Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland

1585–1639

Introduction

Autograph and Principal Manuscripts

As an author Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland (née Tanfield), is best known today for her fine play The Tragedy of Mariam, written c.1604-8 and published in 1613. A reference to this play (as well as to another unidentified play by her) in Sir John Davies's The Muses Sacrifice suggests that it had a least a limited circulation in manuscript in or before 1612, although no manuscript of it is known today.

Of her other known writings, two formal manuscript copies, probably prepared for her, survive of variant versions of her notable historical narrative of the reign of Edward II (CaE 35-36). An autograph manuscript of her translation of the Mirroir du Monde of Abraham Ortelius is also preserved (*CaE 37). Another translation, however — of the Cardinal of Perron's Replique à la Response du Serenissime Roy de la Grand Bretagne — proved far too politically controversial a tract in 1630 and Archbishop Abbot had all printed exempla coming into England from Douai seized and burnt. Several extant exempla which escaped the fire were evidently presented by Lady Falkland herself to various friends and contain what may be her neat autograph corrections and additions (CaE 38-42). They include generally two inserted leaves bearing autograph verses by her in praise of Cardinal du Perron and a dedicatory sonnet to Queen Henrietta Maria. STC cites further printed exempla of the work (not necessarily bearing manuscript additions) in the British Library (3851.e.1), Bodleian, Marsh's Library, Dublin, and Leeds University.

Verse

The verses associated with Lady Falkland most widely circulated in manuscript are a six-line epitaph on the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham in 1628, beginning Reader stand still and see, loe, how I am (CaE 1-34), which is specifically attributed to her in two of the manuscript copies. The question of authorship is complicated, however, not only by the existence of occasional attributions to other writers, but also because in a number of copies the epitaph is followed by, or linked to, a 44-line elegy on Buckingham beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place. This elegy was never specifically ascribed to her, but was clearly assumed by a number of copyists to be part of a single 50-line poem. A spirited argument for Lady Falkland's authorship is made by Akkerman. Given the variability of the manuscript evidence and of the nature of manuscript circulation, however, including the number of copies of the elegy as a separate poem (probably many more than are recorded here), the jury must remain out on this issue.

Her Life

Besides her own writing, Lady Falkland is also remembered especially for the major turning point in her life, which was her conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1626 — a decision which caused her considerable grief, including a spell in prison and alienation from her husband, Henry Cary, Viscount Falkland. It also led to her conversion of her six children, her four daughters all becoming Benedictine nuns at Cambrai in France. An important consequence of this was the production in the monastery, after Lady Falkland's death, of a Life of her, probably written principally by Lucy Cary (Dame Magdalena). The nuns' original manuscript of this work survives today (CaE 61), still in France, although in civil custody at Lille following confiscation during the French Revolution. It has been edited and printed several times since its rediscovery in the mid nineteenth century.

Lost Manuscripts

Among much other light on Lady Falkland shed by this Life, we also learn of the considerable corpus of other writings by her which were never published and manuscripts of which are no longer known to survive. Around 1605, for instance, she writ many thinges for her private recreation, on severall subjects, and occasions, all in verse (out of wch she scarce euer writ any thinge that was not translations (Wolfe, p. 110). Of all she then writ, the Life continues, that wch was sayd to be the best, was, the life of Tamberlaine in verse (Wolfe, p. 110). Also, about the time she wrote The Reply of the most Illustrious Cardinall of Perron (published 1630), she writ the liues of St Mary Magdalene, St Agnes Martir, and St Elizabeth of Portingall in verse, and both before and after many verses of Our Blessed Lady … and of many other saints (Wolfe, p. 141). In addition, her husband's printed exemplum of The Reply was found in his closet after his death [1633], all noted by him (Wolfe, p. 151).

Letters

Otherwise the greatest number of autograph manuscripts by Lady Falkland known to survive are fifteen letters in the National Archives, Kew (*CaE 43-45, *CaE 47-55, *CaE 57-59). These can be supplemented by two petitions signed by her (*CaE 56 and *CaE 60) and by a copy of a sixteenth letter by her in her husband's hand (CaE 46). All these items are edited in Wolfe, as are nearly 120 other documents relating to Lady Falkland, including a number of letters by Lord Falkland.

Abbreviations

Akkerman
Nadine N.W. Akkerman, Reader, stand still and look, lo here I am: Elizabeth Cary's Funeral Elegy On the Duke of Buckingham, in The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary, 1613-1680, ed. Heather Wolfe (New York and Basingstoke, 2007), 183-200.
Wolfe
Life and Letters / Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, ed. Heather Wolfe (Cambridge, 2001).

