Evidence: | '[from the Johnsoniana imparted by Bennet Langton to Boswell in 1780] Mr. Langton, when a very young man, read Dodsley's "Cleone, a Tragedy", to him, not aware of his extreme impatience to be read to. As it went on he turned his face to the back of his chair, and put himself into various attitudes, which marked his uneasiness. At the end of an act, however, he said, "Come let's have some more, let's go into the slaughter-house again, Lanky. But I am afraid there is more blood than brains." Yet he afterwards said, "When I heard you read it, I thought higher of its power of language: when I read it myself, I was more sensible of its pathetick effect;" and then he paid it a compliment which many will think very extravagant. "Sir, (said he,) if Otway had written this play, no other of his pieces would have been remembered": Dodsley himself, upon this being repeated to him, said, "It was too much": it must be remembered, that Johnson always appeared not to be sufficiently sensible of the merit of Otway'.
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Century: | 1700-1799 | ||||||||||
Date: | Until: 31 Dec 1780 | ||||||||||
Country: | England | ||||||||||
Time: | n/a | ||||||||||
Place: | n/a | ||||||||||
Type of Experience (Reader): |
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Type of Experience (Listener): |
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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: | Robert Dodsley |
Title: | Cleone, a Tragedy |
Genre: | Drama |
Form of Text: | Print: Book |
Publication details: | n/a |
Provenance: | unknown |
Record ID: | 22153 | |
Source - | ||
Author: | James Boswell | |
Editor: | R.W. Chapman | |
Title: | Life of Johnson | |
Place of Publication: | Oxford | |
Date of Publication: | 1980 | |
Vol: | n/a | |
Page: | 1079 | |
Additional comments: | n/a |
Citation: | James Boswell, R.W. Chapman (ed.), Life of Johnson (Oxford, 1980), p. 1079, http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=22153, accessed: 04 December 2023 |
Originally published 1791 |
Reading Experience Database version 2.0. Page updated: 27th Apr 2016 3:15pm (GMT)