#the bluestocking circle

[venicepearl]

Elizabeth Carter (pen name Eliza; 16 December 1717 – 19 February 1806) was an English poet, classicist, writer, translator, linguist, and polymath. As one of the Bluestocking Circle that surrounded Elizabeth Montagu, she earned respect for the first English translation of the 2nd-century Discourses of Epictetus. She also published poems and translated from French and Italian, and corresponded profusely. Among her many eminent friends were Elizabeth Montagu, Hannah More, Hester Chapone and other Bluestocking members. Also close friends were Anne Hunter, a poet and socialite, and Mary Delany. She befriended Samuel Johnson, editing some editions of his periodical The Rambler.

#Elizabeth Carter #women in literature #women in hi #Bluestocking Circle #xviii century #xix century #people #portait #paintings #art #arte

[charmsandtealeaves]

So for 2024 I decided to keep better track of what fics I’ve read and added to my TBR list. I’m gonna be attempting to post these each week 😅

This week I didn’t get chance to read much with family stuff going on but here we go:

Read this Week:

Dumbest Witch Alive by @petalsinwoodvale

Complete (7.6k), Order! Jily, Rated T

Lily Evans unexpectedly finds herself in an underground wizarding auction on Christmas Eve after trailing a dark wizard for intel. Chaos ensues when a dangerous magical creature, a nundu, breaks free from its cage, trapping Lily and the shady Eugene Scrooge together in the warehouse. Newly engaged, with the expectation to return to her fiancé to share the good news with his family during a trip to the in-laws, Lily depends on old childhood hobbies and sheer dumb luck to navigate the situation and escape alive.

Pinkest Bluestocking of the Ton by @wearingaberetinparis aka Ritaskeetered (Chapters 1-8)

WIP, Regency! Jily, Inspired by Bridgerton, Rated M

Dearest Reader, the ton are abuzz with the latest gossip, and so it is my honour to impart to you the news that the Duke of Peverell has returned to London at last! A year after setting off on his tour of Europe, Lady Peverell's son has returned and rumour has it that his mother is preparing for the most joyous of occasions: a late summer wedding that sees her son wed the next Duchess of Peverell. It is my sincere hope that you have stored a bottle of wine for this most delightful of upcoming events for if ever there were a more determined mama, this writer is Icarus and this society paper has been scorched for flying too close to the sun.

Every Mother Is A Grave by @witchofimber (recced by @turanga4)

Complete (6.1k), Molly Weasley, Rated G*

TW: PPD & complex family relationships

One week after the end of the war, and Ginny is the only child still in the house. Molly thought, automatically, that the whole brood would fly home to her. In the summer, when her children were still children, she would stand at the twilight doorway with a sonorous to her throat and watch them race across the meadows towards her, the kitchen windows their lighthouse across a sea of dark. Tall, rangy Bill herding Fred and George, Ron and Ginny chasing each other in squabbling circles, Percy with a mouth already full of complaints and accusations, Charlie loping slowly, always last. But Bill is with his own family now. Charlie is in Romania. Percy writes her fearful owls and avoids his father’s gaze. George is apparently drunk in the flats of various friends. Ron bounces between George and Harry, trying to watch over them, flooing back home to grab soup and hangover potion. So only Ginny - her much-loved girl, her longed-for daughter, her baby - is in the house, and that fact should not fill Molly with dread.

You’ve Got A Friend In Me by Ritaskeetered

Blackevans (platonic), Fest Drabbles, Rated T

Sometimes friendship can be found in the unlikeliest of places, with the people you least expected to befriend. Written for mppmaraudergirl's Blackevans BFF Week

The Summer I Fell In Love by @annasghosts

Complete (9.8k), Holiday AU! Jily, Rated T

Lily Evans’ plan was to survive her sister’s destination wedding and rush back to her busy life in London, but a slight lapse in judgement and a chance encounter with a bloke who planned to escape his own London life might change everything.

Round And Round by @jilyism

Complete (1.7k), Hogwarts! Jily, Rated G

There’s a certain pleasure in this knowing—this understanding—of a person who exists outside of her.

Hold On To The Memories, They Will Hold On To You by @thelighthousestale

Complete (1.8k), Hogwarts! Jily, NYE, Rated T

Lily Evans is ready to spend New Year's Eve alone in her bedroom until James Potter files in and offers her a midnight ride.

Added to the ever-growing TBR List:

Pillar Of Pride by @sunshinemarauder

Complete (3.5k), Hogwarts! Jily, Rated G

James Potter is proud. This, she knows. She knows his pride like the back of her hand. She knows it from flying classes and Transfiguration successes and Quidditch games and pompous hair-ruffling. James Potter masquerades behind a pillar of pride, and to witness those pillars crumble is a precious rarity.

I Bend Like A Willow Thinking Of You by @thequibblah

Complete (7.4K), Jily AU - Canon Divergence, Rated T

She wanted to shake him by the shoulders, to ask him point-blank why this seemed to be the only bloody universe in which he couldn’t see how she felt about him—and the only one in which he felt nothing beyond friendship for her.

