Record Number: 28396

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

[Dorothy, Lady Bradshaigh (as 'Mrs Belfour') to Samuel Richardson (letter undated):] 'Just as I was sending this to the post, your fifth volume came to my hand [...] I long to read it -- and yet I dare not. But I have a kind friend who will first look it over [...] [he] is willing to save me pain, though at the expence of suffering it himself. If I find the dreaded horrid act is not perpetrated, I will promise to read it [...] 'O, Sir! I have been prevailed upon to read a part of your story [i.e. Lovelace's drugging and rape of Clarissa], that I thought would have torn my heart in a thousand pieces. You have drawn a villain above nature; and you make that villain a sensible man, with many good qualities, and you have declared him not an unbeliever. Indeed, Sir, I am more out of conceit with your scheme than ever; it must do harm, indeed it must. What will any villain care what becomes of a Clarissa, when he has gained his horrid ends, which you have taught him how to gain [...] it is too shocking and barbarous a story for publication [...] Blot out but one night, and the villainous laudanum, and all may be well again.'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

unknown

Country:

n/a

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Dorothy Lady Bradshaigh

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

1705

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

n/a

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Samuel Richardson

Title:

Clarissa (volume 5)

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28396

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Anna Laetitia Barbauld

Title:

Correspondence of Samuel Richardson [...] Selected from the original manuscripts, bequeathed by him to his family

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1804

Vol:

4

Page:

199-201

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Anna Laetitia Barbauld (ed.), Correspondence of Samuel Richardson [...] Selected from the original manuscripts, bequeathed by him to his family , (London, 1804), 4, p. 199-201, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28396, accessed: 24 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

NB date in 'Date of Birth of reader/Listener' is date of baptism; see entry in DNB. See p.177n in source for background to Lady Bradshaigh's correspondence with Richardson.