dy
Mary. This did not seem unreasonable, but Montagu did not see his way to
agree to them. He was willing enough to make all proper provision for
his wife, but he declined absolutely to settle his landed property upon
a son who, as he put it, for aught he knew, might prove unworthy to
inherit it, who might be a spendthrift, an idiot, or a villain--as a
matter of fact, the only son of the marriage turned out most things he
should not. Anyhow, Montagu held strong views on the subject, and these
he expounded to Richard Steele, who presented them in No. 223 of the
_Tatler_ (September 12, 1710).

"That this method of making settlements was first invented by a griping
lawyer, who made use of the covetous tempers of the parents of each
side, to force two young people into these vile measures of diffidence
for no other end, but to increase the skins of parchment, by which they
were put into each other's possession out of each other's power. The law
of our country has given an ample and generous provision for the wife,
even the third of her husband's estate, and left to her good-humour and
his gratitude the expectation of farther provision, but the fantastical
method of going farther, with relation to the heirs, has a foundation in
nothing but pride, and folly: for as all men with their children as like
themselves, and as much better as they can possibly, it seems monstrous
that we should give out of ourselves the opportunities of rewarding and
discouraging them according to their defects. The wife institution has
no more sense in it, than if a man should begin a deed with 'Whereas no
man living knows how long he shall continue to be a reasonable creature,
or an honest man, and whereas I.B. am going to enter into the state of
matrimony with Mrs. D., therefore I shall from henceforth make it
indifferent to me whether from this time forward I shall be a fool or
knave. And therefore, in full and perfect health of body, and a sound
mind, not knowing which of my children will prove better or worse, I
give to my first-born, be he perverse, ungrateful, impious, or cruel,
the lump and bulk of my estate, and leave one year's purchase only to
each of my younger children, whether they shall be brave or beautiful,
modest or honourable, from the time of the date hereof, wherein I resign
my senses, and hereby promise to employ my judgment no farther in the
distribution of my worldly goods from the date hereof, hereby farther
confessing and