MS Ee. 2. 12
A folio volume of state and antiquarian papers and accounts, in secretary hands, 70 leaves, in modern quarter-calf marbled boards.
ff. 64v-6r
• ElQ 216: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth's First Reply to the Parliamentary Petitions Urging the Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, November 12, 1586
Copy, headed ‘An Answer by owr quene to the peticion of the pliament house for the speedye execution of the scottyshe queene’ and here beginning ‘When I consider the profound and bottomless depth of God's wonderful and miraculous work...’. Late 16th century.
This MS collated in Hartley.
First published in Robert Cecil, The copie of a letter to the right honourable the Earle of Leycester (London, 1586).
Version I. Beginning ‘When I remember the bottomless depth of God's great benefits towards me...’. Hartley, II, 254-8 (Text ii, a summary) and II, 261 (cited only, as Text iv). Collected Works, Speech 17, pp. 186-90 (Version 1).
Version II. Beginning ‘The bottomless graces and immeasurable benefits bestowed upon me by the Almighty...’. Hartley, II, 247-53 (Text i). Collected Works, Speech 17, pp. 190-6. Autograph Compositions, pp. 67-72 (Version 2). Selected Works, Speech 8, pp. 61-9.
Version III. Beginning ‘My lords and gentlemen, I cannot but accept with much kindness this your petition, wherein I perceive the great love you bear towards me...’. Hartley, II, 259-60 (Text iii).
MS Ee. 2. 30
A folio volume comprising two legal tracts bound together, 25 leaves (plus 55 blanks), in quarter-calf. Early 17th century.
ff. 1r-8r
• BcF 201: Francis Bacon, Discourse upon the Commission of Bridewell
Copy, in a clear secretary hand. Early-mid 17th century.
This MS collated in Spedding.
A tract beginning ‘Inter magnalia regni, amongst the greatest and most haughty things of this kingdom...’. First published in Briefe Collections out of Magna Charta (London, 1643) [Wing B4557]. Spedding, VII, 505-16.
MS Ee. 2. 32
A folio volume of state tracts, in several professional hands, including the ‘Feathery Scribe’ and Ralph Starkey (c.1569-1628), 374 leaves (plus blanks), in modern quarter-calf. c.1620s-30s.
Bookplate of John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Ely.
Briefly described in Peter Beal, In Praise of Scribes: Manuscripts and their Makers in Seventeenth-Century England (Oxford, 1998), pp. 216-17 (No. 6).
ff. 99r-102v
• SiP 180.112: Sir Philip Sidney, A Letter of Advice to Robert Sidney
Copy, headed ‘A Lre wrytten by Sir Phillipp Sidnye, to his Brother Robte Sidnye (now Lord Lyle) shewinge what Course was ffitt ffor him to hould in his Travells’.
A letter beginning ‘My most deere Brother. You have thought unkindness in me, I have not written oftner unto you...’. First published in Profitable Instructions. Describing what speciall Obseruations are to be taken by Trauellers in all Nations, States and Countries (London, 1633), pp. 74-103. Feuillerat (as Correspondence No. XXXVIII), III, 124-7.
ff. 109r-27v
• RaW 662: Sir Walter Ralegh, A Discourse touching a War with Spain, and of the Protecting of the Netherlands
Copy, headed ‘A Discourse touchinge the prsent Consultacon concerninge the peace with Spaine, and protection written by Sr Walter Rauleigh, and prsented to Kinge James in the first yeare of his Raigne: 1602’.
A tract addressed to James I and beginning ‘It belongeth not to me to judge whether the king of Spain hath done wrong to the Netherlands...’. First published in Three Discourses of Sir Walter Ralegh (London 1702). Works (1829), VIII, 299-316.
ff. 267r-84r
• BcF 282.5: Francis Bacon, A Short View to be taken of Great Britain and Spain
Copy, in the hand of the ‘Feathery Scribe’.
Beal, In Praise of Scribes, p. 217 (No. 6.8).
First published in Spedding, XIV (1874), 22-8.
ff. 285r-302v
• CtR 476: Sir Robert Cotton, That the Kings of England have been pleased usually to consult with their Peeres in the great Councell, and Commons in Parliament, of Marriage, Peace, and Warre. Written...Anno 1611
Copy, in a professional secretary hand.
