Royal MS 1 A. XVIII
A 10th-century MS of the Four Gospels in Latin, on vellum throughout, 199 folio-size leaves.
f. 2v
• *LeJ 3: John Leland, Poemata
Autograph Latin verses, beginning ‘Aethelstanus erat nostre pars maxima cure’, inscribed by Leland. Early 16th century.
These verses appear in Stow's transcript (LeJ 2), p. 17.
Many of Leland's Latin epigrams published in Principum, ac illustrium aliquot & eruditorum in Anglia virorum, encomia, trophaea, genethliaca & epithalamia, ed. Thomas Newton (London, 1589). Reprinted in Joannis Lelandi...collectanea, ed. Thomas Hearne, 3rd edition (London, 1774), V, 79-167.
Royal MS 7 C. XVI
A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, 268 leaves, in half red morocco.
f. 137r-8v
• LiD 11: Sir David Lindsay, Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis
A prose summary of the version performed in the Banquetting Hall in the Palace at Linlithgow before James V and Marie de Lorraine on 6 January 1539/40 (Hamer's ‘Version I’), as written by a Protestant Scotsman: (f. 138r-v) a copy, in a secretary hand, headed ‘The copie of the nootes of the interluyde...’, together with (f. 137r-v) a covering letter signed by Sir William Eure, to Thomas Cromwell, dated from Berwick Castle, 26 January [1539/40].
Edited from this MS in Hamer, II, 1-6.
First published (in Hamer's ‘Version III’) in Edinburgh, 1602. Edited by James Kinsley (London, 1954).
The different versions of the play discussed in Anna J. Mill, ‘Representations of Lyndsay's Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis’, PMLA, 47. i (1932), 636-51, with corrigenda in PMLA, 48 (1933), 315-16; in Raymond A. Houk, ‘Versions of Lindsay's Satire of the Three Estates’, PMLA, 55. i (1940), 396-405; in John MacQueen, ‘Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis’, SSL, 3 (1965-6), 129-43; and in Anna Jean Mill, ‘The Original Version of Lindsay's Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis’, SSL, 6 (1968-9), 67-75.
Royal MS 7 D. X
Autograph, on 118 vellum leaves (c.140 x 90 mm.), in crimson velvet, heavily embroidered with silk, gold and silver thread, with the initial ‘H’. A New Year's Gift presented to Henry VIII, with a title-page (f. 1r-v), and a dedicatory prose epistle to the King in Latin (ff. 2r-5r). 30 December 1545.
*ElQ 65: Queen Elizabeth I, Katharine Parr's Prayers and Meditations
The Latin dedicatory epistle edited in Autograph Compositions, pp. 8-9. The whole work edited from this MS in Translations, with a facsimile of ff. 39r and 79r on pp. 128 and 180.
An English translation of this epistle and a facsimile of f. 2r in Collected Works, pp. 8-10. Facsimiles of ff. 5r and 79r in British Museum Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King's Collection, Vol. IV, ed. Sir George Warner and Julius P. Galson (London, 1921), Plate 53. Facsimile examples of the dedicatory epistle and binding in Margaret H. Swain, ‘A New Year's Gift from the Princess Elizabeth’, The Connoisseur, 183 (1973, 258-66 (p. 261) and in Felix Pryor, Elizabeth I: Her Life in Letters (British Library, London, 2003), No. 2, p. 18.
A translation by the young Princess Elizabeth from English into French, Italian and Latin. Translations, pp. 135-99.
Royal MS 8 A. XXI
A 13th-century volume of Latin theological treatises, on vellum throughout, 228 quarto-size leaves.
f. 153v
• ShW 32: William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis (‘Even as the sun with purple-coloured face’)
Copy of lines 131-2, here beginning ‘Fayer flowers that are not gathered in there prime’, inscribed in the MS.
Edited from this MS in The Shakespeare Allusion-Book (London, 1932), I, 216.
First published in London, 1593.
Royal MS 12 A IV
Series of extracts in Latin, headed ‘Sententiæ atque preclara facta Alexandri Seueri’, with a dedication subscribed ‘Filia tua...Maria Arundell’, the ‘Responsum Alexandri’ &c written and signed by ‘Filius tuus...Iohanies Radcliffus’, on 26 octavo pages, bound with three other manuscripts, all Latin translations written as New Year's gifts to her father by Lady Mary Fitzalan, daughter of Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, the present manuscript partly by Arundel's stepson by marriage, John Radcliffe, son of Robert Radcliffe, first Earl of Sussex. c.1553-6.
ElT 2: Thomas Elyot, Image of Governance
Later in the library of John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.
First published in London, 1541.
Royal MS 12 A. XIII
A formal presentation volume of poems, entitled Genethliaca Ducis Eboracensis, composed by boys of Westminster School to celebrate the birth of James, Duke of York, in a single calligraphic hand, on eleven quarto leaves. 1633.
ff. 2v-3r
• CoA 36: Abraham Cowley, ‘Behould the silent night with happy birth’
Copy of Cowley's juvenile composition.
Edited from this MS in Sargeaunt.
First published in John Sargeaunt, Annals of Westminster School (London, 1898), p. 282. Reprinted in Jean Loiseau, Abraham Cowley: Sa Vie, Son Oeuvre (Paris, 1931), pp. 648-9.
Royal MS 12 A. XXXV
A quarto volume of Latin and English poems by Alabaster celebrating the marriage of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, and Frances Howard, on 26 December 1613, in a single cursive italic hand, on 12 quarto leaves. Possibly the presentation copy to James I, with a title-page on f. 1r, ‘Epithalamivm in nvptias honoratissimi Comitis Somersetensis et nobillissimæ virginis Franciscæ Howarde / Deuotissimi amoris et / obseruantiæ Ergo Gulielmus Alabaster dicauit’. 1613.
The title-page bears the name ‘IOHANNES MAURITIVS’: i.e. John Morris (d.1658), antiquary and book collector.
ff. 2r-5v
• AlW 197: William Alabaster, Epithalamivm in nvptias honoratissimi comitis Somersetensis et nobilissimæ virginis Franciscæ Howarde devotissimi amoris et observantiæ ergo, Gvlielmvs Alabaster dicavit (‘‘Quis pudor est’ (inquit constricta fronte Poesis’)
Copy.
