ive, he thus writes of Lord Hervey's conversation:--

His wit all see-saw between this and _that_--
Now high, now low--now _master_ up, now _miss_--
And he himself one vile antithesis.

* * * * *

Fop at the toilet, flatterer at the board,
Now trips a lady, and now struts a lord.
Eve's tempter, thus the rabbins have expressed--
A cherub's face--a reptile all the rest.
Beauty that shocks you, facts that none can trust,
Wit that can creep, and pride that bites the dust.'

'It is impossible,' Mr. Croker thinks, 'not to admire, however we may
condemn, the art by which acknowledged wit, beauty, and gentle
manners--the queen's favour--and even a valetudinary diet, are
travestied into the most odious offences.'

Pope, in two lines, pointed to the intimacy between Lady Mary and Lord
Hervey:--

'Once, and but once, this heedless youth was hit,
And liked that dangerous thing, a female wit.'

Nevertheless, he _afterwards_ pretended that the name _Sappho_ was not
applied to Lady Mary, but to women in general; and acted with a degree
of mean prevarication which greatly added to the amount of his offence.

The quarrel with Pope was not the only attack which Lord Hervey had to
encounter. Among the most zealous of his foes was Pulteney, afterwards
Lord Bath, the rival of Sir Robert Walpole, and the confederate with
Bolingbroke in opposing that minister. The 'Craftsman,' contained an
attack on Pulteney, written, with great ability, by Hervey. It provoked
a _Reply_ from Pulteney. In this composition he spoke of Hervey as 'a
thing below contempt,' and ridiculed his personal appearance in the
grossest terms. A duel was the result, the parties meeting behind
Arlington House, in Piccadilly, where Mr. Pulteney had the satisfaction
of almost running Lord Hervey through with his sword. Luckily the poor
man slipped down, so the blow was evaded, and the seconds interfered:
Mr. Pulteney then embraced Lord Hervey, and expressing his regret for
their quarrel, declared that he would never again, either in speech or
writing, attack his lordship. Lord Hervey only bowed, in silence; and
thus they parted.

The queen having observed what an alteration in the palace Lord Hervey's
death would cause, he said he could guess how it would be, and he
produced 'The Death of Lord Hervey; or, a Morning at Court; a Drama:'
the idea being taken it is thought, from Swift's vers