Record Number: 22210

---

Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'After dinner [during stay at Marlborough College] my father was again asked to read by Mrs Bradley: "Will it be too cruel to ask you to read "The Grandmother?" [...] A Belgian governess, Mdlle. Stapps, was on the chair just behind him. He said, "I can't read 'The Grandmother' properly except after breakfast, when I am weak and tremulous; fortified by dinner and a glass of port I am too vigorous." "Well; read 'The Northern Farmer' then." So he did: and asked Mdlle. how much she understood. "Pas un mot, Monsieur." 'Then he read "The Grandmother," and after that four pieces out of Hood's Whims and Oddities, "Faithless Nelly Gray," "Faithless Sally Brown," "Tim Turpin" and "Ben Battle." He explained the play on words in them to Mdlle. who was "excessivement enchantee." He laughed till the tears came at some of the things he read. This went on till 11.50'.

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

4 May 1866

Country:

England

Time

evening

Place:

city: Marlborough
county: Wiltshire
specific address: Marlborough College

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:

Alfred Tennyson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

6 Aug 1809

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

Mrs Bradley (headmaster's wife) Mademoiselle Stapps Hallam Tennyson (reader's son)

Additional Comments:

n/a

---

Text Being Read:

Author:

Thomas Hood

Title:

'Faithless Sally Brown'

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Book

Publication Details

In Hood's Whims and Oddities

Provenance

unknown

---

Source Information:

Record ID:

22210

Source:

Print

Author:

Hallam Tennyson

Editor:

n/a

Title:

Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1897

Vol:

2

Page:

36-37

Additional Comments:

n/a

Citation:

Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son, (London, 1897), 2, p. 36-37, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=22210, accessed: 22 November 2024

---

Additional Comments:

Hallam Tennyson a pupil at Marlborough College.