From Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday, June 30, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband, then in Hill Street—
“My Dearest,
“I had a very agreeable journey hither, but found my present lodging too small to receive the maids who are to come in the postchaise, so cannot send for them till Lady Fitzwilliam is well enough to leave Dr. Morley’s. I can give but little account of Tunbridge as yet. I drank the waters at the well this morning, and have now taken leave of the walks till to-morrow, as this fine weather will be better spent in an airing than on the Pantiles.... Lord Bath was on the Walks, and General Pulteney,[269] and Mr. and Mrs. Torriano and Mr. Marriott. Many of the ladies are too lazy to come down in a morning, and those that do come to the well are an hour later than when I was here last.”
[269] Lord Bath’s brother.
“MOUNT EPHRAIM”
Miss Botham now joined Mrs. Montagu, who was looking out for a house for Lord Lyttelton.
“I believe your Lordship must accept of a house on Mount Ephraim, which Lady Pembroke laid in last year, for I do not believe I can get you a better. Order your postillion to stop at Mr. Dowding’s on Mount Ephraim when you come, and there your Lordship shall be inform’d of the certain place of your abode.”
On July 14, Dr. Stillingfleet writes from Stratton to Mrs. Montagu to thank her for a letter, and says he was out of health and spirits;
“this has hindered me from receiving so much pleasure from the unexpected kindness of Lord Barrington[270] as might naturally have been expected.” He then comments on her disappointment “at the smallness of the favour conferred upon me, for it seems to me much superior to anything i would have expected. However favourable you, dear Madam, may judge me, i cannot rate my talents so highly as to think they are undervalued at £100 per ann., when no business is to be done for it.” This was his appointment as Master of Kensington Barracks, which took place on June 12. “I had a letter from Dr. Monsey dated Wotton, that gives me much concern, for by his account he seems to be in a bad state of health, and i should think by no means qualified to travel in the pais (sic) du tendre, but he is a thorough-paced hero, and can be romantic in the midst of pain. Should you lose your knight errant i do not think the world can furnish you with a successor, for amongst all your other admirers you will not perhaps meet with one who at seventy is capable of all the tenderness which they have at twenty....” After this he alludes to the inflammation of the eyes Mrs. Montagu was suffering from. “If you cannot see to write he and all your friends will lose one of their greatest pleasures. Has he prescribed the Vitriol Water?”
[270] 2nd Viscount Barrington, Secretary for War in 1755, etc.