follows a laborious day. I tell you this for your comfort. It +was formerly a terrifying view to me, that I should one day be an old +woman. I now find that Nature has provided pleasures for every state. +Those are only unhappy who will not be contented with what she gives, +but strive to break through her laws, by affecting a perpetuity of youth +which appears to me as little desirable at present as the babies do to +you, that were the delight of your infancy." + +[Footnote 19: The Duchess of Marlborough was born on May 29, 1660, and +died on October 18, 1744.] + + +She reverted to the same subject when writing to her husband a month or +two later: + + +"I can no longer resist the desire I have to know what is become of my +son. I have long suppressed it, from a belief that if there was anything +of good to be told, you would not fail to give me the pleasure of +hearing it. I find it now grows so much upon me, that whatever I am to +know, I think it would be easier for me to support, than the anxiety I +suffer from my doubts. I beg to be informed, and prepare myself for the +worst, with all the philosophy I have. At my time of life I ought to be +detached from a world which I am soon to leave; to be totally so is a +vain endeavour, and perhaps there is vanity in the endeavour: while we +are human, we must submit to human infirmities, and suffer them in mind +as well as body. All that reflection and experience can do is to +mitigate, we can never extinguish, our passions. I call by that name +every sentiment that is not founded upon reason, and own I cannot +justify to mine the concern I feel for one who never gave me any view of +satisfaction. + +"This is too melancholy a subject to dwell upon. You compliment me on +the continuation of my spirits: 'tis true, I try to maintain them by +every art I can, being sensible of the terrible consequences of losing +them. Young people are too apt to let theirs sink on any disappointment." + + +There was, in 1751, some extraordinary incident in the life of Lady +Mary, the true history of which has never been made public. + + +"Pray tell me," Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on August 31 of +that year, "if you know anything of Lady Mary Wortley: we have an +obscure history here of her being in durance in the Brescian or the +Bergamasco: that a young fellow that she set out with keeping has taken +it into his head to keep her close prisoner, not permitting her to write +or receive any letters but which he sees: he seems determined, if her +husband should die, not to lose her, as the Count [Richcourt] did Lady +Oxford." + + +No reply to this letter reached Walpole, but his insatiable curiosity +would not accept this as a check, and he wrote again on October 14: "Did +you ever receive the question I asked you about Lady Mary Wortley's +being confined by a lover that she keeps somewhere in the Brescian? I +long to know the particulars." + +At the time of this incident Lady Mary was in her sixty-second year. It +is possible, but extremely improbable, therefore, that Lady Mary should +have taken a young man into keeping. Horace Walpole may always be +trusted to make the best of a rumour. Still, it may be stated, on the +authority of Wright, that among Lady Mary's papers there was found a +long account of the matter, written in Italian. In this she mentioned +that for some time she had been forcibly detained in a country house +belonging to an Italian Count and occupied by him and his mother. This +paper, it is further mentioned, seems to have been submitted to a lawyer +for his opinion or for production in a court of law. It may be, of +course, that Lady Mary did, to some extent, adopt the young man, who +thought that by keeping possession of her person he might be able to +extort money from her. + +Not long after this business, in fact, in February, 1752, Lady Mary was +reporting that she was well enough in health. She had been reading +Coventry's _Pompey the Little_, and tells her daughter that she saw +herself in the character of Mrs. Qualmsick: + + +"You will be surprised at this, no Englishwoman being so free from +vapours, having never in my life complained of low spirits or weak +nerves; but our resemblance is very strong in the fancied loss of +appetite, which I have been silly enough to be persuaded into by the +physician of this place. He visits me frequently, as being one of the +most considerable men in the parish, and is a grave, sober thinking +great fool, whose solemn appearance, and deliberate way of delivering +his sentiments gives them an air of good sense, though they are often +the most injudicious that ever were pronounced. By perpetual telling me +I eat so little, he is amazed I am able to subsist, he had brought me to +be of his opinion; and I began to be seriously uneasy at it. This useful +treatise has roused me into a recollection of what I eat yesterday, and +do almost every day the same. I wake generally about seven, and drink +half a pint of warm asses' milk, after which I sleep two hours; as soon +as I am risen, I constantly take three cups of milk coffee, and +hours after that a large cup of milk chocolate: two hours more brings my +dinner, where I never fail swallowing a good dish (I don't mean plate) +of gravy soup, with all the bread, roots, &c., belonging to it. I then +eat a wing and the whole body of a large fat capon, and a veal +sweetbread, concluding with a competent quantity of custard, and some +roasted chestnuts. At five in the afternoon I take another dose of +asses' milk; and for supper twelve chestnuts (which would weigh +twenty-four of those in London), one new laid egg, and a handsome +porringer of white bread and milk. With this diet, notwithstanding the +menaces of my wise doctor, I am now convinced I am in no danger of +starving; and am obliged to Little Pompey for this discovery." + + +Two years later, however, when she was in her sixty-fifth year, Lady +Mary found herself far from well. In April of that year, she told her +daughter: "My time is wholly dedicated to the care of a decaying body, +and endeavouring, as the old song says, to grow wiser and better, as my +strength wears away." Shortly after, she was taken seriously unwell at +Gottolengo. When she had recovered she, always interested in medical +science, sent Lady Bute a full account of her illness and of the +extraordinary physician from the neighbouring village of Lovere. + + +"Soon after I wrote my last letter to my dear child, I was seized with +so violent a fever, accompanied with so many bad symptoms, my life was +despaired of by the physician of Gottolengo, and I prepared myself for +death with as much resignation as that circumstance admits: some of my +neighbours without my knowledge, sent express for the doctor of this +place, whom I have mentioned to you formerly as having uncommon secrets. +I was surprised to see him at my bedside. He declared me in great +danger, but did not doubt my recovery, if I was wholly under his care; +and his first prescription was transporting me hither; the other +physician asserted positively I should die on the road. It has always +been my opinion that it is a matter of the utmost indifference where we +expire, and I consented to be removed. My bed was placed on a bancard; +my servants followed in chaises; and in this equipage I set out. I bore +the first day's journey of fifteen miles without any visible alteration. +The doctor said, as I was not worse, I was certainly better; and the +next day proceeded twenty miles to Iséo, which is at the head of this +lake. I lay each night at noblemen's houses, which were empty. My cook, +with my physician, aways preceded two or three hours, and I found my +chamber, with all necessaries, ready prepared with the exactest +attention. I was put into a bark in my litter bed, and in three hours +arrived here. My spirits were not at all wasted (I think rather raised) +by the fatigue of my journey. I drank the water next morning, and, with +a few doses of my physician's prescription, in three days found myself +in perfect health, which appeared almost a miracle to all that saw me. +You may imagine I am willing to submit to the orders of one that I must +acknowledge the instrument of saving my life, though they are not +entirely conformable to my will and pleasure. He has sentenced me to a +long continuance here, which, he says, is absolutely necessary to the +confirmation of my health, and would persuade me that my illness has +been wholly owing to my omission of drinking the waters these two years +past. I dare not contradict him, and must own he deserves (from the +various surprising cures I have seen) the name given to him in this +country of the miraculous man. Both his character and practice are so +singular, I cannot forbear giving you some account of them. He will not +permit his patients to have either surgeon or apothecary: he performs +all the operations of the first with great dexterity; and whatever +compounds he gives, he makes in his own house: those are very few; the +juice of herbs, and these waters, being commonly his sole prescriptions. +He has very little learning, and professes drawing all his knowledge +from experience, which he possesses, perhaps, in a greater degree than +any other mortal, being the seventh doctor of his family in a direct +line. His forefathers have all of them left journals and registers +solely for the use of their posterity, none of them having published +anything; and he has recourse to these manuscripts on every difficult +case, the veracity of which, at least, is unquestionable. His vivacity +is prodigious, and he is indefatigable in his industry: but what most +distinguishes him is a disinterestedness I never saw in any other: he is +as regular in his attendance on the poorest peasant, from whom he never +can receive one farthing, as on the richest of the nobility; and, +whenever he is wanted, will climb three or four miles in the mountains, +in the hottest sun, or heaviest rain, where a horse cannot go, to arrive +at a cottage, where, if their condition requires it, he does not only +give them advice and medicines gratis, but bread, wine, and whatever is +needful. There never passes a week without one or more of these +expeditions. His last visit is generally to me. I often see him as dirty +and tired as a foot post, having eat nothing all day but a roll or two +that he carries in his pocket, yet blest with such a perpetual flow of +spirits, he is always gay to a degree above cheerfulness. There is a +peculiarity in his character that I hope will incline you to forgive my +drawing it." + + +It was probably by the advice of her physician that Lady Mary decided to +make Lovere her headquarters. He prescribed taking the waters there and +a long rest. Lovere was a dull place, visitors coming only during the +water-drinking season. The plague that overran Europe in 1626 had +ravaged it: the poor were almost destroyed, and the rich deserted it. A +few of the ancient palaces had been turned into lodging-houses; the rest +were in ruinous condition. Lady Mary bought one of the palaces. + + +"I see you lift up your eyes in wonder at my indiscretion. I beg you to +hear my reasons before you condemn me. In my infirm state of health the +unavoidable noise of a public lodging is very disagreeable; and here is +no private one: secondly, and chiefly, the whole purchase is but one +hundred pounds, with a very pretty garden in terraces down to the water, +and a court behind the house. It is founded on a rock, and the walls so +thick, they will probably remain as long as the earth. It is true, the +apartments are in most tattered circumstances, without doors or windows. +The beauty of the great saloon gained my affection: it is forty-two feet +in length by twenty-five, proportionably high, opening into a balcony of +the same length, with marble balusters: the ceiling and flooring are in +good repair, but I have been forced to the expense of covering the wall +with new stucco; and the carpenter is at this minute taking measure of +the windows, in order to make frames for sashes. The great stairs are in +such a declining way, it would be a very hazardous exploit to mount +them: I never intend to attempt it. The state bedchamber shall also +remain for the sole use of the spiders that have taken possession of it, +along with the grand cabinet, and some other pieces of magnificence, +quite useless to me, and which would cost a great deal to make +habitable. I have fitted up six rooms, with lodgings for five servants, +which are all I ever will have in this place; and I am persuaded that I +could make a profit if I would part with my purchase, having been very +much befriended in the sale, which was by auction, the owner having died +without children, and I believe he had never seen this mansion in his +life, it having stood empty from the death of his grandfather. The +governor bid for me, and nobody would bid against him. Thus I am become +a citizen of Lovere, to the great joy of the inhabitants, not (as they +would pretend) from their respect for my person, but I perceive they +fancy I shall attract all the travelling English; and, to say the truth, +the singularity of the place is well worth their curiosity; but, as I +have no correspondents, I may be buried here fifty years, and nobody +know anything of the matter." + + +Lady Mary found great pleasure in her correspondence. It was one of the +occupations with which she solaced her loneliness, and she was never more +happy than when she had an exciting story to set down, for she could set +it down with the ease of a Walpole and an individual touch that was all +her own: + + +"I was quietly reading in my closet, when I was interrupted by the +chambermaid of the Signora Laura Bono, who flung herself at my feet, +and, in an agony of sobs and tears, begged me, for the love of the holy +Madonna, to hasten to her master's house, where the two brothers would +certainly murder one another, if my presence did not stop their fury. I +was very much surprised, having always heard them spoken of as a pattern +of fraternal union. However, I made all possible speed thither, without +staying for hoods or attendance. I was soon there (the house touching my +garden wall), and was directed to the bedchamber by the noise of oaths +and execrations; but, on opening the door, was astonished to a degree +you may better guess than I describe, by seeing the Signora Laura +prostrate on the ground, melting in tears, and her husband standing with +a drawn stiletto in his hand, swearing she should never see tomorrow's +sun. I was soon let into the secret. The good man, having business of +consequence at Brescia, went thither early in the morning; but, as he +expected his chief tenant to pay his rent that day, he left orders with +his wife, that if the farmer, who lived two miles off, came himself, or +sent any of his sons, she should take care to make him very welcome. She +obeyed him with great punctuality, the money coming in the hand of a +handsome lad of eighteen: she did not only admit him to her own table, +and produce the best wine in the cellar, but resolved to give him _chêre +entière_. While she was exercising this generous hospitality, the +husband met midway the gentleman he intended to visit, who was posting +to another side of the country; they agreed on another appointment, and +he returned to his own house, where, giving his horse to be led round to +the stable by the servant that accompanied him, he opened his door with +the _passe-partout_ key, and proceeded to his chamber, without meeting +anybody, where he found his beloved spouse asleep on the bed with her +gallant. The opening of the door waked them: the young fellow +immediately leaped out of the window, which looked into the garden, and +was open, it being summer, and escaped over the fields, leaving his +breeches on a chair by the bedside--very striking circumstance. In +short, the case was such, I do not think the queen of fairies herself +could have found an excuse, though Chaucer tells us she has made a +solemn promise to leave none of her sex unfurnished with one, to all +eternity. As to the poor criminal, she had nothing to say for herself +but what I dare swear you will hear from your youngest daughter, if ever +you catch her stealing of sweetmeats--"Pray, pray, she would do so no +more, and indeed it was the first time." This last article found no +credit with me: I cannot be persuaded that any woman who had lived +virtuous till forty (for such is her age) could suddenly be endowed with +such consummate impudence, to solicit a youth at first sight, there +being no probability, his age and station considered, that he would have +made any attempt of that kind. I must confess I was wicked enough to +think the unblemished reputation she had hitherto maintained, and did +not fail to put us in mind of, was owing to a series of such frolics; +and to say truth, they are the only amours that can reasonably hope to +remain undiscovered. Ladies that can resolve to make love thus +_extempore_, may pass unobserved, especially if they can content +themselves with low life, where fear may oblige their favourites to +secrecy: there wants only a very lewd constitution, a very bad heart, +and a moderate understanding, to make this conduct easy: and I do not +doubt it has been practised by many prudes beside her I am now speaking +of. You may be sure I did not communicate these reflections. The first +word I spoke was to desire Signer Carlo to sheathe his poniard, not +being pleased with its glittering! He did so very readily, begging my +pardon for not having done it on my first appearance, saying he did not +know what he did, and indeed he had the countenance and gesture of a man +distracted. I did not endeavour a defence; that seemed to me impossible; +but represented to him, as well as I could, the crime of a murder, which, +if he could justify before men, was still a crying sin before God; the +disgrace he would bring on himself and posterity, and irreparable injury +he would do his eldest daughter, a pretty girl of fifteen, that I knew +he was extremely fond of. I added, that if he thought it proper to part +from his lady, he might easily find a pretext for it some months hence; +and that it was as much his interest as hers to conceal this affair from +the knowledge of the world. I could not presently make him taste these +reasons, and was forced to stay there near five hours (almost from five +to ten at night) before I durst leave them together, which I would not +do till he had sworn in the most serious manner he would make no future +attempt on her life. I was content with his oath, knowing him to be very +devout, and found I was not mistaken. How the matter was made up between +them afterwards I know not; but it is now two years since it happened, +and all appearances remaining as if it had never been. The secret is in +very few hands; his brother, being at that time at Brescia, I believe +knows nothing of it to this day. The chambermaid and myself have preserved +the strictest silence, and the lady retains the satisfaction of insulting +all her acquaintance on the foundation of a spotless character, that only +she can boast in the parish, where she is most heartily hated, from these +airs of impertinent virtue, and another very essential reason, being the +best dressed woman among them, though one of the plainest in her figure. + +"The discretion of the chambermaid in fetching me, which possibly saved +her mistress's life, and her taciturnity since, I fancy appear very +remarkable to you, and is what would certainly never happen in England. +The first part of her behaviour deserves great praise; coming of her own +accord, and inventing so decent an excuse for her admittance: but her +silence may be attributed to her knowing very well that any servant that +presumes to talk of his master will most certainly be incapable of +talking at all in a short time, their lives being entirely in the power +of their superiors: I do not mean by law but by custom, which has full +as much force. If one of them was killed, it would either never be +inquired into at all, or very slightly passed over; yet it seldom +happens, and I know no instance of it, which I think is owing to the +great submission of domestics, who are sensible of their dependence, and +the national temper not being hasty, and never inflamed by wine, +drunkenness being a vice abandoned to the vulgar, and spoke of with +greater detestation than murder, which is mentioned with as little +concern as a drinking-bout in England, and is almost as frequent. It was +extreme shocking to me at my first coming, and still gives me a sort of +horror, though custom has in some degree familiarised it to my +imagination. Robbery would be pursued with great vivacity, and punished +with the utmost rigour, therefore is very rare, though stealing is in +daily practice; but as all the peasants are suffered the use of +fire-arms, the slightest provocation is sufficient to shoot, and they +see one of their own species lie dead before them with as little remorse +as a hare or a partridge, and, when revenge spurs them on, with much +more pleasure. A dissertation on this subject would engage me in a +discourse not proper for the post." + + +Lady Mary, being a prolific letter-writer, came under the suspicions of +the Italian authorities, who carefully examined the correspondence--a +fact that was only by a chance conversation revealed to her. "I think I +now know why our correspondence is so miserably interrupted, and so many +of my letters lost to and from England," she wrote to her husband in +October, 1753; "but I am no happier in the discovery than a man who has +found out his complaints proceed from a stone in the kidneys; I know the +cause, but am entirely ignorant of the remedy, and must suffer my +uneasiness with what patience I can." + +"An old priest made me a visit as I was folding my last packet to my +daughter. Observing it to be large, he told me I had done a great deal of +business that morning. I made answer, I had done no business at all; I +had only wrote to my daughter on family affairs, or such trifles as make +up women's conversation. He said gravely, people like your Excellenza +do not use to write long letters upon trifles. I assured him, that if he +understood English, I would let him read my letter. He replied, with a +mysterious smile, if I did understand English, I should not understand +what you have written, except you would give me the key, which I durst +not presume to ask. What key? (said I, staring) there is not one cypher +besides the date. He answered, cyphers were only used by novices in +politics, and it was very easy to write intelligibly, under feigned +names of persons and places, to a correspondent, in such a manner as +should be almost impossible to be understood by anybody else. + +"Thus I suppose my innocent epistles are severely scrutinized; and when +I talk of my grandchildren, they are fancied to represent all the +potentates of Europe. This is very provoking. I confess there are good +reasons for extraordinary caution at this juncture; but 'tis very hard I +cannot pass for being as insignificant as I really am." + + +Lady Mary clearly was happy in Italy, and did not in the least hanker +after the delights of London society, which in her earlier days she had +so much enjoyed. + + +"By the account you give me of London, I think it very much reformed; at +least you have one sin the less, and it was a very reigning one in my +time, I mean scandal: it must be literally reduced to a whisper, since +the custom of living all together. I hope it has also banished the +fashion of talking all at once, which was very prevailing when I was in +town, and may perhaps contribute to brotherly love and unity, which was +so much declined in my memory, that it was hard to invite six people +that would not, by cold looks, or piquing reflections affront one +another. I suppose parties are at an end, though I fear it is the +consequence of the old almanac prophecy, "Poverty brings peace"; and I +fancy you really follow the French mode, and the lady keeps an assembly, +that the assembly may keep the lady, and card money pay for clothes and +equipage as well as cards and candles. I find I should be as solitary in +London as I am here in the country, it being impossible for me to submit +to live in a _drum_, which I think so far from a cure of uneasiness, +that it is, in my opinion, adding one more to the heap. There are so +many attached to humanity, 'tis impossible to fly from them all; but +experience has confirmed to me what I always thought, that the pursuit +of pleasure will be ever attended with pain, and the study of ease be +most certainly accompanied with pleasures. I have had this morning as +much delight in a walk in the sun as ever I felt formerly in the crowded +Mall, even when I imagined I had my share of the admiration of the place, +which was generally soured before I slept by the informations of my +female friends, who seldom failed to tell me, it was observed, I had +showed an inch above my shoe-heels, or some other criticism of equal +weight, which was construed affectation, and utterly destroyed all the +satisfaction my vanity had given me. I have now no other but in my little +houswifery, which is easily gratified in this country, where, by the help +of my receipt-book, I make a very shining figure among my neighbours, by +the introduction of custards, cheesecakes, and minced pies, which were +entirely unknown to these parts, and are received with universal +applause; and I have reason to believe will preserve my memory even to +future ages, particularly by the art of butter-making, in which I have +so improved them, that they now make as good as in any part of England." + + +Lady Mary made the acquaintance in 1758 of Sir James Steuart,[20] and +his wife, Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Wemyss and +sister of the Jacobite Lord Elcho. Steuart, when making the grand +tour, had met the exiled Stuarts at Rome, and had become attached to +their cause. When the Young Pretender landed in Scotland in 1745, +Steuart threw in his lot with him. On his master's business he went to +Paris, and was abroad when Culloden was fought. When an Act of Oblivion +was passed in 1748 he was exempted by name, and, therefore, his return +was at the time impossible. He and his wife wandered about the +Continent, and it was at Venice that they encountered Lady Mary, who was +delighted with them. "I was charmed to find a man of uncommon sense and +learning, and a lady that without beauty is more admirable than the +fairest of her sex," she wrote enthusiastically to her daughter. "I +offered them all the little good offices in my power, and invited them +to supper; upon which our wise Minister[21] has discovered that I am in +the interest of popery and slavery. As he has often said the same thing +of Mr. Pitt, it would give me no mortification, if I did not apprehend +that his fertile imagination may support this wise idea by such +circumstances as may influence those that do not know me. It is very +remarkable that after having suffered all the rage of that party at +Avignon for my attachment to the present reigning family, I should be +accused here of favouring rebellion, when I hoped all our odious +diversions were forgotten." + +[Footnote 20: Sir James Steuart (1712-1780), in 1773, on inheriting an +estate from a relative, took the additional surname of Denham. He was +the author of works on currency and political economy.] + +[Footnote 21: The British Resident at Venice at this time was John +Murray] + + +Lady Mary was anxious that nothing she did should reflect upon her +daughter or in any way affect Lord Bute. "I am afraid you may think +some imprudent behaviour of mine has occasioned all this ridiculous +persecution [by the Resident]" she wrote to them in May, 1758. "I can +assure you I have always treated him and his family with the utmost +civility, and am now retired to Padua, to avoid the comments that will +certainly be made on his extraordinary conduct towards me. I only desire +privacy and quiet, and am very well contented to be without visits, +which oftener disturb than amuse me. My single concern is the design he +has formed of securing (as he calls it) my effects immediately on my +decease; if they ever fall into his hands, I am persuaded they will +never arrive entire into yours, which is a very uneasy thought to me." + +Although not primarily interested in politics, Lady Mary had met so many +politicians that she was naturally eager to hear what was going on, and +the fact that her son-in-law, Lord Bute, was active in that department +of life made her follow ministerial events in England so closely as +possible. "I stay here, though I am on many accounts better pleased with +Padua," she wrote to her daughter from Venice, January 20, 1758. "Our +great minister, the Resident, treats me as one of the Opposition. I am +inclined to laugh rather than be displeased at his political airs; yet, +as I am among strangers they are disagreeable; and, could I have +foreseen them, would have settled in some other part of the world: but I +have taken leases of my houses, been at much pains and expense in +furnishing them, and am no longer of an age to make long journeys." + +Pitt's Coalition Ministry, formed in June, 1757, in which Pitt and Lord +Holdernesse were Secretaries of State, the Duke of Newcastle First Lord +of the Treasury, Legge Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Granville, +Lord Temple, Sir Robert Henley, the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of +Bedford, and Henry Fox held office, moved Lady Mary to merriment. + + +"Your account of the changes in ministerial affairs do not surprise me; +but nothing could be more astonishing than their all coming together" +(she wrote to Lady Bute). "It puts me in mind of a friend of mine who +had a large family of favourite animals; and not knowing how to convey +them to his country-house in separate equipages, he ordered a Dutch +mastiff, a cat and her kittens, a monkey, and a parrot, all to be packed +up together in one large hamper, and sent by a waggon. One may easily +guess how this set of company made their journey; and I have never been +able to think of the present compound ministry without the idea of +barking, scratching, and screaming. 'Tis too ridiculous a one, I own, +for the gravity of their characters, and still more for the situation the +kingdom is in; for as much as one may encourage the love of laughter, +'tis impossible to be indifferent to the welfare of one's native +country." + + +The Resident was, so far as Lady Mary was concerned, an ill-conditioned +fellow. She asked him once or twice for the English papers, but the +reply made, with intention, on each occasion was that they were engaged. +"Since the Ministry of Mr. Pitt," she remarked, "he is so desirous to +signalise his zeal for the contrary faction, he is perpetually saying +ridiculous things, to manifest his attachment; and as he looks upon me +(nobody knows why) to be the friend of a man I never saw, he has not +visited me once this winter. The misfortune is not great." Lady Mary was +amused at being mistaken for a politician. "I have often been so, though +I ever thought politics so far removed from my sphere. I cannot accuse +myself of dabbling in them, even when I heard them talked over in all +companies; but, as the old song says, + + 'Tho' through the wide world we should range, + 'Tis in vain from our fortune to fly.'" + +Lady Mary always cherished affection and respect for her son-in-law, +Lord Bute. He had been since 1747 a favourite with Frederick, Prince of +Wales, who in 1750 appointed him a Lord of his Bedchamber. When +Frederick died in the following year Bute had established his popularity +with the Princess, who, in 1756, secured his appointment as Groom of the +Stole. "I have something to mention that I believe will be agreeable to +you," Edward Wortley Montagu wrote to his wife at this time; "I mean +some particulars relating to Lord Bute. He stood higher in the Prince of +Wales's favour than any man. His attendance was frequent at Leicester +House, where this young Prince has resided, and since his father's death +has continued without intermission, till new officers were to be placed +under him. It is said that another person was to be Groom of the Stole, +but that the Prince's earnest request was complied with in my Lord's +favour. It is supposed that the governors, preceptors, etc., who were +about him before will now be set aside, and that my Lord is now the +principal adviser." Neither Montagu nor his wife in their published +correspondence make any allusion to the scandal current about the +intimate relations of the Princess and Lord Bute, though it was so +widely spread it is almost impossible it should not have come to the +ears of one or other of them. + +On the accession of George III Bute was sworn a member of the Privy +Council, and in November, 1760, appointed Groom of the Stole and First +Gentleman of the Bedchamber. His influence with the young King was +paramount. "I pity Lady Bute," Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on +January 27, 1761, "her mother will sell to whoever does not know her, +all kinds of promises and reversions, bestow lies gratis and wholesale, +and make so much mischief, that they will be forced to discard her in +three months, which will go to Lady Bute's heart, who is one of the best +and most sensible women in the world; and who, educated by such a +mother, has never made a false step." As a matter of fact, the only +request known to be made by Lady Mary was to ask Lord Bute, through her +daughter, to take care that Sir James Steuart's name was not excluded in +the Act of Indemnity. It is, however, true that there is the following +statement in the Diaries of the Right Hon. William Windham, under the +date of November 25, 1772, which is given here for what it is worth. +"Mr. Montagu told me this evening about Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, that +at her death, 'A note of his was found among her papers for one thousand +guineas,' which had been given her by a gentleman of Ireland as the +premium for some honours to be received through her interest. The +honours stipulated for were not obtained before her death, and the +gentleman upon representation of the story to the family recovered the +note which she had deposited by agreement in a particular drawer shewn +to him. It may reasonably be supposed that this was not the first +instance of her accepting money on those conditions, and that much of +Lord Bute's interest has been employed in her service." + +As Lady Mary advanced in the sixties of her life, she looked upon the +world with the eyes of a vast experience, and found it more sad than she +had thought it in youth or middle age. _Vanitas vanitatum_ was the text +of many a homily that she delivered, and a certain sadness replaced the +sense of malice that had once possessed her. Once more than aggressive, +now she had had bestowed upon her in some degree that gift of +understanding that engenders sympathy. As she grew older she grew more +wise, and was anxious to impart her wisdom, especially to her daughter, +for her benefit or for that of her daughter's children. + + +"How important is the charge of youth! and how useless all the +advantages of nature and fortune without a well-turned mind! I have +lately heard of a very shining instance of this truth, from two +gentlemen (very deserving ones they seem to be) who have had the +curiosity to travel into Moscovy, and now return to England with Mr. +Archer. I inquired after my old acquaintance Sir Charles [Hanbury] +Williams, who I hear is much broken, both in spirits and constitution. +How happy that man might have been, if there had been added to his +natural and acquired endowments a dash of morality! If he had known how +to distinguish between false and true felicity; and, instead of seeking +to increase an estate already too large, and hunting after pleasures +that have made him rotten and ridiculous, he had bounded his desires of +wealth, and follow the dictates of his conscience. His servile ambition +has gained him two yards of red ribbon, and an exile into a miserable +country, where there is no society and so little taste, that I believe +he suffers under a dearth of flatterers. This is said for the use of +your growing sons, whom I hope no golden temptations will induce to +marry women they cannot love, or comply with measures they do not +approve. All the happiness this world can afford is more within reach +than is generally supposed. Whoever seeks pleasure will undoubtedly find +pain; whoever will pursue ease will as certainly find pleasures. The +world's esteem is the highest gratification of human vanity; and that is +more easily obtained in a moderate fortune than an overgrown one, which +is seldom possessed, never gained, without envy. I say esteem; for, as +to applause, it is a youthful pursuit, never to be forgiven after twenty, +and naturally succeeds the childish desire of catching the setting sun, +which I can remember running very hard to do: a fine thing truly if it +could be caught; but experience soon shows it to be impossible. A wise +and honest man lives to his own heart, without that silly splendour that +makes him a prey to knaves, and which commonly ends in his becoming one +of the fraternity. I am very glad to hear Lord Bute's decent economy sets +him above anything of that kind. I wish it may become national. A +collective body of men differs very little from a single man; frugality +is the foundation of generosity. I have often been complimented on the +English heroism, who have thrown away so many millions, without any +prospect of advantage to themselves, purely to succour a distressed +princess. I never could hear these praises without some impatience; they +sounded to me like panegyrics made by the dependents on the Duke of +Newcastle and poor Lord Oxford, bubbled when they were commended, and +laughed at when undone. Some late events will, I hope, open our eyes: we +shall see we are an island, and endeavour to extend our commerce rather +than the Quixote reputation of redressing wrongs and placing diadems on +heads that should be equally indifferent to us. When time has ripened +mankind into common sense, the name of conqueror will be an odious title. +I could easily prove that, had the Spaniards established a trade with the +Americans, they would have enriched their country more than by the +addition of twenty-two kingdoms, and all the mines they now work--I do +not say possess; since, though they are the proprietors, others enjoy the +profit." + + +Mary's letters at this period of her life are so entertaining that a few +may well be inserted here for the sheer pleasure of reading them. + + +TO THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Padua, September 30, 1757. + +"Lord Bute has been so obliging as to let me know your safe delivery, +and the birth of another daughter; may she be as meritorious in your +eyes as you are in mine! I can wish nothing better to you both, though I +have some reproaches to make you. Daughter! daughter! don't call names; +you are always abusing my pleasures, which is what no mortal will bear. +Trash, lumber, sad stuff, are the titles you give to my favourite +amusement. If I called a white staff a stick of wood, a gold key gilded +brass, and the ensigns of illustrious orders coloured strings, this may +be philosophically true, but would be very ill received. We have all our +playthings: happy are they that can be contented with those they can +obtain: those hours are spent in the wisest manner, that can easiest +shade the ills of life, and are lest productive of ill consequences. I +think my time better employed in reading the adventures of imaginary +people, than the Duchess of Marlborough's, who passed the latter years +of her life in paddling with her will, and contriving schemes of +plaguing some, and extracting praise from others, to no purpose; +eternally disappointed, and eternally fretting. The active scenes are +over at my age. I indulge, with all the art I can, my taste for reading. +If I would confine it to valuable books, they are almost as rare as +valuable men. I must be content with what I can find. As I approach a +second childhood, I endeavour to enter into the pleasures of it. Your +youngest son is, perhaps, at this very moment riding on a poker with +great delight, not at all regretting that it is not a gold one, and much +less wishing it an Arabian horse, which he would not know how to manage. +I am reading an idle tale, not expecting wit or truth in it, and am very +glad it is not metaphysics to puzzle my judgment, or history to mislead +my opinion. He fortifies his health by exercise; I calm my cares by +oblivion. The methods may appear low to busy people; but, if he improves +his strength, and I forget my infirmities, we attain very desirable ends." + + +To THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Venice, November 8, 1758. + +"... Some few months before Lord W. Hamilton married, there appeared a +foolish song, said to be wrote by a poetical great lady, who I really +think was the character of Lady Arabella, in _The Female Quixote_ +(without the beauty): you may imagine such a conduct, at court, made her +superlatively ridiculous. Lady Delawarr, a woman of great merit, with +whom I lived in much intimacy, showed this fine performance to me: we +were very merry in supposing what answer Lord William would make to +these passionate addresses; she begged me to say something for a poor +man, who had nothing to say for himself. I wrote, _extempore_, on the +back of the song, some stanzas that went perfectly well to the tune. She +promised they should never appear as mine, and faithfully kept her word. +By what accident they have fallen into the hands of that thing Dodsley, +I know not, but he has printed them as addressed, by me, to a very +contemptible puppy, and my own words as his answer. I do not believe +either Job or Socrates ever had such a provocation. You will tell me, it +cannot hurt me with any acquaintance I ever had: it is true; but it is +an excellent piece of scandal for the same sort of people that +propagate, with success, that your nurse left her estate, husband, and +family, to go with me to England; and, then I turned her to starve, +after defrauding her of God knows what. I thank God witches are out of +fashion, or I should expect to have it deposed, by several credible +witnesses, that I had been seen flying through the air on a broomstick, +&c. I am really sick with vexation." + + +TO SIR JAMES STEUART + +"Venice, November 14, 1758. + +"This letter will be solely to you, and I desire you will not +communicate it to Lady Fanny: she is the best woman in the world, and I +would by no means make her uneasy; but there will be such strange things +in it that the Talmud or the Revelations are not half so mysterious: +what these prodigies portend, God knows; but I never should have +suspected half the wonders I see before my eyes, and am convinced of the +necessity of the repeal of the witch act (as it is commonly called), I +mean, to speak correctly, the tacit permission given to witches, so +scandalous to all good Christians: though I tremble to think of it for +my own interests. It is certain the British islands have always been +strangely addicted to this diabolical intercourse, of which I dare swear +you know many instances; but since this public encouragement given to +it, I am afraid there will not be an old woman in the nation entirely +free from suspicion. The devil rages more powerfully than ever: you will +believe me, when I assure you the great and learned English minister is +turned methodist, several duels have been fought in the Place of St. +Marc for the charms of his excellent lady, and I have been seen flying +in the air in the figure of Julian Cox, which history is related with so +much candour and truth by the pious pen of Joseph Glanville, chaplain to +K. Charles. I know you young rakes make a jest of all those things, but +I think no good lady can doubt of a relation so well attested. She was +about seventy years old (very near my age), and the whole sworn to +before Judge Archer, 1663: very well worth reading, but rather too long +for a letter. You know (wretch that I am) 'tis one of my wicked maxims +to make the best of a bad bargain; and I have said publicly that every +period of life has its privileges, and that even the most despicable +creatures alive may find some pleasures. Now observe this comment; who +are the most despicable creatures? Certainly, old women. What pleasure +can an old woman take? Only witchcraft. I think this argument as clear +as any of the devout Bishop of Cloyne's metaphysics: this being decided +in a full congregation of saints, only such atheists as you and Lady +Fanny can deny it. I own all the facts, as many witches have done before +me, and go every night in a public manner astride upon a black cat to a +meeting where you are suspected to appear: this last article is not +sworn to, it being doubtful in what manner our clandestine midnight +correspondence is carried on. Some think it treasonable, others lewd +(don't tell Lady Fanny); but all agree there was something very odd and +unaccountable in such sudden likings. I confess, as I said before, it is +witchcraft. You won't wonder I do not sign (notwithstanding all my +impudence) such dangerous truths: who knows the consequence? The devil +is said to desert his votaries." + + +To SIR JAMES STEUART + +"Venice, January 13, 1759. + +"I have indulged myself some time with day-dreams of the happiness I +hope to enjoy this summer in the conversation of Lady Fanny and Sir +James S.; but I hear such frightful stories of precipices and hovels +during the whole journey, I begin to fear there is no such pleasure +allotted me in the book of fate: the Alps were once molehills in my +sight when they interposed between me and the slightest inclination; now +age begins to freeze, and brings with it the usual train of melancholy +apprehensions. Poor human-kind! We always march blindly on; the fire of +youth represents to us all our wishes possible; and, that over, we fall +into despondency that prevents even easy enterprises: a store in winter, +a garden in summer, bounds all our desires, or at least our undertakings. +If Mr. Steuart would disclose all his imaginations, I dare swear he has +some thoughts of emulating Alexander or Demosthenes, perhaps both: +nothing seems difficult at his time of life, everything at name. I am +very unwilling, but am afraid I must submit to the confinement of my +boat and my easy-chair, and go no farther than they can carry me. Why +are our views so extensive and our powers so miserably limited? This +is among the mysteries which (as you justly say) will remain ever +unfolded to our shallow capacities. I am much inclined to think we are +no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes +prisoner the knave of hearts; and all our efforts (when we rebel against +destiny) as weak as a card that sticks to a glove when the gamester is +determined to throw it on the table. Let us then (which is the only true +philosophy) be contented with our chance, and make the best of that bad +bargain of being born in this vile planet; where we may find, however +(God be thanked), much to laugh at, though little to approve. + +"I confess I delight extremely in looking on men in that light. How many +thousands trample under foot honour, ease, and pleasure, in pursuit of +ribands of certain colours, dabs of embroidery on their clothes, and +gilt wood carved behind their coaches in a particular figure? Others +breaking their hearts till they are distinguished by the shape and +colour of their hats; and, in general, all people earnestly seeking what +they do not want, while they neglect the real blessings in their +possession--I mean the innocent gratification of their senses, which is +all we can properly call our own. For my part, I will endeavour to +comfort myself for the cruel disappointment I find in renouncing +Tubingen, by eating some fresh oysters on the table. I hope you are +sitting down with dear Lady F. to some admirable red partridges, which I +think are the growth of that country. Adieu! Live happy, and be not +unmindful of your sincere distant friend, who will remember you in the +tenderest manner while there is any such faculty as memory in the +machine called." + + +To THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Venice, May 22, 1759. + +"... Building is the general weakness of old people; I have had a twitch +of it myself, though certainly it is the highest absurdity, and as sure +a proof of dotage as pink-coloured ribands, or even matrimony. Nay, +perhaps, there is more to be said in defence of the last; I mean in a +childless old man; he may prefer a boy born in his own house, though he +knows it is not his own, to disrespectful or worthless nephews or +nieces. But there is no excuse for beginning an edifice he can never +inhabit, or probably see finished. The Duchess of Marlborough used to +ridicule the vanity of it, by saying one might always live upon other +people's follies: yet you see she built the most ridiculous house I ever +saw, since it really is not habitable, from the excessive damps; so true +it is, the things that we would do, those do we not, and the things we +would not do, those do we daily. I feel in myself a proof of this +assertion, being much against my will at Venice, though I own it is the +only great town where I can properly reside, yet here I find so many +vexations, that, in spite of all my philosophy and (what is more +powerful) my phlegm, I am oftener out of humour than among my plants and +poultry in the country. I cannot help being concerned at the success of +iniquitous schemes, and grieve for oppressed merit. You, who see these +things every day, think me as unreasonable, in making them matter of +complaint, as if I seriously lamented the change of seasons. You should +consider I have lived almost a hermit ten years, and the world is as new +to me as to a country girl transported from Wales to Coventry. I know I +ought to think my lot very good, that can boast of some sincere friends +among strangers." + + +Old age will, in the long run, have its way. Lady Mary, as pleasantly +loquacious as ever, found the manual labour of writing not always to be +endured, and she tried the experiment of dictating her correspondence. + + +"Thus far" (she wrote to Sir James Steuart from Padua, July 19, 1759), +"I have dictated for the first time of my life, and perhaps it will be +the last, for my amanuensis is not to be hired, and I despair of ever +meeting with another. He is the first that could write as fast as I +talk, and yet you see there are so many mistakes, it wants a comment +longer than my letter to explain my insignificant meaning, and I have +fatigued my poor eyes more with correcting it, than I should have done +in scribbling two sheets of paper. You will think, perhaps, from this +idle attempt, that I have some fluxion on my sight; no such matter; I +have suffered myself to be persuaded by such sort of arguments as those +by which people are induced to strict abstinence, or to take physic. +Fear, paltry fear, founded on vapours rising from the heat, which is now +excessive, and has so far debilitated my miserable nerves that I submit +to a present displeasure, by way of precaution against a future evil, +that possibly may never happen. I have this to say in my excuse, that +the evil is of so horrid a nature, I own I feel no philosophy that could +support me under it, and no mountain girl ever trembled more at one of +Whitfield's pathetic lectures than I do at the word blindness, though I +know all the fine things that may be said for consolation in such a case: +but I know, also, they would not operate on my constitution. 'Why, then' +(say my wise monitors), 'will you persist in reading or writing seven +hours in a day?' 'I am happy while I read and write.' 'Indeed, one would +suffer a great deal to be happy,' say the men, sneering; and the ladies +wink at each other, and hold up their fans. A fine lady of three score +had the goodness to add, 'At least, madam, you should use spectacles; I +have used them myself these twenty years; I was advised to it by a famous +oculist when I was fifteen. I am really of opinion that they have +preserved my sight, notwithstanding the passion I always had both for +reading and drawing.' This good woman, you must know, is half blind, and +never read a larger volume than a newspaper. I will not trouble you with +the whole conversation, though it would make an excellent scene in a +farce; but after they had in the best bred way in the world convinced me +that they thought I lied when I talked of reading without glasses, the +foresaid matron obligingly said she should be very proud to see the +writing I talked of, having heard me say formerly I had no correspondents +but my daughter and Mr. Wortley. She was interrupted by her sister, who +said, simpering, 'You forgot Sir J.S.' I took her up something short, I +confess, and said in a dry stern tone, 'Madam, I do write to Sir J.S. and +will do it as long as he will permit that honour.' This rudeness of mine +occasioned a profound silence for some minutes, and they fell into a +good-natured discourse of the ill consequences of too much application, +and remembered how many apoplexies, gouts, and dropsies had happened +amongst the hard students of their acquaintance. As I never studied +anything in my life, and have always (at least from fifteen) thought the +reputation of learning a misfortune to a woman, I was resolved to believe +these stories were not meant at me: I grew silent in my turn, and took up +a card that lay on a table, and amused myself with smoking it over a +candle. In the mean time (as the song says), + + 'Their tattles all run, as swift as the sun, + Of who had won, and who was undone + By their gaming and sitting up late,' + +When it was observed I entered into none of these topics, I was +addressed by an obliging lady, who pitied my stupidity. 'Indeed, madam, +you should buy horses to that fine machine you have at Padua; of what +use is it standing in the portico?' 'Perhaps,' said another, wittily, +'of as much use as a standing dish.' A gaping schoolboy added with still +more wit, 'I have seen at a country gentleman's table a venison-pasty +made of wood.' I was not at all vexed by said schoolboy, not because he +was (in more senses than one) the highest of the company, but knowing he +did not mean to offend me. I confess (to my shame be it spoken) I was +grieved at the triumph that appeared in the eyes of the king and queen +of the company, the court being tolerably full. His majesty walked off +early with the air befitting his dignity, followed by his train of +courtiers, who, like courtiers, were laughing amongst themselves as they +followed him: and I was left with the two queens, one of whom was making +ruffles for the man she loved, and the other slopping tea for the good +of her country. They renewed their generous endeavours to set me right, +and I (graceless beast that I am) take up the smoked card which lay +before me, and with the corner of another wrote-- + + If ever I one thought bestow + On what such fools advise, + May I be dull enough to grow + Most miserably wise. + +And flung down the card on the table, and myself out of the room, in the +most indecent fury. A few minutes on the cold water convinced me of my +folly, and I went home as much mortified as my Lord E. when he has lost +his last stake at hazard. Pray don't think (if you can help it) this is +an affectation of mine to enhance the value of a talent I would be +thought to despise; as celebrated beauties often talk of the charms of +good sense, having some reason to fear their mental qualities are not +quite so conspicuous as their outside lovely form.--_À propos_ of +beauties: + + I know not why, but Heaven has sent this way + A nymph, fair, kind, poetical, and gay; + And what is more (tho' I express it dully), + A noble, wise, right honourable cully: + A soldier worthy of the name he bears, + As brave and senseless as the sword he wears. + +"You will not doubt I am talking of a puppet-show; and indeed so I am; +but the figures (some of them) bigger than the life, and not stuffed +with straw like those commonly shown at fairs. I will allow you to think +me madder than Don Quixote when I confess I am governed by the +_que-dira-t-on_ of these things, though I remember whereof they are +made, and know they are but dust. Nothing vexes me so much as that they +are below satire. (Between you and me) I think there are but two +pleasures permitted to mortal man, love and vengeance; both which are, +in a peculiar manner, forbidden to us wretches who are condemned to +petticoats. Even vanity itself, of which you daily accuse us, is the sin +against the Holy Ghost not to be forgiven in this world or the next. + + Our sex's weakness you expose and blame, + Of every prating fop the common theme; + Yet from this weakness you suppose is due + Sublimer virtue than your Cato knew. + From whence is this unjust distinction shown? + Are we not formed with passions like your own? + Nature with equal fire our souls endued: + Our minds as lofty, and as warm our blood. + O'er the wide world your wishes you pursue, + The change is justified by something new, + But we must sigh in silence and be true. + +"How the great Dr. Swift would stare at this vile triplet! And then what +business have I to make apologies for Lady Vane, whom I never spoke to, +because her life is writ by Dr. Smollett, whom I never saw? Because my +daughter fell in love with Lord Bute, am I obliged to fall in love with +the whole Scots nation? 'Tis certain I take their quarrels upon myself +in a very odd way; and I cannot deny that (two or three dozen excepted) +I think they make the first figure in all arts and sciences; even in +gallantry, in spite of the finest gentlemen that have finished their +education at Paris. + +"You will ask me what I mean by all this nonsense, after having declared +myself an enemy to obscurity to such a degree that I do not forgive it +to the great Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, who professes he studied it. I +dare swear you will sincerely believe him when you read his celebrated +works. I have got them for you, and intend to bring them. _Oime! +l'huomo. propone, Dio dispone_. I hope you won't think this dab of +Italian, that slid involuntarily from my pen, an affectation like his +Gallicisms, or a rebellion against Providence, in imitation of his +lordship, who I never saw but once in my life: he then appeared in a +corner of the drawing-room, in the exact similitude of Satan when he was +soliciting the court of Heaven for leave to torment an honest man." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAST YEARS (1760-1762) + +Lady Mary writes the history of her own times--Her health--Death of +Edward Wortley Montagu--His will--Lady Mary ponders the idea of +returning to England--She leaves Italy--She is held up at Rotterdam--She +reaches London--Horace Walpole visits her--Her last illness--Her +fortitude--Her death--She leaves one guinea to her son. + +One of Lady Mary's amusements towards the end of her life was writing +the history of her own time. "It has been my fortune," she said, "to +have a more exact knowledge both of the persons and facts that have made +the greatest figure in England in this age, than is common; and I take +pleasure in putting together what I know, with an impartiality that is +altogether unusual. Distance of tie and place has totally blotted from +my mind all traces of resentment or prejudice; and I speak with the same +indifference to the Court of Great Britain as I should do of that of +Augustus Caesar." Lady Mary, however, merely wrote for her own +entertainment, and burnt her manuscript almost as soon as it was +composed. It would certainly have made interesting reading; but she +never had any idea of publication. "I know mankind too well to think +they are capable of receiving the truth, much less of applauding it; or, +were it otherwise, applause to me is as insignificant as garlands on the +dead." + + +"I am exceedingly glad of your father's good health: he owes it to his +uncommon abstinence and resolution," Lady Mary wrote to her daughter, +April 11, 1759. "I wish I could boast the same. I own I have too much +indulged a sedentary humour and have been a rake in reading. You will +laugh at the expression, but I think the liberal meaning of the ugly +word rake is one that follows his pleasures in contradiction to his +reason. I thought mine so innocent I might pursue them with impunity. I +now find that I was mistaken, and that all excesses are (though not +equally) blamable. My spirits in company are false fire: I have a damp +within; from marshy grounds frequently arises an appearance of light. I +grow splenetic, and consequently ought to stop my pen, for fear of +conveying the infection." + +"My health is very precarious; may yours long continue and see the +prosperity of your family. I bless God I have lived to see you so well +established, and am ready to sing my _Nunc dimittis_ with pleasure," +Lady Mary wrote to her daughter in November, 1760; and early in the next +year she touched on the same subject in a letter to Sir James Steuart. +"I have not returned my thanks for your obliging letter so soon as both +duty and inclination prompted me but I have had so severe a cold, +accompanied with a weakness in my eyes, that I have been confined to my +stove for many days.... I am preparing for my last and longest journey, +and stand on the threshold of this dirty world, my several infirmities +like posthorses ready to hurry me away." + + +It was in January, 1761, that Edward Wortley Montagu passed away at the +age of eighty-three. He died at Wharncliffe, the family seat of the +Wortleys, where he had lived in a most miserly manner. He had only one +luxury--tokay, of which he was passionately fond. He left a great +fortune, the highest estimate of which was £1,350,000. Horace Walpole +said the estate was worth £600,000. Walpole gives some particulars of +the legacies: "To his son, on whom six hundred a-year was settled, the +reversion of which he has sold, he gives £1,000 a-year for life, but not +to descend to any children he may have by any of his many wives. To Lady +Mary, in lieu of dower, but which to be sure she will not accept, +instead of the thirds of such a fortune, £1,200 a-year; and after her to +their son for life; and then the £1,200 and £1,000 to Lady Bute and to +her second son; with £2,000 to each of her younger children; all the +rest, in present, to Lady Bute, then to her second son, taking the name +of Wortley, and in succession to all the rest of her children, which are +numerous; and after them to Lord Sandwich, to whom, in present, he +leaves about £40,000. The son, you perceive, is not so well treated by +his own father as his companion Taaffe[22] is by the French Court, where +he lives, and is received on the best footing; so near is Fort l'Evêque +to Versailles." + +[Footnote 22: Theodore Taaffe, an Irish adventurer, who, with Edward +Wortley Montagu, was imprisoned in Fort l'Evêque, at Paris, for cheating +at cards in 1751. The incident has been given in a pamphlet written by +Montagu.] + +On hearing of the death of her husband, Lady Mary bethought herself of +returning to England, from which she had been absent for more than a +score of years. She was seventy-two years old, and may well have thought +that her time, too, would soon come, and that she would like to die in +her native country. Still, it was some time before she could bring +herself to a decision to set out. She was delighted with the political +success of Lord Bute and pleased with her daughter's prosperity, but "I +am doubtful whether I will attempt to be a spectator of it," she +confided in Sir James Steuart in April. "I have so many years indulged +my natural inclinations to solitude and reading, I am unwilling to +return to crowds and bustle, which would be unavoidable in London. The +few friends I esteemed are now no more: the new set of people who fill +the stage at present are too indifferent to me even to raise my +curiosity." Also, as she said, she was beginning to feel the worst +effects of age, blindness excepted, and was grown timorous and +suspicious. + +It was no light thing for a woman of Lady Mary's age to voyage alone, +except for a servant or two, from Venice to London. Yet her indomitable +spirit came to her aid, and in the autumn of 1761 she left Italy. She +travelled by way of Augsberg and Frankfort to Rotterdam. The journey had +been far from agreeable. "I am dragging my ragged remnant of life to +England," she wrote to Sir James Steuart on November 20. "The wind and +tide are against me; how far I have strength to struggle against both I +know not; that I am arrived here is as much a miracle as any in the +golden legend; and if I had foreseen half the difficulties I have met +with I should not certainly have had courage to undertake it.... I am +nailed down here by a severe illness of my poor Marianne, who has not +been able to endure the frights and fatigues that we have passed." + +When, about three weeks later, Marianne had sufficiently recovered to +move on, Lady Mary was held up by a hard, impenetrable frost. The delay +irked her, and she became somewhat depressed, and said that she was +dubious, in her precarious state of health, whether she would arrive at +her destination. At the beginning of the new year, she did actually make +a start, and got half way to Helvoet, and was obliged to turn back by +the mountains of sea that obstructed the passage. "I have had so many +disappointments I can scarce entertain the flattering thought of +arriving in London," the poor lady complained; but she found comfort in +that "It is uncommon at my age to have no distemper, and to retain all +my senses in their first degree of perfection." Later in the month she +arrived in London. + +Horace Walpole, who heard everything, had, of course, heard that Lady +Mary was returned to England, and in a letter of October 8, 1761, +announced her return, adding with a brutality unusual even in him: "I +have not seen her yet, though they have not made her perform quarantine +for her own dirt." However, as he discovered shortly after, it was Lady +Mary Wrottisley, and not Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who had arrived. + +Of course, when Lady Mary had come to London, Walpole was one of the +first to go and see her. "I went last night to visit her," he wrote to +Sir Horace Mann on January 29. "I give you my honour, and you who know +her, would credit me without it, the following is a faithful description. +I found her in a miserable little chamber of a ready-furnished house, +with two tallow candles, and a bureau covered with pots and pans. On +her head, in full of all accounts, she had an old black-laced hood, +wrapped entirely round, so as to conceal all hair or want of hair. No +handkerchief, but up to her chin a kind of horse-man's riding-coat, +calling itself a _pet-en-l'air,_ made of a dark green (green I +think it had been) brocade, with coloured and silver flowers, and lined +with furs; boddice laced, a foul dimity petticoat sprig'd, velvet +muffeteens on her arms, grey stockings and slippers. Her face less +changed in twenty years than I could have imagined; I told her so, and +she was not so tolerable twenty years ago that she needed to have taken +it for flattery, but she did, and literally gave me a box on the ear. +She is very lively, all her senses perfect, her languages as imperfect +as ever, her avarice greater. She entertained me at first with nothing +but the dearness of provisions at Helvoet. With nothing but an Italian, +a French, and a Prussian, all men-servants, and something she calls an +_old_ secretary, but whose age till he appears will be doubtful; +she receives all the world who go to homage her as Queen-mother, and +crams them into this kennel. The Duchess of Hamilton, who came in just +after me, was so astonished and diverted, that she could not speak to +her for laughing. She says that she left all her clothes at Venice. I +really pity Lady Bute; what will the progress be of such a commencement?" + +Lady Mary rented a house in Great George Street, Hanover Square, whither +her daughter and grandchildren came often. Occasionally she went about, +and from time to time would grace an assembly with her presence. Horace +Walpole saw her at some gathering, dressed in yellow velvet and sables, +with a decent laced head and a black hood, almost like a veil, over her +face. His prognostication that she would by her interference and demands +for "jobs" make life hideous for Lord and Lady Bute proved to be +unfounded, and he had the grace to say, "She is much more discreet than +I expected, and meddles with nothing"; but he could not refrain from +saying that "she is woefully tedious in her narrations." + +Lady Mary was suffering from cancer, which she concealed from her family +and acquaintances until about the beginning of July (1762). Then it +burst, and there was no hope of her life being much prolonged. On July 2 +she wrote her last letter to Lady Frances Steuart, saying, "I have been +ill a long time, and am now so bad I am little capable of writing, but I +would not pass in your opinion as either stupid or ungrateful. My heart +is always warm in your service, and I am always told your affairs shall +be taken care of." If she was a bad woman to cross, at least even on her +deathbed she tried to do service to her friends. Death had no terrors +for her; she said she had lived long enough; and she died, as she had +lived, with great fortitude. + +Lady Mary passed away on August 21, 1762, at the age of seventy-three. +Her remains were interred in the graveyard of Grosvenor Chapel, where +also lie Ambrose Phillips, David Mallett, Lord Chesterfield, William +Whitehead, John Wilkes, and Elizabeth Carter. + +All that Lady Mary possessed, except some trifling legacies, she left to +Lady Bute. Her fortune is believed to have been inconsiderable, except +for some valuable jewels. Walpole had one last gibe: "With her usual +maternal tenderness and usual generosity, she has left her son one +guinea." The gibe was unworthy, because Walpole knew quite well the +career of that son, who, anyhow, was sufficiently provided for. It may +be that it was the pricking of Walpole's conscience for this last +outburst that made him later administer a stern rebuke to Lady Craven. +"I am sorry to hear, Madam, that by your account Lady Mary Wortley was +not so accurate and faithful as modern travellers. The invaluable art of +inoculation, which she brought from Constantinople, so dear to all +admirers of beauty, and to which we owe, perhaps the preservation of +yours, stamps her an universal benefactress; and as you rival her in +poetic talents I had rather you would employ them to celebrate her for +her nostrum, than detect her for romancing." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lady Mary Wortley Montague, by Lewis Melville + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10590 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8aa61b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10590 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10590) diff --git a/old/10590-8.txt b/old/10590-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a032f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10590-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10774 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, by Lewis Melville + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lady Mary Wortley Montague + Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) + +Author: Lewis Melville + +Release Date: January 4, 2004 [EBook #10590] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Aldarondo, (no name) and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU + +Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) + + +By + + +LEWIS MELVILLE + + +_WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY AUBREY HAMMOND, AND SIXTEEN OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + + +To +EDITH AND JOHN CABOURN + + + + +PREFACE + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu has her niche in the history of medicine as +having introduced inoculation from the Near East into England; but her +principal fame is as a letter-writer. + +Of her gifts as a correspondent she was proud, and with reason. It was +in all sincerity that in June, 1726, she wrote to her sister, Lady Mar: +"The last pleasures that fell in my way was Madame Sévigné's letters: +very pretty they are, but I assert, without the least vanity, that mine +will be full as entertaining forty years hence. I advise you, therefore, +to put none of them to the use of waste paper." And again, later in the +year, she said half-humorously to the same correspondent: "I writ to you +some time ago a long letter, which I perceive never came to your hands: +very provoking; it was certainly a _chef d'oeuvre_ of a letter, and +worthy any of the Sévigné's or Grignan's, crammed with news." That Lady +Mary's belief in herself was well founded no one has disputed. Even +Horace Walpole, who detested her and made attacks on her whenever +possible, said that "in most of her letters the wit and style are +superior to any letters I have ever read but Madame de Sévigné's." A +very pleasant tribute from one who had a goodly conceit of himself as a +letter-writer. + +Walpole, as a correspondent, was perhaps more sarcastic and more witty; +Cowper undoubtedly more tender and more gentle; but Lady Mary had +qualities all her own. She had powers of observation and the gift of +description, which qualities are especially to be remarked in the +letters she wrote when abroad with her husband on his Mission to the +Porte. She had an ironic wit which gave point to the many society +scandals she narrated, a happy knack of gossip, and a style so easy as +to make reading a pleasure. + +Some of the incidents which Lady Mary retails with so much humour may be +accepted as not outraging the conventions of the early eighteenth +century when it was customary to call a spade a spade; when gallantry +was gallantry indeed, and the pursuit of it openly conducted. What is +not mentioned by those who have written about her is that she was +possessed of a particularly unsavoury strain of impropriety which +outraged even the canons of her age. Some twenty years after her death, +it was mentioned in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ that Dr. Young, the +author of _Night Thoughts_, had a little before his death destroyed a +great number of her letters, assigning as a reason of his doing so that +they were too indecent for public inspection. Only the other day I had +confirmation of this from a distinguished man of letters who wrote to +me: "I have somewhere hidden away a copy of a letter by Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu, which was sent to me by a well-known collector about +thirty-five years ago, because he couldn't destroy it and wouldn't for +worlds be found dead with it in his possession--so terrific is it in +character. I'll tell you about it some day when we meet: I can't write +it. In any case you couldn't use it or even refer to it.... I suppose +that my friend quite felt that the document, however objectionable, +should not, on literary grounds, be destroyed. What my executors will +think of me for having it in my possession, the Devil only knows." + +Whether this strain permeated the diary which Lady Mary left behind her +when she eloped in 1712, and which was destroyed by one of her sisters, +no one can say; but it is a curious fact that the diary she kept in +later years was destroyed by her devoted daughter, Lady Bute. "Though +Lady Bute always spoke of Lady Mary with great respect," wrote Lady +Louisa Stuart, "yet it might be perceived that she knew it had been too +much her custom to note down and enlarge upon all the scandalous rumours +of the day, without weighing their truth or even their probability; to +record as certain facts stories that perhaps sprang up like mushrooms +from the dirt, and had as brief an existence, but tended to defame +persons of the most spotless character. In this age, she said everything +got into print sooner or later; the name of Lady Mary Wortley would be +sure to attract curiosity; and were such details ever made public, they +would neither edify the world, nor do honour to her memory." + +Lady Bute heard that her mother's letters were in existence, and, +fearful of what they might contain, purchased them. "It is known that +when on her way to die, as it proved, in her own country, Lady Mary gave +a copy of the letters to Mr. Snowden, minister of the English church at +Rotterdam, attesting the gift by her signature," Lady Louisa Stuart has +written. "This showed it was her wish that they should eventually be +published; but Lady Bute, hearing only that a number of her mother's +letters were in a stranger's hands, and having no certainty what they +might be, to whom addressed, or how little of a private matter, could +not but earnestly desire to obtain them, and readily paid the price +demanded--five hundred pounds. In a few months she saw them appear in +print. Such was the fact, and how it came about nobody at this time of +day need either care or inquire." + +With regard to other correspondence of Lady Mary, Sir Robert Walpole +returned to her the letters she had written to his second wife, Molly +Skerritt, after the death of that lady; and when Lord Hervey died, his +eldest son sealed up and sent her her letters, with an assurance that he +had read none of them. To Lord Hervey's heir, Lady Louisa Stuart has +mentioned, Lady Mary wrote a letter of thanks for his honourable +conduct, adding that she could almost regret he had not glanced his eye +over a correspondence which would have shown him what so young a man +might perhaps be inclined to doubt--the possibility of a long and steady +friendship subsisting between two persons of different sexes without the +least mixture of love. Much pleased with this letter, he preserved it; +and, when Lady Mary came to England, showed it to Lady Bute desiring +she would ask leave for him to visit her mother. + +It is to be presumed that Lady Mary, or her daughter, Lady Bute, +destroyed these collections. For her part, Lady Mary returned letters +that she had received from Lord Hervey, but only those that belonged to +the last fourteen years of an acquaintance that had endured twice so +long. These are for the greater number platonic in character, although +there are a few phrases of a freer kind. Croker, who edited Lord +Hervey's _Memoirs_, mentions that Hervey, answering one of her letters +in 1737, in which she had complained that she was too old to inspire +passion, after paying a compliment to her charms more gallant than +decorous, said: "I should think anybody a great fool that said he liked +spring better than summer merely because it is further from autumn, or +that they loved green fruit better than ripe only because it was further +from being rotten. I ever did, and believe ever shall, like women best-- + + "Just in the noon of life--those golden days, + When the mind ripens as the form decays." + +Lady Mary was then in her forty-ninth year, being six years Hervey's +senior. + +Lady Louisa Stuart, writing in 1837--that is, seventy-five years after +the death of her grandmother, Lady Mary--wrote indignantly of the +attacks that had been made upon her ancestress. "The multitude of +stories circulated about her--as about all people who were objects of +note in their day--increase, instead of lessening, the difficulty," she +said. "Some of these may be confidently pronounced inventions, simple +and purely false; some, if true, concerned a different person; some were +grounded upon egregious blunders; and not a few upon jests, mistaken by +the dull and literal for earnest. Others, again, where a little truth +and a great deal of falsehood were probably intermingled, nobody now +living can pretend to confirm, or contradict, or unravel. Nothing is so +readily believed, yet nothing is usually so unworthy of credit, as tales +learned from report, or caught up in casual conversation. A circumstance +carelessly told, carelessly listened to, half comprehended, and +imperfectly remembered, has a poor chance of being repeated accurately +by the first hearer; but when, after passing through the moulding of +countless hands, it comes, with time, place, and person, gloriously +confounded, into those of a bookmaker ignorant of all its bearings, it +will be lucky indeed if any trace of the original groundwork remains +distinguishable." + +Lady Mary's most redoubtable assailants were Pope and Horace Walpole, +and both were biassed. The story of Pope's quarrel with her is told in +the following pages. Walpole, it has been suggested, disliked her much +because she had championed his father's mistress, Molly Skerritt, +against the mother to whom he was devoted. Pope, of course, knew her +well; but Walpole, who was twenty-eight years her junior, only met her +in her late middle age. Walpole's prejudice was so great what when Lady +Mary said, "People wish their enemies dead--but I do not. I say, give +them the gout, give them the stone," he reported it solemnly. + +Of course, it is not to be assumed that Lady Mary had not her full share +of malice--she was undoubtedly well equipped with that useful +quality--and she did not turn the other cheek when she was assailed. She +could even stand up to the vitriolic Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and +stand up so effectively that they tacitly agreed to an armed neutrality +that verged perilously upon friendship. The young Duke of Wharton +sometimes beat her in open fight, but she harboured no very angry +feelings towards him. As regards Pope, if it was not tit-for-tat with +him, at least she gave him hard knocks. Pope, great poet as he was, +never played fair in war. + +"Lady Mary, quite contrary," she might have been dubbed, for she was +frequently in trouble. The Rémond scandal, that will presently be +unfolded, was a thing apart; but her witty tongue made her many enemies +and cost her many friends. Had the contents of her letters about London +society become known at the time, nearly every man's and all women's +hands would have been against her. She had, in fact, little that was +kind to say about people; when she had, she usually refrained from +mentioning it. + +In this work Lady Mary's letters, either whole or in part, are given +only in so far as they have biographical or historical value. At the +same time I have, wherever possible, allowed Lady Mary to tell her +story, or to give her impressions, in her own words. The quotations have +been taken, by kind permission of Messrs. J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., from +the edition of the letters in their "Everyman Library" (edited by Mr. +Ernest Rhys), with an introduction by Mr. R. Brimley Johnson. + +The first edition of the letters appeared in three volumes in 1763, +believed to have been edited by John Cleland. A fourth volume, issued in +1763, is regarded by Sir Leslie Stephen as of doubtful authenticity. +James Dallaway, in 1803, brought out an enlarged collection and added to +it the poems, and a second edition, with some new letters, appeared +fourteen years later. Lady Mary's great-grandson, Lord Wharncliffe, +edited the correspondence in 1837, and this, revised by Mr. Moy Thomas, +was reprinted in 1861 and again in 1887. + +There have been published selections from the correspondence by Mr. A.R. +Ropes (1892) and by Mr. Hannaford Bennett (1923). + +The principal authorities for the life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu are +the Memoirs of James Dallaway prefixed to an edition of the _Works_ +(1803) and the _Introductory Anecdotes_ in a new edition (1837) by Lady +Louisa Stuart, the daughter of Lady Bute and the granddaughter of Lady +Mary. There is another account of Lady Mary by the late Moy Thomas in +revised editions of the letters and writings (1861 and 1887). Sir Leslie +Stephen was responsible for the memoir in the _Dictionary of National +Biography_. In 1907 appeared _Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her Times_, +by that sound authority on the eighteenth century, "George Paston," who +was so fortunate as to discover many scores of letters hitherto +unpublished. + +Other sources of information are to be found in Pope's Correspondence, +Spence's _Anecdotes_, Dilke's _Papers of a Critic,_ Cobbetts _Memorials +of Twickenham_, the Stuart MSS. at Windsor Castle, the MSS. of the Duke +of Beaufort, and the Lindsay MSS. + +My thanks--though not, perhaps, the thanks of my readers--are especially +due to that ripe scholar Mr. Hannaford Bennett, who suggested this work +to me. I am indebted to Mr. M.H. Spielmann and other friends and +correspondents for information and suggestions. Finally, I must +acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mrs. E. Constance Monfrino in the +preparation of this biography. + +LEWIS MELVILLE. + +_London, +March, 1925_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD (1689-1703) + +Birth of Mary Pierrepont, after Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Account of +the Pierrepont family--Lady Mary's immediate ancestors--Her father, +Evelyn Pierrepont, succeeds to the Earldom of Kingston in 1790--The +extinct marquisate of Dorchester revived in his favour--His +marriage--Issue of the marriage--Death of his wife--Lady Mary stays with +her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont--Her early taste for +reading--She learns Latin, and, presently, Italian--Encouraged in her +literary ambitions by her uncle, William Feilding, and Bishop +Burnet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of +Epictetus--An attractive child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as +hostess to her father + + +CHAPTER II + +GIRLHOOD (1703-1710) + +Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu +attracted by her looks and her literary gifts. Assists her in her +studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the +day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume +of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him by Steele--Montagu a staunch Whig--His +paternal interest for Lady Mary does not endure--He becomes a suitor for +her hand--Lady Mary's devotion and respect for him--Her flirtations--She +and Montagu correspond through the medium of his sister, Anne--Lady +Mary's mordant humour--Her delight in retailing society scandal--The +death of Anne Wortley--Lady Mary and Montagu henceforth communicate +direct--Her first letter to him + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTSHIP, ELOPEMENT, AND MARRIAGE (1710-1712) + +A lengthy courtship--Montagu a laggard lover--Lady Mary and Montagu +exchange views on married life--Montagu proposes for her to Lord +Dorchester--Dorchester refuses, since Montagu will not make +settlements--Montagu's views on settlements expressed (by Steele) in the +_Tatler_--Although not engaged, the young people continue to +correspond--Lord Dorchester produces another suitor of his daughter--She +consents to an engagement--The preparations for the wedding--She +confides the whole story to Montagu--She breaks off the engagement--She +and Montagu decide to elope--She runs up to London--Marriage--Lady +Mary's diary destroyed by her sister, Lady Frances Pierrepont + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY MARRIED LIFE (1712-1714) + +An uneventful existence--Montagu's Parliamentary duties take him to +London--Lady Mary stays mostly in the country--Correspondence--Montagu a +careless husband, but very careful of his money--Later he becomes a +miser--Lady Mary does not disguise the tedium of her existence-- +Concerning a possible reconciliation with her father--Lord +Pierrepont of Hanslope--Lord Halifax--Birth of a son, christened after +his father, Edward Wortley Montagu--The mother's anxiety about his +health--Family events--Lady Evelyn Pierrepont marries Baron (afterwards +Earl) Gower--Lady Frances Pierrepont marries the Earl of Mar--Lord +Dorchester marries again--Has issue, two daughters--The death of Lady +Mary's brother, William. His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the +Dukedom of Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in +1714--The death of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in +the country--Lady Mary's alarm for her son + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I (1714) + +Lady Mary shows an increasing interest in politics--She tries to incite +her husband to be ambitious--Montagu not returned to the new +Parliament--His lack of energy--Correspondence--The Council of +Regency--The King commands Lord Townshend to form a Government--The +Cabinet--Lord Halifax, First Lord of the Treasury--Montagu appointed a +Lord Commissioner of the Treasury--Correspondence--The unsatisfactory +relations between Lady Mary and Montagu + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU'S ACCOUNT OF THE COURT OF GEORGE I + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716) + +The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British +throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her +first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing +incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England +generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal +Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady +Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's +passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters-- +Count de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary +and the Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets +and wits of the day--Gray's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on +her--"Court Poems" + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE (1716-1718)--I + +Montagu loses his place at the Treasury--His antagonism against +Walpole--Lady Mary, "Dolly" Walpole, and Molly Skerritt--The Earl and +Countess of Mar leave England--Montagu appointed Ambassador to the +Porte--Leaves England for Constantinople, accompanied by his wife-- +Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople--Rotterdam--Vienna--Lady +Mary at Court--Her gown--Her interest in clothes--Viennese society-- +Gallantry--Lady Mary's experience--Court Tarrocco--Precedence at +Vienna--A nunnery--The Montagus visit the German Courts--A dangerous +drive--Prince Frederick (afterwards Prince of Wales)--Herrenhausen + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTS (1716-1718)--II + +Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her +description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes +acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her +belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr. +Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady +Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu +recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a +daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her +sister, Lady Mar + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCANDAL + +Montagu re-enters the House of Commons--His miserliness--Pope refers to +it--Comments on Society--Lady Mary and a first-class scandal--Rémond-- +His admiration for her--Her imprudent letters to him--The South Sea +Bubble--Lady Mary speculates for Remond--She loses money for him--He +demands to be re-imbursed--He threatens to publish her letters--She +states the case in letters to Lady Mar--Lady Mary meets Pope--His letters +to her when she was abroad--He affects to be in love with her--Her +matter-of-fact replies--Her parody of his verses, "On John Hughes and +Sarah Drew" + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT TWICKENHAM + +The Montagus take a house at Twickenham--Lady Mary's liking for country +life--Neighbours and visitors--Pope--Bononcini, Anastasia Robinson, +Senesino--Lord Peterborough--Sir Geoffrey Kneller--Henrietta +Howard--Lord Bathurst--The Duke of Wharton--His early history--He comes +to Twickenham--His relations with Lady Mary--Horace Walpole's reference +to them--Pope's bitter onsaught on the Duke--An Epilogue by Lady +Mary--"On the Death of Mrs. Bowes"--The Duke quarrels with Lady Mary + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FAMOUS QUARREL + +Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other +admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on +her thereafter--Writer of her as "Sappho"--Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to +protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mar's malicious tongue +and pen--Mrs. Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"--Lady Mary, Lord +Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady +Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE CONTINENT (1739-1744) + +Lady Mary leaves England--She does not return for twenty years Montagu +supposed to join her--The domestic relations of the Montagus--A +septennial act for marriage--Lady Mary corresponds with her +husband--Dijon--Turin--Venice--Bologna--Florence--The Monastery of La +Trappe--Horace Walpole at Florence--His comments on Lady Mary and her +friends--Reasons for his dislike of her--Rome--The Young Pretender and +Henry, Cardinal York--Wanderings--Cheapness of life in Italy--Lady +Mary's son, Edward--He is a great trouble to his parents--His absurd +marriage--His extravagance and folly--Account of his early years--He +visits Lady Mary at Valence--Her account of the interviews + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LADY MARY AS A READER + +Her fondness for reading--Her difficulty to get enough books while +abroad--Lady Bute keeps her supplied--Lady Mary's catholic taste in +literature--Samuel Richardson--The vogue of _Clarissa Harlowe_--Lady Mary +tells a story of the Richardson type--Henry Fielding--_Joseph +Andrews--Tom Jones--_Her high opinion of Fielding and Steele--Tobias +Smollett--_Peregrins Pickle_--Lady Vare's _Memoirs of a Lady of +Quality_--Sarah Fielding--Minor writers--Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +Swift_--Bolingbroke's works--Addison and Pope--Dr. Johnson + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADY MARY ON EDUCATION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS + +The choice of books for children's reading--The dangers of a narrow +education--Lady Mary advocates the higher education of women--Girls +should be taught languages--Lady Mary's theories of education for +girls--Women writers in Italy--A "rumpus" made by ladies in the House of +Lords--Woman's Rights--Lady Mary's views on religion + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON THE CONTINENT (1745-1760) + +Lady Mary stays at Avignon--She removes to Brescia--And then to +Lovere--She abandons all idea of Montagu joining her abroad--Her house +at Lovere--Her daily round--Her health--Her anxiety about her son--An +amazing incident--A serious illness--A novel in a letter--Her +correspondence attracts the attention of the Italian authorities--Sir +James and Lady Frances Steuart--Politics--She is in the bad books of the +British Resident at Venice--Lord Bute--The philosophy of Lady +Mary--Letters to Lady Bute and Sir James Steuart + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAST YEARS (1760-1762) + +Lady Mary writes the history of her own times--Her health--Death of +Edward Wortley Montagu--His will--Lady Mary ponders the idea of +returning to England--She leaves Italy--She is held up at Rotterdam--She +reaches London--Horace Walpole visits her--Her last illness--Her +fortitude--Her death--She leaves one guinea to her son + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (age 8) at the Kit-Cat Club--_Frontispiece_ + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Lady Mary Pierrepont + +Evelyn Pierrepont, first Duke of Kingston + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1720 + +Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Frances, Countess of Mar + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Alexander Pope + +Joseph Addison + +Henrietta Louisa, Countess of Pomfret + +Horace Walpole + +John, Lord Hervey of Ickworth + +Mary, Countess of Bute + +Edward Wortley Montagu, Junior + + + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: + +Her Life and Letters + +(1689-1762) + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD (1689-1703) + +Birth of Mary Pierrepont, after Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Account of +the Pierrepont family--Lady Mary's immediate ancestors--Her father, +Evelyn Pierrepont, succeeds to the Earldom of Kingston in 1690--The +extinct marquisate of Dorchester revived in his favour--His +marriage--Issue of the marriage--Death of his wife--Lady Mary stays with +her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont--Her early taste for +reading--She learns Latin, and, presently, Italian--Encouraged in her +literary ambitions by her uncle, William Feilding, and Bishop +Bumet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of +Epictetus--An attractve child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as +hostess to her father. + + +Mary Pierrepont, afterwards Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, was born in May, +1689, and was baptised on the twenty-sixth day of that month at St. +Paul's, Covent Garden. In the register is the entry: "Mary, daughter of +Evelyn Pierrepoint, Esquire, and Lady Mary, his wife." + +The event, it may be remarked, was not one of any considerable social +interest, for the Hon. Evelyn Pierrepont was merely a younger son and +remote from the succession to the Earldom of Kingston. + +The Pierreponts of Holme Pierrepont were a Nottinghamshire family of +considerable antiquity, though of no particular distinction. One Robert +Pierrepont, who was born in 1584, the son of Sir Henry by Frances, +sister of William, first Earl of Devonshire, was the first of the family +upon whom a peerage was bestowed. He was created in 1627 Baron +Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont and Viscount Newark, and in the following +year was elevated to the dignity of Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, Co. +York. A zealous royalist, he was in 1643 appointed Lieutenant-General of +the King's forces in the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon, +Cambridge, and Norfolk, and soon after taking up this command was +accidentally shot near Gainsborough, when being carried off in a pinnace +as a prisoner to Hull by the Parliamentary Army. He married in 1601 +Gertrude, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir William Reyner, of Orton +Longueville, Co. Huntingdon. She survived her husband six years. + +The second Earl was Henry Pierrepont, who was born in 1607. From 1628, +when his father was given the earldom, he was known under the style of +Viscount Newark. In that year he was elected Member of Parliament for +Nottingham, and he represented that constituency until 1641, when he was +summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony as Lord +Pierrepont. He, too, was an ardent supporter of the King, and was a +member of His Majesty's Council of War at Oxford. He was created +Marquess of Dorchester in 1645. After the Restoration he was in high +favour at Whitehall. He was Commissioner of Claims at the Coronation of +Charles II, and in 1662 and again in 1673 he acted as Joint Commissioner +of the office of Earl Marshal. He was twice married, but had no direct +heirs, and on his death in 1680 the marquessate became extinct. + +The earldom passed to the family of the younger brother of the last +holder. This was the great grandfather of Lady Mary, William Pierrepont, +who deservedly earned the title of "Wise William." He sided with the +Parliament, and during the Long Parliament, in the proceedings of which +he took an active part, he sat for Great Wenlock. He was one of the +Commissioners selected to treat with Charles in 1642, and after the +failure to open negotiations he was anxious to retire from public +affairs. However, he was persuaded not to resign, and in 1644 was +appointed one of the Committee of both Kingdoms. He became a leader of +the independent party, and did not always see eye to eye with Cromwell. +He quarrelled with his party, disapproving of its attitude towards +Purge's Pride and the trial of the King. After this he took little part +in politics, though the Protector sought, and he gave on occasions, his +advice. In February, 1660, he was elected to the new Council of State at +the head of the list, and in the Convention Parliament represented +Nottingham. In the negotiations with Charles II he was a moderating +influence. Afterwards, he retired into private life. He died in 1678 or +1679. His eldest son, Robert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir +John Evelyn, pre-deceased his father, dying in 1666, and the earldom +passed to his eldest son, Robert, who died unmarried in 1682. The title +then went to his next brother, William, who died without issue eight +years later. + +A younger brother of Robert and William, Evelyn Pierrepont, now +succeeded as (fifth) earl. He was the father of Lady Mary. Born in 1665, +he was returned to Parliament for East Retford in 1689, but his stay in +the House of Commons was brief, for in the following year the peerage +descended to him. In December, 1706, the higher dignity that had once +been in his family was revived in his favour, and he was created Earl of +Dorchester, with a special remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to +his uncle Gervase Pierrepont, who had himself been raised to the peerage +as Lord Pierrepont of Ardglass in Ireland and later was given the +dignity of Lord Pierrepont of Hanslope in Buckinghamshire. Lord +Pierrepont died in 1715, and both his titles became extinct. + +The Marquess married Mary, daughter of William Feilding, third Earl of +Denbigh, by his first wife, Mary, sister of John, first Baron of +Kingston, in the peerage of Ireland. Lady Mary was, therefore, a +relation of the novelist, Henry Fielding, whose surname was spelt +differently because, he explained, his branch of the family was the only +one that could spell correctly. + +Of this marriage, there was issue: + +(i.) William, who took the style of Viscount Newark until 1706, and then +was known as Earl of Kingston until his death in 1713, at the age of +twenty-one. He had married before 1711 Rachel, daughter of Thomas +Baynton, of Little Charfield, Wilts, who outlived her husband eight +years. There was a son, Evelyn, who succeeded to the peerage. + +(ii.) Lady Mary, the subject of this memoir. + +(iii.) Lady Frances, who in 1714 became the second wife of John Erskine, +sixth or eleventh Earl of Mar; and + +(iv.) Lady Evelyn, who married John, second Baron, and afterwards first +Earl Gower, and died in June, 1727. + +In the winter of 1697, when Lady Mary was eight years old, her mother +died. After this, the little girl was allowed to run rather wild. Lord +Kingston was very much a man about town and a gallant, and was too +greatly occupied with his affairs and his parliamentary duties, which +took him often from home, to concern himself about her education. In +fact, before her mother's death, it would seem that Lady Mary spent +months at her grandmother's, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont, at her house at +West Dean. When she was in her ninth year she returned to Holme +Pierrepont, where, as she later complained, she was left "to the care of +an old governess, who, though perfectly good and pious, wanted +capacity." + +Lady Mary early had a taste for books, and enjoyed to the full the +library, where she no doubt read much that was good for her, and a good +deal that was not. She read everything that she could lay her hands on, +the old romances, poetry, and plays. One account has it that she was +taught Greek and Latin by her brother's tutor; but Sir Leslie Stephen +was doubtful about the Greek and inclined to the belief that she taught +herself Latin. Later, certainly, she taught herself Italian, and quoted +Tasso in her letters. In her studies she was encouraged by her uncle, +William Feilding, and also by Bishop Burnet, of whom she said many +years later: "I knew him in my very early youth, and his condescension +in directing a girl in her studies is an obligation I can never forget." +She had literary aspirations, and just after her twenty-first birthday +she submitted to Burnet, with the following letter, a translation of +"Encheiridion" of Epictetus from the Latin version. This will be found +in the collected works. + + +"July 20, 1710. + +"My Lord, + +"Your hours are so well employed, I hardly dare offer you this trifle to +look over; but then, so well am I acquainted with the sweetness of +temper which accompanies your learning, I dare ever assure myself of a +pardon. You have already forgiven me greater impertinencies, and +condescended yet further in giving me instructions and bestowing some of +your minutes in teaching me. This surprising humility has all the effect +it ought to have on my heart; I am sensible of the gratitude I owe to so +much goodness, and how much I am ever bound to be your servant. Here is +the work of one week of my solitude--by the many faults in it your +lordship will easily believe I spent no more time upon it; it was hardly +finished when I was obliged to begin my journey, and I had not leisure +to write it over again. You have it here without any corrections, with +all its blots and errors: I endeavoured at no beauty of style, but to +keep as literally as I could to the sense of the author. My only +intention in presenting it, is to ask your lordship whether I have +understood Epictetus? The fourth chapter, particularly, I am afraid I +have mistaken. Piety and greatness of soul set you above all misfortunes +that can happen to yourself, and the calumnies of false tongues; but +that same piety which renders what happens to yourself indifferent to +you, yet softens the natural compassion in your temper to the greatest +degree of tenderness for the interests of the Church, and the liberty +and welfare of your country: the steps that are now made towards the +destruction of both, the apparent danger we are in, the manifest growth +of injustice, oppression, and hypocrisy, cannot do otherwise than give +your lordship those hours of sorrow, which, did not your fortitude of +soul, and reflections from religion and philosophy, shorten, would add +to the national misfortunes, by injuring the health of so great a +supporter of our sinking liberties. I ought to ask pardon for this +digression; it is more proper for me in this place to say something to +excuse an address that looks so very presuming. My sex is usually forbid +studies of this nature, and folly reckoned so much our proper sphere, we +are sooner pardoned any excesses of that, than the least pretensions to +reading or good sense. We are permitted no books but such as tend to the +weakening and effeminating of the mind. Our natural defects are every +way indulged, and it is looked upon as in a degree criminal to improve +our reason, or fancy we have any. We are taught to place all our art in +adorning our outward forms, and permitted, without reproach, to carry +that custom even to extravagancy, while our minds are entirely +neglected, and, by disuse of reflections, filled with nothing but the +trifling objects our eyes are daily entertained with. This custom, so +long established and industriously upheld, makes it even ridiculous to +go out of the common road, and forces one to find as many excuses, as if +it were a thing altogether criminal not to play the fool in concert with +other women of quality, whose birth and leisure only serve to render +them the most useless and most worthless part of the creation. There is +hardly a character in the world more despicable, or more liable to +universal ridicule, than that of a learned woman; those words imply, +according to the received sense, a talking, impertinent, vain, and +conceited creature. I believe nobody will deny that learning may have +this effect, but it must be a very superficial degree of it. Erasmus was +certainly a man of great learning, and good sense, and he seems to have +my opinion of it, when he says _Foemina qui_ [sic] _vere sapit, non +videtur sibi sapere; contra, quae cum nihil sapiat sibi videtur sapere, +ea demum bis stulta est_. The Abbé Bellegarde gives a right reason for +women's talking overmuch: they know nothing, and every outward object +strikes their imagination, and produces a multitude of thoughts, which, +if they knew more, they would know not worth their thinking of. I am not +now arguing for an equality of the two sexes. I do not doubt God and +nature have thrown us into an inferior rank, we are a lower part of the +creation, we owe obedience and submission to the superior sex, and any +woman who suffers her vanity and folly to deny this, rebels against the +law of the Creator, and indisputable order of nature; but there is a +worse effect than this, which follows the careless education given to +women of quality, its being so easy for any man of sense, that finds it +either his interest or his pleasure, to corrupt them. The common method +is, to begin by attacking their religion: they bring them a thousand +fallacious arguments, which their excessive ignorance hinders them from +refuting: and I speak now from my own knowledge and conversation among +them, there are more atheists among the fine ladies than the loosest +sort of rakes; and the same ignorance that generally works out into +excess of superstition, exposes them to the snares of any who have a +fancy to carry them to t'other extreme. I have made my excuses already +too long, and will conclude in the words of Erasmus:--_Vulgus sentit +quod lingua Latina, non convenit foeminis, quia parum facit ad tuendam +illarum pundicitiam, quoniam rarum et insolitum est foeminam scire +Latinam; attamen consuetudo omnium malarum rerum magistra. Decorum est +foeminam in Germania nata_ [sic] _discere Gallice, ut loquatur_ _cum his +qui sciunt Gallice; cur igitur habetur indecorum discere Latine, ut +quotidie confabuletur cum tot autoribus tam facundis, tam eruditis, tam +sapientibus, tam fides consultoribus. Certe mihi quantulumcunque cerebri +est, malim in bonis studiis consumere, quam in precibus sine mente +dictis, in pernoctibus conviviis, in exhauriendis, capacibus pateris, +&c."_ + + +This was not the sort of letter that in the opening years of the +eighteenth century even Bishops received from young ladies of rank, who +usually took their pleasure in other and lighter ways. Lady Mary, +however, loved to exercise her pen. She later composed some imitations of +Ovid, and tried her hand at one or two romances in the French manner. +She thus acquired a facility of expression that stood her in good stead +when she came to write those letters that constitute her principal claim +to fame. + +Lady Mary was an attractive child, and her father was very proud of her, +especially when she was in what may be called the kitten stage. The +story is told that, when she was about eight years old, he named her as +a "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club, and as she was not known to the majority +of the members he sent for her, where, on her arrival, she was received +with acclamation by the Whig wits there assembled. + +Sometimes Lady Mary in her girlhood stayed at Thoresby, and occasionally +came up to her father's London house, which was in Arlington Street, +which visits, accepting the story told by her granddaughter, Lady Louisa +Stuart, cannot have been an unmixed delight. "Some particulars, in +themselves too insignificant to be worth recording, may yet interest the +curious, by setting before them the manners of our ancestors," Lady +Louisa says. "Lord Dorchester, having no wife to do the honours of his +table at Thoresby, imposed that task upon his eldest daughter, as soon +as she had bodily strength for the office: which in those days required +no small share. For this mistress of a country mansion was not only to +invite--that is urge and tease--her company to eat more than human +throats could conveniently swallow, but to carve every dish, when +chosen, with her own hands. The greater the lady, the more indispensable +the duty. Each joint was carried up in its turn, to be operated upon by +her, and her alone; since the peers and knights on either hand were so +far from being bound to offer their assistance, that the very master of +the house, posted opposite her, might not act as her croupier, his +department was to push the bottle after dinner. As for the crowd of +guests, the most inconsiderable among them--the curate, or subaltern, or +squire's younger brother--if suffered through her neglect to help +himself to a slice of the mutton placed before him, would have chewed +it in bitterness and gone home an affronted man, half inclined to give a +wrong vote at the next election. There were then professed +carving-masters, who taught young ladies the art scientifically; from +one of whom Lady Mary said she took lessons three times a week that she +might be perfect on her father's public days, when, in order to perform +her functions without interruption, she was forced to eat her own dinner +alone an hour or two beforehand." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GIRLHOOD (1703-1710) + +Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu +attracted by her looks and her literary gifts--Assists her in her +studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the +day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume +of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him by Steele--Montagu a staunch Whig--His +paternal interest for Lady Mary does not endure--He becomes a suitor for +her hand--Lady Mary's devotion and respect for him--Her flirtations--She +and Montagu correspond through the medium of his sister, Anne--Lady +Mary's mordant humour--Her delight in retailing society scandal--The +death of Anne Wortley--Lady Mary and Montagu henceforth communicate +direct--Her first letter to him. + + +At the age of fourteen the precocious Lady Mary, when on a visit to +Wharncliffe Lodge, some thirty miles from Thoresby, made a conquest that +was vastly to influence her life. The conquest was no less a person than +Edward Wortley Montagu, son of Sidney Wortley Montagu, who was the +second son of Edward, first Earl of Sandwich, the famous Admiral of +Charles II. Sidney had taken the name of Wortley on his marriage to +Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Wortley. To Sidney Wortley Montagu, of +whom there is to-day little known, is an interesting reference in a +letter from the Earl of Danby to his wife, dated from Kiveton, September +6, 1684: "I have had Mr. Montague with me--my Lord Sandwich his son--who +lives at Wortley, and calls himself by that name, and is really a very +fine gentleman and told me he was sorry that any of his relations--much +more of his name--should have carried themselves so unjustly towards me, +and he hoped I would not have the worse opinion of him for their +ill-behaviour." + +Edward Wortley Montagu, who was then twenty-five, was already a person +of some distinction. He was a good classical scholar, acquainted with +modern languages, and versed in what his grand-daughter, Lady Louisa +Stuart, styled "polite literature." He was interested in the pretty, +clever girl, and encouraged her to talk to him of her reading and +writing. "When I was very young," she said, as is recorded in the +_Anecdotes_ of the Rev. Joseph Spence, "I was a great admirer of Ovid's +'Metamorphosis,' and that was one of the reasons that set me upon the +thoughts of stealing the Latin language. Mr. Wortley was the only person +to whom I communicated my design, and he encouraged me in it. I used to +study five or six hours a day for two years in my father's library, and +so got that language whilst everybody else thought I was reading nothing +but novels and romances." + +Montagu affected the company of men of letters. He was intimate with +Addison, a close friend of Steele, and on terms with Congreve, Vanbrugh, +and Garth, the author of _The Dispensary._ Steele, in fact, dedicated +the second volume of the _Tatler_ to him. + + +"SIR, + +"When I send you this Volume, I am rather to make a Request than a +Dedication. I must desire, that if you think fit to throw away any +Moments on it, you would not do it after reading those excellent Pieces +with which you are usually conversant. The Images which you will meet +with here, will be very feint, after the Perusal of the _Greeks_ and +_Romans_, who are your ordinary Companions. I must confess I am obliged +to you for the Taste of many of their Excellencies, which I had not +observed till you pointed them to me. I am very proud that there are +some things in these Papers which I know you pardon, and it is no small +Pleasure to have one's Labours suffered by the Judgment of a Man who so +well understands the true Charms of Eloquence and Poesie. But I direct +this Address to you, not that I think I can entertain you with my +Writings, but to thank you for the new Delight I have from your +Conversation in those of other men. + +"May you enjoy a long Continuance of the true Relish of the Happiness +Heaven hath bestowed on you. I know not how to say a more affectionate +Thing to you, than to wish you may be always what you are, and that you +may ever think, as I know you now do, that you have a much larger +Fortune than you want. I am, + +"Sir, + +"Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant, + +"ISAAC BICKERSTAFF." + + +Montagu was also interested in politics. He was a staunch Whig, and in +favour with the leaders of his party. He sat in the House of Commons +from 1705 to 1713 as member for Huntingdon, where there was family +interest. It was not, however, until after the accession of George I +that he held office. + +At first, it may be, Montagu took some kind of paternal interest in Lady +Mary. This attitude did not long endure. When the change in his feelings +took place there is no means of knowing. He does not seem to have been a +passionate man, nor a very ardent lover, but there is no doubt that at +this period he inspired the girl with a very real devotion and respect, +even though perhaps her heart was not deeply engaged. + +Montagu would have had the girl find her pleasures exclusively in books +and in his own conversation. She, at the age of twenty, on the other +hand, was full of the joy of life and liked the various social pleasures +that came her way. Naturally, she tried the effect of her good looks and +wit on men. In fact, she was fond of flirting, and as it must probably +have been impossible to flirt with Montagu, she indulged herself in that +agreeable pastime with more than one other--to the great annoyance of +that pompous prig of an admirer of hers. The following letter, dated +September 5, 1709, written to Anne Wortley for her brother's perusal, +was clearly an endeavour to sooth away the man's jealousy. + + +"September 5, 1709. + +"My dear Mrs. Wortley, as she has the entire power of raising, can also, +with a word, calm my passions. The kindness of your last recompenses me +for the injustice of your former letter; but you cannot sure be angry at +my little resentment. You have read that a man who, with patience, hears +himself called heretic, can never be esteemed a good Christian. To be +capable of preferring the despicable wretch you mention to Mr. Wortley, +is as ridiculous, if not as criminal, as forsaking the Deity to worship +a calf. Don't tell me any body ever had so mean an opinion of my +inclinations; 'tis among the number of those things I would forget. My +tenderness is always built upon my esteem, and when the foundation +perishes, it falls: I must own, I think it is so with every body--but +enough of this: you tell me it was meant for raillery--was not the +kindness meant so too? I fear I am too apt to think what is amusement +designed in earnest--no matter, 'tis for my repose to be deceived, and I +will believe whatever you tell me. + +"I should be very glad to be informed of a right method, or whether +there is such a thing alone, but am afraid to ask the question. It may +be reasonably called presumption in a girl to have her thoughts that +way. You are the only creature that I have made my confidante in that +case: I'll assure you, I call it the greatest secret of my life. Adieu, +my dear, the post stays, my next shall be longer." + + +Lady Mary was probably more complaisant on paper than actually in her +conduct of life. She desired male as well as female companionship; she +liked the admiration and the flattery of men, and, no doubt, did her +best to evoke it. It is strange, however, that with her beauty--for that +she was in her early years beautiful has generally been accepted--she +was not unduly attractive to men. It may be that her good looks brought +young men to her feet, and that her tongue drove them away. In no age +has a clever woman been very popular with the other sex, and in the +early years of the eighteenth century, when girls could do little more +than read and write--and not always so much--wit such as hers and the +readiness of reply with which she was gifted must have been a deterrent. +What could the ordinary social butterfly think of a Lady Mary who had as +a friend Mary Ansell, the author of a _Serious Proposal to Ladies--_ +what, though perhaps not one of them had read the book? + +Still, there was enough levity in Lady Mary's behaviour in society for +her to think it desirable to make some explanation to Montagu. + + +"[Indorsed '9 April,' 1711.] + +"I thought to return no answer to your letter, but I find I am not so +wise as I thought myself. I cannot forbear fixing my mind a little on +that expression, though perhaps the only insincere one in your whole +letter--I would die to be secure of your heart, though but for a +moment:--were this but true, what is there I would not do to secure you? + +"I will state the case to you as plainly as I can; and then ask yourself +if you use me well. I have shewed, in every action of my life, an esteem +for you that at least challenges a grateful regard. I have trusted my +reputation in your hands; I have made no scruple of giving you, under my +own hand, an assurance of my friendship. After all this, I exact nothing +from you: if you find it inconvenient for your affairs to take so small +a fortune, I desire you to sacrifice nothing to me; I pretend no tie +upon your honour: but, in recompence for so clear and so disinterested a +proceeding, must I ever receive injuries and ill usage? + +"I have not the usual pride of my sex; I can bear being told I am in the +wrong, but tell it me gently. Perhaps I have been indiscreet; I came +young into the hurry of the world; a great innocence and an undesigning +gaiety may possibly have been construed coquetry and a desire of being +followed, though never meant by me. I cannot answer for the [reflections] +that may be made on me: all who are malicious attack the careless and +defenceless: I own myself to be both. I not anything I can say more to +shew my perfect desire of pleasing you and making you easy, than to +proffer to be confined with you in what manner you please. Would any +woman but me renounce all the world for one? or would any man but you +be insensible of such a proof of sincerity?" + + +From an early age Lady Mary indulged her somewhat mordant humour, not +less in her letters than in her conversation, and as that quality must +have some subject upon which to exercise itself, she was generally on +the look-out for some tit-bit of scandal which she could relate in her +own inimitable manner. + + +"Next to the great ball, what makes the most noise is the marriage of an +old maid, who lives in this street, without a portion, to a man of +£7,000 _per annum_, and they say £40,000 in ready money," she wrote to +Mrs. Hewet about the beginning of 1709. "Her equipage and liveries +outshine anybody's in town. He has presented her with £3,000 in jewels; +and never was man more smitten with these charms that had lain invisible +for these forty years; but, with all his glory, never bride had fewer +enviers, the dear beast of a man is so filthy, frightful, odious, and +detestable. I would turn away such a footman, for fear of spoiling my +dinner, while he waited at table. They were married on Friday, and came +to church _en parade_ on Sunday. I happened to sit in the pew with them, +and had the honour of seeing Mrs. Bride fall fast asleep in the middle +of the sermon, and snore very comfortably; which made several women in +the church think the bridegroom not quite so ugly as they did before. +Envious people say 'twas all counterfeited to please him, but I believe +that to be scandal; for I dare swear, nothing but downright necessity +could make her miss one word of the sermon. He professes to have married +her for her devotion, patience, meekness, and other Christian virtues he +observed in her; his first wife (who has left no children) being very +handsome, and so good natured as to have ventured her own salvation to +secure his. He has married this lady to have a companion in that +paradise where his first has given him a title. I believe I have given +you too much of this couple; but they are not to be comprehended in few +words." + + +Here is another malicious story that appealed to Lady Mary's wayward +fancy, + + +"Mrs. Braithwayte, a Yorkshire beauty," she wrote to the same +correspondent in March, 1712, "who had been but two days married to a +Mr. Coleman, ran out of bed _en chemise_, and her husband followed her +in his, in which pleasant dress they ran as far as St. James's Street, +where they met with a chair, and prudently crammed themselves both into +it, observing the rule of dividing the good and bad fortune of this +life, resolved to run all hazards together, and ordered the chairmen to +carry them both away, perfectly representing, both in love and +nakedness, and want of eyes to see that they were naked, our first happy +parents. Sunday last I had the pleasure of hearing the whole history +from the lady's own mouth." + + +Love-affairs, other people's love-affairs anyhow, had an attraction for +Lady Mary. "You talk of the Duke of Leeds," she wrote. "I hear that he +has placed his heroic love upon the bright charms of a pewterer's wife; +and, after a long amour, and many perilous adventures, has stolen the +fair lady, which, in spite of his wrinkles and grandchild, persuade +people of his youth and gallantry." The nobleman in question, Peregrine +Osborne, second Duke of Leeds, was then fifty-six--which, after all, +regarded from the standpoint of to-day, is not such a great age as is +suggested by the story. + +If Montagu objected to the indiscretions of Lady Mary, it does not +appear that he was in any hurry to get married to her. Of course, it may +be--it is only fair to him to say--that Lady Mary held him temporarily +at bay, preferring the frivolities of those of her own age to the +austere attentions of one who acted as if he might have been her father. + +For some years she and Montagu were apparently content with writing long +letters to each other when they were not both in town. When the +correspondence started is uncertain. The first letter of Lady Mary that +has been preserved is dated Thoresby, May 2, 1709; but there can be no +doubt that they had been in regular communication before then. + +It is specially to be noted that the earlier letters of Lady Mary were +addressed to Montagu's sister, Anne. It is evident, however, that they +were definitely written for his perusal, and it is equally clear that +Anne's replies were inspired, and sometimes, if not always, drafted by +him. This practice continued until the death of Anne Wortley in March, +1710. Yet there seems to have been no reason for this camouflage. In +1709 Lady Mary was twenty years of age, and Montagu was a very eligible +_parti_. + +The respectful, highfalutin gallantry that is the key-note of the +correspondence recalls the correspondence that presently was exchanged +between Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and the octogenarian Earl +of Peterborough. + +Some typical passages from the letters to "My dear Mrs. Wortley" may be +given--it should be mentioned that it was the social custom of the day +to address as "Mrs." maiden ladies as well as married women. + + +"Thoresby, August 8, 1709. + +"I know no pretence I have to your good opinion but my hearty desiring +it; I wish I had that imagination you talk of, to render me a fitter +correspondent for you, who can write so well on every thing. I am now so +much alone, I have leisure to pass whole days in reading, but am not at +all proper for so delicate an employment as choosing you books. Your own +fancy will better direct you. My study at present is nothing but +dictionaries and grammars. I am trying whether it be possible to learn +without a master; I am not certain (and dare hardly hope) I shall make +any great progress; but I find the study so diverting I am not only +easy, but pleased with the solitude that indulges it. I forget there is +such a place as London, and wish for no company but yours. You see, my +dear, in making my pleasures consist of these unfashionable diversions, +I am not of the number who cannot be easy out of the mode. I believe +more follies are committed out of complaisance to the world, than in +following our own inclinations--Nature is seldom in the wrong, custom +always; it is with some regret I follow it in all the impertinencies of +dress; the compliance is so trivial it comforts me; but I am amazed to +see it consulted even in the most important occasions of our lives; and +that people of good sense in other things can make their happiness +consist in the opinions of others, and sacrifice every thing in the +desire of appearing in fashion. I call all people who fall in love with +furniture, clothes, and equipage, of this number, and I look upon them +as no less in the wrong than when they were five years old, and doated +on shells, pebbles, and hobby-horses: I believe you will expect this +letter to be dated from the other world, for sure I am you never heard +an inhabitant of this talk so before. I suppose you expect, too, I +should conclude with begging pardon for this extreme tedious and very +nonsensical letter; quite contrary, I think you will be obliged to me +for it. I could not better show my great concern for your reproaching me +with neglect I knew myself innocent of, than proving myself mad in three +pages." + + +"August 21, 1709. + +"I am infinitely obliged to you, my dear Mrs. Wortley, for the wit, +beauty, and other fine qualities, you so generously bestow upon me. Next +to receiving them from Heaven, you are the person from whom I would +chuse to receive gifts and graces: I am very well satisfied to owe them +to your own delicacy of imagination, which represents to you the idea of +a fine lady, and you have good nature enough to fancy I am she. All this +is mighty well, but you do not stop there; imagination is boundless. +After giving me imaginary wit and beauty, you give me imaginary +passions, and you tell me I'm in love: if I am, 'tis a perfect sin of +ignorance, for I don't so much as know the man's name: I have been +studying these three hours, and cannot guess who you mean. I passed the +days of Nottingham races, [at] Thoresby, without seeing or even wishing +to see one of the sex. Now, if I am in love, I have very hard fortune to +conceal it so industriously from my own knowledge, and yet discover it +so much to other people. 'Tis against all form to have such a passion as +that, without giving one sigh for the matter. Pray tell me the name of +him I love, that I may (according to the laudable custom of lovers) sigh +to the woods and groves hereabouts, and teach it to the echo. You see, +being I am _[sic]_ in love, I am willing to be so in order and rule: I +have been turning over God knows how many books to look for precedents. +Recommend an example to me; and, above all, let me know whether 'tis +most proper to walk in the woods, encreasing the winds with my sighs, or +to sit by a purling stream, swelling the rivulet with my tears; may be, +both may do well in their turns:--but to be a minute serious, what do +you mean by this reproach of inconstancy? I confess you give me several +good qualities I have not, and I am ready to thank you for them, but +then you must not take away those few I have. No, I will never exchange +them; take back the beauty and wit you bestow upon me, leave me my own +mediocrity of agreeableness and genius, but leave me also my sincerity, +my constancy and my plain dealing; 'tis all I have to recommend me to +the esteem either of others or myself. How should I despise myself if I +could think I was capable of either inconstancy or deceit! I know not +how I may appear to other people, nor how much my face may belie my +heart, but I know that I never was or can be guilty of dissimulation or +inconstancy--you will think this vain, but 'tis all that I pique myself +upon. Tell me you believe me and repent of your harsh censure. Tell it +me in pity to my uneasiness, for you are one of those few people about +whose good opinion I am in pain. I have always took so little care to +please the generality of the world, that I am never mortified or +delighted by its reports which is a piece of stoicism born with me; but +I cannot be one minute easy while you think ill of + +"Your faithful--" + + +"This letter is a good deal grave, and, like other grave things, dull; +but I won't ask pardon for what I can't help." + + +Was the sentiment expressed in the following letter, written about the +same time as that printed above, intended for Anne or her brother, or +both? + + +"When I said it cost nothing to write tenderly, I believe I spoke of +another sex; I am sure not of myself: 'tis not in my power (I would to +God it was!) to hide a kindness where I have one, or dissemble it where +I have none. I cannot help answering your letter this minute, and +telling you I infinitely love you, though, it may be, you'll call the +one impertinence, and the other dissimulation; but you may think what +you please of me, I must eternally think the same things of you." + + +Lady Mary was occasionally wearisome owing to the reiteration of the +assurance that she believed her letters to be dull, the more so as she +certainly was conscious of the skill with which she composed them. "What +do you mean by complaining I never write to you in the quiet situation +of mind I do to other people?" she asks Anne Wortley. "My dear, people +never write calmly, but when they write indifferently." + +After a letter dated September 5, 1709, a passage from which has been +printed here, there is a break in the (preserved) correspondence. In the +spring of the following year Anne Wortley died, and Lady Mary, on March +28, paid tribute to her departed friend, addressing herself for the +first time direct to Montagu. + + +"Perhaps you'll be surprized at this letter; I have had many debates +with myself before I could resolve on it. I know it is not acting in +form, but I do not look upon you as I do upon the rest of the world, and +by what I do for _you_, you are not to judge my manner of acting with +others. You are brother to a woman I tenderly loved; my protestations of +friendship are not like other people's, I never speak but what I mean, +and when I say I love, 'tis for ever. I had that real concern for Mrs. +Wortley, I look with some regard on every one that is related to her. +This and my long acquaintance with you may in some measure excuse what I +am now doing. I am surprized at one of the 'Tatlers' you send me; is it +possible to have any sort of esteem for a person one believes capable of +having such trifling inclinations? Mr. Bickerstaff has very wrong +notions of our sex. I can say there are some of us that despise charms +of show, and all the pageantry of greatness, perhaps with more ease than +any of the philosophers. In contemning the world, they seem to take +pains to contemn it; we despise it, without taking the pains to read +lessons of morality to make us do it. At least I know I have always +looked upon it with contempt, without being at the expense of one +serious reflection to oblige me to it. I carry the matter yet farther; +was I to choose of two thousand pounds a year or twenty thousand, the +first would be my choice. There is something of an unavoidable +_embarras_ in making what is called a great figure in the world; [it] +takes off from the happiness of life; I hate the noise and hurry +inseparable from great estates and titles, and look upon both as +blessings that ought only to be given to fools, for 'tis only to them +that they are blessings. The pretty fellows you speak of, I own +entertain me sometimes; but is it impossible to be diverted with what +one despises? I can laugh at a puppet-show; at the same time I know +there is nothing in it worth my attention or regard. General notions are +generally wrong. Ignorance and folly are thought the best foundations +for virtue, as if not knowing what a good wife is was necessary to make +one so. I confess that can never be my way of reasoning; as I always +forgive an _injury_ when I think it not done out of malice, I never +think myself _obliged_ by what is done without design." + + +Lady Mary, who was now one-and-twenty, was no bread-and-butter miss. She +knew her mind and had the gift to express herself, and in this same +letter she very prettily rebukes her laggard lover. + + +"Give me leave to say it, (I know it sounds vain,) I know how to make a +man of sense happy; but then that man must resolve to contribute +something towards it himself. I have so much esteem for you, I should be +very sorry to hear you was unhappy; but for the world I would not be the +instrument of making you so; which (of the humour you are) is hardly to +be avoided if I am your wife. You distrust me--I can neither be easy, +nor loved, where I am distrusted. Nor do I believe your passion for me +is what you pretend it; at least I am sure was I in love I could not +talk as you do. Few women would have spoke so plainly as I have done; +but to dissemble is among the things I never do. I take more pains to +approve my conduct to myself than to the world; and would not have to +accuse myself of a minute's deceit. I wish I loved you enough to devote +myself to be for ever miserable, for the pleasure of a day or two's +happiness. I cannot resolve upon it. You must think otherwise of me, or +not at all." + +"I don't enjoin you to burn this letter," she said in conclusion. "I +know you will. 'Tis the first I ever writ to one of your sex, and shall +be the last. You must never expect another. I resolve against all +correspondence of the kind--my resolutions are seldom made and never +broken." + + +Whatever happened to most of Lady Mary's resolutions, this one, at +least, was not kept. Actually, Lady Mary was not quite so emancipated at +this time of her life as she may have imagined. She never sent a letter, +except in fear and trembling. "I hazard a great deal if it falls +into other hands, and I write for all that," was her constant cry. Yet, +there was nothing in the correspondence, save the fact of it, to offend +even a most austere maiden aunt of the day. + +The correspondence, of course, continued. The lovers, if so they can be +called, now indulged in a slightly acid academic discussion, or rather a +number of slightly acid academic discussions, about marriage. It is +evident that Montagu held strong views as to the duty of a wife; so +undoubtedly did Lady Mary--only, the trouble was, the views were by no +means identical. If he were determined to set himself up as the strong +loquacious man, his _fiancée_ was certainly not prepared meekly to obey +his behests in silence. They indulged in a somewhat candid examination +of each other's character--and of their own. It is really rather +amusing, this careful cold-blooded dissection of their feelings. It is a +safe guess that at this game Lady Mary scored heavily. + + +"I wish, with all my soul, I thought as you do," she wrote on April 25, +1710. "I endeavour to convince myself by your arguments, and am sorry my +reason is so obstinate, not to be deluded into an opinion, that 'tis +impossible a man can esteem a woman. I suppose I should then be very +easy at your thoughts of me; I should thank you for the wit and beauty +you give me, and not be angry at the follies and weaknesses; but, to my +infinite affliction, I can believe neither one nor t'other. One part of +my character is not so good, nor t'other so bad, as you fancy it. Should +we ever live together, you would be disappointed both ways; you would +find an easy equality of temper you do not expect, and a thousand faults +you do not imagine. You think, if you married me, I should be +passionately fond of you one month, and of somebody else the next: +neither would happen. I can esteem, I can be a friend, but I don't know +whether I can love. Expect all that is complaisant and easy, but never +what is fond, in me. You judge very wrong of my heart, when you suppose +me capable of views of interest, and that anything could oblige me to +flatter any body. Was I the most indigent creature in the world, I +should answer you as I do now, without adding or diminishing. I am +incapable of art, and 'tis because I will not be capable of it. Could I +deceive one minute, I should never regain my own good opinion; and who +could bear to live with one they despised? If you can resolve to live +with a companion that will have all the deference due to your +superiority of good sense, and that your proposals can be agreeable to +those on whom I depend, I have nothing to say against them." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTSHIP, ELOPEMENT, AND MARRIAGE (1710-1712) + +A lengthy courtship--Montagu a laggard lover--Lady Mary and Montagu +exchange views on married life--Montagu proposes for her to Lord +Dorchester--Dorchester refuses, since Montagu will not make +settlements--Montagu's views on settlements expressed (by Steele) in the +_Tatler_--Although not engaged, the young people continue to +correspond--Lord Dorchester produces another suitor for his +daughter--She consents to an engagement--The preparations for the +wedding--She confides the whole story to Montagu--She breaks off the +engagement--She and Montagu decide to elope--She runs up to +London--Marriage--Lady Mary's diary destroyed by her sister, Lady +Frances Pierrepont. + + +After seven years or so of acquaintance, matters at last looked like +coming to a head. It would appear that Montagu, tentatively at least, +had put the question, because Lady Mary gives her views as to the life +they should lead after marriage. She is not averse from travelling; she +has no objection to leaving London; in fact, she would be willing to +spend a few months in the country, if it so pleased him. It is all so +extraordinarily unloverlike. There is too much philosophy about it. Love +does not see so clearly. + + +"Where people are tied for life, 'tis their mutual interest not to grow +weary of one another," she wrote on April 25, 1710. "If I had all the +personal charms that I want, a face is too slight a foundation for +happiness. You would be soon tired with seeing every day the same thing. +Where you saw nothing else, you would have leisure to remark all the +defects; which would increase in proportion as the novelty lessened, +which is always a great charm. I should have the displeasure of seeing a +coldness, which, though I could not reasonably blame you for, being +involuntary, yet it would render me uneasy; and the more, because I know +a love may be revived which absence, inconstancy, or even infidelity, +has extinguished; but there is no returning from a _dégout_ given by +satiety." + + +Perhaps Lady Mary believed that, while it is well to hope for the best, +it is sound policy to prepare for the worst. + +Montagu may have found some comfort in the lady's assurance that if she +had a choice between two thousand a year or twenty thousand a year she +would choose the smaller income. + +An apartment in London would satisfy Lady Mary. She would not choose to +live in a crowd, but would like to have a small circle of agreeable +people--she was very precise as to her desires: actually she wants to +see eight or nine pleasant folk. She does not believe that she can find +entire happiness in solitude, not even (or perhaps especially not) in a +solitude of two; and she is at least as sure that he would not either. +Anyhow she has not the slightest intention of taking the chance. + +It becomes increasingly clear that she had had about enough of this +epistolary philandering, and she indicated this in no uncertain manner. +"I will never think of anything without the consent of my family," she +wrote. "Make no answer to this, if you can like me on my own terms. 'Tis +not to me you must make the proposals; if not, to what purpose is our +correspondence?" + +And now comes a touch of the spur: "However, preserve me your +friendship, which I think of with a great deal of pleasure. If ever you +see me married, I flatter myself you'll see a conduct you would not be +sorry your wife should imitate." + +Even this did not bring Montagu to the point of asking Lord Dorchester +for the hand of his daughter. The correspondence, however, still +continued, and soon they were hard at it again. + + +"Kindness, you say, would be your destruction," she wrote in August, +1710. "In my opinion, this is something contradictory to some other +expressions. People talk of being in love just as widows do of +affliction. Mr. Steele has observed, in one of his plays, the most +passionate among them have always calmness enough to drive a hard +bargain with the upholders. I never knew a lover that would not +willingly secure his interest as well as his mistress; or, if one must +be abandoned, had not the prudence (among all his distractions) to +consider, a woman was but a woman, and money was a thing of more real +merit than the whole sex put together. Your letter is to tell me, you +should think yourself undone if you married me; but if I would be so +tender as to confess I should break my heart if you did not, then you'd +consider whether you would or no; but yet you hoped you should not. I +take this to be the right interpretation of--even your kindness can't +destroy me of a sudden--I hope I am not in your power--I would give a +good deal to be satisfied, &c. + +"As to writing--that any woman would do that thought she writ well. Now +I say, no woman of common sense would. At best, 'tis but doing a silly +thing well, and I think it is much better not to do a silly thing at +all. You compare it to dressing. Suppose the comparison just: perhaps +the Spanish dress would become my face very well; yet the whole town +would condemn me for the highest extravagance if I went to court in it, +though it improved me to a miracle. There are a thousand things, not ill +in themselves, which custom makes unfit to be done. This is to convince +you I am so far from applauding my own conduct, my conscience flies in +my face every time I think on't. The generality of the world have a +great indulgence to their own follies: without being a jot wiser than my +neighbours, I have the peculiar misfortune to know and condemn all the +wrong things I do. + +"You beg to know whether I would not be out of humour. The expression is +modest enough; but that is not what you mean. In saying I could be easy, +I have already said I should not be out of humour: but you would have me +say I am violently in love; that is, finding you think better of me than +you desire, you would have me give you a just cause to contemn me. I +doubt much whether there is a creature in the world humble enough to do +that. I should not think you more unreasonable if you was in love with +my face, and asked me to disfigure it to make you easy. I have heard of +some nuns that made use of that expedient to secure their own happiness; +but, amongst all the popish saints and martyrs, I never read of one +whose charity was sublime enough to make themselves deformed, or +ridiculous, to restore their lovers to peace and quietness. In short, if +nothing can content you but despising me heartily, I am afraid I shall +be always so barbarous to wish you may esteem me as long as you live." + + +At last Montagu formally approached Lord Dorchester, who had no +objection whatever to him as a suitor for the hand of Lady Mary. They +could not come to terms in the matter of settlements. Dorchester +demanded that the estates should be put into entail. Also he desired +that his future son-in-law should provide a town residence for Lady +Mary. This did not seem unreasonable, but Montagu did not see his way to +agree to them. He was willing enough to make all proper provision for +his wife, but he declined absolutely to settle his landed property upon +a son who, as he put it, for aught he knew, might prove unworthy to +inherit it, who might be a spendthrift, an idiot, or a villain--as a +matter of fact, the only son of the marriage turned out most things he +should not. Anyhow, Montagu held strong views on the subject, and these +he expounded to Richard Steele, who presented them in No. 223 of the +_Tatler_ (September 12, 1710). + + +"That this method of making settlements was first invented by a griping +lawyer, who made use of the covetous tempers of the parents of each +side, to force two young people into these vile measures of diffidence +for no other end, but to increase the skins of parchment, by which they +were put into each other's possession out of each other's power. The law +of our country has given an ample and generous provision for the wife, +even the third of her husband's estate, and left to her good-humour and +his gratitude the expectation of farther provision, but the fantastical +method of going farther, with relation to the heirs, has a foundation in +nothing but pride, and folly: for as all men with their children as like +themselves, and as much better as they can possibly, it seems monstrous +that we should give out of ourselves the opportunities of rewarding and +discouraging them according to their defects. The wife institution has +no more sense in it, than if a man should begin a deed with 'Whereas no +man living knows how long he shall continue to be a reasonable creature, +or an honest man, and whereas I.B. am going to enter into the state of +matrimony with Mrs. D., therefore I shall from henceforth make it +indifferent to me whether from this time forward I shall be a fool or +knave. And therefore, in full and perfect health of body, and a sound +mind, not knowing which of my children will prove better or worse, I +give to my first-born, be he perverse, ungrateful, impious, or cruel, +the lump and bulk of my estate, and leave one year's purchase only to +each of my younger children, whether they shall be brave or beautiful, +modest or honourable, from the time of the date hereof, wherein I resign +my senses, and hereby promise to employ my judgment no farther in the +distribution of my worldly goods from the date hereof, hereby farther +confessing and covenanting, that I am henceforth married, and dead in +law....' + +"How strangely men are sometimes partial to themselves, appears by the +rapine of him, that has a daughter's beauty under his direction. He will +make no scruple of using it to force from her lover as much of his +estate, as is worth ten thousand pounds, and at the same time, as a +justice on the bench, will spare no pains to get a man hanged that has +taken but a horse from him. + +"It is to be hoped that the legislature will in due time take this kind +of robbery into consideration, and not suffer men to prey upon each +other when they are about making the most solemn league, and entering +into the strictest bonds. The only sure remedy is to fix a certain rate +on every woman's fortune, one price for that of a maid, and another for +that of a widow: for it is of infinite advantage, that there should be +no frauds or uncertainties in the sale of our women." + + +Unless Montagu were tactless beyond the general, the position as regards +himself and Lord Dorchester must indeed have been hopeless before he +inspired the paper in the _Tatler_ on settlements. Anyhow, Montagu, who +was used to having his way, and was probably very cross at being +thwarted on this occasion, would not yield a step; and Lord Dorchester +maintained his attitude that philosophic theories were all very well in +their way, but he would not sanction a marriage that involved the risk +of his grandchildren being left beggars. + +Lady Mary was powerless in the matter, but, although her father said +there was no engagement between her and Montagu, the young people +continued their correspondence with unabated vigour. + + +"I am going to comply with your request, and write with all the +plainness I am capable of," she replied in November, 1710, to one of +Montagu's effusions. "I know what may be said upon such a proceeding, +but am sure you will not say it. Why should you always put the worst +construction upon my words? Believe me what you will, but do not believe +I can be ungenerous or ungrateful. I wish I could tell you what answer +you will receive from some people, or upon what terms. If my opinion +could sway, nothing should displease you. Nobody ever was so +disinterested as I am. I would not have to reproach myself (I don't +suppose you would) that I had any way made you uneasy in your +circumstances. Let me beg you (which I do with the utmost sincerity) +only to consider yourself in this affair; and, since I am so unfortunate +to have nothing in my own disposal, do not think I have any hand in +making settlements. People in my way are sold like slaves; and I cannot +tell what price my master will put on me. If you do agree, I shall +endeavour to contribute, as much as lies in my power, to your happiness. +I so heartily despise a great figure, I have no notion of spending money +so foolishly; though one had a great deal to throw away. If this breaks +off, I shall not complain of you: and as, whatever happens, I shall +still preserve the opinion you have behaved yourself well. Let me +entreat you, if I have committed any follies, to forgive them; and be so +just to think I would not do an ill thing." + + +Shortly afterwards, Lady Mary wrote again to Montagu. "I have tried to +write plainly," she said; and she did not have to reproach herself with +failure. It had now come to a struggle for mastery, and she would not +yield a foot of her ground. + + +"Indeed I do not at all wonder that absence, and variety of new faces, +should make you forget me; but I am a little surprised at your curiosity +to know what passes in my heart (a thing wholly insignificant to you), +except you propose to yourself a piece of ill-natured satisfaction, in +finding me very much disquieted. Pray which way would you see into my +heart? You can frame no guesses about it from either my speaking or +writing; and, supposing I should attempt to show it you, I know no other +way. + +"I begin to be tired of my humility: I have carried my complaisances to +you farther than I ought. You make new scruples; you have a great deal +of fancy; and your distrusts being all of your own making, are more +immovable than if there was some real ground for them. Our aunts and +grandmothers always tell us that men are a sort of animals, that, if +they are constant, 'tis only where they are ill used. 'Twas a kind of +paradox I could never believe: experience has taught me the truth of it. +You are the first I ever had a correspondence with, and I thank God I +have done with it for all my life. You needed not to have told me you +are not what you have been: one must be stupid not to find a difference +in your letters. You seem, in one part of your last, to excuse yourself +from having done me any injury in point of fortune. Do I accuse you of +any? + +"I have not spirits to dispute any longer with you. You say you are not +yet determined: let me determine for you, and save you the trouble of +writing again. Adieu for ever! make no answer. I wish, among the variety +of acquaintance, you may find some one to please you; and can't help the +vanity of thinking, should you try them all, you won't find one that +will be so sincere in their treatment, though a thousand more deserving, +and every one happier. 'Tis a piece of vanity and injustice I never +forgive in a woman, to delight to give pain; what must I think of a man +that takes pleasure in making me uneasy? After the folly of letting you +know it is in your power, I ought in prudence to let this go no farther, +except I thought you had good nature enough never to make use of that +power. I have no reason to think so: however, I am willing, you see, to +do you the highest obligation 'tis possible for me to do; that is, to +give you a fair occasion of being rid of me." + + +There is now another break in the (preserved) correspondence until the +end of February, 1711, and then Lady Mary, writing with more than a +tinge of bitterness, broke off all relations with him--or, at least, +affected to do so. + + +"I intended to make no answer to your letter; it was something very +ungrateful, and I resolved to give over all thoughts of you. I could +easily have performed that resolve some time ago, but then you took +pains to please me; now you have brought me to esteem you, you make use +of that esteem to give me uneasiness; and I have the displeasure of +seeing I esteem a man that dislikes me. Farewell then: since you will +have it so, I renounce all the ideas I have so long flattered myself +with, and will entertain my fancy no longer with the imaginary pleasure +of pleasing you. How much wiser are all those women I have despised than +myself! In placing their happiness in trifles, they have placed it in +what is attainable. I fondly thought fine clothes and gilt coaches, +balls, operas, and public adoration, rather the fatigues of life; and +that true happiness was justly defined by Mr. Dryden (pardon the romantic +air of repeating verses), when he says, + + 'Whom Heav'n would bless it does from pomps remove + And makes their wealth in privacy and love.' + +These notions had corrupted my judgment as much as Mrs. Biddy Tipkin's. +According to this scheme, I proposed to pass my life with you. I yet do +you the justice to believe, if any man could have been contented with +this manner of living, it would have been you. Your indifference to me +does not hinder me from thinking you capable of tenderness, and the +happiness of friendship; but I find it is not to me you'll ever have +them; you think me all that is detestable; you accuse me of want of +sincerity and generosity. To convince you of your mistake, I'll show you +the last extremes of both. + +"While I foolishly fancied you loved me, (which I confess I had never +any great reason for, more than that I wished it,) there is no condition +of life I could not have been happy in with you, so very much I liked +you--I may say loved, since it is the last thing I'll ever say to you. +This is telling you sincerely my greatest weakness; and now I will +oblige you with a new proof of generosity--I'll never see you more. I +shall avoid all public places; and this is the last letter I shall send. +If you write, be not displeased if I send it back unopened. I force my +inclinations to oblige yours; and remember that you have told me I could +not oblige you more than by refusing you. Had I intended ever to see you +again, I durst not have sent this letter. Adieu." + + +The above letter was evidently sent in a fit of pique. Certainly the +position must have been almost unbearable to a young woman of spirit. +Here was Lady Mary, in her twenty-second or twenty-third year, for all +practical purposes betrothed, and her father and her lover quarrelling +over settlements. Her friends were all getting married and having +establishments of their own, and she more or less in disgrace, living at +one or other of her father's houses. + +Nothing came of her announcement that she desired no further relation +with Montagu. She could not bring herself definitely to break with +Montagu, and he would neither wed her nor give her up. The +correspondence continued with unabated vigour. + + +"I am in pain about the letter I sent you this morning," she wrote in +March, 1911. "I fear you should think, after what I have said, you +cannot, in point of honour, break off with me. Be not scrupulous on that +article, nor affect to make me break first, to excuse your doing it; I +would owe nothing but to inclination: if you do not love me, I may have +the less esteem of myself, but not of you: I am not of the number of +those women that have the opinion of their persons Mr. Bayes had of his +play, that 'tis the touchstone of sense, and they are to frame their +judgment of people's understanding according to what they think of them. + +"You may have wit, good humour, and good nature, and not like me. I +allow a great deal for the inconstancy of mankind in general, and my own +want of merit in particular. But 'tis a breach, at least, of the two +last, to deceive me. I am sincere: I shall be sorry if I am not now what +pleases; but if I (as I could with joy) abandon all things to the care +of pleasing you, I am then undone if I do not succeed.