Verse
Cæsar's Ghost (‘Twas still Low Ebb of Night, when not a starr’)
See DoC 309.
The Coquet (‘Melinda, who had never been’)
First published in La Monstre, or, The Lover's Watch (London, 1686). Summers, VI, 29-30.
BeA 1
Copy, headed ‘Song on Mrs M. How-d’.
In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in a single accomplished professional hand, ii + 222 pages, with an ‘Index’, in contemporary calf. c.early 1700s.
Inscribed on the front pastedown ‘to be left at Inbourg's Muff-shop / Pall-Mall’ and ‘St hovr Singleton’. Formerly Folger MS 473.1.
BeA 2
Copy in: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, 475 pages (plus a six-page index and a number of blanks), in contemporary black morocco gilt. In two professional hands (A: pp. 1-126; B: pp. 129-45 and probably the ‘Index’). c.1690.
Once owned by James Bindley. Sale December 1818 (Bindley sale). Phillipps MS 8418. Sotheby's, 18 June 1908, lot 627.
A transcript of this volume made by George Thorn-Drury, KC (1860-1931), literary scholar and editor, is Harvard MS Eng 633.
BeA 3
Copy in: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, entitled ‘A Booke of Paragrafts’, including 22 poems by Rochester, 445 pages plus stubs of extracted leaves (originally 463 numbered pages and now lacking pp. 59-68, 147-54 and parts of pp. 155-8), with a two-leaf index; in contemporary red morocco. In professional hands: A, pp. 1-194; B, in a different style and probably a different hand, pp. 195-432; C, probably yet another hand, with additions on pp. 75, 90, 102, 125, 142, 175, 195, and pp. 433-63. c.1680s-90s.
Inscribed (on stubs and endpapers) ‘matt Calihan’, ‘To Cpt Robinson att Capt Eloass [Elwes] near ye Watch house in Marlburhroagh street’, ‘For Capt. Robinson at his Lodginges in Charing Cross’. Christie's, 27 June 1979, lot 16.
Various commissioned officers named Robinson are recorded in Charles Dalton, English Army Lists and Commission Registers, 1661-1714 (6 vols, London, 1892-1904): see esp. I, 276. The volume was most probably owned by Charles Robinson of the King's Regiment of Foot Guards, who became Captain and then Lieutenant-Colonel in 1688 and was killed at Namur in 1695. A member of the same regiment in 1684 was the purveyor of MS lampoons Captain Lenthal Warcup. The Captain ‘Eloass’ mentioned in one inscription was possibly William Elwes, who served as a Lieutenant in Viscount Colchester's Regiment of Horse, c.1692-4, and as a Captain in Lord Windsor's Regiment of Horse in 1702.
Cited in IELM, II.ii, as the Robinson MS: RoJ Δ 8. Discussed with facsimiles of pp. 1-10 in Paul Hammond, ‘The Robinson Manuscript Miscellany of Restoration Verse in the Brotherton Collection, Leeds’, Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, 18 (1982), 275-324. Facsimiles of p. 1 also in Christie's sale catalogue, Plate 1, after p. 48, and in The Brotherton Collection University of Leeds: Its contents described with illustrations of fifty books and manuscripts (Leeds, 1986), p. 17. Selectively collated in Walker.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. 54, pp. 214-15.
The Disappointment (‘One day the Amorous Lysander’)
First published in Poems on Several Occasions, by the Right Honourable, the E[arl] of R[ochester] (‘Antwerp’ [i.e. London], 1680). Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 178-82. Todd, I, No. 28, pp. 65-9.
Discussed in Vieth, Attribution, pp. 448-50.
BeA 4
Copy in: A duodecimo verse miscellany, in English and Latin, in several hands, ii + 53 leaves (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1690.
J. Salkeld, sale catalogue No. 222 (17 June 1885), item 273.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.
BeA 5
Copy, headed ‘An Imperfect Enjoyment, By Mris A. Behn’.
In: A folio miscellany of poems chiefly on affairs of state, entitled A Collection of Poems, including 27 poems by Rochester (all ascribed to him), xii + 299 pages (plus a number of blanks), including a table of contents, in contemporary calf (rebacked). In a single professional hand but for a few later additions at the very end (pp. 295-8, with some pages tipped-in). c.1690s.
Recorded in IELM, II.ii as the Harvard MS: RoJ Δ 7.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.
