Ashley MS A1851

Poems and Ballads by A. C. Swinburne; [1860-1865].

1. 'A Ballad of Life'; [1862-1863]. Early draft of stanzas 1 and 2, written on one side only of a folio leaf of white wove paper, without watermark. Stanza 1 was later discarded, but the text of stanza 2 is substantially the same as that printed on pp. 1-2 of the first edition. Two texts on the verso, one a list of titles for the first two days of Swinburne's projected 'Triameron' (see article 18), the other (written after the first, and inverted) a series of very early drafts of three stanzas of 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' (see article 11), suggest a date for this MS. of 1862 to 1863. f. 16a.

2. 'Laus Veneris'; [1862]. Two draft lines, corresponding to lines 18 and 19 as printed on p. 19 of the first edition, written in the top right hand corner of a folio leaf of blue laid paper, watermarked 'E Towgood / 1862', which also contains drafts of 'A Cameo' and 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' (see articles 6 and 11). The second of the lines is identical with the printed text, but the first differs markedly. W. B. Scott in his Autobiographical Notes, 1892, p. 69, states that Swinburne declaimed 'Laus Veneris' at Tynemouth 'close upon Christmas of 1861'. f. 10a.

3. 'Ilicet'; [1862-1865]. Early draft, probably the first, of the greater part of the poem, written on both sides of two folio leaves of blue laid paper, watermarked 'E Towgood / 1862' and figure of Britannia. Together with a number of discarded lines, versions or elements of the following stanzas (numbered in the order as printed on pp. 85-90 of the first edition) are found:―6, 9, 10, 16, 17, 21, 22, f. 6a; 2, 8, 10, 14, 15, f. 6b; 6, 7, 24, f. 7a; 18, 19, 22, 23, f. 7b. Versions identical with the printed text are found of stanzas 16-19 only. ff. 6a-7b.

4. 'Rondel'; [1864-1865?]. Draft, heavily revised, written on one side only of an octavo leaf of white laid paper, without watermark. The final text differs only in the case of certain words from that printed on p. 97 of the first edition. f. 8a.

5. 'A Match'; [1862-1865]. Early draft, probably the first, of stanza 3, written on one side only of a half folio leaf of white laid paper. Watermark '1862'. Of lines 3-6, as printed on pp. 119-120, many different versions remain uncancelled. At the top are three lines of a stanza apparently discarded, but possibly an early version of stanza 4. On the verso are sixteen lines of blank verse (see article 14). f. 9a.

6. 'A Cameo'; [1862]. Early draft, probably the first, written on one side only of a folio leaf of blue laid paper. Watermark 'E Towgood / 1862'. The text does not differ greatly from that printed on p. 130 of the first edition, but there are many revisions and cancellations. On the verso are drafts of part of 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' (see article 11), and in the top right hand corner two draft lines of 'Laus Veneris' (see article 2). This suggests a date for the MS. of 1862. f. 10a.

7. 'Rococo'; [1864?]. Early draft, probably the first, of the greater part of the poem, written on one side only of two folio leaves of pale blue wove paper. No watermark. Together with a number of discarded lines, versions or elements of the following stanzas (numbered in the order as printed on pp. 132-135 of the first edition) are found:―1, 3, 5, 6, 9, f. 11a; 2, 4, 5, 8, f. 12a. On f. 11a is the motto '(Question) Not the absence of flesh, but the presence of spirit, is admirable or adorable'. On the verso of both folios is a draft translation of certain lines of the De Contemptu Mundi of Bernard de Morlas (see article 16), which suggests a date for the MS. of 1864 (see Mrs Disney Leith, The Boyhood of Swinburne, 1917, pp. 32-34). ff. 11a, 12a.

8. 'Stage Love'; [1862?]. Early draft, heavily revised, and entitled 'A Match ― Stage Play ― Stage Love', written on one side only of a part folio leaf of blue laid paper. Watermark figure of Britannia. The final text does not differ greatly from that printed on p. 136 of the first edition. On the recto is a synopsis of part of Swinburne's novel 'A Year's Letters' (see article 17), which suggests a date for the MS. of 1862. f. 13b.

