The principal rivers are: the Wye, which forms the eastern boundary of the county with Gloucester, and falls into the Severn; the Monnow, which forms a portion of its boundary with Hereford, and falls into the Wye at the town of Monmouth; the Usk, which rises in Brecknock, and flows southward through the centre of the county to the Bristol Channel; the Ebbw, which rises in the north-west, and enters the estuary of the Usk at Newport; and the Rumney, which rises in Brecknock, and, after forming the boundary between Monmouth and Glamorgan, enters the Bristol Channel a little to the east of Cardiff. Salmon abound especially in the Wye and the Usk, and trout are plentiful in all the streams. The Monmouthshire canal extends from Newport to Pontypool, where it is joined by the Brecknockshire canal, which enters the county near Abergavenny. The Crumlin canal also joins it a little north of Newport.

Geology and Minerals.— The geological formation is principally Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous,—the Old Red forming the larger and eastern half of the county, from a line drawn between Abergavenny and Newport, and varying in thickness from between 8000 and 10,000 feet in the north to about 4000 feet in the south. In the centre of the county adjoining the Usk there is an outcrop of Silurian rocks, extending to a distance of about 8 miles north and south and 4 miles east and west, with a thickness of 1500 feet. Towards the east the Old Sandstone rocks dip beneath the Mountain Limestone, which enters the county from the Forest of Dean coal-field, and gives its peculiar character to the fine scenery along the banks of the Wye. The formation varies in thickness from 500 to 700 feet. The Carboniferous rocks connected with the great coal-field of South Wales, which occupy the western half of the county, include—(1) the Coal-measures, consisting of shales and ironstones, sandstones and coal-beds, of which there are about twenty-five beds more than 2 feet thick—total thickness of the strata” 11,650 feet; (2) Millstone Grit, thickness 330 feet; (3) Carboniferous Limestone surrounding the coal-field, thickness 1000 feet; (4) Old Red Sandstone, thickness 600 feet; and (5) Devonian beds, consisting of red and brown sandstone, marls, &c., thickness about 6000 feet. The coal-field of Monmouth has an area of about 90,000 acres. The beds are very rich and easily wrought, the most common way of reaching them being by excavating passages in the sides of the hills instead of by perpendicular shafts. The number of collieries in operation in 1881 was 124, and the quantity of coal obtained 5,4Γ2,840 tons. The ironstone of Monmouth occurs both in beds and in large detached masses, the yield of iron being 18 to 55 per cent. The ore is the common clay ironstone. The iron industry was prosecuted successfully at Ponty-ρool in the 16th century by a family of the name of Grant, who were succeeded by the Hanburys. In 1740 Monmouth contained, however, only two furnaces, which made together about 900 tons annually; but during the present century they have increased with great rapidity. In 1881 the number of furnaces built was 52, of which 35 were in operation; the amount of pig-iron made was 527,277 tons. The works are situated chiefly in the neighbourhood of Pontypool, and occupy the valleys running in the direction of Merthyr-Tydfil in Glamorganshire. The following were the Monmouth ironworks in 1881: Abersychan, Pontypool, Pontnewynydd, Ebbw Vale, Victoria, Blaenavon, Cwmbran, Nantyglo, Oakfields, Blaina, Rhymney, and Tredegar. In all, there were 258 puddling furnaces and 42 rolling mills in operation. The tinplate manufacture is extensively carried on, the number of mills in the Monmouth and Gloucester district in 1881 being 95, the majority of which are in Monmouth. Fireclay is extensively dug; 57,680 tons were obtained in 1881.

