Add MS 43410

COMMONPLACE BOOK OF CHARLES CAESAR, of Great Gransden, co. Hunt. (b. 1636, d. 1707; see E. Lodge, Life of Sir J. Caesar ... with Memoirs of his Family and Descendants, pp. 65-69), son of Sir Charles Caesar, Master of the Rolls, and grandson of Sir Julius Caesar. The present volume, dated 1705 (ff. i, ii, iv), is the second of six commonplace books compiled by Charles Caesar between 1704 and 1706, which in 1810 were in the possession of his descendant, Mrs Elizabeth Aberdein (op. cit., Introduction, pp. iii-v). Cf. also Friends of the National Libraries, Annual Report, 1933-1934, p. 26. The principal contents are as follows:-

(1) Miscellaneous verses, mostly religious or moral. Many pieces are copied from printed sources, but some are apparently of the compiler's own composition. A few (ff. 163b, 164b- 166, 189b, 190) are in Latin. ff. ii, 1, 3b-4b, 63b, 64, 111, 159b-190 passim.

(2) Prayers for various occasions. ff. 1b, 5-13, 190b-191b.

(3) Notes on recent and contemporary events, public and private. ff. 2-4 b, 131-134, 167-190 passim.

(4) Ten sermons, five of which, viz. (b) and (d)-(g), are apparently copied from the printed editions issued shortly after the sermons were preached. As follows:-(a) Four sermons preached at Great Gransden in 1682 by the Rev. Barnabas Oley, the first three, 'In Exposition of the Liturgy Used in the Church of England', on 1 Cor. xiv. 15, the fourth, a thanksgiving sermon for the Gunpowder Plot anniversary, on Psalm cxxiv. ff. 13b-38, 64b-74;-

(b) Sermon 'Concerning the Excellency and Usefulness of the Common- Prayer, or Liturgie, Used in the Church of England', on 1 Cor. XiV. 26, by William Beveridge, D.D. (Bishop of St Asaph 1704); 1681. ff. 38b-63b;-

(c) Funeral sermon on the Rev. Barnabas Oley (d. 20 Feb. 168), on II Tim. iv. 7, 8, preached at Great Gransden by Samuel Saywell, Rector of Bluntisham, co. Hunt. ff. 74b-81;-(d) Thanksgiving sermon, on Joshua xxiii. 8, 9, preached before Queen Anne in St Paul's, 12 Nov. 1702, by Sir Jonathan Trelawny, Bishop of Exeter. ff. 81b-95;-(e) Thanksgiving sermon, on Psalm 1viii. II, preached before Queen Anne in St Paul's, 7 Sept. 1704, by William Sherlock, Dean of St Paul's. ff. 95b-102b;-(f) 'Christianity Best Propagated By the Good Lives of Christians': a sermon on Matth. v. 16, by Sir William Dawes, D.D. (Archbishop of York 1713); 1699. ff. 103-111;-

(g) Funeral sermon on King William III, on Acts xiii. 36, preached to the Prussian congregation in the Savoy, 19 Apr. 1702, by John Julius Caesar (sic, for John James Caesar), Chaplain to Frederick I of Prussia. ff. iii b- 130b.

(5) 'A True Character of Oliver Cromwel, Lord Protector of the Common- Wealths of England, Scotland and Ireland; Who Died At White Hall: Sept. 3. Anno - 1658. With an Account Of the Slavery Of Those Three Nations, At the Death of That Bloody Tyrant, And Vnjust Vsurper. Licensed to be Printed by Edm. Bohun. Anno - 1692.' No such edition is recorded by D. Wing, Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England ... 1641-1700, 1945. A copy, with a few verbal differences from the text common to both editions, of the fictitious (so C. H. Firth, The House of Lords During the Civil War, p. 259, n. 2) speech printed in 1659 as A Seasonable Speech, made By a worthy Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, Concerning the Other House. March 1659 (Wing, S. 2898), and reprinted in 1680 as A Time- Serving Speech, Spoken Once In Season. By a Worthy Member of Parliament. And now thought Fit to be Reprinted, to prevent the Occasion of having it Respoken (Wing, T. 1279). The speech is described on f. 134b as 'Mr. Crouch's Speech; Chose By the Vniversity of Cambridge', but Thomas Crouch was first elected M.P. for Cambridge University in 1660; the speech

has sometimes been attributed (as by Wing, S. 2898) to Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. ff. 134b-144.

(6) Four tales of supernatural occurrences, as follows:-(a) 'A Miracle Done In Stamford in Lincolnshire. Anno 1658.' A slightly different account of the same incident was printed in 1659 as The Good Angel of Stamford (listed by Wing [W. 494] under Samuel Wallas, the subject of the story). No printed edition of the 1658 version is recorded by Wing. ff. 144 b- 146 b;-

(b) 'Two Apparitions At Salisbury, in Wiltshire [in the house of Dr. Daubeney Turberville, the oculist]. Anno 1666' (a story related to the compiler at second hand). ff. 147-149;-(c) 'The Merry Divel of Mascon in France. 1651', apparently copied, with a few omissions and alterations, from P. du Moulin's translation (The Devill of Mascon, first printed at Oxford in 1658; the present version corresponds to pp. 1-25 only of this edition) of Francois Perrault's Antidemon de Mascon, first printed, together with his Demonologie, at Geneva in 1653. In the printed editions the date of the incident is given as 1612. ff. 149b-158;-(d) 'A Miraculous Sight, In the Island of Jersey. June. 5. Anno Domini Christi 1674.' ff. 158b-159.

(7) 'An Ingenious Poem [by Edward Ward, author of The London Spy

Lately Printed: 1704. All Men Mad, Or England A Great Bedlam.' ff. 176- 185.

(8) Notes relating to members of the compiler's family. ff. iii, 185.

(9) 'Heraclitus Ridens: Or a Dialogue between Jest and Earnest, concerning the Times'; number 82 (the last of the original series) of the weekly sheet of that name, 22 Aug. 1682. COPY. ff. 185b-187. Paper (ff. i, ii, iv, original vellum covers, inscribed 'The Second Volume 1705', are now laid down in the volume); ff. iv + 192. Folio. A.D. 1705. Presented by Stonewall,Jackson, Esq., through the Friends of the National Libraries.