Montagu family

“ From this period dates the extreme intimacy which grew up between Miss Robinson and Lady Barbara Montagu, sister of George Montagu Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was then living at Bath, and invited Miss Robinson to stay with her.
The Hill Street house not being completed, Mrs. Knight, [457] a cousin of the family, lent Mrs. Montagu her house in Golden Square, London. Miss Grinfield, just mentioned, was just made a dresser to the princesses, daughters of George II.
[457] Née Robinson.
“Miss Grinfield is in waiting.... The place is enough to weary a person of the strongest constitution ”

“ In her youth she combined the attractions of a reigning beauty and a wit. Her early studies were encouraged and assisted by Bishop Burnet, and she was the friend of Pope, Addison, and Swift. In 1712 she m., against the wishes of her family, Edward Wortley-Montagu, a cousin of the celebrated Charles Montagu, afterwards Earl of Halifax. Her husband having been appointed Ambassador to the Porte, she accompanied him, and wrote the sparkling Letters from the East which have given her a place high among the great letter-writers of the world. ”

“ Mead attends constantly, one guinea a day will be enough, if he comes only once a day, but I wish you would be so kind as to enquire and let me know when you write to me; and I will beg you to order your maid to buy 2 Dozen Wheatears [290] and send them by the Haye Coach. Mr. Montagu never saw any, so if you please to tell your servant to send them with the feathers on.
“I am extremely glad to hear Mr. Donnellan finds benefit by the waters. Your family in Town flourishes much, [291] Mr. Percival is a young beau, Mrs. Percival has grown almost a toast, and for Mrs. ”

“ In the new Commission of the Treasury Montagu's name did not appear. Why Montagu was removed has not transpired; it may, indeed, be that he resigned, for he had a strong dislike for the new Minister. There may also have been some family sentiment in the matter, for while Lady Mary was an intimate friend of Walpole's harum-scarum sister, "Dolly," who was now Lady Townshend, Lady Walpole was very decidedly her enemy. Lady Mary presently had her tit-for-tat with Lady Walpole by "taking up" Walpole's mistress, Molly Skerritt. ”

“ The mother of the family, a venerable matron of grave deportment, who was well educated, and moves in the form of antique ceremonies, but is really a sensible woman! The daughters are good housewifes, and I like some qualities in them, which I understand better than their economy. I only wish they could sleep in their beds in the morning, and wake in a chair in the evening!” ...
LIFE AT A FARM —
A COUNTRY SQUIRE
The next letter to Mrs. Donnellan, whom Elizabeth rebukes for her silence, is dated April 10. In this she says—
“Before this time you must have been informed by the Duchess or Mrs. ”

“ Travile becoming slightly better, Mrs. Montagu went to Bath Easton to visit Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab Montagu. In a letter to Dr. Gilbert West, October 16, after her return to Sandleford, the following account is given of the life led by the two lady friends:—
“My sister rises early, and as soon as she has read prayers to their small family, she sits down to cut out and prepare work for 12 poor girls, whose schooling they pay for ”

“ Montagu’s nephew, Matthew Robinson, says: “The celebrated Mrs. Montagu, his aunt, who so long occupied the first place among the gens de lettres, in London, having adopted him as her heir, he received her husband’s name. At her feet he was brought up,—a school more adapted to form a man of taste and improvement than a statesman or a man of the world. ”

“ For his second wife he married Deborah, daughter of Sir James Collet, Knight and Sheriff of London, by whom he had six daughters, all of whom married and had issue, and one son, Thomas, who married a widow, Elizabeth Light. She was daughter of William Clarke, Esq., of Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire, and heiress of her brother, William Clarke. By her first husband, Anthony Light, she had one daughter, Lydia. By her second marriage with Thomas Robinson she had three sons. Matthew, the eldest, alone concerns us as father of Mrs. Montagu. ”

“ No, thou mistakest,—Montagu is ambitious, I but proud. Montagu ever seeks to be higher than he is, I but assert the right to be what I am and have been; and my pride, sweet wife, is a part of my love for thee. It is thy title, Heiress of Warwick, and not my father's, that I bear ”

