Lady Elizabeth Delaval (1648?–1717)

Verse and Prose

The Meditations of Lady Elizabeth Delaval

First published as The Meditations of Lady Elizabeth Delaval: written between 1662 and 1671, ed. Douglas G. Greene, Surtees Society vol. 90 (Durham, 1978).

*DeE 1

A formal, unfinished autograph compilation by Lady Elizabeth Delaval, comprising largely prose memoirs (covering retrospectively the years 1656-71), meditations, prayers, comments on her reading matter, some verse, and copies of family letters to her.

In: A large quarto volume of meditations, in a single italic hand, 332 pages (plus over 100 blank pages), in contemporary calf gilt. c.1686-1703?

folio?

Edited from this MS in Greene. Discussed, with a facsimile of p. 353, in Margaret J.M. Ezell, ‘Elizabeth Delaval's Spiritual Heroine: Thoughts on Redefining Manuscript Texts by early Women Writers’, EMS, 3 (1992), 216-37.

Bodleian, MS Rawl. D. 78, The MS as a whole.

Letters

Letter(s)

*DeE 2

Autograph letter signed (‘E Levingstone’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on two conjugate quarto leaves, endorsed by the recipient, from Nocton, Lincolnshire, 25 April 1665. 1665.

In: A folio composite volume of letters sent to Charles Stuart (1639-72), third Duke of Richmond and sixth Duke of Lennox, in various hands and paper sizes, 356 leaves, in modern half-morocco.

British Library, Add. MS 21947, ff. 14r-15r.

*DeE 3

Autograph letter signed (‘E Levingstone’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on two conjugate quarto leaves, endorsed by the recipient, from Nocton, Lincolnshire, 11 May 1666. 1666.

In: the MS described under DeE 2.

British Library, Add. MS 21947, ff. 31r-2r.

*DeE 4

Autograph letter signed (‘E De-La-val’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on all four pages of two conjugate quarto leaves, 28 January 1670[/1]. 1671.

In: A folio composite volume of letters sent to Charles Stuart (1639-72), third Duke of Richmond and sixth Duke of Lennox, in various hands and paper sizes, 478 leaves.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, ff. 5r-6v.

*DeE 5

Autograph letter signed (‘E Delaval’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on both sides of a single folio leaf, 10 February 1670/1. 1671.

In: the MS described under DeE 4.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, f. 22r-v.

*DeE 6

Autograph letter signed (‘E Delaual’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on three pages of two conjugate quarto leaves, from Seaton Delaval, 25 April 1671. 1671.

In: the MS described under DeE 4.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, ff. 60r-1r.

*DeE 7

Autograph letter signed (‘E Delaval’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, written in different directions on a folded broadsheet, 7 June 1671. 1671.

In: the MS described under DeE 4.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, ff. 71r, 70v, 70r.

*DeE 8

Autograph letter signed (‘E De-La-Val’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, written in different directions on a folded broadsheet, from Scarborough, 13 July 1671. 1671.

In: the MS described under DeE 4.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, ff. 75r, 74v, 74r.

*DeE 9

Autograph letter signed (‘E Delaval’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on all four pages of two conjugate folio leaves, 1 October 1671. 1671.

In: the MS described under DeE 4.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, ff. 101r-2v.

*DeE 10

Autograph letter signed (‘E Delaval’), to the Duke of Richmond and Lennox, on three pages of two conjugate quarto leaves, 23 November 1671, endorsed as received on 16 December. 1671.

In: the MS described under DeE 4.

British Library, Add. MS 21948, ff. 136r-7r.