Edited from this MS in Sutton.
Sutton, pp. 22-7 (No. XXIII), with translation.
ff. 6r-8r
• AlW 198: William Alabaster, Robertvs Carivs comes Somersetiæ anagramma rectori messem servo seratvs Iacob (‘Ingenii, geniive magis te sidere mirer’)
Copy.
Edited from this MS in Sutton.
Sutton, pp. 28-31 (No. XXIV), with translation.
ff. 8v-11r
• AlW 201: William Alabaster, Francisca Howarde anagramma (‘Fæmineum plantis genus est affine, virorum’)
Copy.
Edited from this MS in Sutton.
Sutton, pp. 32-7 (No. XXV), with translation.
f. 11v
• AlW 204: William Alabaster, Robertvs Carivs Comes Somersetiæ anagramma (‘Like as this Anagram doth take a rise’)
Copyh.
Edited from this MS in Sutton.
Sutton, p. 37 (No. XXVI).
f. 12r
• AlW 206: William Alabaster, Francisca Howarde The Anagram (‘A rose to spring uppon a courtly plaine’)
Copy.
Edited from this MS in Sutton.
Sutton, pp. 37, 39 (No. XXVII).
Royal MS 12 A. L.
Autograph fair copy of a Latin New Year's address presented to Queen Elizabeth on 1 January 1566/7, on seventeen quarto leaves. Copy. 1567.
*WiT 2: Thomas Wilson, Oratio de Clementia
Unpublished.
Royal MS 12 A. LVIII
A formal presentation volume of Latin and English verses composed by 27 boys of Westminster School to compliment Charles I upon his return from Scotland, on 12 quarto leaves. 1633.
f. 2v
• CoA 123: Abraham Cowley, On his Majesties returne out of Scotland (‘Great Charles: there stop you Trumpeters of Fame’)
Copy of Cowley's juvenile composition.
First published in Sylva in Poeticall Blossomes, 2nd edition (London, 1636). Waller, II, 46-7. Collected Works, I, pp. 68-9.
f. 12r
• CoA 173: Abraham Cowley, A Song on the same (‘Hence clouded lookes, hence briny teares’)
Copy of Cowley's juvenile composition.
First published, in Sylva, in Poeticall Blossomes, 2nd edition (London, 1636). Waller, II, 47. Collected Works, I, pp. 69-70.
Royal MS 12 A. LXIII
A formally written manuscript of a political tract, advocating an offensive alliance against the Turks, dedicated and evidently presented to Henry VIII, 48 folio leaves, in contemporary olive morocco with royal arms (rebacked). Signature of ‘George Gascoyne’ on f. 48r. Early 16th century.
*GaG 11: George Gascoigne, Ivlii Clavdii Igvini Oratio Hortatoria
Other ownership inscriptions by ‘Arthur Bourchier’, ‘Jasperus Sherniganus’, and ‘John Hobart’.
Royal MS 12 A. LXIV
A volume of Latin complimentary verses by 98 members of the University of Oxford, entitled Charites Oxonienses siue Laetitia Musarum, presented to King Christian IV of Denmark by the University in 1606. 1606.
f. 44r
• KiH 802: Henry King, ‘Non Dani vt Danai: istorum vel dona timentur’
Copy of an untitled Latin quatrain by ‘H.King’.
This MS recorded in Crum, p. 6.
Unpublished.
Royal MS 12 A. LXIX
A folio volume comprising two speeches in Latin at Queen Elizabeth's visit to Cambridge in August 1564, in a neat italic hand, six folio leaves, in half red leather on marbled boards. c.1564.
Fuller Hist Camb p. 138. see Sloane 401, f. 38. Nichols Progresses 1788 I p. 212 5th pagination.
f. 1r-v
• ElQ 148: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth's Latin Oration at Cambridge University, August 7, 1564
Copy, headed ‘Oratio Serenissimæ Principis, D. Elisabethæ Angliæ franciæ & Reginæ, habita Cantabrigiæ...anno Domini 1564o. Mensis Augusti 10.’
Beginning ‘Etsi foeminilis pudor, (subditi fidelissimi, et Academia clarissima) rudem et incultum sermonem prohibet...’, in Autograph Compositions, pp. 123-5. An English translation, beginning ‘Although feminine modesty, and most faithful subjects and most celebrated university, prohibits the delivery of a rude and uncultivated speech...’, in Collected Works, Speech 7, pp. 87-9.
Royal MS 12 B. V
A quarto commonplace book, with entries largely under headings, in Latin and English, 163 leaves (including many blanks), in half-morocco. Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Johnes Mauritius Ano...1604’: i.e. John Morris (d.1658), antiquary and book collector, probable compiler. 1604-5.
f. 4r
• MrT 10: Sir Thomas More, Epigrammata. 235. In pvellam divaricatis tibiis eqvitantem (‘Ergo, puella, uiri quis te negat esse capacem’)
Copy, headed ‘Thomæ Mori equitis aurati epigramma in mulierem diuaricatis pedibus equitante’.
Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 252-3, with English translation.
f. 4r
• RaW 345.5: Sir Walter Ralegh, ‘The word of deniall, and the letter of fifty’
Copy, headed ‘Q. Eliz. that late died 1602’, and introduced in the margin ‘The queene bidding .2. courtiers namely Sr walter Rawly & Sr Andrew Nowell to rime they being enemies of each other. Sr Andrewe began / Hard of disgesture, word of disgrace / Then quoth S'r Walter’.
First published, as ‘The Answer’ to ‘A Riddle’ (‘Th'offence of the stomach, with the word of disgrace’), in Works (1829), VIII, 736. Latham, pp. 47-8. Rudick, Nos 19A, 19B and 19C (three versions, pp. 28-9).
f. 7r
• BcF 205.2: Francis Bacon, Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral
Extracts, headed ‘Sr fra: Bacons Essayes’.
Ten Essayes first published in London, 1597. 38 Essaies published in London, 1612. 58 Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall published in London, 1625. Spedding, VI, 365-591. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. XV (Oxford, 2000).
f. 17r
• BcF 54.927: Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
Extracts.