--Be generous." + + +It was about this time that she confided her troubles to Mrs. Hewet. +"At present, my domestic affairs go on so ill, I want spirits to look +round," she wrote. "I have got a cold that disables my eyes and +disorders me every other way. Mr. Mason has ordered me blooding, to +which I have submitted, after long contestation. You see how stupid I +am; I entertain you with discourses of physic, but I have the oddest +jumble of disagreeable things in my head that ever plagued poor mortals; +a great cold, a bad peace, people I love in disgrace, sore eyes, the +horrid prospect of a civil war, and the thought of a filthy potion to +take. I believe nobody ever had such a _mélange_ before." + +The unsatisfactory situation, apparently, might have continued +indefinitely, for, even if Montagu had been more pressing, Lady Mary, in +spite of her independent attitude, was most reluctant, indeed, almost +determined, not to marry without her father's consent. + +In the early summer of 1712, however, Lord Dorchester created a crisis. +Thinking, perhaps, that his daughter might one day get out of hand and, +in despair, defy him, he decided to find her a husband other than +Montagu. At first, from a sense of weariness and from filial duty, Lady +Mary inclined to obey the parental injunction--to her father's great +delight. All the preparations for the wedding were put in train--then, +ultimately, Lady Mary declared that she could not and would not go +through with it on any terms. Who the bridegroom was she does not +mention, but, in a manner somewhat involved, she in a letter in July, +1912, confided the whole story to Montagu. + + +"I am going to write you a plain long letter. What I have already told +you is nothing but the truth. I have no reason to believe I am going to +be otherwise confined than by my duty; but I, that know my own mind, +know that is enough to make me miserable. I see all the misfortune of +marrying where it is impossible to love; I am going to confess a +weakness may perhaps add to your contempt of me. I wanted courage to +resist at first the will of my relations; but, as every day added to my +fears, those, at last, grew strong enough to make me venture the +disobliging them. A harsh word damps my spirits to a degree of silencing +all I have to say. I knew the folly of my own temper, and took the +method of writing to the disposer of me. I said everything in this +letter I thought proper to move him, and proffered, in atonement for not +marrying whom he would, never to marry at all. He did not think fit to +answer this letter, but sent for me to him. He told me he was very much +surprized that I did not depend on his judgment for my future happiness; +that he knew nothing I had to complain of, &c.; that he did not doubt I +had some other fancy in my head, which encouraged me to this +disobedience; but he assured me, if I refused a settlement he had +provided for me, he gave me his word, whatever proposals were made him, +he would never so much as enter into a treaty with any other; that, if I +founded any hopes upon his death, I should find myself mistaken, he +never intended to leave me anything but an annuity of £400 per annum; +that, though another would proceed in this manner after I had given so +just a pretence for it, yet he had [the] goodness to leave my destiny +yet in my own choice, and at the same time commanded me to communicate +my design to my relations, and ask their advice. As hard as this may +sound, it did not shock my resolution; I was pleased to think, at any +price, I had it in my power to be free from a man I hated. I told my +intention to all my nearest relations. I was surprised at their blaming +it, to the greatest degree. I was told, they were sorry I would ruin +myself; but, if I was so unreasonable, they could not blame my F. +[father] whatever he inflicted on me. I objected I did not love him. +They made answer, they found no necessity of loving; if I lived well +with him, that was all was required of me; and that if I considered this +town, I should find very few women in love with their husbands, and yet +a many happy. It was in vain to dispute with such prudent people; they +looked upon me as a little romantic, and I found it impossible to +persuade them that living in London at liberty was not the height of +happiness. However, they could not change my thoughts, though I found I +was to expect no protection from them. When I was to give my final +answer to----, I told him that I preferred a single life to any other; +and, if he pleased to permit me, I would take that resolution. He +replied, he could not hinder my resolutions, but I should not pretend +after that to please him; since pleasing him was only to be done by +obedience; that if I would disobey, I knew the consequences; he would +not fail to confine me, where I might repent at leisure; that he had +also consulted my relations, and found them all agreeing in his +sentiments. He spoke this in a manner hindered my answering. I retired +to my chamber, where I writ a letter to let him know my aversion to the +man proposed was too great to be overcome, that I should be miserable +beyond all things could be imagined, but I was in his hands, and he +might dispose of me as he thought fit. He was perfectly satisfied with +this answer, and proceeded as if I had given a willing consent.--I +forgot to tell you, he named you, and said, if I thought that way, I was +very much mistaken; that if he had no other engagements, yet he would +never have agreed to your proposals, having no inclination to see his +grandchildren beggars. + +"I do not speak this to endeavour to alter your opinion, but to shew the +improbability of his agreeing to it. I confess I am entirely of your +mind. I reckon it among the absurdities of custom that a man must be +obliged to settle his whole estate on an eldest son, beyond his power to +recall, whatever he proves to be, and make himself unable to make happy +a younger child that may deserve to be so. If I had an estate myself, I +should not make such ridiculous settlements, and I cannot blame you for +being in the right. + +"I have told you all my affairs with a plain sincerity. I have avoided +to move your compassion, and I have said nothing of what I suffer; and I +have not persuaded you to a _treaty_, which I am sure my family will +never agree to. I can have no fortune without an entire obedience. + +"Whatever your business is, may it end to your satisfaction. I think of +the public as you do. As little as _that_ is a woman's care, it may be +permitted into the number of a woman's fears. But, wretched as I am, I +have no more to fear for myself. I have still a concern for my friends, +and I am in pain for your danger. I am far from taking ill what you say, +I never valued myself as the daughter of----, and ever despised those +that esteemed me on that account. With pleasure I could barter all that, +and change to be any country gentleman's daughter that would have reason +enough to make happiness in privacy. My letter is too long. I beg your +pardon. You may see by the situation of my affairs 'tis without design." + + +The marriage with the gentleman unknown was thus called off--to the very +considerable anger of Lord Dorchester. Lord Pierrepont wrote offering to +come to her aid, by representing to her father the hardship he was +inflicting by endeavouring to force her inclination. He went so far as +to say that he would assist her to marry a man of moderate means, if +there were such an one in her heart. She was little used to sympathy, +and the proposal affected her deeply. "The generosity and goodness of +this letter wholly determines my softest inclinations on your side," she +wrote with unusual gentleness to Montagu on a Thursday night in August. +"You are in the wrong to suspect me of artifice; plainly showing me the +kindness of your heart (if you have any there for me) is the surest way +to touch mine, and I am at this minute more inclined to speak tenderly +to you than ever I was in my life--so much inclined I will say nothing. +I could wish you would leave England, but I know not how to object to +anything that pleases you. In this minute I have no will that does not +agree with yours." + +There is a reference in the letter just printed to a meeting of Lady +Anne and Montagu, but how often they saw each other at this time there +is no knowing. + +However, it must have been in August that, failing the consent of Lord +Dorchester to their marriage, they made up their minds to elope. From +whom the suggestion first came, who can say? Let it be hoped for the +sake of maiden modesty it came from Montagu. What drove them to this +step may well have been the fear that Lord Dorchester might, to all +intents and purposes, imprison his daughter on one of his estates. Even +at the eleventh hour, Lady Mary was determined that there should be no +misunderstanding between her and her _fiancé_. She wrote to him saying +that if she came to him in this way, she would come to him without a +portion. To this part of her letter he vouchsafed no reply, so she again +touched upon the matter. + + +"You made no reply to one part of my letter concerning my fortune. I am +afraid you flatter yourself that my F. [father] may be at length +reconciled and brought to reasonable terms. I am convinced, by what I +have often heard him say, speaking of other cases like this, he never +will. The fortune he has engaged to give with me, was settled on my B. +[brother]'s marriage, on my sister and on myself; but in such a manner, +that it was left in his power to give it all to either of us, or divide +as he thought fit. He has given it all to me. Nothing remains for my +sister, but the free bounty of my F. [father] from what he can save; +which, notwithstanding the greatness of his estate, may be very little. +Possibly, after I have disobliged him so much, he may be glad to have +her so easily provided for, with money already raised; especially if he +has a design to marry himself, as I hear. I do not speak this that you +should not endeavour to come to terms with him, if you please; but I am +fully persuaded it will be to no purpose." + + +Lady Mary assured Montagu that Lord Dorchester's attitude was this: She +had consented to an engagement with another man, that she had let him +incur an expenditure of some four hundred pounds for a trousseau, and +that, by breaking it off, had made him look foolish. In fact, her +father, she added, had given her clearly to understand that he would +entertain no dealings whatsoever with any suitor other than the one of +his choice, that he would send her to his estate in the north of +England, and that it was his intention to leave her, on his death, only +an annuity of four hundred pounds. + +As a good sportsman she at the last moment gave Montagu a chance to +retreat. + + +"He [my father] will have a thousand plausible reasons for being +irreconcileable, and 'tis very probable the world will be of his side. +Reflect now for the last time in what manner you must take me. I shall +come to you with only a night-gown and petticoat, and that is all you +will get with me. I told a lady of my friends what I intended to do. You +will think her a very good friend when I tell you she has proffered to +lend us her house if we would come there the first night. I did not +accept of this till I had let you know it. If you think it more +convenient to carry me to your lodgings, make no scruple of it. Let it +be where it will: if I am your wife I shall think no place unfit for me +where you are. I beg we may leave London next morning, wherever you +intend to go. I should wish to go out of England if it suits with your +affairs. You are the best judge of your father's temper. If you think it +would be obliging to him, or necessary for you, I will go with you +immediately to ask his pardon and his blessing. If that is not proper at +first, I think the best scheme is going to the Spa. When you come back, +you may endeavour to make your father admit of seeing me, and treat with +mine (thought I persist in thinking it will be to no purpose). But I +cannot think of living in the midst of my relations and acquaintance +after so unjustifiable a step:--unjustifiable to the world,--but I think +I can justify myself to myself. I again beg you to hire a coach to be at +the door early Monday morning, to carry us some part of our way, +wherever you resolve our journey shall be. If you determine to go to +that lady's house, you had better come with a coach and six at seven +o'clock to-morrow. She and I will be in the balcony that looks on the +road: you have nothing to do but to stop under it, and we will come down +to you. Do in this what you like best. After all, think very seriously. +Your letter, which will be waited for, is to determine everything. I +forgive you a coarse expression in your last, which, however, I wish had +not been there. You might have said something like it without expressing +it in that manner; but there was so much complaisance in the rest of it +I ought to be satisfied. You can shew me no goodness I shall not be +sensible of. However, think again, and resolve never to think of me if +you have the least doubt, or that it is likely to make you uneasy in +your fortune. I believe to travel is the most likely way to make a +solitude agreeable, and not tiresome: remember you have promised it." + + +Even in this hour of excitement Lady Mary did not lose her head, and she +asked for a settlement that would make her easy in her mind. + + +"Tis something odd for a woman that brings nothing to expect anything; +but after the way of my education, I dare not pretend to live but in +some degree suitable to it. I had rather die than return to a dependancy +upon relations I have disobliged. Save me from that fear if you love me. +If you cannot, or think I ought not to expect it, be sincere and tell me +so. 'Tis better I should not be yours at all, than, for a short +happiness, involve myself in ages of misery. I hope there will never be +occasion for this precaution; but, however, 'tis necessary to make it. I +depend entirely on your honour, and I cannot suspect you of any way +doing wrong. Do not imagine I shall be angry at anything you can tell +me. Let it be sincere; do not impose on a woman that leaves all things +for you." + + +No woman could be more sensible than was Lady Mary at this time, and +she gave expression to the most exemplary sentiments. + + +"A woman that adds nothing to a man's fortune ought not to take from his +happiness. If possible I would add to it; but I will not take from you +any satisfaction you could enjoy without me." + +"If we marry, our happiness must consist in loving one another: 'tis +principally my concern to think of the most probable method of making +the love eternal." + +"There is one article absolutely necessary--to be ever beloved, one must +be ever agreeable." + +"Very few people that have settled entirely in the country but have +grown at length weary of one another. The lady's conversation generally +falls into a thousand impertinent effects of idleness, and the gentleman +falls _in_ love with his dogs and horses and _out_ of love with +everything else." + + +And so on. + +Possibly if Lady Mary had had less brains and more passion, if she had +not so calmly worked out the permutations and combinations of married +life, the alliance might have been more successful. She, with all her +intelligence, did not seem to realise that matrimony is not an affair of +rules and regulations, of aphorisms and epigrams, nor that the lines on +which husband and wife shall conduct themselves to a happy ending can be +settled by a study of vulgar fractions. + +Anyhow, the plunge was at last taken--with some not unnatural +trepidation on the part of the twenty-three-year-old bride. On Friday +night, August 15, 1712, she wrote to Montagu: + + +"I tremble for what we are doing.--Are you sure you will love me for +ever? Shall we never repent? I fear and I hope. I forsee all that will +happen on this occasion. I shall incense my family in the highest +degree. The generality of the world will blame my conduct, and the +relations and friends of ---- will invent a thousand stories of me; yet, +'tis possible, you may recompense everything to me. In this letter, +which I am fond of, you promise me all that I wish. Since I writ so far, +I received your Friday letter. I will be only yours, and I will do what +you please. + +"You shall hear from me again to-morrow, not to contradict, but to give +some directions. My resolution is taken. Love me and use me well." + + +The wedding licence is dated August 16, and the marriage took place in a +day or two. + +The bride had the active assistance of her uncle, William Feilding, who +may have been present at the ceremony; and the full sympathy of her +brother, Lord Kingston, who, however, did not accompany her, perhaps +deeming it impolitic to quarrel with his father. + +The family must have thought that Lord Dorchester would examine Lady +Mary's papers, for her sister, Lady Frances destroyed all she could +find, including, unfortunately, a diary that Lady Mary had kept for +several years. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY MARRIED LIFE (1712-1714) + +An uneventful existence--Montagu's Parliamentary duties take him to +London--Lady Mary stays mostly in the country--Correspondence--Montagu a +careless husband, but very careful of his money--Later he becomes a +miser--Lady Mary does not disguise the tedium of her existence-- +Concerning a possible reconciliation with her father--Lord Pierrepont +of Hanslope--Lord Halifax--Birth of a son, christened after his father, +Edward Wortley Montagu--The mother's anxiety about his health--Family +events--Lady Evelyn Pierrepont marries Baron (afterwards Earl) Gower--Lady +Frances Pierrepont marries the Earl of Mar--Lord Dorchester marries +again--Has issue, two daughters--the death of Lady Mary's brother, +William--His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the Dukedom of +Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in 1714--The death +of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in the country-- +Lady Mary's alarm for her son. + + +The records for the first years of the married life of Edward and Lady +Mary Wortley Montagu are scanty indeed. From the wedding day until 1716, +when they went abroad, Lady Mary's life was, for months together, as +uneventful as that of the ordinary suburban housewife. Montagu's +parliamentary duties took him frequently to town, and kept him there for +prolonged periods, during which he certainly showed no strong desire for +her to join him. Lady Mary, indeed, spent most of the time in the +country. Sometimes she stayed at the seat of her father-in-law, +Wharncliffe Lodge, near Sheffield; occasionally she visited Lord +Sandwich at Hinchinbrooke; for a while they stayed at Middlethorpe, in +the neighbourhood of Bishopthorpe and York. From time to time they hired +houses in other parts of Yorkshire. The honeymoon lasted from August +until October, 1712, when Montagu had to go to Westminster. + +The first letter of this period is dated characteristically: "Walling +Wells, October 22, which is the first post I could write. Monday night +being so fatigued and sick I went straight to bed from the coach." It +starts: + + +"I don't know very well how to begin; I am perfectly unacquainted with a +proper matrimonial stile. After all, I think 'tis best to write as if we +were not married at all. I lament your absence, as if you were still my +lover, and I am impatient to hear you are got safe to Durham, and that +you have fixed a time for your return." + + +Marriage made Lady Mary more human. She no longer dwelt upon the various +points that in her maidenhood days she had thought would be conducive to +happiness in matrimonial life; she was now, anyhow for the moment, in +love with her husband, or at least persuaded herself that this was the +case, and was at pains to inform him of the fact. + + +"I have not been very long in this family; and I fancy myself in that +described in the 'Spectator,'" the letter of October 22 continues. "The +good people here look upon their children with a fondness that more than +recompenses their care of them. I don't perceive much distinction in +regard to their merits; and when they speak sense or nonsense, it +affects the parents with almost the same pleasure. My friendship for the +mother, and kindness for Miss Biddy, make me endure the squalling of +Miss Nanny and Miss Mary with abundance of patience: and my foretelling +the future conquests of the eldest daughter, makes me very well with the +family.--I don't know whether you will presently find out that this +seeming impertinent account is the tenderest expressions of my love to +you; but it furnishes my imagination with agreeable pictures of our +future life; and I flatter myself with the hopes of one day enjoying +with you the same satisfactions; and that, after as many years +together, I may see you retain the same fondness for me as I shall +certainly mine for you, and the noise of a nursery may have more charms +for us than the music of an opera. + +[_Torn_] "as these are the sure effect of my sincere love, since 'tis +the nature of that passion to entertain the mind with pleasures in +prospect; and I check myself when I grieve for your absence, by +remembering how much reason I have to rejoice in the hope of passing my +whole life with you. A good fortune not to be valued!--I am afraid of +telling you that I return thanks for it to Heaven, because you will +charge me with hypocrisy; but you are mistaken: I assist every day at +public prayers in this family, and never forget in my private +ejaculation how much I owe to Heaven for making me yours. 'Tis +candle-light, or I should not conclude so soon. + +"Pray, my dear, begin at the top, and read till you come to the bottom." + + +Montagu, for his part, was somewhat careless as regards correspondence--for +which offence she rebuked him more than once, but in the most flattering +manner. + + +"I am at present in so much uneasiness, my letter is not likely to be +intelligible, if it all resembles the confusion of my head. I sometimes +imagine you not well, and sometimes that you think of it small +importance to write, or that greater matters have taken up your +thoughts. This last imagination is too cruel for me. I will rather fancy +your letter has miscarried, though I find little probability to think +so. I know not what to think, and am very near being distracted, amongst +my variety of dismal apprehensions. I am very ill company to the good +people of the house, who all bid me make you their compliments. Mr. +White begins your health twice every day. You don't deserve all this if +you can be so entirely forgetful of all this part of the world. I am +peevish with you by fits, and divide my time between anger and sorrow, +which are equaly troublesome to me. 'Tis the most cruel thing in the +world, to think one has reason to complain of what one loves. How can +you be so careless?--is it because you don't love writing? You should +remember I want to know you are safe at Durham. I shall imagine you have +had some fall from your horse, or ill accident by the way, without +regard to probability; there is nothing too extravagant for a woman's +and a lover's fears. Did you receive my last letter? if you did not, the +direction is wrong, you won't receive this, and my question is in vain. +I find I begin to talk nonsense, and 'tis time to leave off. Pray, my +dear, write to me, or I shall be very mad." + + +Montagu was, not to put too fine a point on it, a careless husband. Not +only did he neglect to write to his wife, but he neglected, or forgot, +to keep her adequately supplied with money. She had more than once to +remind him of this. "I wish you would write again to Mr. Phipps, for I +don't hear of any money, and am in the utmost necessity for it," she +told him in November, 1712. Montagu, even at this time a well-to-do man, +found it difficult to part with his money. A couple of years later, Lady +Mary had again to say to him: "Pray order me some money, for I am in +great want, and must run into debt if you don't do it soon." Even in +these days Montagu evidently had begun to be miserly. With all his +riches, he never spent a crown when a smaller sum would suffice, and +during most of his life he, as Sir Leslie Stephen put it, "devoted +himself chiefly to saving money." + +In the winter of 1712, Lady Mary, who was with child, suffered much from +ill-health, and this was to some extent aggravated by intense boredom, +although of that boredom she wrote good-humouredly enough. + + +"I don't believe you expect to hear from me so soon, if I remember you +did not so much as desire it, but I will not be so nice to quarrel with +you on that point; perhaps you would laugh at that delicacy, which is, +however, an attendant of a tender friendship," she wrote to her husband +from Hinchinbrooke at the beginning of December, 1712. + +"I opened the closet where I expected to find so many books; to my great +disappointment there were only some few pieces of the law, and folios of +mathematics; my Lord Hinchinbrook and Mr. Twiman having disposed of the +rest. But as there is no affliction, no more than no happiness, without +alloy, I discovered an old trunk of papers, which to my great diversion +I found to be the letters of the first Earl of Sandwich; and am in hopes +that those from his lady will tend much to my edification, being the +most extraordinary lessons of economy that ever I read in my life. To +the glory of your father, I find that _his_ looked upon him as destined +to be the honour of the family. + +"I walked yesterday two hours on the terrace. These are the most +considerable events that have happened in your absence; excepting that a +good-natured robin red-breast kept me company almost all the afternoon +with so much good humour and humanity as gives me faith for the piece of +charity ascribed to these little creatures in the Children in the Wood, +which I have hitherto thought only a poetical ornament to that history. + +"I expect a letter next post to tell me you are well in London and that +your business will not detain you long from her that cannot be happy +without you." + + +Even in these early days of marriage Montagu seemed to have no love for +domestic life, and often he stayed in London when he could have been in +the country with his wife, or had her with him in town. "As much as you +say I love the town, if you think it necessary for your interest to stay +some time here, I would not advise you to neglect a certainty for an +uncertainty? but I believe if you pass the Christmas here, great matters +will be expected from your hospitality: however, you are a better judge +than I am." So Lady Mary wrote from Hinchinbrooke in the first week of +December. She did not disguise from him the tedium of her existence. + + +"I continue indifferently well, and endeavour as much as I can to +preserve myself from spleen and melancholy; not for my own sake; I think +that of little importance; but in the condition I am, I believe it may +be of very ill consequence; yet, passing whole days alone as I do, I do +not always find it possible, and my constitution will sometimes get the +better of my reason. Human nature itself, without any additional +misfortunes, furnishes disagreeable meditations enough. Life itself to +make it supportable, should not be considered too near; my reason +represents to me in vain the inutility of serious reflections. The idle +mind will sometimes fall into contemplations that serve for nothing but +to ruin the health, destroy good humour, hasten old age and wrinkles, +and bring on an habitual melancholy. 'Tis a maxim with me to be young as +long as one can: there is nothing can pay one for that invaluable +ignorance which is the companion of youth; those sanguine groundless +hopes, and that lively vanity, which make all the happiness of life. To +my extreme mortification I grow wiser every day than other [sic]. I +don't believe Solomon was more convinced of the vanity of temporal +affairs than I am; I lose all taste of this world, and I suffer myself +to be bewitched by the charms of the spleen, though I know and foresee +all the irremediable mischiefs arising from it. I am insensibly fallen +into the writing you a melancholy letter, after all my resolutions to +the contrary; but I do not enjoin you to read it: make no scruple of +flinging it into the fire at the first dull line. Forgive the ill +effects of my solitude, and think me as I am, + +"Ever yours." + + +There was still hope in the hearts of Lady Mary and her husband that it +might be possible to effect a reconciliation with Lord Dorchester. Since +apparently the Marquess was not directly approachable by either of them, +they perforce had to seek an intermediary. Such an one, they trusted at +one time, would be one of Lady Mary's relatives, Lord Pierrepont of +Hanslope. To this matter there are many allusions in the correspondence, +"The Bishop of Salisbury writes me word that he hears my Lord Pierrepont +declares very much for us," Lady Mary wrote from Hinchinbrooke early in +December to her husband in town. "As the Bishop is no infallible +prelate, I should not depend much on that intelligence; but my sister +Frances tells me the same thing. Since it is so, I believe you'll think +it very proper to pay him a visit, if he is in town, and give him thanks +for the good offices you hear he has endeavoured to do me, unasked. If +his kindness is sincere, 'tis too valuable to be neglected. However, the +very appearance of it may be of use to us. If I know him, his desire of +making my Father appear in the wrong, will make him zealous for us. I +think I ought to write him a letter of acknowledgment for what I hear he +has already done." Very shortly after, however, it appears that Lord +Pierrepont was a broken reed upon which to rely. "I did not expect," Lady +Mary said bitterly, "that my Lord Pierrepont would speak at all in our +favour, much less show zeal upon that occasion, that never showed any in +his life." You cannot put it plainer than that. + +One who did really endeavour to bring about the resumption of friendly +relations was Montagu's cousin, Charles Montagu, first Baron Halifax of +Halifax, who was afterwards created first Earl of Halifax. + +To judge from Lady Mary's comments, sometimes when Montagu did write it +had been better he should not have done so. + + +"I am alone, without any amusements to take up my thoughts. I am in +circumstances in which melancholy is apt to prevail even over all +amusements, dispirited and alone, and you write me quarrelling letters," +she rebuked him on one occasion. + +"I hate complaining; 'tis no sign I am easy that I do not trouble you +with my head-aches, and my spleen; to be reasonable one should never +complain but when one hopes redress. A physician should be the only +confidant of bodily pains; and for those of the mind, they should never +be spoke of but to them that can and will relieve 'em. Should I tell you +that I am uneasy, that I am out of humour, and out of patience, should I +see you half an hour the sooner? I believe you have kindness enough for +me to be very sorry, and so you would tell me; and things remain in +their primitive state; I chuse to spare you that pain; I would always +give you pleasure. I know you are ready to tell me that I do not ever +keep to these good maxims. I confess I often speak impertinently, but I +always repent of it. My last stupid letter was not come to you, before I +would have had it back again had it been in my power; such as it was, I +beg your pardon for it." + + +In May, 1713, Lady Mary was delivered of a boy, who was christened after +his father, Edward Wortley Montagu. Some account of his unsatisfactory +career will be given in a later chapter. As an infant, he suffered from +ill-health. + + +"I am in abundance of pain about our dear child: though I am convinced +in my reason 'tis both silly and wicked to set one's heart too fondly on +anything in this world, yet I cannot overcome myself so far as to think +of parting with him with the resignation that I ought to do," the mother +wrote from Middlethorpe at the end of July. "I hope and I beg of God he +may live to be a comfort to us both. They tell me there is nothing +extraordinary in want of teeth at his age, but his weakness makes me +very apprehensive; he is almost never out of my sight. Mrs. Behn says +that the cold bath is the best medicine for weak children, but I am very +fearful and unwilling to try any hazardous remedies. He is very cheerful +and full of play." + +"I hope the child is better than he was," she mentioned a little later; +"but I wish you would let Dr. Garth know he has a bigness in his joints, +but not much; his ankles seem chiefly to have a weakness. I should be +very glad of his advice upon it, and whether he approves rubbing them +with spirits, which I am told is good for him." Then came more +favourable news about young Edward. "I thank God this cold well agrees +with the child; and he seems stronger and better every day," Lady Mary +was able to report. "But I should be very glad, if you saw Dr. Garth, if +you asked his opinion concerning the use of cold baths for young +children. I hope you love the child as well as I do; but if you love me +at all, you'll desire the preservation of his health, for I should +certainly break my heart for him." Garth, it may be assumed, was the +famous Samuel Garth, afterwards physician-in-ordinary to George I and +author of _The Dispensary_. His views on cold baths for children of +fifteen months have not been handed down to posterity by Lady Mary. + + +Meantime things were happening in the Pierrepont family. Lady Mary's +sister, Lady Frances, had, on March 8, 1712, married John, second Baron +Gower, who afterwards was created Earl Gower. Lady Mary's other sister, +Lady Evelyn, on July 26, 1714, became the second wife of John Erskine, +sixth or eleventh Earl of Mar of the Erskine line, who presently came +into prominence as an adherent of the Pretender in the rebellion of '15, +after which he fled the country. He was created Duke of Mar by the +Pretender. Finally, the Marquess of Dorchester, being then in his +fiftieth year, took for his second wife, on August 2, 1714, Lady +Isabella Bentinck, fifth daughter of William, first Earl of Portland and +his first wife, Anne, sister of Edward, first Earl of Jersey. There was +issue of this marriage two daughters: Caroline, who married Thomas +Brand, of Kempton, Hertfordshire; and Anne, who died unmarried in 1739 +at the age of twenty. + +Already, on July 1, 1723, had died Lord Dorchester's only son and heir, +William, who took the style of Earl of Kingston. He had married Rachel, +daughter of Thomas Baynton, of Little Chalfield, Wiltshire, by whom he +had one son, named Evelyn, after his grandfather, whom he succeeded in +1726 as the second Duke of Kingston. + +The career of Evelyn was undistinguished. Born in 1711, his aunt, Lady +Mary, said of him at the age of fifteen: "The Duke of Kingston has +hitherto had so ill an education, 'tis hard to make any judgment of him; +he has his spirit, but I fear will never have his father's sense. As +young gentlemen go, 'tis possible he may make a good figure among them." +Than which it would be unkind to say anything more cutting. Of course, +honours came to him. He was created Knight of the Garter in 1741, in +which year he was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber. He rose to the +rank of colonel in the army in 1745, and twenty-seven years later was +promoted General; but it does not appear that he saw any service. The +second Duke of Kingston will, however, always be remembered for his +marriage in 1769 with the beautiful and notorious Elizabeth Chudleigh, +who was nine years his junior. She had in 1744 married secretly Augustus +John Hervey, afterwards sixth Earl of Bristol, who survived until +December, 1779. She had long been living with the Duke, but in 1769 she +obtained a divorce _a mensa et thoro_, which she believed erroneously +annulled the marriage. The Duke died in 1773, when all his titles became +extinct. His Duchess was in the following year tried before the House of +Lords for bigamy, found guilty, but, pleading benefit of peerage, was +discharged. Thus, she carried out the prognostication of Lord Chief +Justice Mansfield, who had opposed the prosecution. "The arguments about +the place of trial suggest to my mind the question about the propriety +of any trial at all," he said in a debate in the House of Lords. "_Cui +bono_? What utility is to be obtained? Suppose a conviction to be the +result?--the lady makes your lordships a courtesy, and you return a +bow." She survived, living on the continent, until 1788. As an epitaph +for her there can be nothing better than a remark of Horace Walpole: "I +can tell you nothing more extraordinary, nor would any history figure +near hers. It shows genius to strike anything so new as her +achievements. Though we have many uncommon personages, it is not easy +for them to be so superiorly particular." + +More generally interesting than these domestic matters was the political +situation. Queen Anne's life had for some time been hanging in the +balance. It was thought that she might linger for some time, but there +was no hope of her recovery. The fight that was carried on between the +supporters of the Hanoverian succession and the adherents of the +Pretender is, of course, a matter of history. On August 5, 1714, came to +the Elector of Hanover, James Craggs, junior, with a letter from the +Privy Council, dated July 31, announcing the precarious state of Anne's +health, and conveying assurances that in the event of her demise every +precaution would be taken to safeguard the rights of George Lewis. The +same night messengers arrived at Hanover from London with the news of +the death of the Queen, who had passed away on July 31, shortly after +the departure of Craggs. + +During the interval between the proclamation of the accession of George +I and his arrival, which did not take place until September 17, the +country was in a disturbed state, and it is not unnatural that Lady Mary +in Yorkshire was alarmed for the safety of herself and the child. + + +"I cannot forbear taking it something unkindly that you do not write to +me, when you may be assured I am in a great fright, and know not +certainly what to expect upon this sudden change," she wrote from +Middlethorpe to Montagu. "The Archbishop of York has been come to +Bishopthorpe but three days. I went with my cousin to-day to see the +King proclaimed, which was done; the Archbishop walking next the Lord +Mayor, all the country gentry following, with greater crowds of people +than I believed to be in York, vast acclamations, and the appearance of +a general satisfaction. The Pretender afterwards dragged about the +streets and burned. Ringing of bells, bonfires, and illuminations, the +mob crying Liberty and Property! and Long live King George! This morning +all the principal men of any figure took post for London, and we are +alarmed with the fear of attempts from Scotland, though all Protestants +seem unanimous for the Hanover succession. The poor young ladies at +Castle Howard are as much afraid as I am, being left all alone, without +any hopes of seeing their father again (though things should prove well) +this eight or nine months. They have sent to desire me very earnestly to +come to them, and bring my boy; 'tis the same thing as pensioning in a +nunnery, for no mortal man ever enters the doors in the absence of their +father, who is gone post. During this uncertainty, I think it will be a +safe retreat; for Middlethorpe stands exposed to plunderers, if there be +any at all." + + +A day or two later this letter was followed by another: + + +"You made me cry two hours last night. I cannot imagine why you use me +so ill; for what reason you continue silent, when you know at any time +your silence cannot fail of giving me a great deal of pain; and now to a +higher degree because of the perplexity that I am in, without knowing +where you are, what you are doing, or what to do with myself and my dear +little boy. However (persuaded there can be no objection to it), I +intend to go to-morrow to Castle Howard, and remain there with the young +ladies, 'till I know when I shall see you, or what you would command. +The Archbishop and everybody else are gone to London. We are alarmed +with a story of a fleet being seen from the coasts of Scotland. An +express went from thence through York to the Earl of Mar. I beg you +would write to me. 'Till you do I shall not have an easy minute. I am +sure I do not deserve from you that you should make me uneasy. I find I +am scolding, 'tis better for me not to trouble you with it; but I cannot +help taking your silence very unkindly." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I (1714) + +Lady Mary shows an increasing interest in politics--She tries to incite +her husband to be ambitious--Montagu not returned to the new +Parliament--His lack of energy--Correspondence--The Council of +Regency--The King commands Lord Townshend to form a Government--The +Cabinet--Lord Halifax, First Lord of the Treasury--Montagu appointed a +Lord Commissioner of the Treasury--Correspondence--The unsatisfactory +relations between Lady Mary and Montagu. + + +At the time of the death of Queen Anne Lady Mary began to show an +increased interest in polities, at least in so far as the career of +Montagu was bound up with it. She began to try to persuade her husband +to be, to some extent at least, ambitious. It may be that she was not +happy at the thought of being married to a man who was regarded as a +nonentity. She was always urging him to put his best foot forward. +Sometimes she wrote to him as to a naughty child. "I am very much +surprised that you do not tell me in your last letter that you have +spoke to my Father," she said in August, 1714. "I hope after staying in +the town on purpose, you do not intend to omit it. I beg you would not +leave any sort of business unfinished, remembering those two necessary +maxims, Whatever you intend to do as long as you live do as soon as you +can; and to leave nothing to be done by another that 'tis possible to do +yourself." What sort of a man must Montagu have been at the age of +thirty-six that his wife should deem it necessary to give him such +first-aid advice? + +Montagu was evidently of a procrastinating turn of mind. He had, as has +been said, sat for Huntingdon in the House of Commons from 1705 until +1713. In the latter year Parliament was dissolved on August 8, but +Montagu had made no definite plans as regards his future political +career--for some reason or other his father reserved for himself the +seat for Huntingdon. Montagu found no other constituency, and +consequently did not sit in the new Parliament that assembled on the +following November 11. + + +"I suppose you may now come in at Aldburgh, and I heartily wish you was +in Parliament," Lady Mary wrote to him. "I saw the Archbishop [of +York]'s list of the Lords Regents appointed, and perceive Lord Wharton +is not one of them; by which I guess the new scheme is not to make use +of any man grossly infamous in either party; consequently, those who +have been honest in regard to both, will stand fairest for preferment. +You understand these things much better than me; but I hope you will be +persuaded by me and your other friends (who I don't doubt will be of +opinion) that 'tis necessary for the common good for an honest man to +endeavour to be powerful, when he can be the one without losing the +first more valuable title; and remember that money is the source of +power. I hear that Parliament sits but six months; you know best whether +'tis worth any expense or bustle to be in for so short a time." + + +Lady Mary's letters now contain many references to political affairs, +anyhow in so far as they directly concern Montagu. + + +"I hope you are convinced I was not mistaken in my judgment of Lord +Pelham; he is very silly but very good-natured. I don't see how it can +be improper for you to get it represented to him that he is obliged in +honour to get you chose at Aldburgh, and may more easily get Mr. Jessop +chose at another place. I can't believe but you may manage it in such a +manner, Mr. Jessop himself would not be against it, nor would he have so +much reason to take it ill, if he should not be chose, as you have after +so much money fruitlessly spent. I dare say you may order it so that it +may be so, if you talk to Lord Townshend about it, &c. I mention this, +because I cannot think you can stand at York, or anywhere else, without +a great expense. Lord Morpeth is just now of age, but I know not whether +he'll think it worth while to return from travel upon that occasion. +Lord Carlisle is in town, you may if you think fit make him a visit, and +enquire concerning it. After all, I look upon Aldburgh to be the surest +thing. Lord Pelham is easily persuaded to any thing, and I am sure he +may be told by Lord Townshend that he has used you ill; and I know he'll +be desirous to do all things in his power to make it up. In my opinion, +if yon resolve upon an extraordinary expense to be in Parliament, you +should resolve to have it turn to some account. Your father is very +surprizing if he persists in standing at Huntingdon; but there is +nothing surprizing in such a world as this." + + +Later in August Lady Mary wrote again on the same subject, and this +letter shows that she had been at pains to acquire some practical +knowledge of borough-mongering. + + +"You seem not to have received my letters, or not to have understood +them; you had been chose undoubtedly at York, if you had declared in +time; but there is not any gentleman or tradesman disengaged at this +time; they are treating every night. Lord Carlisle and the Thompsons +have given their interest to Mr. Jenkins. I agree with you of the +necessity of your standing this Parliament, which, perhaps, may be more +considerable than any that are to follow it; but, as you proceed, 'tis +my opinion, you will spend your money and not be chose. I believe there +is hardly a borough unengaged. I expect every letter should tell me you +are sure of some place; and, as far as I can perceive you are sure of +none. As it has been managed, perhaps it will be the best way to deposit +a certain sum in some friend's hands, and buy some little Cornish +borough: it would, undoubtedly, look better to be chose for a +considerable town; but I take it to be now too late. If you have any +thoughts of Newark, it will be absolutely necessary for you to enquire +after Lord Lexington's interest; and your best way to apply yourself to +Lord Holdernesse, who is both a Whig and an honest man. He is now in +town, and you may enquire of him if Brigadier Sutton stands there; and +if not, try to engage him for you. Lord Lexington is so ill at the Bath, +that it is a doubt if he will live 'till the election; and if he dies, +one of his heiresses, and the whole interest of his estate, will +probably fall on Lord Holdernesse. + +"'Tis a surprise to me that you cannot make sure of some borough, when +so many of your friends bring in several Parliament-men without trouble +or expense. 'Tis too late to mention it now, but you might have applied +to Lady Winchester, as Sir Joseph Jekyl did last year, and by her +interest the Duke of Bolton brought him in for nothing; I am sure she +would be more zealous to serve me than Lady Jekyl. You should understand +these things better than me. I heard, by a letter last post, that Lady +M. Montagu and Lady Hinchinbrooke are to be Bedchamber Ladies to the +Princess, and Lady Townshend Groom of the Stole. She must be a strange +Princess if she can pick a favourite out of them; and as she will be one +day Queen, and they say has an influence over her husband, I wonder they +don't think fit to place women about her with a little common sense." + + +Again, in the middle of September Lady Mary returned to the subject of +Montagu finding a seat in the House: + + +"I cannot be very sorry for your declining at Newark, being very +uncertain of your success; but I am surprized you do not mention where +you intend to stand. Dispatch, in things of this nature, if not a +security, at least delay is a sure way to lose, as you have done, being +easily chose at York, for not resolving in time, and Aldburgh, for not +applying soon enough to Lord Pelham. Here are people here had rather +choose Fairfax than Jenkins, and others that prefer Jenkins to Fairfax; +but both parties, separately, have wished to me you would have stood, +with assurances of having preferred you to either of them. At Newark, +Lord Lexington has a very considerable interest. If you have any +thoughts of standing, you must endeavour to know how he stands affected; +though I am afraid he will assist Brigadier Sutton, or some other Tory. +Sir Matthew Jenison has the best interest of any Whig; but he stood last +year himself, and will, perhaps, do so again. Newdigate will certainly +be chose there for one. Upon the whole, 'tis the most expensive and +uncertain place you can stand at. Tis surprizing to me, that you are all +this while in the midst of your friends without being sure of a place, +when so many insignificant creatures come in without any opposition. +They say Mr. Strickland is sure at Carlisle, where he never stood +before. I believe most places are engaged by this time. I am very sorry, +for your sake, that you spent so much money in vain last year, and will +not come in this, when you might make a more considerable figure than +you could have done then. I wish Lord Pelham would compliment Mr. Jessop +with his Newark interest, and let you come in at Aldburgh." + + +On the death of the Queen, the Council, which had assembled at +Kensington Palace, adjourned to St. James's. By the Regency Bill the +administration of the government (in the event of the King being absent +from the realm at the time of his accession to the throne) devolved upon +the holders for the time being of the Great Officers of State: the +Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Thomas Tenison), the Lord Chancellor +(Simon, Lord Harcourt), the Lord President (John, Duke of +Buckinghamshire), the Lord High Treasurer (Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury), +the Lord Privy Seal (William, Earl of Dartmouth), the First Lord of the +Admiralty (Thomas, Earl of Strafford), and the Lord Chief Justice of the +King's Bench (Sir Thomas Parker, afterwards Earl of Macclesfield). Under +another clause of the Regency Act the Sovereign was entitled to nominate +a number of Lords Justices. Baron von Bothmer, the Hanovarian Envoy +Extraordinary to the Court of St. James's, opened the sealed packet +containing the Commission of Regency, drawn up by George after the death +of his mother. The King's nominees were the Archbishop of York, the +Dukes of Shrewsbury,[1] Somerset, Bolton, Devonshire, Kent, Argyll, +Montrose, and Roxborough; the Earls of Pembroke, Anglesea, Carlisle, +Nottingham, Abingdon, Scarborough, and Oxford; Viscount Townshend; and +Barons Halifax and Cowper. Marlborough was not in the Commission, but he +was appointed Captain-General of the Forces. + +[Footnote 1: The Commission was, of course, made out before the Duke of +Shrewsbury was given the White Staff, the possession of which made him a +Lord Justice in virtue of his office.] + +From The Hague, where he arrived on September 5, 1714, George I sent +authority to Charles, Viscount Townshend, to form a Cabinet, with power +to nominate his colleagues. Townshend took the office of Secretary of +State for the Northern Department, and appointed James Stanhope +Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Lord Halifax became +First Lord of the Treasury; Lord Cowper, Lord Chancellor; the Earl of +Nottingham, Lord President; the Marquis of Wharton, Lord Privy Seal; the +Earl of Oxford, First Lord of the Admiralty; the Earl of Sunderland, +Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; Robert Walpole, Paymaster-General of the +Forces. As Captain-General Marlborough was in the Cabinet. + +Lord Halifax, when making out the Commission of the Treasury, invited +his cousin Montagu to be one of the Commissioners, although the latter +had not secured a seat in Parliament. "It will be surprizing to add," +says Lady Mary, "that he hesitated to accept it at a time when his +father was alive and his present income very small; but he had certainly +refused it if he had not been persuaded to it by a rich old uncle of +mine, Lord Pierrepont, whose fondness for me gave him expectations of a +large legacy." Lady Mary, though glad enough that her husband had been +given a place, was not over and above delighted that it was one so +modest. + + +_Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to her Husband_ + +[Enclosed, September 24, 1714.] + +"Though I am very impatient to see you, I would not have you, by +hastening to come down, lose any part of your interest. I am surprized +you say nothing of where you stand. I had a letter from Mrs. Hewet last +post, who said she heard you stood at Newark, and would be chose without +opposition; but I fear her intelligence is not at all to be depended on. +I am glad you think of serving your friends; I hope it will put you in +mind of serving yourself. I need not enlarge upon the advantages of +money; every thing we see, and every thing we hear, puts us in +remembrance of it. If it was possible to restore liberty to your +country, or limit the encroachments of the prerogative, by reducing +yourself to a garret, I should be pleased to share so glorious a poverty +with you; but as the world is, and will be, 'tis a sort of duty to be +rich, that it may be in one's power to do good; riches being another +word for power, towards the obtaining of which the first necessary +qualification is impudence, and (as Demosthenes said of pronunciation in +oratory) the second is impudence, and the third, still, impudence. No +modest man ever did or ever will make his fortune. Your friend Lord +H[alifa]x, R. W[alpo]le, and all other remarkable instances of quick +advancement, have been remarkably impudent. The Ministry is like a play +at Court; there's a little door to get in, and a great crowd without, +shoving and thrusting who shall be foremost: people who knock others +with their elbows, disregard a little kick of the shins, and still +thrust heartily forwards, are sure of a good place. Your modest man +stands behind in the crowd, is shoved about by every body, his cloaths +tore, almost squeezed to death, and sees a thousand get in before him, +that don't make so good a figure as himself. + +"I don't say it is impossible for an impudent man not to rise in the +world; but a moderate merit, with a large share of impudence, is more +probable to be advanced, than the greatest qualifications without it. + +"If this letter is impertinent, it is founded upon an opinion of your +merit, which, it if is a mistake, I would not be undeceived in: it is my +interest to believe (as I do) that you deserve every thing, and are +capable of every thing; but nobody else will believe you if they see you +get nothing." + + +[Postmark, October 6, 1714.] + +"I cannot imagine why you should desire that I should not be glad, +though from a mistake, since, at least, it is an agreeable one. I +confess I shall ever be of opinion, if you are in the Treasury, it will +be an addition to your figure and facilitate your election, though it is +no otherwise advantageous; and that, if you have nothing when all your +acquaintance are preferred, the world generally will not be persuaded +that you neglect your fortune, but that you are neglected." + + +[Endorsed, October 9, 1714.] + +"You do me wrong in imagining (as I perceive you do) that my reason for +being solicitous for your having that place, was in view of spending +more money than we do. You have no cause of fancying me capable of such +a thought. I don't doubt but Lord H[alifa]x will very soon have the +Staff, and it is my belief you will not be at all the richer: but I +think it looks well, and may facilitate your election; and that is all +the advantage I hope from it. When all your intimate acquaintance are +preferred, I think you would have an ill air in having nothing; upon +that account only, I am sorry so many considerable places are disposed +on [_sic_]. I suppose, now, you will certainly be chose somewhere or +other; and I cannot see why you should not pretend to be Speaker. I +believe all the Whigs would be for you, and I fancy you have a +considerable interest amongst the Tories, and for that reason would be +very likely to carry it. 'Tis impossible for me to judge of this so well +as you can do; but the reputation of being thoroughly of no party, is (I +think) of use in this affair, and I believe people generally esteem you +impartial; and being chose by your country is more honourable than +holding _any_ place from _any_ king." + + +The relations between Lady Mary and her husband did not improve. Not +only did he neglect to write to her when he left her in the country, but +he does not at any time appear to have had any desire to have her with +him in town. Lady Mary showed extreme, in fact overmuch, forbearance, +but towards the end of November her patience gave out: "I cannot forbear +any longer telling you, I think you use me very unkindly." + + +"I don't say so much of your absence, as I should do if you was in the +country and I in London; because I would not have you believe I am +impatient to be in town, when I say I am impatient to be with you; but I +am very sensible I parted with you in July and 'tis now the middle of +November," she went on to say. "As if this was not hardship enough, you +do not tell me you are sorry for it. You write seldom, and with so much +indifference as shews you hardly think of me at all. I complain of ill +health, and you only say you hope 'tis not so bad as I make it. You +never enquire after your child. I would fain flatter myself you have +more kindness for me and him than you express; but I reflect with grief +a man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable, is +generally proud of those that [are] shameful and silly." + + +Lady Mary, once having given vent to her feeling of injustice, was not +concerned to mince her words: "You seem perfectly pleased with our +separation, and indifferent how long it continues.... When I reflect on +your behaviour, I am ashamed of my own: I think I am playing the part of +my Lady Winchester. At least be as generous as My Lord; and as he made +early confession of his aversion, own to me your inconstancy, and upon +my word I will give you no more trouble about it.... For my part, as +'tis my first, this is my last complaint, and your next of the kind +shall go back enclosed to you in blank paper." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU'S ACCOUNT OF THE COURT OF GEORGE I + + +Lady Mary, then, had been in Yorkshire when the Queen died, and was +still in the country, much against her will, when the King arrived on +September 18. Soon after, however, she came to town, and, so to speak, +looked around the Court. Her "Account of the Court of George I" is not +always accurate, and is certainly often prejudiced. It is not the less +interesting because the writer did not mince her words, even when +discussing the character of her friend, "Dolly" Walpole. Notwithstanding, +this bird-eye view of the royal and political circles at the accession +of the first of the Hanoverian monarchs is so valuable as to deserve +inclusion in this work. + + +"The new Court with all their train was arrived before I left the +country. The Duke of Marlborough was returned in a sort of triumph, with +the apparent merit of having suffered for his fidelity in the +succession, and was reinstated in his office of general, &c. In short, +all people who had suffered any hardship or disgrace during the late +ministry would have it believed that it was occasioned by their +attachment to the House of Hanover. Even Mr. Walpole, who had been sent +to the Tower for a piece of bribery proved upon him, was called a +confessor to the cause. But he had another piece of good luck that yet +more contributed to his advancement, he had a very handsome sister, +whose folly had lost her reputation in London; but the yet greater folly +of Lord Townshend, who happened to be a neighbour in Norfolk to Mr. +Walpole, had occasioned his being drawn in to marry her some months +before the Queen died. + +"Lord Townshend had that sort of understanding which commonly makes men +honest in the first part of their lives; they follow the instruction of +their tutor, and, till somebody thinks it worth while to show them a new +path, go regularly on in the road where they are set. Lord Townshend had +then been many years an excellent husband to a sober wife, a kind master +to all his servants and dependants, a serviceable relation whenever it +was in his power, and followed the instinct of nature in being fond of +his children. Such a sort of behaviour without any glaring absurdity, +either in prodigality or avarice, always gains a man the reputation of +reasonable and honest; and this was his character when the Earl of +Godolphin sent him envoy to the States, not doubting but he would be +faithful to his orders, without giving himself the trouble of +criticising on them, which is what all ministers wish in an envoy. +Robethon, a French refugee (secretary to Bernstorff, one of the Elector +of Hanover's ministers), happened to be at The Hague, and was civilly +received by Lord Townshend, who treated him at his table with the +English hospitality; and he was charmed with a reception which his birth +and education did not entitle him to. Lord Townshend was recalled when +the Queen changed her ministry, his wife died, and he retired into the +country, where (as I have said before) Walpole had art enough to make +him marry his sister Dolly. At that time, I believe, he did not propose +much more advantage by the match than to get rid of a girl that lay +heavy on his hands. + +"When King George ascended the throne, he was surrounded by all his +German ministers and playfellows, male and female. Baron Goertz was the +most considerable among them both for birth and fortune. He had managed +the King's treasury, for thirty years, with the utmost fidelity and +economy; and had the true German honesty, being a plain, sincere and +unambitious man. Bernstorff, the Secretary, was of a different turn. He +was avaricious, artful, and designing, and had got his share in the +King's councils by bribing his women. Robethon was employed in these +matters, and had the sanguine ambition of a Frenchman. He resolved there +should be an English ministry of his choosing; and, knowing none of them +personally but Townshend, he had not failed to recommend him to his +master, and his master to the King, as the only proper person for the +important post of Secretary of State; and he entered upon that office +with universal applause, having at that time a very popular character, +which he might probably have retained for ever if he had not been +entirely governed by his wife and her brother Robert Walpole, whom he +immediately advanced to be Paymaster, esteemed a post of exceeding +profit, and very necessary for his indebted estate. + +"But he had yet higher views, or rather he found it necessary to move +higher, lest he should not be able to keep that. The Earl of Wharton, +now Marquis, both hated and despised him. His large estate, the whole +income of which was spent in the service of the party and his own parts, +made him considerable, though his profligate life lessened that weight +that a more regular conduct would have given him. + +"Lord Halifax, who was now advanced to the dignity of Earl, and graced +with the Garter, and First Commissioner of the Treasury, treated him +with contempt. The Earl of Nottingham, who had the real merit of having +renounced the ministry in Queen Anne's reign, when he thought they were +going to alter the succession, was not to be reconciled to Walpole, whom +he looked upon as stigmatised for corruption. + +"The Duke of Marlborough, who in his old age was making the same figure +at Court that he did when he first came into it--I mean, bowing and +smiling in the antechamber while Townshend was in the closet,--was not, +however, pleased with the Walpole, who began to behave to him with the +insolence of new favour, and his Duchess, who never restrained her +tongue in her life, used to make public jokes of the beggary she first +knew him in, when her caprice gave him a considerable place, against the +opinion of Lord Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough. + +"To balance these, he had introduced some friends of his own, by his +recommendation to Lord Townshend (who did nothing but by his +instigation). Colonel Stanhope was made the Secretary of State. He had +been unfortunate in Spain, and there did not want those who attributed +it to ill conduct; but he was called generous, brave, true to his +friends, and had an air of probity which prejudiced the world in his +favour. + +"The King's character may be comprised in very few words. In private +life he would have been called an honest blockhead; and Fortune that +made him a king, added nothing to his happiness, only prejudiced his +honesty, and shortened his days. No man was ever more free from +ambition; he loved money, but loved to keep his own, without being +rapacious of other men's. He would have grown rich by saving, but was +incapable of laying schemes for getting; he was more properly dull than +lazy, and would have been so well contented to have remained in his +little town of Hanover, that if the ambition of those about him had not +been greater than his own, we should never have seen him in England; and +the natural honesty of his temper, joined with the narrow notions of a +low education, made him look upon his acceptance of the crown as an act +of usurpation, which was always uneasy to him. But he was carried by the +stream of the people about him, in that, as in every action of his life. +He could speak no English, and was past the age of learning it. Our +customs and laws were all mysteries to him, which he neither tried to +understand, nor was capable of understanding if he had endeavoured it. +He was passively good-natured, and wished all mankind enjoyed quiet, if +they would let him do so. + +"The mistress that followed him hither was so much of his own temper, +that I do not wonder at the engagement between them. She was duller than +himself, and consequently did not find out that he was so; and had lived +in that figure at Hanover almost forty years (for she came hither at +three score) without meddling in any affairs of the Electorate, content +with the small pension he allowed her, and the honour of his visits when +he had nothing else to do, which happened very often. She even refused +coming hither at first, fearing that the people of England, who, she +thought, were accustomed to use their kings barbarously, might chop off +his head in the first fortnight; and had not love or gratitude enough to +venture being involved in his ruin. And the poor man was in peril of +coming hither without knowing where to pass his evenings; which he was +accustomed to do in the apartments of women free from business. But +Madame Keilmansegg saved him from this misfortune. She was told that +Mademoiselle Schulenburg scrupled this terrible journey, and took the +opportunity of offering her service to his Majesty, who willingly +accepted it, though he did not facilitate it to her by the payment of +debts, which made it very difficult for her to leave Hanover without +permission of her creditors. But she was a woman of wit and spirit, and +knew very well of what importance this step was to her fortune. She got +out of the town in disguise, and made the best of her way in a +post-chaise to Holland, from whence she embarked with the King, and +arrived at the same time with him in England; which was enough to make +her called his mistress, or at least so great a favourite that the whole +Court began to pay her uncommon respect. + +"This lady deserves that I should be a little particular in her +character, there being something in it worth speaking of. She was past +forty; she had never been a beauty, but certainly very agreeable in her +person when adorned with youth; and had once appeared so charming to the +King, that it was said the divorce and ruin of his beautiful Princess, +the Duke of Celle's daughter, was owing to the hopes her mother (who was +declared mistress to the King's father, and all-powerful in his Court,) +had of setting her daughter in her place; and that project did not +succeed, by the passion which Madame Kielmansegg took for M. Kielmansegg, +who was a son of a merchant of Hamburg, and after having a child by him, +there was nothing left for her but to marry him. Her ambitions ran mad +with the disappointment, and died in that deplorable manner, leaving +£40,000 which she had heaped by the favour of the Elector, to this +daughter, which was very easily squandered by one of her temper. She was +both luxurious and generous, devoted to her pleasures, and seemed to have +taken Lord Rochester's resolution of avoiding all sorts of self-denial. +She had a greater vivacity in conversation than ever I knew in a German +of either sex. She loved reading, and had a taste of all polite learning. +Her humour was easy and sociable. Her constitution inclined her to +gallantry. She was well-bred and amusing in company. She knew both how +to please and be pleased, and had experience enough to know it was hard +to do either without money. Her unlimited expenses had left her with +very little remaining, and she made what haste she could to make +advantage of the opinion the English had of her power with the King, by +receiving the presents that were made her from all quarters, and which +she knew very well must cease when it was known that the King's idleness +carried him to her lodgings without either regard for her advice, or +affection for her person, which time and very bad paint had left without +any of the charms which had once attracted him. His best-beloved mistress +remained still at Hanover, which was the beautiful Countess of Platen. + +"Perhaps it will be thought a digression in this place to tell the story +of his amour with her; but, as I write only for myself, I shall always +think I am at liberty to make what digressions I think fit, proper or +improper; besides that in my opinion can set the King's character in a +clearer light. That lady was married to Madame Kielmansegg's brother, +the most considerable man in Hanover for birth and fortune; and her +beauty was as far beyond that of any of the other women that appeared. +However, the King saw her every day without taking notice of it, and +contented himself with his habitual commerce with Mademoiselle +Schulenburg. + +"In those little Courts there is no distinction of much value but what +arises from the favour of the Prince, and Madame Platen saw with great +indignation that all her charms were passed over unregarded; and she +took a method to get over this misfortune which would never have entered +into the head of a woman of sense, and yet which met with wonderful +success. She asked an audience of his Highness, who granted it without +guessing what she meant by it; and she told him that as nobody could +refuse her the first rank in that place, it was very mortifying to see +his Highness not show her any mark of favour; and as no person could be +more attached to his person than herself, she begged with tears in her +fine eyes that he would alter his behaviour to her. The Elector, very +much astonished at this complaint, answered that he did not know any +reason he had given her to believe he was wanting in respect for her, +and that he thought her not only the greatest lady, but the greatest +beauty of the court. 'If that be true, sire,' replied she, sobbing, 'why +do you pass all your time with Mademoiselle Schulenburg, while I hardly +receive the honour of a visit from you?' His Highness promised to mend +his manners, and from that time was very assiduous in waiting upon her. +This ended in a fondness, which her husband disliked so much that he +parted with her, and she had the glory of possessing the heart and +person of her master, and to turn the whole stream of courtiers that +used to attend Mademoiselle Schulenburg to her side. However, he did not +break with his first love, and often went to her apartment to cut paper, +which was his chief employment there; which the Countess of Platen +easily permitted him, having often occasion for his absence. She was +naturally gallant; and, after having thus satisfied her ambition, +pursued her warmer inclinations. + +"Young Craggs came about this time to Hanover, where his father sent him +to take a view of that court in his tour of travelling. He was in his +first bloom of youth and vigour, and had so strong an appearance of that +perfection, that it was called beauty by the generality of women: though +in my opinion there was a coarseness in his face and shape that had more +the air of a porter than a gentleman; and, if fortune had not interposed +her almighty power, he might by his birth have appeared in that figure; +his father being nothing more considerable at his first appearance in +the world than footman to Lady Mary Mordaunt, the gallant Duchess of +Norfolk, who had always half a dozen intrigues to manage. Some servant +must always be trusted in affairs of that kind and James Craggs had the +good fortune to be chose for that purpose. She found him both faithful +and discreet, and he was soon advanced to the dignity of _valet-de-chambre._ + +"King James II had an amour with her after he was upon the throne, and +respected the Queen enough to endeavour to keep it entirely from her +knowledge. James Craggs was the messenger between the King and the +Duchess, and did not fail to make the best use of so important a trust. +He scraped a great deal of money from the bounty of this royal lover, +and was too inconsiderable to be hurt by his ruin; and did not concern +much for that of his mistress, which by lower intrigues happened soon +after. This fellow, from the report of all parties, and even from that +of his professed enemies, had a very uncommon genius; a head well turned +for calculation, great industry, and was so just an observer of the +world, that the meanness of his education never appeared in his +conversation. + +"The Duke of Marlborough, who was sensible how well he was qualified for +affairs that required secrecy, employed him as his procurer both for +women and money, and he acquitted himself so well of these trusts as to +please his master, and yet raise a considerable fortune, by turning his +money in the public funds, the secret of which came often to his +knowledge by the Duke's employing him. He had this only son, whom he +looked on with the partiality of a parent, and resolved to spare nothing +in his education that could add to his figure. + +"Young Craggs had great vivacity, a happy memory, and flowing elocution, +he was brave and generous, and had an appearance of open-heartedness in +his manner that gained him a universal good-will, if not a universal +esteem. It is true there appeared a heat and want of judgment in all his +words and actions, which did not make him valuable in the eyes of cool +judges, but Madame Platen was not of that number. His youth and fire +made him appear very well worthy of his passionate addresses. Two people +so well disposed towards each other were very soon in the closest +engagement; and the first proof Madame Platen gave him of her affection +was introducing him to the favour of the Elector, who took it on her +word that he was a young man of extraordinary merit, and he named him +for Cofferer at his first accession to the Crown of England, and I +believe it was the only place that he then disposed of from any +inclination of his own. This proof of Madame Platen's favour hindered +her coming hither. + +"Bernstorff was afraid she might meddle in the distribution of places +that he was willing to keep in his own hands; and he represented to the +King that the Roman Catholic religion that she professed was an +insuperable objection to her appearance at the Court of England, at +least so early; but he gave her private hopes that things might be so +arranged as to make her admittance easy when the King was settled in his +new dominions. And with this hope she consented without much concern to +let him go without her; not reflecting that weak minds lose all +impressions by even short absences. But as her own understanding did not +furnish her with very great refinements, she was troubled with none of +the fears that would have affected a stronger head, and had too good an +opinion of her own beauty to believe anything in England could efface +it, while Madame Kielmansegg attached herself to the one thing +necessary--getting what money she could by the sale of places, and the +credulity of those who thought themselves very polite in securing her +favour. + +"Lord Halifax was one of this number; his ambition was unbounded, and he +aimed at no less than the Treasurer's staff, and thought himself in a +fine road for it by furnishing Madame Kielmansegg both with money and a +lover. Mr. Methuen was the man he picked out for that purpose. He was +one of the Lords of the Treasury; he was handsome and well-made; he had +wit enough to be able to affect any part he pleased and a romantic turn +in his conversation that could entertain a lady with as many adventures +as Othello,--and it is no ill way of gaining Desdemonas. Women are very +apt to take their lovers' characters from their own mouths; and if you +will believe Mr. Methuen's account of himself, neither Artamenes nor +Oroondates ever had more valour, honour, constancy, and discretion. Half +of these bright qualities were enough to charm Madame Kielmansegg, and +they were soon in the strictest familiarity, which continued for +different reasons, to the pleasure of both parties, till the arrival of +Mademoiselle Schulenburg, which was hastened by the German ministers, +who envied the money accumulated by Madame Kielmansegg, which they +longed to turn into another channel, which they thought would be more +easily drawn into their own hands. They took care to inform Mademoiselle +Schulenburg of the fond reception all the Germans met with in England, +and gave her a view of the immense fortune that waited her here. This +was enough to cure her fears, and she arrived accompanied by a young +niece who had already made some noise at Hanover. She had projected the +conquest of the Prince of Wales, and had so far succeeded as to obtain +his favours for some months, but the Princess, who dreaded a rival to +her power, soon put an end to the correspondence, and she was no longer +possessed of his good graces when she came hither. + +"I have not yet given the character of the Prince. The fire of his +temper appeared in every look and gesture; which, being unhappily under +the direction of a small understanding, was every day throwing him upon +some indiscretion. He was naturally sincere, and his pride told him that +he was placed above constraint; not reflecting that a high rank carries +along with it a necessity if a more decent and regular behaviour than is +expected from those who are not set in so conspicuous a light. He was +far from being of that opinion, that he looked on all men and women he +saw as creatures he might kick or kiss for his diversion; and whenever +he met with any opposition in those designs, he thought his opposers +insolent rebels to the will of God, who created them for his use, and +judged of the merit of all people by their submission to his orders, or +the relation they had to his power. And in this view, he looked upon the +Princess, as the most meritorious of her sex; and she took care to keep +him in that sentiment by all the arts she was mistress of. He had +married her by inclination; his good-natured father had been so +complaisant as to let him choose a wife for himself. She was of the +house of Anspach, and brought him no great addition either of money or +alliance; but was at that time esteemed a German beauty, and had genius +which qualified her for the government of a fool; and made her +despicable in the eyes of men of sense; I mean a low cunning, which gave +her an inclination to cheat all the people she conversed with, and often +cheated herself in the first place, by showing her the wrong side of her +interest, not having understanding enough to observe that falsehood in +conversation, like red on the face, should be used very seldom, and very +sparingly, or they destroy that interest and beauty which they are +designed to heighten. + +"Her first thought on her marriage was to secure to herself the sole and +whole direction of her spouse; and to that purpose she counterfeited the +most extravagant fondness for his person; yet, at the same time, so +devoted to his pleasures (which she often told him were the rule of all +her thoughts and actions), that whenever he thought proper to find them +with other women, she even loved whoever was instrumental to his +entertainment, and never resented anything but what appeared to her a +want of respect for him; and in this light she really could not help +taking notice that the presents made to her on her wedding were not +worthy of his bride, and at least she ought to have had all his mother's +jewels. This was enough to make him lose all respect for his indulgent +father. He downright abused his ministers, and talked impertinently to +his old grandmother the Princess Sophia, which ended in such a coldness +towards all his family as left him entirely under the government of his +wife. + +"The indolent Elector contented himself with showing his resentment by +his silence towards him; and this was the situation the family first +appeared in when they came into England. This behaviour did not, +however, hinder schemes being laid by various persons of gratifying +their ambition, or making their fortunes, by particular attachments to +each of the Royal Family." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716) + +The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British +throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her +first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing +incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England +generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal +Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady +Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's +passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters--Count +de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary and the +Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets and wits of +the day--Gay's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on her--"Court Poems." + + +It is beyond question that the accession to the British throne gave no +thrill of pleasure to the King. He was fifty-four years of age, and had +no desire to change his state. It was necessary for him, as the present +writer has said elsewhere, now to go from a country where he was +absolute, to another where, so far from being supreme, when King and +people differed on a matter of vital importance, the monarch had to give +way--the price of resistance having been fixed, at worst at death, at +best exile or civil war. He had to go from a country where he was the +wealthiest and most important personage to another where he would be +merely regarded as a minor German princeling set up as a figurehead, and +where many of the gentry were wealthier than he. This point was +appreciated by Lady Mary when she went to Hanover in November, 1716, for +she wrote from there to the Countess of Bristol: "I have now made the +tour of Germany, and cannot help observing difference between +travelling here and in England. One sees none of those fine seats of +noblemen that are so common among us, nor anything like a country +gentleman's house, though they have many situations perfectly fine. But +the whole people are divided into absolute sovereignties, where all the +riches and magnificence are at Court, or communities of merchants, such +as Nuremberg and Frankfort, where they live always in town for the +convenience of trade." + +Worse than all George must set forth by no means sure of his reception, +and with no love, nor even liking, for the people over whom he was +called to reign. That he did go at all is greatly to his credit, for he +was doubtful if he would be allowed to remain, and he never revisited +Hanover without some suspicion that he might not be able to return to +England. He would have been a much happier man if he could have remained +at his beloved Herrenhausen. He never felt he owed Britain anything, and +indeed he did not: the throne had been settled on his mother, not for +love of her, but simply because she was the only alternative to the +succession of the dreaded Roman Catholic heirs. So George came as a +visitor, rather submitting to be King of England, than anxious for the +honour, prepared to be forced by circumstances to return, little +dreaming that two hundred years later his descendants would be firmly +seated upon his throne. + +It may be mentioned that Lady Mary, as she became better acquainted with +the King, grew to like him. In the letter from Hanover just quoted, she +says: "His Majesty dines and sups constantly in public. The Court is +very numerous, and his affability and goodness make it one of the most +agreeable places in the world to me." The King was indeed at his best +when in residence at Herrenhausen. Lord Peterborough said that George +was so happy there that he believed he had forgot _the accident that +occurred to him and his family on the 1st of August_, 1714. + +It may be that, the King having taken a great fancy to Lady Mary, +modified that lady's earlier impression. When she and her husband went +to Hanover, the King, as she mentioned in one of her letters to Lady +Bristol, "has had the goodness to appoint us a lodging in one part of +the Palace, without which we should be very ill accommodated; for the +vast number of English crowds the town so much, it is very good luck to +be able to get one sorry room in a miserable tavern. I dined to-day with +the Portuguese ambassador, who thinks himself very happy to have two +wretched parlours in an inn." + +Lady Mary was, indeed, in high favour at the Courts of Hanover and St. +James's. "Mr. Wortley and his lady are here," the British Minister at +Hanover, John Clavering, wrote in December, 1716, to Lady Cowper. "They +were so very impatient to see his Majesty that they travelled night and +day from Vienna here. Her Ladyship is mighty gay and airy, and occasions +a great deal of discourse. Since her arrival the King has took but +little notice of any other lady, not even of Madame Kielmansegg, which +the ladies of Hanover don't relish very much; for my part, I can't help +rejoicing to see his Majesty prefer us to the Germans." + +It was evidently before that the following incident occurred. Lady Mary +often went to St. James's, but, as it was very dull there, was often +glad to go instead to some less august and more amusing assembly. One +evening Lady Mary particularly desired to leave early, and induced the +Duchess of Kendal to persuade the King to dismiss her. The King +reluctantly acquiesced, though, when Lady Mary made her bow, he declared +it was an act of perfidy to run away, but, in spite of that and other +complimentary remarks, she at last contrived to make her escape. + +At the foot of the staircase she met Mr. Secretary Craggs, who, seeing +her leave so early, enquired if the King had retired, but she reassured +him on that point, and dwelt complacently on the King's reluctance to +let her go. Craggs made no remark, but took her in his arms, ran +upstairs, and deposited her in the ante-chamber, whereupon the pages at +once threw open the doors leading to the King's apartment. + +"_Ah! la re-voilà_," cried his Majesty and the Duchess of Kendal, and +expressed their pleasure that she had changed her mind, but Lady Mary +was so flustered that, instead of maintaining a discreet silence she +burst out, "Oh, Lord, Sir, I have been so frightened!" and related her +adventure. + +She had scarcely finished relating her adventure, when the door was +thrown open, and Mr. Secretary Craggs was announced. He entered calmly, +and made his bow as if nothing had happened, but the King strode up to +him, and said angrily: "_Mais, comment, donc, Monsieur Craggs, est ce +que c'est l'usage de ce pays de porter des belles dames comme un sac de +froment_?" ("Is it the custom of this country to carry about fair ladies +as if they were a sack of wheat?") The culprit was dumbfounded by the +unexpected attack, and glanced reproachfully at Lady Mary for having +betrayed him, but, soon finding his wits, parried with, "There is +nothing I would not do for your Majesty's satisfaction." + +One of the reasons for the early unpopularity of George I was that he +brought with him a large suite from Hanover. + +The household that accompanied him numbered sixty-three. There was Baron +von Kielmansegg, who was Master of the Horse; Count von Platen, son of +the late Prime Minister of Hanover; and Baron von Hardenburg, Marshal of +the Court. With them came the Lutheran clergyman, Braun; a group of +physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries; five body-servants, including +the Turks, Mahomet and Mustapha; four pages, two trumpeters, a carver, +twelve footmen, eighteen cooks, three cellarmen, two housemaids, and one +washerwoman. It may be mentioned that in 1696 there were only two +washerwomen for the three hundred and seven persons, exclusive of +royalty, that at this date made up the Court of Hanover. + +The political staff that came included twenty-three persons. Baron von +Bothmer was already in England. Now arrived Baron von Bernstorff, Prime +Minister of Hanover; Baron von Schlitz-Goertz, Hanoverian Finance +Minister; Baron von Hattorf, Hanoverian Minister of War; and John +Robethon. + +To these men, who advised the King in his capacity of Elector of +Hanover, there would have been no objection had they confined their +energies to administering that country. This, unfortunately, was not the +case. Some of them, at least, notably Bernstorff and Robethon, meddled +in English politics, and most of them desired high office, lucrative +appointments, peerages, and other grants. It is certain that they must +have known that they were barred from such delights by an Act of 1700 +which carefully guarded against foreigners acquiring any share in the +government of this country. Nothing, in fact, could be more definite +than clause three of the "Act for the further limitation of the Crown": +"No person born out of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or +the dominions thereunto belonging (although he be naturalised or made a +denizen, except such as are born of English parents)," so runs clause +three of the above-mentioned Act, "shall be capable of the Privy +Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any +office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant +of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown to himself or to +any other or others in trust for him." Still, Acts of Parliament have +been repealed, and the invaders may well have hoped that, with the +King's support, their influence might increase until they were strong +enough to have the clause revoked. + +As a matter of fact, nothing of the kind happened, and no Hanoverian +statesman or court officer was appointed to any place of profit under +the Crown or rewarded for his services in the Electorate by the grant of +a British peerage. It may be noted that the Hanoverian officials, fond +as all Germans were and are of wordy distinctions, styled themselves +"Koenigliche-Gross-britannische-Kurfuerstlich-Braunschweig-Lueneburgische" +(Royal-British-Electoral-Brunswick-Luenburg) councillors or magistrates. + +The Hanoverians who were on the political side or held posts in the +Household might, by the exercise of a little tact, have lived down an +unpopularity that was the result of circumstances rather than arising +from any personal animosity. That they did not do so may be ascribed +partly, anyhow, to their own fault. + +On the other hand, nothing probably would have overcome the prejudice +against the ladies who followed George to this country. These were the +Countess Ehrengard Melusina von der Schulenburg, who, in 1716, was +created Duchess of Munster in the Irish peerage, and three years after +Duchess of Kendal, by which latter title she is more generally known, +and the Baroness von Kielmansegg (_née_ Platen), who was presently +elevated to the dignity of Countess of Darlington. It was generally +assured that these ladies were the King's mistresses, and they were +accordingly disliked not only at Court but also by the mob. One of them +when driving in London was assailed by terms of abuse--as she understood +scarcely any English, she could only go by the tone of the voices--and +putting her head out of the coach said: "Good people, why abuse us? We +come for all your goods." "Yes, damn you," cried someone, "and for our +chattels, too." The man in the crowd only voiced the general opinion, +and, it must be said, the general opinion was not far removed from the +truth. + +Of course, the Jacobites made the most of this, and, as Horace Walpole +has related, "the seraglio was food for all the venom of the Jacobites, +and, indeed, nothing could be grosser that was vomited out in lampoons, +libels, and every channel of abuse against the Sovereign and the new +Court and chanted even in their hearing in the public streets." + +It is mentioned in _Walpoliana_ that "this couple of rabbits, the +favourites, as they were called, occasioned much jocularity on their +first importation." Some of the jocularity was aroused by their +appearance. The style of beauty, or what passed for beauty, in each +country was markedly different. Hear Lady Mary Wortley Montagu writing +from Hanover in December, 1716: "I have now got into the regions of +beauty," she told Lady Rich. "All the women have literally rosy cheeks, +snowy foreheads and bosoms, jet eye-brows, and scarlet lips, to which +they generally add coal-black hair. These perfections never leave them +till the hour of their death, and have a very fine effect by candle-light, +but I could wish they were handsome with a little more variety. They +resemble one another as much as Mrs. Salmon's Court of Great Britain, +and are in much danger of melting away by too near approaching the fire +which they for that reason carefully avoid, though it is now such +excessively cold weather, that I believe they suffer extremely by that +piece of self-denial." + +The Duchess of Kendal at the time of the accession of George I was +forty-seven years of age. The King's mother, the Electress Sophia, had +commented on her to Mrs. Howard: "Look at that mawkin, and think of her +being my son's passion." If a family portrait, now in the possession of +Count Werner Schulenburg, may be trusted, she was what is called "a fine +figure of a woman"; she had blue eyes and fair hair. She was so tall +that she was nicknamed in England "the May-pole." She was certainly +determined to make the most of her opportunities, and the more eager +because at the beginning of the reign she was very doubtful whether +George I would not have hurriedly to retire to Hanover for good and all. +So doubtful of the likelihood of the duration of the Hanoverian line in +this country was she that at first she declined to accompany the +Elector, and she only changed her mind when she found the Baroness von +Kielmansegg had decided to go to England. She was in high favour with +George, and took every advantage of her influence. She left an immense +fortune, which was acquired in ways into which an eulogistic biographer +of the lady would not enquire. Certainly, she received for her good +offices large sums of money from the promoters of the South Sea Act, she +accepted bribes to secure peerages, and, it is said on the authority of +Sir Robert Walpole, that Bolingbroke presented her with £11,000 to +endeavour to secure his restoration to the royal favour. It may be +remarked, _en passant_, that Spence records that Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu said to him: "I would never be acquainted with Lord Bolingbroke, +because I always looked upon him as a vile man." + +Duchess of Kendal was not content with indulging her passion for money; +she, in matters of politics, acted as the hidden hand behind the +throne--any services that she rendered were, it is certain, adequately +remunerated. Her ascendancy over the King was unquestionable, and +Walpole was compelled to admit that she "was in effect as much Queen of +England as ever any was, that he did everything by her." She not only +used her power in connection with home affairs, but also in matters of +foreign policy, and the Count de Broglie, French Minister of the Court +of St. James, was urgent in his endeavours to secure her support. + +"As the Duchess of Kendal seemed to express a wish to see me often, I +have been very attentive to her, being convinced that it is highly +essential to the advantage of your Majesty's service to be on good terms +with her, for she is closely united with the three ministers who now +govern," the Count wrote to Louis XV on July 6, 1724, and four days +later returned to the subject: "The more I consider state affairs, the +more I am convinced that the Government is entirely in the hands of Mr. +Walpole, Lord Townshend, and the Duchess of Newcastle, who are on the +best terms with the Duchess of Kendal. The King visits her every +afternoon from five till eight, and it is there that she endeavours to +penetrate the sentiments of his Britannic majesty for the purpose of +consulting the three ministers, and pursuing the measures which may be +thought necessary for accomplishing their designs. She sent me word that +she was desirous of my friendship, and that I should place confidence in +her. I assured her that I would do everything in my power to merit her +esteem and friendship. I am convinced that she may be advantageously +employed in promoting your Majesty's service, and that it will be +necessary to employ her, though I will not trust her further than is +absolutely necessary." To these letters Louis replied on July 18: "There +is no doubt that the Duchess of Kendal, having a great ascendancy over +the King of Great Britain, and maintaining strict union with his +ministers, must materially influence their principal resolutions. You +will neglect nothing to acquire a share of her confidence, from a +conviction that nothing can be more conducive to my interests. There is, +however, a manner of giving additional value to the marks of confidence +you bestow on her in private, by avoiding in public all appearances +which might seem too pointed, by which means you will avoid falling into +the inconvenience of being suspected by those who are not friendly to +the Duchess, at the same time that a kind of mysteriousness in public on +the subject of your confidence, will give rise to a firm belief of your +having formed a friendship mutually sincere." + +The case of Lady Darlington was different. It was assured generally that +she, too, was a mistress of the King, a view that Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu accepted, and one which was endorsed by the historians and +biographers for more than a century. The first English writer to +discover the truth was Carlyle, who in his _Life of Frederick the Great_ +said: "Miss Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington, was, and is, believed +by the gossiping English to have been a second simultaneous Mistress of +His Majesty's, but seems after all to have been his Half-Sister and +nothing more." She was, in fact, a daughter of the Countess of Platen +(_née_ Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbach), not, indeed, by that lady's +husband, but by Ernest Augustus, Duke (afterwards Elector) of Hanover, +the father of George I. Only Lady Cowper seems to have known this, and +to have accepted it as a fact. Yet there was no secrecy concerning the +paternity of the Countess, and it was, of course, well-known in the +German Courts. Further, it was overlooked that in the patent of nobility +in 1721 there is a reference to the royal blood of the recipient of the +title, and actually the patent, in addition to the Great Seal, had a +miniature of the King and the arms of the houses of Platen, Kielmansegg, +and Great Britain (Brunswick-Lueneburg) with the bar-sinister.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Refutation of the scandal is to be found in a work +published in Hanover in 1902: "_Briefe des Hertzogs Ernst August zu +Braun schweig-Lüneburg an Johann Franz Diedrich von Wendt aus dem Jahren +1705 bis 1726_," edited by Erich Graf Kielmansegg.] + +All this at this time must have been very distressing to Lady Darlington, +for she was very careful of her reputation, as the following amusing +incident, given in Lady Cowper's Diary (February 4, 1716) indicates: +"Madame Kielmansegg had been told that the Prince, afterwards George II, +had said that she intrigued with all the men at Hanover. She came to +complain of this to the Princess, who replied, she did not believe the +Prince had said so, it not being his custom to speak in that manner. +Madame Kielmansegg cried and said it had made her despised, and that +many of her acquaintance had left her upon that story, but that her +husband had taken all the care she could to vindicate her reputation, +and thereupon she drew forth a certificate under her husband's hand, in +which he certified, in all the due forms, that she had always been a +faithful wife to him, and that he had never had any cause to suspect her +honesty. The Princess smiled, and said she did not doubt it at all, and +that all the trouble was very unnecessary, and that it was a very bad +reputation that wanted such a support." + +In appearance, Lady Darlington was a contrast to the Duchess of Kendal. +She was in her youth a good-looking woman, but as the years passed she +became immensely corpulent, and Horace Walpole, who saw her at his +mother's when he was a child, thus described her: "Two fierce black +eyes, large and rolling between two lofty arched eye-brows, two acres of +cheeks spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed, and was +not distinguished from the lower part of her body, and no part +restrained by stays." He christened her "Elephant and Castle." + +For a while, Lady Mary was popular also with the Prince of Wales, who +was attracted by her looks and her vivacity. It is recorded that on one +occasion when Lady Mary appeared in a gown more than usually becoming +the Prince called his wife from the card table to admire her. The +Princess came, looked, and then said calmly, "Lady Mary always dresses +so well," and went on with her game. + +It was impossible, however, even for the most tactful person in the +world to be on good terms with the King and the Prince of Wales. It is +said of George I that he was of an affectionate disposition and that +throughout his life he hated only three people in the world: his mother, +who was dead, his wife, who was imprisoned at Ahlden, and his son. It +has been said that the trouble began when in his early youth the Prince +expressed sympathy with his mother; it may be that it started from the +fact that the Prince was the son of a woman who had sullied the honour +of the Royal House. It is, however, unnecessary to look for reasons; to +hate the heir-apparent was a tradition with the Georges. + +Matters did not improve after the accession of George I to the British +throne. He disliked his daughter-in-law, Caroline, daughter of John +Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Anspach, and spoke of her as "_Cette +diablesse Madame la Princesse."_ The opposition was not slow to take +advantage of the rift, and planted itself on the side of his Royal +Highness. It proposed, on the Civil List vote, a separate revenue of +£100,000 for the Prince--which infuriated the King, as it was intended +to do. + +In 1716 George was anxious to visit his beloved Hanover, but he was torn +between the desire to do so and the dislike to leave his son in England +as Regent during his absence. Indeed, he almost decided not to go, +unless he could join others with the Prince in the administration and +limit his authority by the most rigorous restriction. To this, however, +the Government could not consent, and Townshend stated that "on a +careful persual of precedents, finding no instance of persons being +joined in commission with the Prince of Wales, and few, if any, +restrictions, they were of opinion that the constant tenour of ancient +practice could not conveniently be receded from." + +Lady Mary, like the rest of the world, found the Court dull, and she +much preferred to spend her time in the more congenial society of men of +letters. Addison, she knew, and Steele, and Arbuthnot, and Jervas, and +Gay, who presently paid her a pretty compliment in _Mr. Pope's Welcome +from Greece,_ wherein he inserted tributes to the ladies of the Court: + + "What lady's that to whom he gently bends? + Who knows her not? Ah, those are Wortley's eyes. + How art thou honour'd, number'd with her friends; + For she distinguishes the good and wise." + +Pope, too, wrote of her with appreciation: + + TO LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU + + I + + In beauty or wit, + No mortal as yet + To question your empire has dared. + But men of discerning + Have thought that in learning, + To yield to a lady was hard. + + II + + Impertinent schools, + With musty dull rules, + Have reading to females denied; + So Papists refuse + The Bible to use + Lest flocks should be wise as their guides. + + III + + Twas woman at first + (Indeed she was curst) + In knowledge that tasted delight, + And sages agree + The laws should decree + To the first possessor the right. + + IV + + Then bravely, fair dame, + Resume the old claim, + Which to your whole sex does belong; + And let men receive + From a second bright Eve + The knowledge of right and of wrong. + + V + + But if the first Eve + Hard doom did receive, + When only one apple had she, + What a punishment new + Shall be found out for you, + Who tasting, have robb'd the whole tree! + +The acquaintance with Pope began shortly after Lady Mary came to town in +the autumn of 1714. It soon developed into friendship. "Lady Mary +Wortley," Jervas wrote to the poet, probably in 1715 or early in the +following year, "ordered me by express this morning, _cedente Gayo et +ridente Fortescuvio_, to send you a letter, or some other proper notice, +to come to her on Thursday about five, which I suppose she meant in the +evening." + +There appeared in March, 1716, a volume bearing the title _Court Poems_, +the authorship being attributed to "A Lady of Quality," who, it soon +became known, was Lady Mary. The book was issued by Roberts, who had +received the three sets of verses contained in it from the notorious +piratical publisher, Edmund Curll. How the manuscript "fell" into the +hands of Curll it is not easy to imagine. Curll's account is that they +were found in a pocket-book taken up in Westminster Hall on the last day +of the trial of the Jacobite Lord Winton. Anyhow, however it came about, +the volume was published in 1716, when it was found to contain "The +Basset Table," "The Drawing Room," and "The Toilet." + +Curll was an excellent publicity agent for his wares. He wrote, or +caused to be written, a most intriguing "advertisement" about the +authorship of the poems: + + +"Upon reading them over at St. James' Coffee House, they were attributed +by the general voice to be the productions of a lady of quality. When I +produced them at Button's, the poetical jury there brought in a +different verdict; and the foreman strenuously insisted upon it that Mr. +Gay was the man. Not content with these two decisions, I was resolved to +call in an umpire, and accordingly chose a gentleman of distinguished +merit, who lives not far from Chelsea. I sent him the papers, which he +returned next day, with this answer: "Sir, depend upon it these lines +could come from no other hand than the judicious translator of Homer." +Thus, having impartially given the sentiments of the Town, I hope I may +deserve thanks for the pains I have taken in endeavouring to find out +the author of these valuable performances, and everybody is at liberty +to bestow the laurel as they please." + + +Pope was furious, and there is a story that he invited Curll to drink +wine with him at a coffee-house, and put in his glass some poison that +acted as an emetic. What is certain is that the poet wrote a pamphlet +with the title, "A full and true Account of a horrid and barbarous +Revenge by Poison on the body of Edmund Curll." + +The three pieces in _Court Poems_ were claimed by Lady Mary as her own, +but this claim was disputed. Pope declared himself the author of "The +Basset Table," and it was printed among his works, and he asserted that +"'The Toilet' is almost wholly Gay's," there being "only five or six +lines in it by that lady." "The Toilet" is included in his collected +edition of Gay's poems. + +The whole matter is best explained by that sound student of the +eighteenth century, "George Paston," who suggests that the truth seems +to be that the verses were handed round in manuscript to be read and +corrected by the writer's literary friends, and therefore they owe +something to the different hands. "George Paston" goes on to say: "Lady +Mary was not unaware of the danger of this proceeding, for Richardson +the painter relates that on one occasion she showed Pope a copy of her +verses in which she intended to make some trifling alterations, but +refused his help, saying, 'No, Pope, no touching, for then whatever is +good for anything will pass for yours, and the rest for mine.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--I (1716) + +Montagu loses his place at the Treasury--His antagonism against +Walpole--Lady Mary, "Dolly" Walpole, and Molly Skerritt--The Earl and +Countess of Mar leave England--Montagu appointed Ambassador to the +Porte--Leaves England for Constantinople, accompanied by his +wife--Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople--Rotterdam--Vienna-- +Lady Mary at Court--Her gown--Her interest in clothes--Viennese +society--Gallantry--Lady Mary's experience--Count Tarrocco--Precedence +at Vienna--A nunnery--The Montagus visit the German Courts--A dangerous +drive--Prince Frederick (afterwards Prince of Wales)--Herrenhausen. + + +Edward Wortley Montagu did not long hold office. Lord Halifax, First +Lord of the Treasury in the Townshend Administration, died in May, 1715, +when his place was taken by Lord Carlisle, who, however, held it only +until the following October. Carlisle was succeeded by Sir Robert +Walpole, promoted from the less important but far more lucrative post of +Paymaster-General. In the new Commission of the Treasury Montagu's name +did not appear. Why Montagu was removed has not transpired; it may, +indeed, be that he resigned, for he had a strong dislike for the new +Minister. There may also have been some family sentiment in the matter, +for while Lady Mary was an intimate friend of Walpole's harum-scarum +sister, "Dolly," who was now Lady Townshend, Lady Walpole was very +decidedly her enemy. Lady Mary presently had her tit-for-tat with Lady +Walpole by "taking up" Walpole's mistress, Molly Skerritt. + +It may be here mentioned that Lady Mar was at this time living with her +husband at Paris, at St. Germain, and that she remained abroad for the +rest of her life. She had left England owing to the conduct of Lord Mar +in taking an active part in the rebellion of '15. He had set up the +Pretender's standard at Braemar, had suffered defeat at Sheriffmuir, and +had been so fortunate as to escape with his master to Gravelines. In +gratitude for his services, the Pretender created Lord Mar a Duke. Mar +lived until 1732, dying at the age of fifty-seven, and he spent the +years in losing the confidence of the Jacobites and endeavouring to +ingratiate himself with the Hanoverian Kings of England--in which latter +quest he was markedly unsuccessful. His Scotch estates were confiscated, +and his title attained--the attainder of the earldom was not reversed +until 1824. + +Montagu, having tasted the sweets of office, even so minor a place as +that of a Lord of the Treasury, was not content to enjoy such pleasures +as a private life could afford. He desired to be somebody. Probably he +worried the Government of the day, possibly he pointed out to the +leaders of the Whig Party that he was possessed of parts that should +not, in justice to his country, be ignored. He may even have approached +the Throne. It is not inconceivable that he made himself a nuisance to +all concerned. + +Anyhow, it was ultimately decided that something must be done with him. +But what? Austria and Turkey were at war in 1716; what better than to +send Montagu as Ambassador to the Porte, with a mission to endeavour to +reconcile the protagonists? He was appointed to this post on June 5. + +It was while accompanying her husband on this mission that Lady Mary +wrote her famous "Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople," which +constitute a very important document on the state of Europe at the time. +It is by no means certain, however, that, in the first instance, these +reflections were all cast in letter-form; it is much more likely that +some were written in a diary. The letters appear as addressed to the +Countess of Bristol, to the Princess of Wales, to Mrs. Thistlethwayte, +to Lady Rich, to Alexander Pope, to the Abbé Conti, to Miss Sarah +Chiswell, to Mrs. Hewet, to Lady Mary's sister, the Countess of Mar, and +others. + +At the beginning of August, 1716, Montagu, with his wife and son, and, +it is to be presumed, his suite, left England, and, after a very bad +crossing, landed at Rotterdam. From that city, the cleanliness of which +surprised and delighted Lady Mary--"you may see the Dutch maids washing +the pavement of the street with more application than ours do our +bed-chambers"--the party proceeded by way of the Hague, Nimeguen, +Cologne, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Wurzberg, and Ratisbon to Vienna, where +they arrived during the first week in September. + +Lady Mary was all impatient to go to Court, for, as she put it, "I am +not without a great impatience to see a beauty that has been the +admiration of so many nations," but she was forced to stay for a gown, +without which there was no waiting on the Empress. Presently the gown +was ready, and Lady Mary was presented. + + +"I was squeezed up in a gown" (she wrote to her sister, Lady Mar), "and +adorned with a gorget and the other implements thereunto belonging: a +dress very inconvenient, but which certainly shews the neck and shape to +great advantage. I cannot forbear in this place giving you some +description of the fashions here which are more monstrous and contrary +to all common sense and reason, than 'tis possible for you to imagine. +They build certain fabrics of gauze on their heads about a yard high, +consisting of three or four stories fortified with numberless yards of +heavy ribbon. The foundation of this structure is a thing they call a +_Bourle_ which is exactly of the same shape and kind, but about four +times as big, as those rolls our prudent milk-maids make use of to fix +their pails upon. This machine they cover with their own hair, which +they mix with a great deal of false, it being a particular beauty to +have their heads too large to go into a moderate tub. Their hair is +prodigiously powdered, to conceal the mixture, and set out with three or +four rows of bodkins (wonderfully large, that stick [out] two or three +inches from their hair), made of diamonds, pearls, red, green, and +yellow stones, that it certainly requires as much art and experience to +carry the load upright, as to dance upon May-day with the garland. Their +whalebone petticoats outdo ours by several yards circumference, and +cover some acres of ground. + +"You may easily suppose how much this extraordinary dress sets off and +improves the natural ugliness with which God Almighty has been pleased +to endow them all generally. Even the lovely Empress herself is obliged +to comply, in some degree, with these absurd fashions, which they would +not quit for all the world." + + +The above passage is the more interesting because it has so often been +asserted that Lady Mary took no interest in dress. As a matter of fact, +however, there are several indications in her letters that she thought a +good deal about clothes. + +"My little commission is hardly worth speaking of; if you have not +already laid out that small sum in St. Cloud ware, I had rather have it +in plain lutestring of any colour," she wrote in June, 1721, to her +sister, Lady Mar, at Paris. + +"I would have no black silk, having bought here," she said on another +occasion; and again, "My paper is done, and I will only put you in mind +of my lutestring, which I beg you will send me plain, of what colour you +please." "Dear Sister, adieu," she wrote in 1723. "I have been very free +in this letter, because I think I am sure of its going safe. I wish my +nightgown may do the same: I only choose that as most convenient to you; +but if it was equally so, I had rather the money was laid out in plain +lutestring, if you could send me eight yards at a time of different +colours, designing it for linings; but if this scheme is impracticable, +send me a nightgown _à la mode_." + +Apparently Lady Mar was careless or forgetful of the commission, for a +little later Lady Mary was writing pathetically: "I wish you would think +of my lutestring, for I am in terrible want of linings." + +The account of the Austrian Court of the day, as given by Lady Mary, is +invaluable, for there is no other available written by an English person +accustomed to another Court. + +Lady Mary's descriptions of Viennese society are also delightful, and if +she wrote of the royal circle with respect, she bubbled over with +merriment when writing of folk less highly placed. A letter of hers to +Lady Rich is too delicious to be omitted. + + +"I have compassion for the mortifications that you tell me befall our +little friend, and I pity her much more, since I know that they are only +owing to the barbarous customs of our country. Upon my word, if she was +here, she would have no other fault but being something too young for +the fashion, and she has nothing to do but to transplant hither about +seven years hence, to be again a young and blooming beauty. I can assure +you that wrinkles, or a small stoop in the shoulders, nay, even grey +hair itself, is no objection to the making new conquests. I know you +cannot easily figure to yourself a young fellow of five-and-twenty +ogling my Lady Suffolk with passion, or pressing to lead the Countess of +Oxford from an opera. But such are the sights I see every day, and I +don't perceive any body surprised at them but myself. A woman, till +five-and-thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly +make no noise in the world till about forty. I don't know what your +ladyship may think of this matter; but 'tis a considerable comfort to +me, to know there is upon earth such a paradise for old women; and I am +content to be insignificant at present, in the design of returning when +I am fit to appear nowhere else. I cannot help lamenting upon this +occasion, the pitiful case of too many good English ladies, long since +retired to prudery and ratafia, whom if their stars had luckily +conducted hither, would still shine in the first rank of beauties; and +then that perplexing word reputation has quite another meaning here than +what you give it at London; and getting a lover is so far from losing, +that 'tis properly getting reputation; ladies being much more +respected in regard to the rank of their lovers, than that of their +husbands. + +"But what you'll think very odd, the two sects that divide our whole +nation of petticoats, are utterly unknown. Here are neither coquettes +nor prudes. No woman dares appear coquette enough to encourage two +lovers at a time. And I have not seen any such prudes as to pretend +fidelity to their husbands, who are certainly the best-natured set of +people in the world, and they look upon their wives' gallants as +favourably as men do upon their deputies, that take the troublesome part +of their business off of their hands; though they have not the less to +do; for they are generally deputies in another place themselves; in one +word, 'tis the established custom for every lady to have two husbands, +one that bears the name, and another that performs the duties. And these +engagements are so well known, that it would be a downright affront, and +publicly resented, if you invited a woman of quality to dinner, without +at the same time inviting her two attendants of lover and husband, +between whom she always sits in state with great gravity. These +sub-marriages generally last twenty years together, and the lady often +commands the poor lover's estate even to the utter ruin of his family; +though they are as seldom begun by any passion as other matches. But a +man makes but an ill figure who is not in some commerce of this nature; +and a woman looks out for a lover as soon as she's married, as part of +her equipage, without which she could not be genteel; and the first +article of the treaty is establishing the pension, which remains to the +lady though the gallant should prove inconstant; and this chargeable +point of honour I look upon as the real foundation of so many wonderful +instances of constancy. I really know several women of the first +quality, whose pensions are as well known as their annual rents, and yet +nobody esteems them the less; on the contrary, their discretion would be +called in question, if they should be suspected to be mistresses for +nothing; and a great part of their emulation consists in trying who +shall get most; and having no intrigue at all is so far a disgrace that, +I'll assure you, a lady, who is very much my friend here, told me but +yesterday, how much I was obliged to her for justifying my conduct in a +conversation on my subject, where it was publicly asserted that I could +not possibly have common sense, that I had been about town above a +fortnight, and had made no steps towards commencing an amour. My friend +pleaded for me that my stay was uncertain; and she believed that was the +cause of my seeming stupidity and this was all she could find to say in +my justification." + + +But Lady Mary, though only twenty-seven, and therefore, according to her +own account, much too youthful for the gallants of Vienna, yet had an +experience: + + +"But one of the pleasantest adventures I ever met in my life was last +night, and which will give you a just idea after what a delicate manner +the _belles passions_ are managed in this country. I was at the assembly +of the Countess of ----, and the young Count of ---- led me down stairs, +and he asked me how long I intended to stay here? I made answer that my +stay depended on the emperor, and it was not in my power to determine +it. Well, madam, (said he), whether your time here is to be long or +short, I think you ought to pass it agreeably, and to that end you must +engage in a little affair of the heart.--My heart (answered I gravely +enough) does not engage very easily, and I have no design of parting +with it. I see, madam, (said he sighing,) by the ill nature of that +answer, that I am not to hope for it, which is a great mortification to +me that am charmed with you. But, however, I am still devoted to your +service; and since I am not worthy of entertaining you myself, do me the +honour of letting me know whom you like best among us, and I'll engage +to manage the affair entirely to your satisfaction.--You may judge in +what manner I should have received this compliment in my own country, +but I was well enough acquainted with the way of this, to know that he +really intended me an obligation, and thanked him with a grave +courtesy for his zeal to serve me, and only assured him that I had no +occasion to make use of it. + +"Thus you see, my dear, gallantry and good-breeding are as different, in +different climates, as morality and religion. Who have the rightest +notions of both, we shall never know till the day of judgment, for which +great day of _éclaircissement_, I own there is very little impatience in +your, &c." + + +Love-making was indeed one of the principal pastimes at Vienna. There +was Count Tarrocco (who was in attendance on the Prince of Portugal), +and, as she told Lady Mar, "just such a Roman Catholic as you." "He +succeeds greatly with the devout beauties here," she went on to say; +"his first overtures in gallantry are disguised under the luscious +strains of spiritual love, that were sung formerly by the sublimely +voluptuous Fenelon and the tender Madam Guion, who turned the spirit of +carnal love to divine objects; thus the Count begins with the spirit and +ends generally with the flesh, when he makes his addresses to holy +virgins." Presently, she teased her sister about this same young man. +"Count Tarrocco is just come in," she wrote. "He is the only person I +have excepted in my general order to receive no company--I think I see +you smile--but I am not so far gone as to stand in need of absolution; +though as my heart is deceitful, and the Count very agreeable, you may +think that even though I should not want an absolution, I would +nevertheless be glad to have an indulgence.--No such thing. However, as +I am a heretic, and you no confessor, I shall make no more declarations +on this head.--The design of the Count's visit is a ball;--more +pleasure--I shall be surfeited." + +The "phlegm of the country" surprised Lady Mary, who declared that it +was not from Austria that one could write with vivacity--and by her +letters at once disproved her statement. According to her, amours and +quarrels were carried on calmly and almost good-temperedly. Strong +feelings only came into play when points of ceremony were concerned. A +man not only scorned to marry a woman of family less illustrious than +his own, but even to make love to her--"the pedigree is much more +considered by them than either the complexion or features of their +mistresses. Happy are the shes that can number among their ancestors +Counts of the Empire; they have neither occasion for beauty, money, or +good conduct to get them husbands." How far this passion for rank and +precedence went is indicated by an amusing incident related by Lady +Mary. + + +"'Tis not long since two coaches, meeting in a narrow street at night, +the ladies in them not being able to adjust the ceremonial of which +should go back, sat there with equal gallantry till two in the morning, +and were both so fully determined to die upon the spot, rather than +yield in a point of that importance, that the street would never have +been cleared till their deaths, if the emperor had not sent his guards +to part them; and even then they refused to stir, till the expedient was +found out of taking them both out in chairs exactly at the same moment; +after which it was with some difficulty the _pas_ was decided between +the two coachmen, no less tenacious of their rank than the ladies." + + +Lady Mary herself was, of course, unaffected, because, as the wife of an +ambassador, she, by their own customs, had the _pas_ before all other +ladies--to the great envy of the town. + +Lady Mary, who had had enough of solitude during her long residence in +Yorkshire, now in Vienna was determined to enjoy herself and flung +herself into all the social gaieties. She went everywhere and met +everyone. She dined at the villa of Count Schönbrunn, the +Vice-Chancellor; she attended all the assemblies of Madame Rabutin and +the other leaders of society, and all the "gala days"; she danced; she +went to the theatre, and, then, as a contrast, to a nunnery, which left +her unhappy, as, indeed, she put on record: + + +"I was surprised to find here the only beautiful young woman I have +seen at Vienna, and not only beautiful, but genteel, witty, and +agreeable, of a great family, and who had been the admiration of the +town. I could not forbear shewing my surprise at seeing a nun like her. +She made me a thousand obliging compliments, and desired me to come +often. It will be an infinite pleasure to me, (said she, sighing,) to +see you; but I avoid, with the greatest care, seeing any of my former +acquaintance, and whenever they come to our convent, I lock myself in +my cell. I observed tears come into her eyes, which touched me +extremely, and I began to talk to her in that strain of tender pity she +inspired me with; but she would not own to me that she is not perfectly +happy. I have since endeavoured to learn the real cause of her +retirement, without being able to get any other account, but that every +body was surprised at it, and nobody guessed the reason. + +"I have been several times to see her; but it gives me too much +melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried alive, and I am +not surprised that nuns have so often inspired violent passions; the +pity one naturally feels for them, when they seem worthy of another +destiny, making an easy way for yet more tender sentiments; and I never +in my life had so little charity for the Roman-catholic religion as +since I see the misery it occasions; so many poor unhappy women! and the +gross superstition of the common people, who are, some or other of them, +day and night offering bits of candle to the wooden figures that are set +up almost in every street. The processions I see very often, are a +pageantry as offensive, and apparently contradictory to all common +sense, as the pagodas of China. God knows whether it be the womanly +spirit of contradiction that works in me; but there never before was so +much zeal against popery in the heart of, + +"Dear madam, &c." + + +In November the Montagus interrupted their stay at Vienna to visit some +of the German Courts. They went to Prague, where the attire of the +ladies amused Lady Mary. "I have been visited by some of the most +considerable ladies, whose relations I know at Vienna," she wrote to +Lady Mar. "They are dressed after the fashions there, as people at +Exeter imitate those of London; that is, the imitation is more excessive +than the original; 'tis not easy to describe what extraordinary figures +they make. The person is so much lost between head-dress and petticoat, +they have as much occasion to write upon their backs 'This is a woman,' +for the information of travellers, as ever sign-post painter had to +write, 'This is a bear.'" From Prague to Dresden, travelling thither by +a most alarming route: + + +"You may imagine how heartily I was tired with twenty-four hours' +post-travelling [to Dresden], without sleep or refreshment (for I can +never sleep in a coach, however fatigued). We passed by moonshine the +frightful precipices that divide Bohemia from Saxony, at the bottom of +which runs the river Elbe; but I cannot say that I had reason to fear +drowning in it, being perfectly convinced that, in case of a tumble, it +was utterly impossible to come alive to the bottom. In many places the +road is so narrow, that I could not discern an inch of space between the +wheels and the precipice. Yet I was so good a wife not to wake Mr. +Wortley, who was fast asleep by my side, to make him share in my fears, +since the danger was unavoidable, till I perceived by the bright light +of the moon, our postilions nodding on horseback, while the horses were +on a full gallop, and I thought it very convenient to call out to desire +them to look where they were going. My calling waked Mr. Wortley, and he +was much more surprised than myself at the situation we were in, and +assured me that he had passed the Alps five times in different places, +without ever having gone a road so dangerous. I have been told since it +is common to find the bodies of travellers in the Elbe; but, thank God, +that was not our destiny; and we came safe to Dresden, so much tired +with fear and fatigue, it was not possible for me to compose myself to +write." + + +From Dresden the travellers visited Leipzig, and then went to Brunswick, +and afterwards to Hanover, where they paid their respects to George I. +It was there that Lady Mary first made the acquaintance of the eldest +son of the Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis, himself presently Prince +of Wales and father of George III. He was then nine years of age. + + +"I am extremely pleased that I can tell you, without either flattery or +partiality, that our young Prince has all the accomplishments that it is +possible to have at his age, with an air of sprightliness and +understanding, and something so very engaging and easy in his behaviour, +that he needs not the advantage of his rank to appear charming. I had +the honour of a long conversation with him last night, before the King +came in. His governor retired on purpose (as he told me afterwards) that +I might make some judgment of his genius, by hearing him speak without +constraint; and I was surprised at the quickness and politeness that +appeared in every thing he said; joined to a person perfectly agreeable, +and the fine fair hair of the Princess." + + +Amazed as Lady Mary was at the size of the Palace at Hanover which, she +said, was capable of holding a greater court than that of St. James's, +and the opera-house which was larger than that at Vienna, what +principally amazed her was the orangery at Herrenhausen and what +principally delighted her was the use of stoves, then unknown in +England. + + +"I was very sorry that the ill weather did not permit me to see +Herrenhausen in all its beauty; but, in spite of the snow, I thought the +gardens very fine" (she wrote with enthusiasm to Lady Mar). "I was +particularly surprised at the vast number of orange trees, much larger +than I have ever seen in England, though this climate is certainly +colder. But I had more reason to wonder that night at the King's table. +There was brought to him from a gentleman of this country, two large +baskets full of ripe oranges and lemons of different sorts, many of +which were quite new to me; and, what I thought worth all the rest, two +ripe bananas, which, to my taste, are a fruit perfectly delicious. You +know they are naturally the growth of Brazil, and I could not imagine +how they could come there but by enchantment. Upon enquiry, I learnt +that they have brought their stoves to such perfection, they lengthen +the summer as long as they please, giving to every plant the degree of +heat it would receive from the sun in its native soil. The effect is +very near the same; I am surprised we do not practise in England so +useful an invention. + +"This reflection naturally leads me to consider our obstinacy in shaking +with cold six months in the year, rather than make use of stoves, which +are certainly one of the greatest conveniences of life; and so far from +spoiling the form of a room, they add very much to the magnificence of +it, when they are painted and gilt, as at Vienna, or at Dresden, where +they are often in the shape of china jars, statues, or fine cabinets, so +naturally represented, they are not to be distinguished. If ever I +return, in defiance to the fashion, you shall certainly see one in the +chamber of, + +"Dear sister, &c." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--II(1717-1718) + +Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her +description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes +acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her +belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr. +Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady +Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu +recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a +daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her +sister, Lady Mar. + + +The Montagus returned to Vienna for the new year (1717), but late in +January went to Peterwaradin, thence to Belgrade, and arrived at +Adrianople at the end of March. It was in Adrianople that Lady Mary made +acquaintance with the Turkish Bath, which so impressed her that she sent +home a long account of it. It was not until about 1860 that they became +popular in England, a century and a half later. + + +"I went to the bagnio about ten o'clock. It was already full of women. +It is built of stone, in the shape of a dome, with no windows but in the +roof, which gives light enough, There were five of these domes joined +together, the outmost being less than the rest, and serving only as a +hall, where the portress stood at the door. Ladies of quality generally +give this woman the value of a crown or ten shillings; and I did not +forget that ceremony. The next room is a very large one paved with +marble, and all round it, raised, two sofas of marble, one above +another. There were four fountains of cold water in this room, falling +first into marble basins, and then running on the floor in little +channels made for that purpose, which carried the streams into the next +room, something less than this, with the same sort of marble sofas but +so hot with steams of sulphur proceeding from the baths joining to it, +it was impossible to stay there with one's clothes on. The two other +domes were the hot baths, one of which had cocks of cold water turning +into it, to temper it to what degree of warmth the bathers have a mind +to. + +"I was in my travelling habit, which is a riding dress, and certainly +appeared very extraordinary to them. Yet there was not one of them that +shewed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me with +all the obliging civility possible. I know no European court where the +ladies would have behaved themselves in so polite a manner to a +stranger. I believe in the whole, there were two hundred women, and yet +none of those disdainful smiles, or satiric whispers, that never fail in +our assemblies when any body appears that is not dressed exactly in the +fashion. They repeated over and over to me, "Uzelle, pék uzelle," which +is nothing but Charming, very charming.--The first sofas were covered +with cushions and rich carpets, on which sat the ladies; and on the +second, their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of rank by +their dress, all being in the state of nature, that is, in plain +English, stark naked, without any beauty or defect concealed. Yet there +was not the least wanton smile or immodest gesture amongst them. They +walked and moved with the same majestic grace which Milton describes of +our general mother. There were many amongst them as exactly proportioned +as ever any goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian,--and +most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful +hair divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided +either with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the +Graces. + +"I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, +that if it was the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly +observed. I perceived that the ladies with the finest skins and most +delicate shapes had the greatest share of my admiration, though their +faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions. To +tell you the truth, I had wickedness enough to wish secretly that Mr. +Jervas[3] could have been there invisible. I fancy it would have very +much improved his art, to see so many fine women naked, in different +postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking coffee or +sherbet, and many negligently lying on their cushions, while their +slaves (generally pretty girls of seventeen or eighteen) were employed +in braiding their hair in several pretty fancies. In short, it is the +women's coffee-house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal +invented, &c.--They generally take this diversion once a-week, and stay +there at least four or five hours without getting cold by immediate +coming out of the hot bath into the cold room, which was very surprising +to me. The lady that seemed the most considerable among them, entreated +me to sit by her, and would fain have undressed me for the bath. I +excused myself with some difficulty. They being all so earnest in +persuading me, I was at last forced to open my shirt, and shew them my +stays; which satisfied them very well, for, I saw, they believed I was +so locked up in that machine, that it was not in my own power to open +it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband." + +[Footnote 3: Charles Jervas (1675?-1739), portrait painter and +translator of _Don Quixote_, the friend of Pope.] + + +Lady Mary was much amused by this last, and referred to the incident in +conversation with Joseph Spence. "One of the highest entertainments in +Turkey," she told him, "is having you to their baths, and when I was +introduced the lady of the house came to undress me, which is another +high compliment that they pay to strangers. After she had slipped off my +gown and seen my stays she was much struck at the sight of them and +cried out to the other ladies in the bath 'Come hither and see how +cruelly the poor English ladies are used by their husbands. You need +boast indeed of the superior liberties allowed you, when they lock you +up in a box!'" + +Lady Mary had a Turkish dress made for her, which she frequently wore, +when she found that the English costume made her unpleasantly +conspicuous. "The ladies at Constantinople used to be extremely +surprised to see me go always with my bosom uncovered," she noted. "It +was in vain that I told them that everybody did the same thing among us, +and alleged everything I could in defence of it. They could never be +reconciled to so immodest a custom, as they thought it; and one of them, +after I had been defending it to my utmost, said: 'Oh, my Sultana, you +can never defend the manners of your country, even with all your wit; +but I see that you are in pain for them, and shall, therefore, press it +no further.'" + +Lady Mary was proud of her appearance in her Turkish clothes, and has +given a minute description of them: + + +"The first piece of my dress is a pair of drawers, very full, that reach +to my shoes, and conceal the legs more modestly than your petticoats. +They are of a thin rose-coloured damask, brocaded with silver flowers, +my shoes are of white kid leather, embroidered with gold. Over this +hangs my smock, of a fine white silk gauze, edged with embroidery. This +smock has wide sleeves, hanging half way down the arm, and is closed at +the neck with a diamond button; but the shape and colour of the bosom +very well to be distinguished through it. The _antery_ is a waistcoat, +made close to the shape, of white and gold damask, with very long +sleeves falling back, and fringed with deep gold fringe, and should have +diamond or pearl buttons. My _caftan_, of the same stuff with my +drawers, is a robe exactly fitted to my shape, and reaching to my feet, +with very long strait falling sleeves. Over this is the girdle, of about +four fingers broad, which all that can afford have entirely of diamonds +or other precious stones; those who will not be at that expense, have +it of exquisite embroidery on satin; but it must be fastened before with +a clasp of diamonds. The _curdee_ is a loose robe they throw off or put +on according to the weather, being of a rich brocade (mine is green and +gold), either lined with ermine or sables; the sleeves reach very little +below the shoulders. The head-dress is composed of a cap, called +_talpock_, which is in winter of fine velvet embroidered with pearls or +diamonds, and in summer of a light shining silver stuff. This is fixed +on one side of the head, hanging a little way down with a gold tassel, +and bound on either side with a circle of diamonds (as I have seen +several) or a rich embroidered handkerchief. On the other side of the +head, the hair is laid flat; and here the ladies are at liberty to shew +their fancies; some putting flowers, others a plume of heron's feathers, +and, in short, what they please; but the most general fashion is a large +_bouquet_ of jewels, made like natural flowers; that is the buds of +pearl; the roses, of different coloured rubies; the jessamines, of +diamonds; the jonquils, of topazes, &c., so well set and enamelled, 'tis +hard to imagine any thing of that kind so beautiful. The hair hangs at +its full length behind, divided into tresses braided with pearl or +ribbon, which is always in great quantity." + + +Much that Lady Mary wrote was of great value in exploding many +ill-founded beliefs at home as regards Turkish life, and especially +concerning the manners and customs of Turkish women. + + +"As to their morality or good conduct, I can say, like Harlequin, that +'tis just as it is with you; and the Turkish ladies don't commit one sin +the less for not being Christians. Now I am a little acquainted with +their ways, I cannot forbear admiring either the exemplary discretion or +extreme stupidity of all the writers that have given accounts of them. +'Tis very easy to see they have more liberty than we have. No woman, of +what rank soever, being permitted to go into the streets without two +muslins; one that covers her face all but her eyes, and another that +hides the whole dress of her head, and hangs half way down her back, and +their shapes are wholly concealed by a thing they call a _ferigee_, +which no woman of any sort appears without; this has strait sleeves, +that reach to their finger-ends, and it laps all round them, not unlike +a riding-hood. In winter 'tis of cloth, and in summer plain stuff or +silk. You may guess how effectually this disguises them, [so] that there +is no distinguishing the great lady from her slave. 'Tis impossible for +the most jealous husband to know his wife when he meets her; and no man +dare either touch or follow a woman in the street. + +"This perpetual masquerade gives them entire liberty of following their +inclinations without danger of discovery. The most usual method of +intrigue is, to send an appointment to the lover to meet the lady at a +Jew's shop, which are as notoriously convenient as our Indian-houses; +and yet, even those who don't make use of them, do not scruple to go to +buy pennyworths, and tumble over rich goods, which are chiefly to be +found amongst that sort of people. The great ladies seldom let their +gallants know who they are; and it is so difficult to find it out, that +they can very seldom guess at her name they have corresponded with above +half a year together. You may easily imagine the number of faithful +wives very small in a country where they have nothing to fear from a +lover's indiscretion, since we see so many that have the courage to +expose themselves to that in this world, and all the threatened +punishment of the next, which is never preached to the Turkish damsels. +Neither have they much to apprehend from the resentment of their +husbands; those ladies that are rich having all their money in their own +hands, which they take with them upon a divorce, with an addition which +he is obliged to give them. + +"Upon the whole, I look upon the Turkish women as the only free people +in the empire: the very Divan pays a respect to them; and the Grand +Signior himself, when a pasha is executed, never violates the privileges +of the _harem_ (or women's apartment), which remains unsearched and +entire to the widow. They are queens of their slaves, whom the husband +has no permission so much as to look upon, except it be an old woman or +two that his lady chooses. 'Tis true their law permits them four wives; +but there is no instance of a man of quality that makes use of this +liberty, or of a woman of rank that would suffer it. When a husband +happens to be inconstant (as those things will happen), he keeps his +mistress in a house apart, and visits her as privately as he can, just +as it is with you. Amongst all the great men here, I only know the +_tefterdar_ (i.e., treasurer), that keeps a number of she slaves for his +own use (that is, on his own side of the house; for a slave once given +to serve a lady is entirely at her disposal), and he is spoken of as a +libertine, or what we should call a rake, and his wife won't see him, +though she continues to live in his house. + +"Thus, you see, dear sister, the manners of mankind do not differ so +widely as our voyage writers would make us believe. Perhaps it would be +more entertaining to add a few surprising customs of my own invention; +but nothing seems to me so agreeable as truth, and I believe nothing so +acceptable to you." + + +The most fortunate thing that happened to Lady Mary, and through her to +England, during her stay in Adrianople, was being made acquainted with +the practice of inoculation, then widely in vogue in Turkey. Though she +had no medical knowledge, she made enquiries as to its effect, and soon +became convinced that it was very highly beneficial. She was the more +interested because an attack of small-pox had somewhat dimmed her +beauty. It was to Miss Sarah Chiswell that she unburdened herself of the +discovery she had made. + + +"Those dreadful stories you have heard of the plague have very little +foundation in truth. I own I have much ado to reconcile myself to the +sound of a word which has always given me such terrible ideas, though I +am convinced there is little more in it than a fever. As a proof of +which we passed through two or three towns most violently infected. In +the very next house where we lay (in one of those places) two persons +died of it. Luckily for me, I was so well deceived that I knew nothing +of the matter; and I was made believe, that our second cook who fell ill +here had only a great cold. However, we left our doctor to take care of +him, and yesterday they both arrived here in good health; and I am now +let into the secret that he has had the _plague_. There are many that +escape it; neither is the air ever infected. I am persuaded it would be +as easy to root it out here as out of Italy and France; but it does so +little mischief, they are not very solicitous about it, and are content +to suffer this distemper instead of our variety, which they are utterly +unacquainted with. + +"_A propos_ of distempers, I am going to tell you a thing that I am sure +will make you wish yourself here. The small-pox, so fatal, and so +general amongst us, is here entirely harmless by the invention of +_ingrafting_, which is the term they give it. There is a set of old +women who make it their business to perform the operation every autumn, +in the month of September, when the great heat is abated. People send to +one another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the +small-pox; they make parties for this purpose, and when they are met +(commonly fifteen or sixteen together), the old woman comes with a +nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox, and asks +what veins you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that you +offer to her with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a +common scratch), and puts into the vein as much venom as can lie upon +the head of her needle, and after binds up the little wound with a +hollow bit of shell; and in this manner opens four or five veins. The +Grecians have commonly the superstition of opening one in the midde of +the forehead, in each arm, and on the breast, to mark the sign of the +cross; but this has a very ill effect, all these wounds leaving little +scars, and is not done by those that are not superstitious, who choose +to have them in the legs, or that part of the arm that is concealed. The +children or young patients play together all the rest of the day, and +are in perfect health to the eighth. Then the fever begins to seize +them, and they keep their beds two days, very seldom three. They have +very rarely above twenty or thirty in their faces, which never mark; and +in eight days' time they are as well as before their illness. Where they +are wounded, there remain running sores during the distemper, which I +don't doubt is a great relief to it. Every year thousands undergo this +operation; and the French embassador says pleasantly, that they take the +small-pox here by way of diversion, as they take the waters in other +countries. There is no example of any one that has died in it; and you +may believe I am very well satisfied of the safety of this experiment, +since I intend to try it on my dear little son. + +"I am patriot enough to take pains to bring this useful invention into +fashion in England; and I should not fail to write to some of our +doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that I +thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their +revenue for the good of mankind. But that distemper is too beneficial to +them not to expose to all their resentment the hardy wight that should +undertake to put an end to it. Perhaps, if I live to return, I may, +however, have courage to war with them. Upon this occasion admire the +heroism in the heart of your friend, &c." + + +The immediate history of inoculation, so far as Lady Mary is concerned, +may here briefly be given. She first heard of the practice in March, +1717, and within a year her faith in its effect was so strong that in +the spring of the following year she had her son inoculated at Pera--he +was the first English person to undergo the operation. "The boy was +engrafted last Tuesday," she wrote to her husband the following Sunday, +"and is at this time singing and playing, and very impatient for his +supper.... I cannot engraft the girl; her nurse has not had the +small-pox." It is amusing to learn that the inoculation of the young +Edward Wortley Montagu proved presently to have an advantage which was +certainly not at the time of the operation present to the mind of the +mother. At the age of six or thereabouts, the child ran away from +Westminster school--he was always running away from school--and a reward +of £20 and expenses was offered to whoever found him. The advertisement +gave the following clue: there are "two marks by which he is easily +known, _viz_., on the back of each arm, about two or three inches above +the wrist, a small roundish scar, less than a silver penny, like a large +mark of the small-pox." + +When Lady Mary returned to London, she carried out her intention to +introduce the operation. Dr. Maitland, who had been physician to the +mission to the Porte, set up in practice and inoculated under her +patronage. The "heathen rite" was vigorously preached against by the +clergy and was violently abused by the medical faculty. Undismayed by +the powerful opposition, however, she persevered in season and out, +until her efforts were crowned with success. She was fortunate in +enlisting the co-operation of that distinguished doctor, Richard Mead, +celebrated by Pope in his "Epistle to Bolingbroke," + + "I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise." + +Mead, in 1720, when an epidemic of the plague was feared in London, +published a treatise: "A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential +Contagion and the Methods to be used to Prevent it." It was reprinted +seven times within a year, and an eighth edition appeased in 1722. Lady +Mary obtained permission, in 1721, to experiment on seven condemned +criminals. Mead supervised the inoculations, and all recovered. In the +following year two members of the royal family underwent the operation +successfully. Thereafter, it became, in most circles, fashionable. + +"I suppose," Lady Mary wrote with pardonable pride to Lady Mar in the +spring of 1722, "that the same faithful historians give you regular +accounts of the growth and spreading of the inoculation of the +small-pox, which is become almost a general practice, attended with +great success." Elated as she was at the success that had resulted from +her persistent efforts, she was correspondingly distressed when a young +relative died of the disease. "I am sorry to inform you of the death, of +our nephew, my sister Gower's son, of the small-pox," she said in a +letter to Lady Mar in July, 1723. "I think she has a great deal of +regret it, in consideration of the offer I made her, two years together, +of taking the child home to my house, where I would have inoculated him +with the same care and safety I did my own. I know nobody that has +hitherto repented the operation; though it has been very troublesome to +some fools, who had rather be sick by the doctor's prescriptions, than +in health in rebellion to the college." + +Among those who supported Lady Mary's campaign was Steele, who +congratulated her upon her "godlike delight" of saving "many thousand +British lives every year." He wrote on the subject in the _Plain Dealer_ +(July 3, 1724), in an article that attracted much attention: + + +"It is the Observation of some Historian; but I forget where I met with +it: that _England has ow'd to Women the greatest Blessings she has been +distinguish'd by_. In the Case, we are now upon, this Reflection will +stand justified.