Lady Mary Wortley Montague | Page 4

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