Add MS 43949

DILKE PAPERS. Vol. LXXVI (ff. 41). Literary material, viz:-(i) Verse by Sir Charles Dilke, most of which is mentioned in the 'Memoirs' (cf. Add. MSS. 43930, ff. 181, 201, 202; 43932, ff. 96, 117); 1866-1876, and n.d. Mainly autograph. The sonnet, 'To death', beg. 'All mirth that jocund spirits know', of which drafts appear at f. 22 (imperf.) and f. 24, was printed in the Spectator, 2 Jan. 1875, vol. 48, p. 14. ff. 1-33;-(2) 'An Ode' by Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy, beg. 'We are the music makers'; imperf., comprising the first two and the last stanzas only. Published in the Athenaeum, 30 Aug. 1873, p. 277, and reprinted in Music and Moonlight, 1874, pp. 1-5. Autograph and signed: some punctuation has been added in pencil. ff. 34, 35;-(3) 'The Quest of Sir Bright de Bromwicham, Knight Templar: A Ballad of Bulgaria. Sung on the Feast of Notre Dame de Bon Marché, by a Perishing Savoyard'; a satirical poem (divided here into 18 stanzas) written by Algernon Charles Swinburne in December 1876 on the attitude of John Bright, W. E. Gladstone, and Thomas Carlyle to the Bulgarian atrocities (cf. Sir E. Gosse and T. J. Wise, The Complete Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne, xx, 1927, pp. 254-257). The MS., an autograph fair copy, was received by Dilke from Swinburne at some time between 9 Jan. and 8 Feb. 1877 (cf. the 'Memoirs', Add. MS. 43933, ff. 6-13); but it would seem from two letters from Swinburne to T. Purnell (printed, Gosse and Wise, op. cit., xviii, 1927, pp. 268-271) dated 27 Dec. 1876 and 27 Jan. 1877 that Dilke had seen a copy of the ballad at some time between these two dates. The poem, in its present form, is still unpublished: an autograph draft of an earlier version, however (without title or division into stanzas, and containing additional material immediately following stanza 13, as well as other variations from the present MS.), now Ashley MS. A. 1930 in the British Museum (cf. T. J. Wise, The Ashley Library, vi, 1925, pp. 188, 189), was privately printed (with some inaccuracies) by Wise in Oct. 1893 (from Gosse's transcript made in Dec. 1876) as The Ballad of Bulgarie (cf. Gosse and Wise, op. cit., xx, 1927, pp. 256, 267). ff. 37-41. Quarto.

includes:

• ff. 1-3 2 Poetry ENGLISH: Sir C. Dilke, 2nd Bart., verses: 1866-1876, n.d.: Mostly autogr and typewritten copy.
• f. 20 Katherine Mary Eliza Dilke, née Shiel; 1st wife of Sir C W Dilke, 2nd Baronet: Transcript by, of verses by Sir C. Dilke: 1872-1874.: Imperf.
• f. 34 Poetry ENGLISH: A. W. E. O'Shaughnessy, 'We are the music makers': 1873.: Autogr. and signed. Imperf.
• f. 34 Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy, poet and herpetologist: Ode, 'We are the music makers': 1873.: Autogr. Signed. Imperf.
• f. 37 Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet: 'A Ballad of Bulgaria': 1876.: Autogr. copy.
• f. 37 Political and Satirical Poems: A. C. Swinburne, 'A Ballad of Bulgaria', a satire on J. Bright, W. E. Gladstone and T. Carlyle: 1876.: Autogr. Copy.
• f. 37 William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister: Satirical poem, 'The Ballad of Bulgaria' by A. C. Swinbume on: 1876.: Autogr.
• f. 37 Thomas Carlyle, historian; d.1881: Satirical poem on, by A. C. Swinburne: 1876.
• f.37 John Bright, PC; MP: Satirical poem, 'The Ballad of Bulgaria', by A. C. Swinburne, on: 1876.