George Wither

1588–1667

Introduction

Authorial Manuscripts

The quarrelsome republican poet and polemicist George Wither (or Withers) — who may be destined to live in literary annals chiefly on account of Aubrey's perhaps apocryphal tale of his life being spared by Sir John Denham during the Civil War so that he (Denham) could not be accounted the worst living poet in England — has left relatively few literary manuscripts. This would not be surprising but for the extent of Wither's prolific, and eventful, literary activity over a period of well over half a century and in view of the ample evidence that much of what he wrote remained unpublished (itself not surprising considering his perpetual state of war with publishers and stationers). He himself published a list of his Scriblings, allegedly to satisfie the requests of his Friends, at the end of his Fides-Anglicana (London, 1660), pp. 90-4. Among the many titles listed there as not Printed or lost in Manuscript — when his house was plundred, or by other casualties — are various works in verse, such as Iter Hibernicum, Iter Boreale, Patricks Purgatory, and The Dutchess, as well as prose tracts such as A Treatise of ancient Hieroglyphicks, The pursuit of Happiness, Domestick Devotions, and A Tract of Usury. Even apart from specified lost works, Wither gives the impression of a writer in a state of constant activity, who was wont to have various works in progress at the same time, some of which might remain unfinished for years. As he declared in the eleventh poem in A Proclamation in the name of the King of Kings, to All the Inhabitants of the Isles of Great Britain (London, 1662):

I sometimes think my work is done, and then
Resolved am to lay aside my Pen;
Yet, when I do discover some remain
Unfinished, I take it up again.

His unfinished works would remain in what (in his preface to The Psalmes of David in 1632) he called his blurred papers before being made legible to others.

The solitary known surviving example of such blurred papers — a rare example of an autograph working draft by any seventeenth-century poet and particularly interesting in view of the circumstances of its preservation — is the extensive autograph draft of his unfinished poem Vox Vulgi. One of his many attacks on Parliament, this work survives because the draft was confiscated by order of the Privy Council, being now preserved among the Earl of Clarendon's papers (*WiG 35). As he recorded himself in his Appollogy for composing the Poem called Vox Vulgi, published in An Improvement…Evidenced in a few Crums & Scraps (London, 1661), the fact that his imperfect Poem, lacking his last thoughts thereon, was designed for private view / Of Clarendon, and dedicated to him, did not spare it from seizure or Wither from committal (for three years) to an ignominious Jail because of it.

Examples of Wither's fair copies, made legible to others, are only marginally more plentiful. The author's own manuscript of a version of The Psalmes of David survives (*WiG 26). This is not, as has sometimes been thought, his autograph throughout. Nevertheless, it is clearly a text produced by a professional scribe commissioned by him and bears the poet's distinctive autograph additions, including his own formal title-page. What was evidently the author's own fair copy of The History of the Pestilence (1625), a work unpublished in its own right in his lifetime but which evolved into the first two cantos of his Britain's Remembrancer (1628), also survives (WiG 22). Although, again, sometimes tentatively described as autograph, this manuscript is evidently the work of an accomplished professional scribe, presumably commissioned by Wither, but — unlike The Psalmes — it bears no sign of the author's own hand.

It may be added that identification of the poet's handwriting has traditionally been regarded as difficult, and even such Wither scholars as J. Milton French have hesitated to pronounce conclusively on the main manuscripts, or to distinguish properly between the hands of scribes and of the author himself. This confusion has arisen partly because of the equally traditional assumption that clear examples of Wither's hand are extremely rare. Even granted the possible source of confusion caused by signatures by other namesakes, examples of the poet's handwriting survive in sufficient numbers to provide an adequate basis for identification of his hand, at least from the 1630s onwards. Even over a period of some decades, Wither's hand, with his characteristic letter-forms, remains distinctive, sufficiently so — under close scrutiny — for its sporadic appearance to be detected quite clearly in a manuscript such as The Psalmes, even on occasions when he inserts only a word or so of correction.

Other Manuscript Copies

What is a clearly authoritative text of a commendatory poem by Wither on Christopher Brooke is copied by Brooke himself in one of his own manuscripts prepared, towards the end of his life, for the licensers of the press but not published until the nineteenth century (WiG 28). Otherwise, with the qualified exceptions of his popular lyric Shall I wasting in despair (WiG 1-12.2) and a few interesting contemporary texts of the rare tract Vox et Lacrimae Anglorum (WiG 30-34), there is little evidence of any widespread dissemination of Wither's work in manuscript form outside his immediate circle — and this despite, for instance, the professed fear of the stationer who published Faire-Virtue, the Mistresse of Phil'Arete (1622) that some imperfecter Coppies might hereafter be scattered abroad in writing.

One or two other manuscript items that have been attributed to Wither are much more doubtful. For instance, the book catalogue of Joseph Lilly in 1861 included (p. 82) what was alleged to be the original manuscript of Vox et Lacrymae Anglorum (1668), a quarto in calf most probably in the autograph of Wither himself. It is quite likely that this was one of the contemporary transcripts of this poetical tract which are known to have circulated and are recorded below (WiG 30-34).

Yet another almost certainly spurious item offered in the same catalogue (p. 83) is a legal notebook supposedly identified as Wither's by the collector James Brook Pulham. It is described as Wither's Manuscript Note Book, 1650-60, a small 8vo. volume, written in a remarkably neat hand, so lettered by direction of Mr. Pulham, and believed by him, after an inspection and comparison of several of Wither's Manuscripts in the British Museum, to be in the autograph of the Poet, who was brought up to the law and had chambers in Lincoln's Inn. It contains memoranda of law cases. The mention here of several of Wither's Manuscripts in the British Museum alone would perhaps be sufficient to undermine Pulham's alleged identification; but it might also be noted that one of the poet's namesakes in this period was indeed a lawyer: the George Wither who was a member of Gray's Inn in 1640, who was called to the Bar in 1650, and who became Recorder of Romsey in 1658.

Inscribed Presentation Exempla of Works by Wither

Elsewhere, a few presentation exempla of certain of Wither's books are recorded, chiefly inscribed by Wither himself (WiG 44-47).

In Thorn-Drury's Notes on George Wither, Huntington Library Quarterly, 23 (1959-60), 379-88, J. Milton French records George Thorn-Drury's references to the existence of an alleged signature of Wither — possibly on detached slips and not certainly autograph — in an exemplum of Juvenilia (London, 1622) advertised for sale in 1906, as well as of other vague and rather dubious references to inscriptions attributed to him. This particular Juvenilia is probably that offered earlier in Joseph Lilly's book catalogue of 1861, described (pp. 69-70) as having pasted on the flyleaf a slip of paper on which is written in a very old hand, George Wither, following which is the Gloria Patri, presumed to be in the handwriting of the poet.

Equally uncertain are alleged MS. corrections in the Poet's autograph in exempla of Vox Pacifica (1645) and Gemitus de Carcere Nantes (1684) sold in the John Matthew Gutch sale at Sotheby's, 16 March 1858, lots 2674 (to Willes) and 2704 (to Boone) respectively.

Letters and Documents

Examples of Wither's handwriting are increased by the survival of three original letters by him and a considerable number of official or legal documents signed by him. His three known autograph letters, dating from 1645 to 1661, are given entries below (WiG 48-50).

