“Yesterday morning Mrs. Southwell and I got into her postchaise early, and went to the passage of the Severn, got into the Ferry boat and cross’d over to Chepstow in Monmouthshire, and from Chepstow we went to Mr. Morris’ called Piercefield, a place so far exceeding any thing I ever saw or expect to see, I must reserve the description till I see you. A reach of the Severn of forty miles is one of the most inconsiderable advantages of the place, every beauty of land, sea, rocks, verdure, cultivation, old ruins, villages, churches are there in the highest perfection; the river Wye forms a most beautiful half island in one part as the Severn Sea adorns the other.”
WORTLEY MONTAGU
Mr. Montagu replies—
“On Tuesday night, as I was at Supper about 10 o’clock, who should come in to me but my cousin Wortley,[165] he had been making a visit to somebody near Wallingford ... he missed his way, the roads were so bad and rough that two of the glasses of his new chaize were broken and he could not get any reparation at Newbury.” In commenting on political subjects, he adds, “I suppose now everybody will be sensible of the folly we have been guilty of in so long suffering the Wild Boar of Germany to enter and destroy our vineyard.”
[165] Mr. Wortley Montagu, senior, husband of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, first cousin to Mr. Edward Montagu.
Mrs. Montagu answers—
“I assure you it is with a melancholy pleasure I often look on this charming country, perhaps this is the last summer I may ever be an idle traveller thro’ a peaceable country; however, I have one comfort, that as you are innocent of the evils that may overwhelm us, you will the better support yourself and me under them, and that the best we can hope is to be tributary vassals to France, perhaps they will invade and conquer us, but God forbid.”
ELIZABETH WILMOT
Mrs. Talbot,[166] writing from Barrington,[167] bids Mrs. Montagu to come and stay with her. The letter is not a remarkable one, but it says, “Have you heard lately from Lady Sandwich? I find the old Countess[168] is dead at last at Paris.” This was the eccentric Elizabeth Wilmot, sister of the Earl of Rochester, and grandmother of John, Lord Sandwich, widow of the 3rd Earl. It is said she governed her husband to such a degree that he was almost a cypher and a prisoner in his own house, she being, though an indifferent wife, a most brilliant spirited woman. After her lord’s death in 1729, she lived in Paris, where she was the friend of Ninon de l’Enclos and St. Evremont. Both Pope and Lord Chesterfield have mentioned her as extremely spirited and having great intellectual ability.
[166] Mrs. Talbot, widow of Edward Talbot, Bishop of Durham.