Soil and Agriculture.— Along the seashore the soil is deep and loamy, and admirably suited for the growth of trees. The most fertile land is that resting on Red Sandstone, especially along the banks of the Usk, where wheat is raised of a very fine quality. In the more mountainous regions there is very little land that is capable of cultivation, the soil being generally thin and peaty. More attention is paid to grazing than to the raising of crops. There are a considerable number of dairy-farms, but sheep-farming is much more largely followed. Of the 5241 holdings existing in 1880—the latest year in regard to which there is information—3661 were under 50 acres, 1521 between 50 and 300 acres, and only 59 above 300 acres. According to the agricultural returns for 1882 there were 243, 063 acres, or almost exactly two-thirds of the total area, under cultivation. Of this, 176,137 acres were permanent pasture, and 14,729 rotation grasses. Of the 35,038 acres under com crops, 16,151 were under wheat, 8596 under barley, and 8711 under oats. Turnips occupied 7486 acres, and potatoes only 1777. The area under woods was 29,856, and under orchards 3921. The total number of horses in 1882 was 11,631; of which the number used solely for agricultural purposes was 6449. Of the 44,168 cattle, 16,500 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf. Sheep numbered 134,682, and pigs 17,621. According to the latest return there were 7811 proprietors possessing 296,971 acres, with a gross annual rental of £837,254. Of the owners, 4970, or 63 per cent., possessed less than 1 acre, 17 possessed between 1000 and 2000 acres, and 15 between 2000 and 5000. The following four proprietors possessed over 5000 acres each: Lady Llanover, 6312; the executors of C. H. Leigh, 10,211; Lord Tredegar, 25,229; and the duke of Beaufort, 27,299.

Railways.— The South Wales Railway passes along the coast, and many branch lines cross the county in various directions, the majority of them being connected either with the Great Western Railway or with the London and North-Western.

Administration and Population.— Monmouth comprises six hundreds, and the municipal boroughs of Monmouth (6111) and Newport (38,427). In addition to these two boroughs there are fifteen urban sanitary districts, viz., Abergavenny (6941), Abersychan (13,496), Abertillery (6003), Blaenavon (9451), Caerleon (1099), Chepstow (3591), Christchurch (3114), Ebbw Vale (14,700), Llanvrechva (4177), Panteg (3321), Pontypool (5244), Rhymney (8663), Risca (5540), Tredegar (18,771), Usk (1470). With the exception of Abergavenny, Caerleon, Chepstow, Pontypool, and Usk, these towns are all of modem growth, and owe their rise chiefly to the iron manufacture,—some, however, being partly dependent on that of tinplate. The county returns two members to parliament; and Monmouth, Newport, and Usk, with a united population in 1881 of 46,033, constitute the Monmouth district of boroughs, which returns one member. The county has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into twelve petty sessional divisions. It is within the diocese of Llandaff, and contains 147 civil parishes, townships, or places. The population, which in 1801 was 45,568, had increased in 1841 to 134,368, in 1871 to 195,448, and in 1881 to 211,267 (of whom 108,262 were males, and 103,005 females).

History and Antiquities.— At the time of the Romans, Monmouthshire formed part of the territory of the Silures, -whose principal seat was at Caerwent, and who were finally subdued by Julius Frontinus in the year 78. The old Roman road, the Via Julia, leading from the mouth of the Severn to Caerwent, Caerleon, and onwards to Neath in Glamorgan, can still be traced. The Romans made Caerwent, under the name of Venta Silurum, one of their principal stations. Tesselated pavements, pottery, coins, and the remains of a Roman villa, have been found, and portions of the walls still exist. The great station of the Romans was, however, Isea Silurum, now Caerleon (Caer legionis), so called from the fact that it was the headquarters of the second imperial legion. By Richard of Cirencester it is called a colonia, being the only station of that dignity in Wales. The mound of the old fortress still remains, as well as portions of an amphitheatre. Other less important stations were those of Gobannium (Abergavenny), Blestium (Monmouth), and Burrium (probably Usk). Monmouthshire is closely associated with Arthurian legends. In one of the Welsh tales Arthur is represented as holding his court at Caerleon during Easter and Pentecost; and an oval bank near the town is pointed out as Arthur’s Round Table. When Wales was subdivided into three kingdoms on the death of Rhodri the Great, Monmouth and Glamorgan were placed under a separate government distinct from either of these. In the 9th and 10th centuries Monmouth was frequently invaded by the Danes. Edward the Confessor, after various victories in Wales, is said to have established a palace at Porth-is-coed (Portskewett). At the Norman Conquest the district was delivered over to certain Norman nobles called the “Lords of the Marches,” who held the lands which they conquered per baroniam, with the right of administering justice. Frequent contests took place between the lords of the marches and the Welsh princes, until, in 1535, the jurisdiction of the lords of the marches was abolished by Henry VIII., and Monmouth was included among the English counties. Monmouth was the scene of frequent contests during the Civil War.

