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BOUGHTOX HOUSE, NORTHANTS 



Boughton House, near Kettering in Northamptonshire, is 

 a good example of a home of one of the great nobles of the 

 time of William and Mary. Ralph Montagu (afterwards Duke 

 of Montagu) succeeded his father as Lord Montagu of Boughton 

 in 1 68 1. In 1669 he had been appointed ambassador extra- 

 ordinary to France, and during his stay in that country he 

 lived for a considerable period at Versailles. One of his 

 biographers 1 says that "here it was his Grace formed his idea 



Q.IIi.i.j 



FIG. 132. Boughton House, Northamptonshire. Plan of the Upper 



Story, 1736. 



From a Plan preserved in the house. 



The front at the bottom of the plan faces north. The house lies to the right of the plan, the 

 stables to the left. The entrance to the bouse is between the two wings on the north front. 

 Remains of the original house are to be found in the great hall situated at the north end of the 

 oblong court, and in the two sides of the same court. 



of building and gardening, erecting his seat at Boughton, in 

 Northamptonshire, after the pattern, and as his Dimensions 

 would allow, after the very model of Versailles." In 1695 ne 

 entertained King William and Queen Mary at Boughton for 

 fifteen days. He had been created Earl of Montagu by 

 William in 1689, and in 1705 he was created Duke of Montagu 

 by Queen Anne. He was, therefore, a great personage, and he 



1 Collins's "Peerage," 1741 ed., i. 334. 



