ENGLISH POETRY, 1750-1855

Part 1: Recollections, Conversations and Commonplace Books of the Reverend John Mitford (1781-1859) from the British Library, London

Detailed Listing

The following detailed list is comprised of the complete original catalogue entries from the British Library Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts, followed by supplementary details, which have been gleaned from the manuscripts themselves.

32,559-32,575. COMMON-PLACE BOOKS and "Recollections" of the Rev. John Mitford, Editor of Gray's Works, etc., containing extracts from printed works and manuscripts, with political, literary, and social anecdotes and table-talk of every kind; 1847-1856. Seventeen volumes. Paper. The contents of the several volumes are as follows:-

REEL 1

32,559. Vol. I. EXTRACTS from the "Journal of the reign of King George the third," 1772-1787, by Horace Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford. (Printed as far as 1783, ed. Dr. John Doran, 1859.) The following in Walpole's hand are inserted:-"Hints for discovering Junius," suggesting his identity with [Charles Wolfram] Cornewall; 1778 (cf. f. 107), f. 1;- Epigram, "In rude old England," etc., on Geo. III; 1779, f. 145;- Query, "What has Mr Pitt done for the people or nation in return for his popularity ?"; July, 1784, f. 258b.
ff. 279. Circ. 1847. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,559
1 Hints for discovering Junius
3 Journal of the reign of King George III from the beginning of the year 1772-1787 by Horace Walpole
12 Lord Chatham, (cf. ff. 67, 124, 155)
18 Charles Townshend
20 Sir Edward Walpole
28 Temple Luttrell
35 Lord Lyttelton
38 Sir John Dalymple
54 Sir John Hawkins
61 General Gage
63 Dr Johnson
69 Charles Fox
74, 82 Lord North
89 Dr Dodd
129v The old woman of Salisbury
154 William Mason: An Epigram
185 Charles James Fox
193 William Pitt the Younger
204 Edmund Burke
218 On Lord Shelburne
222 William Mason: An Epigram
244 William Grenville

32,560. Vol. II. EXTRACTS from the same Journal, 1787-1791. Followed, at f. 45, by miscellaneous extracts from Horace Walpole's MSS., consisting of political and social memoranda, copies of verses, notes to his Political Pamphlets, etc. Two political notes in Walpole's hand are inserted at ff. 1, 2.
ff. 244. A.D. 1847 (cf. f. 110). Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,560 Journal – continued 1787 - 1791
3 Prince of Wales
6 Mrs Fitzherbert
44 Ends
46 Poem on William Pitt
48 Dundas
49 D’ Aubigny’s
50 On the Regency
52 Newspapers
63 Horace Walpole’s Political pamphlets
65 Character of William Pitt
67/8 Various newspaper and pamphlet extracts and verses
98 A Fairy Tale, 1743
100 Verses occasioned by a late will
106 The World
111 Walpole manuscripts
113 Parody by R West on Pope’s Grotto
115 Sayings
127 Poem by Mason
129 Heads for speech
153 Horace Walpole verse
159 Instances of Extraordinary drama
162 Lord Harvey’s Poems
166 Richard West
168 Thomas Gray
171 Thomas Ashton
172 Anecdotes relating to Dr Conyer (?) Middleton
174 Mr Bentley
178 Sir C H Williams
183 Verses occasioned by a late will
184 W Mason. Epistle to the Honourable Horace Walpole
207 Tom Windham
208 Mr Pitt
211 Thomas Gray
219 Imitation of Horace by G Churchill
286 Little Peggy
240 To Mr Pitt