Of Norman fortresses in Monmouth, either built or taken possession of by the lords of the marches, there are remains of no less than twenty-five. The more interesting and important are: Caldicot, the seat of the De Bohuns, still entire; Chepstow, one of the finest examples of the old Norman fortress extant, built by Fitz Osborn in the 11th century, in an imposing situation on a cliff above the Wye; Newport, now used as a brewery; Abergavenny, now partly occupied as a private house; the gateway and hall of Grosmont, once the residence of the dukes of Lancaster; and Usk Castle, rebuilt by the Clares in the time of Edward IV. Raglan Castle, begun in the reign of Henry V., is a very extensive ruin, still in good preservation, and contains examples of several styles of architecture. Charles I. resided in it after the battle of Naseby. In 1646 it was. delivered up to the parliament.

At the Reformation there were in Monmouth two hospitals and fifteen other religious houses; but of these there are now important remains of only two—Llanthony Abbey and Tintern Abbey. Llanthony Abbey in the Black mountains was founded by William de Lacy for Cistercians in 1103, and is one of the earliest examples in England of the Pointed style. The ruins consist of portions of the nave, transept, central tower, and choir. Tintern Abbey, belonging to the same order, and founded by Walter de Clare in 1131, occupies a position of great beauty on the Wye. The building, which is Early English to Decorated, is almost entire, with the exception of the roof, and may be ranked as among the finest of the monastic ruins in England. Of the churches, those chiefly worthy of mention are Abergavenny, belonging to a Benedictine priory, and containing a number of old tombs; Chepstow, partly Norman, and possessing a richly-moulded doorway; St Woolos church, Newport, also Norman; the Norman church of St Thomas, Monmouth; Christ Church, principally Norman; Matherne, Early English, with a tablet to Tewdris, king of Gwent; and Usk, formerly attached to a Benedictine priory.

Monmouth (Welsh Mynwy), a parliamentary and municipal borough of England, and the county town of Monmouthshire, is picturesquely situated at the confluence of the Wye and Monnow, in a valley almost surrounded by hills, 18 miles south of Hereford, and 128 west of London. By means of the Wye it has water communication with Bristol and with Hereford, but the former trade by barges has now ceased. Portions of the old walls and of the four gates still remain; but there are only insignificant ruins of the old castle in which Henry V. was born, and which was originally a Saxon fortress. After the Norman Conquest it was placed in the hands of William Fitz Osborn, whose descendant, John lord of Monmouth, rebuilt it on a more extensive scale. Subsequently it came into the possession of John of Gaunt, and thus became attached to the house of Lancaster. In 1646 it was taken by the parliamentary forces. Besides the churches—the new church of St Mary, completed in 1882, and the church of St Thomas, an Old Norman structure—the principal public buildings are the market-house, the town-hall, and Jones’s free grammar school in the Tudor style, which dates from 1614. The manufactures of the town are unimportant. The fine scenery of the Wye attracts a large number of tourists.

