Montagu, Elizabeth (robinson)

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).