Sarah Scott (née Robinson) (21 September 1720 – 3 November 1795) was an English novelist, translator, social reformer, and member of the
Bluestockings
''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Eli ...
. Her most famous work was her utopian novel ''
A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent'', followed closely by the sequel ''The History of Sir George Ellison''.
Early life
Sarah's father, Matthew Robinson, and her mother, Elizabeth Drake, were both from distinguished families, and Sarah was the youngest of nine children. Although born in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, she spent much time with her siblings in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, England, where her grandmother, Sarah Morris Drake, lived with her stepgrandfather, Dr.
Conyers Middleton
Conyers Middleton (27 December 1683 – 28 July 1750) was an English clergyman. Mired in controversy and disputes, he was also considered one of the best stylists in English of his time.
Early life
Middleton was born at Richmond, North Yorkshir ...
, a famous scholar at
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. All but one of her brothers would go on to a highly accomplished career, yet her elder sister, who would later become the writer and social activist
Elizabeth Montagu
Elizabeth Montagu (née Robinson; 2 October 1718 – 25 August 1800) was a British social reformer, patron of the arts, salonnière, literary critic and writer, who helped to organize and lead the Blue Stockings Society. Her parents were both ...
, became the most accomplished, earning fame in literary circles as a critic of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and founder of the
Bluestockings
''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Eli ...
, of which Sarah also became a member. The sisters were emotionally close in their early years. Although Elizabeth was much more acclaimed as an author, Elizabeth often considered Sarah to be "superior in certain respects, particularly intellectual and literary interests, in which she encouraged her."
[Kelly, Gary]
"Scott, Sarah (1720–1795)." ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.'' Oxford UP, 2004. The two regularly corresponded with each other in letters which have been preserved, along with other letters Sarah wrote throughout her life, discussing such matters as "French and English literature and histories, writing, translation, and politics."
[Pohl, Nicole. "Scott, Sarah." ''Encyclopedia of British Literature 1660–1789.'' Ed. Gary Day and Jack Lynch. Blackwell Publishing, 2015. ''Blackwell Reference Online.'' Web. 21 July 2015.] Sarah's letters also revealed an early love of literature, especially the works of
Spenser,
Sidney,
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
,
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
, and
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
.
[Napier, Elizabeth R. "Sarah Scott." ''British Novelists, 1660–1800.'' Ed. Martin C. Battestin. Detroit: Gale, 1985. ''Dictionary of Literary Biography.'' Vol. 39. ''Literature Resource Center.'' Web. 6 October 2015.]
Sarah contracted
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
in 1741, a disease that would often leave its victims scarred and disfigured, "lowering
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
value in the marriage market."
[ Scholars have traced the impact that smallpox left on Scott literary output: "Scott's pronounced concern ith deformity...was motivated by her own experience of being left marked by a severe bout of smallpox .. a trauma which had played a key role in redirecting her away from emulating the social success of her equally beautiful sister ]Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
(Robinson), towards a life dedicated to writing, domestic female friendship and Christian philanthropy."[Shuttleton, David E. ''Smallpox and the Literary Imagination 1660–1820''. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2007. p. 135.] Sarah would later create a fictional character in ''Millenium Hall'' who had the telltale marks of smallpox that diminished her complexion but not her character.
A year after Sarah's illness, her sister Elizabeth, after being befriended by Lady Margaret Harley and introduced to the highest circles of London life, married the wealthy 50-year-old Edward Montagu, grandson of the Earl of Sandwich. Sarah stayed home to tend to her mother, who was dying of cancer. After her mother died in 1746, Sarah visited Elizabeth and Edward in Bath. She chose to stay and care for the invalid Lady Barbara Montagu, or Lady Bab, with whom she developed a very close friendship. In 1748, the two women combined their finances and set up house together.[
]
Marriage
In the late 1740s, Sarah contracted to marry George Lewis Scott
George Lewis Scott (1708–1780) was a mathematician and literary figure who was tutor to the future George III from 1751 to 1755. A friend of the historian Edward Gibbon, the poet James Thomson and other members of the Georgian era literary wor ...
