Record Number: 33404

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I have a great dislike to having no book 'on hand'; so I made a pilgrimage to our Permanent Library, determined if possible to seize upon Plato. To my great pleasure the new edition of him lay there all fresh, and at my service. Evening is my time for reading now, when nothing occurs to prevent. Thou must know that across a road which leads to the Church close to us, is a little paddock (so we call such pieces of ground here) wherein are four or five large old walnut trees - the only fine trees, excepting one elm, we can boast. Under the shade of one of these, and also shaded by a sombre yew, we have an arbour, and there in the still evening I read Plato's discourse on the Immortality of the Soul. It is full of profound and curious interest, and I read it with delight; the dialogue form in which his theories are given adds greatly to their interest; the familiarity with which each friend states his objections or adopts the arguments of Socrates, brings the whole scene so vividly before you.'

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Jun 1849 and 20 Jun 1849

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Leicester
county: Leicestershire
specific address: Beaumont Leys
other location: Under the trees in the open air in a paddock next to the Church

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:

Eliza Ellis

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

3 Dec 1825

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Amateur geologist

Religion:

Quaker

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:

Plato

Title:

Phaedrus

Genre:

Essays / Criticism, Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

1849

Provenance

Borrowed (circulating library)

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

33404

Source:

Print

Author:

Eliza Ellis

Editor:

Margaret Ellis

Title:

Letters and Memorials of Eliza Ellis: Compiled by Her Sister, Margaret Ellis

Place of Publication:

Leicester

Date of Publication:

1883

Vol:

n/a

Page:

41

Additional Comments:

Privately printed by Samuel Clarke, 5 Gallowtree Gate, Leicester, and 'for private circulation only'.

Citation:

Eliza Ellis, Margaret Ellis (ed.), Letters and Memorials of Eliza Ellis: Compiled by Her Sister, Margaret Ellis, (Leicester, 1883), p. 41, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33404, accessed: 09 May 2025

---

Additional Comments:

Letter from Eliza Ellis to Hannah Lucas. The 'new' 1849 edition/translation is likely to have been that by Benjamin Jowett. In the 'Phaedrus', the discussion takes place under a plane tree.