“I hope Mrs. Fortescue[335] liked the Indian paper; it is new and uncommon, and I thought much prettier than any I could get at a moderate price. I beg my respects to her and my dear Miss Lyttelton.[336] I hear there will be a turnpike road between Oxford and Newbury, and I hope you will frequently make use of it. I shall leave Tunbridge on Monday. I have enjoyed perfect health here, and the society of some of my best friends, so you may believe I have passed the season very happily, but a happy life seems always a short one. Mrs. Carter was so good as to give me her company in my house. My Lord Lyttelton and my Lord Bath were often with us; having had their characters continually before me, you will not wonder I should think great acquirements as well as great talents necessary to make all possible perfection. I am sure you will be pleased to hear that my Lord Bath greatly approves and admires that part of my Lord Lyttelton’s history which is already printed. I believe there is not any one living whose approbation would give Lord Lyttelton so much pleasure; talents and virtues and extensive knowledge all in the highest degree join to make him a perfect judge, and his great reputation gives him a decisive authority; your Father is proud of his praise as a critick, and pleased with it on motives of friendship, which touch his heart more nearly than any where vanity has a part, tho’ he is an author and a poet. His Lordship’s Muse met him in the shades of Penshurst, and with love or flattery prompted two charming pieces, one to Mrs. Carter, and one to my Lord Bath. Mrs. Carter, Dr. Monsey and Mr. Montagu desire their compliments to you. “I am, dear Sir, “Your most sincere and affectionate friend and obedient humble Servant, “E. MONTAGU.” [335] Mr. Lyttelton’s grandmother. [336] His sister. [Page heading: A BLOOM-COLOURED COAT] Dr. Monsey, who had recovered from a severe illness, had joined the party at Tunbridge, and had appeared in a new bloom-coloured coat, to the amusement of the Montagu circle, who chaffed him upon it. On August 22 Mr. Charles Morton wrote to Mrs. Montagu the following:-- “MADAM, “As I conceive the following article which I have just received in a letter from Paris, to relate to the Countess of Pomfret,[337] I thought it might be agreeable to you to acquaint Her Ladyship therewith. “‘Monsʳ Bejot, who, since the death of the Abbé Sallier, has care of the manuscripts in the King’s Library, is a most worthy and obliging gentleman; he has promised me to have copies drawn of the curious Cuts in the beautiful Manuscript of Froissard’s Chronicle, for an English lady, a great friend to Oxford.’ This letter is dated Paris, August 1st; the writer is the Butler who travels with Mr. Howard, nephew to the Duke of Norfolk. I am much obliged to you for the Highland Poems; and have the honour to remain, Madam, “Your most obliged and most humble servant, “CHARLES MORTON.