Reading Experience Database
1450-1945

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Record 24061

Reading Experience:

Evidence:
Robert Southey to Charles Collins, 10-11 December 1791: 'As I have nothing else to say take a story I read yesterday as a true one which strikes me as an instance of more refined barbarity than any in the annals of cruelty – a prisoner in the dreary cells of the Bastile had familiarized a spider the only tenant except himself of the miserable spot. to a man secluded thus from the light of day & every living creature this reptile was a kind of mournful companion. the Keeper at length took notice of it & told the Governor – the Governor commanded him to tread upon it.'
Century:
Date: 10 Dec 1791
Country: England
Time: n/a
Place: city: Bath
   
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:Robert Southey
Age Adult (18-100+)
Gender Male
Date of Birth 12 Aug 1774
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 Wollstonecraft
Title: Original Stories from Real Life
Genre: Fiction, Social Science, Biography
Form of Text: Print: Book
Publication details: London, 1791
Provenance: unknown

 

Source Information:

Record ID: 24061  
Source - Manuscript Other
  Author: "The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 2. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 17 April 2009.,

Citation: "The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 2. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 17 April 2009., http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=24061, accessed: 29 March 2024

Additional comments:

 

 

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