pable of preferring the despicable
wretch you mention to Mr. Wortley, is as ridiculous, if not as criminal,
as forsaking the Deity to worship a calf; ... my tenderness is always
built upon my esteem and when the foundation perishes, it falls".

Wortley, not only in the courtship, but throughout their long wedded
life, appears to have been singularly calm and unimpassioned. He was an
admirable scholar, and counted among his intimate friends Addison and
Steele. The second volume of the _Tatler_ was dedicated to him in an
epistle probably composed by the latter writer.

The easy-going sister Anne died, without Lady Mary displaying an excess
of grief, and thenceforth the lovers corresponded directly. She alarmed
Wortley with her society successes, and he charged her with a growing
levity and love of pleasure. Thereupon she became wise and steady, and
his fears increased, since the sense she displayed was more suited to a
grave matron than to a fashionable belle. Time went on: Wortley made his
desires known to the maiden's father, but a disagreement arose
concerning the marriage settlement, and the Marquis of Dorchester--he
was not created Duke of Kingston until 1715--set about looking for
another son-in-law. A gentleman was found whom Lady Mary professed to
hate, and in August, 1712, Wortley carried her off in a coach and they
were made man and wife. As the father was implacable, she entered
wedlock without any portion. Probably the marquis was not sorry to be
rid of his worthy daughter, since one cannot doubt that his opposition
to her happiness must have whetted the tongue that stung so keenly in
later years.

Of Lady Mary's life at Thoresby we find interesting pictures in her
descendant, Lady Louisa Stuart's, "Introductory Anecdotes to her
Letters". "Lord Dorchester, having no wife to do the honours of his
table at Thoresby, imposed that task upon his eldest daughter, as soon
as she had bodily strength for the office; which in those days required
no small share. For the mistress was not only to invite--that is, urge
and tease--her company to eat more than human throats could conveniently
swallow, but to carve every dish, when chosen, with her own hands....
There were then professed carving-masters, who taught young ladies the
art scientifically: from one of these Lady Mary said she took lessons
thrice a week, that she might be perfect on her father's public days,
when in order to perform her functions without interrupt