Beinecke Osborn c83

Title Untitled
Archive Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Call Number Beinecke Osborn c83
Complete Yes
Description

Anonymous member of the Porter family, late eighteenth-century.

4 volumes, 2039 poems. 

Contemporary poetry, many items commonly included in manuscript verse miscellanies. 

Format I: Quarto; II: Mixed; III: Mixed; IV: Octavo
Book Size I: 18.6 x 10.8cm; II: 19.1 x 11.8cm; III: 20.1 x 12.5cm; IV: 18 x 12.5cm
Filled Page Count Total: 1149; I: 269; II: 270-234; III: 735-1077; IV: 1078-1099, 2000-2025
Item Count 1149
Poem Count 1149
Periods
First Line Index Yes
Digitized No
Region
Additional Genres
Print Sources
Major Themes

Major themes prominent among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.

Minor Themes

Other themes of interest among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.

Links
Bibliography
Citation

Beinecke Osborn c83.” Manuscript Verse Miscellanies, 1700–1820, edited by Betty A. Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, https://mvm.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/manuscript/14. Accessed .

Created 2019-09-04 1:13:44 PM
Updated 2024-01-05 11:53:34 AM
First Line Context Print Source
Asses milk, half a pint, take at seven, or before;

Page: n/a; item #188.

Local title: Advice to a Lady in Autumn.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Blest be the Man! his Memory at least

Page: n/a; vol. 2, item #596.

Local title: On the invention of writing by a lady.

Attributed author: a lady.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: FLI notes "as published in the Guardian, no. 172, in 1713."

Unknown
Blush not, ye Fair, to own me, but be wise

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #96.

Local title: Wrote on a tombstone. The lady's skull.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: Paired with "The gentleman's skull" (#97). 

Other: n/a

Unknown
Careful Observers may foretel the Hour

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #244.

Local title: The shower.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Could but our tempers move like this machine

Page: n/a; vol. 2, item #704

Local title: On a watch

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Dear Cloe, while the busy croud

Page: n/a; item #132.

Local title: The fireside.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Dear Peggy, since the single state

Page: n/a; item #1013.

Local title: Advice to a young lady lately married.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
From Frozen Climes and Endless Tracts of Snow

Page: n/a; vol. 3, item #776.

Local title: Copenhagen. To the Earl [later Duke] of Dorset.

Attributed author: Ambrose Philips.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Goddess of golden dreams, whose magic pow'r

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #236

Local title: An elegy.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Hark! my gay friend, that solemn toll

Page: n/a; item #147.

Local title: The unknown world: verses occasioned by hearing a pass-bell.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Hark! my gay friend, that solemn toll

Page: n/a; item #836.

Local title: On Death.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
I Hold for faith

Page: n/a; item #215.

Local title: The double-faced creed.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
I am monarch of all I survey

Page: n/a; vol. 2, item #728

Local title: Robinson Crusoe's soliloquy on the island of Juan Fernandez.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
My Time, O ye Muses, was happily spent

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #154

Local title: The old celebrated song of Colin and Phoebe.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Painful source of many a sorrow!

Page: n/a; item #1068.

Local title: On the word Last.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Parent of virtue, if thine ear

Page: n/a; vol. 1; item #37.

Local title: Hymn to humanity.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Stop, passenger! until my life you read

Page: n/a; vol. 2, item #613.

Local title: "Epitaph on Margrate Scot, in the churchyard of Dalkeith near Edinburgh."

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Sweet instrument of him for whom I mourn

Page: n/a: item #916.

Local title: To her brother's violin.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The Curfew tolls the Knell of parting Day

Page: n/a; item #910.

Local title: An elegy written in a country churchyard.

Attributed author: Thomas Gray.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The Curfew tolls the Knell of parting Day

Page: n/a; item #1000.

Local title: An elegy written in a country churchyard.

Attributed author: Thomas Gray.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The rose had been wash'd, just wash'd in a shower

Page: n/a; vol. 4, item #2009.

