News-sheet — Winter 2018–2019

I. EE Edition of Correspondence (2,040 letters)

This year’s update can be divided into two parts:

a collection of women’s letters published here in celebration of the centenary of suffragette success in attaining the vote for women in Britain;
other letters, including letters pertaining (primarily) to the theatre; a collection of early learned letters; and odd items of special interest.

Again, because the Electronic Enlightenment Scholarly Edition of Correspondence is always moving towards being the most complete collection of letters possible — for each and everyone of its correspondents — the current update continues to expand existing collections, such as the correspondence of the English actor, theatre owner, author and playwright David Garrick (born 1717–died 1779); to our existing collection of 113 Garrick letters, we’ve now added 49 more! — an increase of 43%.

A. Celebrating women (1,878 letters)

1. Graffigny, Françoise de (1st tranche: 1,216 letters of some 2,500)

Françoise Paule Huguet de Graffigny (born 1695–died 1758), French author, novelist, playwright.
Famous as the author of the novel Lettres d’une Péruvienne (1747). After the success of her sentimental theatrical comedy, Cénie (1750), she became the world's best-known woman writer.
Another scholarly edition from the Voltaire Foundation, Oxford; this first tranche publishes volumes 1–8 of the 15 volume edition.

2. Saint-Pierre, Catherine Dorothée de (140 letters & 140 translations)

Catherine Dorothée de Saint-Pierre (born 1743–died 1807), French citizen-scientist, home-maker.
Younger sister of Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (born 1737–died 1814), she led a quiet life in her native Normandy. But she provides a unique insight into provincial life in the late 18th Century: detailing her search for marine plants, exotic shells or tasty treats; talking about an early hot-air balloon flight; painting a picture of Dieppe at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Her letters are additionally interesting as artefacts in their own right: her handwriting is poor, the spelling partially phonetic and the punctuation erratic — but it gives us a glimpse into regional French of the period, and something of its pronunciation.
A born-digital edition, unique to Electronic Enlightenment: this collection also demonstrates our ability to publish materials outside our not-for-profit subscription model.

3. Herschel, Caroline (194 letters)

Caroline Lucretia Herschel (born 1750–died 1848), German scientist, astronomer.
Younger sister of astronomer William Herschel, with whom she worked throughout her career, she was an accomplished scientist in her own right: she discovered, with her brother, over 2400 astronomical objects. The first woman to be awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828), she was named an Honorary Member of the Society (1835). The King of Prussia presented her with a Gold Medal for Science on the occasion of her 96th birthday (1846).
Based on the Memoir and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel: by “Mrs. John Herschel”. With portraits. Ed. Mrs John Herschel. London: John Murray, 1876.

4. Austen, Jane (158 letters)

Jane Austen [née Austen] (born 1775–died 1817), English author, novelist.
This collection is published both outside and inside our subscription system, demonstrating Electronic Enlightenment’s ability to serve content via mixed access models.
Based on Jane Austen’s letters to her sister Cassandra and others. 2nd ed. Ed. Robert William Chapman. London & New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1952. Another collection demonstrating our ability to publish materials outside our not-for-profit subscription model.

5. Montagu, Elizabeth (29 letters)

Elizabeth Montagu (born 1718–died 1800), English business woman, salon hostess, author.
Includes a previously unpublished letter to the fellow business tycoon and scholar Hester Lynch Piozzi (born 1741–died 1821), Welsh poet, historian, diarist, salon hostess, businesswoman and brewer. All the letters in the collection have been chosen for their reflections on reading and reader response.
A born-digital student-edition, unique to Electronic Enlightenment.

6. Carter, Elizabeth (1 letter)

Elizabeth Carter (born 1717–died 1808), English scholar, poet, academic.
While the Elizabeth Montagu collection (also cited here) contains 3 Elizabeth Carter epistles, all from Carter to Montagu, this additional letter has links with the Samuel Johnson letter, below: like Johnson, Carter is writing to the literary forger/speculator of the Ossian works, James Macpherson.
A born-digital student-edition, unique to Electronic Enlightenment.

