John Dovaston: 'Poems by W. Shenstone Esqr and Others'

A collection of poems and prose by William Shenstone, Henry Jones and others, written in the hand of John Dovaston and with illustrations by him. Most of the texts are apparently from printed sources, from which there are many deviations. Contents: Front pastedown: Nursery Library bookplate of John Freeman Milward Dovaston, printed in brown ink [i-ii] blank [iii r] ownership inscription, date (1765), note of price paid, 'M:S Poems by William Shenstone Esqr and Others', epigraph "So we thro' life with calm content should roam..." [from Henry Jones, 'On the vain pursuits and imperfect enjoyments of human life', with the omission of one couplet] [iii v and iv r] blank [iv v] pencil sketch by Dovaston of a bust of William Shenstone, after the frontispiece to 'The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone, Esq; most of which were never before printed. In two volumes, with decorations...' (London: printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1764), volume 1 [v] blank [vi r] 'POEMS by W. Shenstone Esqr and others' with epigraph "Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta...", from Virgil, Eclogue V, 45 [vi v-vii] blank [viii r] 'Miscellanious Pieces of POETRY' with pencil sketch by Dovaston of a kingfisher, after the title pages of 'The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone', 1764 [viii v] blank pp.1-5, 'Advice to a Lady. Written by Lord Lyttleton 1731' ("The Counsels of a Friend, Belinda, hear...") p. 5, 'Verses makeing part of an Epitaph on Lucy the Lady of George Lord Lyttleton - by the same' pp. 5-7 [two consecutive pages are numbered 5], 'The Rape of the Trap. by Wm. Shenstone Esqr. 1737' pp. 7-8, 'Stanzas to the Memory of an Agreeable Young lady, buried in Marriage to a person Undeserving her (By the same)' pp. 8-11, 'An Elegy. In Memory of a private family in Worcestershire (By the same)' p. 12, 'The Halcyon by the Same' pp. 13-16, 'An Elegy by the Same' ['Elegy XXIII'], with a note probably by Dovaston on p. 13 pp. 16-19, 'An Elegy by the same wrote in the year 1746' ['Elegy XXI'] p. 19, 'Song by the same. The Scholar's Relapse' p. 20, 'A Common Case. The Progress of Adonis - by the same' pp. 20-21, 'A Ballad - by the same' ("From Lincoln to London rode forth our young squire...") pp. 21-29, 'Fragments from different authors', possibly assembled from an edition of Wellins Calcott, 'Thoughts Moral and Divine; Collected and Intended for the Better Instruction and Conduct of Life' p. 21, "He that committs a sin, shall quickly find..." [from Juvenal, 13th Satire, translated by Thomas Creech], "Hence almost ev'ry Crime, nor do we find..." [from Juvenal, 14th Satire, translated by John Dryden], p.22, "Heav'n from all Creatures hides the book of fate..." [from Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Man'], "Long night will over all, its darkness spread" [unidentified], "Cold Death my heart Invades, my life doth fly..." [Musculus, meditation to his soul in his last moments, translator unidentified], pp. 22-23, "If fate so ordain..." [attributed by Dovaston to Pope], p. 23, "Thro' all its ages, the whole world pretends..." [from Manilius, book 2, translator unidentified], "A wit's a feather and a chief's a rod" [from Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Man'], "Hope springs Eternal in the Human breast" [from Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Man'], "Great Love, thy Empire o'er the World extends..." [ from Lucan, book 1, translated by John Dryden], p. 24, "But, that false fruit..." [from John Milton, 'Paradise Lost'], "What signifies to man, that he from Heaven..." [from Claudian, translator unidentified], "Whilst all the mute creation downward bend..." [from Ovid, 'Metamorphoses', book 1, translated by John Dryden], "Men, the inhabitants