ceptibly destroyed, and she acquires that masculine tone of thought and speech, which was peculiarly the characteristic of Lady Mary.

Among the duties which, as the mistress of the domestic portion of her father's establishment, Lady Mary was called upon to perform, was the then formidable task of doing the honours of his table. People still cling to the barbarism of carving huge joints, and inhaling their obnoxious smells, at dinner; but, in the commencement of the last century the case was still worse: not only was it imperative on the lady of the house to teaze her guests till they eat to repletion; but it was necessary that every guest should be individually helped, and every joint operated upon, by her hand. Lady Mary used to mention, as curious illustrations of the fashionable manners of her youth, that carving-masters used to attend young ladies for the purpose of perfecting them in the art, and that she herself had been compelled to take lessons from one of these professors three times a week. She added, that such was the laborious task of presiding at table on one of her father's public days, that she was always obliged to eat her own dinner beforehand.*

Lady Mary was in the zenith of her beauty, when she formed the acquaintance of Mr. Edward Wortley Montagu, a man, apparently, of some talent, of sound sense, of a classical taste, and

*Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Works, vol. i. p. 11, edition by Lord Warncliffe.

of an original cast of mind.

On the other

hand, he was miserly in his habits; and we glean from Lady Mary's letters to him, that no flattery was too gross for his palate. Still it is evident, from the literary correspondence of the period, that he was the intimate friend of Addison, and that Steele, Congreve, and Garth were among his acquaintance. Thus, a congenial taste for literature and wit existed between Lady Mary and himself. He naturally became enamoured of a woman, who, to the possession of great beauty, superadded those intellectual qualities which he most valued and admired; and Lady Mary, though she confessed to him her inability to return his passion with a warmth equal to his own, yet freely admitted that she entertained a regard and partiality for him which she had never experienced towards any other suitor. On this, Montagu made his proposals to her father; but, either from an inability to make a settlement, or rather, as it would appear, from a prejudice against settling property on unborn children, of whose good or bad qualities he could know nothing, his offers were peremptorily rejected by the Duke of Kingston.

The lovers, indeed, still kept up a correspondence, but it appears by Lady Mary's letters, written at the period, that it was constantly on the point of being broken off,—not, indeed, by the vigilance and interference of her father,— but by perpetual jealousies and mistrusts on the part of Mr. Montagu, whose good sense pointed

out to him how little suited they were to each other, and that, however charming Lady Mary might be as a mistress, she was little calculated to confer happiness on him as a wife. Still, he was unable to extricate himself from the toils of wit and beauty, and when Lady Mary announced to him her father's fixed determination to unite her to another person, the passion of the lover drowned the reflections of the man of sense, and having persuaded his mistress to elope with him, they were privately married by a special licence, bearing date 12th August, 1712.

On the accession of George the First to the throne, the friends of Mr. Wortley came into power, and he received the reward of his parliamentary exertions by being appointed a Lord of the Treasury. The duties of his office obliged him, of course, to reside principally in London, and, consequently, Lady Mary was recalled from the solitude of Wharncliffe, where she had hitherto resided since her marriage. According to her biographer, Dallaway,-" her first appearance at St. James's was hailed with that universal admiration which beauty, enlivened by wit, incontestably claims." She speedily grew into favour with George the First, and in his son, afterwards George the Second, seems to have excited a warmer sentiment. One evening, the Prince happening suddenly to cast his eyes on her, desired the princess, who was playing at cards in another part of the apartment, to mark how very becomingly Lady Mary was

dressed. To be interrupted in the excitement of play, and for the purpose too of noting the loveliness of a rival, must have been sufficiently disagreeable to the Princess, and, consequently, we cannot be surprised that she retorted, with a marked sneer,-" Lady Mary always dresses well!" This anecdote was recorded by Lady Mary in her private journal-apparently a curious repository of wit and scandal, which her daughter, Lady Bute, no doubt from very proper motives, thought proper to destroy; the loss of which, however, we cannot but regret.

The circumstance of Lady Mary being constantly invited to the private parties of George the First, had the effect of depriving her of the favour and admiration of his son. It has, indeed, ever been the peculiar characteristic of the heirs of the House of Hanover, so far to reverse the order of nature, as to deprecate the slightest respect shown to the author of their being; and, consequently, it was in the true spirit of this feeling, that when Lady Mary was known to be a favoured visitor at St. James's, she grew to be an object of distrust and dislike at Leicester House.

66

As regards, however, her admission to the select evening parties of George the First, the following anecdote, the substance of which was inserted in her lost journal, is deserving of repetition :-" She had on one evening a particular engagement that made her wish to be dismissed unusually early : she explained her reasons to the Duchess of Kendal, and the Duchess informed the King, who,

after a few complimentary remonstrances, appeared to acquiesce. But when he saw her about to take her leave, he began battling the point afresh, declaring it was unfair and perfidious to cheat him in such a manner, and saying many other fine things, in spite of which she at last contrived to escape. At the foot of the great stairs she ran against Secretary Craggs* just coming in, who stopped her to inquire what was the matter? were the company put off? She told him why she

* James Craggs, the younger, who succeeded Addison as Secretary of State, was equally distinguished for his abilities as a statesman, for his handsome person, his ingratiating manners, and social pleasantry. His father, James Craggs the elder, had been footman to Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and by the influence of that celebrated woman, as well as by his own strong sense and excellent conduct, rose to be Postmaster-General, and was enabled to amass an almost princely fortune. The younger Craggs died on the 16th of February, 1720, at the age of thirty-five, and about a month afterwards his father followed him to the grave. The former was buried in Westminster Abbey, where there is a monument to him, inscribed with the well-known epitaph of his friend Pope:

"Statesman, yet friend to truth; of soul sincere,

In action faithful, and in honour clear:

Who broke no promise, served no private end,
Who gained no title, and who lost no friend;
Ennobled by himself,-by all approved,

Praised, wept, and honoured by the muse he loved!" Alluding to the lowness of his origin, and to the circumstance of his dying before his father, Peter Leneve, the herald, proposed that his inscription should be," Here lies the last, who died before the first of his family." Both the Craggs are believed to have been deeply implicated in the memorable and infamous South-Sea bubble.