Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Elizabeth Montagu
-
Standard Name: Montagu, Elizabeth
Birth Name: Elizabeth Robinson
Nickname: Fidget
Nickname: The Two Peas (with Sarah Scott)
Nickname: The Queen of the Blues
Married Name: Elizabeth Montagu
EM
, eighteenth-century Bluestocking leader, is known on the one hand as an informal letter-writer, and on the other hand for ambitious critical intervention in canonicity and cultural debates, with her critical study of Shakespeare
and dialogues of the dead.
As a youngster of twenty-one (in May 1739), EC
addressed the eminent businessman Edward Cavebreezily, mingling the domestic and the literary.
Chisholm, Kate. “Bluestocking Feminism”. New Rambler, pp. 60-6.
63
In her mature correspondence with Elizabeth Montagu
both writers discuss their...
Literary responses
Frances Burney
Hester Thrale
recorded a significant dissenting voice: nine months after publication, Mrs Montagu
cannot bear Evelina.
Clifford, James L. Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs Thrale). Clarendon Press.
172
The stumbling-block was probably the low elements of the book.
Textual Features
Frances Brooke
Brooke's advertisement to volume 3 says she gave up her plan for an essay on the writing of history, and settled instead on using notes to demonstrate how this work is, as all history ought...
Family and Intimate relationships
Henrietta Maria Bowdler
HMB
's mother, a baronet's heiress and an intellectual, was born Elizabeth Stuart Cotton
in about 1718. Four of her children grew up to be writers. She was an acquaintance of Elizabeth Montagu
,
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Elizabeth Stuart Bowdler
Theme or Topic Treated in Text
Henrietta Maria Bowdler
In this work HMB
warns against improper choice of friends and the excesses of romantic friendship, even while she idealises true friendship. She praises the well-employed talents of Elizabeth Montagu
, Elizabeth Smith
, Hannah More
Textual Features
Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger
EOB
writes in terms of a women's tradition: for instance, she praises Barbauld
for praising Elizabeth Rowe
. She makes confident judgements and attributions (she is sure that Lady Pakington
is the real author of...
Reception
Anna Letitia Barbauld
Miss Aikin's Poems sold five hundred copies in just over four months, and the second edition sold a similar number in a similar period. In September a third edition was announced.
McCarthy, William. Anna Letitia Barbauld, Voice of the Enlightenment. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
111
The Monthly Review...
Literary responses
Anna Letitia Barbauld
Frances Burney
thought this the best of all Barbauld's poems. Hannah More
wrote to thank ALB
for writing so well on a subject so near her, More's heart,
Paul, Lissa. The Children’s Book Business. Routledge.
111
and recommended the poem to Elizabeth Montagu
Friends, Associates
Anna Letitia Barbauld
ALB
met Elizabeth Montagu
for the first time (after some months' correspondence) when on her honeymoon trip she visited Montagu's house in Hill Street, Mayfair, London site of the famous bluestocking salon.
McCarthy, William. Anna Letitia Barbauld, Voice of the Enlightenment. The Johns Hopkins University Press.
147
McCarthy, William et al. “Introduction”. The Poems of Anna Letitia Barbauld, University of Georgia Press, p. xxi - xlvi.
xliv
Rodgers, Betsy. Georgian Chronicle: Mrs Barbauld and her Family. Methuen.
80
Occupation
Anna Letitia Barbauld
At some time before November 1773, while the engaged pair were casting around for a means of earning money, Countess Spencer
(perhaps, but only perhaps, with the support of Elizabeth Montagu
, and quite possibly...
Leisure and Society
Joanna Baillie
In the earlier 1840s, however, she was still a keen reader. She tackled the first edition of Frances Burney
's Diary and Letters out of a desire to get some insight into the literary society...