Other documents written or signed by Wither — assuming those documents whose whereabouts is not currently known were correctly identified in earlier times — can best be categorized in two groups. One, given entries below, is of miscellaneous and legal documents, including petitions by him and one by a scribe (WiG 51-61, WiG 66-70). For some of these documents, see J. Milton French, Thorn-Drury's Notes on George Wither, Huntington Library Quarterly, 23 (1959-60), 379-88; Allan Pritchard, A Manuscript of George Wither's Psalms, HLQ, 27 (1963-4), 73-7; Herbert Berry, John Denham at Law, Modern Philology, 71 (1973-4), 266-76; and David Norbrook, Levelling Poetry: George Wither and the English Revolution, 1642-1649, English Literary Renaissance, 21 (1991), 217-56.

The other category of documents signed by Wither — which is indeed the most extensive source of examples of his signature — relates to his activities after the Civil War when he was a member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods. The most historically significant of these documents are four inventories, prepared in or after 1649 (WiG 62-65). These have all been edited in full in Oliver Millar, The Inventories and Valuations of the King's Goods 1649-1651, Walpole Society, Vol. 43 (1972). Then there is a series of orders (not given entries below) by the Commissioners to Carew Mildmay, Groom of His Majesty's Jewels and Plate, demanding the delivery of various goods, books and papers in his custody. But then, to the astonishment of J. Milton French, who first recorded them in George Wither's Verses to Dr. John Raven, PMLA, 63 (1948), 749-51 (p. 751), there are hundreds of surviving warrants signed by Wither and his fellow commissioners relating to the disposal of, and payments for, chattels in their custody. In fact, a total of nearly 900 such warrants, issued chiefly between 1649 and 1653, are to be found in the National Archives alone (WiG 71-72), besides other examples now dispersed (WiG 73-81). Many of these warrants are manuscripts, but the majority are printed forms with details inserted by hand and then signed by the Commissioners. One other item which is relevant to this series is a scribal ledger recording payments by the Commissioners (National Archives, Kew, SP 28/350/9).

Documents Signed by Other George Withers

A number of other documents that have been recorded as being signed by George Wither the poet would appear to have been signed instead by one or other of his contemporary namesakes, some of them associated with his native county of Hampshire. These would include George Wither of Hall, in the parish of Dean, who signed an indenture of 28 July 1664, and his nephew George Wither of Winchester, whose will is in the National Archives, Kew (PROB 10/953, proved 9 April 1662). Among such documents are:

(i) A deed of acquitance from Richard Trewe of Church Oakley, to William Trewe of Worthing, Hampshire, signed by George Wither as a witness, 8 June 1613 (Magdalen College, Oxford, MS 919). This was donated by a Fellow of the College at Christmas 1884, and probably to be identified with the Letter of Attorney, 1 page folio signed by Wither as witness…June 8, 1613, sold at Puttick & Simpson's, 28 February 1851, lot 215.

(ii) A deed of enfeoffment from John May Sr to John May Jr of the Manor of Worting, Hampshire, signed by George Wither as a witness, 23 December 1646 (Harvard, bMS Am 1631 (432)). This is presumably to be identified with the document sometimes dated 21 December 1646 sold at Puttick & Simpson's, 14 May 1849, lot 564; at Sotheby's, 21 March 1892, lot 351; at Samuel J. Davey's sale catalogue (1899), item 295; at Sotheby's, 24 July 1905, lot 191; and in Maggs's sale catalogues No. 317 (1913), item 3728; No. 554 (1931), item 340; and No. 593 (1934), item 257.

(iii) A receipt signed by George Wither as a witness, 5 May 1647. Sold at Puttick & Simpson's, 21 June 1850 (Richard Burton sale) lot 267, to Montagu.

(iv) An indenture signed by George Wither as a witness, 17 December 1647. Sold at Sotheby's, 19 May 1906, lot 51, to Pearson.

To this list of signatures by other George Withers may be added:

(v) A folio manuscript of state tracts and papers, the first leaf bearing (amidst other scribbling, including Robert Daye, Thomas Ward and Westminster Church) the inscription George Withers his booke Anno Dni 1633 (British Library, Harley MS 2283).

The Canon

No collected edition of Wither's works has been published in recent times, although the Spenser Society, which flourished in Manchester from 1867 to 1894, went a considerable way towards producing one by reprinting the great majority of Wither's published works. Several works found in the most notable Wither manuscripts recorded above are, nevertheless, discoveries made in the twentieth century, while yet further pieces by Wither have been found on occasions in printed sources: see, for instance, William D. Templeman, Some Commendatory Verses by George Wither, N&Q, 183 (19 December 1942), 365-6, and an uncollected epithalamium reprinted in J. Milton French's article in Huntington Library Quarterly, 23 (1959-60), 379-88 (pp. 383-5). To these may be added one or two new poems found in manuscripts: notably M^r George Withers, to the king when hee was Prince of wales discovered by Allan Pritchard before 1963 (WiG 24) and the 1610 epithalamium beginning When Pirrhous did wedd Hipodama found even more recently (WiG 36). Thus there is no reason to suppose that Wither's canon has yet been established in full. For a listing of publications attributed to him, see the bibliography in Charles S. Hensley, The Later Career of George Wither (The Hague & Paris, 1969), pp. 144-53.

On the other hand a salutary caution about modern attributions to Wither of various works is offered in David Norbrook, Some Notes on the Canon of George Wither, N&Q, 241 (1996), 276-81. Of those works that Norbrook rejects from the canon perhaps only one, Vox et Lacrimæ Anglorum, had some circulation in manuscript copies (WiG 30-34). References in this work that appear to date from 1668, a year after Wither's death, would seem to be fairly conclusive arguments against his authorship.

A few other poems that are uncertainly, or spuriously, ascribed to Wither in manuscripts are given entries below in the appropriate category (WiG 37-41). Two of these (WiG 37-38, WiG 40-41) are inspired, whether by Wither himself or by other writers, by one or more of his spells of imprisonment. One of these and another (WiG 39, WiG 41) are ascribed to him in the same verse miscellany, of one Richard Jackson, the ascriptions in which are generally unreliable (Edinburgh University Library, MS H.-P. Coll. 401).

Miscellaneous

Some recorded printed exempla of works by Wither have contemporary manuscript additions by readers, or else missing pages supplied in manuscript. They include exempla of:

(i) A Memorandum to London, occasioned by the Pestilence (London, 1665), with the last page supplied in manuscript (Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce 10,706 (pressmark: D.16.C.58)).

(ii) Britain's Remembrancer (London, 1628), with a manuscript copy on the flyleaves of verses headed A pulpit to be lett…, beginning Beloved, & hee sweetly thus goes on, subscribed London printed for y^e Author 1665, owned in 1702 by Thomas Hearne (Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce 10,673(1) (pressmark: D.16.B.44)).

(iii) Prosopopoeia Britannica (London, 1648), with notes on temporall oppressions (Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce 10,687(2) (pressmark: D.16.C.39)).

(iv) Prosopopoeia Britannica (London, 1648), with numerous reader's corrections and, at the end, a manuscript copy of the seven-stanza poem The Authors Ode in his Campomusae (Alass! how darksome bee!) (Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce 10,687(1) (pressmark: D.16.C.40)).

(v) The Shepheard's Hunting (London 1615), with two leaves of the prose Postscript to the Reader…in MS (Joseph Lilly's sale catalogue for 1861, p. 68).

In addition, a complete transcript of Faire Virtue, the Mistresse of Phil'Aretethe (London 1633), on 91 quarto leaves, made in 1708, is now in the Bodleian (MS Add. B. 7).

