Record Number: 18901

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'I have read Reginald with great care and with great interest. It is a masterly work upon the whole, particularly in stile grouping and plot. In these its excellencies lie, and they are of a high class. But it strikes me that so masterly an architect might have made a far more imposing fabric on the whole. Its faults are these. A damned affectation of inserting short classical and French quotations without end and without measure which to common readers like me hurts the work materially - The work is too long for the materials two volumes would have been rather so - The plot is an excellent plot. I have seen nothing better concieved in the present age, and every thing bears upon it turning on it as a hinge. The author has prodigious merit in the conception of the plot, and therefore it is the greater pity that there is some manifest defects in the conducting of it. The final event is far too soon seen. From the moment that the Vicar tells the story of his sister-in-law's seduction it is palpable. I saw it perfectly, and my chief interest afterwards was incited by my anxiety to see how the author was going to bring it about. This is Sir W. Scott's plan, but it is not to be made a precedent of. In fact it will not do with any body but himself to let the events be seen perfectly through. However he could not have conceived such a true dramatic plot, all so perfecty in bearing; that he could not; but he could have made more of the characters and incidents; a great deal more. There is a fascination in the stile and in the abstract ideas that often delights me. The hand of a master is apparent there; and after all I think the sole failure is in the conducting of the plot, which you may depend on it will hurt the popularity of a grand work. There was great scope for pathos in it- there is not an item - several scenes of powerful impression seem just approaching - they pass over without taking due effect; and besides, the leaving out of the Christian name in the will was a misnomer unlikely enough for so much to hinge upon [Hogg critiques some further aspects of the plot].

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Between 7 Jun 1823 and 18 Jun 1823

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Altrive

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:

James Hogg

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

Nov 1770

Socio-Economic Group:

Clerk / tradesman / artisan / smallholder

Occupation:

farmer / author

Religion:

n/a

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:

John Gibson Lockhart

Title:

Reginald Dalton

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

June 7th 1823

Provenance

unknown

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Source Information:

Record ID:

18901

Source:

Print

Author:

James Hogg

Editor:

Gillian Hughes

Title:

Collected Letters of James Hogg, The

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh

Date of Publication:

2006

Vol:

II

Page:

189

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

James Hogg, Gillian Hughes (ed.), Collected Letters of James Hogg, The (Edinburgh, 2006), II, p. 189, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=18901, accessed: 25 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

Letter to William Blackwood, the work's publisher. Hogg goes on to say how he could have written the novel better and to speculate on its future sales and audience.