Elizabeth Montagu

The eldest daughter in a notable family (her sister was the novelist Sarah Scott), Elizabeth Robinson married Edward Montagu, a wealthy physician, in 1742. Her contributions to George Lyttelton's Dialogues of the Dead, and her own Essay on Shakespeare were widely admired, establishing the writer as something of an arbiter of taste in high society, where she became an important patron to persons in literature, religion, and the arts. Her literary reputation was ultimately based on her letters, posthumously published by her nephew Matthew Montagu.

TEXT RECORDS:

1771[To Dr. John Gregory, 13 March 1771; on Beattie's Minstrel.]

PUBLICATIONS:

An essay on the writings and genius of Shakespear. 1769.
Letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu. 4 vols, 1809-13.
Letters to the Duchess of Portland. 1904, 1907.
Letters [to 1761], ed. E. J. Climenson. 2 vols, 1906.
Letters [1762 to 1800], ed. R. Blunt. 2 vols, 1923.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

privately educated

woman writer
essayist

James Pettit Andrews
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
James Beattie
Edmund Burke
Richard Owen Cambridge
Elizabeth Carter
Hester Mulso Chapone
David Garrick
Anne Hunter
Edward Jerningham
Samuel Johnson
Sir William Jones
Lord Kames
Rev. Vicesimus Knox
George Lyttelton
Hannah More
Rev. Robert Potter
Joshua Reynolds
John Scott of Amwell
Horace Walpole
Rev. Joseph Warton
Gilbert West
Ann Yearsley
Edward Young

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

"Particulars relating to Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Barbauld" Westminster Magazine 4 (June 1776) 283-85 [portrait]; "Sketch of the Character of Mrs. Montague" New Lady's Magazine 2 (April 1787) 197 [portrait]; Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788); "Sketch of the Character of Mrs. Montagu" New London Magazine 5 (November 1789) 546 [portrait]; David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); obituary in St. James's Chronicle (30 August 1800); "Some Account of the late Mrs. Montagu" European Magazine 38 (October 1800) 243-44 [portrait]; obituary in Monthly Magazine 10 (October 1800) 275; obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 70 (December 1800) 904; "Mrs. Montagu" Lady's Monthly Museum 5 (December 1800) 421-24 [portrait]; Annual Register for 1800 (1800) 31; obituary in Universal Magazine 108 (June 1801) 410-11; Samuel Egerton Brydges, "Mrs. Montagu" Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 87-94, 2 (1806) 178; Francis Jeffrey, "Mrs. Montagu's Letters" Edinburgh Review 15 (1809); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15) 9:594-96; "Biographical Memoir of Elizabeth Montagu" Ladies' Monthly Museum S3 2 (October 1815) 181-83 [portrait]; Elizabeth Carter, Letters ... to Mrs. Montagu, ed. Pennington (1817); "Elizabeth Montagu" The Parterre [Philadelphia] 2 (January 1817) 6; "Letters of Mrs. Montagu" Port Folio S4 11 (May 1821) 150-61; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); Anne Katherine Elwood, Memoirs of Literary Ladies of England (1843); Katherine Byerley Thomson, in Recollections of Literary Characters (1854); Sarah Josepha Hale, Woman's Record (1855); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); John Doran, A Lady of the Last Century (1873); Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 3rd ed. (1876); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Emily J. Clemenson, Elizabeth Montagu ... her Correspondence from 1720 to 1761 (1906); Rene Louis Huchon, Mrs. Montagu, 1720-1800, an Essay (1906); J. M. Beattie, "Mrs. Montagu, Churchill, and Miss Cheere" MLN 41 (1926); J. Busse, Mrs. Montagu, Queen of the Blues (1928); C. E. Jones, Johnson and Mrs. Montagu Notes and Queries (7 September 1946); K. G. Hornbeck, "New Light on Mrs. Montagu" in The Age of Johnson (1949); W. P. Jones, "The Romantic Bluestocking" Huntington Library Quarterly 12 (1949); I. A. Ross, "A Bluestocking over the Border: Mrs. Montagu's aesthetic Adventures in Scotland" Huntington Library Quarterly 28 (1965); Butt, OHEL (1979); Todd, Dictionary of ... Women Writers 1660-1800 (1987).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Elizabeth Montagu:

