La Belle Assemblee,

FOR FEBRUARY, 1832.

ILLUSTRATIVE MEMOIR OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY WILLIAM MONTAGU.

wealth and power, and in high favour with his sovereign, Edward III., by whom he was created Earl of Salisbury. His Countess was Katherine, daughter of William de Grandison, to whose attractions, and lofty estimation in the eye of the King, it has been generally understood that we are indebted for the institution of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. The Earl is mentioned with honour in the pages of Froissart, and by all our own chroniclers and historians. Having con

EMILY MAGDALEN, third daughter of || tingham Castle. He was a man of great James Dupré, Esq., of Portland-place, was, in the month of April, 1830, united, in marriage, to the Right Honourable Lord William Francis Montagu, second son of his Grace, the Duke of Manchester. The family of Dupré is, we believe, of French origin; but it has long been settled, and in a flourishing state, in this country; one of its members-Lady William Montagu's grandfather-having filled a high official station in India, where he realised a splendid fortune. The noble house, of which her Lady-quered the Isle of Man, he was crowned ship is now one of the brightest ornaments, is amongst the most ancient and most distinguished in England-tracing its descent to Drogo de Monte Acuto,* a warrior in the immediate train of Robert, Earl of Moreton, half brother of William the Conqueror, at the period of the Norman invasion, in 1066. From Drogo descended William de Montacute, a powerful Baron in the time of Henry III. His grandson, William, Lord Montacute, was the principal person concerned in seizing Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, at Not

* Thus was the surname of the Montagu family anciently written in Latin; yet it is said to have been originally Montagu, from the town of that name in Normandy. No. 86.-Vol. XV.

King thereof by his royal master. He founded the Abbey of Bisham, in Berkshire.

William, second Earl of Salisbury, attended Edward III. into France-was at the siege of Caen-at the battle of Cressy; and, at the battle of Poictiers, he commanded the rear guard of the English army, and is said to have contested with the Earl of Warwick, in the heat of action, as to which should shed most French blood. His nephew,

John, third Earl of Salisbury, one of the prime movers of a plot for the restoration of Richard II., was detected, and sacrificed by the fury of the populace. He was the chief of the sect called Lollards. His son,

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Thomas, the fourth Earl, was mortally wounded when commanding the English army at the siege of Orleans, in 1428. On

from the ancient and illustrious family of Montacute; and that for the space of four years, in the office of Chief Justice, and

his decease, the Earldom of Salisbury be- || afterwards in the execution of the post came extinct.

From a younger branch of this family descended Sir Edward Montagu, the common ancestor of the Dukes of Montagu, the Dukes of Manchester, the Earls of Sandwich, and the Earls of Halifax. As Speaker of the House of Commons, his influence and authority were such, that, on a bill for subsidies not passing, he was sent for by the King (Henry VIII.), who said to him-"Ho! will they not let my bill pass?" and, laying his hand on the head of Montagu (kneeling before him), added-" Get my bill to pass by such a time to-morrow, or else by such a time this head of yours shall be off!"-" Sir || Edward, considering the danger in which he stood, in regard of the displeasure of such an impetuous Prince, wrought so effectually, that, before the time prescribed, the bill passed with the approbation of the house, and to his sovereign's satisfaction." - Sir Edward was King's Serjeant-at-law-Chief Justice, successively, of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas a member of the Privy Council; and he stood in such high favour and estimation with the King, that he appointed him one of the sixteen executors of his last will and testament, who were also to be regents of the kingdom, and governors of Edward VI., his son.-Sir Edward's grandson,

of Lord Treasurer, he had behaved with extraordinary fidelity, gravity, and industry; likewise with no less prudence, diligence, and sweetness of disposition, had served both the King and his father, as President of their Council: therefore his Majesty thought he could not do less than accumulate some honour on a person who had deserved so well, both of himself, and the commonwealth."

