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the experience of reading in Britain, from 1450 to 1945...

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Listings for Reader:  

Elizabeth Hamilton

 

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 : [books on the prophecies]

'Let me remember, that though I now see, in all the prophets, the most valuable testimony to the truth of the Christian faith, a few years only have elapsed since I considered that evidence to be so dark and unintelligible as to be of little avail to the defence of the Christian cause. The few works upon the prophecies which had fallen into my hands contributed to this opinion, as the writers of them appeared to me in the light of pious visionaries, all labouring to establish some favourite point; or by twisting and turning the obscure meaning of dark passages to suit their purpose to penetrate into the events of futurity'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

 : [New testament]

'The parable of the talents was one of the first passages in the New Testament that attracted my serious attention'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

William Paley : Natural Theology

'The evidences of the infinite wisdom, power, and goodness of the great Creator, given by Paley in his Natural Theology, have attracted my attention to objects that might otherwise have escaped my notice'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

James Currie : Life of Robert Burns

'[letter to Mrs --] 'books, for a certain length of time, are a charming substitute for common conversation. I do not know that I ever read one from which my mind received a higher degree of pleasure than "Currie's life of Burns". To me, its charm was enhanced by a thousand pleasing recollections - a thousand associations, that gave a strong additional interest to every word. The strength of Burns's feelings, the character of his mind, had excited an enthusiastic admiration, at a period when my own enthusiastic feelings were in perfect unison with those of the poet; and in him alone did I meet with the expression of a sensibility with which I could perfectly sympathise: in his emotions there was a strength, an energy, that came home to my heart; while the tender sorrows of other poets had to me appeared mawkish and insipid. Even the strong light in which he saw the ridiculous, was, I fear, too agreeable to me. The idea I then formed of his mind has been confirmed by Dr Currie's delineation of it'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

Robert Burns : 

'[letter to Mrs --] 'books, for a certain length of time, are a charming substitute for common conversation. I do not know that I ever read one from which my mind received a higher degree of pleasure than "Currie's life of Burns". To me, its charm was enhanced by a thousand pleasing recollections - a thousand associations, that gave a strong additional interest to every word. The strength of Burns's feelings, the character of his mind, had excited an enthusiastic admiration, at a period when my own enthusiastic feelings were in perfect unison with those of the poet; and in him alone did I meet with the expression of a sensibility with which I could perfectly sympathise: in his emotions there was a strength, an energy, that came home to my heart; while the tender sorrows of other poets had to me appeared mawkish and insipid. Even the strong light in which he saw the ridiculous, was, I fear, too agreeable to me. The idea I then formed of his mind has been confirmed by Dr Currie's delineation of it'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

Robert Burns : [poems]

'[Letter to H.M. Esq.] I have purchased your friend "Currie's Life of Burns"; which, I confess, has operated like a charm on my benumbed imagination. Never have I been more highly gratified than by the perusal of his inestimable work, which is a [italics] chef-d'oeuvre [end italics] of cultivated and discriminating taste. On reading the poems that are added to the collection, I once more tasted of all that delicious enthusiasm with which the first productions of this child of nature and genius had feasted my soul'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

James Currie : Life of Burns

'[Letter to H.M. Esq.] I have purchased your friend "Currie's Life of Burns"; which, I confess, has operated like a charm on my benumbed imagination. Never have I been more highly gratified than by the perusal of his inestimable work, which is a [italics] chef-d'oeuvre [end italics] of cultivated and discriminating taste. On reading the poems that are added to the collection, I once more tasted of all that delicious enthusiasm with which the first productions of this child of nature and genius had feasted my soul'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

 : [books on metaphysics]

'[letter to H.M. esq] my poor brains have been of late so completely fused in the furnace of metaphysic, that they have become a complete [italics] calx [end italics]. I have been obliged, in pursuit of [italics] hints [end italics], to wade through volumes: keeping neither commonplace book nor memorandum, have been forced to stupify myself in search of passages which remained in my memory, while every trace of the place in which I had found them was lost'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

Hector Macneil : [poems]

'[letter to Hector MacNeil - H.M.] 'it appears to me, that even in your slighter pieces, this illusion [hiding judgment under imagination] is kept up; while, in your more finished producions, it is preserved in an uncommon degree. This, my feelings tell me; and to them, in this instance, judgment delegates her authority. Had I, previously to publication, known of your intention of paying a compliment to Lord N., I should certainly have remonstrated. I confess I was revolted by the idea of your virtuous muse binding her laurels round the brow of one of the most profligate and worthless of the human race; but that single passage excepted, I found so much pleasure in the perusal of the whole, that I would not have taken a thousand pounds to have gone critically over every if and and, purposely to pick out some faults'.

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

  

Hector Macneil : Harp, The

'[letter to Hector MacNeil - H.M.] [EH says she has received a note from 'Miss H.] along with your volume, of which she had begged the perusal. She is (as I am) pleased with the whole; but with the "Harp", and the "Waes o' War" , she is particularly charmed.'

Century: 1800-1849     Reader/Listener/Group: Elizabeth Hamilton      Print: Book

 

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