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  • Published: 1 Jun 1999
  • DOI: 10.4324/9781851965144
  • Set ISBN: 9781851965144

Set Contents

Elizabeth Carter


Our knowledge of the life and works of Elizabeth Carter – poet, translator, essayist, Greek scholar, letter writer and prominent Bluestocking –owes a great deal to the labours of her nephew, the Reverend Montagu Pennington. He bore an enduring reminder of his aunt's friendships in being named for his godmother, Elizabeth Montagu, and, by preparing Carter's works for publication he performed a generous act of homage to his aunt and her circle, to whom he felt indebted for his education and advantages. However, like those other worthy nephews, Matthew Montagu and James-Edward Austen-Leigh, in memorialising his aunt, he also embalmed her reputation and insulated her to some extent from further scrutiny. He published a massive body of work (Carter being the most prolific of the first generation of Bluestockings), much of it from manuscript: two quarto volumes of correspondence between Carter and Catherine Talbot and Elizabeth Vesey; three octavo volumes of letters from Carter to Montagu; and a two-volume memoir, the second volume comprising her published poetry, selections from unpublished poetry, miscellaneous essays, religious writings, and exerpts from letters. In addition he republished her translation of the Works of Epictetus, adding notes which she made on her own copy, and reissued her edition of Catherine Talbot's Works, with his own introduction. Yet he omitted several of her works, including her translations of Algarotti and Crousaz, her Remarks on the Athanasian Creed, and some of her early poems as well as some surviving only in manuscript – none of which she herself had chosen to be remembered by. Furthermore, his editorial hand is very much in evidence throughout – cutting, pasting, 'improving', and concealing even as he reveals his aunt to his audience. The manuscripts from which he worked are now lost to view, and it is possible that Carter would have wished it that way, as she disapproved of 'the injudicious publication of confidential letters'. What survives in print presents a complex portrait, but some of its features are heavily marked by Pennington's hand.

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
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    Introduction By Judith Hawley
  • Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806)
    • The Works of Epictetus
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        Introduction
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        Arrian to Lucius Gellius: Wisheth all Happiness
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        The Discourses of Epictetus: Book I
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        The Discourses of Epictetus: Book II
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        The Discourses of Epictetus: Book III
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        The Discourses of Epictetus: Book IV
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        The Enchiridion, or Manual, of Epictetus
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        Fragments of Epictetus, From Stobæus, Antonius, and Maximus
    • Selected Poems
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        To Miss Blomer, Canterbury.
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        A Riddle. [1734]
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        In Diem Natalem. [1735]
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        Anacreon. Ode XXX. [1734]
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        A Riddle. [1736]
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        [Fortune.]
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        [While clear the Night, and ev’ry Thought serene. 1738]
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        On the Death of Mrs Rowe. [1737]
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        On the Death of Mrs Rowe. [1739]
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        Ode to Melancholy. [1739]
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        A Dialogue. [1740]
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        To [Miss Lynch. 1743]
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        To the Same. [To Miss Lynch. 1744] Occasioned by an ODE written by Mrs. Philips.
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        To [Dr Walwyn. 1745.] On his Design of cutting down a Shady Walk.
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        Ode to Wisdom. [1746]
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        To Miss Hall. 1749.
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        To Miss [Burton. 1750] On a Watch.
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        Horace, Book I, Ode XV. The Prophecy of Nereus. [1751]
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        Canzone Del Abate Metastasio. Translated. [1753]
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        [Epitaph for Samuel Richardson, d. 1761.]
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        To the Rev. Dr Carter.
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        To [Miss Talbot.]
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        To [Miss Margaret Carter.]
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        To Mrs. [MONTAGU].
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        To the Earl of Bath.
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        To Mrs Montagu.
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        To Viscountess Cremorne. Jan. 5. 1795.
    • Selected Letters
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        To Thomas Birch
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        To Edward Cave
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        To Edward Cave
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        To Catherine Talbot
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        To Catherine Talbot
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        To Catherine Talbot
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        To Catherine Talbot
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        To Catherine Talbot
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        To Catherine Talbot, [1755?]
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        To Elizabeth Montagu
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        To Catherine Talbot
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        To Elizabeth Montagu
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        To Elizabeth Montagu
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        To Elizabeth Montagu
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        To Elizabeth Vesey
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        To Henrietta Pulteney
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        To Matthew Montagu
    • Miscellaneous Prose
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        The Rambler Number XLIV.
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        The Rambler. Number C.
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        Proposals For Printing By Subscription
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        Mrs Macaulay, Guicciardini, And Cæsar, 1764.
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        On Johnson’s Shakspeare. To Mrs Montagu. 1766.
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        From Answers to Objections Concerning the Christian Religion
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        From Answers to Objections Concerning the Christian Religion
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        A Morning Prayer.
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    Back Matter