Read Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt's Journal of my Trip to Scotland during its 200th Anniversary.
“No one else needs so much to be put right in history as does Sarah Stoddart.”
—Katharine Anthony
In the Spring and Summer of 1822, Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt traveled to Scotland to divorce her husband. During her stay, Sarah spent her time walking, taking various unaccompanied walking tours and covering nearly 300 miles in the Scottish countryside alone.
Sarah wrote about her monumental travels as well as her marital struggles in a journal which was later published as Journal of my Trip to Scotland. You can read daily entries of Sarah’s Journal exactly 200 years after they were written by subscribing to this newsletter:
Despite her personal and literary achievements, Sarah’s life and work has been largely ignored. To learn more about Sarah and her Journal, visit The Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt Project, a living website dedicated to sharing resources for the celebration and study of Sarah’s life, writing, and travels.
FAQ
Q. What will be in each email/post?
A. Similar to Dracula Daily, each email or post includes an entry of Sarah’s Journal from that day’s date, along with a link to a Google Earth map that shows exactly where Sarah walked that day.
Q. How long will the newsletter go?
A. The newsletter will start on April 14th (the day Sarah left her home in London) and will go until July 18th (the date of her last journal entry, the day before she left Scotland).
Q. How long are the journal entries?
A. At most, Sarah’s journal entries are only a few pages long, with many of her daily entires being much shorter. Certain days will only contain a line or two. Reading her Journal in this way not only brings Sarah’s writing back to life 200 years later, but also allows the text to be digested in manageable pieces.
Q. Can I subscribe after April 14th?
A. Yes! You can subscribe at any time and can catch up on the Journal in the “Archive” section of this website or with the full text linked at the bottom of this page.
Q. Who exactly is Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt and why haven’t I heard of her?
A. Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt (1774–1843) was, in many ways, a woman ahead of her time. She is most well known for being the wife of the famous Romantic era essayist William Hazlitt who, along with some of his earlier biographers, didn’t always portray Sarah in the best light. However, first hand accounts of Sarah often focus on her unconventionality and frankness, and in her Journal we can tell that Sarah was also a lover of the arts, an avid traveler, and a caring mother. To learn more about Sarah and her legacy, visit The Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt Project.
Q. (How) are you editing the text?
A. The posts in this newsletter will be transcribed from the most recent edition of the Journal (Bonner, 1959) with as few adjustments and notes as possible. You can find my “Note on the Text” on the “Read-Along” page of The Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt Project, and commentary on certain entries in the annotated map linked in each post.
Q. Can I contact you if I have questions?
A. Yes! You can email me at SarahStoddartHazlittProject@gmail.com.