-- + +"We are indebted to the Reason and Courage of a _Lady_, for the +Introduction of this Art; which gives such Strength in its Progress, +that the Memory of its Illustrious Foundress will be render'd Sacred by +it, to future Ages. + +"This Ornament of her Sex, and Country, who ennobles her own _Nobility_, +by her Learning, Wit, and Vertues, accompanying her Consort into +_Turkey_, observ'd the Benefit of this Practice, with its Frequency, +even among those obstinate _Proedestinarians_; and brought it over, for +the Service, and the Safety, of her Native _England_; where she +consecrated its first effects on the Persons of her own fine Children! +And has, already, receiv'd this Glory from it, 'That the Influence of +her example has reach'd as high as the Blood Royal.' And our noblest, +and most ancient Families, in Confirmation of her happy Judgment, add +the daily Experience of those, who are most dear to them. + +"I Have seen a short Poetical Essay, on the Occasion we are now treating +of. I wou'd say, if I meant the Verses an _Encomium_ they shou'd be +envied for,' That their _Subject_ need not blush at them!' + + _On Lady_ Mary Wortley Montagu's _bringing with her, out of + _ Turkey, _the Art of Inoculating the_ Small-Pox. + + _When_ Greece, _reviving into short Delight, + Felt Pride, and Comfort, at_ Our _Muse's Sight: + The Rival'd_ Nine _no sooner saw her Face, + But ev'n their_ Envy _gave their_ Wonder _Place! + Charm'd into_ Love, _of what eclips'd their Fame! + They mak'd_ Apollo, _with her pow'rful Name. + See!--God of_ Grecian _Wit!_ Urania _cries, + How sweet a_ Muse, _the Western World supplies! + Say, shou'd she ask some Favour, from your throne, + What could you_ bid _her_ take, _that's not_ her own? + _Sparkling in Charms, the heav'nly Stranger view + So_ grac'd! _she scarce can owe a_ Beam _to_ You! + Beauty, _with Love_, her _Pow'r to_ Yours _prefers: + And_ Wit, _and_ Learning, _are already_, Hers! + _Rous'd, at her_ name,--_receding from her Eyes, + The gazing God rose slow, in soft Surprise! + Fair_ Miracle, _he said,--and paus'd a while: + Then, thus_,--Sweet Glory, _of your envied Isle! + Charm'd, and oblig'd, lest, we ungrateful seem, + Bear hence, at least_, one Mark _of our Esteem._ + One, _Of my three great Claims_, your _Wish may fit; + Whose Voice is_ Musick: _and whose Thoughts are_ Wit! + Physick, _alone, remains, to grant you, here-- + A _Skill! your godlike_ Pity _will_ endear. + _Form'd to give_ Wounds, _which must no Ease procure, + _ Atone _your Influ'nce, by new Arts, to_ cure, + _Beauty's chief Foe, a fear'd, and fierce_ Disease! + _Bows, at my Beck; and knows its_ God's _Decrees. + Breath'd, in this_ Kiss, _take Pow'r to tame its Rage: + And, from its Rancour_, free _the rescu'd Age. + High, o'er each Sex, in_ Double _Empire, fit: + Protecting_ Beauty, _and inspiring Wit_. + + +When Lady Mary had been abroad for a year, she became homesick and began +to long for England. It was really very dull for her in Turkey, even +though she could pass the time of day in the language of the country. +Supervising the nurses of her child did not take a large share of her +tune; and she found only a mild excitement in going into the bazaar in +native woman's attire to collect Oriental rugs and whatnot. + + +"To say truth, I am sometimes very weary of this singing, and dancing, +and sunshine, and wish for the smoke and impertinencies in which you +toil, though I endeavour to persuade myself that I live in a more +agreeable variety than you do; and that Monday, setting of partridges-- +Tuesday, reading English--Wednesday, studying the Turkish language (in +which, by the way, I am already very learned)--Thursday, classical +authors--Friday, spent in writing--Saturday, at my needle--and Sunday, +admitting of visits, and hearing music, is a better way of disposing +the week, than Monday, at the drawing-room--Tuesday, Lady Mohun's-- +Wednesday, the opera--Thursday, the play--Friday, Mrs. Chetwynd's, &c., +a perpetual round of hearing the same scandal, and seeing the same +follies acted over and over, which here affect me no more than they do +other dead people. I can now hear of displeasing things with pity, and +without indignation. The reflection on the great gulf between you and me, +cools all news that come hither. I can neither be sensibly touched with +joy nor grief, when I consider that possibly the cause of either is +removed before the letter comes to my hands. But (as I said before) this +indolence does not extend to my few friendships; I am still warmly +sensible of yours and Mr. Congreve's, and desire to live in your \ +remembrances, though dead to all the world beside." + + +There is no doubt that it was to her pen that Lady Mary had recourse in +her endeavours to overcome ennui. A perusal of the letters written +during this first sojourn in Europe shows that nothing escaped her eye, +trivial or serious, from the washing of the Rotterdam pavements to the +dwarfs at the Court of Vienna, from the palaces of the great to the +cosmetics used by the women. + +Occasionally Lady Mary became impatient at the ignorance of her friends +as regards the Near East. + + +"I heartily beg your ladyship's pardon; but I really could not forbear +laughing heartily at your letter, and the commissions you are pleased to +honour me with" (she wrote to one of her acquaintances from Belgrade +Village in June, 1717). + +"You desire me to buy you a Greek slave, who is to be mistress of a +thousand good qualities. The Greeks are subjects, and not slaves. Those +who are to be bought in that manner, are either such as are taken in +war, or stolen by the Tartars from Russia, Circassia, or Georgia, and +are such miserable, awkward, poor wretches, you would not think any of +them worthy to be your housemaids. 'Tis true that many thousands were +taken in the Morea; but they have been, most of them, redeemed by the +charitable contributions of the Christians, or ransomed by their own +relations at Venice. The fine slaves that wait upon the great ladies, or +serve the pleasures of the great men, are all bought at the age of eight +or nine years old, and educated with great care, to accomplish them in +singing, dancing, embroidery, &c. They are commonly Circassians, and +their patron never sells them, except it is as a punishment for some +very great fault. If ever they grow weary of them, they either present +them to a friend, or give them their freedom. Those that are exposed to +sale at the markets are always either guilty of some crime, or so +entirely worthless that they are of no use at all. I am afraid you will +doubt the truth of this account, which I own is very different from our +common notions in England; but it is no less truth for all that. + +"Your whole letter is full of mistakes from one end to the other. I see +you have taken your ideas of Turkey from that worthy author Dumont, who +has written with equal ignorance and confidence. 'Tis a particular +pleasure to me here, to read the voyages to the Levant, which are +generally so far removed from the truth, and so full of absurdities, I +am very well diverted with them. They never fail giving you an account +of the women, whom 'tis certain they never saw, and talking very wisely +of the genius of the men, into whose company they are never admitted; +and very often describe mosques, which they dare not peep into. The +Turks are very proud, and will not converse with a stranger they are not +assured is considerable in his own country. I speak of the men of +distinction; for, as to the ordinary fellows, you may imagine what ideas +their conversation can give of the general genius of the people. + +"I am more inclined, out of a true female spirit of contradiction, to +tell you the falsehood of a great part of what you find in authors; as, +for example, in the admirable Mr. Hill, who so gravely asserts, that he +saw in Sancta Sophia a sweating pillar, very balsamic for disordered +heads. There is not the least tradition of any such matter; and I +suppose it was revealed to him in a vision during his wonderful stay in +the Egyptian catacombs; for I am sure he never heard of any such miracle +here. + +"'Tis also very pleasant to observe how tenderly he and all his brethren +voyage-writers lament the miserable confinement of the Turkish ladies, +who are perhaps freer than any ladies in the universe, and are the only +women in the world that lead a life of uninterrupted pleasure exempt +from cares; their whole time being spent in visiting, bathing, or the +agreeable amusement of spending money, and inventing new fashions. A +husband would be thought mad that exacted any degree of economy from his +wife, whose expenses are no way limited but by her own fancy. 'Tis his +business to get money, and hers to spend it: and this noble prerogative +extends itself to the very meanest of the sex. Here is a fellow that +carries embroidered handkerchiefs upon his back to sell, as miserable a +figure as you may suppose such a mean dealer, yet I'll assure you his +wife scorns to wear anything less than cloth of gold; has her ermine +furs, and a very handsome set of jewels for her head. They go abroad +when and where they please. Tis true they have no public places but the +bagnios, and there can only be seen by their own sex; however, that is a +diversion they take great pleasure in." + + +In the meantime, Montagu's conduct of affairs was much criticised at +home, and Lord Stanhope's Administration, which had come into power in +April, 1717, decided to recall him. This invidious task fell upon his +old friend Addison, now Secretary of State for the Southern Department. +The recall was notified to those concerned in a circular letter dated +October 13. Addison, in a private letter dated September 28, notified +him of the impending change: + + +"Having been confined to my chamber for some time by a dangerous fit of +sickness, I find, upon my coming abroad, some things have passed which I +think myself obliged to communicate to you, not as the Secretary to the +Ambassador, but as an humble servant to his friend.... Our great men are +of opinion that your being possessed [of the reversion of certain +places] (which they look upon as sure and sudden) it would be agreeable +to your inclinations, as well as for the King's service, which you are +so able to promote in Parliament, rather to return to your own country +than to live at Constantinople. For this reason, they have thought of +relieving Mr. Stanyan, who is now at the Imperial Court, and of joining +Sir Robert Sutton with him in the mediation of a peace between the +Emperor and the Turks. I need not suggest to you that Mr. Stanyan is in +great favour at Vienna, and how necessary it is to humour that Court in +the present juncture. Besides, as it would have been for your honour to +have acted as sole mediator in such a negotiation, perhaps it would not +have been so agreeable to you to act only in commission. This was +suggested to me the other day by one of our first ministers, who told me +that he believed Sir R. Sutton's being joined in a mediation, which was +carried on by my Lord Paget singly, would be shocking to you, but that +they could be more free with a person of Mr. Stanyan's quality. I find +by his Majesty's way of speaking of you, that you are much in his favour +and esteem, and I fancy you would find your ease and advantage more in +being nearer his person than at the distance you are from him at +present. I omit no opportunity of doing you justice where I think it is +for your service, and wish I could know your mind as to these several +particulars by a more speedy and certain conveyance, that I might act +accordingly to the utmost of my powers. Madame Kielmansegg and my Lady +Hervey desire me to forward the enclosed to my Lady Mary Wortley, to +whom I beg you will deliver them with my most humble regards." + + +What Montagu's feelings were can only be imagined. It is almost certain +that he felt himself vastly aggrieved. Nothing could have been more +delicate or complimentary than Addison's letter, but it did not, and +could not, disguise the main fact. It was easy for the Secretary of +State to suggest that at least one reason for the recall was that +Montagu must be anxious to return, but that certainly could not have +deceived the Ambassador who was, indeed, so little anxious to get home +that he remained at Constantinople until the following June. Likewise, +the statement that he would be able to promote the King's service in +Parliament, flattering as it read, meant, of course, nothing at all. +Certainly, though Montagu sat in the House of Commons until his death, +office was never offered him in any Administration. + +Lady Mary found herself again with child. Whether this pleased her or +not no one can say, but in a letter to Mrs. Thistlethwayte she treated +the incident divertingly enough. + + +"I wish I could return your goodness with some diverting accounts from +hence. But I know not what part of the scenes here would gratify your +curiosity, or whether you have any curiosity at all for things so far +distant. To say the truth, I am, at this present writing, not very much +turned for the recollection of what is diverting, my head being wholly +filled with the preparations necessary for the increase of my family, +which I expect every day. You may easily guess at my uneasy situation. +But I am, however, in some degree comforted, by the glory that accrues +to me from it, and a reflection on the contempt I should otherwise fall +under. You won't know what to make of this speech: but, in this country, +it is more despicable to be married and not fruitful, than it is with us +to be fruitful before marriage. They have a notion, that, whenever a +woman leaves off bringing children, it is because she is too old for +that business, whatever her face says to the contrary, and this opinion +makes the ladies here so ready to make proofs of their youth (which is +as necessary, in order to be a received beauty, as it is to shew the +proofs of nobility, to be admitted knight of Malta), that they do not +content themselves with using the natural means, but fly to all sorts of +quackeries, to avoid the scandal of being past child-bearing, and often +kill themselves by them. Without any exaggeration, all the women of my +acquaintance that have been married ten years, have twelve or thirteen +children; and the old ones boast of having had five-and-twenty or thirty +a-piece, and are respected according to the number they have produced. +When they are with child, it is their common expression to say, They +hope God will be so merciful to them to send two this time; and when I +have asked them sometimes, How they expected to provide for such a flock +as they desire? they answered, That the plague will certainly kill half +of them; which, indeed, generally happens, without much concern to the +parents, who are satisfied with the vanity of having brought forth so +plentifully. + +"The French Ambassadress is forced to comply with this fashion as well +as myself. She has not been here much above a year, and has lain in +once, and is big again. What is most wonderful is, the exemption they +seem to enjoy from the curse entailed on the sex. They see all company +the day of their delivery, and, at the fortnight's end, return visits, +set out in their jewels and new clothes. I wish I may find the influence +of the climate in this particular. But I fear I shall continue an +Englishwoman in that affair." + + +Lady Mary gave birth to a daughter, Mary, in February. "I don't mention +this as one of my diverting adventures," she wrote to Lady Mar, "though +I must own that it is not half so mortifying here as in England, there +being as much difference as there is between a little cold in the head, +which sometimes happens here, and the consumptive cough, so common in +London. Nobody keeps their house a month for lying in; and I am not so +fond of any of our customs to retain them when they are not necessary. I +returned my visits at three weeks' end." + +So soon as possible after this domestic event, preparations for the +return journey were made. The party went by sea to Tunis, thence to +Genoa, Turin, Lyons, and Paris. Their arrival at Paris in October was +notified by Lady Mar to her husband: "You'll be surprised to hear 657 +[i.e., Lady Mary] is here. She arrived the day after me. You may believe +how much incognito I am. 'Twas in vain to attempt being so. Twould fill +a whole letter to tell you the people that have been to see me. I was +very much pleased at seeing 657 and she appeared to be the same." The +sisters had not met for three years. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCANDAL + +Montagu re-enters the House of Commons--His miserliness--Pope refers to +it--Comments on Society--Lady Mary and a first-class scandal--Rémond-- +His admiration for her--Her imprudent letters to him--The South Sea +Bubble--Lady Mary speculates for Rémond--She loses money for him--He +demands to be re-imbursed--He threatens to publish her letters--She +states the case in letters to Lady Mar--Lady Mary meets Pope--His letters +to her when she was abroad--He affects to be in love with her--Her +matter-of-fact replies--Her parody of his verses, "On John Hughes and +Sarah Drew." + + +Montagu, on his return to England, again entered the House of Commons, +where he represented Huntingdon from 1722 to 1734, and then for +Peterborough from 1734 to 1747 and from 1754 to 1761. Whether it was +lack of ambition or just want of appreciation of his talents by the +leaders of his party, there is no evidence. Even with his family +connections and his wealth, he was never offered a place in any +Administration, nor, it must be confessed, did he in any way distinguish +himself in Parliament. As the years passed, his chief pleasure, if +indeed it was not his only one, was in the hoarding of money--in this +pursuit he was splendidly successful. From references to Lady Mary in +contemporary correspondence, it would appear that she too had no small +streak of the miser in her. Pope, after his quarrel with her, referred +to Montagu as "Worldly," "Shylock," and "Gripus," and in the fourth +Epistle of the _Essay on Man_ wrote: + + "Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life? + Look but on Gripus and Gripus' wife." + +Also he lampooned them under the style of Avidieu and Avidieu's wife, +who + + "Sell their presented partridges or fruits, + And humbly live on rabbits and on roots; + One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine, + And is at once their vinegar and wine. + But on some lucky day (as when they found + A lost bank note, or heard their son was drowned), + At such a feast old vinegar to spare + Is what two souls so generous cannot bear: + Oil, though it stink, they drop by drop impart, + But souse the cabbage with a bounteous heart." + +Lady Mary took her place, as of right, as a leader of society, and for a +while plunged into the gaieties of the town. "Public places flourish +more than ever," she wrote to her sister. "We have assemblies for every +day in the week, besides Court, operas, and masquerades. With youth and +money, 'tis certainly possible to be well diverted in spite of malice +and ill-nature, though they are more and more powerful every day. For my +part, as it is my established opinion that this globe of ours is no +better than a Holland cheese, and the walkers about in it mites, I +possess my soul in patience, let what will happen--and I should feel +tolerably easy, though a great rat came and ate half of it." That is a +philosophical outlook with a vengeance! + +However, Lady Mary managed on the whole to enjoy herself. "The town +improves in gaiety every day; the young people are younger than they +used to be, and all the old are grown young. Nothing is talked of but +entertainments of gallantry by land and water, and we insensibly begin +to taste all the joys of arbitrary power. Politics are no more; nobody +pretends to wince or kick under their burdens; but we go on cheerfully +with our bells at our ears, ornamented with ribands, and highly +contented with our present condition; so much for the general state of +the nation," she made her comment on polite circles. "We are much +mistaken here as to our ideas of Paris--to hear gallantry has deserted +it, sounds as extraordinary to me as a want of ice in Greenland. +We have nothing but ugly faces in this country, but more lovers than +ever. There are but three pretty men in England, and they are all in +love with me, at this present writing. This will amaze you extremely; +but if you were to see the reigning girls at present, I will assure you, +there is very little difference between them and old women." + +Lady Mary could never resist a good story, and, indeed, never made any +attempt to do so, and she usually wrote them down to amuse Lady Mar. + + +"'Tis but reasonable I should conclude with a farce, that I may not +leave you in ill humour. I have so good an opinion of your taste, to +believe Harlequin in person will never make you laugh so much as the +Earl of Stair's furious passion for Lady Walpole (aged fourteen and some +months). Mrs. Murray undertook to bring the business to bear, and +provided the opportunity (a great ingredient you'll say); but the young +lady proved skittish. She did not only turn this heroic flame into +present ridicule, but exposed all his generous sentiments, to divert her +husband and father-in-law. His lordship is gone to Scotland; and if +there was anybody wicked enough to write about it, there is a subject +worthy the pen of the best ballad-maker in Grub-street." + + * * * * * + +"Lord Townshend has renewed his lease of life by his French journey, and +is at present situated in his house in Grosvenor-street in perfect +health. My good lady is coming from the Bath to meet him with the joy +you may imagine. Kitty Edwin has been the companion of his [her?] +pleasures there. The alliance seems firmer than ever between them, after +their Tunbridge battles, which served for the entertainment of the +public. The secret cause is variously guessed at; but it is certain Lady +Townshend came into the great room gently behind her friend, and tapping +her on the shoulder with her fan, said aloud, _I know where, how, and +who_. These mysterious words drew the attention of all the company, +and had such an effect upon poor Kitty, she was carried to her lodgings +in strong hysterics. However, by the intercession of prudent mediators +peace was concluded; and if the conduct of these heroines was considered +in a true light, perhaps it might serve for an example even to higher +powers, by showing that the surest method to obtain a lasting and +honourable peace, is to begin with vigorous war. But leaving these +reflections, which are above my capacity, permit me to repeat my desire +of hearing often from you. Your letters would be my greatest pleasure if +I had flourished in the first years of Henry the Eighth's court; judge +then how welcome they are to me in the present desolate state of this +deserted town of London." + + +Lady Mary's own morals were more than once assailed; but this did not +prevent her humorous attack on society at large: "Those things [Bills of +Divorce] grow more fashionable every day, and in a little time won't be +at all scandalous. The best expedient for the public, and to prevent the +expense of private families, would be a general act of divorcing all the +people of England. You know those that pleased might marry again; and it +would save the reputation of several ladies that are now in peril of +being exposed every day." + +Not long after Lady Mary had returned to England, about the winter of +1720, she, who loved to retail malicious stories about others, found +herself, to her great dismay, the subject of a first-class scandal. + +When Lady Mary was in Paris, Rémond was introduced to her by the Abbé +Conti. He had seen a letter or two addressed by her to the Abbé, and +expressed himself with enthusiasm of her brilliance as a correspondent. +Presently he came to England, and sought out Lady Mary, who was no more +immune from flattery than most folk of either sex. How far the intimacy +developed from the platonic to the amorous it is impossible to say. That +Rémond made love to her there can be little doubt. Sir Leslie Stephen +holds the view that she did not encourage his passion. Anyhow, it is +beyond question that she wrote him imprudent letters, which he was +prudent enough to keep. + +Lady Mary basked in the admiration of Rémond, and thought to reward him +for his intelligence, at no cost to herself, by putting him on to "a +good thing." Also, getting a little fearsome of his very marked +attentions, or perhaps it was only wearying of them, she thought, as she +confessed to her sister, the Countess of Mar, it would be the more easy +to rid herself of this somewhat turbulent lover. + +At this time the famous "boom" known as the South Sea Bubble was at the +height of its brief career. The South Sea Company had taken over the +National Debt, on terms, and its stock, carefully manipulated, rose by +leaps and bounds. In 1714 the stock stood at 85. After the defeat of the +rebellion of 1715, it was quoted at prices varying from par to 106. In +the autumn of 1719, when rumours of its great scheme were spread about +the town, it rose to 126. Early in the following year it could not be +purchased for less than 400. It fluctuated wildly, going up and down +hundreds of points. On June 2, 1720, it went up in the morning to 890, +in the afternoon fell to 640; and many who were speculating in +differences were utterly ruined. Later in the day it recovered, though +only to 770. Ultimately it rose to 1,000. Of course the prices were +fictitious, but everyone in society tried their luck, and while some +came out of it with a fortune, the majority lost practically every penny +they had. The directors, most of whom were guilty of fraud, made vast +sums of money. That astute financier, Robert Walpole, speculated on a +vast scale, sold out before the slump, and realised a fortune more than +sufficient to enable him to rebuild Houghton and to gather together his +famous collection of pictures. On the other hand the Duke of Portland, +who held on too long, was so hard hit that he had to solicit the post of +Captain-General of Jamaica. + +Rémond held some South Sea stock, and, acting on Lady Mary's advice, +sold out at a considerable profit. Not content with his gains, however, +he insisted, just before his departure for France, on leaving in Lady +Mary's hands £900 for investment as opportunity should arise. +Reluctantly Lady Mary consented--she would probably have agreed almost +to anything, so anxious was she that Rémond should leave the country. + +On August 22, 1720, Pope, with the best intentions in the world, wrote +to Lady Mary: "I was made acquainted last night that I might depend upon +it as a certain gain to buy the South Sea stock at the present price, +which will assuredly rise in some weeks or less. I can be as sure of +this as the nature of any such thing will allow, from the first and best +hands, and therefore have despatched the bearer with all speed to you." +No doubt the phrase "the first and best hands," was intended to convey +the fact that his informant was his friend and neighbour, James Craggs +the younger, the Secretary of State who was so deeply involved in the +affairs of the South Sea Company that when the "bubble" burst he only +escaped prosecution by conveniently dying of small-pox. Acting on the +hint given by Pope, Lady Mary purchased stock for herself and Rémond. +The stock fell rapidly--in August it stood at 750 and in December at +130. What she lost is not known, but she had been sufficiently involved +to make her desire to sell her diamonds, and more than once she asked +Lady Mar if there was a market for the jewels in Paris. Rémond's £900 +had dwindled to £400. On receiving these distressful tidings, the +Frenchman believed, or affected to believe, that he had been swindled, +and he threatened, unless he were repaid in full, he would publish Lady +Mary's letters to him. Lady Mary's fear was lest the matter should come +to the cognisance of her husband: it would certainly be unfair to +Montagu to suggest that he might not have forgiven his wife for a +love-affair; but he would certainly never have pardoned her any +transaction that cost him money. + +Many malicious things were said about this business. Walpole gave a +version utterly discreditable to Lady Mary, and Pope, after the quarrel, +referred to the matter in the second book of the _Dunciad_: + + "Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris + Of wrongs from Duchesses and Lady Maries." + +The case was put by Lady Mary in a series of letters to her sister, Lady +Mar, to whom she could unburden herself freely, and who might be able to +influence Rémond, who was then at Paris. + + +[1721.] + +"From the tranquil and easy situation in which you left me, dear sister, +I am reduced to that of the highest degree of vexation, which I need not +set out to you better than by the plain matter of fact, which I heartily +wish I had told you long since; and nothing hindered me but a certain +_mauvaise honte_ which you are reasonable enough to forgive, as very +natural, though not very excusable where there is nothing to be ashamed +of; since I can only accuse myself of too much good-nature, or at worst +too much credulity, though I believe there never was more pains taken to +deceive any body. In short, a person whose name is not necessary, +because you know it, took all sorts of methods, during almost two years +[_sic_], to persuade me that there never was so extraordinary an +attachment (or what you please to call it) as they had for me. This +ended in coming over to make me a visit against my will, and, as was +pretended, very much against their interest. I cannot deny I was very +silly in giving the least credit to this stuff. But if people are so +silly, you'll own 'tis natural for any body that is good-natured to pity +and be glad to serve a person they believe unhappy upon their account. +It came into my head, out of a high point of generosity (for which I +wish myself hanged), to do this creature all the good I possibly could, +since 'twas impossible to make them happy their own way. I advised him +very strenuously to sell out of the subscription, and in compliance to +my advice he did so; and in less than two days saw he had done very +prudently. After a piece of service of this nature, I thought I could +more decently press his departure, which his follies made me think +necessary for me. He took leave of me with so many tears and grimaces +(which I can't imagine how he could counterfeit) as really moved my +compassion; and I had much ado to keep to my first resolution of +exacting his absence, which he swore would be his death. I told him that +there was no other way in the world I would not be glad to serve him in, +but that his extravagances made it utterly impossible for me to keep him +company. He said that he would put into my hands the money that I had +won for him, and desired me to improve it, saying that if he had enough +to buy a small estate, and retire from the world, 'twas all the +happiness he hoped for in it. I represented to him that if he had so +little money as he said, 'twas ridiculous to hazard at all. He replied +that 'twas too little to be of any value, and he would either have it +double or quit. After many objections on my side and replies on his, I +was so weak to be overcome by his entreaties, and flattered myself also +that I was doing a very heroic action, in trying to make a man's fortune +though I did not care for his addresses. He left me with these +imaginations, and my first care was to employ his money to the best +advantage. I laid it all out in stock, the general discourse and private +intelligence then scattered about being of a great rise. You may +remember it was two or three days before the fourth subscription, and +you were with me when I paid away the money to Mr. Binfield. I thought I +had managed prodigious well in selling out the said stock the day after +the shutting the books (for a small profit) to Cox and Cleeve, +goldsmiths of very good reputation. When the opening of the books came, +my men went off, leaving the stock upon my hands, which was already sunk +from near nine hundred pounds to four hundred pounds. I immediately writ +him word of this misfortune, with the sincere sorrow natural to have +upon such an occasion, and asked his opinion as to the selling the stock +remaining in. He made me no answer to this part of my letter, but a long +eloquent oration of miseries of another nature. I attributed this +silence to his disinterested neglect of his money; but, however, +resolved to make no more steps in his business without direct orders, +after having been so unlucky. This occasioned many letters to no +purpose; but the very post after you left London, I received a letter +from him, in which he told me that he had discovered all my tricks; that +he was convinced I had all his money remaining untouched: and he would +have it again, or he would print all my letters to him; which though, +God knows, very innocent in the main, yet may admit of ill +constructions, besides the monstrousness of being exposed in such a +manner. I hear from other people that he is liar enough to publish that +I have borrowed the money of him; though I have a note under his hand, +by which he desires me to employ it in the funds, and acquits me of +being answerable for the losses that may happen. At the same time, I +have attestations and witnesses of the bargains I made, so that nothing +can be clearer than my integrity in this business; but that does not +hinder me from being in the utmost terror for the consequences (as you +may easily guess) of his villany; the very story of which appears so +monstrous to me, I can hardly believe myself while I write it; though I +omit (not to tire you) a thousand aggravating circumstances. I cannot +forgive myself the folly of ever regarding one word he said; and I see +now that his lies have made me wrong several of my acquaintances, and +you among the rest, for having said (as he told me) horrid things +against me to him. 'Tis long since that your behaviour has acquitted you +in my opinion; but I thought I ought not to mention, to hurt him with +you, what was perhaps more misunderstanding, or mistake, than a designed +lie. But he has very amply explained his character to me. What is very +pleasant is, that, but two posts before, I received a letter from him +full of higher flights than ever. I beg your pardon (dear sister) for +this tedious account; but you see how necessary 'tis for me to get my +letters from this madman. Perhaps the best way is by fair means; at +least, they ought to be first tried. I would have you, then (my dear +sister), try to make the wretch sensible of the truth of what I advance, +without asking for the letters, which I have already asked for. Perhaps +you may make him ashamed of his infamous proceedings by talking of me, +without taking notice that you know of his threats, only of my dealings. +I take this method to be the most likely to work upon him. I beg you +would send me a full and true account of this detestable affair +(enclosed to Mrs. Murray). If I had not been the most unlucky creature +in the world, his letter would have come while you were here, that I +might have shewed you both his note and the other people's. I knew he +was discontented, but was far from imagining a possibility of this +thing. I give you a great deal of trouble, but you see I shall owe you +the highest obligation if you can serve me: the very endeavouring of it +is a tie upon me to serve you the rest of my life without reserve and +with eternal gratitude." + + +[Twickenham, 1721.] + +"I am now at Twickenham: 'tis impossible to tell you, dear sister, what +agonies I suffer every post-day; my health really suffers so much from +my fears, that I have reason to apprehend the worst consequences. If +that monster acted on the least principles of reason, I should have +nothing to fear, since 'tis certain that after he has exposed me he will +get nothing by it. Mr. Wortley can do nothing for his satisfaction I am +not willing to do myself. I desire not the least indulgence of any kind. +Let him put his affair into the hands of any lawyer whatever. I am +willing to submit to any examination; 'tis impossible to make a fairer +offer than this is: whoever he employs may come to me hither on several +pretences. I desire nothing from him, but that he would send no letters +nor messages to my house at London, where Mr. Wortley now is. I am come +hither in hopes of benefit from the air, but I carry my distemper about +me in an anguish of mind that visibly decays my body every day. I am too +melancholy to talk of any other subject. Let me beg you (dear sister) to +take some care of this affair, and think you have it in your power to do +more than save the life of a sister that loves you." + + +[Twickenham, 1721.] + +"I give you many thanks (my dear sister) for the trouble you have given +yourself in my affair; but am afraid 'tis not yet effectual. I must beg +you to let him know I am now at Twickenham, and that whoever has his +procuration may come here on divers pretences, but must by no means go +to my house at London. I wonder you can think Lady Stafford has not writ +to him; she shewed me a long plain letter to him several months ago; as +a demonstration he received it, I saw his answer. 'Tis true she treated +him with the contempt he deserved, and told him she would never give +herself the trouble of writing again to so despicable a wretch. She is +willing to do yet further, and write to the Duke of Villeroi about it, +if I think it proper. Rémond does nothing but lie, and either does not, +or will not, understand what is said to him. You will forgive me +troubling you so often with this business; the importance of it is the +best excuse; in short, + + '--'tis joy or sorrow, peace or strife. + 'Tis all the colour of remaining life.' + +I can foresee nothing else to make me unhappy, and, I believe, shall +take care another time not to involve myself in difficulties by an +overplus of heroic generosity. + +"I am, dear sister, ever yours, with the utmost esteem and affection. If +I get over this cursed affair, my style may enliven." + + +[June, 1721.] + +"I have just received your letter of May 30th, and am surprised, since +you own the receipt of my letter, that you give me not the least hint +concerning the business that I writ so earnestly to you about. Till that +is over, I am as little capable of hearing or repeating news, as I +should be if my house was on fire. I am sure, a great deal must be in +your power; the hurting of me can be in no way his interest. I am ready +to assign, or deliver the money for £500 stock, to whoever he will name, +if he will send my letters into Lady Stafford's hands; which, were he +sincere in his offer of burning them, he would readily do. Instead of +that, he has writ a letter to Mr. W. [Wortley] to inform him of the +whole affair: luckily for me, the person he has sent it to assures me it +shall never be delivered; but I am not the less obliged to his good +intentions. For God's sake, do something to set my mind at ease from +this business, and then I will not fail to write you regular accounts of +all your acquaintance." + + +[July (?), 1721.] + +"I cannot enough thank you, dear sister, for the trouble you give +yourself in my affairs, though I am still so unhappy to find your care +very ineffectual. I have actually in my present possession a formal +letter directed to Mr. Wortley to acquaint him with the whole business. +You may imagine the inevitable eternal misfortunes it would have thrown +me into, had it been delivered by the person to whom it was intrusted. I +wish you would make him sensible of the infamy of this proceeding, which +can no way in the world turn to his advantage. Did I refuse giving the +strictest account, or had I not the clearest demonstration in my hands +of the truth and sincerity with which I acted, there might be some +temptation to this baseness; but all he can expect by informing Mr. +Wortley is to hear him repeat the same things I assert; he will not +retrieve one farthing, and I am for ever miserable. I beg no more of him +than to direct any person, man or woman, either lawyer, broker, or a +person of quality, to examine me; and as soon as he has sent a proper +authority to discharge me on enquiry, I am ready to be examined. I think +no offer can be fairer from any person whatsoever; his conduct towards +me is so infamous, that I am informed I might prosecute him by law if he +was here; he demanding the whole sum as a debt from Mr. Wortley, at the +same time I have a note under his hand signed to prove the contrary. I +beg with the utmost earnestness that you would make him sensible of his +error. I believe 'tis very necessary to say something to fright him. I +am persuaded, if he was talked to in a style of that kind, he would not +dare to attempt to ruin me. I have a great inclination to write +seriously to your lord about it, since I desire to determine this affair +in the fairest and the clearest manner. I am not at all afraid of making +any body acquainted with it; and if I did not fear making Mr. Wortley +uneasy (who is the only person from whom I would conceal it), all the +transactions should have been long since enrolled in Chancery. I have +already taken care to have the broker's depositions taken before a +lawyer of reputation and merit. I deny giving him no satisfaction; and +after that offer, I think there is no man of honour that would refuse +signifying to him that as 'tis all he can desire, so, if he persists in +doing me an injury, he may repent it. You know how far 'tis proper to +take this method, I say nothing of the uneasiness I am under, 'tis far +beyond any expression; my obligation would be proportionable to any body +that would deliver me from it, and I should not think it paid by all the +services of my life." + + +[Twickenham, June (?), 1721.] + +"Dear Sister, + +"Having this occasion, I would not omit writing, though I have received +no answer to my two last. The bearer is well acquainted with my affair, +though not from me, till he mentioned it to me first, having heard it +from those to whom Rémond had told it with all the false colours he +pleased to lay on. I shewed him the formal commission I had to employ +the money, and all the broker's testimonies taken before Delpeeke, with +his certificate. Your remonstrances have hitherto had so little effect, +that R. [Rémond] will neither send a letter of attorney to examine my +accounts, or let me be in peace. I received a letter from him but two +posts since, in which he renews his threats except I send him the whole +sum, which is as much in my power as it is to send a million. I can +easily comprehend that he may be ashamed to send a procuration, which +must convince the world of all the lies he has told. For my part, I am +so willing to be rid of the plague of hearing from him, I desire no +better than to restore him with all expedition the money I have in my +hands; but I will not do it without a general acquittance in due form, +not to have fresh demands every time he wants money. If he thinks that +he has a larger sum to receive than I offer, why does he not name a +procurator to examine me? If he is content with that sum, I only insist +on the acquittance for my own safety. I am ready to send it to him, with +full license to tell as many lies as he pleases afterwards. I am weary +with troubling you with repetitions which cannot be more disagreeable to +you than they are to me. I have had, and still have, so much vexation +with this execrable affair, 'tis impossible to describe it. I had rather +talk to you of any thing else, but it fills my whole head." + + +Lady Mary was no coward, but when she heard that Rémond intended to come +to London in connection with this business, she was at first in despair +However, she summoned her courage to aid, and asked Lady Mar to tell him +that if he was spoiling for a fight she would do her best to indulge him. + + +"I send you, dear sister, by Lady Lansdowne this letter, accompanied +with the only present that was ever sent me by that monster. I beg you +to return it immediately. I am told he is preparing to come to London. +Let him know that 'tis not at all necessary for receiving his money or +examining my accounts; he has nothing to do but to send a letter of +attorney to whom he pleases (without exception), and I will readily +deliver up what I have in my hands, and his presence will not obtain one +farthing more: his design then can only be to expose my letters here. I +desire you would assure him that my first step shall be to acquaint my +Lord Stair[4] with all his obligations to him, as soon as I hear he is +in London; and if he dares to give me further trouble, I shall take care +to have him rewarded in a stronger manner than he expects; there is +nothing more true than this; and I solemnly swear, that if all the +credit or money that I have in the world can do it, either for +friendship or hire, I shall not fail to have him used as he deserves; +and since I know this journey can only be designed to expose me, I shall +not value what noise is made. Perhaps you may prevent it; I leave you to +judge of the most proper method; 'tis certain no time should be lost; +fear is his predominant passion, and I believe you may fright him from +coming hither, where he will certainly find a reception very +disagreeable to him." + +[Footnote 4: John Dalrymple, second Earl of Stair (1673-1747), British +Ambassador at Paris, 1715-1720.] + + +"September 6, 1721. + +"I have consulted my lawyer, and he says I cannot, with safety to +myself, deposit the money I have received into other hands, without the +express order of Rémond; and he is so unreasonable, that he will neither +send a procuration to examine my accounts, or any order for me to +transfer his stock into another name. I am heartily weary of the trust, +which has given me so much trouble, and can never think myself safe till +I am quite got rid of it: rather than be plagued any longer with the +odious keeping, I am willing to abandon my letters to his discretion. I +desire nothing more of him than an order to place his money in other +hands, which methinks should not be so hard to obtain, since he is so +dissatisfied with my management; but he seems to be bent to torment me, +and will not even touch his money, because I beg it of him. I wish you +would represent these things to him; for my own part, I live in so much +uneasiness about it, that I sometimes weary of life itself." + + +[October (?) 1721.] + +"I cannot forbear (dear sister) accusing you of unkindness that you take +so little care of a business of the last consequence to me. R. [Rémond] +writ to me some time ago, to say if I would immediately send him £2,000 +sterling, he would send me an acquittance. As this was sending him +several hundreds out of my own pocket, I absolutely refused it; and, in +return, I have just received a threatening letter, to print I know not +what stuff against me. I am too well acquainted with the world (of which +poor Mrs. Murray's affair is a fatal instance), not to know that the +most groundless accusation is always of ill consequence to a woman; +besides the cruel misfortune it may bring upon me in my own family. If +you have any compassion either for me or my innocent children, I am sure +you will try to prevent it. The thing is too serious to be delayed. I +think (to say nothing either of blood or affection), that humanity and +Christianity are interested in my preservation. I am sure I can answer +for my hearty gratitude and everlasting acknowledgment of a service much +more important than that of saving my life." + + +In Lady Mary's correspondence there is no further reference to this +sorry business, and so it cannot be said how it ended. Nor can it be +decided whether Rémond really believed he had been swindled or whether +he was just a blackmailer. + +The intimacy between Lady Mary and Pope is especially interesting +because it culminated in one of the most famous quarrels in the literary +annals of this country, and second only to that between Pope and +Addison. + +When Lady Mary went abroad in 1716 Pope, who always wanted to make the +best of both worlds, thought, it has been related by his biographers, of +what dramatic situation describing the separation of lovers would best +suit him to express his feelings, and he found exactly what he wanted on +the supposed authentic letters of Eloisa to Abelard. Pope sent Lady Mary +a volume of his poems, saying: "Among the rest you have all I am worth, +that is, my works. There are few things in them but what you have +already seen, except the 'Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard,' in which you +will find one passage that I cannot tell whether to wish you should +understand or not." + +Pope corresponded with Lady Mary during the two years of her stay +abroad. The first letter from Pope begins: + + +"So natural as I find it is to me to neglect every body else in your +company, I am sensible I ought to do anything that might please you, and +I fancied upon recollection, our writing the letter you proposed was of +that nature. I therefore sate down to my part of it last night, when I +should have gone out of town. Whether or no you will order me, in +recompense, to see you again, I leave to you, for indeed I find I begin +to behave myself worse to you than to any other woman, as I value you +more, and yet if I thought I should not see you again, I would say some +things here, which I could not to your person. For I would not have you +die deceived in me, that is, go to Constantinople without knowing that I +am to some degree of extravagance, as well as with the utmost reason, +madam, your, etc." + + +Some passages from Pope's subsequent letters must be given to indicate +the lines on which this correspondence was conducted. + + +"You may easily imagine how desirous I must be of correspondence with a +person who had taught me long ago, that it was as possible to esteem at +first sight, as to love; and who has since ruined me for all the +conversation of one sex and almost all the friendship of the other. I am +but too sensible, through your means, that the company of men, wants a +certain softness to recommend it, and that of women wants everything +else. How often have I been quietly going to take possession of that +tranquility and indolence I had so long found in the country, when one +evening of your conversation has spoiled me for a solitaire too! Books +have lost their effect upon me, and I was convinced since I saw you, +that there is something more powerful than philosophy, and since I heard +you, that there is one alive wiser than all the sages. A plague of +female wisdom! it makes a man ten times more uneasy than his own. What +is very strange, Virtue herself, when you have the dressing of her, is +too amiable for one's repose. What a world of good might you have done +in your time, if you had allowed half the fine gentlemen who have seen +you to have but conversed with you! They would have been strangely +caught, while they thought only to fall in love with a fair face, and +you had bewitched them with reason and virtue, two beauties that the +very fops pretend to have an acquaintance with." + + +"August 20, 1716. + +"Madam, + +"You will find me more troublesome than ever Brutus did his evil genius, +I shall meet you in more places than one, and often refreshen your +memory before you arrive at your Philippi. These shadows of me (my +letters) will be haunting you from time to time, and putting you in mind +of the man who has really suffered by you, and whom you have robbed of +the most valuable of his enjoyments, your conversation. The advantage of +learning your sentiments by discovering mine, was what I always thought +a great one, and even with the risk I run of manifesting my own +indiscretion. You then rewarded my trust in you the moment it was given, +for you pleased and informed me the minute you answered. I must now be +contented with slow returns. However, it is some pleasure, that your +thoughts upon paper will be a more lasting possession to me, and that I +shall no longer have cause to complain of a loss I have so often +regretted, that of anything you said, which I happened to forget. In +earnest, Madam, if I were to write you as often as I think of you, it +must be every day of my life. I attend you in spirit through all your +ways, I follow in books of travel through every stage, I wish for you, +fear for you through whole folios, you make me shrink at the past +dangers of dead travellers, and when I read an agreeable prospect or +delightful place, I hope it yet subsists to give you pleasure. I inquire +the roads, the amusements, the company of every town and country you +pass through, with as much diligence, as if I were to set out next week +to overtake you. In a word no one can have you more constantly in mind, +not even your guardian-angel (if you have one), and I am willing to +indulge so much Popery as to fancy some Being takes care of you who +knows your value better than you do yourself. I am willing to think that +Heaven never gave so much self-neglect and resolution to a woman, to +occasion her calamity, but am pious enough to believe those qualities +must be intended to her benefit and her glory." + + +Pope's letters of this period to Lady Mary were all written in a strain +of adulation, which may well have pleased Lady Mary and must certainly +have amused her. She can, however, scarcely have been led into any +self-deception as regards the sincerity of her correspondent, in spite +of the fact that in one of the earliest epistles he addressed to her he +subscribed himself: "I am, with all unalterable esteem and sincerity, +Madam, your most faithful, obedient, humble servant." Yet, no doubt, she +was pleased enough to read: "I communicated your letter to Mr. Congreve; +he thinks of you as he ought, I mean as I do, for one always thinks that +to be just as it ought.... We never meet but we lament over you: we pay +a kind of weekly rites to your memory, when we strew flowers of rhetoric +and offer such libations to your name as if it were a profaneness to +call toasting." Well, alcoholic refreshment by any other name is just as +potent. It must have been grateful and comforting to be told when in +exile: "I must tell you, too, that the Duke of Buckingham has been more +than once your high priest in performing the office of your praises: and +upon the whole I believe there are few men who do not deplore your +departure, as women that sincerely do." + +Most excellent Pope, who would play at make-believe. It is almost a pity +that he could not persuade the lady that he meant even a tithe of what +he wrote to her. Listen to him again: "For my part, I hate a great many +women for your sake, and undervalue all the rest. 'Tis you who are to +blame, and may God revenge it upon you, with all those blessings and +earthy prosperities which the divines tell us, are the cause of our +perdition: for if He makes you happy in this world, I dare trust your +own virtue to do it in the other." These poets! + +Lady Mary took all this in the right way, and as love-letters appraised +them at their true value. "Perhaps you'll laugh at me for thanking you +very gravely for all the obliging concern you express for me," she wrote +from Vienna in September, with, perhaps, just a touch of irony. "'Tis +certain that I may, if I please, take the fine things you say to me for +wit and raillery; and it may be, it would be taking them right. But I +never in my life was half so well disposed to believe you in earnest; +and that distance which makes the continuation of your friendship +improbable, has very much increased my faith for it, and I find that I +have (as well as the rest of my sex), whatever face I set on't, a strong +disposition to believe in miracles." As regards the rest, her side of +the correspondence was matter-of-fact to such a degree that it suggests +that she adopted that tone in order to lease him. Her replies can +scarcely have given Pope any satisfaction. From Vienna she gave him a +detailed account of the opera and the theatre; from Belgrade she told +him of the war and of an Arabic scholar and also of the climate; from +Adrianople she discoursed of the Hebrus, of the lads of the village, of +Addison and Theocritus, pays him compliments on his translation of +Homer, and a copy of some Turkish verses; and so on. The most striking +thing about her letters is the absence of the personal note, which is so +often introduced when she was writing to others. They read more like +essays than communications to a friend. + +Pope, in a letter dated September 1, 1718, sent Lady Mary a copy of his +verses. + + ON JOHN HUGHES AND SARAH DREW + + When Eastern lovers fear'd the fun'eral fire + On the same pile the faithful pair expire! + Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found, + And blasted both, that it might neither wound. + Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw well pleas'd, + Sent his own lightning and the victims seiz'd. + + I + Think not by vig'rous judgment seiz'd, + A pair so faithful could expire; + Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleas'd, + And snatch'd them in celestial fire. + + II + Live well, and fear no sudden fate: + When God calls virtue to the grave; + Alike 'tis justice, soon or late, + Mercy alike to kill or save. + Virtue unmov'd can hear the call. + And face the flash that melts the ball. + +These verses she acknowledged in a letter which, written while on the +homeward path, she sent from Dover, where she arrived at the beginning +of November. + + +"I have this minute received a letter of yours, sent me from Paris. I +believe and hope I shall very soon see both you and Mr. Congreve; but as +I am here in an inn, where we stay to regulate our march to London, bag +and baggage, I shall employ some of my leisure time in answering that +part of yours that seems to require an answer. + +"I must applaud your good nature, in supposing that your pastoral lovers +(vulgarly called haymakers) would have lived in everlasting joy and +harmony, if the lightning had not interrupted their scheme of happiness. +I see no reason to imagine that John Hughes and Sarah Drew were either +wiser or more virtuous than their neighbours. That a well-set man of +twenty five should have a fancy to marry a brown woman of eighteen, is +nothing marvellous; and I cannot help thinking, that, had they married, +their lives would have passed in the common track with their fellow +parishioners. His endeavouring to shield her from the storm, was a +natural action, and what he would have certainly done for his horse, if +he had been in the same situation. Neither am I of opinion, that their +sudden death was a reward of their mutual virtue. You know the Jews were +reproved for thinking a village destroyed by fire more wicked than those +that had escaped the thunder. Time and chance happen to all men. Since +you desire me to try my skill in an epitaph, I think the following lines +perhaps more just, though not so poetical as yours: + + Here lies John Hughes and Sarah Drew; + Perhaps you'll say, what's that to you? + Believe me, friend, much may be said + On this poor couple that are dead. + On Sunday next they should have married; + But see how oddly things are carried! + On Thursday last it rain'd and lighten'd; + These tender lovers, sadly frighten'd, + Shelter'd beneath the cocking hay, + In hopes to pass the storm away; + But the bold thunder found them out + (Commissioned for that end, no doubt), + And, seizing on their trembling breath, + Consign'd them to the shades of death. + Who knows if 'twas not kindly done? + For had they seen the next year's sun, + A beaten wife and cuckold swain + Had jointly curs'd the marriage chain; + Now they are happy in their doom, + For P. has wrote upon their tomb. + +"I confess, these sentiments are not altogether so heroic as yours; but +I hope you will forgive them in favour of the two last lines. You see +how much I esteem the honour you have done them; though I am not very +impatient to have the same, and had rather continue to be your stupid +living humble servant, than be celebrated by all the pens in Europe. + +"I would write to Mr. Congreve, but suppose you will read this to him, +if he enquires after me." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT TWICKENHAM + +The Montagus take a house at Twickenham--Lady Mary's liking for country +life--Neighbours and visitors--Pope--Bononcini, Anastasia Robinson, +Senesino--Lord Peterborough--Sir Geoffrey Kneller--Henrietta +Howard--Lord Bathurst--The Duke of Wharton--His early history--He comes +to Twickenham--His relations with Lady Mary--Horace Walpole's reference +to them--Pope's bitter onslaught on the Duke--An Epilogue by Lady +Mary--"On the death of Mrs. Bowes"--The Duke quarrels with Lady Mary. + + +Pope went to live at Twickenham in 1718, and it was generally believed +that it was by his persuasion that the Montagus rented a house in that +little riverside hamlet. It was not until 1722 that they bought "the +small habitation." + +Lady Mary divided her time between London and Twickenham, but apparently +enjoyed herself more at her country retreat. "I live in a sort of +solitude that wants very little of being such as I would have it," she +wrote to her sister, Lady Mar, in August, 1721. As a matter of fact, the +solitude was more imaginary than real, for round about there was a small +colony of friends. + +She was, indeed, very rarely lonely. "My time is melted away in almost +perpetual concerts," she told her sister. "I do not presume to judge, +but I'll assure you I am a very hearty as well as an humble admirer. I +have taken my little thread satin beauty into the house with me; she is +allowed by Bononcini to have the finest voice he ever heard in England. +He and Mrs. Robinson and Senesino lodge in this village, and sup often +with me: and this easy indolent life would make me the happiest +in the world, if I had not this execrable affair [of Rémond] still +hanging over my head." To Anastasia Robinson there is more than one +allusion in Lady Mary's correspondence, and she gives a most amusing +account of an incident in that lady's career. + + +"Could one believe that Lady Holdernesse is a beauty, and in love? and +that Mrs. Robinson is at the same time a prude and a kept mistress? and +these things in spite of nature and fortune. The first of these ladies +is tenderly attached to the polite Mr. Mildmay, and sunk in all the joys +of happy love, notwithstanding she wants the use of her two hands by a +rheumatism, and he has an arm that he cannot move. I wish I could send +you the particulars of this amour, which seems to me as curious as that +between two oysters; and as well worth the serious enquiry of the +naturalists. The second heroine has engaged half the town in arms, from +the nicety of her virtue, which was not able to bear the too near +approach of Senesino in the opera; and her condescension in accepting of +Lord Peterborough for her champion, who has signalised both his love and +courage upon this occasion in as many instances as ever Don Quixote did +for Dulcinea. Poor Senesino, like a vanquished giant, was forced to +confess upon his knees that Anastasia was a nonpariel of virtue and +beauty. Lord Stanhope, as dwarf to the said giant, joked of his side, +and was challenged for his pains. Lord Delawar was Lord Peterborough's +second; my lady miscarried--the whole town divided into parties on this +important point. Innumerable have been the disorders between the two +sexes on so great an account, besides half the house of peers being put +under arrest. By the providence of Heaven, and the wise cares of his +Majesty, no bloodshed ensued. However, things are now tolerably +accommodated; and the fair lady rides through the town in triumph, in +the shining berlin of her hero, not to reckon the essential advantage of +£100 a month, which 'tis said he allows her." + + +This story is, as a matter of fact, not far removed from the truth. It +omits, however, the fact that Lord Peterborough, then about sixty years +of age, had married Anastasia Robinson in 1722; but the marriage was +secret, although Lady Oxford was present at the ceremony, and it was not +made public until thirteen years later, although long before there were +many who suspected it. He died in the same year that the announcement +was made. His widow survived him by a score of years. + +Sir Godfrey Kneller had a house at Twickenham, and, at the instigation +of Pope, sat to him for her portrait, upon which the following lines +(generally ascribed to Pope) were written: + + "The playful smiles around the dimpled mouth. + That happy air of majesty and truth; + So would I draw (but oh! 'tis vain to try, + My narrow genius does the power deny;) + The equal lustre of the heav'nly mind, + Where ev'ry grace with every virtue's join'd; + Learning not vain, and wisdom not severe, + With greatness easy, and with wit sincere; + With just description show the work divine, + And the whole princess in my work should shine." + +Mrs. Howard, afterwards the Countess of Suffolk, was a neighbour from +1723, when the Prince of Wales, whose mistress she was, provided her +with funds for the purchase of Marble Hill. However, though, of course, +she and Lady Mary were acquainted, there was at no time any intimacy +between them. Lady Mary, in fact, does not appear to have liked +Henrietta Howard. At least she on more than one occasion tittle-tattled +about her. "The most surprising news is Lord Bathurst's assiduous court +to their Royal Highnesses, which fills the coffee-houses with profound +speculations. But I, who smell a rat at a profound distance, do believe +in private that Mrs. Howard and his lordship have a friendship that +borders upon 'the tender.' + + "And though in histories, learned ignorance + Attributes all to cunning or to chance, + Love in that grave disguise does often smile, + Knowing the cause was kindness all the while." + +So Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar in 1724, and shortly after returned to +the subject in another epistle: "You may remember I mentioned in my last +some suspicions of my own in relation to Lord Bathurst, which I really +never mentioned, for fifty reasons, to anyone whatsoever; but, as there +is never smoke without some fire, there is very rarely fire without some +smoke. These smothered flames, though admirably covered with whole heaps +of politics laid over them, were at last seen, felt, heard, and +understood; and the fair lady given to understand by her commanding +officer, that if she showed under other colours, she must expect to have +her pay retrenched. Upon which the good Lord was dismissed, and has not +attended the drawing-room since. You know one cannot help laughing, when +one sees him next, and I own I long for that pleasurable moment." + +To Twickenham came Philip, Duke of Wharton, and leased a villa, later +called The Grove, at the farther end of the hamlet from London. Of all +the lads of the village there was none for wildness like unto him. Born +in 1698, and therefore nine years younger than Lady Mary, he had at an +early age made himself conspicuous by unbridled excesses. Soon after the +death of his father, Thomas, first Marquess of Wharton, in 1715, his +conduct created so much scandal at home, that his guardians sent him +abroad in the custody of a tutor. To the horror of that unfortunate +person, his charge enrolled himself as an adherent of the Pretender, and +went to pay his respects at Avignon. The Duke had talent beyond the +ordinary. He could write fairly well, make an excellent speech, and had +a keen sense of wit. When he went to Paris, the British Ambassador, Lord +Stair, took it upon himself to give this madcap some sound advice. He +extolled the virtues of the late Marquess of Wharton, and, "I hope," he +said, "you will follow so illustrious an example of fidelity to your +Prince and love to your country." "I thank your Excellency for your good +counsel," replied the visitor courteously, "and as your Excellency had +also a worthy and discerning father, I hope that you will likewise copy +so bright an example, and tread in all his footsteps,"--an effective +though a brutal rejoinder, for the first Lord Stair had betrayed his +Sovereign. Young Wharton, on his return, however, showed by his conduct +that his visit to Avignon had been little more than a prank, for while +he had accepted a dukedom from the Pretender, he, in 1718, being still a +minor, accepted a dukedom from the British Sovereign--the single +instance of such a dignity being conferred upon a minor. + +Wharton, who did everything in haste, had in his seventeenth year eloped +with Martha, daughter of Major-General Richard Holmes, and married her +in the Fleet on March 2, 1715. As was only to be expected from a person +so volatile he from the beginning neglected his wife; but, as is put +quaintly in that unreliable work, _Memoirs of a Certain Island adjacent +to the Kingdom of Utopia_, which was concocted by Mrs. Eliza Haywood, +"after some years of continu'd extravagance, the Duke, either through +the natural Inconsistency of his Temper, or the Reflection how much he +had been drawn in by his unworthy Companions to embezel his Estate ... +began to think there were Comforts in Retirement; and falling into the +Conversation of the sober part of Mankind, more than he had done, was +persuaded by them to take home his Dutchess.... He brought her to his +House; but Love had no part in his Resolution. He lived with her indeed +but she is with him as a Housekeeper, as a Nurse." The relations were, +however, more intimate than Mrs. Haywood believed, for in March, 1719, a +son was born to them. + + +"The Duke of Wharton has brought his Duchess to town, and is fond of her +to distraction; in order to break the hearts of all other women that +have any claim on him," Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar. "He has public +devotions twice a day, and assists at them in person with exemplary +devotion; and there is nothing pleasanter than the remarks of some pious +ladies on the conversion of such a sinner." + + +The letter from which the above passage is an extract must have been +written not later than the early spring of 1720, for after that date +the Duke and Duchess of Wharton did not again live together. The +immediate cause of the separation was that Wharton had forbidden his +wife to come to London where small-pox was raging at the time. She, +however, whether irked by the dulness of the country, or thinking by her +presence to guard her husband against those temptations to which he was +prone, followed him to the town, where the infant sickened of the +epidemic and died. After one great scene, they never met again. + +There is mention of the Duke in another letter of Lady Mary to Lady Mar, +dated February, 1724: + + +"In general, gallantry never was in so elevated a figure as it is at +present. Twenty very pretty fellows (the Duke of Wharton being president +and chief director) have formed themselves into a committee of +gallantry. They call themselves _Schemers_; and meet regularly three +times a week, to consult on gallant schemes for the advantage and +advancement of that branch of happiness.... I consider the duty of a +true Englishwoman is to do what honour she can to her native country; +and that it would be a sin against the pious love I bear the land of my +nativity, to confine the renown due to the Schemers within the small +extent of this little island, which ought to be spread wherever men can +sigh, or women wish. 'Tis true they have the envy and curses of the old +and ugly of both sexes, and a general persecution from all old women; +but this is no more than all reformations must expect in their +beginning." + + +More than one writer has asserted that it was the wit and beauty of Lady +Mary that drew him thither. At the time the Duke was twenty-four and the +lady nine years older. Certainly he paid her marked attention, but as he +paid marked attention to all women who had not a hump or a squint-- +sometimes, maybe, he even overlooked the squint--it is as impossible to +say whether he was in love with her as it is to assert that she was in +love with him. From the little that is known of their intimacy, it would +seem that they were merely good comrades--good comrades of the type that +might bite or scratch at any moment. Horace Walpole, who was more than +usually malicious where Lady Mary was concerned, could scarcely induce +himself to allow her any qualities. "My Lady Stafford,"[5] he wrote to +George Montagu in 1751, "used to live at Twickenham when Lady Mary +Wortley and the Duke of Wharton lived there; she had more wit than both +of them. What would I give to have had Strawberry Hill twenty years ago! +I think anything but twenty years. Lady Stafford used to say to her +sister, 'Well, child, I have come without my wit to-day'; that is, she +had not taken her opium, which she was forced to do if she had any +appointment, to be in particular spirits." + +[Footnote 5: Claude Charlotte, Countess of Stafford, wife of Henry, Earl of +Stafford, and daughter of Philibert, Count of Grammont, and Elizabeth +Hamilton, his wife.] + +Horace Walpole alluded to Lady Mary and the Duke in "The Parish Register +of Twickenham": + + "Twickenham, where frolic Wharton revelled + Where Montagu, with locks dishevelled. + Conflict of dirt and warmth combin'd, + Invoked--and scandalised the _Nine_." + +What Pope thought of the Duke he expressed with the utmost vigour: + + "Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days, + Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise: + Born with whate'er could win it from the wise, + Women and fools must like him, or he dies: + Though wondering senates hung on all he spoke. + The club must hail him master of the joke. + Shall parts so various aim at nothing new? + He'll shine a Tully and a Wilmot too. + Then turns repentant, and his God adores + With the same spirit that he drinks and whores; + Enough, if all around him but admire, + And now the punk applaud, and now the friar. + Thus with each gift of nature and of art, + And wanting nothing but an honest heart; + Grown all to all; from no one vice exempt, + And most contemptible, to shun contempt: + His passion still, to covet general praise, + His life, to forfeit it a thousand ways; + A constant bounty which no friend has made; + An angel tongue, which no man can persuade; + A fool, with more of wit than half mankind; + Too rash for thought, for action too refined: + A tyrant to his wife his heart approves; + A rebel to the very king he loves; + He dies, sad outcast of each church and state, + And, harder still! flagitious, yet not great. + Ask you why Wharton broke through every rule? + 'Twas all for fear the knaves should call him fool." + +The Duke wrote a play on Mary Queen of Scots--of which only four lines +have been preserved: + + "Sure were I free, and Norfolk were a prisoner, + I'd fly with more impatience to his arms, + Than the poor Israelite gaz'd on the serpent. + When life was the reward of every look." + +It is usually stated that this play was written at some time between +1728 and 1730, but it is certain that it was begun at this time-- +probably it was never finished. Perhaps only the scenario was drawn up, +and a few scenes outlined; but that so much at least was done while the +author was at Twickenham is proved conclusively by the fact that at this +time Lady Mary composed for the play an epilogue, designed to be spoken +by Mrs. Oldfield. + + "What could luxurious woman wish for more. + To fix her joys, or to extend her pow'r? + Their every wish was in this Mary seen. + Gay, witty, youthful, beauteous, and a queen. + Vain useless blessings with ill-conduct join'd! + Light as the air, and fleeting as the wind. + Whatever poets write, and lovers vow. + Beauty, what poor omnipotence hast thou? + Queen Bess had wisdom, council, power and laws; + How few espous'd a wretched beauty's cause? + Learn thence, ye fair, more solid charms to prize, + Contemn the idle flatt'rers of your eyes. + The brightest object shines but while 'tis new. + That influence lessens by familiar view. + Monarchs and beauties rule with equal sway, + All strive to serve, and glory to obey, + Alike unpitied when depos'd they grow-- + Men mock the idol of their former vow. + Two great examples have been shown to-day, + To what sure ruin passion does betray, + What long repentance to short joys is due, + When reason rules, what glory must ensue. + If you will love, love like Eliza then, + Love for amusement, like those traitors, men. + Think that the pastime of a leisure hour + She favor'd oft--but never shar'd her pow'r. + The traveller by desert wolves pursued, + If by his heart the savage foe's subdu'd, + The world will still the noble act applaud, + Though victory was gain'd by needful fraud. + Such is, my tender sex, our helpless case, + And such the barbarous heart, hid by the begging face, + By passion fir'd, and not withheld by shame, + They cruel hunters are, we trembling game. + Trust me, dear ladies, (for I know 'em well), + They burn to triumph, and they sigh to tell: + Cruel to them that yield, cullies to them that sell. + Believe me, 'tis far the wiser course, + Superior art should meet superior force: + Hear, but be faithful to your int'rest still: + Secure your hearts--then fool with whom you will." + +At Twickenham the Duke seems in some degree to have relied for his +entertainment upon his pen. There he wrote his articles for the _True +Briton_, and also indited various trifles in verse. Never neglecting an +opportunity to indulge his humour, when Lady Mary Wortley Montagu wrote +a poem on the untimely death of a friend, he could not refrain from +presenting her with a parody. + + + ON THE DEATH OF MRS. BOWES + + _By Lady Mary Wortley Montagu_ + + "Hail, happy bride! for thou art truly bless'd, + Three months of rapture crown'd with endless rest. + Merit like yours was Heav'n's peculiar care, + You lov'd--yet tasted happiness sincere: + To you the sweets of love were only shown, + The sure succeeding bitter dregs unknown. + You had not yet the fatal change deplor'd + The tender lover for th' imperious lord, + Nor felt the pains that jealous fondness brings, + Nor wept that coldness from possession springs, + Above your sex distinguish'd in your fate, + You trusted--yet experienc'd no deceit. + Soft were your hours, and wing'd with pleasure flew, + No vain repentance gave a sign to you, + And if superior bliss heav'n can bestow, + With fellow-angels you enjoy it now." + + + THE ANSWER + + _By the Duke of Wharton_ + + "Hail, Poetess! for thou art truly blest, + Of wit, of beauty, and of love possest, + Your muse does seem to bless poor Bowes's fate, + But far 'tis from you to desire her state, + In every line your wanton soul appears. + Your verse, tho' smooth, scarce fit for modest ears, + No pangs of jealous fondness doth thou shew. + And bitter dregs of love thou ne'er didst know: + The coldness that your husband oft has mourn'd, + Does vanish quite, when warm'd on Turkish ground. + For Fame does say, if Fame don't lying prove, + You paid obedience to the Sultan's love. + Who, fair one, then, was your imperious Lord? + Not Montagu, but Mahomet the word: + Great as your wit, just so is Wortley's love, + Your next attempt will be on thund'ring Jove, + The little angels you on Bowes bestow. + But gods themselves are only fit for you." + + +No writer of verses likes to have fun poked at them, even in the form of +friendly banter, but Lady Mary seems to have borne the affliction +admirably. + +Two persons with such impish humour could not but frequently find +themselves at loggerheads, but their liking for each other's society was +genuine, and quarrels were followed by peace-making. "Sophia [as she +nicknamed the young man] and I have been quite reconciled, and are now +quite broke, and I believe not likely to piece up again," Lady Mary +wrote to her sister. This was in February, 1725, and a little later in +the year the breach was widened by the really outrageous conduct of the +Duke: + + +"Sophia and I have an immortal quarrel; which though I resolve never to +forgive, I can hardly forbear laughing at. An acquaintance of mine is +married, whom I wish very well to: Sophia has been pleased, on this +occasion, to write the most infamous ballad that ever was written; where +both the bride and bridegroom are intolerably mauled, especially the +last, who is complimented with the hopes of cuckoldom, and forty other +things equally obliging, and Sophia has distributed this ballad in such +a manner as to make it pass for mine, on purpose to pique the poor +innocent soul of the new-married man, whom I should be the last of +creatures to abuse. I know not how to clear myself of this vile +imputation, without a train of consequences I have no mind to fall into. +In the mean time, Sophia enjoys the pleasure of heartily plaguing both +me and that, person." + + +Probably this "immortal quarrel" would have been made up, but at the +beginning of July the Duke went abroad never to return. "Sophia is going +to Aix-la-Chapelle, and thence to Paris," Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar. +"I dare swear she'll endeavour to get acquainted with you. We are broke +to an iremediable degree. Various are the persecutions I have endured +from her this winter, in all of which I remain neuter, and shall +certainly go to heaven from the passive meekness of my temper." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FAMOUS QUARREL + +Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other +admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on +her thereafter--Writes of her as "Sappho"--Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to +protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mary's malicious tongue +and pen--Mrs. Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"--Lady Mary, Lord +Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady +Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter. + + +Of Pope, it is curious to relate, though he was a near neighbour, she +saw less and less. It has been suggested that the first rift in the lute +was her parody of his verses about the lovers struck by lightning; but +even he, most sensitive of men, can scarcely have been seriously offended. +So far as is known, only two letters passed between them after 1719. + + +"I pass my time in a small snug set of dear intimates, and go very +little into the _grand monde_, which has always had my hearty contempt" +(she wrote to Lady Mar in the spring of 1722). "I see sometimes Mr. +Congreve, and very seldom Mr. Pope, who continues to embellish his house +at Twickenham. He has made a subterranean grotto, which he has furnished +with looking-glass, and they tell me it has a very good effect. I here +send you some verses addressed to Mr. Gay, who wrote him a +congratulatory letter on the finishing his house. I stifled them here, +and I beg they may die the same death at Paris, and never go further +than your closet: + + 'Ah, Friend, 'tis true--this truth you lovers know-- + In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow, + In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes + Of hanging mountains, and of sloping greens: + Joy lives not here; to happier seats it flies, + And only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes. + + What is the gay parterre, the chequer'd shade, + The morning bower, the ev'ning colonnade, + But soft recesses of uneasy minds, + To sigh unheard in, to the passing winds? + So the struck deer in some sequestrate part + Lies down to die, the arrow at his heart; + There, stretch'd unseen in coverts hid from day, + Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away.' + + +It may here be remarked that in Epistle VIII of the _Moral Essays_ Pope +had a line: + + "And other beauties envy Wortley's eyes"; + +but in a reprint of the poem he substituted [Lady] "Worsley" for +"Wortley" in order to give the impression that "Wortley" had been a +misprint. + +Pope's quarrel with Lady Mary began in or about 1722. The cause is +obscure. Many reasons have been advanced. Lady Mary in her +correspondence gives no clue as to the breach. + +It has been said that it arose out of the fact that Pope lent the +Montagus a pair of sheets and that they were returned unwashed, to the +great indignation of his mother who lived with him. It is difficult to +believe this. + +Others have it that he was jealous of the favour which Lady Mary +accorded to the Duke of Wharton and Lord Hervey. Certainly he lampooned +the Duke, and he was never weary of writing insultingly about the other. + +Most probable is the account given by Lady Louisa Stuart, Lady Mary's +grand-daughter, which is to the effect that Pope made a declaration of +love, and that Lady Mary received it with shrieks of laughter. If Pope +were serious, it must have galled him indeed, though nothing can excuse +the malignity with which he pursued her for years and years. And if he +were not in earnest, he would probably have been nearly, if not quite, +as indignant. + +Anyhow, it is a sorry story, and a blot on the scutcheon of the poet, +who, good-hearted as he usually was, was cursed by the gift, refined to +a rare degree, of alienating his friends, more often than not for some +fancied slight. Addison he lampooned, and from Dennis and Philips he +parted company. "Leave him as soon as you can," Addison had warned Lady +Mary. "He will certainly play you some devilish trick else: he has an +appetite for satire." Lady Mary presently must have wished that she had +followed this sage counsel. + +When Pope fought, he fought with the gloves off; and not the sex or the +age or the standing of the subject of his wrath deterred him a whit. + + "Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things + As pride in slaves, and avarice in kings; + And at a peer, or peeress, shall I fret, + Who starves a sister, or forswears a debt?" + +Thus Pope in the First Dialogue of the _Epilogue to the Satires._ The +reference to forswearing a debt, is, of course, to the Rémond business; +"who starves a sister" is an allusion to Lady Mary and Lady Mar.[6] + +[Footnote 6: _See_ p. 200 of this work.] + +Pope returned to the attack again and again. In _The Satires of Dr. John +Donne Versified_, he inserted the following lines, although there is +nothing in the original to warrant the stroke at Lady Mary: + + "Yes, thank my stars! as early as I knew + This town, I had the sense to hate it too: + Yet here, as e'en in hell, there must be still + One giant vice, so excellently ill. + That all beside, one pities, not abhors: + As who knows Sappho, smiles at other whores." + +Again, in the _Epistle to Martha Blount_: + + "As Sappho's diamonds with her dirty smock; + Or Sappho at her toilet's greasy task, + With Sappho radiant at an evening mask." + +Pope would not admit that he alluded to Lady Mary as Sappho, but +everyone realised that this was so. Lady Mary, much distressed, begged +Lord Peterborough to urge Pope to refrain. The mission was undertaken +reluctantly, and the result was scarcely satisfactory. "He said to me," +Lord Peterborough wrote to Lady Mary, "what I had taken the liberty of +saying to you, that he wondered how the town would apply these lines to +any but some noted common woman; that he would yet be more surprised if +you should take them to yourself; he named to me four remarkable +poetesses and scribblers, Mrs. Centlivre, Mrs. Heywood, Mrs. Manley, and +Mrs. Behn, assuring me that such only were the objects of his satire." + + +Much upset, Lady Mary wrote the following letter to Arbuthnot: + + +January 3 [1735]. + +"Sir, + +"I have perused the last lampoon of your ingenious friend, and am not +surprised you did not find me out under the name of Sappho, because +there is nothing I ever heard in our characters or circumstances to make +a parallel, but as the town (except you, who know better) generally +suppose Pope means me, whenever he mentions that name, I cannot help +taking notice of the horrible malice he bears against the lady signified +by that name, which appears to be irritated by supposing her writer of +the Verses to the Imitator of Horace. Now I can assure him they were +wrote (without my knowledge) by a gentleman of great merit, whom I very +much esteem, who he will never guess, and who, if he did know, he durst +not attack; but I own the design was so well meant, and so excellently +executed, that I cannot be sorry they were written. I wish you would +advise poor Pope to turn to some more honest livelihood than libelling; +I know he will allege in his excuse that he must write to eat, and he +has now grown sensible that nobody will buy his verses except their +curiosity is piqued to it, to see what is said of their acquaintance; +but I think this method of gain so exceeding vile that it admits of no +excuse at all.--Can anything be more detestable than his abusing poor +Moore, scarce cold in his grave, when it is plain he kept back his poem, +while he lived, for fear he should beat him for it? This is shocking to +me, though of a man I never spoke to and hardly knew by sight; but I am +seriously concerned at the worse scandal he has heaped on Mr. Congreve, +who was my friend, and whom I am obliged to justify, because I can do it +on my own knowledge, and, which is yet farther bring witness of it, from +those who were then often with me that he was so far from loving Pope's +rhyme, both that--and his conversation were perpetual jokes to him, +exceeding despicable in his opinion, and he has often made us laugh in +talking of them, being particularly pleasant on that subject. As to +Pope's being born of honest parents, I verily believe it, and will add +one praise to his mother's character, that (though I only knew her very +old) she always appeared to me to have much better sense than himself. I +desire, sir, as a favour, that you would show this letter to Pope, and +you will very much oblige, sir, + +"Your humble servant." + + +Lady Mary was not a person, after severe chastisement, to turn the other +cheek, and Pope was well aware of it. He believed that more than one +social satire upon him came from her pen; and he especially suspected +her of having written, or anyhow of having had a hand in the composition +of _A Pop upon Pope_, in which an account was given of a whipping in Ham +Walk which was said to have been administered to him. The poet was so +furious--he regarded it as an indirect attack on his physical deformity, +of which he was always so conscious--that he actually inserted an +announcement in the papers that no such incident had ever occurred-- +thereby drawing yet more attention to the lampoon. "You may be certain I +shall never reply to such a libel as Lady Mary's," he wrote to +Fortescue. "It is a pleasure and comfort at once to find out that with +so much mind as so much malice must have to accuse or blacken my +character, it can fix upon no one ill or immoral thing in my life and +must content itself to say, my poetry is dull and my person ugly." + +Lady Mary, in a letter to Arbuthnot, denied the authorship of _A Pop +upon Pope_: + + +"Sir, + +"Since I saw you I have made some inquiries, and heard more, of the +story you was so kind to mention to me. I am told Pope has had the +surprising impudence to assert he can bring the lampoon when he pleases +to produce it, under my own hand; I desire he may be made to keep to +this offer. If he is so skilful in counterfeiting hands, I suppose he +will not confine that great talent to the gratifying his malice, but +take some occasion to increase his fortune by the same method, and I may +hope (by such practices) to see him exalted according to his merit, +which nobody will rejoice at more than myself. I beg of you, sir (as an +act of justice), to endeavour to set the truth in an open light, and +then I leave to your judgment the character of those who have attempted +to hurt mine in so barbarous a manner. I can assure you (in particular) +you named a lady to me (as abused in this libel) whose name I never +heard before, and as I never had any acquaintance with Dr. Swift am an +utter stranger to all his affairs and even his person, which I never saw +to my knowledge, and am now convinced the whole is a contrivance of +Pope's to blast the reputation of one who never injured him. I am not +more sensible of his injustice, than I am, sir, of your [_sic_] candour, +generosity, and good sense I have found in you, which has obliged me to +be with a very uncommon warmth your real friend, and I heartily wish for +an opportunity of showing I am so more effectually than by subscribing +myself your very + +"Humble servant." + + +Whether, in spite of her denial, Lady Mary had a hand in _A Pop upon +Pope_ cannot be said; but it is certainly safe to believe that the +following lines were written by her, in conjunction, the gossip of the +day had it, with Lord Hervey, with some assistance from Mr. Wyndham, +then tutor to the Duke of Cumberland: + + "VERSES ADDRESSED TO THE IMITATOR OF THE FIRST SATIRE OF THE + SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. + + _By a Lady_ + + "Nor thou the justice of the world disown. + That leaves thee thus an outcast and alone: + For though in law the murder be to kill, + In equity the murder is the will. + Then while with coward hand you stab a name, + And try at least to assassinate our fame, + Like the first bold assassin be thy lot, + Ne'er be thy guilt forgiven or forgot; + But as thou hat'st by hatred by mankind, + And with the emblem of thy crooked mind + Marked on thy back, like Cain, by God's own hand, + Wander like him accursed through the land." + +It was this malignant attack upon his person that inspired Pope's lines +in the _Epistle to Arbuthnot_: + + "Once, and but once, his heedless youth was bit, + And liked that dangerous thing, a female wit. + Safe, so he thought, though all the prudent chid; + He writ no libels, but my lady did; + Great odds, in amorous or poetic game, + Where woman's is the sin, and man's the shame." + +With the following extract from a letter written by Lady Mary from +Florence in 1740 this unpleasing incident may be dismissed: + + +"The word malignity, and a passage in your letter, call to my mind the +wicked wasp of Twickenham: his lies affect me now no more; they will be +all as much despised as the story of the seraglio and the handkerchief, +of which I am persuaded he was the only inventor. That man has a +malignant and ungenerous heart; and he is base enough to assume the mask +of a moralist, in order to decry human nature, and to give a decent vent +to his hatred of man and woman kind.--But I must quit this contemptible +subject, on which a just indignation would render my pen so fertile, +that after having fatigued you with a long letter, I would surfeit you +with a supplement twice as long." + + +At Twickenham Lady Mary interested herself in planning alterations in +the house and gardens. "There is a sort of pleasure," she said, "in +shewing one's own fancy on one's own ground." The longer she stayed at +the riverside, the better she liked it. "I am at present at Twickenham," +she wrote in July, 1723, "which is become so fashionable, and the +neighbourhood so much enlarged, that 'tis more like Tunbridge or the +Bath than a country retreat." + + +"I am now at the same distance from London that you are from Paris, and +could fall into solitary amusements with a good deal of taste; but I +resist it, as a temptation of Satan, and rather turn my endeavours to +make the world as agreeable to me as I can, which is the true +philosophy; that of despising it is of no use but to hasten wrinkles" +(she wrote to Lady Mar in 1725). "I ride a good deal, and have got a +horse superior to any two-legged animal, he being without a fault. I +work like an angel. I receive visits upon idle days, and I shade my life +as I do my tent-stitch, that is, make as easy transitions as I can from +business to pleasure; the one would be too flaring and gaudy without +some dark shades of t'other; and if I worked altogether in the grave +colours, you know 'twould be quite dismal. Miss Skerritt is in the house +with, me, and Lady Stafford has taken a lodging at Richmond: as their +ages are different, and both agreeable in their kind, I laugh with the +one, or reason with the other, as I happen to be in a gay or serious +humour; and I manage my friends with such a strong yet with a gentle +hand, that they are both willing to do whatever I have a mind to." + + +"Molly," that is, Maria Skerritt or Skirrett, is best known for her +connection with Sir Robert Walpole. There was nothing clandestine about +the relationship: it was openly avowed. Miss Skerritt, who was the +daughter of a London merchant, had great good looks and an ample +fortune, and Walpole declared that she was indispensable to his +happiness. She was received everywhere, and moved in fashionable +society. It was to Lady Walpole and Molly Skerritt that Gay alluded in +the song that he put in the mouth of Macheath (who was meant for Robert +Walpole): + + "How happy could I be with either, + Were t'other dear Charmer away!" + +Lady Walpole survived until the summer of 1738, and after her death the +others married. The second Lady Walpole died of a miscarriage in June, +1739, to the great and enduring sorrow of her husband. For the surviving +child, Walpole, when he accepted a peerage in 1742, secured the rank of +an earl's daughter. + +Lady Mary now spent her time between London and Twickenham. At Court, +she was as popular as ever with the King; and she was liked in literary +circles, and on good terms with Young, Arbuthnot, Garth, and the rest of +the set. "I see every body but converse with nobody but _des amies +choisses_; in the first rank of these are Lady Stafford and dear Molly +Skerritt, both of whom have now the additional merit of being old +acquaintances, and never having given me any reason to complain of +either of 'em. I pass some days with the Duchess of Montagu, who might +be a reigning beauty if she pleased. I see the whole town every Sunday, +and select a few that I retain to supper. In short, if life could be +always what it is, I believe I have so much humility in my temper I +could be contented without anything better than this two or three +hundred years but, alas! + + 'Dulness, and wrinkles, and disease, must come, + And age, and death's irrevocable doom.'" + +Lady Mary, who had some two-score years still to live, began at this +time to deplore her increasing age. "For my own part," she wrote to +Lady Mar, "I have some coteries where wit and pleasure reign, and I +should not fail to amuse myself tolerably enough, but for the d----d +d----d quality of growing older every day, and my present joys are made +imperfect by fears of the future." However, this depression was not +always on her, and later she was writing: + + +"I think this is the first time in my life that a letter of yours has +lain by me two posts unanswered. You'll wonder to hear that short +silence is occasioned by not having a moment unemployed at Twickenham; +but I pass many hours on horseback, and, I'll assure you, ride +stag-hunting, which I know you'll stare to hear of. I have arrived to +vast courage and skill that way, and am as well pleased with it as with +the acquisition of a new sense: his Royal Highness [the Prince of Wales] +hunts in Richmond Park, and I make one of the _beau monde_ in his train. +I desire you after this account not to name the word old woman to me any +more: I approach to fifteen nearer than I did ten years ago, and am in +hopes to improve every year in health and vivacity." + + +Lady Mary's tongue made her many enemies in society, and when her tongue +failed her she brought her pen into action. Her love of scandal must +have gone far to make her unpopular, and if her letters to her sister at +Paris had been published she would have found herself with scarcely a +friend in the world. + +Correspondence between Lady Mary, from London or Twickenham, to her +sister, the Countess of Mar, at Paris, was a very one-sided affair. This +was, in part, owing to the fact that Lord Mar was, of course, suspect, +and that letters to him or to members of his family and household were +(in all probability) intercepted in this country. Lady Mary, who had +suspected this more than once, became more and more convinced that her +suspicions were justified. "I have writ to you at least five-and-forty +letters, dear sister, without receiving any answer, and resolved not to +confide in post-house fidelity any more, being firmly persuaded that +they never came to your hands, or you would not refuse one line to let +me know how you do, which is and ever will be of great importance to +me." That was written at Christmas, 1722, and though in the meantime +Lady Mary heard from her sister, she realised that if she wanted her +letters to arrive she must be careful as to the topics upon which she +discoursed. "Letters are so surely opened, I dare say nothing to you +either of our intrigues or duels, both of which would afford great +matter of mirth and speculation." The difficulties of communication did +not decrease. "I have writ to you twice since I received yours in answer +to that I sent by Mr. de Caylus," she remarked a little later; "but I +believe none of what I send by the post ever come to your hands, nor +ever will while they are directed to Mr. Waters, for reasons that you +may easily guess. I wish you would give me a safer direction; it is very +seldom I can have the opportunity of a private messenger, and it is very +often that I have a mind to write to my dear sister." + + +Lady Mary, of course, often stayed in London, and in her correspondence +are many references to her friends and her doings. + + +"Operas flourish more than ever, and I have been in a tract of going +every time," she wrote to her sister in April, 1723. "The people I live +most with are none of your acquaintance; the Duchess of Montagu +excepted, whom I continue to see often. Her daughter Belle is at this +instant in the paradisal state of receiving visits every day from a +passionate lover, who is her first love; whom she thinks the finest +gentleman in Europe, and is, besides that, Duke of Manchester. Her mamma +and I often laugh and sigh reflecting on her felicity, the consummation +of which will be in a fortnight. In the mean time they are permitted to +be alone together every day and all the day." + + +Mary's very best vein is the following letter, written about the same +time, and also addressed to her sister: + + +"I am yet in this wicked town, but purpose to leave it as soon as the +Parliament rises. Mrs. Murray and all her satellites have so seldom +fallen in my way, I can say little about them. Your old friend Mrs. +Lowther is still fair and young, and in pale pink every night in the +Parks; but, after being highly in favour, poor I am in utter disgrace, +without my being able to guess wherefore, except she fancied me the +author or abettor of two vile ballads written on her dying adventure, +which I am so innocent of that I never saw [them]. _A propos_ of +ballads, a most delightful one is said or sung in most houses about our +dear beloved plot, which has been laid firstly to Pope, and secondly to +me, when God knows we have neither of us wit enough to make it. Mrs. +Hervey lies-in of a female child. Lady Rich is happy in dear Sir +Robert's absence, and the polite Mr. Holt's return to his allegiance, +who, though in a treaty of marriage with one of the prettiest girls in +town (Lady Jane Wharton), appears better with her than ever. Lady Betty +Manners is on the brink of matrimony with a Yorkshire Mr. Monckton of +£3,000 per annum: it is a match of the young duchess's making, and she +thinks matter of great triumph over the two coquette beauties, who can +get nobody to have and to hold; they are decayed to a piteous degree and +so neglected that they are grown constant and particular to the two +ugliest fellows in London. Mrs. Pulteney condescends to be publicly kept +by the noble Earl of Cadogan; whether Mr. Pulteney has a pad nag +deducted out of the profits for his share I cannot tell, but he appears +very well satisfied with it. This is, I think, the whole state of love; +as to that of wit, it splits itself into ten thousand branches; poets +increase and multiply to that stupendous degree, you see them at every +turn, even in embroidered coats and pink-coloured top-knots; making +verses is almost as common as taking snuff, and God can tell what +miserable stuff people carry about in their pockets, and offer to +their acquaintances, and you know one cannot refuse reading and taking a +pinch. This is a very great grievance, and so particularly shocking to +me, that I think our wise lawgivers should take it into consideration, +and appoint a fast-day to beseech Heaven to put a stop to this +epidemical disease, as they did last year for the plague with great +success." + + +Another typical letter from Lady Mary contains a story of the class that +strongly appealed to her: + + +"The most diverting story about town at present is in relation to +Edgcombe; though your not knowing the people concerned so well as I do, +will, I fear hinder you from being so much entertained by it. I can't +tell whether you know a tall, musical, silly, ugly thing, niece to Lady +Essex Roberts, who is called Miss Leigh. She went a few days ago to +visit Mrs. Betty Tichborne, Lady Sunderland's sister, who lives in the +house with her, and was denied at the door; but, with the true manners +of a great fool, told the porter that if his lady was at home she was +very positive she would be very glad to see her. Upon which she was +shewed up stairs to Miss Tichborne, who was ready to drop down at the +sight of her, and could not help asking her in a grave way how she got +in, being denied to every mortal, intending to pass the evening in +devout preparation. Miss Leigh said she had sent away her chair and +servants, with intent of staying till nine o'clock. There was then no +remedy, and she was asked to sit down; but had not been there a quarter +of an hour when she heard a violent rap at the door, and somebody +vehemently run up stairs. Miss Tichborne seemed much surprised, and said +she believed it was Mr. Edgcombe, and was quite amazed how he took it +into his head to visit her. During these excuses enter Edgcombe, who +appeared frighted at the sight of a third person. Miss Tichborne told +him almost at his entrance that the lady he saw there was perfect +mistress of music, and as he passionately loved it, she thought she +could not oblige him more than by desiring her to play. Miss Leigh very +willingly sat to the harpsichord; upon which her audience decamped to +the adjoining room, and left her to play over three or four lessons to +herself. They returned, and made what excuses they could, but said very +frankly they had not heard her performance, and begged her to begin +again; which she complied with, and gave them the opportunity of a +second retirement. Miss Leigh was by this time all fire and flame to see +her heavenly harmony thus slighted; and when they returned, told them +she did not understand playing to an empty room. Mr. Edgcombe begged ten +thousand pardons, and said, if she would play _Godi_, it was a tune he +died to hear, and it would be an obligation he should never forget. She +made answer she would do him a much greater favour by her absence, which +she supposed was all that was necessary at that time; and ran down +stairs in a great fury to publish as fast as she could; and was so +indefatigable in this pious design, that in four-and-twenty hours all +the people in town had heard the story. My Lady Sunderland could not +avoid hearing this story, and three days after, invited Miss Leigh to +dinner, where, in the presence of her sister and all the servants, she +told her she was very sorry she had been so rudely treated in her house; +that it was very true Mr. Edgcombe had been a perpetual companion of her +sister's these two years, and she thought it high time he should explain +himself, and she expected her sister should act in this matter as +discreetly as Lady K. [Katherine] Pelham had done in the like case; who +had given Mr. Pelham four months to resolve in, and after that he was +either to marry her or to lose her for ever. Sir Robert Sutton +interrupted her by saying, that he never doubted the honour of Mr. +Edgcombe, and was persuaded he could have no ill design in his family. +The affair stands thus, and Mr. Edgcombe has four months to provide +himself elsewhere; during which time he has free egress and regress; and +'tis seriously the opinion of many that a wedding will in good earnest +be brought about by this admirable conduct. + +"I send you a novel instead of a letter, but, as it is in your power to +shorten it when you please, by reading no farther than you like, I will +make no excuses for the length of it." + + +Lady Mary had contracted an intimacy with Griselda Baillie, the wife of +Mr. (afterwards Sir A.) Murray, of Stanhope, after her return from +abroad, and there is frequent mention of her in the correspondence; but +the friendship came to an abrupt end in 1725. + + +"Among the rest a very odd whim has entered the little head of Mrs. +Murray: do you know she won't visit me this winter?" Lady Mary wrote to +Lady Mar. "I, according to the usual integrity of my heart, and +simplicity of my manners, with great _naïveté_ desired to explain with +her on the subject, and she answered that she was convinced that I had +made the ballad upon her, and was resolved never to speak to me again. I +answered (which was true), that I utterly defied her to have any one +single proof of my making it, without being able to get any thing from +her, but repetitions that she knew it. I cannot suppose that any thing +you have said should occasion this rupture, and the reputation of a +quarrel is always so ridiculous on both sides, that you will oblige me +in mentioning it to her, for 'tis now at that pretty pass, she won't +curtsey to me whenever she mets me, which is superlatively silly (if she +really knew it), after a suspension of resentment for two years +together." + + +Mrs. Murray had had an unpleasant adventure with her footman, Arthur +Grey, who had broken into her bedroom. Lady Mary had written and +circulated _An Epistle from Arthur Grey,_ and later another, and an +improper, ballad had appeared under the title of _Virtue in Danger_. +Mrs. Murray was firmly convinced that both pieces came from the same +pen. + +Lady Mar, on receipt of the above letter, proposed to act as peacemaker. +"I give you thanks for the good offices you promise with regard to Mrs. +Murray," Lady Mary wrote to her in reply, "and I shall think myself +sincerely obliged to you, as I already am on many accounts. 'Tis very +disagreeable in her to go about behaving and talking as she does, and +very silly into the bargain." + + +"Mrs. Murray is in open war with me in such a manner as makes her very +ridiculous without doing me much harm; my moderation having a very +bright pretence of shewing itself" (she wrote to Lady Mar). "Firstly, +she was pleased to attack me in very Billingsgate at a masquerade, where +she was as visible as ever she was in her own clothes. I had the temper +not only to keep silence myself, but enjoined it to the person with me; +who would have been very glad to have shewn his great skill in sousing +upon that occasion. She endeavoured to sweeten him by very exorbitant +praises of his person, which might even have been mistaken for making +love from a woman of less celebrated virtue; and concluded her oration +with pious warnings to him, to avoid the conversation of one so unworthy +his regard as myself, who to her certain knowledge loved another man. +This last article, I own, piqued me more than all her preceding +civilities. The gentleman she addressed herself to had a very slight +acquaintance with me, and might possibly go away in the opinion that she +had been confidante in some very notorious affair of mine. However, I +made her no answer at the time, but you may imagine I laid up these +things in my heart; and the first assembly I had the honour to meet her +at, with a meek tone of voice, asked her how I had deserved so much +abuse at her hands, which I assured her I would never return. She denied +it in the spirit of lying; and in the spirit of folly owned it at +length. I contented myself with telling her she was very ill advised, +and thus we parted. But two days ago, when Sir Geoffrey Kneller's +pictures were to be sold, she went to my sister Gower, and very civily +asked if she intended to bid for your picture; assuring her that, if she +did, she would not offer at purchasing it. You know crimp and quadrille +incapacitate that poor soul from ever buying any thing; but she told me +this circumstance; and I expected the same civility from Mrs. Murray, +having no way provoked her to the contrary. But she not only came to the +auction, but with all possible spite bid up the picture, though I told +her that, if you pleased to have it, I would gladly part with it to you, +though to no other person. This had no effect upon her, nor her malice +any more on me than the loss of ten guineas extraordinary, which I paid +upon her account. The picture is in my possession, and at your service +if you please to have it. She went to the masquerade a few nights +afterwards, and had the good sense to tell people there that she was +very unhappy in not meeting me, being come there on purpose to abuse me. +What profit or pleasure she has in these ways I cannot find out. This I +know, that revenge has so few joys for me, I shall never lose so much +time as to undertake it." + +So early as 1721, Lady Mary, writing to Lady Mar, mentions that "the +most considerable incident that has happened a good while, was the +ardent affection that Mrs. Hervey and her dear spouse[7] took to me. +They visited me twice or thrice a day, and were perpetually cooing in my +rooms. I was complaisant a great while; but (as you know) my talent has +never lain much that way. I grew at last so weary of those birds of +paradise, I fled to Twickenham, as much to avoid their persecutions as +for my own health, which is still in a declining way." Lady Mary did not +like Lady Hervey, the beautiful "Molly" Lepell, whom Gay eulogised: + + "Hervey, would you know the passion + You have kindled in my breast? + Trifling is the inclination + That by words can be expressed. + + In my silence see the lover; + True love is by silence known; + In my eyes you'll best discover, + All the power of your own." + +[Footnote 7: The Hon. John Hervey (1696-1743), younger son of John, +first Earl of Bristol; known as Lord Hervey after the death of his elder +brother Carr in 1723; Vice-Chamberlain of George II's Household, 1730; +created Baron Hervey of Ickworth, 1733, Lord Privy Seal, 1740-1742.] + +For Hervey, however, Lady Mary came to have a strong liking that many +believed to have, as she would have said, bordered upon "the tender"; +although it is on record that she once remarked that she divided the +human race into men, women, and Herveys. They met whenever they could; +when they could not meet they corresponded. Pope bitterly resented the +intimacy between Lady Mary and Hervey, and in the _Epistle of Arbuthnot_ +gave vent to the malignity with which his soul had been for years +overflowing: + + "P. Let Sporus tremble. + + A. What? That thing of silk; + Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk? + Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? + Who breaks a butterfly on the wheel? + + P. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, + This painted Child of dirt, that stinks and stings; + Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, + Yet wit ne'er tastes and beauty ne'er enjoys: + So well-bred spaniels civilly delight + In mumbling of the game they dare not bite. + Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, + As shallow streams run dimpling all the way. + Whether in florid impotence he speaks, + And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks; + Or at the ear of Eve,[8] familiar toad. + Half froth, half venom, spits himself abroad, + In pun, or politics, or tales, or lies. + Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies. + His wit all see-saw, between that and this, + Now high, now low, now make up, now miss, + And he himself one vile antithesis. + Amphibious thing! that acting either part, + The trifling head, or the corrupted heart; + Fop at the hostel, flatterer at the board, + Now trips a lady, and now struts a Lord. + Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have expressed, + A cherub's face--a reptile all the rest. + Beauty that shocks you, parts that none can trust, + Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust." + +[Footnote 8: Queen Caroline.] + +This was a heavy price to pay for the favours even of Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu. + +Whatever the relations between Lady Mary and Hervey, Lady Hervey was not +indulgent to them, which may have inspired Lady Mary to write to her +sister: "Lady Hervey, by aiming too high, has fallen very low; and is +reduced to trying to persuade folks she has an intrigue, and gets nobody +to believe her; the man in question taking a great deal of pains to +clear himself of the scandal." Lady Hervey and Mrs. Murray were active +partisans of Lord Grange in his persecution of Lady Mary, and aided him +in his attempts to get possession of her sister, Lady Mar. + +The bad terms on which Lady Mary and Lady Hervey were is most clearly +defined by Lady Louisa Stuart: "At the time of Lady Mary Wortley's return +home [in 1762, after an absence abroad of more than twenty years], Lady +Hervey was living in great intimacy with Lady Bute, for whom she +professed, and it is believed really felt, the highest esteem and +admiration. On hearing of her mother's arrival, she came to her, owning +herself embarrassed by the fear of giving her pain or offence, but yet +compelled to declare that formerly something had passed between her and +Lady Mary which made any renewal of their acquaintance impossible; +therefore, if she forbore visiting her, she threw herself upon Lady +Bute's friendship and candour for pardon. No explanation followed. Lady +Bute, who must have early seen the necessity of taking care not to be +entangled in her mother's quarrels, which, to speak truth, were seldom +few in number, only knew that there had been an old feud between her, +Lady Hervey, and Lady Hervey's friend, Mrs. (or Lady) Murray; the +particulars of which, forgotten even then by everybody but themselves, +may well be now beyond recall." + +During this period there were several domestic happenings in Lady Mary's +family. + +On March 5, 1726, died her father, the Duke of Kingston. After the +accession of George I, the Marquess of Dorchester (as he then was) was +high in favour at Court, and honours were showered upon him with a +lavish hand. He was in 1714 appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, and +in the same year Chief Justice in Eyre, north of Trent, which latter +dignity he held for two years. In August, 1715, he was created Duke of +Kingston upon Hull, in the county of Yorkshire. He held the high office +of Lord Privy Seal from 1716 to 1719 in the Administrations of Townshend +and Stanhope, in the latter year becoming Lord President of the Council. +When Walpole became First Lord of the Treasury, the Duke again became +Lord Privy Seal, and held the post until his death. He was given the +Garter in 1719, and was four times named as one of the Lord Justices of +the Realm during the King's absences from England on visits to Hanover. +He had married, secondly, Isabella, fifth daughter of William Bentinck, +first Earl of Portland, by his first wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Edward +Villiers, who survived him two years. + +The Duke had never really forgiven Lady Mary for eloping. Her defiance +of him hurt his pride inordinately. Everyone else to some degree at +least he could control; his young daughter not at all. Only so far were +they ever reconciled that he would occasionally visit the Montagus at +their London house and play with the children. + +In his later years the Duke's health was unsatisfactory, but it was not +thought that the end was so near. "I have now to tell you of the +surprising death of my father, and a great deal of surprising management +of the people about him, which I leave informing you until another time, +being now under some spirit of hurry myself," Lady Mary wrote to Lady +Mar in March, 1726. "I am unfeignedly sorry that I cannot send you word +of a considerable legacy for yourself." On April 15 she supplemented +this account; but not to a degree to make it very intelligible: + + +"To be sure, the shock must be very great to you whenever you heard it; +as indeed it was to us all here, being so sudden. It is to no purpose +now to relate particulars, but only renewing our grief. I can't forbear +telling you the Duchess has behaved very oddly in endeavouring to get +the guardianship of the young Duke and his sister, contrary to her +husband's will; but the boy, when he was fourteen, confirmed the +trustees his grandfather left; so that ended all disputes; and Lady +Fanny is to live with my aunt Cheyne. There is a vast number of things +that have happened, and some people's behaviour so extraordinary in this +melancholy business, that it would be great ease of mind if I could tell +it you; but I must not venture to speak too freely in a letter." + + +A week or so later, some further details were forthcoming: + + +"I received yours, dear sister, this minute, and am very sorry both for +your past illness and affliction; though _au bout du compte_, I don't +know why filial piety should exceed fatherly fondness. So much by way of +consolation. As to the management at that time--I do verily believe, if +my good aunt and sister had been less fools, and my dear mother-in-law +less mercenary, things might have had a turn more to your advantage and +mine too; when we meet, I will tell you many circumstances which would +be tedious in a letter. I could not get my sister Gower to join to act +with me, and mamma and I were in an actual scold when my poor father +expired; she has shewn a hardness of heart upon this occasion that would +appear incredible to any body not capable of it themselves. The addition +to her jointure is, one way or other, £2000 per annum; so her good Grace +remains a passable rich widow, and is already presented by the town with +a variety of young husbands; but I believe her constitution is not good +enough to let her amorous inclinations get the better of her covetous." + + +Lady Mary was very angry, because she heard that at the end her father +had really expressed a great deal of kindness to her, and even a desire +of talking to her, which the Duchess would not permit. However, he left +her in his will, she having married without a settlement, £6,000 for her +separate use during her life, with reversion to her daughter. + +As regards the heir, she wrote: "The Duke of Kingston has hitherto had so +ill an education, 'tis hard to make any judgment of him; he has spirit, +but I fear he will never have his father's good sense. As young noblemen +go, 'tis possible he may make a good figure among them." + +The young Duke was sent to France, and there was much discussion as to +what should be done with his sister, Lady Frances Pierrepont. Her having +£400 per annum for maintenance, has, Lady Mary remarked ironically, +"awakened the consciences of half her relations to take care of her +education, and (excepting myself) they have all been squabbling about +her. My sister Gower carries her off to-morrow morning to Staffordshire. +The lies, twaddles, and contrivances about this affair are innumerable. +I should pity the poor girl if I saw she pitied herself." + +Lady Gower did not long enjoy her victory over her friends and her fond +relations, for she died in June, 1727. + +In May, 1732, Lord Mar died at Aix-la-Chapelle. Lady Mary's sister, Lady +Mar, in later years suffered from mental irregularity. Her brother-in-law, +James Erskine, Lord Grange, endeavoured to secure possession of her +person by some process of law, but was thwarted by Lady Mary, who +obtained a warrant from the King's Bench. For years Lady Mar remained in +her sister's custody. She survived until 1761. There was a rumour that +Lady Mary treated her badly, but there is no reason to believe that +there was any substantial ground for the accusation. + +Lady Mary's daughter, Mary, married in 1736, John Stuart, third Earl of +Bute, the favourite of the Princess of Wales, and afterwards Prime +Minister. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE CONTINENT (1739-1744) + +Lady Mary leaves England--She does not return for twenty years--Montagu +supposed to join her--The domestic relations of the Montagus--A +septennial act for marriage--Lady Mary corresponds with her +husband--Dijon--Turin--Venice--Bologna--Florence--The Monastery of La +Trappe--Horace Walpole at Florence--His comments on Lady Mary and her +friends--Reasons for his dislike of her--Rome--The Young Pretender and +Henry, Cardinal York--Wanderings--Cheapness of life in Italy--Lady +Mary's son, Edward--He is a great trouble to his parents--His absurd +marriage--His extravagance and folly--Account of his early years--He +visits Lady Mary at Valence--Her account of the interviews. + + +In July, 1739, Lady Mary went abroad. She did not return until the +beginning of 1762, a few months before her death. + +She went abroad without her husband, and, indeed, they never met again. +At first, apparently, he had intended to join her--at least so she gave +Lady Pomfret to understand: + + +"You have put me to a very difficult choice, yet, when I consider we are +both in Italy, and yet do not see one another, I am astonished at the +capriciousness of my fortune" (she wrote from Venice late in 1739). "My +affairs are so uncertain, I can answer for nothing that is future. I +have taken some pains to put the inclination for travelling into Mr. +Wortley's head, and was so much afraid he would change his mind, that I +hastened before him in order (at least) to secure my journey. He +proposed following me in six weeks, his business requiring his presence +at Newcastle. Since that, the change of scene that has happened in +England has made his friends persuade him to attend parliament this +session: so that what his inclinations, which must govern mine, will be +next spring I cannot absolutely foresee. For my own part, I like my own +situation so well that it will be a displeasure to me to change it. To +postpone such a conversation as yours a whole twelvemonth is a terrible +appearance; on the other hand, I would not follow the example of the +first of our sex, and sacrifice for a present pleasure a more lasting +happiness. In short, I can determine nothing on this subject. When you +are at Florence, we may debate it over again." + + +So little is known of the domestic relations of the Montagus that it is +hazardous to advance a conjecture. One writer has suggested that there +was a quarrel over money, but there are no grounds to support this. +Another has it that Lady Mary's flirtations or intrigues did not meet +with her husband's approval. Yet another thinks that Montagu found his +wife with her sharp tongue, very ill to live with. + +The Montagus had been married for seven-and-twenty years; their younger +child was now twenty-one. Since Montagu assisted Lady Mary as a girl +with her Latin studies, they do not seem to have had much in common. +Lady Mary cut a figure in the social world; Montagu was a nonentity in +political life and seemed content so to be. Perhaps they were tired of +each other, and welcomed a separation that at the outset was intended +only to be temporary. "It was from the customs of the Turks that I first +had the thought of a septennial bill for the benefit of married +persons," Lady Mary once said to Joseph Spence; and it is more than +likely that she would have taken advantage of such an Act of Parliament +had it been in existence. + +That there was no definite breach is evident from the fact that husband +and wife corresponded, though it must be confessed that her letters to +her husband are almost uniformly dull, except when the topic is their +son. On the other hand, there was certainly no especial degree of +friendship between them, and in one of her letters Lady Mary said +pointedly: "You do not seem desirous to hear news, which makes me not +trouble you with any." For the rest there are descriptions of the places +which Lady Mary visited and an account of the people she met. + +Lady Mary proceeded from Dover to Calais, and thence to Dijon, where she +arrived in the middle of August. Wherever she went she found herself +among friends. "There is not any town in France where there is not +English, Scotch or Irish families established; and I have met with +people who have seen me (though often such as I do not remember to have +seen) in every town I have passed through; and I think the farther I go, +the more acquaintance I meet," she told her husband. At Dijon there were +no less than sixteen families of fashion. Lord Mansel had lodgings in +the house with her at Dijon, and Mrs. Whitsted, a daughter of Lord +Bathurst, resided in the same street. She met Lady Peterborough, and +just missed the Duke of Rutland, at St. Omer. At Port Beauvoisin she ran +across Lord Carlisle. + +From Turin, she travelled, on the advice of Lord Carlisle, to Vienna, +which he declared was the best place in Italy in which to stay. The fact +that it was the intention of Lady Pomfret to remove from Sienna to +Vienna was the deciding factor. She liked the latter city so well that +she remained there until August of the following year (1740). It had one +great merit in Lady Mary's eyes, that it was cheap. Next to that, she +derived pleasure from the consideration with which she was treated. "I +like this place extremely, and am of opinion you would do so too: as to +cheapness, I think 'tis impossible to find any part of Europe where both +the laws and customs are so contrived purposely to avoid expenses of all +sorts; and here is a universal liberty that is certainly one of the +greatest _agréments_ in life. We have foreign ambassadors from all parts +of the world, who have all visited me. I have received visits from many +of the noble Venetian ladies; and upon the whole I am very much at my +ease here. If I was writing to Lady Sophia, I would tell her of the +comedies and operas which are every night, at very low prices; but I +believe even you will agree with me that they are ordered to be as +convenient as possible, every mortal going in a mask, and consequently +no trouble in dressing, or forms of any kind." So Lady Mary wrote to +Lady Pomfret on October 10; and a few days later she supplemented the +information in a letter to her husband: + + +"I find myself very well here. I am visited by the most considerable +people of the town, and all the foreign ministers, who have most of them +made great entertainments for me. I dined yesterday at the Spanish +ambassador's, who even surpassed the French in magnificence. He met me +at the hall-door, and the lady at the stair-head, to conduct me through +the long apartment; in short, they could not have shown me more honours, +if I had been an ambassadress. She desired me to think myself patrona +del casa, and offered me all the services in her power, to wait on me +where I pleased, &c. They have the finest palace in Venice. What is very +convenient, I hear it is not at all expected I should make any dinners, +it not being the fashion for anybody to do it here but the foreign +ministers; and I find I can live here very genteelly on my allowance. I +have already a very agreeable general acquaintance; though when I came, +here was no one I had ever seen in my life, but the Cavaliere Grimani +and the Abbé Conti. I must do them [the] justice to say they have taken +pains to be obliging to me. The Procurator brought his niece (who is at +the head of his family) to wait on me; and they invited me to reside +with them at their palace on the Brent, but I did not think it proper to +accept of it. He also introduced me to the Signora Pisani Mocenigo, who +is the most considerable lady here. The Nuncio is particularly civil to +me; he has been several times to see me, and has offered me the use of +his box at the opera. I have many others at my service, and, in short +it, is impossible for a stranger to be better received than I am. Here +are no English, except a Mr. Bertie and his governor, who arrived two +days ago, and who intends but a short stay." + + +Lady Mary thoroughly enjoyed herself at Venice, where she found a +variety of occupations to occupy her time. In the mornings she was +"wrapt up among my books with antiquarians and virtuosi"; in the +afternoons there were visits to pay and receive; in the evenings dinners +(at other people's expense--which fact did not detract from her +pleasure), assemblies, and the theatre and the opera. In fact, she found +there every delight except scandal, but that she did not miss, because +she said, she "never found any pleasure in malice." So strange a thing +is human nature that perhaps she believed it! + + +"Upon my word, I have spoken my real thoughts in relation to Venice; but +I will be more particular in my description, lest you should find the +same reason of complaint you have hitherto experienced" (she wrote in +November to Lady Pomfret). "It is impossible to give any rule for the +agreeableness of conversation; but here is so great a variety, I think +'tis impossible not to find some to suit every taste. Here are foreign +ministers from all parts of the world, who, as they have no Court to +employ their hours, are overjoyed to enter into commerce with any +stranger of distinction. As I am the only lady here at present, I can +assure you I am courted, as if I was the only one in the world. As to +all the conveniences of life, they are to be had at very easy rates; and +for those that love public places, here are two playhouses and two +operas constantly performed every night, at exceeding low prices. But +you will have no reason to examine that article, no more than myself; +all the ambassadors having boxes appointed them; and I have every one of +their keys at my service, not only for my own person, but whoever I +please to carry or send. I do not make much use of this privilege, to +their great astonishment. It is the fashion for the greatest ladies to +walk the streets, which are admirably paved; and a mask, price sixpence, +with a little cloak, and the head of a domino, the genteel dress to +carry you everywhere. The greatest equipage is a gondola, that holds +eight persons, and is the price of an English chair. And it is so much +the established fashion for everybody to live their own way, that +nothing is more ridiculous than censuring the actions of another. This +would be terrible in London, where we have little other diversion; but +for me, who never found any pleasure in malice, I bless my destiny that +has conducted me to a part where people are better employed than in +talking of the affairs of their acquaintance. It is at present excessive +cold (which is the only thing I have to find fault with), but in +recompense we have a clear bright sun, and fogs and factions things +unheard of in this climate." + + +Certainly everybody did the utmost to make Venice agreeable to Lady +Mary. With all her good opinion of herself and of her position, she +found herself treated with more distinction than she "could possibly +expect." When, on Christmas Eve, she went to see the ceremony of High +Mass celebrated by the Doge, she was surprised to find that he had set +aside for her and the Prince of Wolfenbuttel a gallery, to which none +were admitted but their parties. "A greater compliment could not have +been paid me if I had been a sovereign Princess." To her husband she +wrote: "It is impossible to be better treated, I may even say more +courted, than I am here." + +All the English who came to Venice, as a matter of course paid their +respects to Lady Mary. + + +"Lord Fitzwilliam arrived here three days ago; he came to see me the +next day, as all the English do, who are much surprised at the +civilities and familiarity which I am with the noble ladies. Everybody +tells me 'tis what never was done but to myself; and I own I have a +little vanity in it, because the French ambassador told me when I first +came, that though the Procurator Grimani might persuade them to visit +me, he defied me to enter into any sort of intimacy with them: instead +of which they call me out almost every day on some diversion or other, +and are desirous to have me in all their parties of pleasure. I am +invited to-morrow to the Foscarini to dinner, which is to be followed +by a concert and a ball, where I shall be the only stranger, though here +are at present a great number come to see the regatta, which is fixed +for the 29th of this month, N.S. I shall see it at the Procurator +Grimani's, where there will be a great entertainment that day. My own +house is very well situated to see it, being on the Grand Canal; but I +would not refuse him and his niece, since they seem desirous of my +company, and I shall oblige some other ladies with my windows. They are +hired at a great rate to see the show." + +There was just one fly in the ointment. "I am impatient to hear good +sense pronounced in my native tongue; having only heard my language out +of the mouths of boys and governors for these five months" (she +complained to Lady Pomfret). "Here are inundations of them broke in upon +us this carnival, and my apartment must be their refuge; the greater +part of them having kept an inviolable fidelity to the languages their +nurses taught them; their whole business abroad (as far as I can +perceive) being to buy new clothes, in which they shine in some obscure +coffee-house, where they are sure of meeting only one another; and after +the important conquest of some waiting gentlewoman of an opera queen, +whom perhaps they remember as long as they live, return to England +excellent judges of men and manners. I find the spirit of patriotism so +strong in me every time I see them, that I look on them as the greatest +blockheads in nature; and, to say truth, the compound of booby and +_petit maître_ makes up a very odd sort of animal." + +It was not until the middle of August (1740) that Lady Mary left Venice, +going first to Bologna, where she stayed a day or two "to prepare for +the dreadful passage of the Apennines." On her way to Florence, she +visited the monastery of La Trappe--her account of which may be given as +a companion portrait to that of the nunnery printed in an earlier +chapter. + + +"The monastery of La Trappe, is of French origin, and one of the most +austere and self-denying orders I have met with. In this gloomy retreat +it gave me pain to observe the infatuation of men, who have devoutly +reduced themselves to a much worse condition than that of the beasts. +Folly, you see, is the lot of humanity, whether it arises in the flowery +paths of pleasure, or the thorny ones of an ill-judged devotion. But of +the two sorts of fools, I shall always think that the merry one has the +most eligible fate; and I cannot well form a notion of that spiritual +and ecstatic joy, that is mixed with sighs, groans, hunger, and thirst, +and the other complicated miseries of monastic discipline. It is a +strange way of going to work for happiness to excite an enmity between +soul and body, which Nature and Providence have designed to live +together in union and friendship, and which we cannot separate like man +and wife when they happen to disagree. The profound silence that is +enjoined upon the monks of La Trappe is a singular circumstance of their +unsociable and unnatural discipline, and were this injunction never to +be dispensed with, it would be needless to visit them in any other +character than as a collection of statues; but the superior of the +convent suspended in our favour that rigorous law, and allowed one of +the mutes to converse with me, and answer a few discreet questions. He +told me that the monks of this order in France are still more austere +than those of Italy, as they never taste wine, flesh, fish, or eggs; but +live entirely upon vegetables. The story that is told of the institution +of this order is remarkable, and is well attested, if my information is +good. Its founder was a French nobleman whose name was Bouthillior de +Rancé, a man of pleasure and gallantry, which were converted into the +deepest gloom of devotion by the following incident. His affairs obliged +him to absent himself, for some time, from a lady with whom he had lived +in the most intimate and tender connexions of successful love. At his +return to Paris he proposed to surprise her agreeably, and, at the same +time, to satisfy his own impatient desire of seeing her, by going +directly and without ceremony to her apartment by a back stair, which he +was well acquainted with--but think of the spectacle that presented +itself to him at his entrance into the chamber that had so often been +the scene of love's highest raptures! his mistress dead--dead of the +small-pox--disfigured beyond expression--a loathsome mass of putrified +matter--and the surgeon separating the head from the body, because the +coffin had been made too short! He stood for a moment motionless in +amazement, and filled with horror--and then retired from the world, shut +himself up in the convent of La Trappe, where he passed the remainder of +his days in the most cruel and disconsolate devotion.--Let us quit this +sad subject." + + +The news that Lady Mary was coming to Florence came to the ears of +Horace Walpole, who was staying there. If he had not yet made her +acquaintance, he certainly knew much about her. "On Wednesday we expect +a third she-meteor," he wrote to Richard West, July 31, 1740. "Those +learned luminaries the Ladies Pomfret and Walpole[9] are to be joined by +the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. You have not been witness to the rhapsody +of mystic nonsense which these two fair ones debate incessantly, and +consequently cannot figure what must be the issue of this triple +alliance: we have some idea of it. Only figure the coalition of prudery, +debauchery, sentiment, history, Greek, Latin, French, Italian and +metaphysics; all, except the second, understood by halves, by quarters, +or not at all. You shall have the journals of this notable academy." +Walpole sent, some seven weeks later, an account of the lady to the Hon. +Henry Seymour Conway: "Did I tell you Lady Mary Wortley is here? She +laughs at my Lady Walpole, scolds my Lady Pomfret, and is laughed at by +the whole town. Her dress, her avarice, and her impudence must amaze any +one that never heard her name. She wears a foul mob, that does not cover +her greasy black locks, that hang loose, never combed or curled, +mazarine blue wrapper, that gapes open and discovers a canvas petticoat. +Her face swollen violently on one side is partly covered with a +plaister, and partly with white paint, which for cheapness she has +bought so coarse, that you would not use it to wash a chimney." + +[Footnote 9: The wife of the eldest son of Sir Robert Walpole, who in +1723 was created Baron Walpole. He later succeeded as (second) Earl of +Orford.] + +In another letter, to Richard West (October 2, 1740), Walpole gives an +account of the "Academy." "But for the Academy, I am not of it; but +frequently in company with it," he wrote. "Tis all disjointed. Madame +----,[10] who, though a learned lady, has not lost her modesty and +character, is extremely scandalised with the two other dames, especially +with Moll Worthless,[11] who knows no bounds. She is at rivalry with +Lady W---- [12] for a certain Mr.