MONTAGU, (LADY MAny Won•LEy) the eldest daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, earl, and afterwards duke of Kingston, was born at Thorseby, in Notting hamshire, about the year 1690. Though four years af terwards she lost her mother, the Lady Mary Field ing, daughter of William, Earl of Denbigh, her educa tion was conducted with all the care which so promising a genius seemed to deserve. In addition to the usual accon,plishments, she easily gained from the preceptors of her brother, Viscount Newark, a considerable know ledge of the Greek and Latin languages, to which she soon added French and Italian. The famous Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, is said to have guided and encouraged her more advanced studies; a manuscript translation of Epictetus, which she executed during a week, in the summer of 1710, yet bears the corrections of that distinguished prelate.
Whilst making acquisitions, at that period so rare among persons of her sex and rank, the young lady con tinued principally at Thorseby, or at Acton, near Lon don. In these narrow circles her liveliness and spirits were already no less remarkable than her learning. Mrs., or as we should now say, Miss Ann Wortley, daughter of the Honourable Sidney Montagu, seems to have been her most intimate associate ; and this early friendship gave rise to her acquaintance with a son of the same nobleman, Edward Wortley Montagu, to whom, after two years, she was privately married, on the 12th of August, 1712. The valuable, though not brilliant qualifications of this gentleman, were long exercised in Parliament, where his graceful manner and knowledge of business secured him considerable influence. At the period of his marriage, the fathers of both parties being alive, he could not offer his wife such an establishment as to permit her accompany ink him to London during his political engagements : for the first three years their union she lived chiefly at Warncliffe-lodge, near Sheffield. But, after the death of Queen Anne, in 1714, when Charles Montagu, who conveyed the intelligence of that event to George I. had been raised from the dig
nity of baron to that of earl Ilalifax, and farther created first lord of the treasury, that nobleman did not overlook. the services of his cousin Mr. Wortley, who soon obtain ed the appointment of commissioner in the same depart ment. The nature of his office placed him in connection with the court ; and the appearance of Lady Mary, who now first visited that scene, attracted universal admira tion. Her beauty and genius were praised, her conver sation was coveted by the highest ranks of the nobility, and a more honourable tribute was paid to her talents in 'the esteem which she obtained from Pope and Addison.
The short•lived pleasures of such a scene had scarcely yet found time to lose their novelty, when Lady Mary was called to visit objects of a far more diversified and striking nature. In the summer of 1716, Mr. Wortley resigned his situation at the Treasury-Board, in conse quence of an appointment to occupy the place of Sir Robert Sutton, Ambassador at Constantinople, who had been removed to Vienna, and directed to co operate with his successor, in endeavouring to terminate the war be tween the Austrians and Turks, which at that time raged with extreme violence. In the month of August Mt. Wortley left England, and his lady did not hesitate to accompany him in a journey, which, though tedious, and not without hazard, promised to offer such a field for observation and enjoyment, as great skill in modern languages, and considerable acquaintance with classical antiquities, rendered her well qualified to profit by. Af ter leaving Holland and Germany, the embassy continu ed two months at Adrianople. Sultan Achmed whom they found here, is said to have shown a more frank disposition, and less solicitude about the Koran, than usually happens with a Turkish prince. To this circumstance it is generally ascribed, that Lady Mary was enabled to augment her acquaintance with eastern manners, by an examination of the Hamm, ne‘:er before or since permitted to any European.