In 1627, his Lordship was made Lord Privy Seal; an office which he continued to hold till his death, in 1642. His eldest son,

Edward, second Earl of Manchester, had been summoned to the upper House of Parliament, in the life-time of his father, as Baron Kimbolton. The life and history of this nobleman would form a volume replete with interest. He attended on Charles, Prince of Wales, when he was in Spain, in 1623; and, at his coronation, he was made one of the Knights of the Bath. In 1640, he was one of the Lords who petitioned the King to summon a Parliament, "whereby the causes of the grievances of the nation might be taken away, the authors and counsellors of them punished, and the war with Scotland composed without blood, to the honour and safety of his Majesty, the comfort of his people, and the uniting of both realms." He was subsequently, with other nobleSir Henry Montagu, first Earl of Man-men, empowered to treat with commischester, was a younger brother of Ed- sioners on the part of Scotland, for preward, first Lord Montagu, of Boughton, venting all acts of hostility, and redressing ancestor of the Dukes of Montagu. He the grievances of the Scottish nation. This was one of the representatives of the ended in a cessation of arms, and an adcity of London, in the first Parliament of journment of the treaty from Rippon to James I., and was an eloquent and distin- London. His Lordship's first wife was a guished senator. Bred to the law, he lady of the family of the Duke of Buckwas, in 1616, appointed Lord Chief Jus-ingham. After the Duke's death, and on tice of the Court of King's Bench; in his second marriage with the Lady Anne 1620, he was nominated Lord Treasurer Rich, daughter of Robert, Earl of Warof England; and, on the 19th of Decem-wick, a great patron of the puritans, ber, in the same year, he was elevated to Lord Kimbolton estranged himself from the peerage, as Baron Montagu, of Kim- court. In 1641, when both Houses of bolton, and Viscount Mandeville. On the Parliament had adjourned themselves, accession of Charles I., in 1626, his Lord- || his Lordship was one of the sixteen Lords ship was advanced to an earldom, as Earl nominated by the House of Peers to be of Manchester; the preamble to the pa- of their committee for the public safety. tent reciting, "that he was descended Greatly confided in by his party, Lord

Digby represented him to the King as an night to lie upon the several quarters of the enemy to his Majesty's person and go- hill, round about their works, and to be all vernment, and—with the view of striking in a readiness to fall on, when they should terror into others-advised his Majesty to hear the great ordnance go off, which was accuse Lord Kimbolton to the House of between two and three o'clock in the mornPeers, and five members of the House of ing, there being then six pieces discharged at once; then in a moment they all began Commons, of high treason. To this the the attack, and, in a quarter of an hour, got King assented; and the consequences of up to their works, though the King's forces the ill-advised measure are matter of nomade a gallant resistance; and, being under toriety in our historic annals. When the their works, set up their scaling ladders; heats and divisions of both parties had whereupon those within left firing, and threw caused them to take arms, Lord Kimbol- down mighty stones from over their works, ton, engaging in the service of the Par- which did the assailants more prejudice than liament, had the command of a regiment their shot; yet at last up they got, and slew in the battle of Edge Hill, in October, || about fifty in their works, and the rest cried 1642. In the month following, he suc- for quarter, which was given them." ceeded his father as Earl of Manchester. In June, 1643, he and the Earl of Bolingbroke were the two lords, who, with four commoners, had the authority of keeper of the great seal. Subsequently, he was engaged in numerous military services, in all of which he proved successful. Thus, in April, 1644, he was ordered, with 4,000 horse and 5,000 foot, to attend the movements of Prince Rupert; and, in May following, he took the city of Lincoln by storm; an event which is related in the fifth volume of RUSHWORTH's Historical Collections, as follows:

"On Friday, the 3d of May, the Earl of Manchester sat down before Lincoln, and, after some resistance, made himself master of the lower part of the city, the besieged retreating to the minster, and the castle on the top of a high hill; the next day there fell so much rain, as hindered any great action; that night Manchester intended to storm them, and drew up his foot, and sent for the horse from their quarters, to be ready by two of the clock in the morning; but the weather continuing so violent, prevented it; the mount, whereon the castle stands, being exceeding steep, and, by reason of the rain, very slippery. Next day they had notice of a great body of horse, to the number of five or six thousand, under Colonel Goring's

command, were coming to relieve the city;

this hastened Manchester into a resolution to storm them that afternoon, and to that intent the scaling-ladders were brought forth, and the foot were ready to set on; but understanding the said horse could not come up that night, it was put off till next morning; and, to prevent the relief expected, Cromwell with two thousand horse was sent to meet them. The foot were ordered that

The result of this achievement was the capture of Sir Francis Fane, the governor of the castle, Sir Charles Dallison, two colonels, many inferior officers, 700 soldiers, 100 horse, eight pieces of cannon, with arms, ammunition, &c.