Moreover a series of transcripts of various works by Wither, all apparently copied from printed editions, were sold in the fourth portion of the Joseph Lilly sale at Sotheby's, on 27 January (and five following days) 1873, as lots 1994, 1995, 2009, and 2109 (to Salkeld), 2002 (to Henner), 2004-2006, 2008, 2105-2106, and 2108 (to Bumstead), and 2110 (to Kerney?). It seems evident that these transcripts were all made by the Wither enthusiast James Brook Pulham (d.1860), for the same sale contained Pulham's collections and transcripts of various memoranda and pedigrees of the Wither family (lots 2103, 2104, 2107), as well as probably lot 2010, all sold to Bumstead. Some of these items were previously ascribed to Pulham in Joseph Lilly's sale catalogue of 1861, which includes (pp. 67-84) a major Collection of the Works of George Wither…being the most extensive Series ever offered for sale, principally obtained from the Collections of Rev. Dr. Bliss, Rev. J. Mitford, J.M. Gutch, Esq., but chiefly from the Series formed…by the late James Brook Pulham, Esq..

Exempla of various of Wither's works containing the copious manuscript notes of Thomas Park (1759-1834) were also sold in the Gutch sale at Sotheby's on 16 March (and eight following days) 1858. They comprised notably lots 2656 (to Thorpe), 2664 (to Dixon), 2667 (Psalmes of 1632, with autograph of Edw. Hobard from Ferdinando Wither, Uncle to y^e author, 1641, to Boone), 2695 (to Elkins), 2701 (to Lilly), 2706 (to Boone), and 2708 (Hymns and Songs of the Church, 1856, with MS. corrections in the Wither pedigree, by E. Hopkins, Esq. of Alresford, Hants, the descendant of the Poet, to Boone).

Some notebooks of George Thorn-Drury, KC (1860-1931) containing information about other Wither items sold at auction in the nineteenth century were acquired by J. Milton French and discussed by him in Thorn-Drury's Notes on George Wither, Huntington Library Quarterly, 23 (1959-60), 379-88.

A particularly interesting set of proofs of John Matthew Gutch's edition of Wither's Works, which was printed in Bristol in 1820 but remained unissued until 1839-47, was offered in Quaritch's sale catalogue No. 1132 (December 1990), item 58, and is now at Princeton (RTC01, No. 173). Comprising two volumes of proofs interleaved and heavily annotated by Gutch himself, by his friend Charles Lamb and also by Dr John Nott, with insertions by James Brook Pulham and later by A.C. Swinburne, they are a vivid memento of a particular and influential circle of Wither-admirers in the nineteenth century.

A three-page autograph memorandum by Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, Bt (1762-1837) for his intended Preface to Wither's The Shepherds Hunting (1615) is at Yale (Osborn MSS Files 2008).

A letter by the poet's son, Robert Wither, to Anthony Wood, 4 November 1673, now in the Bodleian (MS Wood F. 45, f. 142r), gives Robert's account of his father and was used by Wood for his own account in Athenae Oxonienses (see Philip Bliss's edition, vol. III (1817), 762-75). John Aubrey's few notes on Wither are in the Bodleian (MS Aubrey 8, f. 50v) and are edited in Clark (1898), II, 306-7. Some biographical notes on Wither by Dr Bulkeley Bandinel (1781-1861), made c.1825, are also in the Bodleian (MSS Add. B. 77-79). Notes on Wither by the Rev. Joseph Hunter (1783-1861) in his Chorus Vatum Anglicanorum (Volume V) are in the British Library (Add. MS 24491, ff. 24r-8r).

Several unpublished doctoral dissertations on Wither occasionally mentioned by commentators are: J. Milton French, George Wither (Harvard, 1928); Lyle Harris Kendall, George Wither: A Critical Biography (University of Texas, 1952); Allan Duncan Pritchard, George Wither: A Critical Study (University of Toronto, 1957); and Norman E. Carlson, George Wither: A Troublesome Litigious Man (Rutgers University, 1962).

Abbreviations

Millar: Oliver Millar, The Inventories and Valuations of the King's Goods 1649-1651, Walpole Society, Vol. 43 (1972).

Sidgwick: The Poetry of George Wither, ed. Frank Sidgwick, 2 vols (London, 1902).

Verse

The Author's Resolution in a Sonnet ('Shall I wasting in despair')

First published in Fidelia (London, 1615). Sidgwick, I, 138-9. A version, as Sonnet 4, in Faire-Virtue, the Mistresse of Phil'Arete, generally bound with Juvenilia (London, 1622). Spenser Society No. 11 (1871), pp. 854-5. Sidgwick, II, 124-6.

For the answer attributed to Ben Jonson, but perhaps by Richard Johnson, see Sidgwick, I, 145-8, and Ben Jonson, ed. C.H. Herford and Percy & Evelyn Simpson, VIII (Oxford, 1947), 439-43. MS versions of Wither's poem vary in length.

WiG 1

Copy in a musical setting.

A folio volume of songs, madrigals and motets, 48 leaves, the leaves now mounted with other MSS (1015-1019) in a double-folio guardbook.

Early 17th century

Formerly at St Michael's College, Tenbury Wells.

A complete facsimile of this volume in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 6 (New York & London, 1987).

Bodleian Library, Music MSS (MS Tenbury 1018 f. 12r)

WiG 1.5

Copy of a Latin version of the poem, headed Shall I wastinge in despaire, turn'd into Latin meet^r and beginning A: Cor quid te dolore teris.

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in three or more hands, probably compiled principally by a member of New College, Oxford, 163 pages, in calf-backed marbled boards.

c.1620s-30s

The name George Brown inscribed on p. 14. Inscribed on p. i by Edmond Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector Feb 13. 1790. I this day purchased this Manuscript Collection of Poems, at the sale of Mr Brander's books, at the exorbitant price of Ten Guineas. EMalone.

Bodleian Library, Malone Collection (MS Malone 19 pp. 49-50)

WiG 2

Copy, untitled.

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).

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 25000 through 29999 (Add. MS 25707 f. 170r)

WiG 2.5

Copy, untitled, on both sides of single quarto leaf, once folded as a letter or packet. c.1700s.

An unbound collection of verse manuscripts, in various hands and paper sizes, 212 leaves.

Volume CCCLV of the Evelyn Papers.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 60000 through end (Add. MS 78522 f. 1r-v)

WiG 3

Copy, headed in a later hand The Shepherd's Resolution. Bal. 111. 190, here beginning Shall I wrastle in despair.

A quarto verse miscellany, in a Scottish secretary hand, paginated 5-132, bound with a later verse MS on 98 pages, in brown calf.

c.1630s-40s

Bookplate of John Pinkerton (1758-1826), historian and poet. Sotheby's, April 1812 (Pinkerton sale), lot 593, to Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. Sotheby's, 1836 (Heber sale, Part XI), lot 1104, to Thomas Thorpe. His catalogue, 1836, bought by Laing.

Edinburgh University Library, Laing Collection (MS La. III. 436 pp. 111-13)

WiG 4

Copy, headed A Song.

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 y^e 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.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, V.a.series, 100 through 199 (MS V.a.124 ff. 33r-v)

WiG 5

Copy, headed A Song.

A quarto verse miscellany, in English and Latin, 210 pages, comprising 38 unnumbered pages and 172 numbered pages (plus four blank leaves), perhaps largely in a single predominantly secretary hand, with additions in four other hands on the unnumbered pages and pp. 167-71, including the scribbled title Divers Sonnets & Poems compiled by certaine gentil Clarks and Ryme-Wrightes, probably associated with Oxford University and the Inns of Court, in contemporary vellum.

Including 14 poems by Strode (and a second copy of one poem).

c.1637-51

Inscribed (front pastedown) Wakelin EeK Hering / Blows of Whitsor, and (rear pastedown) R. J. Cotton. Formerly Folger MS 2073.4.

Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993) as the Cotton MS: StW Δ 20.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, V.a.series, 200 through 299 (MS V.a.262 pp. 167-8)

WiG 6

Copy, in double columns, untitled.

A quarto verse miscellany, in several hands, a neat mixed hand predominating up to f. 55r, 151 leaves (including a few blanks), in contemporary calf.

c.1730

Inscribed (in another hand) on the front pastedown Thomas Boydell. Formerly Folger MS 4108.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, V.a.series, 300 through end (MS V.a.308 ff. 24v-5r)

WiG 7

Copy, in the hand of Thomas Gell, MP (1595-1657), of the Inner Temple, untitled, on one side of a single folio leaf.

Papers of the Gell family, formerly of Hopton Hall, Derbyshire, in different hands and paper sizes, now disbound in folders.

Sotheby's, 16 December 1950, lot 560. Owned by Arthur A. Houghton, Jr (1906-90), American businessman and collector. Given to the Houghton Library by Robert S Pirie in 1959.

Harvard, other MSS (bMS Eng 1107 Folder 11)

WiG 8

Copy, headed A songe of Ben: Jonsons, followed (p. 18) by Withers paralel to Ben Jonson (beginning Shal I my affection slacke).

A small quarto miscellany, in various hands, possibly compiled in part by one William Leigh, in modern leather.

c.1650

Inscribed (f. 1v) Buckley 1772. Acquired in 1950 from P.M. Mill. Formerly MS Leigh, William (?), comp., Commonplace Book (ca. 1650).

This volume offered in Maggs's sale catalogue No. 640 (1937), item 302.

University of Illinois (Pre-1650 MS 0177 p. 17)

WiG 9

Copy of the first stanza, headed Of a great man and here beginning Shall I lye wasting in despare?.

An octavo miscellany, probably compiled by an Oxford University man, written from both ends, 76 leaves, in contemporary calf.

Mid to late 17th century

Sotheby's, 20 July 1981, lot 30.

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 57 f. B3r rev.)

WiG 10

Copy, headed The Careless Lover, ascribed in another hand to M^r. John Fountain (d.1663).

A quarto volume of Poems on Several Occasions, Written by Iohn Fountain Gent., in a single hand, 163 pages, in contemporary vellum boards.

c.1721

The title-page inscribed Liber Georgij Newell emptus 22^o Martii Annoque 1720/21 Pretium 3^s, and inside the lower cover This Book was paid for the 10^th of May Anno Domini 1721. Sotheby's, 10 July 1986, lot 17.

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 78 pp. 158-9)

WiG 11

Copy, in a musical setting, untitled and here beginning Sall I wrastling in despair.

Edited from this MS in Nelly Diem, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Schottischen Musik im XVII. Jahrhundert (Zürich & Leipzig, 1919), pp. 95-6.

An oblong quarto songbook, the lyrics in two or more secretary and italic hands, iv + 43 leaves, in modern quarter-calf.

Inscribed (f. 31r) MAY 1639 and Williane Stirling. A long note (f. ii^r) in the hand of John Leyden (1775-1811), linguist and poet, dated 5 March 1800, recording his purchase of the MS in 1788 from the library of the Rev. Mr Cranstow, minister of Ancrum; his lending it to Alexander Campbell in 1795 and retrieving it in December 1799; and his now consigning it to Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector.

c.1639

A complete facsimile of this volume is in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 11 (New York & London, 1987).

National Library of Scotland, Advocates MSS (Adv. MS 5.2.14 ff. 17v-18r)

WiG 12

Copy, untitled, written on the back of a probate inventory relating to Ann Vander Poest of Norwich, 1615.

c.1615

Norfolk Record Office (DN/INV27B/112)

WiG 12.2

Copy, untitled.

An octavo verse miscellany, including 13 poems by or attributed to Herrick, almost entirely in a single small predominantly italic hand, 250 pages (plus numerous blanks), originally in contemporary calf, but now disbound.

Inscribed four times on a flyleaf Tobias Alston his booke: i.e. probably Tobias Alston (1620-c.1639) of Sayham Hall, near Sudbury, Suffolk. His half-brother Edward (b.1598) was a contemporary of Herrick at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, while his cousin, Edward Alston, later President of the College of Physicians, was a contemporary of Herrick at St John's College, Cambridge, some of the other contents also relating to Cambridge, besides some relating to Suffolk. The date 1639 occurs on p. 241, and pp. 243-50 contains verses written in two later hands (to c.1728) and some prose pieces written from the reverse end.

c.1639 [-c.1728]

Names inscribed on a flyleaf including Henry Glisson (later Fellow of the College of Physicians); Thomas Avral(?); Horace Norton; Henry Rich; and James Tavor (Registrar of Cambridge University). Later owned by one John Whitehead, and by Dr Mary Pickford. Sotheby's, 27 June 1972, lot 309.

Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the Alston MS: HeR Δ 7. A complete set of photocopies of the MS is in the British Library, RP 772. Facsimile of pp. 6-7 in Sotheby's sale catalogue (see HeR 176, HeR 405) where the MS is described at some length. See also letters by Peter Beal and Donald W. Foster in TLS (24 January 1986), pp. 87-8.

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 197 p. 174)

Britain's Remembrancer ('One Storm is past, & though some clouds appear')

First published, with preliminary material including a dedication to Chares I, in London, 1628. Spenser Society, Nos 28-29 (1980; reprinted in New York, 1967).

See also WiG 47.

WiG 21.9

Extracts, comprising six hymns and religious meditations.

A verse miscellany, comprising Volume I of A Collection of Poems by Thomas Binns of Liverpool, paginated 4 to 625, including an index.

1789

Yale, Osborn, others (Osborn MS c 139 pp. 143-83 passim)

The History of the Pestilence ('The Storme is past and loe, wee now obteyne')

First published as The History of the Pestilence (1625), ed. J. Milton French (Cambridge, Mass., 1932).

This poem is an early and substantially different version of the first two cantos of Britain's Remembrancer (1628).

WiG 22

Fair copy of a poem in two cantos, with a lengthy title-page, The History of the Pestilence or the proceedinges of Justice and Mercy Manifested att the great Assizes holden about London, in the yeere 1625 wherein soe many were executed by that Plague…[&c.], a prose dedication to the King, and an introductory twenty-line poem beginning Our Aucthor, first w^th God beginns, in a professional hand throughout, 93 folio pages.

c.1626

Edited from this MS in Milton French, with facsimiles of pp. 4-5 after p. xxxvi. It has been doubtfully suggested (by Milton French and others) that the MS is autograph.

Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys Library (MS 1999)

A Metricall Paraphrase vpon the Creede ('Lord, at thy Mercy-seat, our selues we gather')

First published in Workes (London, 1620). appended to Fidelia (London, 1622). Spenser Society No. 10 (1871), pp. 619-20.

WiG 23

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose generally on affairs of state, in several hands, one neat hand predominating, vii + 701 pages, in contemporary blind-stamped calf with metal clasps.

c.1690s

Inscribed (f [i^r]) Tho: Mercer. Later bookplate of Charles Gordon of Beldorny and Wardhouse. Sotheby's, 14 December 1976, lot 21.

National Library of Scotland, other MSS (MS Acc. 6824 p. 317)

M^r George Withers, to the king when hee was Prince of wales ('Thoughe to bee to Obsequious weare a Sinn')

First published in Allan Pritchard, An Unpublished Poem by George Wither, MP, 61 (1963-4), 120-1.

