Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of
Halifax Charles was born at Horton , in Northamptonshire, the
son of Mr. George Montagu, a younger son of the Earl of
Manchester. He was educated first in the country, and then
removed to Westminster, where, in 1677, he was chosen as a
King's Scholar . It was at this time he contracted a very
intimate friendship with Mr. Stepney; and in 1682, when Stepney
was elected at Cambridge, he asked to be moved to Cambridge in
order to join his friend, without waiting for the advantages of
another year. His relation, Dr. Montagu, was then Master of the
college in which he was placed, and took him under his wing. It
was here that he began a lasting association with Isaac Newton.
In 1685 Montagu's verses on the death of King Charles II of
England made such an impression on the Earl of Dorset that he
was invited to town, and introduced to other entertainments. In
1687 he joined with Prior in "The City Mouse and the Country
Mouse," a burlesque of John Dryden's