Add MS 39168 I

I. (1) Papers relating to the Wesley family: (a) J[ohn] Wesley, founder of Methodism, to Gidley, Officer of Excise, Exeter, on the purchasing of a prayer-house there; Dublin, 4 July 1778. Printed in Wesley's Works, ed. 1856, xii, p. 480. f. 63; (b) Letter of C[harles] Wesley, musician, nephew of John Wesley, relating to his brother Samuel's illness; circ. 1787. f. 65 ; (c) Letter from J[ohn] B[anks] Jenkinson, D.D., Dean of Worcester, to the Poet-Laureate Robert Southey (author of a Life of Wesley, 1820), enclosing the, copy of a letter from Miss [Elizabeth] Briggs to John Wesley reproaching him for familiarity with women; 11 Dec. 1820. The history of the original, which was taken by Mrs. Wesley from her husband's bureau, is given. f. 67; (d) Alex[ander] Knox, author. of "Remarks on the character of John Wesley" appended to Southey's Life, to Rev. S[amuel] O'Sullivan on the above subject; Bellevue, Delganny, 14 Mar. 1825. f. 71.

(2) Engraved portrait of William Shenstone, from Johnson's edition of his Works, 1779. Beneath are four autograph lines apparently cut from a longer poem. f. 73.

(3) T[homas] Warton, the historian of English poetry, to Rev. [John] Price, curate of Wilcot and Librarian of the Bodleian; Oxford, 28 Dec. 1789. f. 75.

(4) William Hayley, the poet, to William Pitt, Prime Minister, requesting a pension for the poet Cowper ; Eartham, 11 Dec. 1792. This letter was returned undelivered by Mr. Secretary Long (see note, f. 77b) and again dispatched, 9 June, 1793, with an addition (f. 78) of 16 verses in heroic metre, beg. "Some maladies, dear Pitt, are gifts divine." A full account of Hayley's efforts on Cowper's behalf is in Add. MS. 38887, quoting this letter in full. f. 76.

(5) Papers of George Catcott, the friend of Chatterton: (a) George Catcott to Lord including Chatterton's description of the Temple Church at Bristol and proofs of its authenticity ; Bristol, 30 Oct. 1774. f. 81. Preceded by a typed copy, f. 79; (b) "Appendix to my Introduction written in 1772" in defence of the genuineness of the Rowley poems, 1 Jan. 1776. Printed with variations in The Monthly Review for May, 1777. f. 83.

(6) Six verses in heroic couplets, beg. "Pellucid form ! whose venturous bends on high," by Erasmus Darwin, M.D., F.R.S. (d. 1802), f. 85. Followed by an engr. protrait, 1795. f. 86.

(7) Papers of the Cumberland family : (a) Verses by R[ichard] Cumberland, dramatist, entitled "Inscription designed for a Garden-Building at Horton," Dec. 1755, in six heroic couplets, beg. "Stranger, if hither you should chance to roam." If autograph, differing from his later hand. f. 87. With engr. portrait, from the Euroopean Magazine for July, 1809. f. 89; (b) Letter with pen sketch from [Thomas] Stothard, R.A., to George Cumberland, circ. 1781. f. 88; (c) Fragments of letters of S[ophia] Badcock, daughter of R. Cumberland, early 19th cent. ? ff. 90, 91. For a collection of Cumberland papers see Add. MSS. 36491-36522.

(8) Wordsworth's sonnet entitled "Thoughts of a Briton on the subjugation of Switzerland," beg. "Two Voices are there," composed at Coleorton 1807 and printed in Poems (1807) i, p. 138. Holograph. Signed W[illia]m Wordsworth. f. 92.

(9) "Night and Death. A Sonnet addressed to S. T. Coleridge, Esq.," beg. "Oh Night ! when, yet unseen, the first Man knew," a holograph copy, sent to Mrs. Burton, of the famous sonnet by J[oseph] B[lanco] W[hite], first published 1828. This version most resembles the first of the three printed in The Academy, 12 Sept. 1891, which all beg. "Mysterious night." f. 93.

(10) "O Star of France," poem by Walt Whitman. The printed text, first published in 1872, differs considerably from the present draft. Holograph. f. 95. These ten articles were purchased at the sale of the library of Edward Dowden, Litt.D. (sale-cat. 9 June, 1914, lots 85, 86, 95, 106, 126).