'On the recto of a fragment of W[ordsworth]'s Prospectus to The Recluse [Dove Cottage MS 24], there appear the following lines:
"That noble Chaucer, in those former times,
That first enrich'd our English with his rhimes,
And was the first of ours that ever brake
Into the Muses' treasure, and first spake
In weighty numbr, devlving in the mine
Of perfect knowledge."'
Unknown
Century: 1800-1849 Reader/Listener/Group: William Wordsworth
'Read the articles Phoenicia and Carthage in Ancient Geography. Looked into Smith's "Universal History" again for Carthaginian religion. Looked into Sismondi's "Litterature du Midi", for Roman de Rose, and ran through the first chapter, about the formation of the Romance Languages. Read about the Thallogens and Acrogens in "the Vegetable World". Drayton's Nymphidia - a charming poem. A few pages of his Polyolbion. Re-read Grote v-vii on Sicilian affairs down to rise of Dionysius'.
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: George Eliot [pseud] Print: Book
'Read the articles Phoenicia and Carthage in Ancient Geography. Looked into Smith's "Universal History" again for Carthaginian religion. Looked into Sismondi's "Litterature du Midi", for Roman de Rose, and ran through the first chapter, about the formation of the Romance Languages. Read about the Thallogens and Acrogens in "the Vegetable World". Drayton's Nymphidia - a charming poem. A few pages of his Polyolbion. Re-read Grote v-vii on Sicilian affairs down to rise of Dionysius'.
Century: 1850-1899 Reader/Listener/Group: George Eliot [pseud] Print: Book
'I think Drayton's Verses have a peculiar propriety in such work; his Subject being the same and his Poetry now becoming antient.'
[Crabbe is alluding to his writing of introductory verses for a 'Natural History of the Vale of Belvoir', a collaboration with John Nichols]
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: George Crabbe Print: Book
'The subject of the evening "Gardens" was then taken. Geo Burrow reminded us that the world began in the garden of Eden. Miss Bowman-Smith played Debussy's "Garden Under the Rain" Miss D. Brain gave us an essay on Hampton Court gardens & their history.
F.E. Pollard a song Summer Afternoon
Rosamund Wallis read from Sir Wm Temple on Gardens
Mrs F. E. Pollard read Michael Drayton's Daffodil
Alfred Rawlings charmed us by showing a series of his Water Colour drawings "Gardens I have Known"
Mrs Robson sang two songs June Rapture & Unfolding
After supper Mrs Stansfield read a paper by Mr Stansfield who was prevented by a severe cold from being present on Gardening in which he showed how Gardening is one of the fine Arts in fact the noblest of the plastic Arts
F. E. Pollard sang Andrew Marvell's "Thoughts in a Garden"
Mrs Burrow read Walter de la Mare's Sunken Garden
Mrs Stansfield read from The Story of my Ruin
and in a concluding reading Geo Burrow brought our minds back to the Garden of Eden'.
Century: 1900-1945 Reader/Listener/Group: Mary Pollard Print: Book
