Add MS 78448

Evelyn Papers. Vol. cclxxxi. Commonplace notes and extracts by John Evelyn junior, mostly on religion, law, history and literature, etc.; circa 1670-1696, n.d. Partly Latin, Greek, French, and printed. For further notes, removed from the archive by William Upcott, see Add. MS 19590, ff.1-75.

Paper: ff. 248. 360 x 230 mm. The present volume has been assembled partly from notebooks, complete or imperfect, and partly from stray sheets or small gatherings. Some leaves bear subject-classifications jotted in the hand of John Evelyn senior. The arrangement is as follows:-

1. ff.1-12. Political and official papers partly relating to Ireland, Wales and Virginia; 1688-1696, n.d.

2. ff.13-73. Notes and extracts relating to the scriptures, church history, theology and philosophy, circa [1668?]-1691, n.d. Partly Latin and French.

3. ff.74-109. Notes on Roman and English Law, lists of legal officers of state, etc., some taken probably while Evelyn was studying at the Middle Temple; circa 1670-1696. Included is a notebook (ff.110-119) of extracts from Grotius’s De jure belli et pacis in the Amsterdam edition of 1670. Partly Latin.

4. ff.120-168. Notes chiefly on ancient, British and contemporary history, including a notebook (ff.120-134), now imperfect, of extracts taken apparently from an edition or translation of Camden’s Britannia, along with another (ff.159-168) comprising some 'Reflections on the Ancient Greek Historians'; circa 1685-1695.

5. ff.169-198. Miscellaneous notes on various subjects, including leaves from a notebook (ff. 178-198) of extracts from poems and dramas by Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and Dryden, etc.; 1673-1674. Further leaves, comprising extracts from printed prose works 1671-1673, are now Additional MS 15950, ff.48-53v.

6. ff.199-236. Extracts from printed works in French on continental and English politics, including a glossary of Greek words taken partly from the Gospel of St Mark; circa 1686-1695, n.d.

7. ff.237-248. Library-lists, etc., including works, partly in French, bought by Evelyn in France and Ireland; circa 1670-1692. Partly printed.