Record Number: 10129
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
'at ten o'clock yesterday evening little Jem Parsons (the cabin boy), and his friend the black terrier, came on deck, and sat themselves on a gun-carriage, to read by the light of the moon. I looked at the boy's book, (the terrier, I suppose, read over the other's shoulder,) and found that it was "The Sorrows of Werter". I asked who had lent him such a book, and whether it amused him? He said that it had been made a present to him, and so he had read it almost through, for he had got to Werter's dying; though, to be sure, he did not understand it all, nor like very much what he understood; for he thought the man a great fool for killing himself for love. I told him I thought that every man a great fool who killed himself for love or for any thing else: but he had no books but "The Sorrows of Werter"? - oh dear yes, he said, he had a great many more; but he had got "The Adventures of a Louse", which was a very curious book, indeed; and he had got besides "The Recess", and "Valentine and Orson", and "Roslin Castle", and a book of Prayers, just like the Bible; but he could not but say that he liked "The Adventures of a Louse" the best of any of them.'
Century:1800-1849
Date:11 Dec 1815
Country:At sea
Timeevening: 10 pm
Place:other location: ship travelling to Jamaica
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Child (0-17)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:n/a
Socio-Economic Group:Labourer (non-agricultural)
Occupation:cabin boy
Religion:n/a
Country of Origin:England?
Country of Experience:At sea
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Sorrows of Young Werther
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceowned
Source Information:
Record ID:10129
Source:Matthew Lewis
Editor:n/a
Title:Journal of a West India Proprietor, Kept During a Residence in The Island of Jamaica
Place of Publication:Oxford
Date of Publication:1999
Vol:n/a
Page:20
Additional Comments:
n/a
Citation:
Matthew Lewis, Journal of a West India Proprietor, Kept During a Residence in The Island of Jamaica, (Oxford, 1999), p. 20, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=10129, accessed: 08 November 2024
Additional Comments:
Matthew Lewis chanced upon the boy reading the book as he went for a walk round the ship during the trip to Jamaica.