Chapter VIII

Mrs. Montagu’s Attention to Her Affairs—Visits Sandleford
and Denton—Visits Her Estate at Burniston—Entertains Her
Tenants—Drought in 1775—Charitable Institutions—Visits Her
Collieries—Difference between Her Northumbrian and Yorkshire
Tenantry—Anecdote of Walter Scott—Lord Villiers Acts Lord
Townley—The French Ambassador—Lord Granby—Mrs. Montagu
in Paris—Voltaire Sends a Paper to the Academy against
Shakespeare—Mrs. Montagu Is Present at the Reading—Her Ready
Reply to M. Suard—A Judicious Idleness—Quantity of Rouge Used
in Paris—The Emperor of Austria—“The School for Scandal”—The
Duchess of Devonshire—Run of Bad Weather—Sir William
Temple—Doctor Robinson’s History of America—Lord Shelburne—Abbé
Raynal—Prevalence of Influenza—Engagement of Lady Mary
Somerset—Death of Morris Robinson—Jack the Painter—Doctor
Dodd—Lord Chesterfield—Lady Strathmore’s Conduct at the
Elections—Stoney Bowes 139

CHAPTER IX.

Nuneham—Society There—The French Ambassador—The Taking of
Ticonderoga—Morris Robinson’s Widow—Building of the Haymarket
Theatre—Mrs. Montagu’s Heir—The Minuet—Family Affairs—Kindness
to Mrs. Morris Robinson—Accident to Mrs. Scott—Lord Percy’s
Divorce—The Duke of Hamilton—Miss Burrell—False Report of the
Death of Mrs. Montagu’s Father—Accident to Lord Chatham—His
Appearance in the House of Lords—Speech There in Reply to
the Duke of Richmond—Sinks Speechless in a Fit—Mothers and
Daughters in 1778 161

CHAPTER X.

Character of Miss Coke—The New Singer at the Pantheon—Society
at Tunbridge Wells—The Minuet Goes Out of Fashion—Decay of
Mrs. Montagu’s Father—The Camp at Coxheath—Prosperity of the
North of England—Lord Kames—Victory of Lord Rodney—Completion
of the Circus at Bath—Commencement of the Crescent There—Life
in Bath—Cards the Chief Business There—Mr. Anstey—Four by
Honours—Riots in England—The Nabobs—Marriage of Mrs. Montagu’s
Niece—Mrs. Montagu’s New House—Corruption of London Society
in 1779—Three Divorces in One Session—Lord Percy—Lord
Carmarthen—Lord Derby—The Duke of Dorset—Mrs. Macaulay 174