71G 
M O N T A G U E. 
liam and Anne, and this merit ought to be gratefully- 
acknowledged. With refpeCl to his own poetical cha¬ 
racter, when Addifon himfelf has been content to fay. 
How negligently graceful he unreins 
His verfe, and writes in loofe familiar ftrains; 
a modern reader will fcarcely be induced to conceive 
highly of it. In faCt, his few poems, though allowed to 
occupy a place in the modern colledtions of Englifh poe¬ 
try, fall rather below mediocrity; and Dr. Johnfon had 
reafon to fay, “ It would now be efteemed no honour, by 
a contributor to the monthly bundles of verfes, to be 
told that, in Itrains either familiar or folemn, he fings 
like Montague.” Gen. Biog. Juhnfon's Engtijh Poets. 
MON'TAGUF, (Lady Mary Wortley), one of the moft 
celebrated among the female literary characters of Eng¬ 
land, was the eldeft daughter of Evelyn duke of Kingfton, 
and lady Mary Fielding, daughter of William earl of 
Denbigh. She was born about 1690, at Thorefoy in 
Nottinghamfhire; and loll her mother at four years of 
age. Her early difplay of uncommon abilities caufed her 
to be educated upon a liberal plan ; and the attended the 
fame matters as her brother, under whom the acquired a 
knowledge of the Greek, Latin, and French, languages. 
She gave an extraordinary proof of her erudition, as well 
as of the folidity of her difpofition, in her twentieth year, 
by a tranflation of the Enchiridion of Epidtetus, which 
fhe prefented for revifion to bifhop Burnet, who had for 
fome time fuperintended her ftudies. Her mind was 
nourifhed in a Hate of retirement which would now- be 
thought extraordinary for a young woman of her rank. 
She fpentlier time chiefly at Thoretby, and at Adton near 
London, in the fociety of a few friends; and'the charms 
of her perfon and underftanding feem to have been little 
known to the world till after her marriage. This took 
place in 1712, with Edward Wortley Montague, efq. a 
relation of the earl of Halifax, the fubjedt of the preced¬ 
ing article. Lady Mary lived chiefly at Warncliffe-lodge, 
-near Sheffield, for three years after her marriage ; when 
the return of lord Halifax to the miniftry at the acceffion 
of George I. introduced Mr. Wortley (fo he is ufually 
called) to a place in the treafury, on which change in his 
circumftances he thought proper to bring his wife to 
London, and place her in the fphere of the court. Here 
flie attradled that admiration which beauty and elegance, 
joined to wit and all the charms of converfation, could 
not fail to infpire. She became familiarly acquainted 
with Addifon, Pope, and other diftinguithed writers of 
the time; and was well able herfelf to maintain her rank 
among the votaries of polite literature. 
In 1716 Mr. Wortley obtained the appointment of am- 
baffador to the Porte. He was accompanied to Conftan- 
tinople by lady Mary, who took greatdelight in this oppor¬ 
tunity of viewing foreign countries and manners. Their 
route led them through Germany to Vienna, and thence 
acrofs Hungary and the northern provinces of Turkey 
to Adrianople. Her natural talents and acquired know¬ 
ledge Angularly fltted her for making advantage of her 
Atuation, both in the courfe of travelling, and in her re- 
Adence as ambaffadrefs ; and her obfervations on the new 
and interefting fcenes to which the was witnefs, commu¬ 
nicated in a feries of letters to her friends, were equally 
replete with entertainment and with judicious reflexion. 
On many occaflons the difplayed a mind fuperior to com¬ 
mon prejudices and weak fears; but in none lo happily, 
as in her adopting the Turkifh practice of inoculation for 
the fmall-pox, then unknown in Chriftian Europe, for 
her own ion, at Pera, in 1718. This practice the was 
afterwards the principal means of introducing into Eng¬ 
land by the miniftration of Mr. Maitland, the medical 
attendant on the embafly ; and thereby rendered herfelf 
one of the greateft benefactors of her country. This 
merit alone jultly entitles her memory to a high degree 
of gratitude, not only from this nation, but from all 
1 
others which have followed the example of Great Britain 
in taking advantage of fo falutaryan in ention ; and, even 
if it Ihould hereafter be fuperfeded by a newer difcovery, 
ftill the medical fyftem of Europe mini: be confidered as 
indebted to her for rendering familiar the general idea 
of inoculation. 
