Record Number: 25020

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

From the diary kept by George Grote for his fiancee, Harriet Lewin (autumn 1818): 'Rose at 1/2 past 6 [...] Read Say and Turgot until 12, and put down some remarks on the manner in which accumulation takes place. Neither Say nor Turgot completely satisfy my mind on this subject [...] Dined alone. Read some scenes in Schiller's "Don Carlos." Considered as complete dramas, I think both "Don Carlos" and "Marie Stuart" are very defective. There is too much mixture of paltry and unimportant intrigue in each [...] There are, however, most masterly single scenes to be found in them [...] After reading this, I practised on the bass for about an hour, then drank tea, and read Adam Smith's incomparable chapter on the Mercantile System until 11, when I went to bed. 'Rose at 6. Read some more of A. Smith on the Mercantile System [...] Dined at 1/2 past 5. Read Don Carlos, and played on the bass for the next two hours, when I went and locked up [the family banking house]; drank tea at 1/2 past 8, and began some more of Say; but I found my mind languid, so that I was obliged to change my study, and took up a dissertation of Turgot, "Sur les valeurs et monnoies," which I read with considerable attention. Went to bed soon after 11.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 17 Oct 1818 and 18 Oct 1818

Country:

England

Time

morning

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

George Grote

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

17 Nov 1794

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Banker

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Adam Smith

Title:

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations

Genre:

Social Science, Politics, Economics

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

25020

Source:

Print

Author:

Harriet Grote

Editor:

n/a

Title:

The Personal Life of George Grote by Mrs Grote. Compiled from Family Documents, Private Memoranda, and Original Letters to and from Various Friends

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1873

Vol:

n/a

Page:

30-31; 31

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Harriet Grote, The Personal Life of George Grote by Mrs Grote. Compiled from Family Documents, Private Memoranda, and Original Letters to and from Various Friends , (London, 1873), p. 30-31; 31, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=25020, accessed: 29 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Dates of individual diary entries not all given in source.