92 President's Address. 



mansion of considerable size. Evelyn, in his 'Diary/ calls it a 

 " Palace." 



Ralph Montagne married Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley, half 

 sister of Lady Rachel Russell, and this connection may, 

 perhaps, account for the grant of 1675. 



In January, 1686, this House was burnt to the ground. 

 The fire is mentioned by Evelyn and by Lady Rachel Russell 

 in one of her letters. The House was rebuilt by its owner 

 (who was created Duke of Montague) on the same plan as 

 before. The second Duke of Montague lived there for a time, 

 but subsequently built another mansion in Whitehall, to 

 which he removed. 



In 175o Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed his collection to the 

 Nation, and an Act of Parliament was passed constituting 

 the British Museum and appointing its Trustees, and while 

 the latter were looking for a House in which to place their 

 treasures, the representatives of the Duke of Montague offered 

 to sell them Montague House. The price was agreed upon 

 at tl0,100, and a very large sum was spent by the Trustees 

 in repairs and alterations. The Museum was opened to the 

 public in 1759. 



In 1841 the Duke of Bedford released to the Trustees -of 

 the British Museum the rent of £5 reserved under the Grant 

 of 1675, and in the same year the Duke and his Trustees sold 

 and conveyed to the Museum Trustees the pieces of land on 

 which the South-east and South-west wings now stand. 



In 1895 His Grace sold to the Trustees the houses sur- 

 rounding the Museum on the North, East and West sides. 



In one of the early guide-books of the Museum, an estimate 

 is given of the contents of the Sloane collection, as being 50,000 

 Books, MSS. and Prints, 23,000 Coins and Medals, 8186 

 specimens of Quadrupeds and their parts, 1172 Birds and their 

 parts, eggs and nests, etc. Most of the Zoological collections 

 have perished in course of time, but a few specimens still 

 remain. 



In the ' History of the Collections ' before mentioned I have 

 attempted an identification of the Banksian ' Drawings.' 

 These were presented by Sir Joseph Banks, with the rest of 

 his wonderful library, to the Trustees of the British Museum, 



