pretended Frenchman, whose real name was
Montague, but who now called himself Monsieur
Montaine. His financial talents were
indisputable, but his antecedents were not quite so
unexceptional; that is, so far as we knew, for it
was not given to us to know much. This much,
however, was certain; that but four years
previously Mr. Montague had come over to England
as the commis voyageur, or traveller, for a
Bordeaux wine house, and that he had no resources
in the world, except the small commission which
he got for what he sold in England. By
degrees he began to see an opening for himself,
and, having a little credit with the house for
which he had hitherto travelled, he set up for
himself in London as a wine merchant. Being
a sharp-witted fellow, he was not slow to
perceive how very easily even the sharpest men of
business in England are taken in by a foreigner,
and how credit will be pressed upon one speaking
another tongue than English, while a native-
born Briton will be often denied it even if he
have good security to offer. Of this mania for
strangers, Mr. Montague, or Monsieur Montaine,
availed himself to the utmost. He spoke French
very well, and could therefore pass himself off
as a native of France, without much difficulty,
the more so as his English commercial friends
were not likely to be very critical judges of that
language. To hire an office somewhere in the
neighbourhood of Fenchurch-street, purchase a
little furniture, provide a few ledgers and
daybooks, hang up a calendar, a map or two, and a
ground plan (purely imaginary) of the estate from
which the very fine brands of claret (purchased
at the London Docks, by the hogshead, as
wanted), of which he had the exclusive sale,
granted by the owner of the vineyards, did not
require any very large capital. The whole
affair did not cost more (including a zinc plate
with the name of the firm, " MONTAINE AND
COMPANY, WINE MERCHANTS")than a ten-pound
note; and in consequence of his large imaginary
connexion with the south of France, as well as
the very superior wine which he was supposed
to receive from Bordeaux, he managed, in a
short time, to make himself a name, and to have
not only credit, but some little capital. The
latter he had increased considerably by a most
judicious marriage with a not-over-young maiden
lady, whose native land was Camberwell. Mr.
Montague having been born an Englishman, and
brought up—so far as he had any religious education
at all—a Protestant, now, as Monsieur Montaine,
gave out that he had been born and bred
an idolatrous Papist, but having seen the error
of his ways, and having undergone not a little
persecution, he had become an enlightened
member of the English Church. As a
(supposed) foreigner and convert, this gentleman
was doubly interesting to a certain class, and
this degree of interest in all belonging to him
had served to bring about his union with the not-
over-comely nor very young lady, who brought
with her, as a marriage dowry, five thousand
English pounds sterling, besides a very comfortable
freehold, eight-roomed, semi-detached villa,
in the immediate neighbourhood of Kennington
Oval.

To Monsieur Montaine these riches were as
untold and unheard-of wealth. But he was
determined that his ambition should not stop
within these limits. His business gave him
more than enough to live upon, for the Camberwell
lady was an excellent housekeeper, and he
found that he spent less as a married man than
as a bachelor. The money brought him by his
union was but half settled upon his wife; with
the other two thousand five hundred pounds he
commenced speculating in joint-stock companies,
foreign railways, and doing a little bill discounting
when anything very good and extremely safe
in that line turned up. When I first knew him,
he had carried on this little game for about
ten years, and was reputed to be worth twenty
thousand pounds: which we will set down at
five, in audition to what was settled upon his
wife. The first time I ever heard of this gentleman
was when the board of the " HOUSE
AND LAND FINANCE AND CREDIT COMPANY
(LIMITED) " was formed. The name of
"MONSIEUR MONTAINE (OF THE FIRM OF MONTAINE
AND Co., LONDON AND BORDEAUX), 176, CLOSE-
LANE, FENCHURCH-STREET, AND SILVERTON
LODGE, SURREY," looked exceedingly well
upon the list of our directors, and tempted not
a few, who would not have trusted us with a
five-shilling piece, to put the most implicit
confidence in our commercial standing. Those
who were acquainted with the antecedents of
Monsieur Montaine must have laughed heartily
at the good faith with which his co-directors
received his assertions and pretensions. But,
like most other people gifted with brazen
powers, he got on, and got on well, as will
appear.

One of the first, if not the very first "operations"
proposed to the " HOUSE AND LAND
FINANCE AND CREDIT COMPANY (LIMITED),"
was proposed by Monsieur Montaine.

There was—so Monsieur Moutaine told us—
in the south of France an estate upon which
some of the very finest kinds of claret were
grown. The value of this property—as he
proved to us by French legal documents which
not one of us could understand—was estimated
at one million five hundred thousand francs, or
sixty thousand pounds in English money. The
owner of these vineyards wanted to part with
them, and a joint-stock company had been formed
at Bordeaux to buy them. Half the purchase-
money was ready, the other half it was proposed
to borrow of us, giving our company the most
ample security. Monsieur Montaine told us that
although an outline of this " operation" had been
sent to him, he would, if it were deemed
expedient, proceed at once to France, make himself
acquainted with the details of the affair, return
to England, and lay everything before his brother
directors. This journey was sanctioned at the
next meeting of the board, and five guineas a
day were allowed as travelling expenses for our
delegate, besides authority being given him
to draw upon the board for any further