of earth, are endowed..." [from Aristotle, translator unidentified], "Climb at court for me that will..." [from Seneca, 'Thyestes', translated by Andrew Marvell], p. 25, "Place me, ye powers! in some obscure retreat..." [a paraphrase on the foregoing passage from Seneca by Lord Landsdown], pp. 25-26, "Fortune made up of toys and impudence..." [a paraphrase on four lines from Horace, book 3, ode 29, by the Duke of Buckingham], p. 26, "Ask for what end the Heav'nly bodies shine..." [from Alexander Pope, 'Essay on Man'], "Among the worst of cowards let him be nam'd" [from Daniel Defoe, attributed, 'Reformation of Manners, a Satyr'], "I shunn'd with caution the officious tale..." [from Ausonius, 'Epicedion in Patrem', a translation of the lines "Non occursator, non garrulus, obvia cernens...", translator unidentified], "If I am believ'd, shall I turn pale for this?..." [from Horace, book 1, epistle 16, translator unidentified], "Let men of others to speak ill forbear" [from Terence, 'Andria'], "Wisdom's an eveness of soul..." [variously attributed to John Oldham and John Dryden], p. 27, "These are thy glorious Works, parent of Good..." [from John Milton, 'Paradise Lost'], pp. 27-28, "The Complaint of Adam turn'd out of Paradise" [by John Norris], pp. 28-29, "Consider Man in ev'ry sphere..." [from John Gay, Fable XV, 'The Cook-Maid, the Turnspit and the Ox'], p. 29, "Hail wedded love! Mysterious Law! true source..." [from John Milton, 'Paradise Lost'], "In the Choice of a wife..." [from Wellins Calcott, Thoughts Moral and Divine; Collected and Intended for the Better Instruction and Conduct of Life, 1756 edition] p. 30, 'Miss Wheatly to Mr. L - - - - upon his desiring her to paint his Character Decer 13th 1760' pp. 30-33, 'A letter' [from Frances Seymour, Countess of Hertford to Henrietta Knight, Lady Luxborough] with a note by Dovaston added at some point subsequent to the publication of 'Letters Written by the Late Right Honourable Lady Luxborough, to William Shenstone, Esq.' (London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1775) pp. 33-36, 'Verses Written towards the Close of the year 1748, to Wm Lyttleton Esqr by Mr Shenstone' pp. 36-37, John Cunningham, 'Corydon, a pastoral - To the Memory of William Shenstone Esqr.' [unpaginated], folding map of the Leasowes, after that in 'The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone', 1764, volume 2, facing p. 333 pp. 38-56, [Robert Dodsley], 'A Description of the Leasow's the Seat of the late Mr. Shenstone, near HalesOwen in Shropshire', with substantial omissions and divergences from the text published in 'The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone', 1764, volume 2, and with [unpaginated, between pp. 39 and 40], a sheet of drawings of the Leasowes, not earlier than 1779 p. 56, 'Verses left on a Seat, the hand Unknown' printed in 'The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone', 1764, volume 2, p. 390 pp. 56-68, 'Loose Thoughts by Mr Shenstone', consisting of passages in 'The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone', 1764, volume 2, from 'Unconnected thoughts on gardening' and other parts of the 'Essays on men, manners and things' pp. 68-9, 'On Mr Nash publishing the History of his life by Subscription - by Mr Shenstone', as printed in 'The Jests of Beau Nash, Late Master of the Ceremonies at Bath. Consisting of a Variety of Humorous Sallies of Wit, Smart Repartees, and Bons Mots...' (London: W. Bristow, 1763) but with the addition of the couplet "Ye stoic's here indulge your melancholly/ Superior smile and pity humane folly" pp. 70-71, [Henry Jones], 'A Farewell to Apollo and the Muses' pp. 71-73, [Henry Jones], 'On Maurice's Pease Spoild by a Storm' pp. 73-74, [Henry Jones], 'On the Spring' pp. 74-75, [Henry Jones], 'Flora and her Sparrow' [published as 'Lesbia and her