Tract beginning ‘To search so high as the Norman Conquest...’. First published, as The Forme of Governement of the Kingdome of England collected out of the Fundamental Lawes and Statutes of this Kingdome, London, 1642. Cottoni posthuma (1651), pp. [11]-39.
MS Ee. 2. 35
A folio volume of antiquarian tracts and letters, in two secretary hands, written from both ends, 137 leaves (including blanks), in quarter-calf. End of 16th-early 17th century.
ff. 126r-9r rev.
• CtR 259: Sir Robert Cotton, A Discourse Off the Offyce of the Lord Steward of England, Written by Sr Robte Cotton, knight, and Baronnett
Copy.
Tract beginning ‘For the Clearinge whereof wee will intreate off the name...’. Hearne (1771), II, 1-12.
ff. 129r-30r rev.
• CtR 244: Sir Robert Cotton, A Discourse Of the Offyce of the Lord Highe Connstable of England, written by Sr: Robte Cotton, knight, and Baronett
Copy.
Tract beginning ‘Yff wee curiouslye will looke the Roote of this question...’. Hearne (1771), II, 65-7.
ff. 130r-3v rev.
• CtR 61: Sir Robert Cotton, The Antiquitye and Offyce of Earle Marshall of England, Written by Sr Robte Cotton, knight, and Baronett
Copy.
Tract beginning ‘The plentye of this discourse, the last question of Highe Connstables, whereto...’. Hearne (1771), II, 97-103.
MS Ee. 3. 53
MS of an anonymous ‘Supplement of The Faery Queene in three Bookes. Wherein are allegorically described Affaires both military and ciuill of these times’, with a dedication probably to Charles I, in an italic hand, in nine ‘Bookes’, subscribed ‘This was finished Anno Dni. 1633’, 376 folio leaves, some pages excised, in modern quarter-calf marbled boards. Written apparently by Ralph Knevett (1600-71). c.1635.
SpE 84: Edmund Spenser, Supplement of The Faerie Queene
Unpublished.
MS Ee. 4. 9
Copy, in a professional secretary hand, on 21 folio leaves; bound with other tracts (in MS Ee. 4. 6-12). Early 17th century.
BcF 62.4: Francis Bacon, An Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of England
Bookplate of John Moore (1646-1714), Bishop of Norwich and Ely.
A tract beginning ‘It is but ignorance if any man find it strange that the state of religion (especially in the days of peace) should be exercised...’. First published as A Wise and Moderate Discourse concerning Church-Affaires ([London], 1641). Spedding, VIII, 74-95.
MS Ee. 4. 14
A folio collection of 28 poems by Donne, together with a few poems by others, in two independent units (ff. 1-60v, 61r-78r), each in a different secretary hand, bound with a tract (MS Ee. 4. 13), in quarter-calf on boards. c.1620-33.
From the library of John Moore, Bishop of Norwich and Ely (1646-1714), which was given to the University of Cambridge by King George I.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the ‘Moore MS’: DnJ Δ 46.
ff. 1r-60v
• GrF 14.4: Fulke Greville, The Five Yeares of King James
Copy.
First published, attributed to Greville, in London, 1643. Almost certainly apocryphal.
f. 61r
• DnJ 2927: John Donne, Song (‘Goe, and catche a falling starre’)
Copy, headed ‘Sonnt’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 8-9. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 29-30. Shawcross, No. 33.
f. 61v
• DnJ 3470: John Donne, To Sr Henry Wootton (‘Here's no more newes then vertue, I may as well’)
Copy, a heading cropped by the binder.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 187-8. Milgate, Satires, pp. 73-4. Shawcross, No. 111.
f. 62r
• DnJ 3918: John Donne, The Will (‘Before I sigh my last gaspe, let me breath’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 56-8. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 54-5. Shawcross, No. 66.
f. 62v
• DnJ 1741: John Donne, A lame begger (‘I am unable, yonder begger cries’)
Copy, untitled and here beginning ‘I cannot goe, sitt, stande, yonder begger cryes’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Thomas Deloney, Strange Histories (London, 1607), sig. E6. Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 76. Milgate, Satires, p. 51. Shawcross, No. 88. Variorum, 8 (1995), pp. 7 (as ‘Zoppo’) and 10.