Verse

An Epitaph upon the death of the Duke of Buckingham ('Reader stand still and see, loe, how I am')

A six-line (epitaph) version is ascribed to the Countesse of Faukland in two MS copies. In some sources it is followed by a further 44 lines (elegy) beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place. The latter also appears, anonymously, as a separate poem in a number of other sources. The authorship remains uncertain. For an argument for Lady Falkland's authorship of all 50 lines, see Akkerman.

Both sets of verse were first published, as separate but sequential poems, in Poems or Epigrams, Satyrs (London, 1658), pp. 101-2. All 50 lines are edited in Akkerman, pp. 195-6.

CaE 1

Copy of both six-line epitaph and 44-line elegy (here with two extra lines) as separate but sequential poems.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A large folio composite verse miscellany, chiefly folio, partly quarto, 243 pages, in contemporary calf.

Including 18 poems by Carew and two of doubtful authorship, compiled by Nicholas Burghe (d.1670), Royalist Captain during the Civil War and one of the poor Knights of Windsor in 1661 (references to I Nicholas Burgh occurring on ff. 165r, with the date 3d of June 1638, and 166r, and his name partly in cipher on other pages); predominantly in his hand, with some later additions in other hands.

c.1638

Afterwards owned by Elias Ashmole (1617-92), astrologer and antiquary.

Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Burghe MS: CwT Δ 1.

Bodleian Library, Ashmole Collection (MS Ashmole 38 p. 142)
CaE 2

Copy of a version headed Upon the Duke of Buckingham and beginning Reader, beneath this ground interred I am.

A folio verse miscellany, ii + 65 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

Entitled Miscentur seria iocis. 1647. Elegies, Exequies, Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs Satires and other Poems, a formal compilation entirely in the hand of the Yorkshire antiquary John Hopkinson (1610-80).

1647

From the library of Cecil Brent, FSA. Sold by P.J. & A.E. Dobell, January 1938.

Bodleian Library, Don. MSS (MS Don. d. 58 f. 19r)
CaE 3

Copy of the six-line epitaph.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio verse miscellany, ii + 65 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

Entitled Miscentur seria iocis. 1647. Elegies, Exequies, Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs Satires and other Poems, a formal compilation entirely in the hand of the Yorkshire antiquary John Hopkinson (1610-80).

1647

From the library of Cecil Brent, FSA. Sold by P.J. & A.E. Dobell, January 1938.

Bodleian Library, Don. MSS (MS Don. d. 58 f. 37r)
CaE 4

Copy of both six-line epitaph and 44-line elegy as separate but sequential poems.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

An octavo verse miscellany, including 13 poems by Donne and 14 poems by Corbett, in several hands, probably associated with Oxford University, written from both ends, 102 leaves, in 17th-century calf.

c.1630s

Inscribed (f. 101v) Henry Lawson (or just possibly Lamson). Thomas Thorpe, sale catalogue (1836), item 1185. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 9257. Sotheby's, 15 June 1896 (Phillipps sale), lot 862. Quaritch's sale catalogue No. 164 (1896), item 64.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II.i (1987), as the Lawson MS: DnJ Δ 37 and CoR Δ 2.

Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. e. MSS (MS Eng. poet. e. 14 f. 15r-v)
CaE 5

Copy of the six-line epitaph and 44-line elegy as separate but sequential poems, subscribed Docter Juxon (some say) Nondum constat.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A quarto verse miscellany of c.150 poems, in several hands; associated with Oxford, probably Christ Church, 279 pages (plus index and blanks).

Including twelve poems (plus one of uncertain authorship) by Corbett and 32 poems (plus four of doubtful authorship) by Strode.

c.1630s-40s

Thomas Thorpe's sale catalogue (1836), item 1044. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 9561. Sotheby's, 19 June 1893 (Phillipps sale), lot 628, and 21 March 1895, lot 903. Hodgson's, 23 April 1959, lot 528.

Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the English Poetry MS: CoR Δ 3 and StW Δ 6.

Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. e. MSS (MS Eng. poet. e. 97 pp. 57-8)
CaE 6

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in a secretary hand, vi + 221 pages, in 18th-century diced calf gilt.

c.1630s

Inscribed (f. iiir) by Edmond Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector, Bought at the sale of Mr. [Jonathan] Boucher's Library in April 1806, for £2. 12. 6. E Malone.

