These intellectual friendships were the delight of Caroline’s life, yet she had frequently to interrupt them to amuse her pompous little husband, and enter into the brilliant inanities of the court. She combined with these higher joys a keen sense of more material pleasures, and she loved music and the dance and the gaming table as much as any of her courtiers. These grave, learned and scientific men did not follow the Princess to her crowded saloons, but her assemblies always contained a sprinkling of the more famous men of letters. Literature became the fashion of the hour, and Leicester House had quite a literary atmosphere. Of course all the witty young noblemen and poets set their talents to work to praise the charms of the Princess and her ladies. “Characters” were all the vogue, and every lady, from the Princess down to the youngest maid of honour, had her character elaborately written in prose, or was immortalised in verse. If all the poetry written about Caroline and her ladies were collected, it would fill a large volume. The most be-rhymed of all the beauties after the Princess was Mary Lepel. The honours were divided between her and Mary Bellenden; an old ballad runs:-- What pranks are played behind the scenes, And who at Court the belle-- Some swear it is the Bellenden, And others say la Pell. After Mary Lepel married Lord Hervey, Voltaire, who met her during his visit to England, celebrated her beauty in English verse, as follows:-- Hervey, would you know the passion You have kindled in my breast? Trifling is the inclination That by words can be expressed. In my silence see the lover; True love is by silence known; In my eyes you’ll best discover, All the power of your own. Gay wrote of her:-- Youth’s youngest daughter, sweet Lepel. Miss Lepel was married secretly to Lord Hervey, and when her marriage became known, Lords Chesterfield and Bath indited a string of verses, and sent them to her under the name of a begging poet. The young lady sent the usual fee, and when the authorship was disclosed she was much “miffed,” not at the licence of the verses, to which she might well have objected, but to being “bit,” to use the fashionable slang of the period. Some of the verses are unquotable, others run as follows:-- Bright Venus yet never saw bedded So perfect a beau and a belle, As when Hervey the handsome was wedded To the beautiful Molly Lepel. So powerful her charms, and so moving, They would warm an old monk in his cell, Should the Pope himself ever go roaming, He would follow dear Molly Lepel. Had I Hanover, Bremen, and Verden, And likewise the Duchy of Zell! I’d part with them all for a farthing, To have my dear Molly Lepel.