B. Other content (162 letters)

1. Murphy, Arthur (1st tranche: 110 letters of some 200)

Arthur Murphy (born 1727–died 1805), Irish lawyer, author, journalist, playwright, actor.
Letters pertaining primarily to the theatre, including letters to/from David Garrick. Murphy was editor/contributor to four journals; editor of Fielding’s works; author of biographies of Samuel Johnson and David Garrick; and most famously, a playwright of 18 works including an adaption of L'Orphelin de la Chine (1755) by Voltaire and its source, a translation of The Orphan of Zhao.
A born-digital edition, unique to Electronic Enlightenment.

2. Erasmus of Rotterdam (1st tranche: 36 letters of some 825)

Desiderius Erasmus (born c. 1466–died 1536), Dutch churchman, humanist, teacher, theologian
“Desiderius Erasmus was the leading Northern humanist in the 16th century. . . . [And] Erasmianism experienced a renaissance in the 18th century, which saw him as a forerunner of the Enlightenment.” [Erika Rummel and Mark Wilson, “Erasmus”, Oxford Bibliographies, 2017: DOI.] In the current collection of Electronic Enlightenment, one of the interesting references to Erasmus is to be found in an English letter from Voltaire to Jean François Du Bellay Du Resnel (dated 11 November 1729), concerning the latter’s translation of Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism (Essai sur la critique, 1730). Voltaire advises Du Resnel to make his annotations more “explanatory and historical”, then makes sure to correct Du Resnel’s reading of Pope’s celebration of the role of Erasmus in his history of literature and scholarship: “As to Erasmus the glory of the priesthood and the shame, t'is certainly the reverse of yr translation. That great injured name, was the glory of Pristood because he shook of[f] the ridiculous yoke of priestly learning, and he was their shame because he was injured, so yr translation and yr remark deviate entirely from yr author's sense.” Voltaire to Jean François Du Bellay Du Resnel, Friday, 11 November 1729: DOI.]
Based on The Epistles of Erasmus from his earliest letters to his fifty-third year: arranged in order of time. English translations from his correspondence, with a commentary confirming the chronological arrangement and supplying further biographical matter. Ed. Francis Morgan Nichols. 3 vol. London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1917.

3. Voltaire (4 letters in translation)

Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (born 1694–died 1778), French author, essayist, philosopher.
These 4 letters complete our provision of the first English translation of Voltaire letters (1770). “These letters are the exact translation of Lettres de M. de Voltaire à ses amis du Parnasse avec des notes historiques et critiques, Genève, 1766. One difference: there is no ‘avertissement’ in the English edition when the French edition advises in its foreword not to believe the protests of Voltaire that are likely to come. The French edition is a sequel of Lettres secrettes de Mr. de Voltaire, publiees par Mr L. B., Gèneve, 1765.” [From a note, by Professor Nicholas Cronk, University of Oxford, included with a copy of the book.]
Based on Letters from M. de Voltaire, to several of his friends. Trans. Rev. Dr Franklin. London: T. Davies & J. Wheble, 1770 — an 18th-century English translation.

4. Voltaire — “new” letters (3 letters)

Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (born 1694–died 1778), French author, essayist, philosopher.
These three letters — two from the abbé Bignon, King’s librarian, to Voltaire (concerning his poem “La Henriade”), and one from Bignon to Jacques Bernard Chauvelin de Beauséjour on the same subject — these three letters were published in SVEC in 1982, six years after the last, and supplementary, volume of the vast Besterman edition of Voltaire’s complete correspondence. These letters, interesting in themselves, also demonstrate the value of a dynamic, digital publication like Electronic Enlightenment, which constantly moves forward towards being the most comprehensive collection of each author’s correspondence.
Based on “Deux lettre inédites de l’abbé Bignon, Bibliothécaire du roi, à Voltaire”, Miscellany/Mélanges. Ed. Françoise Bléchet. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century. Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation, 1982; vol. 208, p. 315–322.[Published after and therefore not included in Theodore Besterman’s edition of Voltaire’s “complete” correspondence.]

