warrant by following the commissary, after ordering one of my domestics to inform my Lord Albemarle of the treatment I underwent. I was carried to the Chatelet, where the jailors, hardened by their profession, and bru tal for their profit, fastened upon me, as upon one of those guilty objects whom they lock up to be reserved for public punishment; and, though neither my looks nor my behaviour betrayed the least symptom of guilt, yet I was treated as a condemned criminal. I was thrown into prison, and committed to a set of wretches who have no character of humanity but its form.

"My residence (to speak in the gaol dialect) was in the secret, which is no other than the dungeon of the prison, where all the furniture was a wretched matrass, and a crazy chair. The weather was cold, and I called for a fire; but I was told I could have none. I was thirsty, and called for some wine and water, or even a draught of water by itself, but was denied it. All the favour I could obtain was, a promise to be waited on in the morn. ing; and then was left by myself, under a hundred locks and bolts, with a bit of candle, after finding that the words of my gaolers were few, their commands peremptory, and their favours unattainable. After a few moments of solitary reflection, I perceived myself shut up in a dungeon destined for the vilest malefactors; the walls were scrawled over with their vows and prayers to Heaven, before they were carried to the gibbet or the wheel. Amongst other notable inscriptions, I found one with the following note underneath, viz. These verses were written by the priest who was burned and hanged, in the year 1717, for stealing a chalice of the holy sacrament. At the same time I observed the floors were studded with iron staples, either to secure the prisoners, or to prevent the effects of their despair. I must own that the

survey of my dreadful situation, deprived of the common comforts of life, even fire and water, must have got the better of conscience itself, irre proachable as mine was, and of all trust in the equity of my judges, had I not wrapped myself up in innocence, whose portion is fortitude, and whose virtue is tranquillity." In this dismal dungeon he continued until the 24 of November, when he was carried before a magistrate, and underwent an examination, by which be understood the heads of the charges against him; " and which," he adds, “I answered in a manner that ought to have cleared my own innocence from suspicion, and to have covered my antagonist with confusion." This ef fect however, appears not to have been produced. Proceedings were carried on for some time; and the decision at first was against him.

In the Parliament which assembled in 1754, Mr Montague was returned for Bossiney; and, in 1759, he gave to the public his "Reflections on the Rise and Fall of the antient Repub lics, adapted to the present State of Great Britain," 8vo. The credit of this Work has been attempted to be wrested from him by a person who in no other circumstance shewed himself of ability to produce such a performance. In the Introduction he says, "I am not at all surprized at those encomiums which the Philosophers and Poets so lavishly bestow upon the pleasures of a country retirement. The profusion of varying beauties which attend the returning season, furnish out new and inexhaustible subjects for the entertainment of the studious and contemplative. Even Winter carries charms for the philo sophic eye, and equally speaks the stupendous power of the Author of Nature. To search out and adore the Creator, through his works, is our primary duty, and claims the first place in every rational mind. To promote the public good of the com

munity,

munity, of which we are born members, in proportion to our situation and abilities, is our secondary duty as men and citizens. I judged, therefore, a close attention to the study of History the most useful way of employing that time which my country recess afforded, as it would enable me to fulfil this obligation; and upon this principle I take the liberty of offering these papers as my mite towards the public good."

This Work, which is written with spirit, contains a concise and elegant relation of the Grecian, Roman, and Carthagenian stories, interspersed with occasional allusions to the then state of this Country, whose constitution the author appears to have studied, and which he has set off to considerable advantage.

Whether Mr Montague received any immediate pecuniary advantage from his father, in consequence of this publication, as it hath been asserted, we know not; but it is certain that it could not influence him in making his will.

Mr Wortley died the 22d of January 1761, at the advanced age of 80 years; and by his will, made in the year 1755, bequeathed to his son an annuity of £.1000 a-year, to be paid him during the joint lives of himself and his mother, lady Mary; and after her death an annuity of £.2000 a-year, during the joint lives of himself and his sister, lady Bute. By the same will, he empowered Mr Montague to make a settlement on any woman he might marry, not exceeding £.800 ayear; and to any son of such marriage he devised a considerable estate in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The death of his father having secured him independence, Mr Wortley-Montague seems immediately to have availed himself of it; and, possessing very acommodating principles, with a fine constitution for travelling, he once more took leave of his native country, and passed the

remainder of his life entirely in fo reign parts.

