Add MS 41737

ODES of Coventry [Mersey Dighton] Patmore. Cf. Brit. Mus. Quart., iv, 1929-I930, pp. 53-54. As follows:-

(1) Thirteen odes, autograph and signed, as follows:-(a) 'Proem', beg. 'Many speak wisely, some inerrably'; first printed, with items b, c, e, f, h, i, 1 below, in The Unknown Eros and other Odes, 1877. ff. 2-5;-(b) 'To the Unknown Eros', beg. 'What rumour'd heavens are these'; on f. 7 b (reversed) is the draft of a portion of the poem, and on f. 8 b (reversed) of a shortened form of the 'Proem'. ff. 7, 8;-(c) 'The Contract', beg. 'Twice thirty centuries and more ago'. ff. 10-12;-(d) [Part of Peace'], beg. 'The ways of Heav'n were past all finding out', three versions. First published in 'The Pall Mall Gazette', 18 Jan. 1876. ff. 14 and 15, 14b (reversed), 15b (reversed);-(e) 'Victory in Defeat', beg. 'Dear Lord, how long'; the published version begins at line 11. Another draft of the poem is on f. 18b (reversed), while on ff. 17b and 19b (reversed) are other drafts of 'The Contract' and 'The Standards' respectively. ff. 17-19;-(f) 'Legem Tuam Dilexi', beg. 'The "Infinite": word horrible, at feud'. Another draft of the poem is on ff. 22b, 23b, 21b (reversed and in that order). ff. 21-23;-(9) 'The Toys', beg. 'My little Son, who look'd from thoughtful eyes'. First published in 'The Pall Mall Gazette', 30 Nov. 1876. f. 25;-(h) 'Tristitia', beg. 'Now, Darling, with our bosoms thus opposed'. Drafts of portions are on the versos of the same leaves reversed. ff. 27-29;-(1) 'Departure', beg. 'It was not like your great and gracious ways!'. Two autograph copies, only the first signed. ff. 30, 31;-(1) ['The Standards'], beg. 'That last,/Blown from our Zion of the Seven Hills'. First published, under the title 'How it Seems to an English Catholic', in 'The Pall Mall Gazette', 8 Mar. 1875. ff. 33-37;-

(k) ['If I were dead'], beg. 'If I were dead, you would sometimes say, Poor Child!'. First published in 'The Pall Mall Gazette', 14 Nov. 1876. Below this are six lines beg. 'Science, the agile ape, may well' (printed in B. Champneys, Memoirs and Correspondence of Coventry Patmore, 1900, ii, p. 64). f. 39;-(l) ['Remembered Grace'], beg. 'Since succour to the feeblest of the wise'. On the versos of the leaves (reversed) is another draft of the poem. ff. 41, 42;-(m) 'Saint Valentine's Day', beg. 'Well dost thou, Love, thy Festival to hold'. First published in The Unknown Eros, 1878, pp. 186- 189. ff- 44, 45.

(2) Paged proofs 49-64 (quire E) of a supplementary volume of sixteen odes (afterwards published as Odes XXXI-XLVI in The Unknown Eros, 1878) prepared for publication early in 1878. The quire contains: (a) 'Arbor Vitæ', beg. 'With honeysuckle, over-sweet, festoon'd'. First published in The Week, 5 Jan. I878. ff. 46, 47;-(b) 'Sponsa Dei' (the original title, 'Scire Teipsum', deleted), beg. 'What is this Maiden fair'. ff. 47 b-49;-(c) 'Regina Cæli', beg. 'Say, did his Sisters wonder what could Joseph see'. ff. 49 b, 50;-

(d) 'To the Body', beg. 'Creation's and Creator's crowning good'. On f. 50b is an autograph note by Patmore (printed in Brit. Mus. Quart., loc. cit.) concerning the circulation of the proofs among his friends and calling attention to phrases in Swinburne and Tennyson resembling lines in this poem. ff. So b- 52;-(e) 'Auras of Delight', beg. 'Beautiful habitations, auras of delight!' ff. 52b, 53. Paper; ff. v + 53. XIX cent. Item 569 in Everard Meynell, A Catalogue of the Library of Coventry Patmore, 1921, when it was purchased by E[dward] P[erry] Warren, [of Lewes House, Lewes] (cf. letter to O[sbert] Burdett, ff. iv, v). Sotheby's sale-cat., 3-7 June 1929, lot 404.