WiG 24

Copy of a verse appeal to Prince Charles, here ascribed to Wither and evidently written not long after his release from prison (after 15 March 1621/2 and before 17 February 1622/3).

Edited from this MS in Pritchard.

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

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. 38)

Of the Labours of Hercules ('First, he the strong Nemean Lyon slew')

WiG 25

Copy.

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

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 p. 134)

Prosopopæia Britannica: Britans Genius, or Good-Angel ('When, in his might, the Dogstar, raigned here')

First published, with preliminary material, in London, 1648. Spenser Society, Miscellaneous Works of George Wither. Fourth Collection, pp. 1-117.

WiG 25.5 Mid-17th century

Extracts, in a mixed hand, headed Some verses taken out of M^r George Withers his Prosopopæia Britanica, or Britagnes Genius, Edited An^o 1648 When y^e King was at y^e Isle of Weight; Beginning towards y^e end of Page 98, & ending p. 101, here beginning And since men Wandring in a Wood by night, in double columns, on two pages of two conjugate quarto leaves.

A large folio composite volume of state latters, tracts and verse, in various hands, 282 leaves, in modern morocco gilt.

Largely Burghley papers, with some later additions.

Bookplate of Shelburne.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 98 ff. 192r, 193r)

WiG 25.8

Copy.

An octavo miscellany of verse, prose and drama, written over a period in various hands, 179 leaves, in remains of contemporary calf.

c.1620-late 17th century

Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection (MS Lt 91 f. 61r)

The Psalmes of David ('The man is blest, who neither straies')

First published in Amsterdam, 1632. Spenser Society Nos. 31-2 (1881). For an account of the reasons why Wither's Psalms were prevented from publication in England, see James Doelman, George Wither, the Stationers Company and the English Psalter, Studies in Philology, 90 (1993), 74-82.

*WiG 26

Autograph

Fair copy of an early version.

The title-page reading Psalmes of Kinge David, paraphras'd for our English Lire (accordinge the the [sic] Translation allowed in the Church of England) and fitted vnto such Tunes as were heretofore in vse by George Wither, and a prose epistle To the Reader (ff. 4-7), the text in the hand of a professional scribe, the formal title-page (f. 3) and some textual corrections and revisions elsewhere in Wither's autograph and the epistle also signed by him, on 112 small folio leaves.

c.1625-32

Later owned in 1801 by Henry White of Lichfield. This MS was later in the library of Richard Heber (1773-1833), sold at Sotheby's (Heber sale, Part XI, 10 February 1836, lot 1688); afterwards owned by John Matthew Gutch (sold at Sotheby's, 16 March 1858, lot 2668, to Boone) and then by the Rev. Thomas Corser (sold by Capes, Dunn & Pilcher, Manchester, 14 December 1876, lot 459).

This MS substantially different from the later version published in 1632. It has occasionally, and erroneously, been described as entirely autograph. Discussed in Allan Pritchard, A Manuscript of George Wither's Psalms, HLQ, 27 (1963-4), 73-7. A fine proof impression of a later edition of these Psalmes, apparently containing a Summary transcript, and facsimile title-page, and other parts of this Original Manuscript, was offered in Joseph Lilly's book catalogue of 1861 (pp. 71-2).

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2404)

Sonnet ('Hence away you sirens')

First published in Fidelia (London, 1619).

WiG 26.5

Copy, in a musical setting, headed Glee for four Voices/ the Poetry by George Wither 1614. Music by R.J. Stevens 1800, subscribed Revised 1819 by R.J. Thoms.

An oblong folio volume of part-songs, madrigals, glees, etc., the second in a set of three part books, in a single hand, 214 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco.

c.1780-1833

Bookplate of Julian Marshall (1836-1903), music and print collector and writer.

The British Library, Music Books and Manuscripts (Add. MS 31810 f. 106r et seq.)

WiG 26.8

Copy.

A quarto verse miscellany, in several hands, a neat mixed hand predominating up to f. 55r, 151 leaves (including a few blanks), in contemporary calf.

c.1730

Inscribed (in another hand) on the front pastedown Thomas Boydell. Formerly Folger MS 4108.

The Folger Shakespeare Library, V.a.series, 300 through end (MS V.a.308 f. 22r)

Sonnet ('Lordly Gallants, tell mee this')

First published in Faire-Virtue, the Mistresse of Phil'Arete, generally bound with Juvenilia (London, 1622). Spenser Society No. 11 (1871), pp. 894-900. Sidgwick, II, 160-5.

WiG 27

Copy, untitled.

A folio verse miscellany, comprising nearly 250 poems, in five hands, vii + 135 leaves (with a modern index), in contemporary calf gilt (rebacked), with remains of clasps.

Including 16 poems (plus second copies of two) by Carew, 19 poems by or attributed to Herrick (and second copies of six of them), 23 poems (plus second copies of two and four of doubtful authorship) by Randolph, 18 poems (plus two of doubtful authorship) by Strode, and eleven poems by Waller.

c.1630s-40s

Inscribed on a flyleaf Peeter Daniell and his initials stamped on both covers. Later scribbling including the names Thomas Gardinor, James Leigh and Pettrus Romell. Owned in 1780 by one A. B. when it was given to Thomas Percy (1768-1808), later Bishop of Dromore. Sotheby's, 29 April 1884 (Percy sale), lot 1. Acquired from Quaritch, 1957.

Cited in IELM, II.i-ii (1987-93), as the Daniell MS: CwT Δ 5, HeR Δ 2, RnT Δ 1, StW Δ 5, WaE Δ 9. Briefly discussed in Margaret Crum, An Unpublished Fragment of Verse by Herrick, RES, NS 11 (1960), 186-9. A facsimile of f. 22v in Marcy L. North, Amateur Compilers, Scribal Labour, and the Contents of Early Modern Poetic Miscellanies, EMS, 16 (2011), 82-111 (p. 106). Betagraphs of the watermark in f. 65 in Ted-Larry Pebworth, Towards a Taxonomy of Watermarks, in Puzzles in Paper: Concepts in Historical Watermarks, ed. Daniel W. Mosser, Michael Saffle and Ernest W. Sullivan, II (London, 2000), pp. 229-42 (p. 241).

Bodleian Library, Eng. poet. MSS, a through d (MS Eng. poet. c. 50 f. 35v)

Speculum Speculativum ('Our Modern Prophet (so did Paul)')

First published, with preliminary material including a prose dedication to James I, in London, 1660. Miscellaneous Works of George Wither. Fifth Collection, Spenser Society No. 22 (1877; reprinted in New York, 1967), item 5 (pp. 1-176).

WiG 27.5

Copy of 64 lines of the poem, headed Withers in his Speculum, Speculativum, here beginning Seav'n Numerals the Roman Empire had, on three pages.

A miscellany compiled by Benjamin Brown (1664-1748), of Troutbeck, High Constable of Kendal Ward.

Late 17th century

Cumbria Record Office, Kendal (WD/TE/Box 16/8 [unspecified page numbers])

WiG 27.8

Copy of two different versions of stanza 30 on folio 85, beginning And being met to praise thee, in a contemporary hand, on a blank page in an exemplum of the printed edition of 1660.

Late 17th century

Duke University (R.B.R., W822S)

To his ingenious and (w^ch is more worthy) his truely honest Frend, M^r Christ: Brooke ('I have surveid the Structure thow hast here')

First published in The Complete Poems of Christopher Brooke, ed. the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart (privately printed, 1872), pp. 201-2.

WiG 28

Copy of a commendatory poem ascribed to Geor: Wyther prefixed to a fair copy of Christopher Brooke's A Funerall Poem Consecrated to the Memorie of … S^r Arthure Chichester.

