Verse
On the Death of Mr Abraham Cowley and his Burial in Westminster Abbey. By the Earl of Orrery (‘Our Wit till Cowley did its Lustre raise’)
OrR 1
Copy, ascribed to ‘The Earl of Orrery’.
In: A folio verse miscellany, in a single neat hand, with some rubrication, 122 pages, with an index, in contemporary marbled boards. With a title-page: ‘Poems on Various Subjects Extracted cheifly from the Works of Some of the Most Celebrated Poets Scribendo Disces MDCCXLVII’. 1747.
‘Reproach me not how heretofore’
36 lines, unpublished.
OrR 2
Copy, headed ‘A Copy of Verses supposed to be made by ye Ld. Broghill’.
In: A duodecimo verse miscellany, in a single cursive hand, written with the volume turned sideways as oblong, with (f. 86v) an index in another hand, 86 leaves (including blanks) in contemporary calf gilt (rebacked). This volume is a companion volume to British Library Egerton MS 669, which is signed by ‘D: Frown[?]’ and was once owned by Charles Trumbull, D.D. (1646-1724) and Ralph Trumbull (c.1640-1708), brothers of Sir William Trumbull (1639-1716), lawyer and government official. c.1667.
Inscribed on the first page ‘Mr: Mathews, Bbinder, D. Mar. 16. --67/o.o.o.6.’ [i.e. ? the bookseller Thomas Mathews (fl.1650s-60s)]. Bookplate of Robert Offley Ashburton Milnes, afterwards Crewe-Milnes (1858-1945), first Marquess of Crewe, politician. Purchased from Quaritch, October 1989.
OrR 3
Copy, headed ‘This Song was made by The Lord Broghill’ and here beginning ‘Reproach mee not though heertofore’.
In: A quarto miscellany of poems and plays, in probably three hands, written from both ends (Part I: paginated 1-15, 1-108, 1-72, 1-21; Part II: pp. 1-45), 261 pages (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. Inscribed ‘Charles Crompton / Non magna / loquimur, / sed virimus / 1667’, whose large rounded hand is probably responsible for a number of headings in the volume. c.1667.
Owned c.1872, by Sir Charles Bunbury, Bt, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Bookplate of Henry Edward Bunbury. Quaritch's sale catalogue No. 164 (October 1896), item 53. Item 348 in an unidentified sale catalogue. Formerly MS Add. 650.
This volume recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 241. Recorded, as of unknown whereabouts, in Clark, II, 965.
OrR 4
Copy, followed by an ‘Answer’. Late 17th century.
In: A guardbook of verse and other manuscripts.
Formerly ‘Box No. 8’.
The Earl of Orrery to Mrs. Philips (‘When I but knew you by report’)
First published in Katherine Philips, Poems (London, 1667), sig. br-v.
OrR 5
Adapted extracts.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in a single italic hand, entitled Gospell Obseruations & Religius manifestations, 370 pages, in contemporary calf. Entirely in the hand of Robert Overton (1608/9-1678/9), parliamentarian army officer, whose signature appears on a flyleaf. Prepared as a memorial and tribute to his wife, Ann Gardiner (d.1665), and written when in prison, either on Jersey or in the Tower of London. c.1671/2.
Inscribed inside the front cover ‘Saml Atkins Wykeham’ and inside the rear cover ‘17 Feby 1879. Purchased this Book of Prescot Bookseller. Upper Arcade. Bristol...Edwd G. Doggett’.
This volume discussed extensively, with facsimile examples (of pp. 85-6, 151-2, 162, 166, 190-2), in David Norbrook, ‘“This blushinge tribute of a borrowed muse”: Robert Overton and his Overturning of the Poetic Canon’, EMS, 4 (1993), 220-66.
To Mr. Cowley on his Davideis (‘When to the World thy Muse thou first didst show’)
First published in Poems, by Several Persons (Dublin, 1669) [apparently unique existing exemplum in Folger C6681.5].
