Houghton MS Am 1894.1(1)

• Recipient

• Primary compiler

Never.

Post-bound. No blanks, and the final item fits perfectly on the last page.

Paper binding.

Single.

Opening letter to “reveren’d Religioso,” presumably a moniker for the intended recipient. 

Pen trials on inside covers and some pages.

Some cross-outs but mostly a fair copy book, which makes sense since it was seemingly intended as a gift.

Clear presentation of titles.

Lines separating every item.

Many numbered stanzas—no breaks between stanzas, just numbers written at the start of the new stanza's first line. 

Opening letter—To the reveren’d Religioso… hoping he enjoys the manuscript etc. 

Introduction. 

Yes, seemingly all original. Opening letter which assures the recipient that these “sounds that fill my head with discords” might be “fraught with nothing more than accidental excellence,” along with the introduction, strongly implies this is the compiler's original poetry. 

Paginated (beginning with the Introduction).

New items frequently begun at the very bottom of pages ie. rarely begin on a new page all of their own.

Irregular, curved lines (decorative?) between the end of a line of text and the edge of the page.

Yes: "A poetical flame blown up by the breath of a fanatical religioso — or a prolific imagination, stumbling on various subjects, that does no honor to Christianity. / H. Catholicus."