By chance I stumbled across this 19th century text unusually entitled Confessions of an English Opium Easter the other day which caught my attention. It was written and published anonymously but it later turns it was written by Thomas de Quincey. He is an interesting character. A friend of William Woodsworth who later bought and lived in Woodsworth's home Dove Cottage in the Lake District. The text is a really good read and well written piece of literature in what was the first ever work published by de Quincey. It gives a unique insight into life in England around the early to mid 19th century and the class divide in British society. De Quincey had got addicted to Opium from taking Laudanum which was a tincture of Opium sold openly over the counter in chemists or "druggists" as they called them back then. The text doesn't go into too much detail about the addiction itself, but rather his dire circumstances leading up to the addiction. He is quite philosophical about his continued use of Opium which he describes over an 8 year period. Well worth reading if you have a few hours to spare. You can find the complete text on Gutenberg.

Posted on 12 January 2012