Bodleian Library, Smith MSS

MS Smith 1

Camden's autograph revisions and annotations in an exemplum of the London edition of 1607. c.1607-23.

*CmW 10: William Camden, Britannia

Once owned by Sir Robert Cotton, Bt (1571-1631), antiquary and politician, and, on 2 April 1711, by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary.

First published in London, 1586, with additions in 1607 and successive editions.

MS Smith 2

Camden's autograph revisions, in an exemplum of the edition of 1615, prepared for a new edition. 1615-23.

*CmW 2: William Camden, Annales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum regnante Elizabetha

Owned on 2 April 1711 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), who on 28 March 1719 records his bequest of the volume to the Bodleian.

Part I (to 1589) first published in London, 1615. Parts I-II (to 1603) published in Leiden, 1625-7.

MS Smith 17

A folio composite volume of discourses, notes, of verses, and letters by Camden, mainly autograph, viii + 226 pages, different sizes, in early 18th-century half-calf. Including papers on barons in connection with the case of Lord Roos, 27 April 1616, on the judicial proceedings in 1616 after the death of Sir Thomas Overbury (1613), on the punishment of peers, on Rathlin Island, and an anonymous tract on Geoffrey of Monmouth (pp. 133-8). c.1615-20s.

Owned or used by Edward Walker, Garter King of Arms; by Francis Sandford, Lancaster Herald; and by Mr Howell (herald painter). Acquired by Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor, at Christmas 1703. Inscribed by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), on 2 March 1710/11, as having been bequeathed by Smith to him.

Extracts from this MS (concerning the trial of the Earl of Somerset) printed in Beatrice White, Cast of Ravens (London, 1965), pp. 213-16.

*CmW 139: William Camden, Collectanea

The volume as a whole.

pp. 5-8

*CmW 111: William Camden, The Title of Baron

Autograph draft of a later paper on the title of baron, headed ‘The State of the Question’, probably connected with the case of Lord Roos (1616).

An unpublished tract beginning ‘Whether the title of a Baronie brought into a familie wch afterward is invested with an Earledom...’.

pp. 18a-c

CmW 53: William Camden, The Etymologie and Original of Barons

Copy, made by Thomas Smith, inscribed by Smith ‘Transcribed from his Adversaria in the possession of the Lord Hatton’ [i.e. Christopher Hatton (1632-1706), first Viscount Hatton], on three pages of two conjugate quarto leaves.

A tract beginning ‘I have else where said somewhat of Barones...’. First published in Hearne (1720), pp. 205-8. Hearne (1771), I, 124-6. Camden's original MS is untraced: it is apparently not among Hatton MSS in the Bodleian, British Library, or Northamptonsire Record Office.

p. 119a

CoR 589: Richard Corbett, To the Ghost of Robert Wisdome (‘Thou, once a Body, now, but Aire’)

Copy, headed ‘Vpon Robert Wisedome’, on one side of a half-folio leaf.

This MS recorded in Bennett & Trevor-Roper, p. 75.

First published in Certain Elegant Poems (London, 1647). Bennett & Trevor-Roper, p. 75.

pp. 140-1

CoR 326: Richard Corbett, A letter sent from Doctor Corbet to Master Ailesbury, Decem. 9. 1618 (‘My Brother and much more had'st thou bin mine’)

Copy, in a roman hand, headed ‘Decem '90 from Mr Corbett to Mr Alesburie’, on both sides of a single folio leaf of verse.

First published in Certain Elegant Poems (London, 1647). Bennett & Trevor-Roper, pp. 63-5.

pp. 174-7

*CmW 99: William Camden, On Ralph Brooke's Catalogue and Succession (1619)

Autograph draft of part of Camden's critique, headed ‘In Mr Yorkes succession of Kinges’ and beginnng ‘In the Conqueror to overpasse his mistaking in computation by Ides…’, as also (p. 168) the first page (pp. 169-70 missing) of Camden's notes (including a draft title-page) for ‘The errors of Mr Brooke in his Catalogue and Succession…’ written by Camden's deputy Augustine Vincent (c.1584-1626), c.1619.

Vincent's Discoverie of Errours in the first Edition of the Catalogue of Nobility…by Ralfe Brooke pub. London, 1622.

