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#lady mary wortley montagu
araekniarchive · 2 years
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Virginia Woolf to Vita Sackville-West (c. October 1928)
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Phoebe Bridgers, Moon Song
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Franz Kafka (misattributed)
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Leo Brynielsson, The Moon Has Fallen
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Mitski, Happy
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Richard Siken, Anyway
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Richard Monckton Milnes, Lady Moon
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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Hymn to the Moon
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It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) dir. Frank Capra
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Rumi, Some Kiss We Want
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George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
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Margaret Atwood, Owl and Pussycat, Some Years Later
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amphibious-thing · 24 days
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It’s actually really interesting that Walpole is the earliest source for this quote. I usually see Wharncliffe’s phrasing cited as reliable and Walpole’s as the misquote but Walpole recorded it in the 1740s much closer to the period than Wharncliffe nearly a century later. It’s become better known as “this world consisted of men, women, and Herveys” but I wonder if “there were three sexes; men, women, & Herveys” is actually more accurate. Unfortunately there is no way of knowing without a more direct source.
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haggishlyhagging · 10 months
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If Lady Mary [Wortley Montagu] was indeed the author of Woman not Inferior to Man, then not only does she share many of Mary Astell's ideas about the nature of society and the fundamental feature, and fallacy, of male superiority, she expands and develops some of these ideas. If not, and it is but her Letters and the periodical which reflect her analysis, then she did not go quite as far as Astell, though their ideas on learning and marriage show they have much in common. Lady Mary, like Astell, concluded that, in a society where males held power, there were for women many advantages to be gained from learning (but, of course, it had to be hidden from men) and very few from marriage. (She herself was separated from her husband later in life and appears to have been 'exiled'; she returned to England on his death.)
For many years Lady Mary's only contact with her daughter (and her granddaughter) was through letters and they are therefore quite illuminating. In them there is many a shrewd assessment of the way male-controlled societies work against women. Giving advice about her granddaughter's education, Lady Mary says that: “The second caution to be given her (and which is most absolutely necessary) is to conceal whatever learning she attains with as much solicitude as she would hide crookedness or lameness” (Wortley Montagu in Rogers, 1979, p. 66). Learning in women is a deformity as far as men are concerned, and men make up the rules. Lady Mary's advice has its parallels today when many women are counselled that, ‘it doesn't pay to be too bright’ (see Horner, 1974).
Lady Mary also counsels her granddaughter against marriage (perhaps not such prevalent advice today) and urges that the ultimate end of her education be ‘to make her happy in her virgin state. I will not say it is happier but it is undoubtedly safer than any marriage. In a lottery where there are (at the lowest computation) ten thousand blanks to a prize, it is the most prudent choice not to venture’ (in Rogers, 1979, p. 67). She has the experience of her own marriage to go upon, as well as the knowledge of Mary Astell's 'celibate state', and had no hesitation in recommending the latter to her dear granddaughter. Regardless of the reasons put forward for women's entry to marriage (economic necessity, and fulfilment), Lady Mary has more faith in her own personal experience (and presumably the economic motive was not so imperative).
-Dale Spender, Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them
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venicepearl · 1 year
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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont; 15 May 1689 – 21 August 1762) was an English aristocrat, writer, and poet. Born in 1689, Lady Mary spent her early life in England. In 1712, Lady Mary married Edward Wortley Montagu, who later served as the British ambassador to the Sublime Porte. Lady Mary joined her husband on the Ottoman excursion, where she was to spend the next two years of her life. During her time there, Lady Mary wrote extensively on her experience as a woman in Ottoman Istanbul. After her return to England, Lady Mary devoted her attention to the upbringing of her family before dying of cancer in 1762.
Lady Mary is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her Turkish Embassy Letters describing her travels to the Ottoman Empire, as wife to the British ambassador to Turkey, which Billie Melman describes as "the very first example of a secular work by a woman about the Muslim Orient". Aside from her writing, Mary is also known for introducing and advocating for smallpox inoculation to Britain after her return from Turkey. Her writings address and challenge the hindering contemporary social attitudes towards women and their intellectual and social growth.
