Folger Shakespeare Library
CELM

William Habington

1605–1654

Introduction

William Habington (or Abington) — author of poems which are, in his own words, not so high, as to be wondred at, nor so low as to be contemned — has left no authorial manuscripts of his works, and only three examples of his hand are known to survive: namely letters to his mother, to Lady Herbert, and to another member of the Herbert family respectively (*HaW 51-53). One of these letters (*HaW 52) accompanies an undated letter to Dear Sister by Habington's wife, Lucy (née Herbert).

Verse

Apart from a few commendatory poems printed elsewhere (see Allott, pp. lxi-lxii), William Habington supervised the publication of his own poems in the three early editions of Castara (London, 1634, 1635 and 1640). The Presse hath gathered into one, he noted, What fancie had scattered in many loose papers (Preface by The Author: Allott, p. 5). What loose papers found their way to Habington's friends and kinsmen is not known, but certainly several of his poems are addressed to specific persons. Habington, a Roman Catholic, was on friendly terms with a number of notable Catholic families, some of whose family muniments have been preserved. The lady enshrined in his poems as Castara, and who became his wife in or before 1634, was Lucy Herbert, daughter of William Herbert, first Baron Powis (d.1656) and Lady Eleanor Powis (d.1650), to both of whom Habington addressed poems (see Allott, pp. 41-2, 72-3). Many Powis muniments remain, chiefly in the National Library of Wales, some in the National Archives, Kew (PRO 30/53), but poems by Habington are not there in evidence. Similarly, Habington's best friend and Kinsman was George Talbot (d.1634), brother of John Talbot, tenth Earl of Shrewsbury (see Allott, pp. 162-3), but no trace of poems by Habington appears among the extant Talbot Papers now preserved chiefly at Lambeth Palace (and formerly in the College of Arms). One copy of a Castara poem by him which was among the papers of the Aston family at Tixall, Staffordshire, may possibly have derived directly from him but is now known only from its publication in 1813 (see HaW 1). It is also members of the Aston family who were responsible for an important verse miscellany in the Huntington, HM 904, which contains two otherwise unknown poems on Castara (HaW 43-44), as well as a poem by Habington addressed to George Talbot (HaW 32), followed (on ff. 153v-4v) by an otherwise unknown ansuere to these uerses Made by Mrs K. T. [i.e. Katherine Thimelby] (see Allott, pp. 188-9). This volume was once described, erroneously, as William Habington's own commonplace book.

Allott would appear to be justified in assuming that Habington's verse was generally published without lingering long in manuscript (p. lxi). Those relatively few manuscript texts found in other seventeenth-century miscellanies and given entries below may well derive from printed sources. Apart from nineteenth-century copies of at least eight poems by Habington in Yale, Osborn MS b 150, the two manuscripts containing the greatest numbers of poems by Habington are, as is evident from the entries below, Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 65 (the Rawlinson MS), which includes nineteen poems by Habington, and British Library, Harley MS 3511 (the Capell MS), which includes ten poems by Habington. The latter was owned by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Baron Capell and Earl of Essex, who married in 1653 Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland. She was therefore the great-niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Prose and Dramatic Works

In addition to the various editions of Castara (which includes four prose characters), Habington published his play The Queene of Arragon in 1640. Although, according to his son, hee neuer intented to haue [this play] published, it was acted at Court, on 9-10 April 1640, allegedly against his wishes, through the influence of the Lord Chamberlain, Philip Herbert, fourth Earl of Pembroke. Some original sketches and designs for this production by Inigo Jones are among the collections of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth House and are illustrated in Stephen Orgel and Roy Strong, Inigo Jones: The Theatre of the Stuart Court, 2 vols (Sotheby Parke Bernet and University of California Press, 1973), II, 787-91. One song in the play achieved some popularity in its own right (see HaW 45-50). As a result of what Habington probably regarded as his more serious study, he also published two historical prose works — The Historie of Edward the Fourth (London, 1640) and Observations upon Historie (London, 1641) — neither of which is known in manuscript. According to his son Thomas, however, who wrote to Anthony Wood on 5 June 1672, William Habington left various unfinished works in manuscript. He cites the life of Henry the 5th wch the late King commanded him to write with seuerall other peices I haue in Manuscript of his, but euery one of them being unfinished, was the hindrance to my putting them foarth (Bodleian, MS Wood F. 39, vol. A-A, f. 2r-v: cited in Allott, pp. xxxix-xl). The fate of those manuscripts is unknown.

