What?
That thing of silk; Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk?
Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly on the wheel?
P.

Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, This painted Child of dirt, that stinks and stings; Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys, Yet wit ne'er tastes and beauty ne'er enjoys: So well-bred spaniels civilly delight In mumbling of the game they dare not bite.
Eternal smiles his emptiness betray, As shallow streams run dimpling all the way.
Whether in florid impotence he speaks, And, as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks; Or at the ear of Eve,[8] familiar toad.
Half froth, half venom, spits himself abroad, In pun, or politics, or tales, or lies.
Or spite, or smut, or rhymes, or blasphemies.
His wit all see-saw, between that and this, Now high, now low, now make up, now miss, And he himself one vile antithesis.
Amphibious thing! that acting either part, The trifling head, or the corrupted heart; Fop at the hostel, flatterer at the board, Now trips a lady, and now struts a Lord.
Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have expressed, A cherub's face--a reptile all the rest.
Beauty that shocks you, parts that none can trust, Wit that can creep, and pride that licks the dust." [Footnote 8: Queen Caroline.] This was a heavy price to pay for the favours even of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
Whatever the relations between Lady Mary and Hervey, Lady Hervey was not indulgent to them, which may have inspired Lady Mary to write to her sister: "Lady Hervey, by aiming too high, has fallen very low; and is reduced to trying to persuade folks she has an intrigue, and gets nobody to believe her; the man in question taking a great deal of pains to clear himself of the scandal." Lady Hervey and Mrs.Murray were active partisans of Lord Grange in his persecution of Lady Mary, and aided him in his attempts to get possession of her sister, Lady Mar.
The bad terms on which Lady Mary and Lady Hervey were is most clearly defined by Lady Louisa Stuart: "At the time of Lady Mary Wortley's return home [in 1762, after an absence abroad of more than twenty years], Lady Hervey was living in great intimacy with Lady Bute, for whom she professed, and it is believed really felt, the highest esteem and admiration.

On hearing of her mother's arrival, she came to her, owning herself embarrassed by the fear of giving her pain or offence, but yet compelled to declare that formerly something had passed between her and Lady Mary which made any renewal of their acquaintance impossible; therefore, if she forbore visiting her, she threw herself upon Lady Bute's friendship and candour for pardon.

No explanation followed.

Lady Bute, who must have early seen the necessity of taking care not to be entangled in her mother's quarrels, which, to speak truth, were seldom few in number, only knew that there had been an old feud between her, Lady Hervey, and Lady Hervey's friend, Mrs.( or Lady) Murray; the particulars of which, forgotten even then by everybody but themselves, may well be now beyond recall." During this period there were several domestic happenings in Lady Mary's family.
On March 5, 1726, died her father, the Duke of Kingston.