they were, indeed, convicted at the assizes, but Collier ultimately procured their escape upon a point of law which the judge had refused to reserve. He was elected member of parliament for Plymouth in the Liberal interest in 1852, and in 1859 was appointed counsel to the admiralty and judge-advocate to the fleet. In this capacity he gave in 1862 an opinion in favour of detaining the Confederate rams building in the Mersey, which would have saved his country much money and much credit if it had been acted upon. In 1863 he became solicitor-general, and in 1868 attorney-general, and in 1869 successfully passed a bankruptcy bill. In 1871 he was appointed by Mr Gladstone one of four new judges upon the judicial committee of the privy council, although it was expressly provided by the act creating these offices that none of them should be filled by a law-officer of the Crown. This prohibition was evaded by making Collier a judge of common pleas, and transferring him after a few days to the privy council. This arrangement was unanimously condemned by public opinion, and gave the Gladstone cabinet a serious blow. He officiated, nevertheless, with distinction until his death on the 3rd of November 1886, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Monkswell in 1885. He was a man of many accomplishments, and especially distinguished as an amateur painter, frequently exhibiting landscapes at the Royal Academy and elsewhere. In his younger days he had been noted as a clever caricaturist. He was succeeded in the peerage by his elder son, Robert (b. 1845), who, after taking a first class in law at Cambridge, went to the bar, and became (1871) conveyancing counsel to the treasury, and (1885–1886) an official examiner of the High Court, and, taking to politics as a Liberal, under-secretary for war (1895). The younger son, John Collier (b. 1850), inherited his father’s artistic tastes, and became a well-known painter.
MONLUC, or Montluc, the name of a French family. The
house of Lasséran-Mansencomme, which possessed the estate
of Monluc in Agenais, and took its name in the 16th century,
is held to be a branch of the family of Montesquiou. Marshal
Blaise de Monluc (d. 1577), author of the Commentaires, had a
son, Pierre Bertrand, called the Capitaine Peyrot, who perished
in an expedition to Madeira in 1566, and another son, Fabien
de Monluc, whose granddaughter, Jeanne de Monluc (d. 1657),
countess of Carmaing, princess of Chabanais, brought the estates
of her house to the family of Escoubleau by her marriage with
Charles d’Escoubleau, marquess of Sourdis and Alluyes. Jean
de Monluc, brother of the marshal, was bishop of Valence and Die,
and distinguished himself in several embassies. He died in
1579, leaving a natural son, Jean de Monluc (d. 1603), seigneur
de Balagny, who was at first a zealous member of the League,
but made his submission to Henry IV., and received from him
the principality of Cambrai and the bâton of a marshal of France.
MONMOUTH, JAMES SCOTT, Duke of (1649–1685), leader of his abortive insurrection against James II. in 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 the 9th of April 1649. That Charles was his father is more than doubtful, for Lucy Walters had previously lived with Robert Sidney (son
of the earl of Leicester), 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, by whose name he was known, 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, countess of Buccleuch, 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; and on his marriage he and his wife were created duke and duchess
of Buccleuch, and he took, the surname of Scott. 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. In 1670 Monmouth was with the court at
Dover, and it is affirmed by Reresby that the mysterious death
of Charles’s sister, Henrietta, 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.
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, 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.” 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 (June 22, 1679). 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 1678–1679, and was succeeded by one still more determined in its antipopery 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 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 the 27th of 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
