EDWARD WORTLEY MONTAGU AND THE JEW
ABRAHAM PAYBA.
Edward Wortley Montagu was the only son of the celebrated Lady
Mary Wortley Montagu, whose eccentricities he inherited without
her genius. Montagu, together with Lords Taffe and Southwell,
was accused of having invited one Abraham
Payba,
alias James Roberts, a Jew, to dine with them at
Paris, in the year 1751; and of having plied him with wine till
he became intoxicated, and so lost at play the sum of 800 louis
d'ors. It was affirmed that they subsequently called at his
house, and that on his exhibiting an evident disinclination to
satisfy their demands, they threatened to cut him across the face
with their swords unless he instantly paid them. Terrified by
their violence, and, at the same time, unwilling to part with his
gold, the Jew had cunning enough to give them drafts on a Paris
banker, by whom, as he had no dealings with him, he well knew
that his bills would be dishonoured; and, to escape the vengeance
of those whom he had outwitted, quitted Paris. On ascertaining
how completely they had been duped, Montagu, with his associates
Lords Taffe and Southwell, repaired to the house of the Jew, and
after ransacking his drawers and strong boxes, are said to have
possessed themselves of a very considerable sum of money, in
addition to diamonds, jewels, and other valuable articles. The
Jew had it now in his power to turn on his persecutors, and
accordingly he appealed to the legislature for
redress. Lord Southwell contrived to effect his escape,
but Lord Taffe and Montagu were arrested, and were kept in
separate dungeons in the Grand Châtelet, for nearly three
months. The case was subsequently tried in a court of law, and
decided in favour of the accused, — the Jew being adjudged to make
reparation and defray the costs! Against the injustice of this
sentence he appealed to the high court of
La Tournelle at
Paris, which reversed it. Lord Taffe and Montagu afterwards
appealed, in their turn, but of the definitive result there is no
record.