Monmouth was one of the strongholds of the Saxons; and under the name of Blestium formed one of the stations of the Romans. It was incorporated by Edward VI., and received additional privileges from Queen Mary, James I., and Charles II. It has sent members to parliament since the 27th of Henry VIII., and, along with Newport and Usk, forms the Monmouth district of boroughs. The area of the municipal and parliamentary borough is 4983 acres, with a population in 1871 of 5879, and in 1881 of 6111.

MONMOUTH, a small manufacturing city of the United States, in Warren county, Illinois, 180 miles southwest of Chicago by the main line of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, and 182 miles north of St Louis, by the St Louis division of the same railway. The Iowa Central Railway passes through the city. An opera-house and Monmouth College are among the principal buildings. The population increased from 4662 in 1870 to 5000 in 1880. The city charter dates from 1852.

MONMOUTH, James, Duke of (1649-1685), was the son of Lucy Walters, “a brown, beautiful, bold, but insipid creature,” who became the mistress of Charles II. during his exile at the Hague. He was born at Rotterdam on 9th April 1649. That Charles was his father is more than doubtful, for Lucy Walters had previously lived with Robert Sidney, brother of Algernon, and the boy resembled him very closely. Charles, however, always recognized him as his son, and lavished on him an almost doting affection. Until the Restoration he was placed under the care, first of Lord Crofts, and then of the queen-dowager, receiving his education to the age of nine from Roman Catholics, but thenceforward from Protestant tutors. In July 1662 he was sent for by Charles, and at thirteen was placed under the protection of Lady Castlemaine and in the full tide of the worst influences of the court. No formal acknowledgment of his relation to the king was made until his betrothal to Anne Scott, daughter of the earl of Buccleuch, and the wealthiest heiress of Scotland, whom he married in 1665. During 1663 he was made duke of Orkney, duke of Monmouth, and knight of the Garter, and received honorary degrees at both universities. At court he was treated as a prince of the blood. In 1665 he served with credit under the duke of York in the sanguinary naval battle off Lowestoft. A captaincy in the Life Guards was given him, and in 1670, on the death of Monk, he was made captain-general of the king’s forces. Offices of wealth also were showered upon him, and he was admitted to the privy council. In 1670 Monmouth was with the court at Dover, and it is affirmed by Reresby that the mysterious death of Charles’s sister, the duchess of Orleans, was due to her husband’s revenge on the discovery of her intrigue with the duke. It is certain, from an entry by Pepys, that as early as 1666 he had established a character for vice and profligacy. He was the direct author of the attack in December 1670 on Sir John Coventry, and only a few months later received the royal pardon for his share in the wanton murder of a street watchman. De Gramont, in his vivid sketch of Monmouth, after describing the beauty and bodily prowess for which he was celebrated, notices the fatal emptiness and poverty of his mind: “Tous les avantages du corps par-loient pour lui; mais son esprit ne disait pas un petit mot en sa faveur. Il n’avait de sentimens que ce qu’on lui en inspirait.”

Hitherto Monmouth had been but the spoiled child of a wicked court. Now, however, by no act or will of his own, he began to be a person politically important. As early as 1662 the king’s excessive fondness for him had caused anxiety. Even then the fear of a “difference” between Monmouth and James, duke of York, exercised men’s minds; and every caress or promotion kept the fear alive. Who could tell but that, in default of legitimate issue from his queen, Charles might declare Monmouth himself his lawful son? A civil war would be the certain consequence. Soon after 1670 the matter took a more serious aspect. The anti-popery spirit was rapidly becoming a frenzy, and the succession of James a probability and a terror. Charles was urged to legitimize Monmouth by a declaration of his marriage with Lucy Walters. He returned answer that, much as he loved the duke, he would rather see him hanged at Tyburn than own him for his legitimate son. Every attempt, however, was henceforth made, especially by Shaftesbury, to accustom people to this idea. He was taught to regard himself as the representative of the Protestant interest, and his position was emphasized by James’s second marriage with the Roman Catholic princess Mary of Modena. From this time his popular title was “the Protestant duke.” Charles was induced to confer many prominent employments upon him. The influence of James, however, was strong enough to prevent his obtaining the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland; but he received the command of the 6000 troops who assisted the French in the second Dutch war, and, though without any claims to generalship, behaved with courage in the field. In 1674 he was made “commander-in-chief;” and, in connexion with this, another unsuccessful attempt, graphically described in Clarke’s Life of James, was made to gain from Charles a tacit admission of his legitimacy. At Shaftesbury’s instance he was placed in command of the army employed in 1675 against the Scottish Covenanters, and was present at Bothwell Bridge (22d June 1679). He was also, at the king’s request, elected chancellor of the university of Cambridge. In 1678, when Charles was driven into war with Louis, Monmouth took the command of the English contingent, and again gained credit for personal courage at the battle of St Denis. On his return to London England was in the throes of the popish terror. The idea of securing the Protestant succession by legitimizing Monmouth again took shape and was eagerly pressed on by Shaftesbury; at the time it seemed possible that success would wait on the audacity.

