Lady Mary Wortley Montague | Page 5

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