British Library Add. MS 70494 | Manuscript Verse Miscellanies

Title	Poems on Several Occasions
Archive	British Library
Call Number	British Library Add. MS 70494
Complete	Yes
Description	Soame Jenyns, 1729. Presentation copy of Beinecke Osborn c147, only slightly different contents. Poems written for Margaret Cavendish Harley, her father, Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, and her circle of friends. 18 items. Flattery, panegyric.
Format	Folio
Book Size	25.6 cm x 19 cm
Filled Page Count	56
Item Count	18
Poem Count	18
Periods	1701-1730
First Line Index	Yes
Digitized	No
Region	Cambridgeshire Wimpole Hall, Cambridgeshire
Additional Genres
Print Sources
Major Themes	Conduct, morality Women Major themes prominent among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Minor Themes	Illness Literature Travel Visual arts Other themes of interest among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Links	firstlines.folger.edu
Bibliography
Citation	“British Library Add. MS 70494.” Manuscript Verse Miscellanies, 1700–1820, edited by Betty A. Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, https://mvm.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/manuscript/350. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Created	2020-02-13 2:15:15 PM
Updated	2024-10-09 12:31:16 PM

Contributor	Role
Margaret Harley Cavendish Bentinck	Recipient Dedicatee
Soame Jenyns	Primary compiler Compiled by himself or a copyist Major author

First Line	Context
Julia once struck me with a Ball of Snow	p. 55 Local title: The snowball from Petronius Afranius. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: First line: "White as her hand, fair Julia threw..." Other: n/a
The tuneful throng was ever beauty's care	f. 9 Local title: To the Right Honourable the Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: n/a
Whilst half asleep my Chloe lies	f. 28 Local title: To the Same. With a Watch, which she borrow'd to hang at her Beds-head. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: n/a
Whilst well-wrote lines our wond'ring eyes command	f. 23 Local title: To the Same [Chloe]. In Answer to a Letter wrote in a very fine Hand. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: n/a
White as her hand fair Julia threw	f. 34 Local title: The Snowball from Petronius Afranius. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: One of two snowball poems by Jenyns.

Feature	Note
Binding	Decorative red morocco with gilt page edges.
Decorations - hand-drawn	Calligraphic titles and words.
Hands	Single decorative hand, possibly that of a copyist.
Indications of use	Intended as a gift to Margaret Cavendish. Some annotation, adjustment of wordings and titles to indicate that this is a collection preserved by Jenyns or given to someone other than its original addressees/recipients
Original poetry	Yes, all Soame Jenyns' poetry.
Ownership mark	Welbeck Abbey bookplate. Dedicated to Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, afterwards Duchess of Portland, 1729.
Page layout	Yes (fifty-four pages beginning with the title page). Very generous use of white space.
Table of Contents	Yes, at the end.
Title page	Yes: "Poems on Several Occasions."