CHAPTER I.
GIRLHOOD UP TO 1738, AND BEGINNING OF THE CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND.

THE ROBINSON FAMILY

Before entering on the life of Elizabeth Robinson, afterwards Mrs. Edward Montagu, the famous bas bleu, the focus, as she may be called, of all the cleverest and most intellectual society of the last half of the eighteenth century, a few words must be said of the family she sprang from. The Robinsons are said to have been originally Robertsons, the name being corrupted into Robinson. They are in many Peerages[4] said to descend from the Robertsons of Struan, or Strowan, in Perthshire, who descended from Duncan de Atholia, Earl of Athole, hence descendants of Duncan, King of Scotland. My grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby, in an unfinished pedigree, believed this, but there have been Robinsons bearing the same[5] coat-of-arms in Yorkshire as early as the time of copyhold record in Edward III.’s reign. However, they may have been related. Our narrative starts from William, said to be younger son of the 7th Baron Robertson of Strowan, who, being deprived of his portion of inheritance as younger son by the Earl of Athole, fled into England, and settled at Kendal in Westmorland, in the time of Henry VIII. He had three children, Ralph, Henry, and Ursula. Ralph married Agnes Philip, by whom he had William, who succeeded to his father’s estates at Kendal and Brignal, and who on June 7, 1610, bought the estate of Rokeby in Yorkshire from Sir Thomas Rokeby, whose family had been possessed of it before the Conquest. Rokeby continued to belong to the Robinson family for 160 years, when “Long Sir Thomas Robinson” sold it in 1769 to John B. Saurey Morritt, the friend of Sir Walter Scott. The Robinsons finally assumed two lines ([vide Pedigree]), William, the eldest, remaining master of Rokeby, and his posthumous brother, Leonard, becoming the direct ancestor of our heroine. Leonard Robinson was a merchant in London; he became Chamberlain of the City of London, and was knighted on October 26, 1692. He married, first, Lucy Layton, of West Layton, etc., by whom he had no issue. For his second wife he married Deborah, daughter of Sir James Collet, Knight and Sheriff of London, by whom he had six daughters, all of whom married and had issue, and one son, Thomas, who married a widow, Elizabeth Light. She was daughter of William Clarke, Esq., of Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire, and heiress of her brother, William Clarke. By her first husband, Anthony Light, she had one daughter, Lydia. By her second marriage with Thomas Robinson she had three sons. Matthew, the eldest, alone concerns us as father of Mrs. Montagu. The following table will show the connection between the Robinson and Sterne families: the Rev. Laurence Sterne marrying their cousin, Elizabeth Lumley:—

PEDIGREE OF THE ROBINSONS AND STERNES

[{Skip transcribed table}] [{See image for table}]

1st.
Anthony Light
1 daughter.
=
｜
｜
｜
｜
｜
｜
Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of William Clarke, of Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire;heiress to her brother, William Clarke.
=
｜
｜
｜
｜
｜
｜		 2nd.
Thomas Robinson, son of Sir Leonard Robinson.
｜ ｜
1st. Thomas Kirke
of Cockridge, co, Yorks. Great Virtuoso. d. 1709		 = Lydia =
｜
｜
｜
｜
｜
｜		 2nd. The Rev. Robert Lumley of Lumley Castle, Rector of Bedale, Yorks, 1721–1731. Matthew Robinson. = Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Councillor Robert Drake, of the Drakes of Ash, Devon.
｜ ｜
Lydia = Rev. Henry Botham, Vicar of Albury and Ealing.
5 children.		 Elizabeth =
｜
｜		 Rev. Laurence Sterne.
｜ ｜
Lydia died an infant. Lydia =
|		 A. de Medalle.
Son.

[4] Vide Debrett and Lodge’s Peerages; Collin’s Baronetage, 1741, vol. iv.; Burke, “The New Peerage,” by W. Owen, 1785; and Longmate’s Peerage.

[5] Coat vert, a chevron between three bucks trippant. Mrs. Laurence Sterne and her sister, Mrs. Botham, as will be seen in the letters, call Matthew Robinson and his wife “Uncle” and “Aunt,” they being really their step-uncle and aunt. Thomas Robinson died at the early age of thirty-three, in the year 1700.

1694