Inventory of the Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu Papers, 1738-1800

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Manuscripts Department

The Huntington Library

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, California 91108

Phone: (626) 405-2203

Fax: (626) 449-5720

Email: lgarcia@huntington.org

URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554

Inventory of the Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu Papers, 1738-1800

The Huntington Library

San Marino, California

Contact Information

Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: lgarcia@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554

Processed by:: Huntington Library staff

Descriptive Summary

Title: Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1738-1800

Creator: Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson), 1718-1800

Extent: 6923 pieces

Repository: The Huntington Library

San Marino, California 91108

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Provenance

In 1899 the papers passed into the hands of a granddaughter of the 4th Baron Rokeby, Mrs. Emily J. Climenson, and on her death in 1921 to Mr. Reginald Blunt. The collection was purchased by Mr. Huntington from Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1925.

Access

Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information please go to following URL .

Publication Rights

In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the office of the Library Director. In most instances, permission is given by the Huntington as owner of the physical property rights only, and researchers must also obtain permission from the holder of the literary rights. In some instances, the Huntington owns the literary rights, as well as the physical property rights. Researchers may contact the appropriate curator for further information.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Biography

Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu (1718-1800), English authoress and leader of society, was the wife of Edward Montagu, a member of parliament for Huntingdon in the whig interest and a person of wealth who owned coal mines in Northumberland and estates in Berkshire and Yorkshire. Mrs. Montagu's house in Hill Street, London, was a gathering place for persons of fashion and intellect and the "bluestocking" assemblies there attracted such visitors as Lord Lyttelton, Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson, Burke, Garrick, and Reynolds. After 1775, the year of her husband's death, Mrs. Montagu personally managed the affairs relating to her estates and collieries.

The peculiar significance of this collection, formed by Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby, Mrs. Montagu's nephew and executor, is that it includes many of Mrs. Montagu's letters (3300) as well as several thousand letters addressed to her.

Subject matter

A. The everyday-life of Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu
- 1. Social life at her London house
- 2. Life at her country place, Sandleford Priory, Berkshire
- 3. Life at Bath and Tunbridge Wells
  - a. Water-drinking and bathing
  - b. Lectures, balls, assemblies, and tea-parties
- 4. References to current books and plays
- 5. Coal mines and mining in Northumberland
- 6. Medicine
  - a. Discussion by Mrs. Montagu and her friends of their minor ailments: stomach trouble, headaches, eyestrain, influenza, etc.
  - b. Smallpox innoculations of Mrs. Montagu
- 7. Description and Travel
  - a. Frequent trips to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sandleford, Tunbridge Wells, and Bath
  - b. Mrs. Montagu's journeys to Spa in 1763, Paris in 1776, and Scotland in 1766 and 1770
  - c. Visits to country seats and parks, cathedrals, castles, and the university towns
B. Local social and political gossip (There are but very few references to American colonial affairs and the Revolutionary War.)
C. Current affairs in Great Britain
- 1. Second Jacobite Rebellion
- 2. Discussion of the Seven Years' War
- 3. Coronation of George III
- 4. John Wilkes affair
- 5. Trial of Warren Hastings

Persons represented by ten or more pieces

The figures in parentheses indicate the number of letters from Mrs. Montagu addressed to that person when ten or more.

Alison, Dorothea (Gregory): 90 pieces
Archdeacon, William: 22 pieces
Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish (Harley), Duchess of Portland: 62 (207) pieces
Blagden, Sir Charles: 30 pieces
Boscawen, Frances Evelyn (Glanville): 73 (19) pieces
Botham, Lydia (Lumley): 29 pieces
Bower, Archibald: 11 pieces
Donnellan, Anne: 64 (50) pieces
Dromgold, Jean: 21 pieces
Drummond, Robert Hay: 12 pieces
DuBoccage, Marie Anne (Le Page) Fiquet: 11 pieces
Durey de Meinières, Octavie (Guichard) Belot: 18 pieces
Freind, William: 25 (42) pieces
Gregory, John: 30 pieces
Harcourt, Elizabeth (Venables-Vernon), Countess Harcourt: 17 pieces
Home, Henry, Lord Kames: 12 pieces
Lyttelton, Charles, Bishop of Carlisle: 16 pieces
Lyttelton, George, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Frankley: 116 (111) pieces
Medows, Jemima (Montagu), Lady: 26 pieces
Monpellier, [?]: 13 pieces
Monsey, Messenger: 71 pieces
Montagu, Dorothy (Fane), Countess of Sandwich: 50 pieces
Montagu, Edward: 439 (691) pieces
Montagu, Edward Wortley: 19 pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Charlton): 104 (42) pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) to Grace(Robinson) Freind: 13 pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) to Matthew Robinson: 19 pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) to Mary Anstey: 10 pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) to Elizabeth Carter: 754 pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) to Edward Bridgen: 24 pieces
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson) to Leonard Smelt: 57 pieces
Montagu, Matthew, 4th Baron Rokeby: 129 (113) pieces
More, Hannah: 22 pieces
Pepys, Sir William Weller, Bart.: 13 (50) pieces
Petty, Sophia (Carteret), Countess of Shelburne: 13 pieces
Petty, William, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne: 11 pieces
Pitt, Anne: 19 pieces
Potter, Robert: 26 pieces
Pulteney, Harry: 12 pieces
Pulteney, William, Earl of Bath: 283 (142) pieces
Robinson, Charles: 12 pieces
Robinson, Elizabeth (Drake): 40 (25) pieces
Robinson, Morris: 19 (21) pieces
Robinson, Richard, 1st Baron Rokeby: 42 pieces
Robinson, Sir William, Bart.: 20 pieces
Robinson-Morris, Matthew, 2d Baron Rokeby: 57 pieces
Scott, Sarah (Robinson): 367 (737) pieces
Somerset, Elizabeth (Berkeley), Duchess of Beaufort & suo jure Baroness Botetourt: 25 pieces
Stanley, Sarah (Sloane): 13 pieces
Stillingfleet, Benjamin: 11 (28) pieces
Vesey, Elizabeth (Vesey) Handcock: 96 (254) pieces
West, Gilbert: 54 (54) pieces
Wilberforce, William: 26 pieces
Williams, Lady Frances (Coningsby): 12 pieces
Woodhouse, James: 14 pieces

