INTRODUCTION. 
Montague 
House. 
viii 
7 
the several collections, purchased and granted as 
above stated. Parliament vested in an incorporate 
body of Trustees, consisting of the first charac¬ 
ters in the kingdom for rank, station, and literary 
fame ; at the same time conferring on them ample 
powers to take such measures as they should deem 
expedient for the disposal, preservation, and 
management of the Institution, which it was 
now determined should bear the name of the 
British Museum. 
The first act of these Trustees was to provide 
a proper building for the reception of the ample 
collections confided to their care ; and after va¬ 
rious proposals, they at length fixed upon the 
noble mansion built about the year 1680 by 
Ralph first Duke of Montague, who being at 
that time Ambassador at Paris, sent over French 
artists for erecting and adorning the edifice he had 
in contemplation. This palace, together with its 
gardens and appurtenances, occupying in the 
whole an area of seven acres and twenty perches 
of land, was ceded by the representatives of the 
Montague family for the moderate sum of 
£ 10,000. 
The necessary repairs (which, the house 
having stood long empty, proved very expensive) 
were 
