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without the concurrence of any of the cestuique trusts; he would not have paid debts affecting his own estate, the interest of which he was bound to keep down, with the price of an estate which he held in trust: in short, he would not, in every instance, have acted as sole proprietor and absolute owner, without leaving even the least vestige of an account, from whence a charge could have been set up against him as a trustee. But he plainly saw how much it was for his interest, to comply with the easy condition of settling an estate upon his own issue, and therefore, as soon as he came of age, accepted, without any restriction, his father's bequests; and from that moment considered himself, as he really was, entitled to the whole real and personal estate, which he never afterwards distinguished from his own.

And in answer to the third objection it was said, that if to induce a son to comply with the condition of settling an estate upon his own issue, imposed by the will of a father who had been particularly attentive to his prosperity, had added large possessions to the paternal estate, had obtained distinguished honours for his family, had formed the most advantageous alliance for his son, and had settled large estates upon him in possession, when he was but 15 years of age, a pecuniary consideration should be thought necessary, even that ingredient was not wanting. For it was in proof, that the fee simple estates produced upwards of £1000 per ann. exclusive of Montagu-house, which, even in its then ruinous condition, sold for £10,000. The personal estate must have been very considerable,^[1] though its real value Duke John did not think proper to publish; as he had accepted the condition upon which it was given, and so any account thereof was needless. In fact, the will of Duke Ralph gave his son every thing that the ownership of the Warwickshire estate could have enabled him to acquire a magnificent house, plate, jewels, furni-[295]-ture, and every other appendage suitable to a man of his rank and quality; and required nothing but what he might have been disposed to do without it, to limit an estate in strict settlement to his own issue. This he could not consider as a hard condition; for in the settlement made by the articles, and act of parliament in 1722, he adopted his father's plan, and reduced his daughters from an estate tail, to an estate for life. But there was no foundation to object the want of consideration in opposition to acts of acceptance, where an option was given to a person to accept or not accept, as he should think most beneficial; the only question in such case is, whether the party has or has not accepted! Before any election is made, it may be a matter of prudence to weigh the consideration; but after acts which are decisive of the election, it becomes a matter of justice to perform the condition; and especially, when things cannot be restored to the state they were in, before the election made.

The subject of the cross appeal was the Exchequer annuity, of £1000 devised by Duke Ralph's will; concerning which it was stated, that Duke John sold it about three Fears before his second son George (who died an infant) was born; and that if it had not been sold, Lady Beaulieu would, upon the death of Duke John, have been entitled to one moiety thereof; and therefore the bill prayed a satisfaction out of Duke John's assets, for the value of this moiety.

In opposition to this claim, the Duke and Duchess of Montagu, Lord Monthermer, and Lady Elizabeth Montagu, by their answer, insisted, that the whole property and interest in the Exchequer annuity vested in George, the second son of Duke John; and that he dying an infant and intestate, the beneficial interest in this annuity vested, upon his death, in Duke John his father. And Lord Northington being of this opinion, so much of the bill as sought an account of the Exchequer annuity, was dismissed with costs.

From this part of the decree therefore, Lord and Lady Beaulieu appealed; insisting (W. de Grey, A. Wedderburn), that the apparent intention of the testator Duke Ralph, was to unite the Exchequer annuity to his other possessions, and preserve it in his family as long as the rules of law would admit. He therefore gave it to his grandson, John Lord Montagu, then but ten months old, for so many years as he should live; and from and after his decease, in trust for such person as, at the time of the grandson's death, should be the heir of his body, to take lands of inheritance from him by course of descent; and if there should be no such person, then in trust for such person as