d I went together
from his office to Mr Harley's, and thought to have been very wise;
but the deuce a bit: the company staid, and more came, and Harley went
away at seven, and the Secretary and I staid with the rest of the
company till eleven; I would then have had him come away, but he was
in for't; and though he swore he would come away at that flask, there
I left him. I wonder at the civility of these people; when he saw I
would drink no more, he would always pass the bottle by me, and yet I
could not keep the toad from drinking himself, nor he would not let me
go neither, nor Masham, who was with us. When I got home I found a
parcel directed to me, and opening it, I found a pamphlet written
entirely against myself, not by name, but against something I writ: it
is pretty civil, and affects to be so, and I think I will take no
notice of it; 'tis against something written very lately; and indeed I
know not what to say, nor do I care; and so you are a saucy rogue for
losing your money to-day at Stoyte's; to let that bungler beat you, fy
Stella, an't you ashamed? well, I forgive you this once, never do so
again; no, noooo. Kiss and be friends, sirrah.--Come, let me go sleep;
I go earlier to bed than formerly; and have not been out so late these
two months; but the secretary was in a drinking humour. So good night,
myownlittledearsaucyinsolentrogues.

FOOTNOTES:

[102] As such, it has commended itself to other selectors. But
duplication, though it has been sedulously avoided here, is sometimes
almost inevitable.

[103] _I.e._ the part of facilitating the operation, and disappearing in
the results aimed at.

LADY MARY WORTLEY-MONTAGU (1689-1762)

The ratio of importance between life and letters varies a
good deal with different writers: and the circumstances of
the life have seldom been of more importance to the letter
than in the case of "Lady Mary"--Pierrepont as she was born.
When she was a girl she held an unusual place in the house
of her widowed father the Duke of Kingston. Her courtship
by, or with, or of (one doubts as to the preposition) Edward
Wortley-Montagu, a descendant of Pepys's Lord Sandwich, had
peculiarities, and her marriage with him more. She was a
sort of pet at George the First's court; she went with her
husband to Constantinople as Ambassadress; she introduced
inoculation into England; she was, under imperfectly known
ci