Montagu, LADY MARY WORTLEY

Montagu, LADY MARY WORTLEY, born about 1690 at Thoresby, Nottinghamshire, was the eldest daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, Earl (afterwards Duke) of Kingston. She was a clever, attractive child, the pride and delight of her father, who, having lost his wife in 1694, and continuing a widower, introduced his daughter to society, and made her preside at his table at a very early age. When she was only eight years old he introduced her to the famous Kit-Cat Club, and she was formally admitted a member. In 1712 she married, without the consent of her father, Edward Wortley Montagu, eldest son of the Hon. Sydney Montagu, grandson of the first Earl of Sandwich. For more than three years after her marriage she lived at Wharncliffe Lodge, near Sheffield, where her son was born, her husband during this time being kept principally in London by his parliamentary duties. On the accession of George I. Mr Montagu obtained a seat at the Treasury Board, and from this time Lady Mary lived in London, where she gained a brilliant reputation by her wit and beauty, and was on terms of intimate friendship with Addison and Pope, and other literary men of the day. In 1716 Mr Montagu was appointed ambassador to the Porte, and in August of that year he set out for Constantinople, accompanied by his wife. They remained abroad till 1718, and during this time Lady Mary wrote the well-known Letters to her sister, the Countess of Mar, Pope, and other friends. The Letters give a true description of Eastern life and manners, and are written in a clear, lively style, sparkling with wit and humour. While in Turkey she witnessed Inoculation (q.v.), and introduced it into England on her return, having so much faith in its safety that she tried it first on her own son. The next twenty years of her life she passed in England, and fixed her abode at Twickenham, where she renewed her intimacy with Pope, and then quarrelled with him, the immediate cause of the quarrel being the publication by Lady Mary of six satirical sketches entitled Town Eclogues. In 1739, for reasons which are not well known, she left England and her husband, from whom, however, she parted on very good terms, though they never met again. She lived in Italy, first on the shores of the Lake of Iseo, and afterwards at Venice till 1761, when, at the request of her daughter, the Countess of Bute, she returned to England. She died August 21, 1762. A collected edition of her works, with Life, was published by her great-grandson, Lord Wharncliffe (3 vols. 1837; 3d ed. 1887).