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

Reading Experience Database UK Historical image of readers
 
 
 
 

Record Number: 17536


Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[underlined] My [end underlining] favorite passage in [underlined] Il Paradiso Perduto [end underlining] is this - When our good old grand pa', Adam, and the Angel Gabriel are discoursing over the repast Eve had set before them, Milton, to put our minds at ease as to the ill consequences of such dawdling, kindly tells us - the meal consisting wholly of fruits "No fear lest dinner cool!" - In "Paradise Regained", however, there is an address from the Devil to our Saviour worth its weight in gold - meeting him in the Wilderness, & affecting not to know him, he begins a conversation thus - "Sir, by what ill chance &c - Now that [twice underlined] Sir [end underlining] appears to me the very acme of burlesque - and sets me a shouting every time it comes into my head. - My two dear grown-ups, Miss Wilbraham, & Miss Eliza, who as well as me read [underlined] both [end underlining] Paradises last winter doat upon [twice underlined] Sir [end underlining] as much as I do: - and whenever we prate over fruit luncheons, apologise for it by saying - "No fear lest luncheon cool".'

Century:

1700-1799, 1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1803 and 1 Sep 1804

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

county: Cheshire
specific address: Delamere Lodge

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


Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Sarah Harriet Burney

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

29 Aug 1772

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

governess; later writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a


Additional Comments:

n/a



Text Being Read:

Author:

John Milton

Title:

Paradise Lost

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown


Source Information:

Record ID:

17536

Source:

Print

Author:

Sarah Harriet Burney

Editor:

Lorna J. Clark

Title:

Letters of Sarah Harriet Burney, The

Place of Publication:

Athens GA / London

Date of Publication:

1997

Vol:

n/a

Page:

58

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Sarah Harriet Burney, Lorna J. Clark (ed.), Letters of Sarah Harriet Burney, The, (Athens GA / London, 1997), p. 58, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=17536, accessed: 28 March 2024


Additional Comments:

letter to Charlotte Francis, spring or summer 1804. Burney was governess to the daughters of Cheshire MP George Wilbraham.

   
   
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