… they said he Dined at General Melville's, & was to join them here. We Waited Tea about an Hour, during which Time the Conversation was too general & mixed to be remembered; the Tea Equipage was then ordered, & we had all done, & Mr Burney, … Indeed, no Eye was off him, though I believe he did not perceive it, as he hardly ever himself looks at any body. The Conversation during supper turned upon madness, a subject which the Stranges are very full of, as a lady of their …
… 7 Thus, reading was conceived as collective entertainment that provided a reduced circle with food for thought and conversation. 5 . The Hon. Mrs. Boscawen to Mrs. Delany, in The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mrs. Delany, ed. Lady … seeing the ‘sophisticated and discerning’ manner of reading aloud as an accomplishment, along with music, dance, conversation, needlework, and other ‘polite practices’. 10 10 . Catherine E. Kelley, 'Reading and the Problem of …