Edited from this MS in Grosart.

Quarto volume of 25 leaves written throughout in a single accomplished hand, evidently prepared by or for Christopher Brooke (c.1570-1628), politician and poet, for the licensers of the press.

c.1625

Later owned by the Rev. Thomas Corser, FSA (1793-1876), book collector. Capes, Dunn & Pilcher, Manchester, 14 December 1876, lot 462.

The British Library: Egerton MSS (Egerton MS 2405 ff. 4r-5r)

To his worthie & much honored ffreind, John Raven Doctor of Phisike, &c George Wither wisheth all happines, & sendeth as a token of his hartie love and thankfullnes, these following Poems ('It cannot, Sir, in Reason well be thought')

First published in J. Milton French, George Wither's Verses to Dr. John Raven, PMLA, 63 (1948), 749-51.

*WiG 29

Autograph

Autograph of 46 dedicatory verses, in Wither's neat secretary hand, and signed by him Geo: Wither, on one side of a folio leaf.

Formerly inserted in a printed exemplum of Wither's Emblems (London, 1634-5) evidently presented by the author to Dr John Raven (d.1636), Royal Physician (see WiG 44). Facsimile of the MS in Freeman and Hensley edition, at the end.

c.1635

Edited from this MS in Milton French, loc. cit. Facsimile in George Wither, A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne (1635), ed. Rosemary Freeman and Charles S. Hensley (Columbia, S.C., 1975).

The Folger Shakespeare Library, Miscellaneous manuscripts (MS X.d.505)

Vox et Lacrimae Anglorum ('Renowned patriots, open your eyes')

First published in London, 1668. Probably not by Wither; possibly by Edward Raddon: see Stephen K. Roberts, A Poet, a Plotter and a Postmaster: a Disputed Polemic of 1668, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 53 (1980), 258-65. See also David Norbrook, Some Notes on the Canon of George Wither, N&Q, 241 (1996), 276-81.

WiG 30

Copy, including a title-page and prefatory poem (beginning These lines had kissed your hands October last), but without the postscript.

A quarto composite verse miscellany, principally of poems upon affairs of state, in two hands, i + 52 leaves.

Late 17th century

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Add. A. 48 ff. 2r-9v)

WiG 31

Copy, including the prefatory poem and the postscript (beginning If e'er you leave us in a lasting peace).

A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, chiefly Advice to Painter poems, 82 leaves, in quarter-brown morocco.

Late 17th century

Sold by P.J. & A.E. Dobell, 1938.

Bodleian Library, Don. MSS (MS Don. e. 23 ff. 30v-8r)

WiG 32

Copy, including a title-page, prefatory poem To the Parliament, and postscript, in a predominantly secretary hand, on 21 quarto pages (plus blanks), in later calf.

c.1660s

Bookplate of the Huth library.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 598)

WiG 33

Copy, including the prefatory poem To y^e Parliam^t and Postscript.

A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in several cursive hands, viii + 136 pages, in contemporary calf.

Late 17th century

Ownership inscription (p. [iv]) by Edward Dowden (1843-1913), of Trinity College, Dublin. Colbeck Radford & Co., undated sale catalogue, item 207. Item 117 in an unidentified sale catalogue.

Harvard, other MSS (MS Eng 624 pp. [61-78])

WiG 34

Copy, including the prefatory poem and postscript, on 18 octavo pages.

c.1667

Yale, Osborn, others (Osb MSS File 16328)

Vox Vulgi ('Words are but winde, and when that they are spoken')

First published as Vox Vulgi: A Poem in Censure of the Parliament of 1661, ed. the Rev. W. Dunn Macray, Anecdota Bodleiana, Gleanings from Bodleian MSS. II (Oxford & London, 1880).

*WiG 35

Autograph

Autograph draft of an unfinished 732-line poem, seized by order of the Privy Council before the final revisions could be made, with an elaborate title-page (f. 83r: Vox Vulgi. being, A Well-come home from the Counties, Citties or Bouroughs, to their prevarications Trvstes; with a premised Savinge of the honor of everie faithfull & discreet member of Parliament…), and a prefatory poem (f. 84r-v: To the right ho^rll: the Earle of Clarendon Lo: Chanceller of England, beginning Sir, he, that hath nought left, nor ought to do), the main text on ff. 85-91v, on nine quarto leaves, endorsed on a blank (f. 80) in Clarendon's hand Withere's libell 1661.

Edited from this MS in Macray. For a facsimile of f. 85v, see Facsimile XXII above.

A composite volume of letters and papers of the Earl of Clarendon, for July-December 1661, 478 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Clarendon MSS (MS Clarendon 75 ff. 83r-91v)

'When Pirrhous did wedd Hipodama'

Unpublished epithalamion and dramatic poem of 77 lines (including performance directions such as Enter Musick and Enter a Page with wine in a Cup of Massy Gold), apparently written by the young George Wither for the marriage of Sir Francis Willoughby and Lady Cassandra Ridgeway in 1610.

WiG 36

Copy, in a scribal hand, on three pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, untitled, subscribed Finis George Withers, corrected and endorsed in the hand of Cassandra Willoughby By Mr George Withes y^e Poett Feb: 1610.

Unbound miscellaneous papers of Cassandra Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos, five items in all.

End of 17th-early 18th century

Among the Stowe Papers of the Brydges and related families, brought together at Stowe House, Buckinghamshire.

The Huntington Library, shelfmarks N through Z (STB Box 2 (1) [unnumbered item])

Poems Uncertainly or Spuriously Ascribed to Wither

George Withers Close Prisoner writte with a cole on a wall, thes verses ('Though I am shutt from freinds, & penne, & Inke')

Six lines, unpublished.

The title recalls the sub-heading, Writ on three fair Trenchers, with a Piece of Char-Coal, of A Declaration of Major George Wither, Prisoner in the Tower of London, published in 1662.

WiG 37 Late 17th century

Copy, added to the volume in a later hand.

A small folio volume of legal opinions and arguments.

c.1638

Once owned by one John Boulton.

The Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House (MS Hardwick 59 [last four pages, unnumbered])

WiG 38

Copy, subscribed Finis G. Withers.

c.1639 [-c.1728]

Yale, Osborn MS b 150 through Osborn MS b 199 (Osborn MS b 197 p. 211)

'my mind's my Kdome & I will pmitt'

Eight lines, unpublished.

WiG 39

Copy, docketed Withers verses.

A quarto verse miscellany, almost entirely in a single cursive secretary hand, with a later title-page supplied in 1832, x + 116 leaves (plus blanks), in 19th-century black leather elaborately gilt.

Inscribed (f. 1r), possibly by the compiler, Richardus Jackson 1623 and Richard Jackson his booke, who is described in a later pencil note as perhaps the brachygrapher. On ff. 113v-16r, in a later hand, is a Catalogue of y^e Books lately belonging to y^e. Rev. M^r Jackson Rect^r of Tatham.

c.1628-30s

Also inscribed (f. 1r) John Pecke. Sold by Thomas Thorpe, bookseller, in 1831-2. Among collections of James Orchard Halliwell (from 1872 Halliwell-Phillipps) (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector. Bought by him in 1871 from Sotheran's, London.

A 247-page transcript of this volume made c.1830 is in the Folger Shakespeare Library, MS M.b.26.

Edinburgh University Library (MS H.-P. Coll. 401 f. 56r)

Withers song he made in prison ('I who ere whiles the worelds sweet aire did draw')

Ten quatrains, unpublished.

