mber of Parliament for Bossinery, lightening his
legislative labours by writing a learned treatise on the rise and fall
of ancient Republics. Was there ever such a man? Duke's grandson,
fish-hawker, common sailor, peasant, _roue_, gambler, Member of
Parliament, scholar--all _roles_ came equally easily to him; and many
more just as varied were to follow. It was while thus wearing the halo
of learning and high respectability that his father died, leaving him a
substantial income, and a large estate in Yorkshire to his eldest son,
if he should have one. And now we find him leaving his law-making and
cultivating letters and science in Italy, further enriched by the guinea
which was all his mother, Lady Mary, condescended to leave her vagrant
son. The rest--an enormous property--went to his sister, the Countess of
Bute.

From Italy he went on a long tour through the East, where he seems to
have played the _role_ of Lothario very effectually. At Alexandria (to
give only one of his love adventures) he lost his fickle heart to the
beautiful wife of the Danish Ambassador, whom, under various pretences,
he induced to leave the coast clear by getting him to go to Holland. The
husband thus safely out of the way, Montagu proceeded to dispose of him.
He showed the lady a letter from Holland giving sad details of his
sudden death, and consoled the bereaved "widow" so well that she
consented to reward him with her hand and to accompany him to Syria.

By the time the dead husband had returned to life Montagu was already
weary of honeymooning, and was thankful to make his escape to Italy,
free to woo, and, if necessary, to wed again.

We next find this human chameleon at Venice, wearing a beard down to his
waist, sleeping on the ground, eating rice and drinking water, and
recounting his adventures to all who cared to hear them. He was an
Armenian, and played the part to perfection--until he wearied of it, and
found another to play. At this time he wrote:

"I have been a labourer in the fields of Switzerland and
Holland, and have not disdained the humble profession of
postillion and ploughman. I was a _petit maitre_ at
Paris, and an abbe at Rome. I put on, at Hamburg, the
Lutheran ruff, and with a triple chin and a formal
countenance I dealt about me the word of God so as to
excite the envy of the clergy. My fate was similar to
that of a guinea, which at one time is in the hands of a
Queen