Record Number: 12077

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

?I was seized last night with a violent pain in my head (fortunately, just as I had concluded my month?s work), and was immediately ordered as much medicine as would confine an ordinary-sized horse to his stall for a week. Whether it arises from the ?influentials?, or from close application, or from worry, or from the wind cholic, to quote King Arthur, I know not; but this I know-that surely against my will, much to my disappointment, here I am, and in a gloomy and miserable state, here I must remain.?

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

unknown

Country:

England

Time

evening: Tuesday

Place:

city: London
specific address: Furnivals Inn

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:

Charles Dickens

Age:

Unknown

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

7 Feb 1812

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

Journalist/ Novelist

Religion:

Church of England

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

England

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Henry Fielding

Title:

The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great

Genre:

Fiction, Essays / Criticism, History

Form of Text:

Print: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

12077

Source:

Print

Author:

Charles Dickens

Editor:

Madeline House

Title:

The letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 1: 1828-1839

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1965

Vol:

1

Page:

228

Additional Comments:

Graham Storey ed. Published by Clarendon Press as the Pilgrim edition.

Citation:

Charles Dickens, Madeline House (ed.), The letters of Charles Dickens: Volume 1: 1828-1839, (Oxford, 1965), 1, p. 228, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=12077, accessed: 09 May 2025

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Additional Comments:

Letter to T.J. Culliford [CD?s maternal great-uncle.] [Note 3: ?In Fielding?s The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, I, iii, King Arthur says ?I feel a sudden pain across my breast. | Nor Know I whether it proceed from love | Or the wind cholic.??