BeA 6
Copy, headed ‘The Imperfect Enjoyment’.
In: A formal quarto miscellany, of poems on affairs of state, including 29 poems by Rochester, as well as apocryphal items, in three professional hands (A, pp. 1-278; B, pp. 279-84; C, pp. 285-314), 314 pages (plus blanks), in contemporary red morocco. c.1680.
Once owned by Count Carl Edward Gyldenstolpe (1770-1852) and perhaps originally acquired by Count Nils Gyldenstolpe (1642-1709), Swedish Ambassador at The Hague (in 1679-87).
Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993) as the Gyldenstolpe MS: RoJ Δ 14. A complete facsimile edition in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe (1967).
BeA 7
Copy of the last ten lines, here beginning ‘The Nymphs Resentments, none but I’, imperfect, lacking the rest.
In: A quarto miscellany of poems on affairs of state, entitled Songs & Verses - Upon severall occasions, 406 pages (but pp. 35-44, 63-6, 77-86, 115-32, 153-8, 161-84, and 195-212 excised). Including 30 poems by Rochester (and probably others by him on missing leaves); pp. 1-392 in a single professional hand (that also responsible for Princeton, RTCO1 No. 34); pp. 392-406 in a second hand. c.1680.
Inscribed on the title-page ‘Hansen’: i.e. very probably the diplomat Friedrich Adolphus Hansen, who visited England in September 1680 in the entourage of Charles, electoral Prince Palatine. Owned, in 1951 by Dr A.S.W. Rosenbach (1876-1952), Philadelphia book dealer, collector and scholar.
Cited in IELM, II as the Yale MS: RoJ Δ 16. The MS was identified by David M. Vieth as an independent scribal transcript of the copy-text used for the first edition of Poems on Several Occasions By the Right Honourable, the E. of R— (‘Antwerp’ [i.e. London], 1680): see Attribution, pp. 56-100, and ‘The Text of Rochester and the Editions of 1680’, PBSA, 50 (1956), 243-63. Discussed extensively, and Hansen identified, in Harold Love, ‘Scribal Texts and Literary Communities: The Rochester Circle and Osborn b. 105’, SB, 42 (1989), 219-35. Facsimile of p. 62 in Vieth (1968), frontispiece. Recorded and selectively collated in Vieth (1968) and in Walker.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.
Doubt (‘Doubt, ye worst Tyrant of a gen'rous Mind’)
First published in Todd, I (1992), No. 94, p. 358.
BeA 7.5
A four-line extract allegedly from Mrs Behn.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, largely in one hand, with additions by others, written from both ends, material at the reverse end dated 1708-9, ii + 114 leaves, in 19th-century half-calf. Inscribed (f. [iir]), probably by the compiler, ‘Ex Libris Georgij Wright [b.1685/6] Sti Johannis Collegis Cantabrigiensis Alumni, Decimo quarto Junij. Annoq. Domini 1703’. c.1703-9.
Also inscribed (f.[iir]) ‘Mrs Frances Wright 1708’. A postal address on f. 95r (rev.) reads: ‘Direct to Margtt Borrett att Mrs. Borretts In Kirkby=stephen Westmoorland p brough bag _ These’.
Recorded in IELM, II.ii, as the Wright MS: WaE Δ 12.
Edited from this MS in Todd.
On a Conventicle (‘Behold that race, whence England's Woes proceed’)
First published in Charles Gildon, Miscellany Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1692). Summers, VI. Todd, I, 355 (No. 91).
BeA 7.8
Copy, as by ‘Mrs Behn’.
In: An octavo miscellany, in English and Latin, in a single hand, 141 leaves (ff. 124v-41v blank), in contemporary calf. c.1690s.
Bought from P.J. and A.E. Dobell, in 1922, by Reginald L. Hine (1883-1949), solicitor, of Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. 71, f. 48v.
On a Juniper-Tree, cut down to make Busks (‘Whilst happy I Triumphant stood’)
First published in Poems on Several Occasions, by the Right Honourable, the E[arl] of R[ochester] (‘Antwerp’ [i.e. London], 1680). Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 148-51. Todd, I, No. 14, pp. 39-41.
Discussed in Vieth, Attribution, pp. 450-1.
BeA 8
Copy, headed ‘On a Giniper Tree now cut downe to make Busks. By Mrs Behn’.
In: the MS described under BeA 7. c.1680.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.
On Desire, A Pindarick (‘What Art thou, oh! thou new-found pain?’)
