merry; but perhaps, to enjoy his mirth, it may be sometimes
necessary to think well of his opinions.



HALIFAX.



The life of the Earl of Halifax was properly that of an artful and
active statesman, employed in balancing parties, contriving
expedients, and combating opposition, and exposed to the
vicissitudes of advancement and degradation; but in this collection
poetical merit is the claim to attention; and the account which is
here to be expected may properly be proportioned, not to his
influence in the State, but to his rank among the writers of verse.

Charles Montague was born April 16, 1661, at Horton, in
Northamptonshire, the son of Mr. George Montague, a younger son of
the Earl of Manchester. He was educated first in the country, and
then removed to Westminster, where, in 1677, he was chosen a King's
Scholar, and recommended himself to Busby by his felicity in
extemporary epigrams. He contracted a very intimate friendship with
Mr. Stepney; and in 1682, when Stepney was elected at Cambridge, the
election of Montague being not to proceed till the year following,
he was afraid lest by being placed at Oxford he might be separated
from his companion, and therefore solicited to be removed to
Cambridge, without waiting for the advantages of another year.

It seemed indeed time to wish for a removal, for he was already a