WiG 40

Copy, in a musical setting, anonymous.

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. 55r)

WiG 41

Copy.

A quarto verse miscellany, almost entirely in a single cursive secretary hand, with a later title-page supplied in 1832, x + 116 leaves (plus blanks), in 19th-century black leather elaborately gilt.

c.1628-30s

A 247-page transcript of this volume made c.1830 is in the Folger Shakespeare Library, MS M.b.26.

Edinburgh University Library (MS H.-P. Coll. 401 f. 61r)

Emblems

A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne ('How Fond are they, who spend their pretious Time')

First published, in four books, with preliminary material including a dedication to Charles I, in London, 1634-5. Facsimile edition of it edited by Rosemary Freeman and Charles S. Hensley (Columbia, SC, 1975).

WiG 42

A list of Wither's Emblems, on four pages.

A MS book of epigrams.

Late 17th century

Durham Cathedral Library (Hunter MS 107 [Unspecified page numbers])

WiG 43

A series of 200 mottos, headed Withers Emblemes & Mottoe's, on leaves vertically trimmed to a single narrow column.

A quarto miscellany, in more than one hand, 68 leaves, in contemporary calf.

c.1666

Inscribed A Present from D^r Storer to Henry Cole, Peterborough. Later donated by Laurence Heyworth.

Yale, Osborn, others (Osborn MS Hey 17 ff. [61r-8r])

Inscribed Presentation Exempla of Works by Wither

A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne (London, 1634-5)

WiG 44

A printed exemplum presented to John Raven (d.1636), Royal Physician, formerly including Wither's autograph verses to him (WiG 29).

c.1635

The Folger Shakespeare Library, Printed books (STC 25900^b)

Britains Remembrancer (London, 1628)

WiG 45

A printed exemplum of the London edition of 1628 bearing Wither's autograph thirteen-line presentation inscription to Edmund Prideaux, Attorney General, dated 16 June 1656, the duodecimo volume in later calf gilt.

1656

Booklabels of Herschel V. Jones and Louis H. Silver.

The inscription edited and discussed in Norman E. Carlson, A George Wither Presentation Copy, N&Q, 222 (December 1977), 535-6.

Newberry Library, Chicago (Case 3A 869)

Fides-Anglicana (London, 1660)

*WiG 46

Autograph

A printed exemplum alleged to be a presentation copy bearing the name in Wither's handwriting of Mr. James Calthrop on the title-page.

Offered in the early years of the twentieth century in Pickering's undated sale catalogues Nos 214 (item 2618) and 243 (item 11107) [sic].

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Wither volume (II)])

Haleluiah, or, Britains Second Remembrancer (London, 1641)

WiG 47

A printed exemplum of the edition of 1641 inscribed in an unknown hand as being The guift of my worthy freind M^r Georg Wither receavd from his own hand the 12^th of August Anno dni 1641.

1641

Later owned by Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. Sotheby's, 8 December 1834 (Heber sale, 4th Part, 15th day), lot 2939, to Thorp. Facsimile of the inscription in an unidentified auction catalogue, lot 1212.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Wither volume (I)])

Letters

Letter(s)

*WiG 48

Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Wither, to the Earl of Clarendon, about his unfinished poem Vox Vulgi seized by the Council, from The Messengers' House, 9 August 1661.

Edited in Macray, pp. 1-2.

A composite volume of letters and papers of the Earl of Clarendon, for July-December 1661, 478 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Clarendon MSS (MS Clarendon 75 ff. 81r-2v)

*WiG 49 1657

Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Wither, to John Thurloe, 28 December 1657.

Edited in Wither, Vox Vulgi, ed. W. Dunn Macray (Oxford & London, 1880), pp. ix-xi.

A folio composite volume of state letters and papers of John Thurloe (1616-68), government official, for, in various hands, 395 leaves.

Volume LVI of the Thurloe papers.

1657

Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection, other shelfmarks (MSS Rawl. A. 56 ff. 333r-4v)

*WiG 50

Autograph

Autograph letter signed by Wither, to the Mayor and Corporation of Guildford, 28 November 1645.

1645

Formerly in the Guildford Muniment Room.

Surrey History Centre, Woking (BR/OC/5, No. 21)

WiG 50.1

Official copy of Wither's letter to the Mayor and Corporation of Guildford on 28 November 1645.

c.1645

Formerly in the Guildford Muniment Room.

Surrey History Centre, Woking (43/537)

Documents

Document(s)

*WiG 51

Autograph

A deed of acquitance from Richard Trewe of Church Oakley, to William Trewe of Worthing, Hampshire, signed as a witness by George Wither, 8 June 1613.

1613

Given by a Fellow of the College at Christmas 1884, and probably to be identified with the Letter of Attorney, 1 page folio signed by Wither as witness…June 8, 1613 sold at Puttick & Simpson's, 28 February 1851, lot 215.

Magdalen College, Oxford (MS 919)

*WiG 52

Autograph

Wither's answer to articles against him by Ecclesiastical Commissioners for publishing The Schollers Purgatory without licence, in a professional hand and signed by him.

c.1624

National Archives, Kew (SP 14/157/59)

WiG 53

Severall answeres by Wither to Thomas Knollis's bill of complaint, entirely in a professional hand and unsigned, 15 December 1645.

1645

National Archives, Kew (C2/CHASI/K12/1)

*WiG 54

Autograph

Wither's autograph bill of complaint, to the Privy Council, against Humphrey Fledger, on a single large membrane of vellum, 6 May 1647.

1647

National Archives, Kew (C2/CHASI/W32/69)

*WiG 55 1649

Autograph

An order signed by Wither and other Commissioners for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, addressed to Carew Mildmay, Groom of His Majesty's Jewels and Plate, demanding the delivery up certain goods, books and papers in his custody, 25 September 1649.

State papers.

The documents signed by Wither cited in Allan Pritchard, George Wither and the Sale of the Estate of Charles I, MP, 77 (1979-80), 370-81.

Somerset Heritage Centre (DD/MI Bx 19 No. 67)

*WiG 56 1650

Autograph

State papers.

The documents signed by Wither cited in Allan Pritchard, George Wither and the Sale of the Estate of Charles I, MP, 77 (1979-80), 370-81.

Somerset Heritage Centre (DD/MI Bx 19 No. 73)

*WiG 57 1651

Autograph

State papers.

The documents signed by Wither cited in Allan Pritchard, George Wither and the Sale of the Estate of Charles I, MP, 77 (1979-80), 370-81.

Somerset Heritage Centre (DD/MI Bx 19 No. 105)

*WiG 58

Autograph

A report by Wither and Colonel John Humphreyes concerning René Augier, the text and signature of Wither (as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods) in the same hand, 10 December 1651.

1651

Later among the MSS of the Egerton-Warburton family, of Arley Hall, Cheshire. Sotheby's, 16 March 1937, lot 525, to Sawyer.

Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 291.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Wither report])

*WiG 59 1652

Autograph

State papers.

The documents signed by Wither cited in Allan Pritchard, George Wither and the Sale of the Estate of Charles I, MP, 77 (1979-80), 370-81.

Somerset Heritage Centre (DD/MI Bx 19 No. 114)

*WiG 60 1652

Autograph

State papers.

The documents signed by Wither cited in Allan Pritchard, George Wither and the Sale of the Estate of Charles I, MP, 77 (1979-80), 370-81.

Somerset Heritage Centre (DD/MI Bx 19 No. 115)

*WiG 61

Autograph

An autograph bill of complaint by Wither, to the Privy Council, concerning a suit against him by one Thomas Beauchamp a pore Tradsman in London, on a single membrane of vellum, 28 January 1657/8.

