Lady Mary Wortley Montague | Page 5

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.