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32,561. Vol. III. EXTRACTS from the common-place books and other MSS. of Thomas Gray, the poet, including:- Notes on Sophocles, the Greek orators, Athenæus, etc. ff. 3-59;- Notes on the Gray family, ff. 61, 66, 76;- "Beauties and faults observed by Mr. Chambers in any of ye buildings in or near London," f. 62 ;-"Oh, tecta, mentis dulcis amor meæ" etc.: a paraphrase of Psalm lxxxiv, f. 67;- Dante, Inferno, canto 33, "From his dire good," etc. (Gosse, Works of Gray, i. 157), ff. 70, 182;- "Thyrsis, when we parted, swore," etc. (ibid. p. 138); with various readings, f. 73;- "Epitaph on a child" (ibid. p. 126); "in Gray's writing," ff. 74, 182;- Epigram, "Whenever Cinna asks a favor," etc. [by Richard West ?], ff. 76, 182;- Propertius, lib. ii. el. 1, "You ask why thus," etc. (ibid. p. 153), f. 77;- Letter from Henrietta Jane Speed to T. Gray; 25 Aug. 1759, f. 80;- Elegiac poems, beg. "Gratia magna tuæ" and "Vah, tenero quodcunque potest," ff. 83, 86;- Literal translation of a Welsh poem, "Thou former of the earth," etc.; "from Mrs. Newcome, the Bp. of Landaff's lady," f. 89;-"Extracts from a MS. Journal of Mr. Gray [in Scotland in 1765] in the possession of Mr. R. Wellesley," f. 112;- Notes on pictures, etc., at Wilton, Kensington Palace, etc., ff. 126-139;- Notes of pictures, etc., on a tour in Italy, 1739 (Works, ed. 1836, iv. 225), f. 140;-"Extracts from Gray's copy of Linnæi Systema Naturæ," f. 158;- List of plants, etc., headed "Denton in Kent, May 20, 1766," f. 161 ;- "Sketch of his [Gray's] inaugural Lecture in History," f. 170;- "Character of Samuel Daniel, from MSS. on Engl. poetry," f. 172;- "The Books," a short imaginary conversation between the books in his study, 1740, E. 176, 234;- "Notes on Churchill's Poems," f. 177;-"Various readings in his poems from MSS.," f. 180;-"To Air. Jolliffe on his drawing profiles, &,c." by W. Mason (Correspondence, 1853, p. 123), f. 183;-"Lines," be-. "Prim Hurd attends your call and Palgrave proud" (cf. Gosse, iii. 296), f. 184;-"Verses from Wm. Shakespeare" (Gosse, i. 132), f. 185;- "Lines on the Reads of Houses" (Gosse, i. 134), f. 186;- "Letter to West, with a translation of Statius"; 8 May, 1736 (Gosse, i. 145, ii. 1; but without the first twenty-three lines of verse), f. 192;-Extracts from letters of Gray, f. 195;-"Books in Mr. Penn's Library with MS. notes by T. Gray," f. 236.
ff. 242. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,561
1 Extracts from Mr Gray’s commonplace books
2 Catalogue of his library
3 Sophocles and Greek literature

32,562. Vol. IV. EXTRACTS from MSS. of Thomas Gray, viz.:- "in Mason's collection," ff. 1-12; "from Mr. Bright's collection, sold Nov. 1845, which had belonged to Mr. Stonehewer," chiefly matter which has been copied into vol. III. above, ff. 14-120;-"Manuscript letters of Gray, [Richard] West, and [Horace] Walpole [in correspondence with Thomas Ashton] copied by me from the originals lent by Mrs. Frankland Lewis to me, February, 1853," ff. 126-174;- "MS. letters from Ashton to West and Walpole," ff. 175-212.
ff. 212. A.D. 1845 (cf. f. 14), 1853. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,562
3 On Pope
94-110 Journal of a tour with Horace Walpole

REEL 3

32,563. Vol. V. EXTRACTS from the correspondence and papers of the Rev. William Mason, the poet, viz.:-"Extracts from Warburton's letters to Mason"; 1751-1771, ff. 1, 125b;- Letters of James Beattie, etc., to Mason; 1772-1775, f. 30;- "Passages omitted in H. Walpole's and Mason's correspondence" [ed. J. Mitford, 1851], f. 49;- "Extracts [in verse] from Mason's commonplace-book," f. 56;-"Extracts from Lord Harcourt's correspondence with Mason," f. 97;- "Notes on Venice Preserved, by
W. Mason," f. 130;- "Letters from William Mason to [George Simon Harcourt] the [2nd] Earl of Harcourt, from MSS. at Nuneham"; 1755-1794,
f. 135;-"Verses by Mason," f. 178.
ff. 195. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,563
56 Epitaph, inscription and epigrams, sonnets, etc.
73 First satire of Donne versified
83-94 “The Dutchess and Squire: a Political eclogue”
179 Ode
182 King Stephen

32,564. Vol. VI. TRANSCRIPT of "Anecdotes of Sir J[oshua] Reynolds, chiefly relative to his manner of coloring, by W[illiam] Mason";...... "copied (see f. 2) from the original at Aston Rectory, which is unfortunately imperfect, and the missing part has been sought for in vain among the Mason MSS."
ff. 9. A.D. 1851. Small Quarto.

