Record Number: 28760

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Charlotte Bronte to W. S. Williams, May 1853:

'The "Lectures" arrived safely; I have read them through twice. They must be studied to be appreciated. I thought well of them when I heard them delivered, but now I see their real power, and it is great. The lecture on Swift was new to me; I thought it almost matchless. Not that by any means I always agree with Mr Thackeray's opinions [...] against his errors I protest, were it treason to do so. I was present at the Fielding lecture [...] That Thackeray was wrong in his way of treating Fielding's character and vices my conscience told me [...] Had Thackeray owned a son, grown or growing up, and a son brilliant but reckless — would he have spoken in that light way of courses that lead to disgrace and the grave? He speaks of it all as if he theorised; as if he had never been called on, in the course of his life to witness the actual consequences of such failings [...] I believe, if only once the prospect of a promising life blasted at the outset by wild ways had passed close under his eyes, he never could have spoken with such levity of what led to its piteous destruction. Had I a brother yet living, I should tremble to let him read Thackeray's lecture on Fielding ... [comments further].'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 Apr 1853 and 31 May 1853

Country:

England

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:

Charlotte Brontë

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

21 Apr 1816

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer

Religion:

n/a

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:

William Makepeace Thackeray

Title:

Lectures on the English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century

Genre:

Essays / Criticism

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

28760

Source:

Print

Author:

n/a

Editor:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington

Title:

The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence

Place of Publication:

Oxford

Date of Publication:

1980

Vol:

2:4

Page:

66-67

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Thomas James Wise and John Alexander Symington (ed.), The Brontes: Their Lives, Friendships and Correspondence, (Oxford, 1980), 2:4, p. 66-67, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=28760, accessed: 26 April 2025

---

Additional Comments:

Bronte is clearly thinking of the fate of her brother Branwell, who after a precocious boyhood, had died weakened by drug and alcohol abuse.