Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu

Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu 1720-1800, English author, one of the bluestockings . She was noted for her wit and beauty, and her London literary salon was frequented by Johnson, Walpole, Burke, and other eminent men. She wrote An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare (1769), defending the poet against Voltaire's condemnation. She also conducted a voluminous correspondence, edited in part by E. J. Climenson (1906) and in part by Reginald Blunt (1923).

Montagu, Mrs Elizabeth, née Robinson (1720–1800), a celebrated member of the Blue Stocking Circle. Dr Johnson was amazed by her ‘radiations of intellectual excellence’ and dubbed her ‘Queen of the Blues’. Many young authors, such as Beattie and R. Price, were befriended by her hospitality, encouragement, and gifts of money. She wrote the first three of George Lyttelton's Dialogues of the Dead (1760) and an Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare (1769) refuting the strictures of Voltaire.