Citation

Tung SF. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 2015; 38(1): 115-134.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015)

DOI

10.1111/1754-0208.12162

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the effect of periodical formats on the reception history of eighteenth-century poetry by tracing the composition and coterie circulation of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's holograph manuscript '1736. Address'd To -', and its unauthorised publication in the June 1749 issue of The London Magazine under the revised title 'Verses on Self-Murder, address'd to - by A Lady'. The article argues that through misinterpretations of 'Address'd To -' as the product of disordered sensibility and as a result of editorial changes made by The London Magazine, Montagu's equivocal 'philosophical reflexion' on the Stoic afterlife is transformed into a sensationalised 'lady's' polemic defending suicide. © 2014 British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Language: en

Keywords

suicide; Cato; Francesco Algarotti; Lady Mary Montagu; self-murder; The London Magazine