BC_1764_EMONTAGU_GL
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<Q A 1764 TC GL EMONTAGU> <X ELIZABETH MONTAGU> [}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO [GEORGE LYTTELTON, 1ST BARON LYTTELTON. DECEMBER 6 1764. bMS ENG 1351 (17)}] <P1> Bath thursday y=e= 6=th= of Dec: 1764 My Lord When I wrote last to your Lordship I was in hopes I should have been in Town almost as soon as you will receive this letter; but having got a cold, & the weather being very bad, I am much press'd by my friends to stay two or three days longer. I do not think I should run much hazard in travelling, but there have been such bad colds stirring as more induces me to submit to discreet advice. I was obliged on M=r= Montagus acc=t= to defer my journey till to day, as he was not to be at Sandleford till this day, & the weather is terrible; I hardly ever knew a more terrible storm of wind & rain, than there is without, & within, I have been in as violent a shower of Soot as ever overwhelm'd a poor chimney sweeper. We should be very dull here, if you did not from London send us extraordinary news of separations. Hymens [\bands/] are often broken, but the dissolving a <P2> charm work'd with more art than Witches put into their philters & enchantments is a surprizing event. Venus put into [\it/] her tricks & her arts, her quips, & cranks, & wanton wiles, Bacchus threw in many a flask of Burgundy & champagne, Ceres brought good dishes to the feast, & Comus a merry catch, & after all this comes a divorce for bed & board. I did not imagine there was much sentiment or even gallantry in the connection, but I imagined his Grace dined with the Dame because she gave the best dinners, & slept with her because she had the best french Matrasses. The connections of pleasurable vice are very short, but there is a sort of lazy brutish (\Volupté\) that [\snares out\] a Century, being too lazy for reformation, & too brutal for repentance. This I imagined to be the state of this illustrious pair, for a pair they will be, if they should live under a different Hemisphere. There is certainly a happy assortiment of character or they could not have lived so long together. I am grievously tired of the dull diversions of this place, but was well amused the other day by a lecture upon Heads given by one Stevens who was a player. He gave us an hour of witty <P3> well bred satire. This man is far superior to M=r= Foote whose humour consists only in mimickry. I shall attend him again tomorrow, which is a sign I am well pleased with an entertainment one should naturally suppose could amuse but once. I am going to dine with my friend M=rs= Boscawen, who has received great benefit from her journey & change of air. I think the Bath water has done me much good. I have sent to day a letter to Sandleford to desire my letters may be convey_d hither immediately, in hopes of having one that may inform me your Lordship has got rid of your cough. The post may bring my letters on saturday morning, & I imagine I shall not venture to set out before monday, as my cold is only in its beginning, & colds with me are generally very severe for a few days, tho without fever or coughs, but always accompanied with great heaviness & pain in my head, which makes travelling very painfull. I have had a charming letter from one Crispin, & some verses which are to be submitted to your Lordships corrections. He boasts of your visit & goodness to him, I am glad he is to come to London. I shall trouble your Lordship with another letter <P4> as soon as I can tell the day I shall be in London. Your Lordship will do me a great favour if you will send the enclosed to our Porter in Hillstreet. I am my Lord Your Lordships most Obliged & Obed=t= Hum=ble= Serv=t= EMontagu [\FOLDED\]