Bodleian Library, Malone Collection (MS Malone 23 pp. 134-5)
CaE 7

Copy of the six-line epitaph.

Edited from this MS in online Early Stuart Libels.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in a secretary hand, vi + 221 pages, in 18th-century diced calf gilt.

c.1630s

Inscribed (f. iiir) by Edmond Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector, Bought at the sale of Mr. [Jonathan] Boucher's Library in April 1806, for £2. 12. 6. E Malone.

Bodleian Library, Malone Collection (MS Malone 23 p. 140)
CaE 8

Copy of a 50-line version, in two hands, ascribed to Richard Weston, Earl of Portland.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio composite volume, chiefly of English and Latin verse, in various hands; vi + 186 leaves, in reversed calf.

Scribbling on f. iir including ffor mr William Rabey in New=market..., ffor my Louing ffriend in G John westhropp at mr Rogers Reringe house Bury in S[uffolk], ffor mr John fford at his house in Newmarket in the countey of cambridge; notes on f. iiiv-ivr, one Recd 22 July 1669, subscribed John Cooke and including, on f. vir, ffor mr John Cocke at his howse neere the white harte in Thetford.... Later owned, in the 1730s, by Charles Barlow, of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (his bookplate f. iiv).

CaE 9

Copy of the six-line epitaph and 44-line elegy as separate but sequential poems.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A quarto composite volume comprising three independent MSS bound together, i + 78 leaves.

The first MS a verse miscellany, in an italic hand, 29 leaves. c.1640.

CaE 10

Copy of a 50-line version.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio volume of miscellaneous historical and genealogical papers and verses, in several hands, x + 158 leaves.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Dodsw. 79 ff. 161v-2r)
CaE 11

Copy of the six-line epitaph, headed Vppon a monument of George Duke of Buckingham att Porsmouth.

This MS recorded in Ackerman.

An oblong octavo miscellany of largely devotional verse and some prose, including (ff. 7v-22r) twelve poems by Crashaw, probably transcribed from Carmen Deo Nostro (Paris, 1652), in a single italic hand, written across the width of the pages with the spine upwards, with (ff. 181r-8r) a table of contents, 188 leaves, in calf gilt.

Entitled Collections out of seuerall Authors by Marmaduke Raudon Eboracensis 1662: i.e. compiled by Marmaduke Rawdon (1610-69), traveller and antiquary, of Guiseley, Yorkshire, who later lived with his cousin, also named Marmaduke Rawdon, at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, the MS including elegies on yet another (Sir) Marmaduke Rawdon (1582-1646), Governor of Basing House.

c.1662

Later owned by Thomas Rodd (1796-1849). Rodd's sale catalogue, February 1850, item 764.

Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Rawdon MS: CrR Δ 2. Crashaw's work collated in Martin (cited as A1) and discussed pp. lxxx-lxxxi.

For other Rawdon miscellanies, see Yale, Osborn MS fb 150; York Minster, MS Add. 122; and a MS sold at Puttick and Simpson's, 3 March 1870, lot 552, to Nicholls. For the Rawdon family, see H.F. Hayllar, The Chronicles of Hoddesdon (1948), pp. 52-4.

CaE 12

Copy of a 50-line version.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

An octavo verse miscellany, including sixteen poems by Strode and one of doubtful authorship, in several hands, including a small mixed hand on ff. 2r-43v, cursive secretary hands thereafter, and Latin entries in italic at the reverse end, 139 leaves, in contemporary calf gilt.

c.1630s

A flyleaf inscribed [?] Johannes Philips. Acquired from H. Stevens 11 December 1852.

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1987), as the John Philips MS: StW Δ 8.

CaE 13

Copy of a 50-line version, headed Another.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio composite volume of separate MSS of verse and some prose, in various secretary and italic hands, written over an extended period, with a table of contents (f. 3r-v), 186 leaves.

Comprising papers of the Skipwith family of Cotes, Leicestershire, including 60 poems by John Donne (and one Problem), the text related in part to the Edward Smyth MS (DnJ Δ 45); also 15 poems (and second copies of two) by Henry King; and 19 poems (and two of doubtful authorship) by Carew.

c.1620-50

Including poems ascribed to William Skipwith (? Sir William Skipwith, d.1610, or his grandson, William, or possibly a cousin, William Skipwith, of Ketsby, Lincolnshire, fl.1633); to Sir Henry Skipwith (fl.1609-52); and to Thomas Skipwith, and several poems by Donne's friend Sir Henry Goodyer (1571-1627), to whom a branch of the Skipwith family was related by marriage. Later owned by Robert Sherard (1719-99), fourth Earl of Harborough. Sotheby's, 10 June 1864, lot 605, to Boone.

