Folger MS M.a.15 | Manuscript Verse Miscellanies

Title	Untitled
Archive	Folger Shakespeare Library
Call Number	Folger MS M.a.15
Complete	Yes
Description	Associated with Penelope Judith Maitland, daughter of Col. Maitland, late 1770s. 30 poems. Attention to aesthetic features; themes of friendship, sentimental love, poverty, despair and hope.
Format	Quarto
Book Size	22cm x 19cm
Filled Page Count	178
Item Count	30
Poem Count	30
Periods	1761-1790
First Line Index	No
Digitized	No
Region	London, Middlesex Middlesex Totteridge, London, Middlesex
Additional Genres	Prose meditation
Print Sources	Spectator
Major Themes	Conduct, morality Death, afterlife Domestic life Family Nature Major themes prominent among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Minor Themes	Education Love Music, song, opera Other themes of interest among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Links	hamnet.folger.edu
Bibliography
Citation	“Folger MS M.a.15.” Manuscript Verse Miscellanies, 1700–1820, edited by Betty A. Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, https://mvm.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/manuscript/1. Accessed 30 Nov. 2025.
Created	2019-08-22 10:32:54 AM
Updated	2025-04-10 5:21:12 PM

Contributor	Role
[Anonymous]	Primary compiler Possibly also a Major author.
Frederick William Cosens	Owner
George Lyttelton	Major author Major author
Penelope Judith Maitland	Major author

First Line	Context
A Northern pair, we wave the name	pp. 56–59. Local title: The Power of Innocence. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: n/a
At length escap’d from ev’ry Human Eye	pp. 88–108. Local title: A Monody, by Lord Lyttleton in Memory of his Lady. Attributed author: Lord Lyttleton. Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: The first poem in a series of four Lyttleton poems. One stanza per page (with only one error pp. 7–8). Attributed date: 1747.
Dear Chloe, while the busy croud	pp. 7–11. Local title: The Fire-side. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: First line: Dear Bessy whilst the busy crowd... Other: n/a
Made to engage all hearts and charm all eyes	p. 109. Local title: Verses making part of an Epitaph on the same Lady. Attributed author: Lord Lyttleton. Adaptation: n/a Other varients: the "with gentle female tenderness" variant—must be an amalgam of sources though because Dodsley used "gentlest." Other: The second poem in a series of four Lyttleton poems.

Feature	Note
Author attributions	Frequent, generally as part of the header.
Binding	Post-bound. Book is entirely filled, spine is titled, and page numbers are cut off. On spine: "Miscellanies." Contemporary calf.
Hands	Single decorative hand.
Indications of use	Whole book appears carefully compiled with attention to aesthetic features.
Item formatting	Titles especially ornate, also paragraph/section openings.
Organization	First part of the book seems Oxford-centred; second part more related to poverty, domestic trials.
Original poetry	Maybe; there's a whole series of poems by P.M—d daught of Col. M—d, perhaps the compiler.
Ownership mark	Bookplate of F.W. Cosens.
Page layout	Paginated (in extreme outer edges of pages, at least in the first half of book, but some numbers seem to have been trimmed off in binding). Margins ruled-in in pencil. Generous use of white space.