Poems, songs and translations etc., by T. F.

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  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 206 Brotherton Collection MS Lt 64
  • Dates of Creation
      1770-1779
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
      English
  • Physical Description
      1 vol. (84 ff.) Pages bearing text of poems are numbered, some being written on rectos only; blank leaves and versos are unnumbered. Bound in contemporary calf, marbled boards.

Scope and Content

A collection of English verse, predominantly in a single hand and probably autograph, with numerous pages cut out; bound with a prose epitaph for Theodosius Forrest. Begins f.1r: "Poems. Songs and translations &c. by T.F.", with note "Mrs Ewart 2 Bennett Street" in another hand; f.2r-v: index to pages numbered 36-97, the rest of the index being missing; ff.4r-54r: text in ink in Forrest's hand of 51 poems, some being dated from 1743 to 1772, one incomplete. F.20v bears note only: "J. Bun 1775" and f.48r has traces only of press cutting, removed. Poem in pencil in Forrest's hand on f.54v; ff.56v-59v: biographical notes on Forrest in ink in another hand, possibly based on Gentleman's Magazine, 1784, p.877.

Administrative / Biographical History

Theodosius Forrest, a lawyer, was an amateur artist, songwriter and poet, and a friend of Hogarth and Garrick. He wrote the well-known "The Roast Beef of Old England". There is a short account of his life in the Dictionary of National Biography, but see especially David Eley, "Poems, Songs and Translations by Theodosius Forrest", University of Leeds M.A. dissertation, 1985.

Access Information

Access is unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Purchased at Sotheby's sale, 8 December 1983, lot 46

Note

In English

Other Finding Aids

Indexed in the BCMSV database http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/bcmsv/intro.html

Bibliography

The manuscript is edited in David Eley, "Poems, Songs and Translations by Theodosius Forrest", University of Leeds M.A. dissertation, 1985