32,565. Vol. VII. "TOUP MSS.": transcripts of, and extracts from, letters addressed to the Rev. Jonathan Toup, M.A., author of "Emendationes in Suidam," etc. (1760-1775), by James Harris, M.P., of Salisbury, Dr. William Heberden, Dr. Samuel Musgrave, Dr. Anthony Askew, Dr. Richard Pocock [Bishop of Ossory, and of Meath], Dr. Jeremiah Miller, Dean of Exeter, and others; 1747-1782. Copies of a few letters of J. Toup are also included. At f. 76 is correspondence of Peter Elmsley, etc., concerning a new edition of Toup's work on Suidas, 1789;-and at f. 82, critical notes on "Xenophon's Memoirs."
ff. 92. Small Octavo.

32,566. Vol. VIII. "RECOLLECTIONS," consisting of anecdotes, table- talk, notes of readings, etc., headed "Horne Tooke," f. 4;- "Coleridge's MS. notes on Baxter's Life," f . 9;-"Burke," f . 14 b;- "Fox," f. 17;-"Beckford," f. 34;-"Rogers," f. 39;-Miscellaneous, ff. 87-174.
ff.174. A.D.1844-1845. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32566
1 Horne Tooke
2v Wellington
3 Sterne
4 Horne Tooke
9 Coleridge’s Ms notes on Baxter’s life.
14v Burke
17 Charles James Fox
34 Beckford
39 Rogers
87 Recollections – verbatim transcripts in the manner of Boswell:
87 Rogers, (cf ff.93, 94, 101-2, 111,121 etc)
88 Mason
104 George IV
107 Arthur Murphy
117 Burke to Garrick (letter)
119 Sidney Smith
133 Locke
134 Dr Priestley
135 Mr Hunter
153 Burke
161 Sheridan
162 J Kemble
163 Furums
164 Byron
165 Wilberforce
168 Pitt
171v R Burney

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32,567. Vol. IX- "RECOLLECTIONS," in continuation of the above, chiefly of conversations with Samuel Rogers. Among other headings are:-"Letters of Pope," f. 95;- "Dryden's letter" to Mrs. Steward; 23 Nov. 1692, f. 101;- "Crabbe," f. 155;-[William] "Jackson of Exeter," f . 281 ;- "Notes in Warton's Essay on Pope by Rev. [Thomas] Penrose," f. 306;-[William] "Beckford,"
f. 315.
ff. 367. A.D. 1847-1850. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,567
1 Lord Byron
9 J G Lockhart Epigram
18 Horne Tooke on Marriage
21 Coleridge on Wordsworth
40 Lady Lytton and Byron
105 Letter of Duke of Wellington
120 Horne Tooke’s system of Teaching
155 George Crabbe
165 Adam Smith
177-178 Hannah More
215 Chateaubriand
224 Samuel Johnson
265 Library List of Samuel Rogers
315 Beckford
329 George Canning verse
330 Sheridan verse

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32,568. Vol. X. "RECOLLECTIONS", continued, including:- Samuel Rogers's Copy of Garth's Dispensary with Pope's MS. notes," f. 4;- Extracts from Rev. S. Smith's Sketches of Moral Philosophy (priv. printed), 1850,"
f. 27;- Porson's "New Catechism," f. 135;- "Memoirs of Sheridan by Professor Smyth," priv. printed, 1840, f. 258; with miscellaneous table-talk of S. Rogers, H. Crabb Robinson, etc.
ff. 342. A.D. 1849, 1850. Sm. Octavo.

Additional details:

32.568
1 Garrick
45, 52 Locke
49, 57 Taste
50 Ambiguity
55 Beauty
65 Habit
67, 88 The Passions
77 English Virtues
81 Addison
84 Humour
92 Plato
96 Aristotle
114 William Pitt
122 William Maltby Letter
155 Duke of Wellington
156 Beckford
162 Akenside
208 Samuel Johnson letter
209 Mary Wolstonecraft
215 Wilkes
224 Dr Johnson
232 Letter from J Wilkes to J Warton
239 Lady Hester Stanhope
243 The Butler (sketch)
244 Southey
245 Jos Warton Changes to Poems
299 The Character of Mr Pitt
321 Byron

REEL 6

32,569. Vol. Xl. RECOLLECTIONS continued, consisting chiefly of:- Extracts from H. Walpole's correspondence with [Rev. W.] Mason," with the note "several passages in this book are not given in the printed copy" [ed. J. Mitford, 1851), f. 2;-and "Extracts from the correspondence of William Mason and William Whitehead in the possession of Rev. [William] Alderson of Aston," co. York, f. 79. At the end are inserted letters to Rev. J. Mitford from Henry Cary, 22 Sept. 1846, f. 94; and Matthew Cooke, n.d., f. 95.
ff. 96. A.D. 1850. Sm. Octavo.