First published, as The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and aduancement of Learning, diuine and humane, in London, 1605. Spedding, III, 253-491. Edited by Michael Kiernan, The Oxford Francis Bacon, Vol. IV (Oxford, 2000).
Royal MS 14 A. V.
Autograph translation into Italian of the 1603 edition of King James's treatise, without the preface, on 68 quarto leaves, bound with an independent Italian tract (Royal MS 14 A. IV). Possibly a MS presented to James I. c.1603.
*FloJ 2: John Florio, James I, Basilicon Doron
This MS recorded in Yates, pp. 248, 345.
Unpublished.
Royal MS 14 A. VI
MS of a translation into Italian by Sebastiano Roccataglia of Genoa, with a dedication to Thomas Copley (1532-84), 106 quarto leaves, dated from London, 23 June 1559. 1559.
TiW 3: William Tindale, The Obedience of a Christian Man
First published in Marburg, 1528.
Royal MS 17 A. XXII
A formal copy of the seven Penitential Psalms and their prologues, on vellum throughout, 37 quart-size leaves. Mid-16th century.
WyT 253: Sir Thomas Wyatt, Penitential Psalms (‘Love to gyve law vnto his subiect hertes’)
Inscrined name (f. 1v) of ‘Marie Brograue’.
This MS collated in Muir & Thomson (with a facsimile of two pages facing p. 116), and in Harrier.
First published in Certayne psalmes (London, 1549). Muir & Thomson, pp. 98-125.
Royal MS 17 A. XLIV
Copy, in the accomplished italic hand of the Queen's amanuensis Thomas Windebank, untitled, on twelve quarto leaves, bound with two unrelated MSS (Royal MSS 17 A. XLII-III). This is the copy made for the Queen by Windebank referred to in his subscription to ElQ 57. [11 November 1598].
ElQ 56: Queen Elizabeth I, Plutarch's ‘On Curiosity’ (‘Perchance hit might be best to shun at al that home’)
Edited from this MS in Selected Works.
Elizabeth's verse translation of Desiderius Erasmus's Latin version of Plutarch's De curiositate, in sixteen chapters. First published in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings, ed. Caroline Pemberton, Early English Text Society, 113 (London, 1899), pp. 121-41. Bradner, pp. 51-68. Selected Works, pp. 296-328. Translations (2), pp. 390-447, with facing modernized spelling version.
Royal MS 17 A. LVI
A quarto volume of works by Francis Bacon, in a professional secretary hand, with occasional use of italic, 103 leaves, in modern half brown morocco. Possibly a manuscript presented by Bacon to James I. c.1608.
ff. 1r-61v
• *BcF 99: Francis Bacon, Arguments of Law. Argument in the Case of the Post-Nati of Scotland
Copy, with one or two corrections possibly (but not clearly) in Bacon's hand.
Edited from this MS in Spedding, VII, 637-79.
First published in Three Speeches of The Right Honorable, Sir Francis Bacon (London, 1641). Spedding, VII, 637-79.
ff. 62r-95r
• *BcF 355: Francis Bacon, Speech(es)
Copy of Bacon's speech (on naturalization) in the House of Commons, 17 February 1606/7, with one or two corrections possibly in Bacon's hand.
ff. 96r-103r
• BcF 356: Francis Bacon, Speech(es)
Copy of Bacon's speech concerning the union of laws, 28 March 1607.
Royal MS 17 B. XX
Copy in the hand of an amanuensis, with occasional autograph corrections and insertions in Donne's hand, on 36 quarto leaves. Evidently the MS made (at the King's command) for presentation to James I [1622].
*DnJ 4044.5: John Donne, Sermon on the Gunpowder Plot preached at St Paul's on 5 November 1622, on Lamentations 4.20
Complete facsimile and transcription in Shami edition. A preliminary discussion of the MS, with facsimile examples, is in Jeanne Shami, ‘Donne's 1622 Sermon on the Gunpowder plot: His Original Presentation Manuscript Discovered’, EMS, 5 (1995), 63-85. The discovery first announced, with a facsimile example, in The Guardian, 26 May 1994, p. 6.
First published in Fifty Sermons (London, 1649). No. XLIII. Potter & Simpson, IV (1959). Jeanne Shami, John Donne's 1622 Gunpowder Plot Sermon: A Parallel-Text Edition (Pittsburgh, PA, 1996).
Royal MS 17 B. XXII
Autograph fair copy, on 88 quarto leaves, appended (ff. 314r-407r) to a printed exemplum of Francis Godwin, Bishop of Hereford, A Catalogue of Bishops of England (London, 1601). Presented to Prince Henry, the remains of the original leather binding bearing his arms. The printed volume (ff. 1r-279r) contains Harington's extensive autograph marginal annotations, with an index (ff. 230r-301v) in the hand of an manuensis and ‘A table Alphabeticall annexed to the Booke of the Catalogue of Bishops’ (ff. 302r-13r) also in Harington's hand. 18 February 1607/8.
*HrJ 328: Sir John Harington, A Supplie or Addicion to the Catalogue of Bishops, to ye Yeare 1608
Edited probably from this MS in Nugae Antiquae (London, 1804), II, 1-278. Edited from this MS in Miller's edition. Also discussed in R.H. Miller, ‘Sir John Harington's A Supplie or Addicion to the Catalogue of Bishops, to the Yeare 1608: Composition and Text’, SB, 30 (1977), 145-61. Facsimile example in R.H. Miller, ‘Sir John Harington's Manuscripts in Italic’, SB, 40 (1987), 101-6 (p. 105).
First published, as A Briefe View of the State of the Church of England, edited by John Chetwind (London, 1653). Edited by R.H. Miller (Potomac, 1979).
Royal MS 17 B. XXVII
Copy, in a single secretary hand, untitled, 151 quarto leaves, in modern half brown morocco. Early 17th century.
MrT 63: Sir Thomas More, Cresacre More's Life of Sir Thomas More
First published c.1626.
