Add MS 78521

Evelyn Papers. Vol. cccliv. (ff. 214). Miscellaneous verses by, addressed to or collected by members of the Evelyn family, with some dramatic and prose pieces and inscriptions; circa 1150-1770, n.d. Mostly copies. Partly Latin, French and Italian. Arranged as follows:-

1. ff. 1-9. Verses partly by and addressed to members of the Evelyn family; circa 1705-1740, n.d. Partly copies.

2. ff.10-53. Verses, mostly in Latin, by John Evelyn, Sir John Evelyn, later 1^st Bart., John Beale, D.D., and others; 1682-1730, n.d. Evelyn’s contributions include autograph English verses (f. 26v) in defence of Dr. Richard Bentley against his critics, beg. ‘As when a strong & well-spread oke they strive’, and his autograph response (f. 37v), headed ‘Memento Mare’ and beg. ‘But Water’s more vnstable than the Ground’, to a Latin epigram on the burial at sea of his brother-in-law William Glanville in April 1702. Also included is poem in Latin hexameters (ff. 43-48) entitled ‘Villa Wottoniana’ is endorsed ‘Mr Rawlinsons Verses on Wotton made in 1715’.

3. ff. 54-73. Translations and imitations in English of poems of Catullus, Horace, Lucan, Donne, La Fontaine and Paolo Rolli, etc., by Nicholas Rowe, Matthew Prior, Nathaniel Cotton, Lord Granville, Soame Jenyns, and Mary Monck; circa 1696-1788. Partly French and Italian. Partly copies and draft, circa early-late 18^th cent.

4 ff. 74-89. Dramatic pieces, viz: ― (a) Prologues and epilogues to plays, including Addison’s Cato, spoken before Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, at Drury Lane, and to Rowe’s Lady Jane Grey, acted by the Prince’s children at Leicester House; 1745, 1749. Copies; ― (b) ‘Plan of the Flatterer. A Comedy’, the personae of which include Sir Harry Ever-green, Sir Pliant Fawnley and Mrs Varnish; circa mid-late 18^th cent. ff. 86-89.

5. ff. 90-95. Miscellaneous prose, including:― (a) Series of satirical ‘Advices’ offered to individuals on their choice of lovers, each attributed to a named author; circa late 17^th - early 18^th cent. [?1694-1703]. ff. 90-91;― (b) Account of an entertainment held at Gunnersbury House, the residence of Princess Amelia, in 1765. ff. 94-95.

6. ff. 96-168. Inscriptions and epitaphs from church monuments, statues, portraits, with some elegies; circa 1150-1771, n.d. Copies, circa 1712-1771. Partly Latin and French. Arranged largely in chronological order of composition, with a final section of pieces almost wholly in English, 1748-1752 and n.d., transcribed on smaller leaves. English verses include copies of Addison’s translation of Cowley’s Latin epitaph for himself (ff. 107-108v), Dryden’s elegy on Lady Whitmore (f. 111) and Mary Wortley Montagu’s on Mrs. Bowes (f. 138). Two sets of verse on John Hewett and Sarah Drew, 1718 (ff. 126, 126v) differ from the texts printed in Pope’s Works, 1736, as do his lines on Simon Harcourt, 1722 (f.129v): all are copies in the hand of Sir John Evelyn. Also included are Sir John’s Latin epitaph (f. 117) for his grandfather, 1706, and inscriptions for Ralph Bohun (d.1716), D.D. (ff. 122-125), the elder William Glanville (f. 127), 1719, and Peter the Great (f. 141), 1725.

7. ff. 169-214. Collection of miscellaneous verses; circa 1713-1763. Copies, partly imperfect. Partly Latin. Texts are transcribed in at least two hands on uniformly-sized leaves from two separate paper-stocks, the order of the sections ascertainable from the former page-numbering or lettering of bifolia. Among the poets are Robert Howth, D.D., Thomas Tickell, Samuel Whyte, John Hoadly, John Harris and Levett Blackborne. Several pieces were printed in The Chaplet (1738), A collection of poems (1763) and The Shamrock: or, Hibernian Cresses (1772). Included are: ― (1) Translations of nine sonnets from the Italian of Giovanni Battista Felice Zappi and Faustina Maratti Zappi. ff. 178-181v; ― (2) Romance involving Dorisbe, her husband Sidonio and the witch Melissa. Imperfect. ff. 200-207v; ― (3) Anonymous translation into octosyllabic couplets of Boccaccio’s Decameron, 9^th day, 2^nd tale. Imperfect. ff. 208-214.