Record Number: 9953
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
[Item transcribed into a commonplace book]: Title = 'Epitaph on an idiot'; Text = 'If innocence has its reward in heaven/ And God but little asks, where little's given/The wise Creator has for thee in store/ Great joys!-what wise man can ask more?'
Century:1800-1849, 1850-1899
Date:Between 1 Jan 1810 and 31 Dec 1871
Country:n/a
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Female
Date of Birth:1787
Socio-Economic Group:Gentry
Occupation:Daughter of Scottish landowning family
Religion:Anglican
Country of Origin:Scotland
Country of Experience:n/a
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
Identity of reader is tentative
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Epitaph on an Idiot
Genre:Poetry
Form of Text:Print: Unknown
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:9953
Source:Manuscript
Author:Magdalene Sharpe- Erskine
Title:Recueil
Location:Dunimarle Library at Duff House
Call No:DH LIB 2024
Page/Folio:Item 4
Additional Information:
n/a
Citation:
Magdalene Sharpe- Erskine, Recueil, Dunimarle Library at Duff House, DH LIB 2024, Item 4, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=9953, accessed: 05 November 2024
Additional Comments:
Identity of author is tentative.
A commonplace book containing 69 items, mainly in one hand. On the basis of writing style, nature of contents, dates of entries (1827-1871) and of the material selected (mainly poets from the late 18th to mid-19th century), and the watermark date (1810), the most likely identity of the main hand is Magdalene Sharpe-Erskine, the youngest child of the main generation who collected the Dunimarle Library. Fourteen of the items are exclusively or mainly prose, the rest are poetry. Most are in English. About half the items are given, by the complier, as anonymous and about a third have no title. In each case some 6 have been identified from other sources.