Additional details:

32,569
Lots on Thomas Gray including his Jemmy Twitcher’ f22

32,570. Vol. XII. RECOLLECTIONS, continued, consisting chiefly of miscellaneous anecdotes and table-talk, extracts from books, etc. Inserted are letters to Rev. J. Mitford from William Maltby, of the London Institution ; 24 July [ 1851 ?], f. 89;-D. E. Davy; Ufford, 7, 9 June, 1851, ff. 204, 205;- and Harriet and Mary Alderson, widow and sister of Rev. William Alderson, rector of Aston, co. York; 17 Nov. 1852, ff. 388, 390.
ff. 391. A.D. 1851, 1852. Sm. Octavo.

Additional details:

32,570
3 Letter J Flaxman to S Rogers
8 Garrick
12, 63 Verses by Lady John Russell
28 Verses by Lord Grenville
46, 323 Joshua Reynolds
57 Beckford
81v Sion House Gardens,1851
96 Charles Lamb
103 Napoleon Bonaparte
107 Parson
119 Lines by Fox on Gibbon
147 Beckford – Imagery
162 Jackson of Exeter
165 Porson on Maltby’s mss
174 A poetical address by Porson and other verse and letters
189 Samuel Rogers lines on a bust of C J Fox
199 Evelyn and his gardens
206 List of Lord Hervey’s prose pamphlets
217 Pictures at Castle Howard
218 Northcote
225 Sharpe’s Travels in Italy
249 Bulwer Lytton on Marriage
249 Napoleon Bonaparte
251 Coleridge Mss
283 Thomas Day (Author of Sandiford and Merton)
294 J M W Turner
313 Talleyrand
337 Thomas Day
341 Ruskin

REEL 7

32,571. Vol. XIII. RECOLLECTION, continued, chiefly miscellaneous, but with the following special headings:- "On the antiquity of Families," f. 79;- "Bernard's Recollections of the Stage," f. 91 "Reynolds's Memoirs," f. 111;- "Pottery and Porcelain," f. 172 "Lord Holland's Diary," f. 215;- "Duke of Wellington. MS. conversations," f. 227;- "The Abbé [Angel Denis] McQuin," f. 240;- "Lord Holland," f. 267;- "MS, notes of H. Tooke in his copy of Locke," f. 276;- "Extracts from the Diary of Charlotte Pepys," f. 320;- "Ruskin's Stones of Venice," f. 343;- "Various. Fox, Grattan, etc." f. 358.
ff. 426. A.D. 1852. Sm. Octavo.

Additional details:

32,571
3 Henry Southern obituary
4 Letter by Dr Raith
5 Letter by Lady Londonderry
8 Dr Penrose on his wife
14 Granville Sharp
17 Wilkes, Boswell
18 Ghosts
40 Lord Grenville
51 Genteel, sensible comedies
74 Thrale Piozzi
86v Apsley House
89v Theodore Hook’s improvised verse
104 Sheridan
105 Charles James Fox
109 Dr Johnson
134 Song by Lord Guildford
135 Theatrical anecdotes
137 Thomas Moore: The Gypsy Prince
144 Samuel Richardson
183 List of thoughts that occurred in a tour of the Lakes
195 Doctor Warner
203 Benjamin Constant
215 Memoirs of Henry Fox, 1st Lord Holland
227 Duke of Wellington: My conversations
248 Thomas Denman
249v Wellington
259 Poem on Lalla Rookh by Rogers
281 Joshua Reynolds
328 Sheridan’s School for Scandal
388 Palmerston
411 Wellington
425v Ghosts

REEL 8

32,572. Vol. XIV. RECOLLECTIONS, continued, chiefly miscellaneous, but with the following special headings, among others:-"The Royal Family," f. 21 ;-"Lord Holland's foreign reminiscences," f. 77;-Smith's Life of Nollekens," f. 94;-"Sir T. Lawrence," f. 134;- D. of Wellington," f. 203;-"Grattan," f.210;-"MS. book of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, in possession of old Lady Jersey," f. 335;-"Jekyll, from MS.", f. 347.
ff. 359. A.D. 1853. Sm. Octavo.

