Abstract

The varied and complex emotional attachments formed by John, Lord Hervey and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu over the course of their lives demonstrate the inadequacies of modern sexual taxonomies for understanding the nature of premodern intimacy. The ways in which these two friends took on diverse, transgendered personas as they pursued a range of relationships provide a rich ground for exploring the connections between sexual desire and individual identity before the notion of sexual orientation existed.

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