Beinecke Osborn c83 | Manuscript Verse Miscellanies

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	1761-1790 1791-1820
First Line Index	Yes
Digitized	No
Region
Additional Genres
Print Sources	Guardian
Major Themes	Conduct, morality Death, afterlife Devotional writing, religio... Passions, Sentiments Women Major themes prominent among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Minor Themes	Alcohol, other beverages, t... Animals, pets Celebrities Classical themes Courtship, marriage Domestic life Family Friendship Historical subjects Humour, wordplay Illness Imitation, parody Literature Love Nature Public affairs Satire - social Solitude, loneliness, retir... Travel Visual arts Women Other themes of interest among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Links	firstlines.folger.edu hdl.handle.net
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 21 Dec. 2024.
Created	2019-09-04 1:13:44 PM
Updated	2024-01-05 11:53:34 AM

Contributor	Role
[Anonymous member of the Porter family]	Primary compiler
Christopher Anstey	Major author
Elizabeth Carter	Major author
James Hammond	Major author
Samuel Johnson	Major author
Ms. Porter	Major author
William Warren Porter	Major author
Ann Ward Radcliffe	Major author
Mary Darby Robinson	Major author
Charlotte Turner Smith	Major author
Jonathan Swift	Major author
John Wolcot	Major author

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.