Record Number: 16738

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Elizabeth Barrett to Mary Russell Mitford, 18 October 1841: 'I had heard of Lucretia Davidson, in a passing way, & I never read her memoir. Therefore notwithstanding the obviousness of the influence of her memory, the book you sent me suggested something better & brighter than an "imitation." [...] there is, I think (in the midst of the muck which is mere [italics]warbling[end italics]) indication of something capable of growth & survival beyond the hour of excitement & desease [...] It is a natural question to ask -- "Was it genius -- or a show?" -- and in the multitude of rhymings I stopped to ask it [...] Was Lucretia older than her sister at the time of death? -- & was her poetry more promising? [...] It is an interesting memoir [...] I thought it very painful. I would willingly hope that she was something more than a precocious prodigy.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1841 and 18 Oct 1841

Country:

England

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:

Elizabeth Barrett

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

6 Mar 1806

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

Evangelical

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Washington Irving

Title:

Biography and Poetical Remains of the late Margaret Miller Davidson

Genre:

Essays / Criticism, Poetry, Biography

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1841

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

16738

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson

Title:

The Brownings' Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Winfield

Date of Publication:

1987

Vol:

5

Page:

148-149

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Philip Kelley and Ronald Hudson (ed.), The Brownings' Correspondence, (Winfield, 1987), 5, p. 148-149, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=16738, accessed: 16 May 2024

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Additional Comments:

See p.150 ns 6 and 7 in source for details of Lucretia and Margaret Davisdson, sisters and literary prodigies who died at the ages of sixteen and fifteen respectively; the first memoir that Barrett refers to is Poetical Remains of the Late Lucretia Maria Davidson ... With a Biography by Miss Sedgwick (1841)