of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu are
the Memoirs of James Dallaway prefixed to an edition of the _Works_
(1803) and the _Introductory Anecdotes_ in a new edition (1837) by Lady
Louisa Stuart, the daughter of Lady Bute and the granddaughter of Lady
Mary. There is another account of Lady Mary by the late Moy Thomas in
revised editions of the letters and writings (1861 and 1887). Sir Leslie
Stephen was responsible for the memoir in the _Dictionary of National
Biography_. In 1907 appeared _Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her Times_,
by that sound authority on the eighteenth century, "George Paston," who
was so fortunate as to discover many scores of letters hitherto
unpublished.

Other sources of information are to be found in Pope's Correspondence,
Spence's _Anecdotes_, Dilke's _Papers of a Critic,_ Cobbetts _Memorials
of Twickenham_, the Stuart MSS. at Windsor Castle, the MSS. of the Duke
of Beaufort, and the Lindsay MSS.

My thanks--though not, perhaps, the thanks of my readers--are especially
due to that ripe scholar Mr. Hannaford Bennett, who suggested this work
to me. I am indebted to Mr. M.H. Spielmann and other friends and
correspondents for information and suggestions. Finally, I must
acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mrs. E. Constance Monfrino in the
preparation of this biography.

LEWIS MELVILLE.

_London,
March, 1925_.

CONTENTS

PREFACE

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 1790--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
Burnet--Submits to the Bishop a translation of "Encheiridion" of
Epictetus--An attractive child--A "toast" at the Kit-Cat Club--Acts as
hostess to her father

CHAPTER II

GIRLHOOD (1703-1710)

Lady Mary makes the acquaintance of Edward Wortley Montagu--Montagu
attracted by her looks and her literary gifts. Assists her in her
studies--Montagu a friend of the leading men of letters of the
day--Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, and others--The second volume
of the _Tatler_ dedicated to him