----, whom perhaps you knew at +Oxford.... He fell into sentiments with my Lady W., and was happy to +catch her at platonic love; but as she seldom stops there, the poor man +will be frightened out of his senses when she shall break the matter to +him, for he never dreamt that her purposes were so naught. Lady Mary is +so far gone that to get him from the mouth of her antagonist, she +literally took him out to dance country dances at a formal ball, where +there was no measure kept in laughing at her.... She played at Pharaoh +two or three times at Princess Craon's, where she cheats horse and foot. +She is really entertaining: I have been reading her works, which she +lends out in manuscript; but they are too womanish: I like few of her +performances." + +[Footnote 10: Lady Pomfret.] +[Footnote 11: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.] +[Footnote 12: Lady Walpole.] + +Lady Mary was, of course, entirely ignorant of Horace Walpole's feelings +about her, of which naturally he showed no sign in social intercourse +with her. "I saw him often both at Florence and Genoa, and you may +believe I know him," she told her daughter. "I was well acquainted with +Mr. Walpole at Florence, and indeed he was particularly civil to me," +she wrote on another occasion. "I have great encouragement to ask favour +of him, if I did not know that few people have so good memories to +remember so many years backwards as have passed since I have seen him. +If he has treated the character of Queen Elizabeth with disrespect [in +_A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England_], all the women +should tear him to pieces, for abusing the glory of their sex. Neither +is it just to put her in the list of authors, having never published +anything, though we have Mr. Camden's authority that she wrote many +valuable pieces, chiefly Greek translations. I wish all monarchs would +bestow their leisure hours on such studies: perhaps they would not be +very useful to mankind; but it may be asserted, for a certain truth, +their own minds could be more improved than by the amusements of +quadrille or Cavagnole." + +Lady Mary need not have feared that Walpole had forgotten her; he bore +her much in mind to his dying day, and found never a kind thing to say +about her. It may be presumed that his animosity arose from the fact +that Lady Mary had championed Molly Skerritt against his mother, when +Miss Skerritt was living openly as the mistress of Sir Robert Walpole. +Yet, though he wrote so abusively about her, he concerned himself with a +new edition of the _Court Poems_, though with what right has never +transpired. "I have lately had Lady Mary Wortley's Ecloques published; +but they don't please, though so excessively good," he wrote to Sir +Horace Mann, November 24, 1747. "I say so confidently, for Mr. Chute +agrees with me: he says, for the _Epistle from Arthur Grey_, scarce any +woman could have written it, and no man; for a man who had had +experience enough to paint such sentiments so well, would not have had +warmth enough left. Do you know anything of Lady Mary? Her adventurous +son is come in Parliament, but has not opened." + +From Florence, Lady Mary repaired to Rome. There, she did not see the +Chevalier de St. George, but she did see his two sons, Charles Edward, +the Young Pretender, and Henry, Cardinal York. "The eldest seems +thoughtless enough, and is really not unlike Mr. Lyttelton in his shape +and air," she wrote to Montagu. "The youngest is very well made, dances +finely, and has an ingenuous countenance; he is but fourteen years of +age. The family live very splendidly, yet pay everybody, and (wherever +they get it) are certainly in no want of money." + +Lady Mary seems to have had no prepared itinerary, but to have wandered +as the spirit moved her--Naples, Leghorn, Turin, Genoa. The cheapness of +Italy appealed to her frugal mind. + +"The manners of Italy are so much altered since we were here last, the +alteration is scarce credible. They say it has been by the last war. The +French, being masters, introduced all their customs, which were eagerly +embraced by the ladies, and I believe will never be laid aside; yet the +different governments make different manners in every state. You know, +though the republic is not rich, here are many private families vastly +so, and live at a great superfluous expense: all the people of the first +quality keep coaches as fine as the Speaker's, and some of them two or +three, though the streets are too narrow to use them in the town; but +they take the air in them, and their chairs carry them to the gates. The +liveries are all plain: gold or silver being forbidden to be worn within +the walls, the habits are all obliged to be black, but they wear +exceeding fine lace and linen; and in their country-houses, which are +generally in the faubuurg, they dress very rich, and have extreme fine +jewels. Here is nothing cheap but houses. A palace fit for a prince may +be hired for fifty pounds per annum; I mean unfurnished. All games of +chance are strictly prohibited, and it seems to me the only law they do +not try to evade: they play at quadrille, piquet, &c., but not high. +Here are no regular public assemblies. I have been visited by all of the +first rank, and invited to several fine dinners, particularly to the +wedding of one of the house of Spinola, where there were ninety-six sat +down to table, and I think the entertainment one of the best I ever saw. +There was the night following a ball and supper for the same company, +with the same profusion. They tell me that all their great marriages are +kept in the same public manner. Nobody keeps more than two horses, all +their journeys being post; the expense of them, including the coachman, +is (I am told) fifty pounds per annum. A chair is very near as much; I +give eighteen francs a week for mine. The senators can converse with no +strangers during the time of their magistracy, which lasts two years. +The number of servants is regulated, and almost every lady has the same, +which is two footmen, a gentleman-usher, and a page, who follows her +chair. + + +Certainly the simple life appealed to Lady Mary, but much as she liked +Geneva the cost of living irked her. "Everything is as dear as it is at +London," she complained to her husband in November, 1741. "'Tis true, as +all equipages are forbidden, that expense is entirely retrenched.... The +way of living is absolutely the reverse of that in Italy. Here is no +show, and a great deal of eating; there is all the magnificence +imaginable, and no dinners but on particular occasions; yet the +difference of the prices renders the total expense very near equal.... +The people here are very well to be liked, and this little republic has +an air of the simplicity of old Rome in its earliest age. The +magistrates toil with their own hands, and their wives literally dress +their dinners against their return from their little senate. Yet without +dress and equipage 'tis as dear living here for a stranger, as in places +where one is obliged to both, from the price of all sort of provision, +which they are forced to buy from their neighbours, having almost no +land of their own." How much more agreeable, from Lady Mary's point of +view, was Chambery: "Here is the most profound peace and unbounded +plenty that is to be found in any corner of the universe; but not one +rag of money. For my part, I think it amounts to the same thing, whether +one is obliged to give several pence for bread, or can have a great deal +of bread for a penny, since the Savoyard nobility here keep as good +tables, without money, as those in London, who spend in a week what +would be here a considerable yearly revenue. Wine, which is equal to the +best burgundy, is sold for a penny a quart, and I have a cook for very +small wages, that is capable of rivalling Chloé." + +"My girl gives me great prospect of satisfaction, but my young rogue of +a son is the most ungovernable little rake that ever played truant," +Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar in July, 1727, when the boy was fourteen and +the girl nine years old. + + +It has already been mentioned that young Edward, who was placed at +Westminster School at the early age of five, ran away. In fact, he ran +away more than once. "My blessed offspring has already made a great +noise in the world," his mother told Lady Mar in July, 1726. "That young +rake, my son, took to his heels t'other day and transported his person +to Oxford; being in his own opinion thoroughly qualified for the +University. After a good deal of search we found and reduced him, much +against his will, to the humble condition of a schoolboy. It happens +very luckily that the sobriety and discretion is of my daughter's side; +I am sorry the ugliness is so too, for my son grows extremely handsome." +The lad was incorrigible. In the following year he disappeared for some +months, to be found selling fish at Blackwall. + + +"My cousin is going to Paris, and I will not let her go without a letter +for you, my dear sister, though I was never in a worse humour for +writing" (the anxious mother wrote to her sister). "I am vexed to the +blood by my young rogue of a son; who has contrived at his age to make +himself the talk of the whole nation. He is gone knight-erranting, God +knows where; and hitherto 'tis impossible to find him. You may judge of +my uneasiness by what your own would be if dear Lady Fanny was lost. +Nothing that ever happened to me has troubled me so much; I can hardly +speak or write of it with tolerable temper, and I own it has changed +mine to that degree I have a mind to cross the water, to try what effect +a new heaven and a new earth will have upon my spirit." + + +Later, Edward ran away again, joining the crew of a ship going to +Oporto, and was not discovered in that city until a considerable period +had elapsed since his flight. + +He capped all his follies by marrying at the age of twenty a woman of no +social standing and much older than himself. + +His parents were at their wits' end. It was hopeless to treat him as a +rational being. His wife was induced to accept a pension to leave him, +and he himself was put in charge of a keeper. Several times he had to be +kept in close confinement. He was, however, by no means devoid of +brains, and in the autumn of 1741 he had sufficiently recovered to be +entered as a student at the University of Leyden. His allowance was £300 +a year, which he found so insufficient for the indulgence of his tastes +that he was soon considerably in debt. + +In Lady Mary's correspondence there are many letters to her husband +about their son. + + +"Genoa, Aug. 15, 1741. + +"I am sorry to trouble you on so disagreeable a subject as our son, but +I received a letter from him last post, in which he solicits your +dissolving his marriage, as if it was wholly in your power, and the +reason he gives for it, is so that he may marry more to your +satisfaction. It is very vexatious (though no more than I expected) that +time has no effect, and that it is impossible to convince him of his +true situation. He enclosed this letter in one to Mr. Birtles, and tells +me that he does not doubt that debt of £200 is paid. You may imagine +this silly proceeding occasioned me a dun from Mr. Birtles. I told him +the person that wrote the letter, was, to my knowledge, not worth a +groat, which was all I thought proper to say on the subject." + + +"Lyons, April 23, 1742. + +"I am very glad you have been prevailed on to let our son take a +commission: if you had prevented it, he would have always said, and +perhaps thought, and persuaded other people, you had hindered his +rising in the world; though I am fully persuaded that he can never make +a tolerable figure in any station of life. When he was at Morins, on his +first leaving France, I then tried to prevail with him to serve the +Emperor as volunteer; and represented to him that a handsome behaviour +one campaign might go a great way in retrieving his character; and +offered to use my interest with you (which I said I did not doubt would +succeed) to furnish him with a handsome equipage. He then answered, he +supposed I wished him killed out of the way. I am afraid his pretended +reformation is not very sincere. I wish time may prove me in the wrong. +I here enclose the last letter I received from him; I answered it the +following post in these words: + +"'I am very glad you resolve to continue obedient to your father, and +are sensible of his goodness towards you. Mr. Birtles showed me your +letter to him, in which you enclosed yours to me, where you speak to him +as your friend; subscribing yourself his faithful humble servant. He was +at Genoa in his uncle's house when you was there, and well acquainted +with you; though you seem ignorant of everything relating to him. I wish +you would make such sort of apologies for any errors you may commit. I +pray God your future behaviour may redeem the past, which will be a +great blessing to your affectionate mother.' + +"I have not since heard from him; I suppose he knew not what to say to +so plain a detected falsehood. It is very disagreeable to me to converse +with one from whom I do not expect to hear a word of truth, and who, I +am very sure, will repeat many things that never passed in our +conversation. You see the most solemn assurances are not binding from +him, since he could come to London in opposition to your commands, after +having so frequently protested he would not move a step except by your +order. However, as you insist on my seeing him, I will do it, and think +Valence the properest town for that interview; it is but two days' +journey from this place; it is in Dauphiné. + +"I shall stay here till I have an answer to this letter. If you order +your son to go to Valence, I desire you would give him a strict command +of going by a feigned name. I do not doubt your returning me whatever +money I may give him; but as I believe, if he receives money from me, he +will be making me frequent visits, it is clearly my opinion I should +give him none. Whatever you may think proper for his journey, you may +remit to him." + + +"Lyons, April 25 [1742]. + +"On recollection (however inconvenient it may be to me on many +accounts), I am not sorry to converse with my son. I shall at least have +the satisfaction of making a clear judgment of his behaviour and temper: +which I shall deliver to you in the most sincere and unprejudiced +manner. You need not apprehend that I shall speak to him in passion. I +do not know that I ever did in my life. I am not apt to be over-heated +in discourse, and am so far prepared, even for the worst on his side, +that I think nothing he can say can alter the resolution I have taken of +treating him with calmness. Both nature and interest (were I inclined to +follow blindly the dictates of either) would determine me to wish him +your heir rather than a stranger; but I think myself obliged both by +honour, conscience and my regard for you, no way to deceive you; and I +confess, hitherto I see nothing but falsehood and weakness through his +whole conduct. It is possible this person may be altered since I saw +him, but his figure then was very agreeable and his manner insinuating. +I very well remember the professions he made to me, and do not doubt he +is as lavish of them to other people. Perhaps Lord Carteret may think +him no ill match for an ugly girl that sticks upon his hands. The +project of breaking his marriage shows at least his devotion +counterfeit, since I am sensible it cannot be done but by false witness. +His wife is not young enough to get gallants, nor rich enough to buy +them. + +"I make choice of Valence for our interview as a town where we are not +likely to find any English, and he may if he pleases be quite unknown; +which it is hardly possible to be in any capital town either of France +or Italy. + + +"Lyons, May 2 [1742]. + +"I received this morning yours of April 12, and at the same time the +enclosed which I send you. Tis the first I have received since the +detection of that falsehood in regard to Mr. Birtles. I always send my +letters open, that Mr. Clifford (who has the character of sense and +honesty) might be witness of what I said; and he not left at liberty to +forge orders he never received. I am very glad I have done so, and am +persuaded that had his reformation been what you suppose it, Mr. +Clifford would have wrote to me in his favour. I confess I see no +appearance of it. His last letter to you, and this to me, seems to be no +more in that submissive style he has used, but like one that thinks +himself well protected. I will see him, since you desire it, at Valence; +which is a by-town, where I am less likely to meet with English than any +town in France; but I insist on his going by a feigned name, and coming +without a servant. People of superior fortunes to him (to my knowledge) +have often travelled from Paris to Lyons in the _diligence_; the expense +is but one hundred livres, £5 sterling, all things paid. It would not be +easy to me, at this time, to send him any considerable sum; and whatever +it is, I am persuaded, coming from me, he would not be satisfied with +it, and make his complaints to his companions. As to the alteration of +his temper, I see the same folly throughout. He now supposes (which is +at best downright childish) that one hour's conversation will convince +me of his sincerity. I have not answered his letter, nor will not, till +I have your orders what to say to him." + + +[Avignon] May 6 [1742]. + +"I here send you enclosed the letter I mentioned of your son's; the +packet in which it was put was mislaid in the journey; it will serve to +show you how little he is to be depended on. I saw a Savoyard man of +quality at Chambery, who knew him at Venice, and afterwards at Genoa, +who asked me (not suspecting him for my son) if he was related to my +family. I made answer he was some relation. He told me several tricks of +his. He said, that at Genoa he had told him that an uncle of his was +dead and had left him £5,000 or £6,000 per annum, and that he was +returning to England to take possession of his estate; in the meantime +he wanted money; and would have borrowed some of him, which he refused. +I made answer that he did very well. I have heard of this sort of +conduct in other places; and by the Dutch letters you have sent me I am +persuaded he continues the same method of lying which convinces me that +his pretended enthusiasm is only to cheat those that can be imposed on +by it. However, I think he should not be hindered accepting a +commission. I do not doubt it will be pawned or sold in a twelvemonth; +which will prove to those that now protect him how little he deserves +it. I am now at Avignon, which is within one day's journey of Valence." + + +"Avignon, May 23 [1742]. + +"I received this morning yours of April 12 and 29th, and at the same +time one from my son at Paris, dated the 4th instant. I have wrote to +him this day, that on his answer I will immediately set out to Valence, +and shall be glad to see him there. I suppose you are now convinced I +have never been mistaken in his character; which remains unchanged, and +what is yet worse, I think is unchangeable. I never saw such a +complication of folly and falsity as in his letter to Mr. Gibson. +Nothing is cheaper than living in an inn in a country town in France; +they being obliged to ask no more than twenty-five sous for dinner, and +thirty for supper and lodging, of those that eat at the public table; +which all the young men of quality I have met have always done. It is +true I am forced to pay double, because I think the decency of my sex +confines me to eat in my chamber. I will not trouble you with detecting +a number of other falsehoods that are in his letters. My opinion on the +whole (since you give me leave to tell it) is, that if I was to speak +in your place, I would tell him, 'That since he is obstinate in going +into the army, I will not oppose it; but as I do not approve, I will +advance no equipage till I know his behaviour to be such as shall +deserve my future favour. Hitherto he has always been directed, either +by his own humour, or the advice of those he thought better friends to +him than myself. If he renounces the army, I will continue to him his +former allowance; notwithstanding his repeated disobedience, under the +most solemn professions of duty. When I see him act like a sincere +honest man, I shall believe well of him; the opinion of others, who +either do not know him or are imposed on by his pretences, weighs +nothing with me." + + +On May 30 Lady Mary went from Avignon to Valence, where about a week +later her son visited her. She at once sent a full account to Montagu. + + +"Avignon, June 10 [1742.] + +"I am just returned from passing two days with our son, of whom I will +give you the most exact account I am capable of. He is so much altered +in his person, I should scarcely have known him. He has entirely lost +his beauty, and looks at least seven years older than he is; and the +wildness that he always had in his eyes is so much increased it is +downright shocking, and I am afraid will end fatally. He is grown fat, +but is still genteel, and has an air of politeness that is agreeable. He +speaks French like a Frenchman, and has got all the fashionable +expressions of that language, and a volubility of words which he always +had, and which I do not wonder should pass for wit with inconsiderate +people. His behaviour is perfectly civil, and I found him very +submissive; but in the main, no way really improved in his +understanding, which is exceedingly weak; and I am convinced he will +always be led by the person he converses with either right or wrong, not +being capable of forming any fixed judgment of his own. As to his +enthusiasm, if he had it, I suppose he has already lost it; since I +could perceive no turn of it in all his conversation. But with his head +I believe it is possible to make him a monk one day and a Turk three +days after. He has a flattering, insinuating manner, which naturally +prejudices strangers in his favour. He began to talk to me in the usual +silly cant I have so often heard from him, which I shortened by telling +him I desired not to be troubled with it; that professions were of no +use where actions were expected; and that the only thing could give me +hopes of a good conduct was regularity and truth. He very readily agreed +to all I said (as indeed he has always done when he has not been +hot-headed). I endeavoured to convince him how favourably he has been +dealt with, his allowance being much more than, had I been his father, I +would have given in the same case. The Prince of Hesse, who is now +married to the Princess of England, lived some years at Geneva on £300 +per annum. Lord Hervey sent his son at sixteen thither, and to travel +afterwards, on no larger pension than £200; and, though without a +governor, he had reason enough, not only to live within the compass of +it, but carried home little presents for his father and mother, which he +showed me at Turin. In short, I know there is no place so expensive, but +a prudent single man may live in it on £100 per annum, and an +extravagant one may run out ten thousand in the cheapest. Had you (said +I to him) thought rightly, or would have regarded the advice I gave you +in all my letters, while in the little town of Islestein, you would have +laid up £150 per annum; you would now have had £750 in your pocket; +which would have almost paid your debts, and such a management would +have gained you the esteem of the reasonable part of mankind. I +perceived this reflection, which he had never made himself, had a very +great weight with him. He would have excused part of his follies, by +saying Mr. G. had told him it became Mr. W.'s son to live handsomely. I +made answer, that whether Mr. G. had said so or no, the good sense of +the thing was noway altered by it; that the true figure of a man was +the opinion the world had of his sense and probity, and not the idle +expenses, which were only respected by foolish or ignorant people; that +his case was particular, he had but too publicly shown his inclination +to vanities, and the most becoming part he could now act would be owning +the ill use he had made of his father's indulgence, and professing to +endeavour to be no further expense to him, instead of scandalous +complaints, and being always at his last shirt and last guinea, which +any man of spirit would be ashamed to own. I prevailed so far with him +that he seemed very willing to follow this advice; and I gave him a +paragraph to write to G., which I suppose you will easily distinguish +from the rest of his letter. He asked me if you had settled your estate. +I made answer, that I did not doubt (like all other wise men) you always +had a will by you; but that you had certainly not put anything out of +your power to change. On that, he began to insinuate, that if I could +prevail on you to settle the estate on him, I might expect anything from +his gratitude. I made him a very clear and positive answer in these +words: 'I hope your father will outlive me, and if I should be so +unfortunate to have it otherwise, I do not believe he will leave me in +your power, But was I sure of the contrary, no interest nor no necessity +shall ever make me act against my honour or conscience; and I plainly +tell you, that I will never persuade your father to do anything for you +till I think you deserve it.' He answered by great promises of future +good behaviour, and economy. He is highly delighted with the prospect of +going into the army; and mightily pleased with the good reception he had +from Lord Stair, though I find it amounts to no more than telling him he +was sorry he had already named his aides-de-camp, and otherwise should +have been glad of him in that post. He says Lord Carteret has confirmed +to him his promise of a commission. + +"The rest of his conversation was extremely gay. The various things he +has seen has given him a superficial universal knowledge. He really +knows most of the modern languages, and if I could believe him, can read +Arabic, and has read the Bible in Hebrew. He said it was impossible for +him to avoid going back to Paris; but he promised me to lie but one +night there, and go to a town six posts from thence on the Flanders +road, where he would wait your orders, and go by the name of Mons. du +Durand, a Dutch officer; under which name I saw him. These are the most +material passages, and my eyes are so much tired I can write no more at +this time. I gave him 240 livres for his journey." + + +No amount of admonition had any effect upon Edward. At the age of thirty +he was as irresponsible as he was when he was thirteen years old. He +promised his mother at Avignon most solemnly to reform, and at once got +into mischief. "I am persuaded," Lady Mary said, "whoever protects him +will be very soon convinced of the impossibility of his behaving like a +rational creature." + + +Avignon, November 20, 1743. + +"As to my son's behaviour at Montelimart, it is nothing more than a +proof of his weakness; and how little he is to be depended on in his +most solemn professions. He told me that he had made acquaintance with a +lady on the road, who has an assembly at her house at Montelimart, and +that she had invited him thither. I asked immediately if she knew his +name. He assured me no, and that he passed for a Dutch officer by the +name of Durand. I advised him not go thither, since it would raise a +curiosity concerning him, and I was very unwilling it should be known +that I had conversed with him, on many accounts. He gave me the most +solemn assurances that no mortal should know it; and agreed with me in +the reasons I gave him for keeping it an entire secret; yet rid straight +to Montelimart, where he told at the assembly that he came into this +country purely on my orders, and that I had stayed with him two days at +Orange; talking much of my kindness to him, and insinuating that he had +another name, much more considerable than that he appeared with. I knew +nothing of this, till several months after, that a lady of that country +came hither, and meeting her in company, she asked me if I was +acquainted with Monsieur Durand. I had really forgot he had ever taken +that name, and made answer no; and that if such a person mentioned me, +it was probably some _chevalier d'industrie_ who sought to introduce +himself into company by a supposed acquaintance with me. She made +answer, the whole town believed so, by the improbable tales he told +them; and informed me what he had said; by which I knew what I have +related to you. + +"I expect your orders in relation to his letters." + + +Edward was still anxious to join the army, and his parents were not +averse to the scheme. Lady Mary, however, thought that certain +precautions should be taken in the event of his securing a commission. +"It is my opinion," she wrote to Montagu in January, 1744, "he should +have no distinction, in equipage, from any other cornet; everything of +that sort will only serve to blow his vanity and consequently heighten +his folly. Your indulgence has always been greater to him than any other +parent's would have been in the same circumstances. I have always said +so, and thought so. If anything can alter him, it will be thinking +firmly that he has no dependence but on his own conduct for a future +maintenance." + + +Edward obtained a commission, and was present at Fontenoy. + +On his return to England, in 1747, he was elected to Parliament for the +family borough of Huntingdon. This he held until 1754, when he was +returned for the borough of Bossiney, in Cornwall, which he represented +for the next eight years. + +Of his subsequent career it is not necessary to say anything here, +except that his father left him an annuity of £1,000 a year, to be +increased to £2,000 on his mother's death. Lady Mary in her will +bequeathed him one guinea. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LADY MARY AS A READER + +Her fondness for reading--Her difficulty to get enough books while +abroad--Lady Bute keeps her supplied--Lady Mary's catholic taste in +literature--Samuel Richardson--The vogue of _Clarissa Harlowe_--Lady +Mary tells a story of the Richardson type--Henry Fielding--_Joseph +Andrews--Tom Jones_--Her high opinion of Fielding and Steele--Tobias +Smollett--_Peregrine Pickle--_Lady Vane's _Memoirs of a Lady of +Quality_--Sarah Fielding--Minor writers--Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +Swift_--Bolingbroke's works--Addison and Pope--Dr. Johnson. + + +In her quiet retreat, Lady Mary found plenty of time for books. "I yet +retain and carefully cherish my taste for reading," she wrote to her +daughter in 1752. "If relays of eyes were to be hired like post-horses, +I would never admit any but select companions: they afford a constant +variety of entertainment, and is almost the only one pleasing in the +enjoyment and inoffensive in the consequence." + +Her trouble was that she could not get books enough to occupy her time. +She was always asking Lady Bute to send her some, and was duly grateful +when they reached her. "I fancy you are now saying, 'tis a sad thing to +grow old; what does my poor mamma mean by troubling me with criticisms +on books that nobody but herself will ever read? You must allow +something to my solitude." And again: "I thank God my taste still +continues for the gay part of reading. Wiser people may call it +trifling, but it serves to sweeten life to me, and is worst better than +the generality of conversation." + +Lady Mary's taste in books was catholic. She has seen the "Memoirs of +her old friend, the Duchess of Maryborough," but would be glad of the +_Apology for a late Resignation_ and of Colin Campbell's books on +_Architecture_. She has read Mrs. Lennox's _The Female Quixote_, and +much of Sarah Fielding; and she desires Henry Fielding's posthumous +works, with his _Memoirs of Jonathan Wild_ and _The Journey to the Next +World;_ also the _Memoirs of Verocand_, a man of pleasure, and those of +a Young Lady. "You will call all this trash, trumpery, etc.," she said +to her daughter. "I can assure you I was more entertained by G. Edwards +than H. St. John, of whom you have sent me duplicates. I see new story +books with the same pleasure your eldest daughter does a new dress, or +the youngest a new baby. I thank God, I can find playthings for my age. +I am not of Cowley's mind, that this world is + + 'A dull, ill-acted comedy;' + +nor of Mr. Philips's, that it is + + 'A too well-acted tragedy.' + + +"I look upon it as a very pretty farce, for those that can see it in +that light. I confess a severe critic, that would examine by ancient +rules, might find many defects, but 'tis ridiculous to judge seriously +of a puppet-show. Those that can laugh, and be diverted with +absurdities, are the wisest spectators, be it of writings, actions, or +people." + + +Presently Lady Mary is asking for books the names of which she has seen +in the-newspapers: "_Fortunate Mistress, Accomplished Rake, Mrs. +Charke's Memoirs, Modern Lovers, History of Two Orphans, Memoirs of +David Ranger, Miss Mostyn, Dick Hazard, History of a Lady Platonist, +Sophia Shakespear, Jasper Banks, Frank Hammond, Sir Andrew Thompson, Van +a Clergyman's Son, Cheantles and Celemena_. I do not doubt at least the +greater part of these are trash, lumber, etc.; however, they will serve +to pass away the idle time, if you will be so kind as to send them to +your most affectionate mother." + +Richardson Lady Mary liked in spite of herself, as so many others then +and since have done, though it is true that she spoke of the "very +extraordinary (and I think undeserved) success of Pamela, which, she +said, was all the fashion at Paris and Versailles, and is still the joy +of the chambermaids of all nations." + + +"I was such an old fool as to weep over _Clarissa Harlowe_, like any +milkmaid of sixteen over the ballad of the _Lady's Fall_" (she wrote to +her daughter). "To say truth, the first volume softened me by a near +resemblance of my maiden days; but on the whole 'tis most miserable +stuff. Miss How, who is called a young lady of sense and honour, is not +only extreme silly, but a more vicious character than Sally Martin, +whose crimes are owing at first to seduction, and afterwards to +necessity; while this virtuous damsel, without any reason, insults her +mother at home and ridicules her abroad; abuses the man she marries; and +is impertinent and impudent with great applause. Even that model of +affection, Clarissa, is so faulty in her behaviour as to deserve little +compassion. Any girl that runs away with a young fellow, without +intending to marry him, should be carried to Bridewell or to Bedlam the +next day. Yet the circumstances are so laid as to inspire tenderness, +notwithstanding the low style and absurd incidents; and I look upon this +and _Pamela_ to be two books that will do more general mischief than the +works of Lord Rochester. There is something humorous in _R. Random_, +that makes me believe that the author is H. Fielding. I am horribly +afraid I guess too well the writer of those abominable insipidities of +_Cornelia, Leonora_, and the _Ladies' Drawing Room_." + +"This Richardson is a strange fellow," she said in another letter. "I +heartily despise him, and eagerly read him, nay, sob over his works in a +most scandalous manner." + +"I have now read over Richardson--he sinks horribly in his third volume +(he does so in his story of _Clarissa_). When he talks of Italy, it is +plain he is no better acquainted with it than he is with the kingdom of +Mancomugi. He might have made his Sir Charles's amour with Clementina +begin in a convent, where the pensioners sometimes take great liberties, +but that such familiarity should be permitted in her father's house, is +as repugnant to custom, as it would be in London for a young lady of +quality to dance on the ropes at Bartholomew fair: neither does his hero +behave to her in a manner suitable to his nice notions. It was +impossible a discerning man should not see her passion early enough to +check it, if he had really designed it. His conduct puts me in mind of +some ladies I have known, who could never find out a man to be in love +with them, let him do or say what he would, till he made a direct +attempt, and then they were so surprised, I warrant you! Nor do I +approve Sir Charles's offered compromise (as he calls it). There must be +a great indifference as to religion on both sides, to make so strict a +union as marriage tolerable between people of such distinct persuasions. +He seems to think women have no souls, by agreeing so easily that his +daughters should be educated in bigotry and idolatry.--You will perhaps +think this last a hard word; yet it is not difficult to prove, that +either the papists are guilty of idolatry, or the pagans never were so. +You may see in Lucian (in his vindication of his images), that they did +not take their statues to be real gods, but only the representations of +them. The same doctrine may be found in Plutarch; and it is all the +modern priests have to say in excuse for their worshipping wood and +stone, though they cannot deny, at the same time, that the vulgar are +apt to confound that distinction." + + +Lady Mary frequently re-read Richardson, and not seldom referred to them +in her correspondence. + + +"It is certain there are as many marriages as ever. Richardson is so +eager for the multiplication of them, I suppose he is some parish +curate, whose chief profit depends on weddings and christenings. He is +not a man-midwife; for he would be better skilled in physic than to +think fits and madness any ornament to the characters of his heroines: +though his Sir Charles had no thoughts of marrying Clementina till she +had lost her wits, and the divine Clarissa never acted prudently till +she was in the same condition, and then very wisely desired to be +carried to Bedlam, which is really all that is to be done in that case. +Madness is as much corporal distemper as the gout or asthma, never +occasioned by affliction, or to be cured by the enjoyment of their +extravagant wishes. Passion may indeed bring on a fit, but the disease +is lodged in the blood, and it is not more ridiculous to attempt to +relieve the gout by an embroidered slipper, than to restore reason by +the gratification of wild desires. + +"Richardson is as ignorant in morality as he is in anatomy, when he +declares abusing an obliging husband, or an indulgent parent, to be an +innocent recreation. His Anna How and Charlotte Grandison are +recommended as patterns of charming pleasantry, and applauded by his +saint-like dames, who mistake pert folly for wit and humour, and +impudence and ill nature for spirit and fire. Charlotte behaves like a +humorsome child, and should have been used like one, and*** well whipped +in the presence of her friendly confidante Harriet. Lord Halifax very +justly tells his daughter, that a husband's kindness is to be kindly +received by a wife, even when he is drunk, and though it is wrapped up +in never so much impertinence. Charlotte acts with an ingratitude that I +think too black for human nature, with such coarse jokes and low +expressions as are only to be heard among the lowest class of people. +Women of that rank often plead a right to beat their husbands, when they +don't cuckold them; and I believe this author was never admitted into +higher company, and should confine his pen to the amours of housemaids, +and the conversation at the steward's table, where I imagine he has +sometimes intruded, though oftener in the servants hall: yet, if the +title be not a puff, this work has passed three editions. I do not +forgive him his disrespect of old china, which is below nobody's taste, +since it has been the D. of Argyll's, whose understanding has never been +doubted either by his friends or enemies. + +"Richardson never had probably money enough to purchase any, or even a +ticket for a masquerade, which gives him such an aversion to them; +though his intended satire against them is very absurd on the account of +his Harriet, since she might have been carried off in the same manner if +she had been going from supper with her grandmamma. Her whole behaviour, +which he designs to be exemplary, is equally blamable and ridiculous. +She follows the maxim of Clarissa, of declaring all she thinks to all +the people she sees, without reflecting that in this mortal state of +imperfection, fig-leaves are as necessary for our minds as our bodies, +and 'tis as indecent to show all we think, as all we have. He has no +idea of the manners of high life: his old Lord M. talks in the style of +a country justice, and his virtuous young ladies romp like the wenches +round a maypole. Such liberties as pass between Mr. Lovelace and his +cousins, are not to be excused by the relation. I should have been much +astonished if Lord Denbigh should have offered to kiss me; and I dare +swear Lord Trentham never attempted such an impertinence to you." + +Lady Mary was in sore trouble about Richardson. She would not like him, +she was angry with him, yet could never away with him. When she heard of +an adventure at Lovere, she, who herself had a gift for novel-writing, +must needs send an account of it to Lady Bute, saying that it exactly +resembled and, she believed, was copied from _Pamela_. "I know not under +what constellation that foolish stuff was wrote, but it has been +translated into more languages than any modern performance I ever heard +of," she added. "No proof of its influence was ever stronger than this +story, which in Richardson's hands would serve very well to furnish out +seven or eight volumes: I shall make it as short as I can." + + +As an example of Lady Mary's skill in narrative, her account of the +Richardsonian adventure is well worth reprinting. + + +"Here is a gentleman's family, consisting of an old bachelor and his +sister, who have fortune enough to live with great elegance, though +without any magnificence, possessed of the esteem of all their +acquaintance, he being distinguished by his probity, and she by her +virtue. They are not only suffered but sought by all the best company, +and indeed are the most conversable, reasonable people in the place. She +is an excellent housewife, and particularly remarkable for keeping her +pretty house as neat as any in Holland. She appears no longer in public, +being past fifty, and passes her time chiefly at home with her work, +receiving few visitants. This Signora Diana, about ten years since, saw, +at a monastery, a girl about eight years old, who came thither to beg +alms for her mother. Her beauty, though covered with rags, was very +observable, and gave great compassion to the charitable lady, who +thought it meritorious to rescue such a modest sweetness as appeared in +her face from the ruin to which her wretched circumstances exposed her. +She asked her some questions, to which she answered with a natural +civility that seemed surprising; and finding the head of her family (her +brother) to be a cobbler, who could hardly live by that trade, and her +mother too old to work for her maintenance, she bid the child follow her +home; and sending for her parent, proposed to her to breed the little +Octavia for her servant. This was joyfully accepted, the old woman +dismissed with a piece of money, and the girl remained with the Signora +Diana, who bought her decent clothes, and took pleasure in teaching her +whatever she was capable of learning. She learned to read, write, and +cast accounts, with uncommon facility; and had such a genius for work, +that she excelled her mistress in embroidery, point, and every operation +of the needle. She grew perfectly skilled in confectionary, had a good +insight into cookery, and was a great proficient in distillery. To these +accomplishments she was so handy, well bred, humble and modest, that not +only her master and mistress, but everybody that frequented the house, +took notice of her. She lived thus near nine years, never going out but +to church. However, beauty is as difficult to conceal as light; hers +began to make a great noise. Signora Diana told me she observed an +unusual concourse of pedling women that came on pretext to sell +penn'orths of lace, china, etc., and several young gentlemen, very well +powdered, that were perpetually walking before her door, and looking up +at the windows. These prognostics alarmed her prudence, and she listened +very willingly to some honourable proposals that were made by many +honest, thriving tradesmen. She communicated them to Octavia, and told +her, that though she was sorry to lose so good a servant, yet she +thought it right to advise her to choose a husband. The girl answered +modestly, that it was her duty to obey all her commands, but she found +no inclination to marriage; and if she would permit her to live single, +she should think it a greater obligation than any other she could +bestow. Signora Diana was too conscientious to force her into a state +from which she could not free her, and left her to her own disposal. +However, they parted soon after; whether (as the neighbours say) Signor +Aurelio Ardinghi, her brother, looked with too much attention on the +young woman, or that she herself (as Diana says) desired to seek a place +of more profit, she removed to Bergamo, where she soon found preferment, +being strongly recommended by the Ardinghi family. She was advanced to +be first waiting-woman to an old countess, who was so well pleased with +her service, she desired, on her death bed, Count Jeronimo Sosi, her +son, to be kind to her. He found no repugnance to this act of obedience, +having distinguished the beautiful Octavia from his first sight of her; +and, during the six months that she had served in the house, had tried +every art of a fine gentleman, accustomed to victories of that sort, to +vanquish the virtue of this fair virgin. He has a handsome figure, and +has had an education uncommon in this country, having made the tour of +Europe, and brought from Paris all the improvements that are to be picked +up there, being celebrated for his grace in dancing, and skill in +fencing and riding, by which he is a favourite among the ladies, and +respected by the men. Thus qualified for conquest, you may judge of his +surprise at the firm yet modest resistance of this country girl, who was +neither to be moved by address, nor gained by liberality, nor on any +terms would be prevailed on to stay as his housekeeper, after the death +of his mother. She took that post in the house of an old judge, where +she continued to be solicited by the emissaries of the count's passion, +and found a new persecutor in her master, who, after three months' +endeavour to corrupt her, offered her marriage. She chose to return to +her former obscurity, and escaped from his pursuit, without asking any +wages, and privately returned to the Signora Diana. She threw herself at +her feet, and, kissing her hands, begged her, with tears, to conceal her +at least some time, if she would not accept of her service. She +protested she had never been happy since she left it. While she was +making these submissions, Signor Aurelio entered. She entreated his +intercession on her knees, who was easily persuaded to consent she +should stay with them, though his sister blamed her highly for her +precipitate flight, having no reason, from the age and character of her +master, to fear any violence, and wondered at her declining the honour +he offered her. Octavia confessed that perhaps she had been too rash in +her proceedings, but said, that he seemed to resent her refusal in such +a manner as frighted her; she hoped that after a few days' search he +would think no more of her; and that she scrupled entering into the holy +bands of matrimony, where her heart did not sincerely accompany all the +words of the ceremony. Signora Diana had nothing to say in contradiction +to this pious sentiment; and her brother applauded the honesty which +could not be perverted by any interest whatever. She remained concealed +in their house, where she helped in the kitchen, cleaned the rooms, and +redoubled her usual diligence and officiousness. Her old master came to +Lovere on pretence of adjusting a lawsuit, three days after, and made +private inquiry after her; but hearing from her mother and brother (who +knew nothing of her being here) that they had never heard of her, he +concluded she had taken another route, and returned to Bergamo; and she +continued in this retirement near a fortnight. + +"Last Sunday, as soon as the day was closed, arrived at Signer Aurelio's +door a handsome equipage in a large bark, attended by four well-armed +servants on horseback. An old priest stepped out of it, and desiring to +speak with Signora Diana, informed her he came from the Count Jeronimo +Sosi to demand Octavia; that the count waited for her at a village four +miles from hence, where he intended to marry her; and had sent him, who +was engaged to perform the divine rite, that Signora Diana might resign +her to his care without any difficulty. The young damsel was called for, +who entreated she might be permitted the company of another priest with +whom she was acquainted: this was readily granted; and she sent for a +young man that visits me very often, being remarkable for his sobriety +and learning. Meanwhile, a valet-de-chambre presented her with a box, in +which was a complete genteel undress for a lady. Her laced linen and +fine nightgown were soon put on, and away they marched, leaving the +family in a surprise not to be described. + +"Signor Aurelio came to drink coffee with me next morning: his first +words were, he had brought me the history of Pamela. I said, laughing, I +had been tired with it long since. He explained himself by relating this +story, mixed with great resentment for Octavia's conduct. Count +Jeronimo's father had been his ancient friend and patron; and this +escape from his house (he said) would lay him under a suspicion of +having abetted the young man's folly, and perhaps expose him to the +anger of all his relations, for contriving an action he would rather +have died than suffered, if he had known how to prevent it. I easily +believed him, there appearing a latent jealousy under his affliction, +that showed me he envied the bridegroom's happiness, at the same time he +condemned his extravagance. + +"Yesterday noon, being Saturday, Don Joseph returned, who has got the +name of Parson Williams by this expedition: he relates, that when the +bark which carried the coach and train arrived, they found the amorous +count waiting for his bride on the bank of the lake: he would have +proceeded immediately to the church; but she utterly refused it, till +they had each of them been at confession; after which the happy knot was +tied by the parish priest. They continued their journey, and came to +their palace at Bergamo in a few hours, where everything was prepared +for their reception. They received the communion next morning, and the +count declares that the lovely Octavia has brought him an inestimable +portion, since he owes to her the salvation of his soul. He has +renounced play, at which he had lost a great deal of time and money. She +has already retrenched several superfluous servants, and put his family +into an exact method of economy, preserving all the splendour necessary +to his rank. He has sent a letter in his own hand to her mother, +inviting her to reside with them, and subscribing himself her dutiful +son: but the countess has sent another privately by Don Joseph, in which +she advises the old woman to stay at Lovere, promising to take care she +shall want nothing, accompanied with a token of twenty sequins, which is +at least nineteen more than ever she saw in her life. + +"I forgot to tell you that from Octavia's first serving the old lady, +there came frequent charities in her name to her poor parent, which +nobody was surprised at, the lady being celebrated for pious works, and +Octavia known to be a great favourite with her. It is now discovered +that they were all sent by the generous lover, who has presented Don +Joseph very handsomely, but he has brought neither letter nor message to +the house of Ardinghi, which affords much speculation." + + +Lady Mary followed this narrative with her reflections. She was sure +that all these adventures proceeded from artifice on one side and +weakness on the other. "An honest, tender mind," she says, "is betrayed +to ruin by the charms that make the fortune of a designing head, which, +when joined with a beautiful face, can never fail of advancement, except +barred by a wise mother, who locks up her daughters from view till +nobody cares to look on them." She instanced the case of "my poor +friend" the Duchess of Bolton, who "was educated in solitude, with some +choice books, by a saint-like governess: crammed with virtue and good +qualities, she thought it impossible not to find gratitude, though she +failed to give passion; and upon this plan threw away her estate, was +despised by her husband, and laughed at by the public." Lady Mary +compared the case of the Duchess with that of "Polly, bred in an +ale-house, and produced on the stage, who has obtained wealth and title, +and found the way to be esteemed." This particular instance hardly +furnishes the basis for the general rule laid down by her: "So useful is +early experience--without it half of life is dissipated in correcting +the errors that we have been taught to receive as indisputable truths." +According to all accounts Charles Paulet, third Duke of Bolton, was at +the age of twenty-eight forced by his father to marry Lady Anne Vaughan, +only daughter and heiress of John, Earl of Carbery. When the old Duke +died in 1722 they separated. Some years later the Duke took for his +mistress Lavinia Fenton, the "Polly" in Gay's "Beggar's Opera." On the +death of his wife in 1751 he married her. + +Henry Fielding, was Lady Mary's second cousin; but there had never been +any intimacy between them, although some acquaintance. The novelist was +eighteen years the younger. In 1727, when he was twenty and near the +beginning of his career as a playwright, he had consulted her about his +comedy, "Love in Several Masques," of which, when it was published in +the following year, he sent her a copy. "I have presumed to send your +Ladyship a copy of the play which you did me the honour of reading three +acts last spring and hope it may meet as light a censure from your +Ladyship's judgment as then; for while your goodness permits me (what I +esteem the greatest and indeed only happening of my life) to offer my +unworthy performances to your perusal, it will be entirely from your +sentence that they will be regarded or disesteemed by me." Fielding +wrote Lady Mary another letter about four years later: "I hope your +Ladyship will honour the scenes which I presume to lay before you, with +your perusal. As they are written on a model I never yet attempted, I am +exceedingly anxious less they should find less mercy from you than my +lighter productions. It will be a slight compensation to 'The Modern +Husband' that your Ladyship's censure will defend him from the +possibility of any other reproof, since your least approbation will +always give me pleasure, infinitely superior to the loudest applauses of +a theatre. For whatever has passed your judgment may, I think, without +any imputation of immodesty, refer want of success to want of judgment +in an audience. I shall do myself the honour of waiting upon your +Ladyship at Twickenham to receive my sentence." + +One evening when she arrived home, after having ridden twenty miles in +the moonlight, she found a box of books, and pouncing upon her cousin +Fielding's works, sat up all night reading. + +"I think _Joseph Andrews_ better than his _Foundling._[13] I believe I +was the more struck with it, having at present a Fanny in my own house, +not only by the name, which happens to be the same, but the +extraordinary beauty, joined with an understanding yet more +extraordinary at her age, which is but few months past sixteen: she is +in the post of my chambermaid. I fancy you will tax my discretion for +taking a servant thus qualified; but my woman, who is also my +housekeeper, was always teasing me with her having too much work, and +complaining of ill-health, which determined me to take her a deputy; and +when I was at Lovere, where I drank the waters, one of the most +considerable merchants there pressed me to take this daughter of his: +her mother has an uncommon good character, and the girl has had a +better education than is usual for those of her rank; she writes a good +hand, and has been brought up to keep accounts, which she does to great +perfection; and had herself such a violent desire to serve me, that I +was persuaded to take her: I do not yet repent it from any part of her +behaviour. But there has been no peace in the family ever since she came +into it; I might say the parish, all the women in it having declared +open war with her, and the men endeavouring at treaties of a different +sort: my own woman puts herself at the head of the first party, and her +spleen is increased by having no reason for it, the young creature never +stirring from my apartment, always at needle, and never complaining of +anything." + +[Footnote 13: _The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling_.] + + +Later Lady Mary has more to say about Fielding's books: + + +"H. Fielding has given a true picture of himself and his first wife, in +the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Booth, some compliments to his own figure +excepted; and, I am persuaded, several of the incidents he mentions are +real matters of fact. I wonder he does not perceive Tom Jones and Mr. +Booth are sorry scoundrels. All these sort of books have the same fault, +which I cannot easily pardon, being very mischievous. They place a merit +in extravagant passions, and encourage young people to hope for +impossible events, to draw them out of the misery they chose to plunge +themselves into, expecting legacies from unknown relations, and generous +benefactors to distressed virtue, as much out of nature as fairy +treasures. Fielding has really a fund of true humour, and was to be +pitied at his first entrance into the world, having no choice, as he +said himself, but to be a hackney writer, or a hackney coachman. His +genius deserved a better fate; but I cannot help blaming that continued +indiscretion, to give it the softest name, that has run through his +life, and I am afraid still remains. I guessed _Random_ to be his though +without his name. I cannot think _Ferdinand Count Fathom_ wrote by the +same hand, it is every way so much below it." + + +Adventures of Roderick Random_ (1748) and _The Adventures of Ferdinand +Count Fathom_ (1753) were published anonymously. Lady Mary was not the +only one to attribute _Roderick Random_ to Fielding, and it was actually +translated into French in his name. + +When Lady Mary heard of Fielding's death, she expressed deep regret: + + +"I am sorry for H. Fielding's death, not only as I shall read no more of +his writings, but I believe he lost more than others, as no man enjoyed +life more than he did, though few had less reason to do so, the highest +of his preferment being raking in the lowest sinks of vice and misery. I +should think it a nobler and less nauseous employment to be one of the +staff-officers that conduct the nocturnal weddings. His happy +constitution (even when he had, with great pains, half demolished it) +made him forget everything when he was before a venison pasty, or over a +flask of champagne; and I am persuaded he has known more happy moments +than any prince upon earth. His natural spirits gave him rapture with +his cook-maid, and cheerfulness when he was fluxing in a garret. There +was a great similitude between his character and that of Sir Richard +Steele. He had the advantage both in learning and, in my opinion, +genius: they both agreed in wanting money in spite of all their friends, +and would have wanted it, if their hereditary lands had been as +extensive as their imagination; yet each of them was so formed for +happiness; it is a pity he was not immortal." + + +Writing of imaginative prose literature generally, Lady Mary wrote: + + +"The general want of invention which reigns among our writers, inclines +me to think it is not the natural growth of our island, which has not +sun enough to warm the imagination. The press is loaded by the servile +flock of imitators. Lord B. [Bolingbroke] would have quoted Horace in +this place. Since I was born, no original has appeared excepting +Congreve and Fielding, who would, I believe, have approached nearer to +his excellences, if not forced by necessity to publish without +correction, and throw many productions into the world he would have +thrown into the fire if meat could have been got without money, or money +without scribbling. The greatest virtue, justice, and the most +distinguishing prerogative of mankind, writing, when duly executed, do +honour to human nature; but when degenerated into trades, are the most +contemptible ways of getting bread. I am sorry not to see any more of +Peregrine Pickle's performances: I wish you would tell me his name." + + +It appears strange that Lady Mary should have been ignorant, when she +wrote the above passage in July or August, 1755, of the authorship of +_Roderick Random_, for in January of that year she had evinced an +interest in Smollett: "I am sorry my friend Smollett loses his time in +translations; he has certainly a talent for invention, though I think it +flags a little in his last work. _Don Quixote_ is a difficult +undertaking: I shall never desire to read any attempt to redress him. +Though I am a mere piddler in the Spanish language, I had rather take +pains to understand him in the original than sleep over a stupid +translation." + + +_Peregrine Pickle_, however, Lady Mary had read shortly after its +appearance in 1751: + + +"I began by your direction with _Peregrine Pickle_. I think Lady Vane's +_Memoirs_[14] contain more truth and less malice than any I ever read in +my life. When she speaks of her own being disinterested, I am apt to +believe she really thinks herself so, as many highwaymen, after having +no possibility of retrieving the character of honesty, please themselves +with that of being generous, because, whatever they get on the road, +they always spend at the next ale-house, and are still as beggarly as +ever. Her history, rightly considered, would be more instructive to +young women than any sermon I know. They may see there what +mortifications and variety of misery are the unavoidable consequences of +gallantries. I think there is no rational creature that would not prefer +the life of the strictest Carmelite to the round of hurry and misfortune +she has gone through. Her style is clear and concise, with some strokes +of humour, which appear to me so much above her, I can't help being of +opinion the whole has been modelled by the author of the book in which +it is inserted, who is some subaltern admirer of hers. I may judge +wrong, she being no acquaintance of mine, though she has married two of +my relations. Her first wedding was attended with circumstances that +made me think a visit not at all necessary, though I disobliged Lady +Susan by neglecting it; and the second, which happened soon after, made +her so near a neighbour, that I rather choose to stay the whole summer +in town than partake of her balls and parties of pleasure, to which I +did not think it proper to introduce you; and had no other way of +avoiding it, without incurring the censure of a most unnatural mother +for denying you diversions that the pious Lady Ferrers permitted to her +exemplary daughters. Mr. Shirley has had uncommon fortune in making the +conquest of two such extraordinary ladies, equal in their heroic +contempt of shame, and eminent above their sex, the one for beauty, and +the other wealth, both which attract the pursuit of all mankind, and +have been thrown into his arms with the same unlimited fondness. He +appeared to me gentile [_sic_], well bred, well shaped and sensible; but +the charms of his face and eyes, which Lady Vane describes with so much +warmth, were, I confess, always invisible to me, and the artificial part +of his character very glaring, which I think her story shows in a strong +light." + +[Footnote 14: Frances Anne Hawes (1713-1788) married Lord William +Douglas in 1731, and after his death, William, second Viscount Vane, in +1735. She was notorious for profligacy and extravagance of all kinds. +She was responsible for the scandalous _Memoirs of a Lady of Quality_ +which she paid Smollett to insert in _Peregrine Pickle_.] + + +Of minor novelists Lady Mary had also something to say from time to +time. + + +"Sally [Fielding] has mended her style in her last volume of _David +Simple_, which conveys a useful moral, though she does not seem to have +intended it: I mean, shows the ill consequences of not providing against +casual losses, which happen to almost everybody. Mrs. Orgueil's +character is well drawn, and is frequently to be met with. The _Art of +Tormenting_, the _Female Quixote_[15] and _Sir C. Goodville_ are all +sale work. I suppose they proceed from her pen, and heartily pity her, +constrained by her circumstances to seek her bread by a method, I do not +doubt, she despises. Tell me who is that accomplished countess she +celebrates. I left no such person in London; nor can I imagine who is +meant by the English Sappho mentioned in Betsy Thoughtless, whose +adventures and those of Jenny Jessamy, gave me some amusement." + +[Footnote 15: By Charlotte Lennox.] + +"I have read _The Cry_[16] and if I would write in the style to be +admired by good Lord Orrery, I would tell you _The Cry_ made me ready to +cry, and the _Art of Tormenting_ tormented me very much. I take them to +be Sally Fielding's, and also the _Female Quixote_; the plan of that is +pretty, but ill executed: on the contrary, the fable of _The Cry_ is the +most absurd I ever saw, but the sentiments generally just; and I think, +if well dressed, would make a better body of ethics than Bolingbroke's. +Her inventing new words, that are neither more harmonious or significant +than those already in use, is intolerable. + +[Footnote 16: By Sarah Fielding and Miss Collier.] + +"The next book I laid my hand on was _The Parish Girl_ which interested +me enough not to be able to quit it till it was read over, though the +author has fallen into the common mistake of romance-writers; intending +a virtuous character, and not knowing how to draw it; the first step of +his heroine (leaving her patroness's house) being altogether absurd and +ridiculous, justly entitling her to all the misfortunes she met with. + +"Candles came (and my eyes grown weary), I took up the next book, merely +because I supposed from the title it could not engage me long. It was +_Pompey the Little_,[17] which has really diverted me more than any of +the others, and it was impossible to go to bed till it was finished. It +was a real and exact representation of life, as it is now acted in +London, as it was in my time, and as it will be (I do not doubt) a +hundred years hence, with some little variation of dress, and perhaps +government. I found there many of my acquaintance. Lady T. and Lady O. +are so well painted, I fancied I heard them talk, and have heard them +say the very things there repeated.... + +[Footnote 17: By Francis Coventry.] + +"I opened my eyes this morning on _Leonora_, from which I defy the +greatest chemist in morals to extract any instruction; the style most +affectedly florid, and naturally insipid, with such a confused heap of +admirable characters, that never were, or can be, in human nature. I +flung it aside after fifty pages, and laid hold of _Mrs. Philips_, where +I expected to find at least probable, if not true facts, and was not +disappointed. There is a great similitude in the genius and adventures +(the one being productive of the other) between Madame Constantia and +Lady Vane: the first mentioned has the advantage in birth and, if I am +not mistaken, in understanding: they have both had scandalous lawsuits +with their husbands, and are endowed with the same intrepid assurance. +Con. seems to value herself also on her generosity, and has given the +same proofs of it. The parallel might be drawn out to be as long as any +of Plutarch's; but I dare swear you are already heartily weary of my +remarks, and wish I had not read so much in so short a time, that you +might not be troubled with my comments; but you must suffer me to say +something of the polite Mr. Ste, whose name I should never have guessed +by the rapturous description his mistress makes of his person, having +always looked upon him as one of the most disagreeable fellows about +town, as odious in his outside as stupid in his conversation, and I +should as soon have expected to hear of his conquests at the head of an +army as among women; yet he has been, it seems, the darling favourite of +the most experienced of the sex, which shows me I am a very bad judge of +merit. But I agree with Mrs. Philips, that, however profligate she may +have been, she is infinitely his superior in virtue; and if her +penitence is as sincere as she says, she may expect their future fate to +be like that of Dives and Lazarus." + + +Lady Mary received from her daughter a copy of Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swift_, published in 1751, six years +after the death of Swift. This book so aroused the ire of Lady Mary +that, writing of it, she attacked everyone concerned. + + +"Lord Orrery's work has extremely entertained, and not at all surprised +me, having the honour of being acquainted with him, and knowing him for +one of those danglers after wit, who, like those after beauty, spend +their time in humbly admiring, and are happy in being permitted to +attend, though they are laughed at, and only encouraged to gratify the +insatiate vanity of those professed wits and beauties who aim at being +publicly distinguished in those characters. Dean Swift, by his +lordship's own account, was so intoxicated with the love of flattery, he +sought it amongst the lowest of the people, and the silliest of women; +and was never so well pleased with any companions as those that +worshipped him while he insulted them. It is a wonderful condescension +in a man of quality to offer his incense in such a crowd, and think it +an honour to share a friendship with Sheridan, &c., especially being +himself endowed with such universal merit as he displays in these +Letters, where he shows that he is a poet, a patriot, a philosopher, a +physician, a critic, a complete scholar, and most excellent moralist; +shining in private life as a submissive son, a tender father, and +zealous friend. His only error has been that love of learned ease which +he has indulged in a solitude, which has prevented the world from being +blest with such a general, minister, or admiral, being equal to any of +these employments, if he would have turned his talents to the use of the +public. Heaven be praised, he has now drawn his pen in its service, and +given an example to mankind that the most villanous actions, nay, the +coarsest nonsense, are only small blemishes in a great genius. I happen +to think quite contrary, weak woman as I am. I have always avoided the +conversation of those who endeavour to raise an opinion of their +understanding by ridiculing what both law and decency obliges them to +revere; but, whenever I have met with any of those bright spirits who +would be smart on sacred subjects, I have ever cut short their discourse +by asking them if they had any lights and revelations by which they +would propose new articles of faith? Nobody can deny but religion is a +comfort to the distressed, a cordial to the sick, and sometimes a +restraint on the wicked; therefore, whoever would argue or laugh it out +of the world, without giving some equivalent for it, ought to be treated +as a common enemy: but, when this language comes from a churchman, who +enjoys large benefices and dignities from that very Church he openly +despises, it is an object of horror for which I want a name, and can +only be excused by madness, which I think the Dean was strongly touched +with. His character seems to me a parallel with that of Caligula; and +had he had the same power would have made the same use of it. That +emperor erected a temple to himself, where he was his own high priest, +preferred his horse to the highest honours in the state, professed +enmity to [the] human race, and at last lost his life by a nasty jest on +one of his inferiors, which I dare swear Swift would have made in his +place. There can be no worse picture made of the Doctor's morals than he +has given us himself in the letters printed by Pope. We see him vain, +trifling, ungrateful to the memory of his patron, the Earl of Oxford, +making a servile court where he had any interested views, and meanly +abusive when they were disappointed, and, as he says (in his own +phrase), flying in the face of mankind, in company with his adorer Pope. +It is pleasant to consider, that, had it not been for the good nature +of these very mortals they contemn, these two superior beings were +entitled, by their birth and hereditary fortune, to be only a couple of +link-boys. I am of opinion their friendship would have continued, though +they had remained in the same kingdom: it had a very strong +foundation--the love of flattery on the one side, and the love of money +on the other. Pope courted with the utmost assiduity all the old men +from whom he could hope a legacy, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord +Peterborough, Sir G. Kneller, Lord Bolingbroke, Mr. Wycherley, Mr. +Congreve, Lord Harcourt, &c., and I do not doubt projected to sweep the +Dean's whole inheritance, if he could have persuaded him to throw up his +deanery, and come to die in his house; and his general preaching against +money was meant to induce people to throw it away, that he might pick it +up. There cannot be a stronger proof of his being capable of any action +for the sake of gain than publishing his literary correspondence, which +lays open such a mixture of dulness and iniquity, that one would imagine +it visible even to his most passionate admirers, if Lord Orrery did not +show that smooth lines have as much influence over some people as the +authority of the Church in these countries, where it cannot only veil, +but sanctify any absurdity or villany whatever. It is remarkable that +his lordship's family have been smatterers in wit and learning for three +generations: his grandfather has left monuments of his good taste in +several rhyming tragedies, and the romance of Parthenissa. His father +began the world by giving his name to a treatise wrote by Atterbury and +his club, which gained him great reputation; but (like Sir Martin +Marall, who would fumble with his lute when the music was over) he +published soon after a sad comedy of his own, and, what was worse, a +dismal tragedy he had found among the first Earl of Orrery's papers. +People could easier forgive his being partial to his own silly works, as +a common frailty, than the want of judgment in producing a piece that +dishonoured his father's memory. + +"Thus fell into dust a fame that had made a blaze by borrowed fire. To +do justice to the present lord, I do not doubt this fine performance is +all his own, and is a public benefit, if every reader has been as well +diverted with it as myself. I verily believe it has contributed to the +establishment of my health." + + +Nor was Lady Mary more kindly about the writings and character of Lord +Bolingbroke, for whom she had always had a feeling even more of hatred +than disapproval. + +"I have now read over the books you were so good to send, and intend to +say something of them all, though some are not worth speaking of" (she +wrote to her daughter). "I shall begin, in respect to his dignity, with +Lord Bolingbroke, who is a glaring proof how far vanity can blind a man, +and how easy it is to varnish over to one's self the most criminal +conduct. He declares he always loved his country, though he confesses he +endeavoured to betray her to popery and slavery; and loved his friends, +though he abandoned them in distress, with all the blackest +circumstances of treachery. His account of the Peace of Utrecht is +almost equally unfair or partial: I shall allow that, perhaps, the views +of the Whigs, at that time, were too vast and the nation, dazzled by +military glory, had hopes too sanguine; but sure the same terms that the +French consented to, at the treaty of Gertruydenberg, might have been +obtained; or if the displacing of the Duke of Marlborough raised the +spirits of our enemies to a degree of refusing what they had before +offered, how can he excuse the guilt of removing him from the head of a +victorious army, and exposing us to submit to any articles of peace, +being unable to continue the war? I agree with him, that the idea of +conquering France is a wild, extravagant notion, and would, if possible, +be impolitic; but she might have been reduced to such a state as would +have rendered her incapable of being terrible to her neighbours for some +ages: nor should we have been obliged, as we have done almost ever +since, to bribe the French ministers to let us live in quiet. So much +for his political reasonings, which, I confess, are delivered in a +florid, easy style; but I cannot be of Lord Orrery's opinion, that he is +one of the best English writers. Well-turned periods or smooth lines are +not the perfection either of prose or verse; they may serve to adorn, +but can never stand in the place of good sense. Copiousness of words, +however ranged, is always false eloquence, though it will ever impose on +some sort of understandings. How many readers and admirers has Madame de +Sévigné, who only gives us, in a lively manner and fashionable phrases, +mean sentiments, vulgar prejudices, and endless repetitions? Sometimes +the tittle-tattle of a fine lady, sometimes that of an old nurse, always +tittle-tattle; yet so well gilt over by airy expressions, and a flowing +style, she will always please the same people to whom Lord Bolingbroke +will shine as a first-rate author. She is so far to be excused, as her +letters were not intended for the press; while her labours to display to +posterity all the wit and learning he is master of, and sometimes spoils +a good argument by a profusion of words, running out into several pages +a thought that might have been more clearly expressed in a few lines, +and, what is worse, often falls into contradiction and repetitions, +which are almost unavoidable to all voluminous writers, and can only be +forgiven to those retailers whose necessity compels them to diurnal +scribbling, who load their meaning with epithets, and run into +digressions, because (in the jockey phrase) it rids the ground, that is, +covers a certain quantity of paper, to answer the demand of the day. A +great part of Lord B.'s letters are designed to show his reading, which, +indeed, appears to have been very extensive; but I cannot perceive that +such a minute account of it can be of any use to the pupil he pretends +to instruct; nor can I help thinking he is far below either Tillotson or +Addison, even in style, though the latter was sometimes more diffuse +than his judgment approved, to furnish out the length of a daily +_Spectator_. I own I have small regard for Lord B. as an author, and the +highest contempt for him as a man. He came into the world greatly +favoured both by nature and fortune, blest with a noble birth, heir to +a large estate, endowed with a strong constitution, and, as I have +heard, a beautiful figure, high spirits, a good memory and a lively +apprehension, which was cultivated by a learned education: all these +glorious advantages being left to the direction of a judgment stifled by +unbounded vanity, he dishonoured his birth, lost his estate, ruined his +reputation, and destroyed his health, by a wild pursuit of eminence even +in vice and trifles. + +"I am far from making misfortune a matter of reproach. I know there are +accidental occurences not to be foreseen or avoided by human prudence, +by which a character may be injured, wealth dissipated, or a +constitution impaired: but I think I may reasonably despise the +understanding of one who conducts himself in such a manner as naturally +produces such lamentable consequences, and continues in the same +destructive paths to the end of a long life, ostentatiously boasting of +morals and philosophy in print, and with equal ostentation bragging of +the scenes of low debauchery in public conversation, though deplorably +weak both in mind and body, and his virtue and his vigour in a state of +non-existence. His confederacy with Swift and Pope puts me in mind of +that of Bessus and his sword-men, in the _King and no King_,[18] who +endeavour to support themselves by giving certificates of each other's +merit. Pope has triumphantly declared that they may do and say whatever +silly things they please, they will still be the greatest geniuses +nature ever exhibited. I am delighted with the comparison given of their +benevolence, which is indeed most aptly figured by a circle in the +water, which widens till it comes to nothing at all; but I am provoked +at Lord B.'s misrepresentation of my favourite Atticus, who seems to +have been the only Roman that, from good sense, had a true notion of the +times in which he lived, in which the republic was inevitably perishing, +and the two factions, who pretended to support it, equally endeavouring +to gratify their ambition in its ruin. A wise man, in that case, would +certainly declare for neither, and try to save himself and family from +the general wreck, which could not be done but by a superiority of +understanding acknowledged on both sides. I see no glory in losing life +or fortune by being the dupe of either, and very much applaud that +conduct which could preserve an universal esteem amidst the fury of +opposite parties. We are obliged to act vigorously, where action can do +any good; but in a storm, when it is impossible to work with success, +the best hands and ablest pilots may laudably gain the shore if they +can. Atticus could be a friend to men without engaging in their +passions, disapprove their maxims without awaking their resentment, and +be satisfied with his own virtue without seeking popular fame: he had +the reward of his wisdom in his tranquillity, and will ever stand among +the few examples of true philosophy, either ancient or modern.... + +[Footnote 18: A play by Beaumont and Fletcher, licensed for the stage in +1611.] + +"I must add a few words on the _Essay on Exile_, which I read with +attention, as a subject that touched me. I found the most abject +dejection under a pretended fortitude. That the author felt it, can be +no doubt to one that knows (as I do) the mean submissions and solemn +promises he made to obtain a return, flattering himself (I suppose) he +need only appear to be at the head of the administration, as every +ensign of sixteen fancies he is in a fair way to be a general on the +first sight of his commission. + +"You will think I have been too long on the character of Atticus. I own +I took pleasure in explaining it. Pope thought himself covertly very +severe on Mr. Addison by giving him that name; and I feel indignation +when he is abused, both from his own merit, and having been your +father's friend; besides that it is naturally shocking to see any one +lampooned after his death by the same man who had paid him the most +servile court while he lived and was highly obliged by him." + + +As a periodical writer she compared Johnson unfavourably with Steele and +Addison: + + +"The _Rambler_ is certainly a strong misnomer; he always plods in the +beaten road of his predecessors, following the _Spectator_ (with the +same pace a pack-horse would do a hunter) in the style that is proper to +lengthen a paper. These writers may, perhaps, be of service to the +public, which is saying a great deal in their favour. There are numbers +of both sexes who never read anything but such productions, and cannot +spare time, from doing nothing, to go through a sixpenny pamphlet. Such +gentle readers may be improved by a moral hint, which, though repeated +over and over, from generation to generation, they never heard in their +lives. I should be glad to know the name of this laborious author." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADY MARY ON EDUCATION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS + +The choice of books for children's reading--The dangers of a narrow +education--Lady Mary advocates the higher education of women--Girls +should be taught languages--Lady Mary's theories of education for +girls--Women writers in Italy--A "rumpus" made by ladies in the House of +Lords--Woman's Rights--Lady Mary's views on religion. + + +In spite of her own fondness for books, Lady Mary was not a wholehearted +believer in reading for young folk, unless the choice of volumes was +carefully made by some competent person. This point she emphasised in +one of her letters to her daughter. + +"I can't forbear saying something in relation to my granddaughters, who +are very near my heart. If any of them are fond of reading, I would not +advise you to hinder them (chiefly because it is impossible) seeing +poetry, plays, or romances; but accustom them to talk over what they +read, and point out to them, as you are very capable of doing, the +absurdity often concealed under fine expressions, where the sound is apt +to engage the admiration of young people. I was so much charmed, at +fourteen, with the dialogue of Henry and Emma, I can say it by heart to +this day, without reflecting on the monstrous folly of the story in +plain prose, where a young heiress to a fond father is represented +falling in love with a fellow she had only seen as a huntsman, a +falconer, and a beggar, and who confesses, without any circumstances of +excuse, that he is obliged to run his country, having newly committed a +murder. She ought reasonably to have supposed him, at best, a +highwayman; yet the virtuous virgin resolves to run away with him, to +live among the banditti, and wait upon his trollop, if she had no other +way of enjoying his company. This senseless tale is, however, so well +varnished with melody of words and pomp of sentiments, I am convinced it +has hurt more girls than ever were injured by the lewdest poems extant." + + +Life, Lady Mary was at pains to insist upon, is a much better instructor +for the young than any story-book, however innocuous it may seem to +grown-up people, who for the greater number have not the faculty of +seeing how the tale would have affected them in their childhood. + + +"I congratulate my granddaughters on being born in an age so much +enlightened. Sentiments are certainly extreme silly, and only qualify +young people to be the bubbles of all their acquaintance. I do not doubt +the frequency of assemblies has introduced a more enlarged way of +thinking; it is a kind of public education, which I have always thought +as necessary for girls as for boys. A woman married at five-and-twenty, +from under the eye of a strict parent, is commonly as ignorant as she +was at five; and no more capable of avoiding the snares, and struggling +with the difficulties, she will infallibly meet with in the commerce of +the world. The knowledge of mankind (the most useful of all knowledge) +can only be acquired by conversing with them. Books are so far from +giving that instruction, they fill the head with a set of wrong notions, +from whence spring the tribes of Clarissas, Harriets, &c. Yet such was +the method of education when I was in England, which I had it not in my +power to correct; the young will always adopt the opinions of all their +companions, rather than the advice of their mothers." + + +"Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundations of vice," Mary +Astell had laid down as an axiom, and Lady Mary was always propounding +this to her daughter. + + +"I am extremely concerned to hear you complain of ill health, at a time +of life when you ought to be in the flower of your strength. I hope I +need not recommend to you the care of it: the tenderness you have for +your children is sufficient to enforce you to the utmost regard for the +preservation of a life so necessary to their well-being. I do not doubt +your prudence in their education: neither can I say anything particular +relating to it at this distance, different tempers requiring different +management. In general, never attempt to govern them (as most people do) +by deceit: if they find themselves cheated, even in trifles, it will so +far lessen the authority of their instructor, as to make them neglect +all their future admonitions. And, if possible, breed them free from +prejudices; those contracted in the nursery often influence the whole +life after, of which I have seen many melancholy examples. I shall say +no more of this subject, nor would have said this little if you had not +asked my advice: 'tis much easier to give rules than to practise them. I +am sensible my own natural temper is too indulgent: I think it the least +dangerous error, yet still it is an error. I can only say with truth, +that I do not know in my whole life having ever endeavoured to impose on +you, or give a false colour to anything that I represented to you. If +your daughters are inclined to love reading, do not check their +inclination by hindering them of the diverting part of it; it is as +necessary for the amusement of women as the reputation of men; but teach +them not to expect or desire any applause from it. Let their brothers +shine, and let them content themselves with making their lives easier by +it, which I experimentally know is more effectually done by study than +any other way. Ignorance is as much the fountain of vice as idleness, +and indeed generally produces it. People that do not read, or work for a +livelihood, have many hours they know not how to employ; especially +women, who commonly fall into vapours, or something worse." + + +Mary was an advocate, one of the earliest advocates, for the higher +education of woman. Although she had educated herself, she realised that +the circumstances in her case were exceptional, and no doubt it was also +borne in on her that she had been an exceptional girl even as she was a +remarkable woman. It was not so much lack of education against which she +tilted, as ill-directed studies. + + +"You have given me a great deal of satisfaction by your account of your +eldest daughter. I am particularly pleased to hear she is a good +arithmetician; it is the best proof of understanding: the knowledge of +numbers is one of the chief distinctions between us and the brutes. If +there is anything in blood, you may reasonably expect your children +should be endowed with an uncommon share of good sense. Mr. Wortley's +family and mine have both produced some of the greatest men that have +been born in England: I mean Admiral Sandwich, and my grandfather, who +was distinguished by the name of Wise William. I have heard Lord Bute's +father mentioned as an extraordinary genius, though he had not many +opportunities of showing it; and his uncle, the present Duke of Argyll, +has one of the best heads I ever knew. I will therefore speak to you as +supposing Lady Mary not only capable, but desirous of learning; in that +case by all means let her be indulged in it. You will tell me I did not +make it a part of your education: your prospect was very different from +hers. As you had no defect either in mind or person to hinder, and much +in your circumstances to attract, the highest offers, it seemed your +business to learn how to live in the world, as it is hers to know how to +be easy out of it. It is the common error of builders and parents to +follow some plan they think beautiful (and perhaps is so), without +considering that nothing is beautiful that is displaced. Hence we see so +many edifices raised that the raisers can never inhabit, being too large +for their fortunes. Vistas are laid open over barren heaths, and +apartments contrived for a coolness very agreeable in Italy, but killing +in the north of Britain: thus every woman endeavours to breed her +daughter a fine lady, qualifying her for a station in which she will +never appear, and at the same time incapacitating her for that +retirement to which she is destined. Learning, if she has a real taste +for it, will not only make her contented, but happy in it. No +entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She +will not want new fashions, nor regret the loss of expensive diversions, +or variety of company, if she can be amused with an author in her +closet. To render this amusement extensive, she should be permitted to +learn the languages. I have heard it lamented that boys lose so many +years in mere learning of words: this is no objection to a girl, whose +time is not so precious: she cannot advance herself in any profession, +and has therefore more hours to spare; and as you say her memory is +good, she will be very agreeably employed this way. There are two +cautions to be given on this subject: first, not to think herself +learned when she could read Latin, or even Greek. Languages are more +properly to be called vehicles of learning than learning itself, as may +be observed in many schoolmasters, who, though perhaps critics in +grammar, are the most ignorant fellows upon earth. True knowledge +consists in knowing things, not words. I would wish her no further a +linguist than to enable her to read books in their originals, that are +often corrupted, and always injured, by translations. Two hours' +application every morning will bring this about much sooner than you can +imagine, and she will have leisure enough besides to run over the +English poetry, which is a more important part of a woman's education +than it is generally supposed. Many a young damsel has been ruined by a +fine copy of verses, which she would have laughed at if she had known it +had been stolen from Mr. Waller. I remember, when I was a girl, I saved +one of my companions from destruction, who communicated to me an epistle +she was quite charmed with. As she had a natural good taste, she +observed the lines were not so smooth as Prior's or Pope's, but had more +thought and spirit than any of theirs. She was wonderfully delighted +with such a demonstration of her lover's sense and passion, +a little pleased with her own charms, that had force enough to inspire +such elegancies. In the midst of this triumph I showed her that they +were taken from Randolph's poems, and the unfortunate transcriber was +dismissed with the scorn he deserved. To say truth, the poor plagiary +was very unlucky to fall into my hands; that author being no longer in +fashion, would have escaped any one of less universal reading than +myself. You should encourage your daughter to talk over with you what +she reads; and, as you are very capable of distinguishing, take care she +does not mistake pert folly for wit and humour, or rhyme for poetry, +which are the common errors of young people, and have a train of ill +consequences. The second caution to be given her (and which is most +absolutely necessary) is to conceal whatever learning she attains, with +as much solicitude as she would hide crookedness or lameness; the parade +of it can only serve to draw on her the envy, and consequently the most +inveterate hatred, of all he and she fools, which will certainly be at +least three parts in four of all her acquaintance. The use of knowledge +in our sex, besides the amusement of solitude, is to moderate the +passions, and learn to be contented with a small expense, which are the +certain effects of a studious life; and it may be preferable even to +that fame which men have engrossed to themselves, and will not suffer us +to share. You will tell me I have not observed this rule myself; but you +are mistaken: it is only inevitable accident that has given me any +reputation that way. I have always carefully avoided it, and ever +thought it a misfortune. The explanation of this paragraph would +occasion a long digression, which I will not trouble you with, it being +my present design only to say what I think useful for the instruction of +my granddaughter, which I have much at heart. If she has the same +inclination (I should say passion) for learning that I was born with, +history, geography, and philosophy will furnish her with materials to +pass away cheerfully a longer life than is allotted to mortals. I +believe there are few heads capable of making Sir I. Newton's +calculations, but the result of them is not difficult to be understood by +a moderate capacity. Do not fear this should make her affect the character +of Lady----, or Lady----, or Mrs.----: those women are ridiculous, +not because they have learning but because they have it not. One thinks +herself a complete historian, after reading Echard's Roman History; +another a profound philosopher, having got by heart some of Pope's +unintelligible essays; and a third an able divine, on the strength of +Whitefield's sermons: thus you hear them screaming politics and +controversy. + +"It is a saying of Thucydides, ignorance is bold, and knowledge +reserved. Indeed, it is impossible to be far advanced in it without +being more humbled by a conviction of human ignorance, than elated by +learning. At the same time I recommend books, I neither exclude work nor +drawing. I think it as scandalous for a woman not to know how to use a +needle, as for a man not to know how to use a sword. I was once +extremely fond of my pencil, and it was a great mortification to me when +my father turned off my master, having made a considerable progress for +a short time I learnt. My over-eagerness in the pursuit of it had +brought a weakness on my eyes, that made it necessary to leave it off; +and all the advantage I got was the improvement of my hand. I see, by +hers, that practice will make her a ready writer: she may attain it by +serving you for a secretary, when your health or affairs make it +troublesome to you to write yourself; and custom will make it an +agreeable amusement to her. She cannot have too many for that station of +life which will probably be her fate. The ultimate end of your education +was to make you a good wife (and I have the comfort to hear that you are +one): hers ought to be, to make her happy in a virgin state. I will not +say it is happier; but it is undoubtedly safer than any marriage. In a +lottery, which there are (at the lowest computation) ten thousand blanks +to a prize, it is the most prudent choice not to venture. I have always +been so thoroughly persuaded of this truth, that, notwithstanding the +flattering views I had for you (as I never intended you a sacrifice to +my vanity), I thought I owed you the justice to lay before you all the +hazards attending matrimony: you may recollect I did so in the strongest +manner. Perhaps you may have more success in the instructing your +daughter: she has so much company at home, she will not need seeking it +abroad, and will more readily take the notions you think fit to give her. +As you were alone in my family, it would have been thought a great +cruelty to suffer you no companions of your own age, especially having +so many near relations, and I do not wonder their opinions influenced +yours. I was not sorry to see you not determined on a single life, +knowing it was not your father's intention, and contented myself with +endeavouring to make your home so easy that you might not be in haste to +leave it." + + +Lady Mary's views on the education of children were well in advance of +her day. They were certainly not the stereotyped opinions current among +governesses or even parents somewhat more enlightened than the rest, and +evidently she had given much consideration to the subject before she put +her thoughts on paper. + + +"People commonly educate their children as they build their houses, +according to some plan they think beautiful, without considering whether +it is suited to the purposes for which they are designed. Almost all +girls of quality are educated as if they were to be great ladies, which +is often as little to be expected, as an immoderate heat of the sun in +the north of Scotland. You should teach yours to confine their desires +to probabilities, to be as useful as is possible to themselves, and to +think privacy (as it is) the happiest state of life. I do not doubt you +giving them all the instructions necessary to form them to a virtuous +life; but 'tis a fatal mistake to do this without proper restrictions. +Vices are often hid under the name of virtues, and the practice of them +followed by the worst of consequences. Sincerity, friendship, piety, +disinterestedness, and generosity, are all great virtues; but, +without discretion, become criminal. I have seen ladies indulge their +own ill humour by being very rude and impertinent, and think they +deserved approbation by saying I love to speak truth. One of your +acquaintance made a ball the next day after her mother died, to show she +was sincere. I believe your own reflection will furnish you with but too +many examples of the ill effects of the rest of the sentiments I have +mentioned, when too warmly embraced. They are generally recommended to +young people without limits or distinction, and this prejudice hurries +them into great misfortunes, while they are applauding themselves in the +noble practice (as they fancy) of very eminent virtues. + +"I cannot help adding (out of my real affection to you), I wish you +would moderate that fondness you have for your children. I do not mean +you should abate any part of your care, or not do your duty to them in +its utmost extent: but I would have you early prepare yourself for +disappointments, which are heavy in proportion to their being +surprising. It is hardly possible, in such a number, that none should be +unhappy; prepare yourself against a misfortune of that kind. I confess +there is hardly any more difficult to support; yet it is certain +imagination has a great share in the pain of it, and it is more in our +power than it is commonly believed to soften whatever ills are founded +or augmented by fancy. Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil--I +mean, acute pain; all other complaints are so considerably diminished by +time, that it is plain the grief is owing to our passion, since the +sensation of it vanishes when that is over. + +"There is another mistake, I forgot to mention, usual in mothers: if any +of their daughters are beauties, they take great pains to persuade them +that they are ugly, or at least that they think so, which the young +woman never fails to believe springs from envy, and is perhaps not much +in the wrong. I would, if possible, give them a just notion of their +figure, and show them how far it is valuable. Every advantage has its +price, and may be either over or undervalued. It is the common +doctrine of (what are called) good books, to inspire a contempt of +beauty, riches, greatness, &c., which has done as much mischief among +the young of our sex as an over eager desire of them. They should look +on these things as blessings where they are bestowed, though not +necessaries that it is impossible to be happy without." + + +Of course, all these expressions of opinions, although here gathered +together, were spread over a term of years. Yet, Lady Mary had from time +to time some qualms as to how her admonitions would be received by her +daughter, although, as she was careful once to point out: "I do not give +them as believing my age has furnished me with superior wisdom, but in +compliance with your desire." + + +"I cannot help writing a sort of apology for my laster letter, +foreseeing that you will think it wrong, or at least Lord Bute will be +extremely shocked at the proposal of a learned education for daughters, +which the generality of men believe as great a profanation as the clergy +would do if the laity should presume to exercise the functions of the +priesthood. I desire you would take notice, I would not have learning +enjoined them as a task, but permitted as a pleasure, if their genius +leads them naturally to it. I look upon my granddaughters as a sort of +lay nuns: destiny may have laid up other things for them, but they have +no reason to expect to pass their time otherwise than their aunts do at +present; and I know, by experience, it is in the power of study not only +to make solitude tolerable, but agreeable. I have now lived almost seven +years in a stricter retirement than yours in the Isle of Bute, and can +assure you, I have never had half an hour heavy on my hands, for want of +something to do. Whoever will cultivate their own mind, will find full +employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the +planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing, as exotic fruits +and flowers. The vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural +product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search +after knowledge (every branch of which is entertaining), and the longest +life is too short for the pursuit of it; which, though in some regards +confined to very strait limits, leaves still a vast variety of +amusements to those capable of tasting them, which is utterly impossible +for those that are blinded by prejudices which are the certain effect of +an ignorant education. My own was one of the worst in the world, being +exactly the same as Clarissa Hawlowe's; her pious Mrs. Norton so +perfectly resembling my governess, who had been nurse to my mother, I +could almost fancy the author was acquainted with her. She took so much +pains, from my infancy, to fill my head with superstitious tales and +false notions, it was none of her fault I am not at this day afraid of +witches and hobgoblins, or turned methodist. Almost all girls are bred +after this manner. I believe you are the only woman (perhaps I might +say, person) that never was either frighted or cheated into anything by +your parents. I can truly affirm, I never deceived anybody in my life, +excepting (which I confess has often happened undesignedly) by speaking +plainly; as Earl Stanhope used to say (during his ministry) he always +imposed on the foreign ministers by telling them the naked truth, which, +as they thought impossible to come from the mouth of a statesman, they +never failed to write informations to their respective courts directly +contrary to the assurances he gave them: most people confounding the +ideas of sense and cunning, though there are really no two things in +nature more opposite: it is, in part, from this false reasoning, the +unjust custom prevails of debarring our sex from the advantages of +learning, the men fancying the improvement of our understandings would +only furnish us with more art to deceive them, which is directly +contrary to the truth. Fools are always enterprising, not seeing the +difficulties of deceit, or the ill consequences of detection. I could +give many examples of ladies whose ill conduct has been very notorious, +which has been owing to that ignorance which has exposed them to +idleness, which is justly called the mother of mischief. There is +nothing so like the education of a woman of quality as that of a prince: +they are taught to dance, and the exterior part of what is called good +breeding, which, if they attain, they are extraordinary creatures in +their kind, and have all the accomplishments required by their +directors. The same characters are formed by the same lessons, which +inclines me to think (if I dare say it) that nature has not placed us in +an inferior rank to men, no more than the females of other animals, +where we see no distinction of capacity; though, I am persuaded, if +there was a commonwealth of rational horses (as Doctor Swift has +supposed), it would be an established maxim among them, that a mare +could not be taught to pace. I could add a great deal on this subject, +but I am not now endeavouring to remove the prejudices of mankind; my +only design is, to point out to my granddaughters the method of being +contented with that retreat, to which probably their circumstances will +oblige them, and which is perhaps preferable to all the show of public +life. It has always been my inclination. Lady Stafford (who knew me +better than anybody else in the world, both from her own just +discernment, and my heart being ever as open to her as myself) used to +tell me, my true vocation was a monastery; and I now find, by +experience, more sincere pleasure with my books and garden, than all the +flutter of a court could give me. + +"If you follow my advice in relation to Lady Mary, my correspondence may +be of use to her; and I shall very willingly give her those instructions +that may be necessary in the pursuit of her studies. Before her age I +was in the most regular commerce with my grandmother, though the +difference of our time of life was much greater, she being past +forty-five when she married my grandfather. She died at ninety-six, +retaining, to the last, the vivacity and clearness of her understanding, +which was very uncommon. You cannot remember her, being then in your +nurse's arms. I conclude with repeating to you, I only recommend, but am +far from commanding, which I think I have no right to do. I tell you my +sentiments, because you desired to know them, and hope you will receive +them with some partiality, as coming from + +"Your most affectionate mother." + + +One of Lady Mary's friends was Cardinal Gerolamo Guerini, a distinguished +scholar as well as a great churchman. One day, in October, 1753, he sent +a request, by one of his chief chaplains, that Lady Mary would send him +her printed works for the shelves that he was dedicating to English +literature in the library attached to the college at Brescia that he had +founded. + + +"I was struck dumb for some time with this astonishing request; when I +recovered my vexatious surprise (foreseeing the consequence), I made +answer, I was highly sensible of the honour designed me, but, upon my +word, I had never printed a single line in my life. I was answered in a +cold tone, his Eminence could send for them to England, but they would +be a long time coming, and with some hazard; and that he had flattered +himself I would not refuse him such a favour, and I need not be ashamed +of seeing my name in a collection where he admitted none but the most +eminent authors. It was to no purpose to endeavour to convince him. He +would not stay to dinner, though earnestly invited; and went away with +the air of one that thought he had reason to be offended. I know his +master will have the same sentiments, and I shall pass in his opinion +for a monster of ingratitude, while it is the blackest of vices in my +opinion, and of which I am utterly incapable--I really could cry for +vexation. + +"Sure nobody ever had such various provocations to print as myself. I +have seen things I have wrote, so mangled and falsified, I have scarce +known them. I have seen poems I never read, published with my name at +length; and others, that were truly and singly wrote by me, printed +under the names of others. I have made myself easy under all these +mortifications, by the reflection I did not deserve them, having never +aimed at the vanity of popular applause; but I own my philosophy is not +proof against losing a friend, and it may be making an enemy of one to +whom I am obliged." + + +In this letter to Lady Mar, in which Lady Mary explains her plight, she +goes on to deliver herself of her sentiments concerning the difference +of opinion as regards women writers that was current in Italy and in +England. + +Lady Mary held strong views on what are called to-day, or at least were +so called until they were lately in the main conceded, women's rights. +Although she said that she did not complain that it was men, and men +only, who were privileged to exercise the power of government, it is not +unlikely that she yielded this point in order the more effectively to +emphasise some other. Anyhow she was unfeignedly pleased to be able to +record (to Lady Pomfret, March, 1737) a "rumpus" made by ladies who +regarded their exclusion from a debate in Parliament as unwarrantable. + + +"I confess I have often been complimented, since I have been in Italy, +on the books I have given the public. I used at first to deny it with +some warmth; but, finding I persuaded nobody, I have of late contented +myself with laughing whenever I heard it mentioned, knowing the +character of a learned woman is far from being ridiculous in this +country, the greatest families being proud of having produced female +writers; and a Milanese lady being now professor of mathematics in the +university of Bologna, invited thither by a most obliging letter, wrote +by the present Pope, who desired her to accept of the chair, not as a +recompense for her merit, but to do honour to a town which is under his +protection. To say truth, there is no part of the world where our sex is +treated with so much contempt as in England. I do not complain of men +for having engrossed the government: in excluding us from all degrees of +power, they preserve us from many fatigues, many dangers, and perhaps +many crimes. The small proportion of authority that has fallen to my +share (only over a few children and servants) has always been a burden, +and never a pleasure, and I believe every one finds it so who acts from +a maxim (I think an indispensable duty), that whoever is under my power +is under my protection. Those who find a joy in inflicting hardships, +and seeing objects of misery, may have other sensations; but I have +always thought corrections, even when necessary, as painful to the giver +as to the sufferer, and am therefore very well satisfied with the state +of subjection we are placed in: but I think it the highest injustice to +be debarred the entertainment of my closet, and that the same studies +which raise the character of a man should hurt that of a woman. We are +educated in the grossest ignorance, and no art omitted to stifle our +natural reason; if some few get above their nurses' instructions, our +knowledge must rest concealed, and be as useless to the world as gold in +the mine. I am now speaking according to our English notions, which may +wear out, some ages hence, along with others equally absurd. It appears +to me the strongest proof of a clear understanding in Longinus (in every +light acknowledged one of the greatest men among the ancients), when I +find him so far superior to vulgar prejudices as to choose his two +examples of fine writing from a Jew (at that time the most despised +people upon earth) and a woman. Our modern wits would be so far from +quoting, they would scarce own they had read the works of such +contemptible creatures, though, perhaps, they would condescend to steal +from them, at the same time they declared they were below their notice. +This subject is apt to run away with me; I will trouble you with no more +of it." + +"Here is no news to be sent you from this place, which has been for this +fortnight and still continues overwhelmed with politics, and which are +of so mysterious a nature, one ought to have some of the gifts of Lilly +or Partridge to be able to write about them; and I leave all those +dissertations to those distinguished mortals who are endowed with the +talent of divination though I am at present the only one of my sex who +seems to be of that opinion, the ladies having shown their zeal and +appetite for knowledge in a most glorious manner. At the last warm +debate in the House of Lords, it was unanimously resolved there should +be no crowd of unnecessary auditors; consequently the fair sex were +excluded, and the gallery destined to the sole use of the House of +Commons. Notwithstanding which determination, a tribe of dames resolved +to show on this occasion that neither men nor laws could resist them. +These heroines were Lady Huntingdon, the Duchess of Queensberry, the +Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Westmorland, Lady Cobham, Lady Charlotte +Edwin, Lady Archibald Hamilton and her daughter, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. +Pendarves, and Lady Frances Saunderson. I am thus particular in their +names, since I look upon them to be the boldest assertors, and most +resigned sufferers for liberty, I ever read of. They presented +themselves at the door at nine o'clock in the morning, where Sir William +Saunderson respectfully informed them that the Chancellor had made an +order against their admittance. The Duchess of Queensberry, as head of +the squadron, pished at the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer, and desired +him to let them upstairs privately. After some modest refusals, he swore +by G--he would not let them in. Her Grace, with a noble warmth, +answered, by G--they would come in in spite of the Chancellor and the +whole House. This being reported, the Peers resolved to starve them out; +an order was made that the doors should not be opened till they had +raised their siege. These Amazons now showed themselves qualified for +the duty of even foot soldiers; they stood there till five in the +afternoon, without either sustenance or evacuation, every now and then +playing volleys of thumps, kicks, and raps against the door, with so +much violence that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. When the +Lords were not to be conquered by this, the two duchesses (very well +apprised of the use of stratagems in war) commanded a dead silence of +half an hour; and the Chancellor, who thought this a certain proof of +their absence (the Commons also being very impatient to enter), gave +order for the opening of the door, upon which they all rushed in, pushed +aside their competitors, and placed themselves in the front rows of the +gallery. They stayed there till after eleven, when the House rose; and +during the debate gave applause, and showed marks of dislike, not only +by smiles and winks (which have always been allowed in these cases), but +by noisy laughs and apparent contempts; which is supposed the true +reason why poor Lord Hervey spoke miserably. I beg your pardon, dear +madam, for this long relation; but 'tis impossible to be short on so +copious a subject; and you must own this action very well worthy of +record, and I think not to be paralleled in history, ancient or modern." + + +Lady Mary, however, was less concerned with "the open door" for women in +politics: her primary desire was that a woman should have the right, +within reason, to live her own life, and not merely be a chattel of her +husband. There is the conduct of her own married life to prove her +sincerity. + +Her view of the Turkish woman has already been given, as also has her +opinion that marriages should be for the limited period of seven years. +Now, she gave her opinion of the woman question in Italy, and it would +seem that, realising that her own marriage has been anything but +satisfactory to either party, she wrote from her heart. + + +"I cannot let pass in silence the prodigious alteration, since Misson's +writing, in regard to our sex. This reformation (or, if you please, +depravation) began so lately as the year 1732, when the French overran +this part of Italy; but it has been carried on with such fervour and +success, that the Italian go far beyond their patterns, the Parisian +ladies, in the extent of their liberty. I am not so much surprised at +the women's conduct, as I am amazed at the change in the men's +sentiments. Jealousy, which was once a point of honour among them, is +exploded to that degree, it is the most infamous and ridiculous of all +characters; and you cannot more affront a gentleman than to suppose +him capable of it. Divorces are also introduced, and frequent enough; +they have long been in fashion in Genoa; several of the finest and +greatest ladies there having two husbands alive. The constant pretext is +impotency, to which the man often pleads guilty, and though he marries +again, and has children by another wife, the plea remains good by saying +he was so in regard to his first; and when I told them that in England a +complaint of that kind was esteemed so impudent no reasonable woman +would submit to make it, I was answered we lived without religion, and +that their consciences obliged them rather to strain a point of modesty +than to live in a state of damnation. However, as this method is not +without inconvenience (it being impracticable where there is children), +they have taken another here: the husband deposes upon oath that he has +had a commerce with his mother-in-law, on which the marriage is declared +incestuous and nullified, though the children remain legitimate. You +will think this hard on the old lady, who is scandalised; but it is no +scandal at all, nobody supposing it to be true, without circumstances to +confirm it; but the married couple are set free to their mutual content; +for I believe it would be difficult to get a sentence of divorce, if +either side made opposition: at least I have heard no example of it." + + +Lady Mary made no secret of her views upon marriage; and though she did +not so frequently air her religious beliefs, she often pondered the +subject, and when challenged to speak was not reticent. As regards +sacred matters, she always had the courage of her convictions, even as +she had in mundane affairs. + + +"I always, if possible, avoid controversial disputes: whenever I cannot +do it, they are very short" (she wrote to her daughter in October, +1755). "I ask my adversary if he believes in the Scripture? When that is +answered affirmatively their church may be proved, by a child of ten +years old, contradictory to it, in their most important points. My +second question is, if they think St. Peter and St. Paul knew the true +Christian religion? The constant reply is, O yes. Then say I, purgatory, +transubstantiation, invocation of saints, adoration of the Virgin, +relics (of which they might have had a cartload), the observation of +Lent, is no part of it, since they neither taught nor practised any of +these things. Vows of celibacy are not more contrary to nature, than to +the positive precept of St. Paul. He mentions a very common case, in +which people are obliged, by conscience, to marry. No mortal can promise +that case shall never be theirs, which depends on the disposition of the +body as much as a fever; and 'tis as reasonable to engage never to feel +the one as the other. He tells us, the marks of the Holy Spirit are +charity, humility, truth, and long suffering. Can anything be more +uncharitable than damning eternally so many millions for not believing +what they never heard? or prouder than calling their head a Vice-god? +Pious frauds are avowedly permitted, and persecution applauded: these +maxims cannot be dictated by the spirit of peace, which is so warmly +preached in the Gospel. The creeds of the apostles, and council of Nice, +do not speak of the mass, or real presence, as articles of belief; and +Athanasius asserts, whosoever believes according to them shall be saved. +Jesus Christ, in answer to the lawyer, bids him love God above all +things, and his neighbour as himself, as all that is necessary to +salvation. When he describes the last judgment, he does not examine what +sect, or what church, men were of, but how far they had been beneficent +to mankind. Faith cannot determine reward or punishment, being +involuntary, and only the consequence of conviction: we do not believe +what we please, but what appears to us with the face of truth. As I do +not mistake exclamation, invective, or ridicule for argument, I never +recriminate on the lives of their popes and cardinals, when they urge +the character of Henry the Eighth; I only answer, good actions are often +done by all men through interested motives, and 'tis the common method +of Providence to bring good out of evil: history, both sacred and +profane, furnishes many examples of it. When they tell me I have forsook +the worship of my ancestors, I say I have had more ancestors heathen +than Christian, and my faith is certainly ancienter than theirs, since I +have added nothing to the practice of the primitive professors of +Christianity. As to the prosperity or extent of the dominion of their +church, which Cardinal Bellarmin counts among the proofs of its +orthodoxy, the Mahometans, who have larger empires, and have made a +quicker progress, have a better plea for the visible protection of +Heaven. If the fopperies of their religion were only fopperies, they +ought to be complied with, wherever it is established, like any +ridiculous dress in fashion; but I think them impieties: their devotions +are scandal to humanity from their nonsense; the mercenary deceits and +barbarous tyranny of their ecclesiastics, inconsistent with moral +honesty. If they object the diversity of our sects as a mark of +reprobation, I desire them to consider, that objection has equal force +against Christianity in general. When they thunder with the names of +fathers and councils, they are surprised to find me as well (often +better) acquainted with them than themselves. I show them the variety of +their doctrines, their virulent contests and various factions, instead +of that union they boast of. I have never been attacked a second time in +any of the towns where I have resided, and perhaps shall never be so +again after my last battle, which was with an old priest, a learned man, +particularly esteemed as a mathematician, and who has a head and heart +as warm as poor Whiston's. When I first came hither, he visited me every +day, and talked of me everywhere with such violent praise, that, had we +been young people, God knows what would have been said. I have always +the advantage of being quite calm on a subject which they cannot talk of +without heat. He desired I would put on paper what I had said. I +immediately wrote one side of a sheet, leaving the other for his answer. +He carried it with him, promising to bring it the next day, since which +time I have never seen it, though I have often demanded it, being of +my defective Italian. I fancy he sent it to his friend the Archbishop of +Milan. I have given over asking for it, as a desperate debt. He still +visits me, but seldom, and in a cold sort of a way. When I have found +disputants I less respected, I have sometimes taken pleasure in raising +their hopes by my concessions: they are charmed when I agree with them +in the number of the sacraments; but are horridly disappointed when I +explain myself by saying the word sacrament is not to be found either in +Old or New Testament; and one must be very ignorant not to know it is +taken from the listing oath of the Roman soldiers, and means nothing +more than a solemn, irrevocable engagement. Parents vow, in infant +baptism, to educate their children in the Christian religion, which they +take upon themselves by confirmation; the Lord's Supper is frequently +renewing the same oath. Ordination and matrimony are solemn vows of a +different kind: confession includes a vow of revealing all we know, and +reforming what is amiss: extreme unction, the last vow, that we have +lived in the faith we were baptised: in this sense they are all +sacraments. As to the mysteries preached since, they were all invented +long after, and some of them repugnant to the primitive institution." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON THE CONTINENT (1745-1760) + +Lady Mary stays at Avignon--She removes to Brescia--And then to +Lovere--She abandons all idea of Montagu joining her abroad--Her house +at Lovere--Her daily round--Her health--Her anxiety about her son--An +amazing incident--A serious illness--A novel in a letter--Her +correspondence attracts the attention of the Italian authorities--Sir +James and Lady Frances Steuart--Politics--She is in the bad books of the +British Resident at Venice--Lord Bute--The philosophy of Lady +Mary--Letters to Lady Bute and Sir James Steuart. + + +Lady Mary liked Avignon so well that she stayed there until July 1746. +Then she moved to Brescia, where she stayed for a year, and then took up +her quarters at Lovere, a small place in Lombardy on the Lake d'Iseo, a +most attractive spot, as she was at pains to tell her daughter at some +length. For some time she alternated between Lovere and Brescia. + + +"I am now in a place the most beautifully romantic I ever saw in my +life: it is the Tunbridge of this part of the world, to which I was sent +by the doctor's order, my ague often returning, notwithstanding the +loads of bark I have taken" (she wrote to her daughter from Lovere, July +24, 1747). "To say truth, I have no reason to repent my journey, though +I was very unwilling to undertake it, it being forty miles, half by land +and half by water; the land so stony I was almost shook to pieces, and I +had the ill luck to be surprised with a storm on the lake, that if I had +not been near a little port (where I passed a night in a very poor inn), +the vessel must have been lost. A fair wind brought me hither next +morning early. I found a very good lodging, a great deal of good +company, and a village in many respects resembling Tunbridge Wells, not +only in the quality of the waters, which is the same, but in the manner +of the buildings, most of the houses being separate at little distances, +and all built on the sides of hills, which indeed are far different from +those of Tunbridge, being six times as high: they are really vast rocks +of different figures, covered with green moss, or short grass, +diversified by tufts of trees, little woods, and here and there +vineyards, but no other cultivation, except gardens like those on +Richmond-hill. The whole lake, which is twenty-five miles long, and +three broad, is all surrounded with these impassable mountains, the +sides of which, towards the bottom, are so thick set with villages (and +in most of them gentlemen's seats), that I do not believe there is +anywhere above a mile distance one from another, which adds very much to +the beauty of the prospect. + +"We have an opera here, which is performed three times in the week. I +was at it last night, and should have been surprised at the neatness of +the scenes, goodness of the voices and justness of the actors, if I had +not remembered I was in Italy. Several gentlemen jumped into the +orchestra, and joined in the concert, which I suppose is one of the +freedoms of the place, for I never saw it in any great town. I was yet +more amazed (while the actors were dressing for the farce that concluded +the entertainment) to see one of the principal among them, and as errant +a _petit maitre_ as if he had passed all his life at Paris, mount the +stage, and present us with a cantata of his own performing. He had the +pleasure of being almost deafened with applause. The ball began +afterwards, but I was not witness of it, having accustomed myself to +such early hours, that I was half asleep before the opera finished: it +begins at ten o'clock, so that it was one before I could get to bed, +though I had supped before I went, which is the custom. + +"I am much better pleased with the diversions on the water, where all +the town assembles every night, and never without music; but we have +none so rough as trumpets, kettle-drums, and French horns: they are all +violins, lutes, mandolins, and flutes doux. Here is hardly a man that +does not excel in some of these instruments, which he privately +addresses to the lady of his affections, and the public has the +advantage of it by his adding to the number of the musicians. + +"The fountain where we drink the waters rises between two hanging hills, +and is overshadowed with large trees, that give a freshness in the +hottest time of the day. The provisions are all excellent, the fish of +the lake being as large and well tasted as that of Geneva, and the +mountains abounding in game, particularly blackcocks, which I never saw +in any other part of Italy." + + +Lady Mary, though still corresponding with her husband, had clearly +given up all idea of returning to England or of Montagu joining her +abroad. She was quite content with her state, which, after all, so far +as we know, was her own choice. She took a house at Lovere, and +interested herself in improving it and developing the grounds. + + +"I have been these six weeks, and still am, at my dairy-house, which +joins to my garden" (she wrote to her daughter in July, 1748). "I +believe I have already told you it is a long mile from the castle, which +is situated in the midst of a very large village, once a considerable +town, part of the walls still remaining, and has not vacant ground +enough about it to make a garden, which is my greatest amusement, it +being now troublesome to walk, or even go in the chaise till the +evening. I have fitted up in this farm-house a room for myself--that is +to say, strewed the floor with rushes, covered the chimney with moss and +branches, and adorned the room with basins of earthen-ware (which is +made here to great perfection) filled with flowers, and put in some +straw chairs, and a couch bed, which is my whole furniture. This spot of +ground is so beautiful, I am afraid you will scarce credit the +description, which, however, I can assure you, shall be very literal, +without any embellishment from imagination. It is on a bank, forming a +kind of peninsula, raised from the river Oglio fifty feet, to which you +may descend by easy stairs cut in the turf, and either take the air on +the river, which is as large as the Thames at Richmond, or by walking +[in] an avenue two hundred yards on the side of it, you find a wood of a +hundred acres, which was all ready cut into walks and ridings when I +took it. I have only added fifteen bowers in different views, with seats +of turf. They were easily made, here being a large quantity of +underwood, and a great number of wild vines, which twist to the top of +the highest trees, and from which they make a very good sort of wine +they call _brusco_. I am now writing to you in one of these arbours, +which is so thickly shaded, the sun is not troublesome, even at noon. +Another is on the side of the river, where I have made a camp kitchen, +that I may take the fish, dress, and eat it immediately, and at the same +time see the barks, which ascend or descend every day to or from Mantua, +Guastalla, or Pont de Vie, all considerable towns. This little wood is +carpeted, in their succeeding seasons, with violets and strawberries, +inhabited by a nation of nightingales, and filled with game of all +kinds, excepting deer and wild boar, the first being unknown here, and +not being large enough for the other. + +"My garden was a plain vineyard when it came into my hands not two years +ago, and it is, with a small expense, turned into a garden that (apart +from the advantage of the climate) I like better than that of +Kensington. The Italian vineyards are not planted like those in France, +but in clumps, fastened to trees planted in equal ranks (commonly +fruit-trees), and continued in festoons from one to another, which I +have turned into covered galleries of shade, that I can walk in the heat +without being incommoded by it. I have made a dining-room of verdure, +capable of holding a table of twenty covers; the whole ground is three +hundred and seventeen feet in length, and two hundred in breadth. You +see it is far from large; but so prettily disposed (though I say it), +that I never saw a more agreeable rustic garden, abounding with all sort +of fruit, and produces a variety of wines. I would send you a piece [_sic_] +if I did not fear the customs would make you pay too dear for it." + + +Lady Mary was now in her sixtieth year, and asked for nothing better +than peace and comfort. Her manner of life she described as being as +regular as that of any monastery. She rose at six, and after an early +breakfast worked in the garden. Then she visited the dairy and inspected +her chickens--at one time she had two hundred of them--and her turkeys, +geese, ducks, and peacocks, her bees and her silkworms. At eleven she +read for an hour, and after an early dinner would take a siesta. Then +she played picquet or whist with some friendly priests. In the evening +she walked in the woods, or rode, or went on the lake. "I enjoy every +amusement that solitude can afford," she said. "I confess I sometimes +wish for a little conversation, but I reflect that the commerce of the +world gives more uneasiness than pleasure, and quiet is all the hope +that can reasonably be indulged at my age." It would not have been Lady +Mary if she had not kept a keen eye on the pence. She was delighted to +be able to say in relation to her house and grounds that "all things +have hitherto prospered under my care; my bees and silkworms are +doubled, and I am told that, without accidents, my capital will be so in +two years' time." She enjoyed the more her evening now and her fish at +dinner, because neither cost her anything. "The fishery of this part of +the river belongs to me; and my fisherman's little boat (where I have a +green lutestring awning) serves me for a barge. He and his sons are my +rowers without expense, he being very well paid by the profit of the +fish, which I give him on condition of having every day one dish for my +table." + +Age dealt gently with Lady Mary. At the age of sixty-two, she could say +that her hearing and her memory were good, and her sight better than she +had any right to expect. She had appetite enough to relish what she ate, +slept as soundly as she had ever done, and had never a headache. Still, +the fact was forced upon her that she was no longer so young as she had +been--which unpleasing reflection she accepted philosophically enough. + + +"I no more expect to arrive at the age of the Duchess of Marlborough[19] +than to that of Methusalem; neither do I desire it" (she wrote to Lady +Bute in the early spring of 1751). "I have long thought myself useless +to the world. I have seen one generation pass away; and it is gone; for +I think there are very few of those left that flourished in my youth. +You will perhaps call these melancholy reflections: they are not so. +There is a quiet after the abandoning of pursuits, something like the +rest that follows a laborious day. I tell you this for your comfort. It +was formerly a terrifying view to me, that I should one day be an old +woman. I now find that Nature has provided pleasures for every state. +Those are only unhappy who will not be contented with what she gives, +but strive to break through her laws, by affecting a perpetuity of youth +which appears to me as little desirable at present as the babies do to +you, that were the delight of your infancy." + +[Footnote 19: The Duchess of Marlborough was born on May 29, 1660, and +died on October 18, 1744.] + + +She reverted to the same subject when writing to her husband a month or +two later: + + +"I can no longer resist the desire I have to know what is become of my +son. I have long suppressed it, from a belief that if there was anything +of good to be told, you would not fail to give me the pleasure of +hearing it. I find it now grows so much upon me, that whatever I am to +know, I think it would be easier for me to support, than the anxiety I +suffer from my doubts. I beg to be informed, and prepare myself for the +worst, with all the philosophy I have. At my time of life I ought to be +detached from a world which I am soon to leave; to be totally so is a +vain endeavour, and perhaps there is vanity in the endeavour: while we +are human, we must submit to human infirmities, and suffer them in mind +as well as body. All that reflection and experience can do is to +mitigate, we can never extinguish, our passions. I call by that name +every sentiment that is not founded upon reason, and own I cannot +justify to mine the concern I feel for one who never gave me any view of +satisfaction. + +"This is too melancholy a subject to dwell upon. You compliment me on +the continuation of my spirits: 'tis true, I try to maintain them by +every art I can, being sensible of the terrible consequences of losing +them. Young people are too apt to let theirs sink on any disappointment." + + +There was, in 1751, some extraordinary incident in the life of Lady +Mary, the true history of which has never been made public. + + +"Pray tell me," Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on August 31 of +that year, "if you know anything of Lady Mary Wortley: we have an +obscure history here of her being in durance in the Brescian or the +Bergamasco: that a young fellow that she set out with keeping has taken +it into his head to keep her close prisoner, not permitting her to write +or receive any letters but which he sees: he seems determined, if her +husband should die, not to lose her, as the Count [Richcourt] did Lady +Oxford." + + +No reply to this letter reached Walpole, but his insatiable curiosity +would not accept this as a check, and he wrote again on October 14: "Did +you ever receive the question I asked you about Lady Mary Wortley's +being confined by a lover that she keeps somewhere in the Brescian? I +long to know the particulars." + +At the time of this incident Lady Mary was in her sixty-second year. It +is possible, but extremely improbable, therefore, that Lady Mary should +have taken a young man into keeping. Horace Walpole may always be +trusted to make the best of a rumour. Still, it may be stated, on the +authority of Wright, that among Lady Mary's papers there was found a +long account of the matter, written in Italian. In this she mentioned +that for some time she had been forcibly detained in a country house +belonging to an Italian Count and occupied by him and his mother. This +paper, it is further mentioned, seems to have been submitted to a lawyer +for his opinion or for production in a court of law. It may be, of +course, that Lady Mary did, to some extent, adopt the young man, who +thought that by keeping possession of her person he might be able to +extort money from her. + +Not long after this business, in fact, in February, 1752, Lady Mary was +reporting that she was well enough in health. She had been reading +Coventry's _Pompey the Little_, and tells her daughter that she saw +herself in the character of Mrs. Qualmsick: + + +"You will be surprised at this, no Englishwoman being so free from +vapours, having never in my life complained of low spirits or weak +nerves; but our resemblance is very strong in the fancied loss of +appetite, which I have been silly enough to be persuaded into by the +physician of this place. He visits me frequently, as being one of the +most considerable men in the parish, and is a grave, sober thinking +great fool, whose solemn appearance, and deliberate way of delivering +his sentiments gives them an air of good sense, though they are often +the most injudicious that ever were pronounced. By perpetual telling me +I eat so little, he is amazed I am able to subsist, he had brought me to +be of his opinion; and I began to be seriously uneasy at it. This useful +treatise has roused me into a recollection of what I eat yesterday, and +do almost every day the same. I wake generally about seven, and drink +half a pint of warm asses' milk, after which I sleep two hours; as soon +as I am risen, I constantly take three cups of milk coffee, and +hours after that a large cup of milk chocolate: two hours more brings my +dinner, where I never fail swallowing a good dish (I don't mean plate) +of gravy soup, with all the bread, roots, &c., belonging to it. I then +eat a wing and the whole body of a large fat capon, and a veal +sweetbread, concluding with a competent quantity of custard, and some +roasted chestnuts. At five in the afternoon I take another dose of +asses' milk; and for supper twelve chestnuts (which would weigh +twenty-four of those in London), one new laid egg, and a handsome +porringer of white bread and milk. With this diet, notwithstanding the +menaces of my wise doctor, I am now convinced I am in no danger of +starving; and am obliged to Little Pompey for this discovery." + + +Two years later, however, when she was in her sixty-fifth year, Lady +Mary found herself far from well. In April of that year, she told her +daughter: "My time is wholly dedicated to the care of a decaying body, +and endeavouring, as the old song says, to grow wiser and better, as my +strength wears away." Shortly after, she was taken seriously unwell at +Gottolengo. When she had recovered she, always interested in medical +science, sent Lady Bute a full account of her illness and of the +extraordinary physician from the neighbouring village of Lovere. + + +"Soon after I wrote my last letter to my dear child, I was seized with +so violent a fever, accompanied with so many bad symptoms, my life was +despaired of by the physician of Gottolengo, and I prepared myself for +death with as much resignation as that circumstance admits: some of my +neighbours without my knowledge, sent express for the doctor of this +place, whom I have mentioned to you formerly as having uncommon secrets. +I was surprised to see him at my bedside. He declared me in great +danger, but did not doubt my recovery, if I was wholly under his care; +and his first prescription was transporting me hither; the other +physician asserted positively I should die on the road. It has always +been my opinion that it is a matter of the utmost indifference where we +expire, and I consented to be removed. My bed was placed on a bancard; +my servants followed in chaises; and in this equipage I set out. I bore +the first day's journey of fifteen miles without any visible alteration. +The doctor said, as I was not worse, I was certainly better; and the +next day proceeded twenty miles to Iséo, which is at the head of this +lake. I lay each night at noblemen's houses, which were empty. My cook, +with my physician, aways preceded two or three hours, and I found my +chamber, with all necessaries, ready prepared with the exactest +attention. I was put into a bark in my litter bed, and in three hours +arrived here. My spirits were not at all wasted (I think rather raised) +by the fatigue of my journey. I drank the water next morning, and, with +a few doses of my physician's prescription, in three days found myself +in perfect health, which appeared almost a miracle to all that saw me. +You may imagine I am willing to submit to the orders of one that I must +acknowledge the instrument of saving my life, though they are not +entirely conformable to my will and pleasure. He has sentenced me to a +long continuance here, which, he says, is absolutely necessary to the +confirmation of my health, and would persuade me that my illness has +been wholly owing to my omission of drinking the waters these two years +past. I dare not contradict him, and must own he deserves (from the +various surprising cures I have seen) the name given to him in this +country of the miraculous man. Both his character and practice are so +singular, I cannot forbear giving you some account of them. He will not +permit his patients to have either surgeon or apothecary: he performs +all the operations of the first with great dexterity; and whatever +compounds he gives, he makes in his own house: those are very few; the +juice of herbs, and these waters, being commonly his sole prescriptions. +He has very little learning, and professes drawing all his knowledge +from experience, which he possesses, perhaps, in a greater degree than +any other mortal, being the seventh doctor of his family in a direct +line. His forefathers have all of them left journals and registers +solely for the use of their posterity, none of them having published +anything; and he has recourse to these manuscripts on every difficult +case, the veracity of which, at least, is unquestionable. His vivacity +is prodigious, and he is indefatigable in his industry: but what most +distinguishes him is a disinterestedness I never saw in any other: he is +as regular in his attendance on the poorest peasant, from whom he never +can receive one farthing, as on the richest of the nobility; and, +whenever he is wanted, will climb three or four miles in the mountains, +in the hottest sun, or heaviest rain, where a horse cannot go, to arrive +at a cottage, where, if their condition requires it, he does not only +give them advice and medicines gratis, but bread, wine, and whatever is +needful. There never passes a week without one or more of these +expeditions. His last visit is generally to me. I often see him as dirty +and tired as a foot post, having eat nothing all day but a roll or two +that he carries in his pocket, yet blest with such a perpetual flow of +spirits, he is always gay to a degree above cheerfulness. There is a +peculiarity in his character that I hope will incline you to forgive my +drawing it." + + +It was probably by the advice of her physician that Lady Mary decided to +make Lovere her headquarters. He prescribed taking the waters there and +a long rest. Lovere was a dull place, visitors coming only during the +water-drinking season. The plague that overran Europe in 1626 had +ravaged it: the poor were almost destroyed, and the rich deserted it. A +few of the ancient palaces had been turned into lodging-houses; the rest +were in ruinous condition. Lady Mary bought one of the palaces. + + +"I see you lift up your eyes in wonder at my indiscretion. I beg you to +hear my reasons before you condemn me. In my infirm state of health the +unavoidable noise of a public lodging is very disagreeable; and here is +no private one: secondly, and chiefly, the whole purchase is but one +hundred pounds, with a very pretty garden in terraces down to the water, +and a court behind the house. It is founded on a rock, and the walls so +thick, they will probably remain as long as the earth. It is true, the +apartments are in most tattered circumstances, without doors or windows. +The beauty of the great saloon gained my affection: it is forty-two feet +in length by twenty-five, proportionably high, opening into a balcony of +the same length, with marble balusters: the ceiling and flooring are in +good repair, but I have been forced to the expense of covering the wall +with new stucco; and the carpenter is at this minute taking measure of +the windows, in order to make frames for sashes. The great stairs are in +such a declining way, it would be a very hazardous exploit to mount +them: I never intend to attempt it. The state bedchamber shall also +remain for the sole use of the spiders that have taken possession of it, +along with the grand cabinet, and some other pieces of magnificence, +quite useless to me, and which would cost a great deal to make +habitable. I have fitted up six rooms, with lodgings for five servants, +which are all I ever will have in this place; and I am persuaded that I +could make a profit if I would part with my purchase, having been very +much befriended in the sale, which was by auction, the owner having died +without children, and I believe he had never seen this mansion in his +life, it having stood empty from the death of his grandfather. The +governor bid for me, and nobody would bid against him. Thus I am become +a citizen of Lovere, to the great joy of the inhabitants, not (as they +would pretend) from their respect for my person, but I perceive they +fancy I shall attract all the travelling English; and, to say the truth, +the singularity of the place is well worth their curiosity; but, as I +have no correspondents, I may be buried here fifty years, and nobody +know anything of the matter." + + +Lady Mary found great pleasure in her correspondence. It was one of the +occupations with which she solaced her loneliness, and she was never more +happy than when she had an exciting story to set down, for she could set +it down with the ease of a Walpole and an individual touch that was all +her own: + + +"I was quietly reading in my closet, when I was interrupted by the +chambermaid of the Signora Laura Bono, who flung herself at my feet, +and, in an agony of sobs and tears, begged me, for the love of the holy +Madonna, to hasten to her master's house, where the two brothers would +certainly murder one another, if my presence did not stop their fury. I +was very much surprised, having always heard them spoken of as a pattern +of fraternal union. However, I made all possible speed thither, without +staying for hoods or attendance. I was soon there (the house touching my +garden wall), and was directed to the bedchamber by the noise of oaths +and execrations; but, on opening the door, was astonished to a degree +you may better guess than I describe, by seeing the Signora Laura +prostrate on the ground, melting in tears, and her husband standing with +a drawn stiletto in his hand, swearing she should never see tomorrow's +sun. I was soon let into the secret. The good man, having business of +consequence at Brescia, went thither early in the morning; but, as he +expected his chief tenant to pay his rent that day, he left orders with +his wife, that if the farmer, who lived two miles off, came himself, or +sent any of his sons, she should take care to make him very welcome. She +obeyed him with great punctuality, the money coming in the hand of a +handsome lad of eighteen: she did not only admit him to her own table, +and produce the best wine in the cellar, but resolved to give him _chêre +entière_. While she was exercising this generous hospitality, the +husband met midway the gentleman he intended to visit, who was posting +to another side of the country; they agreed on another appointment, and +he returned to his own house, where, giving his horse to be led round to +the stable by the servant that accompanied him, he opened his door with +the _passe-partout_ key, and proceeded to his chamber, without meeting +anybody, where he found his beloved spouse asleep on the bed with her +gallant. The opening of the door waked them: the young fellow +immediately leaped out of the window, which looked into the garden, and +was open, it being summer, and escaped over the fields, leaving his +breeches on a chair by the bedside--very striking circumstance. In +short, the case was such, I do not think the queen of fairies herself +could have found an excuse, though Chaucer tells us she has made a +solemn promise to leave none of her sex unfurnished with one, to all +eternity. As to the poor criminal, she had nothing to say for herself +but what I dare swear you will hear from your youngest daughter, if ever +you catch her stealing of sweetmeats--"Pray, pray, she would do so no +more, and indeed it was the first time." This last article found no +credit with me: I cannot be persuaded that any woman who had lived +virtuous till forty (for such is her age) could suddenly be endowed with +such consummate impudence, to solicit a youth at first sight, there +being no probability, his age and station considered, that he would have +made any attempt of that kind. I must confess I was wicked enough to +think the unblemished reputation she had hitherto maintained, and did +not fail to put us in mind of, was owing to a series of such frolics; +and to say truth, they are the only amours that can reasonably hope to +remain undiscovered. Ladies that can resolve to make love thus +_extempore_, may pass unobserved, especially if they can content +themselves with low life, where fear may oblige their favourites to +secrecy: there wants only a very lewd constitution, a very bad heart, +and a moderate understanding, to make this conduct easy: and I do not +doubt it has been practised by many prudes beside her I am now speaking +of. You may be sure I did not communicate these reflections. The first +word I spoke was to desire Signer Carlo to sheathe his poniard, not +being pleased with its glittering! He did so very readily, begging my +pardon for not having done it on my first appearance, saying he did not +know what he did, and indeed he had the countenance and gesture of a man +distracted. I did not endeavour a defence; that seemed to me impossible; +but represented to him, as well as I could, the crime of a murder, which, +if he could justify before men, was still a crying sin before God; the +disgrace he would bring on himself and posterity, and irreparable injury +he would do his eldest daughter, a pretty girl of fifteen, that I knew +he was extremely fond of. I added, that if he thought it proper to part +from his lady, he might easily find a pretext for it some months hence; +and that it was as much his interest as hers to conceal this affair from +the knowledge of the world. I could not presently make him taste these +reasons, and was forced to stay there near five hours (almost from five +to ten at night) before I durst leave them together, which I would not +do till he had sworn in the most serious manner he would make no future +attempt on her life. I was content with his oath, knowing him to be very +devout, and found I was not mistaken. How the matter was made up between +them afterwards I know not; but it is now two years since it happened, +and all appearances remaining as if it had never been. The secret is in +very few hands; his brother, being at that time at Brescia, I believe +knows nothing of it to this day. The chambermaid and myself have preserved +the strictest silence, and the lady retains the satisfaction of insulting +all her acquaintance on the foundation of a spotless character, that only +she can boast in the parish, where she is most heartily hated, from these +airs of impertinent virtue, and another very essential reason, being the +best dressed woman among them, though one of the plainest in her figure. + +"The discretion of the chambermaid in fetching me, which possibly saved +her mistress's life, and her taciturnity since, I fancy appear very +remarkable to you, and is what would certainly never happen in England. +The first part of her behaviour deserves great praise; coming of her own +accord, and inventing so decent an excuse for her admittance: but her +silence may be attributed to her knowing very well that any servant that +presumes to talk of his master will most certainly be incapable of +talking at all in a short time, their lives being entirely in the power +of their superiors: I do not mean by law but by custom, which has full +as much force. If one of them was killed, it would either never be +inquired into at all, or very slightly passed over; yet it seldom +happens, and I know no instance of it, which I think is owing to the +great submission of domestics, who are sensible of their dependence, and +the national temper not being hasty, and never inflamed by wine, +drunkenness being a vice abandoned to the vulgar, and spoke of with +greater detestation than murder, which is mentioned with as little +concern as a drinking-bout in England, and is almost as frequent. It was +extreme shocking to me at my first coming, and still gives me a sort of +horror, though custom has in some degree familiarised it to my +imagination. Robbery would be pursued with great vivacity, and punished +with the utmost rigour, therefore is very rare, though stealing is in +daily practice; but as all the peasants are suffered the use of +fire-arms, the slightest provocation is sufficient to shoot, and they +see one of their own species lie dead before them with as little remorse +as a hare or a partridge, and, when revenge spurs them on, with much +more pleasure. A dissertation on this subject would engage me in a +discourse not proper for the post." + + +Lady Mary, being a prolific letter-writer, came under the suspicions of +the Italian authorities, who carefully examined the correspondence--a +fact that was only by a chance conversation revealed to her. "I think I +now know why our correspondence is so miserably interrupted, and so many +of my letters lost to and from England," she wrote to her husband in +October, 1753; "but I am no happier in the discovery than a man who has +found out his complaints proceed from a stone in the kidneys; I know the +cause, but am entirely ignorant of the remedy, and must suffer my +uneasiness with what patience I can." + +"An old priest made me a visit as I was folding my last packet to my +daughter. Observing it to be large, he told me I had done a great deal of +business that morning. I made answer, I had done no business at all; I +had only wrote to my daughter on family affairs, or such trifles as make +up women's conversation. He said gravely, people like your Excellenza +do not use to write long letters upon trifles. I assured him, that if he +understood English, I would let him read my letter. He replied, with a +mysterious smile, if I did understand English, I should not understand +what you have written, except you would give me the key, which I durst +not presume to ask. What key? (said I, staring) there is not one cypher +besides the date. He answered, cyphers were only used by novices in +politics, and it was very easy to write intelligibly, under feigned +names of persons and places, to a correspondent, in such a manner as +should be almost impossible to be understood by anybody else. + +"Thus I suppose my innocent epistles are severely scrutinized; and when +I talk of my grandchildren, they are fancied to represent all the +potentates of Europe. This is very provoking. I confess there are good +reasons for extraordinary caution at this juncture; but 'tis very hard I +cannot pass for being as insignificant as I really am." + + +Lady Mary clearly was happy in Italy, and did not in the least hanker +after the delights of London society, which in her earlier days she had +so much enjoyed. + + +"By the account you give me of London, I think it very much reformed; at +least you have one sin the less, and it was a very reigning one in my +time, I mean scandal: it must be literally reduced to a whisper, since +the custom of living all together. I hope it has also banished the +fashion of talking all at once, which was very prevailing when I was in +town, and may perhaps contribute to brotherly love and unity, which was +so much declined in my memory, that it was hard to invite six people +that would not, by cold looks, or piquing reflections affront one +another. I suppose parties are at an end, though I fear it is the +consequence of the old almanac prophecy, "Poverty brings peace"; and I +fancy you really follow the French mode, and the lady keeps an assembly, +that the assembly may keep the lady, and card money pay for clothes and +equipage as well as cards and candles. I find I should be as solitary in +London as I am here in the country, it being impossible for me to submit +to live in a _drum_, which I think so far from a cure of uneasiness, +that it is, in my opinion, adding one more to the heap. There are so +many attached to humanity, 'tis impossible to fly from them all; but +experience has confirmed to me what I always thought, that the pursuit +of pleasure will be ever attended with pain, and the study of ease be +most certainly accompanied with pleasures. I have had this morning as +much delight in a walk in the sun as ever I felt formerly in the crowded +Mall, even when I imagined I had my share of the admiration of the place, +which was generally soured before I slept by the informations of my +female friends, who seldom failed to tell me, it was observed, I had +showed an inch above my shoe-heels, or some other criticism of equal +weight, which was construed affectation, and utterly destroyed all the +satisfaction my vanity had given me. I have now no other but in my little +houswifery, which is easily gratified in this country, where, by the help +of my receipt-book, I make a very shining figure among my neighbours, by +the introduction of custards, cheesecakes, and minced pies, which were +entirely unknown to these parts, and are received with universal +applause; and I have reason to believe will preserve my memory even to +future ages, particularly by the art of butter-making, in which I have +so improved them, that they now make as good as in any part of England." + + +Lady Mary made the acquaintance in 1758 of Sir James Steuart,[20] and +his wife, Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Wemyss and +sister of the Jacobite Lord Elcho. Steuart, when making the grand +tour, had met the exiled Stuarts at Rome, and had become attached to +their cause. When the Young Pretender landed in Scotland in 1745, +Steuart threw in his lot with him. On his master's business he went to +Paris, and was abroad when Culloden was fought. When an Act of Oblivion +was passed in 1748 he was exempted by name, and, therefore, his return +was at the time impossible. He and his wife wandered about the +Continent, and it was at Venice that they encountered Lady Mary, who was +delighted with them. "I was charmed to find a man of uncommon sense and +learning, and a lady that without beauty is more admirable than the +fairest of her sex," she wrote enthusiastically to her daughter. "I +offered them all the little good offices in my power, and invited them +to supper; upon which our wise Minister[21] has discovered that I am in +the interest of popery and slavery. As he has often said the same thing +of Mr. Pitt, it would give me no mortification, if I did not apprehend +that his fertile imagination may support this wise idea by such +circumstances as may influence those that do not know me. It is very +remarkable that after having suffered all the rage of that party at +Avignon for my attachment to the present reigning family, I should be +accused here of favouring rebellion, when I hoped all our odious +diversions were forgotten." + +[Footnote 20: Sir James Steuart (1712-1780), in 1773, on inheriting an +estate from a relative, took the additional surname of Denham. He was +the author of works on currency and political economy.] + +[Footnote 21: The British Resident at Venice at this time was John +Murray] + + +Lady Mary was anxious that nothing she did should reflect upon her +daughter or in any way affect Lord Bute. "I am afraid you may think +some imprudent behaviour of mine has occasioned all this ridiculous +persecution [by the Resident]" she wrote to them in May, 1758. "I can +assure you I have always treated him and his family with the utmost +civility, and am now retired to Padua, to avoid the comments that will +certainly be made on his extraordinary conduct towards me. I only desire +privacy and quiet, and am very well contented to be without visits, +which oftener disturb than amuse me. My single concern is the design he +has formed of securing (as he calls it) my effects immediately on my +decease; if they ever fall into his hands, I am persuaded they will +never arrive entire into yours, which is a very uneasy thought to me." + +Although not primarily interested in politics, Lady Mary had met so many +politicians that she was naturally eager to hear what was going on, and +the fact that her son-in-law, Lord Bute, was active in that department +of life made her follow ministerial events in England so closely as +possible. "I stay here, though I am on many accounts better pleased with +Padua," she wrote to her daughter from Venice, January 20, 1758. "Our +great minister, the Resident, treats me as one of the Opposition. I am +inclined to laugh rather than be displeased at his political airs; yet, +as I am among strangers they are disagreeable; and, could I have +foreseen them, would have settled in some other part of the world: but I +have taken leases of my houses, been at much pains and expense in +furnishing them, and am no longer of an age to make long journeys." + +Pitt's Coalition Ministry, formed in June, 1757, in which Pitt and Lord +Holdernesse were Secretaries of State, the Duke of Newcastle First Lord +of the Treasury, Legge Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Granville, +Lord Temple, Sir Robert Henley, the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of +Bedford, and Henry Fox held office, moved Lady Mary to merriment. + + +"Your account of the changes in ministerial affairs do not surprise me; +but nothing could be more astonishing than their all coming together" +(she wrote to Lady Bute). "It puts me in mind of a friend of mine who +had a large family of favourite animals; and not knowing how to convey +them to his country-house in separate equipages, he ordered a Dutch +mastiff, a cat and her kittens, a monkey, and a parrot, all to be packed +up together in one large hamper, and sent by a waggon. One may easily +guess how this set of company made their journey; and I have never been +able to think of the present compound ministry without the idea of +barking, scratching, and screaming. 