Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/255

 Bishop of Osnaburg [see ]. At the time of his death the duke was master of the horse, governor and captain of Windsor Castle, a privy councillor, lord-lieutenant of Huntingdon, president of the London Hospital and of the Society of Arts. He died at his residence in Privy Gardens, London, on 23 May 1790, when the dukedom and marquisate became extinct, and the earldom of Cardigan devolved on his next brother, James Brudenell, fifth earl.

By his marriage the duke had four children, viz. a son, who was called to the upper house as Baron Montagu of Boughton, and died unmarried in 1775, and three daughters, one of whom, Lady Elizabeth, married in 1767 Henry, second duke of Buccleuch, while two died unmarried. The entailed estates (12,000l. a year) went with the earldom; but the personal estate (100,000l.), the family jewels (valued at 50,000l.), the plate, and various residences passed to the Duchess of Buccleuch. The duke directed in his will that his town house should be kept up, and their full wages paid to all his servants as long as they lived.



MONTAGU, HENRY, first  (1563?–1642), judge and statesman, fourth son of Sir Edward Montagu, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Harington of Exton, Rutland, and grandson of Chief-justice Sir  [q. v.], was born at Boughton, Northamptonshire, about 1563. He entered Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1583, and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, where he was elected autumn reader in 1606. In the autumn of 1601 he entered parliament as member for Higham Ferrers. At first he took the popular side so far as to protest against the doctrine that the king could impose taxes at will. Nevertheless, by the recommendation of King James, he was elected recorder of London 26 May 1603, and on 23 July following he was knighted at Whitehall. He displayed his gratitude in a courtly speech on occasion of James's visit to the city, 15 March 1603-4, nor did he fail to turn to account several other opportunities which his office afforded of ingratiating himself with the king. He was appointed king's counsel 11 Sept. 1607, called to the degree of serjeant-at-law 4 Feb. 1610-11, and made king's serjeant a few days later (11 Feb.), retaining the recordership by express leave of the king. In 1612 he distinguished himself by the zeal and ability with which, in conjunction with Bacon, then solicitor-general, he investigated the frauds committed by the farmers of the customs. In the parliaments of 1604-11 and 1614 he sat for London, and was one of the managers of the conferences with the lords on commutation of tenures (1610) and impositions (1614). He was one of the examiners, 18 Jan. 1614-15, and afterwards one of the judges (7 Aug.) of the puritan, [q. v.], and opened the case against Lord and Lady Somerset [see, ] on their trial for the murder of Sir [q. v.], May 1616. On 16 Nov. following he resigned the recordership, to succeed Coke as chief justice of the king's bench. On the 18th he rode in great state, attended by 'earls, lords, and others of great quality, to the number of fifty horse,' to Westminster Hall, where he was installed by Lord-chancellor Ellesmere [see, ] in a speech full of bitter reflections on Coke and commendations of subserviency, to which Montagu replied in a tone of due humility.

Montagu's tenure of this office was brief, and the only case of great public interest which came before him was that of Sir Walter Raleigh, against whom, in a speech not unworthy of the occasion, he made award of execution on 28 Oct. 1618. He was one of Bacon's colleagues in the commission for the protection of the gold and silver thread monopoly appointed 22 April 1618, but whether by accident or design did not sign the general search-warrant, the issue of which was one of the first, and not the least arbitrary acts of the commissioners. In 1620 he exchanged Westminster Hall for the council table, being made lord high treasurer of England, by delivery of the white staff of office, at Newmarket on 3 Dec., and as he paid 20,000l. for the place, which was tenable only during the royal pleasure, the bon mot was current that wood was very dear at Newmarket. The transaction was afterwards made the subject of the tenth article of the impeachment of Buckingham, who admitted the receipt of the money, but represented it as a mere loan to the king. The value of the place varied with the conscience of the holder. Montagu himself estimated it at 'some thousands of pounds to him who, after death, would go instantly to salvation, twice as much to him who would go to purgatory, and a nemo scit to him who would adventure to a worse place.' It carried, however, a peerage with it, and after taking the oaths (16 Dec.) Montagu, who had recently bought Kimbolton Castle, the ancient seat of the Mandevilles,