5. Secondat, Charles Louis de, baron de Montesquieu (3 letters in translation)

Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (born 1689–died 1755), French magistrate, philosopher, academician.
These three letters appear as an admittedly misattributed preface to the first English translation of Voltaire letters (1770). Separately numbered (I–III), an annotation on the first letter acknowledges that: “The three firſt letters are not Voltaire’s, but ſuppoſed to be written by the celebrated author of L’Eſprit des Loix, and ſeem worthy of him.” (Letters from M. de Voltaire, to several of his friends, 1770, p. 1.)
Based on Letters from M. de Voltaire, to several of his friends. Trans. Rev. Dr Franklin. London: T. Davies & J. Wheble, 1770.

6. Darwin, Erasmus (1st tranche: 2 letters of some 460)

Erasmus Darwin (born 1731–died 1802), English physician, scientist, philosopher, botanist, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, poet.
According to our source edition: “Erasmus Darwin has often been cited as the most widely talented man of the past 250 years. He excelled in medicine and poetry, was an inventor and a man of science, and founded numerous societies. . . . Darwin was famous throughout Britain as a physician, and his medical letters to patients, and private letters to his physician son Robert spiced with outspoken medical opinions, are a rich source for historians of medicine. his lively letters to the ‘Lunar Men’, Boulton, Watt, Keir and Wedgwood, throw light on the progress of the Industrial Revolution in England. The letters also show that as a man of science, Erasmus Darwin was enthusiastic about physics, chemistry, meteorology and biology. This unique collection reveals not only the variety of Erasmus Darwin’s talents, but also his wide range of important friendships.
Based on The Collected Letters of Erasmus Darwin. Ed. Desmond King-Hele. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

7. Johnson, Doctor Samuel (1 letter)

Doctor Samuel Johnson (born 1709–died 1784), English scholar, journalist, lexicographer, academic.
This letter is in reply to a now lost letter from James Macpherson to Johnson following on from Johnson’s attack on Macpherson’s claims for and publication of the Ossian papers. The vitriol of that missing epistle can be guessed from the reply it engendered.
Based on James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson, L.L.D. London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, 1791.

8. Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1 letter)

Henry Home, Lord Kames (born 1696–died 1782), Scottish author, legal author, philosopher.
Henry Home, Lord Kames to Doctor Daniel von Fellenberg, Tuesday, 20 April 1773. Home writes to his fellow legal scholar and practitioner, extolling the value of reading and authorship, mentioning his own Sketches of the History of Man (1774), which would be published the year after this letter. He further extols the work of John Millar, professor of law at Glasgow (possibly referring to Observations concerning the Distinction of Ranks in Society, which had just come out in a revised second edition, 1773). He also applauds Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson for their work.
A born-digital edition, unique to Electronic Enlightenment.

9. O’Bryen, Rear-admiral Edward (1 letter)

Rear-admiral Edward O’Bryen (born c. 1753–died 1808), English naval officer.
A letter to the father of a midshipman, who had served aboard the warship HMS Monarch, when apparently it commenced the action now known as the Battle of Camperdown (11 October 1797) — the most significant action between British and Dutch forces during the French Revolutionary Wars. O’Bryen, who then commanded the vessel, commends the young man for his continued service despite being seriously injured in the thigh, head and arm.
Based on John Marshall’s Royal Naval Biography . . . . Supplement — Part II. London: printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, Paternoster Row, 1828.

10. Scurlock, Reverend David (1 letter)

Reverend David Scurlock (born 1694–died 1793), Welsh churchman, author.
The Irish author, journalist and politician Sir Richard Steele took as his second wife a Mary Scurlock (born 1678–died 1718), of Carmarthen in South Wales. Here, a half-century later, her descendant the Reverend David Scurlock writes to the editor of The Gentleman’s Magazine to share a bit of celebrity news and scandal regarding Steele.
Based on The epistolary Correspondence of Sir Richard Steele, including his familiar Letters to his Wife and Daughters . . . . Ed. John Nichols. 2 vol. London: John Nichols & son, 1809; et alia editions.

II. Biographical Dictionary (approx. 100 people)

This year’s update adds a range of interesting people, here arranged chronologically by birth. Some of those listed here have had their collection of correspondence expanded, while the rest are new to the collection. As always, everyone is subject to further research, and of course we welcome edits and updates from our user community:

1630s

Philippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dangeau (born 1638–died 1720), French aristocrat.
Marie de Saint-André [née unknown] (born 1639–died 1736), French home-maker.

