LETTER: ALS to the Countess of Oxford.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley. Autograph letter signed, “MWMontagu,” to Countess of Oxford; Brescia, Italy, November 27, 1749.
8vo.; single leaf, folded to make three pages; folding creases.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), 18th century traveller, is well-known for her letters documenting her distinguished observations throughout her extensive travels. Montagu’s letters and other publications, including the Nonsense of Common-Sense”, are an important early documentation of English travel in the early 18th century and an exceptionally rare recording of observations from a women’s perspective. Written in her later years, this letter is a testament to her unique endless curiosity for traveling.
In this letter, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu writes to the Countess of Oxford about her life in Brescia, revealing her frustration with the city’s isolation from England, writing, “I am inexpressibly grieved that of at least ten letters I have done my self the honor of addressing to your ladyship this year, only two have reached you”.
Montagu continues on to mention her delight with her daughter’s “intimacy “, which Montagu believes is in “every way so advantageous to her”.
Montagu ends discusses her health, reporting she had “no return of [her] Ague”, possibly referring to her reoccurring complications with small pox, and crediting her physician in Louvere, “I have really seen such wonderful success on many occasions”, despite having, “no particularity to that profession”.
Montagu ends her letter by wishing good health for the Countess of Oxford and signing, “your ladyship, most faithfully affectionate. Humble servant, MWMontagu”.
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