Sixty-five manuscript notecard or notecard fascicles (each consisting of a varying number of loosely stitched to head with variously coloured threads), composed in a neat and small hand, mostly to both sides of each card. In at least two hands, several variously initialled at end ‘S.W.’, ‘R.W.’ and ‘M.W.’ Some cards are dated to the 1790s, and very occasionally a location, such as ‘Whitby’, is added. Apparently used as a form of Georgian commonplace, this collection consists of manuscript transcriptions of poems, prose and notable correspondence. Selected poetry includes pieces by Mrs Chapone, Sheridan, Cowper, Della Crusca (‘The Slave. An Elegy’), Charlotte Smith, MacKenzie and Ireland (Hogarth illustrated). Prose includes ‘An Original letter from Sir Robt. Walpole’, ‘Pieces of conjugal happiness address’d to a Lady on her Marriage by Dr. Langhorne’, ‘Virtue & Good Order. To Mrs Hume’ and four lengthy pieces entitled ‘The married man & Batchelor contrasted’, with arguments in favour and against marriage from the single and married perspective. Several of the pieces appeared in various literary magazines and such publication series as Charles Dilly’s Elegant Extracts (London, 1780s-90s), and it is likely that these extracts were copied from such compilations of short works.
Title: A collection of Georgian poetry and prose, ca. 1790.
LWL Mss Vol. 223
Acquired September 2016