Miscellaneous

Extant papers of the poet's father, the antiquary Thomas Habington (1560-1647), include his manuscript collections for his Miscellaneous Antiquities of Worcestershire, which were formerly among the Lyttelton family muniments at Hagley Hall, Worcestershire, and were broken up by Charles Lyttelton (1714-68), Bishop of Carlisle. The papers are now partly in the Society of Antiquaries (MS 145) and partly in the British Library (Harley MS 2205); while another large portion was offered for sale at Sotheby's, 12 December 1978, lot 61.

Some account of William Habington and his family is given in the second volume of the manuscript compilation Chorus Vatum Anglicanorum by the antiquary Joseph Hunter (1783-1861), now in the British Library (Add. MS 24488, ff. 253r-6r).

Abbreviations

Allott
The Poems of William Habington, ed. Kenneth Allott (University Press of Liverpool, London, 1948).

Verse

Poems by Habington

Cupio dissolvi. Paule ('The soule which doth with God unite')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 147-9.

HaW 1

Copy.

Edited from this MS in Arthur Clifford, Tixall Poetry (Edinburgh, 1813), pp. 254-5.

A miscellaneous collection of MS verse, totally unconnected with each other, and written on backs of letters, or other scraps of paper.

17th century

Formerly among the papers of the Aston family, of Tixall, Staffordshire.

Selectively edited (as his Fourth Division: Miscellaneous Poems) in Arthur Clifford, Tixall Poetry (Edinburgh, 1813), pp. 207-324.

Untraced Tixal MSS (Tixall MS 4 [unspecified item number])
Deus Deus Meus. David ('Where is that foole Philosophie')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 135-6.

HaW 1.5

Copy, in a 19th-century hand.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 150 pp. 270-2)
Domine labia mea aperies. David ('No monument of me remaine')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 117-18.

HaW 1.8

Copy, in a 19th-century hand, headed Domine Labia Mea Aperis David By the same.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 150 pp. 268-70)
On Master John Fletchers Dramaticall Poems ('Great tutelary Spirit of the Stage!')

First published in Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Comedies and Tragedies (London, 1647). Allott, pp. 158-9.

HaW 2

Copy, headed On Fletcher.

A verse miscellany.

c.1674

Owned by Henry Bracegirdle, of Merton College, Oxford, and in 1674 by one Hugh Massey.

King's College, Cambridge (Hayward Collection, H. 11. 13 f. [26v])
The Song in the fourth Act ('Fine young folly, though you were')

See HaW 45-49.

To a Tombe ('Tyrant o're tyrants, thou who onely dost')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 16.

HaW 3

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To a Wanton ('In vaine faire sorceresse, thy eyes speake charmes')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 16.

HaW 4

Copy, headed To a wanton woman, on a single quarto-sized leaf.

A composite volume of verse, i + 126 leaves.

Collected by Peter Le Neve (1661-1729), herald and antiquary.

Late 17th century

Given to the library in 1954 by N.R. Ker.

Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. MSS, a through d (MS Eng. poet. d. 152 f. 20r)
To Castara ('Doe not their prophane Orgies heare')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 14-15.

HaW 5

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Castara ('Forsake with me the earth, my faire')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 63.

HaW 5.5

Copy, in a 19th-century hand, headed To Castara By the same.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 150 pp. 265-6)
To Castara ('What can the freedome of our love enthrall')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 75.

HaW 6

Extract, comprising the last couplet (beginning Wealths but opinion who thinkes others more), untitled.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Castara. A Sacrifice ('Let the chaste Phoenix from the flowry East')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 11.

HaW 7

Copy, headed Sacrifice.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 164.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

To Castara, Complaining her absence in the Country ('The lesser people of the ayre conspire')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 30.

HaW 8

Copy, headed On Castara's absence in the Country.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Castara, Inquiring why I loved her ('Why doth the stubborne iron prove')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 17-18.

HaW 8.5

Copy, in a 19th-century hand, ascribed to Habington.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 150 pp. 264-5)
To Castara, Intending a journey into the Country ('Why haste you hence Castara? can the earth')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 27.

HaW 9

Copy, headed Intending a journey.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 172.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

HaW 9.5

Copy, headed To his Mrs intending a journey into the country.

A sextodecimo pocket miscellany, ff. 3r-53r in a single hand, other hands and scribbling on ff. 1r-2r, 54v, 87v-90v, 90 leaves in all (including blanks ff. 55r-87r), in contemporary calf, with remains of clasps.

Including 12 poems by Carew.

c.1650s

Inscribed Richard Archard his booke Amen 1650; Richard Archard his penn Amen 1657; to Mr Satars[?] towads the Casting of ye lead 1657; Tho: Wise; John Smith of halmortaine and I…went to Thornebury; and Edward Watt. Bookplate of William Harris Arnold.

Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Archard MS: CwT Δ 24.

To Castara, Looking backe at her departing ('Looke backe Castara. From thy eye')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 29.

HaW 10

Copy, untitled, in a musical setting.

This MS collated in John P. Cutts, A Bodleian Song-Book: Don. C. 57, M&L, 34 (1953), 192-211 (p. 210).

A folio songbook, 121 leaves (including c.20 blanks and an index), in contemporary calf (rebacked).

Including ten poems by Carew and twelve poems by or attributed to Herrick, in musical settings, predominantly in a single hand (ff. 2r-63v, 92r-9r, 100r, with a change of style on ff. 64r-5v and in the index probably by the same hand), with 18th-century additions on ff. 81v-7v, 89r-v and 145v-53r, and scribbling elsewhere.

c.1640s-60s

Later owned by Colonel W.G. Probert, of Bevills, Bures, Suffolk. Sold by Quaritch in 1937.

Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Probert MS: CwT Δ 4, HeR Δ 1. Discussed and analysed in John P. Cutts, A Bodleian Song-Book: Don. C. 57, M&L, 34 (1953), 192-211. Also briefly discussed in George Thewlis, Some Notes on a Bodleian Manuscript, M&L, 22 (1941) 32-5, and in Willa McClung Evans, Shakespeare's Harke Harke ye Larke, PMLA, 60 (1945), 95-101 (with a facsimile of f. 78r). A facsimile of the volume in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 6 (New York & London, 1987).

Bodleian Library, Don. MSS (MS Don. c. 57 f. 94r)
HaW 11

Copy, in a musical setting by William Webb.

A folio music book, containing 327 songs, in three largely secretary hands, with a Cattalogue of contents, 229 leaves.

Owned (in 1659) and partly compiled by the composer John Gamble (d.1687), with some misnumbering.

c.1630s-50s

Later owned by Edward Francis Rimbault (1816-76), organist and author. Acquired in 1888.

A complete facsimile is in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 10 (New York & London, 1987). Discussed in Charles W. Hughes, John Gamble's Commonplace Book, M&L, 26 (1945), 215-29.

New York Public Library, Music Division (Drexel MS 4257 No. 246)
To Castara, Looking upon him ('Transfix me with that flaming dart')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 18-19.

HaW 12

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

HaW 13

Copy, headed To his Mrs looking on him.

A sextodecimo pocket miscellany, ff. 3r-53r in a single hand, other hands and scribbling on ff. 1r-2r, 54v, 87v-90v, 90 leaves in all (including blanks ff. 55r-87r), in contemporary calf, with remains of clasps.

Including 12 poems by Carew.

c.1650s

Inscribed Richard Archard his booke Amen 1650; Richard Archard his penn Amen 1657; to Mr Satars[?] towads the Casting of ye lead 1657; Tho: Wise; John Smith of halmortaine and I…went to Thornebury; and Edward Watt. Bookplate of William Harris Arnold.

Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Archard MS: CwT Δ 24.

To Castara, Melancholly ('Were but that a sigh a penitentiall breath')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 69.

HaW 14

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Castara, Of his being in Love ('Where am I? not in Heaven: for oh I feele')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 13.

HaW 15

Copy, headed Of his being in Love.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

HaW 16

Copy, headed Of being in Love.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 165.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

To Castara. Of the chastity of his Love ('Why would you blush Castara, when the name')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 50.

HaW 16.5

Copy, headed To his Mrs of the chastity of his love.

A sextodecimo pocket miscellany, ff. 3r-53r in a single hand, other hands and scribbling on ff. 1r-2r, 54v, 87v-90v, 90 leaves in all (including blanks ff. 55r-87r), in contemporary calf, with remains of clasps.

Including 12 poems by Carew.

c.1650s

Inscribed Richard Archard his booke Amen 1650; Richard Archard his penn Amen 1657; to Mr Satars[?] towads the Casting of ye lead 1657; Tho: Wise; John Smith of halmortaine and I…went to Thornebury; and Edward Watt. Bookplate of William Harris Arnold.

Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Archard MS: CwT Δ 24.

To Castara, Softly singing to her selfe ('Sing forth sweete Cherubin (for we have choice)')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 15.

HaW 17

Copy, headed To Castara singing softly to her self.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

HaW 18

Copy, headed Mrs. Singing.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 166.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

To Castara, Vpon a trembling kisse at departure ('Th'Arabian wind, whose breathing gently blows')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 28.

