CHAPTER XII.
A FAMOUS QUARREL Pope and Lady Mary--He pays her compliments--His jealousy of her other admirers--The cause of his quarrel with her--His malicious attacks on her thereafter--Writes of her as "Sappho"-- Lady Mary asks Arbuthnot to protect her--Molly Skerritt--Lady Stafford--Lady Mary's malicious tongue and pen--Mrs.Murray--"An Epistle from Arthur Grey"-- Lady Mary, Lord Hervey, and Molly Lepell--Death of the Earl of Kingston--Lady Gower--Lady Mar--Marriage of Lady Mary's daughter.
Of Pope, it is curious to relate, though he was a near neighbour, she saw less and less.

It has been suggested that the first rift in the lute was her parody of his verses about the lovers struck by lightning; but even he, most sensitive of men, can scarcely have been seriously offended.
So far as is known, only two letters passed between them after 1719.
"I pass my time in a small snug set of dear intimates, and go very little into the _grand monde_, which has always had my hearty contempt" (she wrote to Lady Mar in the spring of 1722).

"I see sometimes Mr.
Congreve, and very seldom Mr.Pope, who continues to embellish his house at Twickenham.

He has made a subterranean grotto, which he has furnished with looking-glass, and they tell me it has a very good effect.

I here send you some verses addressed to Mr.Gay, who wrote him a congratulatory letter on the finishing his house.