, a friend of the family from Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
who was twelve years older than she. He had no profession or private income, however, and Sarah's dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...
amounted to only £1,500; so, before the two could wed, Sarah helped to secure George a position as a sub-preceptor
A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition.
Buddhist monastic orders
Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...
to George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
, Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
(later King George III), who had lately succeeded his father, Frederick Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederick ...
, upon Frederick's death in March 1751.[
Sarah and George Lewis Scott were married on 15 June 1751. The marriage, according to family letters, was never ]consummate
In many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, the consummation of a marriage, often called simply ''consummation'', is the first (or first officially credited) act of sexual intercourse between two people, following their marriage to ...
d. In April 1752, Sarah's father and brothers came to London to remove her from her husband's house for undisclosed reasons. Speculations persisted of incompatibility, abuse, an illicit affair, or even nondisclosure of a prior marriage. It was also rumored that Sarah's friendship with Lady Bab and her insistence upon her friend moving into their household may have instigated the rift, or that Sarah had a personal aversion to marriage and/or conjugal relations. Regardless of the reason, the scandal if made public would have damaged George Scott's career; he agreed to pay Sarah a settlement of £100 a year.[
When she was no longer with her husband, she became her father's charge, and he gave her no money at all. Further, he forbade Elizabeth or Sarah's brother Matthew from relieving Sarah's poverty.][
Sarah and Lady Barbara Montagu settled in Bath and Batheaston, where they lived frugally and became active in helping the poor through the creation of a "cottage industry"][ for poor and disgraced women and children, and they organized programmes to educate poor children in such subjects as reading, maths, and needlework.][
]
Literary career
Sarah wrote her first novel before her marriage, ''The History of Cornelia'' (1750), a portrait of an ideal and pious young woman.[ To help with the household expenses and philanthropy, Sarah decided to write and pursue "professional literary translation."][ In 1754, she translated ''Le Laideur aimable'' as ''An Agreeable Ugliness'', an exaggeratedly moralistic French novel. Later that same year, she wrote ''A Journey through every Stage of Life'', which is an '']Arabian Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
''-styled series of tales told by a young servant girl to her mistress, a princess exiled by her brother.[
After publishing her first novels and completing a translation of another, Sarah began to write educational texts. In the late 1750s, Sarah and Lady Barbara followed their earlier endeavors to educate poor children by writing a series of cards that concentrated on teaching history and geography. In 1761, with the accession of ]George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, Sarah wrote a political history about Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...
, ''The History of Gustavus Ericson, King of Sweden''; it emphasized the concept of the "patriot king," or the selfless ruler acting for the greater good of the country. She succeeded this with ''The History of Mecklenburgh'' in 1762 to capitalize on the public's interest in George III's wife, Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
.[
Also in 1762, Scott published her most successful novel, '' A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent'' (her spelling). The ]utopian
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
tale depicts a community of women devoted to artistic pursuits and education, Christian virtues, and philanthropy
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
. The populations they serve include children, the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and the deformed. ''Millenium Hall'' provided a fictional example of the ideals of the bluestocking circle; the Bluestockings
''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including Eli ...
were a social group of middle- and upper-class men and women who would meet for intellectual discussions and philanthropic service.[ Like the Bluestockings, Scott's utopian novel presents a "critique of court politics, culture, and society."][Kelly, Gary, ed. Introduction. ''Millenium Hall.'' Peterborough, ON: Broadview P, 1995.] ''Millenium Hall'' went through four editions by 1778. Interest in its feminist aspects and implications brought it back into public attention in the late 20th century.[
]
Later life
In 1763, Lady Barbara gained a pension of £300, which floated the household finances sufficiently, and Sarah did not write for a couple of years. But with Lady Barbara's death in 1765 and with the encouragement and insistence of her sister, Sarah again began writing.[ ''The History of Sir George Ellison'' was published in 1766. This sequel to ''Millenium Hall'' portrays the ]eponymous
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
narrator's "charitable deeds" inspired by his visit to Millennium Hall. His actions include "institut ngreforms on his plantations in Jamaica and devis ngschemes to relieve the poor in England, employing aged laborers on the grounds of his house, initiating a fund for the release of prisoners, and paying for the educations of females of different ranks."[ Again, the novel was utopian, but it also contained elements of the "patriot kings" that Sarah wrote about in her political writings.][
The next year, Sarah attempted to create a real Millennium Hall in ]Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
, a "communal household" that would include "a school and other charitable institutions for the impoverished community."[ Sarah invited fellow writer ]Sarah Fielding
Sarah Fielding (8 November 1710 – 9 April 1768) was an English author and sister of the novelist Henry Fielding. She wrote ''The Governess, or The Little Female Academy'' (1749), thought to be the first novel in English aimed expressly at chil ...