HaW 19

Copy, untitled.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in several hands, written from both ends, 84 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Probably compiled principally by an Oxford University man.

c.1630s-40s

Names inscribed on rear flyleaf and paste-down Elizabeth hosman and William Blois.

HaW 20

Copy, headed On a trembling kisse at parting.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 172.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

HaW 20.5

Copy, headed Vpon a trembling kisse at departure.

A sextodecimo pocket miscellany, ff. 3r-53r in a single hand, other hands and scribbling on ff. 1r-2r, 54v, 87v-90v, 90 leaves in all (including blanks ff. 55r-87r), in contemporary calf, with remains of clasps.

Including 12 poems by Carew.

c.1650s

Inscribed Richard Archard his booke Amen 1650; Richard Archard his penn Amen 1657; to Mr Satars[?] towads the Casting of ye lead 1657; Tho: Wise; John Smith of halmortaine and I…went to Thornebury; and Edward Watt. Bookplate of William Harris Arnold.

Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Archard MS: CwT Δ 24.

To Castara, Vpon Beautie ('Castara, see that dust, the sportive wind')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 68.

HaW 21

Copy.

An octavo miscellany of verse and university exercises, including twelve poems by Carew, in a single hand, compiled by Edward Natley, Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, 165 leaves (including many blanks), in calf (rebacked).

c.1635-44

Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), manuscript and book collector: Phillipps MS 2592. Sotheby's, 10 June 1896 (Phillipps sale), lot 960. Owned in 1896 by George Thorn-Drury, KC (1860-1931), literary scholar and editor. Acquired in 1950 from H.F.B. Brett-Smith, Oxford literary scholar and editor.

Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Natley MS: CwT Δ 6.

Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. MSS, f through end (MS Eng. poet. f. 25 fol. 19v)
HaW 22

Copy, headed Upon Beuty and here beginning Doe you not see that dust, the sportive winde.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Castara, Vpon the death of a Lady ('Castara weepe not, though her tombe appeare')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 63-5.

HaW 23

Extract, comprising lines 4-6 (beginning Death is the sea, & we like Rivers flow), untitled.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

HaW 24

Copy, headed An Elegie made by Mr: William Abington vpon the death of the Lady Venetia Digby; directed to his wife Mrs: Lucy Herbert (the Lord Powis his daughter) vnder the name of Castara.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 182.

A quarto volume of elegies on Venetia Digby, in a semi-calligraphic roman hand (but for subsequent scribbling in another hand on f. 13v and pagination from 1 to 48), 24 leaves, lacking a final leaf, in 19th-century half morocco.

Evidently a formal MS made by or for Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-65), natural philosopher and courtier, of the poems sent to him after the death of his wife Venetia (née Stanley) on 30 April/1 May 1633.

[1633]

Purchased from J. Salkeld, 13 January 1877.

To Castara. Vpon thought of Age and Death ('The breath of time shall blast the flowry Spring')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 72.

HaW 24.5

Copy, in a 19th-century hand.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

To Castara, Weeping ('Castara! O you are too prodigall')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 66.

HaW 24.8

Copy, in a 19th-century hand, headed To Castara Weeping by the same.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 150 pp. 266-7)
To Castara, Where true happinesse abides ('Castara whisper in some dead mans eare')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 62.

HaW 25

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Cvpid, Vpon a dimple in Castara's cheeke ('Nimble boy in thy warme flight')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 24.

HaW 26

Copy, untitled, in a musical setting.

This MS collated (no variants) in John P. Cutts, A Bodleian Song-Book: Don. C. 57, M&L, 34 (1953), 192-211 (p. 207).

A folio songbook, 121 leaves (including c.20 blanks and an index), in contemporary calf (rebacked).

Including ten poems by Carew and twelve poems by or attributed to Herrick, in musical settings, predominantly in a single hand (ff. 2r-63v, 92r-9r, 100r, with a change of style on ff. 64r-5v and in the index probably by the same hand), with 18th-century additions on ff. 81v-7v, 89r-v and 145v-53r, and scribbling elsewhere.

c.1640s-60s

Later owned by Colonel W.G. Probert, of Bevills, Bures, Suffolk. Sold by Quaritch in 1937.

Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Probert MS: CwT Δ 4, HeR Δ 1. Discussed and analysed in John P. Cutts, A Bodleian Song-Book: Don. C. 57, M&L, 34 (1953), 192-211. Also briefly discussed in George Thewlis, Some Notes on a Bodleian Manuscript, M&L, 22 (1941) 32-5, and in Willa McClung Evans, Shakespeare's Harke Harke ye Larke, PMLA, 60 (1945), 95-101 (with a facsimile of f. 78r). A facsimile of the volume in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 6 (New York & London, 1987).

