William--His son, Evelyn, in due course succeeds to the Dukedom of
Kingston--Elizabeth Chudleigh--The political situation in 1714--The death
of Queen Anne--The accession of George I--The unrest in the country--
Lady Mary's alarm for her son.


The records for the first years of the married life of Edward and Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu are scanty indeed. From the wedding day until 1716,
when they went abroad, Lady Mary's life was, for months together, as
uneventful as that of the ordinary suburban housewife. Montagu's
parliamentary duties took him frequently to town, and kept him there for
prolonged periods, during which he certainly showed no strong desire for
her to join him. Lady Mary, indeed, spent most of the time in the
country. Sometimes she stayed at the seat of her father-in-law,
Wharncliffe Lodge, near Sheffield; occasionally she visited Lord
Sandwich at Hinchinbrooke; for a while they stayed at Middlethorpe, in
the neighbourhood of Bishopthorpe and York. From time to time they hired
houses in other parts of Yorkshire. The honeymoon lasted from August
until October, 1712, when Montagu had to go to Westminster.

The first letter of this period is dated characteristically: "Walling
Wells, October 22, which is the first post I could write. Monday night
being so fatigued and sick I went straight to bed from the coach." It
starts:


"I don't know very well how to begin; I am perfectly unacquainted with a
proper matrimonial stile. After all, I think 'tis best to write as if we
were not married at all. I lament your absence, as if you were still my
lover, and I am impatient to hear you are got safe to Durham, and that