In the Parliament, however, which assembled in November 1761, he was, during his absence, again elected for Bossiney; and on the 21st of August 1762 lady Mary WortleyMontague died, leaving her son only one guinea," his father having," as she expressed it, "amply provided for him."

By these accidents, a vast fortune came to the late Earl of Bute, who mar. ried the daughter: nevertheless, this generous Nobleman ceded to his brother in-law much more than he could have possibly obtained, and even more than he could have claimed, by litigation.

In 1762 we find him at Turin ; whence he wrote two letters to the Earl of Macclesfield, which were read at the Royal Society, Nov. 25; and afterwards published in a quarto pamphlet, intituled, "Observations upon a supposed antique Bust at Turin."

His next peregrination was into the East, where he was accompanied by Nathaniel Davison, Esq.fand continued there nearly three years.

In September 1765 he was performing quarantine at Venice; where he was met by Mr Sharpe, whose description of him shall be given below t. From Abbé Winkelman's

Letters,

+"One of the most curious sights we saw amongst these curiosities was the famous Mr Montague, who was performing lish made a point of paying him their comquarantine at the Lazaretto. All the Engpliments in that place; and he seemed not a little pleased with their attention. It may be supposed that visitors are not suffered to approach the person of any who is performing quarantine: they are divided by a passage of about seven or eight feet wide. Montague was just arrived from the East. He had travelled through the Holy Land, Egypt, Armenia, and with the Old and New Testament in his hands for his direction,

Mr

which he told us had proved unerring guides he had particularly taken the road

Letters, dated in the same year, we learn an anecdote, not calculated to craze any unfavourable opinion which may have been entertained of Mr Montague: "At Alexandria," says the Abbe," he got acquainted with the Danish Consul, who had a very handsome wife. Under various pretences, he engaged the husband to go to Holland. Some time after, he shewed a feigned letter, mentioning the Consul's death, and married his wife, whom he now carries with him into Syria. Not long after, the Danish resident at Constantinople received from the Texel advice of the supposed dead Consul, so that Montague is not safe in any of the Grand Seignior's dominions."

His relation of the journey from

of the Israelites through the Wilderness, and had observed that part of the Red Sea through which they passed. He had visited Mount Sinai; and flattered himself he had heen on the very part of the rock where Moses spake face to face with God Almighty. His beard reached down to his breast, being of two years and a half growth, and the dress of his head was Armenian. He was in the most enthusiastic raptures with Arabia and the Arabs. His bed was the ground; his food rice; his beverage water; his luxury a pipe and coffee. His purpose was, to return once more amongst that virtuous people; whose morals and hospitality, he said, were such, that, were you to drop your cloak in the highway, you would find it six months afterwards, an Arab being too honest a man to pick up what he knows belongs to another; and, were you to offer money for the provison you meet with he would ask you, with concern, why you had so mean an opinion of his benevolence, as to suppose him capable of accepting a gratification? Therefore money, said he, in that country, is of very little use, as it is only necessary for the purchase of garments, which in so warm a climate are very few, and of very little value. He distinguishes, however, betwixt the wild and the civilized Arab; and proposes to publish an account of all I have written."Mr Samuel Sharpe's Letters from Italy, 8vo, 1766, p. 9. This gentleman was several years surgeon of Guy's Hospital; but had resigned some time before his death, which happened March 24, 1778.

Cairo in Egypt to the Written Mountains in the Desarts of Sinai, in a letter dated from Pisa, Dec. 2, 1765, was read before the Royal Society, March 13, 1766, and published in their Transactions. In the same learned repository may also be found his "New Observations on what is called Pompey's Pillar in Egypt."

He is said also to have published (but I know not where) an "Expli cation of the Causes of Earthquakes." He had certainly great natural abilities, and a great share of acquired knowledge.

In 1766, he was about to return to the East; and in 1768 it was sta ted in the public papers, that he had been received with uncommon respect at Constantinople, after passing through Salonica, and viewing the Islands in the Archipelago.