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elegantzombielite · 1 year
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"A man that is ashamed of passions that are natural and reasonable is generally proud of those that are shameful and silly."
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, author (26 May 1689-1762)
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goffjames · 15 days
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Poetry - Senryū - A Sweep of Moonlight - A Poem by Goff James - Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon - A Painting by Casper David Friedrich - A Hymn to the Moon - A poem by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The moon, that celestial orb that graces the night sky with its gentle glow, casts a luminous sweep of light upon the earth below. As it emerges from the cloak of night’s still shadows, it paints a mesmerizing tableau, evoking emotions deep within the human soul. And yet, amidst this ethereal beauty, lies the poignant essence of love’s forsaken dreams, a bittersweet reminder of the complexities…
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linusjf · 10 months
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Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: No remedy so easy as books
“There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind.” —Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
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learningaliving · 11 months
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Commonplace Entry 3: Letters...Written during Her Travels [The Turkish Embassy Letters]
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu observed in one of her Turkish Embassy letters, "I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, that if it were the fashion to go naked, the face would hardly be observed. I perceived that the ladies of the most delicate skins and finest shapes had the greatest share of my admiration, though their faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions" (631).
Women travel writers such as Montagu had significant influence in the 17th century. The rise of the middle class and technological advancements made for more security and freedom in global travel for English citizens. Montagu, wife of Constantinople ambassador and the daughter of an aristocrat, was invested in sharing her observances and the English were invested in reading her words in turn. Her ability to witness foreign social cultural curiosities and report of them gave her an edge as an influencer. 18th century English were particularly interested in unveiling activities that would typically be removed from the public eye. Montagu's experience of the Turkish women's bathhouse gave her a taste of the surprising freedom found there. In "veiling" oneself from the gaze of others (men), superficialities, such as clothing and jewelry, became moot. Women's wisdom could be observed and expressed when the importance of outward appearance was subdued. Montagu continues to successfully asks modern audiences what makes a person fully valuable?
Montagu, Lady Mary W. Letters...Written during Her travels [The Turkish Embassy Letters], The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th Edition, Volume C, The Restoration and The Eighteenth Century, New York, London, W.W. Norton Company, 2018, pp. 631.
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porqueamamosler · 1 year
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Não há remédio mais simples que um livro que, se não nos consolar, pelo menos devolve a quietude à mente mais conturbada.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762)
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Ah hate the pleasure of pleasing people that ah hate!
Yosemite Sam
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selfeating · 2 years
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see, to me, as an eastern european, the rampant orientalism of ‘dracula’ is yet another dimension of its comedy, but i want people to take a moment to consider how our friend jonathan talks about ee, and think about how his narration is very much in line of how real-life westerners described the region. 
you may wonder for example, what is orientalist about count dracula reading english train schedules? as one academic notices in this article, dracula’s obsession with trains mirror that of jonathan, who mentions a couple of times how he’s leaving railroads, a symbol of western ‘civilisation,’ behind, and with that he also leaves ‘europe’. this narration is a perfect reflection of travel reports from decades before. similarly as our friend jonathan, a real-life historical figure count de segur remarked that he left europe entirely when entering poland, at the same time also moving back ten centuries  and finding himself among hordes of hands, scythians, vent, slavs, and sarmatians. same attitude displayed by coxe, who summed up his impressions of poland recalling villages wretched beyond description, and going on to talk about the hovels all built of wood seemed full offilth and misery, and everything wore the appearance of extreme poverty. also not too far from what wrote john ledyard, when he claimed that he had not reached europe until he was in prussia. 
but to westerners, ee was not only foreign and poor, it was also a land of “terror,” look: lady mary wortley montagu describing her travel through hungary as if she was going to war, talking about how she was going to be froze to death, bury’d in the snow, and taken by the tartars who ravage the part of hungary [she] was to passe. this idea surely seems like a fantasy, but in terms of imagination, travellers often got even more extra: take, for example, salaberry describing the hungarian noblemen as the centaurs of fable (lol).
so, what i want people to know while reading dracula, is that the setting is not described the way it is only because it’s supposed to be a horror story; to many [most. all, even] westerners, the very idea of travelling to ee was equivalent of a nightmare, anyway. 