, among others, to come live with her. Each member invested £50 into the project. Sarah's sister Elizabeth Montagu donated livestock, land, and staff.[ Even though the project began with success, "financial difficulties, ill health, and quarrels between the members of the community led to the eventual dissolution of this real-life Millenium Hall."][
After some work in translation and educational writing that was never published, Sarah published in 1772 ''The Life of Theodore Aggrippa d'Aubigne.'' As a response to emerging ]populism
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...
this work was about the life of a Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
who fought against both mob rule
Mob rule or ochlocracy ( el, ὀχλοκρατία, translit=okhlokratía; la, ochlocratia) is the rule of government by a mob or mass of people and the intimidation of legitimate authorities. Insofar as it represents a pejorative for majori ...
and the absolute monarch
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism (European history), Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute pow ...
y of the king. Sarah published in that same year her final novel, ''The Test of Filial Duty'', which was an epistolary novel
An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...
addressing the rights of a daughter to choose her husband.[
In 1775, Edward Montagu, Elizabeth's husband, died, and Elizabeth gave Sarah £200 a year. In 1778, Sarah's father died, which gave her more money. She produced no more published works in her lifetime. After a lengthy illness, Sarah died on 11 November 1795 in Catton, Norwich.][ Per instructions Sarah left, most of her letters were destroyed by executor of her estate.][ By the 19th century, her name was largely forgotten, and her works were attributed to other writers, including novelist and playwright ]Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright, dramatist and poet, who is best known for his novel ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' (1766), his pastoral poem ''The Deserted Village'' (1770), and his pl ...
.[ Renewed interest in Sarah Scott and her work has emerged in recent literary criticism.][
]
Major works
All works below were published anonymously or under a male pseudonym.[
* 1750 ''The History of Cornelia''
* 1754 ''Agreeable Ugliness, or, The Triumph of the Graces; Exemplified in the Real Life and Fortunes of a Young Lady of Some Distinction'', trans. of ''Le Laideur aimable'' by Pierre Antoine, Marquis de La Place
* 1754 ''A Journey through every Stage of Life, Described in a Variety of Interesting Scenes, Drawn from Real Characters. By a Person of Quality''
* 1761 ''The History of Gustavus Ericson, King of Sweden; With an Introductory History of Sweden, from the Middle of the Twelfth Century'' (pseudonym: Henry Augustus Raymond, Esq.)
* 1762 ''The History of Mecklenburgh, from the First Settlement of the Vandals in that Country, to the Present Time; including a Period of about Three Thousand Years''
* 1762 ''A Description of Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent, Together with the Characters of the Inhabitants and such Historical Anecdotes and Reflections as May Excite in the Reader Proper Sentiments of Humanity, and Lead the Mind to the Love of Virtue''
* 1766 ''The History of Sir George Ellison''
* 1772 ''The Life of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigné, Containing a Succinct Account of the Most Remarkable Occurrences during the Civil Wars of France in the Reigns of Charles IX, Henry III, Henry IV, and in the Minority of Lewis XIII''
* 1772 ''The Test of Filial Duty; In a Series of Letters between Miss Emilia Leonard, and Miss Charlotte Arlington: A Novel''
]
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Sarah
1720 births
1795 deaths
Writers from Yorkshire
British women novelists
18th-century British women writers
18th-century English novelists
British social reformers