It was ordered that these several collections should be kept in their respective places of deposit until a more convenient and durable repository, safer from fire, and nearer to the chief places of public resort, could be provided for the reception of them all.
To defray the expenses of these purchases, to procure a fit repository for their preservation, and to provide a fund for the permanent support of the establishment when formed, the Act directed that £100,000 should be raised by way of lottery, the net produce of which, together with the several collections, was to be vested in a corporate body selected from the highest in the land so far as regards rank, station, and literary attainments, upon whom it conferred ample powers for the disposition, preservation, and management of the Institution, which, it was determined, should bear the name of The British Museum.
The sum really raised under this Act, partly in consequence of benefits arising from unsold tickets, amounted to £101,952. 7s. 6d.; but the expenses of the lottery amounted to £6,200, and the cashier of the bank received more than £550 in consideration of his management of it, so that the net produce was £95,194. 8s. 2d. Out of this the sum of £20,000 was paid to the executors of Sir Hans Sloane; £10,000 to the Earl and Countess of Oxford for the Harleian MSS.; £10,250 to Lord Halifax for Montague House, and £12,873 for its repairs, which had been estimated at £3,800; £30,000 being set apart as a fund for the payment of future salaries, taxes, and other expenses. Some loss was also sustained by the difference of price between the times of buying and selling stock, and £4,660 were expended for furniture. The surplus was applied to the gradual liquidation of numerous and general expenses, including the removal of the different collections.
The only buildings offered as general repositories were Buckingham House, with the gardens and field, for £30,000, and Montague House for £10,000.
The consideration of the former was waived, partly from the exorbitant sum demanded for it, and partly from the inconvenience of the situation. The latter was finally fixed upon, and the agreement for its possession was drawn up in the spring of 1754.
No offer of ground for building a repository was made, except in Old Palace Yard, where it was at one time proposed that the Museum should find a place in the general plan which had been there recently designed by Kent for the New Houses of Parliament.
Montague House was originally built about 1674, by Ralph, Duke of Montague, after the style of a French palace. It was erected from the design of Robert Hooke, the celebrated mathematician, who took so important a part in the re-building of London after the great fire. Foreign artists were chiefly engaged in its completion, and amongst them Verrio superintended the decorations.
When finished it was considered a most magnificent building; but on the 19th January, 1686, owing to the negligence of a servant the house was burnt to the ground. The large income of the owner was again brought into requisition for the re-construction of his palace; and, though executed by fresh artists, the plan was the same, the new structure being raised upon the foundation and remaining walls of the old one.
The architect now employed was Peter Puget, a native of Marseilles, who was assisted by C. de la Fosse, J. Rousseau, and J. B. Monnoyer, three artists of great eminence.
The exclusive employment of French artists gave rise to the popular, but improbable, tale that Montague House was re-built at the expense of Louis XIV., to whose Court the Duke had twice been attached as Ambassador.