9. 'Rondel'; [before 1862]. Draft, entitled 'Rondel', and written on one side only of a part folio leaf of blue laid paper. Watermark figure of Britannia. Only the text of lines 3-5 differs from that printed on p. 148 of the first edition. A date earlier than 1862 for the MS. is suggested by the fact that Swinburne intended to include 'Rondel' in a projected edition of 'Early Poems' (see letter to Andrew Chatto, 20 July 1876, printed in C. Y. Lang, Swinburne Letters, iii, 1960, pp. 199-200). f. 14a.

10. 'August'; before 1862. Fair copy, with certain revisions, entitled 'August', and written on both sides of a folio leaf of pale blue wove paper. No watermark. The order of stanzas in the MS. as compared with the text printed on pp. 248-250 of the first edition is:―1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10. Only stanzas 5 and 6 (as numbered in the MS.) are identical with the printed text. The poem was first printed, with a text identical to that of 1866, in the Spectator for 6 Sept. 1862. It was also included in Swinburne's list of 'Early Poems' (see article 9). ff. 15, 15b.

11. 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe'; [1862?]. Early drafts, heavily revised, and probably the first, of four stanzas, written on one side only of two folio leaves of paper, one (f. 10) blue laid, the other (f. 16) white wove. The former is watermarked 'E Towgood / 1862', the latter is unwatermarked. As follows:―Speech of Amestris, f. 10b; speeches of Alaciel, Pasithea and Messalina, f. 16b. The speech of Amestris still differs, especially in the order of lines, from the text printed on pp. 267-268 of the first edition. The final version of the speeches of Pasithea and Alaciel differs only by certain words from the text printed on pp. 268 and 269, while the final version of Messalina's speech is identical with the text printed on p. 267. The first line of the speech of Hesione is also found on f. 16b. Cancelled lines accompanying the speeches of Amestris and Alaciel suggest that originally the speeches were to extend over two stanzas. On f. 16a is a draft of 'A Ballad of Life' (see article 1), and f. 16b was already occupied at the top by a list of titles for the projected 'Triameron' (see article 18) when it was used, inverted, for 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe'. On f. 10a are drafts of 'A Cameo' (see article 6) and of two lines of 'Laus Veneris' (see article 2). 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' was also included in Swinburne's list of 'Early Poems' (see article 9). The MS. may, therefore, probably be dated 1862. ff. 10b, 16b.

12. 'The Two Dreams'; [1858?]. Continuous draft of 54 lines, corresponding to lines 126-162 and 214-231 of the printed text, written on both sides of one folio leaf of pale blue laid paper, and one side only of another. Watermark 'W. Stradling / 1851' and figure of Britannia. The order of the text is ff. 18a, 19a, 18b inverted. There are considerable differences from the printed version, only four lines being identical, but even so the MS. is far closer to it than to the original novella. The MS. does, however, follow the novella as opposed to the final version of 'The Two Dreams' in that Andreuola's dream is recounted by the narrator, and not by herself. The following extraneous lines are found on f. 19a:―

'Twisted with nettles and rank grass

On the brute Austrian forehead was

That stained rose, whose petals, cold

Are foul with the colours of blood and gold.

Were fierce with the stains of golden fire.'

On f. 19b are eight lines of extraneous blank verse, beginning 'Our boys find room to curse', printed, with the omission of the word 'wried' after 'eyelids', in Lafourcade, op. cit., ii, p. 580. The MS. may probably be dated to 1858, for the same reasons as in the case of 1841, and also because in Add. MS. 40888, ff. 14b-15b, Swinburne has used the identical paper, also watermarked 1851, for a translation of a passage of Dante's Paradiso, and for a sonnet based on D. G. Rossetti's 'Blessed Damozel'. It is quite likely that the translation was made under the influence of Rossetti, whom Swinburne first met at Oxford in Nov. or Dec. 1857 (letter to W. M. Rossetti, 8 April 1884, printed in C. Y. Lang, Swinburne Letters, v, 1962, pp. 58-60). ff. 18-l9b.