f. 62v
• DnJ 506: John Donne, The broken heart (‘He is starke mad, who ever sayes’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
Lines 1-16 first published in A Helpe to Memory and Discourse (London, 1630), pp. 45-6. Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 48-9. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 51-2. Shawcross, No. 29.
ff. 62v-3
• DnJ 839: John Donne, The Curse (‘Who ever guesses, thinks, or dreames he knowes’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 41-2. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 40-1. Shawcross, No. 61.
f. 63r-v
• DnJ 1652: John Donne, The Indifferent (‘I can love both faire and browne’)
Copy, headed ‘Sonnett’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 12-13. Gardner, Divine Poems, pp. 41-2. Shawcross, No. 37.
f. 63v
• DnJ 2054: John Donne, Loves diet (‘To what a combersome unwieldinesse’)
Copy, untitled but subscribed ‘the dyette’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 55-6. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 45-6. Shawcross, No. 65.
f. 64r
• DnJ 446: John Donne, Breake of day (‘'Tis true, 'tis day. what though it be?’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in William Corkine, Second Book of Ayres (London, 1612), sig. B1v. Grierson, I, 23. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 35-6. Shawcross, No. 46.
f. 64r
• DnJ 3670: John Donne, Twicknam garden (‘Blasted with sighs, and surrounded with teares’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 28-9. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 83-4. Shawcross, No. 51.
f. 64v
• DnJ 638: John Donne, Change (‘Although thy hand and faith, and good workes too’)
Copy, headed ‘Elegye 1.’
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published, as ‘Elegie III’, in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 82-3 (as ‘Elegie III’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 19-20. Shawcross, No. 16. Variorum, 2 (2000), p. 198.
f. 65r-v
• DnJ 2516: John Donne, On his Mistris (‘By our first strange and fatall interview’)
Copy, headed ‘Elegye 2’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1635). Grierson, I, 111-13 (as ‘Elegie XVI’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 23-4. Shawcross, No. 18. Variorum, 2 (2000), pp. 246-7.
f. 65v
• DnJ 2350: John Donne, ‘Natures lay Ideot, I taught thee to love’
Copy, headed ‘Elegie. 3.’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published, as ‘Elegie VIII’, in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 89-90 (as ‘Elegie VII’). Gardner, Elegies, p. 12. Shawcross, No. 13. Variorum, 2 (2000), p. 127.
f. 66r
• DnJ 1545: John Donne, His Picture (‘Here take my picture. though I bid farewell’)
Copy, headed ‘Elegye. 4.’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published as ‘Elegie V’ in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 86-7 (as ‘Elegie V’). Gardner, Elegies, p. 25. Shawcross, No. 19. Variorum, 2 (2000), p. 264.
f. 66r-v
• DnJ 2462: John Donne, ‘Oh, let mee not serve so, as those men serve’
Copy, headed ‘Elegye 5’.
First published, as ‘Elegie VII’, in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 87-9 (as ‘Elegie VI’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 10-11. Shawcross, No. 12. Variorum, 2 (2000), pp. 110-11.
ff. 66v-7
• DnJ 706: John Donne, The Comparison (‘As the sweet sweat of Roses in a Still’)
Copy of lines 1-25, 30-54, headed ‘Elegye 6.’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published, as ‘Elegie’, in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 90-2 (as ‘Elegie VIII’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 5-6. Shawcross, No. 9. Variorum, 2 (2000), pp. 51-2.
ff. 67r-8r
• DnJ 390: John Donne, The Bracelet (‘Not that in colour it was like thy haire’)
Copy, headed ‘Elegye. 7.’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published, as ‘Eleg. XII. The Bracelet’, in Poems (1635). Grierson, I, 96-100 (as ‘Elegie XI’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 1-4. Shawcross, No. 8. Variorum, 2 (2000), pp. 5-7.
ff. 68v-9v
• DnJ 2751: John Donne, Satyre I (‘Away thou fondling motley humorist’)
Copy, headed ‘Sat: i’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 145-9. Milgate, Satires, pp. 3-6. Shawcross, No. 1.
ff. 69v-70v
• DnJ 2781: John Donne, Satyre II (‘Sir. though (I thank God for it) I do hate’)
Copy, headed ‘Satyra 2a’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 149-54. Milgate, Satires, pp. 7-10. Shawcross, No. 2.
ff. 70v-1r
• HrE 17: Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Elegy for the Prince (‘Must he be ever dead? Cannot we add’)
Copy, headed ‘Elegye’, subscribed ‘Sr Edwarde Harbort one the Prince’.