Everyone But You by @theesteemedladydebourgh

Complete (15.4K),Jily Starstruck AU, Rated M

“If I have to spend one more minute with your stupid face I’m going to—” “Fall in love with me?” Part-time bartender, full-time oncoming trainwreck Lily Evans sleeps with famous actor James Potter. Love (?) and shenanigans ensue. (Starstruck AU)

#charms read round up #week 1 #rec list

[acrossthewavesoftime]

Numbers 27, 28 and 29 for the ask game if you like. :-)

But if course! :-)

27. Favourite historical “ What if… ” ?

That's a tough one! I would be curious to see how history would have unfolded, had the Irish rebellion of 1798 succeeded.

28. Favourite “dream team” of specific era or the entire history?

I think I am going with Margaret (1728-1808) and Admiral Samuel Graves (1713-1787) here. They might not be quite so famous as other couples of their period, and the specific closer context they are mentioned in every now and then (the early stages of the American War of Independence, or rather, the period leading directly up to it), but I am awed by how staunchly, and unapologetically, they always supported each other, no matter if their spouse may have been in the wrong (cough, the fight with General and Mrs. Kemble-Gage, cough).

And I am touched by the fact that their love story appears to have been a genuine, and unconventional one; she was almost 40, involved in the social circle of Elizabeth Montagu, for whom the term Bluestocking was coined, and had never intended to get married both as a financial precaution and a personal statement towards contemporary society when she met him, presumably through his influential friend (and her distant relation), the Earl of Sandwich; he appears to have been rather shy around women from what I gather, and had been widowed two years prior. And somehow, the taciturn sea-officer and the outspoken, independently wealthy lady appear to have clicked rather instantly. They raised her orphaned niece together, and she followed him, when he was appointed Commander of the North American Station, to a place where they might see active service.

29. Great historical mystery you are interested in?

You know, I am still wondering about Anastasie de La Fayette's wedding certificate... :-)

#ask #ask game #ask reply #r rambles #nordleuchten

[the-paintrist]

Rosa Mayreder - Pond on the Cobenzl in Vienna - 1896

Rosa Mayreder (née Obermeyer; 30 November 1858, in Vienna – 19 January 1938, in Vienna) was an Austrian freethinker, author, painter, musician and feminist. She was the daughter of Marie and Franz Arnold Obermayer who was a wealthy restaurant operator and barkeeper.

Rosa had twelve brothers and sisters and although her conservative father did not believe in the formal education of girls he allowed her to participate in the Greek and Latin lessons of one of her brothers. She also received private instruction in French, painting and the piano.

Rosa Mayreder was a radical critic of the patriarchal structures of the society as well as a critic of feminism. Throughout her adult life, Rosa Mayreder expressed her frustration with the lack of authentic expression for women throughout history. A good deal of her critiques of the society aimed at reforming the imbalance between men and women and expanding the roles which women could take up and be engaged in more generally. Mayreder considered fighting for the rights of women to be her calling in life, and she was aware that her attempts at fighting the status quo were ground-breaking for her time. While she was accused of being "bluestocking," or misbehaved, she continued to openly criticize her environment.

Mayreder published two influential works, one being Zur Kritik der Weiblichkeit (To Critics of Femininity) in 1905 (later published in English as A Survey of the Woman Problem in 1912). This was a collection of essays that refuted quotes from "accepted" philosophers and established authoritative support, a style of writing that was inspired by the ideals of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her inspiration for writing A Survey of the Women Problem steamed from her belief that the basis of the women's movement was caused by three issues: economic, social, and ethical-psychological sources. Mayreder's second influential publication was Geschlecht und Kultur (Sex and Culture) (1923). The latter work, which criticized the double standard and discrimination against women, was translated into English. She also published an autobiography, Das Haus in der Landskrongasse.

During World War I Mayreder published articles and reports in which she advocated a pacifist approach in various media outlets, including Neues Frauenleben and Internationale Rundschau.

In addition to writing, Mayreder took a liking for painting and became the first woman admitted to the Aquarellist club. In 1981, one of her watercolors was accepted as an exhibition at the annual Viennese Kunstlerhaus (House of Artists). Furthermore, Mayreder founded the Kunstchule for Frauen und Madchen (Art School for Girls and Women) with Olga Prager, Marriane Hainisch, and Karl Federn.

Rosa Mayreder was one of the founding members of the General Austrian Women's Association. She met Rudolf Steiner (with whom she entered into a long and extensive correspondence) through women's rights campaigner Marie Lang. She also met Hugo Wolf and Friedrich Eckstein. Rosa formed a warm friendship with Wolf and developed one of her stories as the libretto for his opera Der Corregidor, which was first performed in Mannheim in 1896. During these years she published her first novel Aus meiner Jugend (From My Youth). It was also in Lang's circle that Rosa met Marianne Hainisch with whom she worked in the Austrian women's association "Allgemeiner Österreichischer Frauenverein", which was formed in 1902.

Rosa Mayreder was the only female founding member of the Sociological Association of Vienna which was initiated in 1907. During the First World War Mayreder engaged in the peace movement and became in 1919 the chairman of the "Internationale Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit" (International Women's League for Peace and Liberty, IFFF).

Mayreder was an influence on Swedish literary critic Klara Johanson.

