Evidence: | '[from an account by Dr Maxwell, an Irish london-based priest friend of Johnson] Speaking of Mr. Harte, Canon of Windsor, and writer of "The History of Gustavus Adolphus", he much commended him as a scholar, and a man of the must companionable talents he had ever known. He said, the defects in his history proceeded not from imbecility, but from foppery.
He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant; wonderfully so, considering how conversant the writers were with the best models of antiquity.
Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy", he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.' |
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Century: | 1700-1799 | ||||||||||
Date: | Until: 31 Dec 1770 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | city: London | ||||||||||
Type of Experience (Reader): |
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
|
Reader: | Samuel Johnson |
Age | Adult (18-100+) |
Gender | Male |
Date of Birth | 18 Sep 1709 |
Socio-economic group: | Professional / academic / merchant / farmer |
Occupation: | writer |
Religion: | Anglican |
Country of origin: | England |
Country of experience: | England |
Listeners present if any: (e.g. family, servants,
friends, workmates) |
n/a |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Author: | Walter Harte |
Title: | History of the life of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden |
Genre: | Biography |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | n/a |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 21091 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | James Boswell | |
Editor: | R.C. Chapman | |
Title: | Life of Johnson | |
Place of Publication: | Oxford | |
Date of Publication: | 1980 | |
Vol: | n/a | |
Page: | 438 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | James Boswell, R.C. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson (Oxford, 1980), p. 438, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=21091, accessed: 04 May 2024 |
Originally published 1791. |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)