This MS is the curious folio volume lent to John Nichols (1745-1826) by the late Lord Harborough and cited in Nichols's account of the Skipwith family in his History of Leicestershire, 4 vols (1795-1815), III, part i (1800), 367.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II.i (1987), as the Skipwith MS: DnJ Δ 21; CwT Δ 14; KiH Δ 8. Also described in Mary Hobbs's thesis, pp. 119-29 (see KiH Δ 6). For Sir William Skipwith and his literary connections, see James Knowles, Marston, Skipwith and The Entertainment at Ashby, EMS, 3 (1992), 137-92 (esp. pp. 171-2).

CaE 14

Copy of the six-line epitaph, headed Epitaph of the duke of Buckingham.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A small folio volume of motets, with some later political verses, in various hands, c.220 leaves.

Mid-16th to mid-17th century
CaE 15

Copy of the six-line epitaph.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

An octavo miscellany of verse, academic exercises and other material, in English and Latin, almost entirely in a single hand, 134 leaves, in contemporary vellum.

Inscribed by the compiler (f. 133v) Anthony Scattergood His booke: i.e. Anthony Scattergood (1611-87), theologian, of Trinity College, Cambridge. Volume XXXII of the Scattergood papers.

c.1632-40

Also inscribed (f. 130v) Elisabeth Scattergood her Booke 1667/8. Booklabel of Henry Huth (1815-78), book collector.

CaE 16

Copy of the six-line epitaph, headed Another.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio volume of tracts and papers chiefly on state matters, largely in one hand, 72 leaves (plus blanks).

c.1635

Inscribed (f. 10r) with names of Stephen Foster of Wrexham, Buckinghamshire (possibly the principal compiler) and Robert Drake of Topsham, Devon. Bookplate (f. 11r) of Berkeley Seymour of Queens's College, Cambridge. Purchased from the Rev. John C. Jackson 8 December 1866.

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2026 f. 12r)
CaE 17

Copy of the six-line epitaph, as by the Countesse of Faukland.

Edited from this MS in Akkerman, p. 197. Recorded in Wolfe, p. 494.

A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in a single secretary hand, written from both ends, 179 leaves, in 19th-century half blue morocco gilt.

c.1640s

Inscribed (f. 179r) This is Sr. Thomas Meres [or ? Maiors] Book: i.e. probably Sir Thomas Meres (1634-1715), of Kirton, Lincolnshire. Later bookplate of the Rev. John Curtis. Purchased from Mrs Ann Austin Curtis 12 October 1889.

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2725 f. 60r)
CaE 18

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, predominantly in a single secretary hand, written from both ends, 179 leaves, in 19th-century half blue morocco gilt.

c.1640s

Inscribed (f. 179r) This is Sr. Thomas Meres [or ? Maiors] Book: i.e. probably Sir Thomas Meres (1634-1715), of Kirton, Lincolnshire. Later bookplate of the Rev. John Curtis. Purchased from Mrs Ann Austin Curtis 12 October 1889.

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2725 f. 78v)
CaE 19

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A quarto verse miscellany, in a single neat predominantly italic hand, occupying ff. 25r-79v, the second of three independent MSS in different hands (including extracts from Hayward's Henry IV and from Sir Edwin Sandys, and parliamentary proceedings 1623/4), in a composite volume, 141 leaves, in modern half morocco gilt.

The verse miscellany, including an Index (ff. 78v-9v), is compiled by John Holles (1595-1666), second Earl of Clare.

Mid-17th century

Discussed in Andrew McRae, Literature, Satire and the Early Stuart State (Cambridge, 2004), 42, and Thomas Cogswell, The Symptomes and Vapors of a Diseased Time: the Earl of Clare and Early Stuart Manuscript Culture, RES, NS 57 (2006), 310-336. The parliamentary proceedings published in Christopher Thompson, editor, The Holles Account of Proceedings in the House of Commons in 1624 (Orsett, Essex, 1985).

CaE 20

Copy of the 44-line elegy, here beginning Yet were Bidentalls sacred, and the place, headed in another hand An answere to ye Verses of Mr [Zouche] Tounley to his friend Mr Felton.

