Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have expressed,
A cherub's face--a reptile all the rest.
Beauty that shocks you, parts that none can trust,
Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust."

[Footnote 8: Queen Caroline.]

This was a heavy price to pay for the favours even of Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu.

Whatever the relations between Lady Mary and Hervey, Lady Hervey was not
indulgent to them, which may have inspired Lady Mary to write to her
sister: "Lady Hervey, by aiming too high, has fallen very low; and is
reduced to trying to persuade folks she has an intrigue, and gets nobody
to believe her; the man in question taking a great deal of pains to
clear himself of the scandal." Lady Hervey and Mrs. Murray were active
partisans of Lord Grange in his persecution of Lady Mary, and aided him
in his attempts to get possession of her sister, Lady Mar.

The bad terms on which Lady Mary and Lady Hervey were is most clearly
defined by Lady Louisa Stuart: "At the time of Lady Mary Wortley's return
home [in 1762, after an absence abroad of more than twenty years], Lady
Hervey was living in great intimacy with Lady Bute, for whom she
professed, and it is believed really felt, the highest esteem and
admiration. On hearing of her mother's arrival, she came to her, owning
herself embarrassed by the fear of giving her pain or offence, but yet
compelled to declare that formerly something had passed between her and
Lady Mary which made any renewal of their acquaintance impossible;
therefore, if she forbore visiting her, she threw herself upon Lady
Bute's friendship and candour for pardon. No explanation followed. Lady
Bute, who must have early seen the necessity of taking care not to be
entangled in her mother's quarrels, which, to speak truth, were seldom
few in number, only knew that there had been an old feud between her,
Lady Hervey, and Lady Hervey's friend, Mrs. (or Lady) Murray; the
particulars of which, forgotten even then by everybody but themselves,
may well be now beyond recall."

During this period there were several domestic happenings in Lady Mary's
family.

On March 5, 1726, died her father, the Duke of Kingston. After the
accession of George I, the Marquess of Dorchester (as he then was) was
high in favour at Court, and honours were showered upon him with a
lavish hand. He was in 1714 appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, and
in the same year Chief Justice in Eyre, north of Trent, which l