Royal MS 17 B. XXXI
A MS of two works (in part) by Ben Jonson, 8 quarto leaves (plus blanks). 1604-5.
f. 1r
• JnB 690: Ben Jonson, A Panegyre on the King's Opening of Parliament. 19 March 1603/4
The formal title-page, in roman lettering, of a copy of the masque sent by Jonson to James I (the rest of the text now missing), entitled ‘The Teares of the Howers Ivstice, Peace, & Lawe. wept into the bosome of the best K...1604’.
This MS recorded in Herford & Simpson, VII, 69.
First published together with B. Jon: His Part of King James his Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through his Honorable Cittie of London (London, 1604). Herford & Simpson, VII, 111-17.
ff. 2r-8v
• *JnB 683: Ben Jonson, The Masque of Blackness
Copy, in the neat scretary hand of an amanuensis, with Jonson's autograph signature at the end, entitled (f. 2r) ‘The twelvth nights Reuells’, evidently the copy submitted to Queen Anne for the performance on 6 January 1604/5.
Edited from this MS in Herford & Simpson, VII, 195-201. Discussed in Gabriel Heaton, Writing and Reading Royal Entertainments (Oxford 2010), pp. 207-15, with a facsimile of f. 4r on p. 211.
First published together with The Masque of Beauty (London, [1608]). Herford & Simpson, VII, 161-80.
Royal MS 17 B. L.
A quarto volume of papers relating to Robert, Earl of Essex, in two secretary hands, 30 leaves. Early 17th century.
f. 2r
• EsR 33: Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, Verses made by the Earle of Essex in his Trouble (‘The waies on earth have paths and turnings knowne’)
Copy, headed ‘Verses made by the Earle of Essex in his Trouble’, subscribed ‘R: E: E:’.
Edited from this MS in May, Poems and Courtier Poets.
May, Poems, p. 47. May, Courtier Poets, p. 254. EV 24641.
f. 2v
• CmT 94: Thomas Campion, ‘The man of life upright’
Copy, headed ‘Verses made by Mr Fra: Bacon’.
This MS collated in Davis, p. 493. A 19th-century transcript made by Samuel Sanders is at Trinity College, Cambridge, MS R. 2. 21 (James 521), (3).
First published in A Booke of Ayres (London, 1601), No. xviii. Davis, p. 43 (also p. 60).
f. 13r
• BcF 593: Francis Bacon, Letter(s)
Copy of a letter by Bacon, to Queen Elizabeth.
ff. 28r-30r
• EsR 187: Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, Meditation
Copy, headed ‘Meditacon’, and indexed (in the table of contents on f. 1v in another hand) as ‘The Earle of Essex Meditacon’.
A prose meditation beginning ‘Since that tyme the sonne hath gone about the world and inspired liefe...’ and ending ‘...wch is noe guift, except ye ptie wch psenteth the guift be given wth it.’ Unpublished?
Royal MS 17 C. XXXII
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with a title-page, as ‘By his Maties Attorney Generall of Ireland’, 91 quarto leaves, bound with another tract (Royal MS 17 C XXXI), in modern half-morocco. Possibly a MS presented by Davies to the dedicatee, King James I. c.1612.
DaJ 239: Sir John Davies, A Discovery of the State of Ireland
A 19th-century transcript of this MS is in the British Library, Add. MS 33496.
A treatise, dedicated to James I, beginning ‘During the time of my service in Ireland (which began in the first yeare of his Majesties raigne) I haue visited all the Prouinces...’. First published as A Discoverie of the Trve Cavses why Ireland was neuer entirely subdued...vntill...his Maiesties happie Raigne ([London], 1612). Grosart, II, 1-168.
Royal MS 17 C. XXXIV
Copy, in a professional secretary and italic hand (the same as in BrN 99), with Breton's autograph dedication to the Duke of Lennox, on ten quarto leaves. [1605-13].
*BrN 39: Nicholas Breton, An Invective against Treason (‘Oh what a wicked wretched worlde is this?’)
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (r). Discussed in Robertson, pp. cxii-cxiv (where it is mistakenly described as entirely autograph). Facsimiles of the dedication in Grosart and in Greg, English Literary Autographs, plate XXXV (c).
First published as The Hate of Treason, with a Touch of the Late Treason (London, 1616).
Royal MS 17 D. XIV
A folio volume of works by Sir Thomas More, in a professional secretary hand, with some corrections or emendations possibly in another hand, probably produced by members of the More circle, i + 455 leaves, in modern half red morocco gilt. c.1550-7.
Later in the library of John Theyer (1598-1673), antiquary.
ff. 5r-192r
• MrT 30: Sir Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort
Copy.
This MS collated in Yale, with a facsimile of f. 180v in Plate VIII after p. 320.
First published in London, 1553. Yale, Vol. 12.
ff. 193r-314v
• MrT 44: Sir Thomas More, A Treatise upon the Passion
Copy, lacking the brief introduction and imperfect at the end.
This MS collated in Yale, with a facsimile of f. 314v facing p. 160.
First published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1270-1349. Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 1-177.
ff. 315r-24r
• MrT 38: Sir Thomas More, A Treatise to Receive the Blessed Body
Copy.
This MS collated in Yale.
First published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1264-9. Yale, Vol. 13, pp. 189-204.
ff. 325r-75v
• MrT 20: Sir Thomas More, De tristitia Christi
Copy.
This MS collated in Yale. Facsimile of f. 327v in Yale, Vol. 13, facing p. xxiv.
First published, as Expositio passionis Domini, in Thomae Mori...omnia...latina opera (Louvain, 1565). Mary Basset's English translation, An exposicion of a parte of the passion of our saviour Iesus Christe, published in Workes (London, 1557), pp. 1350-1404. Yale, Vol. 14, Parts I & II.
ff. 436v-7v
• MrT 15: Sir Thomas More, Assertio quod omne perjurium sit mortale peccatum
Copy.
Edited from this MS in Yale, Vol. 6, Part II, with a facsimile of f. 437v facing p. 768.
A Latin meditation on the meaning of perjury, written while in the Tower (April 1534-July 1535), and relating to A Dialogue concerning Heresies, Book III, Chapter 7. Yale, Vol. 6, Part II, pp. 764-7, ed. R.S. Sylvester, with an English translation.
f. 453r
• MrT 1: Sir Thomas More, Davy the Diser (‘Longe was I ladye lucke your seruynge man’)
Copy.