A folio miscellany of verse and prose, much of it on current events, largely in a single rugged italic hand, 190 leaves, in 18th-century half red morocco gilt.

c.1630

Inscribed (f. 1v) Dr Benfield of Cor; Xpi his Notes. / The gift of his Executor to Mr B: G. / -30.

The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 1199 ff. 78v-9r)
CaE 21

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio volume of state tracts, speeches, and verse, closely written from both ends in a single hand, 260 pages, lacking a number of pages and some fragments (pp. 25-38, 48-64) now removed to MS Gg. 4. 13*, in quarter-calf.

Mid-17th century
CaE 22

Copy of a six-line version of the epitaph beginning Lo, in this marble I entombed am.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single small neat predominantly secretary hand but for additions in a second hand on ff. 35v and 58r, compiled by an Oxford man, possibly a member of Wadham College, 97 leaves (inclusing two blanks), in half-calf.

Including 14 poems by Carew (and a second copy of one poem), eight poems (plus 3 of doubtful authorship) by Randolph, and 28 poems by Strode (plus a second copy of one and two of doubtful authorship).

c.late 1630s

Later used and annotated by William Fulman (1632-88), Oxford antiquary, and entries in his hand on f. 97r. Formerly Bodleian, MS CCC.328.

Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the Fulman MS: CwT Δ 2; RnT Δ 6; StW Δ 16.

CaE 23

Copy, headed Written On the Duke of Buckingham's statut.

A quarto miscellany, in two or more predominantly secretary hands, 86 leaves (including blanks), in contemporary calf.

c.1660

A facsimile of f. 85r is in Chris R. Kyle and Jason Peacey, Breaking News: Renaissance Journalism and the Birth of the Newspaper (Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, 2008), p. 33.

CaE 24 c.1630

Copy of the six-line epitaph.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

Collection of papers relating to George Villiers, first Duke of Buckingham.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 1278 Folders 12-17, No. 15)
CaE 25

Copy, headed An Epitaph on the Duke of Buckingham.

A folio verse miscellany, including 26 poems (plus two of doubtful authorship) by Thomas Carew and poems by Henry King, in several hands, 92 leaves, plus an inserted gathering of eleven leaves after f. 82v (ff. [82a-82k]), but including stubs of some extracted leaves (ff. 74-8, 94-5), in contemporary vellum.

Inscribed To my euer honored good Cosen Sr John Reresby Barronett these prsent: i.e. presented to Sir John Reresby, first Baronet (1611-46), royalist, of Thribergh Hall.

c.1630s

Among the muniments of Lord Mexborough, descended from the Savile family formerly of Methley Hall, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Formerly MX 237.

Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Mexborough MS: CwT Δ 29.

Leeds Archives (WYL156/237 f. 33r)
CaE 26

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

An oblong octavo verse miscellany, in a neat mixed hand up to p. 78, the remainder in later hands, 116 pages, in 19th-century half-leather marbled boards, with remains of crimson velvet.

c.1630[-1700s]

Once owned by Elizabeth Herrick (1684-1745) and her brother William Herrick (1689-1773). Formerly among the papers of the Herrick family, of Beaumanor.

This MS discussed in J.A. Taylor, Two Unpublished Poems on the Duke of Buckingham, RES, NS 40 (May 1989), 232-40.

Leicestershire Record Office (DG. 9/2796 [unspecified page numbers])
CaE 27

Copy of the six-line epitaph, here ascribed to Richard Corbett.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio composite volume of verse, prose and dramatic works, in various hands, written over a period from both ends, 543 pages (including blanks), in contemporary panelled calf with remains of metal clasps.

Compiled by members of the Salusbury family of Llewenni, Denbighshire, including works by Sir Thomas Salusbury, second Baronet (1612-43), poet and politician.

Early-mid 17th century

Later owned by J. Baskerville-Glegg, of Withington Hall, Chelford. Sotheby's, 14-16 March 1921, lot 421.

National Library of Wales (NLW MS 5390 D p. 429 rev.)
CaE 28

Headed An Epitaph on the Duke of Buckingham made by Dr Corbet. B. of Oxford.

A folio composite volume of verse, prose and dramatic works, in various hands, written over a period from both ends, 543 pages (including blanks), in contemporary panelled calf with remains of metal clasps.

Compiled by members of the Salusbury family of Llewenni, Denbighshire, including works by Sir Thomas Salusbury, second Baronet (1612-43), poet and politician.

