that respect few of the productions of his maturer age surpasses it. It
also shows how strong already was his expectations that his letters
would hereafter be regarded as interesting and valuable.]

TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ.[1]

[Footnote 1: George Montagu, Esq., of Roel, in the county of Gloucester,
son of Brigadier-General Edward Montagu, and long M.P. for Northampton.
He was the grandnephew of the first Earl of Halifax of the Montagu
family, the statesman and poet, and was the contemporary at Eton of
Walpole and Gray. When his cousin, the Earl of Halifax, was
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, he was his secretary; and when Lord North
was Chancellor of the Exchequer, he occupied the same position with him.
He died May 10, 1780, leaving the bulk of his fortune to Lord North.
Walpole's letters to him, 272 in number, and dating between 1736 and
1770, were first published in 1818, "from the Originals in the
possession of the Editor." There was a coolness between Walpole and
Montagu several years before the latter's death, the correspondence
dropping very abruptly. The cause is explained by Walpole in a letter to
Cole, dated May 11, 1780. Mr. Montagu's brother, Edward, was killed at
Fontenoy. His sister, Arabella, was married to a Mr. Wetenhall--a
relation of the Wetenhall mentioned in De Grammont. "Of Mr. Montagu, it
is only remembered that he was a gentleman-like body of the _vieille
cour_, and that he was usually attended by his brother John (the Little
John of Walpole's correspondence), who was a midshipman at the age of
sixty, and found his chief occupation in carrying about his brother's
snuff-box" (_Quarterly Rev._ for _April_, 1818, p. 131).]

KING'S COLLEGE, _May_ 2, 1736.