#Rosa Mayreder #Austria #women painters #landscape

[abracazabka]

thanks for the tag @landslided !! I am taking a quick Sanity Break from research paper hell, so I appreciate this 😌

last song: I was listening to a ton of Van Halen, but am ending this post on "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica, so. Lol

favorite color: green!! I like every green, even neon and puke-y ones

last tv show: technically Eight is Enough, which I am so thankful to be receiving Ralph Macchio clips of from a moot <3 they know who they are <3

savory/sweet/spicy: spicy all the way 🥵

relationship status: im a full time college student with a job and a young kid in my apartment - if someone tried to love me on top of all that stress, I'd kill them with a rock

last thing I googled: the origin of the term "bluestocking." research things.

current obsession: it's been the same since I was a little one - The Karate Kid 😌😌 (other than that constant, though ... sorry I literally can't think of anything else. It's been a Karate Kid kind of year)

I'm...not gonna tag anyone since i can see this has already gone through my circle, and I need to get back to work 😒 BUT I invite anyone else who also needs a Sanity Break to please take part! :)) <3

#tag games #about me

[nameless-and-joymaking]

advice for someone from another country visiting new york for the first time for like 2weeks?

ahh honored that you would ask my advice!

General/boring advice: be prepared for Weather (carry a sweatshirt and an umbrella bc the ones they sell on the street are shit, carry a handfan bc the trains aren't always air conditioned), avoid the G and L trains wherever possible, and the 1 train on the weekends, be alert but don't be afraid, pay attention to subway announcements and read the subway maps carefully (ppl will know you're a tourist if you're glued to the map inside the train car but who cares), avoid times square if you can help it, walk fast if you're in midtown everyone will be grateful, dont smile at strangers except old ladies and babies, thank your bus driver. Follow @got2gonyc on insta bc they have a map of public bathrooms that is VITAL (my personal favorite public bathroom in nyc is inside the shops at columbus circle.)

NOW for fun stuff/ Grand List of Recommendations. im going to split this into sections and go into WAY too much depth. im also assuming you're staying in manhattan but going to provide recs throughout the boroughs

Culture

if you have some money to burn, definitely see some theatre. If you like musicals, Kimberly Akimbo has $40 rush tickets (meaning if you show up at the box office right when it opens you can get cheap seats), Parade has $45 rush (if you're going to the city before it closes).

see a film at the Metrograph or Film Forum (metrograph has uncomfy seats tbh but always shows great stuff.) The Angelika is also fine, and Alamo Drafthouse is not NY-specific but it's cool.

go to The Strand! not on a weekend bc it's far too crowded but there are just so. many. books. or go to a community bookstore like Word Up in Washington Heights or Bluestockings downtown (lots of queer and political books)

You gotta do a museum or two. The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens is all about film and if you love movies, it is beyond delightful. You can spend a whole day at the Met just wandering, but if you like an agenda, I really recommend going to the Dutch painting collection in Gallery 964 and checking out my favorite painting I've ever seen up close, as well as the sculpture garden in the American Wing, the Asian Wing, the Islamic Wing, and the Egyptian exhibit (you have to walk through it to get to a bunch of other things anyway). There are some van Goghs there, too, and the costuming exhibit and and and-- ok i'll stop here. The American Museum of Natural History has the ability to make you feel like a kid again if you were into science as a child.

Lots of museums, including El Museo del Barrio, Bronx Museum of Art, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage have days where admission is free. Lot of the galleries in Chelsea are also free every day (including the Gagosian Galleries on West 24th and the Chase Contemporary)

Visit a library! The big one in midtown or a smaller one (Morningside Heights Library by the Columbia campus is nice, I like the Mosholu one in the Bronx as well)

Food

you cannot leave NY without having a good NY bagel. Downtown: Bagel Bob's. Uptown: Pick-A-Bagel. Bronx: Riverdale Bagels (you need a bus to get to this one, or a long walk, but worth it.) Downtown, midtown, and Brooklyn: Russ and Daughter's. any old dollar pizza place is probably great, but if you want to be fancy, go to Luzzo's on the upper east side.

if you eat fish, Astoria Seafood is a MUST. fresh, delicious, no frills, BYOB. easy to get lost on the way there if you don't know Queens, so be careful.

Queens in general is a great place to eat. Most diverse urban community in the world! Mama's Empanadas (right by the Museum of the Moving Image, on Steinway Street) is a strong recommendation there, as well. Hot pot, bubble tea, Greek food, and momos are, as a general rule, very good in Queens.

if you want relatively affordable sushi and sake, Marumi is my go-to in Manhattan.

if you want a bougie brunch or dinner, go to Lido in Harlem. Any Jamaican place in Harlem or buffet-style southern food is likely to be good if you want to be adventurous and just pick one. Pies n Thighs in Brooklyn is also good southern-inspired food if you eat meat.

Tasty Handpulled Noodles in Chinatown (there's one on Doyers and one on 9th ave) is some of the best Chinese food. Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is upsettingly expensive but very delicious.

If you like to cook, go to Kalustyan's in Little India and get yourself some spices. They have more kinds of pepper there than you've ever seen in your life.

there is a sandwich shop in the Bronx i will ONLY tell you about via dm bc i won't have my secret faves revealed in a public forum.

lmk if you want Fancy-fancy recs for food, I can make a whole other post.

Green Spaces/Nature

Wave Hill up in Riverdale is beyond beautiful, and free on Thursdays. A bit of a trek from any trains, buses involved etc, but worth it!!