Sparrow: or Cupid Turn'd Fowler' in Henry Jones, 'Poems on Several Occasions' (London: printed for R. Dodsley, and W. Owen, 1749), pp. 105-107] pp. 76-77, [Henry Jones], 'Song' pp. 77-79, [Henry Jones], 'On the Death of a Favourite Nightingale' pp. 79-84, [Henry Jones], 'Solitude a Poem' [published as 'Tempe, a Poem, inscrib'd to Solitude' in Henry Jones, 'Poems on Several Occasions' (London: printed for R. Dodsley, and W. Owen, 1749), pp. 125-134], with the omission of 26 lines of the printed version pp. 84-87, [Henry Jones], 'Health a Poem', [published as 'Bath, a Poem; inscrib'd to Dr Nugent, Physician at Bath' in Henry Jones, 'Poems on Several Occasions' (London: printed for R. Dodsley, and W. Owen, 1749), pp. 144-151], with the omission of six stanzas of the printed version p. 88, 'Rural Contemplation' [published as 'To a Friend' in Henry Jones, 'Poems on Several Occasions' (London: printed for R. Dodsley, and W. Owen, 1749), pp. 202-206], with the omission of thirteen stanzas of the printed version pp. 89-90, 'The Gentleman's Skull' and 'The Lady's Skull'. The source of Dovaston's text is unidentified. The poems occur in John Hackett, 'Select and Remarkable Epitaphs on Illustrious and Other Persons, in Several Parts of Europe. With translations...' London, 1757, Vol. 2, pp. 93-95; 'Kill-Care, A Select Collection of Epitaphs: Carefully Collected from the Tombstones of the Most Eminent Personages in England, Scotland and Ireland...' [London], 1759, pp. 88-90; 'The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politicks, and Literature, of the Year 1761', London, 1762, pp. 252-3 (but with a different ending to the Gentleman's poem, therefore unlikely to have been Dovaston's source); the 1779 4th ed. reprint of 'The Annual Register'; Wellins Calcott, 'Thoughts Moral and Divine; upon Various Subjects. Dedicated by permission to the Right Hon. the Earl of Powis, by Wellins Calcott, Gent.', the fourth edition with improvements, Manchester, 1761; 'A Collection of Thoughts, Moral and Divine, upon Various Subjects, in Prose and Verse. Dedicated, ... to the Right Honourable Earl of Powis', the fifth edition, 1764, and the sixth edition, with improvements, London, 1766, pp. 179-180, the order of the poems being reversed in all; 'The General Magazine of Arts and Sciences, Philosophical, Philological, Mathematical, and Mechanical ... By Benjamin Martin', volume III, London, 1764, the order of the poems being reversed; Andrew Hervey Mills, 'Bagatelles...', London, 1767, pp. 20-23; 'A Companion for a Leisure Hour: being a Collection of Fugitive Pieces, in Prose and Verse. By several gentlemen', London, 1769 (possibly the Gentleman's poem only); 'A Collection of the Best Modern Poems', [London?], 1771, pp. 118-119; 'The Ambulator; or, the Stranger's Companion in a Tour round London; within the circuit of twenty-five miles...', London, 1774, pp. 43-44; 'A New Select Collection of Epitaphs...', London, 1775, vol. 1, pp. 83-85; Jane Elizabeth Moore, 'Genuine Memoirs of Jane Elizabeth Moore. Late of Bermondsey, in the County of Surry...', London, [1786?], pp. 222-224; Talbot Keene, 'Miscellaneous Pieces: Original and Collected; by a Clergyman of Northamptonshire, late of Trinity College, Cambridge', London, 1787 (possibly the Lady's poem only); James Fordyce, 'A Collection of Hymns and Sacred Poems, in two parts', Edinburgh, 1788; 'Frobisher's New Select Collection of Epitaphs; Humorous, Whimsical, Moral, & Satyrical', London, [1790?], pp. 83 et sqq.; John Fallowfield, 'The Moral Instructor; Consisting of Miscellaneous Essays, Poems, Anecdotes, Maxims, &c. Calculated to Inform the Ignorant, Reform the Reprobate...', Penrith, 1795 (possibly the Gentleman's poem only); 'The Instructor: or An Introduction to Reading & Spelling the English Language. By the author of the Elementary Principles', Glasgow, 