Some important or interesting items

Boscawen, Frances Evelyn (Glanville). Letter to Elizabeth (Robinson) Montagu about her husband, Admiral Edward Boscawen.
Date: 1756, Nov. 18
Brummell, George Bryan. Dinner invitation to Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby, with a splendid impression of "Beau" Brummell's seal.
Date: 1806?
Burke, Edmund. Letter to Mrs. Montagu mentioning his going to the Tower of London to examine some state records and save them, if possible, from destruction.
Date: c.1771?
Clarkson, Thomas. Long letter to Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby, about the abolition of slavery.
Date: 1793, Aug. 28
Collet, John. Letter to Joseph Emin requesting him to purchase Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament in Georgia.
Date: 1765, Mar.
Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron Erskine. The Seal: a poem. An interesting note tells how the poem came to be written and a wax impression of the seal is affixed to the last leaf of the manuscript.
Date: 1788, Sep. 24
Hervey, Elizabeth. Letter to Mrs. Montagu describing the fete given by the Earl of Leicester at Holkham in celebration of the Revolution of 1688.
Date: 1788, Nov. 8
Johnson, Samuel. Letter to Mrs. Montagu referring to a neglected invitation to dinner at Hill Street.
Date: 1774, Jan. 11
Lyttelton, George, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Frankley. Two letters to Archibald Bower describing his trip through Wales.
Date: 1755, July
More, Hannah. Bishop Bonner's Ghost: a poem.
Date: 1789.
Autograph manuscript of this poem which was first printed at the Strawberry Hill Press. On June 23, 1789 Horace Walpole wrote to Hannah More: "I will forgive all your enormities if you will let me print your poem [which she had just written]....I will be content with printing only two hundred copies, of which you shall have half, and I half." His desire to print her poem seems a gracious response to the honor she had done him by dedicating her poem, Florio, to him in 1786.
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). To Edward Montagu: a letter referring to the courtship of George Lewis Scott of Mrs. Montagu's sister, Sarah Robinson.
Date: c.1750
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Sarah (Robinson) Scott mentioning books which would be useful to Mrs. Scott in her writing.
Date: 1754, Jan. 10
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Mrs. Scott about wages and living conditions of the poor.
Date: 1772, July 28
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Mrs. Scott containing a description of a balloon ascension.
Date: 1786, Sep. 24
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Two letters to Leonard Smelt about Laurence Sterne and his family.
Date: 1768, Sep.? and Oct. 31
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, reporting a visit from Dr. Johnson.
Date: 1763, May?
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Elizabeth Vesey describing her trip to Spa. Spa,
Date: 1763, July 14
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Mrs. Vesey on Lord Chesterfield and the publication of his Letters.
Date: 1774, July 18
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Mrs. Vesey telling of her trip to Paris. Paris,
Date: 1776, July 2.
Montagu, Elizabeth (Robinson). Letter to Mrs. Vesey mentioning a visit to the meeting of the French Academy at which a paper against Shakespeare by Voltaire was read.
Date: 1776, Sep. 7
Scott, Sarah (Robinson). Letter to Mrs. Montagu requesting French novels which she can translate, with a plea that this request be kept a secret.
Date: 1754? Jan.?
Morton, Charles. Informs Mrs. Montagu of the visiting hours at the British Museum and sends her tickets of admission.
Date: 1761, June 7
Pulteney, William, Earl of Bath. Letter to Mrs. Montagu mentioning that his portrait is to be retouched by Sir Joshua Reynolds and that Laurence Sterne is to be present to entertain him while he sits.
Date: 1761, Dec. 26
Pulteney, William, Earl of Bath. Letter to Mrs. Montagu telling of being stuck in his sedan chair upon his return home because the door had frozen shut in the damp night air.
Date: c.1762
Sterne, Laurence. A letter to Mrs. Montagu in his characteristic style.
Date: 1767? May
Stuart, James. A playful letter written to Mrs. Montagu.
Date: 1761, Feb. 27
Anonymous. Letter to the Earl of Bath suggesting that he remodel his London residence.
Date: 1761, June 5

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