Edited principally from this MS in Yale, Vol. 1, with a facsimile on p. 46.
First published in Workes (London, 1557), p. 1433. Yale, Vol. 1, p. 46.
f. 453r
• MrT 5: Sir Thomas More, Lewes ye Loste Lover (‘Ey flatteringe fortune, looke thow neuer so faire’)
Copy.
Edited from this MS in Yale, Vol. 1, with a facsimile on p. 44.
First published in Workes (London, 1557), p. 1432. Yale, Vol. 1, p. 45.
These verses also appear in most of the manuscripts of William Roper's Life of More: see MrT 87 and the note on them in Yale, Vol. 1, pp. xcvii-cxix.
f. 453r-v
• MrT 12.5: Sir Thomas More, Epigrammata. 278. Tetrastichon ab ipso conscriptum triennio antequam mortem oppeteret (‘Moraris, si sit spes hic tibi longa morandi’)
Copy, untitled.
Facsimile in Yale, Vol. 1, p. 44.
More's verses punning on his own name. First published in Doctissima D. Thomæ Mori...Epistola (Louvain, 1568). Yale, Vol. 3, Part II, pp. 302-3, with English translation.
f. 453v
• MrT 13.2: Sir Thomas More, Epigrammata. 278 [addendum]. Aliud eiusdem Distichon eodem conscriptum tempore (‘Qui memor es Mori, longæ tibi tempora vitæ’)
Copy, untitled.
Facsimile in Yale, Vol. 1, p. 44.
More's epitaph for his own tomb, an addendum to Epigrammata. 278. Yale, Volume III, Part 2, pp. 302-3, with English translation.
Royal MS 17 D. XVI
Autograph calligraphic MS, on rectos only, iv + 63 leaves (276 x 180 mm.), in crimson satin embroidered. A presentation MS to Prince Charles, with prose Dedication to him in English, in Roman and italic scripts, with a series of 54 emblems (dated 1622-3), a portrait of de Montenay, and a self-portrait, as well as some decoration. 1624.
*InE 8: Esther Inglis, [Emblemes Chrestiens] Ce livre contenant cinquante Emblemes Chrestiens premierement inventez par la noble damoiselle Georgette de Montenay en France, forts plaisants & delectables a lire & voir lesquels sont, a present, escrits, tirez, et tracez, par la main et plume de moy Esther Inglis l'an de mon aage cinquante et trois. A Lislebourg en Ecosse, l'an 1624
Scott-Elliot & Yeo, No. 54 (pp. 80-3), with a facsimile of the portrait page (f. 7r) as Plate 30 (between pp. 42 and 43). Facsimile of the binding in Cyril Davenport, English Embroidered Bookbindings (London, 1899), plate 37.
Based selectively on Georgette de Montenay, Emblemes ou devises chrestiennes (Frankfurt, 1619, and other editions), the text variously in French, English, Latin and Greek, with verses to Esther Inglis by Melville, Rollock, and Johnston.
Royal MS 18 A. XX
Copy, in the hand of an amanuensis, with Massinger's autograph signature. January 1634/5.
*MsP 8: Philip Massinger, Serio, sed Serio. To the right ho:ble my most singular good Lord and Patron Philip Earle of Pembrooke and Montgomerye, Lord Chamberlaine of his Ma:ties Houshould &c. Vppon The deplorable and vntimely death of his late truely noble Sonne Charles Lord Herbert &c (‘T'was ffate, nott want of dutie did mee wronge’)
Edited from this MS in Coxeter and in Edwards & Gibson.
First published in The Dramatic Works of Mr. Philip Massinger, ed. Thomas Coxeter (London, 1759). Edwards & Gibson, IV, 418-20.
Royal MS 18 A. XXXI
Copy, partly autograph, on five quarto leaves, presented to King James I on or shortly after 31 July 1606. 1606.
*MrJ 3: John Marston, The Argument of the Spectacle presented to the Sacred Maiestys of great Brittan, and Denmark as they Passed through London
Edited from this MS in Bullen (1887). Discussed in R. E. Brettle, ‘Notes on John Marston’, RES, NS 13 (1962), 390-3 (p. 391). Facsimile examples in Greg, English Literary Autographs, Plate XVIII(b-c); in DLB, vol. 58, Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists, ed. Fredson Bowers (Detroit, 1987), p. 163; and in James Knowles, ‘Marston, Skipwith and The Entertainment at Ashby’, EMS, 3 (1992), 137-92 (pp. 160-1).
First published in Bullen (1887), III, 405-11. Davenport, pp. 183-8.
Royal MS 18 A. XXXIV
A quarto MS in the italic hand of an amanuensis, with autograph sidenotes and revisions by Howard, signed by him ‘HNorthampton’, and dated ‘March 2’, headed ‘To the Kings most excellent and Sacred Matie:’, fourteen leaves, bound with three other Royal MSS in modern half-morocco. Probably the MS presented to James I. c.1609.
*HoH 94: Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, Report of the Navy Commission to James I
Unpublished abstract of the Commission's findings, addressed to King James I, beginning ‘The greatest happienes that your Mats. Affectionate and Humble. 3 can either without of his owne duetifull desire, or expect from your Special grace...’.
Royal MS 18 A. XLV
Autograph fair copy, on twenty folio leaves, presented to Prince Henry. 1609.
*JnB 685: Ben Jonson, The Masque of Queens
Edited from this MS in Herford & Simpson. The complete MS reproduced in facsimile, with Inigo Jones's designs, in London, 1930, ed. Guy Chapman.
Facsimile pages also in Facsimiles of Royal, Historical and Literary Autographs in the British Museum (1899), plate 94; in Shakespeare's England (Oxford, 1917), I, facing p. 292; in British Museum Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King's Collections, Vol. IV, ed. Sir George Warner and Julius P. Galson (London, 1921), Plate 103; in Greg, English Literary Autographs, plate XXIV (b-c); in Herford & Simpson, VII, facing p. 290; in Petti, English Literary Hands, No. 46; in Hilton Kelliher and Sally Brown, English Literary Manuscripts (British Library, 1986), p. 27; in DLB, vol. 62, Elizabethan Dramatists, ed. Fredson Bowers (Detroit, 1987), p. 151; in Mark Bland, ‘Jonson, Biathanatos and the Interpretation of Manuscript Evidence’, SB, 51 (1998), 154-82 (p. 161); and in Chris Fletcher et al., 1000 Years of English Literature: A Treasury of Literary Manuscripts (British Library, 2003), p. 61.