The Pensionary parliament was dissolved in January 1678-79, and was succeeded by one still more determined in its anti-popery spirit. To avoid the storm, and to save, if possible, his brother’s interests, Charles instructed him to leave the country. James retired to Brussels, the king having previously signed a declaration that he “never was married, nor gave contract to any woman whatsoever but to my wife Queen Catherine.” In spite of this, Monmouth might naturally now nourish ambitious views. His rival was off the stage; Shaftesbury, his chief supporter, was president of the remodelled privy council; and he himself was the favourite of the city. In the summer of 1679 the king suddenly fell ill, and the dangers of a disputed succession became terribly apparent. The party opposed to Monmouth, or rather to Shaftesbury, easily prevailed upon Charles to consent to his brother’s temporary return. When, after the king’s recovery, James went back to Brussels, he received a promise that Monmouth too should be removed from favour and ordered to leave the country. Accordingly, in September 1679, the latter repaired to Utrecht, while shortly afterwards James’s friends so far gained ground as to obtain for him permission to reside at Edinburgh instead of at Brussels. Within two months of his arrival at Utrecht, Monmouth secretly returned to England, arriving in London on 27th November. Shaftesbury had assiduously kept alive the anti-popery agitation, and Monmouth, as the champion of Protestantism, was received with every sign of popular delight. The king appeared to be greatly incensed, deprived him of all his offices, and ordered him to leave the kingdom at once. This he refused to do, and the only notice taken of the disobedience was that Charles forbade him to appear at court.

It was at this time that the Appeal from the Country to the City, written by Ferguson, was published, in which the legitimacy was tacitly given up, and in which it was urged that “he that hath the worst title will make the best king.” Now it was too that the exclusionists, who, in the absence of parliament, were deprived of their best basis for agitation, developed the system of petitioning. So promptly and successfully was this answered by the “abhorrers” that Charles, feeling the ground safer under him, recalled James to London,—a step immediately followed by the resignation of the chief Whigs in the council.

Once more, however, a desperate attempt was made, by the fable of the “black box,” to establish Monmouth’s claims; and once more these claims were met by Charles’s public declarations in the Gazette that he had never been married but to the queen. Still acting under Shaftesbury’s advice, Monmouth now went upon the first of his progresses in the west of England, visiting the chief members of the country party, and gaining by his open and engaging manner much popularity among the people. In August 1680 James returned to Edinburgh, his right to the succession being again formally acknowledged by Charles. Monmouth at once threw himself more vehemently than ever into the plans of the exclusionists. He spoke and voted for exclusion in the House of Lords, and used language not likely to be forgotten by James when an opportunity should come for resenting it. He was ostentatiously feasted by the city, the stronghold of Shaftesbury’s influence; and it was observed as he drove to dinner that the mark of illegitimacy had been removed from the arms on his coach.