First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 356-60. Todd, I, No. 77, pp. 281-4.
BeA 9
Copy, in a neat italic hand, headed ‘Desire / A Pindaric’, in a booklet of eight quarto leaves (on rectos only), plus blanks, in a paper wrapper. Late 17th century.
BeA 9.5
Copy, headed ‘Upon Desire’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany. Compiled by Lady Henrietta Harley. Mid-18th century.
University of Nottingham, Pw V 1066, ff. 30v rev., 29v rev., 28v rev., 27v rev., 26v rev.
On the Death of E. Waller, Esq (‘How, to thy Sacred Memory, shall I bring’)
First published in Poems to the Memory of that Incomparable Poet Edmund Waller, Esquire (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 405-7.
*BeA 10
Autograph copy, with corrections, signed, on four quarto pages, sent by Mrs Behn to Abigail Waller, the poet's daughter-in-law, originally accompanying BeA 52. 1687.
Formerly Pierpont Morgan Library MA 3585. Sotheby's, 21 July 1981, lot 441.
Facsimiles of the first page in Sotheby's sale catalogue; in IELM, II.i (1993), Facsimile I, after p. xxiv; and, of all the poem, in Todd, I, after p. 288.
BeA 11
Copy in: A quarto volume of poems to the memory of Edmund Waller, in the hand of the Quaker writer Thomas Ellwood (1639-1713), transcribed from the edition of 1688. c.1688f [6].
Among papers of the Waller family.
On the death of Mr. Grinhil, the Famous Painter (‘What doleful crys are these that fright my sence’)
First published in Poems on Several Occasions, by the Right Honourable, the E[arl] of R[ochester] (‘Antwerp’ [i.e. London], 1680). Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 151-3. Todd, I, No. 15, pp. 42-4.
Discussed in Vieth, Attribution, pp. 451-2.
BeA 12
Copy in: A quarto composite miscellany of poems on affairs of state, 137 pages (plus eight pages of later additions and eight blank pages), in modern cloth. In a single hand, including sixteen poems by Rochester, pp. 139-46 occupied by charges of the Grand Jury added after 1714. c.1680s.
Recorded in IELM II.ii as the Gilpin MS: RoJ Δ 3.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe.
BeA 13
Copy in: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in several hands, one professional stylish hand predominating, with (ff. 1r, 2r) a ‘Table’ of contents, 213 leaves, in contemporary blind-stamped calf. Including 29 poems by Rochester (plus a second copy of one) and Sodom, as well as apocryphal items. c.1680s.
Once owned by Thomas Fermor (1698-1753), first Earl of Pomfret, of Easton Neston, Northamptonshire. Also used by one James Parks.
Recorded in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe, and selectively collated in Walker.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Gyldenstolpe.
BeA 15
Copy, headed ‘On ye Death of that most Excellent Painter, Mr Greenhill. By Mrs Behn’.
In: the MS described under BeA 7. c.1680.
This MS recorded in Vieth, Attribution.
On the Death of the late Earl of Rochester (‘Mourn, Mourn, ye Muses, all your loss deplore’)
First published in Miscellany, Being A Collection of Poems By several Hands (London, 1685). Todd, Works, I, No. 53, pp. 161-3.
BeA 15.5
Copy, subscribed ‘A Behn’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in a single neat hand, ii + 168 leaves (plus blanks), including some laid-down printed pages, in contemporary calf (lacking upper cover). c.1740.
Sotheby's, 18 May 2000, lot 558, to Hugh Pagan.
BeA 15.8
Copy, headed ‘Another on the Death of the Late Earl of Rochester. & in part. p. Mrs. Bhenn. Behn.’
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in a single hand, entitled (p. 1, in engrossed lettering) ‘Thos. Walker Book of Miscellanies 1712’, 252 pages (jumping from p. 56 to 61), in modern half dark green morocco. Compiled by Thomas Walker (b.1682), of Mosley, near Ashton under Lyne, Greater Manchester, including (pp. 105-6, 203) verses by him to his parents etc., dated 1720/1-27). c.1712-27.
Later owned by Sir Charles Bradbury (his sale December 1864, lot 2819, to Haywood, thence bought by Sir Thomas Baker. Bernard Halliday, bookseller of Leicester, February 1930.
John Rylands University Library of Manchester, English MS 521, pp. 241-2.
