Record Number: 28547

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

John Gibson Lockhart to Mr and Mrs Hope, 29 December 1847:

'I have finished the adventures of Miss Jane Eyre, and think her far the cleverest that was written since Austen and Edgeworth were in their prime. Worth fifty Trollopes and Martineaus rolled into one counterpane, with fifty Dickenses and Bulwers to keep them company; but rather a brazen Miss. The two heroines exemplify the duty of taking the initiative, and illustrate it under the opposite cases as to worldly goods of all sorts, except wit. One is a vast heiress, and beautiful as angels are everywhere but in modern paintings. She asks a handsome curate, who will none of her, being resolved on a missionary life in the far East. The other is a thin, little, unpretty slip of a governess, who falls in love with a plain stoutish Mr Burnand, sits on his knee, lights his cigar for him, asks him flat one fine evening, and after a concealed mad wife is dead, at last fills that awful lady's place.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Oct 1847 and 29 Dec 1847

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:

John Gibson Lockhart

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

14 Jul 1794

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

Scotland

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:

Charlotte Bronte

Title:

Jane Eyre

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1847

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

28547

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

James Wise and John Alexander Symington

Title:

The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

2

Page:

169

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2, p. 169, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28547, accessed: 24 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Lockhart's letter part of quotation in source from Andrew Lang, The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart, Vol II, pp.307-309.