1798, pp 130-131; and elsewhere. None of these printings have the footnotes provided by Dovaston in the manuscript. Those that have the poems with the titles 'The Gentleman's Skull' and 'The Lady's Skull' include: Wellins Calcott, 'Thoughts Moral and Divine; Upon Various Subjects. Dedicated by permission to the Right Hon. the Earl of Powis, by Wellins Calcott, Gent.', the fourth edition with improvements, Manchester, 1761; 'A Collection of Thoughts, Moral and Divine, upon Various Subjects, in Prose and Verse. Dedicated ... to the Right Honourable Earl of Powis', the fifth edition, with improvements, Exeter, 1764, p. 179, and the sixth edition, with improvements, London, 1766, pp. 179-180, the order of the poems being reversed in all; 'The General Magazine of Arts and Sciences, Philosophical, Philological, Mathematical, and Mechanical ... By Benjamin Martin', volume III, London, 1764; 'The Beauties of Thought, on Various Subjects, in Prose and Verse. Selected from the Best Authors. Consisting of a Variety of Matter...', Bridlington, 1793, pp. 136 et sqq., where the positioning of the epitaphs in alcoves is mentioned; 'Variety. A Collection of Miscellanies, in Verse and Prose. With Original Poetry and Fugitive Pieces. In two volumes', Dublin, 1795, pp. 94 et sqq., which appears to provide information on the Tyers connection (which Dovaston apparently had no knowledge of); 'The Instructor: or An Introduction to Reading & Spelling the English Language. By the author of the Elementary Principles', Glasgow, 1798. p. 91, 'Contemplation' pp. 91-93, 'The Batchelor' pp. 93-, [items termed 'Fragments' in the Index] p. 93: Shakespeare, from King Henry VIII, Act I, scene 1, p. 93, from Samuel Garth, 'The Dispensary', canto VI pp. 94-97, [Frances] Greville 'Ode to Indifference' pp. 97-98, 'The Married Man' pp. 98-99, 'Winifreda from the Welsh' pp. 100-101, 'On love', ("Love is ever on the wing...") pp. 101-110, 'The hunting of Chevy Chase' pp. 110-113, 'Ode - the Fatall Sisters from the Norse tongue in the Orcades of Thormodus, Torfæn and Hafricæ 1679 folio' pp. 113-114, 'An Epitaph in a Church at Coventry Augt 12th 1767, coppied' pp. 115-119, 'Copy of a Letter Wrote by Wm Shenstone Esqr. (to Mr. Graves) on the Death of his Brother' pp. 119-123, 'Copy of a Letter Written by Mr Wynne of Cwrt near Brynkynalt to his apothecary' pp. 123-124, John Horn, 'To James Townsend Esq.' [dedicatory letter in John Horne Tooke, 'A Sermon. By the Rev. John Horne, Minister of New-Brentford', London, 1769] pp. 125-142, 'A Sermon' [John Horne Tooke, 'A Sermon. By the Rev. John Horne, Minister of New-Brentford' London, 1769] pp. 142-157, C[harles] Churchill, 'Night a Poem' pp. 157-158 'Thoughts on Death' p. 158, [John Free] 'Wish on the Marriage State' p. 159, 'To a Pipe of Tobacco' p. 160, 'On a Romish Priest's Being Refus'd Admission in Hell' p. 161, 'The Wishes of a Friend', poetry. This was published under the title 'To Laura. 1742' in Francis Fawkes, 'Original Poems and Translations. By Francis Fawkes, M.A.', London, 1761 (unpaginated). The excised name in line 2 of the manuscript is, in Fawkes's printed poem, given as 'Laura', and this is what may be scratched out beneath Dovaston's crosses. pp. 162-3, 'My wishes', poetry. The earliest identified printing of this piece is as 'Song XCVI' in 'The Chearful Linnet. A Choice Collection of Songs, taken from the Most Approv'd Operas, and Polite Miscellanies. The Whole interspersed with Several Genteel Originals, Never Before Printed', London, 1771, pp. 97-98; it was published in several other miscellanies between then and 1785, as well as having the opening couplet quoted in the 'London Magazine' of 1780. p.163, "I wish you all this mortal life can give", poetry 'An Index', prose, unpaginated 'Philosophy a Poem', poetry, unpaginated. This is by Henry Jones, and was published anonymously in Dublin in 1746 and again in Jones's 'Poems on Several Occasions', London, 1749.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