See also James K. Bracken, ‘Ben Jonson's “y” Spellings in the Masque of Queens Holograph’, AEB, NS. 1 (1987), 17-19 and his ‘The Preference for “y” Spellings in Ben Jonson's Autographs’, AEB, NS. 1 (1987), 237-246.
First published in London, 1609. Herford & Simpson, VII, 265-317.
Royal MS 18 A. XLVII
MS of six poems by Gorges to the Stuart Royal Family, on 5 small folio leaves of vellum (ff. 2-4) and paper (ff. 1, 5), in modern calf. The author's presentation MS to James I as a New Year's Gift, in the calligraphic italic script of an amanuensis, with decoration, the verses on ff. 2, 3, 4 written in gold, with arms and emblems in gold and colours, f. 1r signed by Gorges himself (f. 1r). 1 January 1609/10.
f. 1r
• *GgA 43: Sir Arthur Gorges, An new Yeares guift to the Kings Majestie alluding to the time that hee Was proclaimed heere in England 24th March (‘When time our styled yeare did end’)
Copy, with Gorges's autograph signature.
Edited from this MS in Brydges. Collated in Sandison.
First published in Restituta, ed. Sir Egerton Brydges (1816), IV, 506-9. Sandison, No. [101], p. 126.
f. 2r
• GgA 101: Sir Arthur Gorges, Verses to bee sett over the Rose and Thisle enterlaced together with the Harpe in the middle of the Wreath. And the kings Moat over it which is ... (‘Devynelie did your Royall Moate presage’)
Copy, in gilt, in an oval beneath the coloured royal arms.
Edited from this MS in Brydges. Collated in Sandison.
First published in Restituta, ed. Sir E. Brydges (1816), IV, 506-9. Sandison, No. [102], p. 127.
f. 3r
• GgA 98: Sir Arthur Gorges, Verses of the Queenes Armes beinge the three Lyons of Denmarke (‘Perfections Queene, these Lyons three’)
Copy, in gilt, in a rectangle beneath the Queen's coloured arms.
Edited from this MS in Brydges. Collated in Sandison.
First published in Restituta, ed. Sir E. Brydges (1816), IV, 506-9. Sandison, No. [103], pp. 127-8.
f. 4r
• GgA 103: Sir Arthur Gorges, Verses to bee sett over the three Crownd plumes the Princes Armores (‘Bellona vaunts that this brave Prince to her belongd’)
Copy, in gilt, in the first of two rectangles beneath the Prince of Wales's coloured arms.
Edited from this MS in Brydges. Collated in Sandison.
First published in Restituta, ed. Sir E. Brydges (1816), IV, 506-9. Sandison, No. [104], p. 128.
f. 4r
• GgA 2.5: Sir Arthur Gorges, Another of the same Armories (‘Whylome this subject Crowne, a soveraigne crowne pursu'd’)
Copy, in gilt, in the second of two rectangles beneath the Prince of Wales's coloured arms.
Edited from this MS in Brydges. Collated in Sandison.
First published in Restituta, ed. Sir E. Brydges (1816), IV, 506-9. Sandison, No. [105], pp. 128-9.
f. 5r
• GgA 9: Sir Arthur Gorges, The Conclusion to the Kings Majestie (‘Of manie now that sound with hopes consort’)
Copy, dated ‘1o: Janua: 1609’.
Edited from this MS in Brydges. Collated in Sandison.
First published in Restituta, ed. Sir E. Brydges (1816), IV, 506-9. Sandison, No. [106], p. 129.
Royal MS 18 A. XLVIII
A formal copy, in a professional italic and secretary hand, the English text (probably by Garrett) accompanied by Gascoigne's translations into Latin, Italian, and French, prepared as a New Year's Gift for Queen Elizabeth, 1 January 1575/6, with a dedicatory letter signed by Gascoigne (f. 6v) and pen and ink drawings of Gascoigne presenting his book to the Queen, and other emblems, 37 quarto leaves, in 18th-century red morocco gilt. 1575-6.
*GaG 4: George Gascoigne, The Tale of Hemetes the Heremyte
Edited from this MS, with the drawings, in Cunliffe, II, 473-510. Facsimile of the dedicatory epistle in Greg, English Literary Autographs, Plate XXXVII(d). Discussed, with facsimiles of ff. 1r, 6v, 21r, and 22r, in Gabriel Heaton, ‘The Queen and the Hermit: “The Tale of Hemetes” (1575)’, in Elizabeth I and the Culture of Writing, ed. Peter Beal and Grace Ioppolo (British Library, 2007), pp. 87-114, and, with a facsimile of f. 1r, in Gabriel Heaton, Writing and Reading Royal Entertainments (Oxford 2010). Four facsimile pages in Cunliffe, II, 472, 485, 494, and 502. Four facsimile pages in Gillian Austen, George Gascoigne (Cambridge, 2008), Figures 5-8, after p. 83.
First published (English and Latin) in Synesius, Bishop of Cyrene, A Paradoxe ([London], 1579). Cunliffe, II, 473-510. In the dedicatory epistle Gascoigne specifically disclaims authorship of the English version, which originally formed part of the royal entertainment at Woodstock in September 1575 and was probably written by Robert Garrett, Reader in Rhetoric at St John's College, Oxford.
Royal MS 18A. LVII
A formal copy of a work comprising seven poems, or ‘graces’, in a professional secretary and roman hand (the same as in BrN 39), 39 quarto leaves, in modern brown calf gilt. With a formal title-page, the heading ‘A Poeme vpon the praise of Vertue’, and dedication ‘To his Sacred Maiestie’ (James I), the work subscribed by the scribe (f. 39v) ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo: / Nicholas Breton / Flos Calami, Flatus Dei; / J: C.’, this being probably a presentation copy to the King. c.1603-5.
