“A zeal for the glory of the Nation and of the town, also of your Lordship, induces me to recommend to you to modernize your house in Piccadilly, at least externally, by facing it with stone or Stucco, as brick has an ignoble appearance, and is considered by foreigners only fit for a _Maison bourgeoise_; a Portico with a _Rampe_,[323] as at the Hotels of Prince Eugene and Swartzenburg at Vienna, unites Conveniency, Elegance, and Grandeur, as chairs and coaches can go up the _Rampe_ and under the Portico, whereas a _Perron_[324] or open steps are always inconvenient, and often dangerous in snowy, wet, and frosty weather. I hope that your Lordship will give a Proof and monument of your Taste, Spirit, and Generosity in architecture, contributing thereby to the embellishment of the Metropolis. A House of Distinction sho’d be always _insulated_ without any Building contiguous thereto, which insulation has many advantages. “I have the Honour to be, with Respect, “ETC. “June 5, 1761.” [323] Means a rising gradient. [324] A flight of steps. [Page heading: THE BRITISH MUSEUM] The British Museum, containing the library and collection of Sir Hans Sloane, the Cottonian and Harleian MSS., etc., had been established in Montagu House, bought of the Earl of Halifax, and opened in 1759. The following letter from Mr. Charles Morton, the curator, will show the conditions under which the Museum was then shown. The Earl of Halifax, who had owned Montagu House, was a cousin of Mr. Montagu’s. “_To Mrs. Montagu._ “MADAM, “I am extremely sorry not to have received the Honour of your Message before eleven o’clock last night, being detained abroad by Business till that Time. I flatter myself, however, that the affair you mention will not have suffered by my absence; for on fridays and mondays the Museum is open in the afternoon only, at the Hours of four and six, calculated to accommodate for a few months persons of a different class, and on Saturdays the Museum is shut up. I have therefore secured places for Mrs. Montagu and her company for Tuesday sennight, at one o’clock, and promise myself the Pleasure to send the Tickets on Wednesday next, unless the Time I have engaged should be inconvenient to you; in which latter case, I beg the Honour of a note to-morrow some time before noon. “Madam, I remain, with great respect, “Your most obedient and most humble Servant, “CHAS. MORTON. “Montagu House, June 7, 1761.” [Page heading: A COUNTRY GENTLEWOMAN] [Page heading: GESNER’S “MORT D’ABEL”] From Sandleford, on June 23, Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. Carter-- “DEAR MADAM,