Evidence: | [Pilkington having annoyed Swift by remembering one of his poems and reciting it to others, he decided to test her memory. She told him] 'I could repeat not only all his Works, but all [italics] Shakespear[end italics]'s, which I put to this Trial; I desir'd him to open any Part of it and read a Line, and I would engage to go on with the whole Speech; as we were in his Library, he directly made the Experiment: The Line he first gave me, he had purposely picked out for its singular Oddness:
[italics] Put rancours in the Vessel of my Peace [end italics] MacBeth
I readily went on with the whole Speech, and did so several times, that he try'd me with different Plays. The Dean then took down [italics] Hudibras [end italics], and order'd me to examine him in it, as he had done me in [italics] Shakespear [end itaics]; and, to my great Surprize, I found he remember'd every Line, from Beginning to End of it. I say, it surpriz'd me, because I had been misled by Mr [italics] Pope [end italics]'s Remark, That
[italics] Where beams of warm Imagination play
The Memory's soft Figures melt away [end italics] Essay on Criticism'. |
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Century: | 1700-1799 | ||||||||||
Date: | Until: 30 Apr 1733 | ||||||||||
Country: | Ireland | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | n/a | ||||||||||
Type of Experience (Reader): |
|
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
|
Reader: | Laetitia Pilkington |
Age | Adult (18-100+) |
Gender | Female |
Date of Birth | 1708 |
Socio-economic group: | Clergy (includes all denominations) |
Occupation: | clergyman's wife |
Religion: | Anglican |
Country of origin: | Ireland |
Country of experience: | Ireland |
Listeners present if any: (e.g. family, servants,
friends, workmates) |
n/a |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Author: | William Shakespeare |
Title: | [Plays] |
Genre: | Drama |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | n/a |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 19865 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | Laetitia Pilkington | |
Editor: | A.C. Elias | |
Title: | Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington | |
Place of Publication: | Athens GA | |
Date of Publication: | 1997 | |
Vol: | I | |
Page: | 55 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | Laetitia Pilkington, A.C. Elias (ed.), Memoirs of Laetitia Pilkington (Athens GA, 1997), I, p. 55, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=19865, accessed: 23 September 2023 |
Date of birth 1708 or 1709. |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)