Record Number: 20376

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'Mr Scott must have thought me very ungrateful in returning no acknowledgements for being [italics] entrusted [end italics] with "Marmion", but I was prisoner with so severe a cold the last week I stayed at Dalkeith that I could not attempt writing. Lady Dalkeith undertook the care of the parcel, which I hope has been safely restored; but now my head is clear enough, I must tell you how much pleasure it gave me, and that this pleasure rose still higher on reading it over and over again. Like the "Lay", it carries one on, and one cannot lay it down. It is, I feel, a great piece of presumption in me either to commend or criticise; but one passage, I confess, strikes me as more feeble than the rest, though by itself, or in a less spirited poem, I should never have affix'd to it that epithet. What I mean is that part of the introduction to the third Canto where you begin to give Mr Erskine your reasons for not adopting his advice; it immediately follows the compliment to Miss Baillie. Yet even in this the picture of the old Highland drover is beautiful. What ensues upon Smailhome Tower, etc., I was particularly charmed with, but I shall not pretend to point out all the beauties in this note'.

Century:

1800-1849

Date:

Until: 11 Nov 1807

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Dalkeith

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

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Louisa, Lady Stuart

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

12 Aug 1757

Socio-Economic Group:

Royalty / aristocracy

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

n/a

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Scotland

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Walter Scott

Title:

Marmion

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Manuscript: Unknown

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

borrowed (other)
borrowed from Scott

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Source Information:

Record ID:

20376

Source:

Print

Author:

Louisa Stuart

Editor:

R. Brimley Johnson

Title:

Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart, The

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1926

Vol:

n/a

Page:

143-4

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Louisa Stuart, R. Brimley Johnson (ed.), Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart, The, (London, 1926), p. 143-4, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20376, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

Letter to Walter Scott. This must have been the Ms as the poem was not published till the following year.