Add MS 74237 B

B. Letters and verses, etc.; circa 1702, 1703, n.d.. Partly Latin. Partly drafts. The letters (i) were formerly acquired from various sources, the verses (ii) at a provincial auction in 1998, among some Yorkshire deeds partly relating to William Gossip. Purchased from J. L. M. Gulley, Jan. 1999.

Paper; ff. 4-10v. Various sizes. As follows:-

1. ff. 4-9v. Three letters of Lady Rhoda Cavendish (d.1730) to her cousin Brian Fairfax the younger; circa 1702, 1703, and n.d. Lady Rhoda, daughter of William Cartwright of Bloxham and widow of Lord Henry Cavendish (d.1700), was through her mother related to Fairfax, to whom at Westminster and at Denton, co. W. R. York, these letters of family news and general gossip are addressed. The first, sealed with a black wax intaglio of a female head (cf. Add. MS 62709 B, ff. 129, 131, 135v, 137v), is dated 8 July [1702], and the second 8 Nov. [1703]. The third, dated 21 and postmarked 22 Aug., describes a visit to a Mr James and his lady, 'those yt we guess to be Sr Scudamore': he is a 'violent Whigg' who 'has a very great collection of pictures & severall by ye best hands'. A further eleven letters and one address-leaf, unsigned and lacking the year, from the same writer to Fairfax are in Add. MS 62709 B, ff. 119-139, with another dated 1693 in 62709 A, f. 12. See also that addressed to Mrs — Fairfax, circa 1671, in Add. MS 21554, f. 1.

2. ff. 10-10v. Anonymous love-elegy and two epigrams, all in heroic couplets; circa late 17th-early 18th cent. Drafts, viz.: (i) Love-elegy in the form of a verse-letter to a friend on the poet's subjection to love, extending to ninety-two verses numbered in the margin, with a further six inserted after l. 26, and beginning 'Thanks to my Friend for the advice he sent'. These are subscribed in a different ink with the initials 'W G' (possibly William Gossip); (ii) epigram in five couplets 'On — singing in her chamber, a Simile', beg. 'Thus when the Lark on quivering Pinions born'; and (iii) epigram of five lines 'On —', beg. 'Musick alone such heav'nly joys imparts'. The verses are copied on a single leaf formerly used for a list of words, expressions and proverbs, partly in Latin.

Poetry ENGLISH: William Gossip: Love-elegy and two epigrams possibly by William Gossip: early 18th cent.: Drafts.

Art: James: Letter mentioning 'Mr James's' collection of paintings: early 18th cent.

Brian Fairfax, the younger; Commissioner of Customs: Rhoda Cavendish, widow of Lord Henry Cavendish (d. 1700): Three letters to B. Fairfax the younger from Rhoda Cavendish: 1702, 1703, n.d.