Record Number: 28547
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.'
1800-1849
Date:Between 1 Oct 1847 and 29 Dec 1847
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: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
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Jane Eyre
Genre:Fiction
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Details1847
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:28547
Source: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: 10 October 2024
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.