On the first discovery of falseness in Amintas (‘Make hast! make hast! my miserable Soul’)
First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 361-3. Todd, I, No. 79, pp. 286-7.
BeA 16
Copy, in a small hand, untitled, on the rectos of two conjugate quarto leaves. Late 17th century.
Ovid to Julia. A Letter (‘Fair Royal Maid, permit a Youth undone’)
First published in Miscellany, Being a Collection of Poems By several Hands (London, 1685). Summers, VI, 363. Todd, No. 63, pp. 182-4.
BeA 16.5
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, comprising principally translations or imitations of classical authors, chiefly in a single cursive hand, a later hand writing over a number of pages, entitled ‘A Choice Collection of Miscellany Poems Upon severall Subjects. Gathered out of severall Authors, by Wm. Gordon…In the Year, M.DCC,XI’, c.260 pages (plus blanks), all independently paginated in separate sections, in half-morocco. 1711-12.
A Paraphrase on the Lords Prayer (‘O Wondrous condescention of a God’)
First published, as ‘By Mrs. A. B.’, in Miscellany, Being a Collection of Poems By several Hands (London, 1685). Todd, No. 58, pp. 171-4.
BeA 16.8
Copy, as ‘by Mrs Ann Behn’.
In: A quarto verse miscellany. Early 18th century.
A Pastoral Pindarick. On the Marriage of the Right Honourable the Earle of Dorset and Middlesex, to the Lady Mary Compton. A Dialogue. Between Damon and Aminta (‘Whither, young Damon, whither in such hast’)
First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 350-6. Todd, I, No. 76, pp. 275-80.
BeA 17
Copy in a section entitled A Collection of Poems and Lampoons &ca Not yet Printed.
In: A tall folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in professional hands, 257 leaves, in modern calf gilt. In three sections each with its own title-page. Early 1700s.
First section: ‘A Collection of Poems and Lampoons &ca Not yet Printed’.
Second section (f. 102r): ‘A Collection of Choice Poems, Satyrs, & Lampoons From 1672 to 1688 Never printed’.
Third section (f. 146r): ‘A Collection of Poems. From 1688 to 1699. 1703/4’.
BeA 17.5
Copy, headed ‘A Pindaric ode on the marriage of the Right Honourable the Earle of Dorcett and Middlesex to the Lady Mary Compton’ and here beginning ‘Whether goeing Damon whether in shuch hast’
In: the MS described under BeA 3. c.1680s-90s.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt. 54, pp. 245-56.
Satyr on Dryden (‘Scorning religion all thy life time past’)
First published in Summers (1915), VI, 400-1 (edited from a transcript made by G. Thorn-Drury from a MS in his possession which he copied from one itself copied by Joseph Haslewood (1769-1833) from ‘an old MS in [his] Port Folio’). Todd, No. 71, p. 231. Authorship uncertain: see Mary Ann O'Donnell, ‘Private jottings, public utterances: Aphra Behn's published writings and her commonplace book’, in Aphra Behn Studies, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 285-309 (pp. 297-300).
BeA 18
Copy, headed ‘Another on Mr Bays’.
In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, originally entitled Astrea's Booke of Songs & Satyr's 1686, in probably seven hands, vi + 332 pages (including 23 blanks), in half-calf. Predominantly in two alternating semi-professional hands, the second of which (on altogether 117 pages) is probably that of the author Aphra Behn (1640?-89); poems on pp. 307-8 added by a later hand in 1736-8. c.1686-9 [with additions to 1738].
Bookplate of ‘William Busby’. Among the collections of Sir Charles Harding Firth (1857-1936), historian.
This MS volume discussed, and the second hand identified as Aphra Behn's, in Mary Ann O'Donnell, ‘A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16’, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218, with facsimile examples of the ‘title-page’, and of pp. 50, 119, 180, 226, 238, 261, 307. Also discussed by her in ‘Private jottings, public utterances: Aphra Behn's published writings and her commonplace book’, in Aphra Behn Studies, ed. Janet Todd (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 285-309.
BeA 19
Copy, headed ‘A Satyr on Doctor Dryden by Mrs. Bhen’.
In: A folio composite volume of papers, in several hands and paper sizes, ff. 19r-40v comprising a miscellany of verse and some prose in an unidentified cursive rounded hand, 84 leaves, mounted on guards, in half black morocco. Papers of Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, author, the verse compiled by him probably when he was at Trinity College Dublin. c.1679-88 [and 1700s].