BrN 99: Nicholas Breton, The Soules immortall crowne (‘Oh my deere Muse, that neuer could'st endure’)
This MS collated in Grosart (and mistakenly described as autograph in Grosart and in Robertson, p. cx).
First published in London, 1605. Grosart (1879), I (o).
Royal MS 18 A. LXI
Copy, written as a New Year's gift for Queen Elizabeth, complete with dedication, preface, &c., the references to her in gilt, 1 + 38 quarto leaves, with remains of early vellum binding, part of a 14th-century Latin lectionary. Presented to the Queen on 1 January 1576/7. 1576-77.
GaG 3: George Gascoigne, The Grief of Joye (‘The griefe of joye, in worthie wise to write’)
Edited from this MS in Hazlitt. Facsimile of the dedication (f. 3) in Alfred Fairbank and Bruce Dickins, The Italic Hand in Tudor Cambridge, Cambridge Bibliographical Society Monograph No. 5 (London, 1962), Plate 20.
First published in The Complete Poems of George Gascoigne, ed. W. C. Hazlitt (London, 1869-70), II, 253-302. Cunliffe, II, 511-57.
Royal MS 18 A. LXIV
Autograph fair copy of Leland's Latin verses, together with Nicholas Udall's autograph English and Latin verses (UdN 1), on sixteen quarto leaves. This is presumably the copy presented to the Queen herself. 1533.
*LeJ 8: John Leland, Verses made at the Coronation of Queen Anne
Edited from this MS in Nichols and in F.J. Furnivall, ‘Leland's and Udall's Verses before the Coronation of Anne Boleyn’, Ballads from Manuscripts, Ballad Society (London, 1870), I, 364-401. Facsimile of one page (Leland's hand in the lower half) in Alfred Fairbank and Berthold Wolpe, Renaissance Handwriting: An Anthology of Italic Scripts (London, 1960), Plate 23. J.P. Collier's transcript of the MS (c.1850) is in the Folger, MS N. b. 48.
Verses made for the coronation procession of Queen Anne Boleyn, 31 May 1533. First published in John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, I (London, 1788), i-xx.
Royal MS 18 A. LXIV
Autograph fair copy of Udall's English and Latin verses, together with John Leland's autograph Latin verses (LeJ 8), on sixteen quarto leaves. This is presumably the copy presented to the Queen herself. 1533.
*UdN 1: Nicholas Udall, [Verses made at the Coronation of Queen Anne]
Edited from this MS in Nichols and in F.J. Furnivall, ‘Leland's and Udall's Verses before the Coronation of Anne Boleyn’, Ballads from Manuscripts, Ballad Society (London, 1870), I, 364-401. Facsimile of one page (Udall's hand in the upper half) in Alfred Fairbank and Berthold Wolpe, Renaissance Handwriting: An Anthology of Italic Scripts (London, 1960), Plate 23. Facsimile of f. 11v in IELM, I.ii (1980), Facsimile XXXII (p. 550). J.P. Collier's transcript of the MS (c.1850) is in the Folger, MS N. b. 48.
Verses made for the coronation procession of Queen Anne Boleyn, 31 May 1533. First published in John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, I (London, 1788), i-xx.
Royal MS 18 A. LXX
A fair copy, in a calligraphic hand, on 12 small folio leaves, rectos only. Originally prepared for presentation to James I, who died on 27 March before the entertainment was performed, and afterwards presented to Charles I (but never performed). [December 1624-March 1625].
BeJ 56: Sir John Beaumont, The Theatre of Apollo
First published. as The Theatre of Apollo an entertainment written by Sir John Beaumont in 1625, ed. W.W. Greg (London, 1926).
Royal MS 18 A. LXXII
Autograph fair copy of a 58-stanza version, with a formal title-page ‘A Panegyrick congratulatorie To the Kinges most sacred maiestie / by Samuel Danyel’, on nine folio leaves (plus blanks), in modern quarter brown morocco. Presented to King James at Burley-on-the-Hill, Rutland, on or shortly after 23 April 1603. 1603.
*DaS 21: Samuel Daniel, A Panegyrike Congratulatorie to the King (‘Loe here the glory of a greater day’)
This MS recorded in Grosart. Facsimile of part of f. 3v in Greg, English Literary Autographs, plate XXI(c). Facsimile of f. 2r in IELM, I.ii, Facsimile IX (p. 200). Facsimile example in Pitcher, Brotherton MS, p. 180.
First published (in a 73-stanza version) in London, 1603. Grosart, I, 139-67.
Royal MS 18 B. VI
A folio composite volume of Scottish state papers and tracts, chiefly relating to Mary Queen of Scots, in various hands, 301 leaves, in modern half-morocco.
ff. 263r-5r
• ElQ 123: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth's Conversations with the Scottish Ambassador, William Maitland, Laird of Lethington, September and October 1561
Copy, in a Scottish secretary hand, headed ‘The discourse of the laird of Lethingtouns Negociatioun wth the quene of ingland...’, imperfect at the end. Mid-late 16th century.
Edited in part from this MS in Collected Works.
Collected Works, Speech 4, pp. 60-70.
ff. 270r-1v
• ElQ 124: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth's Conversations with the Scottish Ambassador, William Maitland, Laird of Lethington, September and October 1561
Copy, in a Scottish secretary hand, imperfect, lacking its first leaf. c.1561.
Edited in part from this MS in Collected Works.
Collected Works, Speech 4, pp. 60-70.
Royal MS 18 B. XI
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, with some deletions and alterations, headed (f. 3r) ‘An answer to the articles of the comoners of Devonshere and Cornewall declaring to the same howe they haue ben sedused by Evell psons...’, inscribed (f. 1r) in another hand ‘An aunswer by Udall to ye comons of devonshire & Cornewall’, on 40 folio leaves, in (remains of) a recycled 13th-century biblical text on vellum, bound with two other tracts (Royal MSS 18 B. XII-XIII) in modern half morocco. c.1549.
UdN 2: Nicholas Udall, An Answer to the articles of the commoners of Devonsheir and Cornewall
Later in the library of John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.
Edited from this MS in the Camden Society edition (1884).