Early-mid 17th century

Later owned by J. Baskerville-Glegg, of Withington Hall, Chelford. Sotheby's, 14-16 March 1921, lot 421.

National Library of Wales (NLW MS 5390 D p. 500 rev)
CaE 29

Copy of the six-line epitaph, headed Epitaph on Buckingham by ye La: Faukland.

This MS recorded in Akkerman.

A folio volume of miscellaneous verse and prose, in Latin and English, largely in one hand, with additions in other hands, written from both ends, dates ranging from 1633 to 1649, 43 unfoliated leaves, in paper wrappers.

Principally composed and copied by Mildmay Fane (1602-66), second Earl of Westmorland, politician and writer.

c.1640s-50s

This MS recorded in Gerald W. Morton, Two Literary and Historical Manuscripts in the Westmorland Collection, ELN, 26 (1988), 13-17 (pp. 13-14).

Northamptonshire Record Office (W(A) Box 6 Parcel VI, No. 1 f. [11r])
CaE 30

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place, here ascribed to Richard Weston, Earl of Portland.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, with a title-page, 385 pages numbered 858-1243 (pp. 914-29, 966-7, 981-2, 995-6, 1023-4, 1041-2, 1083-4, 1135-6, and 1173-6 excised), in 17th-century calf.

In non-professional hands, the miscellany entitled A Collection of Witt and Learning…consisting of verses, poems, songs, sonnetts, Ballads, Lampoons, Libells, Dialouges...from the year 1600, to this present year: 1677.

c.1681

Formerly Osborn MS Chest II, Number 14.

CaE 31

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place, headed In laude eiusdem [on Buckingham].

A quarto verse miscellany, in several hands (one predominating up to p. 167), probably associated with Oxford, 436 pages (pp. 198-9 and 269-70 skipped in the pagination, and including many blanks and an index) and numerous further blank leaves at the end, in modern black morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Carew, 13 poems by Corbett and 25 poems (plus one poem of doubtful authorship) by Strode.

c.1650

Scribbling on the first page including the words Peyton Chester….

Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the Osborn MS I: CwT Δ 38; CoR Δ 14; StW Δ 29.

Yale, Osborn MS b 200 through end (Osborn MS b 200 p. 55)
CaE 32

Copy of the 44-line elegy beginning Yet were bidentalls sacred and the place.

A small quarto verse miscellany, predominantly in one secretary hand, erratically paginated up to 333, 250 leaves, in 18th-century boards.

c.late 1630s

Inscribed (on p. [330]) Robert Lord his book Anno Domini; (on [p. 335]) william Jacob his booke Amen; and, among scribbling on the last leaf, Hugh Gibgans of the same and John Winter of Buckland Dursbane [or husbande?]. Owned in 1788 by Alexander R. Popham. Bloomsbury Book Auction, 23 November 2000, lot 8.

A microfilm is in the British Library, RP 7698.

Yale, Osborn MS b 200 through end (Osborn MS b 356 p. 99)
CaE 33

Copy of a version beginning Reader here underneath this place I am.

A small quarto verse miscellany, predominantly in one secretary hand, erratically paginated up to 333, 250 leaves, in 18th-century boards.

c.late 1630s

Inscribed (on p. [330]) Robert Lord his book Anno Domini; (on [p. 335]) william Jacob his booke Amen; and, among scribbling on the last leaf, Hugh Gibgans of the same and John Winter of Buckland Dursbane [or husbande?]. Owned in 1788 by Alexander R. Popham. Bloomsbury Book Auction, 23 November 2000, lot 8.

A microfilm is in the British Library, RP 7698.

Yale, Osborn MS b 200 through end (Osborn MS b 356 p. 248)
CaE 34

Copy of the 50-line version, headed On the Duke of Buckingham.

Edited from this MS in Donald W. Foster, Resurrecting the Author: Elizabeth Tanfield Cary, in Privileging Gender in Early Modern England, ed. Jean R. Brink (Kirksville, MO: Sixteenth Century Journal, 1993), 141-73, and in Akermann, pp. 195-6. Recorded in Wolfe, p. 494.

Small group of poems on two conjugate folio leaves.

Mid-late 17th century
Yale, Osborn, others (Osborn Poetry Box VI/28 [unspecified pages])
To the Queenes most Excellent Maiestie (''Tis not your faire out-side (though famous Greece')

See CaE 38-42.