This MS collated in Smith, pp. 127-8.
First published among ‘Sundry Funeral Elegies’ appended to Joshua Sylvester, Lachrymae Lachrymarum, 3rd edition (London, 1613). Occasional Verses (1665). Moore Smith, pp. 22-4.
ff. 72v-3v
• DnJ 3079: John Donne, The Storme (‘Thou which art I, ('tis nothing to be soe)’)
Copy of the complete poem after a false start (lines 1-4 deleted).
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published (in full) in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 175-7. Milgate, Satires, pp. 55-7. Shawcross, No. 109.
ff. 73v-4r
• DnJ 564: John Donne, The Calme (‘Our storme is past, and that storms tyrannous rage’)
Copy.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 178-80. Milgate, Satires, pp. 57-9. Shawcross, No. 110.
f. 74v
• DnJ 600: John Donne, The Canonization (‘For Godsake hold your tongue, and let me love’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 14-15. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 73-5. Shawcross, No. 39.
f. 75r
• DnJ 3631: John Donne, The triple Foole (‘I am two fooles, I know’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 16. Gardner, Elegies, p. 52. Shawcross, No. 40.
f. 75r
• DnJ 2302: John Donne, The Message (‘Send home my long strayd eyes to mee’)
Copy, headed (on f. 74v) ‘Sonnett’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 43. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 30-1. Shawcross, No. 25.
f. 75v
• DnJ 1371: John Donne, The Flea (‘Marke but this flea, and marke in this’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 40-1. Gardner, Elegies, p. 53. Shawcross, No. 60.
ff. 75v-6r
• DnJ 1978: John Donne, Loves Alchymie (‘Some that have deeper digg'd loves Myne then I’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 39-40. Gardner, Elegies, p. 81. Shawcross, No. 59.
f. 76r
• WoH 30: Sir Henry Wotton, The Character of a Happy Life (‘How happy is he born and taught’)
Copy, untitled.
First published in Sir Thomas Overbury, A Wife, 5th impression (London, 1614). Reliquiae Wottonianae (London, 1651), pp. 522-3. Hannah (1845), pp. 28-31. Some texts of this poem discussed in C.F. Main, ‘Wotton's “The Character of a Happy Life”’, The Library, 5th Ser. 10 (1955), 270-4, and in Ted-Larry Pebworth, ‘New Light on Sir Henry Wotton's “The Character of a Happy Life”’, The Library, 5th Ser. 33 (1978), 223-6 (plus plates).
f. 76v
• DnJ 62: John Donne, The Anagram (‘Marry, and love thy Flavia, for, shee’)
Copy, headed ‘Satyra 3a’.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published as ‘Elegie II’ in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 80-2 (as ‘Elegie II’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 21-2. Shawcross, No. 17. Variorum, 2 (2000), pp. 217-18.
ff. 77r-8r
• PeW 234: William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, A Paradox in praise of a painted Woman (‘Not kiss? by Love I must, and make impression’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Krueger.
Poems (1660), pp. 93-5, superscribed ‘P.’. First published in Parnassus Biceps (London, 1656), p. 97. Listed in Krueger's Appendix I: ‘Spurious Poems in the 1660 Edition’ as possibly by William Baker. The Poems of John Donne, ed Herbert J.C. Grierson, 2 vols (Oxford, 1912), I, 456-9, as ‘A Paradox of a Painted Face’, among ‘Poems attributed to Donne in MSS’. Also ascribed to James Shirley.
A shorter version, beginning ‘Nay pish, nay pew, nay faith, and will you, fie’, was first published, as ‘A Maids Denyall’, in Richard Chamberlain, The Harmony of the Muses (London, 1654) [apparently unique exemplum in the Huntington, edited in facsimile by Ernest W. Sullivan, II (Aldershot, 1990), pp. 49-50].
f. 78r
• DnJ 3185: John Donne, To his Mistris Going to Bed (‘Come, Madam, come, all rest my powers defie’)
Copy of lines 1-19, untitled.