1680s

William Pulteney, 1st earl of Bath [4th creation] (born 1684–died 1764), English politician, member of Parliament.
Nicolas Joseph Dubois de Riocour (born 1689–died 1757), French unknown occupation.

1690s

Doctor Messenger Monsey (born 1694–died 1788), English physician.
Françoise Paule Huguet de Graffigny [née d’Issembourg Du Buisson d’Happoncourt] (born 1695–died 1758), French author, playwright
John Clephane (born 1702–died 1758), Scottish physician.
James Lacy (born 1696–died 1774), English actor, theatre manager.

1700s

Anne Donnellan [née Donnellan] (born 1700/1702–died 1762), Irish singer, editor.
Jeffrey French (born c. 1701–died 1754), Irish lawyer, barrister, politician, member of Parliament.
Jane Murphy [née French] (born c. 1701–died after 1727), Irish home-maker.
Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland of Foxley (born 1705–died 1774), English politician, member of Parliament.
Anna Williams [née Williams] (born 1706–died 1783), Welsh poet.
Léopold Desmarest (born 1708–died 1747), French unknown occupation.
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Frankley (born 1709–died 1773), English aristocrat, politician, author.

1710s

Louis Pierre de Lubert (born before 1710–died after 1767), French unknown occupation.
Lady Mary Catherine Knollys, Viscountess Wallingford [née Law] (born 1711–died 1790), English aristocrat, socialite.
François Antoine Devaux (born 1712–died 1796), French courtier, civil servant, playwright
François Henri Du Buisson d’Happoncourt (born c. 1672–died c. 1733), French unknown occupation.
John Stuart, 3rd earl of Bute (born 1713–died 1792), Scottish politician, member of Parliament, prime minister, patron.
Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, duchess of Portland [née Harley] (born 1715–died 1785), English aristocrat, collector, patron.
Reverend William Freind (born 1715–died 1766), English churchman.
Reverend Thomas Stanley (born 1715–died 1805), English churchman, Jesuit, teacher.
Elizabeth Vesey [formerly Mrs Handcock; née Vesey] (born c. 1715–died 1791), English salon hostess
William Whitehead (born 1715–died 1785), English author, playwright, poet.
Nicolas François Xavier Liébault (born 1716–died 1800), French unknown occupation.
Spranger Barry (born 1717–died 1777), Irish actor, theatre manager.
Elizabeth Carter [née Carter] (born 1717–died 1808), English scholar, poet, academic.
David Garrick (born 1717–died 1779), English actor, theatre owner, author, playwright.
Elizabeth Montagu [née Robinson] (born 1718–died 1800), English salon hostess, author.
Charles Daly (born 1719–died after 1747), Irish lawyer, barrister.

1720s

Reverend Robert Potter (born 1721–died 1804), English churchman, poet, translator, classicist, literary critic.
Catherine Talbot (born 1721–died 1770), English essayist, poet.
Christopher Smart (born 1722–died 1771), English author, poet, madman.
Jemima Yorke, Marchioness Grey [née Campbell] (born 1722–died 1797), English correspondent.
George Garrick (born 1723–died 1779), English theatre assistant.
Sarah Scott [née Robinson] (born 1723–died 1795), English author, novelist.
James Murphy [French] (born 1725–died 1759), Irish lawyer, author, playwright.
Sir Francis Blake Delaval (born 1727–died 1771), English rake, actor, soldier, member of Parliament.
Arthur Murphy (born 1727–died 1805), Irish lawyer, author, journalist, playwright, actor.
Doctor William Dodd (born 1729–died 1777), English churchman, tutor, forger.
Edward Purdon (born 1729–died 1767), Irish author.

1730s

Alexander Aubert (born 1730–died 1805), English astronomer, businessman.
Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode (born 1730–died 1799), English collector, bibliophile, patron, philanthropist.
Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande (born 1732–died 1807), French astronomer, academician.
Reverend Doctor Nevil Maskelyne (born 1732–died 1811), English astronomer, academician.
Isaac Bickerstaffe (born 1733–died c. 1812), Irish author, playwright, librettist.
Charlotte B. [née unknown] (flourished 1735–1770), European [unknown occupation].
James Beattie (born 1735–died 1803), Scottish philosopher, poet.
Thomas Coutts (born 1735–died 1822), Scottish banker.
Robert Jephson (born 1736/1737–died 1790), Irish author, playwright, member of Parliament (Ireland).
Frances Abington [née Barton] (born 1737–died 1815), English actor.
Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (born 1737–died 1814), French author, botanist, military engineer.
Frederick William Herschel (born 1738–died 1822), German astronomer, musician, composer.