“ And I never can be real to any other creature in the universe—not even that prostitute who refused to be my mother! I don't exist, and never can exist!"
"But you do! You do! You do! You're there before me now!" gasped Mr. Montagu through chattering teeth. "How can you deny that you're sitting here with me in this restaurant? I forgive you—I love you, and I forgive you, but, thank God, I see through you at last! You're a fanatic, a poor, frenzied maniac on this subject, and you've morbidly spied on and studied me as a typical case of it ”

“ You stout fellow, aid us to raise this poor lad, [240] and let us see if nothing can be done for him. On my life, I would as soon have lost my brother!"
"Let me tend him, sir," said the blacksmith with the lantern: "I have cured many a horse as bad hurt as he; and a horse and a man are much the same thing."
"Not quite," said Lord Montagu, who even at that moment could not altogether resist the joking spirit of his times and his party. "Heaven! how he bleeds! Gentlemen, he was the noblest lad—the promptest with hand and head and heart—I ever saw. Poor Edward! can we do nothing for you?" ”

“ Even the thoughtful Montagu relaxed his brow as he gazed around, and he said to Marmaduke, in a gentle and subdued voice,—
"Methinks, young cousin, that in such scenes, those silly rhymes taught us in our childhood of the green woods and the summer cuckoos, of bold Robin and Maid Marian, ring back in our ears. Alas that this fair land should be so often dyed in the blood of her own children! Here, how the thought shrinks from broils and war,—civil war, war between brother and brother, son and father! In the city and the court, we forget others overmuch, from the too keen memory of ourselves." ”

“ Montagu married thrice: (1) Cicily or Elizabeth, daughter of William Lane of Orlingbury, Northamptonshire; (2) Agnes, daughter of George Kirkham of Warmington in the same county; (3) Ellen, daughter of John Roper [q. v.] , attorney-general to Henry VIII, relict of John Moreton, and after Montagu's death wife of Sir John Digby. Montagu left male issue by his third wife alone—viz. five sons and six daughters. Edward, the eldest son, was father of Edward Montagu, first baron Montagu [q. v.] , of James Montagu, bishop of Winchester [q. v.] ”

“ This sufficiently indicates the happiness and mutual confidence reigning between the newly wedded pair.
On October 2 Dr. Conyers Middleton wrote Mrs. Montagu a long letter, mainly a dissertation on marriage and its duties. He alludes to his pleasure at her having her three youngest brothers with her, calling them “enfans trouvés by a sister unknown to them,” and he adds—
“I shall always think myself particularly interested [124] in their success, for they were all born under my roof, which may, one day perhaps, derive an accession of fame from that circumstance. ”

“ What is the particular science to which you have most addicted yourself, young gentleman? What have you lately been studying?"
"Nothing," replied Edward, almost inclined to be rude. "My lord does me too much honor in calling me a philosopher."
"Nay, nay," said Montagu, laughing: "if I may judge from letters I have received, and from what you yourself have told me, you have been lately studying much,—fair ladies' hearts and prime ministers' heads,—Ned. He has quite captivated a duchess and smoothed down a cardinal. ”

“ If you will be at home to-morrow at two o’clock, I will pass an hour with you; but pray send me word to Jermyn Street at eleven, whether I can come to you without meeting any person at Whitehall but the Duke; to every one else pray deny your dressing room. Mr. Freind will tell your Grace I behaved magnanimously, and not one cowardly tear, I assure you, did I shed at the solemn Altar, my mind was in no mirthful mood indeed. I have a great hope of happiness; the world, as you say, speaks well of Mr. Montagu, and I have many obligations to him, which must gain my particular esteem ”

“ After some time spent with a tutor in the West Indies, Montagu came home about 1733, and in a freak married a woman much his senior, and of no social position. His parents now treated him as deranged, induced the wife by a small pension to forego her rights, and packed him off to Holland in charge of a keeper, in time to prevent the birth of a child. At first the keeper's office was no sinecure, and Montagu was several times put in confinement. ”

