Beinecke Osborn fc132

Title Poems on Several Occasions; Collected from Different Authors
Archive Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Call Number Beinecke Osborn fc132
Complete Yes
Description

James Forbes, 1766–1800. 

This entry concerns only the first volume, as the second is entirely prose. 

151 poems.

Poems on various subjects, including many on death and women, but also conduct, retirement, nature, and slavery. 

Format Folio
Book Size
Filled Page Count 228 pages
Item Count 151
Poem Count 151
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 fc132.” Manuscript Verse Miscellanies, 1700–1820, edited by Betty A. Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, https://mvm.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/manuscript/124. Accessed .

Created 2019-09-04 1:13:44 PM
Updated 2023-07-20 1:52:05 PM
First Line Context Print Source
At length escap’d from ev’ry Human Eye

p. 193.

Local title: A monody to the memory of Lady Lucy Lyttleton.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Dear Cloe, while the busy croud

p. 171.

Local title: The fireside.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Father of All! in every Age

p. 129.

Local title: The universal prayer.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Hail artless Simplicity, beautiful maid,

p. 118

Local title: To Simplicity. By Miss More.

Attributed author: Miss More

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Hail, happy bride! for thou art truly blest

p. 121.

Local title: Elegy on a young married lady.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
How are thy servants blest, O Lord!

p. 39

Local Title: `An ode made by a gentleman at the conclusion of his travels'

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Let coward Guilt with pallid Fear

p. 11.

Local title: Written at midnight in a thunder-storm.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
O Happiness, celestial fair

p. 119

Local title: To Happiness By Miss More

Attributed author: Miss More

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Oft I've implor'd the gods in vain

p. 94

Local title: Indifference—an admired poem.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Pity the sorrows of a poor old man!

p. 104-105

Local title: The Beggar

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Sweet Solitude, thou placid queen,

p. 118

Local title: To Solitude By Miss More.

Attributed author: Miss More

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Take, holy earth, all that my soul holds dear

p. 202.

Local title: Epitaph on Mrs. Hawkesworth.

Attributed author: Dr. Hawkesworth.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
The Curfew tolls the Knell of parting Day

p. 30.

Local title: An elegy written in a country churchyard.

Attributed author: Thomas Gray.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

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

p. 3

Local title: Wrote on her birthday.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Thou who dost all my worldly Thoughts employ

p. 165.

 

Local title: Verses, written by a lady at Bath; and sent to her husband a few days before she died.

 

Attributed author: a lady. 

 

Adaptation: n/a

 

Other variants: n/a

 

Other: n/a 

Unknown
Tomorrow, didst thou say!

p. 171 

Local Title: Tomorrow

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: In imitation of Edmund Waller

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Turn, gentle hermit of the dale,

p. 148

Local title: Edwin & Angelina. A Ballad

Attributed author: Dr. Goldsmith

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: Note at end: Bombay 1773

Unknown
While Night in solemn Shade invests the Pole

p. 7.

Local title: n/a

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

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

p. 98.

Local title: An elegy, describing the melancholy event of a licentious amour.

Author attribution: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the song

p. 34.

Local Title: Messiah. A sacred eclogue: written in imitation of Virgil's Pollio.

Attributed author: Alexander Pope.

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Ye distant Spires, ye antique Towers

p. 148

Local title: Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Unknown
Feature Note
Author attributions

Regular; many popular poets, notably popular female poets.

Binding

Post-bound. Some of the pages at the beginning of the ms have been folded and unfolded, which might suggest the book was bound after compilation.

Contemporary half-calf over marbled-board, gold-tooled.

Spine with title: "Miscellanies Vol. I. Poetical Extracts."

 

Catchwords

Yes.

Decorations - hand-drawn

Occasional color illustrations and several illuminations: title page flowers; p. 14 Hercules; p. 25 rose; p. 28 flowers; p. 29 bird and sun; p. 33 urn; p. 105 urn; p. 163 rose.

Some decorative fonts; consistently careful printing and attention to aesthetic.

Hands

Single.

Indications of use

Compiled during Forbes' travels and continued after he returned to London in 1784.

p. 221 decorative pink footnotes; the last line of the final poem is also written in pink and initialed by the compiler.

Item formatting

Many items followed by a place and date, presumably of where they were first read or copied.

Items are numbered up to p. 104 (#54). 

Titles written in larger font than the poem's text.

Usually a device or line separating items.

Organization

Sections of poems by a single author (e.g., 2–13 Elizabeth Carter, 125–135 Pope, 153–162 Shenstone). Displays an interest in individual poets (as opposed to individual poems).

Unclear if the book was compiled chronologically or not because while the dates are generally chronological, there are a few aberrations (e.g., p. 176 and 180).

 

Original poetry

Yes. The final poem is likely original because there are no FLI hits and it is initialed by the compiler. The poem on p. 82 attributed to "Alexis" might also be original.

Ownership mark

Inscription on title page: In diem natalem Jam. Forbes 19th May 1766 - Bombay - Aet: 17. [On the birthday of James Forbes 19th May 1766. Bombay. Age 17.]

Page layout

Paginated 1–223, [5].

Rare footnotes.

Title page

Yes, inscribed: "In diem natalem Jam. Forbes 19th May 1766—Bombay—Aet: 17."