OrR 6
Copy, on rectos only, in a cursive italic hand, headed ‘To Mr Cowley on his Davideis’, subscribed ‘Ld Brohill’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, neatly written in possibly several italic hands, perhaps connected with Christ Church, Oxford. Mid-17th century.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 189.
Edited from this MS in Ted-Larry Pebworth, ‘The Earl of Orrery and Cowley's Davideis: Recovered Works and New Connections’, MP, 76, No. 2 (November 1978), 136-48.
OrR 7
Copy, headed ‘To Mr Cowly on his Davideis by ye Ld Brohill’.
In: the MS described under OrR 2. c.1667.
Dramatic Works
Altamira
See OrR 10-11.
The Black Prince
First performed on the London stage 10 October 1667. First published London, 1669. Clark, I, 305-72.
OrR 8
Extracts.
In: An octavo compilation of extracts from plays and poems, in a single italic hand, written on rectos only from both ends (the two sections, 48 leaves each, virtually identical), 96 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary calf, remains of clasps. Late 17th century.
Booklabel of the John Dryden Collection formed by Percy J. Dobell (1876-1956), bookseller.
OrR 9
Copy, including a Prologue and Epilogue, in a professional rounded hand, with corrections, emendations and deletions in another hand, 125 folio leaves, in contemporary red morocco gilt. c.1660s.
Inscribed on a flyleaf ‘Ex dono J. Anstis Garter King at Arms’: i.e. John Anstis (1669-1744), antiquary. Bookplate of Thomas Morell, DD, FRS, FSA (1703-84), classical scholar and librettist. Later in the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector.
The Generall
Probably privately performed (as Altamira) in Ireland, c.1662. Staged in London 14 September 1664. First published, and attributed to James Shirley, in J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps, A Brief Description of the Ancient and Modern Manuscripts Preserved in the Public Library, Plymouth: To which are added, Some fragments of Early Literature Hitherto Unpublished (London, 1853), pp. 55-175. Clark, I, 101-64.
OrR 10
Copy of the play, entitled ‘The Generall, A Tragi=Comedy’, in probably two professional hands (adopting two alternating styles of script), 33 leaves (plus three blanks), in modern half-calf boards. c.1660s.
Partly edited from this MS, with collations, in Clark.
OrR 11
Copy, described as ‘The General: A tragi-comedy’. c.1660s?.
Stated by Halliwell-Phillipps in 1853 to be in the Plymouth Proprietary Library, but no record of this known. Recorded by him in 1860 as having been ‘in private hands. 4to, 1853’ (see Clark, II, 827-8).
Edited from this MS by Halliwell-Phillipps (1853). Partly edited from Halliwell-Phillipps's edition, with collations, in Clark
Henry the Fifth
First performed on the London stage 13 August 1664. First published London, 1668. Clark, I, 165-224.
OrR 12
Copy in a single hand, i + 47 large folio leaves. Including names of actors in the Dramatis Personae. c.1670.
Inscribed names of ‘Katherine Brudenell’ and ‘Josheph Allen 1706’.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 13
Copy, in a professional hand, with some corrections and additions in another hand, headed ‘Kinge Henry the Fifth’, iii + 35 folio leaves, gilt-edged, in black morocco gilt. c.1660s.
Inscribed name (f. ir) ‘M. S. Murray’.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 17
Copy, in a professional roman hand up to f. 60r, then continued ff. 60r-3r in a cursive italic hand, untitled.
In: A folio volume comprising two plays by Orrery, in one or possibly two hands, 107 leaves (plus numerous blanks), written on rectos only, in brown crushed morocco gilt. Late 17th century.