'Tis too ridiculous a one, I own, +for the gravity of their characters, and still more for the situation the +kingdom is in; for as much as one may encourage the love of laughter, +'tis impossible to be indifferent to the welfare of one's native +country." + + +The Resident was, so far as Lady Mary was concerned, an ill-conditioned +fellow. She asked him once or twice for the English papers, but the +reply made, with intention, on each occasion was that they were engaged. +"Since the Ministry of Mr. Pitt," she remarked, "he is so desirous to +signalise his zeal for the contrary faction, he is perpetually saying +ridiculous things, to manifest his attachment; and as he looks upon me +(nobody knows why) to be the friend of a man I never saw, he has not +visited me once this winter. The misfortune is not great." Lady Mary was +amused at being mistaken for a politician. "I have often been so, though +I ever thought politics so far removed from my sphere. I cannot accuse +myself of dabbling in them, even when I heard them talked over in all +companies; but, as the old song says, + + 'Tho' through the wide world we should range, + 'Tis in vain from our fortune to fly.'" + +Lady Mary always cherished affection and respect for her son-in-law, +Lord Bute. He had been since 1747 a favourite with Frederick, Prince of +Wales, who in 1750 appointed him a Lord of his Bedchamber. When +Frederick died in the following year Bute had established his popularity +with the Princess, who, in 1756, secured his appointment as Groom of the +Stole. "I have something to mention that I believe will be agreeable to +you," Edward Wortley Montagu wrote to his wife at this time; "I mean +some particulars relating to Lord Bute. He stood higher in the Prince of +Wales's favour than any man. His attendance was frequent at Leicester +House, where this young Prince has resided, and since his father's death +has continued without intermission, till new officers were to be placed +under him. It is said that another person was to be Groom of the Stole, +but that the Prince's earnest request was complied with in my Lord's +favour. It is supposed that the governors, preceptors, etc., who were +about him before will now be set aside, and that my Lord is now the +principal adviser." Neither Montagu nor his wife in their published +correspondence make any allusion to the scandal current about the +intimate relations of the Princess and Lord Bute, though it was so +widely spread it is almost impossible it should not have come to the +ears of one or other of them. + +On the accession of George III Bute was sworn a member of the Privy +Council, and in November, 1760, appointed Groom of the Stole and First +Gentleman of the Bedchamber. His influence with the young King was +paramount. "I pity Lady Bute," Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on +January 27, 1761, "her mother will sell to whoever does not know her, +all kinds of promises and reversions, bestow lies gratis and wholesale, +and make so much mischief, that they will be forced to discard her in +three months, which will go to Lady Bute's heart, who is one of the best +and most sensible women in the world; and who, educated by such a +mother, has never made a false step." As a matter of fact, the only +request known to be made by Lady Mary was to ask Lord Bute, through her +daughter, to take care that Sir James Steuart's name was not excluded in +the Act of Indemnity. It is, however, true that there is the following +statement in the Diaries of the Right Hon. William Windham, under the +date of November 25, 1772, which is given here for what it is worth. +"Mr. Montagu told me this evening about Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, that +at her death, 'A note of his was found among her papers for one thousand +guineas,' which had been given her by a gentleman of Ireland as the +premium for some honours to be received through her interest. The +honours stipulated for were not obtained before her death, and the +gentleman upon representation of the story to the family recovered the +note which she had deposited by agreement in a particular drawer shewn +to him. It may reasonably be supposed that this was not the first +instance of her accepting money on those conditions, and that much of +Lord Bute's interest has been employed in her service." + +As Lady Mary advanced in the sixties of her life, she looked upon the +world with the eyes of a vast experience, and found it more sad than she +had thought it in youth or middle age. _Vanitas vanitatum_ was the text +of many a homily that she delivered, and a certain sadness replaced the +sense of malice that had once possessed her. Once more than aggressive, +now she had had bestowed upon her in some degree that gift of +understanding that engenders sympathy. As she grew older she grew more +wise, and was anxious to impart her wisdom, especially to her daughter, +for her benefit or for that of her daughter's children. + + +"How important is the charge of youth! and how useless all the +advantages of nature and fortune without a well-turned mind! I have +lately heard of a very shining instance of this truth, from two +gentlemen (very deserving ones they seem to be) who have had the +curiosity to travel into Moscovy, and now return to England with Mr. +Archer. I inquired after my old acquaintance Sir Charles [Hanbury] +Williams, who I hear is much broken, both in spirits and constitution. +How happy that man might have been, if there had been added to his +natural and acquired endowments a dash of morality! If he had known how +to distinguish between false and true felicity; and, instead of seeking +to increase an estate already too large, and hunting after pleasures +that have made him rotten and ridiculous, he had bounded his desires of +wealth, and follow the dictates of his conscience. His servile ambition +has gained him two yards of red ribbon, and an exile into a miserable +country, where there is no society and so little taste, that I believe +he suffers under a dearth of flatterers. This is said for the use of +your growing sons, whom I hope no golden temptations will induce to +marry women they cannot love, or comply with measures they do not +approve. All the happiness this world can afford is more within reach +than is generally supposed. Whoever seeks pleasure will undoubtedly find +pain; whoever will pursue ease will as certainly find pleasures. The +world's esteem is the highest gratification of human vanity; and that is +more easily obtained in a moderate fortune than an overgrown one, which +is seldom possessed, never gained, without envy. I say esteem; for, as +to applause, it is a youthful pursuit, never to be forgiven after twenty, +and naturally succeeds the childish desire of catching the setting sun, +which I can remember running very hard to do: a fine thing truly if it +could be caught; but experience soon shows it to be impossible. A wise +and honest man lives to his own heart, without that silly splendour that +makes him a prey to knaves, and which commonly ends in his becoming one +of the fraternity. I am very glad to hear Lord Bute's decent economy sets +him above anything of that kind. I wish it may become national. A +collective body of men differs very little from a single man; frugality +is the foundation of generosity. I have often been complimented on the +English heroism, who have thrown away so many millions, without any +prospect of advantage to themselves, purely to succour a distressed +princess. I never could hear these praises without some impatience; they +sounded to me like panegyrics made by the dependents on the Duke of +Newcastle and poor Lord Oxford, bubbled when they were commended, and +laughed at when undone. Some late events will, I hope, open our eyes: we +shall see we are an island, and endeavour to extend our commerce rather +than the Quixote reputation of redressing wrongs and placing diadems on +heads that should be equally indifferent to us. When time has ripened +mankind into common sense, the name of conqueror will be an odious title. +I could easily prove that, had the Spaniards established a trade with the +Americans, they would have enriched their country more than by the +addition of twenty-two kingdoms, and all the mines they now work--I do +not say possess; since, though they are the proprietors, others enjoy the +profit." + + +Mary's letters at this period of her life are so entertaining that a few +may well be inserted here for the sheer pleasure of reading them. + + +TO THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Padua, September 30, 1757. + +"Lord Bute has been so obliging as to let me know your safe delivery, +and the birth of another daughter; may she be as meritorious in your +eyes as you are in mine! I can wish nothing better to you both, though I +have some reproaches to make you. Daughter! daughter! don't call names; +you are always abusing my pleasures, which is what no mortal will bear. +Trash, lumber, sad stuff, are the titles you give to my favourite +amusement. If I called a white staff a stick of wood, a gold key gilded +brass, and the ensigns of illustrious orders coloured strings, this may +be philosophically true, but would be very ill received. We have all our +playthings: happy are they that can be contented with those they can +obtain: those hours are spent in the wisest manner, that can easiest +shade the ills of life, and are lest productive of ill consequences. I +think my time better employed in reading the adventures of imaginary +people, than the Duchess of Marlborough's, who passed the latter years +of her life in paddling with her will, and contriving schemes of +plaguing some, and extracting praise from others, to no purpose; +eternally disappointed, and eternally fretting. The active scenes are +over at my age. I indulge, with all the art I can, my taste for reading. +If I would confine it to valuable books, they are almost as rare as +valuable men. I must be content with what I can find. As I approach a +second childhood, I endeavour to enter into the pleasures of it. Your +youngest son is, perhaps, at this very moment riding on a poker with +great delight, not at all regretting that it is not a gold one, and much +less wishing it an Arabian horse, which he would not know how to manage. +I am reading an idle tale, not expecting wit or truth in it, and am very +glad it is not metaphysics to puzzle my judgment, or history to mislead +my opinion. He fortifies his health by exercise; I calm my cares by +oblivion. The methods may appear low to busy people; but, if he improves +his strength, and I forget my infirmities, we attain very desirable ends." + + +To THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Venice, November 8, 1758. + +"... Some few months before Lord W. Hamilton married, there appeared a +foolish song, said to be wrote by a poetical great lady, who I really +think was the character of Lady Arabella, in _The Female Quixote_ +(without the beauty): you may imagine such a conduct, at court, made her +superlatively ridiculous. Lady Delawarr, a woman of great merit, with +whom I lived in much intimacy, showed this fine performance to me: we +were very merry in supposing what answer Lord William would make to +these passionate addresses; she begged me to say something for a poor +man, who had nothing to say for himself. I wrote, _extempore_, on the +back of the song, some stanzas that went perfectly well to the tune. She +promised they should never appear as mine, and faithfully kept her word. +By what accident they have fallen into the hands of that thing Dodsley, +I know not, but he has printed them as addressed, by me, to a very +contemptible puppy, and my own words as his answer. I do not believe +either Job or Socrates ever had such a provocation. You will tell me, it +cannot hurt me with any acquaintance I ever had: it is true; but it is +an excellent piece of scandal for the same sort of people that +propagate, with success, that your nurse left her estate, husband, and +family, to go with me to England; and, then I turned her to starve, +after defrauding her of God knows what. I thank God witches are out of +fashion, or I should expect to have it deposed, by several credible +witnesses, that I had been seen flying through the air on a broomstick, +&c. I am really sick with vexation." + + +TO SIR JAMES STEUART + +"Venice, November 14, 1758. + +"This letter will be solely to you, and I desire you will not +communicate it to Lady Fanny: she is the best woman in the world, and I +would by no means make her uneasy; but there will be such strange things +in it that the Talmud or the Revelations are not half so mysterious: +what these prodigies portend, God knows; but I never should have +suspected half the wonders I see before my eyes, and am convinced of the +necessity of the repeal of the witch act (as it is commonly called), I +mean, to speak correctly, the tacit permission given to witches, so +scandalous to all good Christians: though I tremble to think of it for +my own interests. It is certain the British islands have always been +strangely addicted to this diabolical intercourse, of which I dare swear +you know many instances; but since this public encouragement given to +it, I am afraid there will not be an old woman in the nation entirely +free from suspicion. The devil rages more powerfully than ever: you will +believe me, when I assure you the great and learned English minister is +turned methodist, several duels have been fought in the Place of St. +Marc for the charms of his excellent lady, and I have been seen flying +in the air in the figure of Julian Cox, which history is related with so +much candour and truth by the pious pen of Joseph Glanville, chaplain to +K. Charles. I know you young rakes make a jest of all those things, but +I think no good lady can doubt of a relation so well attested. She was +about seventy years old (very near my age), and the whole sworn to +before Judge Archer, 1663: very well worth reading, but rather too long +for a letter. You know (wretch that I am) 'tis one of my wicked maxims +to make the best of a bad bargain; and I have said publicly that every +period of life has its privileges, and that even the most despicable +creatures alive may find some pleasures. Now observe this comment; who +are the most despicable creatures? Certainly, old women. What pleasure +can an old woman take? Only witchcraft. I think this argument as clear +as any of the devout Bishop of Cloyne's metaphysics: this being decided +in a full congregation of saints, only such atheists as you and Lady +Fanny can deny it. I own all the facts, as many witches have done before +me, and go every night in a public manner astride upon a black cat to a +meeting where you are suspected to appear: this last article is not +sworn to, it being doubtful in what manner our clandestine midnight +correspondence is carried on. Some think it treasonable, others lewd +(don't tell Lady Fanny); but all agree there was something very odd and +unaccountable in such sudden likings. I confess, as I said before, it is +witchcraft. You won't wonder I do not sign (notwithstanding all my +impudence) such dangerous truths: who knows the consequence? The devil +is said to desert his votaries." + + +To SIR JAMES STEUART + +"Venice, January 13, 1759. + +"I have indulged myself some time with day-dreams of the happiness I +hope to enjoy this summer in the conversation of Lady Fanny and Sir +James S.; but I hear such frightful stories of precipices and hovels +during the whole journey, I begin to fear there is no such pleasure +allotted me in the book of fate: the Alps were once molehills in my +sight when they interposed between me and the slightest inclination; now +age begins to freeze, and brings with it the usual train of melancholy +apprehensions. Poor human-kind! We always march blindly on; the fire of +youth represents to us all our wishes possible; and, that over, we fall +into despondency that prevents even easy enterprises: a store in winter, +a garden in summer, bounds all our desires, or at least our undertakings. +If Mr. Steuart would disclose all his imaginations, I dare swear he has +some thoughts of emulating Alexander or Demosthenes, perhaps both: +nothing seems difficult at his time of life, everything at name. I am +very unwilling, but am afraid I must submit to the confinement of my +boat and my easy-chair, and go no farther than they can carry me. Why +are our views so extensive and our powers so miserably limited? This +is among the mysteries which (as you justly say) will remain ever +unfolded to our shallow capacities. I am much inclined to think we are +no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes +prisoner the knave of hearts; and all our efforts (when we rebel against +destiny) as weak as a card that sticks to a glove when the gamester is +determined to throw it on the table. Let us then (which is the only true +philosophy) be contented with our chance, and make the best of that bad +bargain of being born in this vile planet; where we may find, however +(God be thanked), much to laugh at, though little to approve. + +"I confess I delight extremely in looking on men in that light. How many +thousands trample under foot honour, ease, and pleasure, in pursuit of +ribands of certain colours, dabs of embroidery on their clothes, and +gilt wood carved behind their coaches in a particular figure? Others +breaking their hearts till they are distinguished by the shape and +colour of their hats; and, in general, all people earnestly seeking what +they do not want, while they neglect the real blessings in their +possession--I mean the innocent gratification of their senses, which is +all we can properly call our own. For my part, I will endeavour to +comfort myself for the cruel disappointment I find in renouncing +Tubingen, by eating some fresh oysters on the table. I hope you are +sitting down with dear Lady F. to some admirable red partridges, which I +think are the growth of that country. Adieu! Live happy, and be not +unmindful of your sincere distant friend, who will remember you in the +tenderest manner while there is any such faculty as memory in the +machine called." + + +To THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Venice, May 22, 1759. + +"... Building is the general weakness of old people; I have had a twitch +of it myself, though certainly it is the highest absurdity, and as sure +a proof of dotage as pink-coloured ribands, or even matrimony. Nay, +perhaps, there is more to be said in defence of the last; I mean in a +childless old man; he may prefer a boy born in his own house, though he +knows it is not his own, to disrespectful or worthless nephews or +nieces. But there is no excuse for beginning an edifice he can never +inhabit, or probably see finished. The Duchess of Marlborough used to +ridicule the vanity of it, by saying one might always live upon other +people's follies: yet you see she built the most ridiculous house I ever +saw, since it really is not habitable, from the excessive damps; so true +it is, the things that we would do, those do we not, and the things we +would not do, those do we daily. I feel in myself a proof of this +assertion, being much against my will at Venice, though I own it is the +only great town where I can properly reside, yet here I find so many +vexations, that, in spite of all my philosophy and (what is more +powerful) my phlegm, I am oftener out of humour than among my plants and +poultry in the country. I cannot help being concerned at the success of +iniquitous schemes, and grieve for oppressed merit. You, who see these +things every day, think me as unreasonable, in making them matter of +complaint, as if I seriously lamented the change of seasons. You should +consider I have lived almost a hermit ten years, and the world is as new +to me as to a country girl transported from Wales to Coventry. I know I +ought to think my lot very good, that can boast of some sincere friends +among strangers." + + +Old age will, in the long run, have its way. Lady Mary, as pleasantly +loquacious as ever, found the manual labour of writing not always to be +endured, and she tried the experiment of dictating her correspondence. + + +"Thus far" (she wrote to Sir James Steuart from Padua, July 19, 1759), +"I have dictated for the first time of my life, and perhaps it will be +the last, for my amanuensis is not to be hired, and I despair of ever +meeting with another. He is the first that could write as fast as I +talk, and yet you see there are so many mistakes, it wants a comment +longer than my letter to explain my insignificant meaning, and I have +fatigued my poor eyes more with correcting it, than I should have done +in scribbling two sheets of paper. You will think, perhaps, from this +idle attempt, that I have some fluxion on my sight; no such matter; I +have suffered myself to be persuaded by such sort of arguments as those +by which people are induced to strict abstinence, or to take physic. +Fear, paltry fear, founded on vapours rising from the heat, which is now +excessive, and has so far debilitated my miserable nerves that I submit +to a present displeasure, by way of precaution against a future evil, +that possibly may never happen. I have this to say in my excuse, that +the evil is of so horrid a nature, I own I feel no philosophy that could +support me under it, and no mountain girl ever trembled more at one of +Whitfield's pathetic lectures than I do at the word blindness, though I +know all the fine things that may be said for consolation in such a case: +but I know, also, they would not operate on my constitution. 'Why, then' +(say my wise monitors), 'will you persist in reading or writing seven +hours in a day?' 'I am happy while I read and write.' 'Indeed, one would +suffer a great deal to be happy,' say the men, sneering; and the ladies +wink at each other, and hold up their fans. A fine lady of three score +had the goodness to add, 'At least, madam, you should use spectacles; I +have used them myself these twenty years; I was advised to it by a famous +oculist when I was fifteen. I am really of opinion that they have +preserved my sight, notwithstanding the passion I always had both for +reading and drawing.' This good woman, you must know, is half blind, and +never read a larger volume than a newspaper. I will not trouble you with +the whole conversation, though it would make an excellent scene in a +farce; but after they had in the best bred way in the world convinced me +that they thought I lied when I talked of reading without glasses, the +foresaid matron obligingly said she should be very proud to see the +writing I talked of, having heard me say formerly I had no correspondents +but my daughter and Mr. Wortley. She was interrupted by her sister, who +said, simpering, 'You forgot Sir J.S.' I took her up something short, I +confess, and said in a dry stern tone, 'Madam, I do write to Sir J.S. and +will do it as long as he will permit that honour.' This rudeness of mine +occasioned a profound silence for some minutes, and they fell into a +good-natured discourse of the ill consequences of too much application, +and remembered how many apoplexies, gouts, and dropsies had happened +amongst the hard students of their acquaintance. As I never studied +anything in my life, and have always (at least from fifteen) thought the +reputation of learning a misfortune to a woman, I was resolved to believe +these stories were not meant at me: I grew silent in my turn, and took up +a card that lay on a table, and amused myself with smoking it over a +candle. In the mean time (as the song says), + + 'Their tattles all run, as swift as the sun, + Of who had won, and who was undone + By their gaming and sitting up late,' + +When it was observed I entered into none of these topics, I was +addressed by an obliging lady, who pitied my stupidity. 'Indeed, madam, +you should buy horses to that fine machine you have at Padua; of what +use is it standing in the portico?' 'Perhaps,' said another, wittily, +'of as much use as a standing dish.' A gaping schoolboy added with still +more wit, 'I have seen at a country gentleman's table a venison-pasty +made of wood.' I was not at all vexed by said schoolboy, not because he +was (in more senses than one) the highest of the company, but knowing he +did not mean to offend me. I confess (to my shame be it spoken) I was +grieved at the triumph that appeared in the eyes of the king and queen +of the company, the court being tolerably full. His majesty walked off +early with the air befitting his dignity, followed by his train of +courtiers, who, like courtiers, were laughing amongst themselves as they +followed him: and I was left with the two queens, one of whom was making +ruffles for the man she loved, and the other slopping tea for the good +of her country. They renewed their generous endeavours to set me right, +and I (graceless beast that I am) take up the smoked card which lay +before me, and with the corner of another wrote-- + + If ever I one thought bestow + On what such fools advise, + May I be dull enough to grow + Most miserably wise. + +And flung down the card on the table, and myself out of the room, in the +most indecent fury. A few minutes on the cold water convinced me of my +folly, and I went home as much mortified as my Lord E. when he has lost +his last stake at hazard. Pray don't think (if you can help it) this is +an affectation of mine to enhance the value of a talent I would be +thought to despise; as celebrated beauties often talk of the charms of +good sense, having some reason to fear their mental qualities are not +quite so conspicuous as their outside lovely form.--_À propos_ of +beauties: + + I know not why, but Heaven has sent this way + A nymph, fair, kind, poetical, and gay; + And what is more (tho' I express it dully), + A noble, wise, right honourable cully: + A soldier worthy of the name he bears, + As brave and senseless as the sword he wears. + +"You will not doubt I am talking of a puppet-show; and indeed so I am; +but the figures (some of them) bigger than the life, and not stuffed +with straw like those commonly shown at fairs. I will allow you to think +me madder than Don Quixote when I confess I am governed by the +_que-dira-t-on_ of these things, though I remember whereof they are +made, and know they are but dust. Nothing vexes me so much as that they +are below satire. (Between you and me) I think there are but two +pleasures permitted to mortal man, love and vengeance; both which are, +in a peculiar manner, forbidden to us wretches who are condemned to +petticoats. Even vanity itself, of which you daily accuse us, is the sin +against the Holy Ghost not to be forgiven in this world or the next. + + Our sex's weakness you expose and blame, + Of every prating fop the common theme; + Yet from this weakness you suppose is due + Sublimer virtue than your Cato knew. + From whence is this unjust distinction shown? + Are we not formed with passions like your own? + Nature with equal fire our souls endued: + Our minds as lofty, and as warm our blood. + O'er the wide world your wishes you pursue, + The change is justified by something new, + But we must sigh in silence and be true. + +"How the great Dr. Swift would stare at this vile triplet! And then what +business have I to make apologies for Lady Vane, whom I never spoke to, +because her life is writ by Dr. Smollett, whom I never saw? Because my +daughter fell in love with Lord Bute, am I obliged to fall in love with +the whole Scots nation? 'Tis certain I take their quarrels upon myself +in a very odd way; and I cannot deny that (two or three dozen excepted) +I think they make the first figure in all arts and sciences; even in +gallantry, in spite of the finest gentlemen that have finished their +education at Paris. + +"You will ask me what I mean by all this nonsense, after having declared +myself an enemy to obscurity to such a degree that I do not forgive it +to the great Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, who professes he studied it. I +dare swear you will sincerely believe him when you read his celebrated +works. I have got them for you, and intend to bring them. _Oime! +l'huomo. propone, Dio dispone_. I hope you won't think this dab of +Italian, that slid involuntarily from my pen, an affectation like his +Gallicisms, or a rebellion against Providence, in imitation of his +lordship, who I never saw but once in my life: he then appeared in a +corner of the drawing-room, in the exact similitude of Satan when he was +soliciting the court of Heaven for leave to torment an honest man." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAST YEARS (1760-1762) + +Lady Mary writes the history of her own times--Her health--Death of +Edward Wortley Montagu--His will--Lady Mary ponders the idea of +returning to England--She leaves Italy--She is held up at Rotterdam--She +reaches London--Horace Walpole visits her--Her last illness--Her +fortitude--Her death--She leaves one guinea to her son. + +One of Lady Mary's amusements towards the end of her life was writing +the history of her own time. "It has been my fortune," she said, "to +have a more exact knowledge both of the persons and facts that have made +the greatest figure in England in this age, than is common; and I take +pleasure in putting together what I know, with an impartiality that is +altogether unusual. Distance of tie and place has totally blotted from +my mind all traces of resentment or prejudice; and I speak with the same +indifference to the Court of Great Britain as I should do of that of +Augustus Caesar." Lady Mary, however, merely wrote for her own +entertainment, and burnt her manuscript almost as soon as it was +composed. It would certainly have made interesting reading; but she +never had any idea of publication. "I know mankind too well to think +they are capable of receiving the truth, much less of applauding it; or, +were it otherwise, applause to me is as insignificant as garlands on the +dead." + + +"I am exceedingly glad of your father's good health: he owes it to his +uncommon abstinence and resolution," Lady Mary wrote to her daughter, +April 11, 1759. "I wish I could boast the same. I own I have too much +indulged a sedentary humour and have been a rake in reading. You will +laugh at the expression, but I think the liberal meaning of the ugly +word rake is one that follows his pleasures in contradiction to his +reason. I thought mine so innocent I might pursue them with impunity. I +now find that I was mistaken, and that all excesses are (though not +equally) blamable. My spirits in company are false fire: I have a damp +within; from marshy grounds frequently arises an appearance of light. I +grow splenetic, and consequently ought to stop my pen, for fear of +conveying the infection." + +"My health is very precarious; may yours long continue and see the +prosperity of your family. I bless God I have lived to see you so well +established, and am ready to sing my _Nunc dimittis_ with pleasure," +Lady Mary wrote to her daughter in November, 1760; and early in the next +year she touched on the same subject in a letter to Sir James Steuart. +"I have not returned my thanks for your obliging letter so soon as both +duty and inclination prompted me but I have had so severe a cold, +accompanied with a weakness in my eyes, that I have been confined to my +stove for many days.... I am preparing for my last and longest journey, +and stand on the threshold of this dirty world, my several infirmities +like posthorses ready to hurry me away." + + +It was in January, 1761, that Edward Wortley Montagu passed away at the +age of eighty-three. He died at Wharncliffe, the family seat of the +Wortleys, where he had lived in a most miserly manner. He had only one +luxury--tokay, of which he was passionately fond. He left a great +fortune, the highest estimate of which was £1,350,000. Horace Walpole +said the estate was worth £600,000. Walpole gives some particulars of +the legacies: "To his son, on whom six hundred a-year was settled, the +reversion of which he has sold, he gives £1,000 a-year for life, but not +to descend to any children he may have by any of his many wives. To Lady +Mary, in lieu of dower, but which to be sure she will not accept, +instead of the thirds of such a fortune, £1,200 a-year; and after her to +their son for life; and then the £1,200 and £1,000 to Lady Bute and to +her second son; with £2,000 to each of her younger children; all the +rest, in present, to Lady Bute, then to her second son, taking the name +of Wortley, and in succession to all the rest of her children, which are +numerous; and after them to Lord Sandwich, to whom, in present, he +leaves about £40,000. The son, you perceive, is not so well treated by +his own father as his companion Taaffe[22] is by the French Court, where +he lives, and is received on the best footing; so near is Fort l'Evêque +to Versailles." + +[Footnote 22: Theodore Taaffe, an Irish adventurer, who, with Edward +Wortley Montagu, was imprisoned in Fort l'Evêque, at Paris, for cheating +at cards in 1751. The incident has been given in a pamphlet written by +Montagu.] + +On hearing of the death of her husband, Lady Mary bethought herself of +returning to England, from which she had been absent for more than a +score of years. She was seventy-two years old, and may well have thought +that her time, too, would soon come, and that she would like to die in +her native country. Still, it was some time before she could bring +herself to a decision to set out. She was delighted with the political +success of Lord Bute and pleased with her daughter's prosperity, but "I +am doubtful whether I will attempt to be a spectator of it," she +confided in Sir James Steuart in April. "I have so many years indulged +my natural inclinations to solitude and reading, I am unwilling to +return to crowds and bustle, which would be unavoidable in London. The +few friends I esteemed are now no more: the new set of people who fill +the stage at present are too indifferent to me even to raise my +curiosity." Also, as she said, she was beginning to feel the worst +effects of age, blindness excepted, and was grown timorous and +suspicious. + +It was no light thing for a woman of Lady Mary's age to voyage alone, +except for a servant or two, from Venice to London. Yet her indomitable +spirit came to her aid, and in the autumn of 1761 she left Italy. She +travelled by way of Augsberg and Frankfort to Rotterdam. The journey had +been far from agreeable. "I am dragging my ragged remnant of life to +England," she wrote to Sir James Steuart on November 20. "The wind and +tide are against me; how far I have strength to struggle against both I +know not; that I am arrived here is as much a miracle as any in the +golden legend; and if I had foreseen half the difficulties I have met +with I should not certainly have had courage to undertake it.... I am +nailed down here by a severe illness of my poor Marianne, who has not +been able to endure the frights and fatigues that we have passed." + +When, about three weeks later, Marianne had sufficiently recovered to +move on, Lady Mary was held up by a hard, impenetrable frost. The delay +irked her, and she became somewhat depressed, and said that she was +dubious, in her precarious state of health, whether she would arrive at +her destination. At the beginning of the new year, she did actually make +a start, and got half way to Helvoet, and was obliged to turn back by +the mountains of sea that obstructed the passage. "I have had so many +disappointments I can scarce entertain the flattering thought of +arriving in London," the poor lady complained; but she found comfort in +that "It is uncommon at my age to have no distemper, and to retain all +my senses in their first degree of perfection." Later in the month she +arrived in London. + +Horace Walpole, who heard everything, had, of course, heard that Lady +Mary was returned to England, and in a letter of October 8, 1761, +announced her return, adding with a brutality unusual even in him: "I +have not seen her yet, though they have not made her perform quarantine +for her own dirt." However, as he discovered shortly after, it was Lady +Mary Wrottisley, and not Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who had arrived. + +Of course, when Lady Mary had come to London, Walpole was one of the +first to go and see her. "I went last night to visit her," he wrote to +Sir Horace Mann on January 29. "I give you my honour, and you who know +her, would credit me without it, the following is a faithful description. +I found her in a miserable little chamber of a ready-furnished house, +with two tallow candles, and a bureau covered with pots and pans. On +her head, in full of all accounts, she had an old black-laced hood, +wrapped entirely round, so as to conceal all hair or want of hair. No +handkerchief, but up to her chin a kind of horse-man's riding-coat, +calling itself a _pet-en-l'air,_ made of a dark green (green I +think it had been) brocade, with coloured and silver flowers, and lined +with furs; boddice laced, a foul dimity petticoat sprig'd, velvet +muffeteens on her arms, grey stockings and slippers. Her face less +changed in twenty years than I could have imagined; I told her so, and +she was not so tolerable twenty years ago that she needed to have taken +it for flattery, but she did, and literally gave me a box on the ear. +She is very lively, all her senses perfect, her languages as imperfect +as ever, her avarice greater. She entertained me at first with nothing +but the dearness of provisions at Helvoet. With nothing but an Italian, +a French, and a Prussian, all men-servants, and something she calls an +_old_ secretary, but whose age till he appears will be doubtful; +she receives all the world who go to homage her as Queen-mother, and +crams them into this kennel. The Duchess of Hamilton, who came in just +after me, was so astonished and diverted, that she could not speak to +her for laughing. She says that she left all her clothes at Venice. I +really pity Lady Bute; what will the progress be of such a commencement?" + +Lady Mary rented a house in Great George Street, Hanover Square, whither +her daughter and grandchildren came often. Occasionally she went about, +and from time to time would grace an assembly with her presence. Horace +Walpole saw her at some gathering, dressed in yellow velvet and sables, +with a decent laced head and a black hood, almost like a veil, over her +face. His prognostication that she would by her interference and demands +for "jobs" make life hideous for Lord and Lady Bute proved to be +unfounded, and he had the grace to say, "She is much more discreet than +I expected, and meddles with nothing"; but he could not refrain from +saying that "she is woefully tedious in her narrations." + +Lady Mary was suffering from cancer, which she concealed from her family +and acquaintances until about the beginning of July (1762). Then it +burst, and there was no hope of her life being much prolonged. On July 2 +she wrote her last letter to Lady Frances Steuart, saying, "I have been +ill a long time, and am now so bad I am little capable of writing, but I +would not pass in your opinion as either stupid or ungrateful. My heart +is always warm in your service, and I am always told your affairs shall +be taken care of." If she was a bad woman to cross, at least even on her +deathbed she tried to do service to her friends. Death had no terrors +for her; she said she had lived long enough; and she died, as she had +lived, with great fortitude. + +Lady Mary passed away on August 21, 1762, at the age of seventy-three. +Her remains were interred in the graveyard of Grosvenor Chapel, where +also lie Ambrose Phillips, David Mallett, Lord Chesterfield, William +Whitehead, John Wilkes, and Elizabeth Carter. + +All that Lady Mary possessed, except some trifling legacies, she left to +Lady Bute. Her fortune is believed to have been inconsiderable, except +for some valuable jewels. Walpole had one last gibe: "With her usual +maternal tenderness and usual generosity, she has left her son one +guinea." The gibe was unworthy, because Walpole knew quite well the +career of that son, who, anyhow, was sufficiently provided for. It may +be that it was the pricking of Walpole's conscience for this last +outburst that made him later administer a stern rebuke to Lady Craven. +"I am sorry to hear, Madam, that by your account Lady Mary Wortley was +not so accurate and faithful as modern travellers. The invaluable art of +inoculation, which she brought from Constantinople, so dear to all +admirers of beauty, and to which we owe, perhaps the preservation of +yours, stamps her an universal benefactress; and as you rival her in +poetic talents I had rather you would employ them to celebrate her for +her nostrum, than detect her for romancing." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lady Mary Wortley Montague, by Lewis Melville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE *** + +***** This file should be named 10590-8.txt or 10590-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/9/10590/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Aldarondo, (no name) and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10590-8.zip b/old/10590-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..89c7893 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10590-8.zip diff --git a/old/10590.txt b/old/10590.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..27184de --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10590.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10774 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, by Lewis Melville + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lady Mary Wortley Montague + Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) + +Author: Lewis Melville + +Release Date: January 4, 2004 [EBook #10590] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Aldarondo, (no name) and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU + +Her Life and Letters (1689-1762) + + +By + + +LEWIS MELVILLE + + +_WITH A FRONTISPIECE BY AUBREY HAMMOND, AND SIXTEEN OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + + +To +EDITH AND JOHN CABOURN + + + + +PREFACE + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu has her niche in the history of medicine as +having introduced inoculation from the Near East into England; but her +principal fame is as a letter-writer. + +Of her gifts as a correspondent she was proud, and with reason. It was +in all sincerity that in June, 1726, she wrote to her sister, Lady Mar: +"The last pleasures that fell in my way was Madame Sevigne's letters: +very pretty they are, but I assert, without the least vanity, that mine +will be full as entertaining forty years hence. I advise you, therefore, +to put none of them to the use of waste paper." And again, later in the +year, she said half-humorously to the same correspondent: "I writ to you +some time ago a long letter, which I perceive never came to your hands: +very provoking; it was certainly a _chef d'oeuvre_ of a letter, and +worthy any of the Sevigne's or Grignan's, crammed with news." That Lady +Mary's belief in herself was well founded no one has disputed. Even +Horace Walpole, who detested her and made attacks on her whenever +possible, said that "in most of her letters the wit and style are +superior to any letters I have ever read but Madame de Sevigne's." A +very pleasant tribute from one who had a goodly conceit of himself as a +letter-writer. + +Walpole, as a correspondent, was perhaps more sarcastic and more witty; +Cowper undoubtedly more tender and more gentle; but Lady Mary had +qualities all her own. She had powers of observation and the gift of +description, which qualities are especially to be remarked in the +letters she wrote when abroad with her husband on his Mission to the +Porte. She had an ironic wit which gave point to the many society +scandals she narrated, a happy knack of gossip, and a style so easy as +to make reading a pleasure. + +Some of the incidents which Lady Mary retails with so much humour may be +accepted as not outraging the conventions of the early eighteenth +century when it was customary to call a spade a spade; when gallantry +was gallantry indeed, and the pursuit of it openly conducted. What is +not mentioned by those who have written about her is that she was +possessed of a particularly unsavoury strain of impropriety which +outraged even the canons of her age. Some twenty years after her death, +it was mentioned in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ that Dr. Young, the +author of _Night Thoughts_, had a little before his death destroyed a +great number of her letters, assigning as a reason of his doing so that +they were too indecent for public inspection. Only the other day I had +confirmation of this from a distinguished man of letters who wrote to +me: "I have somewhere hidden away a copy of a letter by Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu, which was sent to me by a well-known collector about +thirty-five years ago, because he couldn't destroy it and wouldn't for +worlds be found dead with it in his possession--so terrific is it in +character. I'll tell you about it some day when we meet: I can't write +it. In any case you couldn't use it or even refer to it.... I suppose +that my friend quite felt that the document, however objectionable, +should not, on literary grounds, be destroyed. What my executors will +think of me for having it in my possession, the Devil only knows." + +Whether this strain permeated the diary which Lady Mary left behind her +when she eloped in 1712, and which was destroyed by one of her sisters, +no one can say; but it is a curious fact that the diary she kept in +later years was destroyed by her devoted daughter, Lady Bute. "Though +Lady Bute always spoke of Lady Mary with great respect," wrote Lady +Louisa Stuart, "yet it might be perceived that she knew it had been too +much her custom to note down and enlarge upon all the scandalous rumours +of the day, without weighing their truth or even their probability; to +record as certain facts stories that perhaps sprang up like mushrooms +from the dirt, and had as brief an existence, but tended to defame +persons of the most spotless character. In this age, she said everything +got into print sooner or later; the name of Lady Mary Wortley would be +sure to attract curiosity; and were such details ever made public, they +would neither edify the world, nor do honour to her memory." + +Lady Bute heard that her mother's letters were in existence, and, +fearful of what they might contain, purchased them. "It is known that +when on her way to die, as it proved, in her own country, Lady Mary gave +a copy of the letters to Mr. Snowden, minister of the English church at +Rotterdam, attesting the gift by her signature," Lady Louisa Stuart has +written. "This showed it was her wish that they should eventually be +published; but Lady Bute, hearing only that a number of her mother's +letters were in a stranger's hands, and having no certainty what they +might be, to whom addressed, or how little of a private matter, could +not but earnestly desire to obtain them, and readily paid the price +demanded--five hundred pounds. In a few months she saw them appear in +print. Such was the fact, and how it came about nobody at this time of +day need either care or inquire." + +With regard to other correspondence of Lady Mary, Sir Robert Walpole +returned to her the letters she had written to his second wife, Molly +Skerritt, after the death of that lady; and when Lord Hervey died, his +eldest son sealed up and sent her her letters, with an assurance that he +had read none of them. To Lord Hervey's heir, Lady Louisa Stuart has +mentioned, Lady Mary wrote a letter of thanks for his honourable +conduct, adding that she could almost regret he had not glanced his eye +over a correspondence which would have shown him what so young a man +might perhaps be inclined to doubt--the possibility of a long and steady +friendship subsisting between two persons of different sexes without the +least mixture of love. Much pleased with this letter, he preserved it; +and, when Lady Mary came to England, showed it to Lady Bute desiring +she would ask leave for him to visit her mother. + +It is to be presumed that Lady Mary, or her daughter, Lady Bute, +destroyed these collections. For her part, Lady Mary returned letters +that she had received from Lord Hervey, but only those that belonged to +the last fourteen years of an acquaintance that had endured twice so +long. These are for the greater number platonic in character, although +there are a few phrases of a freer kind. Croker, who edited Lord +Hervey's _Memoirs_, mentions that Hervey, answering one of her letters +in 1737, in which she had complained that she was too old to inspire +passion, after paying a compliment to her charms more gallant than +decorous, said: "I should think anybody a great fool that said he liked +spring better than summer merely because it is further from autumn, or +that they loved green fruit better than ripe only because it was further +from being rotten. I ever did, and believe ever shall, like women best-- + + "Just in the noon of life--those golden days, + When the mind ripens as the form decays." + +Lady Mary was then in her forty-ninth year, being six years Hervey's +senior. + +Lady Louisa Stuart, writing in 1837--that is, seventy-five years after +the death of her grandmother, Lady Mary--wrote indignantly of the +attacks that had been made upon her ancestress. "The multitude of +stories circulated about her--as about all people who were objects of +note in their day--increase, instead of lessening, the difficulty," she +said. "Some of these may be confidently pronounced inventions, simple +and purely false; some, if true, concerned a different person; some were +grounded upon egregious blunders; and not a few upon jests, mistaken by +the dull and literal for earnest. Others, again, where a little truth +and a great deal of falsehood were probably intermingled, nobody now +living can pretend to confirm, or contradict, or unravel. Nothing is so +readily believed, yet nothing is usually so unworthy of credit, as tales +learned from report, or caught up in casual conversation. A circumstance +carelessly told, carelessly listened to, half comprehended, and +imperfectly remembered, has a poor chance of being repeated accurately +by the first hearer; but when, after passing through the moulding of +countless hands, it comes, with time, place, and person, gloriously +confounded, into those of a bookmaker ignorant of all its bearings, it +will be lucky indeed if any trace of the original groundwork remains +distinguishable." + +Lady Mary's most redoubtable assailants were Pope and Horace Walpole, +and both were biassed. The story of Pope's quarrel with her is told in +the following pages. Walpole, it has been suggested, disliked her much +because she had championed his father's mistress, Molly Skerritt, +against the mother to whom he was devoted. Pope, of course, knew her +well; but Walpole, who was twenty-eight years her junior, only met her +in her late middle age. Walpole's prejudice was so great what when Lady +Mary said, "People wish their enemies dead--but I do not. I say, give +them the gout, give them the stone," he reported it solemnly. + +Of course, it is not to be assumed that Lady Mary had not her full share +of malice--she was undoubtedly well equipped with that useful +quality--and she did not turn the other cheek when she was assailed. She +could even stand up to the vitriolic Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and +stand up so effectively that they tacitly agreed to an armed neutrality +that verged perilously upon friendship. The young Duke of Wharton +sometimes beat her in open fight, but she harboured no very angry +feelings towards him. As regards Pope, if it was not tit-for-tat with +him, at least she gave him hard knocks. Pope, great poet as he was, +never played fair in war. + +"Lady Mary, quite contrary," she might have been dubbed, for she was +frequently in trouble. The Remond scandal, that will presently be +unfolded, was a thing apart; but her witty tongue made her many enemies +and cost her many friends. Had the contents of her letters about London +society become known at the time, nearly every man's and all women's +hands would have been against her. She had, in fact, little that was +kind to say about people; when she had, she usually refrained from +mentioning it. + +In this work Lady Mary's letters, either whole or in part, are given +only in so far as they have biographical or historical value. At the +same time I have, wherever possible, allowed Lady Mary to tell her +story, or to give her impressions, in her own words. The quotations have +been taken, by kind permission of Messrs. J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., from +the edition of the letters in their "Everyman Library" (edited by Mr. +Ernest Rhys), with an introduction by Mr. R. Brimley Johnson. + +The first edition of the letters appeared in three volumes in 1763, +believed to have been edited by John Cleland. A fourth volume, issued in +1763, is regarded by Sir Leslie Stephen as of doubtful authenticity. +James Dallaway, in 1803, brought out an enlarged collection and added to +it the poems, and a second edition, with some new letters, appeared +fourteen years later. Lady Mary's great-grandson, Lord Wharncliffe, +edited the correspondence in 1837, and this, revised by Mr. Moy Thomas, +was reprinted in 1861 and again in 1887. + +There have been published selections from the correspondence by Mr. A.R. +Ropes (1892) and by Mr. Hannaford Bennett (1923). + +The principal authorities for the life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu are +the Memoirs of James Dallaway prefixed to an edition of the _Works_ +(1803) and the _Introductory Anecdotes_ in a new edition (1837) by Lady +Louisa Stuart, the daughter of Lady Bute and the granddaughter of Lady +Mary. There is another account of Lady Mary by the late Moy Thomas in +revised editions of the letters and writings (1861 and 1887). Sir Leslie +Stephen was responsible for the memoir in the _Dictionary of National +Biography_. In 1907 appeared _Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her Times_, +by that sound authority on the eighteenth century, "George Paston," who +was so fortunate as to discover many scores of letters hitherto +unpublished. + +Other sources of information are to be found in Pope's Correspondence, +Spence's _Anecdotes_, Dilke's _Papers of a Critic,_ Cobbetts _Memorials +of Twickenham_, the Stuart MSS. at Windsor Castle, the MSS. of the Duke +of Beaufort, and the Lindsay MSS. + +My thanks--though not, perhaps, the thanks of my readers--are especially +due to that ripe scholar Mr. Hannaford Bennett, who suggested this work +to me. I am indebted to Mr. M.H. Spielmann and other friends and +correspondents for information and suggestions. Finally, I must +acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mrs. E. Constance Monfrino in the +preparation of this biography. + +LEWIS MELVILLE. + +_London, +March, 1925_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD (1689-1703) + +Birth of Mary Pierrepont, after Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Account of +the Pierrepont family--Lady Mary's immediate ancestors--Her father, +Evelyn Pierrepont, succeeds to the Earldom of Kingston in 1790--The +extinct marquisate of Dorchester revived in his favour--His +marriage--Issue of the marriage--Death of his wife--Lady Mary stays with +her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont--Her early taste for +reading--She learns Latin, and, presently, Italian--Encouraged in her +literary ambitions by her uncle, William Feilding, and Bishop +Burnet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of +Epictetus--An attractive child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as +hostess to her father + + +CHAPTER II + +GIRLHOOD (1703-1710) + +Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu +attracted by her looks and her literary gifts. Assists her in her +studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the +day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume +of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him by Steele--Montagu a staunch Whig--His +paternal interest for Lady Mary does not endure--He becomes a suitor for +her hand--Lady Mary's devotion and respect for him--Her flirtations--She +and Montagu correspond through the medium of his sister, Anne--Lady +Mary's mordant humour--Her delight in retailing society scandal--The +death of Anne Wortley--Lady Mary and Montagu henceforth communicate +direct--Her first letter to him + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTSHIP, ELOPEMENT, AND MARRIAGE (1710-1712) + +A lengthy courtship--Montagu a laggard lover--Lady Mary and Montagu +exchange views on married life--Montagu proposes for her to Lord +Dorchester--Dorchester refuses, since Montagu will not make +settlements--Montagu's views on settlements expressed (by Steele) in the +_Tatler_--Although not engaged, the young people continue to +correspond--Lord Dorchester produces another suitor of his daughter--She +consents to an engagement--The preparations for the wedding--She +confides the whole story to Montagu--She breaks off the engagement--She +and Montagu decide to elope--She runs up to London--Marriage--Lady +Mary's diary destroyed by her sister, Lady Frances Pierrepont + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY MARRIED LIFE (1712-1714) + +An uneventful existence--Montagu's Parliamentary duties take him to +London--Lady Mary stays mostly in the country--Correspondence--Montagu a +careless husband, but very careful of his money--Later he becomes a +miser--Lady Mary does not disguise the tedium of her existence-- +Concerning a possible reconciliation with her father--Lord +Pierrepont of Hanslope--Lord Halifax--Birth of a son, christened after +his father, Edward Wortley Montagu--The mother's anxiety about his +health--Family events--Lady Evelyn Pierrepont marries Baron (afterwards +Earl) Gower--Lady Frances Pierrepont marries the Earl of Mar--Lord +Dorchester marries again--Has issue, two daughters--The death of Lady +Mary's brother, William. His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the +Dukedom of Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in +1714--The death of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in +the country--Lady Mary's alarm for her son + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I (1714) + +Lady Mary shows an increasing interest in politics--She tries to incite +her husband to be ambitious--Montagu not returned to the new +Parliament--His lack of energy--Correspondence--The Council of +Regency--The King commands Lord Townshend to form a Government--The +Cabinet--Lord Halifax, First Lord of the Treasury--Montagu appointed a +Lord Commissioner of the Treasury--Correspondence--The unsatisfactory +relations between Lady Mary and Montagu + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU'S ACCOUNT OF THE COURT OF GEORGE I + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716) + +The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British +throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her +first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing +incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England +generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal +Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady +Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's +passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters-- +Count de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary +and the Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets +and wits of the day--Gray's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on +her--"Court Poems" + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE (1716-1718)--I + +Montagu loses his place at the Treasury--His antagonism against +Walpole--Lady Mary, "Dolly" Walpole, and Molly Skerritt--The Earl and +Countess of Mar leave England--Montagu appointed Ambassador to the +Porte--Leaves England for Constantinople, accompanied by his wife-- +Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople--Rotterdam--Vienna--Lady +Mary at Court--Her gown--Her interest in clothes--Viennese society-- +Gallantry--Lady Mary's experience--Court Tarrocco--Precedence at +Vienna--A nunnery--The Montagus visit the German Courts--A dangerous +drive--Prince Frederick (afterwards Prince of Wales)--Herrenhausen + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTS (1716-1718)--II + +Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her +description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes +acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her +belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr. +Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady +Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu +recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a +daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her +sister, Lady Mar + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCANDAL + +Montagu re-enters the House of Commons--His miserliness--Pope refers to +it--Comments on Society--Lady Mary and a first-class scandal--Remond-- +His admiration for her--Her imprudent letters to him--The South Sea +Bubble--Lady Mary speculates for Remond--She loses money for him--He +demands to be re-imbursed--He threatens to publish her letters--She +states the case in letters to Lady Mar--Lady Mary meets Pope--His letters +to her when she was abroad--He affects to be in love with her--Her +matter-of-fact replies--Her parody of his verses, "On John Hughes and +Sarah Drew" + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT TWICKENHAM + +The Montagus take a house at Twickenham--Lady Mary's liking for country +life--Neighbours and visitors--Pope--Bononcini, Anastasia Robinson, +Senesino--Lord Peterborough--Sir Geoffrey Kneller--Henrietta +Howard--Lord Bathurst--The Duke of Wharton--His early history--He comes +to Twickenham--His relations with Lady Mary--Horace Walpole's reference +to them--Pope's bitter onsaught on the Duke--An Epilogue by Lady +Mary--"On the Death of Mrs. Bowes"--The Duke quarrels with Lady Mary + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FAMOUS QUARREL + +Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other +admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on +her thereafter--Writer of her as "Sappho"--Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to +protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mar's malicious tongue +and pen--Mrs. Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"--Lady Mary, Lord +Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady +Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE CONTINENT (1739-1744) + +Lady Mary leaves England--She does not return for twenty years Montagu +supposed to join her--The domestic relations of the Montagus--A +septennial act for marriage--Lady Mary corresponds with her +husband--Dijon--Turin--Venice--Bologna--Florence--The Monastery of La +Trappe--Horace Walpole at Florence--His comments on Lady Mary and her +friends--Reasons for his dislike of her--Rome--The Young Pretender and +Henry, Cardinal York--Wanderings--Cheapness of life in Italy--Lady +Mary's son, Edward--He is a great trouble to his parents--His absurd +marriage--His extravagance and folly--Account of his early years--He +visits Lady Mary at Valence--Her account of the interviews + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LADY MARY AS A READER + +Her fondness for reading--Her difficulty to get enough books while +abroad--Lady Bute keeps her supplied--Lady Mary's catholic taste in +literature--Samuel Richardson--The vogue of _Clarissa Harlowe_--Lady Mary +tells a story of the Richardson type--Henry Fielding--_Joseph +Andrews--Tom Jones--_Her high opinion of Fielding and Steele--Tobias +Smollett--_Peregrins Pickle_--Lady Vare's _Memoirs of a Lady of +Quality_--Sarah Fielding--Minor writers--Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +Swift_--Bolingbroke's works--Addison and Pope--Dr. Johnson + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADY MARY ON EDUCATION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS + +The choice of books for children's reading--The dangers of a narrow +education--Lady Mary advocates the higher education of women--Girls +should be taught languages--Lady Mary's theories of education for +girls--Women writers in Italy--A "rumpus" made by ladies in the House of +Lords--Woman's Rights--Lady Mary's views on religion + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON THE CONTINENT (1745-1760) + +Lady Mary stays at Avignon--She removes to Brescia--And then to +Lovere--She abandons all idea of Montagu joining her abroad--Her house +at Lovere--Her daily round--Her health--Her anxiety about her son--An +amazing incident--A serious illness--A novel in a letter--Her +correspondence attracts the attention of the Italian authorities--Sir +James and Lady Frances Steuart--Politics--She is in the bad books of the +British Resident at Venice--Lord Bute--The philosophy of Lady +Mary--Letters to Lady Bute and Sir James Steuart + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAST YEARS (1760-1762) + +Lady Mary writes the history of her own times--Her health--Death of +Edward Wortley Montagu--His will--Lady Mary ponders the idea of +returning to England--She leaves Italy--She is held up at Rotterdam--She +reaches London--Horace Walpole visits her--Her last illness--Her +fortitude--Her death--She leaves one guinea to her son + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (age 8) at the Kit-Cat Club--_Frontispiece_ + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Lady Mary Pierrepont + +Evelyn Pierrepont, first Duke of Kingston + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1720 + +Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Frances, Countess of Mar + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu + +Alexander Pope + +Joseph Addison + +Henrietta Louisa, Countess of Pomfret + +Horace Walpole + +John, Lord Hervey of Ickworth + +Mary, Countess of Bute + +Edward Wortley Montagu, Junior + + + + +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: + +Her Life and Letters + +(1689-1762) + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CHILDHOOD (1689-1703) + +Birth of Mary Pierrepont, after Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Account of +the Pierrepont family--Lady Mary's immediate ancestors--Her father, +Evelyn Pierrepont, succeeds to the Earldom of Kingston in 1690--The +extinct marquisate of Dorchester revived in his favour--His +marriage--Issue of the marriage--Death of his wife--Lady Mary stays with +her grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont--Her early taste for +reading--She learns Latin, and, presently, Italian--Encouraged in her +literary ambitions by her uncle, William Feilding, and Bishop +Bumet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of +Epictetus--An attractve child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as +hostess to her father. + + +Mary Pierrepont, afterwards Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, was born in May, +1689, and was baptised on the twenty-sixth day of that month at St. +Paul's, Covent Garden. In the register is the entry: "Mary, daughter of +Evelyn Pierrepoint, Esquire, and Lady Mary, his wife." + +The event, it may be remarked, was not one of any considerable social +interest, for the Hon. Evelyn Pierrepont was merely a younger son and +remote from the succession to the Earldom of Kingston. + +The Pierreponts of Holme Pierrepont were a Nottinghamshire family of +considerable antiquity, though of no particular distinction. One Robert +Pierrepont, who was born in 1584, the son of Sir Henry by Frances, +sister of William, first Earl of Devonshire, was the first of the family +upon whom a peerage was bestowed. He was created in 1627 Baron +Pierrepont of Holme Pierrepont and Viscount Newark, and in the following +year was elevated to the dignity of Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, Co. +York. A zealous royalist, he was in 1643 appointed Lieutenant-General of +the King's forces in the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon, +Cambridge, and Norfolk, and soon after taking up this command was +accidentally shot near Gainsborough, when being carried off in a pinnace +as a prisoner to Hull by the Parliamentary Army. He married in 1601 +Gertrude, eldest daughter and co-heir of Sir William Reyner, of Orton +Longueville, Co. Huntingdon. She survived her husband six years. + +The second Earl was Henry Pierrepont, who was born in 1607. From 1628, +when his father was given the earldom, he was known under the style of +Viscount Newark. In that year he was elected Member of Parliament for +Nottingham, and he represented that constituency until 1641, when he was +summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony as Lord +Pierrepont. He, too, was an ardent supporter of the King, and was a +member of His Majesty's Council of War at Oxford. He was created +Marquess of Dorchester in 1645. After the Restoration he was in high +favour at Whitehall. He was Commissioner of Claims at the Coronation of +Charles II, and in 1662 and again in 1673 he acted as Joint Commissioner +of the office of Earl Marshal. He was twice married, but had no direct +heirs, and on his death in 1680 the marquessate became extinct. + +The earldom passed to the family of the younger brother of the last +holder. This was the great grandfather of Lady Mary, William Pierrepont, +who deservedly earned the title of "Wise William." He sided with the +Parliament, and during the Long Parliament, in the proceedings of which +he took an active part, he sat for Great Wenlock. He was one of the +Commissioners selected to treat with Charles in 1642, and after the +failure to open negotiations he was anxious to retire from public +affairs. However, he was persuaded not to resign, and in 1644 was +appointed one of the Committee of both Kingdoms. He became a leader of +the independent party, and did not always see eye to eye with Cromwell. +He quarrelled with his party, disapproving of its attitude towards +Purge's Pride and the trial of the King. After this he took little part +in politics, though the Protector sought, and he gave on occasions, his +advice. In February, 1660, he was elected to the new Council of State at +the head of the list, and in the Convention Parliament represented +Nottingham. In the negotiations with Charles II he was a moderating +influence. Afterwards, he retired into private life. He died in 1678 or +1679. His eldest son, Robert, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir +John Evelyn, pre-deceased his father, dying in 1666, and the earldom +passed to his eldest son, Robert, who died unmarried in 1682. The title +then went to his next brother, William, who died without issue eight +years later. + +A younger brother of Robert and William, Evelyn Pierrepont, now +succeeded as (fifth) earl. He was the father of Lady Mary. Born in 1665, +he was returned to Parliament for East Retford in 1689, but his stay in +the House of Commons was brief, for in the following year the peerage +descended to him. In December, 1706, the higher dignity that had once +been in his family was revived in his favour, and he was created Earl of +Dorchester, with a special remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to +his uncle Gervase Pierrepont, who had himself been raised to the peerage +as Lord Pierrepont of Ardglass in Ireland and later was given the +dignity of Lord Pierrepont of Hanslope in Buckinghamshire. Lord +Pierrepont died in 1715, and both his titles became extinct. + +The Marquess married Mary, daughter of William Feilding, third Earl of +Denbigh, by his first wife, Mary, sister of John, first Baron of +Kingston, in the peerage of Ireland. Lady Mary was, therefore, a +relation of the novelist, Henry Fielding, whose surname was spelt +differently because, he explained, his branch of the family was the only +one that could spell correctly. + +Of this marriage, there was issue: + +(i.) William, who took the style of Viscount Newark until 1706, and then +was known as Earl of Kingston until his death in 1713, at the age of +twenty-one. He had married before 1711 Rachel, daughter of Thomas +Baynton, of Little Charfield, Wilts, who outlived her husband eight +years. There was a son, Evelyn, who succeeded to the peerage. + +(ii.) Lady Mary, the subject of this memoir. + +(iii.) Lady Frances, who in 1714 became the second wife of John Erskine, +sixth or eleventh Earl of Mar; and + +(iv.) Lady Evelyn, who married John, second Baron, and afterwards first +Earl Gower, and died in June, 1727. + +In the winter of 1697, when Lady Mary was eight years old, her mother +died. After this, the little girl was allowed to run rather wild. Lord +Kingston was very much a man about town and a gallant, and was too +greatly occupied with his affairs and his parliamentary duties, which +took him often from home, to concern himself about her education. In +fact, before her mother's death, it would seem that Lady Mary spent +months at her grandmother's, Mrs. Elizabeth Pierrepont, at her house at +West Dean. When she was in her ninth year she returned to Holme +Pierrepont, where, as she later complained, she was left "to the care of +an old governess, who, though perfectly good and pious, wanted +capacity." + +Lady Mary early had a taste for books, and enjoyed to the full the +library, where she no doubt read much that was good for her, and a good +deal that was not. She read everything that she could lay her hands on, +the old romances, poetry, and plays. One account has it that she was +taught Greek and Latin by her brother's tutor; but Sir Leslie Stephen +was doubtful about the Greek and inclined to the belief that she taught +herself Latin. Later, certainly, she taught herself Italian, and quoted +Tasso in her letters. In her studies she was encouraged by her uncle, +William Feilding, and also by Bishop Burnet, of whom she said many +years later: "I knew him in my very early youth, and his condescension +in directing a girl in her studies is an obligation I can never forget." +She had literary aspirations, and just after her twenty-first birthday +she submitted to Burnet, with the following letter, a translation of +"Encheiridion" of Epictetus from the Latin version. This will be found +in the collected works. + + +"July 20, 1710. + +"My Lord, + +"Your hours are so well employed, I hardly dare offer you this trifle to +look over; but then, so well am I acquainted with the sweetness of +temper which accompanies your learning, I dare ever assure myself of a +pardon. You have already forgiven me greater impertinencies, and +condescended yet further in giving me instructions and bestowing some of +your minutes in teaching me. This surprising humility has all the effect +it ought to have on my heart; I am sensible of the gratitude I owe to so +much goodness, and how much I am ever bound to be your servant. Here is +the work of one week of my solitude--by the many faults in it your +lordship will easily believe I spent no more time upon it; it was hardly +finished when I was obliged to begin my journey, and I had not leisure +to write it over again. You have it here without any corrections, with +all its blots and errors: I endeavoured at no beauty of style, but to +keep as literally as I could to the sense of the author. My only +intention in presenting it, is to ask your lordship whether I have +understood Epictetus? The fourth chapter, particularly, I am afraid I +have mistaken. Piety and greatness of soul set you above all misfortunes +that can happen to yourself, and the calumnies of false tongues; but +that same piety which renders what happens to yourself indifferent to +you, yet softens the natural compassion in your temper to the greatest +degree of tenderness for the interests of the Church, and the liberty +and welfare of your country: the steps that are now made towards the +destruction of both, the apparent danger we are in, the manifest growth +of injustice, oppression, and hypocrisy, cannot do otherwise than give +your lordship those hours of sorrow, which, did not your fortitude of +soul, and reflections from religion and philosophy, shorten, would add +to the national misfortunes, by injuring the health of so great a +supporter of our sinking liberties. I ought to ask pardon for this +digression; it is more proper for me in this place to say something to +excuse an address that looks so very presuming. My sex is usually forbid +studies of this nature, and folly reckoned so much our proper sphere, we +are sooner pardoned any excesses of that, than the least pretensions to +reading or good sense. We are permitted no books but such as tend to the +weakening and effeminating of the mind. Our natural defects are every +way indulged, and it is looked upon as in a degree criminal to improve +our reason, or fancy we have any. We are taught to place all our art in +adorning our outward forms, and permitted, without reproach, to carry +that custom even to extravagancy, while our minds are entirely +neglected, and, by disuse of reflections, filled with nothing but the +trifling objects our eyes are daily entertained with. This custom, so +long established and industriously upheld, makes it even ridiculous to +go out of the common road, and forces one to find as many excuses, as if +it were a thing altogether criminal not to play the fool in concert with +other women of quality, whose birth and leisure only serve to render +them the most useless and most worthless part of the creation. There is +hardly a character in the world more despicable, or more liable to +universal ridicule, than that of a learned woman; those words imply, +according to the received sense, a talking, impertinent, vain, and +conceited creature. I believe nobody will deny that learning may have +this effect, but it must be a very superficial degree of it. Erasmus was +certainly a man of great learning, and good sense, and he seems to have +my opinion of it, when he says _Foemina qui_ [sic] _vere sapit, non +videtur sibi sapere; contra, quae cum nihil sapiat sibi videtur sapere, +ea demum bis stulta est_. The Abbe Bellegarde gives a right reason for +women's talking overmuch: they know nothing, and every outward object +strikes their imagination, and produces a multitude of thoughts, which, +if they knew more, they would know not worth their thinking of. I am not +now arguing for an equality of the two sexes. I do not doubt God and +nature have thrown us into an inferior rank, we are a lower part of the +creation, we owe obedience and submission to the superior sex, and any +woman who suffers her vanity and folly to deny this, rebels against the +law of the Creator, and indisputable order of nature; but there is a +worse effect than this, which follows the careless education given to +women of quality, its being so easy for any man of sense, that finds it +either his interest or his pleasure, to corrupt them. The common method +is, to begin by attacking their religion: they bring them a thousand +fallacious arguments, which their excessive ignorance hinders them from +refuting: and I speak now from my own knowledge and conversation among +them, there are more atheists among the fine ladies than the loosest +sort of rakes; and the same ignorance that generally works out into +excess of superstition, exposes them to the snares of any who have a +fancy to carry them to t'other extreme. I have made my excuses already +too long, and will conclude in the words of Erasmus:--_Vulgus sentit +quod lingua Latina, non convenit foeminis, quia parum facit ad tuendam +illarum pundicitiam, quoniam rarum et insolitum est foeminam scire +Latinam; attamen consuetudo omnium malarum rerum magistra. Decorum est +foeminam in Germania nata_ [sic] _discere Gallice, ut loquatur_ _cum his +qui sciunt Gallice; cur igitur habetur indecorum discere Latine, ut +quotidie confabuletur cum tot autoribus tam facundis, tam eruditis, tam +sapientibus, tam fides consultoribus. Certe mihi quantulumcunque cerebri +est, malim in bonis studiis consumere, quam in precibus sine mente +dictis, in pernoctibus conviviis, in exhauriendis, capacibus pateris, +&c."_ + + +This was not the sort of letter that in the opening years of the +eighteenth century even Bishops received from young ladies of rank, who +usually took their pleasure in other and lighter ways. Lady Mary, +however, loved to exercise her pen. She later composed some imitations of +Ovid, and tried her hand at one or two romances in the French manner. +She thus acquired a facility of expression that stood her in good stead +when she came to write those letters that constitute her principal claim +to fame. + +Lady Mary was an attractive child, and her father was very proud of her, +especially when she was in what may be called the kitten stage. The +story is told that, when she was about eight years old, he named her as +a "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club, and as she was not known to the majority +of the members he sent for her, where, on her arrival, she was received +with acclamation by the Whig wits there assembled. + +Sometimes Lady Mary in her girlhood stayed at Thoresby, and occasionally +came up to her father's London house, which was in Arlington Street, +which visits, accepting the story told by her granddaughter, Lady Louisa +Stuart, cannot have been an unmixed delight. "Some particulars, in +themselves too insignificant to be worth recording, may yet interest the +curious, by setting before them the manners of our ancestors," Lady +Louisa says. "Lord Dorchester, having no wife to do the honours of his +table at Thoresby, imposed that task upon his eldest daughter, as soon +as she had bodily strength for the office: which in those days required +no small share. For this mistress of a country mansion was not only to +invite--that is urge and tease--her company to eat more than human +throats could conveniently swallow, but to carve every dish, when +chosen, with her own hands. The greater the lady, the more indispensable +the duty. Each joint was carried up in its turn, to be operated upon by +her, and her alone; since the peers and knights on either hand were so +far from being bound to offer their assistance, that the very master of +the house, posted opposite her, might not act as her croupier, his +department was to push the bottle after dinner. As for the crowd of +guests, the most inconsiderable among them--the curate, or subaltern, or +squire's younger brother--if suffered through her neglect to help +himself to a slice of the mutton placed before him, would have chewed +it in bitterness and gone home an affronted man, half inclined to give a +wrong vote at the next election. There were then professed +carving-masters, who taught young ladies the art scientifically; from +one of whom Lady Mary said she took lessons three times a week that she +might be perfect on her father's public days, when, in order to perform +her functions without interruption, she was forced to eat her own dinner +alone an hour or two beforehand." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GIRLHOOD (1703-1710) + +Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu +attracted by her looks and her literary gifts--Assists her in her +studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the +day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume +of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him by Steele--Montagu a staunch Whig--His +paternal interest for Lady Mary does not endure--He becomes a suitor for +her hand--Lady Mary's devotion and respect for him--Her flirtations--She +and Montagu correspond through the medium of his sister, Anne--Lady +Mary's mordant humour--Her delight in retailing society scandal--The +death of Anne Wortley--Lady Mary and Montagu henceforth communicate +direct--Her first letter to him. + + +At the age of fourteen the precocious Lady Mary, when on a visit to +Wharncliffe Lodge, some thirty miles from Thoresby, made a conquest that +was vastly to influence her life. The conquest was no less a person than +Edward Wortley Montagu, son of Sidney Wortley Montagu, who was the +second son of Edward, first Earl of Sandwich, the famous Admiral of +Charles II. Sidney had taken the name of Wortley on his marriage to +Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Wortley. To Sidney Wortley Montagu, of +whom there is to-day little known, is an interesting reference in a +letter from the Earl of Danby to his wife, dated from Kiveton, September +6, 1684: "I have had Mr. Montague with me--my Lord Sandwich his son--who +lives at Wortley, and calls himself by that name, and is really a very +fine gentleman and told me he was sorry that any of his relations--much +more of his name--should have carried themselves so unjustly towards me, +and he hoped I would not have the worse opinion of him for their +ill-behaviour." + +Edward Wortley Montagu, who was then twenty-five, was already a person +of some distinction. He was a good classical scholar, acquainted with +modern languages, and versed in what his grand-daughter, Lady Louisa +Stuart, styled "polite literature." He was interested in the pretty, +clever girl, and encouraged her to talk to him of her reading and +writing. "When I was very young," she said, as is recorded in the +_Anecdotes_ of the Rev. Joseph Spence, "I was a great admirer of Ovid's +'Metamorphosis,' and that was one of the reasons that set me upon the +thoughts of stealing the Latin language. Mr. Wortley was the only person +to whom I communicated my design, and he encouraged me in it. I used to +study five or six hours a day for two years in my father's library, and +so got that language whilst everybody else thought I was reading nothing +but novels and romances." + +Montagu affected the company of men of letters. He was intimate with +Addison, a close friend of Steele, and on terms with Congreve, Vanbrugh, +and Garth, the author of _The Dispensary._ Steele, in fact, dedicated +the second volume of the _Tatler_ to him. + + +"SIR, + +"When I send you this Volume, I am rather to make a Request than a +Dedication. I must desire, that if you think fit to throw away any +Moments on it, you would not do it after reading those excellent Pieces +with which you are usually conversant. The Images which you will meet +with here, will be very feint, after the Perusal of the _Greeks_ and +_Romans_, who are your ordinary Companions. I must confess I am obliged +to you for the Taste of many of their Excellencies, which I had not +observed till you pointed them to me. I am very proud that there are +some things in these Papers which I know you pardon, and it is no small +Pleasure to have one's Labours suffered by the Judgment of a Man who so +well understands the true Charms of Eloquence and Poesie. But I direct +this Address to you, not that I think I can entertain you with my +Writings, but to thank you for the new Delight I have from your +Conversation in those of other men. + +"May you enjoy a long Continuance of the true Relish of the Happiness +Heaven hath bestowed on you. I know not how to say a more affectionate +Thing to you, than to wish you may be always what you are, and that you +may ever think, as I know you now do, that you have a much larger +Fortune than you want. I am, + +"Sir, + +"Your most Obedient and most Humble Servant, + +"ISAAC BICKERSTAFF." + + +Montagu was also interested in politics. He was a staunch Whig, and in +favour with the leaders of his party. He sat in the House of Commons +from 1705 to 1713 as member for Huntingdon, where there was family +interest. It was not, however, until after the accession of George I +that he held office. + +At first, it may be, Montagu took some kind of paternal interest in Lady +Mary. This attitude did not long endure. When the change in his feelings +took place there is no means of knowing. He does not seem to have been a +passionate man, nor a very ardent lover, but there is no doubt that at +this period he inspired the girl with a very real devotion and respect, +even though perhaps her heart was not deeply engaged. + +Montagu would have had the girl find her pleasures exclusively in books +and in his own conversation. She, at the age of twenty, on the other +hand, was full of the joy of life and liked the various social pleasures +that came her way. Naturally, she tried the effect of her good looks and +wit on men. In fact, she was fond of flirting, and as it must probably +have been impossible to flirt with Montagu, she indulged herself in that +agreeable pastime with more than one other--to the great annoyance of +that pompous prig of an admirer of hers. The following letter, dated +September 5, 1709, written to Anne Wortley for her brother's perusal, +was clearly an endeavour to sooth away the man's jealousy. + + +"September 5, 1709. + +"My dear Mrs. Wortley, as she has the entire power of raising, can also, +with a word, calm my passions. The kindness of your last recompenses me +for the injustice of your former letter; but you cannot sure be angry at +my little resentment. You have read that a man who, with patience, hears +himself called heretic, can never be esteemed a good Christian. To be +capable of preferring the despicable wretch you mention to Mr. Wortley, +is as ridiculous, if not as criminal, as forsaking the Deity to worship +a calf. Don't tell me any body ever had so mean an opinion of my +inclinations; 'tis among the number of those things I would forget. My +tenderness is always built upon my esteem, and when the foundation +perishes, it falls: I must own, I think it is so with every body--but +enough of this: you tell me it was meant for raillery--was not the +kindness meant so too? I fear I am too apt to think what is amusement +designed in earnest--no matter, 'tis for my repose to be deceived, and I +will believe whatever you tell me. + +"I should be very glad to be informed of a right method, or whether +there is such a thing alone, but am afraid to ask the question. It may +be reasonably called presumption in a girl to have her thoughts that +way. You are the only creature that I have made my confidante in that +case: I'll assure you, I call it the greatest secret of my life. Adieu, +my dear, the post stays, my next shall be longer." + + +Lady Mary was probably more complaisant on paper than actually in her +conduct of life. She desired male as well as female companionship; she +liked the admiration and the flattery of men, and, no doubt, did her +best to evoke it. It is strange, however, that with her beauty--for that +she was in her early years beautiful has generally been accepted--she +was not unduly attractive to men. It may be that her good looks brought +young men to her feet, and that her tongue drove them away. In no age +has a clever woman been very popular with the other sex, and in the +early years of the eighteenth century, when girls could do little more +than read and write--and not always so much--wit such as hers and the +readiness of reply with which she was gifted must have been a deterrent. +What could the ordinary social butterfly think of a Lady Mary who had as +a friend Mary Ansell, the author of a _Serious Proposal to Ladies--_ +what, though perhaps not one of them had read the book? + +Still, there was enough levity in Lady Mary's behaviour in society for +her to think it desirable to make some explanation to Montagu. + + +"[Indorsed '9 April,' 1711.] + +"I thought to return no answer to your letter, but I find I am not so +wise as I thought myself. I cannot forbear fixing my mind a little on +that expression, though perhaps the only insincere one in your whole +letter--I would die to be secure of your heart, though but for a +moment:--were this but true, what is there I would not do to secure you? + +"I will state the case to you as plainly as I can; and then ask yourself +if you use me well. I have shewed, in every action of my life, an esteem +for you that at least challenges a grateful regard. I have trusted my +reputation in your hands; I have made no scruple of giving you, under my +own hand, an assurance of my friendship. After all this, I exact nothing +from you: if you find it inconvenient for your affairs to take so small +a fortune, I desire you to sacrifice nothing to me; I pretend no tie +upon your honour: but, in recompence for so clear and so disinterested a +proceeding, must I ever receive injuries and ill usage? + +"I have not the usual pride of my sex; I can bear being told I am in the +wrong, but tell it me gently. Perhaps I have been indiscreet; I came +young into the hurry of the world; a great innocence and an undesigning +gaiety may possibly have been construed coquetry and a desire of being +followed, though never meant by me. I cannot answer for the [reflections] +that may be made on me: all who are malicious attack the careless and +defenceless: I own myself to be both. I not anything I can say more to +shew my perfect desire of pleasing you and making you easy, than to +proffer to be confined with you in what manner you please. Would any +woman but me renounce all the world for one? or would any man but you +be insensible of such a proof of sincerity?" + + +From an early age Lady Mary indulged her somewhat mordant humour, not +less in her letters than in her conversation, and as that quality must +have some subject upon which to exercise itself, she was generally on +the look-out for some tit-bit of scandal which she could relate in her +own inimitable manner. + + +"Next to the great ball, what makes the most noise is the marriage of an +old maid, who lives in this street, without a portion, to a man of +L7,000 _per annum_, and they say L40,000 in ready money," she wrote to +Mrs. Hewet about the beginning of 1709. "Her equipage and liveries +outshine anybody's in town. He has presented her with L3,000 in jewels; +and never was man more smitten with these charms that had lain invisible +for these forty years; but, with all his glory, never bride had fewer +enviers, the dear beast of a man is so filthy, frightful, odious, and +detestable. I would turn away such a footman, for fear of spoiling my +dinner, while he waited at table. They were married on Friday, and came +to church _en parade_ on Sunday. I happened to sit in the pew with them, +and had the honour of seeing Mrs. Bride fall fast asleep in the middle +of the sermon, and snore very comfortably; which made several women in +the church think the bridegroom not quite so ugly as they did before. +Envious people say 'twas all counterfeited to please him, but I believe +that to be scandal; for I dare swear, nothing but downright necessity +could make her miss one word of the sermon. He professes to have married +her for her devotion, patience, meekness, and other Christian virtues he +observed in her; his first wife (who has left no children) being very +handsome, and so good natured as to have ventured her own salvation to +secure his. He has married this lady to have a companion in that +paradise where his first has given him a title. I believe I have given +you too much of this couple; but they are not to be comprehended in few +words." + + +Here is another malicious story that appealed to Lady Mary's wayward +fancy, + + +"Mrs. Braithwayte, a Yorkshire beauty," she wrote to the same +correspondent in March, 1712, "who had been but two days married to a +Mr. Coleman, ran out of bed _en chemise_, and her husband followed her +in his, in which pleasant dress they ran as far as St. James's Street, +where they met with a chair, and prudently crammed themselves both into +it, observing the rule of dividing the good and bad fortune of this +life, resolved to run all hazards together, and ordered the chairmen to +carry them both away, perfectly representing, both in love and +nakedness, and want of eyes to see that they were naked, our first happy +parents. Sunday last I had the pleasure of hearing the whole history +from the lady's own mouth." + + +Love-affairs, other people's love-affairs anyhow, had an attraction for +Lady Mary. "You talk of the Duke of Leeds," she wrote. "I hear that he +has placed his heroic love upon the bright charms of a pewterer's wife; +and, after a long amour, and many perilous adventures, has stolen the +fair lady, which, in spite of his wrinkles and grandchild, persuade +people of his youth and gallantry." The nobleman in question, Peregrine +Osborne, second Duke of Leeds, was then fifty-six--which, after all, +regarded from the standpoint of to-day, is not such a great age as is +suggested by the story. + +If Montagu objected to the indiscretions of Lady Mary, it does not +appear that he was in any hurry to get married to her. Of course, it may +be--it is only fair to him to say--that Lady Mary held him temporarily +at bay, preferring the frivolities of those of her own age to the +austere attentions of one who acted as if he might have been her father. + +For some years she and Montagu were apparently content with writing long +letters to each other when they were not both in town. When the +correspondence started is uncertain. The first letter of Lady Mary that +has been preserved is dated Thoresby, May 2, 1709; but there can be no +doubt that they had been in regular communication before then. + +It is specially to be noted that the earlier letters of Lady Mary were +addressed to Montagu's sister, Anne. It is evident, however, that they +were definitely written for his perusal, and it is equally clear that +Anne's replies were inspired, and sometimes, if not always, drafted by +him. This practice continued until the death of Anne Wortley in March, +1710. Yet there seems to have been no reason for this camouflage. In +1709 Lady Mary was twenty years of age, and Montagu was a very eligible +_parti_. + +The respectful, highfalutin gallantry that is the key-note of the +correspondence recalls the correspondence that presently was exchanged +between Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and the octogenarian Earl +of Peterborough. + +Some typical passages from the letters to "My dear Mrs. Wortley" may be +given--it should be mentioned that it was the social custom of the day +to address as "Mrs." maiden ladies as well as married women. + + +"Thoresby, August 8, 1709. + +"I know no pretence I have to your good opinion but my hearty desiring +it; I wish I had that imagination you talk of, to render me a fitter +correspondent for you, who can write so well on every thing. I am now so +much alone, I have leisure to pass whole days in reading, but am not at +all proper for so delicate an employment as choosing you books. Your own +fancy will better direct you. My study at present is nothing but +dictionaries and grammars. I am trying whether it be possible to learn +without a master; I am not certain (and dare hardly hope) I shall make +any great progress; but I find the study so diverting I am not only +easy, but pleased with the solitude that indulges it. I forget there is +such a place as London, and wish for no company but yours. You see, my +dear, in making my pleasures consist of these unfashionable diversions, +I am not of the number who cannot be easy out of the mode. I believe +more follies are committed out of complaisance to the world, than in +following our own inclinations--Nature is seldom in the wrong, custom +always; it is with some regret I follow it in all the impertinencies of +dress; the compliance is so trivial it comforts me; but I am amazed to +see it consulted even in the most important occasions of our lives; and +that people of good sense in other things can make their happiness +consist in the opinions of others, and sacrifice every thing in the +desire of appearing in fashion. I call all people who fall in love with +furniture, clothes, and equipage, of this number, and I look upon them +as no less in the wrong than when they were five years old, and doated +on shells, pebbles, and hobby-horses: I believe you will expect this +letter to be dated from the other world, for sure I am you never heard +an inhabitant of this talk so before. I suppose you expect, too, I +should conclude with begging pardon for this extreme tedious and very +nonsensical letter; quite contrary, I think you will be obliged to me +for it. I could not better show my great concern for your reproaching me +with neglect I knew myself innocent of, than proving myself mad in three +pages." + + +"August 21, 1709. + +"I am infinitely obliged to you, my dear Mrs. Wortley, for the wit, +beauty, and other fine qualities, you so generously bestow upon me. Next +to receiving them from Heaven, you are the person from whom I would +chuse to receive gifts and graces: I am very well satisfied to owe them +to your own delicacy of imagination, which represents to you the idea of +a fine lady, and you have good nature enough to fancy I am she. All this +is mighty well, but you do not stop there; imagination is boundless. +After giving me imaginary wit and beauty, you give me imaginary +passions, and you tell me I'm in love: if I am, 'tis a perfect sin of +ignorance, for I don't so much as know the man's name: I have been +studying these three hours, and cannot guess who you mean. I passed the +days of Nottingham races, [at] Thoresby, without seeing or even wishing +to see one of the sex. Now, if I am in love, I have very hard fortune to +conceal it so industriously from my own knowledge, and yet discover it +so much to other people. 'Tis against all form to have such a passion as +that, without giving one sigh for the matter. Pray tell me the name of +him I love, that I may (according to the laudable custom of lovers) sigh +to the woods and groves hereabouts, and teach it to the echo. You see, +being I am _[sic]_ in love, I am willing to be so in order and rule: I +have been turning over God knows how many books to look for precedents. +Recommend an example to me; and, above all, let me know whether 'tis +most proper to walk in the woods, encreasing the winds with my sighs, or +to sit by a purling stream, swelling the rivulet with my tears; may be, +both may do well in their turns:--but to be a minute serious, what do +you mean by this reproach of inconstancy? I confess you give me several +good qualities I have not, and I am ready to thank you for them, but +then you must not take away those few I have. No, I will never exchange +them; take back the beauty and wit you bestow upon me, leave me my own +mediocrity of agreeableness and genius, but leave me also my sincerity, +my constancy and my plain dealing; 'tis all I have to recommend me to +the esteem either of others or myself. How should I despise myself if I +could think I was capable of either inconstancy or deceit! I know not +how I may appear to other people, nor how much my face may belie my +heart, but I know that I never was or can be guilty of dissimulation or +inconstancy--you will think this vain, but 'tis all that I pique myself +upon. Tell me you believe me and repent of your harsh censure. Tell it +me in pity to my uneasiness, for you are one of those few people about +whose good opinion I am in pain. I have always took so little care to +please the generality of the world, that I am never mortified or +delighted by its reports which is a piece of stoicism born with me; but +I cannot be one minute easy while you think ill of + +"Your faithful--" + + +"This letter is a good deal grave, and, like other grave things, dull; +but I won't ask pardon for what I can't help." + + +Was the sentiment expressed in the following letter, written about the +same time as that printed above, intended for Anne or her brother, or +both? + + +"When I said it cost nothing to write tenderly, I believe I spoke of +another sex; I am sure not of myself: 'tis not in my power (I would to +God it was!) to hide a kindness where I have one, or dissemble it where +I have none. I cannot help answering your letter this minute, and +telling you I infinitely love you, though, it may be, you'll call the +one impertinence, and the other dissimulation; but you may think what +you please of me, I must eternally think the same things of you." + + +Lady Mary was occasionally wearisome owing to the reiteration of the +assurance that she believed her letters to be dull, the more so as she +certainly was conscious of the skill with which she composed them. "What +do you mean by complaining I never write to you in the quiet situation +of mind I do to other people?" she asks Anne Wortley. "My dear, people +never write calmly, but when they write indifferently." + +After a letter dated September 5, 1709, a passage from which has been +printed here, there is a break in the (preserved) correspondence. In the +spring of the following year Anne Wortley died, and Lady Mary, on March +28, paid tribute to her departed friend, addressing herself for the +first time direct to Montagu. + + +"Perhaps you'll be surprized at this letter; I have had many debates +with myself before I could resolve on it. I know it is not acting in +form, but I do not look upon you as I do upon the rest of the world, and +by what I do for _you_, you are not to judge my manner of acting with +others. You are brother to a woman I tenderly loved; my protestations of +friendship are not like other people's, I never speak but what I mean, +and when I say I love, 'tis for ever. I had that real concern for Mrs. +Wortley, I look with some regard on every one that is related to her. +This and my long acquaintance with you may in some measure excuse what I +am now doing. I am surprized at one of the 'Tatlers' you send me; is it +possible to have any sort of esteem for a person one believes capable of +having such trifling inclinations? Mr. Bickerstaff has very wrong +notions of our sex. I can say there are some of us that despise charms +of show, and all the pageantry of greatness, perhaps with more ease than +any of the philosophers. In contemning the world, they seem to take +pains to contemn it; we despise it, without taking the pains to read +lessons of morality to make us do it. At least I know I have always +looked upon it with contempt, without being at the expense of one +serious reflection to oblige me to it. I carry the matter yet farther; +was I to choose of two thousand pounds a year or twenty thousand, the +first would be my choice. There is something of an unavoidable +_embarras_ in making what is called a great figure in the world; [it] +takes off from the happiness of life; I hate the noise and hurry +inseparable from great estates and titles, and look upon both as +blessings that ought only to be given to fools, for 'tis only to them +that they are blessings. The pretty fellows you speak of, I own +entertain me sometimes; but is it impossible to be diverted with what +one despises? I can laugh at a puppet-show; at the same time I know +there is nothing in it worth my attention or regard. General notions are +generally wrong. Ignorance and folly are thought the best foundations +for virtue, as if not knowing what a good wife is was necessary to make +one so. I confess that can never be my way of reasoning; as I always +forgive an _injury_ when I think it not done out of malice, I never +think myself _obliged_ by what is done without design." + + +Lady Mary, who was now one-and-twenty, was no bread-and-butter miss. She +knew her mind and had the gift to express herself, and in this same +letter she very prettily rebukes her laggard lover. + + +"Give me leave to say it, (I know it sounds vain,) I know how to make a +man of sense happy; but then that man must resolve to contribute +something towards it himself. I have so much esteem for you, I should be +very sorry to hear you was unhappy; but for the world I would not be the +instrument of making you so; which (of the humour you are) is hardly to +be avoided if I am your wife. You distrust me--I can neither be easy, +nor loved, where I am distrusted. Nor do I believe your passion for me +is what you pretend it; at least I am sure was I in love I could not +talk as you do. Few women would have spoke so plainly as I have done; +but to dissemble is among the things I never do. I take more pains to +approve my conduct to myself than to the world; and would not have to +accuse myself of a minute's deceit. I wish I loved you enough to devote +myself to be for ever miserable, for the pleasure of a day or two's +happiness. I cannot resolve upon it. You must think otherwise of me, or +not at all." + +"I don't enjoin you to burn this letter," she said in conclusion. "I +know you will. 'Tis the first I ever writ to one of your sex, and shall +be the last. You must never expect another. I resolve against all +correspondence of the kind--my resolutions are seldom made and never +broken." + + +Whatever happened to most of Lady Mary's resolutions, this one, at +least, was not kept. Actually, Lady Mary was not quite so emancipated at +this time of her life as she may have imagined. She never sent a letter, +except in fear and trembling. "I hazard a great deal if it falls +into other hands, and I write for all that," was her constant cry. Yet, +there was nothing in the correspondence, save the fact of it, to offend +even a most austere maiden aunt of the day. + +The correspondence, of course, continued. The lovers, if so they can be +called, now indulged in a slightly acid academic discussion, or rather a +number of slightly acid academic discussions, about marriage. It is +evident that Montagu held strong views as to the duty of a wife; so +undoubtedly did Lady Mary--only, the trouble was, the views were by no +means identical. If he were determined to set himself up as the strong +loquacious man, his _fiancee_ was certainly not prepared meekly to obey +his behests in silence. They indulged in a somewhat candid examination +of each other's character--and of their own. It is really rather +amusing, this careful cold-blooded dissection of their feelings. It is a +safe guess that at this game Lady Mary scored heavily. + + +"I wish, with all my soul, I thought as you do," she wrote on April 25, +1710. "I endeavour to convince myself by your arguments, and am sorry my +reason is so obstinate, not to be deluded into an opinion, that 'tis +impossible a man can esteem a woman. I suppose I should then be very +easy at your thoughts of me; I should thank you for the wit and beauty +you give me, and not be angry at the follies and weaknesses; but, to my +infinite affliction, I can believe neither one nor t'other. One part of +my character is not so good, nor t'other so bad, as you fancy it. Should +we ever live together, you would be disappointed both ways; you would +find an easy equality of temper you do not expect, and a thousand faults +you do not imagine. You think, if you married me, I should be +passionately fond of you one month, and of somebody else the next: +neither would happen. I can esteem, I can be a friend, but I don't know +whether I can love. Expect all that is complaisant and easy, but never +what is fond, in me. You judge very wrong of my heart, when you suppose +me capable of views of interest, and that anything could oblige me to +flatter any body. Was I the most indigent creature in the world, I +should answer you as I do now, without adding or diminishing. I am +incapable of art, and 'tis because I will not be capable of it. Could I +deceive one minute, I should never regain my own good opinion; and who +could bear to live with one they despised? If you can resolve to live +with a companion that will have all the deference due to your +superiority of good sense, and that your proposals can be agreeable to +those on whom I depend, I have nothing to say against them." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +COURTSHIP, ELOPEMENT, AND MARRIAGE (1710-1712) + +A lengthy courtship--Montagu a laggard lover--Lady Mary and Montagu +exchange views on married life--Montagu proposes for her to Lord +Dorchester--Dorchester refuses, since Montagu will not make +settlements--Montagu's views on settlements expressed (by Steele) in the +_Tatler_--Although not engaged, the young people continue to +correspond--Lord Dorchester produces another suitor for his +daughter--She consents to an engagement--The preparations for the +wedding--She confides the whole story to Montagu--She breaks off the +engagement--She and Montagu decide to elope--She runs up to +London--Marriage--Lady Mary's diary destroyed by her sister, Lady +Frances Pierrepont. + + +After seven years or so of acquaintance, matters at last looked like +coming to a head. It would appear that Montagu, tentatively at least, +had put the question, because Lady Mary gives her views as to the life +they should lead after marriage. She is not averse from travelling; she +has no objection to leaving London; in fact, she would be willing to +spend a few months in the country, if it so pleased him. It is all so +extraordinarily unloverlike. There is too much philosophy about it. Love +does not see so clearly. + + +"Where people are tied for life, 'tis their mutual interest not to grow +weary of one another," she wrote on April 25, 1710. "If I had all the +personal charms that I want, a face is too slight a foundation for +happiness. You would be soon tired with seeing every day the same thing. +Where you saw nothing else, you would have leisure to remark all the +defects; which would increase in proportion as the novelty lessened, +which is always a great charm. I should have the displeasure of seeing a +coldness, which, though I could not reasonably blame you for, being +involuntary, yet it would render me uneasy; and the more, because I know +a love may be revived which absence, inconstancy, or even infidelity, +has extinguished; but there is no returning from a _degout_ given by +satiety." + + +Perhaps Lady Mary believed that, while it is well to hope for the best, +it is sound policy to prepare for the worst. + +Montagu may have found some comfort in the lady's assurance that if she +had a choice between two thousand a year or twenty thousand a year she +would choose the smaller income. + +An apartment in London would satisfy Lady Mary. She would not choose to +live in a crowd, but would like to have a small circle of agreeable +people--she was very precise as to her desires: actually she wants to +see eight or nine pleasant folk. She does not believe that she can find +entire happiness in solitude, not even (or perhaps especially not) in a +solitude of two; and she is at least as sure that he would not either. +Anyhow she has not the slightest intention of taking the chance. + +It becomes increasingly clear that she had had about enough of this +epistolary philandering, and she indicated this in no uncertain manner. +"I will never think of anything without the consent of my family," she +wrote. "Make no answer to this, if you can like me on my own terms. 'Tis +not to me you must make the proposals; if not, to what purpose is our +correspondence?" + +And now comes a touch of the spur: "However, preserve me your +friendship, which I think of with a great deal of pleasure. If ever you +see me married, I flatter myself you'll see a conduct you would not be +sorry your wife should imitate." + +Even this did not bring Montagu to the point of asking Lord Dorchester +for the hand of his daughter. The correspondence, however, still +continued, and soon they were hard at it again. + + +"Kindness, you say, would be your destruction," she wrote in August, +1710. "In my opinion, this is something contradictory to some other +expressions. People talk of being in love just as widows do of +affliction. Mr. Steele has observed, in one of his plays, the most +passionate among them have always calmness enough to drive a hard +bargain with the upholders. I never knew a lover that would not +willingly secure his interest as well as his mistress; or, if one must +be abandoned, had not the prudence (among all his distractions) to +consider, a woman was but a woman, and money was a thing of more real +merit than the whole sex put together. Your letter is to tell me, you +should think yourself undone if you married me; but if I would be so +tender as to confess I should break my heart if you did not, then you'd +consider whether you would or no; but yet you hoped you should not. I +take this to be the right interpretation of--even your kindness can't +destroy me of a sudden--I hope I am not in your power--I would give a +good deal to be satisfied, &c. + +"As to writing--that any woman would do that thought she writ well. Now +I say, no woman of common sense would. At best, 'tis but doing a silly +thing well, and I think it is much better not to do a silly thing at +all. You compare it to dressing. Suppose the comparison just: perhaps +the Spanish dress would become my face very well; yet the whole town +would condemn me for the highest extravagance if I went to court in it, +though it improved me to a miracle. There are a thousand things, not ill +in themselves, which custom makes unfit to be done. This is to convince +you I am so far from applauding my own conduct, my conscience flies in +my face every time I think on't. The generality of the world have a +great indulgence to their own follies: without being a jot wiser than my +neighbours, I have the peculiar misfortune to know and condemn all the +wrong things I do. + +"You beg to know whether I would not be out of humour. The expression is +modest enough; but that is not what you mean. In saying I could be easy, +I have already said I should not be out of humour: but you would have me +say I am violently in love; that is, finding you think better of me than +you desire, you would have me give you a just cause to contemn me. I +doubt much whether there is a creature in the world humble enough to do +that. I should not think you more unreasonable if you was in love with +my face, and asked me to disfigure it to make you easy. I have heard of +some nuns that made use of that expedient to secure their own happiness; +but, amongst all the popish saints and martyrs, I never read of one +whose charity was sublime enough to make themselves deformed, or +ridiculous, to restore their lovers to peace and quietness. In short, if +nothing can content you but despising me heartily, I am afraid I shall +be always so barbarous to wish you may esteem me as long as you live." + + +At last Montagu formally approached Lord Dorchester, who had no +objection whatever to him as a suitor for the hand of Lady Mary. They +could not come to terms in the matter of settlements. Dorchester +demanded that the estates should be put into entail. Also he desired +that his future son-in-law should provide a town residence for Lady +Mary. This did not seem unreasonable, but Montagu did not see his way to +agree to them. He was willing enough to make all proper provision for +his wife, but he declined absolutely to settle his landed property upon +a son who, as he put it, for aught he knew, might prove unworthy to +inherit it, who might be a spendthrift, an idiot, or a villain--as a +matter of fact, the only son of the marriage turned out most things he +should not. Anyhow, Montagu held strong views on the subject, and these +he expounded to Richard Steele, who presented them in No. 223 of the +_Tatler_ (September 12, 1710). + + +"That this method of making settlements was first invented by a griping +lawyer, who made use of the covetous tempers of the parents of each +side, to force two young people into these vile measures of diffidence +for no other end, but to increase the skins of parchment, by which they +were put into each other's possession out of each other's power. The law +of our country has given an ample and generous provision for the wife, +even the third of her husband's estate, and left to her good-humour and +his gratitude the expectation of farther provision, but the fantastical +method of going farther, with relation to the heirs, has a foundation in +nothing but pride, and folly: for as all men with their children as like +themselves, and as much better as they can possibly, it seems monstrous +that we should give out of ourselves the opportunities of rewarding and +discouraging them according to their defects. The wife institution has +no more sense in it, than if a man should begin a deed with 'Whereas no +man living knows how long he shall continue to be a reasonable creature, +or an honest man, and whereas I.B. am going to enter into the state of +matrimony with Mrs. D., therefore I shall from henceforth make it +indifferent to me whether from this time forward I shall be a fool or +knave. And therefore, in full and perfect health of body, and a sound +mind, not knowing which of my children will prove better or worse, I +give to my first-born, be he perverse, ungrateful, impious, or cruel, +the lump and bulk of my estate, and leave one year's purchase only to +each of my younger children, whether they shall be brave or beautiful, +modest or honourable, from the time of the date hereof, wherein I resign +my senses, and hereby promise to employ my judgment no farther in the +distribution of my worldly goods from the date hereof, hereby farther +confessing and covenanting, that I am henceforth married, and dead in +law....' + +"How strangely men are sometimes partial to themselves, appears by the +rapine of him, that has a daughter's beauty under his direction. He will +make no scruple of using it to force from her lover as much of his +estate, as is worth ten thousand pounds, and at the same time, as a +justice on the bench, will spare no pains to get a man hanged that has +taken but a horse from him. + +"It is to be hoped that the legislature will in due time take this kind +of robbery into consideration, and not suffer men to prey upon each +other when they are about making the most solemn league, and entering +into the strictest bonds. The only sure remedy is to fix a certain rate +on every woman's fortune, one price for that of a maid, and another for +that of a widow: for it is of infinite advantage, that there should be +no frauds or uncertainties in the sale of our women." + + +Unless Montagu were tactless beyond the general, the position as regards +himself and Lord Dorchester must indeed have been hopeless before he +inspired the paper in the _Tatler_ on settlements. Anyhow, Montagu, who +was used to having his way, and was probably very cross at being +thwarted on this occasion, would not yield a step; and Lord Dorchester +maintained his attitude that philosophic theories were all very well in +their way, but he would not sanction a marriage that involved the risk +of his grandchildren being left beggars. + +Lady Mary was powerless in the matter, but, although her father said +there was no engagement between her and Montagu, the young people +continued their correspondence with unabated vigour. + + +"I am going to comply with your request, and write with all the +plainness I am capable of," she replied in November, 1710, to one of +Montagu's effusions. "I know what may be said upon such a proceeding, +but am sure you will not say it. Why should you always put the worst +construction upon my words? Believe me what you will, but do not believe +I can be ungenerous or ungrateful. I wish I could tell you what answer +you will receive from some people, or upon what terms. If my opinion +could sway, nothing should displease you. Nobody ever was so +disinterested as I am. I would not have to reproach myself (I don't +suppose you would) that I had any way made you uneasy in your +circumstances. Let me beg you (which I do with the utmost sincerity) +only to consider yourself in this affair; and, since I am so unfortunate +to have nothing in my own disposal, do not think I have any hand in +making settlements. People in my way are sold like slaves; and I cannot +tell what price my master will put on me. If you do agree, I shall +endeavour to contribute, as much as lies in my power, to your happiness. +I so heartily despise a great figure, I have no notion of spending money +so foolishly; though one had a great deal to throw away. If this breaks +off, I shall not complain of you: and as, whatever happens, I shall +still preserve the opinion you have behaved yourself well. Let me +entreat you, if I have committed any follies, to forgive them; and be so +just to think I would not do an ill thing." + + +Shortly afterwards, Lady Mary wrote again to Montagu. "I have tried to +write plainly," she said; and she did not have to reproach herself with +failure. It had now come to a struggle for mastery, and she would not +yield a foot of her ground. + + +"Indeed I do not at all wonder that absence, and variety of new faces, +should make you forget me; but I am a little surprised at your curiosity +to know what passes in my heart (a thing wholly insignificant to you), +except you propose to yourself a piece of ill-natured satisfaction, in +finding me very much disquieted. Pray which way would you see into my +heart? You can frame no guesses about it from either my speaking or +writing; and, supposing I should attempt to show it you, I know no other +way. + +"I begin to be tired of my humility: I have carried my complaisances to +you farther than I ought. You make new scruples; you have a great deal +of fancy; and your distrusts being all of your own making, are more +immovable than if there was some real ground for them. Our aunts and +grandmothers always tell us that men are a sort of animals, that, if +they are constant, 'tis only where they are ill used. 'Twas a kind of +paradox I could never believe: experience has taught me the truth of it. +You are the first I ever had a correspondence with, and I thank God I +have done with it for all my life. You needed not to have told me you +are not what you have been: one must be stupid not to find a difference +in your letters. You seem, in one part of your last, to excuse yourself +from having done me any injury in point of fortune. Do I accuse you of +any? + +"I have not spirits to dispute any longer with you. You say you are not +yet determined: let me determine for you, and save you the trouble of +writing again. Adieu for ever! make no answer. I wish, among the variety +of acquaintance, you may find some one to please you; and can't help the +vanity of thinking, should you try them all, you won't find one that +will be so sincere in their treatment, though a thousand more deserving, +and every one happier. 'Tis a piece of vanity and injustice I never +forgive in a woman, to delight to give pain; what must I think of a man +that takes pleasure in making me uneasy? After the folly of letting you +know it is in your power, I ought in prudence to let this go no farther, +except I thought you had good nature enough never to make use of that +power. I have no reason to think so: however, I am willing, you see, to +do you the highest obligation 'tis possible for me to do; that is, to +give you a fair occasion of being rid of me." + + +There is now another break in the (preserved) correspondence until the +end of February, 1711, and then Lady Mary, writing with more than a +tinge of bitterness, broke off all relations with him--or, at least, +affected to do so. + + +"I intended to make no answer to your letter; it was something very +ungrateful, and I resolved to give over all thoughts of you. I could +easily have performed that resolve some time ago, but then you took +pains to please me; now you have brought me to esteem you, you make use +of that esteem to give me uneasiness; and I have the displeasure of +seeing I esteem a man that dislikes me. Farewell then: since you will +have it so, I renounce all the ideas I have so long flattered myself +with, and will entertain my fancy no longer with the imaginary pleasure +of pleasing you. How much wiser are all those women I have despised than +myself! In placing their happiness in trifles, they have placed it in +what is attainable. I fondly thought fine clothes and gilt coaches, +balls, operas, and public adoration, rather the fatigues of life; and +that true happiness was justly defined by Mr. Dryden (pardon the romantic +air of repeating verses), when he says, + + 'Whom Heav'n would bless it does from pomps remove + And makes their wealth in privacy and love.' + +These notions had corrupted my judgment as much as Mrs. Biddy Tipkin's. +According to this scheme, I proposed to pass my life with you. I yet do +you the justice to believe, if any man could have been contented with +this manner of living, it would have been you. Your indifference to me +does not hinder me from thinking you capable of tenderness, and the +happiness of friendship; but I find it is not to me you'll ever have +them; you think me all that is detestable; you accuse me of want of +sincerity and generosity. To convince you of your mistake, I'll show you +the last extremes of both. + +"While I foolishly fancied you loved me, (which I confess I had never +any great reason for, more than that I wished it,) there is no condition +of life I could not have been happy in with you, so very much I liked +you--I may say loved, since it is the last thing I'll ever say to you. +This is telling you sincerely my greatest weakness; and now I will +oblige you with a new proof of generosity--I'll never see you more. I +shall avoid all public places; and this is the last letter I shall send. +If you write, be not displeased if I send it back unopened. I force my +inclinations to oblige yours; and remember that you have told me I could +not oblige you more than by refusing you. Had I intended ever to see you +again, I durst not have sent this letter. Adieu." + + +The above letter was evidently sent in a fit of pique. Certainly the +position must have been almost unbearable to a young woman of spirit. +Here was Lady Mary, in her twenty-second or twenty-third year, for all +practical purposes betrothed, and her father and her lover quarrelling +over settlements. Her friends were all getting married and having +establishments of their own, and she more or less in disgrace, living at +one or other of her father's houses. + +Nothing came of her announcement that she desired no further relation +with Montagu. She could not bring herself definitely to break with +Montagu, and he would neither wed her nor give her up. The +correspondence continued with unabated vigour. + + +"I am in pain about the letter I sent you this morning," she wrote in +March, 1911. "I fear you should think, after what I have said, you +cannot, in point of honour, break off with me. Be not scrupulous on that +article, nor affect to make me break first, to excuse your doing it; I +would owe nothing but to inclination: if you do not love me, I may have +the less esteem of myself, but not of you: I am not of the number of +those women that have the opinion of their persons Mr. Bayes had of his +play, that 'tis the touchstone of sense, and they are to frame their +judgment of people's understanding according to what they think of them. + +"You may have wit, good humour, and good nature, and not like me. I +allow a great deal for the inconstancy of mankind in general, and my own +want of merit in particular. But 'tis a breach, at least, of the two +last, to deceive me. I am sincere: I shall be sorry if I am not now what +pleases; but if I (as I could with joy) abandon all things to the care +of pleasing you, I am then undone if I do not succeed.--Be generous." + + +It was about this time that she confided her troubles to Mrs. Hewet. +"At present, my domestic affairs go on so ill, I want spirits to look +round," she wrote. "I have got a cold that disables my eyes and +disorders me every other way. Mr. Mason has ordered me blooding, to +which I have submitted, after long contestation. You see how stupid I +am; I entertain you with discourses of physic, but I have the oddest +jumble of disagreeable things in my head that ever plagued poor mortals; +a great cold, a bad peace, people I love in disgrace, sore eyes, the +horrid prospect of a civil war, and the thought of a filthy potion to +take. I believe nobody ever had such a _melange_ before." + +The unsatisfactory situation, apparently, might have continued +indefinitely, for, even if Montagu had been more pressing, Lady Mary, in +spite of her independent attitude, was most reluctant, indeed, almost +determined, not to marry without her father's consent. + +In the early summer of 1712, however, Lord Dorchester created a crisis. +Thinking, perhaps, that his daughter might one day get out of hand and, +in despair, defy him, he decided to find her a husband other than +Montagu. At first, from a sense of weariness and from filial duty, Lady +Mary inclined to obey the parental injunction--to her father's great +delight. All the preparations for the wedding were put in train--then, +ultimately, Lady Mary declared that she could not and would not go +through with it on any terms. Who the bridegroom was she does not +mention, but, in a manner somewhat involved, she in a letter in July, +1912, confided the whole story to Montagu. + + +"I am going to write you a plain long letter. What I have already told +you is nothing but the truth. I have no reason to believe I am going to +be otherwise confined than by my duty; but I, that know my own mind, +know that is enough to make me miserable. I see all the misfortune of +marrying where it is impossible to love; I am going to confess a +weakness may perhaps add to your contempt of me. I wanted courage to +resist at first the will of my relations; but, as every day added to my +fears, those, at last, grew strong enough to make me venture the +disobliging them. A harsh word damps my spirits to a degree of silencing +all I have to say. I knew the folly of my own temper, and took the +method of writing to the disposer of me. I said everything in this +letter I thought proper to move him, and proffered, in atonement for not +marrying whom he would, never to marry at all. He did not think fit to +answer this letter, but sent for me to him. He told me he was very much +surprized that I did not depend on his judgment for my future happiness; +that he knew nothing I had to complain of, &c.; that he did not doubt I +had some other fancy in my head, which encouraged me to this +disobedience; but he assured me, if I refused a settlement he had +provided for me, he gave me his word, whatever proposals were made him, +he would never so much as enter into a treaty with any other; that, if I +founded any hopes upon his death, I should find myself mistaken, he +never intended to leave me anything but an annuity of L400 per annum; +that, though another would proceed in this manner after I had given so +just a pretence for it, yet he had [the] goodness to leave my destiny +yet in my own choice, and at the same time commanded me to communicate +my design to my relations, and ask their advice. As hard as this may +sound, it did not shock my resolution; I was pleased to think, at any +price, I had it in my power to be free from a man I hated. I told my +intention to all my nearest relations. I was surprised at their blaming +it, to the greatest degree. I was told, they were sorry I would ruin +myself; but, if I was so unreasonable, they could not blame my F. +[father] whatever he inflicted on me. I objected I did not love him. +They made answer, they found no necessity of loving; if I lived well +with him, that was all was required of me; and that if I considered this +town, I should find very few women in love with their husbands, and yet +a many happy. It was in vain to dispute with such prudent people; they +looked upon me as a little romantic, and I found it impossible to +persuade them that living in London at liberty was not the height of +happiness. However, they could not change my thoughts, though I found I +was to expect no protection from them. When I was to give my final +answer to----, I told him that I preferred a single life to any other; +and, if he pleased to permit me, I would take that resolution. He +replied, he could not hinder my resolutions, but I should not pretend +after that to please him; since pleasing him was only to be done by +obedience; that if I would disobey, I knew the consequences; he would +not fail to confine me, where I might repent at leisure; that he had +also consulted my relations, and found them all agreeing in his +sentiments. He spoke this in a manner hindered my answering. I retired +to my chamber, where I writ a letter to let him know my aversion to the +man proposed was too great to be overcome, that I should be miserable +beyond all things could be imagined, but I was in his hands, and he +might dispose of me as he thought fit. He was perfectly satisfied with +this answer, and proceeded as if I had given a willing consent.--I +forgot to tell you, he named you, and said, if I thought that way, I was +very much mistaken; that if he had no other engagements, yet he would +never have agreed to your proposals, having no inclination to see his +grandchildren beggars. + +"I do not speak this to endeavour to alter your opinion, but to shew the +improbability of his agreeing to it. I confess I am entirely of your +mind. I reckon it among the absurdities of custom that a man must be +obliged to settle his whole estate on an eldest son, beyond his power to +recall, whatever he proves to be, and make himself unable to make happy +a younger child that may deserve to be so. If I had an estate myself, I +should not make such ridiculous settlements, and I cannot blame you for +being in the right. + +"I have told you all my affairs with a plain sincerity. I have avoided +to move your compassion, and I have said nothing of what I suffer; and I +have not persuaded you to a _treaty_, which I am sure my family will +never agree to. I can have no fortune without an entire obedience. + +"Whatever your business is, may it end to your satisfaction. I think of +the public as you do. As little as _that_ is a woman's care, it may be +permitted into the number of a woman's fears. But, wretched as I am, I +have no more to fear for myself. I have still a concern for my friends, +and I am in pain for your danger. I am far from taking ill what you say, +I never valued myself as the daughter of----, and ever despised those +that esteemed me on that account. With pleasure I could barter all that, +and change to be any country gentleman's daughter that would have reason +enough to make happiness in privacy. My letter is too long. I beg your +pardon. You may see by the situation of my affairs 'tis without design." + + +The marriage with the gentleman unknown was thus called off--to the very +considerable anger of Lord Dorchester. Lord Pierrepont wrote offering to +come to her aid, by representing to her father the hardship he was +inflicting by endeavouring to force her inclination. He went so far as +to say that he would assist her to marry a man of moderate means, if +there were such an one in her heart. She was little used to sympathy, +and the proposal affected her deeply. "The generosity and goodness of +this letter wholly determines my softest inclinations on your side," she +wrote with unusual gentleness to Montagu on a Thursday night in August. +"You are in the wrong to suspect me of artifice; plainly showing me the +kindness of your heart (if you have any there for me) is the surest way +to touch mine, and I am at this minute more inclined to speak tenderly +to you than ever I was in my life--so much inclined I will say nothing. +I could wish you would leave England, but I know not how to object to +anything that pleases you. In this minute I have no will that does not +agree with yours." + +There is a reference in the letter just printed to a meeting of Lady +Anne and Montagu, but how often they saw each other at this time there +is no knowing. + +However, it must have been in August that, failing the consent of Lord +Dorchester to their marriage, they made up their minds to elope. From +whom the suggestion first came, who can say? Let it be hoped for the +sake of maiden modesty it came from Montagu. What drove them to this +step may well have been the fear that Lord Dorchester might, to all +intents and purposes, imprison his daughter on one of his estates. Even +at the eleventh hour, Lady Mary was determined that there should be no +misunderstanding between her and her _fiance_. She wrote to him saying +that if she came to him in this way, she would come to him without a +portion. To this part of her letter he vouchsafed no reply, so she again +touched upon the matter. + + +"You made no reply to one part of my letter concerning my fortune. I am +afraid you flatter yourself that my F. [father] may be at length +reconciled and brought to reasonable terms. I am convinced, by what I +have often heard him say, speaking of other cases like this, he never +will. The fortune he has engaged to give with me, was settled on my B. +[brother]'s marriage, on my sister and on myself; but in such a manner, +that it was left in his power to give it all to either of us, or divide +as he thought fit. He has given it all to me. Nothing remains for my +sister, but the free bounty of my F. [father] from what he can save; +which, notwithstanding the greatness of his estate, may be very little. +Possibly, after I have disobliged him so much, he may be glad to have +her so easily provided for, with money already raised; especially if he +has a design to marry himself, as I hear. I do not speak this that you +should not endeavour to come to terms with him, if you please; but I am +fully persuaded it will be to no purpose." + + +Lady Mary assured Montagu that Lord Dorchester's attitude was this: She +had consented to an engagement with another man, that she had let him +incur an expenditure of some four hundred pounds for a trousseau, and +that, by breaking it off, had made him look foolish. In fact, her +father, she added, had given her clearly to understand that he would +entertain no dealings whatsoever with any suitor other than the one of +his choice, that he would send her to his estate in the north of +England, and that it was his intention to leave her, on his death, only +an annuity of four hundred pounds. + +As a good sportsman she at the last moment gave Montagu a chance to +retreat. + + +"He [my father] will have a thousand plausible reasons for being +irreconcileable, and 'tis very probable the world will be of his side. +Reflect now for the last time in what manner you must take me. I shall +come to you with only a night-gown and petticoat, and that is all you +will get with me. I told a lady of my friends what I intended to do. You +will think her a very good friend when I tell you she has proffered to +lend us her house if we would come there the first night. I did not +accept of this till I had let you know it. If you think it more +convenient to carry me to your lodgings, make no scruple of it. Let it +be where it will: if I am your wife I shall think no place unfit for me +where you are. I beg we may leave London next morning, wherever you +intend to go. I should wish to go out of England if it suits with your +affairs. You are the best judge of your father's temper. If you think it +would be obliging to him, or necessary for you, I will go with you +immediately to ask his pardon and his blessing. If that is not proper at +first, I think the best scheme is going to the Spa. When you come back, +you may endeavour to make your father admit of seeing me, and treat with +mine (thought I persist in thinking it will be to no purpose). But I +cannot think of living in the midst of my relations and acquaintance +after so unjustifiable a step:--unjustifiable to the world,--but I think +I can justify myself to myself. I again beg you to hire a coach to be at +the door early Monday morning, to carry us some part of our way, +wherever you resolve our journey shall be. If you determine to go to +that lady's house, you had better come with a coach and six at seven +o'clock to-morrow. She and I will be in the balcony that looks on the +road: you have nothing to do but to stop under it, and we will come down +to you. Do in this what you like best. After all, think very seriously. +Your letter, which will be waited for, is to determine everything. I +forgive you a coarse expression in your last, which, however, I wish had +not been there. You might have said something like it without expressing +it in that manner; but there was so much complaisance in the rest of it +I ought to be satisfied. You can shew me no goodness I shall not be +sensible of. However, think again, and resolve never to think of me if +you have the least doubt, or that it is likely to make you uneasy in +your fortune. I believe to travel is the most likely way to make a +solitude agreeable, and not tiresome: remember you have promised it." + + +Even in this hour of excitement Lady Mary did not lose her head, and she +asked for a settlement that would make her easy in her mind. + + +"Tis something odd for a woman that brings nothing to expect anything; +but after the way of my education, I dare not pretend to live but in +some degree suitable to it. I had rather die than return to a dependancy +upon relations I have disobliged. Save me from that fear if you love me. +If you cannot, or think I ought not to expect it, be sincere and tell me +so. 'Tis better I should not be yours at all, than, for a short +happiness, involve myself in ages of misery. I hope there will never be +occasion for this precaution; but, however, 'tis necessary to make it. I +depend entirely on your honour, and I cannot suspect you of any way +doing wrong. Do not imagine I shall be angry at anything you can tell +me. Let it be sincere; do not impose on a woman that leaves all things +for you." + + +No woman could be more sensible than was Lady Mary at this time, and +she gave expression to the most exemplary sentiments. + + +"A woman that adds nothing to a man's fortune ought not to take from his +happiness. If possible I would add to it; but I will not take from you +any satisfaction you could enjoy without me." + +"If we marry, our happiness must consist in loving one another: 'tis +principally my concern to think of the most probable method of making +the love eternal." + +"There is one article absolutely necessary--to be ever beloved, one must +be ever agreeable." + +"Very few people that have settled entirely in the country but have +grown at length weary of one another. The lady's conversation generally +falls into a thousand impertinent effects of idleness, and the gentleman +falls _in_ love with his dogs and horses and _out_ of love with +everything else." + + +And so on. + +Possibly if Lady Mary had had less brains and more passion, if she had +not so calmly worked out the permutations and combinations of married +life, the alliance might have been more successful. She, with all her +intelligence, did not seem to realise that matrimony is not an affair of +rules and regulations, of aphorisms and epigrams, nor that the lines on +which husband and wife shall conduct themselves to a happy ending can be +settled by a study of vulgar fractions. + +Anyhow, the plunge was at last taken--with some not unnatural +trepidation on the part of the twenty-three-year-old bride. On Friday +night, August 15, 1712, she wrote to Montagu: + + +"I tremble for what we are doing.--Are you sure you will love me for +ever? Shall we never repent? I fear and I hope. I forsee all that will +happen on this occasion. I shall incense my family in the highest +degree. The generality of the world will blame my conduct, and the +relations and friends of ---- will invent a thousand stories of me; yet, +'tis possible, you may recompense everything to me. In this letter, +which I am fond of, you promise me all that I wish. Since I writ so far, +I received your Friday letter. I will be only yours, and I will do what +you please. + +"You shall hear from me again to-morrow, not to contradict, but to give +some directions. My resolution is taken. Love me and use me well." + + +The wedding licence is dated August 16, and the marriage took place in a +day or two. + +The bride had the active assistance of her uncle, William Feilding, who +may have been present at the ceremony; and the full sympathy of her +brother, Lord Kingston, who, however, did not accompany her, perhaps +deeming it impolitic to quarrel with his father. + +The family must have thought that Lord Dorchester would examine Lady +Mary's papers, for her sister, Lady Frances destroyed all she could +find, including, unfortunately, a diary that Lady Mary had kept for +several years. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EARLY MARRIED LIFE (1712-1714) + +An uneventful existence--Montagu's Parliamentary duties take him to +London--Lady Mary stays mostly in the country--Correspondence--Montagu a +careless husband, but very careful of his money--Later he becomes a +miser--Lady Mary does not disguise the tedium of her existence-- +Concerning a possible reconciliation with her father--Lord Pierrepont +of Hanslope--Lord Halifax--Birth of a son, christened after his father, +Edward Wortley Montagu--The mother's anxiety about his health--Family +events--Lady Evelyn Pierrepont marries Baron (afterwards Earl) Gower--Lady +Frances Pierrepont marries the Earl of Mar--Lord Dorchester marries +again--Has issue, two daughters--the death of Lady Mary's brother, +William--His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the Dukedom of +Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in 1714--The death +of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in the country-- +Lady Mary's alarm for her son. + + +The records for the first years of the married life of Edward and Lady +Mary Wortley Montagu are scanty indeed. From the wedding day until 1716, +when they went abroad, Lady Mary's life was, for months together, as +uneventful as that of the ordinary suburban housewife. Montagu's +parliamentary duties took him frequently to town, and kept him there for +prolonged periods, during which he certainly showed no strong desire for +her to join him. Lady Mary, indeed, spent most of the time in the +country. Sometimes she stayed at the seat of her father-in-law, +Wharncliffe Lodge, near Sheffield; occasionally she visited Lord +Sandwich at Hinchinbrooke; for a while they stayed at Middlethorpe, in +the neighbourhood of Bishopthorpe and York. From time to time they hired +houses in other parts of Yorkshire. The honeymoon lasted from August +until October, 1712, when Montagu had to go to Westminster. + +The first letter of this period is dated characteristically: "Walling +Wells, October 22, which is the first post I could write. Monday night +being so fatigued and sick I went straight to bed from the coach." It +starts: + + +"I don't know very well how to begin; I am perfectly unacquainted with a +proper matrimonial stile. After all, I think 'tis best to write as if we +were not married at all. I lament your absence, as if you were still my +lover, and I am impatient to hear you are got safe to Durham, and that +you have fixed a time for your return." + + +Marriage made Lady Mary more human. She no longer dwelt upon the various +points that in her maidenhood days she had thought would be conducive to +happiness in matrimonial life; she was now, anyhow for the moment, in +love with her husband, or at least persuaded herself that this was the +case, and was at pains to inform him of the fact. + + +"I have not been very long in this family; and I fancy myself in that +described in the 'Spectator,'" the letter of October 22 continues. "The +good people here look upon their children with a fondness that more than +recompenses their care of them. I don't perceive much distinction in +regard to their merits; and when they speak sense or nonsense, it +affects the parents with almost the same pleasure. My friendship for the +mother, and kindness for Miss Biddy, make me endure the squalling of +Miss Nanny and Miss Mary with abundance of patience: and my foretelling +the future conquests of the eldest daughter, makes me very well with the +family.--I don't know whether you will presently find out that this +seeming impertinent account is the tenderest expressions of my love to +you; but it furnishes my imagination with agreeable pictures of our +future life; and I flatter myself with the hopes of one day enjoying +with you the same satisfactions; and that, after as many years +together, I may see you retain the same fondness for me as I shall +certainly mine for you, and the noise of a nursery may have more charms +for us than the music of an opera. + +[_Torn_] "as these are the sure effect of my sincere love, since 'tis +the nature of that passion to entertain the mind with pleasures in +prospect; and I check myself when I grieve for your absence, by +remembering how much reason I have to rejoice in the hope of passing my +whole life with you. A good fortune not to be valued!--I am afraid of +telling you that I return thanks for it to Heaven, because you will +charge me with hypocrisy; but you are mistaken: I assist every day at +public prayers in this family, and never forget in my private +ejaculation how much I owe to Heaven for making me yours. 'Tis +candle-light, or I should not conclude so soon. + +"Pray, my dear, begin at the top, and read till you come to the bottom." + + +Montagu, for his part, was somewhat careless as regards correspondence--for +which offence she rebuked him more than once, but in the most flattering +manner. + + +"I am at present in so much uneasiness, my letter is not likely to be +intelligible, if it all resembles the confusion of my head. I sometimes +imagine you not well, and sometimes that you think of it small +importance to write, or that greater matters have taken up your +thoughts. This last imagination is too cruel for me. I will rather fancy +your letter has miscarried, though I find little probability to think +so. I know not what to think, and am very near being distracted, amongst +my variety of dismal apprehensions. I am very ill company to the good +people of the house, who all bid me make you their compliments. Mr. +White begins your health twice every day. You don't deserve all this if +you can be so entirely forgetful of all this part of the world. I am +peevish with you by fits, and divide my time between anger and sorrow, +which are equaly troublesome to me. 'Tis the most cruel thing in the +world, to think one has reason to complain of what one loves. How can +you be so careless?--is it because you don't love writing? You should +remember I want to know you are safe at Durham. I shall imagine you have +had some fall from your horse, or ill accident by the way, without +regard to probability; there is nothing too extravagant for a woman's +and a lover's fears. Did you receive my last letter? if you did not, the +direction is wrong, you won't receive this, and my question is in vain. +I find I begin to talk nonsense, and 'tis time to leave off. Pray, my +dear, write to me, or I shall be very mad." + + +Montagu was, not to put too fine a point on it, a careless husband. Not +only did he neglect to write to his wife, but he neglected, or forgot, +to keep her adequately supplied with money. She had more than once to +remind him of this. "I wish you would write again to Mr. Phipps, for I +don't hear of any money, and am in the utmost necessity for it," she +told him in November, 1712. Montagu, even at this time a well-to-do man, +found it difficult to part with his money. A couple of years later, Lady +Mary had again to say to him: "Pray order me some money, for I am in +great want, and must run into debt if you don't do it soon." Even in +these days Montagu evidently had begun to be miserly. With all his +riches, he never spent a crown when a smaller sum would suffice, and +during most of his life he, as Sir Leslie Stephen put it, "devoted +himself chiefly to saving money." + +In the winter of 1712, Lady Mary, who was with child, suffered much from +ill-health, and this was to some extent aggravated by intense boredom, +although of that boredom she wrote good-humouredly enough. + + +"I don't believe you expect to hear from me so soon, if I remember you +did not so much as desire it, but I will not be so nice to quarrel with +you on that point; perhaps you would laugh at that delicacy, which is, +however, an attendant of a tender friendship," she wrote to her husband +from Hinchinbrooke at the beginning of December, 1712. + +"I opened the closet where I expected to find so many books; to my great +disappointment there were only some few pieces of the law, and folios of +mathematics; my Lord Hinchinbrook and Mr. Twiman having disposed of the +rest. But as there is no affliction, no more than no happiness, without +alloy, I discovered an old trunk of papers, which to my great diversion +I found to be the letters of the first Earl of Sandwich; and am in hopes +that those from his lady will tend much to my edification, being the +most extraordinary lessons of economy that ever I read in my life. To +the glory of your father, I find that _his_ looked upon him as destined +to be the honour of the family. + +"I walked yesterday two hours on the terrace. These are the most +considerable events that have happened in your absence; excepting that a +good-natured robin red-breast kept me company almost all the afternoon +with so much good humour and humanity as gives me faith for the piece of +charity ascribed to these little creatures in the Children in the Wood, +which I have hitherto thought only a poetical ornament to that history. + +"I expect a letter next post to tell me you are well in London and that +your business will not detain you long from her that cannot be happy +without you." + + +Even in these early days of marriage Montagu seemed to have no love for +domestic life, and often he stayed in London when he could have been in +the country with his wife, or had her with him in town. "As much as you +say I love the town, if you think it necessary for your interest to stay +some time here, I would not advise you to neglect a certainty for an +uncertainty? but I believe if you pass the Christmas here, great matters +will be expected from your hospitality: however, you are a better judge +than I am." So Lady Mary wrote from Hinchinbrooke in the first week of +December. She did not disguise from him the tedium of her existence. + + +"I continue indifferently well, and endeavour as much as I can to +preserve myself from spleen and melancholy; not for my own sake; I think +that of little importance; but in the condition I am, I believe it may +be of very ill consequence; yet, passing whole days alone as I do, I do +not always find it possible, and my constitution will sometimes get the +better of my reason. Human nature itself, without any additional +misfortunes, furnishes disagreeable meditations enough. Life itself to +make it supportable, should not be considered too near; my reason +represents to me in vain the inutility of serious reflections. The idle +mind will sometimes fall into contemplations that serve for nothing but +to ruin the health, destroy good humour, hasten old age and wrinkles, +and bring on an habitual melancholy. 'Tis a maxim with me to be young as +long as one can: there is nothing can pay one for that invaluable +ignorance which is the companion of youth; those sanguine groundless +hopes, and that lively vanity, which make all the happiness of life. To +my extreme mortification I grow wiser every day than other [sic]. I +don't believe Solomon was more convinced of the vanity of temporal +affairs than I am; I lose all taste of this world, and I suffer myself +to be bewitched by the charms of the spleen, though I know and foresee +all the irremediable mischiefs arising from it. I am insensibly fallen +into the writing you a melancholy letter, after all my resolutions to +the contrary; but I do not enjoin you to read it: make no scruple of +flinging it into the fire at the first dull line. Forgive the ill +effects of my solitude, and think me as I am, + +"Ever yours." + + +There was still hope in the hearts of Lady Mary and her husband that it +might be possible to effect a reconciliation with Lord Dorchester. Since +apparently the Marquess was not directly approachable by either of them, +they perforce had to seek an intermediary. Such an one, they trusted at +one time, would be one of Lady Mary's relatives, Lord Pierrepont of +Hanslope. To this matter there are many allusions in the correspondence, +"The Bishop of Salisbury writes me word that he hears my Lord Pierrepont +declares very much for us," Lady Mary wrote from Hinchinbrooke early in +December to her husband in town. "As the Bishop is no infallible +prelate, I should not depend much on that intelligence; but my sister +Frances tells me the same thing. Since it is so, I believe you'll think +it very proper to pay him a visit, if he is in town, and give him thanks +for the good offices you hear he has endeavoured to do me, unasked. If +his kindness is sincere, 'tis too valuable to be neglected. However, the +very appearance of it may be of use to us. If I know him, his desire of +making my Father appear in the wrong, will make him zealous for us. I +think I ought to write him a letter of acknowledgment for what I hear he +has already done." Very shortly after, however, it appears that Lord +Pierrepont was a broken reed upon which to rely. "I did not expect," Lady +Mary said bitterly, "that my Lord Pierrepont would speak at all in our +favour, much less show zeal upon that occasion, that never showed any in +his life." You cannot put it plainer than that. + +One who did really endeavour to bring about the resumption of friendly +relations was Montagu's cousin, Charles Montagu, first Baron Halifax of +Halifax, who was afterwards created first Earl of Halifax. + +To judge from Lady Mary's comments, sometimes when Montagu did write it +had been better he should not have done so. + + +"I am alone, without any amusements to take up my thoughts. I am in +circumstances in which melancholy is apt to prevail even over all +amusements, dispirited and alone, and you write me quarrelling letters," +she rebuked him on one occasion. + +"I hate complaining; 'tis no sign I am easy that I do not trouble you +with my head-aches, and my spleen; to be reasonable one should never +complain but when one hopes redress. A physician should be the only +confidant of bodily pains; and for those of the mind, they should never +be spoke of but to them that can and will relieve 'em. Should I tell you +that I am uneasy, that I am out of humour, and out of patience, should I +see you half an hour the sooner? I believe you have kindness enough for +me to be very sorry, and so you would tell me; and things remain in +their primitive state; I chuse to spare you that pain; I would always +give you pleasure. I know you are ready to tell me that I do not ever +keep to these good maxims. I confess I often speak impertinently, but I +always repent of it. My last stupid letter was not come to you, before I +would have had it back again had it been in my power; such as it was, I +beg your pardon for it." + + +In May, 1713, Lady Mary was delivered of a boy, who was christened after +his father, Edward Wortley Montagu. Some account of his unsatisfactory +career will be given in a later chapter. As an infant, he suffered from +ill-health. + + +"I am in abundance of pain about our dear child: though I am convinced +in my reason 'tis both silly and wicked to set one's heart too fondly on +anything in this world, yet I cannot overcome myself so far as to think +of parting with him with the resignation that I ought to do," the mother +wrote from Middlethorpe at the end of July. "I hope and I beg of God he +may live to be a comfort to us both. They tell me there is nothing +extraordinary in want of teeth at his age, but his weakness makes me +very apprehensive; he is almost never out of my sight. Mrs. Behn says +that the cold bath is the best medicine for weak children, but I am very +fearful and unwilling to try any hazardous remedies. He is very cheerful +and full of play." + +"I hope the child is better than he was," she mentioned a little later; +"but I wish you would let Dr. Garth know he has a bigness in his joints, +but not much; his ankles seem chiefly to have a weakness. I should be +very glad of his advice upon it, and whether he approves rubbing them +with spirits, which I am told is good for him." Then came more +favourable news about young Edward. "I thank God this cold well agrees +with the child; and he seems stronger and better every day," Lady Mary +was able to report. "But I should be very glad, if you saw Dr. Garth, if +you asked his opinion concerning the use of cold baths for young +children. I hope you love the child as well as I do; but if you love me +at all, you'll desire the preservation of his health, for I should +certainly break my heart for him." Garth, it may be assumed, was the +famous Samuel Garth, afterwards physician-in-ordinary to George I and +author of _The Dispensary_. His views on cold baths for children of +fifteen months have not been handed down to posterity by Lady Mary. + + +Meantime things were happening in the Pierrepont family. Lady Mary's +sister, Lady Frances, had, on March 8, 1712, married John, second Baron +Gower, who afterwards was created Earl Gower. Lady Mary's other sister, +Lady Evelyn, on July 26, 1714, became the second wife of John Erskine, +sixth or eleventh Earl of Mar of the Erskine line, who presently came +into prominence as an adherent of the Pretender in the rebellion of '15, +after which he fled the country. He was created Duke of Mar by the +Pretender. Finally, the Marquess of Dorchester, being then in his +fiftieth year, took for his second wife, on August 2, 1714, Lady +Isabella Bentinck, fifth daughter of William, first Earl of Portland and +his first wife, Anne, sister of Edward, first Earl of Jersey. There was +issue of this marriage two daughters: Caroline, who married Thomas +Brand, of Kempton, Hertfordshire; and Anne, who died unmarried in 1739 +at the age of twenty. + +Already, on July 1, 1723, had died Lord Dorchester's only son and heir, +William, who took the style of Earl of Kingston. He had married Rachel, +daughter of Thomas Baynton, of Little Chalfield, Wiltshire, by whom he +had one son, named Evelyn, after his grandfather, whom he succeeded in +1726 as the second Duke of Kingston. + +The career of Evelyn was undistinguished. Born in 1711, his aunt, Lady +Mary, said of him at the age of fifteen: "The Duke of Kingston has +hitherto had so ill an education, 'tis hard to make any judgment of him; +he has his spirit, but I fear will never have his father's sense. As +young gentlemen go, 'tis possible he may make a good figure among them." +Than which it would be unkind to say anything more cutting. Of course, +honours came to him. He was created Knight of the Garter in 1741, in +which year he was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber. He rose to the +rank of colonel in the army in 1745, and twenty-seven years later was +promoted General; but it does not appear that he saw any service. The +second Duke of Kingston will, however, always be remembered for his +marriage in 1769 with the beautiful and notorious Elizabeth Chudleigh, +who was nine years his junior. She had in 1744 married secretly Augustus +John Hervey, afterwards sixth Earl of Bristol, who survived until +December, 1779. She had long been living with the Duke, but in 1769 she +obtained a divorce _a mensa et thoro_, which she believed erroneously +annulled the marriage. The Duke died in 1773, when all his titles became +extinct. His Duchess was in the following year tried before the House of +Lords for bigamy, found guilty, but, pleading benefit of peerage, was +discharged. Thus, she carried out the prognostication of Lord Chief +Justice Mansfield, who had opposed the prosecution. "The arguments about +the place of trial suggest to my mind the question about the propriety +of any trial at all," he said in a debate in the House of Lords. "_Cui +bono_? What utility is to be obtained? Suppose a conviction to be the +result?