Additional details:

32,572
1 Wordsworth – On the projected Kendal and Windermere Railway
11 Wellington
23 Eliza Haywood’s Novels
25 Lord Byron’s verses on Samuel Rogers
34 Canning’s Parody on Whitbread’s speech before the Lords at Warminster Hall
39 Letter from Captain Beaufort re drowning
66 Psalm LXXV – Robert Grant
79v Robert (Bobus) Smith
81 Letter of Rev Sydney Smith to Rogers
83 Life of P B Shelley
86 MS Notes by H J White
90 Rev George Thackeray
91v Ada Augusta Lovelace
117 Sir Joshua Reynolds
122 Opie letter
127 Song by William Blake
128 Blake’s account of his Marriage
148 Paintings at Mr Ford’s
155 Wordsworth
164 Jeremy Taylor
175 Miss Reynolds
176 Thomas Moore Verse
216 George Steevens – The Frantic Lover
306 The Wits
357 English and German drama
359 Giorgione

32,573. Vol. XV. RECOLLECTIONS, continued, with the following, among other, special headings:-"Mrs. [Elizabeth] Carter," f. 16;- "Curran," f. 62 ;-"De Quincey," f. 1 14;-"Jekylliana," f. 183;- "Ruskin's Stones of Venice," f. 200;-"J[ohn] Sterling," f. 257;- "Sheridan," f. 262;-"H[annah] More," f. 270;-"Cowper," f. 285; - "Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham," f. 299;-"Holland House Gardens, 1856," f. 345. At f. 180 is inserted a letter from Edward Jesse; 31 Aug. 1854.
ff. 350. A.D. 1854-1856. Sm. Octavo.

Additional details:

32,573
14 Sir Hardinge Gifford – verse from Catallus
88v On Greece
172 Jekyll
175 Beckford
179 Natural History
209 Sir Joshua Reynolds
241 Mr Rogers in Edinburgh
312 Autobiography of Benjamin Haydon
324 Sir Robert Peel
337 Brick and Marble in The Middle Ages

REEL 9

32,574. Vol. XVI. RECOLLECTIONS, continued, with the following, among other, special headings:-"P. B. Shelley," f. 19;-"Life and Times of Grattan,"
f. 77;-"Moore's Memoirs," f. 94;-"Life of J. Kemble by Boaden," f. 182;-
"Sir J. Reynolds," f. 216;-"Life of G. Wakefield," f. 270;-"Memorials of Charles James Fox," by Lord John Russell f. 282;-"Wraxall's Courts of Europe," etc., f. 330.
ff. 402. A.D. 1855-1856. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,574
3 Mrs Malaprop – The original
5 On Waltzing
8 Mrs Piozzi
15 Memoirs of Sir Rob Sharpe
38 Admiral Smith’s Mediterranean
39 Lines by Lord Holland
52, 136 Bobus Smith
90v Verses by C J Fox
135 The Irish, Verses by Lord John Russell
243 Two Greek epigrams
244 Gardiner’s Music
401 Talleyrand

REEL 10

32,575. Vol. XVII. RECOLLECTIONS, continued, with the following, among other, special headings:-" Southey's Common-place book, etc.," f. 3;- "Life of Lord Sidmouth, by Dean Pellew," f. 224;- "Life of Goldsmith, by John Forster," f. 246;- "Life of Wilberforce," f. 257;-" Extracts from MS. notes by Horace Walpole in a copy of the Catalogues of the Royal Academy from the commencement in 1760," f. 310;-"The suppressed passages in Lord Holland's Memoirs of the Courts of Europe," f. 366.
ff. 375. A.D. 1856. Small Octavo.

Additional details:

32,575
59 Thomas Lord Lyttelton
70 Pope Leo X by Ruskin
73 Court of Ferrara, Alphonso II
86 Gilpin and Virgil
91 Dr John Warner
114 Mr Arlington
133 Mr Godwin
135 Natural History
146 Beckford
149 Sir Joseph Banks
171 Montesquieu
201 Lady Drummond
215 Unpublished poem of Cowper
261 Letter by John Wesley
289 Life of Dr Young
325 Pictures at the British Institution
340 Letters of Lord Brougham, Lord Holland, Grenville etc
364 Notes by Horace Walpole
375 John Wesley

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