Patronage or Friendship? Charlotte Lennox and the Fifth Earl of Orrery

In the front matter of The Greek Theatre of Father Brumoy, Charlotte Lennox conflates the language of patronage and friendship to refer to John Boyle, the fifth Earl of Orrery. Her conflation points to the unusual relationship the two writers forged between 1752 and 1760. Whereas patronage focused on exchanges resulting in mutual economic benefit, friendship typically involved disinterested, mutual service based on shared interests. Orrery seized on the notion of instrumentality inherent in friendship to exchange his patronal role for a place on the translation team Lennox was supervising—a remarkable reversal of the usual power dynamics of the period. The pair's professional relationship offers insight into both the strategies by which Lennox negotiated her career and the earl's motivation for entering the commercial marketplace.