Miss Skerritt is in the house with, me, and Lady Stafford has taken a lodging at Richmond: as their ages are different, and both agreeable in their kind, I laugh with the one, or reason with the other, as I happen to be in a gay or serious humour; and I manage my friends with such a strong yet with a gentle hand, that they are both willing to do whatever I have a mind to." "Molly," that is, Maria Skerritt or Skirrett, is best known for her connection with Sir Robert Walpole.

There was nothing clandestine about the relationship: it was openly avowed.

Miss Skerritt, who was the daughter of a London merchant, had great good looks and an ample fortune, and Walpole declared that she was indispensable to his happiness.

She was received everywhere, and moved in fashionable society.

It was to Lady Walpole and Molly Skerritt that Gay alluded in the song that he put in the mouth of Macheath (who was meant for Robert Walpole): "How happy could I be with either, Were t'other dear Charmer away!" Lady Walpole survived until the summer of 1738, and after her death the others married.