This MS recorded in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (London, 1669). Grierson, I, 119-21 (as ‘Elegie XIX. Going to Bed’). Gardner, Elegies, pp. 14-16. Shawcross, No. 15. Variorum, 2 (2000), pp. 163-4.
The various texts of this poem discussed in Randall McLeod, ‘Obliterature: Reading a Censored Text of Donne's “To his mistress going to bed”’, EMS, 12: Scribes and Transmission in English Manuscripts 1400-1700 (2005), 83-138.
MS Ee. 5. 14
Leland's presentation copy to King Henry VIII, 187 folio leaves. In a professional virtually calligraphic hand, with sidenotes in italic, including (f. 1r) a title-page (‘Antiphilarchia’) with two Latin epigrams, ‘Ad candidos lectores’ (eight lines beginning ‘Me iussit pietas, amorque ueri’), and ‘Ad Censorem’ (two lines beginning ‘Cui minus ista mei calami foetura placebit’); (f. 2r) a dedication in Latin to the King; (ff. 3r-4r) a list of contents, ‘Syllabus capitum’; and (ff. 5r-187r) the text, headed ‘Dialogus cui titulus Antiphilarcha Interlocutores Philalêthes & Iranôtes’, in modern half-calf on marbled boards. 1540s.
LeJ 9: John Leland, Antiphilarchia
Inscribed (f. 11r) ‘Thomas Knyvett Nouemb: 18: 1586’: i.e. Thomas, Baron Knyvett (1545/6-1622), courtier.
An unpublished treatise in Latin, dedicated to Henry VIII.
MS Ee. 5. 18
A folio composite law book, in Latin and Law French, in several hands, 101 leaves, in modern half-calf on marbled boards. Mid-16th century.
Once owned by Walter Ashwell (‘Ashwell Waltero constat liber iste benigno’) and his wife Margery.
f. 52av
• SkJ 21: John Skelton, ‘Qui trahis ex domiti ramum pede diue leonis’
Copy, untitled and ascribed to ‘Skeltonidis laureati’, among other verses and medical prescriptions, on a tipped-in leaf of parchment.
Edited from this MS in Brie and, with a translation, in Carlson, pp. 58-9. Discussed, and an additional couplet printed, in David Carlson, ‘John Skelton's Latin Verses “Qui Trahis”’, N&Q, 233 (March 1988), 29.
Canon, D55, p. 17. First published in Friedrich Brie, ‘Skelton-Studien’, ES, 37 (1907), 1-86 (p. 28). Carlson, pp. 58-1 (with a translation).
MS Ee. 5. 23
A folio miscellany, begun as a commonplace book and then used for transcribing state papers, letters and verses, in several hands, 560 pages (including numerous blanks), in quarter-calf marbled boards. Early-mid-17th century.
Inscribed (p. i), probably in the late 17th century, ‘John Peck His Book’.
p. 1
• DnJ 3683: John Donne, Twicknam garden (‘Blasted with sighs, and surrounded with teares’)
Copy, untitled, under the general heading ‘Loue Verses’.
This MS recorded in Gardner and in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 28-9. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 83-4. Shawcross, No. 51.
p. 3
• DnJ 2317: John Donne, The Message (‘Send home my long strayd eyes to mee’)
Copy, untitled.
This MS recorded in Gardner and in Shawcross.
First published in Poems (1633). Grierson, I, 43. Gardner, Elegies, pp. 30-1. Shawcross, No. 25.
pp. 6-7
• RaW 522: Sir Walter Ralegh, ‘Wrong not, deare Empresse of my Heart’
Copy of stanzas 1-7, here beginning ‘Wrong (not dear mrs: of my heart’ and set out as two poems.
This MS recorded in Gullans.
First published in Wits Interpreter (London, 1655), printed twice, the first version prefixed by ‘Our Passions are most like to Floods and streames’ (see RaW 320-38) and headed ‘To his Mistresse by Sir Walter Raleigh’. Edited with the prefixed stanza in Latham, pp. 18-19. Edited in The English and Latin Poems of Sir Robert Ayton, ed. Charles B. Gullans, STS, 4th Ser. 1 (Edinburgh & London, 1963), pp. 197-8. Rudick, Nos 39A and 39B (two versions, pp. 106-9).