Unpublished.

p. 192

DnJ 1627: John Donne, Ignatij Loyolae Apotheosis (‘Qui sacer ante fuit, sanctus nunc incipit esse’)

Copy in a scribal hand, headed ‘De Ignatij Lojolae apotheòsi’ and here beginning ‘Qui fuit ante sacer, sanctus nunc incipit esse’, subscribed ‘Th.’, on a single leaf.

First published in P.G. Stanwood, ‘A Donne Discovery’, TLS (19 October 1967), p. 984. Reprinted in John Donne, Ignatius his Conclave, ed. T. S. Healy, S.J. (Oxford, 1969), pp. 174-5, and in Shawcross, pp. 505-6. Variorum, 8 (1995), p. 253, as ‘Dubium’.

This Latin poem is not by Donne but by the physician and poet Raphael Thorius (d.1625): see Peter Beal and Hilton Kelliher, ‘John Donne’, TLS (12 February 1982), p. 162.

MS Smith 18

Copy of some of Camden's historical notes and lists in CmW 161, 36 folio leaves. In a professional hand, inscribed by Thomas Smith ‘Collection whch I had transcribed for mee out of a MS of mr Camdens in Trinity College Library in Cambridge, when I was there 1692’. 1692.

CmW 162: William Camden, Collectanea

See also CmW 141.

MS Smith 19 (kept at Arch. F. c. 7s)

A folio composite volume of antiquarian collections, iii + 77 folio pages, in early 18th-century half-calf. Assembled by Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor, who has inscribed p. 10 ‘These papers I designe to print & then to give them to the Cottonian Library’.

Owned on 4 April 1711 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary, who records (p. iii) Smith's beqest to him of the volume.

pp. 10-75

*CmW 11: William Camden, Britannia

A series of autograph notes constituting Camden's additions to and revisions of Philemon Holland's English translation of Britannia (London, 1610), with page references to that edition; entitled (p. 10) ‘A Suplement of the Topographicall Description of Britain published MDCX, Conteining many specialites wch since have intervened concerning Creations, inscriptions & other memorable matters in England Scotland Ireland, and the ysles adiacent’. c.1621-3.

These additions are largely unpublished.

First published in London, 1586, with additions in 1607 and successive editions.

MS Smith 20

A folio volume of principally state letters, vi + 58 leaves.

p. 25

CmW 202: William Camden, Will

A certified copy of Camden's last will and testament, proved 10 November 1623, in the hand of Thomas Smith. Late 17th century.

Camden's will edited in Hearne (1720), Appendix II, 277-80, and (1771), II, 390-2.

MS Smith 23

A folio composite volume of miscellaneous antiquarian papers, in prose and verse, in different hands and sizes, viii + 138 pages, in early 18th-century half-calf. After 1672.

Owned on 16 March 1710/11 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary, who records Smith's bequest of the volume to him.

pp. 29-32

EvJ 219: John Evelyn, Diary

Transcript of the ‘Extract out of my Diary Paris 1651 1 of June Trinity Sunday’ in an unidentified hand, on two conjugate folio leaves, erroneously identified by Hearne as an extract from Bishop Cosin's diary; given by Evelyn to Dr Smith after 1672.

This MS pub., with omissions, in Bishop Cosin's Correspondence, Surtees Society (1869-72), I, 282-5; recorded in Wheatley (where it is cited as MS Smith 22a), and in de Beer, III, 632.

First published in selections in Bray (1818). The text for the period from 4 October 1699 to 1706 first published as a serialisation in Abinger Monthly Record, I (1889), pp. 7-8, 20,32, 48, 64, 76. II (1890), pp. 15-16, 31-2, 44, 60, 79-80, 96, 116, 132, 148, 167-8, 184, 199-200. III (1891-3), pp. 15-16, 31-2, 44, 60, 76, 92, 107-8, 127-8, 147-8, 167-8, 191-2, 215-16, 235-6, 251-2, 271-2, 291-2, 311-12, 328, 343-4, 364, 393-6, 414-28, 439-58. The Diary first published in full (but for missing pages) in de Beer (1955).

MS Smith 26

A folio composite volume of miscellaneous antiquarian papers, viii + 86 pages (including some blanks), in early 18th century half-calf.

