Add MS 43702

COMMONPLACE BOOK OF SIR FREDERICK MORTON EDEN, 2nd Bart. (b. 1766, d. 1809), the writer on sociological questions, containing occasional verses and other literary compositions, mostly of his own authorship; 1787- 1802. Mainly autograph. Partly Latin. Included are some printed Cuttings from 'The Anti-Jacobin', 'The Porcupine', 'The True Briton' and other 13-2

journals, containing letters, articles, verses, etc., which Eden had contributed anonymously. The poem 'Ode to the Director Merlin' which appeared in 'The Anti-Jacobin' of 28 May 1798, is represented by a cutting on f. 39b to which Eden has appended his initials, whereas in The Poetry of the Anti- Jacobin, ed. C. Edmonds, 3rd ed., 1890, p. xxii, authorship is attributed to Lord Morpeth. There are also some verses (mainly copies in Eden's hand) by other authors whose names will be found in the Index to this Catalogue; the (apparently unpublished) verses by George Canning, beg. 'While Britain, roused by Gallia's frantic pride' (ff. 58-59) and 'Stranger, whoeer thou art, whose careless tread' (ff. 60-60b), both dated Oxford, Christ Church, 1 July 1793, are not (as suggested in the note on f. 1) in Canning's autograph. The principal composition by Eden is 'Epsom, a Vision' (ff. 18 b-29), a humorous poem dated 19 Feb. 1797 and addressed to the Rev. Jonathan Boucher on the subject of the latter's projected Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words; the poem was published posthumously as 'The Vision' in 1820. Boucher's autograph reply, also in verse and dated 27 April 1797, is at f. 30. Paper;ff.i+70. Folio. 1787-1802. Original vellum covers, numbered on spine '3'. Presented anonymously.