Beinecke Osborn c481 | Manuscript Verse Miscellanies

Title	Select and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c.
Archive	Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Call Number	Beinecke Osborn c481
Complete	Yes
Description	John Freeman Milward Dovaston, 1773 and later. Separate title page at the end for Odes by Thomas Gray. 75 poems, many original. A mix of English and Latin poems and mottos with a particular interest in classical figures and religious belief.
Format
Book Size	19cm x 12cm
Filled Page Count	308 pages
Item Count	117
Poem Count	75
Periods	1761-1790
First Line Index	Yes
Digitized	No
Region	[Unknown]
Additional Genres	Prose arguments; Prose - miscellaneous
Print Sources
Major Themes	Classical themes Death, afterlife Devotional writing, religio... Historical subjects Latin poetry Public affairs Major themes prominent among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Minor Themes	Alcohol, other beverages, t... Animals, pets Conduct, morality Humour, wordplay Illness Other themes of interest among the manuscript contents in alphabetical order.
Links	hdl.handle.net firstlines.folger.edu
Bibliography
Citation	“Beinecke Osborn c481.” Manuscript Verse Miscellanies, 1700–1820, edited by Betty A. Schellenberg, Simon Fraser University, https://mvm.dhil.lib.sfu.ca/manuscript/388. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
Created	2021-05-25 3:15:09 PM
Updated	2023-07-19 4:45:21 PM

Contributor	Role
John Freeman Milward Dovaston	Primary compiler Major author
Thomas Gray	Major author

First Line	Context
The Curfew tolls the Knell of parting Day	p. 47 Local title: Elegy written in a country churchyard. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: n/a
Thou who dost all my worldly Thoughts employ	p. 271 Local title: Letter from a lady at Bath. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: First line: "Thou who dost all my Earthly thoughts Employ..." Other: Incomplete.
Underneath this sable hearse	p. 53 Local title: Epitaph on Sir Henry Sidney's lady who died Sepr. 25th 1621 buried in Salisbury church. Attributed author: n/a Adaptation: n/a Other variants: n/a Other: n/a

First Line

Context

The Curfew tolls the Knell of parting Day

p. 47

Local title: Elegy written in a country churchyard.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Thou who dost all my worldly Thoughts employ

p. 271

Local title: Letter from a lady at Bath.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: First line: "Thou who dost all my Earthly thoughts Employ..."

Other: Incomplete.

Underneath this sable hearse

p. 53

Local title: Epitaph on Sir Henry Sidney's lady who died Sepr. 25th 1621 buried in Salisbury church.

Attributed author: n/a

Adaptation: n/a

Other variants: n/a

Other: n/a

Feature	Note
Author attributions	Occasional.
Binding	No notes on binding.
Catchwords	Yes, frequent.
Decorations - hand-drawn	Pencil drawings: [first page] emblem with a ship; [opposite title page] cornucopia; [title page] lyre; [second title page] Strawberry Hill.
Hands	Single.
Indications of use	The drawing of the ship on the (first) title page is annotated: “On a Voyage in the above Ship [“Ship, Wo Fortmans; Robt. Mertin Commander”] from Jamaica to England, The Above Drawing was made by John Dovaston in the Ship Frydan May 13^th. 1774 See My Journal, of that Voyage.” Lengthy annotations and footnotes imply an assumed readership. Annotations in a diff (faded red) ink pp. 289–291.
Item formatting	Lines between items. Dashes between shorter items (like mottos) that have been grouped together and some longer poems with numbered stanzas. Titles are the same size as the body of the text with no underline, though normally at the top of the page or separated from the previous poem by a line.
Organization	Some informal thematic groupings, e.g., pp. ~241–265 religious material.
Original poetry	Yes, many poems original to the compiler. See page 72 for a long note on his paraphrasing the book of Job. A lot of the other poems inspire FLI results, but only from the ESTC, which is an interesting testament to the uniqueness of this manuscript's selections.
Ownership mark	Prose letters (pp. 279–289) are signed by Jno Dovaston, as is the first title page; the drawing on the second title page is also signed by the compiler.
Page layout	Paginated. Not overcrowded, but most pages are full.
Table of Contents	Yes, at the end, though it is followed by a few more items and the Odes by Thomas Gray.
Title page	Yes, two: one at the beginning decorated with a pencil-drawing of a ship, and one at the end specifically for Odes by Thomas Gray decorated with a pencil-drawing of Strawberry Hill.