细节
LEWIS, Matthew Gregory, known as 'Monk Lewis' (1775 - 1818). Autograph commonplace book, including anecdotes, witticisms, epitaphs, quotations in verse and prose, reflecting his eclectic interests and the immense range of his acquaintance and knowledge of literature and history, n.d. [circa 1800], inscribed on first page 'Vol 2. Scrap-book', approximately 300 pages, 190 x 155mm, 19th century calf. Provenance. Robert, Marquess of Crewe, (bookplate); and [DIBDIN, Thomas John (1771 - 1841)] Manuscript, in an unidentified early 19th century hand, of twelve songs, 'Recollections of Boyhood', 'The Deserted Village', 'Why should I envy the Proud or the Great' and similar titles, 1832, approximately 24 pages, 200 x 150 mm, annotated in a different hand on title page 'all unpublished 1851', Provenance. Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Lord Houghton (gilt stamps); Robert Marquess of Crewe (bookplates).
Monk Lewis quotes from Ovid, Johnson, Boswell, Hume, frequently from Voltaire, also Sully, Corneille, Boileau, Rousseau ('Le seul bonheur que le plupart des hommes connaissent est d'étre estimés heureux'). The manuscript includes popular or curious anecdotes from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and travellers tales; passages from [Erasmus] Darwin on botanical topics and on 'Dr. Priestley's discovery of the production of pure air from manganese and minium' to be applied to the improvement of the diving-bell; snippets of historical information, an account of a law suit about the cost of hiring wine glasses and 'comforters' for Mrs. Vaughan's gala; tales of ghostly apparitions, one before the assassination of the King of Sweden by Ankerström; a number of passages record incidents concerning Sheridan. Other passages reflect his familiarity with many members of the nobility, including also a poem addressed to Monk Lewis by 'Lady L.S.', dated Bothwell Castle, 2 September 1800. (2)
Monk Lewis quotes from Ovid, Johnson, Boswell, Hume, frequently from Voltaire, also Sully, Corneille, Boileau, Rousseau ('Le seul bonheur que le plupart des hommes connaissent est d'étre estimés heureux'). The manuscript includes popular or curious anecdotes from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and travellers tales; passages from [Erasmus] Darwin on botanical topics and on 'Dr. Priestley's discovery of the production of pure air from manganese and minium' to be applied to the improvement of the diving-bell; snippets of historical information, an account of a law suit about the cost of hiring wine glasses and 'comforters' for Mrs. Vaughan's gala; tales of ghostly apparitions, one before the assassination of the King of Sweden by Ankerström; a number of passages record incidents concerning Sheridan. Other passages reflect his familiarity with many members of the nobility, including also a poem addressed to Monk Lewis by 'Lady L.S.', dated Bothwell Castle, 2 September 1800. (2)