1740s

Edward Tighe (born 1740–died c. 1801), English lawyer, politician, author, drama critic, member of Parliament.
Hester Lynch Piozzi [formerly Mrs Thrale; née Salusbury] (born 1741–died 1821), Welsh poet, historian, diarist, salon hostess, businesswoman, brewer.
Patrick Blake, baronet (born c. 1742–died 1784), English politician, member of Parliament.
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st baronet (born 1743–died 1820), English explorer, collector, curator, scientist, patron, academician, benefactor.
Catherine Dorothée de Saint-Pierre [née de Saint-Pierre] (born 1743–died 1807), French home-maker.
Hannah More [née More] (born 1745–died 1833), English writer, novelist, philanthropist, abolitionist, educationalist.
Sir Charles Brian Blagden (born 1748–died 1820), English physician, physiologist, chemist, academician.

1750s

Caroline Lucretia Herschel [née Herschel] (born 1750–died 1848), German scientist, astronomer.
Sir Henry Charles Englefield, 7th baronet (born 1752–died 1822), English antiquary, astronomer, academician.
Edward Pigott (born 1753–died 1825), English astronomer.
Johan Dietrich Herschel (born 1755–died 1827), German [unknown occupation].

1760s

Miss D. S. Goate [née Goate] (flourished 1760–1810), English home-maker.
Richard Hodge (flourished 1760–1820), English civil servant.
Miss Mary Ranby [née Ranby] (flourished 1760–1810), English home-maker.
Karl Felix von Seyffer (born 1762–died 1822), German astronomer.
Mary Herschel [née Baldwin] (born 1763–died c. 1832), English home-maker.
Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Humboldt (born 1769–died 1859), German collector, explorer, geographer, meteorologist, academician.

1770s

Elizabeth, landgravine von Hesse-Homburg (born 1770–died 1840), English aristocrat.
Princess Sophia Matilda, of Gloucester (born 1773–died 1844), English aristocrat.
Francis Baily (born 1774–died 1844), English stockbroker, astronomer, academician.
Prince Adolphus Frederick, 1st duke of Cambridge (4th creation) (born 1774–died 1850), English aristocrat, army officer.
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (born 1777–died 1855), German mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, physicist.

1780s

Heinrich Christian Schumacher (born 1780–died 1850), German astronomer, surveyor, academician.
Mary Somerville [née Fairfax] (born 1780–died 1872), Scottish polymath, author, science-writer.
Sir James South (born 1785–died 1867), English astronomer, scientist.
Maria Charlotte Blake [née Phipps] (born before 1786–died 1823), English home-maker.

1790s

M. — Prevost (flourished 1790–1800), French legal clerk.
Johann Franz Encke (born 1791–died 1865), German astronomer, academician.
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st baronet of Slough (born 1792–died 1871), English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, photographer, botanist, academician.
Frederica Wilhelmina Louise Amalia, Herzogin von Anhalt-Dessau (born 1796–died 1850), German aristocrat.

1800s

Sir William Rowan Hamilton (born 1805–died 1865), Irish astronomer, mathematician, academician.
Augustus De Morgan (born 1806–died 1871), English mathematician, logician, academician.

1810s

Lady Margaret Brodie Herschel [née Stewart] (born 1810–died 1884), Scottish home-maker.

1820s

Royal Astronomical Society (founded 1820), English academy, learned society, scientific society.
Council of the Royal Astronomical Society (founded c. 1820), English academy, learned society, scientific society.
P. Stewart (flourished 1820–1840), Scottish [unknown occupation].

1830s

Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke (born 1835–died 1897), German astronomer.

1840s

Miss Sophie Beckedorff [née Beckedorff] (flourished 1840–1850), German [unknown occupation].
Mrs — Knipping [née Herschel] (flourished 1840–1850), German home-maker.