After Dovaston's death the volume passed into the custody of his son, John Freeman Milward Dovaston, whose bookplate it bears. It was purchased by Cambridge University Library from Mrs A. Glaiyser and Mrs S. Riley, 5 August 1981.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

See also Cambridge University Library MS Add. 8206, 'Court Hand Restored, or, The Student's Assistant in Reading Old Deeds Charters etc....': palaeographical manual in Dovaston's hand, being an enlargement of Andrew Wright, 'Courthand Restored', 1776. Other manuscript materials by or relating to Dovaston include: United Kingdom. Durham: Durham University Library, SC 00607: 'Catalogus plantarum Angliae, et insularum adjacentium: tum indigenas, tum in agris passim cultas complectens ; In quo praeter synonyma necessaria, facultates quoque summatim traduntur, una cum observationibus & experimentis novis medicis & physicis / Opera Joannis Raii', printed book with notes on John Ray apparently from information supplied by R. H. Waring and dated 1783. London: The British Library, Egerton MS 2882: Manuscript bought by Dovaston in 1781, with his additions; Egerton MS 2883 bears a docket by Dovaston; Add. MS 63507: music manuscript. London: National Maritime Museum, LOG/M/70 (formerly JOD/88): Passenger logbook of the snow 'Woortmans' by John Dovaston, Port Royal, Jamaica to England, Feb-Jun 1774. Oxford: Bodleian Library, MS. Eng.poet.e.115: Verse and prose pieces by William Dovaston (1743-65), with some collected by him, copied by his brother John, c.1765, with (pp. v-x) an account of William by John, and a list of contents. Shrewsbury: Shropshire Archives, MI 2016/1: 'An historical account of the town and borough of Oswestry' (and general commonplace book relating to British antiquities); 1662: Dovaston family papers, including John Dovaston's letters to his son and others; 2868/271-2: extract from Gough's account of the Bakers and Brownes of Sweeney, copied out by John Dovaston, with covering letter 28 January 1806. United States of America. Providence, Rhode Island: John Carter Brown Library, Codex Eng. 59: Notebook in illustration of legal precedents, especially on estate management, probate and agricultural matters, in England, Wales and Jamaica; 1772-1786; Codex Eng. 60: Agricultura Americana, or Improvements in West-India Husbandry ... the present system ... used in England Is Applyed To the Cultivation ... of Sugarcanes to advantage. ... By John Dovaston of the Nursery Twyford wrote in the year 1774. ... Twyford [England] 1774 (preface dated 6 May 1790). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Philosophical Society, astronomical notebook, 1764-1799. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University, Firestone Library, Manuscripts Department: Swan marks: manuscript signed by John Dovaston, 1801, being a copy of a roll temp. Henry IV, illustrating approximately 300 swan marks, with an essay on the swan. New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University, Beinecke Library, Osborn Shelves c 481, Acc. 75.6.45: 'Select, and Miscellaneous Poems, Scraps, Mottos &c', commonplace book, 1773 and later; Osborn Shelves c 192: Ars Magic: [ca. 1780] treatise on angels, possibly translated from the Book of Raziel; the volume also includes a play, 'The Chevalier's Progress, or Love's a Folly: a Tragi-Comedy by Samuel Hopley'; OSB MSS 63, various documents in Dovaston's hand, also (item 56), 'The Leasowes as in the time of Shenstone A.D 17__, drawn by Arthur Dixon from a sketch by Mr. Dovaston', 1838. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Law School Library, HLS MS 4241: 'The Origin and Practice of the County Court'.