Bodleian Library, Don. MSS (MS Don. c. 57 f. 60r)
To Cvpid. Wishing a speedy passage to Castara ('Thankes Cupid, but the Coach of Venus moves')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 32.

HaW 27

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Roses in the bosome of Castara ('Yee blushing Virgins happie are')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 12.

HaW 28

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

HaW 29

Copy, headed Rose in Hur bosome.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in several hands, written from both ends, 84 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Probably compiled principally by an Oxford University man.

c.1630s-40s

Names inscribed on rear flyleaf and paste-down Elizabeth hosman and William Blois.

HaW 30

Copy, headed Roses in her besom.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 164.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

To Seymors, The house in which Vastara lived ('Blest Temple, haile, where the Chast Altar stands')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 37.

HaW 30.5

Copy, in a 19th-century hand.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

To the Dew, In hope to see Castara walking ('Bright Dew which dost the field adorne')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 38.

HaW 31

Copy, headed To the dew.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 174.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

To the Honourable, G.T. ('Let not thy grones force Eccho from her cave')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 81-2.

HaW 32

Copy, in Constance Fowler's hand, subscribed M M W H.

Aldrich-Watson, pp. 124-5. This MS recorded in Allott, pp. lxi, 188; see also Jenijoy La Belle, The Huntington Aston Manuscript, BC, 29 (Winter 1980), 542-67 (p. 558).

A quarto miscellany of recusant verse, many of the 65 poems relating to the circle of the Catholic Aston family, in three hands, 200 leaves (including five preliminary blanks, and ff. 53r-135v are blank), in contemporary leather gilt.

Compiled principally by Constance Fowler (d.1664), daughter of the diplomat Walter Aston, Baron Aston of Forfar (1584-1639), of Tixall and Colton, Staffordshire, her roman hand responsible for ff. 6r, 8r-15v, 24v-34v, 46v-52v, 136r-9r, 143v-59r, and 182v-95v. The second, predominantly secretary hand, responsible for fourteen poems on ff. 7r-v, 16r-24r, and 35r-46r, is that of Constance's sister Gertrude Thimelby (1617-68). The third hand, on ff. 196r-200v, is that of Constance's brother-in-law Sir William Pershall.

c.1635-50s

William H. Robinson, sale catalogue (1925), item 472.

This volume discussed, with a complete first-line index and a facsimile of f. 25r, in Jenijoy La Belle, The Huntington Aston Manuscript, The Book Collector, 29 (Winter 1980), 542-67. See also Jenijoy La Belle, A True Love's Knot: The Letters of Constance Fowler and the Poems of Herbert Aston, JEGP, 79 (1980), 13-31. The complete volume edited in The Verse Miscellany of Constance Aston Fowler: A Diplomatic Edition, ed. Deborah Aldrich-Watson (Tempe, Arizona, 2000), with a facsimile of f. 28v on p. lxiv.

To the Honourable my much honoured friend, R.B. Esquire ('While you dare trust the loudest tongue of fame')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 16-17.

HaW 33

Extract, comprising lines 7-10 (beginning Virtue & vallue more), untitled.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To the Moment last past ('O wither dost thou flye? Cannot my vow')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 89.

HaW 33.5

Copy, in a 19th-century hand, headed To the Moment last past By the same.

An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, in English, Latin and Greek, predominantly in a single hand, with 19th-century additions (pp. 195 onwards, at least partly from earlier MS sources), 279 pages, in contemporary calf.

c.1644 (and later)

Inscribed (f. [ir]) William Han: 1644, probably by the academic compiler.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 150 pp. 267-8)
To the right honourable the Countesse of Ar ('Wing'd with delight (yet such as still doth beare)')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 19-20.

HaW 34

Copy, headed To the Hon: Ann Countess of Ar:.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To the Right Honourable, the Lady, E.P. ('Your judgement's cleere, not wrinckled with the Time')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 41-2.

HaW 35

Extract, comprising lines 7-16 (beginning Possession makes us pore, should we obtain), untitled.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To the Right Honourable, the Lord P. ('The reverend man by magicke of his prayer')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 72-3.

HaW 36

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

To Vaine hope ('Thou dreame of madmen, ever changing gale')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 74.

HaW 37

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

Vpon Castara's departure ('Vowes are vaine. No suppliant breath')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 40.

HaW 38

Copy, untitled.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 174.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

HaW 38.5

Copy, headed vpon his Mrs departure.

