[24] Whewell, &c. A few days ago I received a most friendly and affectionate letter from Lord Morpeth, in which he enclosed a letter of introduction to the Countess of Granville,1 now in Paris. Sir Robert Inglis expressed himself to-night in terms of the highest admiration of Dr. Channing's ‘Texas,’ which is a good deal from such a churchman. I passed a very pleasant evening last week—till long past midnight—with Mr.Montagu and Mrs. Basil Montagu.2 Mr. Montagu was full of Bacon, and told me it was said of him that in a quarrel with the keeper of a turnpike gate he would quote Bacon! He invited me to go with him to visit Bacon's mansion about twenty miles from London. Mrs. Montagu is a remarkable woman. As ever yours,C. S.
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1 Lady Granville (Henrietta Elizabeth) was the wife of Lord Granville, then English Ambassador at Paris. She and her sister, Georgiana, who was Lord Morpeth's mother, were the daughters of the fifth earl of Devonshire. Lord Granville died in 1846, and Lady Granville in 1862. His son is a distinguished statesman.
2 Basil Montagu, 1770-1851. He was educated at Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1798. He made the Law of Bankruptcy, both in practice and as a writer, his specialty in the profession. He co-operated with Romilly in the movement to abolish capital executions for minor offences, and was active in the Temperance reform. He was an enthusiastic student of Bacon, editing the works, and writing the life of the philosopher. His edition was the text of Macaulay's famous article in the ‘Edinburgh Review.’ His daughter married Bryan Waller Procter, who, as an author, adopted the pseudonym of ‘Barry Cornwall,’ and died in 1874, at the age of eighty-seven. Adelaide Anne Procter, 1825-1864, was Mr. Procter's daughter. Sumner made the acquaintance of Mr.Montagu and Mrs. Montagu, through Mr. Parkes. They were charmed with him, and ever after regarded him with a tenderness like that of parents. Mrs. Montagu predicted even then his future eminence. His relations to them and to the Procters have been touched upon by James T. Fields, in a paper contributed to ‘Harper's Magazine,’ Nov., 1875, pp. 777-796; and afterwards reprinted in a volume entitled ‘Barry Cornwall and some of his Friends,’ pp. 9, 47, 65, 101. Sumner was one of the guests, in 1859, at a dinner given by Mr. Procter to Hawthorne; at which were present Mr. Fields, Kinglake, and Leigh Hunt.
Cambridge, MA. Press of John Wilson and Son. 1877.
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