Record Number: 24222

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

John Wilson Croker to John Murray, 18 September 1816: 'I have read with great pleasure the poem you lent me [Childe Harold III]. It is written with great vigour, and the descriptive part is peculiarly to my taste, for I am fond of realities, even to the extent of being fond of localities. A spot of ground a yard square, a rock, a hillock, on which some great achievement has been performed, or to which any recollections of interest attach, excite my feelings more than all the monuments of art [...] But I did not read with equal pleasure a note or two which reflects [sic] on the Bourbon family. What has a poet who writes for immortality, to do with the little temporary passions of political parties? [...] I wish you could persuade Lord Byron to leave out these two or three lines of prose, which will make thousands dissatisfied with his glorious poetry [comments further in defence of French royal family] [...] pray use your influence on this point. As to the poem itself, except a word or two suggested by Mr. Giffard, I do not think anything can be altered for the better.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jan 1816 and 18 Sep 1816

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

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

John Wilson Croker

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

20 Dec 1780

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Secretary to the Admiralty

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Ireland

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

George Gordon, Lord Byron

Title:

Childe Harold III

Genre:

Fiction, History, Poetry, Geography / Travel, Politics

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

24222

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Louis L. Jennings

Title:

The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of The Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, LL.,D., F.R.S.

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1884

Vol:

1

Page:

94-95

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Louis L. Jennings (ed.), The Croker Papers: The Correspondence and Diaries of The Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, LL.,D., F.R.S., (London, 1884), 1, p. 94-95, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=24222, accessed: 26 April 2024

---

Additional Comments:

None