First published in Troubles connected with the Prayer Book of 1549, ed. Nicholas Pocock, Camden Society, NS 37 (London, 1884), 141-93. G. Scheurweghs attributes this work to Philip Nichol in ‘On An Answer to the Articles of the Rebels of Cornwall and Devonshire’, BMQ, 8 (1933), 24-5; but see John Bale, Scriptorum illustrium Maioris Brytanniae catalogus (Basle, 1557), p. 717; William Peery, ‘Udall as Timeserver, Part II’, N&Q, 194 (2 April 1949), 138-41; William L. Edgerton, Nicholas Udall (New York, 1965), pp. 52, 118.
Royal MS 18 B. XXIV
A folio composite volume of four treatises, in different hands, 162 leaves, in brown calf gilt.
Later in the library of John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.
ff. 47r-78r
• AsR 3: Roger Ascham, The Schoolmaster
Copy of an early version of the first book only, in a secretary and italic hand.
Fol. 47r inscribed (partly torn away) ‘[ ]ams institution [ ] hys chylde’ and ‘Lumley’. c.1564.
This MS described in George B. Parks, ‘The First Draft of Ascham's Scholemaster’, Huntington Library Quarterly, 1 (1937-8), 313-27. Discussed in Ryan, Roger Ascham, pp. 331-2.
First published in London, 1570. Ed. Lawrence V. Ryan (Ithaca, NY, 1967).
ff. 140r-62r
• CtR 508: Sir Robert Cotton, Twenty-four Argvments, Whether it be more expedient to suppress Popish Practises against the due Allegeance of His Majesty, by the Strict Execution touching Jesuits and Seminary Preists? Or, to restraine them to Close Prisons, during life, if no Reformation follow?
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, headed ‘Considerations for the repressinge of the Encrease of Preests Jesuits and Recusants without Drawinge of Blood written by Sr Robert Cotton Kt. & Barontt:’. c.1620s.
Tract beginning ‘I am not ignorant, that this latter age hath brought forth a swarm of busie heads...’, dated 11 August 1613. First published in two editions, as respectively Seriovs Considerations for Repressing of the Increase of Iesvites and A Treatise against Recusants (both London, 1641). Cottoni posthuma (1651), pp. [109]-159.
Royal MS 18 C. XXV
Copy of the tragic version, in a professional hand, including three prologues, on 26 folio leaves. Possibly a copy presented to the King for the performance at Court about Christmas-time 1637. c.1637-8.
SuJ 158: John Suckling, Aglaura
This MS collated in Beaurline and described pp. 256-8. Also described in W.W. Greg, Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses, 2 vols (Oxford, 1931), I, 332-3.
First published in London, 1638. Beaurline, Plays, pp. 33-119.
Royal MS 18 D. II
A folio composite volume of 15th- and 16th-century works by John Lydgate and others, on vellum throughout, i + 212 leaves.
Once owned by Henry Fitzalan (1511?-80), twelfth Earl of Arundel, nephew of Henry Algernon Percy (d.1527), fifth Earl of Northumberland. Later in the library of Fitzalan's son-in-law John, first Baron Lumley (c.1533-1609), collector.
Discussed, with three pages of facsimiles, in Pat Naylor, ‘Scribes and Secretaries of the Percy Earls of Northumberland, with Special Reference to William Peeris and Royal MS 18 D. II’, EMS, 15 (2009), 166-84.
ff. 163r-4r
• SkJ 22.1: John Skelton, A Treatise bitwene Trouth and Information (‘The knowlege of God passyth comparison’)
A formal copy.
First published in Pithy plesaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton (London, 1568). The poem, generally accepted as by William Cornish, is reprinted in Nan Cooke Carpenter, ‘Skelton's Hand in William Cornish's Musical Parable’, CL, 22 (1970), 157-72. It is here argued that ‘The poem is obviously not Skelton's’, but ‘there are signs that the laureate probably had a hand in its composition’.
ff. 165r-6v
• SkJ 12: John Skelton, Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaunce of the most honorable Erle of Northumberlande (‘I wayle, I wepe, I sobbe, I sigh ful sore’)
A formal copy, possibly in the hand of William Peeris, heavily decorated and with colouring, preceded by a dedication, ‘Poeta Skelton laureatus libellum suum metrice alloquitur’, beginning ‘Ad dominum properato meum, mea pagina, Percy’, and ending with ‘Tetrastichon Skelton, laureati ad Magistrum Rukshaw’, beginning ‘Accipe nunc demum, doctor celeberrime Rukshaw’. c.1516-23.
This MS collated in Dyce. Facsimiles of f. 166v in Naylor, p. 172, and in Carlson, p. 27.
Canon, C18, pp. 6-7. First published in Pithy pleasaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton (London, 1568). Dyce, I, 6-14. Scattergood, pp. 29-35.
Royal MS App. 7
A quarto volume of nine 15th-century sermons, 77 pages.
ff. 72r-7v
• CtR 401: Sir Robert Cotton, A Short View of the Long Life and Reign of Henry the Third, King of England
A two-leaf fragment of a copy of Cotton's tract, bound in at the end of the volume. Early 17th century?
Treatise, written c.1614 and ‘Presented to King James’, beginning ‘Wearied with the lingering calamities of Civil Arms...’. First published in London, 1627. Cottoni posthuma (1651), at the end (i + pp. 1-27).
Royal MS App. 69
Lists of MSS in 35 Lincolnshire religious houses probably compiled by Leland, in a professional hand, headed ‘Tabula librorum de Historiis antiquitatum ac diuinitate tractancium in librariis et domibus religiosis’, on nine folio leaves. Prepared for Henry VIII who has annotated the MS in his own hand. c.1536-8.
LeJ 19: John Leland, Collectanea
Edited from this MS in J.R. Liddell, ‘“Leland's” Lists of Manuscripts in Lincolnshire Monasteries’, EHR, 213 (1939), 88-95; discussed, with a facsimile page, in Francis Wormald and C.E. Wright, The English Library before 1700 (London, 1958), pp. 161-2 and plate 12.
First published in J. Lelandi antiquarii de rebus Britannicis collectanea, ed. Thomas Hearne, 6 vols (Oxford, 1715; 2nd. edition London, 1770; 3rd edition London, 1774).