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ellekhen · 3 months
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Shadowheart and D’vana, my partner’s half-elf bard. 💜
“Serenely sweet you gild the silent grove, my friend, my goddess, and my guide.” - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
(Pose Reference from @adorkastock! Thank you for everything you do. 🥰)
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amphibious-thing · 24 days
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This actually made me curious if I could find the earliest known reference to the saying. It seems to be Walpole who recalls it in his commonplace book of verses, stories, characters, letters, etc. etc. which is dated to the 1740s:
Ld Hervey was not the only one of his family, remarkable for effeminacy; some of his Brothers were like Him. Lady Mary Wortley said, there were three sexes; men, women, & Herveys.
I most commonly see people citing The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu edited by Lord Wharncliffe which wasn't published until 1837. Wharncliffe also ties the quote to Hervey's effeminacy tho he recalls the wording differently to Walpole:
Another of Lady Mary's friends, the famous Lord Hervey, however blackened or extolled, must have been anything but stupid. Their intimacy did not always prevent her from laughing at him, as is proved by the well-known sentence, almost a proverb, ''that this world consisted of men, women, and Herveys," which was originally hers. And so might be a chance-epigram or ballad besides, yet no great harm done. For as there are some people who must be handled seriously or not meddled with, and a few whom it would be sacrilege and profanation to laugh at, there are others with whom their friends take that liberty every day ; nay, who invite it by laughing at themselves. This is very commonly the case with those who, being conscious of some whimsical peculiarity, and withal no fools, think that humorously exaggerating their own foible, gives them a privilege to indulge it. The exaggeration then gets abroad, and by that the character is stamped. For '' half the strange stories you hear in the world" (said one who knew it well) "come from people's not understanding a joke." Accordingly, it has been handed down as a proof of the extreme to which Lord Hervey carried his effeminate nicety, that, when asked at dinner whether he would have some beef, he answered, "Beef? — Oh, no! — Faugh! Don't you know I never eat beef, nor horse, nor any of those things?'' — Could any mortal have said this in earnest?
There are other 19th century sources (all crediting the quote to Lady Mary) that understand it to be about sex/gender but again the wording varies between accounts.
On the 16th of March 1842 the Morning Post writes:
Lady Mary Mortley used to say of an effeminate friend of her's, "This world is peopled with men, women, and Herveys."
In his 1847 novel Strawberry Hill Robert Folkestone Williams comments:
Persons of all ages and all sexes, or as Lady Wortley Montagu described them— men, women, and Herveys—
The July 1898 issue of the Edinburgh Review or Critical Journal ties the quote to Pope's satirical poem Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot in which he calls Hervey an "amphibious thing":
The poet's satire was, perhaps, in some respects justified by the curious effeminacy, characteristic of the mental qualities, as well as the physical features, of Lord Hervey, which prompted the epigram of his friend and correspondent Lady Mary Montagu (sometimes ascribed to Chesterfield) that 'at the beginning God created men, women, and Herveys.'
Without the original context and wording it's impossible to know what Lady Mary meant when she said it but it does seem that people understood her to be making a comment on Lord Hervey's sex/gender. The phrase seems to have shifted meaning latter when it was applied to other Herveys.
If anyone knows of an earlier source I'd be really interested to see it.
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laurikarauchscat · 10 months
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First Proposal
Morvran’s first attempt at securing the position of Emperor Consort goes ...
Not that great.
Reference
This really funny painting entitled:
Pope Makes Love To Lady Mary Wortley Montagu - by William Powell Frith
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tamurakafkaposts · 1 year
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Thou silver deity of secret night,
Direct my footsteps through the woodland shade;
Thou conscious witness of unknown delight,
The Lover’s guardian, and the Muse’s aid!
By thy pale beams I solitary rove,
To thee my tender grief confide;
Serenely sweet you gild the silent grove,
My friend, my goddess, and my guide …Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, ‘Hymn to the Moon’.
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elegantzombielite · 6 months
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"There is no remedy so easy as books, which if they do not give cheerfulness, at least restore quiet to the most troubled mind."
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, author (26th May 1689-1762)
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