The year 1681 seemed likely to witness another civil war. The parliament finished a session of hysterical passion by passing a series of resolutions of extreme violence, of which one was that Monmouth should be restored to all his offices and commands; and when Charles summoned a fresh parliament to meet at Oxford the leaders of the exclusionists went thither with troops of armed men. Not until the dissolution of this last parliament on 27th March 1681 did the weakness of Monmouth’s cause appear. In a moment the ground was cut from under the feet of his supporters; their basis for agitation was gone; pamphlets and broadsheets could ill supply the place of a determined and unscrupulous majority of the House of Commons. The deep-seated respect for legitimate descent asserted itself, and a great reaction took place. In November Dryden published Absalom and Achitophel. Shaftesbury was attacked, but was saved for the time by a favouring jury. Monmouth himself did not escape insult in the street and from the pulpit. He thought it wise to try to make his peace with the king, but he did so in terms which incensed Charles the more. He was forbidden to hold communication with the court; and, when he went in September 1682 on a second progress through the western and north-western counties, his proceedings were narrowly watched, and he was at length arrested at Stafford. Severity and extreme lenity were strangely mingled in the treatment he received. He was released on bail, and in February 1683, after the flight and death of Shaftesbury, he openly broke the implied conditions of his bail by paying a third visit to Chichester with Lord Grey and others on pretence of a hunting expedition.

It is probable that Monmouth never went so far as to think of armed rebellion; but there is little doubt that he had talked over schemes likely to lead to this, and that Shaftesbury had gone further still. The Rye House plot gave an excuse for arresting the Whig leaders; Russell and Sidney were judicially murdered; Monmouth retired to Toddington in Bedfordshire, and was left untouched. Court intrigue favouring him, he succeeded, by the betrayal of his comrades and by two submissive letters, in reconciling himself with the help of Halifax both to the king and to James, though he had the humiliation of seeing his confessions and declarations of penitence published at length in the Gazette. His character for pettishness and folly was now amply illustrated. He denied that he had given evidence; he then wrote a recantation of the denial. He managed by importunity to get from the king the paper of recantation; and lastly, by the advice of his wife, he offered again to sign the paper which he had withdrawn. Charles heartily despised him, and yet appears to have retained affection for him. His partial return to favour raised the hopes of his partisans; to check these, Algernon Sidney was executed. Monmouth was now subpoenaed to give evidence at the trial of young Hampden. To escape from the difficulties thus opened before him he fled to Holland, probably with Charles’s connivance, and though he once more, in November 1684, visited England, it is doubtful whether he ever again saw the king. From that time till the king’s death he lived with Henrietta Wentworth, his mistress, in Holland and at Brussels.

The quiet accession of James II. soon brought Monmouth to the crisis of his fate. Though at first desirous of retirement, his character was too weak to withstand the urgency of more determined men. Within two months of Charles’s death he had yielded to the impetuosity of Argyll and others of the exiles, and to vague invitations from England. It is curious, as showing the light in which his claims were viewed by his fellow-conspirators, that one of the terms of the compact between them was that, though Monmouth should lead the expedition, he should not assume the title of king without their consent, and should, if the rebellion were successful, resign it and accept whatever rank the nation might offer. Now, as always, he was but a puppet in other men’s hands.

