After returning to England, Lady Mary took less interest in court compared to her earlier years. Instead, she was more focused on the upbringing of her children, reading, writing and editing her travel letters—which she then chose not to publish.[1]
Before starting for the East, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had met Alexander Pope, and during her Embassy travels with her husband, they wrote each other a series of letters. While Pope may have been fascinated by her wit and elegance, Lady Mary's replies to his letters reveal that she was not equally smitten.[1] Very few letters passed between them after Lady Mary's return to England, and various reasons have been suggested for the subsequent estrangement.[1] In 1728, Pope attacked Lady Mary in his Dunciad, which inaugurated a decade in which most of his publications made some sort of allegation against her.[1]
Difficulties with family
Lady Mary went through a series of trials with her children. In 1726 and 1727, Lady Mary's son Edward ran away from Westminster School several times. He was then entrusted to a tutor with strict orders to keep him abroad. In later years, her son managed to return to England without permission and continued to have a strained relationship with both his parents.[1]
In the summer of 1736, Lady Mary's daughter, also named Mary, fell in love with John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, but he had little fortune; Lady Mary warned her daughter about the disadvantages of living in poverty.[43] Lady Mary similarly had concerns regarding the 1734 marriage of her niece Lady Mary Pierrrepont (1711-1795) who had eloped with Philip Meadows, Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park saying that her "ruin" was due to the "silly good people that had the care of her".[44]
In August 1736, Lady Mary's daughter married Bute, despite her parents' disapproval of the match.[35] Later, Lady Mary wrote to Lord Gower, 1st Earl Gower, about her daughter's disobedience.[43] In response, Lord Gower tried to console Lady Mary: "I hope by her future conducts she will atone for her past, and that choice will prove more happy than you and Mr. Wortley expect."[43] In the same year, she met and fell in love with Count Francesco Algarotti, who competed with an equally smitten John Hervey for her affections.[45]
Lady Mary wrote many letters to Francesco Algarotti in English and in French after his departure from England in September 1736.[35] In July 1739, Lady Mary departed England without her husband ostensibly for health reasons, possibly from a disfiguring skin disease, and declared her intentions to winter in the south of France; after she left England, she and her husband never met again.[46][47] In reality, she left to visit and live with Algarotti in Venice.[1] Their relationship ended in 1741 after Lady Mary and Algarotti were both on a diplomatic mission in Turin.[35] Lady Mary stayed abroad and travelled extensively. After travelling to Venice, Florence, Rome, Genoa and Geneva, she finally settled in Avignon in 1742.[1] She left Avignon in 1746 for Brescia, where she fell ill and stayed for nearly a decade, leaving for Lovere in 1754. In the summer of 1756, Lady Mary travelled to Venice for an undisclosed business errand.[48] After August 1756, she resided in Venice and Padua and saw Algarotti again in November.[35] Throughout the time, Lady Mary exchanged letters with her daughter, Lady Bute, discussing topics such as philosophy, literature, and the education of girls, as well as conveying details of her geographical and social surroundings.[1]
Mary Wortley Montagu in 1739Lady Mary received news of her husband Edward Wortley Montagu's death on 1 January 1761, and he was buried at Wortley.[49] As soon as she learned of her husband's death, Lady Mary left Venice for England.[35] She had a self-imposed exile because of her strained relationship with Edward, but her return made sense because she wanted to see her daughter and her grandchildren before she died.[50] On 1 September 1761, she began her journey back home; she decided to go through Germany and Holland because France, which was deemed the easier route, was at war.[50] However, the journey was dangerous and exhausting. When she reached Augsburg on 1 October, she wrote to Sir James and Lady Francis Steuart that "she hoped to meet them in Holland."[50] She recorded her perils and fatigues to Sir James in a letter: "I am dragging my ragged remnant of life to England. The wind and the tide are against me; how far I have strength to struggle against both, I know not."[50] While detained at Rotterdam, she handed her Embassy Letters to the Reverend Benjamin Sowden of Rotterdam, for safe keeping and "to be dispos'd of as he thinks proper."[35] After she left Rotterdam on 12 December, a hard, impenetrable frost hindered her voyage.[51] Towards the end of the month, she sailed for England, but a mountainous sea obstructed the passage and the captain returned to harbor.[51] On the next attempt a few days later, Lady Mary reached London in January 1762.[1] After arriving in London, Lady Mary rented a house in Great George Street, Hanover Square, and her daughter and grandchildren often visited her.[52]
In June 1762, it became known that Lady Mary was suffering from cancer.[53] Even though she tried to conceal her illness from her family as long as possible, she grew rapidly weaker that month. She wrote her last letter but with difficulty on 2 July to Lady Frances Steuart; in this letter, she wrote "I have been ill a long time, and am now so bad I am little capable of writing, but I would not pass in your opinion as either stupid or ungrateful. My heart is always warm in your service, and I am always told your affairs shall be taken care of."[53] Lady Frances's son was in London, and when he visited Lady Mary's house, he was summoned to her bedroom where he was surrounded by her relatives, including Lord and Lady Bute.[9] Lady Mary then ordered her relatives to leave the room, saying of Lady Frances's son, "My dear young friend has come to see me before I die, and I desire to be left alone with him."[54] She died on 21 August 1762 at her house in Great George Street, and was buried in Grosvenor Chapel the day after she died.[53]