This poem was probably written by Sir Robert Ayton. For a discussion of the authorship and the different texts see Gullans, pp. 318-26 (also printed in SB, 13 (1960), 191-8).
pp. 418, 427-9, 436-7, 446-50, 452-3
• RaW 905: Sir Walter Ralegh, Letter(s)
Copies of letters by Ralegh, to Sir Robert Carr (1608), to James I (3); to Lady Ralegh (3); and to Ralph Winwod.
p. 434
• LyJ 27: John Lyly, A petitionary letter to Queen Elizabeth
Copy, headed ‘A peticion of John Lillie to ye queenes Maiestie’.
Recorded in Bond.
Beginning ‘Most Gratious and dread Soveraigne: I dare not pester yor Highnes wth many wordes...’. Written probably in 1598. Bond, I, 64-5. Feuillerat, pp. 556-7.
pp. 434-5
• LyJ 49: John Lyly, A second petitionary letter to Queen Elizabeth
Copy, headed John Lillies second peticon.
This MS recorded in Bond.
Beginning ‘Most gratious and dread Soveraigne: Tyme cannott worke my peticons, nor my peticons the tyme...’. Written probably in 1601. Bond, I, 70-1. Feuillerat, pp. 561-2.
pp. 438r-9
• SiP 180.115: Sir Philip Sidney, A Letter of Advice to Robert Sidney
Copy, headed ‘Sr Phillip Sidney to his Brother beyond ye seas’.
A letter beginning ‘My most deere Brother. You have thought unkindness in me, I have not written oftner unto you...’. First published in Profitable Instructions. Describing what speciall Obseruations are to be taken by Trauellers in all Nations, States and Countries (London, 1633), pp. 74-103. Feuillerat (as Correspondence No. XXXVIII), III, 124-7.
p. 460
• ElQ 207: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth's Speech at the Closing of Parliament, March 29, 1585
Copy, headed ‘A speech of Quee [sic] Elyzabeths made in ye Parliament at the breaking up theire-of 29o march: 1585 Ano Elyzab: 27o. p.’
This MS cited in Hartley and in Collected Works.
Beginning ‘My lords and you of the Lower House: My silence must not injure the owner...’. Hartley, II, 31-3. Collected Works, Speech 16, pp. 181-3.
pp. 462-4
• RaW 728.16: Sir Walter Ralegh, Ralegh's Arraignment(s)
Copy of Ralegh's arraignment on 28 October 1618.
Accounts of the arraignments of Ralegh at Winchester Castle, 17 November 1603, and before the Privy Council on 22 October 1618. The arraignment of 1603 published in London, 1648. For documentary evidence about this arraignment, see Rosalind Davies, ‘“The Great Day of Mart”: Returning to Texts at the Trial of Sir Walter Ralegh in 1603’, Renaissance Forum, 4/1 (1999), 1-12.
pp. 464-7
• RaW 768: Sir Walter Ralegh, Speech on the Scaffold (29 October 1618)
Transcripts of Ralegh's speech have been printed in his Remains (London, 1657). Works (1829), I, 558-64, 691-6. VIII, 775-80, and elsewhere. Copies range from verbatim transcripts to summaries of the speech, they usually form part of an account of Ralegh's execution, they have various headings, and the texts differ considerably. For a relevant discussion, see Anna Beer, ‘Textual Politics: The Execution of Sir Walter Ralegh’, MP, 94/1 (August 1996), 19-38.
MS Fff. 2. 3
Copy, in a secretary hand, on 48 folio leaves, imperfect at the end, in quarter-calf. Late 16th-early 17th century.
LeC 34: Anon, Leicester's Commonwealth
This MS recorded in Peck, p. 225.
First published as The Copie of a Leter, Wryten by a Master of Arte of Cambrige, to his Friend in London, Concerning some talke past of late betwen two worshipful and graue men, about the present state, and some procedinges of the Erle of Leycester and his friendes in England ([? Rouen], 1584). Soon banned. Reprinted as Leycesters common-wealth (London, 1641). Edited, as Leicester's Commonwealth, by D.C. Peck (Athens, OH, & London, 1985). Although various attributions have been suggested by Peck and others, the most likely author remains Robert Persons (1546-1610), Jesuit conspirator.
