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

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

---

Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Magdalene Sharpe- Erskine

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:

Anon

Title:

Epitaph on an Idiot

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

---

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: 25 April 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.