OrR 18
Copy, on 30 folio leaves (plus 13 blanks), lacking covers. In a single professional hand, without a title page but with decorated heading ‘Henry ye Fifth’, inscribed ‘by ye Ea: of Orery’ in the hand of John Egerton (1623-86), second Earl of Bridgewater, Privy Counsellor, and numbered by him ‘8.’ c.1664.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 19
Copy, in a single predominantly italic hand, with a title-page ‘The History of Henry the ffyfth Written by the Right Honourable The Earle of Orrery’, with Dramatis Personae naming actors in the original stage production of 1664, 83 small quarto pages (plus some blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1664.
Bookplate of the Dogmersfield Library, of the St John-Mildmay family, Hampshire.
OrR 20
Copy, in a professional hand, in roman and italic scripts, with some stage directions (on pp. 6, 10, 17, 35 and 36), in a hand akin to that on pp. 2-5, without a title-page but headed ‘King Henry the Fifth’.
In: MS of a play and two poems, in three different hands, i + 64 folio leaves (plus some blanks), in mottled calf gilt. Late 17th century.
Later owned by Robert Hoe (1839-1909), business man and book collector.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 21
Second copy (or abandoned start) of the first page of the play, in the same hand as OrR 20, inverted in the middle of blank leaves at the end of the volume.
In: the MS described under OrR 20. Late 17th century.
OrR 22
Copy, in a professional rounded hand, 79 folio leaves, in olive green morocco gilt. c.1660s.
In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector.
OrR 23
Copy, entitled ‘King Henry ye Fifth written by ye Earle of Orrery’.
In: A quarto miscellany of poems and plays by Corbet Owen (1645/6-71) and others, a ‘Catalogus Librorum’ at the reverse end, in probably several cursive predominantly italic hands, possibly associated with Oxford University, 166 leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1671.
Owned in 1671 by one ‘J. H.’. P.J. Dobell's sale catalogue The Literature of the Restoration (1918), item 1253. Purchased from Dobell in 1935.
Mr Anthony, Act IV. Song (‘Since you must needs my heart posses’)
Performed on the London stage probably before 14 December 1669. First published in London 1690.
OrR 24
Copy, untitled.
In: A folio formal verse miscellany, comprising c.406 poems, many of them song lyrics, in various neat hands, compiled probably over a period, 8 blank leaves (pp. [i-xvi]) + 10 unnumbered pages of poems (pp. [xvii-xxvi]) + 9 numbered pages (pp. 1-9) + ff. [9v]-151v + 12 leaves at the end blank but for a poem on the penultimate page (f. [11v]), in contemporary calf gilt. Once erroneously associated with Thomas Killigrew (1612-83), whose hand does not appear in the volume. Mid-17th century-c.1702.
Inscribed (f. [ir]) ‘Sr Robert Killigrew / 1702’. Later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bt (1792-1872), book and manuscript collector: Phillipps MS 9070. Sotheby's, 19 May 1897, lot 455.
Discussed, with a facsimile example, in Nancy Cutbirth, ‘Thomas Killigrew's Commonplace Book?’, Library Chronicle of the University of Texas at Austin, NS No. 13 (1980), 31-8.
University of Texas at Austin, Ms (Killigrew, T) Works B Commonplace book, ff. 129v-30r.
Mustapha
First performed on the London stage 3 April 1665. First published, as Mustapha, The Son of Solyman the Magnificent, London, 1668. Clark, I, 225-304.
OrR 25
Copy, in an accomplished professional hand, headed ‘The Tragædie of Mustapha’, iv + 108 large folio pages, in contemporary calf gilt. c.1670.
Inscriptions inside the front and rear covers ‘Cæcillya Huseys Book’, ‘Cicillia Freke’, and ‘W Shaw’.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 26
Copy, in an accomplished professional hand, f. 1r a tipped-in leaf in a different hand, vi + 54 folio leaves (plus eight blanks), in contemporary black morocco gilt. With alterations in black ink on ff. 9v-10v and 48r, and most of four lines deleted in brown ink on f. 50r.
Inscribed initials (f. ir) ‘D.R.’
