An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear

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.