A sextodecimo pocket miscellany, ff. 3r-53r in a single hand, other hands and scribbling on ff. 1r-2r, 54v, 87v-90v, 90 leaves in all (including blanks ff. 55r-87r), in contemporary calf, with remains of clasps.

Including 12 poems by Carew.

c.1650s

Inscribed Richard Archard his booke Amen 1650; Richard Archard his penn Amen 1657; to Mr Satars[?] towads the Casting of ye lead 1657; Tho: Wise; John Smith of halmortaine and I…went to Thornebury; and Edward Watt. Bookplate of William Harris Arnold.

Cited in IELM, II.i, as the Archard MS: CwT Δ 24.

Vpon Castara's frowne or smile ('Learned shade of Tycho Brache, who to us')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, p. 20.

HaW 39

Copy of a garbled version, untitled.

Printed from this MS in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91 (p. 386); recorded in Allott, p. 169.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

Vpon Cupid's death and buriall in Castara's cheeke ('Cupids dead. Who would not dye')

First published in Castara (London, 1634). Allott, pp. 24-5.

HaW 40

Copy.

An octavo verse miscellany, in a single informal hand, a member of St John's College, Oxford, i + 99 leaves, in half-vellum marbled boards.

Including 19 poems by Habington and (ff. 8r-21r, 28v) 21 poems by Katherine Philips transcribed from a edited source.

Late 17th century

Later owned by Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755).

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as Rawlinson MS I: PsK Δ 6.

HaW 41

Copy.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 171.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in several hands, written from both ends, 84 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Probably compiled principally by an Oxford University man.

c.1630s-40s

Names inscribed on rear flyleaf and paste-down Elizabeth hosman and William Blois.

HaW 42

Copy.

This MS recorded in Allott, p. 171.

A quarto verse miscellany, in two styles of italic, the last poem (f. 93v) added in a later hand, 93 leaves (plus ten blanks), in modern quarter-morocco gilt.

Including 14 poems by Donne, six poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Carew, ten poems by Habington and 13 poems (plus one of doubtful authorship) by Randolph. Owned and possibly compiled by Arthur Capell (1631-83), second Earl of Essex, whose name is inscribed in red ink (1*), in a similar roman hand to that on ff. 1r-19r. He married (1653) Elizabeth Percy (1636-1718), daughter of Algernon, tenth Earl of Northumberland; she was therefore the great niece of Habington's mother-in-law, Eleanor Percy, sister of the ninth Earl of Northumberland.

Mid-17th century

Later among the collections of Robert Harley (1661-1724), first Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689-1741), second Earl of Oxford.

Cited in IELM, I.i (1980) and II, i-ii (1987-93), as the Capell MS: DnJ Δ 43, CwT Δ 17, and RnT Δ 3. Discussed in Geoffrey Tillotson, The Commonplace Book of Arthur Capell, MLR, 27 (1932), 381-91.

Poems of Doubtful Authorship

On Castaraes sittinge on Primrose banks ('See how the little Starrs in Azure nights')

First published in Norman Ault, A Treasury of Unfamiliar Lyrics (London, 1938), p. 166. Allott, p. 160.

HaW 43

Copy, in Constance Fowler's hand.

Aldrich-Watson, pp. 50-1. Edited from this MS also in Ault and in Allott. See also Jenijoy La Belle, The Huntington Aston Manuscript, BC, 29 (Winter 1980), 542-67 (pp. 560-1).

A quarto miscellany of recusant verse, many of the 65 poems relating to the circle of the Catholic Aston family, in three hands, 200 leaves (including five preliminary blanks, and ff. 53r-135v are blank), in contemporary leather gilt.

Compiled principally by Constance Fowler (d.1664), daughter of the diplomat Walter Aston, Baron Aston of Forfar (1584-1639), of Tixall and Colton, Staffordshire, her roman hand responsible for ff. 6r, 8r-15v, 24v-34v, 46v-52v, 136r-9r, 143v-59r, and 182v-95v. The second, predominantly secretary hand, responsible for fourteen poems on ff. 7r-v, 16r-24r, and 35r-46r, is that of Constance's sister Gertrude Thimelby (1617-68). The third hand, on ff. 196r-200v, is that of Constance's brother-in-law Sir William Pershall.

c.1635-50s

William H. Robinson, sale catalogue (1925), item 472.

