Should Venus now rise from the ocean, And naked appear in her shell, She would not cause half the emotion, That we feel for dear Molly Lepel. Old Orpheus, that husband so civil, He followed his wife down to hell, And who would not go to the devil, For the sake of dear Molly Lepel. In a bed you have seen banks of roses; Would you know a more delicate smell, Ask the fortunate man who reposes On the bosom of Molly Lepel. Or were I the King of Great Britain To choose a minister well, And support the throne that I sit on, I’d have under me Molly Lepel. Mary Bellenden rivalled Mary Lepel in loveliness. Gay writes of her in his _Ballad of Damon and Cupid_:-- So well I’m known at Court None ask where Cupid dwells; But readily resort, To Bellenden’s or Lepel’s. And again he mentions her and her sister Margaret in his _Welcome to Pope from Greece_:-- Madge Bellenden, the tallest of the land, And smiling Mary, soft and fair as down. Like many of the Princess’s young ladies, Mary Bellenden was often in want of money. On one occasion she writes to Mrs. Howard from Bath: “Oh Gad, I am so sick of bills; for my part I believe I shall never be able to hear them mentioned without casting up my accounts--bills are _accounts_, you know. I do not know how your bills go in London, but I am sure mine are not dropped, for I paid one this morning as long as my arm and as broad as my ----. I intend to send you a letter of attorney, to enable you to dispose of my goods before I may leave this place--such is my condition.”[90] [Illustration: LEICESTER HOUSE, LEICESTER SQUARE, TEMP. GEORGE I.]