...Alessio Mattana This essay examines the myth of Isaac Newton's modesty in eighteenth‐century Britain. By analyzing both primary sources by and on Newton and scholarship on the concept of “modest witnessing,” this essay argues that a number of actors concerned with Newton's public relevance...

...) Insufficiently rooted in the “nature” of things, behavioral signs generated too many plausible interpretations. Moreover, they were easily manipu- lated and falsified. If an immodest woman could convincingly imperson- ate modesty, what distinguished her from one whose modesty...

... for feminine modesty” (15). Female coyness, then, emerges as an alternative to paralysis: it becomes one of the few strategies through which women can assert sexual or romantic agency, although only by cleverly appearing reluctant while at the same time communicating desire. In an extension...

... to be considered “fair”; in addition to being a physical property, beauty was constructed as a mode of conduct, visibly perceived in the expression of modesty, cheerfulness, gentleness, and passivity. Jones’ assessment of the social and political implications of polite feminine...

... the daughters of modesty and meekness. (440±41) The vision is satirical, like that of Cowley’s comedies. Silvertongue’s emphasis on the power of lively imagination to “convert” the city into any possible social scene reflects Cowley’s awareness of her powers as artist. Like Damer and the other...

...), 251, on Austen's frequent use of the word “happy” here. 54. Claudia Johnson, in Jane Austen , notes that the conventions of feminine modesty work against Fanny's ability to be honest as they cast doubt on the sincerity of her resistance (105–06). See also Peggy Thompson, Coyness and Crime...

..., instanced the glorious reigns of our Elizabeth, of Margaret of Denmark, and Christina of Sweden; while others, who with humbler modesty, were for declining all female pretensions to imperial sway, urged that from the natural softness and sensibility of their minds, women were too liable...

... to invoke her trademark modesty. Claire Harman sees the Memoirs as “the nether end, almost the logical conclusion, of Fanny’s persistent neurosis about author- ship.” 23 Her use of the word “trembling” supports Harman’s point. At the 8  Eighteenth-Century Life same time, however...

... of equestrian feats are of our own sex. To see a woman depart so far from the female character, as to assume the masculine habit and attitudes; and appear entirely indifferent, even to the externals of modesty, is truly disgusting, and ought not to be countenanced...

... — ​her sagacity — ​her wit — ​her manners — ​her temper — ​her delicacy — ​even her beauty — ​and, above all, her modesty!” (244 – ​­45). 4. The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany; with interesting Reminiscences of King George III and Queen Charlotte, ed...

... her legs so far apart that her smock dips into the fire and burns. As the fire spreads higher on her dress, Melesin- da’s modesty is destroyed with her smock, such that the poet’s muse is too embarrassed to mention what is happening: Ignorance must now excuse The silence of my bashful...

... modesty (an essayistic trope, mind) can be star- tling, as when he claims that the efficacy of his favored form is not to be mea- sured by social or literary rupture, but by continuity, “the persistence of a kind of writing by a wide variety of writers with a wide variety of projects across...

... was admired for the coterie values of relationality, embodiment, and the resulting difficulty of access, modesty of scale, and simplicity, but also for being free from their constraints. Readers The First Information Age 1 2 5 today might even recognize these coterie values as similar to current concerns...

... female figures: “With an enchanting modesty she seeks for models only in the graces of her own sex, the daughters of Britain, and the matrons of Greece.” Although Asgill sees only “enchanting modesty” in Horton’s choice, his best friend, Conway, worries about...

... by the Change) I chose to suffer any Inconvenience rather than be guilty of a breach of Modesty.” Reworking the text for the libretto, Tate cast modesty aside and cut radically, removing all subplots and concentrating on a short narrative that falls into three parts. In the first...

... studies needs to be addressed. However, Barrell is clearly not be- ing “an unregenerate literary critic”; and when he suggests he is, he is practicing a studied false modesty. He deliberately, I think, truncates his argument. One always gets the feeling...

..., a tailor’s daughter from North Wales, who has fallen in love with Charles Adams and, like Alice, suffered rejec- tion. Lucy, rather like Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice, refuses to accept Charles’s rejection, thinking, as she explains, that “it might be the effect of his modesty [more] than...

... and a moral decency. Good sense will regulate your expense in [dress], and good taste will direct you. Strik- ing the balance of beauty and modesty required much delicacy and judg- ment. Yet the truly ladylike dresser concealed all the art that went into her appearance. The most perfect elegance of dress...

... a Correction is a great fault, for shou’d they not appear extempore, and just as the thoughts flow’d at the time of writing?” (Bradshaigh to Richardson, 21 April 1758).38 Familiar letters might appear as “thoughts flow’d,” but modesty demanded premeditative acts, a point with which Bradshaigh addresses...

... to your humble Servant.31 The Bluestocking Sisters 3 5 Modesty, pride, and wonder contend in this representation of a power derived from credit and standing that Montagu had never expected to possess. Her “poor pretensions” to such power derived not from being...