Mr. Wortley returned from his embafly in 1718, and 
took his way, with her ladylhip in company, through the 
Archipelago to Genoa, and thence to Turin, Lyons, and 
Paris. Lady Mary’s tour, therefore, comprifed a larger 
and more varied circuit than has often been performed by 
a female traveller; and few have ever been able better to 
adapt themfelves to foreign manners, or have difplayed 
more firmnefs of mind in circumftances of difficulty and 
hazard. She was received at court with the diftinCtion 
due to one of her talents and acquirements; and fhe re¬ 
newed her connexions with the wits, among whom Pope, 
wdiofe neighbour fhe became at Twickenham, was one of 
the moft favoured. She feems to have indulged her fatiri- 
cal vein with more vivacity than prudence; whilft the 
freedom of her pen and converfation expofed her to im¬ 
putations which were gladly aggravated by thofe whom 
flie had offended. That the friendfhip between a lady of 
her character and the irritable Pope fhould be fliort, is not 
furprifing; but the virulence of their enmity was cre¬ 
ditable to neither party. If lady Mary was the Sappho 
of that poet’s fatirical pieces, he is chargeable with a 
grofler infult to her than could be endured by any woman. 
That infult, however, is a melancholy proof how much 
her reputation had fluttered in the fcandal of the times. 
The lines particularly referred to are to be found in the 
Imitation of Horace’s Firft Satire in the Second Book; 
but Pope, writing to lord Hervey in vindication of him¬ 
felf, fays, “ In regard to the right honourable lady, your 
friend, I was far from defigning a perfon of her condition 
by a name fo derogatory to her as that of Sappho, a name 
proftituted to every infamous creature that ever wrote 
verfe or novels. I proteft, I never applied that name to 
her in any verfe of mine, public or private, and I flrmly 
believe not in any letter or converfation. Whoevercould 
invent a falfehood to fupport fuch an accufation I pity; 
and whoever can believe fuch a character to be her’s, I 
pity ftill more.” His declaration was not believed ; lady 
Mary retaliated, by joining lord Hervey in a very fevere 
copy of verfes addrefled to him; and thenceforth they 
were at open wurfare. She was, however, courted by 
other wits of the time, and retained her place in the cir¬ 
cles of fathion and literature, till fome reafons induced 
her, in 1739, t0 quit her country and family, and fora 
long courfe of years to eftablifh her refldence on the con¬ 
tinent. Though health was the convenient pretext, there 
is little reafon to believe that it was the real and con¬ 
tinued motive of fuch an abfence from all thofe who 
ought to have been moft dear to her. That ihe went 
abroad with her hufband’s confent is evident from the 
liberal allowance he made her, and for which, in fome of 
her letters, the exprefles heracknowledgments. Probably 
it was alfo through his injunctions ; for fhe returned im¬ 
mediately after his death. The ftrain, however, of her 
correfpondence with him during this period, betrays 
neither refentmexit nor humiliation. Venice, Avignon, 
and Chamberry, were at different times her refldence; 
and (lie ufually Ipent her fummers at Louverre, on the 
lake of Ifeo, in the Venetian territory, famous for its 
mineral waters. There Ihe occupied an old palace, which 
flie put into habitable condition, amuflng herfelf with 
her garden, her Alk-worms, and the little fociety of the 
place, by whom Ihe feems to have been greatly refpeCted. 
She perfectly accommodated herfelf to the manners and 
way of living in that country, and pafled her time at 
leaft in tranquillity. In 1758 (lie appears to have been 
weary of her folitude, which the exchanged for the focial 
fcenes of Venice. On the death of Mr. Wortley in 1761, 
Ihe complied with the lolicitations of her daughter, the 
counter* 