In the beginning of the year 1773 he was at Rosetta in Egypt*; which

be

* This appears by a series of very curious letters addressed to a friend of his, an emi nent Physician in London; in the first of which, dated Rosetta, Feb. 16, 1773, he says, "I am much obliged to you for the compliment that you pay my beard: and to my good friend Dr Mackenzie, for having given you an account of it advantageous enough to merit the panegyric. I have followed Ulysses and Eneas-I have seen all they are said to have visited, the territories of the allies of the Greeks, as well as those of old Priam, with less ease, though with more pleasure, than most of our travellers traverse France and Italy. I have had manya weary step, but never a tiresome hour; and, however dangerous and disagreeable adven tures I may have had, none could ever de ter me from my point; but, on the contra ry, they were only stimuli. I have certainly many materials, and classical ones too; but I was always a bad workman, and a sexagenary one is, of all workmen, the worst, -as, perhaps with truth, the fair sex say.

This very true; but the Patriarchs only began life at that time of day; and 1 find that I have a Patriarchal constitution. I live as hardly and as simply as they did. Enured to hardship, I despise luxury: my only luxury is coffee, and the concomitant of claret, exceptis excipiendis. I staid a considerable

he quitted in June, and was at the Lazaretto off Leghorn in the same month. From that place he went to Venice, where he staid above two years; during which time (in April 1774) he meditated a voyage to Mecca and Medina, but this probably never took place.

sisderable time at Epirus and Thessalia: theatres on which the fate of the world was the drama. I took exact plans of Actium

and Pharsalia; and should have sent them to you, to communicate to the Royal Society, but there are no ships sailing directly for Europe. I cannot tell you the pleasure I take in the success of Mr Banks and Dr Solander: I shall be happy when their discoveries are made public. Good God! how happy must those Gentleman be, in having been so serviceable to mankind! I have

lately followed Moses in the Wilderness

I have since followed the victorious Israelites, and have visited all their possessions:

but, with all these materials, I am idle with regard to them. What shall I say to you?

I am now so smitten with a beautiful Ara

bian, that she wholly takes up my time she only is the object of my every attention

-she, though not in blooming youth, has

more charms than all the younger beauties. I am totally taken up with the study of the Arabic language: and, as I daily find fresh beauties in it, I become the more eager in my pursuit. My fair mistress is not coy; she admits my caresses; but, alas! in this I find myself a sexagenary lover: I caress her as much and more than I should have done at five-and-twenty, but with less fruit. Indeed, I have so far succeeded, that, tho I read but little prose, I have attached myself to Arabic poetry, which, though extremely difficult, well pays my pains; its own energy and sublimity are not to be paid. I know not with what to amuse you: therefore I send you an account of our weather at this place since our winter began: Nov. 27, Thermometer, at sun-rise, 67.-4 in the afternoon, 70. &c. &c. &c.-I sent our friend Mr Anderson, the other day, a very large aspic, which, if I mistake not, is the very aspic of the Antients. Pray examine it, and put it in the British Museum. Mr Anderson can shew you my picture, and my Views of Egypt. Pray assist Mr Anderson in the choice of some medicines that I have desired him to send me. Pray make my compliments to the goat [Mr Banks's]: she has made me a bad man; that is, an envious one; for I envy her having been three times round the Globe. I beg you will orNov. 1812.

At Venice he was visited by Mr Romney, the celebrated Painter; as we learn by the following extract from his elegant Biographer, Mr Hayley: "After a busy residence of some months at Rome, Romney indulged himself with a survey of Venice; and he chanced to meet there an eccentric character of his own country, with whose singularities he was highly entertained. The learned and fanciful

traveller, Wortley-Montague, after his rambles in Asia, was at this time living in Venice with the manners, the habit, and the magnificence of a Turk. Romney painted an admirable head of him in his Eastern garb, and in such a style of art, as clearly proves that the Painter had studied intensely, and successfully, the celebrated colourists of the Venetian school: in

deed, his head of Montague might easily be mistaken for a Venetian picture. It was a favourite work of the Artist; and he long retained it as a study for his own use; but, after permitting a small print to be taken from it, as a decoration to Seward's Anecdotes, he presented the original to a friend. friend. He had painted a large copy from it; which, with other exquisite portraits by the same master, is ranked among the choicest modern orṇaments of that magnificent and interesting old mansion, Warwick castle. Romney was so captivated with the extensive knowledge, the lively spirit, and the fascinating conversation of

