1 files changed, 10774 insertions, 0 deletions

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.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+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
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS," WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's
+eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII,
+compressed (zipped), HTML and others.
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over
+the old filename and etext number.  The replaced older file is renamed.
+VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving
+new filenames and etext numbers.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000,
+are filed in directories based on their release date.  If you want to
+download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular
+search system you may utilize the following addresses and just
+download by the etext year.
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06
+
+    (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99,
+     98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90)
+
+EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are
+filed in a different way.  The year of a release date is no longer part
+of the directory path.  The path is based on the etext number (which is
+identical to the filename).  The path to the file is made up of single
+digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename.  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
+
+