Record Number: 20770

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'[editor's words] without literary pretensions, Mrs Marshall had a genuine love of reading, and when no other engagement intervened, it was one of her domestic regulations, that a book should be read aloud in the evening for general amusement; the office of reader commonly devolved on Miss Hamilton, who was thus led to remark that the best prose style was always that which could be longest read without exhausting the breath. These social studies were far from satisfying her avidity for information; and she constantly perused many books by stealth. Mrs Marshall, on discovering what had been her private occupation, expressed neither praise nor blame, but quietly advised her to avoid any display of superior knowledge by which she might be subjected to the imputation of pedantry. This admonition produced the desired effect, since, as she herself informs us, she once hid a volume of Lord Kames's Elements of Criticism under the cushion of a chair lest she should be detected in a study which prejudice and ignorance might pronounce unfeminine'.

Century:

1700-1799

Date:

From: 1 Jan 1772

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

county: Stirlingshire

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:

Elizabeth Hamilton

Age:

Child (0-17)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

25 Jul 1758

Socio-Economic Group:

Gentry

Occupation:

n/a

Religion:

Episcopalian

Country of Origin:

Ireland

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:

Henry Home, Lord Kames

Title:

Elements of Criticism

Genre:

Philosophy

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

n/a

Provenance

unknown
read secretly

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Source Information:

Record ID:

20770

Source:

Print

Author:

Elizabeth Hamilton

Editor:

Miss Benger

Title:

Memoirs of the Late Mrs Elizabeth Hamilton with a Selection from her Correspondence

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1819

Vol:

n/a

Page:

49-50

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Elizabeth Hamilton, Miss Benger (ed.), Memoirs of the Late Mrs Elizabeth Hamilton with a Selection from her Correspondence, (London, 1819), p. 49-50, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20770, accessed: 22 November 2024

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Additional Comments:

None