13. 'After Death'; [1858?] Early draft, with title 'After Death' added in a different hand, written on one side only of a folio leaf of blue laid paper. No watermark. As follows:―(a) An apparently complete early version of the poem, consisting of 11 couplets, of which nine correspond to couplets 1-5 and 12-25 of the text printed on pp. 324-326 of the first edition, and two were subsequently discarded. Of the nine, only stanzas 1 and 7 (1 and 13 as printed) are identical with the printed text. (b) At the foot of the page and the sides are drafts of stanzas 16-25. There are two versions of 17 and 18. Stanzas 20-25 are identical with the printed text. The poem was first published in the Spectator for 24 May 1862, in a version differing only by the transposition of lines 24 and 28 from the text of 1866. It is also included in Swinburne's list of early poems (see article 9). In the Spectator there is a footnote 'From the Recueil de Chants Bretons, edited by Félicien Cossu, première série (no more published), p. 89. Paris, 1858.' This is of course a hoax, but it suggests that the poem may possibly have been composed in 1858. f. 20a.

Also included in A1851 is the following extraneous material:―

14. Draft of sixteen lines of blank verse, beginning 'For out of all the heavens on all the winds', possibly a discarded passage of 'At Eleusis' (printed on pp. 239-247 of the first edition); [1862-1865]. The draft is written on one side only of a half-leaf of white folio paper. Watermark 1862. On the recto is a draft of part of 'A Match' (see article 5). The MS. is printed by Lafourcade, op. cit., ii, p. 570. f. 9b.

15. Four draft lines in Greek, apparently on a flagellational subject; [1862?]. The lines are written on one side only of a folio leaf of blue paper. Watermark 1862. On the recto is a draft of 'A Cameo' (see article 6), and on the same side as these lines a draft of part of 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' (see article 11). f. 10b.

16. Early draft, probably the first, of a translation from two passages of the De Contemptu Mundi of Bernard de Morlas; [1864]. The draft is written on one side only of two folio leaves of pale blue paper. No watermark. The recto of the two folios is occupied by a draft of Rococo (see article 7). At the top of f. 11b are the initials 'A. C. S.'. According to Mrs Disney Leith, The Boyhood of Swinburne, 1917, p. 32, the translation was 'done, I think, rather at my instigation, during his long stay with us in 1864. We had been looking at Dr Neale's well-known version opposite the Latin original.' This presumably refers to Neale's The Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix, 1859. The translation, while free, closely follows Bernard's very complicated internal and final rhyme scheme. Swinburne's metre, on the other hand, is anapaestic while the original is written in dactylic hexameters. The translation was first printed in the Contemporary Review for April 1910, and reprinted in Leith, op. cit., pp. 33-34, as 'Specimen of a Projected Version of Bernard's Rhythm'. In this printed version there are included at the end four lines not found in the draft, and corresponding to Liber I, ll. 321, 322, 335, 336 in H. C. Hoskier's edition, De Contemptu Mundi, 1929. As follows:―(a) Eight lines, heavily revised, corresponding to Liber I, ll. 309-314, and 317, 318 in Hoskier, op. cit. In the MS. the lines are in the same order as in the Latin, but in Leith, op. cit., not only does this passage follow the other, (b), contrary to what is found in the original, but also the arrangement of the lines is different, being in the order 3, 4, 1, 2, 5-8 as compared with the MS. Apart from this, however, the draft differs from the printed text only by two words. ― (b) Fourteen lines, heavily revised, corresponding to Liber I, ll. 337, 338, 341, 342, 339, 340, 343-346, 349, 350, 357, 358, in that order, in Hoskier, op. cit. The MS. corresponds to lines 1-14 of Leith's printing, and only differs from it by seven words. ff. 11b, 12b.