“ It was the young gentleman himself."
"I have betrayed no secret," said Edward, gayly, for he felt relieved. "Lord Montagu has never seen the young lady,—does not even know her name; and there is no cause why I should conceal that a lady has written to me."
"A young lady!" said Montagu, thoughtfully. "Now I have it. The Duchess of Rohan was at Turin; she had with her a cousin or a niece,—as pretty a little creature as I ever beheld. Ha, Edward! so you took [270] care on your long journey to guard yourself against the charms of the innkeepers' daughters. Now I understand a good deal. ”

“ In August 1742, being then twenty-two, Elizabeth Robinson became Mrs. Montagu. It was not without a flutter of anxiety that she took even this prudent step, but the sequel showed that she had chosen wisely. A more generous, indulgent husband she could not have found. “He has no desire of power but to do good,” was her report, after some experience of his temper, “and no use of it but to make happy.” ”

“ Mr. Wycherly paused, he felt Montagu's body tremble between his knees, but the child did not speak, and the broken voice went on, "The angel was your aunt, Montagu, and I, I was the man. And the last time I was drunk, your father, not much older than you are now, brought me home."
The clock ticked loudly, and a thrush was singing on the alder tree outside. There was no other sound in the room till Montagu, moved to a sudden passion of tears, flung himself forward into his old friend's arms, clasping him round the neck and exclaiming between his sobs, "What does it matter? Why did you tell me? ”

“ They seemed satisfied with its appearance, and one of them said, loud enough for Edward to hear, "He will get well, sir."
Oh, what a blessed thing is hope! Those few words were a better balm than any druggist could have supplied. They brought with them, too, the thought of Lucette; and, beckoning to Lord Montagu to hold down his head, he whispered, "If I should die, my lord, I beseech you to write a few lines to the old Marquise de Lagny, to tell her the fact. She will be with the court of France, wherever that may be."
"No, no; you will get well, Ned," said Lord Montagu, in a cheerful tone. ”

“ Let the groom and the laquais get the horses ready by five; but, above all, say not a word to the Savoyard who is left, or his companion, if he returns, and keep a watch upon them."
"A sure watch," said Edward, with a grim smile. "All shall be ready, my lord; but yet——"
"Nay, nay," said Montagu, waving his hand; "no more objections, Ned. Now send the lackey to me: I will go to bed as if I had no alteration of last night's arrangements in my mind. You had better go to your room, too, and obtain a little sleep. I know you can wake when you like." ”

“ In 1673 he had married the wealthy widow of the earl of Northumberland, Elizabeth Wriothesley, daughter of the earl of Southampton, who brought him a large fortune; and after her death in 1690 he married the still more wealthy Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of the duke of Newcastle, and widow of Christopher Monk, 2nd duke of Albemarle. Montagu’s position was further strengthened in 1705 by the marriage of his son and heir to Mary, daughter of the great duke of Marlborough. In the same year he was raised to the dukedom as duke of Montagu and marquess of Monthermer. ”

“ A readiness to render a good turn is a passport to favour all the world over, and when his housemaster declared Montagu to know less of other boys than any old maid in the kingdom he made a mistake. Montagu had lived a good many years with Edmund, and healthy boyhood is very much the same all the world over. ”

“ In the same letter it appears that the good old Yorkshire steward, Mr. Carter, had had a bad fall, and the house in Dover Street not being large enough, Morris Robinson was trying to secure them one in Bruton Street. Mrs. Montagu, having suffered from weakness and hysterical fits, was recommended to ride daily—a pastime which was agreeably varied by the cutting of new walks through the Sandleford woods, and the continual amusement afforded to her and Mr. Montagu by the contemplation of their child’s too precocious ways. ”

“ This estate cost but £10,000, and so is a small part of his fortune, so that the children are entirely dependent on her. I hear old Mr. Wortley can last but a very short time. It is supposed Lady Mary will come to England.”
DEATH OF OLD MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU
Writing to her husband, still at Newcastle, at the end of January, Mrs. Montagu says—
“I believe it will be agreeable to you to hear that Lord Sandwich called on me this morning to desire me to write you word that he hopes that the second week in February you will be ready for Huntingdon ”