Prose

The History of the Life, Reign and Death of Edward II

First published in two editions in London, 1680: one, in folio, as The History of the Life, Reign and Death of Edward II...Written by E.F. in the year 1627; the other, in octavo, as The History of the Most Unfortunate Prince King Edward II...(supposed to be) Writ by the Right Honourable Henry Viscount Faulkland. See also Jesse G. Swan, Towards a Texual History of the 1680 Folio The History of the Life, Reign, and Death of Edward II, in New Ways of Looking at Old Texts, III, ed. W. Speed Hill (Tempe, AZ, 2004). pp. 177-90.

CaE 35

A formal copy of a longer version, in a neat predominantly italic hand (the same as CaE 36), with a title-page The Raigne and deathe off Edwarde the Seconde. The highe and ffall of his too greate ffavorites Gaveston, and Spencer. Fe: 2o. 1627. By E. F., in contemporary brown morocco.

1627/8

Discussed, with facsimiles of the title-page and address To the Reader, in Margaret Reeves, From Manuscript to Printed Text: Telling and Retelling the History of Edward II, in The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary, 1613-1680, ed. Heather Wolfe (New York & Basingstoke, 2007), pp. 125-44.

CaE 36

A formal copy, in a neat predominantly italic hand (the same as CaE 35), with a title-page Edwarde The Seconde. His Rainge, and deathe. wth the ffall, of those too, his greate ffavorites. Gauestone and Spencer. Januy: 7o. 1626., x + 195 quarto pages, in contemporary vellum gilt.

1626/7

Among papers of the Hatton family, notably collections of Christopher Hatton, FRS (1605-70), first Baron Hatton, politician, formerly of Holdenby House and Kirby Hall, and the Finch family, Earls of Winchilsea and Nottingham.

Discussed, with facsimiles of the title-page and address To the Reader, in Margaret Reeves, From Manuscript to Printed Text: Telling and Retelling the History of Edward II, in The Literary Career and Legacy of Elizabeth Cary, 1613-1680, ed. Heather Wolfe (New York & Basingstoke, 2007), pp. 125-44.

The Mirror of the World translated out of French into Englishe

A translation of the Mirroir du Monde of Abraham Ortelius and dedicated to her uncle Sir Henry Lee.

*CaE 37
Autograph

Autograph MS, iv + 88 leaves (ff. 54-88 blank).

Early 17th century

Later owned by H.A. Lee-Dillon, seventeenth Viscount Dillon, who gave it to Burford parish in 1925, whence it was deposited in the Bodleian in 1991.

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Dep. d. 817)
The Reply of the most Illustrious Cardinall of Perron, to the Answeare of the most Excellent King of Great Britaine

Lady Falkland's translation of a controversial tract by Jacques Davy (1556-1618), Cardinal of Perron. First published in Douai, 1630. Most exempla coming into England were destroyed by command of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury. Most surviving presentation exempla include an autograph poem To the Queenes most Excellent Maiestie ('Tis not your faire out-side (though famous Greece), which is edited in Kissing the Rod, ed. Germaine Greer et al. (New York, 1988), pp. 59-60.

*CaE 38
Autograph

An exemplum of the printed edition (Douai, 1630), with numerous interlinear MS additions and some deletions in a neat print-hand, notably on sigs B1v and Ir and pp. 130, 151, 260, 424, 455, and 459, imperfect, lacking the once present engraved portrait of du Perron with her autograph verses and the page with her dedicatory sonnet to Queen Henrietta Maria, a tall folio in old calf, stamped in gilt on both covers IHS.

c.1630

Recorded in Wolfe, p. 12.

CaE 39

Exemplum of the edition of 1630, with additions.

c.1630

Recorded in Wolfe, p. 12.

Clark Library, Los Angeles (fBX1750 .D93E 1630*)
*CaE 40
Autograph

Exemplum of the edition of 1630, with corrections possibly in Lady Falkland's hand.

c.1630

Recorded in Wolfe, p. 12.

Downside Abbey (Gillow Collection)
*CaE 41
Autograph

Exemplum of the edition of 1630, with Lady Falkland's autograph corrections, her autograph verses under the engraved portrait of du Perron, and her autograph dedicatory sonnet to Queen Henrietta Maria, in contemporary green vellum.

c.1630

Recorded in Wolfe, p. 12.