This volume discussed, with a complete first-line index and a facsimile of f. 25r, in Jenijoy La Belle, The Huntington Aston Manuscript, The Book Collector, 29 (Winter 1980), 542-67. See also Jenijoy La Belle, A True Love's Knot: The Letters of Constance Fowler and the Poems of Herbert Aston, JEGP, 79 (1980), 13-31. The complete volume edited in The Verse Miscellany of Constance Aston Fowler: A Diplomatic Edition, ed. Deborah Aldrich-Watson (Tempe, Arizona, 2000), with a facsimile of f. 28v on p. lxiv.

Upon Castaries and her sisters goinge Afoote in the Snow ('The Heauens knowinge that the tedious way')

First published in Allott (1948), p. 160.

HaW 44

Copy, in Constance Fowler's hand.

Aldrich-Watson, p. 54. Also edited from this MS in Allott. See also Jenijoy La Belle, The Huntington Aston Manuscript, BC, 29 (Winter 1980), 542-67 (pp. 563-4).

A quarto miscellany of recusant verse, many of the 65 poems relating to the circle of the Catholic Aston family, in three hands, 200 leaves (including five preliminary blanks, and ff. 53r-135v are blank), in contemporary leather gilt.

Compiled principally by Constance Fowler (d.1664), daughter of the diplomat Walter Aston, Baron Aston of Forfar (1584-1639), of Tixall and Colton, Staffordshire, her roman hand responsible for ff. 6r, 8r-15v, 24v-34v, 46v-52v, 136r-9r, 143v-59r, and 182v-95v. The second, predominantly secretary hand, responsible for fourteen poems on ff. 7r-v, 16r-24r, and 35r-46r, is that of Constance's sister Gertrude Thimelby (1617-68). The third hand, on ff. 196r-200v, is that of Constance's brother-in-law Sir William Pershall.

c.1635-50s

William H. Robinson, sale catalogue (1925), item 472.

This volume discussed, with a complete first-line index and a facsimile of f. 25r, in Jenijoy La Belle, The Huntington Aston Manuscript, The Book Collector, 29 (Winter 1980), 542-67. See also Jenijoy La Belle, A True Love's Knot: The Letters of Constance Fowler and the Poems of Herbert Aston, JEGP, 79 (1980), 13-31. The complete volume edited in The Verse Miscellany of Constance Aston Fowler: A Diplomatic Edition, ed. Deborah Aldrich-Watson (Tempe, Arizona, 2000), with a facsimile of f. 28v on p. lxiv.

Prose

The Historie of Edward the Fourth, King of England

First published in London, 1641.

HaW 44.5

Extracts, headed The Life of Edward ye 4th by Habinton.

A folio volume of Collections out of the Histories of England. 1670, extracted from printed sources, in a single hand, 87 leaves, in mottled leather gilt.

c.1670
The British Library: Sloane Collection (Sloane MS 273 ff. 7v-11r, 58r-63r)

Dramatic Works

The Queene of Arragon. The Song in the fourth Act ('Fine, young folly, though you were')

First published, anonymously, in London, 1640. The song, in a musical setting by William Tompkins, published in John Playford, Select Musicall Ayres, and Dialogues, Book III (London, 1653). Allott, p. 152.

HaW 45

Copy, headed To his Mistrisse.

A quarto verse miscellany and masque, in at least three hands, written from both ends, i + 123 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Mid-late 17th century

Including (f. 1r) an anagram on Frances Pawlett. Inscribed in red ink (f. 123v) Egigius Frampton hunc librum jure tenet non est mortale quod opto: 1659: i.e. by Giles Frampton, who is perhaps responsible for some of the later poems. Also inscribed [?]R. N. 1663. Some later notes in the hand of Richard Rawlinson.

HaW 46

Copy, untitled.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in English and Latin, in several hands, written from both ends, 84 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Probably compiled principally by an Oxford University man.

c.1630s-40s

Names inscribed on rear flyleaf and paste-down Elizabeth hosman and William Blois.

HaW 47

Copy of stanzas 1-4, headed Sonnetto.

This MS collated in Allott, p. 203.

A duodecimo verse miscellany, in several small non-professional hands, 88 leaves, imperfect at the beginning.

c.1630s-40s
The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 923 f. 83r-v)
HaW 48

Copy, untitled and here beginning Fine young folly if you are.

A quarto verse miscellany, including (ff. 113r-15r) copies of, or brief extracts from, 30 poems by Donne (plus two apocryphal poems), in a single hand, transcribed from the 1635 or 1639 edition of Donne's Poems, headed Donnes quaintest conceits in several hands, 156 leaves (plus blanks), in modern black morocco gilt.

Late 17th century

Once owned by Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725) and afterwards among the collections of Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford (1689-1741).

Cited in IELM I.i (1980) as the Harley Rawlinson MS: DnJ Δ 64.