The reduction of Lincoln was speedily followed (July 2) by the celebrated battle of Marston Moor, in which the Earl of Manchester obtained a complete and splendid victory. It was in this battle, which proved the ruin of the royal cause, that Cromwell-whom the Earl had raised, as his countryman, from a comparatively humble fortune-acquired the reputation which ultimately advanced him to the supreme command of the army, and paved his way to the Protectorship. Cromwell, however, evinced little gratitude towards his benefactor, against whom he not long afterwards exhibited a charge of inactivity and supineness-of even having betrayed the Parliament out of cowardice. "He was at last," as Lord Clarendon observes, I removed from all trust, for no other reason, but because he was not wicked enough." The same noble author as justly observes, that, " of the whole cabal, he was, in a thousand respects, most unfit for the company he kept. He was of a gentle, and a generous nature;

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civilly bred; had reverence and affection for the person of the King, upon whom he had attended in Spain; loved his country with too unskilful a tenderness, and was of so excellent a temper and disposition, that the barbarous times, and the rough parts he was forced to act in them, did not wipe off, or much deface those marks; insomuch as he was never guilty of any

rudeness towards those he was obliged to oppress, but performed always as good offices towards his old friends and all other persons, as the iniquity of the time, and the nature of the employment he was in, would permit him to do; which kind of humanity could be imparted to few." A still further testimony of his merit, his virtue, and even his loyalty, is thus borne by Lord Clarendon :

"It was some evidence that God Almighty saw his heart was not so malicious as the rest, that he preserved him to the end of the confusion; when he appeared as glad of the King's restoration, and had heartily wished it long before; and very few who had a hand in the contrivance of the rebellion, gave so manifest tokens of repentance as he did: and having for many years undergone the jealousy and hatred of Cromwell, as one who abominated the murder of the King, and all the barbarous proceedings against the lives of men in cold blood, the King, upon his return, received him into grace and favour, which he never after forfeited by any undutiful behaviour."

From the time of the murder of the King, the Earl of Manchester, who was Speaker of the House of Peers, never sat in Parliament, till the 25th of April, 1660,|| at the meeting of the peers who voted the restoration of Charles II. Cromwell, whose hatred against him never slept, endeavoured, though ineffectually, to take his life in 1651, however, he succeeded in procuring his dismissal from the office of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

By his skilful management, and seasonable consultations with General Monk, the Earl of Manchester was powerfully instrumental in restoring the King. On the meeting of the peers, referred to above, he was reinstated in his office of Speaker; and, on the 5th of May following (1660),|| he was declared, both by Lords and Commons, first Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal of England. On the joyful entry of his Majesty, on the 29th of May, he delivered a striking and memorable speech of congratulation to the King, in|| the Banqueting House at Whitehall. From this speech, we need not apologise for transcribing two paragraphs :

"Great King! Give me leave to speak the confidence, as well as the desires, of the

peers of England: be you the powerful defender of the true Protestant faith; the just asserter and maintainer of the laws and liberties of your subjects; so shall judgment run down like a river, and justice like a mighty stream; and God, the God of your mercy, who hath so miraculously preserved you, will establish your throne in righteousness and in peace.

"Dread sovereign! I offer no flattering titles, but speak the words of truth; you are the desire of three kingdoms, the strength and the stay of the tribes of the people; for the mediating of extremities, the reconciling of differences, the satisfying of all interests, and for the restoring of the collapsed Their eyes are honour of these nations. toward your Majesty; their tongues, with loud acclamations of joy, speak the thoughts and loyal intentions of their hearts; their hands are lift up to Heaven with prayers and praises; and what oral triumph can equal this your pomp and glory ?”

At the coronation of Charles II., the Earl of Manchester bore the sword of state before his Majesty. He was again elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge; "which, with his being of the bed-chamber, and of the privy council to his Majesty, together with his white staff as Lord Chamberlain, and his being made a Knight of the Garter, and the Lieutenancy of Huntingdonshire, was as much honour as he desired, or a subject could well bear."

This distinguished nobleman was five times married; but his second and third unions only were productive of issue. His first wife was Susanna, daughter of John Hill, of Honiley, in Warwickshire, Esq.; his second, Anne, daughter of Robert Rich, Earl of Holland and Warwick; his third, Essex, daughter of Sir Thomas Cheek, of Pirgo, in the county of Essex, Knt., and widow of Sir Robert Bevil, of Chesterton, in the county of Huntingdon, K.B.; his fourth, Eleanor, daughter of Sir Richard Wortley, of Wortley, in the county of York, Knt., and Baronet, and widow of Sir Henry Lee, of Quarendon, in the county of Buckingham, Knt., and Baronet; and his fifth, the Lady Margaret, daughter of Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford, and widow of James Hay, second Earl of Carlisle, and also of Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick, and second Earl of Holland.