the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

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Henry Brooke : The Fool of Quality; or, the History of Henry Earl of Moreland

"On 7 March 1796 D[orothy] W[ordsworth] remarked that 'I am now reading the Fool of Quality which amuses me exceedingly.'"

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Dorothy Wordsworth      Print: Book

Henry Brooke : The Fool of Quality OR The History of Henry Earl of Moreland

[Marginalia]

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Taylor Coleridge      Print: Book

Henry Brooke : Fool of Quality, The

'You never no, never - sent a more acceptable present than Cousin Stella & The Fool of Quality, - and that irrespective of their several merits. But books are books here [they are in rural Dumfriesshire and feel cut off from the world] I am sorry to say Meta lies at this present moment fast asleep with Cousin Stella in her hand; but that is the effect of bathing and an eight mile walk; not of the book itself. I know & like the Fool of Quality of old. I was brought up by old uncles & aunts, who had all old books, and very few new ones; and I used to delight in the Fool of Quality, & have hardly read it since.'

Century: 1850-1899     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell      Print: Book

Henry Brooke : Gustavus Vasa The Deliverer Of His Country

'Johnson was present when a tragedy was read, in which there occurred this line:-- "Who rules o'er freemen should himself be free". The company having admired it much, "I cannot agree with you (said Johnson). It might as well be said,-- "Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat".'

Century: 1700-1799     Reader/Listener/Group: Samuel Johnson      Print: Book

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