A Lady of the Last Century [Illustration: Garrick and His Wife _Photogravure from the painting by Wm. Hogarth_] [Illustration] A Lady of the Last Century BY JOHN DORAN, LL. D. PUBLISHED BY FRANCIS A. NICCOLLS & CO. BOSTON _ÉDITION DE LUXE._ _Limited to One Thousand Copies._ No. .... TO Andreas J. G. Holtz, Esq. (TWYFORD ABBEY) THIS “BIT OF MOSAIC” IS DEDICATED, WITH SENTIMENTS OF THE MOST SINCERE ESTEEM AND CORDIAL REGARD. Preface In the year 1809, Mr. Matthew Montagu published the first two of four volumes of letters of his aunt, Elizabeth Montagu. He was not only her nephew, he was also her adopted son and her executor. On the 5th of December in that year, the celebrated statesman, William Windham, was reading those volumes, “in the evening, up-stairs;” and he subsequently recorded the following judgment of them in his diary: “I think very highly of them. One of their chief merits is _series juncturaque_. Nothing can be more easy and natural than the manner in which the thoughts rise one out of the other, even where the thoughts may appear rather forced, nor is the expression ever hard or laboured. I see but little to object to in the thoughts themselves, but nothing can be more natural or graceful than the manner in which they are put together. The flow of her style is not less natural, because it is fully charged with shining particles, and sparkles as it flows.” In 1813, Mr. Matthew Montagu published two more volumes of his aunt’s correspondence. The press generally received them with pleasant testimony of approval. It not only endorsed the judgment of the eminent statesman quoted above, but it especially pointed out that the letters were genuine and authentic, which could not be said of a similar collection of letters then challenging the censure of the town. Mrs. Montagu’s letters were read with great avidity, and readers for the most part came to the same conclusion as the statesman and the critics.