Life's A Dream: The Great Theatre of the World, from the Spanish of Calderon; with an essay on his life and genius by Richard Chenevix Trench
Title
Life's A Dream: The Great Theatre of the World, from the Spanish of Calderon; with an essay on his life and genius by Richard Chenevix Trench
Text Read
Life's A Dream: The Great Theatre of the World, from the Spanish of Calderon; with an essay on his life and genius by Richard Chenevix Trench
Author
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. ed. Richard Chenevix Trench
Original Source
London: Parker & Son, 1856
Digitized by
HathiTrust
Publication Date
1856
Date(s) of Reading
- 1856-05-15
- 1856-06-[?]
- 1856-07-01
Evidence
1856-05-15: "Thursday 15. Mr Tugwell returned the call. In the afternoon we walked to Lee, a delicious spot in a deep hollow between two magnificent hills. The steep sides of one of these hills are hung with low woods, or with masses of furze now in full bloom. The primroses here quite cover the sides of some of the hills as well as the banks of the lanes. Not the least beautiful things we saw were the springs by the roadside, crystally clear, decked with liverwort and fern. We returned by a different way- through Slade, which we were told was only half a mile longer, but we found ourselves in an interminable road over the hills, and at length came to a spot where two directions seemed equally promising or unpromising of Ilfracomb. We took one, however, in the necessity of a choice and walked on and on without seeing any indication of our being in the right direction , till at last we came to a farm-house, where G. made inquiries and found that we were in the right road, but had still two miles to walk. We got home a little before six, after walking three hours and a half, and were thoroughly knocked up. In the last mile we passed a lovely hill where the rich colour of the marly soil made a beautiful contrast with the bright green pastures and the masses of furze. - In the evenings I have been reading Masson's Essays - "The Three Devils" and Chatterton's Life-and this evening I have read some of Trench's Calderon." Diary 1854-1861 60-61
1856-06-[?]: "...Of other walks by and bye, when I have said something of our evenings, and other Ilfracombe experience. We seemed to make less of our evenings here than we have ever done elsewhere. We used often to be tired with our hunting or walking and we were reading books which did not make us take them up very eagerly - Gosse's "Rambles on the Devonshire Coast", for example; Trench's Calderon; and other volumes taken up in a desultory way. One bit of reading we had there, however, which interested me deeply. It was Masson's "Life of Chatterton", which happily linked itself with the impressions I had received from the sight of the old church at Bristol. An hour of the evening light used often to slip away in attention to our animals. This helped to make our reading time scanty; and another distraction was an occasional visit to Mrs. and Miss Webster - a visit always made agreeable by music. I enjoyed playing to them, because G. seemed to like it as well as they...." From Recollections of Illfracombe 1856 259, also GEL 2: 247 JSTOR
1856-07-01: Reviewed in “Belles Lettres and Art” within the Westminster Review, vol. 66, issue 129, pp. 257-78.
1856-06-[?]: "...Of other walks by and bye, when I have said something of our evenings, and other Ilfracombe experience. We seemed to make less of our evenings here than we have ever done elsewhere. We used often to be tired with our hunting or walking and we were reading books which did not make us take them up very eagerly - Gosse's "Rambles on the Devonshire Coast", for example; Trench's Calderon; and other volumes taken up in a desultory way. One bit of reading we had there, however, which interested me deeply. It was Masson's "Life of Chatterton", which happily linked itself with the impressions I had received from the sight of the old church at Bristol. An hour of the evening light used often to slip away in attention to our animals. This helped to make our reading time scanty; and another distraction was an occasional visit to Mrs. and Miss Webster - a visit always made agreeable by music. I enjoyed playing to them, because G. seemed to like it as well as they...." From Recollections of Illfracombe 1856 259, also GEL 2: 247 JSTOR
1856-07-01: Reviewed in “Belles Lettres and Art” within the Westminster Review, vol. 66, issue 129, pp. 257-78.
Related Works
Citation
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. ed. Richard Chenevix Trench, Life's A Dream: The Great Theatre of the World, from the Spanish of Calderon; with an essay on his life and genius by Richard Chenevix Trench, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57156