Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/442

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438 MONTGOMERY. grief and the comfort of her relations.” She died at Bath, in 1715. On her death-bed she wrote some very affecting verses to her husband, which are not printed in her works, but may be found in vol. i i . o f the “Poems o f Eminent Ladies,” and i n “Cibber's Lives.” GEN. MONTGOMERY. This excellent officer, who was one o f the earliest mar tyrs t o the cause o f American independence, was a native o f Ireland, and o f a good family. He served i n the British army with great reputation and success during the whole o f the seven years war, a t the close o f which, having pur chased a n estate i n New York, and married a native of that province, h e fixed his abode there. When the arbi trary enactments o f the British parliament drove the Americans t o resistance, Montgomery was not the last t o catch the generous spirit. Happy i n the enjoyment o f a philosophical retirement, and tasting the sweets o f domes t i c felicity, every selfish consideration gave way t o the love o f freedom, and the call o f his adopted country. Possessing a great share o f professional abilities, and commanding, i n a high degree, the important power o f conciliating the affections o f men, h e found little difficulty among men, already strongly imbued with the same spirit, i n raising troops, and rendering them ardent i n the execu tion o f his designs. The Canadians being a t this time greatly discontented with the proceedings o f the British parliament, and with the extraordinary powers vested i n their governor, Gene r a l Carleton, and that province being almost totally unpro vided with means o f defence, the American congress took the resolution o f invading i t , i n the hope o f detaching i t also from the English empire, and thus consolidating the whole o f the British continental colonies i n one general union. For this purpose, Generals Schuyler and Montgo mery crossed Lake Champlain i n August 1775, and