Reading Experience Database
1450-1945

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Record 18284

Reading Experience:

Evidence:
'I have heard of nothing good in the literary way; but I read three volumes yesterday of the strangest, dullest, and most incomprehensible trash imaginable, two or three passages in which made me laugh above measure, owing solely (I verily believe) to the writer's being half a fool and half a madwoman. It is the life of Mrs Wells, a ci-devant actress; in which, among other things, she proves that the Duke of [-] has given himself a vast deal of unnecessary trouble; a thing of which I never should have suspected him. [Lewis then criticise Wells's way of writing about marriage, her debts, etc].'
Century: 1800-1849
Date: unknown
Country: England
Time: n/a
Place: city: London
specific address: The Albany
   
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:Matthew Lewis
Age Adult (18-100+)
Gender Male
Date of Birth 9 Jul 1775
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, workmates)
n/a
Additional comments: n/a

 

Text Being Read:

Author: Mary Wells
Title: Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Sumbel, Late Wells; of the Theatres- Royal, Drury-Lane, Covent-Garden, and Haymarket: Including Her Correspondence
Genre: Autobiog / Diary
Form of Text: Print: Book
Publication details: n/a
Provenance: unknown

 

Source Information:

Record ID: 18284  
Source - Print  
  Author: Lady Charlotte Bury
  Editor: A. Francis Steuart
  Title: Diary of a Lady-in-Waiting, The
  Place of Publication: London
  Date of Publication: 1908
  Vol: I
  Page: 84
  Additional comments: n/a

Citation: Lady Charlotte Bury, A. Francis Steuart (ed.), Diary of a Lady-in-Waiting, The (London, 1908), I, p. 84, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=18284, accessed: 19 April 2024

Additional comments:

Letter from Lewis to her is included in Charlotte Bury's diary. Dated Nov. 20th but year unclear, probably 1812 as that is the year another book referred to in the letter appeared.

 

 

Reading Experience Database version 2.0.  Page updated: 27th Apr 2016  3:15pm (GMT)