--the lady makes your lordships a courtesy, and you return a +bow." She survived, living on the continent, until 1788. As an epitaph +for her there can be nothing better than a remark of Horace Walpole: "I +can tell you nothing more extraordinary, nor would any history figure +near hers. It shows genius to strike anything so new as her +achievements. Though we have many uncommon personages, it is not easy +for them to be so superiorly particular." + +More generally interesting than these domestic matters was the political +situation. Queen Anne's life had for some time been hanging in the +balance. It was thought that she might linger for some time, but there +was no hope of her recovery. The fight that was carried on between the +supporters of the Hanoverian succession and the adherents of the +Pretender is, of course, a matter of history. On August 5, 1714, came to +the Elector of Hanover, James Craggs, junior, with a letter from the +Privy Council, dated July 31, announcing the precarious state of Anne's +health, and conveying assurances that in the event of her demise every +precaution would be taken to safeguard the rights of George Lewis. The +same night messengers arrived at Hanover from London with the news of +the death of the Queen, who had passed away on July 31, shortly after +the departure of Craggs. + +During the interval between the proclamation of the accession of George +I and his arrival, which did not take place until September 17, the +country was in a disturbed state, and it is not unnatural that Lady Mary +in Yorkshire was alarmed for the safety of herself and the child. + + +"I cannot forbear taking it something unkindly that you do not write to +me, when you may be assured I am in a great fright, and know not +certainly what to expect upon this sudden change," she wrote from +Middlethorpe to Montagu. "The Archbishop of York has been come to +Bishopthorpe but three days. I went with my cousin to-day to see the +King proclaimed, which was done; the Archbishop walking next the Lord +Mayor, all the country gentry following, with greater crowds of people +than I believed to be in York, vast acclamations, and the appearance of +a general satisfaction. The Pretender afterwards dragged about the +streets and burned. Ringing of bells, bonfires, and illuminations, the +mob crying Liberty and Property! and Long live King George! This morning +all the principal men of any figure took post for London, and we are +alarmed with the fear of attempts from Scotland, though all Protestants +seem unanimous for the Hanover succession. The poor young ladies at +Castle Howard are as much afraid as I am, being left all alone, without +any hopes of seeing their father again (though things should prove well) +this eight or nine months. They have sent to desire me very earnestly to +come to them, and bring my boy; 'tis the same thing as pensioning in a +nunnery, for no mortal man ever enters the doors in the absence of their +father, who is gone post. During this uncertainty, I think it will be a +safe retreat; for Middlethorpe stands exposed to plunderers, if there be +any at all." + + +A day or two later this letter was followed by another: + + +"You made me cry two hours last night. I cannot imagine why you use me +so ill; for what reason you continue silent, when you know at any time +your silence cannot fail of giving me a great deal of pain; and now to a +higher degree because of the perplexity that I am in, without knowing +where you are, what you are doing, or what to do with myself and my dear +little boy. However (persuaded there can be no objection to it), I +intend to go to-morrow to Castle Howard, and remain there with the young +ladies, 'till I know when I shall see you, or what you would command. +The Archbishop and everybody else are gone to London. We are alarmed +with a story of a fleet being seen from the coasts of Scotland. An +express went from thence through York to the Earl of Mar. I beg you +would write to me. 'Till you do I shall not have an easy minute. I am +sure I do not deserve from you that you should make me uneasy. I find I +am scolding, 'tis better for me not to trouble you with it; but I cannot +help taking your silence very unkindly." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE I (1714) + +Lady Mary shows an increasing interest in politics--She tries to incite +her husband to be ambitious--Montagu not returned to the new +Parliament--His lack of energy--Correspondence--The Council of +Regency--The King commands Lord Townshend to form a Government--The +Cabinet--Lord Halifax, First Lord of the Treasury--Montagu appointed a +Lord Commissioner of the Treasury--Correspondence--The unsatisfactory +relations between Lady Mary and Montagu. + + +At the time of the death of Queen Anne Lady Mary began to show an +increased interest in polities, at least in so far as the career of +Montagu was bound up with it. She began to try to persuade her husband +to be, to some extent at least, ambitious. It may be that she was not +happy at the thought of being married to a man who was regarded as a +nonentity. She was always urging him to put his best foot forward. +Sometimes she wrote to him as to a naughty child. "I am very much +surprised that you do not tell me in your last letter that you have +spoke to my Father," she said in August, 1714. "I hope after staying in +the town on purpose, you do not intend to omit it. I beg you would not +leave any sort of business unfinished, remembering those two necessary +maxims, Whatever you intend to do as long as you live do as soon as you +can; and to leave nothing to be done by another that 'tis possible to do +yourself." What sort of a man must Montagu have been at the age of +thirty-six that his wife should deem it necessary to give him such +first-aid advice? + +Montagu was evidently of a procrastinating turn of mind. He had, as has +been said, sat for Huntingdon in the House of Commons from 1705 until +1713. In the latter year Parliament was dissolved on August 8, but +Montagu had made no definite plans as regards his future political +career--for some reason or other his father reserved for himself the +seat for Huntingdon. Montagu found no other constituency, and +consequently did not sit in the new Parliament that assembled on the +following November 11. + + +"I suppose you may now come in at Aldburgh, and I heartily wish you was +in Parliament," Lady Mary wrote to him. "I saw the Archbishop [of +York]'s list of the Lords Regents appointed, and perceive Lord Wharton +is not one of them; by which I guess the new scheme is not to make use +of any man grossly infamous in either party; consequently, those who +have been honest in regard to both, will stand fairest for preferment. +You understand these things much better than me; but I hope you will be +persuaded by me and your other friends (who I don't doubt will be of +opinion) that 'tis necessary for the common good for an honest man to +endeavour to be powerful, when he can be the one without losing the +first more valuable title; and remember that money is the source of +power. I hear that Parliament sits but six months; you know best whether +'tis worth any expense or bustle to be in for so short a time." + + +Lady Mary's letters now contain many references to political affairs, +anyhow in so far as they directly concern Montagu. + + +"I hope you are convinced I was not mistaken in my judgment of Lord +Pelham; he is very silly but very good-natured. I don't see how it can +be improper for you to get it represented to him that he is obliged in +honour to get you chose at Aldburgh, and may more easily get Mr. Jessop +chose at another place. I can't believe but you may manage it in such a +manner, Mr. Jessop himself would not be against it, nor would he have so +much reason to take it ill, if he should not be chose, as you have after +so much money fruitlessly spent. I dare say you may order it so that it +may be so, if you talk to Lord Townshend about it, &c. I mention this, +because I cannot think you can stand at York, or anywhere else, without +a great expense. Lord Morpeth is just now of age, but I know not whether +he'll think it worth while to return from travel upon that occasion. +Lord Carlisle is in town, you may if you think fit make him a visit, and +enquire concerning it. After all, I look upon Aldburgh to be the surest +thing. Lord Pelham is easily persuaded to any thing, and I am sure he +may be told by Lord Townshend that he has used you ill; and I know he'll +be desirous to do all things in his power to make it up. In my opinion, +if yon resolve upon an extraordinary expense to be in Parliament, you +should resolve to have it turn to some account. Your father is very +surprizing if he persists in standing at Huntingdon; but there is +nothing surprizing in such a world as this." + + +Later in August Lady Mary wrote again on the same subject, and this +letter shows that she had been at pains to acquire some practical +knowledge of borough-mongering. + + +"You seem not to have received my letters, or not to have understood +them; you had been chose undoubtedly at York, if you had declared in +time; but there is not any gentleman or tradesman disengaged at this +time; they are treating every night. Lord Carlisle and the Thompsons +have given their interest to Mr. Jenkins. I agree with you of the +necessity of your standing this Parliament, which, perhaps, may be more +considerable than any that are to follow it; but, as you proceed, 'tis +my opinion, you will spend your money and not be chose. I believe there +is hardly a borough unengaged. I expect every letter should tell me you +are sure of some place; and, as far as I can perceive you are sure of +none. As it has been managed, perhaps it will be the best way to deposit +a certain sum in some friend's hands, and buy some little Cornish +borough: it would, undoubtedly, look better to be chose for a +considerable town; but I take it to be now too late. If you have any +thoughts of Newark, it will be absolutely necessary for you to enquire +after Lord Lexington's interest; and your best way to apply yourself to +Lord Holdernesse, who is both a Whig and an honest man. He is now in +town, and you may enquire of him if Brigadier Sutton stands there; and +if not, try to engage him for you. Lord Lexington is so ill at the Bath, +that it is a doubt if he will live 'till the election; and if he dies, +one of his heiresses, and the whole interest of his estate, will +probably fall on Lord Holdernesse. + +"'Tis a surprise to me that you cannot make sure of some borough, when +so many of your friends bring in several Parliament-men without trouble +or expense. 'Tis too late to mention it now, but you might have applied +to Lady Winchester, as Sir Joseph Jekyl did last year, and by her +interest the Duke of Bolton brought him in for nothing; I am sure she +would be more zealous to serve me than Lady Jekyl. You should understand +these things better than me. I heard, by a letter last post, that Lady +M. Montagu and Lady Hinchinbrooke are to be Bedchamber Ladies to the +Princess, and Lady Townshend Groom of the Stole. She must be a strange +Princess if she can pick a favourite out of them; and as she will be one +day Queen, and they say has an influence over her husband, I wonder they +don't think fit to place women about her with a little common sense." + + +Again, in the middle of September Lady Mary returned to the subject of +Montagu finding a seat in the House: + + +"I cannot be very sorry for your declining at Newark, being very +uncertain of your success; but I am surprized you do not mention where +you intend to stand. Dispatch, in things of this nature, if not a +security, at least delay is a sure way to lose, as you have done, being +easily chose at York, for not resolving in time, and Aldburgh, for not +applying soon enough to Lord Pelham. Here are people here had rather +choose Fairfax than Jenkins, and others that prefer Jenkins to Fairfax; +but both parties, separately, have wished to me you would have stood, +with assurances of having preferred you to either of them. At Newark, +Lord Lexington has a very considerable interest. If you have any +thoughts of standing, you must endeavour to know how he stands affected; +though I am afraid he will assist Brigadier Sutton, or some other Tory. +Sir Matthew Jenison has the best interest of any Whig; but he stood last +year himself, and will, perhaps, do so again. Newdigate will certainly +be chose there for one. Upon the whole, 'tis the most expensive and +uncertain place you can stand at. Tis surprizing to me, that you are all +this while in the midst of your friends without being sure of a place, +when so many insignificant creatures come in without any opposition. +They say Mr. Strickland is sure at Carlisle, where he never stood +before. I believe most places are engaged by this time. I am very sorry, +for your sake, that you spent so much money in vain last year, and will +not come in this, when you might make a more considerable figure than +you could have done then. I wish Lord Pelham would compliment Mr. Jessop +with his Newark interest, and let you come in at Aldburgh." + + +On the death of the Queen, the Council, which had assembled at +Kensington Palace, adjourned to St. James's. By the Regency Bill the +administration of the government (in the event of the King being absent +from the realm at the time of his accession to the throne) devolved upon +the holders for the time being of the Great Officers of State: the +Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Thomas Tenison), the Lord Chancellor +(Simon, Lord Harcourt), the Lord President (John, Duke of +Buckinghamshire), the Lord High Treasurer (Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury), +the Lord Privy Seal (William, Earl of Dartmouth), the First Lord of the +Admiralty (Thomas, Earl of Strafford), and the Lord Chief Justice of the +King's Bench (Sir Thomas Parker, afterwards Earl of Macclesfield). Under +another clause of the Regency Act the Sovereign was entitled to nominate +a number of Lords Justices. Baron von Bothmer, the Hanovarian Envoy +Extraordinary to the Court of St. James's, opened the sealed packet +containing the Commission of Regency, drawn up by George after the death +of his mother. The King's nominees were the Archbishop of York, the +Dukes of Shrewsbury,[1] Somerset, Bolton, Devonshire, Kent, Argyll, +Montrose, and Roxborough; the Earls of Pembroke, Anglesea, Carlisle, +Nottingham, Abingdon, Scarborough, and Oxford; Viscount Townshend; and +Barons Halifax and Cowper. Marlborough was not in the Commission, but he +was appointed Captain-General of the Forces. + +[Footnote 1: The Commission was, of course, made out before the Duke of +Shrewsbury was given the White Staff, the possession of which made him a +Lord Justice in virtue of his office.] + +From The Hague, where he arrived on September 5, 1714, George I sent +authority to Charles, Viscount Townshend, to form a Cabinet, with power +to nominate his colleagues. Townshend took the office of Secretary of +State for the Northern Department, and appointed James Stanhope +Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Lord Halifax became +First Lord of the Treasury; Lord Cowper, Lord Chancellor; the Earl of +Nottingham, Lord President; the Marquis of Wharton, Lord Privy Seal; the +Earl of Oxford, First Lord of the Admiralty; the Earl of Sunderland, +Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; Robert Walpole, Paymaster-General of the +Forces. As Captain-General Marlborough was in the Cabinet. + +Lord Halifax, when making out the Commission of the Treasury, invited +his cousin Montagu to be one of the Commissioners, although the latter +had not secured a seat in Parliament. "It will be surprizing to add," +says Lady Mary, "that he hesitated to accept it at a time when his +father was alive and his present income very small; but he had certainly +refused it if he had not been persuaded to it by a rich old uncle of +mine, Lord Pierrepont, whose fondness for me gave him expectations of a +large legacy." Lady Mary, though glad enough that her husband had been +given a place, was not over and above delighted that it was one so +modest. + + +_Lady Mary Wortley Montagu to her Husband_ + +[Enclosed, September 24, 1714.] + +"Though I am very impatient to see you, I would not have you, by +hastening to come down, lose any part of your interest. I am surprized +you say nothing of where you stand. I had a letter from Mrs. Hewet last +post, who said she heard you stood at Newark, and would be chose without +opposition; but I fear her intelligence is not at all to be depended on. +I am glad you think of serving your friends; I hope it will put you in +mind of serving yourself. I need not enlarge upon the advantages of +money; every thing we see, and every thing we hear, puts us in +remembrance of it. If it was possible to restore liberty to your +country, or limit the encroachments of the prerogative, by reducing +yourself to a garret, I should be pleased to share so glorious a poverty +with you; but as the world is, and will be, 'tis a sort of duty to be +rich, that it may be in one's power to do good; riches being another +word for power, towards the obtaining of which the first necessary +qualification is impudence, and (as Demosthenes said of pronunciation in +oratory) the second is impudence, and the third, still, impudence. No +modest man ever did or ever will make his fortune. Your friend Lord +H[alifa]x, R. W[alpo]le, and all other remarkable instances of quick +advancement, have been remarkably impudent. The Ministry is like a play +at Court; there's a little door to get in, and a great crowd without, +shoving and thrusting who shall be foremost: people who knock others +with their elbows, disregard a little kick of the shins, and still +thrust heartily forwards, are sure of a good place. Your modest man +stands behind in the crowd, is shoved about by every body, his cloaths +tore, almost squeezed to death, and sees a thousand get in before him, +that don't make so good a figure as himself. + +"I don't say it is impossible for an impudent man not to rise in the +world; but a moderate merit, with a large share of impudence, is more +probable to be advanced, than the greatest qualifications without it. + +"If this letter is impertinent, it is founded upon an opinion of your +merit, which, it if is a mistake, I would not be undeceived in: it is my +interest to believe (as I do) that you deserve every thing, and are +capable of every thing; but nobody else will believe you if they see you +get nothing." + + +[Postmark, October 6, 1714.] + +"I cannot imagine why you should desire that I should not be glad, +though from a mistake, since, at least, it is an agreeable one. I +confess I shall ever be of opinion, if you are in the Treasury, it will +be an addition to your figure and facilitate your election, though it is +no otherwise advantageous; and that, if you have nothing when all your +acquaintance are preferred, the world generally will not be persuaded +that you neglect your fortune, but that you are neglected." + + +[Endorsed, October 9, 1714.] + +"You do me wrong in imagining (as I perceive you do) that my reason for +being solicitous for your having that place, was in view of spending +more money than we do. You have no cause of fancying me capable of such +a thought. I don't doubt but Lord H[alifa]x will very soon have the +Staff, and it is my belief you will not be at all the richer: but I +think it looks well, and may facilitate your election; and that is all +the advantage I hope from it. When all your intimate acquaintance are +preferred, I think you would have an ill air in having nothing; upon +that account only, I am sorry so many considerable places are disposed +on [_sic_]. I suppose, now, you will certainly be chose somewhere or +other; and I cannot see why you should not pretend to be Speaker. I +believe all the Whigs would be for you, and I fancy you have a +considerable interest amongst the Tories, and for that reason would be +very likely to carry it. 'Tis impossible for me to judge of this so well +as you can do; but the reputation of being thoroughly of no party, is (I +think) of use in this affair, and I believe people generally esteem you +impartial; and being chose by your country is more honourable than +holding _any_ place from _any_ king." + + +The relations between Lady Mary and her husband did not improve. Not +only did he neglect to write to her when he left her in the country, but +he does not at any time appear to have had any desire to have her with +him in town. Lady Mary showed extreme, in fact overmuch, forbearance, +but towards the end of November her patience gave out: "I cannot forbear +any longer telling you, I think you use me very unkindly." + + +"I don't say so much of your absence, as I should do if you was in the +country and I in London; because I would not have you believe I am +impatient to be in town, when I say I am impatient to be with you; but I +am very sensible I parted with you in July and 'tis now the middle of +November," she went on to say. "As if this was not hardship enough, you +do not tell me you are sorry for it. You write seldom, and with so much +indifference as shews you hardly think of me at all. I complain of ill +health, and you only say you hope 'tis not so bad as I make it. You +never enquire after your child. I would fain flatter myself you have +more kindness for me and him than you express; but I reflect with grief +a man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable, is +generally proud of those that [are] shameful and silly." + + +Lady Mary, once having given vent to her feeling of injustice, was not +concerned to mince her words: "You seem perfectly pleased with our +separation, and indifferent how long it continues.... When I reflect on +your behaviour, I am ashamed of my own: I think I am playing the part of +my Lady Winchester. At least be as generous as My Lord; and as he made +early confession of his aversion, own to me your inconstancy, and upon +my word I will give you no more trouble about it.... For my part, as +'tis my first, this is my last complaint, and your next of the kind +shall go back enclosed to you in blank paper." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU'S ACCOUNT OF THE COURT OF GEORGE I + + +Lady Mary, then, had been in Yorkshire when the Queen died, and was +still in the country, much against her will, when the King arrived on +September 18. Soon after, however, she came to town, and, so to speak, +looked around the Court. Her "Account of the Court of George I" is not +always accurate, and is certainly often prejudiced. It is not the less +interesting because the writer did not mince her words, even when +discussing the character of her friend, "Dolly" Walpole. Notwithstanding, +this bird-eye view of the royal and political circles at the accession +of the first of the Hanoverian monarchs is so valuable as to deserve +inclusion in this work. + + +"The new Court with all their train was arrived before I left the +country. The Duke of Marlborough was returned in a sort of triumph, with +the apparent merit of having suffered for his fidelity in the +succession, and was reinstated in his office of general, &c. In short, +all people who had suffered any hardship or disgrace during the late +ministry would have it believed that it was occasioned by their +attachment to the House of Hanover. Even Mr. Walpole, who had been sent +to the Tower for a piece of bribery proved upon him, was called a +confessor to the cause. But he had another piece of good luck that yet +more contributed to his advancement, he had a very handsome sister, +whose folly had lost her reputation in London; but the yet greater folly +of Lord Townshend, who happened to be a neighbour in Norfolk to Mr. +Walpole, had occasioned his being drawn in to marry her some months +before the Queen died. + +"Lord Townshend had that sort of understanding which commonly makes men +honest in the first part of their lives; they follow the instruction of +their tutor, and, till somebody thinks it worth while to show them a new +path, go regularly on in the road where they are set. Lord Townshend had +then been many years an excellent husband to a sober wife, a kind master +to all his servants and dependants, a serviceable relation whenever it +was in his power, and followed the instinct of nature in being fond of +his children. Such a sort of behaviour without any glaring absurdity, +either in prodigality or avarice, always gains a man the reputation of +reasonable and honest; and this was his character when the Earl of +Godolphin sent him envoy to the States, not doubting but he would be +faithful to his orders, without giving himself the trouble of +criticising on them, which is what all ministers wish in an envoy. +Robethon, a French refugee (secretary to Bernstorff, one of the Elector +of Hanover's ministers), happened to be at The Hague, and was civilly +received by Lord Townshend, who treated him at his table with the +English hospitality; and he was charmed with a reception which his birth +and education did not entitle him to. Lord Townshend was recalled when +the Queen changed her ministry, his wife died, and he retired into the +country, where (as I have said before) Walpole had art enough to make +him marry his sister Dolly. At that time, I believe, he did not propose +much more advantage by the match than to get rid of a girl that lay +heavy on his hands. + +"When King George ascended the throne, he was surrounded by all his +German ministers and playfellows, male and female. Baron Goertz was the +most considerable among them both for birth and fortune. He had managed +the King's treasury, for thirty years, with the utmost fidelity and +economy; and had the true German honesty, being a plain, sincere and +unambitious man. Bernstorff, the Secretary, was of a different turn. He +was avaricious, artful, and designing, and had got his share in the +King's councils by bribing his women. Robethon was employed in these +matters, and had the sanguine ambition of a Frenchman. He resolved there +should be an English ministry of his choosing; and, knowing none of them +personally but Townshend, he had not failed to recommend him to his +master, and his master to the King, as the only proper person for the +important post of Secretary of State; and he entered upon that office +with universal applause, having at that time a very popular character, +which he might probably have retained for ever if he had not been +entirely governed by his wife and her brother Robert Walpole, whom he +immediately advanced to be Paymaster, esteemed a post of exceeding +profit, and very necessary for his indebted estate. + +"But he had yet higher views, or rather he found it necessary to move +higher, lest he should not be able to keep that. The Earl of Wharton, +now Marquis, both hated and despised him. His large estate, the whole +income of which was spent in the service of the party and his own parts, +made him considerable, though his profligate life lessened that weight +that a more regular conduct would have given him. + +"Lord Halifax, who was now advanced to the dignity of Earl, and graced +with the Garter, and First Commissioner of the Treasury, treated him +with contempt. The Earl of Nottingham, who had the real merit of having +renounced the ministry in Queen Anne's reign, when he thought they were +going to alter the succession, was not to be reconciled to Walpole, whom +he looked upon as stigmatised for corruption. + +"The Duke of Marlborough, who in his old age was making the same figure +at Court that he did when he first came into it--I mean, bowing and +smiling in the antechamber while Townshend was in the closet,--was not, +however, pleased with the Walpole, who began to behave to him with the +insolence of new favour, and his Duchess, who never restrained her +tongue in her life, used to make public jokes of the beggary she first +knew him in, when her caprice gave him a considerable place, against the +opinion of Lord Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough. + +"To balance these, he had introduced some friends of his own, by his +recommendation to Lord Townshend (who did nothing but by his +instigation). Colonel Stanhope was made the Secretary of State. He had +been unfortunate in Spain, and there did not want those who attributed +it to ill conduct; but he was called generous, brave, true to his +friends, and had an air of probity which prejudiced the world in his +favour. + +"The King's character may be comprised in very few words. In private +life he would have been called an honest blockhead; and Fortune that +made him a king, added nothing to his happiness, only prejudiced his +honesty, and shortened his days. No man was ever more free from +ambition; he loved money, but loved to keep his own, without being +rapacious of other men's. He would have grown rich by saving, but was +incapable of laying schemes for getting; he was more properly dull than +lazy, and would have been so well contented to have remained in his +little town of Hanover, that if the ambition of those about him had not +been greater than his own, we should never have seen him in England; and +the natural honesty of his temper, joined with the narrow notions of a +low education, made him look upon his acceptance of the crown as an act +of usurpation, which was always uneasy to him. But he was carried by the +stream of the people about him, in that, as in every action of his life. +He could speak no English, and was past the age of learning it. Our +customs and laws were all mysteries to him, which he neither tried to +understand, nor was capable of understanding if he had endeavoured it. +He was passively good-natured, and wished all mankind enjoyed quiet, if +they would let him do so. + +"The mistress that followed him hither was so much of his own temper, +that I do not wonder at the engagement between them. She was duller than +himself, and consequently did not find out that he was so; and had lived +in that figure at Hanover almost forty years (for she came hither at +three score) without meddling in any affairs of the Electorate, content +with the small pension he allowed her, and the honour of his visits when +he had nothing else to do, which happened very often. She even refused +coming hither at first, fearing that the people of England, who, she +thought, were accustomed to use their kings barbarously, might chop off +his head in the first fortnight; and had not love or gratitude enough to +venture being involved in his ruin. And the poor man was in peril of +coming hither without knowing where to pass his evenings; which he was +accustomed to do in the apartments of women free from business. But +Madame Keilmansegg saved him from this misfortune. She was told that +Mademoiselle Schulenburg scrupled this terrible journey, and took the +opportunity of offering her service to his Majesty, who willingly +accepted it, though he did not facilitate it to her by the payment of +debts, which made it very difficult for her to leave Hanover without +permission of her creditors. But she was a woman of wit and spirit, and +knew very well of what importance this step was to her fortune. She got +out of the town in disguise, and made the best of her way in a +post-chaise to Holland, from whence she embarked with the King, and +arrived at the same time with him in England; which was enough to make +her called his mistress, or at least so great a favourite that the whole +Court began to pay her uncommon respect. + +"This lady deserves that I should be a little particular in her +character, there being something in it worth speaking of. She was past +forty; she had never been a beauty, but certainly very agreeable in her +person when adorned with youth; and had once appeared so charming to the +King, that it was said the divorce and ruin of his beautiful Princess, +the Duke of Celle's daughter, was owing to the hopes her mother (who was +declared mistress to the King's father, and all-powerful in his Court,) +had of setting her daughter in her place; and that project did not +succeed, by the passion which Madame Kielmansegg took for M. Kielmansegg, +who was a son of a merchant of Hamburg, and after having a child by him, +there was nothing left for her but to marry him. Her ambitions ran mad +with the disappointment, and died in that deplorable manner, leaving +L40,000 which she had heaped by the favour of the Elector, to this +daughter, which was very easily squandered by one of her temper. She was +both luxurious and generous, devoted to her pleasures, and seemed to have +taken Lord Rochester's resolution of avoiding all sorts of self-denial. +She had a greater vivacity in conversation than ever I knew in a German +of either sex. She loved reading, and had a taste of all polite learning. +Her humour was easy and sociable. Her constitution inclined her to +gallantry. She was well-bred and amusing in company. She knew both how +to please and be pleased, and had experience enough to know it was hard +to do either without money. Her unlimited expenses had left her with +very little remaining, and she made what haste she could to make +advantage of the opinion the English had of her power with the King, by +receiving the presents that were made her from all quarters, and which +she knew very well must cease when it was known that the King's idleness +carried him to her lodgings without either regard for her advice, or +affection for her person, which time and very bad paint had left without +any of the charms which had once attracted him. His best-beloved mistress +remained still at Hanover, which was the beautiful Countess of Platen. + +"Perhaps it will be thought a digression in this place to tell the story +of his amour with her; but, as I write only for myself, I shall always +think I am at liberty to make what digressions I think fit, proper or +improper; besides that in my opinion can set the King's character in a +clearer light. That lady was married to Madame Kielmansegg's brother, +the most considerable man in Hanover for birth and fortune; and her +beauty was as far beyond that of any of the other women that appeared. +However, the King saw her every day without taking notice of it, and +contented himself with his habitual commerce with Mademoiselle +Schulenburg. + +"In those little Courts there is no distinction of much value but what +arises from the favour of the Prince, and Madame Platen saw with great +indignation that all her charms were passed over unregarded; and she +took a method to get over this misfortune which would never have entered +into the head of a woman of sense, and yet which met with wonderful +success. She asked an audience of his Highness, who granted it without +guessing what she meant by it; and she told him that as nobody could +refuse her the first rank in that place, it was very mortifying to see +his Highness not show her any mark of favour; and as no person could be +more attached to his person than herself, she begged with tears in her +fine eyes that he would alter his behaviour to her. The Elector, very +much astonished at this complaint, answered that he did not know any +reason he had given her to believe he was wanting in respect for her, +and that he thought her not only the greatest lady, but the greatest +beauty of the court. 'If that be true, sire,' replied she, sobbing, 'why +do you pass all your time with Mademoiselle Schulenburg, while I hardly +receive the honour of a visit from you?' His Highness promised to mend +his manners, and from that time was very assiduous in waiting upon her. +This ended in a fondness, which her husband disliked so much that he +parted with her, and she had the glory of possessing the heart and +person of her master, and to turn the whole stream of courtiers that +used to attend Mademoiselle Schulenburg to her side. However, he did not +break with his first love, and often went to her apartment to cut paper, +which was his chief employment there; which the Countess of Platen +easily permitted him, having often occasion for his absence. She was +naturally gallant; and, after having thus satisfied her ambition, +pursued her warmer inclinations. + +"Young Craggs came about this time to Hanover, where his father sent him +to take a view of that court in his tour of travelling. He was in his +first bloom of youth and vigour, and had so strong an appearance of that +perfection, that it was called beauty by the generality of women: though +in my opinion there was a coarseness in his face and shape that had more +the air of a porter than a gentleman; and, if fortune had not interposed +her almighty power, he might by his birth have appeared in that figure; +his father being nothing more considerable at his first appearance in +the world than footman to Lady Mary Mordaunt, the gallant Duchess of +Norfolk, who had always half a dozen intrigues to manage. Some servant +must always be trusted in affairs of that kind and James Craggs had the +good fortune to be chose for that purpose. She found him both faithful +and discreet, and he was soon advanced to the dignity of _valet-de-chambre._ + +"King James II had an amour with her after he was upon the throne, and +respected the Queen enough to endeavour to keep it entirely from her +knowledge. James Craggs was the messenger between the King and the +Duchess, and did not fail to make the best use of so important a trust. +He scraped a great deal of money from the bounty of this royal lover, +and was too inconsiderable to be hurt by his ruin; and did not concern +much for that of his mistress, which by lower intrigues happened soon +after. This fellow, from the report of all parties, and even from that +of his professed enemies, had a very uncommon genius; a head well turned +for calculation, great industry, and was so just an observer of the +world, that the meanness of his education never appeared in his +conversation. + +"The Duke of Marlborough, who was sensible how well he was qualified for +affairs that required secrecy, employed him as his procurer both for +women and money, and he acquitted himself so well of these trusts as to +please his master, and yet raise a considerable fortune, by turning his +money in the public funds, the secret of which came often to his +knowledge by the Duke's employing him. He had this only son, whom he +looked on with the partiality of a parent, and resolved to spare nothing +in his education that could add to his figure. + +"Young Craggs had great vivacity, a happy memory, and flowing elocution, +he was brave and generous, and had an appearance of open-heartedness in +his manner that gained him a universal good-will, if not a universal +esteem. It is true there appeared a heat and want of judgment in all his +words and actions, which did not make him valuable in the eyes of cool +judges, but Madame Platen was not of that number. His youth and fire +made him appear very well worthy of his passionate addresses. Two people +so well disposed towards each other were very soon in the closest +engagement; and the first proof Madame Platen gave him of her affection +was introducing him to the favour of the Elector, who took it on her +word that he was a young man of extraordinary merit, and he named him +for Cofferer at his first accession to the Crown of England, and I +believe it was the only place that he then disposed of from any +inclination of his own. This proof of Madame Platen's favour hindered +her coming hither. + +"Bernstorff was afraid she might meddle in the distribution of places +that he was willing to keep in his own hands; and he represented to the +King that the Roman Catholic religion that she professed was an +insuperable objection to her appearance at the Court of England, at +least so early; but he gave her private hopes that things might be so +arranged as to make her admittance easy when the King was settled in his +new dominions. And with this hope she consented without much concern to +let him go without her; not reflecting that weak minds lose all +impressions by even short absences. But as her own understanding did not +furnish her with very great refinements, she was troubled with none of +the fears that would have affected a stronger head, and had too good an +opinion of her own beauty to believe anything in England could efface +it, while Madame Kielmansegg attached herself to the one thing +necessary--getting what money she could by the sale of places, and the +credulity of those who thought themselves very polite in securing her +favour. + +"Lord Halifax was one of this number; his ambition was unbounded, and he +aimed at no less than the Treasurer's staff, and thought himself in a +fine road for it by furnishing Madame Kielmansegg both with money and a +lover. Mr. Methuen was the man he picked out for that purpose. He was +one of the Lords of the Treasury; he was handsome and well-made; he had +wit enough to be able to affect any part he pleased and a romantic turn +in his conversation that could entertain a lady with as many adventures +as Othello,--and it is no ill way of gaining Desdemonas. Women are very +apt to take their lovers' characters from their own mouths; and if you +will believe Mr. Methuen's account of himself, neither Artamenes nor +Oroondates ever had more valour, honour, constancy, and discretion. Half +of these bright qualities were enough to charm Madame Kielmansegg, and +they were soon in the strictest familiarity, which continued for +different reasons, to the pleasure of both parties, till the arrival of +Mademoiselle Schulenburg, which was hastened by the German ministers, +who envied the money accumulated by Madame Kielmansegg, which they +longed to turn into another channel, which they thought would be more +easily drawn into their own hands. They took care to inform Mademoiselle +Schulenburg of the fond reception all the Germans met with in England, +and gave her a view of the immense fortune that waited her here. This +was enough to cure her fears, and she arrived accompanied by a young +niece who had already made some noise at Hanover. She had projected the +conquest of the Prince of Wales, and had so far succeeded as to obtain +his favours for some months, but the Princess, who dreaded a rival to +her power, soon put an end to the correspondence, and she was no longer +possessed of his good graces when she came hither. + +"I have not yet given the character of the Prince. The fire of his +temper appeared in every look and gesture; which, being unhappily under +the direction of a small understanding, was every day throwing him upon +some indiscretion. He was naturally sincere, and his pride told him that +he was placed above constraint; not reflecting that a high rank carries +along with it a necessity if a more decent and regular behaviour than is +expected from those who are not set in so conspicuous a light. He was +far from being of that opinion, that he looked on all men and women he +saw as creatures he might kick or kiss for his diversion; and whenever +he met with any opposition in those designs, he thought his opposers +insolent rebels to the will of God, who created them for his use, and +judged of the merit of all people by their submission to his orders, or +the relation they had to his power. And in this view, he looked upon the +Princess, as the most meritorious of her sex; and she took care to keep +him in that sentiment by all the arts she was mistress of. He had +married her by inclination; his good-natured father had been so +complaisant as to let him choose a wife for himself. She was of the +house of Anspach, and brought him no great addition either of money or +alliance; but was at that time esteemed a German beauty, and had genius +which qualified her for the government of a fool; and made her +despicable in the eyes of men of sense; I mean a low cunning, which gave +her an inclination to cheat all the people she conversed with, and often +cheated herself in the first place, by showing her the wrong side of her +interest, not having understanding enough to observe that falsehood in +conversation, like red on the face, should be used very seldom, and very +sparingly, or they destroy that interest and beauty which they are +designed to heighten. + +"Her first thought on her marriage was to secure to herself the sole and +whole direction of her spouse; and to that purpose she counterfeited the +most extravagant fondness for his person; yet, at the same time, so +devoted to his pleasures (which she often told him were the rule of all +her thoughts and actions), that whenever he thought proper to find them +with other women, she even loved whoever was instrumental to his +entertainment, and never resented anything but what appeared to her a +want of respect for him; and in this light she really could not help +taking notice that the presents made to her on her wedding were not +worthy of his bride, and at least she ought to have had all his mother's +jewels. This was enough to make him lose all respect for his indulgent +father. He downright abused his ministers, and talked impertinently to +his old grandmother the Princess Sophia, which ended in such a coldness +towards all his family as left him entirely under the government of his +wife. + +"The indolent Elector contented himself with showing his resentment by +his silence towards him; and this was the situation the family first +appeared in when they came into England. This behaviour did not, +however, hinder schemes being laid by various persons of gratifying +their ambition, or making their fortunes, by particular attachments to +each of the Royal Family." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT HERRENHAUSEN AND ST. JAMES (1714-1716) + +The Elector George Lewis not delighted at his accession to the British +throne--A greater man in Hanover than in London--Lady Mary modifies her +first impression of the King--She is in high favour at Court--An amusing +incident at St. James's--The early unpopularity of George I in England +generally, and especially in the capital--The Hanoverians in the Royal +Household--The Duchess of Kendal--The Countess of Darlington--Lady +Mary's description of the Hanoverian ladies--The Duchess of Kendal's +passion for money--Her influence with the King in political matters--Count +de Broglie--The scandal about Lady Darlington refuted--Lady Mary and the +Prince of Wales--The King and the Prince of Wales--The poets and wits of +the day--Gay's tribute to Lady Mary--Pope's verses on her--"Court Poems." + + +It is beyond question that the accession to the British throne gave no +thrill of pleasure to the King. He was fifty-four years of age, and had +no desire to change his state. It was necessary for him, as the present +writer has said elsewhere, now to go from a country where he was +absolute, to another where, so far from being supreme, when King and +people differed on a matter of vital importance, the monarch had to give +way--the price of resistance having been fixed, at worst at death, at +best exile or civil war. He had to go from a country where he was the +wealthiest and most important personage to another where he would be +merely regarded as a minor German princeling set up as a figurehead, and +where many of the gentry were wealthier than he. This point was +appreciated by Lady Mary when she went to Hanover in November, 1716, for +she wrote from there to the Countess of Bristol: "I have now made the +tour of Germany, and cannot help observing difference between +travelling here and in England. One sees none of those fine seats of +noblemen that are so common among us, nor anything like a country +gentleman's house, though they have many situations perfectly fine. But +the whole people are divided into absolute sovereignties, where all the +riches and magnificence are at Court, or communities of merchants, such +as Nuremberg and Frankfort, where they live always in town for the +convenience of trade." + +Worse than all George must set forth by no means sure of his reception, +and with no love, nor even liking, for the people over whom he was +called to reign. That he did go at all is greatly to his credit, for he +was doubtful if he would be allowed to remain, and he never revisited +Hanover without some suspicion that he might not be able to return to +England. He would have been a much happier man if he could have remained +at his beloved Herrenhausen. He never felt he owed Britain anything, and +indeed he did not: the throne had been settled on his mother, not for +love of her, but simply because she was the only alternative to the +succession of the dreaded Roman Catholic heirs. So George came as a +visitor, rather submitting to be King of England, than anxious for the +honour, prepared to be forced by circumstances to return, little +dreaming that two hundred years later his descendants would be firmly +seated upon his throne. + +It may be mentioned that Lady Mary, as she became better acquainted with +the King, grew to like him. In the letter from Hanover just quoted, she +says: "His Majesty dines and sups constantly in public. The Court is +very numerous, and his affability and goodness make it one of the most +agreeable places in the world to me." The King was indeed at his best +when in residence at Herrenhausen. Lord Peterborough said that George +was so happy there that he believed he had forgot _the accident that +occurred to him and his family on the 1st of August_, 1714. + +It may be that, the King having taken a great fancy to Lady Mary, +modified that lady's earlier impression. When she and her husband went +to Hanover, the King, as she mentioned in one of her letters to Lady +Bristol, "has had the goodness to appoint us a lodging in one part of +the Palace, without which we should be very ill accommodated; for the +vast number of English crowds the town so much, it is very good luck to +be able to get one sorry room in a miserable tavern. I dined to-day with +the Portuguese ambassador, who thinks himself very happy to have two +wretched parlours in an inn." + +Lady Mary was, indeed, in high favour at the Courts of Hanover and St. +James's. "Mr. Wortley and his lady are here," the British Minister at +Hanover, John Clavering, wrote in December, 1716, to Lady Cowper. "They +were so very impatient to see his Majesty that they travelled night and +day from Vienna here. Her Ladyship is mighty gay and airy, and occasions +a great deal of discourse. Since her arrival the King has took but +little notice of any other lady, not even of Madame Kielmansegg, which +the ladies of Hanover don't relish very much; for my part, I can't help +rejoicing to see his Majesty prefer us to the Germans." + +It was evidently before that the following incident occurred. Lady Mary +often went to St. James's, but, as it was very dull there, was often +glad to go instead to some less august and more amusing assembly. One +evening Lady Mary particularly desired to leave early, and induced the +Duchess of Kendal to persuade the King to dismiss her. The King +reluctantly acquiesced, though, when Lady Mary made her bow, he declared +it was an act of perfidy to run away, but, in spite of that and other +complimentary remarks, she at last contrived to make her escape. + +At the foot of the staircase she met Mr. Secretary Craggs, who, seeing +her leave so early, enquired if the King had retired, but she reassured +him on that point, and dwelt complacently on the King's reluctance to +let her go. Craggs made no remark, but took her in his arms, ran +upstairs, and deposited her in the ante-chamber, whereupon the pages at +once threw open the doors leading to the King's apartment. + +"_Ah! la re-voila_," cried his Majesty and the Duchess of Kendal, and +expressed their pleasure that she had changed her mind, but Lady Mary +was so flustered that, instead of maintaining a discreet silence she +burst out, "Oh, Lord, Sir, I have been so frightened!" and related her +adventure. + +She had scarcely finished relating her adventure, when the door was +thrown open, and Mr. Secretary Craggs was announced. He entered calmly, +and made his bow as if nothing had happened, but the King strode up to +him, and said angrily: "_Mais, comment, donc, Monsieur Craggs, est ce +que c'est l'usage de ce pays de porter des belles dames comme un sac de +froment_?" ("Is it the custom of this country to carry about fair ladies +as if they were a sack of wheat?") The culprit was dumbfounded by the +unexpected attack, and glanced reproachfully at Lady Mary for having +betrayed him, but, soon finding his wits, parried with, "There is +nothing I would not do for your Majesty's satisfaction." + +One of the reasons for the early unpopularity of George I was that he +brought with him a large suite from Hanover. + +The household that accompanied him numbered sixty-three. There was Baron +von Kielmansegg, who was Master of the Horse; Count von Platen, son of +the late Prime Minister of Hanover; and Baron von Hardenburg, Marshal of +the Court. With them came the Lutheran clergyman, Braun; a group of +physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries; five body-servants, including +the Turks, Mahomet and Mustapha; four pages, two trumpeters, a carver, +twelve footmen, eighteen cooks, three cellarmen, two housemaids, and one +washerwoman. It may be mentioned that in 1696 there were only two +washerwomen for the three hundred and seven persons, exclusive of +royalty, that at this date made up the Court of Hanover. + +The political staff that came included twenty-three persons. Baron von +Bothmer was already in England. Now arrived Baron von Bernstorff, Prime +Minister of Hanover; Baron von Schlitz-Goertz, Hanoverian Finance +Minister; Baron von Hattorf, Hanoverian Minister of War; and John +Robethon. + +To these men, who advised the King in his capacity of Elector of +Hanover, there would have been no objection had they confined their +energies to administering that country. This, unfortunately, was not the +case. Some of them, at least, notably Bernstorff and Robethon, meddled +in English politics, and most of them desired high office, lucrative +appointments, peerages, and other grants. It is certain that they must +have known that they were barred from such delights by an Act of 1700 +which carefully guarded against foreigners acquiring any share in the +government of this country. Nothing, in fact, could be more definite +than clause three of the "Act for the further limitation of the Crown": +"No person born out of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, or Ireland, or +the dominions thereunto belonging (although he be naturalised or made a +denizen, except such as are born of English parents)," so runs clause +three of the above-mentioned Act, "shall be capable of the Privy +Council, or a Member of either House of Parliament, or to enjoy any +office or place of trust, either civil or military, or to have any grant +of lands, tenements, or hereditaments from the Crown to himself or to +any other or others in trust for him." Still, Acts of Parliament have +been repealed, and the invaders may well have hoped that, with the +King's support, their influence might increase until they were strong +enough to have the clause revoked. + +As a matter of fact, nothing of the kind happened, and no Hanoverian +statesman or court officer was appointed to any place of profit under +the Crown or rewarded for his services in the Electorate by the grant of +a British peerage. It may be noted that the Hanoverian officials, fond +as all Germans were and are of wordy distinctions, styled themselves +"Koenigliche-Gross-britannische-Kurfuerstlich-Braunschweig-Lueneburgische" +(Royal-British-Electoral-Brunswick-Luenburg) councillors or magistrates. + +The Hanoverians who were on the political side or held posts in the +Household might, by the exercise of a little tact, have lived down an +unpopularity that was the result of circumstances rather than arising +from any personal animosity. That they did not do so may be ascribed +partly, anyhow, to their own fault. + +On the other hand, nothing probably would have overcome the prejudice +against the ladies who followed George to this country. These were the +Countess Ehrengard Melusina von der Schulenburg, who, in 1716, was +created Duchess of Munster in the Irish peerage, and three years after +Duchess of Kendal, by which latter title she is more generally known, +and the Baroness von Kielmansegg (_nee_ Platen), who was presently +elevated to the dignity of Countess of Darlington. It was generally +assured that these ladies were the King's mistresses, and they were +accordingly disliked not only at Court but also by the mob. One of them +when driving in London was assailed by terms of abuse--as she understood +scarcely any English, she could only go by the tone of the voices--and +putting her head out of the coach said: "Good people, why abuse us? We +come for all your goods." "Yes, damn you," cried someone, "and for our +chattels, too." The man in the crowd only voiced the general opinion, +and, it must be said, the general opinion was not far removed from the +truth. + +Of course, the Jacobites made the most of this, and, as Horace Walpole +has related, "the seraglio was food for all the venom of the Jacobites, +and, indeed, nothing could be grosser that was vomited out in lampoons, +libels, and every channel of abuse against the Sovereign and the new +Court and chanted even in their hearing in the public streets." + +It is mentioned in _Walpoliana_ that "this couple of rabbits, the +favourites, as they were called, occasioned much jocularity on their +first importation." Some of the jocularity was aroused by their +appearance. The style of beauty, or what passed for beauty, in each +country was markedly different. Hear Lady Mary Wortley Montagu writing +from Hanover in December, 1716: "I have now got into the regions of +beauty," she told Lady Rich. "All the women have literally rosy cheeks, +snowy foreheads and bosoms, jet eye-brows, and scarlet lips, to which +they generally add coal-black hair. These perfections never leave them +till the hour of their death, and have a very fine effect by candle-light, +but I could wish they were handsome with a little more variety. They +resemble one another as much as Mrs. Salmon's Court of Great Britain, +and are in much danger of melting away by too near approaching the fire +which they for that reason carefully avoid, though it is now such +excessively cold weather, that I believe they suffer extremely by that +piece of self-denial." + +The Duchess of Kendal at the time of the accession of George I was +forty-seven years of age. The King's mother, the Electress Sophia, had +commented on her to Mrs. Howard: "Look at that mawkin, and think of her +being my son's passion." If a family portrait, now in the possession of +Count Werner Schulenburg, may be trusted, she was what is called "a fine +figure of a woman"; she had blue eyes and fair hair. She was so tall +that she was nicknamed in England "the May-pole." She was certainly +determined to make the most of her opportunities, and the more eager +because at the beginning of the reign she was very doubtful whether +George I would not have hurriedly to retire to Hanover for good and all. +So doubtful of the likelihood of the duration of the Hanoverian line in +this country was she that at first she declined to accompany the +Elector, and she only changed her mind when she found the Baroness von +Kielmansegg had decided to go to England. She was in high favour with +George, and took every advantage of her influence. She left an immense +fortune, which was acquired in ways into which an eulogistic biographer +of the lady would not enquire. Certainly, she received for her good +offices large sums of money from the promoters of the South Sea Act, she +accepted bribes to secure peerages, and, it is said on the authority of +Sir Robert Walpole, that Bolingbroke presented her with L11,000 to +endeavour to secure his restoration to the royal favour. It may be +remarked, _en passant_, that Spence records that Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu said to him: "I would never be acquainted with Lord Bolingbroke, +because I always looked upon him as a vile man." + +Duchess of Kendal was not content with indulging her passion for money; +she, in matters of politics, acted as the hidden hand behind the +throne--any services that she rendered were, it is certain, adequately +remunerated. Her ascendancy over the King was unquestionable, and +Walpole was compelled to admit that she "was in effect as much Queen of +England as ever any was, that he did everything by her." She not only +used her power in connection with home affairs, but also in matters of +foreign policy, and the Count de Broglie, French Minister of the Court +of St. James, was urgent in his endeavours to secure her support. + +"As the Duchess of Kendal seemed to express a wish to see me often, I +have been very attentive to her, being convinced that it is highly +essential to the advantage of your Majesty's service to be on good terms +with her, for she is closely united with the three ministers who now +govern," the Count wrote to Louis XV on July 6, 1724, and four days +later returned to the subject: "The more I consider state affairs, the +more I am convinced that the Government is entirely in the hands of Mr. +Walpole, Lord Townshend, and the Duchess of Newcastle, who are on the +best terms with the Duchess of Kendal. The King visits her every +afternoon from five till eight, and it is there that she endeavours to +penetrate the sentiments of his Britannic majesty for the purpose of +consulting the three ministers, and pursuing the measures which may be +thought necessary for accomplishing their designs. She sent me word that +she was desirous of my friendship, and that I should place confidence in +her. I assured her that I would do everything in my power to merit her +esteem and friendship. I am convinced that she may be advantageously +employed in promoting your Majesty's service, and that it will be +necessary to employ her, though I will not trust her further than is +absolutely necessary." To these letters Louis replied on July 18: "There +is no doubt that the Duchess of Kendal, having a great ascendancy over +the King of Great Britain, and maintaining strict union with his +ministers, must materially influence their principal resolutions. You +will neglect nothing to acquire a share of her confidence, from a +conviction that nothing can be more conducive to my interests. There is, +however, a manner of giving additional value to the marks of confidence +you bestow on her in private, by avoiding in public all appearances +which might seem too pointed, by which means you will avoid falling into +the inconvenience of being suspected by those who are not friendly to +the Duchess, at the same time that a kind of mysteriousness in public on +the subject of your confidence, will give rise to a firm belief of your +having formed a friendship mutually sincere." + +The case of Lady Darlington was different. It was assured generally that +she, too, was a mistress of the King, a view that Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu accepted, and one which was endorsed by the historians and +biographers for more than a century. The first English writer to +discover the truth was Carlyle, who in his _Life of Frederick the Great_ +said: "Miss Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington, was, and is, believed +by the gossiping English to have been a second simultaneous Mistress of +His Majesty's, but seems after all to have been his Half-Sister and +nothing more." She was, in fact, a daughter of the Countess of Platen +(_nee_ Clara Elizabeth von Meysenbach), not, indeed, by that lady's +husband, but by Ernest Augustus, Duke (afterwards Elector) of Hanover, +the father of George I. Only Lady Cowper seems to have known this, and +to have accepted it as a fact. Yet there was no secrecy concerning the +paternity of the Countess, and it was, of course, well-known in the +German Courts. Further, it was overlooked that in the patent of nobility +in 1721 there is a reference to the royal blood of the recipient of the +title, and actually the patent, in addition to the Great Seal, had a +miniature of the King and the arms of the houses of Platen, Kielmansegg, +and Great Britain (Brunswick-Lueneburg) with the bar-sinister.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Refutation of the scandal is to be found in a work +published in Hanover in 1902: "_Briefe des Hertzogs Ernst August zu +Braun schweig-Lueneburg an Johann Franz Diedrich von Wendt aus dem Jahren +1705 bis 1726_," edited by Erich Graf Kielmansegg.] + +All this at this time must have been very distressing to Lady Darlington, +for she was very careful of her reputation, as the following amusing +incident, given in Lady Cowper's Diary (February 4, 1716) indicates: +"Madame Kielmansegg had been told that the Prince, afterwards George II, +had said that she intrigued with all the men at Hanover. She came to +complain of this to the Princess, who replied, she did not believe the +Prince had said so, it not being his custom to speak in that manner. +Madame Kielmansegg cried and said it had made her despised, and that +many of her acquaintance had left her upon that story, but that her +husband had taken all the care she could to vindicate her reputation, +and thereupon she drew forth a certificate under her husband's hand, in +which he certified, in all the due forms, that she had always been a +faithful wife to him, and that he had never had any cause to suspect her +honesty. The Princess smiled, and said she did not doubt it at all, and +that all the trouble was very unnecessary, and that it was a very bad +reputation that wanted such a support." + +In appearance, Lady Darlington was a contrast to the Duchess of Kendal. +She was in her youth a good-looking woman, but as the years passed she +became immensely corpulent, and Horace Walpole, who saw her at his +mother's when he was a child, thus described her: "Two fierce black +eyes, large and rolling between two lofty arched eye-brows, two acres of +cheeks spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that overflowed, and was +not distinguished from the lower part of her body, and no part +restrained by stays." He christened her "Elephant and Castle." + +For a while, Lady Mary was popular also with the Prince of Wales, who +was attracted by her looks and her vivacity. It is recorded that on one +occasion when Lady Mary appeared in a gown more than usually becoming +the Prince called his wife from the card table to admire her. The +Princess came, looked, and then said calmly, "Lady Mary always dresses +so well," and went on with her game. + +It was impossible, however, even for the most tactful person in the +world to be on good terms with the King and the Prince of Wales. It is +said of George I that he was of an affectionate disposition and that +throughout his life he hated only three people in the world: his mother, +who was dead, his wife, who was imprisoned at Ahlden, and his son. It +has been said that the trouble began when in his early youth the Prince +expressed sympathy with his mother; it may be that it started from the +fact that the Prince was the son of a woman who had sullied the honour +of the Royal House. It is, however, unnecessary to look for reasons; to +hate the heir-apparent was a tradition with the Georges. + +Matters did not improve after the accession of George I to the British +throne. He disliked his daughter-in-law, Caroline, daughter of John +Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Anspach, and spoke of her as "_Cette +diablesse Madame la Princesse."_ The opposition was not slow to take +advantage of the rift, and planted itself on the side of his Royal +Highness. It proposed, on the Civil List vote, a separate revenue of +L100,000 for the Prince--which infuriated the King, as it was intended +to do. + +In 1716 George was anxious to visit his beloved Hanover, but he was torn +between the desire to do so and the dislike to leave his son in England +as Regent during his absence. Indeed, he almost decided not to go, +unless he could join others with the Prince in the administration and +limit his authority by the most rigorous restriction. To this, however, +the Government could not consent, and Townshend stated that "on a +careful persual of precedents, finding no instance of persons being +joined in commission with the Prince of Wales, and few, if any, +restrictions, they were of opinion that the constant tenour of ancient +practice could not conveniently be receded from." + +Lady Mary, like the rest of the world, found the Court dull, and she +much preferred to spend her time in the more congenial society of men of +letters. Addison, she knew, and Steele, and Arbuthnot, and Jervas, and +Gay, who presently paid her a pretty compliment in _Mr. Pope's Welcome +from Greece,_ wherein he inserted tributes to the ladies of the Court: + + "What lady's that to whom he gently bends? + Who knows her not? Ah, those are Wortley's eyes. + How art thou honour'd, number'd with her friends; + For she distinguishes the good and wise." + +Pope, too, wrote of her with appreciation: + + TO LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU + + I + + In beauty or wit, + No mortal as yet + To question your empire has dared. + But men of discerning + Have thought that in learning, + To yield to a lady was hard. + + II + + Impertinent schools, + With musty dull rules, + Have reading to females denied; + So Papists refuse + The Bible to use + Lest flocks should be wise as their guides. + + III + + Twas woman at first + (Indeed she was curst) + In knowledge that tasted delight, + And sages agree + The laws should decree + To the first possessor the right. + + IV + + Then bravely, fair dame, + Resume the old claim, + Which to your whole sex does belong; + And let men receive + From a second bright Eve + The knowledge of right and of wrong. + + V + + But if the first Eve + Hard doom did receive, + When only one apple had she, + What a punishment new + Shall be found out for you, + Who tasting, have robb'd the whole tree! + +The acquaintance with Pope began shortly after Lady Mary came to town in +the autumn of 1714. It soon developed into friendship. "Lady Mary +Wortley," Jervas wrote to the poet, probably in 1715 or early in the +following year, "ordered me by express this morning, _cedente Gayo et +ridente Fortescuvio_, to send you a letter, or some other proper notice, +to come to her on Thursday about five, which I suppose she meant in the +evening." + +There appeared in March, 1716, a volume bearing the title _Court Poems_, +the authorship being attributed to "A Lady of Quality," who, it soon +became known, was Lady Mary. The book was issued by Roberts, who had +received the three sets of verses contained in it from the notorious +piratical publisher, Edmund Curll. How the manuscript "fell" into the +hands of Curll it is not easy to imagine. Curll's account is that they +were found in a pocket-book taken up in Westminster Hall on the last day +of the trial of the Jacobite Lord Winton. Anyhow, however it came about, +the volume was published in 1716, when it was found to contain "The +Basset Table," "The Drawing Room," and "The Toilet." + +Curll was an excellent publicity agent for his wares. He wrote, or +caused to be written, a most intriguing "advertisement" about the +authorship of the poems: + + +"Upon reading them over at St. James' Coffee House, they were attributed +by the general voice to be the productions of a lady of quality. When I +produced them at Button's, the poetical jury there brought in a +different verdict; and the foreman strenuously insisted upon it that Mr. +Gay was the man. Not content with these two decisions, I was resolved to +call in an umpire, and accordingly chose a gentleman of distinguished +merit, who lives not far from Chelsea. I sent him the papers, which he +returned next day, with this answer: "Sir, depend upon it these lines +could come from no other hand than the judicious translator of Homer." +Thus, having impartially given the sentiments of the Town, I hope I may +deserve thanks for the pains I have taken in endeavouring to find out +the author of these valuable performances, and everybody is at liberty +to bestow the laurel as they please." + + +Pope was furious, and there is a story that he invited Curll to drink +wine with him at a coffee-house, and put in his glass some poison that +acted as an emetic. What is certain is that the poet wrote a pamphlet +with the title, "A full and true Account of a horrid and barbarous +Revenge by Poison on the body of Edmund Curll." + +The three pieces in _Court Poems_ were claimed by Lady Mary as her own, +but this claim was disputed. Pope declared himself the author of "The +Basset Table," and it was printed among his works, and he asserted that +"'The Toilet' is almost wholly Gay's," there being "only five or six +lines in it by that lady." "The Toilet" is included in his collected +edition of Gay's poems. + +The whole matter is best explained by that sound student of the +eighteenth century, "George Paston," who suggests that the truth seems +to be that the verses were handed round in manuscript to be read and +corrected by the writer's literary friends, and therefore they owe +something to the different hands. "George Paston" goes on to say: "Lady +Mary was not unaware of the danger of this proceeding, for Richardson +the painter relates that on one occasion she showed Pope a copy of her +verses in which she intended to make some trifling alterations, but +refused his help, saying, 'No, Pope, no touching, for then whatever is +good for anything will pass for yours, and the rest for mine.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--I (1716) + +Montagu loses his place at the Treasury--His antagonism against +Walpole--Lady Mary, "Dolly" Walpole, and Molly Skerritt--The Earl and +Countess of Mar leave England--Montagu appointed Ambassador to the +Porte--Leaves England for Constantinople, accompanied by his +wife--Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople--Rotterdam--Vienna-- +Lady Mary at Court--Her gown--Her interest in clothes--Viennese +society--Gallantry--Lady Mary's experience--Count Tarrocco--Precedence +at Vienna--A nunnery--The Montagus visit the German Courts--A dangerous +drive--Prince Frederick (afterwards Prince of Wales)--Herrenhausen. + + +Edward Wortley Montagu did not long hold office. Lord Halifax, First +Lord of the Treasury in the Townshend Administration, died in May, 1715, +when his place was taken by Lord Carlisle, who, however, held it only +until the following October. Carlisle was succeeded by Sir Robert +Walpole, promoted from the less important but far more lucrative post of +Paymaster-General. In the new Commission of the Treasury Montagu's name +did not appear. Why Montagu was removed has not transpired; it may, +indeed, be that he resigned, for he had a strong dislike for the new +Minister. There may also have been some family sentiment in the matter, +for while Lady Mary was an intimate friend of Walpole's harum-scarum +sister, "Dolly," who was now Lady Townshend, Lady Walpole was very +decidedly her enemy. Lady Mary presently had her tit-for-tat with Lady +Walpole by "taking up" Walpole's mistress, Molly Skerritt. + +It may be here mentioned that Lady Mar was at this time living with her +husband at Paris, at St. Germain, and that she remained abroad for the +rest of her life. She had left England owing to the conduct of Lord Mar +in taking an active part in the rebellion of '15. He had set up the +Pretender's standard at Braemar, had suffered defeat at Sheriffmuir, and +had been so fortunate as to escape with his master to Gravelines. In +gratitude for his services, the Pretender created Lord Mar a Duke. Mar +lived until 1732, dying at the age of fifty-seven, and he spent the +years in losing the confidence of the Jacobites and endeavouring to +ingratiate himself with the Hanoverian Kings of England--in which latter +quest he was markedly unsuccessful. His Scotch estates were confiscated, +and his title attained--the attainder of the earldom was not reversed +until 1824. + +Montagu, having tasted the sweets of office, even so minor a place as +that of a Lord of the Treasury, was not content to enjoy such pleasures +as a private life could afford. He desired to be somebody. Probably he +worried the Government of the day, possibly he pointed out to the +leaders of the Whig Party that he was possessed of parts that should +not, in justice to his country, be ignored. He may even have approached +the Throne. It is not inconceivable that he made himself a nuisance to +all concerned. + +Anyhow, it was ultimately decided that something must be done with him. +But what? Austria and Turkey were at war in 1716; what better than to +send Montagu as Ambassador to the Porte, with a mission to endeavour to +reconcile the protagonists? He was appointed to this post on June 5. + +It was while accompanying her husband on this mission that Lady Mary +wrote her famous "Letters during the Embassy to Constantinople," which +constitute a very important document on the state of Europe at the time. +It is by no means certain, however, that, in the first instance, these +reflections were all cast in letter-form; it is much more likely that +some were written in a diary. The letters appear as addressed to the +Countess of Bristol, to the Princess of Wales, to Mrs. Thistlethwayte, +to Lady Rich, to Alexander Pope, to the Abbe Conti, to Miss Sarah +Chiswell, to Mrs. Hewet, to Lady Mary's sister, the Countess of Mar, and +others. + +At the beginning of August, 1716, Montagu, with his wife and son, and, +it is to be presumed, his suite, left England, and, after a very bad +crossing, landed at Rotterdam. From that city, the cleanliness of which +surprised and delighted Lady Mary--"you may see the Dutch maids washing +the pavement of the street with more application than ours do our +bed-chambers"--the party proceeded by way of the Hague, Nimeguen, +Cologne, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Wurzberg, and Ratisbon to Vienna, where +they arrived during the first week in September. + +Lady Mary was all impatient to go to Court, for, as she put it, "I am +not without a great impatience to see a beauty that has been the +admiration of so many nations," but she was forced to stay for a gown, +without which there was no waiting on the Empress. Presently the gown +was ready, and Lady Mary was presented. + + +"I was squeezed up in a gown" (she wrote to her sister, Lady Mar), "and +adorned with a gorget and the other implements thereunto belonging: a +dress very inconvenient, but which certainly shews the neck and shape to +great advantage. I cannot forbear in this place giving you some +description of the fashions here which are more monstrous and contrary +to all common sense and reason, than 'tis possible for you to imagine. +They build certain fabrics of gauze on their heads about a yard high, +consisting of three or four stories fortified with numberless yards of +heavy ribbon. The foundation of this structure is a thing they call a +_Bourle_ which is exactly of the same shape and kind, but about four +times as big, as those rolls our prudent milk-maids make use of to fix +their pails upon. This machine they cover with their own hair, which +they mix with a great deal of false, it being a particular beauty to +have their heads too large to go into a moderate tub. Their hair is +prodigiously powdered, to conceal the mixture, and set out with three or +four rows of bodkins (wonderfully large, that stick [out] two or three +inches from their hair), made of diamonds, pearls, red, green, and +yellow stones, that it certainly requires as much art and experience to +carry the load upright, as to dance upon May-day with the garland. Their +whalebone petticoats outdo ours by several yards circumference, and +cover some acres of ground. + +"You may easily suppose how much this extraordinary dress sets off and +improves the natural ugliness with which God Almighty has been pleased +to endow them all generally. Even the lovely Empress herself is obliged +to comply, in some degree, with these absurd fashions, which they would +not quit for all the world." + + +The above passage is the more interesting because it has so often been +asserted that Lady Mary took no interest in dress. As a matter of fact, +however, there are several indications in her letters that she thought a +good deal about clothes. + +"My little commission is hardly worth speaking of; if you have not +already laid out that small sum in St. Cloud ware, I had rather have it +in plain lutestring of any colour," she wrote in June, 1721, to her +sister, Lady Mar, at Paris. + +"I would have no black silk, having bought here," she said on another +occasion; and again, "My paper is done, and I will only put you in mind +of my lutestring, which I beg you will send me plain, of what colour you +please." "Dear Sister, adieu," she wrote in 1723. "I have been very free +in this letter, because I think I am sure of its going safe. I wish my +nightgown may do the same: I only choose that as most convenient to you; +but if it was equally so, I had rather the money was laid out in plain +lutestring, if you could send me eight yards at a time of different +colours, designing it for linings; but if this scheme is impracticable, +send me a nightgown _a la mode_." + +Apparently Lady Mar was careless or forgetful of the commission, for a +little later Lady Mary was writing pathetically: "I wish you would think +of my lutestring, for I am in terrible want of linings." + +The account of the Austrian Court of the day, as given by Lady Mary, is +invaluable, for there is no other available written by an English person +accustomed to another Court. + +Lady Mary's descriptions of Viennese society are also delightful, and if +she wrote of the royal circle with respect, she bubbled over with +merriment when writing of folk less highly placed. A letter of hers to +Lady Rich is too delicious to be omitted. + + +"I have compassion for the mortifications that you tell me befall our +little friend, and I pity her much more, since I know that they are only +owing to the barbarous customs of our country. Upon my word, if she was +here, she would have no other fault but being something too young for +the fashion, and she has nothing to do but to transplant hither about +seven years hence, to be again a young and blooming beauty. I can assure +you that wrinkles, or a small stoop in the shoulders, nay, even grey +hair itself, is no objection to the making new conquests. I know you +cannot easily figure to yourself a young fellow of five-and-twenty +ogling my Lady Suffolk with passion, or pressing to lead the Countess of +Oxford from an opera. But such are the sights I see every day, and I +don't perceive any body surprised at them but myself. A woman, till +five-and-thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly +make no noise in the world till about forty. I don't know what your +ladyship may think of this matter; but 'tis a considerable comfort to +me, to know there is upon earth such a paradise for old women; and I am +content to be insignificant at present, in the design of returning when +I am fit to appear nowhere else. I cannot help lamenting upon this +occasion, the pitiful case of too many good English ladies, long since +retired to prudery and ratafia, whom if their stars had luckily +conducted hither, would still shine in the first rank of beauties; and +then that perplexing word reputation has quite another meaning here than +what you give it at London; and getting a lover is so far from losing, +that 'tis properly getting reputation; ladies being much more +respected in regard to the rank of their lovers, than that of their +husbands. + +"But what you'll think very odd, the two sects that divide our whole +nation of petticoats, are utterly unknown. Here are neither coquettes +nor prudes. No woman dares appear coquette enough to encourage two +lovers at a time. And I have not seen any such prudes as to pretend +fidelity to their husbands, who are certainly the best-natured set of +people in the world, and they look upon their wives' gallants as +favourably as men do upon their deputies, that take the troublesome part +of their business off of their hands; though they have not the less to +do; for they are generally deputies in another place themselves; in one +word, 'tis the established custom for every lady to have two husbands, +one that bears the name, and another that performs the duties. And these +engagements are so well known, that it would be a downright affront, and +publicly resented, if you invited a woman of quality to dinner, without +at the same time inviting her two attendants of lover and husband, +between whom she always sits in state with great gravity. These +sub-marriages generally last twenty years together, and the lady often +commands the poor lover's estate even to the utter ruin of his family; +though they are as seldom begun by any passion as other matches. But a +man makes but an ill figure who is not in some commerce of this nature; +and a woman looks out for a lover as soon as she's married, as part of +her equipage, without which she could not be genteel; and the first +article of the treaty is establishing the pension, which remains to the +lady though the gallant should prove inconstant; and this chargeable +point of honour I look upon as the real foundation of so many wonderful +instances of constancy. I really know several women of the first +quality, whose pensions are as well known as their annual rents, and yet +nobody esteems them the less; on the contrary, their discretion would be +called in question, if they should be suspected to be mistresses for +nothing; and a great part of their emulation consists in trying who +shall get most; and having no intrigue at all is so far a disgrace that, +I'll assure you, a lady, who is very much my friend here, told me but +yesterday, how much I was obliged to her for justifying my conduct in a +conversation on my subject, where it was publicly asserted that I could +not possibly have common sense, that I had been about town above a +fortnight, and had made no steps towards commencing an amour. My friend +pleaded for me that my stay was uncertain; and she believed that was the +cause of my seeming stupidity and this was all she could find to say in +my justification." + + +But Lady Mary, though only twenty-seven, and therefore, according to her +own account, much too youthful for the gallants of Vienna, yet had an +experience: + + +"But one of the pleasantest adventures I ever met in my life was last +night, and which will give you a just idea after what a delicate manner +the _belles passions_ are managed in this country. I was at the assembly +of the Countess of ----, and the young Count of ---- led me down stairs, +and he asked me how long I intended to stay here? I made answer that my +stay depended on the emperor, and it was not in my power to determine +it. Well, madam, (said he), whether your time here is to be long or +short, I think you ought to pass it agreeably, and to that end you must +engage in a little affair of the heart.--My heart (answered I gravely +enough) does not engage very easily, and I have no design of parting +with it. I see, madam, (said he sighing,) by the ill nature of that +answer, that I am not to hope for it, which is a great mortification to +me that am charmed with you. But, however, I am still devoted to your +service; and since I am not worthy of entertaining you myself, do me the +honour of letting me know whom you like best among us, and I'll engage +to manage the affair entirely to your satisfaction.--You may judge in +what manner I should have received this compliment in my own country, +but I was well enough acquainted with the way of this, to know that he +really intended me an obligation, and thanked him with a grave +courtesy for his zeal to serve me, and only assured him that I had no +occasion to make use of it. + +"Thus you see, my dear, gallantry and good-breeding are as different, in +different climates, as morality and religion. Who have the rightest +notions of both, we shall never know till the day of judgment, for which +great day of _eclaircissement_, I own there is very little impatience in +your, &c." + + +Love-making was indeed one of the principal pastimes at Vienna. There +was Count Tarrocco (who was in attendance on the Prince of Portugal), +and, as she told Lady Mar, "just such a Roman Catholic as you." "He +succeeds greatly with the devout beauties here," she went on to say; +"his first overtures in gallantry are disguised under the luscious +strains of spiritual love, that were sung formerly by the sublimely +voluptuous Fenelon and the tender Madam Guion, who turned the spirit of +carnal love to divine objects; thus the Count begins with the spirit and +ends generally with the flesh, when he makes his addresses to holy +virgins." Presently, she teased her sister about this same young man. +"Count Tarrocco is just come in," she wrote. "He is the only person I +have excepted in my general order to receive no company--I think I see +you smile--but I am not so far gone as to stand in need of absolution; +though as my heart is deceitful, and the Count very agreeable, you may +think that even though I should not want an absolution, I would +nevertheless be glad to have an indulgence.--No such thing. However, as +I am a heretic, and you no confessor, I shall make no more declarations +on this head.--The design of the Count's visit is a ball;--more +pleasure--I shall be surfeited." + +The "phlegm of the country" surprised Lady Mary, who declared that it +was not from Austria that one could write with vivacity--and by her +letters at once disproved her statement. According to her, amours and +quarrels were carried on calmly and almost good-temperedly. Strong +feelings only came into play when points of ceremony were concerned. A +man not only scorned to marry a woman of family less illustrious than +his own, but even to make love to her--"the pedigree is much more +considered by them than either the complexion or features of their +mistresses. Happy are the shes that can number among their ancestors +Counts of the Empire; they have neither occasion for beauty, money, or +good conduct to get them husbands." How far this passion for rank and +precedence went is indicated by an amusing incident related by Lady +Mary. + + +"'Tis not long since two coaches, meeting in a narrow street at night, +the ladies in them not being able to adjust the ceremonial of which +should go back, sat there with equal gallantry till two in the morning, +and were both so fully determined to die upon the spot, rather than +yield in a point of that importance, that the street would never have +been cleared till their deaths, if the emperor had not sent his guards +to part them; and even then they refused to stir, till the expedient was +found out of taking them both out in chairs exactly at the same moment; +after which it was with some difficulty the _pas_ was decided between +the two coachmen, no less tenacious of their rank than the ladies." + + +Lady Mary herself was, of course, unaffected, because, as the wife of an +ambassador, she, by their own customs, had the _pas_ before all other +ladies--to the great envy of the town. + +Lady Mary, who had had enough of solitude during her long residence in +Yorkshire, now in Vienna was determined to enjoy herself and flung +herself into all the social gaieties. She went everywhere and met +everyone. She dined at the villa of Count Schoenbrunn, the +Vice-Chancellor; she attended all the assemblies of Madame Rabutin and +the other leaders of society, and all the "gala days"; she danced; she +went to the theatre, and, then, as a contrast, to a nunnery, which left +her unhappy, as, indeed, she put on record: + + +"I was surprised to find here the only beautiful young woman I have +seen at Vienna, and not only beautiful, but genteel, witty, and +agreeable, of a great family, and who had been the admiration of the +town. I could not forbear shewing my surprise at seeing a nun like her. +She made me a thousand obliging compliments, and desired me to come +often. It will be an infinite pleasure to me, (said she, sighing,) to +see you; but I avoid, with the greatest care, seeing any of my former +acquaintance, and whenever they come to our convent, I lock myself in +my cell. I observed tears come into her eyes, which touched me +extremely, and I began to talk to her in that strain of tender pity she +inspired me with; but she would not own to me that she is not perfectly +happy. I have since endeavoured to learn the real cause of her +retirement, without being able to get any other account, but that every +body was surprised at it, and nobody guessed the reason. + +"I have been several times to see her; but it gives me too much +melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried alive, and I am +not surprised that nuns have so often inspired violent passions; the +pity one naturally feels for them, when they seem worthy of another +destiny, making an easy way for yet more tender sentiments; and I never +in my life had so little charity for the Roman-catholic religion as +since I see the misery it occasions; so many poor unhappy women! and the +gross superstition of the common people, who are, some or other of them, +day and night offering bits of candle to the wooden figures that are set +up almost in every street. The processions I see very often, are a +pageantry as offensive, and apparently contradictory to all common +sense, as the pagodas of China. God knows whether it be the womanly +spirit of contradiction that works in me; but there never before was so +much zeal against popery in the heart of, + +"Dear madam, &c." + + +In November the Montagus interrupted their stay at Vienna to visit some +of the German Courts. They went to Prague, where the attire of the +ladies amused Lady Mary. "I have been visited by some of the most +considerable ladies, whose relations I know at Vienna," she wrote to +Lady Mar. "They are dressed after the fashions there, as people at +Exeter imitate those of London; that is, the imitation is more excessive +than the original; 'tis not easy to describe what extraordinary figures +they make. The person is so much lost between head-dress and petticoat, +they have as much occasion to write upon their backs 'This is a woman,' +for the information of travellers, as ever sign-post painter had to +write, 'This is a bear.'" From Prague to Dresden, travelling thither by +a most alarming route: + + +"You may imagine how heartily I was tired with twenty-four hours' +post-travelling [to Dresden], without sleep or refreshment (for I can +never sleep in a coach, however fatigued). We passed by moonshine the +frightful precipices that divide Bohemia from Saxony, at the bottom of +which runs the river Elbe; but I cannot say that I had reason to fear +drowning in it, being perfectly convinced that, in case of a tumble, it +was utterly impossible to come alive to the bottom. In many places the +road is so narrow, that I could not discern an inch of space between the +wheels and the precipice. Yet I was so good a wife not to wake Mr. +Wortley, who was fast asleep by my side, to make him share in my fears, +since the danger was unavoidable, till I perceived by the bright light +of the moon, our postilions nodding on horseback, while the horses were +on a full gallop, and I thought it very convenient to call out to desire +them to look where they were going. My calling waked Mr. Wortley, and he +was much more surprised than myself at the situation we were in, and +assured me that he had passed the Alps five times in different places, +without ever having gone a road so dangerous. I have been told since it +is common to find the bodies of travellers in the Elbe; but, thank God, +that was not our destiny; and we came safe to Dresden, so much tired +with fear and fatigue, it was not possible for me to compose myself to +write." + + +From Dresden the travellers visited Leipzig, and then went to Brunswick, +and afterwards to Hanover, where they paid their respects to George I. +It was there that Lady Mary first made the acquaintance of the eldest +son of the Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis, himself presently Prince +of Wales and father of George III. He was then nine years of age. + + +"I am extremely pleased that I can tell you, without either flattery or +partiality, that our young Prince has all the accomplishments that it is +possible to have at his age, with an air of sprightliness and +understanding, and something so very engaging and easy in his behaviour, +that he needs not the advantage of his rank to appear charming. I had +the honour of a long conversation with him last night, before the King +came in. His governor retired on purpose (as he told me afterwards) that +I might make some judgment of his genius, by hearing him speak without +constraint; and I was surprised at the quickness and politeness that +appeared in every thing he said; joined to a person perfectly agreeable, +and the fine fair hair of the Princess." + + +Amazed as Lady Mary was at the size of the Palace at Hanover which, she +said, was capable of holding a greater court than that of St. James's, +and the opera-house which was larger than that at Vienna, what +principally amazed her was the orangery at Herrenhausen and what +principally delighted her was the use of stoves, then unknown in +England. + + +"I was very sorry that the ill weather did not permit me to see +Herrenhausen in all its beauty; but, in spite of the snow, I thought the +gardens very fine" (she wrote with enthusiasm to Lady Mar). "I was +particularly surprised at the vast number of orange trees, much larger +than I have ever seen in England, though this climate is certainly +colder. But I had more reason to wonder that night at the King's table. +There was brought to him from a gentleman of this country, two large +baskets full of ripe oranges and lemons of different sorts, many of +which were quite new to me; and, what I thought worth all the rest, two +ripe bananas, which, to my taste, are a fruit perfectly delicious. You +know they are naturally the growth of Brazil, and I could not imagine +how they could come there but by enchantment. Upon enquiry, I learnt +that they have brought their stoves to such perfection, they lengthen +the summer as long as they please, giving to every plant the degree of +heat it would receive from the sun in its native soil. The effect is +very near the same; I am surprised we do not practise in England so +useful an invention. + +"This reflection naturally leads me to consider our obstinacy in shaking +with cold six months in the year, rather than make use of stoves, which +are certainly one of the greatest conveniences of life; and so far from +spoiling the form of a room, they add very much to the magnificence of +it, when they are painted and gilt, as at Vienna, or at Dresden, where +they are often in the shape of china jars, statues, or fine cabinets, so +naturally represented, they are not to be distinguished. If ever I +return, in defiance to the fashion, you shall certainly see one in the +chamber of, + +"Dear sister, &c." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--II(1717-1718) + +Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her +description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes +acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her +belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr. +Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady +Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu +recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a +daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her +sister, Lady Mar. + + +The Montagus returned to Vienna for the new year (1717), but late in +January went to Peterwaradin, thence to Belgrade, and arrived at +Adrianople at the end of March. It was in Adrianople that Lady Mary made +acquaintance with the Turkish Bath, which so impressed her that she sent +home a long account of it. It was not until about 1860 that they became +popular in England, a century and a half later. + + +"I went to the bagnio about ten o'clock. It was already full of women. +It is built of stone, in the shape of a dome, with no windows but in the +roof, which gives light enough, There were five of these domes joined +together, the outmost being less than the rest, and serving only as a +hall, where the portress stood at the door. Ladies of quality generally +give this woman the value of a crown or ten shillings; and I did not +forget that ceremony. The next room is a very large one paved with +marble, and all round it, raised, two sofas of marble, one above +another. There were four fountains of cold water in this room, falling +first into marble basins, and then running on the floor in little +channels made for that purpose, which carried the streams into the next +room, something less than this, with the same sort of marble sofas but +so hot with steams of sulphur proceeding from the baths joining to it, +it was impossible to stay there with one's clothes on. The two other +domes were the hot baths, one of which had cocks of cold water turning +into it, to temper it to what degree of warmth the bathers have a mind +to. + +"I was in my travelling habit, which is a riding dress, and certainly +appeared very extraordinary to them. Yet there was not one of them that +shewed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me with +all the obliging civility possible. I know no European court where the +ladies would have behaved themselves in so polite a manner to a +stranger. I believe in the whole, there were two hundred women, and yet +none of those disdainful smiles, or satiric whispers, that never fail in +our assemblies when any body appears that is not dressed exactly in the +fashion. They repeated over and over to me, "Uzelle, pek uzelle," which +is nothing but Charming, very charming.--The first sofas were covered +with cushions and rich carpets, on which sat the ladies; and on the +second, their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of rank by +their dress, all being in the state of nature, that is, in plain +English, stark naked, without any beauty or defect concealed. Yet there +was not the least wanton smile or immodest gesture amongst them. They +walked and moved with the same majestic grace which Milton describes of +our general mother. There were many amongst them as exactly proportioned +as ever any goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian,--and +most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful +hair divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided +either with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the +Graces. + +"I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, +that if it was the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly +observed. I perceived that the ladies with the finest skins and most +delicate shapes had the greatest share of my admiration, though their +faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions. To +tell you the truth, I had wickedness enough to wish secretly that Mr. +Jervas[3] could have been there invisible. I fancy it would have very +much improved his art, to see so many fine women naked, in different +postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking coffee or +sherbet, and many negligently lying on their cushions, while their +slaves (generally pretty girls of seventeen or eighteen) were employed +in braiding their hair in several pretty fancies. In short, it is the +women's coffee-house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal +invented, &c.--They generally take this diversion once a-week, and stay +there at least four or five hours without getting cold by immediate +coming out of the hot bath into the cold room, which was very surprising +to me. The lady that seemed the most considerable among them, entreated +me to sit by her, and would fain have undressed me for the bath. I +excused myself with some difficulty. They being all so earnest in +persuading me, I was at last forced to open my shirt, and shew them my +stays; which satisfied them very well, for, I saw, they believed I was +so locked up in that machine, that it was not in my own power to open +it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband." + +[Footnote 3: Charles Jervas (1675?-1739), portrait painter and +translator of _Don Quixote_, the friend of Pope.] + + +Lady Mary was much amused by this last, and referred to the incident in +conversation with Joseph Spence. "One of the highest entertainments in +Turkey," she told him, "is having you to their baths, and when I was +introduced the lady of the house came to undress me, which is another +high compliment that they pay to strangers. After she had slipped off my +gown and seen my stays she was much struck at the sight of them and +cried out to the other ladies in the bath 'Come hither and see how +cruelly the poor English ladies are used by their husbands. You need +boast indeed of the superior liberties allowed you, when they lock you +up in a box!'" + +Lady Mary had a Turkish dress made for her, which she frequently wore, +when she found that the English costume made her unpleasantly +conspicuous. "The ladies at Constantinople used to be extremely +surprised to see me go always with my bosom uncovered," she noted. "It +was in vain that I told them that everybody did the same thing among us, +and alleged everything I could in defence of it. They could never be +reconciled to so immodest a custom, as they thought it; and one of them, +after I had been defending it to my utmost, said: 'Oh, my Sultana, you +can never defend the manners of your country, even with all your wit; +but I see that you are in pain for them, and shall, therefore, press it +no further.'" + +Lady Mary was proud of her appearance in her Turkish clothes, and has +given a minute description of them: + + +"The first piece of my dress is a pair of drawers, very full, that reach +to my shoes, and conceal the legs more modestly than your petticoats. +They are of a thin rose-coloured damask, brocaded with silver flowers, +my shoes are of white kid leather, embroidered with gold. Over this +hangs my smock, of a fine white silk gauze, edged with embroidery. This +smock has wide sleeves, hanging half way down the arm, and is closed at +the neck with a diamond button; but the shape and colour of the bosom +very well to be distinguished through it. The _antery_ is a waistcoat, +made close to the shape, of white and gold damask, with very long +sleeves falling back, and fringed with deep gold fringe, and should have +diamond or pearl buttons. My _caftan_, of the same stuff with my +drawers, is a robe exactly fitted to my shape, and reaching to my feet, +with very long strait falling sleeves. Over this is the girdle, of about +four fingers broad, which all that can afford have entirely of diamonds +or other precious stones; those who will not be at that expense, have +it of exquisite embroidery on satin; but it must be fastened before with +a clasp of diamonds. The _curdee_ is a loose robe they throw off or put +on according to the weather, being of a rich brocade (mine is green and +gold), either lined with ermine or sables; the sleeves reach very little +below the shoulders. The head-dress is composed of a cap, called +_talpock_, which is in winter of fine velvet embroidered with pearls or +diamonds, and in summer of a light shining silver stuff. This is fixed +on one side of the head, hanging a little way down with a gold tassel, +and bound on either side with a circle of diamonds (as I have seen +several) or a rich embroidered handkerchief. On the other side of the +head, the hair is laid flat; and here the ladies are at liberty to shew +their fancies; some putting flowers, others a plume of heron's feathers, +and, in short, what they please; but the most general fashion is a large +_bouquet_ of jewels, made like natural flowers; that is the buds of +pearl; the roses, of different coloured rubies; the jessamines, of +diamonds; the jonquils, of topazes, &c., so well set and enamelled, 'tis +hard to imagine any thing of that kind so beautiful. The hair hangs at +its full length behind, divided into tresses braided with pearl or +ribbon, which is always in great quantity." + + +Much that Lady Mary wrote was of great value in exploding many +ill-founded beliefs at home as regards Turkish life, and especially +concerning the manners and customs of Turkish women. + + +"As to their morality or good conduct, I can say, like Harlequin, that +'tis just as it is with you; and the Turkish ladies don't commit one sin +the less for not being Christians. Now I am a little acquainted with +their ways, I cannot forbear admiring either the exemplary discretion or +extreme stupidity of all the writers that have given accounts of them. +'Tis very easy to see they have more liberty than we have. No woman, of +what rank soever, being permitted to go into the streets without two +muslins; one that covers her face all but her eyes, and another that +hides the whole dress of her head, and hangs half way down her back, and +their shapes are wholly concealed by a thing they call a _ferigee_, +which no woman of any sort appears without; this has strait sleeves, +that reach to their finger-ends, and it laps all round them, not unlike +a riding-hood. In winter 'tis of cloth, and in summer plain stuff or +silk. You may guess how effectually this disguises them, [so] that there +is no distinguishing the great lady from her slave. 'Tis impossible for +the most jealous husband to know his wife when he meets her; and no man +dare either touch or follow a woman in the street. + +"This perpetual masquerade gives them entire liberty of following their +inclinations without danger of discovery. The most usual method of +intrigue is, to send an appointment to the lover to meet the lady at a +Jew's shop, which are as notoriously convenient as our Indian-houses; +and yet, even those who don't make use of them, do not scruple to go to +buy pennyworths, and tumble over rich goods, which are chiefly to be +found amongst that sort of people. The great ladies seldom let their +gallants know who they are; and it is so difficult to find it out, that +they can very seldom guess at her name they have corresponded with above +half a year together. You may easily imagine the number of faithful +wives very small in a country where they have nothing to fear from a +lover's indiscretion, since we see so many that have the courage to +expose themselves to that in this world, and all the threatened +punishment of the next, which is never preached to the Turkish damsels. +Neither have they much to apprehend from the resentment of their +husbands; those ladies that are rich having all their money in their own +hands, which they take with them upon a divorce, with an addition which +he is obliged to give them. + +"Upon the whole, I look upon the Turkish women as the only free people +in the empire: the very Divan pays a respect to them; and the Grand +Signior himself, when a pasha is executed, never violates the privileges +of the _harem_ (or women's apartment), which remains unsearched and +entire to the widow. They are queens of their slaves, whom the husband +has no permission so much as to look upon, except it be an old woman or +two that his lady chooses. 'Tis true their law permits them four wives; +but there is no instance of a man of quality that makes use of this +liberty, or of a woman of rank that would suffer it. When a husband +happens to be inconstant (as those things will happen), he keeps his +mistress in a house apart, and visits her as privately as he can, just +as it is with you. Amongst all the great men here, I only know the +_tefterdar_ (i.e., treasurer), that keeps a number of she slaves for his +own use (that is, on his own side of the house; for a slave once given +to serve a lady is entirely at her disposal), and he is spoken of as a +libertine, or what we should call a rake, and his wife won't see him, +though she continues to live in his house. + +"Thus, you see, dear sister, the manners of mankind do not differ so +widely as our voyage writers would make us believe. Perhaps it would be +more entertaining to add a few surprising customs of my own invention; +but nothing seems to me so agreeable as truth, and I believe nothing so +acceptable to you." + + +The most fortunate thing that happened to Lady Mary, and through her to +England, during her stay in Adrianople, was being made acquainted with +the practice of inoculation, then widely in vogue in Turkey. Though she +had no medical knowledge, she made enquiries as to its effect, and soon +became convinced that it was very highly beneficial. She was the more +interested because an attack of small-pox had somewhat dimmed her +beauty. It was to Miss Sarah Chiswell that she unburdened herself of the +discovery she had made. + + +"Those dreadful stories you have heard of the plague have very little +foundation in truth. I own I have much ado to reconcile myself to the +sound of a word which has always given me such terrible ideas, though I +am convinced there is little more in it than a fever. As a proof of +which we passed through two or three towns most violently infected. In +the very next house where we lay (in one of those places) two persons +died of it. Luckily for me, I was so well deceived that I knew nothing +of the matter; and I was made believe, that our second cook who fell ill +here had only a great cold. However, we left our doctor to take care of +him, and yesterday they both arrived here in good health; and I am now +let into the secret that he has had the _plague_. There are many that +escape it; neither is the air ever infected. I am persuaded it would be +as easy to root it out here as out of Italy and France; but it does so +little mischief, they are not very solicitous about it, and are content +to suffer this distemper instead of our variety, which they are utterly +unacquainted with. + +"_A propos_ of distempers, I am going to tell you a thing that I am sure +will make you wish yourself here. The small-pox, so fatal, and so +general amongst us, is here entirely harmless by the invention of +_ingrafting_, which is the term they give it. There is a set of old +women who make it their business to perform the operation every autumn, +in the month of September, when the great heat is abated. People send to +one another to know if any of their family has a mind to have the +small-pox; they make parties for this purpose, and when they are met +(commonly fifteen or sixteen together), the old woman comes with a +nut-shell full of the matter of the best sort of small-pox, and asks +what veins you please to have opened. She immediately rips open that you +offer to her with a large needle (which gives you no more pain than a +common scratch), and puts into the vein as much venom as can lie upon +the head of her needle, and after binds up the little wound with a +hollow bit of shell; and in this manner opens four or five veins. The +Grecians have commonly the superstition of opening one in the midde of +the forehead, in each arm, and on the breast, to mark the sign of the +cross; but this has a very ill effect, all these wounds leaving little +scars, and is not done by those that are not superstitious, who choose +to have them in the legs, or that part of the arm that is concealed. The +children or young patients play together all the rest of the day, and +are in perfect health to the eighth. Then the fever begins to seize +them, and they keep their beds two days, very seldom three. They have +very rarely above twenty or thirty in their faces, which never mark; and +in eight days' time they are as well as before their illness. Where they +are wounded, there remain running sores during the distemper, which I +don't doubt is a great relief to it. Every year thousands undergo this +operation; and the French embassador says pleasantly, that they take the +small-pox here by way of diversion, as they take the waters in other +countries. There is no example of any one that has died in it; and you +may believe I am very well satisfied of the safety of this experiment, +since I intend to try it on my dear little son. + +"I am patriot enough to take pains to bring this useful invention into +fashion in England; and I should not fail to write to some of our +doctors very particularly about it, if I knew any one of them that I +thought had virtue enough to destroy such a considerable branch of their +revenue for the good of mankind. But that distemper is too beneficial to +them not to expose to all their resentment the hardy wight that should +undertake to put an end to it. Perhaps, if I live to return, I may, +however, have courage to war with them. Upon this occasion admire the +heroism in the heart of your friend, &c." + + +The immediate history of inoculation, so far as Lady Mary is concerned, +may here briefly be given. She first heard of the practice in March, +1717, and within a year her faith in its effect was so strong that in +the spring of the following year she had her son inoculated at Pera--he +was the first English person to undergo the operation. "The boy was +engrafted last Tuesday," she wrote to her husband the following Sunday, +"and is at this time singing and playing, and very impatient for his +supper.... I cannot engraft the girl; her nurse has not had the +small-pox." It is amusing to learn that the inoculation of the young +Edward Wortley Montagu proved presently to have an advantage which was +certainly not at the time of the operation present to the mind of the +mother. At the age of six or thereabouts, the child ran away from +Westminster school--he was always running away from school--and a reward +of L20 and expenses was offered to whoever found him. The advertisement +gave the following clue: there are "two marks by which he is easily +known, _viz_., on the back of each arm, about two or three inches above +the wrist, a small roundish scar, less than a silver penny, like a large +mark of the small-pox." + +When Lady Mary returned to London, she carried out her intention to +introduce the operation. Dr. Maitland, who had been physician to the +mission to the Porte, set up in practice and inoculated under her +patronage. The "heathen rite" was vigorously preached against by the +clergy and was violently abused by the medical faculty. Undismayed by +the powerful opposition, however, she persevered in season and out, +until her efforts were crowned with success. She was fortunate in +enlisting the co-operation of that distinguished doctor, Richard Mead, +celebrated by Pope in his "Epistle to Bolingbroke," + + "I'll do what Mead and Cheselden advise." + +Mead, in 1720, when an epidemic of the plague was feared in London, +published a treatise: "A Short Discourse concerning Pestilential +Contagion and the Methods to be used to Prevent it." It was reprinted +seven times within a year, and an eighth edition appeased in 1722. Lady +Mary obtained permission, in 1721, to experiment on seven condemned +criminals. Mead supervised the inoculations, and all recovered. In the +following year two members of the royal family underwent the operation +successfully. Thereafter, it became, in most circles, fashionable. + +"I suppose," Lady Mary wrote with pardonable pride to Lady Mar in the +spring of 1722, "that the same faithful historians give you regular +accounts of the growth and spreading of the inoculation of the +small-pox, which is become almost a general practice, attended with +great success." Elated as she was at the success that had resulted from +her persistent efforts, she was correspondingly distressed when a young +relative died of the disease. "I am sorry to inform you of the death, of +our nephew, my sister Gower's son, of the small-pox," she said in a +letter to Lady Mar in July, 1723. "I think she has a great deal of +regret it, in consideration of the offer I made her, two years together, +of taking the child home to my house, where I would have inoculated him +with the same care and safety I did my own. I know nobody that has +hitherto repented the operation; though it has been very troublesome to +some fools, who had rather be sick by the doctor's prescriptions, than +in health in rebellion to the college." + +Among those who supported Lady Mary's campaign was Steele, who +congratulated her upon her "godlike delight" of saving "many thousand +British lives every year." He wrote on the subject in the _Plain Dealer_ +(July 3, 1724), in an article that attracted much attention: + + +"It is the Observation of some Historian; but I forget where I met with +it: that _England has ow'd to Women the greatest Blessings she has been +distinguish'd by_. In the Case, we are now upon, this Reflection will +stand justified.-- + +"We are indebted to the Reason and Courage of a _Lady_, for the +Introduction of this Art; which gives such Strength in its Progress, +that the Memory of its Illustrious Foundress will be render'd Sacred by +it, to future Ages. + +"This Ornament of her Sex, and Country, who ennobles her own _Nobility_, +by her Learning, Wit, and Vertues, accompanying her Consort into +_Turkey_, observ'd the Benefit of this Practice, with its Frequency, +even among those obstinate _Proedestinarians_; and brought it over, for +the Service, and the Safety, of her Native _England_; where she +consecrated its first effects on the Persons of her own fine Children! +And has, already, receiv'd this Glory from it, 'That the Influence of +her example has reach'd as high as the Blood Royal.' And our noblest, +and most ancient Families, in Confirmation of her happy Judgment, add +the daily Experience of those, who are most dear to them. + +"I Have seen a short Poetical Essay, on the Occasion we are now treating +of. I wou'd say, if I meant the Verses an _Encomium_ they shou'd be +envied for,' That their _Subject_ need not blush at them!' + + _On Lady_ Mary Wortley Montagu's _bringing with her, out of + _ Turkey, _the Art of Inoculating the_ Small-Pox. + + _When_ Greece, _reviving into short Delight, + Felt Pride, and Comfort, at_ Our _Muse's Sight: + The Rival'd_ Nine _no sooner saw her Face, + But ev'n their_ Envy _gave their_ Wonder _Place! + Charm'd into_ Love, _of what eclips'd their Fame! + They mak'd_ Apollo, _with her pow'rful Name. + See!--God of_ Grecian _Wit!_ Urania _cries, + How sweet a_ Muse, _the Western World supplies! + Say, shou'd she ask some Favour, from your throne, + What could you_ bid _her_ take, _that's not_ her own? + _Sparkling in Charms, the heav'nly Stranger view + So_ grac'd! _she scarce can owe a_ Beam _to_ You! + Beauty, _with Love_, her _Pow'r to_ Yours _prefers: + And_ Wit, _and_ Learning, _are already_, Hers! + _Rous'd, at her_ name,--_receding from her Eyes, + The gazing God rose slow, in soft Surprise! + Fair_ Miracle, _he said,--and paus'd a while: + Then, thus_,--Sweet Glory, _of your envied Isle! + Charm'd, and oblig'd, lest, we ungrateful seem, + Bear hence, at least_, one Mark _of our Esteem._ + One, _Of my three great Claims_, your _Wish may fit; + Whose Voice is_ Musick: _and whose Thoughts are_ Wit! + Physick, _alone, remains, to grant you, here-- + A _Skill! your godlike_ Pity _will_ endear. + _Form'd to give_ Wounds, _which must no Ease procure, + _ Atone _your Influ'nce, by new Arts, to_ cure, + _Beauty's chief Foe, a fear'd, and fierce_ Disease! + _Bows, at my Beck; and knows its_ God's _Decrees. + Breath'd, in this_ Kiss, _take Pow'r to tame its Rage: + And, from its Rancour_, free _the rescu'd Age. + High, o'er each Sex, in_ Double _Empire, fit: + Protecting_ Beauty, _and inspiring Wit_. + + +When Lady Mary had been abroad for a year, she became homesick and began +to long for England. It was really very dull for her in Turkey, even +though she could pass the time of day in the language of the country. +Supervising the nurses of her child did not take a large share of her +tune; and she found only a mild excitement in going into the bazaar in +native woman's attire to collect Oriental rugs and whatnot. + + +"To say truth, I am sometimes very weary of this singing, and dancing, +and sunshine, and wish for the smoke and impertinencies in which you +toil, though I endeavour to persuade myself that I live in a more +agreeable variety than you do; and that Monday, setting of partridges-- +Tuesday, reading English--Wednesday, studying the Turkish language (in +which, by the way, I am already very learned)--Thursday, classical +authors--Friday, spent in writing--Saturday, at my needle--and Sunday, +admitting of visits, and hearing music, is a better way of disposing +the week, than Monday, at the drawing-room--Tuesday, Lady Mohun's-- +Wednesday, the opera--Thursday, the play--Friday, Mrs. Chetwynd's, &c., +a perpetual round of hearing the same scandal, and seeing the same +follies acted over and over, which here affect me no more than they do +other dead people. I can now hear of displeasing things with pity, and +without indignation. The reflection on the great gulf between you and me, +cools all news that come hither. I can neither be sensibly touched with +joy nor grief, when I consider that possibly the cause of either is +removed before the letter comes to my hands. But (as I said before) this +indolence does not extend to my few friendships; I am still warmly +sensible of yours and Mr. Congreve's, and desire to live in your \ +remembrances, though dead to all the world beside." + + +There is no doubt that it was to her pen that Lady Mary had recourse in +her endeavours to overcome ennui. A perusal of the letters written +during this first sojourn in Europe shows that nothing escaped her eye, +trivial or serious, from the washing of the Rotterdam pavements to the +dwarfs at the Court of Vienna, from the palaces of the great to the +cosmetics used by the women. + +Occasionally Lady Mary became impatient at the ignorance of her friends +as regards the Near East. + + +"I heartily beg your ladyship's pardon; but I really could not forbear +laughing heartily at your letter, and the commissions you are pleased to +honour me with" (she wrote to one of her acquaintances from Belgrade +Village in June, 1717). + +"You desire me to buy you a Greek slave, who is to be mistress of a +thousand good qualities. The Greeks are subjects, and not slaves. Those +who are to be bought in that manner, are either such as are taken in +war, or stolen by the Tartars from Russia, Circassia, or Georgia, and +are such miserable, awkward, poor wretches, you would not think any of +them worthy to be your housemaids. 'Tis true that many thousands were +taken in the Morea; but they have been, most of them, redeemed by the +charitable contributions of the Christians, or ransomed by their own +relations at Venice. The fine slaves that wait upon the great ladies, or +serve the pleasures of the great men, are all bought at the age of eight +or nine years old, and educated with great care, to accomplish them in +singing, dancing, embroidery, &c. They are commonly Circassians, and +their patron never sells them, except it is as a punishment for some +very great fault. If ever they grow weary of them, they either present +them to a friend, or give them their freedom. Those that are exposed to +sale at the markets are always either guilty of some crime, or so +entirely worthless that they are of no use at all. I am afraid you will +doubt the truth of this account, which I own is very different from our +common notions in England; but it is no less truth for all that. + +"Your whole letter is full of mistakes from one end to the other. I see +you have taken your ideas of Turkey from that worthy author Dumont, who +has written with equal ignorance and confidence. 'Tis a particular +pleasure to me here, to read the voyages to the Levant, which are +generally so far removed from the truth, and so full of absurdities, I +am very well diverted with them. They never fail giving you an account +of the women, whom 'tis certain they never saw, and talking very wisely +of the genius of the men, into whose company they are never admitted; +and very often describe mosques, which they dare not peep into. The +Turks are very proud, and will not converse with a stranger they are not +assured is considerable in his own country. I speak of the men of +distinction; for, as to the ordinary fellows, you may imagine what ideas +their conversation can give of the general genius of the people. + +"I am more inclined, out of a true female spirit of contradiction, to +tell you the falsehood of a great part of what you find in authors; as, +for example, in the admirable Mr. Hill, who so gravely asserts, that he +saw in Sancta Sophia a sweating pillar, very balsamic for disordered +heads. There is not the least tradition of any such matter; and I +suppose it was revealed to him in a vision during his wonderful stay in +the Egyptian catacombs; for I am sure he never heard of any such miracle +here. + +"'Tis also very pleasant to observe how tenderly he and all his brethren +voyage-writers lament the miserable confinement of the Turkish ladies, +who are perhaps freer than any ladies in the universe, and are the only +women in the world that lead a life of uninterrupted pleasure exempt +from cares; their whole time being spent in visiting, bathing, or the +agreeable amusement of spending money, and inventing new fashions. A +husband would be thought mad that exacted any degree of economy from his +wife, whose expenses are no way limited but by her own fancy. 'Tis his +business to get money, and hers to spend it: and this noble prerogative +extends itself to the very meanest of the sex. Here is a fellow that +carries embroidered handkerchiefs upon his back to sell, as miserable a +figure as you may suppose such a mean dealer, yet I'll assure you his +wife scorns to wear anything less than cloth of gold; has her ermine +furs, and a very handsome set of jewels for her head. They go abroad +when and where they please. Tis true they have no public places but the +bagnios, and there can only be seen by their own sex; however, that is a +diversion they take great pleasure in." + + +In the meantime, Montagu's conduct of affairs was much criticised at +home, and Lord Stanhope's Administration, which had come into power in +April, 1717, decided to recall him. This invidious task fell upon his +old friend Addison, now Secretary of State for the Southern Department. +The recall was notified to those concerned in a circular letter dated +October 13. Addison, in a private letter dated September 28, notified +him of the impending change: + + +"Having been confined to my chamber for some time by a dangerous fit of +sickness, I find, upon my coming abroad, some things have passed which I +think myself obliged to communicate to you, not as the Secretary to the +Ambassador, but as an humble servant to his friend.... Our great men are +of opinion that your being possessed [of the reversion of certain +places] (which they look upon as sure and sudden) it would be agreeable +to your inclinations, as well as for the King's service, which you are +so able to promote in Parliament, rather to return to your own country +than to live at Constantinople. For this reason, they have thought of +relieving Mr. Stanyan, who is now at the Imperial Court, and of joining +Sir Robert Sutton with him in the mediation of a peace between the +Emperor and the Turks. I need not suggest to you that Mr. Stanyan is in +great favour at Vienna, and how necessary it is to humour that Court in +the present juncture. Besides, as it would have been for your honour to +have acted as sole mediator in such a negotiation, perhaps it would not +have been so agreeable to you to act only in commission. This was +suggested to me the other day by one of our first ministers, who told me +that he believed Sir R. Sutton's being joined in a mediation, which was +carried on by my Lord Paget singly, would be shocking to you, but that +they could be more free with a person of Mr. Stanyan's quality. I find +by his Majesty's way of speaking of you, that you are much in his favour +and esteem, and I fancy you would find your ease and advantage more in +being nearer his person than at the distance you are from him at +present. I omit no opportunity of doing you justice where I think it is +for your service, and wish I could know your mind as to these several +particulars by a more speedy and certain conveyance, that I might act +accordingly to the utmost of my powers. Madame Kielmansegg and my Lady +Hervey desire me to forward the enclosed to my Lady Mary Wortley, to +whom I beg you will deliver them with my most humble regards." + + +What Montagu's feelings were can only be imagined. It is almost certain +that he felt himself vastly aggrieved. Nothing could have been more +delicate or complimentary than Addison's letter, but it did not, and +could not, disguise the main fact. It was easy for the Secretary of +State to suggest that at least one reason for the recall was that +Montagu must be anxious to return, but that certainly could not have +deceived the Ambassador who was, indeed, so little anxious to get home +that he remained at Constantinople until the following June. Likewise, +the statement that he would be able to promote the King's service in +Parliament, flattering as it read, meant, of course, nothing at all. +Certainly, though Montagu sat in the House of Commons until his death, +office was never offered him in any Administration. + +Lady Mary found herself again with child. Whether this pleased her or +not no one can say, but in a letter to Mrs. Thistlethwayte she treated +the incident divertingly enough. + + +"I wish I could return your goodness with some diverting accounts from +hence. But I know not what part of the scenes here would gratify your +curiosity, or whether you have any curiosity at all for things so far +distant. To say the truth, I am, at this present writing, not very much +turned for the recollection of what is diverting, my head being wholly +filled with the preparations necessary for the increase of my family, +which I expect every day. You may easily guess at my uneasy situation. +But I am, however, in some degree comforted, by the glory that accrues +to me from it, and a reflection on the contempt I should otherwise fall +under. You won't know what to make of this speech: but, in this country, +it is more despicable to be married and not fruitful, than it is with us +to be fruitful before marriage. They have a notion, that, whenever a +woman leaves off bringing children, it is because she is too old for +that business, whatever her face says to the contrary, and this opinion +makes the ladies here so ready to make proofs of their youth (which is +as necessary, in order to be a received beauty, as it is to shew the +proofs of nobility, to be admitted knight of Malta), that they do not +content themselves with using the natural means, but fly to all sorts of +quackeries, to avoid the scandal of being past child-bearing, and often +kill themselves by them. Without any exaggeration, all the women of my +acquaintance that have been married ten years, have twelve or thirteen +children; and the old ones boast of having had five-and-twenty or thirty +a-piece, and are respected according to the number they have produced. +When they are with child, it is their common expression to say, They +hope God will be so merciful to them to send two this time; and when I +have asked them sometimes, How they expected to provide for such a flock +as they desire? they answered, That the plague will certainly kill half +of them; which, indeed, generally happens, without much concern to the +parents, who are satisfied with the vanity of having brought forth so +plentifully. + +"The French Ambassadress is forced to comply with this fashion as well +as myself. She has not been here much above a year, and has lain in +once, and is big again. What is most wonderful is, the exemption they +seem to enjoy from the curse entailed on the sex. They see all company +the day of their delivery, and, at the fortnight's end, return visits, +set out in their jewels and new clothes. I wish I may find the influence +of the climate in this particular. But I fear I shall continue an +Englishwoman in that affair." + + +Lady Mary gave birth to a daughter, Mary, in February. "I don't mention +this as one of my diverting adventures," she wrote to Lady Mar, "though +I must own that it is not half so mortifying here as in England, there +being as much difference as there is between a little cold in the head, +which sometimes happens here, and the consumptive cough, so common in +London. Nobody keeps their house a month for lying in; and I am not so +fond of any of our customs to retain them when they are not necessary. I +returned my visits at three weeks' end." + +So soon as possible after this domestic event, preparations for the +return journey were made. The party went by sea to Tunis, thence to +Genoa, Turin, Lyons, and Paris. Their arrival at Paris in October was +notified by Lady Mar to her husband: "You'll be surprised to hear 657 +[i.e., Lady Mary] is here. She arrived the day after me. You may believe +how much incognito I am. 'Twas in vain to attempt being so. Twould fill +a whole letter to tell you the people that have been to see me. I was +very much pleased at seeing 657 and she appeared to be the same." The +sisters had not met for three years. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCANDAL + +Montagu re-enters the House of Commons--His miserliness--Pope refers to +it--Comments on Society--Lady Mary and a first-class scandal--Remond-- +His admiration for her--Her imprudent letters to him--The South Sea +Bubble--Lady Mary speculates for Remond--She loses money for him--He +demands to be re-imbursed--He threatens to publish her letters--She +states the case in letters to Lady Mar--Lady Mary meets Pope--His letters +to her when she was abroad--He affects to be in love with her--Her +matter-of-fact replies--Her parody of his verses, "On John Hughes and +Sarah Drew." + + +Montagu, on his return to England, again entered the House of Commons, +where he represented Huntingdon from 1722 to 1734, and then for +Peterborough from 1734 to 1747 and from 1754 to 1761. Whether it was +lack of ambition or just want of appreciation of his talents by the +leaders of his party, there is no evidence. Even with his family +connections and his wealth, he was never offered a place in any +Administration, nor, it must be confessed, did he in any way distinguish +himself in Parliament. As the years passed, his chief pleasure, if +indeed it was not his only one, was in the hoarding of money--in this +pursuit he was splendidly successful. From references to Lady Mary in +contemporary correspondence, it would appear that she too had no small +streak of the miser in her. Pope, after his quarrel with her, referred +to Montagu as "Worldly," "Shylock," and "Gripus," and in the fourth +Epistle of the _Essay on Man_ wrote: + + "Is yellow dirt the passion of thy life? + Look but on Gripus and Gripus' wife." + +Also he lampooned them under the style of Avidieu and Avidieu's wife, +who + + "Sell their presented partridges or fruits, + And humbly live on rabbits and on roots; + One half-pint bottle serves them both to dine, + And is at once their vinegar and wine. + But on some lucky day (as when they found + A lost bank note, or heard their son was drowned), + At such a feast old vinegar to spare + Is what two souls so generous cannot bear: + Oil, though it stink, they drop by drop impart, + But souse the cabbage with a bounteous heart." + +Lady Mary took her place, as of right, as a leader of society, and for a +while plunged into the gaieties of the town. "Public places flourish +more than ever," she wrote to her sister. "We have assemblies for every +day in the week, besides Court, operas, and masquerades. With youth and +money, 'tis certainly possible to be well diverted in spite of malice +and ill-nature, though they are more and more powerful every day. For my +part, as it is my established opinion that this globe of ours is no +better than a Holland cheese, and the walkers about in it mites, I +possess my soul in patience, let what will happen--and I should feel +tolerably easy, though a great rat came and ate half of it." That is a +philosophical outlook with a vengeance! + +However, Lady Mary managed on the whole to enjoy herself. "The town +improves in gaiety every day; the young people are younger than they +used to be, and all the old are grown young. Nothing is talked of but +entertainments of gallantry by land and water, and we insensibly begin +to taste all the joys of arbitrary power. Politics are no more; nobody +pretends to wince or kick under their burdens; but we go on cheerfully +with our bells at our ears, ornamented with ribands, and highly +contented with our present condition; so much for the general state of +the nation," she made her comment on polite circles. "We are much +mistaken here as to our ideas of Paris--to hear gallantry has deserted +it, sounds as extraordinary to me as a want of ice in Greenland. +We have nothing but ugly faces in this country, but more lovers than +ever. There are but three pretty men in England, and they are all in +love with me, at this present writing. This will amaze you extremely; +but if you were to see the reigning girls at present, I will assure you, +there is very little difference between them and old women." + +Lady Mary could never resist a good story, and, indeed, never made any +attempt to do so, and she usually wrote them down to amuse Lady Mar. + + +"'Tis but reasonable I should conclude with a farce, that I may not +leave you in ill humour. I have so good an opinion of your taste, to +believe Harlequin in person will never make you laugh so much as the +Earl of Stair's furious passion for Lady Walpole (aged fourteen and some +months). Mrs. Murray undertook to bring the business to bear, and +provided the opportunity (a great ingredient you'll say); but the young +lady proved skittish. She did not only turn this heroic flame into +present ridicule, but exposed all his generous sentiments, to divert her +husband and father-in-law. His lordship is gone to Scotland; and if +there was anybody wicked enough to write about it, there is a subject +worthy the pen of the best ballad-maker in Grub-street." + + * * * * * + +"Lord Townshend has renewed his lease of life by his French journey, and +is at present situated in his house in Grosvenor-street in perfect +health. My good lady is coming from the Bath to meet him with the joy +you may imagine. Kitty Edwin has been the companion of his [her?] +pleasures there. The alliance seems firmer than ever between them, after +their Tunbridge battles, which served for the entertainment of the +public. The secret cause is variously guessed at; but it is certain Lady +Townshend came into the great room gently behind her friend, and tapping +her on the shoulder with her fan, said aloud, _I know where, how, and +who_. These mysterious words drew the attention of all the company, +and had such an effect upon poor Kitty, she was carried to her lodgings +in strong hysterics. However, by the intercession of prudent mediators +peace was concluded; and if the conduct of these heroines was considered +in a true light, perhaps it might serve for an example even to higher +powers, by showing that the surest method to obtain a lasting and +honourable peace, is to begin with vigorous war. But leaving these +reflections, which are above my capacity, permit me to repeat my desire +of hearing often from you. Your letters would be my greatest pleasure if +I had flourished in the first years of Henry the Eighth's court; judge +then how welcome they are to me in the present desolate state of this +deserted town of London." + + +Lady Mary's own morals were more than once assailed; but this did not +prevent her humorous attack on society at large: "Those things [Bills of +Divorce] grow more fashionable every day, and in a little time won't be +at all scandalous. The best expedient for the public, and to prevent the +expense of private families, would be a general act of divorcing all the +people of England. You know those that pleased might marry again; and it +would save the reputation of several ladies that are now in peril of +being exposed every day." + +Not long after Lady Mary had returned to England, about the winter of +1720, she, who loved to retail malicious stories about others, found +herself, to her great dismay, the subject of a first-class scandal. + +When Lady Mary was in Paris, Remond was introduced to her by the Abbe +Conti. He had seen a letter or two addressed by her to the Abbe, and +expressed himself with enthusiasm of her brilliance as a correspondent. +Presently he came to England, and sought out Lady Mary, who was no more +immune from flattery than most folk of either sex. How far the intimacy +developed from the platonic to the amorous it is impossible to say. That +Remond made love to her there can be little doubt. Sir Leslie Stephen +holds the view that she did not encourage his passion. Anyhow, it is +beyond question that she wrote him imprudent letters, which he was +prudent enough to keep. + +Lady Mary basked in the admiration of Remond, and thought to reward him +for his intelligence, at no cost to herself, by putting him on to "a +good thing." Also, getting a little fearsome of his very marked +attentions, or perhaps it was only wearying of them, she thought, as she +confessed to her sister, the Countess of Mar, it would be the more easy +to rid herself of this somewhat turbulent lover. + +At this time the famous "boom" known as the South Sea Bubble was at the +height of its brief career. The South Sea Company had taken over the +National Debt, on terms, and its stock, carefully manipulated, rose by +leaps and bounds. In 1714 the stock stood at 85. After the defeat of the +rebellion of 1715, it was quoted at prices varying from par to 106. In +the autumn of 1719, when rumours of its great scheme were spread about +the town, it rose to 126. Early in the following year it could not be +purchased for less than 400. It fluctuated wildly, going up and down +hundreds of points. On June 2, 1720, it went up in the morning to 890, +in the afternoon fell to 640; and many who were speculating in +differences were utterly ruined. Later in the day it recovered, though +only to 770. Ultimately it rose to 1,000. Of course the prices were +fictitious, but everyone in society tried their luck, and while some +came out of it with a fortune, the majority lost practically every penny +they had. The directors, most of whom were guilty of fraud, made vast +sums of money. That astute financier, Robert Walpole, speculated on a +vast scale, sold out before the slump, and realised a fortune more than +sufficient to enable him to rebuild Houghton and to gather together his +famous collection of pictures. On the other hand the Duke of Portland, +who held on too long, was so hard hit that he had to solicit the post of +Captain-General of Jamaica. + +Remond held some South Sea stock, and, acting on Lady Mary's advice, +sold out at a considerable profit. Not content with his gains, however, +he insisted, just before his departure for France, on leaving in Lady +Mary's hands L900 for investment as opportunity should arise. +Reluctantly Lady Mary consented--she would probably have agreed almost +to anything, so anxious was she that Remond should leave the country. + +On August 22, 1720, Pope, with the best intentions in the world, wrote +to Lady Mary: "I was made acquainted last night that I might depend upon +it as a certain gain to buy the South Sea stock at the present price, +which will assuredly rise in some weeks or less. I can be as sure of +this as the nature of any such thing will allow, from the first and best +hands, and therefore have despatched the bearer with all speed to you." +No doubt the phrase "the first and best hands," was intended to convey +the fact that his informant was his friend and neighbour, James Craggs +the younger, the Secretary of State who was so deeply involved in the +affairs of the South Sea Company that when the "bubble" burst he only +escaped prosecution by conveniently dying of small-pox. Acting on the +hint given by Pope, Lady Mary purchased stock for herself and Remond. +The stock fell rapidly--in August it stood at 750 and in December at +130. What she lost is not known, but she had been sufficiently involved +to make her desire to sell her diamonds, and more than once she asked +Lady Mar if there was a market for the jewels in Paris. Remond's L900 +had dwindled to L400. On receiving these distressful tidings, the +Frenchman believed, or affected to believe, that he had been swindled, +and he threatened, unless he were repaid in full, he would publish Lady +Mary's letters to him. Lady Mary's fear was lest the matter should come +to the cognisance of her husband: it would certainly be unfair to +Montagu to suggest that he might not have forgiven his wife for a +love-affair; but he would certainly never have pardoned her any +transaction that cost him money. + +Many malicious things were said about this business. Walpole gave a +version utterly discreditable to Lady Mary, and Pope, after the quarrel, +referred to the matter in the second book of the _Dunciad_: + + "Whence hapless Monsieur much complains at Paris + Of wrongs from Duchesses and Lady Maries." + +The case was put by Lady Mary in a series of letters to her sister, Lady +Mar, to whom she could unburden herself freely, and who might be able to +influence Remond, who was then at Paris. + + +[1721.] + +"From the tranquil and easy situation in which you left me, dear sister, +I am reduced to that of the highest degree of vexation, which I need not +set out to you better than by the plain matter of fact, which I heartily +wish I had told you long since; and nothing hindered me but a certain +_mauvaise honte_ which you are reasonable enough to forgive, as very +natural, though not very excusable where there is nothing to be ashamed +of; since I can only accuse myself of too much good-nature, or at worst +too much credulity, though I believe there never was more pains taken to +deceive any body. In short, a person whose name is not necessary, +because you know it, took all sorts of methods, during almost two years +[_sic_], to persuade me that there never was so extraordinary an +attachment (or what you please to call it) as they had for me. This +ended in coming over to make me a visit against my will, and, as was +pretended, very much against their interest. I cannot deny I was very +silly in giving the least credit to this stuff. But if people are so +silly, you'll own 'tis natural for any body that is good-natured to pity +and be glad to serve a person they believe unhappy upon their account. +It came into my head, out of a high point of generosity (for which I +wish myself hanged), to do this creature all the good I possibly could, +since 'twas impossible to make them happy their own way. I advised him +very strenuously to sell out of the subscription, and in compliance to +my advice he did so; and in less than two days saw he had done very +prudently. After a piece of service of this nature, I thought I could +more decently press his departure, which his follies made me think +necessary for me. He took leave of me with so many tears and grimaces +(which I can't imagine how he could counterfeit) as really moved my +compassion; and I had much ado to keep to my first resolution of +exacting his absence, which he swore would be his death. I told him that +there was no other way in the world I would not be glad to serve him in, +but that his extravagances made it utterly impossible for me to keep him +company. He said that he would put into my hands the money that I had +won for him, and desired me to improve it, saying that if he had enough +to buy a small estate, and retire from the world, 'twas all the +happiness he hoped for in it. I represented to him that if he had so +little money as he said, 'twas ridiculous to hazard at all. He replied +that 'twas too little to be of any value, and he would either have it +double or quit. After many objections on my side and replies on his, I +was so weak to be overcome by his entreaties, and flattered myself also +that I was doing a very heroic action, in trying to make a man's fortune +though I did not care for his addresses. He left me with these +imaginations, and my first care was to employ his money to the best +advantage. I laid it all out in stock, the general discourse and private +intelligence then scattered about being of a great rise. You may +remember it was two or three days before the fourth subscription, and +you were with me when I paid away the money to Mr. Binfield. I thought I +had managed prodigious well in selling out the said stock the day after +the shutting the books (for a small profit) to Cox and Cleeve, +goldsmiths of very good reputation. When the opening of the books came, +my men went off, leaving the stock upon my hands, which was already sunk +from near nine hundred pounds to four hundred pounds. I immediately writ +him word of this misfortune, with the sincere sorrow natural to have +upon such an occasion, and asked his opinion as to the selling the stock +remaining in. He made me no answer to this part of my letter, but a long +eloquent oration of miseries of another nature. I attributed this +silence to his disinterested neglect of his money; but, however, +resolved to make no more steps in his business without direct orders, +after having been so unlucky. This occasioned many letters to no +purpose; but the very post after you left London, I received a letter +from him, in which he told me that he had discovered all my tricks; that +he was convinced I had all his money remaining untouched: and he would +have it again, or he would print all my letters to him; which though, +God knows, very innocent in the main, yet may admit of ill +constructions, besides the monstrousness of being exposed in such a +manner. I hear from other people that he is liar enough to publish that +I have borrowed the money of him; though I have a note under his hand, +by which he desires me to employ it in the funds, and acquits me of +being answerable for the losses that may happen. At the same time, I +have attestations and witnesses of the bargains I made, so that nothing +can be clearer than my integrity in this business; but that does not +hinder me from being in the utmost terror for the consequences (as you +may easily guess) of his villany; the very story of which appears so +monstrous to me, I can hardly believe myself while I write it; though I +omit (not to tire you) a thousand aggravating circumstances. I cannot +forgive myself the folly of ever regarding one word he said; and I see +now that his lies have made me wrong several of my acquaintances, and +you among the rest, for having said (as he told me) horrid things +against me to him. 