MS Ff. 2. 9
Two Latin plays (the second Pastor Fidus), in two different hands, 41 folio leaves, in quarter-calf.
Item 1
• AlW 262: William Alabaster, Roxana
Copy, in a predominantly italic hand, with title and Dramatis Personae (f. 1r), on 16 leaves. Early 17th century.
First acted at Trinity College, Cambridge c.1595?. First published in London, 1632. A translation by Dana F. Sutton put online in 1998 by the University of California at Irvine.
MS Ff. 2. 35
Copy of an early version, in a predominantly secretary hand, untitled, on 28 folio leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf gilt (rebacked). c.1609.
GrF 29: Fulke Greville, Mustapha
This MS recorded in Wilkes, II, 464-5. Collated in Bullough (his ‘C text’).
An early version first published in London, 1609. A later version first published in Certaine Learned and Elegant Workes (London, 1633). Bullough, II, 63-137. Wilkes, I, 210-97.
MS Ff. 3. 17
A folio volume of state tracts, in professional hands, 182 leaves (plus a few blanks), in modern half-calf on marbled boards.
Inscribed (f. ir) ‘Nathaniell Snape 1640’.
ff. 1r-72r
• DaJ 268: Sir John Davies, The Question concerning Impositions
Copy, headed An Argument vppon the question of Imposicons divided into sundry chapters by Sr John Davies Kt one of his Mats learned Councell in Ireland with an answer to it. c.1620s-30s.
A treatise, with dedicatory epistle to James I, comprising 33 chapters, beginning ‘The Question it self is no more than this, Whether the Impositions which the King of England hath laid and levied upon Merchandize, by vertue of his Prerogative onely...’. First published in London, 1656. Grosart, III, 1-116.
MS Ff. 4. 16
Copy of the 20 rules, in a neat hand, untitled, 28 small folio leaves (plus blanks), bound with a 16th-century MS (MS Ee. 15), in old calf. c.1630.
BcF 223: Francis Bacon, Maxims of the Law
Inscribed (f. 1r) ‘Tho: Corie Hosp: Graij 1630’.
This MS collated in Spedding.
First published in The Elements of the Common Lawes of England (London, 1630). Spedding, VII, 307-87.
Bacon claimed to have collected ‘300 of them’, of which only ‘some few’ (25 maxims) were subsequently published. For an attempt to track down the ‘missing’ maxims, see John C. Hogan and Mortimer D. Schwartz, ‘On Bacon's “Rules and Maximes” of the Common Law’, Law Library Journal, 76/1 (Chicago, Winter 1983), 48-77.
MS Ff. 5. 14
A small quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in three or more hands, 142 leaves, in quarter-calf. c.1580.
Once owned by one W. Kytton.
f. 5v
• WyT 370: Sir Thomas Wyatt, ‘Venemus thornes that ar so sharp and kene’
Copy, untitled and omitting line 4.
This MS collated in Muir & Thomson and in Harrier. See also WyT 220.
First pub in Songes and Sonettes (London, 1557). Muir & Thomson, pp. 57-8.
ff. 5v-7r
• WyT 220: Sir Thomas Wyatt, ‘Myne owne John Poyntz, sins ye delight to know’
Copy, immediately following on from ‘Venemus thornes that ar so sharp and kene’ (WyT 370), subscribed ‘finis T Wyet’.
This MS collated in F.D. Hoeniger, ‘A Wyatt Manuscript’, N&Q, 202 (March 1957), 103-4 and in Harrier; recorded in Muir & Thomson, p. 350.
First published in Songes and Sonettes (London, 1557). Muir & Thomson, pp. 88-91.
f. 109r-v
• ElQ 76: Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Elizabeth's Prayer at Bristol, August 15, 1574
Copy, headed ‘A prayer made by the quens ma the 15. of August 1574. beying then in Brysto’.
Edited from this MS in Michael Brennan, ‘Two Private Prayers by Queen Elizabeth I’, N&Q, 230 (March 1985), 26-8 (p. 28). Cited in Selected Works.
