Add MS 42051-42052

POEMS by the Rev. Samuel Wesley, junior (d. 1739), eldest son of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, and brother of John Wesley, founder of Methodism; autograph fair copies made at various times, with autograph corrections. They differ now and then from the printed versions, Poems on Several Occasions, first published 1736, and again (with some additions from the present MSS.) by James Nichols, 1862. Inserted in vol. ii (ff. 61, 62) is an autograph Latin poem by Wesley entitled 'Senatoria Comitia', stated on f. 62b to describe the 1734 Parliamentary elections at Tiverton, co. Devon, where Wesley then resided as Master of Blundell's School. Included are two pieces by Wesley's father, S. Wesley, senior (vol. ii, ff. 39b, 42b), and one (vol. i, f. 36b) by his sister Mehetabel, addressed to another sister Emilia (printed in Memoirs of the Wesley Family, ed. A. Clarke, 1823, pp. 469-471). Extracts in Samuel Wesley's autograph from three letters of Bishop Atterbury, 24 Apr.-30 June 1730, are in vol. i, ff. 131, 131b; printed by John Nichols, The Epistolary Correspondence of Francis Atterbury, ii, 1783, pp. 418-419, notes, and by James Nichols in his 1862 edition of the Poems, pp. 459, 460, notes, who also states that the note of authentication which follows the extracts (f. 131) is in the hand of Wesley's widow. Paper; ff. 131, 64. Quarto. XVIII cent. (before 1739; the flyleaf of vol. ii is dated 28 Sept. 1736). According to a memorandum in vol. i, f. i, that MS. (with others) was given to Miss [Sarah] Wesley, daughter of the Rev. Charles Wesley, by Harvey Mortimer, who received it from Dr [John] Whitehead (d. 1804), the biographer of John and Charles Wesley. Purchased with the aid of a contribution from Iolo A. Williams, Esq.