On the 2d of May Argyll sailed with three ships to raise the west of Scotland; and three weeks later, with a following of only eighty-two persons, of whom Lord Grey, Fletcher of Saltoun, Wade, and Ferguson, the author of the Appeal from the Country to the City, were the chief, Monmouth himself set out for the west of England, where, as the stronghold of Protestant dissent and as the scene of his former progresses, he could alone hope for immediate support. Even here, however, there was no movement; and when on 11th June Monmouth’s three ships, having eluded the royal fleet, arrived off Lyme Regis, he landed amid the curiosity rather than the sympathy of the inhabitants. In the market-place his “declaration,” drawn up by Ferguson, was read aloud. In this document James was painted in the blackest colours. Not only was he declared to be the murderer of Essex, but he was directly charged with having poisoned Charles to obtain his crown. Monmouth soon collected an undisciplined body of some 1500 men, with whom he seized Axminster, and entered Taunton. Meanwhile the parliament had declared it treason to assert Monmouth’s legitimacy, or his title to the crown; a reward of £5000 was offered for him dead or alive, and an act of attainder was passed in unusual haste. Troops had been hurriedly sent to meet him, and when he reached Bridgwater Albemarle was already in his rear. From Bridgwater the army marched through Glastonbury to attack Bristol, into which Lord Feversham had hastily thrown a regiment of footguards. The attempt, however, miscarried; and, after summoning Bath in vain, Monmouth, with a disordered force, began his retrograde march through Philips-Norton and Frome, continually harassed by Feversham’s soldiers. At the latter place he heard of Argyll’s total rout in the western Highlands. He was now anxious to give up the enterprise, but was overruled by Grey, Wade, and others. On the 3d of July he reached Bridgwater again, with an army little better than a rabble, living at free quarters and behaving with reckless violence. On Sunday the 5th Feversham entered Sedgemoor in pursuit; Monmouth the same night attempted a surprise, but his troops were hopelessly routed. He himself, with Grey and a few others, fled over the Mendip Hills to the New Forest, hoping to reach the coast and escape by sea. The whole country, however, was on the alert, and at midnight on the 8th, within a month of their landing, James heard that the revolt, desperate from the first, was over, and that his rival had been captured close to Ringwood, in Hampshire.

The poor strain in Monmouth’s character was now shown. On the day of his capture he wrote to James in terms of the most unmanly contrition, ascribing his wrongdoings to the action of others, and imploring an interview. On the 13 th the prisoners reached the Tower, and on the next day Monmouth was allowed to see James. The accounts of this interview are difficult to reconcile in some points, but all agree that Monmouth’s behaviour was unmanly in the extreme. No mercy was shown him, nor did he in the least deserve mercy; he had wantonly attacked the peace of the country, and had cruelly libelled James. The king had not, even in his own mind, any family tie to restrain him from exercising just severity, for he had never believed Monmouth to be the son of any one but Robert Sidney. Two painful interviews followed with the wife for whom he bore no love, and who for him could feel no respect; another imploring letter was sent to the king, and abject protestations and beseechings were made to all whom he saw. He offered, as the last hope, to become a Roman Catholic, and this might possibly have proved successful, but the priests sent by James to ascertain the sincerity of his “conversion” declared that he cared only for his life and not for his soul.

He met his death on the scaffold with calmness and dignity. In the paper which he left signed, and to which he referred in answer to the questions wherewith the busy bishops plied him, he expressed his sorrow for having assumed the royal style, and at the last moment confessed that Charles had denied to him privately, as he had publicly, that he was ever married to Lucy Walters. He died at the age of thirty-six, on the 15th of July 1685. “Thus ended,” says Evelyn, “this quondam duke, darling of his father and the ladies, being extremely handsome and adroit; an excellent souldier and dancer, a favourite of the people, of an easy nature, debauched by lusts, seduced by crafty knaves, who would have set him up only to make a property, and took the opportunity of the king being of another religion to gather a party of discontented men. He failed and perished.”

Authorities for Monmouth’s career are, besides the known modern histories, Roberts’s Life (1844), Evelyn’s and Pepys’s Diaries, Oldmixon’s History (1724), James II. ’s Memoirs, Clarke’s Life of James, Reresby’s Memoirs, Sidney’s Diary (1843), Scott’s notes to Absalom and Achitophel, and The Heroic Life, &c. (1683). For the rebellion, Lord Grey’s Secret History should be consulted. (0. A. )

MONMOUTH, Geoffrey of. See Geoffrey of Monmouth.