“Have you seen Dr. Gregory and his bride? When I saw the Doctor at Mrs. Knight’s, I did not apprehend he designed to be our dear cousin.”
[327] His second wife, Lady Sophie Fermor, daughter of 1st Earl Pomfret; married April 14, 1744.
This is the first mention of Dr. John Gregory, afterwards such an intimate friend of the Montagus. He was the son of Dr. James Gregory, an eminent physician, by his second marriage with Anne Chalmers, and grandson of James Gregory, who invented the Gregorian telescope. His bride, who, judging from the above, must have been a cousin of the Robinsons, was Elizabeth,[328] daughter of William, 13th Baron Forbes, by his wife Dorothy Dale. Lady Forbes lost £20,000 in the South Sea bubble. Dr. John Gregory[329] became a distinguished physician, and an author of note. Frequent mention of him will be made later on.
[328] She had beauty, wit, and a large fortune.
[329] A daughter of his married A. Allison, and was mother of the historian.
In the same letter Mrs. Montagu urges Dr. Freind to write and congratulate the duchess on her second son’s birth. The Freinds had just commenced a friendship with the Portlands.
GOWNS
Mrs. Robinson asks her daughter, who had now returned to London, to buy her a lutestring gown, “but as I have a tabby of a dark brown, I would have my lutestring pretty light.” This gown, from a further letter, appears to have cost 6s. 9d. a yard, and Mrs. Montagu suggests she should buy a French trimming of Mademoiselle for the same, “a slight pretty thing for a guinea.” A capucin Mrs. Robinson had ordered; she says, “I like my capucin much better than that which was shorter, and it is quite good enough for the use one makes of them.” Probably a hood with a deep cape, as in a previous letter the garment is described as “always ugly, but useful.”
Mrs. Robinson says, “I suppose you have had your promised visit from Mrs. Middleton.[330] I believe the doctor would give something to be in the state of widowhood once again; she is queer and ill-tempered, and he heartily tired with it.”
[330] Mrs. Conyers Middleton No. 2.