Record Number: 4424

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

I suppose I had read Hume's England when I wrote last; and I need not repeat my opinion of it. My perusal of the continuation - eight volumes, of history as it is called, by Tobias Smollett MD and others was a much harder and more unprofitable task. Next I read Gibbon's decline and fall of the Roman empire - a work of immense research and splendid execution.

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 1 Nov 1817 and 15 Feb 1818

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Kirkcaldy (probably)

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:

Thomas Carlyle

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

4 Dec 1795

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Writer / Academic

Religion:

Lapsed Calvinist

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

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

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Edward Gibbon

Title:

Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire

Genre:

History

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

Published between 1737 and 1794

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

4424

Source:

Print

Author:

Thomas Carlyle

Editor:

C R Sanders

Title:

The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle

Place of Publication:

Durham, South Carolina

Date of Publication:

1970

Vol:

1

Page:

120

Additional Comments:

Taken from letter from Carlyle to Robert Mitchell, dated 16th February 1818, written at Kirkcaldy. Pages 118-122 in this edition.

Citation:

Thomas Carlyle, C R Sanders (ed.), The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle, (Durham, South Carolina, 1970), 1, p. 120, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=4424, accessed: 09 May 2025

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Additional Comments:

See RED ref 2930 for earlier reference to this work in letter dated 19th November 1817. Dates of reading experience are estimate based on the fact that in the earlier letter he has read one volume of the work. He does not say exactly when or where he reads it.