Evidence: | 'In his [Johnson's] manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry:
"Nov. 27. Advent Sunday. I considered that this day, being the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of life. I began to read the Greek Testament regularly at 160 verses every Sunday. This day I began the Acts.
In this week I read Virgil's 'Pastorals'. I learned to repeat the 'Pollio' and 'Gallus'. I read carelessly the first 'Georgick'."
Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for "divine and human lore," when advanced into his sixty-fifty year, and notwithstanding his many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit, and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material tegument. It is remarkable, that he was very fond of the precision which calculation produces. Thus we find in one of his manuscript diaries, "12 pages in 4to Gr. Test, and 30 pages in Beza's folio, comprize the whole in 10 days".' |
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Century: | 1700-1799 | ||||||||||
Date: | Between 20 Nov 1774 and 27 Nov 1774 | ||||||||||
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: | Virgil |
Title: | 1st Georgic |
Genre: | Classics, Poetry |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | n/a |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 21361 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | James Boswell | |
Editor: | R.W. Chapman | |
Title: | Life of Johnson | |
Place of Publication: | Oxford | |
Date of Publication: | 1980 | |
Vol: | n/a | |
Page: | 570-71 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | James Boswell, R.W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson (Oxford, 1980), p. 570-71, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=21361, accessed: 28 March 2024 |
Originally published 1791. Pollio and Gallus feature in this poem. |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)