If you're going with friends or peers, a picnic in Central Park (North Meadow by the 103rd st/CPW entrance is a good spot, also Sheep Meadow or the Great Lawn) or just a walk through the park can be amazing. A little touristy, but who's counting.

The Coney Island Aquarium (whether or not you also go to the amusement park) is really nice. Very far from Manhattan, but easy to find (lots of crowds lots of signs)

I don't know Prospect Park in Brooklyn super well, other than the area right by Ample Hills Creamery-- great ice cream, by the way-- but it's pretty and really huge. On that note, also try The Social in Brooklyn for ice cream and DEFINITELY eat an icee from a cart. Churros from a cart in the subway in particular also always hit.

It is tenuous to call this nature but the Union Square Farmer's Market pops up every Saturday and you can buy really good produce/honey/flowers/booze (also, incidentally, right by a good ice cream place, Van Leeuwen's) ((also incidentally, I'm at the market pretty much every Saturday. idk if meeting a tumblr friend is on your want list but yeah.))

#this list is also quite summer-centric so if youre going when it's colder lmk and ill revamp the list #have the best best time i love my city so muchhhh

[whimsicaldragonette]

ARC Review: The Modiste Mishap by Erica Ridley

Preorder

Add to Goodreads

Publication Date: August 26, 2022

Synopsis:

A Regency-set comedic caper featuring a book club of meddling spinsters. Miss Sybil Stamper is the least fancy member of the reading circle known as The Heist Club. To her friends, bespectacled Sybil is the Queen of Lists, but she’d rather be belle of the ball. When she finally acquires an evening gown, her life looks like it’s falling into place. But when a client’s valuable objects go missing, not only is Sybil’s happy ending in jeopardy—so are the futures of other young ladies just like her! With the help of the Wild Wynchesters—a uniquely talented family of caper-committing siblings who don’t let “laws” stop them from righting wrongs—Sybil and her club of delightfully bookish spinsters take on the heist of the Season. PREQUEL TO: NOBODY’S PRINCESS

My Rating: ★★★★

My Review and Favorite Quotes below the cut.

My Review:

This was super cute. It was a light, quick read, and it kept my interest fairly well. I was not nearly as invested in the story as in the Wynchester novels, though I found my interest increased when the Wynchesters made an appearance. I wouldn't say that this really stands on its own, but as an addition to the Wynchester series I think it works well. I especially enjoyed the moments where Elizabeth Wynchester came on the scene, and would recommend it for that alone. *Thanks to NetGalley, WebMotion, and Erica Ridley for providing an e-arc for review.

Favorite Quotes:

"Helping others is what we do." "When not reading," Philippa added. "Or talking about reading."

---

"I'm not a bluestocking," said Elizabeth Wynchester. "I'm a bloodthirsty malcontent."

#wild wynchesters #erica ridley #heist club #shilo reads #arc review #netgalley #the modiste mishap

[emmaprobett]

"[Hester Chapone] was impressively intellectual, with a bent for quiet, ironic humour; among their mutual friends it was agreed that at age 23 she had bested Richardson in an epistolary debate on the limits of parental authority." 

- William McCarthy, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Voice of Enlightenment

#academic twitter #academic #anna letita barbauld #hester chapone #samuel richardson #bluestockings #bluestocking circle #william mccarthy

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George

For any of you out there who are thirsting for a historical romance that throws an impassioned, enterprising, will-leave-you-breathless jab or two then this one's for you! Fans of Evie Dunmore in particular, a category in which I include myself, will be rapt as well as delighted to submerge themselves in this boxing ring world of fortune hunting and social climbing and “arranged” marriage of convenience. Just grab yourself a towel first because you're bound to leave these pages a little sweaty! August Crenshaw, an American heiress and businesswoman, and Ethan Sterling, the Duke of Rothschild, are the kind of duo who will thrill you at first match up. No question about it. She's a brainy, radical progressive who refuses to allow her or her sister to be sold into matrimony by her parents; he's a debt-ridden lord who must marry well to save his family and estate from destitution. She wants a career and autonomy, not a husband. He needs a wife, and soon, not an uncatchable catch like August. So, naturally, he decides to pursue her despite being offered up her younger sister, Violet, instead. As a result of this, they find themselves poised on opposite sides of the same ring like two evenly skilled opponents from the beginning: circling each other. They move synchronously, in seductive dance, with their fists raised and their lips primed. Both of them ready to steal a savory sampling whenever the time is right. The sparks between August and Ethan will have you on your feet, gripping the ropes, and shouting from your seat from their first fight club meet-cute. You'll continue dabbing the sweat from your brow throughout their tenacious courtship battle as they negotiate betrothal, side-step the demands of her family, and surrender to mutual attraction. You'll be hoarse, completely spent, by the time you reach the end of their torrid "marry me" affair. The story itself is taut. It's contentious. It's romantic. It's befitting for the time period yet also a bit modern in sensibility. In fact, one of my favorite things about it is there's a womanly call to arms for agency, for freedom and respect and independence, which is enhanced by the romance and never diminished because of it. I only have one word for that: INCREDIBLE. Also, with two main characters who have a panache for demonstrating their obstinate clashes of will and desire whilst also embroiling themselves in a passionate magnetism that cannot be denied, this book houses so many scrumptious tropes and themes. I cannot begin to enumerate them all but I will highlight a few. For starters, it reeks of enemies-to-lovers vibes. (My favorite.) Secondly, it's polluted with elements like prizefighting, kissing bets, dancing, meddling parents, and swoon-worthy compromise. Thirdly, it toes the line between conventional and subversive which only adds to the Cherry On Top sexy-sexy of the time period plot. All in all, this one's a feast for readers who, like me, love a little bluestocking progressiveness thrown in amid the confines of an aristocratic British society. It delivers a good firm punch as far as historical romances go so I'd definitely recommend adding it to your shelves! What more can I say? It's the perfect hot tea drinking, curled beneath the covers, too cold for anything except steamy love, mid-winter read. Be on the lookout for this one in January of 2021, lovelies! 

