Item 36 - Poems of the time of Charles II, Part I

1 volume (33 x 21 cm), containing 169 leaves. Bound in tooled leather.

This volume and Crewe MS 37 form a set. The compilation is similar to one in the National Library of Scotland (Advocates’ Library, MS 19.1.12), and several items only occur in MS in these two collections: see e.g. Crewe MS 37, ff. 133–4, 199–200, and 285–7; Crewe MS 38, f. 62–4. The spine-labels record that the contents were collected for Robert, Viscount Bodmin, but though the copies of diplomatic documents at one end of the first book (pp. 315–21) are probably in his hand, the remaining items cannot have been copied for him, because many of them, including the very second (pp. 5–14), were composed after his death in 1682. The diplomatic documents, which were written before the other contents, must have been written some time between 1679, the date of the earliest, and 1682. The remaining contents, which appear to have been written by one writer over a fairly short period, were probably written about 1689, the approximate date of the latest items. The armorial bookplates of Jonathan Boucher and Robert, Earl of Crewe, are pasted inside the front cover. The former bears some pencil marks which may relate to a sale.

Poems and other literary pieces, with transcripts of some diplomatic documents. On the spine is stamped: ‘M.S.S. Poems of the Time of Charles II. Collected for Robert Viscount Bodmin. Part I.’

Paginated i–iv, 1–81, 81a, 82–332. The binding of the book is upside down with respect to most of its contents, and the pagination begins at the back. It appears that the binding was repaired or altered at some point, since the free endpapers do not match those pasted to the boards, and perhaps the book’s orientation was altered at that time.

• inglês
• francês
• latim

The literary pieces are in verse and in English unless otherwise stated, and the dates are those of composition. These dates, and the attributions, are largely derived from other sources. Efforts have been made to reflect the current state of scholarship, but the attributions and dates of many items are uncertain. Details are given, where known, of the occasion on which a version of each piece first appeared in print, with some references to other printed versions, particularly the Yale edition of Poems on Affairs of State (POAS) and Wilson’s Court Satires of the Restoration (Court Satires). There are usually variations between the versions in this MS and the printed texts, but these have only been mentioned if they are particularly pronounced. For other MS copies of the pieces listed see the references to the Index of Literary Manuscripts (IELM) and English Clandestine Satire (ECS).