Among the collections of Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor. Owned on 16 March 1710/11 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary.

p. 23

StW 1468: William Strode, Speech to Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria at their visiting the Bodleian Library, 27 August 1629

Copy by Thomas Smith of Strode's Latin oration, headed ‘Oratio ad serenissimu R. Carolu. 1. et Maria regina in bibliothecâ Oxon habita’ and beginning ‘Excelsissime Vice Deus, Clarum est amorem jactare, quem penitus absorbet reverentia…’, indexed by Thomas Hearne as ‘A Speech of Strode's to King Charles the 1st and his Queen at yeir visiting the Bodlejan Library’, in a small quarto booklet (pp. 17-32) of ‘Letters of Dr. Strode written in the Name and by ye Order of ye University of Oxford’, c.1630s-40s. Late 17th century.

Unpublished oration.

pp. 17-32

StW 1484: William Strode, Letter(s)

Copies by Thomas Smith, in a small quarto booklet, of sixteen ‘Letters of Dr. Strode written in the Name and by ye Order of ye University of Oxford’, formal epistles and petitions, chiefly in Latin, variously addressed to King Charles I, the Chancellor William Laud, William Noye, Sir Henry Marten, Lord Keeper Thomas Coventry, Edward Sackville, Earl of Dorset, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Sir Thomas Roe, Sir Dudley Carleton, Viscount Dorchester, and others, c.1630s-40s. Late 17th century.

MS Smith 27

A folio composite volume of miscellaneous antiquarian papers, in prose and verse, in various hands and sizes, viii + 108 pages, in early 18th-century half-calf.

Among collections of Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor. Owned on 16 March 1710/11 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary, who records (p. v) Smith's bequest of the volume to him.

p. 7

RoJ 224: John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester, On Rome's pardons (‘If Rome can pardon sins, as Romans hold’)

Copy, untitled, endorsed ‘Verses about Roman pardons and indulgences’, on a single half-folio leaf. Late 17th century.

This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.

First published in Poems on Several Occasions (‘Antwerp’, 1680). Vieth, pp. 161-2. Walker, pp. 127-8, among ‘Poems Possibly by Rochester’. Love, p. 247, among Disputed Works.

p. 43

WaE 233: Edmund Waller, Of Mrs. Arden (‘Behold, and listen, while the fair’)

Copy on the first page of two conjugate quarto leaves. The text accompanied (on pp. 43-4) by a Latin translation by Sir John Cotton. Late 17th century.

First published in Workes (1645). Thorn-Drury, I, 91. A musical setting by Henry Lawes published in Select Ayres and Dialogues (London, 1669).

See also WaE 759.

MS Smith 71

A folio volume of copies of letters and papers of Sir Robert Cotton, transcribed from British Library, Cotton MS Julius C. III, including (p. 1 et seq,) Dr Thomas Smith's ‘Short Life’ of Cotton, viii + 174 pages. c.1680-1700.

pp. 39, 61

BcF 550: Francis Bacon, Letter(s)

Copies of two letters by Bacon, 1604-10.

MS Smith 83

A quarto composite volume of antiquarian tracts, xvi + 167 pages (plus five blanks), in early 18th-century half-calf. Chiefly compiled by Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor.

Owned on 10 March 1710/11 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary.

pp. 77-80

CmW 93: William Camden, Of the Antiquity, Office and Privilege of Heralds in England

Copy, subscribed ‘by Mr Camden’, apparently a transcript of CmW 92, made by Thomas Smith.

A tract beginning ‘Among all civil nations...’. First published in Hearne (1720), pp. 85-9. Hearne (1771), I, 52-4.

pp. 125-7

CmW 96: William Camden, Of the Diversity of Names of this Island

Copy, subscribed ‘by Mr Camden’, apparently a transcript of CmW 95, made by Thomas Smith.

A tract beginning ‘That which the Poet said of Italy...’. First published in Hearne (1720), pp. 149-53. Hearne (1771), I, 90-3.

pp. 139-44

CtR 265: Sir Robert Cotton, The Etymologie, Antiquity and Privilege of Castles. By Sir Robert Cotton

Copy, apparently a transcript of ?, made by Thomas Smith.

