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1450-1945

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Record 24129

Reading Experience:

Evidence:
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 16-21 January 1793: 'I do not know in the annals of history & barbarity any character which I so much abhor as that of the vain the vile Augustus — the death of Cicero the banishment of Ovid — the black boys & the incestuous daughter the total suppression of liberty these are blots which all the art of Flattery cannot hide from the eye of Reason. “With the same hand & probably with the same frame of mind did he sign the proscription of Cicero & the pardon of Cinna” — you remember Gibbons remark upon Augustuss appearance at the banquet in that very elegant piece of the virtuous Julian.'
Century: 1700-1799
Date: Until: 13 Jan 1793
Country: England
Time: n/a
Place: n/a
   
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: Edward Gibbon
Title: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Genre: History
Form of Text: Print: Book
Publication details: London, 1788. 12 vols.
Provenance: owned

 

Source Information:

Record ID: 24129  
Source - Manuscript Other
  Author: "The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 40. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 21 April 2009. ,

Citation: "The Collected Letters of Robert Southey," Romantic Circles Electronic Edition, Letter 40. http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/southey_letters. Accessed 21 April 2009. , http://can-red-lec.library.dal.ca/Arts/reading/recorddetails2.php?id=24129, accessed: 03 June 2023

Additional comments:

Source eds note that a copy of the edition cited was in Southey's library - see "Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons", gen. ed. A. N. L. Munby, vol. 9 "Poets and Men of Letters", ed. Roy Park (London, 1974), p. 138.

 

 

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