Local title: The rose.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The solitary bird of night

Page: n/a; item #100.

Local title: Ode to Wisdom.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Thou Pow'r supreme, by whose Command I live

Page: n/a; vol. 1, #101

Local title: A poem from Mrs. Carter.

Attributed author: Mrs. Carter.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
To thee dear wife,—and all must grant

Page: n/a; item #686.

Local title: To Mrs. Bishop with a pocket looking-glass by the late... master of Merchant Taylor's School.

Attributed author: Rev. Bishop. 

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Turn, gentle hermit of the dale,

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #15.

Local title: The Hermit, or Edwin and Angelina

Attributed author: Goldsmith.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Two or three Dears, and two or three Sweets

Page: n/a; vol. 1, #152

Local title: Modern courtship.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Virtue and Fame, the other day

Page: n/a; item #24.

Local title: Virtue and fame to the Countess of Egremont.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
What Fears, what Terrors does thy Gift create!

Page: n/a; item #781.

Local title: Lines at the request of a gentleman to whom a lady had given a sprig of myrtle.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
When Pallas saw the piece her pupils wrought

Page: n/a; vol. 3, item #1051.

Local title: Verses on a flowered carpet.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
When Snows descend, and robe the Fields

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #204

Local title: On the instability of human perfection.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Where the loveliest expression to features is join'd

Page: n/a; item #1.

Local title: To Mrs. Crewe.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Whoe'er like me, with trembling anguish brings

Page: n/a; item #79.

Local title: Epitaph on a lady, who died at the Hot Wells of a consumption

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Why droops the head, why languishes the eye

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #2

Local title: Psalm the 42. 6 and 7 verse.

Attributed author: Peter Pennell[sic].

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: first line: Why droops the head? Why languishes the eye?

Other: n/a

Unknown
Why mourns my friend! why weeps his downcast eye?

Page: n/a; item #268.

Local title: Elegy.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Why start? the Case is yours, or will be soon

Page: n/a; vol. 1, item #97.

Local title: The gentleman's skull.

Attributed author: n/a

Other variants: First line: "Why start! This case will yours be very soon..."

Paired with "The lady's skull" (#96). 

Other: n/a

Unknown
Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the song

Page: n/a; item #345.

Local title: Messiah.

Attributed author: Alexander Pope.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Feature Note
Author attributions

Occasional across all volumes.

Binding

Post-Bound, all volumes. Stitched gatherings likely composed in sections, ordered, numbered, and bound at once. pages not evenly trimmed; volume sizes are not uniform. 

All volumes have same binding, which looks somewhat homemade.

All volumes bound in vellum with gold detail around edge; hand-drawn black ink lines around gold detailing. Tooling is often uneven. 

Vellum, without titles. 

Volume 4 cover boards are warped and have a concave curve. 

Hands

Volume I: Single. Numbering ink darkens midway through volume. 

Volumes II & III: Single, possibly a different hand from Vol. I. 

Volume IV: Usual hand ends after item 1125. Unnumbered pages show variable hands, none matching the previous hand of the compiler. 

Indications of use

Very organised, fair-copy. Seemingly a family book. 

Item formatting

Simple lines separating items, not used consistently. 

Numbering of items is a unifying feature across volumes. 

Original poetry

Orbis catalogue suggests the items initialed and signed by the Porters are likely original. The First Line Index records items 62, 531, 578, 733, 1033, 2026, and 2027 as by Porters. Given the amount of poems included in the book, even if these items are original, the focus of this book was copying published poetry. 

Ownership mark

Pencil note on vol. I flyleaf reads: Commonplace Book Compiled by William Warren Porter (1776-1804) 

Page layout

Unpaginated.

Items are numbered, seemingly after the poems were copied (the ink is darker, and they are seemingly inserted into blank spaces).

Table of Contents

After item 163, a Table of Contents from an earlier notebook is inserted.