Historical Sociolinguistics and Sociohistorical Linguistics

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Elizabeth Montagu (1718 or 1720-1800)

(Source: http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?linkID=mp03136&rNo=6&role=sit)

“I hope to see our dear Sylph; she is tonight doing the honours of the blue room to as many Duchesses as love beaux esprits, and as many beaux esprits as love Duchesses. She kindly laments that I am not of the party, and to be sure I honour great ladies, and I admire great wits, but I am of the same opinion in regard to assemblies that is held concerning oysters, that they are never good in a month that has not the letter R in it.” (Elizabeth Montagu to Elizabeth Carter, June 26, 1779)

 

introduction

Elizabeth Robinson Montagu, known best as the ‘Queen of the Blues’, was a learned and wealthy social hostess, cultural patron, business woman, and a core member of the Bluestocking circle. This informal, intellectual group of men and women met mostly at Montagu’s, Elizabeth Vesey’s, and Frances Boscawen’s London salons; outside the capital the relationships were maintained by extensive epistolary networks and visits in country and town. In 1760 Montagu contributed three anonymous dialogues to Lord Lyttelton’s Dialogues of the Dead, and in 1769 she published a critical essay in defense of Shakespeare against Voltaire’s attacks.

The main source of existing manuscripts is the Montagu Collection (MO 1-6923) of the Huntington Library. It consists of nearly 7,000 letters mostly from 1738 to 1800, approximately half of which are written by Montagu.

correspondence

The letters in Blunt’s, Climenson’s, and Johnson’s editions have been cut and modernised. From a linguist’s point of view, Kelly and Eger’s Bluestocking Feminism, Vol. 1 offers the best selection of edited letters.

• Blunt, Reginald (ed.). 1923. Mrs Montagu, “Queen of the Blues”: Her Letters and Friendships from 1762 to 1800. 2 vols. London: Constable.

• Climenson, Emily (ed.) 1906. Elizabeth Montagu, the Queen of the Blue-Stockings: Her Correspondence from 1720 to 1761. 2 vols. London: John Murray.

• Eger, Elizabeth (ed.). 1999. Bluestocking Feminism: Writings of the Bluestocking Circle, 1738-1785, vol. 1, Elizabeth Montagu. Brookfield, VT: Pickering & Chatto. [General editor Gary Kelly.]

• Johnson, Reginald Brimley (ed.). 1926. Bluestocking Letters. London: L. MacVeagh.

Montagu’s own works

• Montagu, Elizabeth. 1760. ‘Dialogue XXVI: Cadmus – Hercules’; ‘Dialogue XXVII: Mercury – And a Modern Fine Lady’; ‘Dialogue XXVIII: Plutarch – Charon – And a Modern Bookseller’. In George Lyttelton, Dialogues of the Dead. London: W. Sandby. [published anonymously.]

• Montagu, Elizabeth. 1769. An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear, Compared with the Greek and French Dramatic Poets, with some Remarks upon the Misrepresentations of Mons. de Voltaire. London: J. Dodsley. [published anonymously.]

Montagu’s language

• Sairio, Anni. 2004a.”Progressives in the letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu and her circle in 1738–1778: A social network approach to language change”. Paper presented at the second Conference on Late Modern English, November 2004.

• Sairio, Anni. 2004b. “Social networks of bluestockings in 18th century England: Elizabeth Montagu's use of the progressive”. Paper presented at ICEHL-13, Vienna, August 2004.