17. Draft synopsis of part of the novel 'A Year's Letters', covering letters 21-30; [1862?]. The synopsis is written on one side only of a part folio leaf of blue laid paper. Watermark figure of Britannia. The dates of three of the letters are written beside them, but are not the same as those found in the text printed in The Tatler for 25 Aug. to 29 Dec. 1877, nor those found in the edition of 1905, entitled Love's Cross Currents. The contents of the chapters are, however, the same. The left margin and bottom of the folio have been cropped. In a letter to his sister Isobel, 21 June 1905, Swinburne, speaking of the novel, states 'the letters are dated just about the time I wrote them, or perhaps a year earlier'. This suggests a date for this MS. of 1862. On the verso is a draft of 'Stage Love' (see article 8). f. 13a.

18. List of titles for the first two days of the projected 'Triameron'; [1862?]. The list is written on one side only of a folio leaf of white wove paper. No watermark. The list is identical with one found on the verso of one folio of a draft of Chastelard, and printed in Lafourcade, op. cit., ii, p. 73, except that 'Talking in sleep' is followed by '17th cy' in brackets, 'The story of Queen Fredegonde' is called 'A story of Queen Fredegonde', 'A Chateaubrun of Rococo period' is described as 'A Chateaudun of rococo period', and a twentieth title has been added ― 'Menocchini'. The recto contains a draft of part of 'A Ballad of Life' (see article 1), and on the same side as the list, written later, and inverted, is a draft of part of 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' (see article 11). f. 16b.

19. Early drafts, one cancelled, apparently of three discarded passages of Chastelard (published 1865); [1860-1863?]. The drafts are written on both sides of a folio leaf of white wove paper, without watermark. ff. 17, 17b.

includes:

• ff. 6-7b Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Ilicet', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862-1865]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 8 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Rondel' beg. 'These many years since we began to be', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1864-1865?]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 9 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'A Match', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862-1865]: Autogr. draft of stanza 3.
• f. 9b Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Blank verse lines, beg. 'For out of all the heavens', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862-1865]: Autogr. draft. Imperf.
• f. 10 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Laus Veneris', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862]: Autogr. draft of lines 18 and 19.
• f. 10 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'A Cameo', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 10b Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Four lines of verse by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862?]: Gr: Autogr. draft.
• ff. 10b, 16b Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'The Masque of Queen Bersabe' by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862?]: Autogr. drafts. Imperf.
• ff. 11, 12 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Rococo', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1864?]: Autogr. draft. Imperf.
• ff. 11b, 12b Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Translation of two passages from 'De Contemptu Mundi' of Bernard de Morlas by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1864]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 13 Fiction: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Novel, 'A Year's Letters' by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862?]: Autogr. draft synopsis of letters 21-30.
• f. 13b Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Stage Love', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862?]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 14 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'Rondel', beg. 'Kissing her hair', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: bef. 1862: Autogr. draft.
• ff. 15, 15b Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'August', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: bef. 1862: Autogr. fair copy.
• f. 16 Ballads ENGLISH: Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'A Ballad of Life', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862-1863?]: Autogr. draft of stanzas 1 and 2.
• f. 16b Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: List of titles for his projected 'Triameron' by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1862-1863?]: Autogr. draft.
• ff. 17, 17b Drama ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Verse drama, 'Chastelard', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1860-1863?]: Autogr. drafts of three discarded passages.
• ff. 18, 18b,19 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'The Two Dreams', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1858?]: Autogr. draft of lines 126-162, 214-231.
• f. 19 Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Lines, beg. 'Twisted with nettles and rank grass' by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1858?]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 19b Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Blank verse lines, beg. 'Our boys find room to curse', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1858?]: Autogr. draft.
• f. 20 Poetry ENGLISH: Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: Poem, 'After Death', by Algernon Charles Swinburne: [1858?]: Autogr. drafts.