1.	1764  Alexander Carlyle, 1764; in Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle (1910) 484-85.
2.	1771  Anonymous, "Verses addressed to Mrs. Montague, Author of An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare" Newcastle Chronicle (23 November 1771).
3.	1771  Anonymous, "To the Naiad of Tunbridge Well" St. James's Chronicle (2 July 1771).
4.	1772  Hester Mulso Chapone to Elizabeth Montagu, 1772; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:269.
5.	1773  Hester Mulso Chapone, in Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773, 1774) 128-29.
6.	1775  Horace Walpole to William Mason, 1775; Letters, ed. Cunningham (1906) 6:217.
7.	1775  Samuel Jackson Pratt to Elizabeth Montagu, 1775; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:296.
8.	1776  Anonymous, "Particulars relating to Mrs. Montagu and Mrs. Barbauld" Westminster Magazine 4 (June 1776) 284.
9.	1778  Ignotes, "On Reading the Essay on Shakespeare" Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (20 November 1778).
10.	1778  Frances Burney, 1778; Diary and Letters of the Author of Madam D'Arblay, ed. Austin Dobson (1904-05) 1:120-27.
11.	1779  Edward Jerningham, "On Seeing Mrs. Montagu's Picture" Jerningham, Poems (1779) 148.
12.	1780  Richard Graves, "The Female Champions. To Mrs. Montagu: on her defence of Shakespeare against Voltaire" Euphrosyne: or, Amusements on the Road of Life (1780) 2:67-68.
13.	1782  Robert Potter to Edward Jerningham, 4 April 1782; Lewis Bettany, Edward Jerningham and his Friends (1919) 336.
14.	1783  Helen Maria Williams, in An Ode on the Peace (1783) 19.
15.	1784  James Beattie to Elizabeth Montagu, 2 February 1784; Forbes, Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806) 2:131-32.
16.	1785  Edward Jerningham, "On Elizabeth Montagu" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (9 February 1785).
17.	1786  Hannah More, in Bas Bleu (1786) 75-76.
18.	1787  Anonymous, "To Mrs. Montague, occasion'd by the Author's having paid her a Visit just after seeing the Tomb of Shakespeare" General Evening Post (4 September 1787).
19.	1787  Hon. Henry Erskine, "To Mrs. Montagu. On her Writings on the Genius of Shakespeare" European Magazine 11 (March 1787) 205.
20.	1788  William Cowper, "On the beautiful Feather-Hangings, designed for Mrs. Montagu" Gentleman's Magazine 58 (June 1788) 542.
21.	1789  Anonymous, "Sketch of the Character of Mrs. Montague" New London Magazine 5 (November 1789) 546.
22.	1790  Anonymous, "Blue Stocking Club" The Argus (15 February 1790).
23.	1791  James Boswell, in Life of Johnson, 1791; ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 4:74-75.
24.	1797  A Lady, "On Mrs. Montagu" New-York Weekly Magazine 2 (24 May 1797) 376.
25.	1800  Anonymous, "Mrs. Montague" European Magazine 38 (October 1800) 244.
26.	1800  James Beattie, 1800; in Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:347.
27.	1800  J. W., "Verses to the Memory of Mrs. Montague" Lady's Monthly Museum 5 (November 1800) 412.
28.	1800  Juvenis, "On the Death of Mrs. Montagu" Universal Magazine 107 (September 1800) 227-28.
29.	1810 ca.  George Hardinge, "On the Letters and Works of Mrs. Montagu" 1810 ca.; Hardinge, Miscellaneous Works (1818) 2:97-98.
30.	1811  Melesina Chenevix Trench to Mary Leadbeater, 16 July 1811; Leadbeater Papers (1862) 2:217-18.
31.	1812  John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 9:594-95.
32.	1817  John Keats to John Hamilton Reynolds, 21 September 1817; in Letters, ed. Forman (1931; 1947) 45.
33.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:92-93.
34.	1855  Sarah Josepha Hale, Woman's Record; or, Sketches of all Distinguished Women (1852; 1855) 432-34.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Elizabeth Montagu:

1.	1788  Anonymous, in Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788).
2.	1798  David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 2:54-55.
3.	1800  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 70 (September 1800) 904.
4.	1806  William Forbes, in Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806) 1:209-11.
5.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 22:275-77.
6.	1843  Anne Katherine Elwood, in Memoirs of the Literary Ladies of England (1843) 1:44-65.
7.	1876  Robert Carruthers, in Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 3rd ed. (1876; 1879) 4:390-91.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1741  Rev. William Clarke:   Elizabeth Montagu to Mrs. Donnellan, 1741; Emily J. Climenson, Elizabeth Montagu (1906) 1:91.
2.	1747  William Melmoth:   Elizabeth Montagu to the Duchess of Portland, 1747; Letters (1809, 1813) 3:47.
3.	1754  Rev. Thomas Birch:   Elizabeth Montagu to Gilbert West, 1754; Montagu, Letters (1809, 1813) 3:271-72.
4.	1755  Gilbert West:   Elizabeth Montagu to Gilbert West, 26 June 1755; Montagu, Letters (1809, 1813) 3:295-96.
5.	1756  Rev. Joseph Warton:   Elizabeth Montagu to her sister, 3 May 1756; Montagu, Letters (1809, 1813) 4:16.
6.	1759  Edmund Burke:   Elizabeth Montagu to Elizabeth Carter, 1759; Montagu, Letters (1809, 1813) 3:211.
7.	1763  Rev. Charles Churchill:   Elizabeth Montagu to Mrs. Carter, 4 December 1763; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:79.
8.	1763  Rev. William Mason:   Elizabeth Montagu to Benjamin Stillingfleet, 9 August 1763; in Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:54.
9.	1765  Bp. Robert Lowth:   Elizabeth Montagu, 10 December 1765; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:134.
10.	1770  David Hume:   Elizabeth Montagu to John Gregory, May 1770; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:233.
11.	1772  Sir William Jones:   Elizabeth Montagu to James Beattie, 5 September 1772; Forbes, Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806) 1:298-99.
12.	1777  Rev. William Dodd:   Elizabeth Montagu to Elizabeth Carter, 1777; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:26.
13.	1777  Alexander Pope:   Elizabeth Montagu to Mrs. Vesey, August 1777; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:269.
14.	1778  Lord Kames:   Elizabeth Montagu, 1778; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:55.
15.	1780  Bp. Beilby Porteus:   Elizabeth Montagu to Leonard Smelt, 1780; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:84.
16.	1781  Samuel Johnson:   Elizabeth Montagu to Mr. Pepys, 15 August 1781; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:260.
17.	1782  Gilbert West:   Elizabeth Montagu to Joseph Warton, 17 September 1782; Wooll, Biographical Memoirs of Joseph Warton (1806) 396-97.
18.	1783  Rev. Robert Potter:   Elizabeth Montagu to Mrs. Robinson; June 1783; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:164.
19.	1787  Lord Chesterfield:   Elizabeth Montagu to her sister, 31 December 1787; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:218.
20.	1795  Hannah More:   Elizabeth Montagu to Elizabeth Carter, 1795; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:371.