Elizabeth Montagu

The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one Elizabeth Robinson (1718–1800) married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal-mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, and Hester Chapone. This 1769 work, written at the urging of her bluestocking friend Elizabeth Carter, is a spirited defence of Shakespeare against the criticism of Voltaire, comparing Shakespeare's genius to that of the ancient Greek and modern French poet-dramatists, and finding it superior. Voltaire is especially condemned in this lively and elegant piece for his efforts to measure Shakespeare against Corneille using an inadequate and mechanistic French translation of the English dramatist's work. Mrs Montagu's collected letters, and works by others of her circle, are also reissued in this series.

This four-volume edition of the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', was edited by her nephew and adopted son Matthew (1762–1831) and published in 1809–13. The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one she married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Hannah More and Hester Chapone. The letters (and some correspondence from her circle) are arranged chronologically. Volume 1 begins with a short biography, and covers the period from her earliest preserved letter, written in 1732, up to 1741. Her teenage letters to her sister Sarah and her older friend, the duchess of Portland, sparkle with wit and good humour.

This four-volume edition of the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', was edited by her nephew and adopted son Matthew (1762–1831) and published in 1809–13. The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one she married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Hannah More and Hester Chapone. The letters (and some correspondence from her circle) are arranged chronologically. Volume 2 covers the period from 1741 to 1744, including her marriage to the fifty-year-old Edward Montagu in August 1742, and the sudden death of her beloved only son in 1744.

This four-volume edition of the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', was edited by her nephew and adopted son Matthew (1762–1831) and published in 1809–13. The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one she married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Hannah More and Hester Chapone. The letters (and some correspondence from her circle) are arranged chronologically. Volume 3 covers the period from 1744 to 1755, and her correspondents include her sister and two of her cousins, whom she keeps supplied with gossip as well as her views on the political and intellectual life of London.

This four-volume edition of the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the 'Queen of the Bluestockings', was edited by her nephew and adopted son Matthew (1762–1831) and published in 1809–13. The daughter of wealthy parents, and well educated in history and languages, at the age of twenty-one she married Edward Montagu, a grandson of the earl of Sandwich whose income derived from northern estates and coal mines, and began to establish a London salon attended by the intellectual cream of British society, including Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Hannah More and Hester Chapone. The letters (and some correspondence from her circle) are arranged chronologically. Volume 4 covers the period from 1755 to 1761, and Montagu's correspondents include her sister and Mrs Elizabeth Carter, another member of the Bluestocking circle. The selection ends with her description of the coronation of George III in September 1761.

Bluestocking, author and hostess, Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800) exercised an influence far beyond literary scholarship. Compiled by a relative, Emily Climenson, and published in 1906, this collection of her correspondence provides an excellent introduction to the culture and politics of eighteenth-century polite society. In chapters enriched by portraits of both Elizabeth and her correspondents, readers are invited to witness the public and personal interactions and entertainments of Montagu and her circle. The text contains accounts of operas, masquerades, concerts and marriages, and serious philosophical conjectures are mingled with witty and sometimes acerbic notes on 'gowns and fans', 'the northern gentry', 'spa towns' and the gallant actions of 'a brave gamekeeper'. Interwoven with portions of letters received from intimate friends, in particular the Duke and Duchess of Portland, Volume 1 takes the reader from Montagu's birth through to 1751.

Bluestocking, author and hostess, Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800) exercised an influence far beyond literary scholarship. Compiled by a relative, Emily Climenson, and published in 1906, this collection of her correspondence provides an excellent introduction to the culture and politics of eighteenth-century polite society. In chapters enriched by portraits of both Elizabeth and her correspondents, readers are invited to witness the public and personal interactions and entertainments of Montagu and her circle. The text contains accounts of operas, masquerades, concerts and marriages, and serious philosophical conjectures are mingled with witty and sometimes acerbic notes on 'gowns and fans', 'the northern gentry' and women suffering from the vapours. Volume 2 covers arguably the most prolific period in Montagu's life, from 1751 to 1761, and reveals her personal views on such diverse subjects as the price of food, David Garrick's playhouse on Drury Lane and the work of Laurence Sterne.