1558

National Archives, Kew (C5/31/144)

Inventories

*WiG 62

Autograph

A true Inventory of y^e Goods that are in the Tower Wardrobe, signed at the end by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

c.1649

Edited in Millar, pp. 1-19.

National Archives, Kew (LR2/124, ff. 75r-88v)

*WiG 63

Autograph

A true inventory of the plate now being in the Jewell=house of Whitehall in the Custody of M^r Carew Mildmay taken the 31^th of July. 1649, signed at the end by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

1649

Edited in Millar, pp. 20-1.

National Archives, Kew (LR2/124, f. 90r-v)

*WiG 64

Autograph

Goods belonging to y^e late King vallued as followeth, signed near the end by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

c.1649

Edited in Millar, pp. 322-6.

National Archives, Kew (LR2/124, ff. 193v-6r)

*WiG 65

Autograph

An Inventory of goods Taken at Oatelands. y^e 13¹ septemb^r 1649. vewed & appraised, 29 folio leaves chiefly on guards, signed at the end by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

1649

Later owned by Anthony Methuen (1925-94), sixth Baron Methuen, of Corsham Court, Wiltshire. Sotheby's, 11 July 1996, lot 379, to Fine Art Society, with a facsimile of the last page in the sale catalogue.

Edited in Millar, pp. 281-321.

Untraced, miscellaneous ([Wither inventory])

Petitions

*WiG 66

Autograph

Wither's autograph petition to the Privy Council, concerning a Book of Hymns, unsigned, 21 March 1633/4.

1634

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/263/80)

*WiG 67

Autograph

An agreement between Wither and Robert Crosse concerning Books of Hymns, signed by both men, 11 June 1635.

1635

National Archives, Kew (SP 16/290/71)

*WiG 68 1648

Autograph

A petition by Wither, to the House of Lords, for payment of money owed him, in a small professional secretary hand, written across the width of one side of a single broadsheet, with Wither's autograph signature Geo: Wither. [15 March 1647/8].

Formerly House of Lords Record Office, Main Papers, H.L., 15 March 1647/8. Recorded in HMC, 7th Report (1879), Appendix, p. 15.

A large guardbook of parliamentary papers from 11 to 27 March 1647/8, in various hands and paper sizes, foliated ff. 14 to 120.

Parliamentary Archives (HL/PO/JO/10/1/256 f. 47r)

*WiG 69 1649

Autograph

Petition by George Wither to Parliament, for money owed him, probably in his neat secretary hand and signed by him Geo. Wither, on the first page of a pair of conjugate folio leaves, 19 September 1649.

A large guardbook of parliamentary papers from 9 January 1648/9 to 25 February 1649/50, in various hands and paper sizes, 144 leaves foliated ff. 1-126, 1-8.

Recorded in HMC, 7th Report, pp. 70-1.

Parliamentary Archives (HL/PO/JO/10/1/280 f. 93r)

*WiG 70 c.1647

Autograph

A petition by Wither, to the House of Commons, requesting his release from imprisonment and applying for the office of Chief Searcher of Dover, a printed document with four words added in Wither's own hand.

A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, c.285 leaves.

The British Library: Lansdowne MSS (Lansdowne MS 846 f. 64r)

Warrant(s)

*WiG 71

Autograph

Forty-seven warrants, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

c.1649-56

National Archives, Kew (SP 28/282)

*WiG 72

Autograph

At least 255 warrants, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods (plus some others also possibly signed by him but the signatures now crumbled away).

1651

National Archives, Kew (SP 28/283)

*WiG 73

Autograph

A warrant authorizing payment to Nathaniel Hardraid[?], signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 10 October 1651.

1651

Reduced facsimile in The Curtis Museum, 3rd Annual report (1936), p. [10].

Curtis Museum, Alton, Hampshire ([no shelfmark])

*WiG 74

Autograph

A warrant authorizing payment to Edward Basse, the assignee of Francis Dodsworth, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 10 October 1651.

1651

Sotheby's, 12 May [4th day 26 May] 1988, lot 1479, to Buckland. Sotheby's, 15 November 1991, lot 1023, to Quaritch.

Estate of Robert S Pirie, New York ([Wither warrant])

*WiG 75

Autograph

A warrant authorizing payment to Sir Henry Hene, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 10 October 1651.

10 October 1651

Facsimiles in The History of the Pestilence (1625), ed. J. Milton French (Cambridge, Mass., 1932), after p. xviii, and in Seventeenth-Century British Nondramatic Poets, First Series, ed. M. Thomas Hester, DLB, 121 (Detroit, 1992), p. 282.

Harvard, other MSS (*EB.C3804.W651e)

*WiG 76

Autograph

A warrant authorizing payment to Edward Basse, the assignee of Peter Pulliard, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 10 October 1651.

1651

Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Gratz Collection, English Poets, Case 11, Box 4, [unnumbered item])

*WiG 77

Autograph

A warrant authorizing payment to Edward Basse, the assignee of William Cotton, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 10 October 1651.

1651

Yale, Osborn, others (Osb MSS File 6327)

*WiG 78 1652

Autograph

A warrant authorizing payment to Edward Basse for goods supplied, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 10 February 1651/2.

Donated in 1910 by Mr E. Leggatt.

A folio composite volume of miscellaneous letters and papers, in various hands, 248 leaves.

The British Library: Additional MSS, numbers 35000 through 39999 (Add. MS 38091 f. 3r)

*WiG 79

Autograph

275 warrants, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

1651-2

National Archives, Kew (SP 28/284)

*WiG 80

Autograph

317 warrants, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods.

1653-8

National Archives, Kew (SP 28/285)

*WiG 81 1653

Autograph

A warrant authorizing the delivery of specified goods to William Gregory, signed by Wither as member of the Committee of Trustees for the Sale of the Late King's Goods, 11 January 1652[/3].

A composite volume of letters and papers of the Earl of Clarendon, for January 1652/3-June 1653, 512 leaves.

Bodleian Library, Clarendon MSS (MS Clarendon 45 f. 22r)

Miscellaneous

Faire-Virtue, the Mistresse of Phil'Arete

Generally bound with Juvenilia (London, 1622). Spenser Society No. 11 (1871).

WiG 82

A complete transcript of the London edition of 1633, dated 1708.

1708

Bodleian Library, other MSS (MS Add. B. 7)

Miscellaneous Extracts from Works by Wither

Extracts

WiG 83

Adapted verse extracts from Wither's miscelany, Faire-Virtue (London, 1622).

Facsimile of p. 152 in Norbrook, p. 223 (Plate 2).

A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in a single italic hand, entitled Gospell Obseruations & Religiu^s manifestations, 370 pages, in contemporary calf.

Entirely in the hand of Robert Overton (1608/9-1678/9), parliamentarian army officer, whose signature appears on a flyleaf. Prepared as a memorial and tribute to his wife, Ann Gardiner (d.1665), and written when in prison, either on Jersey or in the Tower of London.

c.1671/2

Inscribed inside the front cover Sam^l Atkins Wykeham and inside the rear cover 17 Feby 1879. Purchased this Book of Prescot Bookseller. Upper Arcade. Bristol...Edw^d G. Doggett.

This volume discussed extensively, with facsimile examples (of pp. 85-6, 151-2, 162, 166, 190-2), in David Norbrook, This blushinge tribute of a borrowed muse: Robert Overton and his Overturning of the Poetic Canon, EMS, 4 (1993), 220-66.

Princeton (CO199 No. 812 pp. 152-3, 155)