AMDigital Reference:MS V.b.198

Southwell wrote some of the poetry in this volume while she lived in Ireland, some in Clerkenwell (London), and some in Acton (Middlesex). The manuscript first contained military accounts written by John Sibthrope, presumably a relative of Southwell's second husband Henry Sibthorpe. The portions of material compiled by and for Southwell seem to date from 1626 (the date on the first folio) to 1636 (when Southwell died). Folger Shakespeare Library MS V.b.198, the miscellany of Lady Anne Southwell, is a folio volume which contains a variety of poetry, prose, and memoranda or notes of a domestic nature. Southwell's original verse on the ten commandments (the Decalogue) comprises over a third of the volume's contents; besides this example of religious poetry, other poetry, a lot of it autograph poetry in a scribal hand, fill its pages: religious lyrics, elegies, epitaphs, dialogues, verse epistles, songs and sonnets (there is really only one true sonnet, msItem 21, but a number of poems are called sonnets). Transcribed poetry by other poets also appears in the miscellany: Sir Walter Ralegh (msItem 7), Henry King (msItems 32 and 40), Sir Arthur Gorges (msItem 21), and songs from songbooks by Alfonso Ferrabosco and Robert Jones (msItems 2, 3, and 5). The prose contents of the volume are two letters (to figures in Ireland, the Lord Deputy and the Countess of Londonderry, msItems 8 and 9), sermon notes from probably three sermons (at least two of which were preached by Roger Cox, the curate at Acton, msItems 60, 64, and 66), philosophical terms (the predicables and predicaments of Aristotle, msItem 12), notes from Augustine's City of God, msItem 61, a mini-bestiary (extracts from Edward Topsell, msItem 62), and apothegms (msItem 63). The memoranda are military accounts compiled by John Sibthorpe in 1587 and 1588, msItems 10, 13 and 58, inventories of Lady Anne's goods and her books, msItems 55, 57 and 59, and receipts for property rental and domestic wages, msItem 65. A second manuscript volume which contains Southwell's Decalogue poetry is British Library MS Lansdowne 740. On fols 142r-167v, Southwell's verses on the third and fourth commandments appear, prefaced by a dedicatory epistle to the king, and followed by a poem commending Southwell on her poetic skill and virtuous life. That portion of the Lansdowne manuscript was apparently intended to be a presentation copy for the monarch; it is written in the same scribal hand throughout, and contains no annotations or additions in Southwell's hand. By contrast, Folger MS V.b.198 does not include any dedications, it has been written by a variety of hands, and its functions are multiple. The main hand in the manuscript is not Southwell's. Most of the contents have been written by several contemporaneous hands and one earlier hand. Sometimes the hand is scribal with autograph additions (fols 2r, 5v, 13r, 22v, 29v, 31v-35r, 39r, 42v-43v, 47v-55r), but some stanzas of Decalogue poetry are in Southwell's nearly illegible autograph (fols 40r, 44v-46r, 57r-58v). Southwell's signature appears at the bottom on fol 2r (after Ralegh's "The Lie"). The earlier hand of John Sibthorpe, possibly the father of Henry Sibthorpe, Southwell's second husband, dated 1587 and 1588 , appears on fols 5r, 6r, 6v, 62r-66r. The manuscript probably originated in the Sibthorpe family and was given to Southwell when she married Sibthorpe in 1626. One of the main hands is probably that of Samuel Rowson, an employee of the Sibthorpe household who has witnessed several memoranda near the end of the miscellany (fols 71r, 71v, 72r); his signature matches a significant portion (approximately 20%) of the manuscript: ff. 7r, 11r, 22r-26v, 28r-30v, 60r, 66v-70v, and 72r. The first date associated with him is September 1632, perhaps the period when he entered the Sibthorpes' service. Henry Sibthorpe's hand is present in part of the list of books (fols 65v-66r); his may also be the main hand on fols 5r, 10r, 16r, 18r-21v, 59r, 73r, 74r. At least two other hands appear in the volume: a rounded, distinctive hand (which is the hand in British Library Lansdowne MS 740) and which has transcribed a copy of Southwell's defence of poetry (fols 3r-v) and possibly fols 1r, 8r-9v, and 10v; and a final hand which has written most of the Decalogue poetry. Roger Cox is a candidate for either of these two hands; he was a major influence on Southwell during the last years of her life, and may have been involved in the recording of the Decalogue poetry. The order in which the items in the manuscript were written is a complicated issue, made more confusing by the number of leaves which were tipped into the main manuscript (Jean Klene has a helpful chart in her edition of watermarks and hands, Appendix I). It is apparent from the dates that the military receipts by John Sibthorpe were written first, and then a succession of scribes copied in the shorter poetry, as well as the prose materials which are largely grouped together near the end of the volume (the inventory, booklist, sermons, and rent receipts). Much of the Decalogue poetry (fols 12r-13v, 28r-29v, 31r-58v) was written on leaves that were later tipped into the manuscript. Jonathan Gibson has discovered that fol. 26 was bound into the volume backwards, so that fol. 26v is actually the first page of the poem and fol. 26r is the second page (see msItem 42). The miscellany of Lady Anne Southwell is a document which combines several functions: in some places it is a scribal copy of original verse, in others a rough notebook of a writer's own poetry, and in others a receptable for literary and domestic snippets of information. The volume was bound after Southwell's death, and may have been conceived by Henry Sibthorpe, and possibly also Roger Coxe, as a memorial to Southwell's poetic skills. The first folio announces the volume as "The workes of the Lady Ann Sothwell: Decemb: 2 1626." See Klene's edition (bibliography) for a diplomatic edition of the manuscript.

Reproduction of: Miscellany containing poetry, prose, and notes, 1587-1636.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Religious literature > Authorship.