'Tis long since that your behaviour has acquitted you +in my opinion; but I thought I ought not to mention, to hurt him with +you, what was perhaps more misunderstanding, or mistake, than a designed +lie. But he has very amply explained his character to me. What is very +pleasant is, that, but two posts before, I received a letter from him +full of higher flights than ever. I beg your pardon (dear sister) for +this tedious account; but you see how necessary 'tis for me to get my +letters from this madman. Perhaps the best way is by fair means; at +least, they ought to be first tried. I would have you, then (my dear +sister), try to make the wretch sensible of the truth of what I advance, +without asking for the letters, which I have already asked for. Perhaps +you may make him ashamed of his infamous proceedings by talking of me, +without taking notice that you know of his threats, only of my dealings. +I take this method to be the most likely to work upon him. I beg you +would send me a full and true account of this detestable affair +(enclosed to Mrs. Murray). If I had not been the most unlucky creature +in the world, his letter would have come while you were here, that I +might have shewed you both his note and the other people's. I knew he +was discontented, but was far from imagining a possibility of this +thing. I give you a great deal of trouble, but you see I shall owe you +the highest obligation if you can serve me: the very endeavouring of it +is a tie upon me to serve you the rest of my life without reserve and +with eternal gratitude." + + +[Twickenham, 1721.] + +"I am now at Twickenham: 'tis impossible to tell you, dear sister, what +agonies I suffer every post-day; my health really suffers so much from +my fears, that I have reason to apprehend the worst consequences. If +that monster acted on the least principles of reason, I should have +nothing to fear, since 'tis certain that after he has exposed me he will +get nothing by it. Mr. Wortley can do nothing for his satisfaction I am +not willing to do myself. I desire not the least indulgence of any kind. +Let him put his affair into the hands of any lawyer whatever. I am +willing to submit to any examination; 'tis impossible to make a fairer +offer than this is: whoever he employs may come to me hither on several +pretences. I desire nothing from him, but that he would send no letters +nor messages to my house at London, where Mr. Wortley now is. I am come +hither in hopes of benefit from the air, but I carry my distemper about +me in an anguish of mind that visibly decays my body every day. I am too +melancholy to talk of any other subject. Let me beg you (dear sister) to +take some care of this affair, and think you have it in your power to do +more than save the life of a sister that loves you." + + +[Twickenham, 1721.] + +"I give you many thanks (my dear sister) for the trouble you have given +yourself in my affair; but am afraid 'tis not yet effectual. I must beg +you to let him know I am now at Twickenham, and that whoever has his +procuration may come here on divers pretences, but must by no means go +to my house at London. I wonder you can think Lady Stafford has not writ +to him; she shewed me a long plain letter to him several months ago; as +a demonstration he received it, I saw his answer. 'Tis true she treated +him with the contempt he deserved, and told him she would never give +herself the trouble of writing again to so despicable a wretch. She is +willing to do yet further, and write to the Duke of Villeroi about it, +if I think it proper. Remond does nothing but lie, and either does not, +or will not, understand what is said to him. You will forgive me +troubling you so often with this business; the importance of it is the +best excuse; in short, + + '--'tis joy or sorrow, peace or strife. + 'Tis all the colour of remaining life.' + +I can foresee nothing else to make me unhappy, and, I believe, shall +take care another time not to involve myself in difficulties by an +overplus of heroic generosity. + +"I am, dear sister, ever yours, with the utmost esteem and affection. If +I get over this cursed affair, my style may enliven." + + +[June, 1721.] + +"I have just received your letter of May 30th, and am surprised, since +you own the receipt of my letter, that you give me not the least hint +concerning the business that I writ so earnestly to you about. Till that +is over, I am as little capable of hearing or repeating news, as I +should be if my house was on fire. I am sure, a great deal must be in +your power; the hurting of me can be in no way his interest. I am ready +to assign, or deliver the money for L500 stock, to whoever he will name, +if he will send my letters into Lady Stafford's hands; which, were he +sincere in his offer of burning them, he would readily do. Instead of +that, he has writ a letter to Mr. W. [Wortley] to inform him of the +whole affair: luckily for me, the person he has sent it to assures me it +shall never be delivered; but I am not the less obliged to his good +intentions. For God's sake, do something to set my mind at ease from +this business, and then I will not fail to write you regular accounts of +all your acquaintance." + + +[July (?), 1721.] + +"I cannot enough thank you, dear sister, for the trouble you give +yourself in my affairs, though I am still so unhappy to find your care +very ineffectual. I have actually in my present possession a formal +letter directed to Mr. Wortley to acquaint him with the whole business. +You may imagine the inevitable eternal misfortunes it would have thrown +me into, had it been delivered by the person to whom it was intrusted. I +wish you would make him sensible of the infamy of this proceeding, which +can no way in the world turn to his advantage. Did I refuse giving the +strictest account, or had I not the clearest demonstration in my hands +of the truth and sincerity with which I acted, there might be some +temptation to this baseness; but all he can expect by informing Mr. +Wortley is to hear him repeat the same things I assert; he will not +retrieve one farthing, and I am for ever miserable. I beg no more of him +than to direct any person, man or woman, either lawyer, broker, or a +person of quality, to examine me; and as soon as he has sent a proper +authority to discharge me on enquiry, I am ready to be examined. I think +no offer can be fairer from any person whatsoever; his conduct towards +me is so infamous, that I am informed I might prosecute him by law if he +was here; he demanding the whole sum as a debt from Mr. Wortley, at the +same time I have a note under his hand signed to prove the contrary. I +beg with the utmost earnestness that you would make him sensible of his +error. I believe 'tis very necessary to say something to fright him. I +am persuaded, if he was talked to in a style of that kind, he would not +dare to attempt to ruin me. I have a great inclination to write +seriously to your lord about it, since I desire to determine this affair +in the fairest and the clearest manner. I am not at all afraid of making +any body acquainted with it; and if I did not fear making Mr. Wortley +uneasy (who is the only person from whom I would conceal it), all the +transactions should have been long since enrolled in Chancery. I have +already taken care to have the broker's depositions taken before a +lawyer of reputation and merit. I deny giving him no satisfaction; and +after that offer, I think there is no man of honour that would refuse +signifying to him that as 'tis all he can desire, so, if he persists in +doing me an injury, he may repent it. You know how far 'tis proper to +take this method, I say nothing of the uneasiness I am under, 'tis far +beyond any expression; my obligation would be proportionable to any body +that would deliver me from it, and I should not think it paid by all the +services of my life." + + +[Twickenham, June (?), 1721.] + +"Dear Sister, + +"Having this occasion, I would not omit writing, though I have received +no answer to my two last. The bearer is well acquainted with my affair, +though not from me, till he mentioned it to me first, having heard it +from those to whom Remond had told it with all the false colours he +pleased to lay on. I shewed him the formal commission I had to employ +the money, and all the broker's testimonies taken before Delpeeke, with +his certificate. Your remonstrances have hitherto had so little effect, +that R. [Remond] will neither send a letter of attorney to examine my +accounts, or let me be in peace. I received a letter from him but two +posts since, in which he renews his threats except I send him the whole +sum, which is as much in my power as it is to send a million. I can +easily comprehend that he may be ashamed to send a procuration, which +must convince the world of all the lies he has told. For my part, I am +so willing to be rid of the plague of hearing from him, I desire no +better than to restore him with all expedition the money I have in my +hands; but I will not do it without a general acquittance in due form, +not to have fresh demands every time he wants money. If he thinks that +he has a larger sum to receive than I offer, why does he not name a +procurator to examine me? If he is content with that sum, I only insist +on the acquittance for my own safety. I am ready to send it to him, with +full license to tell as many lies as he pleases afterwards. I am weary +with troubling you with repetitions which cannot be more disagreeable to +you than they are to me. I have had, and still have, so much vexation +with this execrable affair, 'tis impossible to describe it. I had rather +talk to you of any thing else, but it fills my whole head." + + +Lady Mary was no coward, but when she heard that Remond intended to come +to London in connection with this business, she was at first in despair +However, she summoned her courage to aid, and asked Lady Mar to tell him +that if he was spoiling for a fight she would do her best to indulge him. + + +"I send you, dear sister, by Lady Lansdowne this letter, accompanied +with the only present that was ever sent me by that monster. I beg you +to return it immediately. I am told he is preparing to come to London. +Let him know that 'tis not at all necessary for receiving his money or +examining my accounts; he has nothing to do but to send a letter of +attorney to whom he pleases (without exception), and I will readily +deliver up what I have in my hands, and his presence will not obtain one +farthing more: his design then can only be to expose my letters here. I +desire you would assure him that my first step shall be to acquaint my +Lord Stair[4] with all his obligations to him, as soon as I hear he is +in London; and if he dares to give me further trouble, I shall take care +to have him rewarded in a stronger manner than he expects; there is +nothing more true than this; and I solemnly swear, that if all the +credit or money that I have in the world can do it, either for +friendship or hire, I shall not fail to have him used as he deserves; +and since I know this journey can only be designed to expose me, I shall +not value what noise is made. Perhaps you may prevent it; I leave you to +judge of the most proper method; 'tis certain no time should be lost; +fear is his predominant passion, and I believe you may fright him from +coming hither, where he will certainly find a reception very +disagreeable to him." + +[Footnote 4: John Dalrymple, second Earl of Stair (1673-1747), British +Ambassador at Paris, 1715-1720.] + + +"September 6, 1721. + +"I have consulted my lawyer, and he says I cannot, with safety to +myself, deposit the money I have received into other hands, without the +express order of Remond; and he is so unreasonable, that he will neither +send a procuration to examine my accounts, or any order for me to +transfer his stock into another name. I am heartily weary of the trust, +which has given me so much trouble, and can never think myself safe till +I am quite got rid of it: rather than be plagued any longer with the +odious keeping, I am willing to abandon my letters to his discretion. I +desire nothing more of him than an order to place his money in other +hands, which methinks should not be so hard to obtain, since he is so +dissatisfied with my management; but he seems to be bent to torment me, +and will not even touch his money, because I beg it of him. I wish you +would represent these things to him; for my own part, I live in so much +uneasiness about it, that I sometimes weary of life itself." + + +[October (?) 1721.] + +"I cannot forbear (dear sister) accusing you of unkindness that you take +so little care of a business of the last consequence to me. R. [Remond] +writ to me some time ago, to say if I would immediately send him L2,000 +sterling, he would send me an acquittance. As this was sending him +several hundreds out of my own pocket, I absolutely refused it; and, in +return, I have just received a threatening letter, to print I know not +what stuff against me. I am too well acquainted with the world (of which +poor Mrs. Murray's affair is a fatal instance), not to know that the +most groundless accusation is always of ill consequence to a woman; +besides the cruel misfortune it may bring upon me in my own family. If +you have any compassion either for me or my innocent children, I am sure +you will try to prevent it. The thing is too serious to be delayed. I +think (to say nothing either of blood or affection), that humanity and +Christianity are interested in my preservation. I am sure I can answer +for my hearty gratitude and everlasting acknowledgment of a service much +more important than that of saving my life." + + +In Lady Mary's correspondence there is no further reference to this +sorry business, and so it cannot be said how it ended. Nor can it be +decided whether Remond really believed he had been swindled or whether +he was just a blackmailer. + +The intimacy between Lady Mary and Pope is especially interesting +because it culminated in one of the most famous quarrels in the literary +annals of this country, and second only to that between Pope and +Addison. + +When Lady Mary went abroad in 1716 Pope, who always wanted to make the +best of both worlds, thought, it has been related by his biographers, of +what dramatic situation describing the separation of lovers would best +suit him to express his feelings, and he found exactly what he wanted on +the supposed authentic letters of Eloisa to Abelard. Pope sent Lady Mary +a volume of his poems, saying: "Among the rest you have all I am worth, +that is, my works. There are few things in them but what you have +already seen, except the 'Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard,' in which you +will find one passage that I cannot tell whether to wish you should +understand or not." + +Pope corresponded with Lady Mary during the two years of her stay +abroad. The first letter from Pope begins: + + +"So natural as I find it is to me to neglect every body else in your +company, I am sensible I ought to do anything that might please you, and +I fancied upon recollection, our writing the letter you proposed was of +that nature. I therefore sate down to my part of it last night, when I +should have gone out of town. Whether or no you will order me, in +recompense, to see you again, I leave to you, for indeed I find I begin +to behave myself worse to you than to any other woman, as I value you +more, and yet if I thought I should not see you again, I would say some +things here, which I could not to your person. For I would not have you +die deceived in me, that is, go to Constantinople without knowing that I +am to some degree of extravagance, as well as with the utmost reason, +madam, your, etc." + + +Some passages from Pope's subsequent letters must be given to indicate +the lines on which this correspondence was conducted. + + +"You may easily imagine how desirous I must be of correspondence with a +person who had taught me long ago, that it was as possible to esteem at +first sight, as to love; and who has since ruined me for all the +conversation of one sex and almost all the friendship of the other. I am +but too sensible, through your means, that the company of men, wants a +certain softness to recommend it, and that of women wants everything +else. How often have I been quietly going to take possession of that +tranquility and indolence I had so long found in the country, when one +evening of your conversation has spoiled me for a solitaire too! Books +have lost their effect upon me, and I was convinced since I saw you, +that there is something more powerful than philosophy, and since I heard +you, that there is one alive wiser than all the sages. A plague of +female wisdom! it makes a man ten times more uneasy than his own. What +is very strange, Virtue herself, when you have the dressing of her, is +too amiable for one's repose. What a world of good might you have done +in your time, if you had allowed half the fine gentlemen who have seen +you to have but conversed with you! They would have been strangely +caught, while they thought only to fall in love with a fair face, and +you had bewitched them with reason and virtue, two beauties that the +very fops pretend to have an acquaintance with." + + +"August 20, 1716. + +"Madam, + +"You will find me more troublesome than ever Brutus did his evil genius, +I shall meet you in more places than one, and often refreshen your +memory before you arrive at your Philippi. These shadows of me (my +letters) will be haunting you from time to time, and putting you in mind +of the man who has really suffered by you, and whom you have robbed of +the most valuable of his enjoyments, your conversation. The advantage of +learning your sentiments by discovering mine, was what I always thought +a great one, and even with the risk I run of manifesting my own +indiscretion. You then rewarded my trust in you the moment it was given, +for you pleased and informed me the minute you answered. I must now be +contented with slow returns. However, it is some pleasure, that your +thoughts upon paper will be a more lasting possession to me, and that I +shall no longer have cause to complain of a loss I have so often +regretted, that of anything you said, which I happened to forget. In +earnest, Madam, if I were to write you as often as I think of you, it +must be every day of my life. I attend you in spirit through all your +ways, I follow in books of travel through every stage, I wish for you, +fear for you through whole folios, you make me shrink at the past +dangers of dead travellers, and when I read an agreeable prospect or +delightful place, I hope it yet subsists to give you pleasure. I inquire +the roads, the amusements, the company of every town and country you +pass through, with as much diligence, as if I were to set out next week +to overtake you. In a word no one can have you more constantly in mind, +not even your guardian-angel (if you have one), and I am willing to +indulge so much Popery as to fancy some Being takes care of you who +knows your value better than you do yourself. I am willing to think that +Heaven never gave so much self-neglect and resolution to a woman, to +occasion her calamity, but am pious enough to believe those qualities +must be intended to her benefit and her glory." + + +Pope's letters of this period to Lady Mary were all written in a strain +of adulation, which may well have pleased Lady Mary and must certainly +have amused her. She can, however, scarcely have been led into any +self-deception as regards the sincerity of her correspondent, in spite +of the fact that in one of the earliest epistles he addressed to her he +subscribed himself: "I am, with all unalterable esteem and sincerity, +Madam, your most faithful, obedient, humble servant." Yet, no doubt, she +was pleased enough to read: "I communicated your letter to Mr. Congreve; +he thinks of you as he ought, I mean as I do, for one always thinks that +to be just as it ought.... We never meet but we lament over you: we pay +a kind of weekly rites to your memory, when we strew flowers of rhetoric +and offer such libations to your name as if it were a profaneness to +call toasting." Well, alcoholic refreshment by any other name is just as +potent. It must have been grateful and comforting to be told when in +exile: "I must tell you, too, that the Duke of Buckingham has been more +than once your high priest in performing the office of your praises: and +upon the whole I believe there are few men who do not deplore your +departure, as women that sincerely do." + +Most excellent Pope, who would play at make-believe. It is almost a pity +that he could not persuade the lady that he meant even a tithe of what +he wrote to her. Listen to him again: "For my part, I hate a great many +women for your sake, and undervalue all the rest. 'Tis you who are to +blame, and may God revenge it upon you, with all those blessings and +earthy prosperities which the divines tell us, are the cause of our +perdition: for if He makes you happy in this world, I dare trust your +own virtue to do it in the other." These poets! + +Lady Mary took all this in the right way, and as love-letters appraised +them at their true value. "Perhaps you'll laugh at me for thanking you +very gravely for all the obliging concern you express for me," she wrote +from Vienna in September, with, perhaps, just a touch of irony. "'Tis +certain that I may, if I please, take the fine things you say to me for +wit and raillery; and it may be, it would be taking them right. But I +never in my life was half so well disposed to believe you in earnest; +and that distance which makes the continuation of your friendship +improbable, has very much increased my faith for it, and I find that I +have (as well as the rest of my sex), whatever face I set on't, a strong +disposition to believe in miracles." As regards the rest, her side of +the correspondence was matter-of-fact to such a degree that it suggests +that she adopted that tone in order to lease him. Her replies can +scarcely have given Pope any satisfaction. From Vienna she gave him a +detailed account of the opera and the theatre; from Belgrade she told +him of the war and of an Arabic scholar and also of the climate; from +Adrianople she discoursed of the Hebrus, of the lads of the village, of +Addison and Theocritus, pays him compliments on his translation of +Homer, and a copy of some Turkish verses; and so on. The most striking +thing about her letters is the absence of the personal note, which is so +often introduced when she was writing to others. They read more like +essays than communications to a friend. + +Pope, in a letter dated September 1, 1718, sent Lady Mary a copy of his +verses. + + ON JOHN HUGHES AND SARAH DREW + + When Eastern lovers fear'd the fun'eral fire + On the same pile the faithful pair expire! + Here pitying Heav'n that virtue mutual found, + And blasted both, that it might neither wound. + Hearts so sincere th' Almighty saw well pleas'd, + Sent his own lightning and the victims seiz'd. + + I + Think not by vig'rous judgment seiz'd, + A pair so faithful could expire; + Victims so pure Heav'n saw well pleas'd, + And snatch'd them in celestial fire. + + II + Live well, and fear no sudden fate: + When God calls virtue to the grave; + Alike 'tis justice, soon or late, + Mercy alike to kill or save. + Virtue unmov'd can hear the call. + And face the flash that melts the ball. + +These verses she acknowledged in a letter which, written while on the +homeward path, she sent from Dover, where she arrived at the beginning +of November. + + +"I have this minute received a letter of yours, sent me from Paris. I +believe and hope I shall very soon see both you and Mr. Congreve; but as +I am here in an inn, where we stay to regulate our march to London, bag +and baggage, I shall employ some of my leisure time in answering that +part of yours that seems to require an answer. + +"I must applaud your good nature, in supposing that your pastoral lovers +(vulgarly called haymakers) would have lived in everlasting joy and +harmony, if the lightning had not interrupted their scheme of happiness. +I see no reason to imagine that John Hughes and Sarah Drew were either +wiser or more virtuous than their neighbours. That a well-set man of +twenty five should have a fancy to marry a brown woman of eighteen, is +nothing marvellous; and I cannot help thinking, that, had they married, +their lives would have passed in the common track with their fellow +parishioners. His endeavouring to shield her from the storm, was a +natural action, and what he would have certainly done for his horse, if +he had been in the same situation. Neither am I of opinion, that their +sudden death was a reward of their mutual virtue. You know the Jews were +reproved for thinking a village destroyed by fire more wicked than those +that had escaped the thunder. Time and chance happen to all men. Since +you desire me to try my skill in an epitaph, I think the following lines +perhaps more just, though not so poetical as yours: + + Here lies John Hughes and Sarah Drew; + Perhaps you'll say, what's that to you? + Believe me, friend, much may be said + On this poor couple that are dead. + On Sunday next they should have married; + But see how oddly things are carried! + On Thursday last it rain'd and lighten'd; + These tender lovers, sadly frighten'd, + Shelter'd beneath the cocking hay, + In hopes to pass the storm away; + But the bold thunder found them out + (Commissioned for that end, no doubt), + And, seizing on their trembling breath, + Consign'd them to the shades of death. + Who knows if 'twas not kindly done? + For had they seen the next year's sun, + A beaten wife and cuckold swain + Had jointly curs'd the marriage chain; + Now they are happy in their doom, + For P. has wrote upon their tomb. + +"I confess, these sentiments are not altogether so heroic as yours; but +I hope you will forgive them in favour of the two last lines. You see +how much I esteem the honour you have done them; though I am not very +impatient to have the same, and had rather continue to be your stupid +living humble servant, than be celebrated by all the pens in Europe. + +"I would write to Mr. Congreve, but suppose you will read this to him, +if he enquires after me." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT TWICKENHAM + +The Montagus take a house at Twickenham--Lady Mary's liking for country +life--Neighbours and visitors--Pope--Bononcini, Anastasia Robinson, +Senesino--Lord Peterborough--Sir Geoffrey Kneller--Henrietta +Howard--Lord Bathurst--The Duke of Wharton--His early history--He comes +to Twickenham--His relations with Lady Mary--Horace Walpole's reference +to them--Pope's bitter onslaught on the Duke--An Epilogue by Lady +Mary--"On the death of Mrs. Bowes"--The Duke quarrels with Lady Mary. + + +Pope went to live at Twickenham in 1718, and it was generally believed +that it was by his persuasion that the Montagus rented a house in that +little riverside hamlet. It was not until 1722 that they bought "the +small habitation." + +Lady Mary divided her time between London and Twickenham, but apparently +enjoyed herself more at her country retreat. "I live in a sort of +solitude that wants very little of being such as I would have it," she +wrote to her sister, Lady Mar, in August, 1721. As a matter of fact, the +solitude was more imaginary than real, for round about there was a small +colony of friends. + +She was, indeed, very rarely lonely. "My time is melted away in almost +perpetual concerts," she told her sister. "I do not presume to judge, +but I'll assure you I am a very hearty as well as an humble admirer. I +have taken my little thread satin beauty into the house with me; she is +allowed by Bononcini to have the finest voice he ever heard in England. +He and Mrs. Robinson and Senesino lodge in this village, and sup often +with me: and this easy indolent life would make me the happiest +in the world, if I had not this execrable affair [of Remond] still +hanging over my head." To Anastasia Robinson there is more than one +allusion in Lady Mary's correspondence, and she gives a most amusing +account of an incident in that lady's career. + + +"Could one believe that Lady Holdernesse is a beauty, and in love? and +that Mrs. Robinson is at the same time a prude and a kept mistress? and +these things in spite of nature and fortune. The first of these ladies +is tenderly attached to the polite Mr. Mildmay, and sunk in all the joys +of happy love, notwithstanding she wants the use of her two hands by a +rheumatism, and he has an arm that he cannot move. I wish I could send +you the particulars of this amour, which seems to me as curious as that +between two oysters; and as well worth the serious enquiry of the +naturalists. The second heroine has engaged half the town in arms, from +the nicety of her virtue, which was not able to bear the too near +approach of Senesino in the opera; and her condescension in accepting of +Lord Peterborough for her champion, who has signalised both his love and +courage upon this occasion in as many instances as ever Don Quixote did +for Dulcinea. Poor Senesino, like a vanquished giant, was forced to +confess upon his knees that Anastasia was a nonpariel of virtue and +beauty. Lord Stanhope, as dwarf to the said giant, joked of his side, +and was challenged for his pains. Lord Delawar was Lord Peterborough's +second; my lady miscarried--the whole town divided into parties on this +important point. Innumerable have been the disorders between the two +sexes on so great an account, besides half the house of peers being put +under arrest. By the providence of Heaven, and the wise cares of his +Majesty, no bloodshed ensued. However, things are now tolerably +accommodated; and the fair lady rides through the town in triumph, in +the shining berlin of her hero, not to reckon the essential advantage of +L100 a month, which 'tis said he allows her." + + +This story is, as a matter of fact, not far removed from the truth. It +omits, however, the fact that Lord Peterborough, then about sixty years +of age, had married Anastasia Robinson in 1722; but the marriage was +secret, although Lady Oxford was present at the ceremony, and it was not +made public until thirteen years later, although long before there were +many who suspected it. He died in the same year that the announcement +was made. His widow survived him by a score of years. + +Sir Godfrey Kneller had a house at Twickenham, and, at the instigation +of Pope, sat to him for her portrait, upon which the following lines +(generally ascribed to Pope) were written: + + "The playful smiles around the dimpled mouth. + That happy air of majesty and truth; + So would I draw (but oh! 'tis vain to try, + My narrow genius does the power deny;) + The equal lustre of the heav'nly mind, + Where ev'ry grace with every virtue's join'd; + Learning not vain, and wisdom not severe, + With greatness easy, and with wit sincere; + With just description show the work divine, + And the whole princess in my work should shine." + +Mrs. Howard, afterwards the Countess of Suffolk, was a neighbour from +1723, when the Prince of Wales, whose mistress she was, provided her +with funds for the purchase of Marble Hill. However, though, of course, +she and Lady Mary were acquainted, there was at no time any intimacy +between them. Lady Mary, in fact, does not appear to have liked +Henrietta Howard. At least she on more than one occasion tittle-tattled +about her. "The most surprising news is Lord Bathurst's assiduous court +to their Royal Highnesses, which fills the coffee-houses with profound +speculations. But I, who smell a rat at a profound distance, do believe +in private that Mrs. Howard and his lordship have a friendship that +borders upon 'the tender.' + + "And though in histories, learned ignorance + Attributes all to cunning or to chance, + Love in that grave disguise does often smile, + Knowing the cause was kindness all the while." + +So Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar in 1724, and shortly after returned to +the subject in another epistle: "You may remember I mentioned in my last +some suspicions of my own in relation to Lord Bathurst, which I really +never mentioned, for fifty reasons, to anyone whatsoever; but, as there +is never smoke without some fire, there is very rarely fire without some +smoke. These smothered flames, though admirably covered with whole heaps +of politics laid over them, were at last seen, felt, heard, and +understood; and the fair lady given to understand by her commanding +officer, that if she showed under other colours, she must expect to have +her pay retrenched. Upon which the good Lord was dismissed, and has not +attended the drawing-room since. You know one cannot help laughing, when +one sees him next, and I own I long for that pleasurable moment." + +To Twickenham came Philip, Duke of Wharton, and leased a villa, later +called The Grove, at the farther end of the hamlet from London. Of all +the lads of the village there was none for wildness like unto him. Born +in 1698, and therefore nine years younger than Lady Mary, he had at an +early age made himself conspicuous by unbridled excesses. Soon after the +death of his father, Thomas, first Marquess of Wharton, in 1715, his +conduct created so much scandal at home, that his guardians sent him +abroad in the custody of a tutor. To the horror of that unfortunate +person, his charge enrolled himself as an adherent of the Pretender, and +went to pay his respects at Avignon. The Duke had talent beyond the +ordinary. He could write fairly well, make an excellent speech, and had +a keen sense of wit. When he went to Paris, the British Ambassador, Lord +Stair, took it upon himself to give this madcap some sound advice. He +extolled the virtues of the late Marquess of Wharton, and, "I hope," he +said, "you will follow so illustrious an example of fidelity to your +Prince and love to your country." "I thank your Excellency for your good +counsel," replied the visitor courteously, "and as your Excellency had +also a worthy and discerning father, I hope that you will likewise copy +so bright an example, and tread in all his footsteps,"--an effective +though a brutal rejoinder, for the first Lord Stair had betrayed his +Sovereign. Young Wharton, on his return, however, showed by his conduct +that his visit to Avignon had been little more than a prank, for while +he had accepted a dukedom from the Pretender, he, in 1718, being still a +minor, accepted a dukedom from the British Sovereign--the single +instance of such a dignity being conferred upon a minor. + +Wharton, who did everything in haste, had in his seventeenth year eloped +with Martha, daughter of Major-General Richard Holmes, and married her +in the Fleet on March 2, 1715. As was only to be expected from a person +so volatile he from the beginning neglected his wife; but, as is put +quaintly in that unreliable work, _Memoirs of a Certain Island adjacent +to the Kingdom of Utopia_, which was concocted by Mrs. Eliza Haywood, +"after some years of continu'd extravagance, the Duke, either through +the natural Inconsistency of his Temper, or the Reflection how much he +had been drawn in by his unworthy Companions to embezel his Estate ... +began to think there were Comforts in Retirement; and falling into the +Conversation of the sober part of Mankind, more than he had done, was +persuaded by them to take home his Dutchess.... He brought her to his +House; but Love had no part in his Resolution. He lived with her indeed +but she is with him as a Housekeeper, as a Nurse." The relations were, +however, more intimate than Mrs. Haywood believed, for in March, 1719, a +son was born to them. + + +"The Duke of Wharton has brought his Duchess to town, and is fond of her +to distraction; in order to break the hearts of all other women that +have any claim on him," Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar. "He has public +devotions twice a day, and assists at them in person with exemplary +devotion; and there is nothing pleasanter than the remarks of some pious +ladies on the conversion of such a sinner." + + +The letter from which the above passage is an extract must have been +written not later than the early spring of 1720, for after that date +the Duke and Duchess of Wharton did not again live together. The +immediate cause of the separation was that Wharton had forbidden his +wife to come to London where small-pox was raging at the time. She, +however, whether irked by the dulness of the country, or thinking by her +presence to guard her husband against those temptations to which he was +prone, followed him to the town, where the infant sickened of the +epidemic and died. After one great scene, they never met again. + +There is mention of the Duke in another letter of Lady Mary to Lady Mar, +dated February, 1724: + + +"In general, gallantry never was in so elevated a figure as it is at +present. Twenty very pretty fellows (the Duke of Wharton being president +and chief director) have formed themselves into a committee of +gallantry. They call themselves _Schemers_; and meet regularly three +times a week, to consult on gallant schemes for the advantage and +advancement of that branch of happiness.... I consider the duty of a +true Englishwoman is to do what honour she can to her native country; +and that it would be a sin against the pious love I bear the land of my +nativity, to confine the renown due to the Schemers within the small +extent of this little island, which ought to be spread wherever men can +sigh, or women wish. 'Tis true they have the envy and curses of the old +and ugly of both sexes, and a general persecution from all old women; +but this is no more than all reformations must expect in their +beginning." + + +More than one writer has asserted that it was the wit and beauty of Lady +Mary that drew him thither. At the time the Duke was twenty-four and the +lady nine years older. Certainly he paid her marked attention, but as he +paid marked attention to all women who had not a hump or a squint-- +sometimes, maybe, he even overlooked the squint--it is as impossible to +say whether he was in love with her as it is to assert that she was in +love with him. From the little that is known of their intimacy, it would +seem that they were merely good comrades--good comrades of the type that +might bite or scratch at any moment. Horace Walpole, who was more than +usually malicious where Lady Mary was concerned, could scarcely induce +himself to allow her any qualities. "My Lady Stafford,"[5] he wrote to +George Montagu in 1751, "used to live at Twickenham when Lady Mary +Wortley and the Duke of Wharton lived there; she had more wit than both +of them. What would I give to have had Strawberry Hill twenty years ago! +I think anything but twenty years. Lady Stafford used to say to her +sister, 'Well, child, I have come without my wit to-day'; that is, she +had not taken her opium, which she was forced to do if she had any +appointment, to be in particular spirits." + +[Footnote 5: Claude Charlotte, Countess of Stafford, wife of Henry, Earl of +Stafford, and daughter of Philibert, Count of Grammont, and Elizabeth +Hamilton, his wife.] + +Horace Walpole alluded to Lady Mary and the Duke in "The Parish Register +of Twickenham": + + "Twickenham, where frolic Wharton revelled + Where Montagu, with locks dishevelled. + Conflict of dirt and warmth combin'd, + Invoked--and scandalised the _Nine_." + +What Pope thought of the Duke he expressed with the utmost vigour: + + "Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days, + Whose ruling passion was the lust of praise: + Born with whate'er could win it from the wise, + Women and fools must like him, or he dies: + Though wondering senates hung on all he spoke. + The club must hail him master of the joke. + Shall parts so various aim at nothing new? + He'll shine a Tully and a Wilmot too. + Then turns repentant, and his God adores + With the same spirit that he drinks and whores; + Enough, if all around him but admire, + And now the punk applaud, and now the friar. + Thus with each gift of nature and of art, + And wanting nothing but an honest heart; + Grown all to all; from no one vice exempt, + And most contemptible, to shun contempt: + His passion still, to covet general praise, + His life, to forfeit it a thousand ways; + A constant bounty which no friend has made; + An angel tongue, which no man can persuade; + A fool, with more of wit than half mankind; + Too rash for thought, for action too refined: + A tyrant to his wife his heart approves; + A rebel to the very king he loves; + He dies, sad outcast of each church and state, + And, harder still! flagitious, yet not great. + Ask you why Wharton broke through every rule? + 'Twas all for fear the knaves should call him fool." + +The Duke wrote a play on Mary Queen of Scots--of which only four lines +have been preserved: + + "Sure were I free, and Norfolk were a prisoner, + I'd fly with more impatience to his arms, + Than the poor Israelite gaz'd on the serpent. + When life was the reward of every look." + +It is usually stated that this play was written at some time between +1728 and 1730, but it is certain that it was begun at this time-- +probably it was never finished. Perhaps only the scenario was drawn up, +and a few scenes outlined; but that so much at least was done while the +author was at Twickenham is proved conclusively by the fact that at this +time Lady Mary composed for the play an epilogue, designed to be spoken +by Mrs. Oldfield. + + "What could luxurious woman wish for more. + To fix her joys, or to extend her pow'r? + Their every wish was in this Mary seen. + Gay, witty, youthful, beauteous, and a queen. + Vain useless blessings with ill-conduct join'd! + Light as the air, and fleeting as the wind. + Whatever poets write, and lovers vow. + Beauty, what poor omnipotence hast thou? + Queen Bess had wisdom, council, power and laws; + How few espous'd a wretched beauty's cause? + Learn thence, ye fair, more solid charms to prize, + Contemn the idle flatt'rers of your eyes. + The brightest object shines but while 'tis new. + That influence lessens by familiar view. + Monarchs and beauties rule with equal sway, + All strive to serve, and glory to obey, + Alike unpitied when depos'd they grow-- + Men mock the idol of their former vow. + Two great examples have been shown to-day, + To what sure ruin passion does betray, + What long repentance to short joys is due, + When reason rules, what glory must ensue. + If you will love, love like Eliza then, + Love for amusement, like those traitors, men. + Think that the pastime of a leisure hour + She favor'd oft--but never shar'd her pow'r. + The traveller by desert wolves pursued, + If by his heart the savage foe's subdu'd, + The world will still the noble act applaud, + Though victory was gain'd by needful fraud. + Such is, my tender sex, our helpless case, + And such the barbarous heart, hid by the begging face, + By passion fir'd, and not withheld by shame, + They cruel hunters are, we trembling game. + Trust me, dear ladies, (for I know 'em well), + They burn to triumph, and they sigh to tell: + Cruel to them that yield, cullies to them that sell. + Believe me, 'tis far the wiser course, + Superior art should meet superior force: + Hear, but be faithful to your int'rest still: + Secure your hearts--then fool with whom you will." + +At Twickenham the Duke seems in some degree to have relied for his +entertainment upon his pen. There he wrote his articles for the _True +Briton_, and also indited various trifles in verse. Never neglecting an +opportunity to indulge his humour, when Lady Mary Wortley Montagu wrote +a poem on the untimely death of a friend, he could not refrain from +presenting her with a parody. + + + ON THE DEATH OF MRS. BOWES + + _By Lady Mary Wortley Montagu_ + + "Hail, happy bride! for thou art truly bless'd, + Three months of rapture crown'd with endless rest. + Merit like yours was Heav'n's peculiar care, + You lov'd--yet tasted happiness sincere: + To you the sweets of love were only shown, + The sure succeeding bitter dregs unknown. + You had not yet the fatal change deplor'd + The tender lover for th' imperious lord, + Nor felt the pains that jealous fondness brings, + Nor wept that coldness from possession springs, + Above your sex distinguish'd in your fate, + You trusted--yet experienc'd no deceit. + Soft were your hours, and wing'd with pleasure flew, + No vain repentance gave a sign to you, + And if superior bliss heav'n can bestow, + With fellow-angels you enjoy it now." + + + THE ANSWER + + _By the Duke of Wharton_ + + "Hail, Poetess! for thou art truly blest, + Of wit, of beauty, and of love possest, + Your muse does seem to bless poor Bowes's fate, + But far 'tis from you to desire her state, + In every line your wanton soul appears. + Your verse, tho' smooth, scarce fit for modest ears, + No pangs of jealous fondness doth thou shew. + And bitter dregs of love thou ne'er didst know: + The coldness that your husband oft has mourn'd, + Does vanish quite, when warm'd on Turkish ground. + For Fame does say, if Fame don't lying prove, + You paid obedience to the Sultan's love. + Who, fair one, then, was your imperious Lord? + Not Montagu, but Mahomet the word: + Great as your wit, just so is Wortley's love, + Your next attempt will be on thund'ring Jove, + The little angels you on Bowes bestow. + But gods themselves are only fit for you." + + +No writer of verses likes to have fun poked at them, even in the form of +friendly banter, but Lady Mary seems to have borne the affliction +admirably. + +Two persons with such impish humour could not but frequently find +themselves at loggerheads, but their liking for each other's society was +genuine, and quarrels were followed by peace-making. "Sophia [as she +nicknamed the young man] and I have been quite reconciled, and are now +quite broke, and I believe not likely to piece up again," Lady Mary +wrote to her sister. This was in February, 1725, and a little later in +the year the breach was widened by the really outrageous conduct of the +Duke: + + +"Sophia and I have an immortal quarrel; which though I resolve never to +forgive, I can hardly forbear laughing at. An acquaintance of mine is +married, whom I wish very well to: Sophia has been pleased, on this +occasion, to write the most infamous ballad that ever was written; where +both the bride and bridegroom are intolerably mauled, especially the +last, who is complimented with the hopes of cuckoldom, and forty other +things equally obliging, and Sophia has distributed this ballad in such +a manner as to make it pass for mine, on purpose to pique the poor +innocent soul of the new-married man, whom I should be the last of +creatures to abuse. I know not how to clear myself of this vile +imputation, without a train of consequences I have no mind to fall into. +In the mean time, Sophia enjoys the pleasure of heartily plaguing both +me and that, person." + + +Probably this "immortal quarrel" would have been made up, but at the +beginning of July the Duke went abroad never to return. "Sophia is going +to Aix-la-Chapelle, and thence to Paris," Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar. +"I dare swear she'll endeavour to get acquainted with you. We are broke +to an iremediable degree. Various are the persecutions I have endured +from her this winter, in all of which I remain neuter, and shall +certainly go to heaven from the passive meekness of my temper." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FAMOUS QUARREL + +Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other +admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on +her thereafter--Writes of her as "Sappho"--Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to +protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mary's malicious tongue +and pen--Mrs. Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"--Lady Mary, Lord +Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady +Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter. + + +Of Pope, it is curious to relate, though he was a near neighbour, she +saw less and less. It has been suggested that the first rift in the lute +was her parody of his verses about the lovers struck by lightning; but +even he, most sensitive of men, can scarcely have been seriously offended. +So far as is known, only two letters passed between them after 1719. + + +"I pass my time in a small snug set of dear intimates, and go very +little into the _grand monde_, which has always had my hearty contempt" +(she wrote to Lady Mar in the spring of 1722). "I see sometimes Mr. +Congreve, and very seldom Mr. Pope, who continues to embellish his house +at Twickenham. He has made a subterranean grotto, which he has furnished +with looking-glass, and they tell me it has a very good effect. I here +send you some verses addressed to Mr. Gay, who wrote him a +congratulatory letter on the finishing his house. I stifled them here, +and I beg they may die the same death at Paris, and never go further +than your closet: + + 'Ah, Friend, 'tis true--this truth you lovers know-- + In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow, + In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes + Of hanging mountains, and of sloping greens: + Joy lives not here; to happier seats it flies, + And only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes. + + What is the gay parterre, the chequer'd shade, + The morning bower, the ev'ning colonnade, + But soft recesses of uneasy minds, + To sigh unheard in, to the passing winds? + So the struck deer in some sequestrate part + Lies down to die, the arrow at his heart; + There, stretch'd unseen in coverts hid from day, + Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away.' + + +It may here be remarked that in Epistle VIII of the _Moral Essays_ Pope +had a line: + + "And other beauties envy Wortley's eyes"; + +but in a reprint of the poem he substituted [Lady] "Worsley" for +"Wortley" in order to give the impression that "Wortley" had been a +misprint. + +Pope's quarrel with Lady Mary began in or about 1722. The cause is +obscure. Many reasons have been advanced. Lady Mary in her +correspondence gives no clue as to the breach. + +It has been said that it arose out of the fact that Pope lent the +Montagus a pair of sheets and that they were returned unwashed, to the +great indignation of his mother who lived with him. It is difficult to +believe this. + +Others have it that he was jealous of the favour which Lady Mary +accorded to the Duke of Wharton and Lord Hervey. Certainly he lampooned +the Duke, and he was never weary of writing insultingly about the other. + +Most probable is the account given by Lady Louisa Stuart, Lady Mary's +grand-daughter, which is to the effect that Pope made a declaration of +love, and that Lady Mary received it with shrieks of laughter. If Pope +were serious, it must have galled him indeed, though nothing can excuse +the malignity with which he pursued her for years and years. And if he +were not in earnest, he would probably have been nearly, if not quite, +as indignant. + +Anyhow, it is a sorry story, and a blot on the scutcheon of the poet, +who, good-hearted as he usually was, was cursed by the gift, refined to +a rare degree, of alienating his friends, more often than not for some +fancied slight. Addison he lampooned, and from Dennis and Philips he +parted company. "Leave him as soon as you can," Addison had warned Lady +Mary. "He will certainly play you some devilish trick else: he has an +appetite for satire." Lady Mary presently must have wished that she had +followed this sage counsel. + +When Pope fought, he fought with the gloves off; and not the sex or the +age or the standing of the subject of his wrath deterred him a whit. + + "Have I, in silent wonder, seen such things + As pride in slaves, and avarice in kings; + And at a peer, or peeress, shall I fret, + Who starves a sister, or forswears a debt?" + +Thus Pope in the First Dialogue of the _Epilogue to the Satires._ The +reference to forswearing a debt, is, of course, to the Remond business; +"who starves a sister" is an allusion to Lady Mary and Lady Mar.[6] + +[Footnote 6: _See_ p. 200 of this work.] + +Pope returned to the attack again and again. In _The Satires of Dr. John +Donne Versified_, he inserted the following lines, although there is +nothing in the original to warrant the stroke at Lady Mary: + + "Yes, thank my stars! as early as I knew + This town, I had the sense to hate it too: + Yet here, as e'en in hell, there must be still + One giant vice, so excellently ill. + That all beside, one pities, not abhors: + As who knows Sappho, smiles at other whores." + +Again, in the _Epistle to Martha Blount_: + + "As Sappho's diamonds with her dirty smock; + Or Sappho at her toilet's greasy task, + With Sappho radiant at an evening mask." + +Pope would not admit that he alluded to Lady Mary as Sappho, but +everyone realised that this was so. Lady Mary, much distressed, begged +Lord Peterborough to urge Pope to refrain. The mission was undertaken +reluctantly, and the result was scarcely satisfactory. "He said to me," +Lord Peterborough wrote to Lady Mary, "what I had taken the liberty of +saying to you, that he wondered how the town would apply these lines to +any but some noted common woman; that he would yet be more surprised if +you should take them to yourself; he named to me four remarkable +poetesses and scribblers, Mrs. Centlivre, Mrs. Heywood, Mrs. Manley, and +Mrs. Behn, assuring me that such only were the objects of his satire." + + +Much upset, Lady Mary wrote the following letter to Arbuthnot: + + +January 3 [1735]. + +"Sir, + +"I have perused the last lampoon of your ingenious friend, and am not +surprised you did not find me out under the name of Sappho, because +there is nothing I ever heard in our characters or circumstances to make +a parallel, but as the town (except you, who know better) generally +suppose Pope means me, whenever he mentions that name, I cannot help +taking notice of the horrible malice he bears against the lady signified +by that name, which appears to be irritated by supposing her writer of +the Verses to the Imitator of Horace. Now I can assure him they were +wrote (without my knowledge) by a gentleman of great merit, whom I very +much esteem, who he will never guess, and who, if he did know, he durst +not attack; but I own the design was so well meant, and so excellently +executed, that I cannot be sorry they were written. I wish you would +advise poor Pope to turn to some more honest livelihood than libelling; +I know he will allege in his excuse that he must write to eat, and he +has now grown sensible that nobody will buy his verses except their +curiosity is piqued to it, to see what is said of their acquaintance; +but I think this method of gain so exceeding vile that it admits of no +excuse at all.--Can anything be more detestable than his abusing poor +Moore, scarce cold in his grave, when it is plain he kept back his poem, +while he lived, for fear he should beat him for it? This is shocking to +me, though of a man I never spoke to and hardly knew by sight; but I am +seriously concerned at the worse scandal he has heaped on Mr. Congreve, +who was my friend, and whom I am obliged to justify, because I can do it +on my own knowledge, and, which is yet farther bring witness of it, from +those who were then often with me that he was so far from loving Pope's +rhyme, both that--and his conversation were perpetual jokes to him, +exceeding despicable in his opinion, and he has often made us laugh in +talking of them, being particularly pleasant on that subject. As to +Pope's being born of honest parents, I verily believe it, and will add +one praise to his mother's character, that (though I only knew her very +old) she always appeared to me to have much better sense than himself. I +desire, sir, as a favour, that you would show this letter to Pope, and +you will very much oblige, sir, + +"Your humble servant." + + +Lady Mary was not a person, after severe chastisement, to turn the other +cheek, and Pope was well aware of it. He believed that more than one +social satire upon him came from her pen; and he especially suspected +her of having written, or anyhow of having had a hand in the composition +of _A Pop upon Pope_, in which an account was given of a whipping in Ham +Walk which was said to have been administered to him. The poet was so +furious--he regarded it as an indirect attack on his physical deformity, +of which he was always so conscious--that he actually inserted an +announcement in the papers that no such incident had ever occurred-- +thereby drawing yet more attention to the lampoon. "You may be certain I +shall never reply to such a libel as Lady Mary's," he wrote to +Fortescue. "It is a pleasure and comfort at once to find out that with +so much mind as so much malice must have to accuse or blacken my +character, it can fix upon no one ill or immoral thing in my life and +must content itself to say, my poetry is dull and my person ugly." + +Lady Mary, in a letter to Arbuthnot, denied the authorship of _A Pop +upon Pope_: + + +"Sir, + +"Since I saw you I have made some inquiries, and heard more, of the +story you was so kind to mention to me. I am told Pope has had the +surprising impudence to assert he can bring the lampoon when he pleases +to produce it, under my own hand; I desire he may be made to keep to +this offer. If he is so skilful in counterfeiting hands, I suppose he +will not confine that great talent to the gratifying his malice, but +take some occasion to increase his fortune by the same method, and I may +hope (by such practices) to see him exalted according to his merit, +which nobody will rejoice at more than myself. I beg of you, sir (as an +act of justice), to endeavour to set the truth in an open light, and +then I leave to your judgment the character of those who have attempted +to hurt mine in so barbarous a manner. I can assure you (in particular) +you named a lady to me (as abused in this libel) whose name I never +heard before, and as I never had any acquaintance with Dr. Swift am an +utter stranger to all his affairs and even his person, which I never saw +to my knowledge, and am now convinced the whole is a contrivance of +Pope's to blast the reputation of one who never injured him. I am not +more sensible of his injustice, than I am, sir, of your [_sic_] candour, +generosity, and good sense I have found in you, which has obliged me to +be with a very uncommon warmth your real friend, and I heartily wish for +an opportunity of showing I am so more effectually than by subscribing +myself your very + +"Humble servant." + + +Whether, in spite of her denial, Lady Mary had a hand in _A Pop upon +Pope_ cannot be said; but it is certainly safe to believe that the +following lines were written by her, in conjunction, the gossip of the +day had it, with Lord Hervey, with some assistance from Mr. Wyndham, +then tutor to the Duke of Cumberland: + + "VERSES ADDRESSED TO THE IMITATOR OF THE FIRST SATIRE OF THE + SECOND BOOK OF HORACE. + + _By a Lady_ + + "Nor thou the justice of the world disown. + That leaves thee thus an outcast and alone: + For though in law the murder be to kill, + In equity the murder is the will. + Then while with coward hand you stab a name, + And try at least to assassinate our fame, + Like the first bold assassin be thy lot, + Ne'er be thy guilt forgiven or forgot; + But as thou hat'st by hatred by mankind, + And with the emblem of thy crooked mind + Marked on thy back, like Cain, by God's own hand, + Wander like him accursed through the land." + +It was this malignant attack upon his person that inspired Pope's lines +in the _Epistle to Arbuthnot_: + + "Once, and but once, his heedless youth was bit, + And liked that dangerous thing, a female wit. + Safe, so he thought, though all the prudent chid; + He writ no libels, but my lady did; + Great odds, in amorous or poetic game, + Where woman's is the sin, and man's the shame." + +With the following extract from a letter written by Lady Mary from +Florence in 1740 this unpleasing incident may be dismissed: + + +"The word malignity, and a passage in your letter, call to my mind the +wicked wasp of Twickenham: his lies affect me now no more; they will be +all as much despised as the story of the seraglio and the handkerchief, +of which I am persuaded he was the only inventor. That man has a +malignant and ungenerous heart; and he is base enough to assume the mask +of a moralist, in order to decry human nature, and to give a decent vent +to his hatred of man and woman kind.--But I must quit this contemptible +subject, on which a just indignation would render my pen so fertile, +that after having fatigued you with a long letter, I would surfeit you +with a supplement twice as long." + + +At Twickenham Lady Mary interested herself in planning alterations in +the house and gardens. "There is a sort of pleasure," she said, "in +shewing one's own fancy on one's own ground." The longer she stayed at +the riverside, the better she liked it. "I am at present at Twickenham," +she wrote in July, 1723, "which is become so fashionable, and the +neighbourhood so much enlarged, that 'tis more like Tunbridge or the +Bath than a country retreat." + + +"I am now at the same distance from London that you are from Paris, and +could fall into solitary amusements with a good deal of taste; but I +resist it, as a temptation of Satan, and rather turn my endeavours to +make the world as agreeable to me as I can, which is the true +philosophy; that of despising it is of no use but to hasten wrinkles" +(she wrote to Lady Mar in 1725). "I ride a good deal, and have got a +horse superior to any two-legged animal, he being without a fault. I +work like an angel. I receive visits upon idle days, and I shade my life +as I do my tent-stitch, that is, make as easy transitions as I can from +business to pleasure; the one would be too flaring and gaudy without +some dark shades of t'other; and if I worked altogether in the grave +colours, you know 'twould be quite dismal. Miss Skerritt is in the house +with, me, and Lady Stafford has taken a lodging at Richmond: as their +ages are different, and both agreeable in their kind, I laugh with the +one, or reason with the other, as I happen to be in a gay or serious +humour; and I manage my friends with such a strong yet with a gentle +hand, that they are both willing to do whatever I have a mind to." + + +"Molly," that is, Maria Skerritt or Skirrett, is best known for her +connection with Sir Robert Walpole. There was nothing clandestine about +the relationship: it was openly avowed. Miss Skerritt, who was the +daughter of a London merchant, had great good looks and an ample +fortune, and Walpole declared that she was indispensable to his +happiness. She was received everywhere, and moved in fashionable +society. It was to Lady Walpole and Molly Skerritt that Gay alluded in +the song that he put in the mouth of Macheath (who was meant for Robert +Walpole): + + "How happy could I be with either, + Were t'other dear Charmer away!" + +Lady Walpole survived until the summer of 1738, and after her death the +others married. The second Lady Walpole died of a miscarriage in June, +1739, to the great and enduring sorrow of her husband. For the surviving +child, Walpole, when he accepted a peerage in 1742, secured the rank of +an earl's daughter. + +Lady Mary now spent her time between London and Twickenham. At Court, +she was as popular as ever with the King; and she was liked in literary +circles, and on good terms with Young, Arbuthnot, Garth, and the rest of +the set. "I see every body but converse with nobody but _des amies +choisses_; in the first rank of these are Lady Stafford and dear Molly +Skerritt, both of whom have now the additional merit of being old +acquaintances, and never having given me any reason to complain of +either of 'em. I pass some days with the Duchess of Montagu, who might +be a reigning beauty if she pleased. I see the whole town every Sunday, +and select a few that I retain to supper. In short, if life could be +always what it is, I believe I have so much humility in my temper I +could be contented without anything better than this two or three +hundred years but, alas! + + 'Dulness, and wrinkles, and disease, must come, + And age, and death's irrevocable doom.'" + +Lady Mary, who had some two-score years still to live, began at this +time to deplore her increasing age. "For my own part," she wrote to +Lady Mar, "I have some coteries where wit and pleasure reign, and I +should not fail to amuse myself tolerably enough, but for the d----d +d----d quality of growing older every day, and my present joys are made +imperfect by fears of the future." However, this depression was not +always on her, and later she was writing: + + +"I think this is the first time in my life that a letter of yours has +lain by me two posts unanswered. You'll wonder to hear that short +silence is occasioned by not having a moment unemployed at Twickenham; +but I pass many hours on horseback, and, I'll assure you, ride +stag-hunting, which I know you'll stare to hear of. I have arrived to +vast courage and skill that way, and am as well pleased with it as with +the acquisition of a new sense: his Royal Highness [the Prince of Wales] +hunts in Richmond Park, and I make one of the _beau monde_ in his train. +I desire you after this account not to name the word old woman to me any +more: I approach to fifteen nearer than I did ten years ago, and am in +hopes to improve every year in health and vivacity." + + +Lady Mary's tongue made her many enemies in society, and when her tongue +failed her she brought her pen into action. Her love of scandal must +have gone far to make her unpopular, and if her letters to her sister at +Paris had been published she would have found herself with scarcely a +friend in the world. + +Correspondence between Lady Mary, from London or Twickenham, to her +sister, the Countess of Mar, at Paris, was a very one-sided affair. This +was, in part, owing to the fact that Lord Mar was, of course, suspect, +and that letters to him or to members of his family and household were +(in all probability) intercepted in this country. Lady Mary, who had +suspected this more than once, became more and more convinced that her +suspicions were justified. "I have writ to you at least five-and-forty +letters, dear sister, without receiving any answer, and resolved not to +confide in post-house fidelity any more, being firmly persuaded that +they never came to your hands, or you would not refuse one line to let +me know how you do, which is and ever will be of great importance to +me." That was written at Christmas, 1722, and though in the meantime +Lady Mary heard from her sister, she realised that if she wanted her +letters to arrive she must be careful as to the topics upon which she +discoursed. "Letters are so surely opened, I dare say nothing to you +either of our intrigues or duels, both of which would afford great +matter of mirth and speculation." The difficulties of communication did +not decrease. "I have writ to you twice since I received yours in answer +to that I sent by Mr. de Caylus," she remarked a little later; "but I +believe none of what I send by the post ever come to your hands, nor +ever will while they are directed to Mr. Waters, for reasons that you +may easily guess. I wish you would give me a safer direction; it is very +seldom I can have the opportunity of a private messenger, and it is very +often that I have a mind to write to my dear sister." + + +Lady Mary, of course, often stayed in London, and in her correspondence +are many references to her friends and her doings. + + +"Operas flourish more than ever, and I have been in a tract of going +every time," she wrote to her sister in April, 1723. "The people I live +most with are none of your acquaintance; the Duchess of Montagu +excepted, whom I continue to see often. Her daughter Belle is at this +instant in the paradisal state of receiving visits every day from a +passionate lover, who is her first love; whom she thinks the finest +gentleman in Europe, and is, besides that, Duke of Manchester. Her mamma +and I often laugh and sigh reflecting on her felicity, the consummation +of which will be in a fortnight. In the mean time they are permitted to +be alone together every day and all the day." + + +Mary's very best vein is the following letter, written about the same +time, and also addressed to her sister: + + +"I am yet in this wicked town, but purpose to leave it as soon as the +Parliament rises. Mrs. Murray and all her satellites have so seldom +fallen in my way, I can say little about them. Your old friend Mrs. +Lowther is still fair and young, and in pale pink every night in the +Parks; but, after being highly in favour, poor I am in utter disgrace, +without my being able to guess wherefore, except she fancied me the +author or abettor of two vile ballads written on her dying adventure, +which I am so innocent of that I never saw [them]. _A propos_ of +ballads, a most delightful one is said or sung in most houses about our +dear beloved plot, which has been laid firstly to Pope, and secondly to +me, when God knows we have neither of us wit enough to make it. Mrs. +Hervey lies-in of a female child. Lady Rich is happy in dear Sir +Robert's absence, and the polite Mr. Holt's return to his allegiance, +who, though in a treaty of marriage with one of the prettiest girls in +town (Lady Jane Wharton), appears better with her than ever. Lady Betty +Manners is on the brink of matrimony with a Yorkshire Mr. Monckton of +L3,000 per annum: it is a match of the young duchess's making, and she +thinks matter of great triumph over the two coquette beauties, who can +get nobody to have and to hold; they are decayed to a piteous degree and +so neglected that they are grown constant and particular to the two +ugliest fellows in London. Mrs. Pulteney condescends to be publicly kept +by the noble Earl of Cadogan; whether Mr. Pulteney has a pad nag +deducted out of the profits for his share I cannot tell, but he appears +very well satisfied with it. This is, I think, the whole state of love; +as to that of wit, it splits itself into ten thousand branches; poets +increase and multiply to that stupendous degree, you see them at every +turn, even in embroidered coats and pink-coloured top-knots; making +verses is almost as common as taking snuff, and God can tell what +miserable stuff people carry about in their pockets, and offer to +their acquaintances, and you know one cannot refuse reading and taking a +pinch. This is a very great grievance, and so particularly shocking to +me, that I think our wise lawgivers should take it into consideration, +and appoint a fast-day to beseech Heaven to put a stop to this +epidemical disease, as they did last year for the plague with great +success." + + +Another typical letter from Lady Mary contains a story of the class that +strongly appealed to her: + + +"The most diverting story about town at present is in relation to +Edgcombe; though your not knowing the people concerned so well as I do, +will, I fear hinder you from being so much entertained by it. I can't +tell whether you know a tall, musical, silly, ugly thing, niece to Lady +Essex Roberts, who is called Miss Leigh. She went a few days ago to +visit Mrs. Betty Tichborne, Lady Sunderland's sister, who lives in the +house with her, and was denied at the door; but, with the true manners +of a great fool, told the porter that if his lady was at home she was +very positive she would be very glad to see her. Upon which she was +shewed up stairs to Miss Tichborne, who was ready to drop down at the +sight of her, and could not help asking her in a grave way how she got +in, being denied to every mortal, intending to pass the evening in +devout preparation. Miss Leigh said she had sent away her chair and +servants, with intent of staying till nine o'clock. There was then no +remedy, and she was asked to sit down; but had not been there a quarter +of an hour when she heard a violent rap at the door, and somebody +vehemently run up stairs. Miss Tichborne seemed much surprised, and said +she believed it was Mr. Edgcombe, and was quite amazed how he took it +into his head to visit her. During these excuses enter Edgcombe, who +appeared frighted at the sight of a third person. Miss Tichborne told +him almost at his entrance that the lady he saw there was perfect +mistress of music, and as he passionately loved it, she thought she +could not oblige him more than by desiring her to play. Miss Leigh very +willingly sat to the harpsichord; upon which her audience decamped to +the adjoining room, and left her to play over three or four lessons to +herself. They returned, and made what excuses they could, but said very +frankly they had not heard her performance, and begged her to begin +again; which she complied with, and gave them the opportunity of a +second retirement. Miss Leigh was by this time all fire and flame to see +her heavenly harmony thus slighted; and when they returned, told them +she did not understand playing to an empty room. Mr. Edgcombe begged ten +thousand pardons, and said, if she would play _Godi_, it was a tune he +died to hear, and it would be an obligation he should never forget. She +made answer she would do him a much greater favour by her absence, which +she supposed was all that was necessary at that time; and ran down +stairs in a great fury to publish as fast as she could; and was so +indefatigable in this pious design, that in four-and-twenty hours all +the people in town had heard the story. My Lady Sunderland could not +avoid hearing this story, and three days after, invited Miss Leigh to +dinner, where, in the presence of her sister and all the servants, she +told her she was very sorry she had been so rudely treated in her house; +that it was very true Mr. Edgcombe had been a perpetual companion of her +sister's these two years, and she thought it high time he should explain +himself, and she expected her sister should act in this matter as +discreetly as Lady K. [Katherine] Pelham had done in the like case; who +had given Mr. Pelham four months to resolve in, and after that he was +either to marry her or to lose her for ever. Sir Robert Sutton +interrupted her by saying, that he never doubted the honour of Mr. +Edgcombe, and was persuaded he could have no ill design in his family. +The affair stands thus, and Mr. Edgcombe has four months to provide +himself elsewhere; during which time he has free egress and regress; and +'tis seriously the opinion of many that a wedding will in good earnest +be brought about by this admirable conduct. + +"I send you a novel instead of a letter, but, as it is in your power to +shorten it when you please, by reading no farther than you like, I will +make no excuses for the length of it." + + +Lady Mary had contracted an intimacy with Griselda Baillie, the wife of +Mr. (afterwards Sir A.) Murray, of Stanhope, after her return from +abroad, and there is frequent mention of her in the correspondence; but +the friendship came to an abrupt end in 1725. + + +"Among the rest a very odd whim has entered the little head of Mrs. +Murray: do you know she won't visit me this winter?" Lady Mary wrote to +Lady Mar. "I, according to the usual integrity of my heart, and +simplicity of my manners, with great _naivete_ desired to explain with +her on the subject, and she answered that she was convinced that I had +made the ballad upon her, and was resolved never to speak to me again. I +answered (which was true), that I utterly defied her to have any one +single proof of my making it, without being able to get any thing from +her, but repetitions that she knew it. I cannot suppose that any thing +you have said should occasion this rupture, and the reputation of a +quarrel is always so ridiculous on both sides, that you will oblige me +in mentioning it to her, for 'tis now at that pretty pass, she won't +curtsey to me whenever she mets me, which is superlatively silly (if she +really knew it), after a suspension of resentment for two years +together." + + +Mrs. Murray had had an unpleasant adventure with her footman, Arthur +Grey, who had broken into her bedroom. Lady Mary had written and +circulated _An Epistle from Arthur Grey,_ and later another, and an +improper, ballad had appeared under the title of _Virtue in Danger_. +Mrs. Murray was firmly convinced that both pieces came from the same +pen. + +Lady Mar, on receipt of the above letter, proposed to act as peacemaker. +"I give you thanks for the good offices you promise with regard to Mrs. +Murray," Lady Mary wrote to her in reply, "and I shall think myself +sincerely obliged to you, as I already am on many accounts. 'Tis very +disagreeable in her to go about behaving and talking as she does, and +very silly into the bargain." + + +"Mrs. Murray is in open war with me in such a manner as makes her very +ridiculous without doing me much harm; my moderation having a very +bright pretence of shewing itself" (she wrote to Lady Mar). "Firstly, +she was pleased to attack me in very Billingsgate at a masquerade, where +she was as visible as ever she was in her own clothes. I had the temper +not only to keep silence myself, but enjoined it to the person with me; +who would have been very glad to have shewn his great skill in sousing +upon that occasion. She endeavoured to sweeten him by very exorbitant +praises of his person, which might even have been mistaken for making +love from a woman of less celebrated virtue; and concluded her oration +with pious warnings to him, to avoid the conversation of one so unworthy +his regard as myself, who to her certain knowledge loved another man. +This last article, I own, piqued me more than all her preceding +civilities. The gentleman she addressed herself to had a very slight +acquaintance with me, and might possibly go away in the opinion that she +had been confidante in some very notorious affair of mine. However, I +made her no answer at the time, but you may imagine I laid up these +things in my heart; and the first assembly I had the honour to meet her +at, with a meek tone of voice, asked her how I had deserved so much +abuse at her hands, which I assured her I would never return. She denied +it in the spirit of lying; and in the spirit of folly owned it at +length. I contented myself with telling her she was very ill advised, +and thus we parted. But two days ago, when Sir Geoffrey Kneller's +pictures were to be sold, she went to my sister Gower, and very civily +asked if she intended to bid for your picture; assuring her that, if she +did, she would not offer at purchasing it. You know crimp and quadrille +incapacitate that poor soul from ever buying any thing; but she told me +this circumstance; and I expected the same civility from Mrs. Murray, +having no way provoked her to the contrary. But she not only came to the +auction, but with all possible spite bid up the picture, though I told +her that, if you pleased to have it, I would gladly part with it to you, +though to no other person. This had no effect upon her, nor her malice +any more on me than the loss of ten guineas extraordinary, which I paid +upon her account. The picture is in my possession, and at your service +if you please to have it. She went to the masquerade a few nights +afterwards, and had the good sense to tell people there that she was +very unhappy in not meeting me, being come there on purpose to abuse me. +What profit or pleasure she has in these ways I cannot find out. This I +know, that revenge has so few joys for me, I shall never lose so much +time as to undertake it." + +So early as 1721, Lady Mary, writing to Lady Mar, mentions that "the +most considerable incident that has happened a good while, was the +ardent affection that Mrs. Hervey and her dear spouse[7] took to me. +They visited me twice or thrice a day, and were perpetually cooing in my +rooms. I was complaisant a great while; but (as you know) my talent has +never lain much that way. I grew at last so weary of those birds of +paradise, I fled to Twickenham, as much to avoid their persecutions as +for my own health, which is still in a declining way." Lady Mary did not +like Lady Hervey, the beautiful "Molly" Lepell, whom Gay eulogised: + + "Hervey, would you know the passion + You have kindled in my breast? + Trifling is the inclination + That by words can be expressed. + + In my silence see the lover; + True love is by silence known; + In my eyes you'll best discover, + All the power of your own." + +[Footnote 7: The Hon. John Hervey (1696-1743), younger son of John, +first Earl of Bristol; known as Lord Hervey after the death of his elder +brother Carr in 1723; Vice-Chamberlain of George II's Household, 1730; +created Baron Hervey of Ickworth, 1733, Lord Privy Seal, 1740-1742.] + +For Hervey, however, Lady Mary came to have a strong liking that many +believed to have, as she would have said, bordered upon "the tender"; +although it is on record that she once remarked that she divided the +human race into men, women, and Herveys. They met whenever they could; +when they could not meet they corresponded. Pope bitterly resented the +intimacy between Lady Mary and Hervey, and in the _Epistle of Arbuthnot_ +gave vent to the malignity with which his soul had been for years +overflowing: + + "P. Let Sporus tremble. + + A. What? That thing of silk; + Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk? + Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel? + Who breaks a butterfly on the wheel? + + P. Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, + This painted Child of dirt, that stinks and stings; + Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, + Yet wit ne'er tastes and beauty ne'er enjoys: + So well-bred spaniels civilly delight + In mumbling of the game they dare not bite. + Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, + As shallow streams run dimpling all the way. + Whether in florid impotence he speaks, + And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks; + Or at the ear of Eve,[8] familiar toad. + Half froth, half venom, spits himself abroad, + In pun, or politics, or tales, or lies. + Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies. + His wit all see-saw, between that and this, + Now high, now low, now make up, now miss, + And he himself one vile antithesis. + Amphibious thing! that acting either part, + The trifling head, or the corrupted heart; + Fop at the hostel, flatterer at the board, + Now trips a lady, and now struts a Lord. + Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have expressed, + A cherub's face--a reptile all the rest. + Beauty that shocks you, parts that none can trust, + Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust." + +[Footnote 8: Queen Caroline.] + +This was a heavy price to pay for the favours even of Lady Mary Wortley +Montagu. + +Whatever the relations between Lady Mary and Hervey, Lady Hervey was not +indulgent to them, which may have inspired Lady Mary to write to her +sister: "Lady Hervey, by aiming too high, has fallen very low; and is +reduced to trying to persuade folks she has an intrigue, and gets nobody +to believe her; the man in question taking a great deal of pains to +clear himself of the scandal." Lady Hervey and Mrs. Murray were active +partisans of Lord Grange in his persecution of Lady Mary, and aided him +in his attempts to get possession of her sister, Lady Mar. + +The bad terms on which Lady Mary and Lady Hervey were is most clearly +defined by Lady Louisa Stuart: "At the time of Lady Mary Wortley's return +home [in 1762, after an absence abroad of more than twenty years], Lady +Hervey was living in great intimacy with Lady Bute, for whom she +professed, and it is believed really felt, the highest esteem and +admiration. On hearing of her mother's arrival, she came to her, owning +herself embarrassed by the fear of giving her pain or offence, but yet +compelled to declare that formerly something had passed between her and +Lady Mary which made any renewal of their acquaintance impossible; +therefore, if she forbore visiting her, she threw herself upon Lady +Bute's friendship and candour for pardon. No explanation followed. Lady +Bute, who must have early seen the necessity of taking care not to be +entangled in her mother's quarrels, which, to speak truth, were seldom +few in number, only knew that there had been an old feud between her, +Lady Hervey, and Lady Hervey's friend, Mrs. (or Lady) Murray; the +particulars of which, forgotten even then by everybody but themselves, +may well be now beyond recall." + +During this period there were several domestic happenings in Lady Mary's +family. + +On March 5, 1726, died her father, the Duke of Kingston. After the +accession of George I, the Marquess of Dorchester (as he then was) was +high in favour at Court, and honours were showered upon him with a +lavish hand. He was in 1714 appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, and +in the same year Chief Justice in Eyre, north of Trent, which latter +dignity he held for two years. In August, 1715, he was created Duke of +Kingston upon Hull, in the county of Yorkshire. He held the high office +of Lord Privy Seal from 1716 to 1719 in the Administrations of Townshend +and Stanhope, in the latter year becoming Lord President of the Council. +When Walpole became First Lord of the Treasury, the Duke again became +Lord Privy Seal, and held the post until his death. He was given the +Garter in 1719, and was four times named as one of the Lord Justices of +the Realm during the King's absences from England on visits to Hanover. +He had married, secondly, Isabella, fifth daughter of William Bentinck, +first Earl of Portland, by his first wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Edward +Villiers, who survived him two years. + +The Duke had never really forgiven Lady Mary for eloping. Her defiance +of him hurt his pride inordinately. Everyone else to some degree at +least he could control; his young daughter not at all. Only so far were +they ever reconciled that he would occasionally visit the Montagus at +their London house and play with the children. + +In his later years the Duke's health was unsatisfactory, but it was not +thought that the end was so near. "I have now to tell you of the +surprising death of my father, and a great deal of surprising management +of the people about him, which I leave informing you until another time, +being now under some spirit of hurry myself," Lady Mary wrote to Lady +Mar in March, 1726. "I am unfeignedly sorry that I cannot send you word +of a considerable legacy for yourself." On April 15 she supplemented +this account; but not to a degree to make it very intelligible: + + +"To be sure, the shock must be very great to you whenever you heard it; +as indeed it was to us all here, being so sudden. It is to no purpose +now to relate particulars, but only renewing our grief. I can't forbear +telling you the Duchess has behaved very oddly in endeavouring to get +the guardianship of the young Duke and his sister, contrary to her +husband's will; but the boy, when he was fourteen, confirmed the +trustees his grandfather left; so that ended all disputes; and Lady +Fanny is to live with my aunt Cheyne. There is a vast number of things +that have happened, and some people's behaviour so extraordinary in this +melancholy business, that it would be great ease of mind if I could tell +it you; but I must not venture to speak too freely in a letter." + + +A week or so later, some further details were forthcoming: + + +"I received yours, dear sister, this minute, and am very sorry both for +your past illness and affliction; though _au bout du compte_, I don't +know why filial piety should exceed fatherly fondness. So much by way of +consolation. As to the management at that time--I do verily believe, if +my good aunt and sister had been less fools, and my dear mother-in-law +less mercenary, things might have had a turn more to your advantage and +mine too; when we meet, I will tell you many circumstances which would +be tedious in a letter. I could not get my sister Gower to join to act +with me, and mamma and I were in an actual scold when my poor father +expired; she has shewn a hardness of heart upon this occasion that would +appear incredible to any body not capable of it themselves. The addition +to her jointure is, one way or other, L2000 per annum; so her good Grace +remains a passable rich widow, and is already presented by the town with +a variety of young husbands; but I believe her constitution is not good +enough to let her amorous inclinations get the better of her covetous." + + +Lady Mary was very angry, because she heard that at the end her father +had really expressed a great deal of kindness to her, and even a desire +of talking to her, which the Duchess would not permit. However, he left +her in his will, she having married without a settlement, L6,000 for her +separate use during her life, with reversion to her daughter. + +As regards the heir, she wrote: "The Duke of Kingston has hitherto had so +ill an education, 'tis hard to make any judgment of him; he has spirit, +but I fear he will never have his father's good sense. As young noblemen +go, 'tis possible he may make a good figure among them." + +The young Duke was sent to France, and there was much discussion as to +what should be done with his sister, Lady Frances Pierrepont. Her having +L400 per annum for maintenance, has, Lady Mary remarked ironically, +"awakened the consciences of half her relations to take care of her +education, and (excepting myself) they have all been squabbling about +her. My sister Gower carries her off to-morrow morning to Staffordshire. +The lies, twaddles, and contrivances about this affair are innumerable. +I should pity the poor girl if I saw she pitied herself." + +Lady Gower did not long enjoy her victory over her friends and her fond +relations, for she died in June, 1727. + +In May, 1732, Lord Mar died at Aix-la-Chapelle. Lady Mary's sister, Lady +Mar, in later years suffered from mental irregularity. Her brother-in-law, +James Erskine, Lord Grange, endeavoured to secure possession of her +person by some process of law, but was thwarted by Lady Mary, who +obtained a warrant from the King's Bench. For years Lady Mar remained in +her sister's custody. She survived until 1761. There was a rumour that +Lady Mary treated her badly, but there is no reason to believe that +there was any substantial ground for the accusation. + +Lady Mary's daughter, Mary, married in 1736, John Stuart, third Earl of +Bute, the favourite of the Princess of Wales, and afterwards Prime +Minister. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ON THE CONTINENT (1739-1744) + +Lady Mary leaves England--She does not return for twenty years--Montagu +supposed to join her--The domestic relations of the Montagus--A +septennial act for marriage--Lady Mary corresponds with her +husband--Dijon--Turin--Venice--Bologna--Florence--The Monastery of La +Trappe--Horace Walpole at Florence--His comments on Lady Mary and her +friends--Reasons for his dislike of her--Rome--The Young Pretender and +Henry, Cardinal York--Wanderings--Cheapness of life in Italy--Lady +Mary's son, Edward--He is a great trouble to his parents--His absurd +marriage--His extravagance and folly--Account of his early years--He +visits Lady Mary at Valence--Her account of the interviews. + + +In July, 1739, Lady Mary went abroad. She did not return until the +beginning of 1762, a few months before her death. + +She went abroad without her husband, and, indeed, they never met again. +At first, apparently, he had intended to join her--at least so she gave +Lady Pomfret to understand: + + +"You have put me to a very difficult choice, yet, when I consider we are +both in Italy, and yet do not see one another, I am astonished at the +capriciousness of my fortune" (she wrote from Venice late in 1739). "My +affairs are so uncertain, I can answer for nothing that is future. I +have taken some pains to put the inclination for travelling into Mr. +Wortley's head, and was so much afraid he would change his mind, that I +hastened before him in order (at least) to secure my journey. He +proposed following me in six weeks, his business requiring his presence +at Newcastle. Since that, the change of scene that has happened in +England has made his friends persuade him to attend parliament this +session: so that what his inclinations, which must govern mine, will be +next spring I cannot absolutely foresee. For my own part, I like my own +situation so well that it will be a displeasure to me to change it. To +postpone such a conversation as yours a whole twelvemonth is a terrible +appearance; on the other hand, I would not follow the example of the +first of our sex, and sacrifice for a present pleasure a more lasting +happiness. In short, I can determine nothing on this subject. When you +are at Florence, we may debate it over again." + + +So little is known of the domestic relations of the Montagus that it is +hazardous to advance a conjecture. One writer has suggested that there +was a quarrel over money, but there are no grounds to support this. +Another has it that Lady Mary's flirtations or intrigues did not meet +with her husband's approval. Yet another thinks that Montagu found his +wife with her sharp tongue, very ill to live with. + +The Montagus had been married for seven-and-twenty years; their younger +child was now twenty-one. Since Montagu assisted Lady Mary as a girl +with her Latin studies, they do not seem to have had much in common. +Lady Mary cut a figure in the social world; Montagu was a nonentity in +political life and seemed content so to be. Perhaps they were tired of +each other, and welcomed a separation that at the outset was intended +only to be temporary. "It was from the customs of the Turks that I first +had the thought of a septennial bill for the benefit of married +persons," Lady Mary once said to Joseph Spence; and it is more than +likely that she would have taken advantage of such an Act of Parliament +had it been in existence. + +That there was no definite breach is evident from the fact that husband +and wife corresponded, though it must be confessed that her letters to +her husband are almost uniformly dull, except when the topic is their +son. On the other hand, there was certainly no especial degree of +friendship between them, and in one of her letters Lady Mary said +pointedly: "You do not seem desirous to hear news, which makes me not +trouble you with any." For the rest there are descriptions of the places +which Lady Mary visited and an account of the people she met. + +Lady Mary proceeded from Dover to Calais, and thence to Dijon, where she +arrived in the middle of August. Wherever she went she found herself +among friends. "There is not any town in France where there is not +English, Scotch or Irish families established; and I have met with +people who have seen me (though often such as I do not remember to have +seen) in every town I have passed through; and I think the farther I go, +the more acquaintance I meet," she told her husband. At Dijon there were +no less than sixteen families of fashion. Lord Mansel had lodgings in +the house with her at Dijon, and Mrs. Whitsted, a daughter of Lord +Bathurst, resided in the same street. She met Lady Peterborough, and +just missed the Duke of Rutland, at St. Omer. At Port Beauvoisin she ran +across Lord Carlisle. + +From Turin, she travelled, on the advice of Lord Carlisle, to Vienna, +which he declared was the best place in Italy in which to stay. The fact +that it was the intention of Lady Pomfret to remove from Sienna to +Vienna was the deciding factor. She liked the latter city so well that +she remained there until August of the following year (1740). It had one +great merit in Lady Mary's eyes, that it was cheap. Next to that, she +derived pleasure from the consideration with which she was treated. "I +like this place extremely, and am of opinion you would do so too: as to +cheapness, I think 'tis impossible to find any part of Europe where both +the laws and customs are so contrived purposely to avoid expenses of all +sorts; and here is a universal liberty that is certainly one of the +greatest _agrements_ in life. We have foreign ambassadors from all parts +of the world, who have all visited me. I have received visits from many +of the noble Venetian ladies; and upon the whole I am very much at my +ease here. If I was writing to Lady Sophia, I would tell her of the +comedies and operas which are every night, at very low prices; but I +believe even you will agree with me that they are ordered to be as +convenient as possible, every mortal going in a mask, and consequently +no trouble in dressing, or forms of any kind." So Lady Mary wrote to +Lady Pomfret on October 10; and a few days later she supplemented the +information in a letter to her husband: + + +"I find myself very well here. I am visited by the most considerable +people of the town, and all the foreign ministers, who have most of them +made great entertainments for me. I dined yesterday at the Spanish +ambassador's, who even surpassed the French in magnificence. He met me +at the hall-door, and the lady at the stair-head, to conduct me through +the long apartment; in short, they could not have shown me more honours, +if I had been an ambassadress. She desired me to think myself patrona +del casa, and offered me all the services in her power, to wait on me +where I pleased, &c. They have the finest palace in Venice. What is very +convenient, I hear it is not at all expected I should make any dinners, +it not being the fashion for anybody to do it here but the foreign +ministers; and I find I can live here very genteelly on my allowance. I +have already a very agreeable general acquaintance; though when I came, +here was no one I had ever seen in my life, but the Cavaliere Grimani +and the Abbe Conti. I must do them [the] justice to say they have taken +pains to be obliging to me. The Procurator brought his niece (who is at +the head of his family) to wait on me; and they invited me to reside +with them at their palace on the Brent, but I did not think it proper to +accept of it. He also introduced me to the Signora Pisani Mocenigo, who +is the most considerable lady here. The Nuncio is particularly civil to +me; he has been several times to see me, and has offered me the use of +his box at the opera. I have many others at my service, and, in short +it, is impossible for a stranger to be better received than I am. Here +are no English, except a Mr. Bertie and his governor, who arrived two +days ago, and who intends but a short stay." + + +Lady Mary thoroughly enjoyed herself at Venice, where she found a +variety of occupations to occupy her time. In the mornings she was +"wrapt up among my books with antiquarians and virtuosi"; in the +afternoons there were visits to pay and receive; in the evenings dinners +(at other people's expense--which fact did not detract from her +pleasure), assemblies, and the theatre and the opera. In fact, she found +there every delight except scandal, but that she did not miss, because +she said, she "never found any pleasure in malice." So strange a thing +is human nature that perhaps she believed it! + + +"Upon my word, I have spoken my real thoughts in relation to Venice; but +I will be more particular in my description, lest you should find the +same reason of complaint you have hitherto experienced" (she wrote in +November to Lady Pomfret). "It is impossible to give any rule for the +agreeableness of conversation; but here is so great a variety, I think +'tis impossible not to find some to suit every taste. Here are foreign +ministers from all parts of the world, who, as they have no Court to +employ their hours, are overjoyed to enter into commerce with any +stranger of distinction. As I am the only lady here at present, I can +assure you I am courted, as if I was the only one in the world. As to +all the conveniences of life, they are to be had at very easy rates; and +for those that love public places, here are two playhouses and two +operas constantly performed every night, at exceeding low prices. But +you will have no reason to examine that article, no more than myself; +all the ambassadors having boxes appointed them; and I have every one of +their keys at my service, not only for my own person, but whoever I +please to carry or send. I do not make much use of this privilege, to +their great astonishment. It is the fashion for the greatest ladies to +walk the streets, which are admirably paved; and a mask, price sixpence, +with a little cloak, and the head of a domino, the genteel dress to +carry you everywhere. The greatest equipage is a gondola, that holds +eight persons, and is the price of an English chair. And it is so much +the established fashion for everybody to live their own way, that +nothing is more ridiculous than censuring the actions of another. This +would be terrible in London, where we have little other diversion; but +for me, who never found any pleasure in malice, I bless my destiny that +has conducted me to a part where people are better employed than in +talking of the affairs of their acquaintance. It is at present excessive +cold (which is the only thing I have to find fault with), but in +recompense we have a clear bright sun, and fogs and factions things +unheard of in this climate." + + +Certainly everybody did the utmost to make Venice agreeable to Lady +Mary. With all her good opinion of herself and of her position, she +found herself treated with more distinction than she "could possibly +expect." When, on Christmas Eve, she went to see the ceremony of High +Mass celebrated by the Doge, she was surprised to find that he had set +aside for her and the Prince of Wolfenbuttel a gallery, to which none +were admitted but their parties. "A greater compliment could not have +been paid me if I had been a sovereign Princess." To her husband she +wrote: "It is impossible to be better treated, I may even say more +courted, than I am here." + +All the English who came to Venice, as a matter of course paid their +respects to Lady Mary. + + +"Lord Fitzwilliam arrived here three days ago; he came to see me the +next day, as all the English do, who are much surprised at the +civilities and familiarity which I am with the noble ladies. Everybody +tells me 'tis what never was done but to myself; and I own I have a +little vanity in it, because the French ambassador told me when I first +came, that though the Procurator Grimani might persuade them to visit +me, he defied me to enter into any sort of intimacy with them: instead +of which they call me out almost every day on some diversion or other, +and are desirous to have me in all their parties of pleasure. I am +invited to-morrow to the Foscarini to dinner, which is to be followed +by a concert and a ball, where I shall be the only stranger, though here +are at present a great number come to see the regatta, which is fixed +for the 29th of this month, N.S. I shall see it at the Procurator +Grimani's, where there will be a great entertainment that day. My own +house is very well situated to see it, being on the Grand Canal; but I +would not refuse him and his niece, since they seem desirous of my +company, and I shall oblige some other ladies with my windows. They are +hired at a great rate to see the show." + +There was just one fly in the ointment. "I am impatient to hear good +sense pronounced in my native tongue; having only heard my language out +of the mouths of boys and governors for these five months" (she +complained to Lady Pomfret). "Here are inundations of them broke in upon +us this carnival, and my apartment must be their refuge; the greater +part of them having kept an inviolable fidelity to the languages their +nurses taught them; their whole business abroad (as far as I can +perceive) being to buy new clothes, in which they shine in some obscure +coffee-house, where they are sure of meeting only one another; and after +the important conquest of some waiting gentlewoman of an opera queen, +whom perhaps they remember as long as they live, return to England +excellent judges of men and manners. I find the spirit of patriotism so +strong in me every time I see them, that I look on them as the greatest +blockheads in nature; and, to say truth, the compound of booby and +_petit maitre_ makes up a very odd sort of animal." + +It was not until the middle of August (1740) that Lady Mary left Venice, +going first to Bologna, where she stayed a day or two "to prepare for +the dreadful passage of the Apennines." On her way to Florence, she +visited the monastery of La Trappe--her account of which may be given as +a companion portrait to that of the nunnery printed in an earlier +chapter. + + +"The monastery of La Trappe, is of French origin, and one of the most +austere and self-denying orders I have met with. In this gloomy retreat +it gave me pain to observe the infatuation of men, who have devoutly +reduced themselves to a much worse condition than that of the beasts. +Folly, you see, is the lot of humanity, whether it arises in the flowery +paths of pleasure, or the thorny ones of an ill-judged devotion. But of +the two sorts of fools, I shall always think that the merry one has the +most eligible fate; and I cannot well form a notion of that spiritual +and ecstatic joy, that is mixed with sighs, groans, hunger, and thirst, +and the other complicated miseries of monastic discipline. It is a +strange way of going to work for happiness to excite an enmity between +soul and body, which Nature and Providence have designed to live +together in union and friendship, and which we cannot separate like man +and wife when they happen to disagree. The profound silence that is +enjoined upon the monks of La Trappe is a singular circumstance of their +unsociable and unnatural discipline, and were this injunction never to +be dispensed with, it would be needless to visit them in any other +character than as a collection of statues; but the superior of the +convent suspended in our favour that rigorous law, and allowed one of +the mutes to converse with me, and answer a few discreet questions. He +told me that the monks of this order in France are still more austere +than those of Italy, as they never taste wine, flesh, fish, or eggs; but +live entirely upon vegetables. The story that is told of the institution +of this order is remarkable, and is well attested, if my information is +good. Its founder was a French nobleman whose name was Bouthillior de +Rance, a man of pleasure and gallantry, which were converted into the +deepest gloom of devotion by the following incident. His affairs obliged +him to absent himself, for some time, from a lady with whom he had lived +in the most intimate and tender connexions of successful love. At his +return to Paris he proposed to surprise her agreeably, and, at the same +time, to satisfy his own impatient desire of seeing her, by going +directly and without ceremony to her apartment by a back stair, which he +was well acquainted with--but think of the spectacle that presented +itself to him at his entrance into the chamber that had so often been +the scene of love's highest raptures! his mistress dead--dead of the +small-pox--disfigured beyond expression--a loathsome mass of putrified +matter--and the surgeon separating the head from the body, because the +coffin had been made too short! He stood for a moment motionless in +amazement, and filled with horror--and then retired from the world, shut +himself up in the convent of La Trappe, where he passed the remainder of +his days in the most cruel and disconsolate devotion.--Let us quit this +sad subject." + + +The news that Lady Mary was coming to Florence came to the ears of +Horace Walpole, who was staying there. If he had not yet made her +acquaintance, he certainly knew much about her. "On Wednesday we expect +a third she-meteor," he wrote to Richard West, July 31, 1740. "Those +learned luminaries the Ladies Pomfret and Walpole[9] are to be joined by +the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. You have not been witness to the rhapsody +of mystic nonsense which these two fair ones debate incessantly, and +consequently cannot figure what must be the issue of this triple +alliance: we have some idea of it. Only figure the coalition of prudery, +debauchery, sentiment, history, Greek, Latin, French, Italian and +metaphysics; all, except the second, understood by halves, by quarters, +or not at all. You shall have the journals of this notable academy." +Walpole sent, some seven weeks later, an account of the lady to the Hon. +Henry Seymour Conway: "Did I tell you Lady Mary Wortley is here? She +laughs at my Lady Walpole, scolds my Lady Pomfret, and is laughed at by +the whole town. Her dress, her avarice, and her impudence must amaze any +one that never heard her name. She wears a foul mob, that does not cover +her greasy black locks, that hang loose, never combed or curled, +mazarine blue wrapper, that gapes open and discovers a canvas petticoat. +Her face swollen violently on one side is partly covered with a +plaister, and partly with white paint, which for cheapness she has +bought so coarse, that you would not use it to wash a chimney." + +[Footnote 9: The wife of the eldest son of Sir Robert Walpole, who in +1723 was created Baron Walpole. He later succeeded as (second) Earl of +Orford.] + +In another letter, to Richard West (October 2, 1740), Walpole gives an +account of the "Academy." "But for the Academy, I am not of it; but +frequently in company with it," he wrote. "Tis all disjointed. Madame +----,[10] who, though a learned lady, has not lost her modesty and +character, is extremely scandalised with the two other dames, especially +with Moll Worthless,[11] who knows no bounds. She is at rivalry with +Lady W---- [12] for a certain Mr.----, whom perhaps you knew at +Oxford.... He fell into sentiments with my Lady W., and was happy to +catch her at platonic love; but as she seldom stops there, the poor man +will be frightened out of his senses when she shall break the matter to +him, for he never dreamt that her purposes were so naught. Lady Mary is +so far gone that to get him from the mouth of her antagonist, she +literally took him out to dance country dances at a formal ball, where +there was no measure kept in laughing at her.... She played at Pharaoh +two or three times at Princess Craon's, where she cheats horse and foot. +She is really entertaining: I have been reading her works, which she +lends out in manuscript; but they are too womanish: I like few of her +performances." + +[Footnote 10: Lady Pomfret.] +[Footnote 11: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.] +[Footnote 12: Lady Walpole.] + +Lady Mary was, of course, entirely ignorant of Horace Walpole's feelings +about her, of which naturally he showed no sign in social intercourse +with her. "I saw him often both at Florence and Genoa, and you may +believe I know him," she told her daughter. "I was well acquainted with +Mr. Walpole at Florence, and indeed he was particularly civil to me," +she wrote on another occasion. "I have great encouragement to ask favour +of him, if I did not know that few people have so good memories to +remember so many years backwards as have passed since I have seen him. +If he has treated the character of Queen Elizabeth with disrespect [in +_A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England_], all the women +should tear him to pieces, for abusing the glory of their sex. Neither +is it just to put her in the list of authors, having never published +anything, though we have Mr. Camden's authority that she wrote many +valuable pieces, chiefly Greek translations. I wish all monarchs would +bestow their leisure hours on such studies: perhaps they would not be +very useful to mankind; but it may be asserted, for a certain truth, +their own minds could be more improved than by the amusements of +quadrille or Cavagnole." + +Lady Mary need not have feared that Walpole had forgotten her; he bore +her much in mind to his dying day, and found never a kind thing to say +about her. It may be presumed that his animosity arose from the fact +that Lady Mary had championed Molly Skerritt against his mother, when +Miss Skerritt was living openly as the mistress of Sir Robert Walpole. +Yet, though he wrote so abusively about her, he concerned himself with a +new edition of the _Court Poems_, though with what right has never +transpired. "I have lately had Lady Mary Wortley's Ecloques published; +but they don't please, though so excessively good," he wrote to Sir +Horace Mann, November 24, 1747. "I say so confidently, for Mr. Chute +agrees with me: he says, for the _Epistle from Arthur Grey_, scarce any +woman could have written it, and no man; for a man who had had +experience enough to paint such sentiments so well, would not have had +warmth enough left. Do you know anything of Lady Mary? Her adventurous +son is come in Parliament, but has not opened." + +From Florence, Lady Mary repaired to Rome. There, she did not see the +Chevalier de St. George, but she did see his two sons, Charles Edward, +the Young Pretender, and Henry, Cardinal York. "The eldest seems +thoughtless enough, and is really not unlike Mr. Lyttelton in his shape +and air," she wrote to Montagu. "The youngest is very well made, dances +finely, and has an ingenuous countenance; he is but fourteen years of +age. The family live very splendidly, yet pay everybody, and (wherever +they get it) are certainly in no want of money." + +Lady Mary seems to have had no prepared itinerary, but to have wandered +as the spirit moved her--Naples, Leghorn, Turin, Genoa. The cheapness of +Italy appealed to her frugal mind. + +"The manners of Italy are so much altered since we were here last, the +alteration is scarce credible. They say it has been by the last war. The +French, being masters, introduced all their customs, which were eagerly +embraced by the ladies, and I believe will never be laid aside; yet the +different governments make different manners in every state. You know, +though the republic is not rich, here are many private families vastly +so, and live at a great superfluous expense: all the people of the first +quality keep coaches as fine as the Speaker's, and some of them two or +three, though the streets are too narrow to use them in the town; but +they take the air in them, and their chairs carry them to the gates. The +liveries are all plain: gold or silver being forbidden to be worn within +the walls, the habits are all obliged to be black, but they wear +exceeding fine lace and linen; and in their country-houses, which are +generally in the faubuurg, they dress very rich, and have extreme fine +jewels. Here is nothing cheap but houses. A palace fit for a prince may +be hired for fifty pounds per annum; I mean unfurnished. All games of +chance are strictly prohibited, and it seems to me the only law they do +not try to evade: they play at quadrille, piquet, &c., but not high. +Here are no regular public assemblies. I have been visited by all of the +first rank, and invited to several fine dinners, particularly to the +wedding of one of the house of Spinola, where there were ninety-six sat +down to table, and I think the entertainment one of the best I ever saw. +There was the night following a ball and supper for the same company, +with the same profusion. They tell me that all their great marriages are +kept in the same public manner. Nobody keeps more than two horses, all +their journeys being post; the expense of them, including the coachman, +is (I am told) fifty pounds per annum. A chair is very near as much; I +give eighteen francs a week for mine. The senators can converse with no +strangers during the time of their magistracy, which lasts two years. +The number of servants is regulated, and almost every lady has the same, +which is two footmen, a gentleman-usher, and a page, who follows her +chair. + + +Certainly the simple life appealed to Lady Mary, but much as she liked +Geneva the cost of living irked her. "Everything is as dear as it is at +London," she complained to her husband in November, 1741. "'Tis true, as +all equipages are forbidden, that expense is entirely retrenched.... The +way of living is absolutely the reverse of that in Italy. Here is no +show, and a great deal of eating; there is all the magnificence +imaginable, and no dinners but on particular occasions; yet the +difference of the prices renders the total expense very near equal.... +The people here are very well to be liked, and this little republic has +an air of the simplicity of old Rome in its earliest age. The +magistrates toil with their own hands, and their wives literally dress +their dinners against their return from their little senate. Yet without +dress and equipage 'tis as dear living here for a stranger, as in places +where one is obliged to both, from the price of all sort of provision, +which they are forced to buy from their neighbours, having almost no +land of their own." How much more agreeable, from Lady Mary's point of +view, was Chambery: "Here is the most profound peace and unbounded +plenty that is to be found in any corner of the universe; but not one +rag of money. For my part, I think it amounts to the same thing, whether +one is obliged to give several pence for bread, or can have a great deal +of bread for a penny, since the Savoyard nobility here keep as good +tables, without money, as those in London, who spend in a week what +would be here a considerable yearly revenue. Wine, which is equal to the +best burgundy, is sold for a penny a quart, and I have a cook for very +small wages, that is capable of rivalling Chloe." + +"My girl gives me great prospect of satisfaction, but my young rogue of +a son is the most ungovernable little rake that ever played truant," +Lady Mary wrote to Lady Mar in July, 1727, when the boy was fourteen and +the girl nine years old. + + +It has already been mentioned that young Edward, who was placed at +Westminster School at the early age of five, ran away. In fact, he ran +away more than once. "My blessed offspring has already made a great +noise in the world," his mother told Lady Mar in July, 1726. "That young +rake, my son, took to his heels t'other day and transported his person +to Oxford; being in his own opinion thoroughly qualified for the +University. After a good deal of search we found and reduced him, much +against his will, to the humble condition of a schoolboy. It happens +very luckily that the sobriety and discretion is of my daughter's side; +I am sorry the ugliness is so too, for my son grows extremely handsome." +The lad was incorrigible. In the following year he disappeared for some +months, to be found selling fish at Blackwall. + + +"My cousin is going to Paris, and I will not let her go without a letter +for you, my dear sister, though I was never in a worse humour for +writing" (the anxious mother wrote to her sister). "I am vexed to the +blood by my young rogue of a son; who has contrived at his age to make +himself the talk of the whole nation. He is gone knight-erranting, God +knows where; and hitherto 'tis impossible to find him. You may judge of +my uneasiness by what your own would be if dear Lady Fanny was lost. +Nothing that ever happened to me has troubled me so much; I can hardly +speak or write of it with tolerable temper, and I own it has changed +mine to that degree I have a mind to cross the water, to try what effect +a new heaven and a new earth will have upon my spirit." + + +Later, Edward ran away again, joining the crew of a ship going to +Oporto, and was not discovered in that city until a considerable period +had elapsed since his flight. + +He capped all his follies by marrying at the age of twenty a woman of no +social standing and much older than himself. + +His parents were at their wits' end. It was hopeless to treat him as a +rational being. His wife was induced to accept a pension to leave him, +and he himself was put in charge of a keeper. Several times he had to be +kept in close confinement. He was, however, by no means devoid of +brains, and in the autumn of 1741 he had sufficiently recovered to be +entered as a student at the University of Leyden. His allowance was L300 +a year, which he found so insufficient for the indulgence of his tastes +that he was soon considerably in debt. + +In Lady Mary's correspondence there are many letters to her husband +about their son. + + +"Genoa, Aug. 15, 1741. + +"I am sorry to trouble you on so disagreeable a subject as our son, but +I received a letter from him last post, in which he solicits your +dissolving his marriage, as if it was wholly in your power, and the +reason he gives for it, is so that he may marry more to your +satisfaction. It is very vexatious (though no more than I expected) that +time has no effect, and that it is impossible to convince him of his +true situation. He enclosed this letter in one to Mr. Birtles, and tells +me that he does not doubt that debt of L200 is paid. You may imagine +this silly proceeding occasioned me a dun from Mr. Birtles. I told him +the person that wrote the letter, was, to my knowledge, not worth a +groat, which was all I thought proper to say on the subject." + + +"Lyons, April 23, 1742. + +"I am very glad you have been prevailed on to let our son take a +commission: if you had prevented it, he would have always said, and +perhaps thought, and persuaded other people, you had hindered his +rising in the world; though I am fully persuaded that he can never make +a tolerable figure in any station of life. When he was at Morins, on his +first leaving France, I then tried to prevail with him to serve the +Emperor as volunteer; and represented to him that a handsome behaviour +one campaign might go a great way in retrieving his character; and +offered to use my interest with you (which I said I did not doubt would +succeed) to furnish him with a handsome equipage. He then answered, he +supposed I wished him killed out of the way. I am afraid his pretended +reformation is not very sincere. I wish time may prove me in the wrong. +I here enclose the last letter I received from him; I answered it the +following post in these words: + +"'I am very glad you resolve to continue obedient to your father, and +are sensible of his goodness towards you. Mr. Birtles showed me your +letter to him, in which you enclosed yours to me, where you speak to him +as your friend; subscribing yourself his faithful humble servant. He was +at Genoa in his uncle's house when you was there, and well acquainted +with you; though you seem ignorant of everything relating to him. I wish +you would make such sort of apologies for any errors you may commit. I +pray God your future behaviour may redeem the past, which will be a +great blessing to your affectionate mother.' + +"I have not since heard from him; I suppose he knew not what to say to +so plain a detected falsehood. It is very disagreeable to me to converse +with one from whom I do not expect to hear a word of truth, and who, I +am very sure, will repeat many things that never passed in our +conversation. You see the most solemn assurances are not binding from +him, since he could come to London in opposition to your commands, after +having so frequently protested he would not move a step except by your +order. However, as you insist on my seeing him, I will do it, and think +Valence the properest town for that interview; it is but two days' +journey from this place; it is in Dauphine. + +"I shall stay here till I have an answer to this letter. If you order +your son to go to Valence, I desire you would give him a strict command +of going by a feigned name. I do not doubt your returning me whatever +money I may give him; but as I believe, if he receives money from me, he +will be making me frequent visits, it is clearly my opinion I should +give him none. Whatever you may think proper for his journey, you may +remit to him." + + +"Lyons, April 25 [1742]. + +"On recollection (however inconvenient it may be to me on many +accounts), I am not sorry to converse with my son. I shall at least have +the satisfaction of making a clear judgment of his behaviour and temper: +which I shall deliver to you in the most sincere and unprejudiced +manner. You need not apprehend that I shall speak to him in passion. I +do not know that I ever did in my life. I am not apt to be over-heated +in discourse, and am so far prepared, even for the worst on his side, +that I think nothing he can say can alter the resolution I have taken of +treating him with calmness. Both nature and interest (were I inclined to +follow blindly the dictates of either) would determine me to wish him +your heir rather than a stranger; but I think myself obliged both by +honour, conscience and my regard for you, no way to deceive you; and I +confess, hitherto I see nothing but falsehood and weakness through his +whole conduct. It is possible this person may be altered since I saw +him, but his figure then was very agreeable and his manner insinuating. +I very well remember the professions he made to me, and do not doubt he +is as lavish of them to other people. Perhaps Lord Carteret may think +him no ill match for an ugly girl that sticks upon his hands. The +project of breaking his marriage shows at least his devotion +counterfeit, since I am sensible it cannot be done but by false witness. +His wife is not young enough to get gallants, nor rich enough to buy +them. + +"I make choice of Valence for our interview as a town where we are not +likely to find any English, and he may if he pleases be quite unknown; +which it is hardly possible to be in any capital town either of France +or Italy. + + +"Lyons, May 2 [1742]. + +"I received this morning yours of April 12, and at the same time the +enclosed which I send you. Tis the first I have received since the +detection of that falsehood in regard to Mr. Birtles. I always send my +letters open, that Mr. Clifford (who has the character of sense and +honesty) might be witness of what I said; and he not left at liberty to +forge orders he never received. I am very glad I have done so, and am +persuaded that had his reformation been what you suppose it, Mr. +Clifford would have wrote to me in his favour. I confess I see no +appearance of it. His last letter to you, and this to me, seems to be no +more in that submissive style he has used, but like one that thinks +himself well protected. I will see him, since you desire it, at Valence; +which is a by-town, where I am less likely to meet with English than any +town in France; but I insist on his going by a feigned name, and coming +without a servant. People of superior fortunes to him (to my knowledge) +have often travelled from Paris to Lyons in the _diligence_; the expense +is but one hundred livres, L5 sterling, all things paid. It would not be +easy to me, at this time, to send him any considerable sum; and whatever +it is, I am persuaded, coming from me, he would not be satisfied with +it, and make his complaints to his companions. As to the alteration of +his temper, I see the same folly throughout. He now supposes (which is +at best downright childish) that one hour's conversation will convince +me of his sincerity. I have not answered his letter, nor will not, till +I have your orders what to say to him." + + +[Avignon] May 6 [1742]. + +"I here send you enclosed the letter I mentioned of your son's; the +packet in which it was put was mislaid in the journey; it will serve to +show you how little he is to be depended on. I saw a Savoyard man of +quality at Chambery, who knew him at Venice, and afterwards at Genoa, +who asked me (not suspecting him for my son) if he was related to my +family. I made answer he was some relation. He told me several tricks of +his. He said, that at Genoa he had told him that an uncle of his was +dead and had left him L5,000 or L6,000 per annum, and that he was +returning to England to take possession of his estate; in the meantime +he wanted money; and would have borrowed some of him, which he refused. +I made answer that he did very well. I have heard of this sort of +conduct in other places; and by the Dutch letters you have sent me I am +persuaded he continues the same method of lying which convinces me that +his pretended enthusiasm is only to cheat those that can be imposed on +by it. However, I think he should not be hindered accepting a +commission. I do not doubt it will be pawned or sold in a twelvemonth; +which will prove to those that now protect him how little he deserves +it. I am now at Avignon, which is within one day's journey of Valence." + + +"Avignon, May 23 [1742]. + +"I received this morning yours of April 12 and 29th, and at the same +time one from my son at Paris, dated the 4th instant. I have wrote to +him this day, that on his answer I will immediately set out to Valence, +and shall be glad to see him there. I suppose you are now convinced I +have never been mistaken in his character; which remains unchanged, and +what is yet worse, I think is unchangeable. I never saw such a +complication of folly and falsity as in his letter to Mr. Gibson. +Nothing is cheaper than living in an inn in a country town in France; +they being obliged to ask no more than twenty-five sous for dinner, and +thirty for supper and lodging, of those that eat at the public table; +which all the young men of quality I have met have always done. It is +true I am forced to pay double, because I think the decency of my sex +confines me to eat in my chamber. I will not trouble you with detecting +a number of other falsehoods that are in his letters. My opinion on the +whole (since you give me leave to tell it) is, that if I was to speak +in your place, I would tell him, 'That since he is obstinate in going +into the army, I will not oppose it; but as I do not approve, I will +advance no equipage till I know his behaviour to be such as shall +deserve my future favour. Hitherto he has always been directed, either +by his own humour, or the advice of those he thought better friends to +him than myself. If he renounces the army, I will continue to him his +former allowance; notwithstanding his repeated disobedience, under the +most solemn professions of duty. When I see him act like a sincere +honest man, I shall believe well of him; the opinion of others, who +either do not know him or are imposed on by his pretences, weighs +nothing with me." + + +On May 30 Lady Mary went from Avignon to Valence, where about a week +later her son visited her. She at once sent a full account to Montagu. + + +"Avignon, June 10 [1742.] + +"I am just returned from passing two days with our son, of whom I will +give you the most exact account I am capable of. He is so much altered +in his person, I should scarcely have known him. He has entirely lost +his beauty, and looks at least seven years older than he is; and the +wildness that he always had in his eyes is so much increased it is +downright shocking, and I am afraid will end fatally. He is grown fat, +but is still genteel, and has an air of politeness that is agreeable. He +speaks French like a Frenchman, and has got all the fashionable +expressions of that language, and a volubility of words which he always +had, and which I do not wonder should pass for wit with inconsiderate +people. His behaviour is perfectly civil, and I found him very +submissive; but in the main, no way really improved in his +understanding, which is exceedingly weak; and I am convinced he will +always be led by the person he converses with either right or wrong, not +being capable of forming any fixed judgment of his own. As to his +enthusiasm, if he had it, I suppose he has already lost it; since I +could perceive no turn of it in all his conversation. But with his head +I believe it is possible to make him a monk one day and a Turk three +days after. He has a flattering, insinuating manner, which naturally +prejudices strangers in his favour. He began to talk to me in the usual +silly cant I have so often heard from him, which I shortened by telling +him I desired not to be troubled with it; that professions were of no +use where actions were expected; and that the only thing could give me +hopes of a good conduct was regularity and truth. He very readily agreed +to all I said (as indeed he has always done when he has not been +hot-headed). I endeavoured to convince him how favourably he has been +dealt with, his allowance being much more than, had I been his father, I +would have given in the same case. The Prince of Hesse, who is now +married to the Princess of England, lived some years at Geneva on L300 +per annum. Lord Hervey sent his son at sixteen thither, and to travel +afterwards, on no larger pension than L200; and, though without a +governor, he had reason enough, not only to live within the compass of +it, but carried home little presents for his father and mother, which he +showed me at Turin. In short, I know there is no place so expensive, but +a prudent single man may live in it on L100 per annum, and an +extravagant one may run out ten thousand in the cheapest. Had you (said +I to him) thought rightly, or would have regarded the advice I gave you +in all my letters, while in the little town of Islestein, you would have +laid up L150 per annum; you would now have had L750 in your pocket; +which would have almost paid your debts, and such a management would +have gained you the esteem of the reasonable part of mankind. I +perceived this reflection, which he had never made himself, had a very +great weight with him. He would have excused part of his follies, by +saying Mr. G. had told him it became Mr. W.'s son to live handsomely. I +made answer, that whether Mr. G. had said so or no, the good sense of +the thing was noway altered by it; that the true figure of a man was +the opinion the world had of his sense and probity, and not the idle +expenses, which were only respected by foolish or ignorant people; that +his case was particular, he had but too publicly shown his inclination +to vanities, and the most becoming part he could now act would be owning +the ill use he had made of his father's indulgence, and professing to +endeavour to be no further expense to him, instead of scandalous +complaints, and being always at his last shirt and last guinea, which +any man of spirit would be ashamed to own. I prevailed so far with him +that he seemed very willing to follow this advice; and I gave him a +paragraph to write to G., which I suppose you will easily distinguish +from the rest of his letter. He asked me if you had settled your estate. +I made answer, that I did not doubt (like all other wise men) you always +had a will by you; but that you had certainly not put anything out of +your power to change. On that, he began to insinuate, that if I could +prevail on you to settle the estate on him, I might expect anything from +his gratitude. I made him a very clear and positive answer in these +words: 'I hope your father will outlive me, and if I should be so +unfortunate to have it otherwise, I do not believe he will leave me in +your power, But was I sure of the contrary, no interest nor no necessity +shall ever make me act against my honour or conscience; and I plainly +tell you, that I will never persuade your father to do anything for you +till I think you deserve it.' He answered by great promises of future +good behaviour, and economy. He is highly delighted with the prospect of +going into the army; and mightily pleased with the good reception he had +from Lord Stair, though I find it amounts to no more than telling him he +was sorry he had already named his aides-de-camp, and otherwise should +have been glad of him in that post. He says Lord Carteret has confirmed +to him his promise of a commission. + +"The rest of his conversation was extremely gay. The various things he +has seen has given him a superficial universal knowledge. He really +knows most of the modern languages, and if I could believe him, can read +Arabic, and has read the Bible in Hebrew. He said it was impossible for +him to avoid going back to Paris; but he promised me to lie but one +night there, and go to a town six posts from thence on the Flanders +road, where he would wait your orders, and go by the name of Mons. du +Durand, a Dutch officer; under which name I saw him. These are the most +material passages, and my eyes are so much tired I can write no more at +this time. I gave him 240 livres for his journey." + + +No amount of admonition had any effect upon Edward. At the age of thirty +he was as irresponsible as he was when he was thirteen years old. He +promised his mother at Avignon most solemnly to reform, and at once got +into mischief. "I am persuaded," Lady Mary said, "whoever protects him +will be very soon convinced of the impossibility of his behaving like a +rational creature." + + +Avignon, November 20, 1743. + +"As to my son's behaviour at Montelimart, it is nothing more than a +proof of his weakness; and how little he is to be depended on in his +most solemn professions. He told me that he had made acquaintance with a +lady on the road, who has an assembly at her house at Montelimart, and +that she had invited him thither. I asked immediately if she knew his +name. He assured me no, and that he passed for a Dutch officer by the +name of Durand. I advised him not go thither, since it would raise a +curiosity concerning him, and I was very unwilling it should be known +that I had conversed with him, on many accounts. He gave me the most +solemn assurances that no mortal should know it; and agreed with me in +the reasons I gave him for keeping it an entire secret; yet rid straight +to Montelimart, where he told at the assembly that he came into this +country purely on my orders, and that I had stayed with him two days at +Orange; talking much of my kindness to him, and insinuating that he had +another name, much more considerable than that he appeared with. I knew +nothing of this, till several months after, that a lady of that country +came hither, and meeting her in company, she asked me if I was +acquainted with Monsieur Durand. I had really forgot he had ever taken +that name, and made answer no; and that if such a person mentioned me, +it was probably some _chevalier d'industrie_ who sought to introduce +himself into company by a supposed acquaintance with me. She made +answer, the whole town believed so, by the improbable tales he told +them; and informed me what he had said; by which I knew what I have +related to you. + +"I expect your orders in relation to his letters." + + +Edward was still anxious to join the army, and his parents were not +averse to the scheme. Lady Mary, however, thought that certain +precautions should be taken in the event of his securing a commission. +"It is my opinion," she wrote to Montagu in January, 1744, "he should +have no distinction, in equipage, from any other cornet; everything of +that sort will only serve to blow his vanity and consequently heighten +his folly. Your indulgence has always been greater to him than any other +parent's would have been in the same circumstances. I have always said +so, and thought so. If anything can alter him, it will be thinking +firmly that he has no dependence but on his own conduct for a future +maintenance." + + +Edward obtained a commission, and was present at Fontenoy. + +On his return to England, in 1747, he was elected to Parliament for the +family borough of Huntingdon. This he held until 1754, when he was +returned for the borough of Bossiney, in Cornwall, which he represented +for the next eight years. + +Of his subsequent career it is not necessary to say anything here, +except that his father left him an annuity of L1,000 a year, to be +increased to L2,000 on his mother's death. Lady Mary in her will +bequeathed him one guinea. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +LADY MARY AS A READER + +Her fondness for reading--Her difficulty to get enough books while +abroad--Lady Bute keeps her supplied--Lady Mary's catholic taste in +literature--Samuel Richardson--The vogue of _Clarissa Harlowe_--Lady +Mary tells a story of the Richardson type--Henry Fielding--_Joseph +Andrews--Tom Jones_--Her high opinion of Fielding and Steele--Tobias +Smollett--_Peregrine Pickle--_Lady Vane's _Memoirs of a Lady of +Quality_--Sarah Fielding--Minor writers--Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +Swift_--Bolingbroke's works--Addison and Pope--Dr. Johnson. + + +In her quiet retreat, Lady Mary found plenty of time for books. "I yet +retain and carefully cherish my taste for reading," she wrote to her +daughter in 1752. "If relays of eyes were to be hired like post-horses, +I would never admit any but select companions: they afford a constant +variety of entertainment, and is almost the only one pleasing in the +enjoyment and inoffensive in the consequence." + +Her trouble was that she could not get books enough to occupy her time. +She was always asking Lady Bute to send her some, and was duly grateful +when they reached her. "I fancy you are now saying, 'tis a sad thing to +grow old; what does my poor mamma mean by troubling me with criticisms +on books that nobody but herself will ever read? You must allow +something to my solitude." And again: "I thank God my taste still +continues for the gay part of reading. Wiser people may call it +trifling, but it serves to sweeten life to me, and is worst better than +the generality of conversation." + +Lady Mary's taste in books was catholic. She has seen the "Memoirs of +her old friend, the Duchess of Maryborough," but would be glad of the +_Apology for a late Resignation_ and of Colin Campbell's books on +_Architecture_. She has read Mrs. Lennox's _The Female Quixote_, and +much of Sarah Fielding; and she desires Henry Fielding's posthumous +works, with his _Memoirs of Jonathan Wild_ and _The Journey to the Next +World;_ also the _Memoirs of Verocand_, a man of pleasure, and those of +a Young Lady. "You will call all this trash, trumpery, etc.," she said +to her daughter. "I can assure you I was more entertained by G. Edwards +than H. St. John, of whom you have sent me duplicates. I see new story +books with the same pleasure your eldest daughter does a new dress, or +the youngest a new baby. I thank God, I can find playthings for my age. +I am not of Cowley's mind, that this world is + + 'A dull, ill-acted comedy;' + +nor of Mr. Philips's, that it is + + 'A too well-acted tragedy.' + + +"I look upon it as a very pretty farce, for those that can see it in +that light. I confess a severe critic, that would examine by ancient +rules, might find many defects, but 'tis ridiculous to judge seriously +of a puppet-show. Those that can laugh, and be diverted with +absurdities, are the wisest spectators, be it of writings, actions, or +people." + + +Presently Lady Mary is asking for books the names of which she has seen +in the-newspapers: "_Fortunate Mistress, Accomplished Rake, Mrs. +Charke's Memoirs, Modern Lovers, History of Two Orphans, Memoirs of +David Ranger, Miss Mostyn, Dick Hazard, History of a Lady Platonist, +Sophia Shakespear, Jasper Banks, Frank Hammond, Sir Andrew Thompson, Van +a Clergyman's Son, Cheantles and Celemena_. I do not doubt at least the +greater part of these are trash, lumber, etc.; however, they will serve +to pass away the idle time, if you will be so kind as to send them to +your most affectionate mother." + +Richardson Lady Mary liked in spite of herself, as so many others then +and since have done, though it is true that she spoke of the "very +extraordinary (and I think undeserved) success of Pamela, which, she +said, was all the fashion at Paris and Versailles, and is still the joy +of the chambermaids of all nations." + + +"I was such an old fool as to weep over _Clarissa Harlowe_, like any +milkmaid of sixteen over the ballad of the _Lady's Fall_" (she wrote to +her daughter). "To say truth, the first volume softened me by a near +resemblance of my maiden days; but on the whole 'tis most miserable +stuff. Miss How, who is called a young lady of sense and honour, is not +only extreme silly, but a more vicious character than Sally Martin, +whose crimes are owing at first to seduction, and afterwards to +necessity; while this virtuous damsel, without any reason, insults her +mother at home and ridicules her abroad; abuses the man she marries; and +is impertinent and impudent with great applause. Even that model of +affection, Clarissa, is so faulty in her behaviour as to deserve little +compassion. Any girl that runs away with a young fellow, without +intending to marry him, should be carried to Bridewell or to Bedlam the +next day. Yet the circumstances are so laid as to inspire tenderness, +notwithstanding the low style and absurd incidents; and I look upon this +and _Pamela_ to be two books that will do more general mischief than the +works of Lord Rochester. There is something humorous in _R. Random_, +that makes me believe that the author is H. Fielding. I am horribly +afraid I guess too well the writer of those abominable insipidities of +_Cornelia, Leonora_, and the _Ladies' Drawing Room_." + +"This Richardson is a strange fellow," she said in another letter. "I +heartily despise him, and eagerly read him, nay, sob over his works in a +most scandalous manner." + +"I have now read over Richardson--he sinks horribly in his third volume +(he does so in his story of _Clarissa_). When he talks of Italy, it is +plain he is no better acquainted with it than he is with the kingdom of +Mancomugi. He might have made his Sir Charles's amour with Clementina +begin in a convent, where the pensioners sometimes take great liberties, +but that such familiarity should be permitted in her father's house, is +as repugnant to custom, as it would be in London for a young lady of +quality to dance on the ropes at Bartholomew fair: neither does his hero +behave to her in a manner suitable to his nice notions. It was +impossible a discerning man should not see her passion early enough to +check it, if he had really designed it. His conduct puts me in mind of +some ladies I have known, who could never find out a man to be in love +with them, let him do or say what he would, till he made a direct +attempt, and then they were so surprised, I warrant you! Nor do I +approve Sir Charles's offered compromise (as he calls it). There must be +a great indifference as to religion on both sides, to make so strict a +union as marriage tolerable between people of such distinct persuasions. +He seems to think women have no souls, by agreeing so easily that his +daughters should be educated in bigotry and idolatry.