Record Number: 20714

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'"Sunday (said he) was a heavy day to me when I was a boy. My mother confined me on that day, and made me read "The Whole Duty of Man", from a great part of which I could derive no instruction. When, for instance, I had read the chapter on theft, which from my infancy I had been taught was wrong, I was no more convinced that theft was wrong than before; so there was no accession of knowledge".'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1712 and 18 Sep 1727

Country:

England

Time

daytime: on Sundays

Place:

city: Lichfield
county: Staffordshire

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:

Samuel Johnson

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

18 Sep 1709

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

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:

Richard Allestree

Title:

Whole Duty of Man, The

Genre:

Other religious, Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned
owned by his mother

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

20714

Source:

Print

Author:

James Boswell

Editor:

R. W. Chapman

Title:

Life of Johnson

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

n/a

Page:

50

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Boswell, R. W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson , (Oxford, 1980), p. 50, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20714, accessed: 19 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

Originally published 1791.