HaW 49

Copy, untitled.

A sextodecimo miscellany of verse and topographical prose, probably in a single small cursive hand, 78 leaves, written from both ends, Part I foliated 1r-33r, Part II foliated 1r-45r, in old calf.

c.1650s-60s

Inscribed (Part I, f. 1r) Mr John Oldhams Booke [i.e. the poet John Oldham (1653-83)]. Inscribed (Part II, f. 1r) James Bateman [(b.1633/4) of Christ's College, Cambridge], and Robert Pierrepont [either the son of Col. Francis Pierrepont, M.P. (d.1659), or the third Earl of Kingston (1650/1-82), of Holme-Pierrepoint, Nottinghamshire, Oldham's patron]. Formerly Folger MS 621.1.

Described in F.P. Hammond, A Commonplace Book owned by John Oldham, N&Q, 224 (December 1979), 515-18.

HaW 49.5

Extracts.

A large untitled folio anthology of quotations chiefly from Elizabethan and Stuart plays, alphabetically arranged under subject headings, in a single mixed hand, in double columns, 900 pages (lacking pp. 1-4, 379-80, 667-8, 715-20 and 785-8), including (pp. 893-7) an alphabetical index of some 351 titles of plays, in modern boards.

This is the longest known extant version of the unpublished anthology Hesperides or The Muses Garden, by John Evans, entered in the Stationers' Register on 16 August 1655 and subsequently advertised c.1660, among works he purposed to print, by Humphrey Moseley. Another version of this work, in the same hand, dissected by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), is now distributed between Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Halliwell-Phillipps, Notes upon the Works of Shakespeare, Folger, MS V.a.75, Folger, MS V.a.79, and Folger, MS V.a.80.

c.1656-66

Formerly MS 469.2.

This MS identified in IELM, II.i (1980), p. 450. Discussed, as the master draft, with a facsimile of p. 7 on p. 381, in Hao Tianhu, Hesperides, or the Muses' Garden and its Manuscript History, The Library, 7th Ser. 10/4 (December 2009), 372-404 (the full index printed as Catalogue A on pp. 385-94).

HaW 50

Copy of the song, untitled.

A folio formal verse miscellany, comprising c.406 poems, many of them song lyrics, in various neat hands, compiled probably over a period, 8 blank leaves (pp. [i-xvi]) + 10 unnumbered pages of poems (pp. [xvii-xxvi]) + 9 numbered pages (pp. 1-9) + ff. [9v]-151v + 12 leaves at the end blank but for a poem on the penultimate page (f. [11v]), in contemporary calf gilt.

Once erroneously associated with Thomas Killigrew (1612-83), whose hand does not appear in the volume.

Mid-17th century-c.1702

Inscribed (f. [ir]) Sr Robert Killigrew / 1702. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 9070. Sotheby's, 19 May 1897, lot 455.

Discussed, with a facsimile example, in Nancy Cutbirth, Thomas Killigrew's Commonplace Book?, Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin, NS No. 13 (1980), 31-8.

University of Texas at Austin (Ms (Killigrew, T) Works B Commonplace book f. 57v)

Letters

Letter(s)
*HaW 51 1640
Autograph

Autograph letter signed by William Habington, to his mother, 22 May [1640?].

Edited in John Amphlett, A Survey of Worcestershire by Thomas Habington (Worcestershire Historical Society No. 5, 2 vols, 1895-9), I, 18. Edited, with a reduced and somewhat indistinct facsimile, in Allott, p. xxxiii and frontispiece. Facsimiles in IELM, II.i (1987), Facsimile XX, after p. xxiv, and in DLB 126: Seventeenth-Century British Nondramatic Poets, Second Series, ed. M. Thomas Hester (Detroit, 1993), p. 141.

A folio composite volume of papers of William Habington's father, the antiquary Thomas Habington (1560-1647), collections principally for his Miscellaneous Antiquities of Worcestershire, v + 397 leaves, in reversed calf.

Bookplate of Charles Lyttelton (1714-68), Bishop of Carlisle.

Society of Antiquaries (MS 145 f. 337v)
*HaW 52
Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Habington, to Lady Herbert, endorsed as received 1 February 1645/6.

National Archives, Kew (PRO 30/53/7/37-38)
*HaW 53
Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Habington, to a male member of the Herbert family (? William Herbert), from Lloydyarth, 9 November [no year].

c.1640s

Formerly Powis (1959 deposit), Series II, Bundle XXIII, No. 79.

National Library of Wales (Herbert of Cherbury Manuscripts and Papers P2/1/8/4)

Contents