may think
some imprudent behaviour of mine has occasioned all this ridiculous
persecution [by the Resident]" she wrote to them in May, 1758. "I can
assure you I have always treated him and his family with the utmost
civility, and am now retired to Padua, to avoid the comments that will
certainly be made on his extraordinary conduct towards me. I only desire
privacy and quiet, and am very well contented to be without visits,
which oftener disturb than amuse me. My single concern is the design he
has formed of securing (as he calls it) my effects immediately on my
decease; if they ever fall into his hands, I am persuaded they will
never arrive entire into yours, which is a very uneasy thought to me."

Although not primarily interested in politics, Lady Mary had met so many
politicians that she was naturally eager to hear what was going on, and
the fact that her son-in-law, Lord Bute, was active in that department
of life made her follow ministerial events in England so closely as
possible. "I stay here, though I am on many accounts better pleased with
Padua," she wrote to her daughter from Venice, January 20, 1758. "Our
great minister, the Resident, treats me as one of the Opposition. I am
inclined to laugh rather than be displeased at his political airs; yet,
as I am among strangers they are disagreeable; and, could I have
foreseen them, would have settled in some other part of the world: but I
have taken leases of my houses, been at much pains and expense in
furnishing them, and am no longer of an age to make long journeys."

Pitt's Coalition Ministry, formed in June, 1757, in which Pitt and Lord
Holdernesse were Secretaries of State, the Duke of Newcastle First Lord
of the Treasury, Legge Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lord Granville,
Lord Temple, Sir Robert Henley, the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of
Bedford, and Henry Fox held office, moved Lady Mary to merriment.

"Your account of the changes in ministerial affairs do not surprise me;
but nothing could be more astonishing than their all coming together"
(she wrote to Lady Bute). "It puts me in mind of a friend of mine who
had a large family of favourite animals; and not knowing how to convey
them to his country-house in separate equipages, he ordered a Dutch
mastiff, a cat and her kittens, a monkey, and a parrot, all to be packed
up together in one large hamper, and sent by a waggon. One may easily
guess how this set of company made their journey; and I have n