Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Montagu (née Robinson; 2 October 1718 – 25 August 1800) was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonnière, literary critic and writer, who helped to organize and lead the Blue Stockings Society.
She spent time with Lady Margaret in London and met many of the celebrated figures of the 1730s, including the poet Edward Young and the religious thinker Gilbert West.
In Lady Margaret's household, men and women spoke as equals and engaged in witty, learned banter.
Visits to Lady Margaret became more important to Elizabeth when her mother inherited a country seat in Kent and made that her home, with her daughters.
After Elizabeth's mother died, her father moved to London with his housekeeper or possibly mistress, giving no money at all to his children.
He would then go on to Northumberland and Yorkshire to manage his holdings, while she would occasionally accompany him to the family manor house at East Denton Hall, a mansion dating from 1622 on the West Road in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Elizabeth enjoyed hearing the miners singing in the pit, but found, alas, that their dialect (Geordie) was "dreadful to the auditors' nerves."
Samuel Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, David Garrick, and Horace Walpole were all in the circle.
For writers, being introduced there meant patronage, and Montagu patronized a number of authors, including Elizabeth Carter, Hannah More, Frances Burney, Anna Barbauld, Sarah Fielding, Hester Chapone, James Beattie, James Woodhouse and Anna Williams.
Among the Blue Stockings, Elizabeth Montagu was not the dominant personality, but she was the woman of greatest means, and it was her house, purse and power that made the society possible.
He entrusted her with the disposition of his papers on his departure for France, as he was in ill health and the prospect of his dying abroad was real.
[3] Some years after Montagu's death, there appeared a poem by James Woodhouse, who had served the family as land bailiff and steward.
[4] Woodhouse wrote that she patronized poets: For they could best bestow delightful dow'rs, by flattering speech, or fam'd poetic pow'rs.
George Lyttelton in 1760 encouraged Elizabeth to write Dialogues of the Dead, and she contributed three sections to the work anonymously.
While Johnson had dealt with text, history, and the circumstances of editing, Montagu wrote instead about the characters, plots, and beauties of the verse in Shakespeare and saw in him a championing of all things inherently English.
When the book was initially published anonymously, it was thought to be by Joseph Warton, but by 1777 her name appeared on the title page.
In the late 1760s, Edward Montagu fell ill, and Elizabeth took care of him, although she resented giving up her freedom.
Elizabeth Montagu was the author of two works published in her lifetime: three sections in George Lyttelton's Dialogues of the Dead (1760) and An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare (1769).
In Essay Montagu claims Shakespeare's success comes from his overall virtue and ability to engage the audiences' emotion, not from strict adherence to the classical models of drama.
[7] Her most frequent correspondence on literature was with her sister, Sarah Scott, followed by her friends, Elizabeth Carter and Gilbert West.
Their frequency of correspondence waxed and waned over the years depending on the circumstances of their lives;[9] Montagu is believed to have written to Scott more frequently than she replied.
Based on his example, she began writing in more formal syntax, but eventually became irritated by the restrictions and reverted to her freer, more natural style.
[11] Montagu maintained a close relationship with the elder statesman, William Pulteney, Lord Bath.
Another edition of her letters was released in 1906 by Matthew's granddaughter, Emily J. Climenson, and her friend, Reginald Blunt.
This revised collection expanded on Montagu's view of the social world, including fashion, politics, and nobility.
[12] Swansea University aims to produce a fully annotated, digital, critical, and open-access edition of the extant correspondence of Elizabeth Montagu.
Elizabeth Montagu Correspondence Online (EMCO) offers access to transcriptions and facsimiles of original manuscripts, accurate and exhaustive notes, and the most recently discovered letters.