Wortley

Gram

der for me, from your bookseller, matica Arabica dicta Casia, magno et eleganti Charactere ex Typographia Medicæa;' which will much oblige your most obedient and humble servant, ED. WORTLEY-MONTAGU. Please to continue to receive my Transactions. Direct always at Messrs. Omech and Corrys, Leghorn; and write the news as much as suits your conveniency. The price of the above book, as well as any other in the Oriental languages, which may have been published within these ten years, Messrs. Coutts will pay you."

Wortley-Montague, and that extraordinary traveller was so pleased with the manual and mental energy of the Artist, that it is probable their acquaintance might have led to the production of many pictures, had not their brief intimacy ended by a fatal mischance, which terminated all the projects of Montague. While Romney was with him, he happened, in eating a small bird, to wound his throat with a bone: the accident produced inflammation; and in the course of a few days occasioned his death.Such was the fate of this singular man, who had escaped from the manifold perils of roving through the deserts of the East."

Of the accident which occasioned the death of this extraordinary person, there can be little doubt; but there appears to be some error in the circumstance of Mr Romney's being present at the accident, as Mr Montague survived it a considerable time. Mr Romney, after passing some time at Parma, and making a circuitous route through Turin, Lyons, and Paris, reached London in the beginning of June 1775. Mr Montague's will was dated in that year, Nov. 28. and he lived till the 29th of April, 1776.

Mrs Piozzi, in her "Observations in a Journey through Italy," (vol. I. p. 161.) speaking of Mr Montague's mother, says, Surely she had then present to her warm imagination a favourite Cassino in the Piazza St Marco. That her learned and highly. accomplished son imbibed her taste. and talents for sensual delights, has been long known in England: it is not so, perhaps, that there is a shewy monument erected to his memory at Padua, setting forth his variety and compass of knowledge in a long La tin inscription. The good old monk who shewed it me seemed generously and reasonably shocked, that such a man should at last expire with somewhat more firm persuasions of the truth

of the Mahometan religion than any other; but that he doubted greatly of all, and had not for many years professed himself a Christian of any denomination *.

"From the Protestant religion Mr Montague," says Count Lamberg, who saw him at Venice, "went over to the faith of rigorous observation and profession of Mahometanism. He used always to seal his letters with three Arabian signets, which had sentences of the Koran engraven on them. He rises before the sun, says his prayers, and performs his ablutions and lazzis according to the Mahometan ritual. An hour after, he awakes his pupil, a filthy emigrant of the parched Abyssinia, whom he brought with him from Rosetta (in Egypt.) He instructs this dirty Negro with all the care and precision of a philosopher, both by precept and example: he lays before him the strongest proofs (as they appear to him) of the religion he teaches him, and he cate Moor listens to him with the most striking chizes him in the Arabian language. The marks of a profound and respectful attention all the time that is employed in these lessons. That he may not omit any particu lar, in the most rigorous observance of the low table, sitting cross-legged on a sofa, Mahometan rites, Mr Montague dines at a while the Moor, on a cushion still lower, sits gaping with avidity for his master's leavings. It is this Negro who supports Turkish garb of his master, who is always the white mantle that makes a part of the preceded, even at noon-day, by two gondoliers with lighted torches in their hands. The ordinary place of his residence is at Rosetta, where his wife lives, who is the

Rome, and from thence deserted to the most

daughter of an inn-keeper at Leghorn, and whom he has forced to embrace the Mahometan religion. His income amounts to about 6000 piastres, which are remitted to him from London by his sister lady Bute, and 4000 from the Sublime Porte. During ligious ablutions in cold water, rubbing, at the most intense cold, he performs his rethe same time, his body with sand from the thighs to the feet: his Negro also pours fresh water on his head, and combs his

beard; and he also pours cold water on the head of his Negro. To finish this religious ceremony, he resumes his pipe, turns towards the East, mutters some prayers, walks afterwards for half an hour, and

drinks his coffee. O miseræ hominum mestes!"-Translated from "Memorial d'un

Mondain, par Count Maximilian de Lamberg."

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