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HALIFAX, CHARLES MONTAGU, 1ST EARL of (1661-1715). —A famous wit, statesman, and patron of literature, was ed. at Westminster School and Trinity Coll., Camb. Entering Parliament he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1694, and First Lord of the Treasury 1697. Vain and arrogant, he soon lost popularity and power. His chief literary effort was his collaboration with Prior in The Town and Country Mouse (1687), a parody of and reply to Dryden's Hind and Panther. H. was the friend and patron of Addison, Steele, Congreve, and many other of the classical writers of his day. He became a peer in 1701.
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