'At this time to amuse myself in my confinement I read the "Life of Pope Sixtus 5th." w'ch Miss Poole ... lent me. My son John Marsh showing and inclination to read this (who had before seldom evinced much taste for reading) I told him that as the book was borrow'd by Miss Poole he must get thro' it much faster than he did books in general, of w'ch a very few pages at a time... used to satisfy him. This book however, seem'd to catch his attention & he soon got through it, since w'ch time tho' he has never become a thorough reader, he has continued much more of one than he ever was before.'