3.5/5 stars Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC in exchange for my review.

*You also can follow me on Goodreads (HERE)

#ashlee bree's book reviews #the heiress gets a duke #harper st. george #arcs #historical fiction #romance #recs: ashlee approved! #read september 2020 #coming january 2021 #bookblr #book reviews

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

The Rake Mistake by Erica Ridley

Heist Club #1

 What a fun way to spend the day! I smiled a LOT as I read this little story. Many books are labeled romantic comedy t hat don’t even get a hint of a smile from me while I read them but this one…was delightful and had me smiling often! I am not sure but think The Duke Heist probably was a prequel to this prequel, but both can be read as standalone stories.

 What I liked:

* Phillipa: independent, bluestocking, only child of ambitious social climbing mama, doesn’t want to marry, prefers books and her reading circle to men or the idea of marriage. Can’t wait to read more about her…and said the same thing in my review of The Duke Heist.

* The Wynchester siblings: introduced in The Duke Heist and I do want to hear more about all six of them.

* The reading circle…that seems to be nameless though everyone has a name for it. A group of women that are intrigued and intriguing…will they find happily ever after(s) too?

* Great-Aunt Wynchester: chuckling as I type. *I* know who she is and can’t wait till Phillipa finds out who she is, too.

* The plot, writing, characters…all of it.

* The situations that made me laugh…like two women in armoire or the way Great-Aunt Wynchester managed to carry found objects without anyone knowing…so many times I just chuckled or smiled because what I was reading made me happy.

* The interactions and dialogue of the reading circle.

* Knowing that there will be another book in this series soon :)

 What I didn’t like:

* Phillipa’s mother: a right pain in the patoot. I wanted to sit her down and give her a talking to more than once.

* That Phillipa couldn’t please her parents as she was and was never enough for them.

 Did I enjoy this book? Oh my, yes!

Would I read more in this series? Definitely!!!

 Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 5 Stars

     BLURB

 Enjoy a Regency-set comedic caper featuring a book club of meddling spinsters and an assist by a very good dog. The closest Miss Philippa York has ever come to adventure is her Thursday afternoon reading circle with her fellow bluestockings of the beau monde. That is, until her bosom friend allows a handsome rake to steal a kiss… and he takes her friend’s jewels instead! With the help of the Wild Wynchesters—a uniquely talented family of caper-committing siblings who don’t let “laws” stop them from righting wrongs—Philippa and her club of delightfully bookish spinsters take on the most celebrated rake of the ton. They’re clever. He’s a cad. To save the day, all they need to pull off is one little heist… PREQUEL TO: THE PERKS OF LOVING A WALLFLOWER

#Erica Ridley #The Wynchesters 1.5 #Historical Romance #Romance #Fiction #Romantic Comedy

[acrossthewavesoftime]

On This Day in 1769: Margaret Spinckes and Samuel Graves, R. N. Are Married in Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire

All Saints Church in Aldwinckle, by Chris Stafford, via Wikimedia Commons.

253 years ago today, Miss Margaret Spinckes married Samuel Graves, Rear-Admiral of the Blue in the church of her childhood home in Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire.

Bride and groom quite likely had only met a little over six months before, presumably while both on a visit to Bath. For the groom, it would be his second marriage, after having tragically lost his first wife to an illness two years earlier; the bride, a close associate of the circle surrounding Elizabeth Montagu, for whom the term bluestocking was coined, had previously rejected marriage on account of fearing death in childbirth, and being no longer able to control her own assets.

Describing herself later in life as "almost an aristocrat" on account of being related to the Montagu-family, Margaret's idea of what a man should be like was decidedly nothing like Samuel Graves: too Irish, too rude, no family connections to speak of.

And yet, the coup de foudre must have struck both parties quite immediately, which is rather remarkable given that Margaret professed no interest in marriage because she firmly opposed the law treating married women akin to her husband's chattel rather than independent persons, and Samuel, though even then renowned for being quite fear-inducing as a naval officer, appears to have been rather shy meeting women, having very likely only been introduced to his first wife through his close friend Captain John Simcoe sometime in his late thirties.

His first wedding had been celebrated in London, where he retained a house (though he preferred living on his estate in the Devon countryside); this second marriage seems to have had a more intimate, and perhaps more personally meaningful character.