Tract beginning ‘This question maketh in it self aptly three parts...’. First pub in Hearne (1720), pp. 166-73. Hearne (1771), I, 100-5.

pp. 145-7

CtR 320: Sir Robert Cotton, Of the Antiquity, Etymology, and Privilege of Towns, By Sir Robert Cotton. 23. Junii 42 [1600]

Copy, apparently a transcript of ?, made by Thomas Smith, with a sidenote ‘23 Junij 42’: i.e. 23 June 1600, when the paper was read at the Society of Antiquaries.

Tract beginning ‘For the first branch of this question, the antiquity of Towns...’.

First published in Hearne (1720), pp. 174-7. Hearne (1771), I, 105-7.

pp. 149-50

CtR 317: Sir Robert Cotton, Of Dimension of land, By Sir Robert Cotton

Copy, apparently a transcript of ?, made by Thomas Smith.

Tract beginning ‘This word measure is by some defined to be quicquid pondere...’. First published in Hearne (1720), pp. 178-81. Hearne (1771), I, 107-9.

pp. 151-3

CtR 322: Sir Robert Cotton, Of the antiquity of motts and words, with Arms of Noblemen and Gentlemen of England

Copy, apparently a transcript of ?, made by Thomas Smith.

Tract beginning ‘If I strait this question, to the common acceptance, my discourse must be...’. First published in Hearne (1720), pp. 182-5. Hearne (1771), I, 110-12.

MS Smith 84

A quarto composite volume of papers by Camden, relating to Latin inscriptions found in England, viii + 58 pages, quarto and octavo, in early 18th-century half-calf. c.late 1590s.

Owned on 1 April 1711 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1735), antiquary, who records (p. v) Smith's bequest of the volume to him.

*CmW 140: William Camden, Collectanea

The collection as a whole.

pp. 1-3

*CmW 109: William Camden, Surnames

An autograph list of local names relating to Camden's essay.

A tract beginning ‘Surnames given for difference of families, and continued as hereditary...’. First published in Remaines (London, 1605), pp. 89-139.

MS Smith 85

A quarto volume of transcripts of works by Camden, viii + 46 pages, in early 18th century half-calf. Made by or for Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor. c.1680-90.

Owned on 10 March 1710/11 by Thomas Hearne (1678-1733), antiquary, who records Smith's bequest to him.

pp. vii, 1-28

CmW 12: William Camden, Britannia

A transcript of CmW 11, in a professional hand. 1681.

First published in London, 1586, with additions in 1607 and successive editions.

pp. 31-2, 41

CmW 36: William Camden, The Antiquity, Authority, and Succession of the High Steward of England

Copy in Smith's hand, headed ‘Commentariolus de Senescallo Angliæ per G. Camdeno’.

A tract beginning ‘Whom we call in English steward, in Latine is called seneschallus...’. First published in Hearne (1771), II, 38-40.

pp. 37-9

CmW 72: William Camden, Of the Antiquity of Parliaments in England

Copy in Smith's hand, headed ‘Commentariolus de Antiquitate Parliamentorum Authore G. Camdeno’.

A tract beginning ‘That there were such like assemblies as parliaments now are, before the Romans arrival here...’. First published in Sir John Doddridge et al., The Several Opinions of Sundry Learned Antiquaries...touching...the High Court of Parliament in England (London, 1658). Hearne (1771), I, 303-6.

MS Smith 86

A quarto notebook of antiquarian material, viii + 184 pages. Compiled chiefly by Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor. c.1680-1700.

pp. 26-45

CmW 141: William Camden, Collectanea

Smith's transcript of some of Camden's topographical notes and copies of Latin inscriptions found in Britain; pp. 26-7 apparently transcribed from CmW 161.

MS Smith 92

A quarto volume of papers in Latin relating to John Bainbridge (1582-1643), astronomer and physician, xii + 60 pages, in half-calf. Compiled by Thomas Smith (1638-1710), Oxford scholar and editor. Late 17th century.

pp. 41-4

StW 1476: William Strode, Sermon at the Funeral of Dr Bainbridge, 6 November 1643

Smith's transcript of the oration ‘a Gulielmo Strode, oratori publico’, headed ‘Exequij Clarissimi Doctoris Bainbrigij Mathematici ac Medici probatissimi Astronomiæ Prælectoris, Publici apud Oxonienses, Oratio Funebris Novemb. 6. 1643. habita’.

Unpublished.