Harvard, other MSS (fSTC 6385)
*CaE 42
Autograph

Exemplum of the edition of 1630, with Lady Falkland's autograph verses under the engraved portrait of du Perron, her autograph sonnet to Queen Henrietta Maria, and her autograph corrections and additions in the printed text.

c.1630

Recorded in Wolfe, p. 12. The autograph poem To the Queenes most Excellent Maiestie ('Tis not your faire out-side (though famous Greece) edited from this MS in Kissing the Rod, ed. Germaine Greer et al. (New York, 1988), pp. 59-60.

Yale (Me65 D925 +R4G 1630)

Letters

Letter(s)
*CaE 43
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [c.October-December 1625].

Wolfe, pp. 249-50.

1625
National Archives, Kew (SP 16/522/116)
*CaE 44
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [c.October-December 1625].

1625

Wolfe, pp. 251-2.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/14/64)
*CaE 45
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lady Denbigh, [c.December 1626].

1626

Wolfe, pp. 266-7. Facsimile and transcription also in Reading Early Modern Women, ed. Helen Ostovich and Elizabeth Sauer (New York & London, 2004), pp. 212-13.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/522/117)
CaE 46

Copy of a letter by Lady Falkland to Lord Falkland, in his hand, inscribed Abstracte of pte of a lre from the ViscCountess of Falkland without date. Recd att Dublyn 25 Dec 1626, [c.19] December 1626.

1626

Wolfe, pp. 272-3.

National Archives, Kew (SP 63/243/515.2)
*CaE 47
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [24 March 1627].

1627

Wolfe, pp. 273-5.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/58/19)
*CaE 48
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to King Charles I, 18 May 1627.

1627

Wolfe, pp. 282-7, with a facsimile of both pages on pp. 243-4.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/63/89)
*CaE 49
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [18 May 1627].

1627
National Archives, Kew (SP 16/63/102)
*CaE 50
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [c.26-30] June 1627.

1627

Wolfe, pp. 291-2.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/68/64)
*CaE 51
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [13] August 1627.

1627

Wolfe, pp. 297-9.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/73/81)
*CaE 52
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [c.27-31] August 1627.

1627

Wolfe, p. 300, with facsimiles of two pages on pp. 245-6.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/75/85)
*CaE 53
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [c.21-30] September 1627.

1627
National Archives, Kew (SP 16/79/76)
*CaE 54
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Conway, [c.23-30] June 1628.

1628

Wolfe, pp. 317-18.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/108/73)
*CaE 55
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Lord Dorchester, [c.17-30] April 1629.

1629

Wolfe, pp. 328-30.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/141/78)
*CaE 56
Autograph

A formal petition to the Privy Council, signed by Lady Falkland, [April] 1630.

1630
National Archives, Kew (SP 16/181/58)
*CaE 57
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Sir Francis Windebank, [c.22-30 June 1632].

1632
National Archives, Kew (SP 16/219/58)
*CaE 58
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Walter, Lord Aston, 19 December 1635.

1635

Wolfe, pp. 392-4.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/304/75)
*CaE 59
Autograph

Autograph letter signed, to Sir Edward Nicholas, 4 February 1635/6.

1636

Wolfe, pp. 394-5.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/313/20)
*CaE 60
Autograph

A formal petition signed by Lady Falkland, to King Charles I, [October 1638 - March 1638/9].

1638/9

Wolfe, pp. 408-9.

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/408/163)

Miscellaneous

The Lady Falkland: Her Life

Written (anonymously), after Lady Falkland's death, by one or more of her four daughters, Anne, Elizabeth, Lucy, and Mary, all Benedictine nuns at Cambrai. First published as The Lady Falkland: Her Life. From a MS. in the Imperial Archives at Lille, ed. Richard Simpson (London, 1861). Life and Letters / Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, ed. Heather Wolfe (Tempe, AZ, 2001), pp. 101-222.

CaE 61

Copy, predominantly in the hand of Lady Falkland's daughter Lucy, with emendations and additions in at least three other hands, including her daughters Mary and Anne and her son Patrick, 48 quarto leaves, in contemporary pasteboard.

c.1645-49

Originally in the library of the English Benedictine monastery Our Lady of Consolation, Cambrai, France, before state appropriation in 1793 during the French Revolution.

Edited from this MS by all editors. Discussed, with facsimiles of five pages, in Heather Wolfe, The Scribal Hands and Dating of Lady Falkland: Her Life, EMS, 9 (2000), 187-217. Facsimile of f. 14r, with transcription, also in Reading Early Modern Women, ed. Helen Ostovich and Elizabeth Sauer (New York & London, 2004), pp. 262-3.