All Saints in Aldwinckle was Margaret's parish church; it was there she and her siblings had been baptised, and many relatives, including her closest friend and older sister Elizabeth, been buried. Perhaps Aldwinckle was also chosen to accomodate Margaret's elderly mother, for whom travelling to London may have been too strenous, particularly while also having to watch her not yet seven-year-old orphaned granddaughter.

The witnesses were one Elizabeth Gadsby, a local woman around the same age as Margaret, likely a childhood friend, and "Jesse" Spinckes. There not being a Jesse in the family and taking into account that the original records do not survive and the accessible digitised transcription of the parish records is based on a c. 19th c. handwritten copy of the original, I am quite certain that this must be a mistake and Jesse probably read Jem. in the original record. Jem. Spinckes would translate to Jemima Spinckes, Margaret's mother.

What is so very touching about what on the surface seems to be just an ordinary wedding among the British country gentry, is that Margaret and Samuel can pretty safely be declared a love match; at 41, there was little chance that Margaret could be supposed to provide her husband with heirs and wealthy in her own right (an estimated 30,000 pounds at the time of their marriage), she was not looking for financial security, either.

Similarly, Samuel had built his own wealth and social connections rising through the ranks of his chosen profession, and had no need to procure himself either through an advantageous match.

Lastly, Margaret was a package deal, so to speak; helping raise her orphaned niece, she would have expected her partner to respect her decision to take an active part in caring for the child, and Samuel, rather than just tolerating it, proved to be an involved co-parent; so involved indeed that when Jemima Spinckes died in 1776, the then 14-year-old Elizabeth asked specifically to be allowed to live with the Graves'.

They were, by all accounts, happy, raising their niece and even going on campaign to North America together.

When Samuel died in 1787, he left a will mindful of Margaret's concerns about the financial insecurity of wives, ensuring that she, rather than his nephew Richard, would be provided for with use of their joint wealth and real estate until her death. Margaret in turn, kept his picture in her new house in Bath in the dining room, and reminisced in letters about the happy times they had had together. They are also a touching reminder that true love is not a thing that happens at 20-25 or never; some meet their soulmate in middle age.

#history #british history #18th century #samuel graves #margaret graves

[jahaliel]

Regency AU

i.e. i don’t have enough WIPs apparently XD  tagging @trickytricky1 because they’re awesome and also an enabler :P

cut cause it got long

expanding on this poem i wrote for October-Wan Kenobi in 201(7?) they whisper about him - behind fans they say the Duchess broke his heart they say that his father wanted the younger son to inherit - they say that he dances divinely but few indeed get the pleasure of his company, they whisper and titter but when he walks by his head is held high, quizzing glass in hand - it’s not the beauties, the diamonds of the first water who dance, but the quiet wallflowers, the bluestockings who find themselves having more fun at this ball than they dreamed of, and they will dream of ocean-eyes and the soft cultured voice asking about their interests, conversing intelligently on a range of topics as they whirl gracefully around the ballroom floor

Lord Obi-Wan Kenobi is the oldest acknowledged son of Duke Qui-Gon Jinn - Kenobi being the courtesy Earl title that he uses almost exclusively after their falling out.  Why did they fall out? Anakin.  The adopted boy who Jinn wishes to declare his Heir.  Because he blames Obi-Wan for his oldest son’s death and sees only the faults.  It’s a bitter thing; his relationship with Anakin is tumultuous but they do care about each other deeply.   Kenobi and Lady Kryze the Duchess of Mandalore had a thing - no-one knows the details of said thing but it has not harmed either’s reputation.  She spurned him publicly but the ton’s opinion remains in favour of Kenobi - who was very very obviously in love and just as obviously brokenhearted.  The Duchess left for the Continent not long after their falling out and has not returned since. Kenobi isn’t looking for love - his father is pushing for him to marry but after Satine, his heart just isn’t in it.  He would rather just live in peace and quiet - sparring with his gentlemen friends and attending the occasional ball.  (He goes to one and meets Bant; a quiet wallflower - who hides a sharp intellect and a caring heart behind that illusion.  They become friends and though she doesn’t often make it back to town regularly he goes to the balls and dances with the quiet ones; the bluestockings and wallflowers for her. Most of them aren’t looking for marriage either; the ones that are, his attention draws out the best in them; their eyes sparkle and their laughter lights the ballroom (shocks some of the traditionalists but attracts a lot of eyes).  And its quietly known among those circle that Lord Kenobi is an honourable man - a helper - Lady Siri and her wife can attest to that.  The ones that aren’t are oftentimes the best conversationalists that are at the balls - he’s learned much about all sorts of things from dancing with them. Anakin, young reckless Anakin falls in love with Lady Padme, daughter of a Marquess and the two of them run off to try and elope.  Obi-Wan chases after them and when his horse throws a shoe he meets the Organas - Bail and Breha of Alderaan.  They agree to help him on his quest to retrieve his brother.  The three of them travel together. And perhaps the biggest scandal of the year won’t be Anakin and Padme’s elopement...

