Record Number: 12540

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I no longer look upon Theocritus as a romantic writer; he has only given a plain image of the way of life amongst the peasants of his country; who, before oppression had reduced them to want, were, I suppose, all employed as the better sort of them are now. I don't doubt, had he been born a Briton, his [italics] Idylliums [italics] had been filled with descriptions of threshing and churning, both which are unknown here, the corn being all trod out by oxen; and butter (I speak it with sorrow) unheard of.'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Until: 1 Apr 1717

Country:

unknown

Time

n/a

Place:

n/a

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Mary, Lady Wortley Montagu

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

26 May 1689

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

Daughter of the fifth Earl of Kingston upon Hull. Wife of the British ambassador to Constantinople.

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

unknown

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

nee Lady Mary Pierrepoint. Known by this name until her 1712 marriage to Edward Wortley Montagu.

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Theocritus

Title:

n/a

Genre:

Classics, Poetry

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12540

Source:

Print

Author:

Mary, Lady Wortley Montagu

Editor:

R. Brimley Johnson

Title:

Letters from the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 1709 to 1762

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1906

Vol:

n/a

Page:

118-119.

Additional Comments:

Letter from Wortley Montagu to Alexander Pope. Taken from the Kessinger Publishing Reprint of 1906 edition published by J.M.Dent.

Citation:

Mary, Lady Wortley Montagu, R. Brimley Johnson (ed.), Letters from the Right Honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 1709 to 1762, (London, 1906), p. 118-119., http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12540, accessed: 06 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

Letter written whilst Wortley Montagu was in Adrianople.