Lady Montagu's letters were first printed, surreptitiously, in 1763. A more complete edition of her works was published, in five volumes, in 1803; and another, edited by her great-grandson, Lord Whamcliffe, with additional letters and information, in 1837. The letters from Constantinople and France have been often reprinted.
MONTANCLOS, MARIE EMILIE MAYON, MADAME DE,
Was born at Aix, in 1736. Her first husband was Baron de Princeu, and her second, Charlemagne Cuvelier Grandin de Montanclos. Being left a widow a second time, she devoted herself to literature. She wrote comedies in one act, vaudevilles, and operas, and a periodical work called "The Ladies' Magazine." She died in 1812, aged seventy-six.
MONTEGUT, JEANNE DE SEGLA, MADAME DE,
Was born at Toulouse, in 1709. She was married, at sixteen, to M. de Montégut, treasurer-general of the district of Toulouse. This lady obtained three times the prize at the floral games of Tonlonse, composed odes, letters, poems, and translated almost all the odes of Horace, in verse. She understood Latin, Italian, and English. Her works were published in Paris, in 1768.
MONTENAY, GEORGETTE DE,
Was still young when her father, her mother, and six servants in their house, died of the plague. She had the good fortune to escape, and Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, took her into her service as maid of honour. The reading the emblems of Alciat gave this young lady the idea of composing a hundred emblems on Christian or moral subjects, illustrated by verses of her own, which she dedicated to Jeanne d'Albret, and which were printed in 1574.
MONTI, PERTICARI COSTANZA,
Of Ferrara, is daughter of the great Vincenzo Monti; she has an hereditary claim to genius. The sons of great men are proverbially deficient, whether from the impartiality of nature, who will not confine her gifts to one family, or because the great man is too much occupied with the cares of greatness to fulfil the important though minute offices of a parent. Whatever may be the case in general, Monti devoted himself to the education of this his only and beloved child, and he was fully rewarded by the result. Costanza diligently pursued the studies he directed; she became an excellent Greek and Latin scholar, as well as mistress of the modern tongues of Europe. Perfectly versed in general literature, she added skill in music and painting to her accomplishments. It was her fortune to become the wife of that illustrious man whose death Italy still deplores. Her marriage did not abate her ardour for intellectual pursuits; she persevered in her course of study, and wrote poems that met with unanimous applause. She returned in her widowhood to her father's house, where, entirely devoted to study, she lives in seclusion. So much solid information joined to the graces of a poetical imagination, render the name of Constanza Monti worthy to accompany that of her immortal father in the annals of literature.
