"Lady Mary Wortley," Jervas wrote to the poet, probably in 1715 or early in the following year, "ordered me by express this morning, _cedente Gayo et ridente Fortescuvio_, to send you a letter, or some other proper notice, to come to her on Thursday about five, which I suppose she meant in the evening." There appeared in March, 1716, a volume bearing the title _Court Poems_, the authorship being attributed to "A Lady of Quality," who, it soon became known, was Lady Mary.

The book was issued by Roberts, who had received the three sets of verses contained in it from the notorious piratical publisher, Edmund Curll.

How the manuscript "fell" into the hands of Curll it is not easy to imagine.

Curll's account is that they were found in a pocket-book taken up in Westminster Hall on the last day of the trial of the Jacobite Lord Winton.

Anyhow, however it came about, the volume was published in 1716, when it was found to contain "The Basset Table," "The Drawing Room," and "The Toilet." Curll was an excellent publicity agent for his wares.