--You will perhaps +think this last a hard word; yet it is not difficult to prove, that +either the papists are guilty of idolatry, or the pagans never were so. +You may see in Lucian (in his vindication of his images), that they did +not take their statues to be real gods, but only the representations of +them. The same doctrine may be found in Plutarch; and it is all the +modern priests have to say in excuse for their worshipping wood and +stone, though they cannot deny, at the same time, that the vulgar are +apt to confound that distinction." + + +Lady Mary frequently re-read Richardson, and not seldom referred to them +in her correspondence. + + +"It is certain there are as many marriages as ever. Richardson is so +eager for the multiplication of them, I suppose he is some parish +curate, whose chief profit depends on weddings and christenings. He is +not a man-midwife; for he would be better skilled in physic than to +think fits and madness any ornament to the characters of his heroines: +though his Sir Charles had no thoughts of marrying Clementina till she +had lost her wits, and the divine Clarissa never acted prudently till +she was in the same condition, and then very wisely desired to be +carried to Bedlam, which is really all that is to be done in that case. +Madness is as much corporal distemper as the gout or asthma, never +occasioned by affliction, or to be cured by the enjoyment of their +extravagant wishes. Passion may indeed bring on a fit, but the disease +is lodged in the blood, and it is not more ridiculous to attempt to +relieve the gout by an embroidered slipper, than to restore reason by +the gratification of wild desires. + +"Richardson is as ignorant in morality as he is in anatomy, when he +declares abusing an obliging husband, or an indulgent parent, to be an +innocent recreation. His Anna How and Charlotte Grandison are +recommended as patterns of charming pleasantry, and applauded by his +saint-like dames, who mistake pert folly for wit and humour, and +impudence and ill nature for spirit and fire. Charlotte behaves like a +humorsome child, and should have been used like one, and*** well whipped +in the presence of her friendly confidante Harriet. Lord Halifax very +justly tells his daughter, that a husband's kindness is to be kindly +received by a wife, even when he is drunk, and though it is wrapped up +in never so much impertinence. Charlotte acts with an ingratitude that I +think too black for human nature, with such coarse jokes and low +expressions as are only to be heard among the lowest class of people. +Women of that rank often plead a right to beat their husbands, when they +don't cuckold them; and I believe this author was never admitted into +higher company, and should confine his pen to the amours of housemaids, +and the conversation at the steward's table, where I imagine he has +sometimes intruded, though oftener in the servants hall: yet, if the +title be not a puff, this work has passed three editions. I do not +forgive him his disrespect of old china, which is below nobody's taste, +since it has been the D. of Argyll's, whose understanding has never been +doubted either by his friends or enemies. + +"Richardson never had probably money enough to purchase any, or even a +ticket for a masquerade, which gives him such an aversion to them; +though his intended satire against them is very absurd on the account of +his Harriet, since she might have been carried off in the same manner if +she had been going from supper with her grandmamma. Her whole behaviour, +which he designs to be exemplary, is equally blamable and ridiculous. +She follows the maxim of Clarissa, of declaring all she thinks to all +the people she sees, without reflecting that in this mortal state of +imperfection, fig-leaves are as necessary for our minds as our bodies, +and 'tis as indecent to show all we think, as all we have. He has no +idea of the manners of high life: his old Lord M. talks in the style of +a country justice, and his virtuous young ladies romp like the wenches +round a maypole. Such liberties as pass between Mr. Lovelace and his +cousins, are not to be excused by the relation. I should have been much +astonished if Lord Denbigh should have offered to kiss me; and I dare +swear Lord Trentham never attempted such an impertinence to you." + +Lady Mary was in sore trouble about Richardson. She would not like him, +she was angry with him, yet could never away with him. When she heard of +an adventure at Lovere, she, who herself had a gift for novel-writing, +must needs send an account of it to Lady Bute, saying that it exactly +resembled and, she believed, was copied from _Pamela_. "I know not under +what constellation that foolish stuff was wrote, but it has been +translated into more languages than any modern performance I ever heard +of," she added. "No proof of its influence was ever stronger than this +story, which in Richardson's hands would serve very well to furnish out +seven or eight volumes: I shall make it as short as I can." + + +As an example of Lady Mary's skill in narrative, her account of the +Richardsonian adventure is well worth reprinting. + + +"Here is a gentleman's family, consisting of an old bachelor and his +sister, who have fortune enough to live with great elegance, though +without any magnificence, possessed of the esteem of all their +acquaintance, he being distinguished by his probity, and she by her +virtue. They are not only suffered but sought by all the best company, +and indeed are the most conversable, reasonable people in the place. She +is an excellent housewife, and particularly remarkable for keeping her +pretty house as neat as any in Holland. She appears no longer in public, +being past fifty, and passes her time chiefly at home with her work, +receiving few visitants. This Signora Diana, about ten years since, saw, +at a monastery, a girl about eight years old, who came thither to beg +alms for her mother. Her beauty, though covered with rags, was very +observable, and gave great compassion to the charitable lady, who +thought it meritorious to rescue such a modest sweetness as appeared in +her face from the ruin to which her wretched circumstances exposed her. +She asked her some questions, to which she answered with a natural +civility that seemed surprising; and finding the head of her family (her +brother) to be a cobbler, who could hardly live by that trade, and her +mother too old to work for her maintenance, she bid the child follow her +home; and sending for her parent, proposed to her to breed the little +Octavia for her servant. This was joyfully accepted, the old woman +dismissed with a piece of money, and the girl remained with the Signora +Diana, who bought her decent clothes, and took pleasure in teaching her +whatever she was capable of learning. She learned to read, write, and +cast accounts, with uncommon facility; and had such a genius for work, +that she excelled her mistress in embroidery, point, and every operation +of the needle. She grew perfectly skilled in confectionary, had a good +insight into cookery, and was a great proficient in distillery. To these +accomplishments she was so handy, well bred, humble and modest, that not +only her master and mistress, but everybody that frequented the house, +took notice of her. She lived thus near nine years, never going out but +to church. However, beauty is as difficult to conceal as light; hers +began to make a great noise. Signora Diana told me she observed an +unusual concourse of pedling women that came on pretext to sell +penn'orths of lace, china, etc., and several young gentlemen, very well +powdered, that were perpetually walking before her door, and looking up +at the windows. These prognostics alarmed her prudence, and she listened +very willingly to some honourable proposals that were made by many +honest, thriving tradesmen. She communicated them to Octavia, and told +her, that though she was sorry to lose so good a servant, yet she +thought it right to advise her to choose a husband. The girl answered +modestly, that it was her duty to obey all her commands, but she found +no inclination to marriage; and if she would permit her to live single, +she should think it a greater obligation than any other she could +bestow. Signora Diana was too conscientious to force her into a state +from which she could not free her, and left her to her own disposal. +However, they parted soon after; whether (as the neighbours say) Signor +Aurelio Ardinghi, her brother, looked with too much attention on the +young woman, or that she herself (as Diana says) desired to seek a place +of more profit, she removed to Bergamo, where she soon found preferment, +being strongly recommended by the Ardinghi family. She was advanced to +be first waiting-woman to an old countess, who was so well pleased with +her service, she desired, on her death bed, Count Jeronimo Sosi, her +son, to be kind to her. He found no repugnance to this act of obedience, +having distinguished the beautiful Octavia from his first sight of her; +and, during the six months that she had served in the house, had tried +every art of a fine gentleman, accustomed to victories of that sort, to +vanquish the virtue of this fair virgin. He has a handsome figure, and +has had an education uncommon in this country, having made the tour of +Europe, and brought from Paris all the improvements that are to be picked +up there, being celebrated for his grace in dancing, and skill in +fencing and riding, by which he is a favourite among the ladies, and +respected by the men. Thus qualified for conquest, you may judge of his +surprise at the firm yet modest resistance of this country girl, who was +neither to be moved by address, nor gained by liberality, nor on any +terms would be prevailed on to stay as his housekeeper, after the death +of his mother. She took that post in the house of an old judge, where +she continued to be solicited by the emissaries of the count's passion, +and found a new persecutor in her master, who, after three months' +endeavour to corrupt her, offered her marriage. She chose to return to +her former obscurity, and escaped from his pursuit, without asking any +wages, and privately returned to the Signora Diana. She threw herself at +her feet, and, kissing her hands, begged her, with tears, to conceal her +at least some time, if she would not accept of her service. She +protested she had never been happy since she left it. While she was +making these submissions, Signor Aurelio entered. She entreated his +intercession on her knees, who was easily persuaded to consent she +should stay with them, though his sister blamed her highly for her +precipitate flight, having no reason, from the age and character of her +master, to fear any violence, and wondered at her declining the honour +he offered her. Octavia confessed that perhaps she had been too rash in +her proceedings, but said, that he seemed to resent her refusal in such +a manner as frighted her; she hoped that after a few days' search he +would think no more of her; and that she scrupled entering into the holy +bands of matrimony, where her heart did not sincerely accompany all the +words of the ceremony. Signora Diana had nothing to say in contradiction +to this pious sentiment; and her brother applauded the honesty which +could not be perverted by any interest whatever. She remained concealed +in their house, where she helped in the kitchen, cleaned the rooms, and +redoubled her usual diligence and officiousness. Her old master came to +Lovere on pretence of adjusting a lawsuit, three days after, and made +private inquiry after her; but hearing from her mother and brother (who +knew nothing of her being here) that they had never heard of her, he +concluded she had taken another route, and returned to Bergamo; and she +continued in this retirement near a fortnight. + +"Last Sunday, as soon as the day was closed, arrived at Signer Aurelio's +door a handsome equipage in a large bark, attended by four well-armed +servants on horseback. An old priest stepped out of it, and desiring to +speak with Signora Diana, informed her he came from the Count Jeronimo +Sosi to demand Octavia; that the count waited for her at a village four +miles from hence, where he intended to marry her; and had sent him, who +was engaged to perform the divine rite, that Signora Diana might resign +her to his care without any difficulty. The young damsel was called for, +who entreated she might be permitted the company of another priest with +whom she was acquainted: this was readily granted; and she sent for a +young man that visits me very often, being remarkable for his sobriety +and learning. Meanwhile, a valet-de-chambre presented her with a box, in +which was a complete genteel undress for a lady. Her laced linen and +fine nightgown were soon put on, and away they marched, leaving the +family in a surprise not to be described. + +"Signor Aurelio came to drink coffee with me next morning: his first +words were, he had brought me the history of Pamela. I said, laughing, I +had been tired with it long since. He explained himself by relating this +story, mixed with great resentment for Octavia's conduct. Count +Jeronimo's father had been his ancient friend and patron; and this +escape from his house (he said) would lay him under a suspicion of +having abetted the young man's folly, and perhaps expose him to the +anger of all his relations, for contriving an action he would rather +have died than suffered, if he had known how to prevent it. I easily +believed him, there appearing a latent jealousy under his affliction, +that showed me he envied the bridegroom's happiness, at the same time he +condemned his extravagance. + +"Yesterday noon, being Saturday, Don Joseph returned, who has got the +name of Parson Williams by this expedition: he relates, that when the +bark which carried the coach and train arrived, they found the amorous +count waiting for his bride on the bank of the lake: he would have +proceeded immediately to the church; but she utterly refused it, till +they had each of them been at confession; after which the happy knot was +tied by the parish priest. They continued their journey, and came to +their palace at Bergamo in a few hours, where everything was prepared +for their reception. They received the communion next morning, and the +count declares that the lovely Octavia has brought him an inestimable +portion, since he owes to her the salvation of his soul. He has +renounced play, at which he had lost a great deal of time and money. She +has already retrenched several superfluous servants, and put his family +into an exact method of economy, preserving all the splendour necessary +to his rank. He has sent a letter in his own hand to her mother, +inviting her to reside with them, and subscribing himself her dutiful +son: but the countess has sent another privately by Don Joseph, in which +she advises the old woman to stay at Lovere, promising to take care she +shall want nothing, accompanied with a token of twenty sequins, which is +at least nineteen more than ever she saw in her life. + +"I forgot to tell you that from Octavia's first serving the old lady, +there came frequent charities in her name to her poor parent, which +nobody was surprised at, the lady being celebrated for pious works, and +Octavia known to be a great favourite with her. It is now discovered +that they were all sent by the generous lover, who has presented Don +Joseph very handsomely, but he has brought neither letter nor message to +the house of Ardinghi, which affords much speculation." + + +Lady Mary followed this narrative with her reflections. She was sure +that all these adventures proceeded from artifice on one side and +weakness on the other. "An honest, tender mind," she says, "is betrayed +to ruin by the charms that make the fortune of a designing head, which, +when joined with a beautiful face, can never fail of advancement, except +barred by a wise mother, who locks up her daughters from view till +nobody cares to look on them." She instanced the case of "my poor +friend" the Duchess of Bolton, who "was educated in solitude, with some +choice books, by a saint-like governess: crammed with virtue and good +qualities, she thought it impossible not to find gratitude, though she +failed to give passion; and upon this plan threw away her estate, was +despised by her husband, and laughed at by the public." Lady Mary +compared the case of the Duchess with that of "Polly, bred in an +ale-house, and produced on the stage, who has obtained wealth and title, +and found the way to be esteemed." This particular instance hardly +furnishes the basis for the general rule laid down by her: "So useful is +early experience--without it half of life is dissipated in correcting +the errors that we have been taught to receive as indisputable truths." +According to all accounts Charles Paulet, third Duke of Bolton, was at +the age of twenty-eight forced by his father to marry Lady Anne Vaughan, +only daughter and heiress of John, Earl of Carbery. When the old Duke +died in 1722 they separated. Some years later the Duke took for his +mistress Lavinia Fenton, the "Polly" in Gay's "Beggar's Opera." On the +death of his wife in 1751 he married her. + +Henry Fielding, was Lady Mary's second cousin; but there had never been +any intimacy between them, although some acquaintance. The novelist was +eighteen years the younger. In 1727, when he was twenty and near the +beginning of his career as a playwright, he had consulted her about his +comedy, "Love in Several Masques," of which, when it was published in +the following year, he sent her a copy. "I have presumed to send your +Ladyship a copy of the play which you did me the honour of reading three +acts last spring and hope it may meet as light a censure from your +Ladyship's judgment as then; for while your goodness permits me (what I +esteem the greatest and indeed only happening of my life) to offer my +unworthy performances to your perusal, it will be entirely from your +sentence that they will be regarded or disesteemed by me." Fielding +wrote Lady Mary another letter about four years later: "I hope your +Ladyship will honour the scenes which I presume to lay before you, with +your perusal. As they are written on a model I never yet attempted, I am +exceedingly anxious less they should find less mercy from you than my +lighter productions. It will be a slight compensation to 'The Modern +Husband' that your Ladyship's censure will defend him from the +possibility of any other reproof, since your least approbation will +always give me pleasure, infinitely superior to the loudest applauses of +a theatre. For whatever has passed your judgment may, I think, without +any imputation of immodesty, refer want of success to want of judgment +in an audience. I shall do myself the honour of waiting upon your +Ladyship at Twickenham to receive my sentence." + +One evening when she arrived home, after having ridden twenty miles in +the moonlight, she found a box of books, and pouncing upon her cousin +Fielding's works, sat up all night reading. + +"I think _Joseph Andrews_ better than his _Foundling._[13] I believe I +was the more struck with it, having at present a Fanny in my own house, +not only by the name, which happens to be the same, but the +extraordinary beauty, joined with an understanding yet more +extraordinary at her age, which is but few months past sixteen: she is +in the post of my chambermaid. I fancy you will tax my discretion for +taking a servant thus qualified; but my woman, who is also my +housekeeper, was always teasing me with her having too much work, and +complaining of ill-health, which determined me to take her a deputy; and +when I was at Lovere, where I drank the waters, one of the most +considerable merchants there pressed me to take this daughter of his: +her mother has an uncommon good character, and the girl has had a +better education than is usual for those of her rank; she writes a good +hand, and has been brought up to keep accounts, which she does to great +perfection; and had herself such a violent desire to serve me, that I +was persuaded to take her: I do not yet repent it from any part of her +behaviour. But there has been no peace in the family ever since she came +into it; I might say the parish, all the women in it having declared +open war with her, and the men endeavouring at treaties of a different +sort: my own woman puts herself at the head of the first party, and her +spleen is increased by having no reason for it, the young creature never +stirring from my apartment, always at needle, and never complaining of +anything." + +[Footnote 13: _The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling_.] + + +Later Lady Mary has more to say about Fielding's books: + + +"H. Fielding has given a true picture of himself and his first wife, in +the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Booth, some compliments to his own figure +excepted; and, I am persuaded, several of the incidents he mentions are +real matters of fact. I wonder he does not perceive Tom Jones and Mr. +Booth are sorry scoundrels. All these sort of books have the same fault, +which I cannot easily pardon, being very mischievous. They place a merit +in extravagant passions, and encourage young people to hope for +impossible events, to draw them out of the misery they chose to plunge +themselves into, expecting legacies from unknown relations, and generous +benefactors to distressed virtue, as much out of nature as fairy +treasures. Fielding has really a fund of true humour, and was to be +pitied at his first entrance into the world, having no choice, as he +said himself, but to be a hackney writer, or a hackney coachman. His +genius deserved a better fate; but I cannot help blaming that continued +indiscretion, to give it the softest name, that has run through his +life, and I am afraid still remains. I guessed _Random_ to be his though +without his name. I cannot think _Ferdinand Count Fathom_ wrote by the +same hand, it is every way so much below it." + + +Adventures of Roderick Random_ (1748) and _The Adventures of Ferdinand +Count Fathom_ (1753) were published anonymously. Lady Mary was not the +only one to attribute _Roderick Random_ to Fielding, and it was actually +translated into French in his name. + +When Lady Mary heard of Fielding's death, she expressed deep regret: + + +"I am sorry for H. Fielding's death, not only as I shall read no more of +his writings, but I believe he lost more than others, as no man enjoyed +life more than he did, though few had less reason to do so, the highest +of his preferment being raking in the lowest sinks of vice and misery. I +should think it a nobler and less nauseous employment to be one of the +staff-officers that conduct the nocturnal weddings. His happy +constitution (even when he had, with great pains, half demolished it) +made him forget everything when he was before a venison pasty, or over a +flask of champagne; and I am persuaded he has known more happy moments +than any prince upon earth. His natural spirits gave him rapture with +his cook-maid, and cheerfulness when he was fluxing in a garret. There +was a great similitude between his character and that of Sir Richard +Steele. He had the advantage both in learning and, in my opinion, +genius: they both agreed in wanting money in spite of all their friends, +and would have wanted it, if their hereditary lands had been as +extensive as their imagination; yet each of them was so formed for +happiness; it is a pity he was not immortal." + + +Writing of imaginative prose literature generally, Lady Mary wrote: + + +"The general want of invention which reigns among our writers, inclines +me to think it is not the natural growth of our island, which has not +sun enough to warm the imagination. The press is loaded by the servile +flock of imitators. Lord B. [Bolingbroke] would have quoted Horace in +this place. Since I was born, no original has appeared excepting +Congreve and Fielding, who would, I believe, have approached nearer to +his excellences, if not forced by necessity to publish without +correction, and throw many productions into the world he would have +thrown into the fire if meat could have been got without money, or money +without scribbling. The greatest virtue, justice, and the most +distinguishing prerogative of mankind, writing, when duly executed, do +honour to human nature; but when degenerated into trades, are the most +contemptible ways of getting bread. I am sorry not to see any more of +Peregrine Pickle's performances: I wish you would tell me his name." + + +It appears strange that Lady Mary should have been ignorant, when she +wrote the above passage in July or August, 1755, of the authorship of +_Roderick Random_, for in January of that year she had evinced an +interest in Smollett: "I am sorry my friend Smollett loses his time in +translations; he has certainly a talent for invention, though I think it +flags a little in his last work. _Don Quixote_ is a difficult +undertaking: I shall never desire to read any attempt to redress him. +Though I am a mere piddler in the Spanish language, I had rather take +pains to understand him in the original than sleep over a stupid +translation." + + +_Peregrine Pickle_, however, Lady Mary had read shortly after its +appearance in 1751: + + +"I began by your direction with _Peregrine Pickle_. I think Lady Vane's +_Memoirs_[14] contain more truth and less malice than any I ever read in +my life. When she speaks of her own being disinterested, I am apt to +believe she really thinks herself so, as many highwaymen, after having +no possibility of retrieving the character of honesty, please themselves +with that of being generous, because, whatever they get on the road, +they always spend at the next ale-house, and are still as beggarly as +ever. Her history, rightly considered, would be more instructive to +young women than any sermon I know. They may see there what +mortifications and variety of misery are the unavoidable consequences of +gallantries. I think there is no rational creature that would not prefer +the life of the strictest Carmelite to the round of hurry and misfortune +she has gone through. Her style is clear and concise, with some strokes +of humour, which appear to me so much above her, I can't help being of +opinion the whole has been modelled by the author of the book in which +it is inserted, who is some subaltern admirer of hers. I may judge +wrong, she being no acquaintance of mine, though she has married two of +my relations. Her first wedding was attended with circumstances that +made me think a visit not at all necessary, though I disobliged Lady +Susan by neglecting it; and the second, which happened soon after, made +her so near a neighbour, that I rather choose to stay the whole summer +in town than partake of her balls and parties of pleasure, to which I +did not think it proper to introduce you; and had no other way of +avoiding it, without incurring the censure of a most unnatural mother +for denying you diversions that the pious Lady Ferrers permitted to her +exemplary daughters. Mr. Shirley has had uncommon fortune in making the +conquest of two such extraordinary ladies, equal in their heroic +contempt of shame, and eminent above their sex, the one for beauty, and +the other wealth, both which attract the pursuit of all mankind, and +have been thrown into his arms with the same unlimited fondness. He +appeared to me gentile [_sic_], well bred, well shaped and sensible; but +the charms of his face and eyes, which Lady Vane describes with so much +warmth, were, I confess, always invisible to me, and the artificial part +of his character very glaring, which I think her story shows in a strong +light." + +[Footnote 14: Frances Anne Hawes (1713-1788) married Lord William +Douglas in 1731, and after his death, William, second Viscount Vane, in +1735. She was notorious for profligacy and extravagance of all kinds. +She was responsible for the scandalous _Memoirs of a Lady of Quality_ +which she paid Smollett to insert in _Peregrine Pickle_.] + + +Of minor novelists Lady Mary had also something to say from time to +time. + + +"Sally [Fielding] has mended her style in her last volume of _David +Simple_, which conveys a useful moral, though she does not seem to have +intended it: I mean, shows the ill consequences of not providing against +casual losses, which happen to almost everybody. Mrs. Orgueil's +character is well drawn, and is frequently to be met with. The _Art of +Tormenting_, the _Female Quixote_[15] and _Sir C. Goodville_ are all +sale work. I suppose they proceed from her pen, and heartily pity her, +constrained by her circumstances to seek her bread by a method, I do not +doubt, she despises. Tell me who is that accomplished countess she +celebrates. I left no such person in London; nor can I imagine who is +meant by the English Sappho mentioned in Betsy Thoughtless, whose +adventures and those of Jenny Jessamy, gave me some amusement." + +[Footnote 15: By Charlotte Lennox.] + +"I have read _The Cry_[16] and if I would write in the style to be +admired by good Lord Orrery, I would tell you _The Cry_ made me ready to +cry, and the _Art of Tormenting_ tormented me very much. I take them to +be Sally Fielding's, and also the _Female Quixote_; the plan of that is +pretty, but ill executed: on the contrary, the fable of _The Cry_ is the +most absurd I ever saw, but the sentiments generally just; and I think, +if well dressed, would make a better body of ethics than Bolingbroke's. +Her inventing new words, that are neither more harmonious or significant +than those already in use, is intolerable. + +[Footnote 16: By Sarah Fielding and Miss Collier.] + +"The next book I laid my hand on was _The Parish Girl_ which interested +me enough not to be able to quit it till it was read over, though the +author has fallen into the common mistake of romance-writers; intending +a virtuous character, and not knowing how to draw it; the first step of +his heroine (leaving her patroness's house) being altogether absurd and +ridiculous, justly entitling her to all the misfortunes she met with. + +"Candles came (and my eyes grown weary), I took up the next book, merely +because I supposed from the title it could not engage me long. It was +_Pompey the Little_,[17] which has really diverted me more than any of +the others, and it was impossible to go to bed till it was finished. It +was a real and exact representation of life, as it is now acted in +London, as it was in my time, and as it will be (I do not doubt) a +hundred years hence, with some little variation of dress, and perhaps +government. I found there many of my acquaintance. Lady T. and Lady O. +are so well painted, I fancied I heard them talk, and have heard them +say the very things there repeated.... + +[Footnote 17: By Francis Coventry.] + +"I opened my eyes this morning on _Leonora_, from which I defy the +greatest chemist in morals to extract any instruction; the style most +affectedly florid, and naturally insipid, with such a confused heap of +admirable characters, that never were, or can be, in human nature. I +flung it aside after fifty pages, and laid hold of _Mrs. Philips_, where +I expected to find at least probable, if not true facts, and was not +disappointed. There is a great similitude in the genius and adventures +(the one being productive of the other) between Madame Constantia and +Lady Vane: the first mentioned has the advantage in birth and, if I am +not mistaken, in understanding: they have both had scandalous lawsuits +with their husbands, and are endowed with the same intrepid assurance. +Con. seems to value herself also on her generosity, and has given the +same proofs of it. The parallel might be drawn out to be as long as any +of Plutarch's; but I dare swear you are already heartily weary of my +remarks, and wish I had not read so much in so short a time, that you +might not be troubled with my comments; but you must suffer me to say +something of the polite Mr. Ste, whose name I should never have guessed +by the rapturous description his mistress makes of his person, having +always looked upon him as one of the most disagreeable fellows about +town, as odious in his outside as stupid in his conversation, and I +should as soon have expected to hear of his conquests at the head of an +army as among women; yet he has been, it seems, the darling favourite of +the most experienced of the sex, which shows me I am a very bad judge of +merit. But I agree with Mrs. Philips, that, however profligate she may +have been, she is infinitely his superior in virtue; and if her +penitence is as sincere as she says, she may expect their future fate to +be like that of Dives and Lazarus." + + +Lady Mary received from her daughter a copy of Lord Orrery's _Remarks on +the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swift_, published in 1751, six years +after the death of Swift. This book so aroused the ire of Lady Mary +that, writing of it, she attacked everyone concerned. + + +"Lord Orrery's work has extremely entertained, and not at all surprised +me, having the honour of being acquainted with him, and knowing him for +one of those danglers after wit, who, like those after beauty, spend +their time in humbly admiring, and are happy in being permitted to +attend, though they are laughed at, and only encouraged to gratify the +insatiate vanity of those professed wits and beauties who aim at being +publicly distinguished in those characters. Dean Swift, by his +lordship's own account, was so intoxicated with the love of flattery, he +sought it amongst the lowest of the people, and the silliest of women; +and was never so well pleased with any companions as those that +worshipped him while he insulted them. It is a wonderful condescension +in a man of quality to offer his incense in such a crowd, and think it +an honour to share a friendship with Sheridan, &c., especially being +himself endowed with such universal merit as he displays in these +Letters, where he shows that he is a poet, a patriot, a philosopher, a +physician, a critic, a complete scholar, and most excellent moralist; +shining in private life as a submissive son, a tender father, and +zealous friend. His only error has been that love of learned ease which +he has indulged in a solitude, which has prevented the world from being +blest with such a general, minister, or admiral, being equal to any of +these employments, if he would have turned his talents to the use of the +public. Heaven be praised, he has now drawn his pen in its service, and +given an example to mankind that the most villanous actions, nay, the +coarsest nonsense, are only small blemishes in a great genius. I happen +to think quite contrary, weak woman as I am. I have always avoided the +conversation of those who endeavour to raise an opinion of their +understanding by ridiculing what both law and decency obliges them to +revere; but, whenever I have met with any of those bright spirits who +would be smart on sacred subjects, I have ever cut short their discourse +by asking them if they had any lights and revelations by which they +would propose new articles of faith? Nobody can deny but religion is a +comfort to the distressed, a cordial to the sick, and sometimes a +restraint on the wicked; therefore, whoever would argue or laugh it out +of the world, without giving some equivalent for it, ought to be treated +as a common enemy: but, when this language comes from a churchman, who +enjoys large benefices and dignities from that very Church he openly +despises, it is an object of horror for which I want a name, and can +only be excused by madness, which I think the Dean was strongly touched +with. His character seems to me a parallel with that of Caligula; and +had he had the same power would have made the same use of it. That +emperor erected a temple to himself, where he was his own high priest, +preferred his horse to the highest honours in the state, professed +enmity to [the] human race, and at last lost his life by a nasty jest on +one of his inferiors, which I dare swear Swift would have made in his +place. There can be no worse picture made of the Doctor's morals than he +has given us himself in the letters printed by Pope. We see him vain, +trifling, ungrateful to the memory of his patron, the Earl of Oxford, +making a servile court where he had any interested views, and meanly +abusive when they were disappointed, and, as he says (in his own +phrase), flying in the face of mankind, in company with his adorer Pope. +It is pleasant to consider, that, had it not been for the good nature +of these very mortals they contemn, these two superior beings were +entitled, by their birth and hereditary fortune, to be only a couple of +link-boys. I am of opinion their friendship would have continued, though +they had remained in the same kingdom: it had a very strong +foundation--the love of flattery on the one side, and the love of money +on the other. Pope courted with the utmost assiduity all the old men +from whom he could hope a legacy, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord +Peterborough, Sir G. Kneller, Lord Bolingbroke, Mr. Wycherley, Mr. +Congreve, Lord Harcourt, &c., and I do not doubt projected to sweep the +Dean's whole inheritance, if he could have persuaded him to throw up his +deanery, and come to die in his house; and his general preaching against +money was meant to induce people to throw it away, that he might pick it +up. There cannot be a stronger proof of his being capable of any action +for the sake of gain than publishing his literary correspondence, which +lays open such a mixture of dulness and iniquity, that one would imagine +it visible even to his most passionate admirers, if Lord Orrery did not +show that smooth lines have as much influence over some people as the +authority of the Church in these countries, where it cannot only veil, +but sanctify any absurdity or villany whatever. It is remarkable that +his lordship's family have been smatterers in wit and learning for three +generations: his grandfather has left monuments of his good taste in +several rhyming tragedies, and the romance of Parthenissa. His father +began the world by giving his name to a treatise wrote by Atterbury and +his club, which gained him great reputation; but (like Sir Martin +Marall, who would fumble with his lute when the music was over) he +published soon after a sad comedy of his own, and, what was worse, a +dismal tragedy he had found among the first Earl of Orrery's papers. +People could easier forgive his being partial to his own silly works, as +a common frailty, than the want of judgment in producing a piece that +dishonoured his father's memory. + +"Thus fell into dust a fame that had made a blaze by borrowed fire. To +do justice to the present lord, I do not doubt this fine performance is +all his own, and is a public benefit, if every reader has been as well +diverted with it as myself. I verily believe it has contributed to the +establishment of my health." + + +Nor was Lady Mary more kindly about the writings and character of Lord +Bolingbroke, for whom she had always had a feeling even more of hatred +than disapproval. + +"I have now read over the books you were so good to send, and intend to +say something of them all, though some are not worth speaking of" (she +wrote to her daughter). "I shall begin, in respect to his dignity, with +Lord Bolingbroke, who is a glaring proof how far vanity can blind a man, +and how easy it is to varnish over to one's self the most criminal +conduct. He declares he always loved his country, though he confesses he +endeavoured to betray her to popery and slavery; and loved his friends, +though he abandoned them in distress, with all the blackest +circumstances of treachery. His account of the Peace of Utrecht is +almost equally unfair or partial: I shall allow that, perhaps, the views +of the Whigs, at that time, were too vast and the nation, dazzled by +military glory, had hopes too sanguine; but sure the same terms that the +French consented to, at the treaty of Gertruydenberg, might have been +obtained; or if the displacing of the Duke of Marlborough raised the +spirits of our enemies to a degree of refusing what they had before +offered, how can he excuse the guilt of removing him from the head of a +victorious army, and exposing us to submit to any articles of peace, +being unable to continue the war? I agree with him, that the idea of +conquering France is a wild, extravagant notion, and would, if possible, +be impolitic; but she might have been reduced to such a state as would +have rendered her incapable of being terrible to her neighbours for some +ages: nor should we have been obliged, as we have done almost ever +since, to bribe the French ministers to let us live in quiet. So much +for his political reasonings, which, I confess, are delivered in a +florid, easy style; but I cannot be of Lord Orrery's opinion, that he is +one of the best English writers. Well-turned periods or smooth lines are +not the perfection either of prose or verse; they may serve to adorn, +but can never stand in the place of good sense. Copiousness of words, +however ranged, is always false eloquence, though it will ever impose on +some sort of understandings. How many readers and admirers has Madame de +Sevigne, who only gives us, in a lively manner and fashionable phrases, +mean sentiments, vulgar prejudices, and endless repetitions? Sometimes +the tittle-tattle of a fine lady, sometimes that of an old nurse, always +tittle-tattle; yet so well gilt over by airy expressions, and a flowing +style, she will always please the same people to whom Lord Bolingbroke +will shine as a first-rate author. She is so far to be excused, as her +letters were not intended for the press; while her labours to display to +posterity all the wit and learning he is master of, and sometimes spoils +a good argument by a profusion of words, running out into several pages +a thought that might have been more clearly expressed in a few lines, +and, what is worse, often falls into contradiction and repetitions, +which are almost unavoidable to all voluminous writers, and can only be +forgiven to those retailers whose necessity compels them to diurnal +scribbling, who load their meaning with epithets, and run into +digressions, because (in the jockey phrase) it rids the ground, that is, +covers a certain quantity of paper, to answer the demand of the day. A +great part of Lord B.'s letters are designed to show his reading, which, +indeed, appears to have been very extensive; but I cannot perceive that +such a minute account of it can be of any use to the pupil he pretends +to instruct; nor can I help thinking he is far below either Tillotson or +Addison, even in style, though the latter was sometimes more diffuse +than his judgment approved, to furnish out the length of a daily +_Spectator_. I own I have small regard for Lord B. as an author, and the +highest contempt for him as a man. He came into the world greatly +favoured both by nature and fortune, blest with a noble birth, heir to +a large estate, endowed with a strong constitution, and, as I have +heard, a beautiful figure, high spirits, a good memory and a lively +apprehension, which was cultivated by a learned education: all these +glorious advantages being left to the direction of a judgment stifled by +unbounded vanity, he dishonoured his birth, lost his estate, ruined his +reputation, and destroyed his health, by a wild pursuit of eminence even +in vice and trifles. + +"I am far from making misfortune a matter of reproach. I know there are +accidental occurences not to be foreseen or avoided by human prudence, +by which a character may be injured, wealth dissipated, or a +constitution impaired: but I think I may reasonably despise the +understanding of one who conducts himself in such a manner as naturally +produces such lamentable consequences, and continues in the same +destructive paths to the end of a long life, ostentatiously boasting of +morals and philosophy in print, and with equal ostentation bragging of +the scenes of low debauchery in public conversation, though deplorably +weak both in mind and body, and his virtue and his vigour in a state of +non-existence. His confederacy with Swift and Pope puts me in mind of +that of Bessus and his sword-men, in the _King and no King_,[18] who +endeavour to support themselves by giving certificates of each other's +merit. Pope has triumphantly declared that they may do and say whatever +silly things they please, they will still be the greatest geniuses +nature ever exhibited. I am delighted with the comparison given of their +benevolence, which is indeed most aptly figured by a circle in the +water, which widens till it comes to nothing at all; but I am provoked +at Lord B.'s misrepresentation of my favourite Atticus, who seems to +have been the only Roman that, from good sense, had a true notion of the +times in which he lived, in which the republic was inevitably perishing, +and the two factions, who pretended to support it, equally endeavouring +to gratify their ambition in its ruin. A wise man, in that case, would +certainly declare for neither, and try to save himself and family from +the general wreck, which could not be done but by a superiority of +understanding acknowledged on both sides. I see no glory in losing life +or fortune by being the dupe of either, and very much applaud that +conduct which could preserve an universal esteem amidst the fury of +opposite parties. We are obliged to act vigorously, where action can do +any good; but in a storm, when it is impossible to work with success, +the best hands and ablest pilots may laudably gain the shore if they +can. Atticus could be a friend to men without engaging in their +passions, disapprove their maxims without awaking their resentment, and +be satisfied with his own virtue without seeking popular fame: he had +the reward of his wisdom in his tranquillity, and will ever stand among +the few examples of true philosophy, either ancient or modern.... + +[Footnote 18: A play by Beaumont and Fletcher, licensed for the stage in +1611.] + +"I must add a few words on the _Essay on Exile_, which I read with +attention, as a subject that touched me. I found the most abject +dejection under a pretended fortitude. That the author felt it, can be +no doubt to one that knows (as I do) the mean submissions and solemn +promises he made to obtain a return, flattering himself (I suppose) he +need only appear to be at the head of the administration, as every +ensign of sixteen fancies he is in a fair way to be a general on the +first sight of his commission. + +"You will think I have been too long on the character of Atticus. I own +I took pleasure in explaining it. Pope thought himself covertly very +severe on Mr. Addison by giving him that name; and I feel indignation +when he is abused, both from his own merit, and having been your +father's friend; besides that it is naturally shocking to see any one +lampooned after his death by the same man who had paid him the most +servile court while he lived and was highly obliged by him." + + +As a periodical writer she compared Johnson unfavourably with Steele and +Addison: + + +"The _Rambler_ is certainly a strong misnomer; he always plods in the +beaten road of his predecessors, following the _Spectator_ (with the +same pace a pack-horse would do a hunter) in the style that is proper to +lengthen a paper. These writers may, perhaps, be of service to the +public, which is saying a great deal in their favour. There are numbers +of both sexes who never read anything but such productions, and cannot +spare time, from doing nothing, to go through a sixpenny pamphlet. Such +gentle readers may be improved by a moral hint, which, though repeated +over and over, from generation to generation, they never heard in their +lives. I should be glad to know the name of this laborious author." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LADY MARY ON EDUCATION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS + +The choice of books for children's reading--The dangers of a narrow +education--Lady Mary advocates the higher education of women--Girls +should be taught languages--Lady Mary's theories of education for +girls--Women writers in Italy--A "rumpus" made by ladies in the House of +Lords--Woman's Rights--Lady Mary's views on religion. + + +In spite of her own fondness for books, Lady Mary was not a wholehearted +believer in reading for young folk, unless the choice of volumes was +carefully made by some competent person. This point she emphasised in +one of her letters to her daughter. + +"I can't forbear saying something in relation to my granddaughters, who +are very near my heart. If any of them are fond of reading, I would not +advise you to hinder them (chiefly because it is impossible) seeing +poetry, plays, or romances; but accustom them to talk over what they +read, and point out to them, as you are very capable of doing, the +absurdity often concealed under fine expressions, where the sound is apt +to engage the admiration of young people. I was so much charmed, at +fourteen, with the dialogue of Henry and Emma, I can say it by heart to +this day, without reflecting on the monstrous folly of the story in +plain prose, where a young heiress to a fond father is represented +falling in love with a fellow she had only seen as a huntsman, a +falconer, and a beggar, and who confesses, without any circumstances of +excuse, that he is obliged to run his country, having newly committed a +murder. She ought reasonably to have supposed him, at best, a +highwayman; yet the virtuous virgin resolves to run away with him, to +live among the banditti, and wait upon his trollop, if she had no other +way of enjoying his company. This senseless tale is, however, so well +varnished with melody of words and pomp of sentiments, I am convinced it +has hurt more girls than ever were injured by the lewdest poems extant." + + +Life, Lady Mary was at pains to insist upon, is a much better instructor +for the young than any story-book, however innocuous it may seem to +grown-up people, who for the greater number have not the faculty of +seeing how the tale would have affected them in their childhood. + + +"I congratulate my granddaughters on being born in an age so much +enlightened. Sentiments are certainly extreme silly, and only qualify +young people to be the bubbles of all their acquaintance. I do not doubt +the frequency of assemblies has introduced a more enlarged way of +thinking; it is a kind of public education, which I have always thought +as necessary for girls as for boys. A woman married at five-and-twenty, +from under the eye of a strict parent, is commonly as ignorant as she +was at five; and no more capable of avoiding the snares, and struggling +with the difficulties, she will infallibly meet with in the commerce of +the world. The knowledge of mankind (the most useful of all knowledge) +can only be acquired by conversing with them. Books are so far from +giving that instruction, they fill the head with a set of wrong notions, +from whence spring the tribes of Clarissas, Harriets, &c. Yet such was +the method of education when I was in England, which I had it not in my +power to correct; the young will always adopt the opinions of all their +companions, rather than the advice of their mothers." + + +"Ignorance and a narrow education lay the foundations of vice," Mary +Astell had laid down as an axiom, and Lady Mary was always propounding +this to her daughter. + + +"I am extremely concerned to hear you complain of ill health, at a time +of life when you ought to be in the flower of your strength. I hope I +need not recommend to you the care of it: the tenderness you have for +your children is sufficient to enforce you to the utmost regard for the +preservation of a life so necessary to their well-being. I do not doubt +your prudence in their education: neither can I say anything particular +relating to it at this distance, different tempers requiring different +management. In general, never attempt to govern them (as most people do) +by deceit: if they find themselves cheated, even in trifles, it will so +far lessen the authority of their instructor, as to make them neglect +all their future admonitions. And, if possible, breed them free from +prejudices; those contracted in the nursery often influence the whole +life after, of which I have seen many melancholy examples. I shall say +no more of this subject, nor would have said this little if you had not +asked my advice: 'tis much easier to give rules than to practise them. I +am sensible my own natural temper is too indulgent: I think it the least +dangerous error, yet still it is an error. I can only say with truth, +that I do not know in my whole life having ever endeavoured to impose on +you, or give a false colour to anything that I represented to you. If +your daughters are inclined to love reading, do not check their +inclination by hindering them of the diverting part of it; it is as +necessary for the amusement of women as the reputation of men; but teach +them not to expect or desire any applause from it. Let their brothers +shine, and let them content themselves with making their lives easier by +it, which I experimentally know is more effectually done by study than +any other way. Ignorance is as much the fountain of vice as idleness, +and indeed generally produces it. People that do not read, or work for a +livelihood, have many hours they know not how to employ; especially +women, who commonly fall into vapours, or something worse." + + +Mary was an advocate, one of the earliest advocates, for the higher +education of woman. Although she had educated herself, she realised that +the circumstances in her case were exceptional, and no doubt it was also +borne in on her that she had been an exceptional girl even as she was a +remarkable woman. It was not so much lack of education against which she +tilted, as ill-directed studies. + + +"You have given me a great deal of satisfaction by your account of your +eldest daughter. I am particularly pleased to hear she is a good +arithmetician; it is the best proof of understanding: the knowledge of +numbers is one of the chief distinctions between us and the brutes. If +there is anything in blood, you may reasonably expect your children +should be endowed with an uncommon share of good sense. Mr. Wortley's +family and mine have both produced some of the greatest men that have +been born in England: I mean Admiral Sandwich, and my grandfather, who +was distinguished by the name of Wise William. I have heard Lord Bute's +father mentioned as an extraordinary genius, though he had not many +opportunities of showing it; and his uncle, the present Duke of Argyll, +has one of the best heads I ever knew. I will therefore speak to you as +supposing Lady Mary not only capable, but desirous of learning; in that +case by all means let her be indulged in it. You will tell me I did not +make it a part of your education: your prospect was very different from +hers. As you had no defect either in mind or person to hinder, and much +in your circumstances to attract, the highest offers, it seemed your +business to learn how to live in the world, as it is hers to know how to +be easy out of it. It is the common error of builders and parents to +follow some plan they think beautiful (and perhaps is so), without +considering that nothing is beautiful that is displaced. Hence we see so +many edifices raised that the raisers can never inhabit, being too large +for their fortunes. Vistas are laid open over barren heaths, and +apartments contrived for a coolness very agreeable in Italy, but killing +in the north of Britain: thus every woman endeavours to breed her +daughter a fine lady, qualifying her for a station in which she will +never appear, and at the same time incapacitating her for that +retirement to which she is destined. Learning, if she has a real taste +for it, will not only make her contented, but happy in it. No +entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She +will not want new fashions, nor regret the loss of expensive diversions, +or variety of company, if she can be amused with an author in her +closet. To render this amusement extensive, she should be permitted to +learn the languages. I have heard it lamented that boys lose so many +years in mere learning of words: this is no objection to a girl, whose +time is not so precious: she cannot advance herself in any profession, +and has therefore more hours to spare; and as you say her memory is +good, she will be very agreeably employed this way. There are two +cautions to be given on this subject: first, not to think herself +learned when she could read Latin, or even Greek. Languages are more +properly to be called vehicles of learning than learning itself, as may +be observed in many schoolmasters, who, though perhaps critics in +grammar, are the most ignorant fellows upon earth. True knowledge +consists in knowing things, not words. I would wish her no further a +linguist than to enable her to read books in their originals, that are +often corrupted, and always injured, by translations. Two hours' +application every morning will bring this about much sooner than you can +imagine, and she will have leisure enough besides to run over the +English poetry, which is a more important part of a woman's education +than it is generally supposed. Many a young damsel has been ruined by a +fine copy of verses, which she would have laughed at if she had known it +had been stolen from Mr. Waller. I remember, when I was a girl, I saved +one of my companions from destruction, who communicated to me an epistle +she was quite charmed with. As she had a natural good taste, she +observed the lines were not so smooth as Prior's or Pope's, but had more +thought and spirit than any of theirs. She was wonderfully delighted +with such a demonstration of her lover's sense and passion, +a little pleased with her own charms, that had force enough to inspire +such elegancies. In the midst of this triumph I showed her that they +were taken from Randolph's poems, and the unfortunate transcriber was +dismissed with the scorn he deserved. To say truth, the poor plagiary +was very unlucky to fall into my hands; that author being no longer in +fashion, would have escaped any one of less universal reading than +myself. You should encourage your daughter to talk over with you what +she reads; and, as you are very capable of distinguishing, take care she +does not mistake pert folly for wit and humour, or rhyme for poetry, +which are the common errors of young people, and have a train of ill +consequences. The second caution to be given her (and which is most +absolutely necessary) is to conceal whatever learning she attains, with +as much solicitude as she would hide crookedness or lameness; the parade +of it can only serve to draw on her the envy, and consequently the most +inveterate hatred, of all he and she fools, which will certainly be at +least three parts in four of all her acquaintance. The use of knowledge +in our sex, besides the amusement of solitude, is to moderate the +passions, and learn to be contented with a small expense, which are the +certain effects of a studious life; and it may be preferable even to +that fame which men have engrossed to themselves, and will not suffer us +to share. You will tell me I have not observed this rule myself; but you +are mistaken: it is only inevitable accident that has given me any +reputation that way. I have always carefully avoided it, and ever +thought it a misfortune. The explanation of this paragraph would +occasion a long digression, which I will not trouble you with, it being +my present design only to say what I think useful for the instruction of +my granddaughter, which I have much at heart. If she has the same +inclination (I should say passion) for learning that I was born with, +history, geography, and philosophy will furnish her with materials to +pass away cheerfully a longer life than is allotted to mortals. I +believe there are few heads capable of making Sir I. Newton's +calculations, but the result of them is not difficult to be understood by +a moderate capacity. Do not fear this should make her affect the character +of Lady----, or Lady----, or Mrs.----: those women are ridiculous, +not because they have learning but because they have it not. One thinks +herself a complete historian, after reading Echard's Roman History; +another a profound philosopher, having got by heart some of Pope's +unintelligible essays; and a third an able divine, on the strength of +Whitefield's sermons: thus you hear them screaming politics and +controversy. + +"It is a saying of Thucydides, ignorance is bold, and knowledge +reserved. Indeed, it is impossible to be far advanced in it without +being more humbled by a conviction of human ignorance, than elated by +learning. At the same time I recommend books, I neither exclude work nor +drawing. I think it as scandalous for a woman not to know how to use a +needle, as for a man not to know how to use a sword. I was once +extremely fond of my pencil, and it was a great mortification to me when +my father turned off my master, having made a considerable progress for +a short time I learnt. My over-eagerness in the pursuit of it had +brought a weakness on my eyes, that made it necessary to leave it off; +and all the advantage I got was the improvement of my hand. I see, by +hers, that practice will make her a ready writer: she may attain it by +serving you for a secretary, when your health or affairs make it +troublesome to you to write yourself; and custom will make it an +agreeable amusement to her. She cannot have too many for that station of +life which will probably be her fate. The ultimate end of your education +was to make you a good wife (and I have the comfort to hear that you are +one): hers ought to be, to make her happy in a virgin state. I will not +say it is happier; but it is undoubtedly safer than any marriage. In a +lottery, which there are (at the lowest computation) ten thousand blanks +to a prize, it is the most prudent choice not to venture. I have always +been so thoroughly persuaded of this truth, that, notwithstanding the +flattering views I had for you (as I never intended you a sacrifice to +my vanity), I thought I owed you the justice to lay before you all the +hazards attending matrimony: you may recollect I did so in the strongest +manner. Perhaps you may have more success in the instructing your +daughter: she has so much company at home, she will not need seeking it +abroad, and will more readily take the notions you think fit to give her. +As you were alone in my family, it would have been thought a great +cruelty to suffer you no companions of your own age, especially having +so many near relations, and I do not wonder their opinions influenced +yours. I was not sorry to see you not determined on a single life, +knowing it was not your father's intention, and contented myself with +endeavouring to make your home so easy that you might not be in haste to +leave it." + + +Lady Mary's views on the education of children were well in advance of +her day. They were certainly not the stereotyped opinions current among +governesses or even parents somewhat more enlightened than the rest, and +evidently she had given much consideration to the subject before she put +her thoughts on paper. + + +"People commonly educate their children as they build their houses, +according to some plan they think beautiful, without considering whether +it is suited to the purposes for which they are designed. Almost all +girls of quality are educated as if they were to be great ladies, which +is often as little to be expected, as an immoderate heat of the sun in +the north of Scotland. You should teach yours to confine their desires +to probabilities, to be as useful as is possible to themselves, and to +think privacy (as it is) the happiest state of life. I do not doubt you +giving them all the instructions necessary to form them to a virtuous +life; but 'tis a fatal mistake to do this without proper restrictions. +Vices are often hid under the name of virtues, and the practice of them +followed by the worst of consequences. Sincerity, friendship, piety, +disinterestedness, and generosity, are all great virtues; but, +without discretion, become criminal. I have seen ladies indulge their +own ill humour by being very rude and impertinent, and think they +deserved approbation by saying I love to speak truth. One of your +acquaintance made a ball the next day after her mother died, to show she +was sincere. I believe your own reflection will furnish you with but too +many examples of the ill effects of the rest of the sentiments I have +mentioned, when too warmly embraced. They are generally recommended to +young people without limits or distinction, and this prejudice hurries +them into great misfortunes, while they are applauding themselves in the +noble practice (as they fancy) of very eminent virtues. + +"I cannot help adding (out of my real affection to you), I wish you +would moderate that fondness you have for your children. I do not mean +you should abate any part of your care, or not do your duty to them in +its utmost extent: but I would have you early prepare yourself for +disappointments, which are heavy in proportion to their being +surprising. It is hardly possible, in such a number, that none should be +unhappy; prepare yourself against a misfortune of that kind. I confess +there is hardly any more difficult to support; yet it is certain +imagination has a great share in the pain of it, and it is more in our +power than it is commonly believed to soften whatever ills are founded +or augmented by fancy. Strictly speaking, there is but one real evil--I +mean, acute pain; all other complaints are so considerably diminished by +time, that it is plain the grief is owing to our passion, since the +sensation of it vanishes when that is over. + +"There is another mistake, I forgot to mention, usual in mothers: if any +of their daughters are beauties, they take great pains to persuade them +that they are ugly, or at least that they think so, which the young +woman never fails to believe springs from envy, and is perhaps not much +in the wrong. I would, if possible, give them a just notion of their +figure, and show them how far it is valuable. Every advantage has its +price, and may be either over or undervalued. It is the common +doctrine of (what are called) good books, to inspire a contempt of +beauty, riches, greatness, &c., which has done as much mischief among +the young of our sex as an over eager desire of them. They should look +on these things as blessings where they are bestowed, though not +necessaries that it is impossible to be happy without." + + +Of course, all these expressions of opinions, although here gathered +together, were spread over a term of years. Yet, Lady Mary had from time +to time some qualms as to how her admonitions would be received by her +daughter, although, as she was careful once to point out: "I do not give +them as believing my age has furnished me with superior wisdom, but in +compliance with your desire." + + +"I cannot help writing a sort of apology for my laster letter, +foreseeing that you will think it wrong, or at least Lord Bute will be +extremely shocked at the proposal of a learned education for daughters, +which the generality of men believe as great a profanation as the clergy +would do if the laity should presume to exercise the functions of the +priesthood. I desire you would take notice, I would not have learning +enjoined them as a task, but permitted as a pleasure, if their genius +leads them naturally to it. I look upon my granddaughters as a sort of +lay nuns: destiny may have laid up other things for them, but they have +no reason to expect to pass their time otherwise than their aunts do at +present; and I know, by experience, it is in the power of study not only +to make solitude tolerable, but agreeable. I have now lived almost seven +years in a stricter retirement than yours in the Isle of Bute, and can +assure you, I have never had half an hour heavy on my hands, for want of +something to do. Whoever will cultivate their own mind, will find full +employment. Every virtue does not only require great care in the +planting, but as much daily solicitude in cherishing, as exotic fruits +and flowers. The vices and passions (which I am afraid are the natural +product of the soil) demand perpetual weeding. Add to this the search +after knowledge (every branch of which is entertaining), and the longest +life is too short for the pursuit of it; which, though in some regards +confined to very strait limits, leaves still a vast variety of +amusements to those capable of tasting them, which is utterly impossible +for those that are blinded by prejudices which are the certain effect of +an ignorant education. My own was one of the worst in the world, being +exactly the same as Clarissa Hawlowe's; her pious Mrs. Norton so +perfectly resembling my governess, who had been nurse to my mother, I +could almost fancy the author was acquainted with her. She took so much +pains, from my infancy, to fill my head with superstitious tales and +false notions, it was none of her fault I am not at this day afraid of +witches and hobgoblins, or turned methodist. Almost all girls are bred +after this manner. I believe you are the only woman (perhaps I might +say, person) that never was either frighted or cheated into anything by +your parents. I can truly affirm, I never deceived anybody in my life, +excepting (which I confess has often happened undesignedly) by speaking +plainly; as Earl Stanhope used to say (during his ministry) he always +imposed on the foreign ministers by telling them the naked truth, which, +as they thought impossible to come from the mouth of a statesman, they +never failed to write informations to their respective courts directly +contrary to the assurances he gave them: most people confounding the +ideas of sense and cunning, though there are really no two things in +nature more opposite: it is, in part, from this false reasoning, the +unjust custom prevails of debarring our sex from the advantages of +learning, the men fancying the improvement of our understandings would +only furnish us with more art to deceive them, which is directly +contrary to the truth. Fools are always enterprising, not seeing the +difficulties of deceit, or the ill consequences of detection. I could +give many examples of ladies whose ill conduct has been very notorious, +which has been owing to that ignorance which has exposed them to +idleness, which is justly called the mother of mischief. There is +nothing so like the education of a woman of quality as that of a prince: +they are taught to dance, and the exterior part of what is called good +breeding, which, if they attain, they are extraordinary creatures in +their kind, and have all the accomplishments required by their +directors. The same characters are formed by the same lessons, which +inclines me to think (if I dare say it) that nature has not placed us in +an inferior rank to men, no more than the females of other animals, +where we see no distinction of capacity; though, I am persuaded, if +there was a commonwealth of rational horses (as Doctor Swift has +supposed), it would be an established maxim among them, that a mare +could not be taught to pace. I could add a great deal on this subject, +but I am not now endeavouring to remove the prejudices of mankind; my +only design is, to point out to my granddaughters the method of being +contented with that retreat, to which probably their circumstances will +oblige them, and which is perhaps preferable to all the show of public +life. It has always been my inclination. Lady Stafford (who knew me +better than anybody else in the world, both from her own just +discernment, and my heart being ever as open to her as myself) used to +tell me, my true vocation was a monastery; and I now find, by +experience, more sincere pleasure with my books and garden, than all the +flutter of a court could give me. + +"If you follow my advice in relation to Lady Mary, my correspondence may +be of use to her; and I shall very willingly give her those instructions +that may be necessary in the pursuit of her studies. Before her age I +was in the most regular commerce with my grandmother, though the +difference of our time of life was much greater, she being past +forty-five when she married my grandfather. She died at ninety-six, +retaining, to the last, the vivacity and clearness of her understanding, +which was very uncommon. You cannot remember her, being then in your +nurse's arms. I conclude with repeating to you, I only recommend, but am +far from commanding, which I think I have no right to do. I tell you my +sentiments, because you desired to know them, and hope you will receive +them with some partiality, as coming from + +"Your most affectionate mother." + + +One of Lady Mary's friends was Cardinal Gerolamo Guerini, a distinguished +scholar as well as a great churchman. One day, in October, 1753, he sent +a request, by one of his chief chaplains, that Lady Mary would send him +her printed works for the shelves that he was dedicating to English +literature in the library attached to the college at Brescia that he had +founded. + + +"I was struck dumb for some time with this astonishing request; when I +recovered my vexatious surprise (foreseeing the consequence), I made +answer, I was highly sensible of the honour designed me, but, upon my +word, I had never printed a single line in my life. I was answered in a +cold tone, his Eminence could send for them to England, but they would +be a long time coming, and with some hazard; and that he had flattered +himself I would not refuse him such a favour, and I need not be ashamed +of seeing my name in a collection where he admitted none but the most +eminent authors. It was to no purpose to endeavour to convince him. He +would not stay to dinner, though earnestly invited; and went away with +the air of one that thought he had reason to be offended. I know his +master will have the same sentiments, and I shall pass in his opinion +for a monster of ingratitude, while it is the blackest of vices in my +opinion, and of which I am utterly incapable--I really could cry for +vexation. + +"Sure nobody ever had such various provocations to print as myself. I +have seen things I have wrote, so mangled and falsified, I have scarce +known them. I have seen poems I never read, published with my name at +length; and others, that were truly and singly wrote by me, printed +under the names of others. I have made myself easy under all these +mortifications, by the reflection I did not deserve them, having never +aimed at the vanity of popular applause; but I own my philosophy is not +proof against losing a friend, and it may be making an enemy of one to +whom I am obliged." + + +In this letter to Lady Mar, in which Lady Mary explains her plight, she +goes on to deliver herself of her sentiments concerning the difference +of opinion as regards women writers that was current in Italy and in +England. + +Lady Mary held strong views on what are called to-day, or at least were +so called until they were lately in the main conceded, women's rights. +Although she said that she did not complain that it was men, and men +only, who were privileged to exercise the power of government, it is not +unlikely that she yielded this point in order the more effectively to +emphasise some other. Anyhow she was unfeignedly pleased to be able to +record (to Lady Pomfret, March, 1737) a "rumpus" made by ladies who +regarded their exclusion from a debate in Parliament as unwarrantable. + + +"I confess I have often been complimented, since I have been in Italy, +on the books I have given the public. I used at first to deny it with +some warmth; but, finding I persuaded nobody, I have of late contented +myself with laughing whenever I heard it mentioned, knowing the +character of a learned woman is far from being ridiculous in this +country, the greatest families being proud of having produced female +writers; and a Milanese lady being now professor of mathematics in the +university of Bologna, invited thither by a most obliging letter, wrote +by the present Pope, who desired her to accept of the chair, not as a +recompense for her merit, but to do honour to a town which is under his +protection. To say truth, there is no part of the world where our sex is +treated with so much contempt as in England. I do not complain of men +for having engrossed the government: in excluding us from all degrees of +power, they preserve us from many fatigues, many dangers, and perhaps +many crimes. The small proportion of authority that has fallen to my +share (only over a few children and servants) has always been a burden, +and never a pleasure, and I believe every one finds it so who acts from +a maxim (I think an indispensable duty), that whoever is under my power +is under my protection. Those who find a joy in inflicting hardships, +and seeing objects of misery, may have other sensations; but I have +always thought corrections, even when necessary, as painful to the giver +as to the sufferer, and am therefore very well satisfied with the state +of subjection we are placed in: but I think it the highest injustice to +be debarred the entertainment of my closet, and that the same studies +which raise the character of a man should hurt that of a woman. We are +educated in the grossest ignorance, and no art omitted to stifle our +natural reason; if some few get above their nurses' instructions, our +knowledge must rest concealed, and be as useless to the world as gold in +the mine. I am now speaking according to our English notions, which may +wear out, some ages hence, along with others equally absurd. It appears +to me the strongest proof of a clear understanding in Longinus (in every +light acknowledged one of the greatest men among the ancients), when I +find him so far superior to vulgar prejudices as to choose his two +examples of fine writing from a Jew (at that time the most despised +people upon earth) and a woman. Our modern wits would be so far from +quoting, they would scarce own they had read the works of such +contemptible creatures, though, perhaps, they would condescend to steal +from them, at the same time they declared they were below their notice. +This subject is apt to run away with me; I will trouble you with no more +of it." + +"Here is no news to be sent you from this place, which has been for this +fortnight and still continues overwhelmed with politics, and which are +of so mysterious a nature, one ought to have some of the gifts of Lilly +or Partridge to be able to write about them; and I leave all those +dissertations to those distinguished mortals who are endowed with the +talent of divination though I am at present the only one of my sex who +seems to be of that opinion, the ladies having shown their zeal and +appetite for knowledge in a most glorious manner. At the last warm +debate in the House of Lords, it was unanimously resolved there should +be no crowd of unnecessary auditors; consequently the fair sex were +excluded, and the gallery destined to the sole use of the House of +Commons. Notwithstanding which determination, a tribe of dames resolved +to show on this occasion that neither men nor laws could resist them. +These heroines were Lady Huntingdon, the Duchess of Queensberry, the +Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Westmorland, Lady Cobham, Lady Charlotte +Edwin, Lady Archibald Hamilton and her daughter, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs. +Pendarves, and Lady Frances Saunderson. I am thus particular in their +names, since I look upon them to be the boldest assertors, and most +resigned sufferers for liberty, I ever read of. They presented +themselves at the door at nine o'clock in the morning, where Sir William +Saunderson respectfully informed them that the Chancellor had made an +order against their admittance. The Duchess of Queensberry, as head of +the squadron, pished at the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer, and desired +him to let them upstairs privately. After some modest refusals, he swore +by G--he would not let them in. Her Grace, with a noble warmth, +answered, by G--they would come in in spite of the Chancellor and the +whole House. This being reported, the Peers resolved to starve them out; +an order was made that the doors should not be opened till they had +raised their siege. These Amazons now showed themselves qualified for +the duty of even foot soldiers; they stood there till five in the +afternoon, without either sustenance or evacuation, every now and then +playing volleys of thumps, kicks, and raps against the door, with so +much violence that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. When the +Lords were not to be conquered by this, the two duchesses (very well +apprised of the use of stratagems in war) commanded a dead silence of +half an hour; and the Chancellor, who thought this a certain proof of +their absence (the Commons also being very impatient to enter), gave +order for the opening of the door, upon which they all rushed in, pushed +aside their competitors, and placed themselves in the front rows of the +gallery. They stayed there till after eleven, when the House rose; and +during the debate gave applause, and showed marks of dislike, not only +by smiles and winks (which have always been allowed in these cases), but +by noisy laughs and apparent contempts; which is supposed the true +reason why poor Lord Hervey spoke miserably. I beg your pardon, dear +madam, for this long relation; but 'tis impossible to be short on so +copious a subject; and you must own this action very well worthy of +record, and I think not to be paralleled in history, ancient or modern." + + +Lady Mary, however, was less concerned with "the open door" for women in +politics: her primary desire was that a woman should have the right, +within reason, to live her own life, and not merely be a chattel of her +husband. There is the conduct of her own married life to prove her +sincerity. + +Her view of the Turkish woman has already been given, as also has her +opinion that marriages should be for the limited period of seven years. +Now, she gave her opinion of the woman question in Italy, and it would +seem that, realising that her own marriage has been anything but +satisfactory to either party, she wrote from her heart. + + +"I cannot let pass in silence the prodigious alteration, since Misson's +writing, in regard to our sex. This reformation (or, if you please, +depravation) began so lately as the year 1732, when the French overran +this part of Italy; but it has been carried on with such fervour and +success, that the Italian go far beyond their patterns, the Parisian +ladies, in the extent of their liberty. I am not so much surprised at +the women's conduct, as I am amazed at the change in the men's +sentiments. Jealousy, which was once a point of honour among them, is +exploded to that degree, it is the most infamous and ridiculous of all +characters; and you cannot more affront a gentleman than to suppose +him capable of it. Divorces are also introduced, and frequent enough; +they have long been in fashion in Genoa; several of the finest and +greatest ladies there having two husbands alive. The constant pretext is +impotency, to which the man often pleads guilty, and though he marries +again, and has children by another wife, the plea remains good by saying +he was so in regard to his first; and when I told them that in England a +complaint of that kind was esteemed so impudent no reasonable woman +would submit to make it, I was answered we lived without religion, and +that their consciences obliged them rather to strain a point of modesty +than to live in a state of damnation. However, as this method is not +without inconvenience (it being impracticable where there is children), +they have taken another here: the husband deposes upon oath that he has +had a commerce with his mother-in-law, on which the marriage is declared +incestuous and nullified, though the children remain legitimate. You +will think this hard on the old lady, who is scandalised; but it is no +scandal at all, nobody supposing it to be true, without circumstances to +confirm it; but the married couple are set free to their mutual content; +for I believe it would be difficult to get a sentence of divorce, if +either side made opposition: at least I have heard no example of it." + + +Lady Mary made no secret of her views upon marriage; and though she did +not so frequently air her religious beliefs, she often pondered the +subject, and when challenged to speak was not reticent. As regards +sacred matters, she always had the courage of her convictions, even as +she had in mundane affairs. + + +"I always, if possible, avoid controversial disputes: whenever I cannot +do it, they are very short" (she wrote to her daughter in October, +1755). "I ask my adversary if he believes in the Scripture? When that is +answered affirmatively their church may be proved, by a child of ten +years old, contradictory to it, in their most important points. My +second question is, if they think St. Peter and St. Paul knew the true +Christian religion? The constant reply is, O yes. Then say I, purgatory, +transubstantiation, invocation of saints, adoration of the Virgin, +relics (of which they might have had a cartload), the observation of +Lent, is no part of it, since they neither taught nor practised any of +these things. Vows of celibacy are not more contrary to nature, than to +the positive precept of St. Paul. He mentions a very common case, in +which people are obliged, by conscience, to marry. No mortal can promise +that case shall never be theirs, which depends on the disposition of the +body as much as a fever; and 'tis as reasonable to engage never to feel +the one as the other. He tells us, the marks of the Holy Spirit are +charity, humility, truth, and long suffering. Can anything be more +uncharitable than damning eternally so many millions for not believing +what they never heard? or prouder than calling their head a Vice-god? +Pious frauds are avowedly permitted, and persecution applauded: these +maxims cannot be dictated by the spirit of peace, which is so warmly +preached in the Gospel. The creeds of the apostles, and council of Nice, +do not speak of the mass, or real presence, as articles of belief; and +Athanasius asserts, whosoever believes according to them shall be saved. +Jesus Christ, in answer to the lawyer, bids him love God above all +things, and his neighbour as himself, as all that is necessary to +salvation. When he describes the last judgment, he does not examine what +sect, or what church, men were of, but how far they had been beneficent +to mankind. Faith cannot determine reward or punishment, being +involuntary, and only the consequence of conviction: we do not believe +what we please, but what appears to us with the face of truth. As I do +not mistake exclamation, invective, or ridicule for argument, I never +recriminate on the lives of their popes and cardinals, when they urge +the character of Henry the Eighth; I only answer, good actions are often +done by all men through interested motives, and 'tis the common method +of Providence to bring good out of evil: history, both sacred and +profane, furnishes many examples of it. When they tell me I have forsook +the worship of my ancestors, I say I have had more ancestors heathen +than Christian, and my faith is certainly ancienter than theirs, since I +have added nothing to the practice of the primitive professors of +Christianity. As to the prosperity or extent of the dominion of their +church, which Cardinal Bellarmin counts among the proofs of its +orthodoxy, the Mahometans, who have larger empires, and have made a +quicker progress, have a better plea for the visible protection of +Heaven. If the fopperies of their religion were only fopperies, they +ought to be complied with, wherever it is established, like any +ridiculous dress in fashion; but I think them impieties: their devotions +are scandal to humanity from their nonsense; the mercenary deceits and +barbarous tyranny of their ecclesiastics, inconsistent with moral +honesty. If they object the diversity of our sects as a mark of +reprobation, I desire them to consider, that objection has equal force +against Christianity in general. When they thunder with the names of +fathers and councils, they are surprised to find me as well (often +better) acquainted with them than themselves. I show them the variety of +their doctrines, their virulent contests and various factions, instead +of that union they boast of. I have never been attacked a second time in +any of the towns where I have resided, and perhaps shall never be so +again after my last battle, which was with an old priest, a learned man, +particularly esteemed as a mathematician, and who has a head and heart +as warm as poor Whiston's. When I first came hither, he visited me every +day, and talked of me everywhere with such violent praise, that, had we +been young people, God knows what would have been said. I have always +the advantage of being quite calm on a subject which they cannot talk of +without heat. He desired I would put on paper what I had said. I +immediately wrote one side of a sheet, leaving the other for his answer. +He carried it with him, promising to bring it the next day, since which +time I have never seen it, though I have often demanded it, being of +my defective Italian. I fancy he sent it to his friend the Archbishop of +Milan. I have given over asking for it, as a desperate debt. He still +visits me, but seldom, and in a cold sort of a way. When I have found +disputants I less respected, I have sometimes taken pleasure in raising +their hopes by my concessions: they are charmed when I agree with them +in the number of the sacraments; but are horridly disappointed when I +explain myself by saying the word sacrament is not to be found either in +Old or New Testament; and one must be very ignorant not to know it is +taken from the listing oath of the Roman soldiers, and means nothing +more than a solemn, irrevocable engagement. Parents vow, in infant +baptism, to educate their children in the Christian religion, which they +take upon themselves by confirmation; the Lord's Supper is frequently +renewing the same oath. Ordination and matrimony are solemn vows of a +different kind: confession includes a vow of revealing all we know, and +reforming what is amiss: extreme unction, the last vow, that we have +lived in the faith we were baptised: in this sense they are all +sacraments. As to the mysteries preached since, they were all invented +long after, and some of them repugnant to the primitive institution." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ON THE CONTINENT (1745-1760) + +Lady Mary stays at Avignon--She removes to Brescia--And then to +Lovere--She abandons all idea of Montagu joining her abroad--Her house +at Lovere--Her daily round--Her health--Her anxiety about her son--An +amazing incident--A serious illness--A novel in a letter--Her +correspondence attracts the attention of the Italian authorities--Sir +James and Lady Frances Steuart--Politics--She is in the bad books of the +British Resident at Venice--Lord Bute--The philosophy of Lady +Mary--Letters to Lady Bute and Sir James Steuart. + + +Lady Mary liked Avignon so well that she stayed there until July 1746. +Then she moved to Brescia, where she stayed for a year, and then took up +her quarters at Lovere, a small place in Lombardy on the Lake d'Iseo, a +most attractive spot, as she was at pains to tell her daughter at some +length. For some time she alternated between Lovere and Brescia. + + +"I am now in a place the most beautifully romantic I ever saw in my +life: it is the Tunbridge of this part of the world, to which I was sent +by the doctor's order, my ague often returning, notwithstanding the +loads of bark I have taken" (she wrote to her daughter from Lovere, July +24, 1747). "To say truth, I have no reason to repent my journey, though +I was very unwilling to undertake it, it being forty miles, half by land +and half by water; the land so stony I was almost shook to pieces, and I +had the ill luck to be surprised with a storm on the lake, that if I had +not been near a little port (where I passed a night in a very poor inn), +the vessel must have been lost. A fair wind brought me hither next +morning early. I found a very good lodging, a great deal of good +company, and a village in many respects resembling Tunbridge Wells, not +only in the quality of the waters, which is the same, but in the manner +of the buildings, most of the houses being separate at little distances, +and all built on the sides of hills, which indeed are far different from +those of Tunbridge, being six times as high: they are really vast rocks +of different figures, covered with green moss, or short grass, +diversified by tufts of trees, little woods, and here and there +vineyards, but no other cultivation, except gardens like those on +Richmond-hill. The whole lake, which is twenty-five miles long, and +three broad, is all surrounded with these impassable mountains, the +sides of which, towards the bottom, are so thick set with villages (and +in most of them gentlemen's seats), that I do not believe there is +anywhere above a mile distance one from another, which adds very much to +the beauty of the prospect. + +"We have an opera here, which is performed three times in the week. I +was at it last night, and should have been surprised at the neatness of +the scenes, goodness of the voices and justness of the actors, if I had +not remembered I was in Italy. Several gentlemen jumped into the +orchestra, and joined in the concert, which I suppose is one of the +freedoms of the place, for I never saw it in any great town. I was yet +more amazed (while the actors were dressing for the farce that concluded +the entertainment) to see one of the principal among them, and as errant +a _petit maitre_ as if he had passed all his life at Paris, mount the +stage, and present us with a cantata of his own performing. He had the +pleasure of being almost deafened with applause. The ball began +afterwards, but I was not witness of it, having accustomed myself to +such early hours, that I was half asleep before the opera finished: it +begins at ten o'clock, so that it was one before I could get to bed, +though I had supped before I went, which is the custom. + +"I am much better pleased with the diversions on the water, where all +the town assembles every night, and never without music; but we have +none so rough as trumpets, kettle-drums, and French horns: they are all +violins, lutes, mandolins, and flutes doux. Here is hardly a man that +does not excel in some of these instruments, which he privately +addresses to the lady of his affections, and the public has the +advantage of it by his adding to the number of the musicians. + +"The fountain where we drink the waters rises between two hanging hills, +and is overshadowed with large trees, that give a freshness in the +hottest time of the day. The provisions are all excellent, the fish of +the lake being as large and well tasted as that of Geneva, and the +mountains abounding in game, particularly blackcocks, which I never saw +in any other part of Italy." + + +Lady Mary, though still corresponding with her husband, had clearly +given up all idea of returning to England or of Montagu joining her +abroad. She was quite content with her state, which, after all, so far +as we know, was her own choice. She took a house at Lovere, and +interested herself in improving it and developing the grounds. + + +"I have been these six weeks, and still am, at my dairy-house, which +joins to my garden" (she wrote to her daughter in July, 1748). "I +believe I have already told you it is a long mile from the castle, which +is situated in the midst of a very large village, once a considerable +town, part of the walls still remaining, and has not vacant ground +enough about it to make a garden, which is my greatest amusement, it +being now troublesome to walk, or even go in the chaise till the +evening. I have fitted up in this farm-house a room for myself--that is +to say, strewed the floor with rushes, covered the chimney with moss and +branches, and adorned the room with basins of earthen-ware (which is +made here to great perfection) filled with flowers, and put in some +straw chairs, and a couch bed, which is my whole furniture. This spot of +ground is so beautiful, I am afraid you will scarce credit the +description, which, however, I can assure you, shall be very literal, +without any embellishment from imagination. It is on a bank, forming a +kind of peninsula, raised from the river Oglio fifty feet, to which you +may descend by easy stairs cut in the turf, and either take the air on +the river, which is as large as the Thames at Richmond, or by walking +[in] an avenue two hundred yards on the side of it, you find a wood of a +hundred acres, which was all ready cut into walks and ridings when I +took it. I have only added fifteen bowers in different views, with seats +of turf. They were easily made, here being a large quantity of +underwood, and a great number of wild vines, which twist to the top of +the highest trees, and from which they make a very good sort of wine +they call _brusco_. I am now writing to you in one of these arbours, +which is so thickly shaded, the sun is not troublesome, even at noon. +Another is on the side of the river, where I have made a camp kitchen, +that I may take the fish, dress, and eat it immediately, and at the same +time see the barks, which ascend or descend every day to or from Mantua, +Guastalla, or Pont de Vie, all considerable towns. This little wood is +carpeted, in their succeeding seasons, with violets and strawberries, +inhabited by a nation of nightingales, and filled with game of all +kinds, excepting deer and wild boar, the first being unknown here, and +not being large enough for the other. + +"My garden was a plain vineyard when it came into my hands not two years +ago, and it is, with a small expense, turned into a garden that (apart +from the advantage of the climate) I like better than that of +Kensington. The Italian vineyards are not planted like those in France, +but in clumps, fastened to trees planted in equal ranks (commonly +fruit-trees), and continued in festoons from one to another, which I +have turned into covered galleries of shade, that I can walk in the heat +without being incommoded by it. I have made a dining-room of verdure, +capable of holding a table of twenty covers; the whole ground is three +hundred and seventeen feet in length, and two hundred in breadth. You +see it is far from large; but so prettily disposed (though I say it), +that I never saw a more agreeable rustic garden, abounding with all sort +of fruit, and produces a variety of wines. I would send you a piece [_sic_] +if I did not fear the customs would make you pay too dear for it." + + +Lady Mary was now in her sixtieth year, and asked for nothing better +than peace and comfort. Her manner of life she described as being as +regular as that of any monastery. She rose at six, and after an early +breakfast worked in the garden. Then she visited the dairy and inspected +her chickens--at one time she had two hundred of them--and her turkeys, +geese, ducks, and peacocks, her bees and her silkworms. At eleven she +read for an hour, and after an early dinner would take a siesta. Then +she played picquet or whist with some friendly priests. In the evening +she walked in the woods, or rode, or went on the lake. "I enjoy every +amusement that solitude can afford," she said. "I confess I sometimes +wish for a little conversation, but I reflect that the commerce of the +world gives more uneasiness than pleasure, and quiet is all the hope +that can reasonably be indulged at my age." It would not have been Lady +Mary if she had not kept a keen eye on the pence. She was delighted to +be able to say in relation to her house and grounds that "all things +have hitherto prospered under my care; my bees and silkworms are +doubled, and I am told that, without accidents, my capital will be so in +two years' time." She enjoyed the more her evening now and her fish at +dinner, because neither cost her anything. "The fishery of this part of +the river belongs to me; and my fisherman's little boat (where I have a +green lutestring awning) serves me for a barge. He and his sons are my +rowers without expense, he being very well paid by the profit of the +fish, which I give him on condition of having every day one dish for my +table." + +Age dealt gently with Lady Mary. At the age of sixty-two, she could say +that her hearing and her memory were good, and her sight better than she +had any right to expect. She had appetite enough to relish what she ate, +slept as soundly as she had ever done, and had never a headache. Still, +the fact was forced upon her that she was no longer so young as she had +been--which unpleasing reflection she accepted philosophically enough. + + +"I no more expect to arrive at the age of the Duchess of Marlborough[19] +than to that of Methusalem; neither do I desire it" (she wrote to Lady +Bute in the early spring of 1751). "I have long thought myself useless +to the world. I have seen one generation pass away; and it is gone; for +I think there are very few of those left that flourished in my youth. +You will perhaps call these melancholy reflections: they are not so. +There is a quiet after the abandoning of pursuits, something like the +rest that follows a laborious day. I tell you this for your comfort. It +was formerly a terrifying view to me, that I should one day be an old +woman. I now find that Nature has provided pleasures for every state. +Those are only unhappy who will not be contented with what she gives, +but strive to break through her laws, by affecting a perpetuity of youth +which appears to me as little desirable at present as the babies do to +you, that were the delight of your infancy." + +[Footnote 19: The Duchess of Marlborough was born on May 29, 1660, and +died on October 18, 1744.] + + +She reverted to the same subject when writing to her husband a month or +two later: + + +"I can no longer resist the desire I have to know what is become of my +son. I have long suppressed it, from a belief that if there was anything +of good to be told, you would not fail to give me the pleasure of +hearing it. I find it now grows so much upon me, that whatever I am to +know, I think it would be easier for me to support, than the anxiety I +suffer from my doubts. I beg to be informed, and prepare myself for the +worst, with all the philosophy I have. At my time of life I ought to be +detached from a world which I am soon to leave; to be totally so is a +vain endeavour, and perhaps there is vanity in the endeavour: while we +are human, we must submit to human infirmities, and suffer them in mind +as well as body. All that reflection and experience can do is to +mitigate, we can never extinguish, our passions. I call by that name +every sentiment that is not founded upon reason, and own I cannot +justify to mine the concern I feel for one who never gave me any view of +satisfaction. + +"This is too melancholy a subject to dwell upon. You compliment me on +the continuation of my spirits: 'tis true, I try to maintain them by +every art I can, being sensible of the terrible consequences of losing +them. Young people are too apt to let theirs sink on any disappointment." + + +There was, in 1751, some extraordinary incident in the life of Lady +Mary, the true history of which has never been made public. + + +"Pray tell me," Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on August 31 of +that year, "if you know anything of Lady Mary Wortley: we have an +obscure history here of her being in durance in the Brescian or the +Bergamasco: that a young fellow that she set out with keeping has taken +it into his head to keep her close prisoner, not permitting her to write +or receive any letters but which he sees: he seems determined, if her +husband should die, not to lose her, as the Count [Richcourt] did Lady +Oxford." + + +No reply to this letter reached Walpole, but his insatiable curiosity +would not accept this as a check, and he wrote again on October 14: "Did +you ever receive the question I asked you about Lady Mary Wortley's +being confined by a lover that she keeps somewhere in the Brescian? I +long to know the particulars." + +At the time of this incident Lady Mary was in her sixty-second year. It +is possible, but extremely improbable, therefore, that Lady Mary should +have taken a young man into keeping. Horace Walpole may always be +trusted to make the best of a rumour. Still, it may be stated, on the +authority of Wright, that among Lady Mary's papers there was found a +long account of the matter, written in Italian. In this she mentioned +that for some time she had been forcibly detained in a country house +belonging to an Italian Count and occupied by him and his mother. This +paper, it is further mentioned, seems to have been submitted to a lawyer +for his opinion or for production in a court of law. It may be, of +course, that Lady Mary did, to some extent, adopt the young man, who +thought that by keeping possession of her person he might be able to +extort money from her. + +Not long after this business, in fact, in February, 1752, Lady Mary was +reporting that she was well enough in health. She had been reading +Coventry's _Pompey the Little_, and tells her daughter that she saw +herself in the character of Mrs. Qualmsick: + + +"You will be surprised at this, no Englishwoman being so free from +vapours, having never in my life complained of low spirits or weak +nerves; but our resemblance is very strong in the fancied loss of +appetite, which I have been silly enough to be persuaded into by the +physician of this place. He visits me frequently, as being one of the +most considerable men in the parish, and is a grave, sober thinking +great fool, whose solemn appearance, and deliberate way of delivering +his sentiments gives them an air of good sense, though they are often +the most injudicious that ever were pronounced. By perpetual telling me +I eat so little, he is amazed I am able to subsist, he had brought me to +be of his opinion; and I began to be seriously uneasy at it. This useful +treatise has roused me into a recollection of what I eat yesterday, and +do almost every day the same. I wake generally about seven, and drink +half a pint of warm asses' milk, after which I sleep two hours; as soon +as I am risen, I constantly take three cups of milk coffee, and +hours after that a large cup of milk chocolate: two hours more brings my +dinner, where I never fail swallowing a good dish (I don't mean plate) +of gravy soup, with all the bread, roots, &c., belonging to it. I then +eat a wing and the whole body of a large fat capon, and a veal +sweetbread, concluding with a competent quantity of custard, and some +roasted chestnuts. At five in the afternoon I take another dose of +asses' milk; and for supper twelve chestnuts (which would weigh +twenty-four of those in London), one new laid egg, and a handsome +porringer of white bread and milk. With this diet, notwithstanding the +menaces of my wise doctor, I am now convinced I am in no danger of +starving; and am obliged to Little Pompey for this discovery." + + +Two years later, however, when she was in her sixty-fifth year, Lady +Mary found herself far from well. In April of that year, she told her +daughter: "My time is wholly dedicated to the care of a decaying body, +and endeavouring, as the old song says, to grow wiser and better, as my +strength wears away." Shortly after, she was taken seriously unwell at +Gottolengo. When she had recovered she, always interested in medical +science, sent Lady Bute a full account of her illness and of the +extraordinary physician from the neighbouring village of Lovere. + + +"Soon after I wrote my last letter to my dear child, I was seized with +so violent a fever, accompanied with so many bad symptoms, my life was +despaired of by the physician of Gottolengo, and I prepared myself for +death with as much resignation as that circumstance admits: some of my +neighbours without my knowledge, sent express for the doctor of this +place, whom I have mentioned to you formerly as having uncommon secrets. +I was surprised to see him at my bedside. He declared me in great +danger, but did not doubt my recovery, if I was wholly under his care; +and his first prescription was transporting me hither; the other +physician asserted positively I should die on the road. It has always +been my opinion that it is a matter of the utmost indifference where we +expire, and I consented to be removed. My bed was placed on a bancard; +my servants followed in chaises; and in this equipage I set out. I bore +the first day's journey of fifteen miles without any visible alteration. +The doctor said, as I was not worse, I was certainly better; and the +next day proceeded twenty miles to Iseo, which is at the head of this +lake. I lay each night at noblemen's houses, which were empty. My cook, +with my physician, aways preceded two or three hours, and I found my +chamber, with all necessaries, ready prepared with the exactest +attention. I was put into a bark in my litter bed, and in three hours +arrived here. My spirits were not at all wasted (I think rather raised) +by the fatigue of my journey. I drank the water next morning, and, with +a few doses of my physician's prescription, in three days found myself +in perfect health, which appeared almost a miracle to all that saw me. +You may imagine I am willing to submit to the orders of one that I must +acknowledge the instrument of saving my life, though they are not +entirely conformable to my will and pleasure. He has sentenced me to a +long continuance here, which, he says, is absolutely necessary to the +confirmation of my health, and would persuade me that my illness has +been wholly owing to my omission of drinking the waters these two years +past. I dare not contradict him, and must own he deserves (from the +various surprising cures I have seen) the name given to him in this +country of the miraculous man. Both his character and practice are so +singular, I cannot forbear giving you some account of them. He will not +permit his patients to have either surgeon or apothecary: he performs +all the operations of the first with great dexterity; and whatever +compounds he gives, he makes in his own house: those are very few; the +juice of herbs, and these waters, being commonly his sole prescriptions. +He has very little learning, and professes drawing all his knowledge +from experience, which he possesses, perhaps, in a greater degree than +any other mortal, being the seventh doctor of his family in a direct +line. His forefathers have all of them left journals and registers +solely for the use of their posterity, none of them having published +anything; and he has recourse to these manuscripts on every difficult +case, the veracity of which, at least, is unquestionable. His vivacity +is prodigious, and he is indefatigable in his industry: but what most +distinguishes him is a disinterestedness I never saw in any other: he is +as regular in his attendance on the poorest peasant, from whom he never +can receive one farthing, as on the richest of the nobility; and, +whenever he is wanted, will climb three or four miles in the mountains, +in the hottest sun, or heaviest rain, where a horse cannot go, to arrive +at a cottage, where, if their condition requires it, he does not only +give them advice and medicines gratis, but bread, wine, and whatever is +needful. There never passes a week without one or more of these +expeditions. His last visit is generally to me. I often see him as dirty +and tired as a foot post, having eat nothing all day but a roll or two +that he carries in his pocket, yet blest with such a perpetual flow of +spirits, he is always gay to a degree above cheerfulness. There is a +peculiarity in his character that I hope will incline you to forgive my +drawing it." + + +It was probably by the advice of her physician that Lady Mary decided to +make Lovere her headquarters. He prescribed taking the waters there and +a long rest. Lovere was a dull place, visitors coming only during the +water-drinking season. The plague that overran Europe in 1626 had +ravaged it: the poor were almost destroyed, and the rich deserted it. A +few of the ancient palaces had been turned into lodging-houses; the rest +were in ruinous condition. Lady Mary bought one of the palaces. + + +"I see you lift up your eyes in wonder at my indiscretion. I beg you to +hear my reasons before you condemn me. In my infirm state of health the +unavoidable noise of a public lodging is very disagreeable; and here is +no private one: secondly, and chiefly, the whole purchase is but one +hundred pounds, with a very pretty garden in terraces down to the water, +and a court behind the house. It is founded on a rock, and the walls so +thick, they will probably remain as long as the earth. It is true, the +apartments are in most tattered circumstances, without doors or windows. +The beauty of the great saloon gained my affection: it is forty-two feet +in length by twenty-five, proportionably high, opening into a balcony of +the same length, with marble balusters: the ceiling and flooring are in +good repair, but I have been forced to the expense of covering the wall +with new stucco; and the carpenter is at this minute taking measure of +the windows, in order to make frames for sashes. The great stairs are in +such a declining way, it would be a very hazardous exploit to mount +them: I never intend to attempt it. The state bedchamber shall also +remain for the sole use of the spiders that have taken possession of it, +along with the grand cabinet, and some other pieces of magnificence, +quite useless to me, and which would cost a great deal to make +habitable. I have fitted up six rooms, with lodgings for five servants, +which are all I ever will have in this place; and I am persuaded that I +could make a profit if I would part with my purchase, having been very +much befriended in the sale, which was by auction, the owner having died +without children, and I believe he had never seen this mansion in his +life, it having stood empty from the death of his grandfather. The +governor bid for me, and nobody would bid against him. Thus I am become +a citizen of Lovere, to the great joy of the inhabitants, not (as they +would pretend) from their respect for my person, but I perceive they +fancy I shall attract all the travelling English; and, to say the truth, +the singularity of the place is well worth their curiosity; but, as I +have no correspondents, I may be buried here fifty years, and nobody +know anything of the matter." + + +Lady Mary found great pleasure in her correspondence. It was one of the +occupations with which she solaced her loneliness, and she was never more +happy than when she had an exciting story to set down, for she could set +it down with the ease of a Walpole and an individual touch that was all +her own: + + +"I was quietly reading in my closet, when I was interrupted by the +chambermaid of the Signora Laura Bono, who flung herself at my feet, +and, in an agony of sobs and tears, begged me, for the love of the holy +Madonna, to hasten to her master's house, where the two brothers would +certainly murder one another, if my presence did not stop their fury. I +was very much surprised, having always heard them spoken of as a pattern +of fraternal union. However, I made all possible speed thither, without +staying for hoods or attendance. I was soon there (the house touching my +garden wall), and was directed to the bedchamber by the noise of oaths +and execrations; but, on opening the door, was astonished to a degree +you may better guess than I describe, by seeing the Signora Laura +prostrate on the ground, melting in tears, and her husband standing with +a drawn stiletto in his hand, swearing she should never see tomorrow's +sun. I was soon let into the secret. The good man, having business of +consequence at Brescia, went thither early in the morning; but, as he +expected his chief tenant to pay his rent that day, he left orders with +his wife, that if the farmer, who lived two miles off, came himself, or +sent any of his sons, she should take care to make him very welcome. She +obeyed him with great punctuality, the money coming in the hand of a +handsome lad of eighteen: she did not only admit him to her own table, +and produce the best wine in the cellar, but resolved to give him _chere +entiere_. While she was exercising this generous hospitality, the +husband met midway the gentleman he intended to visit, who was posting +to another side of the country; they agreed on another appointment, and +he returned to his own house, where, giving his horse to be led round to +the stable by the servant that accompanied him, he opened his door with +the _passe-partout_ key, and proceeded to his chamber, without meeting +anybody, where he found his beloved spouse asleep on the bed with her +gallant. The opening of the door waked them: the young fellow +immediately leaped out of the window, which looked into the garden, and +was open, it being summer, and escaped over the fields, leaving his +breeches on a chair by the bedside--very striking circumstance. In +short, the case was such, I do not think the queen of fairies herself +could have found an excuse, though Chaucer tells us she has made a +solemn promise to leave none of her sex unfurnished with one, to all +eternity. As to the poor criminal, she had nothing to say for herself +but what I dare swear you will hear from your youngest daughter, if ever +you catch her stealing of sweetmeats--"Pray, pray, she would do so no +more, and indeed it was the first time." This last article found no +credit with me: I cannot be persuaded that any woman who had lived +virtuous till forty (for such is her age) could suddenly be endowed with +such consummate impudence, to solicit a youth at first sight, there +being no probability, his age and station considered, that he would have +made any attempt of that kind. I must confess I was wicked enough to +think the unblemished reputation she had hitherto maintained, and did +not fail to put us in mind of, was owing to a series of such frolics; +and to say truth, they are the only amours that can reasonably hope to +remain undiscovered. Ladies that can resolve to make love thus +_extempore_, may pass unobserved, especially if they can content +themselves with low life, where fear may oblige their favourites to +secrecy: there wants only a very lewd constitution, a very bad heart, +and a moderate understanding, to make this conduct easy: and I do not +doubt it has been practised by many prudes beside her I am now speaking +of. You may be sure I did not communicate these reflections. The first +word I spoke was to desire Signer Carlo to sheathe his poniard, not +being pleased with its glittering! He did so very readily, begging my +pardon for not having done it on my first appearance, saying he did not +know what he did, and indeed he had the countenance and gesture of a man +distracted. I did not endeavour a defence; that seemed to me impossible; +but represented to him, as well as I could, the crime of a murder, which, +if he could justify before men, was still a crying sin before God; the +disgrace he would bring on himself and posterity, and irreparable injury +he would do his eldest daughter, a pretty girl of fifteen, that I knew +he was extremely fond of. I added, that if he thought it proper to part +from his lady, he might easily find a pretext for it some months hence; +and that it was as much his interest as hers to conceal this affair from +the knowledge of the world. I could not presently make him taste these +reasons, and was forced to stay there near five hours (almost from five +to ten at night) before I durst leave them together, which I would not +do till he had sworn in the most serious manner he would make no future +attempt on her life. I was content with his oath, knowing him to be very +devout, and found I was not mistaken. How the matter was made up between +them afterwards I know not; but it is now two years since it happened, +and all appearances remaining as if it had never been. The secret is in +very few hands; his brother, being at that time at Brescia, I believe +knows nothing of it to this day. The chambermaid and myself have preserved +the strictest silence, and the lady retains the satisfaction of insulting +all her acquaintance on the foundation of a spotless character, that only +she can boast in the parish, where she is most heartily hated, from these +airs of impertinent virtue, and another very essential reason, being the +best dressed woman among them, though one of the plainest in her figure. + +"The discretion of the chambermaid in fetching me, which possibly saved +her mistress's life, and her taciturnity since, I fancy appear very +remarkable to you, and is what would certainly never happen in England. +The first part of her behaviour deserves great praise; coming of her own +accord, and inventing so decent an excuse for her admittance: but her +silence may be attributed to her knowing very well that any servant that +presumes to talk of his master will most certainly be incapable of +talking at all in a short time, their lives being entirely in the power +of their superiors: I do not mean by law but by custom, which has full +as much force. If one of them was killed, it would either never be +inquired into at all, or very slightly passed over; yet it seldom +happens, and I know no instance of it, which I think is owing to the +great submission of domestics, who are sensible of their dependence, and +the national temper not being hasty, and never inflamed by wine, +drunkenness being a vice abandoned to the vulgar, and spoke of with +greater detestation than murder, which is mentioned with as little +concern as a drinking-bout in England, and is almost as frequent. It was +extreme shocking to me at my first coming, and still gives me a sort of +horror, though custom has in some degree familiarised it to my +imagination. Robbery would be pursued with great vivacity, and punished +with the utmost rigour, therefore is very rare, though stealing is in +daily practice; but as all the peasants are suffered the use of +fire-arms, the slightest provocation is sufficient to shoot, and they +see one of their own species lie dead before them with as little remorse +as a hare or a partridge, and, when revenge spurs them on, with much +more pleasure. A dissertation on this subject would engage me in a +discourse not proper for the post." + + +Lady Mary, being a prolific letter-writer, came under the suspicions of +the Italian authorities, who carefully examined the correspondence--a +fact that was only by a chance conversation revealed to her. "I think I +now know why our correspondence is so miserably interrupted, and so many +of my letters lost to and from England," she wrote to her husband in +October, 1753; "but I am no happier in the discovery than a man who has +found out his complaints proceed from a stone in the kidneys; I know the +cause, but am entirely ignorant of the remedy, and must suffer my +uneasiness with what patience I can." + +"An old priest made me a visit as I was folding my last packet to my +daughter. Observing it to be large, he told me I had done a great deal of +business that morning. I made answer, I had done no business at all; I +had only wrote to my daughter on family affairs, or such trifles as make +up women's conversation. He said gravely, people like your Excellenza +do not use to write long letters upon trifles. I assured him, that if he +understood English, I would let him read my letter. He replied, with a +mysterious smile, if I did understand English, I should not understand +what you have written, except you would give me the key, which I durst +not presume to ask. What key? (said I, staring) there is not one cypher +besides the date. He answered, cyphers were only used by novices in +politics, and it was very easy to write intelligibly, under feigned +names of persons and places, to a correspondent, in such a manner as +should be almost impossible to be understood by anybody else. + +"Thus I suppose my innocent epistles are severely scrutinized; and when +I talk of my grandchildren, they are fancied to represent all the +potentates of Europe. This is very provoking. I confess there are good +reasons for extraordinary caution at this juncture; but 'tis very hard I +cannot pass for being as insignificant as I really am." + + +Lady Mary clearly was happy in Italy, and did not in the least hanker +after the delights of London society, which in her earlier days she had +so much enjoyed. + + +"By the account you give me of London, I think it very much reformed; at +least you have one sin the less, and it was a very reigning one in my +time, I mean scandal: it must be literally reduced to a whisper, since +the custom of living all together. I hope it has also banished the +fashion of talking all at once, which was very prevailing when I was in +town, and may perhaps contribute to brotherly love and unity, which was +so much declined in my memory, that it was hard to invite six people +that would not, by cold looks, or piquing reflections affront one +another. I suppose parties are at an end, though I fear it is the +consequence of the old almanac prophecy, "Poverty brings peace"; and I +fancy you really follow the French mode, and the lady keeps an assembly, +that the assembly may keep the lady, and card money pay for clothes and +equipage as well as cards and candles. I find I should be as solitary in +London as I am here in the country, it being impossible for me to submit +to live in a _drum_, which I think so far from a cure of uneasiness, +that it is, in my opinion, adding one more to the heap. There are so +many attached to humanity, 'tis impossible to fly from them all; but +experience has confirmed to me what I always thought, that the pursuit +of pleasure will be ever attended with pain, and the study of ease be +most certainly accompanied with pleasures. I have had this morning as +much delight in a walk in the sun as ever I felt formerly in the crowded +Mall, even when I imagined I had my share of the admiration of the place, +which was generally soured before I slept by the informations of my +female friends, who seldom failed to tell me, it was observed, I had +showed an inch above my shoe-heels, or some other criticism of equal +weight, which was construed affectation, and utterly destroyed all the +satisfaction my vanity had given me. I have now no other but in my little +houswifery, which is easily gratified in this country, where, by the help +of my receipt-book, I make a very shining figure among my neighbours, by +the introduction of custards, cheesecakes, and minced pies, which were +entirely unknown to these parts, and are received with universal +applause; and I have reason to believe will preserve my memory even to +future ages, particularly by the art of butter-making, in which I have +so improved them, that they now make as good as in any part of England." + + +Lady Mary made the acquaintance in 1758 of Sir James Steuart,[20] and +his wife, Lady Frances, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Wemyss and +sister of the Jacobite Lord Elcho. Steuart, when making the grand +tour, had met the exiled Stuarts at Rome, and had become attached to +their cause. When the Young Pretender landed in Scotland in 1745, +Steuart threw in his lot with him. On his master's business he went to +Paris, and was abroad when Culloden was fought. When an Act of Oblivion +was passed in 1748 he was exempted by name, and, therefore, his return +was at the time impossible. He and his wife wandered about the +Continent, and it was at Venice that they encountered Lady Mary, who was +delighted with them. "I was charmed to find a man of uncommon sense and +learning, and a lady that without beauty is more admirable than the +fairest of her sex," she wrote enthusiastically to her daughter. "I +offered them all the little good offices in my power, and invited them +to supper; upon which our wise Minister[21] has discovered that I am in +the interest of popery and slavery. As he has often said the same thing +of Mr. Pitt, it would give me no mortification, if I did not apprehend +that his fertile imagination may support this wise idea by such +circumstances as may influence those that do not know me. It is very +remarkable that after having suffered all the rage of that party at +Avignon for my attachment to the present reigning family, I should be +accused here of favouring rebellion, when I hoped all our odious +diversions were forgotten." + +[Footnote 20: Sir James Steuart (1712-1780), in 1773, on inheriting an +estate from a relative, took the additional surname of Denham. He was +the author of works on currency and political economy.] + +[Footnote 21: The British Resident at Venice at this time was John +Murray] + + +Lady Mary was anxious that nothing she did should reflect upon her +daughter or in any way affect Lord Bute. "I am afraid you may think +some imprudent behaviour of mine has occasioned all this ridiculous +persecution [by the Resident]" she wrote to them in May, 1758. "I can +assure you I have always treated him and his family with the utmost +civility, and am now retired to Padua, to avoid the comments that will +certainly be made on his extraordinary conduct towards me. I only desire +privacy and quiet, and am very well contented to be without visits, +which oftener disturb than amuse me. My single concern is the design he +has formed of securing (as he calls it) my effects immediately on my +decease; if they ever fall into his hands, I am persuaded they will +never arrive entire into yours, which is a very uneasy thought to me." + +Although not primarily interested in politics, Lady Mary had met so many +politicians that she was naturally eager to hear what was going on, and +the fact that her son-in-law, Lord Bute, was active in that department +of life made her follow ministerial events in England so closely as +possible. "I stay here, though I am on many accounts better pleased with +Padua," she wrote to her daughter from Venice, January 20, 1758. "Our +great minister, the Resident, treats me as one of the Opposition. I am +inclined to laugh rather than be displeased at his political airs; yet, +as I am among strangers they are disagreeable; and, could I have +foreseen them, would have settled in some other part of the world: but I +have taken leases of my houses, been at much pains and expense in +furnishing them, and am no longer of an age to make long journeys." + +Pitt's Coalition Ministry, formed in June, 1757, in which Pitt and Lord +Holdernesse were Secretaries of State, the Duke of Newcastle First Lord +of the Treasury, Legge Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Granville, +Lord Temple, Sir Robert Henley, the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of +Bedford, and Henry Fox held office, moved Lady Mary to merriment. + + +"Your account of the changes in ministerial affairs do not surprise me; +but nothing could be more astonishing than their all coming together" +(she wrote to Lady Bute). "It puts me in mind of a friend of mine who +had a large family of favourite animals; and not knowing how to convey +them to his country-house in separate equipages, he ordered a Dutch +mastiff, a cat and her kittens, a monkey, and a parrot, all to be packed +up together in one large hamper, and sent by a waggon. One may easily +guess how this set of company made their journey; and I have never been +able to think of the present compound ministry without the idea of +barking, scratching, and screaming. 'Tis too ridiculous a one, I own, +for the gravity of their characters, and still more for the situation the +kingdom is in; for as much as one may encourage the love of laughter, +'tis impossible to be indifferent to the welfare of one's native +country." + + +The Resident was, so far as Lady Mary was concerned, an ill-conditioned +fellow. She asked him once or twice for the English papers, but the +reply made, with intention, on each occasion was that they were engaged. +"Since the Ministry of Mr. Pitt," she remarked, "he is so desirous to +signalise his zeal for the contrary faction, he is perpetually saying +ridiculous things, to manifest his attachment; and as he looks upon me +(nobody knows why) to be the friend of a man I never saw, he has not +visited me once this winter. The misfortune is not great." Lady Mary was +amused at being mistaken for a politician. "I have often been so, though +I ever thought politics so far removed from my sphere. I cannot accuse +myself of dabbling in them, even when I heard them talked over in all +companies; but, as the old song says, + + 'Tho' through the wide world we should range, + 'Tis in vain from our fortune to fly.'" + +Lady Mary always cherished affection and respect for her son-in-law, +Lord Bute. He had been since 1747 a favourite with Frederick, Prince of +Wales, who in 1750 appointed him a Lord of his Bedchamber. When +Frederick died in the following year Bute had established his popularity +with the Princess, who, in 1756, secured his appointment as Groom of the +Stole. "I have something to mention that I believe will be agreeable to +you," Edward Wortley Montagu wrote to his wife at this time; "I mean +some particulars relating to Lord Bute. He stood higher in the Prince of +Wales's favour than any man. His attendance was frequent at Leicester +House, where this young Prince has resided, and since his father's death +has continued without intermission, till new officers were to be placed +under him. It is said that another person was to be Groom of the Stole, +but that the Prince's earnest request was complied with in my Lord's +favour. It is supposed that the governors, preceptors, etc., who were +about him before will now be set aside, and that my Lord is now the +principal adviser." Neither Montagu nor his wife in their published +correspondence make any allusion to the scandal current about the +intimate relations of the Princess and Lord Bute, though it was so +widely spread it is almost impossible it should not have come to the +ears of one or other of them. + +On the accession of George III Bute was sworn a member of the Privy +Council, and in November, 1760, appointed Groom of the Stole and First +Gentleman of the Bedchamber. His influence with the young King was +paramount. "I pity Lady Bute," Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on +January 27, 1761, "her mother will sell to whoever does not know her, +all kinds of promises and reversions, bestow lies gratis and wholesale, +and make so much mischief, that they will be forced to discard her in +three months, which will go to Lady Bute's heart, who is one of the best +and most sensible women in the world; and who, educated by such a +mother, has never made a false step." As a matter of fact, the only +request known to be made by Lady Mary was to ask Lord Bute, through her +daughter, to take care that Sir James Steuart's name was not excluded in +the Act of Indemnity. It is, however, true that there is the following +statement in the Diaries of the Right Hon. William Windham, under the +date of November 25, 1772, which is given here for what it is worth. +"Mr. Montagu told me this evening about Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, that +at her death, 'A note of his was found among her papers for one thousand +guineas,' which had been given her by a gentleman of Ireland as the +premium for some honours to be received through her interest. The +honours stipulated for were not obtained before her death, and the +gentleman upon representation of the story to the family recovered the +note which she had deposited by agreement in a particular drawer shewn +to him. It may reasonably be supposed that this was not the first +instance of her accepting money on those conditions, and that much of +Lord Bute's interest has been employed in her service." + +As Lady Mary advanced in the sixties of her life, she looked upon the +world with the eyes of a vast experience, and found it more sad than she +had thought it in youth or middle age. _Vanitas vanitatum_ was the text +of many a homily that she delivered, and a certain sadness replaced the +sense of malice that had once possessed her. Once more than aggressive, +now she had had bestowed upon her in some degree that gift of +understanding that engenders sympathy. As she grew older she grew more +wise, and was anxious to impart her wisdom, especially to her daughter, +for her benefit or for that of her daughter's children. + + +"How important is the charge of youth! and how useless all the +advantages of nature and fortune without a well-turned mind! I have +lately heard of a very shining instance of this truth, from two +gentlemen (very deserving ones they seem to be) who have had the +curiosity to travel into Moscovy, and now return to England with Mr. +Archer. I inquired after my old acquaintance Sir Charles [Hanbury] +Williams, who I hear is much broken, both in spirits and constitution. +How happy that man might have been, if there had been added to his +natural and acquired endowments a dash of morality! If he had known how +to distinguish between false and true felicity; and, instead of seeking +to increase an estate already too large, and hunting after pleasures +that have made him rotten and ridiculous, he had bounded his desires of +wealth, and follow the dictates of his conscience. His servile ambition +has gained him two yards of red ribbon, and an exile into a miserable +country, where there is no society and so little taste, that I believe +he suffers under a dearth of flatterers. This is said for the use of +your growing sons, whom I hope no golden temptations will induce to +marry women they cannot love, or comply with measures they do not +approve. All the happiness this world can afford is more within reach +than is generally supposed. Whoever seeks pleasure will undoubtedly find +pain; whoever will pursue ease will as certainly find pleasures. The +world's esteem is the highest gratification of human vanity; and that is +more easily obtained in a moderate fortune than an overgrown one, which +is seldom possessed, never gained, without envy. I say esteem; for, as +to applause, it is a youthful pursuit, never to be forgiven after twenty, +and naturally succeeds the childish desire of catching the setting sun, +which I can remember running very hard to do: a fine thing truly if it +could be caught; but experience soon shows it to be impossible. A wise +and honest man lives to his own heart, without that silly splendour that +makes him a prey to knaves, and which commonly ends in his becoming one +of the fraternity. I am very glad to hear Lord Bute's decent economy sets +him above anything of that kind. I wish it may become national. A +collective body of men differs very little from a single man; frugality +is the foundation of generosity. I have often been complimented on the +English heroism, who have thrown away so many millions, without any +prospect of advantage to themselves, purely to succour a distressed +princess. I never could hear these praises without some impatience; they +sounded to me like panegyrics made by the dependents on the Duke of +Newcastle and poor Lord Oxford, bubbled when they were commended, and +laughed at when undone. Some late events will, I hope, open our eyes: we +shall see we are an island, and endeavour to extend our commerce rather +than the Quixote reputation of redressing wrongs and placing diadems on +heads that should be equally indifferent to us. When time has ripened +mankind into common sense, the name of conqueror will be an odious title. +I could easily prove that, had the Spaniards established a trade with the +Americans, they would have enriched their country more than by the +addition of twenty-two kingdoms, and all the mines they now work--I do +not say possess; since, though they are the proprietors, others enjoy the +profit." + + +Mary's letters at this period of her life are so entertaining that a few +may well be inserted here for the sheer pleasure of reading them. + + +TO THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Padua, September 30, 1757. + +"Lord Bute has been so obliging as to let me know your safe delivery, +and the birth of another daughter; may she be as meritorious in your +eyes as you are in mine! I can wish nothing better to you both, though I +have some reproaches to make you. Daughter! daughter! don't call names; +you are always abusing my pleasures, which is what no mortal will bear. +Trash, lumber, sad stuff, are the titles you give to my favourite +amusement. If I called a white staff a stick of wood, a gold key gilded +brass, and the ensigns of illustrious orders coloured strings, this may +be philosophically true, but would be very ill received. We have all our +playthings: happy are they that can be contented with those they can +obtain: those hours are spent in the wisest manner, that can easiest +shade the ills of life, and are lest productive of ill consequences. I +think my time better employed in reading the adventures of imaginary +people, than the Duchess of Marlborough's, who passed the latter years +of her life in paddling with her will, and contriving schemes of +plaguing some, and extracting praise from others, to no purpose; +eternally disappointed, and eternally fretting. The active scenes are +over at my age. I indulge, with all the art I can, my taste for reading. +If I would confine it to valuable books, they are almost as rare as +valuable men. I must be content with what I can find. As I approach a +second childhood, I endeavour to enter into the pleasures of it. Your +youngest son is, perhaps, at this very moment riding on a poker with +great delight, not at all regretting that it is not a gold one, and much +less wishing it an Arabian horse, which he would not know how to manage. +I am reading an idle tale, not expecting wit or truth in it, and am very +glad it is not metaphysics to puzzle my judgment, or history to mislead +my opinion. He fortifies his health by exercise; I calm my cares by +oblivion. The methods may appear low to busy people; but, if he improves +his strength, and I forget my infirmities, we attain very desirable ends." + + +To THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Venice, November 8, 1758. + +"... Some few months before Lord W. Hamilton married, there appeared a +foolish song, said to be wrote by a poetical great lady, who I really +think was the character of Lady Arabella, in _The Female Quixote_ +(without the beauty): you may imagine such a conduct, at court, made her +superlatively ridiculous. Lady Delawarr, a woman of great merit, with +whom I lived in much intimacy, showed this fine performance to me: we +were very merry in supposing what answer Lord William would make to +these passionate addresses; she begged me to say something for a poor +man, who had nothing to say for himself. I wrote, _extempore_, on the +back of the song, some stanzas that went perfectly well to the tune. She +promised they should never appear as mine, and faithfully kept her word. +By what accident they have fallen into the hands of that thing Dodsley, +I know not, but he has printed them as addressed, by me, to a very +contemptible puppy, and my own words as his answer. I do not believe +either Job or Socrates ever had such a provocation. You will tell me, it +cannot hurt me with any acquaintance I ever had: it is true; but it is +an excellent piece of scandal for the same sort of people that +propagate, with success, that your nurse left her estate, husband, and +family, to go with me to England; and, then I turned her to starve, +after defrauding her of God knows what. I thank God witches are out of +fashion, or I should expect to have it deposed, by several credible +witnesses, that I had been seen flying through the air on a broomstick, +&c. I am really sick with vexation." + + +TO SIR JAMES STEUART + +"Venice, November 14, 1758. + +"This letter will be solely to you, and I desire you will not +communicate it to Lady Fanny: she is the best woman in the world, and I +would by no means make her uneasy; but there will be such strange things +in it that the Talmud or the Revelations are not half so mysterious: +what these prodigies portend, God knows; but I never should have +suspected half the wonders I see before my eyes, and am convinced of the +necessity of the repeal of the witch act (as it is commonly called), I +mean, to speak correctly, the tacit permission given to witches, so +scandalous to all good Christians: though I tremble to think of it for +my own interests. It is certain the British islands have always been +strangely addicted to this diabolical intercourse, of which I dare swear +you know many instances; but since this public encouragement given to +it, I am afraid there will not be an old woman in the nation entirely +free from suspicion. The devil rages more powerfully than ever: you will +believe me, when I assure you the great and learned English minister is +turned methodist, several duels have been fought in the Place of St. +Marc for the charms of his excellent lady, and I have been seen flying +in the air in the figure of Julian Cox, which history is related with so +much candour and truth by the pious pen of Joseph Glanville, chaplain to +K. Charles. I know you young rakes make a jest of all those things, but +I think no good lady can doubt of a relation so well attested. She was +about seventy years old (very near my age), and the whole sworn to +before Judge Archer, 1663: very well worth reading, but rather too long +for a letter. You know (wretch that I am) 'tis one of my wicked maxims +to make the best of a bad bargain; and I have said publicly that every +period of life has its privileges, and that even the most despicable +creatures alive may find some pleasures. Now observe this comment; who +are the most despicable creatures? Certainly, old women. What pleasure +can an old woman take? Only witchcraft. I think this argument as clear +as any of the devout Bishop of Cloyne's metaphysics: this being decided +in a full congregation of saints, only such atheists as you and Lady +Fanny can deny it. I own all the facts, as many witches have done before +me, and go every night in a public manner astride upon a black cat to a +meeting where you are suspected to appear: this last article is not +sworn to, it being doubtful in what manner our clandestine midnight +correspondence is carried on. Some think it treasonable, others lewd +(don't tell Lady Fanny); but all agree there was something very odd and +unaccountable in such sudden likings. I confess, as I said before, it is +witchcraft. You won't wonder I do not sign (notwithstanding all my +impudence) such dangerous truths: who knows the consequence? The devil +is said to desert his votaries." + + +To SIR JAMES STEUART + +"Venice, January 13, 1759. + +"I have indulged myself some time with day-dreams of the happiness I +hope to enjoy this summer in the conversation of Lady Fanny and Sir +James S.; but I hear such frightful stories of precipices and hovels +during the whole journey, I begin to fear there is no such pleasure +allotted me in the book of fate: the Alps were once molehills in my +sight when they interposed between me and the slightest inclination; now +age begins to freeze, and brings with it the usual train of melancholy +apprehensions. Poor human-kind! We always march blindly on; the fire of +youth represents to us all our wishes possible; and, that over, we fall +into despondency that prevents even easy enterprises: a store in winter, +a garden in summer, bounds all our desires, or at least our undertakings. +If Mr. Steuart would disclose all his imaginations, I dare swear he has +some thoughts of emulating Alexander or Demosthenes, perhaps both: +nothing seems difficult at his time of life, everything at name. I am +very unwilling, but am afraid I must submit to the confinement of my +boat and my easy-chair, and go no farther than they can carry me. Why +are our views so extensive and our powers so miserably limited? This +is among the mysteries which (as you justly say) will remain ever +unfolded to our shallow capacities. I am much inclined to think we are +no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes +prisoner the knave of hearts; and all our efforts (when we rebel against +destiny) as weak as a card that sticks to a glove when the gamester is +determined to throw it on the table. Let us then (which is the only true +philosophy) be contented with our chance, and make the best of that bad +bargain of being born in this vile planet; where we may find, however +(God be thanked), much to laugh at, though little to approve. + +"I confess I delight extremely in looking on men in that light. How many +thousands trample under foot honour, ease, and pleasure, in pursuit of +ribands of certain colours, dabs of embroidery on their clothes, and +gilt wood carved behind their coaches in a particular figure? Others +breaking their hearts till they are distinguished by the shape and +colour of their hats; and, in general, all people earnestly seeking what +they do not want, while they neglect the real blessings in their +possession--I mean the innocent gratification of their senses, which is +all we can properly call our own. For my part, I will endeavour to +comfort myself for the cruel disappointment I find in renouncing +Tubingen, by eating some fresh oysters on the table. I hope you are +sitting down with dear Lady F. to some admirable red partridges, which I +think are the growth of that country. Adieu! Live happy, and be not +unmindful of your sincere distant friend, who will remember you in the +tenderest manner while there is any such faculty as memory in the +machine called." + + +To THE COUNTESS OF BUTE + +"Venice, May 22, 1759. + +"... Building is the general weakness of old people; I have had a twitch +of it myself, though certainly it is the highest absurdity, and as sure +a proof of dotage as pink-coloured ribands, or even matrimony. Nay, +perhaps, there is more to be said in defence of the last; I mean in a +childless old man; he may prefer a boy born in his own house, though he +knows it is not his own, to disrespectful or worthless nephews or +nieces. But there is no excuse for beginning an edifice he can never +inhabit, or probably see finished. The Duchess of Marlborough used to +ridicule the vanity of it, by saying one might always live upon other +people's follies: yet you see she built the most ridiculous house I ever +saw, since it really is not habitable, from the excessive damps; so true +it is, the things that we would do, those do we not, and the things we +would not do, those do we daily. I feel in myself a proof of this +assertion, being much against my will at Venice, though I own it is the +only great town where I can properly reside, yet here I find so many +vexations, that, in spite of all my philosophy and (what is more +powerful) my phlegm, I am oftener out of humour than among my plants and +poultry in the country. I cannot help being concerned at the success of +iniquitous schemes, and grieve for oppressed merit. You, who see these +things every day, think me as unreasonable, in making them matter of +complaint, as if I seriously lamented the change of seasons. You should +consider I have lived almost a hermit ten years, and the world is as new +to me as to a country girl transported from Wales to Coventry. I know I +ought to think my lot very good, that can boast of some sincere friends +among strangers." + + +Old age will, in the long run, have its way. Lady Mary, as pleasantly +loquacious as ever, found the manual labour of writing not always to be +endured, and she tried the experiment of dictating her correspondence. + + +"Thus far" (she wrote to Sir James Steuart from Padua, July 19, 1759), +"I have dictated for the first time of my life, and perhaps it will be +the last, for my amanuensis is not to be hired, and I despair of ever +meeting with another. He is the first that could write as fast as I +talk, and yet you see there are so many mistakes, it wants a comment +longer than my letter to explain my insignificant meaning, and I have +fatigued my poor eyes more with correcting it, than I should have done +in scribbling two sheets of paper. You will think, perhaps, from this +idle attempt, that I have some fluxion on my sight; no such matter; I +have suffered myself to be persuaded by such sort of arguments as those +by which people are induced to strict abstinence, or to take physic. +Fear, paltry fear, founded on vapours rising from the heat, which is now +excessive, and has so far debilitated my miserable nerves that I submit +to a present displeasure, by way of precaution against a future evil, +that possibly may never happen. I have this to say in my excuse, that +the evil is of so horrid a nature, I own I feel no philosophy that could +support me under it, and no mountain girl ever trembled more at one of +Whitfield's pathetic lectures than I do at the word blindness, though I +know all the fine things that may be said for consolation in such a case: +but I know, also, they would not operate on my constitution. 'Why, then' +(say my wise monitors), 'will you persist in reading or writing seven +hours in a day?' 'I am happy while I read and write.' 'Indeed, one would +suffer a great deal to be happy,' say the men, sneering; and the ladies +wink at each other, and hold up their fans. A fine lady of three score +had the goodness to add, 'At least, madam, you should use spectacles; I +have used them myself these twenty years; I was advised to it by a famous +oculist when I was fifteen. I am really of opinion that they have +preserved my sight, notwithstanding the passion I always had both for +reading and drawing.' This good woman, you must know, is half blind, and +never read a larger volume than a newspaper. I will not trouble you with +the whole conversation, though it would make an excellent scene in a +farce; but after they had in the best bred way in the world convinced me +that they thought I lied when I talked of reading without glasses, the +foresaid matron obligingly said she should be very proud to see the +writing I talked of, having heard me say formerly I had no correspondents +but my daughter and Mr. Wortley. She was interrupted by her sister, who +said, simpering, 'You forgot Sir J.S.' I took her up something short, I +confess, and said in a dry stern tone, 'Madam, I do write to Sir J.S. and +will do it as long as he will permit that honour.' This rudeness of mine +occasioned a profound silence for some minutes, and they fell into a +good-natured discourse of the ill consequences of too much application, +and remembered how many apoplexies, gouts, and dropsies had happened +amongst the hard students of their acquaintance. As I never studied +anything in my life, and have always (at least from fifteen) thought the +reputation of learning a misfortune to a woman, I was resolved to believe +these stories were not meant at me: I grew silent in my turn, and took up +a card that lay on a table, and amused myself with smoking it over a +candle. In the mean time (as the song says), + + 'Their tattles all run, as swift as the sun, + Of who had won, and who was undone + By their gaming and sitting up late,' + +When it was observed I entered into none of these topics, I was +addressed by an obliging lady, who pitied my stupidity. 'Indeed, madam, +you should buy horses to that fine machine you have at Padua; of what +use is it standing in the portico?' 'Perhaps,' said another, wittily, +'of as much use as a standing dish.' A gaping schoolboy added with still +more wit, 'I have seen at a country gentleman's table a venison-pasty +made of wood.' I was not at all vexed by said schoolboy, not because he +was (in more senses than one) the highest of the company, but knowing he +did not mean to offend me. I confess (to my shame be it spoken) I was +grieved at the triumph that appeared in the eyes of the king and queen +of the company, the court being tolerably full. His majesty walked off +early with the air befitting his dignity, followed by his train of +courtiers, who, like courtiers, were laughing amongst themselves as they +followed him: and I was left with the two queens, one of whom was making +ruffles for the man she loved, and the other slopping tea for the good +of her country. They renewed their generous endeavours to set me right, +and I (graceless beast that I am) take up the smoked card which lay +before me, and with the corner of another wrote-- + + If ever I one thought bestow + On what such fools advise, + May I be dull enough to grow + Most miserably wise. + +And flung down the card on the table, and myself out of the room, in the +most indecent fury. A few minutes on the cold water convinced me of my +folly, and I went home as much mortified as my Lord E. when he has lost +his last stake at hazard. Pray don't think (if you can help it) this is +an affectation of mine to enhance the value of a talent I would be +thought to despise; as celebrated beauties often talk of the charms of +good sense, having some reason to fear their mental qualities are not +quite so conspicuous as their outside lovely form.--_A propos_ of +beauties: + + I know not why, but Heaven has sent this way + A nymph, fair, kind, poetical, and gay; + And what is more (tho' I express it dully), + A noble, wise, right honourable cully: + A soldier worthy of the name he bears, + As brave and senseless as the sword he wears. + +"You will not doubt I am talking of a puppet-show; and indeed so I am; +but the figures (some of them) bigger than the life, and not stuffed +with straw like those commonly shown at fairs. I will allow you to think +me madder than Don Quixote when I confess I am governed by the +_que-dira-t-on_ of these things, though I remember whereof they are +made, and know they are but dust. Nothing vexes me so much as that they +are below satire. (Between you and me) I think there are but two +pleasures permitted to mortal man, love and vengeance; both which are, +in a peculiar manner, forbidden to us wretches who are condemned to +petticoats. Even vanity itself, of which you daily accuse us, is the sin +against the Holy Ghost not to be forgiven in this world or the next. + + Our sex's weakness you expose and blame, + Of every prating fop the common theme; + Yet from this weakness you suppose is due + Sublimer virtue than your Cato knew. + From whence is this unjust distinction shown? + Are we not formed with passions like your own? + Nature with equal fire our souls endued: + Our minds as lofty, and as warm our blood. + O'er the wide world your wishes you pursue, + The change is justified by something new, + But we must sigh in silence and be true. + +"How the great Dr. Swift would stare at this vile triplet! And then what +business have I to make apologies for Lady Vane, whom I never spoke to, +because her life is writ by Dr. Smollett, whom I never saw? Because my +daughter fell in love with Lord Bute, am I obliged to fall in love with +the whole Scots nation? 'Tis certain I take their quarrels upon myself +in a very odd way; and I cannot deny that (two or three dozen excepted) +I think they make the first figure in all arts and sciences; even in +gallantry, in spite of the finest gentlemen that have finished their +education at Paris. + +"You will ask me what I mean by all this nonsense, after having declared +myself an enemy to obscurity to such a degree that I do not forgive it +to the great Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, who professes he studied it. I +dare swear you will sincerely believe him when you read his celebrated +works. I have got them for you, and intend to bring them. _Oime! +l'huomo. propone, Dio dispone_. I hope you won't think this dab of +Italian, that slid involuntarily from my pen, an affectation like his +Gallicisms, or a rebellion against Providence, in imitation of his +lordship, who I never saw but once in my life: he then appeared in a +corner of the drawing-room, in the exact similitude of Satan when he was +soliciting the court of Heaven for leave to torment an honest man." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +LAST YEARS (1760-1762) + +Lady Mary writes the history of her own times--Her health--Death of +Edward Wortley Montagu--His will--Lady Mary ponders the idea of +returning to England--She leaves Italy--She is held up at Rotterdam--She +reaches London--Horace Walpole visits her--Her last illness--Her +fortitude--Her death--She leaves one guinea to her son. + +One of Lady Mary's amusements towards the end of her life was writing +the history of her own time. "It has been my fortune," she said, "to +have a more exact knowledge both of the persons and facts that have made +the greatest figure in England in this age, than is common; and I take +pleasure in putting together what I know, with an impartiality that is +altogether unusual. Distance of tie and place has totally blotted from +my mind all traces of resentment or prejudice; and I speak with the same +indifference to the Court of Great Britain as I should do of that of +Augustus Caesar." Lady Mary, however, merely wrote for her own +entertainment, and burnt her manuscript almost as soon as it was +composed. It would certainly have made interesting reading; but she +never had any idea of publication. "I know mankind too well to think +they are capable of receiving the truth, much less of applauding it; or, +were it otherwise, applause to me is as insignificant as garlands on the +dead." + + +"I am exceedingly glad of your father's good health: he owes it to his +uncommon abstinence and resolution," Lady Mary wrote to her daughter, +April 11, 1759. "I wish I could boast the same. I own I have too much +indulged a sedentary humour and have been a rake in reading. You will +laugh at the expression, but I think the liberal meaning of the ugly +word rake is one that follows his pleasures in contradiction to his +reason. I thought mine so innocent I might pursue them with impunity. I +now find that I was mistaken, and that all excesses are (though not +equally) blamable. My spirits in company are false fire: I have a damp +within; from marshy grounds frequently arises an appearance of light. I +grow splenetic, and consequently ought to stop my pen, for fear of +conveying the infection." + +"My health is very precarious; may yours long continue and see the +prosperity of your family. I bless God I have lived to see you so well +established, and am ready to sing my _Nunc dimittis_ with pleasure," +Lady Mary wrote to her daughter in November, 1760; and early in the next +year she touched on the same subject in a letter to Sir James Steuart. +"I have not returned my thanks for your obliging letter so soon as both +duty and inclination prompted me but I have had so severe a cold, +accompanied with a weakness in my eyes, that I have been confined to my +stove for many days.... I am preparing for my last and longest journey, +and stand on the threshold of this dirty world, my several infirmities +like posthorses ready to hurry me away." + + +It was in January, 1761, that Edward Wortley Montagu passed away at the +age of eighty-three. He died at Wharncliffe, the family seat of the +Wortleys, where he had lived in a most miserly manner. He had only one +luxury--tokay, of which he was passionately fond. He left a great +fortune, the highest estimate of which was L1,350,000. Horace Walpole +said the estate was worth L600,000. Walpole gives some particulars of +the legacies: "To his son, on whom six hundred a-year was settled, the +reversion of which he has sold, he gives L1,000 a-year for life, but not +to descend to any children he may have by any of his many wives. To Lady +Mary, in lieu of dower, but which to be sure she will not accept, +instead of the thirds of such a fortune, L1,200 a-year; and after her to +their son for life; and then the L1,200 and L1,000 to Lady Bute and to +her second son; with L2,000 to each of her younger children; all the +rest, in present, to Lady Bute, then to her second son, taking the name +of Wortley, and in succession to all the rest of her children, which are +numerous; and after them to Lord Sandwich, to whom, in present, he +leaves about L40,000. The son, you perceive, is not so well treated by +his own father as his companion Taaffe[22] is by the French Court, where +he lives, and is received on the best footing; so near is Fort l'Eveque +to Versailles." + +[Footnote 22: Theodore Taaffe, an Irish adventurer, who, with Edward +Wortley Montagu, was imprisoned in Fort l'Eveque, at Paris, for cheating +at cards in 1751. The incident has been given in a pamphlet written by +Montagu.] + +On hearing of the death of her husband, Lady Mary bethought herself of +returning to England, from which she had been absent for more than a +score of years. She was seventy-two years old, and may well have thought +that her time, too, would soon come, and that she would like to die in +her native country. Still, it was some time before she could bring +herself to a decision to set out. She was delighted with the political +success of Lord Bute and pleased with her daughter's prosperity, but "I +am doubtful whether I will attempt to be a spectator of it," she +confided in Sir James Steuart in April. "I have so many years indulged +my natural inclinations to solitude and reading, I am unwilling to +return to crowds and bustle, which would be unavoidable in London. The +few friends I esteemed are now no more: the new set of people who fill +the stage at present are too indifferent to me even to raise my +curiosity." Also, as she said, she was beginning to feel the worst +effects of age, blindness excepted, and was grown timorous and +suspicious. + +It was no light thing for a woman of Lady Mary's age to voyage alone, +except for a servant or two, from Venice to London. Yet her indomitable +spirit came to her aid, and in the autumn of 1761 she left Italy. She +travelled by way of Augsberg and Frankfort to Rotterdam. The journey had +been far from agreeable. "I am dragging my ragged remnant of life to +England," she wrote to Sir James Steuart on November 20. "The wind and +tide are against me; how far I have strength to struggle against both I +know not; that I am arrived here is as much a miracle as any in the +golden legend; and if I had foreseen half the difficulties I have met +with I should not certainly have had courage to undertake it.... I am +nailed down here by a severe illness of my poor Marianne, who has not +been able to endure the frights and fatigues that we have passed." + +When, about three weeks later, Marianne had sufficiently recovered to +move on, Lady Mary was held up by a hard, impenetrable frost. The delay +irked her, and she became somewhat depressed, and said that she was +dubious, in her precarious state of health, whether she would arrive at +her destination. At the beginning of the new year, she did actually make +a start, and got half way to Helvoet, and was obliged to turn back by +the mountains of sea that obstructed the passage. "I have had so many +disappointments I can scarce entertain the flattering thought of +arriving in London," the poor lady complained; but she found comfort in +that "It is uncommon at my age to have no distemper, and to retain all +my senses in their first degree of perfection." Later in the month she +arrived in London. + +Horace Walpole, who heard everything, had, of course, heard that Lady +Mary was returned to England, and in a letter of October 8, 1761, +announced her return, adding with a brutality unusual even in him: "I +have not seen her yet, though they have not made her perform quarantine +for her own dirt." However, as he discovered shortly after, it was Lady +Mary Wrottisley, and not Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who had arrived. + +Of course, when Lady Mary had come to London, Walpole was one of the +first to go and see her. "I went last night to visit her," he wrote to +Sir Horace Mann on January 29. "I give you my honour, and you who know +her, would credit me without it, the following is a faithful description. +I found her in a miserable little chamber of a ready-furnished house, +with two tallow candles, and a bureau covered with pots and pans. On +her head, in full of all accounts, she had an old black-laced hood, +wrapped entirely round, so as to conceal all hair or want of hair. No +handkerchief, but up to her chin a kind of horse-man's riding-coat, +calling itself a _pet-en-l'air,_ made of a dark green (green I +think it had been) brocade, with coloured and silver flowers, and lined +with furs; boddice laced, a foul dimity petticoat sprig'd, velvet +muffeteens on her arms, grey stockings and slippers. Her face less +changed in twenty years than I could have imagined; I told her so, and +she was not so tolerable twenty years ago that she needed to have taken +it for flattery, but she did, and literally gave me a box on the ear. +She is very lively, all her senses perfect, her languages as imperfect +as ever, her avarice greater. She entertained me at first with nothing +but the dearness of provisions at Helvoet. With nothing but an Italian, +a French, and a Prussian, all men-servants, and something she calls an +_old_ secretary, but whose age till he appears will be doubtful; +she receives all the world who go to homage her as Queen-mother, and +crams them into this kennel. The Duchess of Hamilton, who came in just +after me, was so astonished and diverted, that she could not speak to +her for laughing. She says that she left all her clothes at Venice. I +really pity Lady Bute; what will the progress be of such a commencement?" + +Lady Mary rented a house in Great George Street, Hanover Square, whither +her daughter and grandchildren came often. Occasionally she went about, +and from time to time would grace an assembly with her presence. Horace +Walpole saw her at some gathering, dressed in yellow velvet and sables, +with a decent laced head and a black hood, almost like a veil, over her +face. His prognostication that she would by her interference and demands +for "jobs" make life hideous for Lord and Lady Bute proved to be +unfounded, and he had the grace to say, "She is much more discreet than +I expected, and meddles with nothing"; but he could not refrain from +saying that "she is woefully tedious in her narrations." + +Lady Mary was suffering from cancer, which she concealed from her family +and acquaintances until about the beginning of July (1762). Then it +burst, and there was no hope of her life being much prolonged. On July 2 +she wrote her last letter to Lady Frances Steuart, saying, "I have been +ill a long time, and am now so bad I am little capable of writing, but I +would not pass in your opinion as either stupid or ungrateful. My heart +is always warm in your service, and I am always told your affairs shall +be taken care of." If she was a bad woman to cross, at least even on her +deathbed she tried to do service to her friends. Death had no terrors +for her; she said she had lived long enough; and she died, as she had +lived, with great fortitude. + +Lady Mary passed away on August 21, 1762, at the age of seventy-three. +Her remains were interred in the graveyard of Grosvenor Chapel, where +also lie Ambrose Phillips, David Mallett, Lord Chesterfield, William +Whitehead, John Wilkes, and Elizabeth Carter. + +All that Lady Mary possessed, except some trifling legacies, she left to +Lady Bute. Her fortune is believed to have been inconsiderable, except +for some valuable jewels. Walpole had one last gibe: "With her usual +maternal tenderness and usual generosity, she has left her son one +guinea." The gibe was unworthy, because Walpole knew quite well the +career of that son, who, anyhow, was sufficiently provided for. It may +be that it was the pricking of Walpole's conscience for this last +outburst that made him later administer a stern rebuke to Lady Craven. +"I am sorry to hear, Madam, that by your account Lady Mary Wortley was +not so accurate and faithful as modern travellers. The invaluable art of +inoculation, which she brought from Constantinople, so dear to all +admirers of beauty, and to which we owe, perhaps the preservation of +yours, stamps her an universal benefactress; and as you rival her in +poetic talents I had rather you would employ them to celebrate her for +her nostrum, than detect her for romancing." + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lady Mary Wortley Montague, by Lewis Melville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE *** + +***** This file should be named 10590.txt or 10590.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/9/10590/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Charles Aldarondo, (no name) and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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