Elizabeth Montagu was a bluestocking, the "Queen of the Blues".
Elizabeth Montagu led and hosted the Blue Stockings Society of
England from about 1750. It was a loose organization of privileged
women with an interest in women's education. The Blue Stockings
gathered to discuss literature and the arts. Talk of politics was
prohibited. Many of the bluestocking women supported each other
in intellectual endeavors such as reading, art, and writing. Many
also published literature. Although this may seem innocuous, at
that time women were not supposed to read or write. Women interested
in and able to read and write were viewed as "courtesans" (of loose
morality). Thus women that discussed political affairs were shocking!
Women that belonged to or were members of the Freemasons were beyond
shocking!
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