Record Number: 18301

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Since I have been in London I have read nothing but Miss Seward's letters and Miss Owenson's Missionary. Of Miss Seward I am bound to speak well, as she doth so of me; and her monodies are beauiful; but the letters are naught; they abound in false sentiment, and a great many other false things. As to the Missionary, Ambrosio is his father, and Matilde his mother; but, wanting the indelicacy of papa, and the delicacy of mamma, he's a dull fellow. I could think of nothing else but poor Margaret Stewart of Blantyre, and her presbyterian minister, while I read this. Miss Luxina brought her hogs to a bad market, for Hilarion was little better than a beast. Walter Scott's last poem I have also seen, but so hastily that I can be no competent judge of its merits. Talking of words, allow me to recommend to you Ford's plays, lately re-published. Some of them are excellent; the first in the series (which hath an awkward name, I must confess) and the Broken Heart, are particularly admirable. I am sure that you will be struck with them; for Ford is almost as moving as Otway or Lee, - who is the mad poet I adore, yet I can persuade nobody to read him. The History of the Somerville Family, which I have seen in MS., is soon to be printed, and that of Sutherland is to be out shortly'.

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1811 and 31 Dec 1811

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

city: London

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:

Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

1781

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

archaeologist / antiquarian

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Anna Seward

Title:

Letters of Anna Seward: Written Between the Years 1784 and 1807

Genre:

Letters

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

18301

Source:

Print

Author:

Lady Charlotte Bury

Editor:

A. Francis Steuart

Title:

Diary of a Lady-in-Waiting, The

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1908

Vol:

I

Page:

68

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Lady Charlotte Bury, A. Francis Steuart (ed.), Diary of a Lady-in-Waiting, The, (London, 1908), I, p. 68, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=18301, accessed: 19 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

It is rather ambiguous who this letter (included in Bury's journal) is from but it seems to Sharpe.