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 27
Copy, in a single professional hand, a list of ‘contents’ (f. 3v) added in another hand, 55 small folio leaves, in contemporary brown morocco gilt. c.1660s.
Inscribed name of ‘J. Stuart’ deleted. Purchased on 5 October 1872 from William Carew Hazlitt (1834-1913), bibliographer and writer.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 28
Copy, in a single professional hand, with a title-page ‘The Tragedie of Mustapha By the Earle of Orrery’, on 126 folio pages, in contemporary calf gilt. Late 17th century.
Acquired from Hotmann & Freeman, October 1974. Formerly MS Add. 650.
OrR 29
Copy, in an italic hand, with a title-page in Compton's hand ‘These Two Playes Mustapha And Henry ye Fifth were made by the Lord Broghill Earl of Orery in Ireland’; the next page with the title ‘Mustapha’ written sideways; followed by the text of the play separately paginated 1-108, with a running head ‘Mustapha’.
In: the MS described under OrR 3. c.1667.
Folger, MS V.a.220, Part I, pp. 15, 1-108 (second pagination).
OrR 32
Copy, in a professional roman hand, with no title-page but headed ‘Mustapha’.
In: the MS described under OrR 17. Late 17th century.
OrR 33
Copy, in a single professional hand, without a title-page, 52 folio leaves, inscribed ‘by ye Earle of Orery’ in the hand of John Egerton (1623-86), second Earl of Bridgewater, Privy Counsellor, and numbered by him ‘7.’, lacking covers. c.1665.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 34
Copy, in a professional hand, 54 folio leaves (plusa number of blanks), in contemporary black morocco gilt. Late 17th century.
Inscribed (p. 1) ‘Elyzebeth Walsingham her boock 1680’. Bookplate of Sir William Bennet, second Baronet (d.1729), of Grubett, 1707. Christie's, 22 June 1988, lot 96 to Quaritch.
OrR 35
Copy, in a professional italic hand, 125 large folio pages (plus two blank leaves), in modern cloth. c.1670.
Inscribed (f. ir) ‘Katherine Brudenell’.
OrR 36
Copy, in a single hand, entitled ‘Mustapha A Tragedy. / Earle of Orrery / 1667’, 154 quarto pages, in vellum boards. c.1667.
Tryphon
OrR 37
Copy in a single hand, entitled ‘Triphon / A Trage-Comedy / Written by the right honourable / Roger Earle of Orrery’, 138 quarto leaves (plus title-page and blanks). c.1770-80.
This MS collated in Clark.
OrR 38
Copy, in a stylish professional hand, headed ‘Tryphon A trage=Comedie’, lacking a title-page, ii + 56 folio leaves, in contemporary black morocco gilt. c.1660s.
This MS collated in Clark.
Dramatic Works of Doubtful Authorship
Zoroastres
Written c.1675. No stage performance recorded. First published as The Tragedy of Zoroastres, ed. Montague Summers (Cambridge, [1917]). Clark, II, 643-99. The attribution in the unique MS doubtful.
OrR 41
Copy, in several non-professional hands or styles of hand (but not Orrery's hand), with deletions and alterations, some on pasted-on slips of paper, with a title-page ‘The Tragedy of Zoroastres’, ‘Written by the right honourable The late Earl of Orrery’ added in another hand, ‘written in 1676’ inscribed in a small hand on the list of dramatis personae (f. 46v). c.1676.
In: A folio composite volume of parliamentary speeches, tracts and plays, in various hands, 170 leaves, in half morocco gilt.
Edited from this MS in Clark. Discussed, with facsimile examples and the attribution to Orrery effectively dismissed, in Antony Hammond, ‘The Manuscript of Zoroastres’, The Library, 5th Ser. 30 (1975), 34-40 (plus Plates). Facsimile of f. 77r in DLB, vol. 80, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Dramatists. First Series, ed. Paula R. Backscheider (Detroit, 1989), p. 34.