Record Number: 24140

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 14-18 October 1793: 'In the interim you shall have the remarks that occurrd upon reading Sir Launcelot Greaves on the road. Broad coarse humour seems to be the chief excellence of Smollet incidents almost too gross to please & too strange to be probable happen at every inn his heroes stop at & we are sure to find the sailors dialect & the clowns broad Scotch or broad Yorkshire in the place of humour. When he gets upon those subjects which perhaps none but Rousseau knew how to treat he rhapsodizes about charms angels & Hymens & thinks passion & nonsense mean the same. Some strange discovery of birth comes in at the end & all the dramatis personæ are tacked together at the altar. Yet with all these faults you are not soon tired of Smollets novels. They insensibly lead you on & if they do not come near the heart certainly play round the head. Humphrey Clinker strikes me as his best — the characters are less outrè & of course more natural. perhaps the epistolary form of it kept him in some bounds.'

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

Between 14 Oct 1793 and 18 Oct 1793

Country:

England

Time

n/a

Place:

other location: on the road

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:

Robert Southey

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

12 Aug 1774

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

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Tobias Smollett

Title:

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot Greaves

Genre:

Fiction

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

owned

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Source Information:

Record ID:

24140

Source - Manuscript:

Other

Author:

"The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 60. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 21 April 2009. ,

Citation:

"The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 60. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 21 April 2009. , http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/RED/record_details.php?id=24140, accessed: 24 April 2024

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Additional Comments:

None