#jah writes fanpoetry #sw regency au ideas #modified regency because i need more ot3 in my life #obi-wan/bail/breha #anakin/padme #Qui-Gon is a bit of a dick #but he would get his head out of his ass eventually #there would definitely be HEA everywhere #no palps or anything #just straight up regency-romance plot #am i going to actually write this? #idk - i really need to work on Kretai and my Bang piece #also please cross your fingers i don't die this week #104 - 108 - 104 -116 #are the predicted max temps #with 80-90 overnights #i hate the hot #it also drains my will to write something chronic

[gayasinstupidpodcast]

Happy pride listeners! We’re back with our tenth (!!) episode, this time featuring Stonewall, trans exclusion, and its impact on the gay rights movement. BIG thanks as always to Isaac for his fabulous editing skills (we talk a LOT), and for being the best co-host a twink could ask for! Also thanks to Alex again for our gorgeous little intro/outro music! This month, instead of our usual fiction recs, we’ll have some small LGBT creators and businesses you can support, so be sure to look under the cut for that.

You can find us on the Itunes Podcast App/Webpage at Gay As In Stupid Podcast! You can also find our episodes uploaded to Youtube and Soundcloud!

Further Reading:

Miss Major’s Monthly Fundraising Circle!

So, What Was Stonewall?

How The Mafia Once Controlled The New York Gay Scene

Police Brutality (and why it is an LGBTQ issue)

Powerful gay rights groups excluded trans people for decades-leaving them vulnerable to Trump’s attack

This Is What Pride Looks Like: Miss Major and the Violence, Poverty, and Incarceration of Low-Income Transgender Women

Opinions: Pride For Sale

Symbolism Is Not Enough

LGBT Creators And Businesses Under The Cut!

Adam Benedict | Artist | instagram | pateron

Theo Cook | Artist | instagram | pateron

Miles | Artist | instagram | store

Donte Collins | Poet | instagram | latest book

Blythe Baird | Poet | instagram | lastest book

Bluestockings Bookstore | Books | website

Wolfie Video | Movies | website

Jade & Fox Co. | Body, Skin and Hair Care | website

Equator Coffees | Coffee and Teas | website

Rebirth Garments | Clothes | website

STUZO | Clothes | website

#gay #trans #podcast #pride month #gay content #gay as in stupid podcast

[historybizarre]

Miegon’s capsule biographies brim with character. Montagu—whose social circle was a who’s who of England’s male political and cultural giants—challenged Voltaire’s perspective on Shakespeare. Catherine Macaulay Graham was the “first prominent female historian in England” as well as the first woman let into the British Library’s famed reading room. Sarah Fielding probably contributed to her brother Henry’s books and wrote several novels herself. Hester Chapone was writing from age nine, much to her mother’s chagrin.

#feminism #bluestocking #women's history #european history #british history #18th century #1700s #Frances Burney #Elizabeth Vesey #Elizabeth Montagu #Hester Thrale

[thediverismylove]

ill be going to ny soon so could you tell me essential places to visit like yr fav spots

ooh this is a good question!! these are all nyc spots bc like. you’re probably not going to long island? lol also a good amount i haven’t been to but i have friends who have Adored them. also w the food stuff i rec lips jekyll & hyde and ellen’s for the experience Not the food (altho tbh lips had some good food.....the others did not)

SHOPPING

strand bookstore

books are magic 

bluestocking books

chelsea market

canal street market

bulletin

macy’s herald square

saks 5th avenue

l train vintage

MUSEUMS

the metropolitan museum of art

the american museum of natural history

the museum of modern art

the frick collection

9/11 memorial & museum

the cloisters

whitney museum

museum of the moving image

FOOD

vic’s

ribalta

parm

eataly

dylan’s candy bar

big gay ice cream

bocca di bacco

ellen’s stardust diner

magnolia bakery

levain bakery

dō

jekyll and hyde club

lips drag palace

joe’s pizza

honestly eat as much pizza as yr body will allow u

go to a diner!

have a bagel!

MISC

the high line

ellis island

central park

the rockefeller center

see a broadway show!

bryant park

the stonewall inn

washington square park

union square

soho

greenwich village

arthur avenue

grand central station

brooklyn flea

st patrick’s cathedral

radio city music hall

the american girl place (listen it was an iconic part of my childhood)

chinatown

little italy

inwood hill park

columbus circle

#asks #Anonymous

[likeaflowingriver1019]

Disability aesthetics

“she lived with two husbands instead of one, never knowing whom she should address her lamentations for fear of mistaking the object of her hatred for the object of her love” (100).

Tobin Siebers: “aesthetics tracks the emotions that some bodies feel in the presence of other bodies. But all bodies are not created equal when it comes to aesthetic response. Taste and disgust are volatile reactions that reveal the ease or disease with which one body might incorporate another. Disability aesthetics seeks to emphasize the presence of different bodies and minds in the tradition of aesthetic representation […] it refuses to recognize the representation of the healthy body and this body’s definition of harmony, integrity and beauty as the sole determination of the aesthetic (542-543)

Madeleine de Scudéry

Madeleine de Scudéry, (born 1607, Le Havre, Fr.—died June 2, 1701, Paris), French novelist and social figure whose romans à clef were immensely popular in the 17th century.

De Scudéry was the younger sister of the dramatist Georges de Scudéry. Madeleine de Scudéry moved to Paris to join her brother after the death of her uncle, who had cared for her after she and her brother had been orphaned. Clever and bright, she soon made her mark on the literary circle of the Hôtel de Rambouillet; by the late 1640s, she had replaced Madame de Rambouillet as the leading literary hostess in Paris and had established her own salon, known as the Société du Samedi (the Saturday Club).

