The trial of Eugene Aram for the murder of Daniel Clark of Knaresborough : who was convicted at York Assizes, August 5th, 1759 : to which are added the remarkable defense he made on his trial, his own account of himself, written after his condemnation, with the apology which he left in his cell for the attempt he made on his own life ; also "The dream of Eugene Aram", a poem / by Thomas Hood. With additional information from the 'Gleanings & memoirs' of Norrison Scatcherd.

  • Hood, Thomas, 1799-1845.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The trial of Eugene Aram for the murder of Daniel Clark of Knaresborough : who was convicted at York Assizes, August 5th, 1759 : to which are added the remarkable defense he made on his trial, his own account of himself, written after his condemnation, with the apology which he left in his cell for the attempt he made on his own life ; also "The dream of Eugene Aram", a poem / by Thomas Hood. With additional information from the 'Gleanings & memoirs' of Norrison Scatcherd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    the Latin classics, whose allurements repaid my assiduities and my labours. I remember to have at first, hung over five lines for a whole day ; and never, in all the painful course of my reading, left any one passage, but I did, or thought I did per- fectly comprehend. After I had accurately perused every one of the Latin Classics, Historians, and Poets, I went through the Greek Testament—first parsing every word as I proceeded; next, I ventured upon Hes- iod, Homer, Theocritus, Herodotus, Thucydides, and all the Greek Tragedians—a tedious labour was this —but my former acquaintance with history lessened it extremely, because it threw a light upon many passages, which, without that assistance, must have appeared obscure. In the midst of these literary pursuits, a man and horse, from my good friend William Norton, Esquire, came for me from Knaresborough, along with that gentleman s letter, inviting me thither ; and accordingly I repaired thither, in some part of the year 1731, and was, I believe, well accepted and esteemed there. Here, not satisfied with mv former acquisitions, I prosecuted the attainment of the Hebrew, and with indefatigable diligence. I had •Buxtorff’s Grammar—but that being perplexed, or not explicit enough—at least in my opinion at that time, I collected no less than eight or ten different Hebrew Grammars; and here one very often sup- plied the omissions of the others ; and this was, I found, of extraordinary advantage. Then I bought the bible in the original, and read the whole Pentateuch—with an intention to go through the whole of it—which I attempted, but wanted time. In April, I think the 18th, 1741, I went again to London. [The reasons shall follow.] Here I