A distinguished
leader of society, she was also a woman of shrewd intellect and
masculine character. In 1739 she left her husband, though no quarrel
preceded or followed the separation, and settled for many years in
Italy. Her letters are characteristic of the keen woman of the world,
with an underlying vein of nobler feeling, perverted by harsh experience
into a prevailing cynicism. Pope had made her acquaintance before she
left England. He wrote poems to her and corrected her verses till she
cruelly refused his services, on the painfully plausible ground that he
would claim all the good for himself and leave all the bad for her. They
corresponded during her first absence abroad. The common sense is all on
the lady's side, whilst Pope puts on his most elaborate manners and
addresses her in the strained compliments of old-fashioned gallantry. He
acts the lover, though it is obviously mere acting, and his language is
stained by indelicacies, which could scarcely offend Lady Mary, if we
may judge her by her own poetical attempts. The most characteristic of
Pope's letters related to an incident at Stanton Harcourt. Two rustic
lovers were surprised by a thunderstorm in a field near the house; they
were struck by lightning, and found lying dead in each other's arms.
Here was an admirable chance for Pope, who was staying in the house with
his friend Gay. He wrote off a beautiful letter to Lady Mary,[9]
descriptive of the event--a true prose pastoral in the Strephon and
Chloe style.
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