Her first novel, Ibrahim ou l’illustre bassa (1642; Ibrahim or the Illustrious Bassa), was published in four volumes. Her later works were even longer; both Artamène ou le grand Cyrus (1649–53; Artamenes or the Grand Cyrus) and Clélie, histoire romaine (1654–60; Clelia) were published in 10 volumes. Contemporary readers, accustomed to such long novels, appreciated De Scudéry’s works both for their bulk and for the glimpses they provided into the lives of important society figures of the day. These individuals were thinly disguised as Persian, Greek, and Roman warriors and maidens; De Scudéry herself appears in Artamène as Sappho, a name by which she was known to her friends.

Other of her works include Almahide, ou l’es- clave reine (1660–63; “Almahide, or the Slave Queen”), Mathilde d’Aguilar, histoire espagnole (1667; “Mathilda of Aguilar, a Spanish Tale”), and La Promenade de Versailles, ou l’histoire de Célanire (1669; “The Versailles Promenade, or the Tale of Celanire”). Most of the novels were published anonymously or under the name of her brother Georges. They included long passages devoted to conversations on such topics as the education of women; these were excerpted and published separately.

Although her novels were exceptionally popular and were lauded by such notables as Madame de Sévigné, they also met with some criticism. The poet and critic Nicolas Boileau, for instance, satirized them harshly.

Michel de Montaigne

Michel de Montaigne, in full Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, (born February 28, 1533, Château de Montaigne, near Bordeaux, France—died September 23, 1592, Château de Montaigne), French writer whose Essais (Essays) established a new literary form. In his Essays he wrote one of the most captivating and intimate self-portraits ever given, on a par with Augustine’s and Rousseau’s.

Living, as he did, in the second half of the 16th century, Montaigne bore witness to the decline of the intellectual optimism that had marked the Renaissance. The sense of immense human possibilities, stemming from the discoveries of the New World travelers, from the rediscovery of classical antiquity, and from the opening of scholarly horizons through the works of the humanists, was shattered in France when the advent of the Calvinistic Reformation was followed closely by religious persecution and by the Wars of Religion (1562–98). These conflicts, which tore the country asunder, were in fact political and civil as well as religious wars, marked by great excesses of fanaticism and cruelty. At once deeply critical of his time and deeply involved in its preoccupations and its struggles, Montaigne chose to write about himself—“I am myself the matter of my book,” he says in his opening address to the reader—in order to arrive at certain possible truths concerning man and the human condition, in a period of ideological strife and division when all possibility of truth seemed illusory and treacherous.

Charles Perrault

Charles Perrault, (born January 12, 1628, Paris, France—died May 15/16, 1703, Paris), French poet, prose writer, and storyteller, a leading member of the Académie Française, who played a prominent part in a literary controversy known as the quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns. He is best remembered for his collection of fairy stories for children, Contes de ma mère l’oye (1697; Tales of Mother Goose). He was the brother of the physician and amateur architect Claude Perrault.

A lawyer by training, Charles Perrault first worked as an official in charge of royal buildings. He began to win a literary reputation in about 1660 with some light verse and love poetry and spent the rest of his life in promoting the study of literature and the arts. In 1671 he was elected to the Académie Française, which soon was sharply divided by the dispute between the Ancients and the Moderns. Perrault supported the Moderns, who believed that, as civilization progresses, literature evolves with it and that therefore ancient literature is inevitably more coarse and barbarous than modern literature. His poem Le Siècle de Louis le Grand (1687; “The Age of Louis the Great”) set such modern writers as Molière and François de Malherbe above the Classical authors of Greece and Rome. His chief opponent in this controversy was Nicolas Boileau. Perrault’s stand was a landmark in the eventually successful revolt against the confines of the prevailing tradition.

Perrault’s fairy stories in Mother Goose were written to amuse his children. They include “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Bluebeard,” modern versions of half-forgotten folk tales, which Perrault retold in a style that is simple and free from affectation.

Bluestocking

Bluestocking, any of a group of ladies who in mid-18th-century England held “conversations” to which they invited men of letters and members of the aristocracy with literary interests. The word has come to be applied derisively to a woman who affects literary or learned interests. The Bluestockings attempted to replace social evenings spent playing cards with something more intellectual. The term probably originated when one of the ladies, Mrs. Vesey, invited the learned Benjamin Stillingfleet to one of her parties; he declined because he lacked appropriate dress, whereupon she told him to come “in his blue stockings”—the ordinary worsted stockings he was wearing at the time. He did so, and Bluestocking (or Bas Bleu) society became a nickname for the group. This anecdote was later recounted by Madame d’Arblay (the diarist and novelist better known as Fanny Burney), who was closely associated with (but also satirized) the Bluestockings.

The group was never a society in any formal sense. Mrs. Vesey seems to have given the first party, in Bath. After she moved to London, a rivalry developed with Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, who became the leader of the literary ladies. Others included Mrs. Hester Chapone, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, Miss Mary Monckton, and Miss Hannah More, whose poem “The Bas Bleu, or Conversation,” supplies valuable inside information about them. Guests included Dr. Johnson, David Garrick, the Earl of Bath, Lord Lyttleton, and Horace Walpole (who called them “petticoteries”).