Beginning ‘I render unto thee, O merciful and heavenly Father, most humble and hearty thanks...’. Collected Works, Prayers 29, pp. 310-11. Selected Works, Prayer 1, pp. 246-8.
MS Ff. 5. 21
Copy, on 99 quarto leaves, in calf gilt (rebacked). In a secretary hand, headed ‘An Argument vppon Imposicons Digested and divided into sundry Chapters By his maties Atturney generall in Ireland’. c.1637/8.
DaJ 269: Sir John Davies, The Question concerning Impositions
Inscribed (f. ir) ‘Ri: Mason D.M.’ [probably the MD (d.1668), Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1638-44]. Subscribed (f. 99r) ‘P [or R cropped]. 10 Januar. 1637[/8]’.On two leaves at the end are lists of furniture brought into Dover House.
A treatise, with dedicatory epistle to James I, comprising 33 chapters, beginning ‘The Question it self is no more than this, Whether the Impositions which the King of England hath laid and levied upon Merchandize, by vertue of his Prerogative onely...’. First published in London, 1656. Grosart, III, 1-116.
MS Ff. 5. 25
A quarto composite volume of ecclesiastical tracts and sermons, in various hands, in modern quarter-calf.
ff. 1r-15v
• BcF 129: Francis Bacon, Certain Considerations touching the Better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England
Copy, in a probably professional hand, docketed (f. 1r) ‘Bye F: B: but ye name not added to the Tract’, with other markings and comments by one or two readers relating to pages here missing in the printed edition. Early 17th century.
Facsimile example of f. 11v in Serjeantson and Woolford, p. 142.
First published in London, 1604. Spedding, X, 103-27. The circumstances of the original publication and the book's suppression by the Bishop of London discussed, with a census of relevant exempla, in Richard Serjeantson and Thomas Woolford, ‘The Scribal Publication of a Printed Book: Francis Bacon's Certaine Considerations Touching...the Church of England (1604)’, The Library, 7th Ser. 10/2 (June 2009), 119-56.
ff. 23r-8v
• AndL 51: Lancelot Andrewes, A Speech delivered in the Star-chamber against the two Judaical opinions of M. Traske
Copy, in a secretary hand, headed in another hand ‘Concerninge abstinence fro meats & Observation of ye Jewes Sabboth. Against Trask. by Dr Andrewes B: of Elye’.
First published in Opuscula quaedam posthuma (London, 1629). LACT, Minor Works (1854), pp. 81-94.
ff. 33r-7v
• AndL 53: Lancelot Andrewes, A Speech delivered in the Star-Chamber, concerning Vows, in the Countess of Shrewsbury's Case
Copy, in a secretary hand, the heading in another hand.
First published in Opuscula quaedam posthuma (London, 1629). LACT, Minor Works (1854), pp. 95-105.
ff. 39r-58v
• AndL 1: Lancelot Andrewes, Concio ad clerum in synodo provinciali Cantuariensis provinciae ad D. Pauli. 20 February 1592/3
Copy, in a formal italic hand, the heading in another hand.
First published in Opuscula quaedam posthuma (London, 1629). LACT, Opuscula (1852), pp. 29-31.
ff. 60r-79r
• AndL 28: Lancelot Andrewes, Form of Consecration of a Church and Churchyard
Copy in two hands, headed ‘Consecratio et dedicatio Capellæ Jesu cum cæmeterio eiusdem, in vasto solo, dicto Ridgway Heath, iuxta Southamptoniam’. Early-mid-17th century.
First published in London, 1659. LACT, Pattern of Catechistical Doctrine (1846), pp. 307-33.
MS Ff. 6. 28
Autograph duodecimo volume of collections relating to the Carmelite order, consisting chiefly of six offices of the principal Carmelite saints, on 42 leaves of paper and parchment. c.1514-23.
*BaJ 12: John Bale, Collectiones
Unpublished (complete). Brief extracts from this MS in Monumenta historica Carmelitana; recorded and discussed in Davies, pp. 236 (i), 245 (with facsimile examples of ff. 4, 35 in plate I); in Greg, English Literary Autographs, plate XXXI (with facsimile examples of ff. 1, 19v); in McCusker (1942), pp. 106-8; and in Fairfield, pp. 157-8.
Unpublished.