Presented by Mrs E. Bromley, 12 April 1913.
Edited from this MS in Todd.1
BeA 20
Copy, headed ‘Mrs. Bhen or Mr. Dryden, renegate’, on a single quarto leaf. Late 17th century.
Formerly in the custody of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Southwark. Recorded in Summers (VI, 436) as being missing, or transferred to other Roman Catholic archives, probably since 1875. Rediscovered by Janet Todd.
Recorded in HMC, 3rd Report (1872), Appendix, p. 235.
The Sence of a Letter sent me, made into Verse. To a New Tune (‘In vain I have labour'd the victor to prove’)
First published in The Amorous Prince (London, 1671). Todd, p. 58, No. 22.
BeA 20.3
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, in several hands, a neat mixed hand predominating up to f. 55r, 151 leaves (including a few blanks), in contemporary calf. c.1730.
Inscribed (in another hand) on the front pastedown ‘Thomas Boydell’. Formerly Folger MS 4108.
Song. To a New Scotch Tune (‘Young Jemmy was a Lad’)
First published as a broadside, London, 1681. Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 210-11. Todd, I, 97-8.
BeA 20.5
Copy, headed ‘Song by Mrs Behn’.
In: A small quarto miscellany of chiefly Restoration songs and ballads, many from plays, in one or more small hands, 48 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary brown calf. Folios 1r-32r copied c.1686-8 in a single hand; ff. 33v-48r copied c.1688-94 in four other hands. c.1686-94.
Later owned by Sir Francis Freeling, first Baronet (1764-1836), postal administrator and book collector. Evans (Sotheby's), 25 November 1836 (Freeling sale), lot 1156. Acquired from Leo S. Olschki, 6 November 1986.
To Alexis in Answer to his Poem against Fruition. Ode (‘Ah hapless sex! who bear no charms’)
First published in Lycidas: or the Lover in Fashion…together with a Miscellany of New Poems by Several Hands (London, 1688). Summers, VI, 348-9. Todd, Np. 74, pp. 272-3.
BeA 21
Copy, in a professional hand, headed ‘To Alexis on his verses against Fruition’, on two conjugate quarto leaves, the text following (on f. 63r-v) ‘Against Fruition. By Alexis’ (‘Ah wretched man whom neither Fate…’).
In: A folio composite volume of poems, chiefly on affairs of state, in various hands, 67 leaves, in modern quarter crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt. Late 17th century.
Verses design'd by Mrs. A. Behn to be sent to a fair Lady, that desir'd she would absent herself to cure her Love. Left unfinishd (‘In vain to Woods and Deserts I retire’)
First published in Charles Gildon, Miscellany Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1692). Summers, VI, 389. Todd, I, No. 92, p. 356.
BeA 22
Copy in: An octavo verse miscellany, in several generally italic hands, written originally on rectos only, the versos used by later hands, i + 112 leaves (ff. 93-5 excised), in old calf (rebacked). Including 26 poems by Thomas Carew and one of doubtful authorship. c.1694-1740.
Inscribed (inside the front cver) ‘Tho: Jesson His Book 1694’; (ff. ir, 5v) ‘S Harriott 1740’, and a poem (f. 37v) subscribed ‘Sarah Harriott’.
Recorded in IELM, II.i (1987), as the ‘Jesson MS’: CwT Δ 23.
BeA 23
This is actually a different poem by Behn: see BeA 20.3.
Dramatic Works
Abdelazar, or The Moor's Revenge, Act I: song (‘Love in fantastick triumph sat’)
First published in London, 1677. Summers, II, 6-98. Todd, V, 245-315.
BeA 23.3
Copy of the song, untitled.
In: An octavo verse miscellany, containing chiefly songs, largely in a single hand, 46 leaves, in contemporary vellum. c.1680s.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt 34, f. 33r.
The City-Heiress, Act IV, scene i. Song (‘In Phillis all vile jilltts are Meett’)
First published, as The City Heiress, or, Sir Timothy Treat-all, in London 1682. Summers, II, 201-300 (p. 260). Todd, VII, 6-77 (p. 49).
BeA 23.4
Copy 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, f. 151r.
The Lucky Chance. or, An Alderman's Bargain
First published in London, 1687. Summers, III, 188-279. Todd, VII, 213-84.
The Rover. or, The Banish't Cavaliers
First published in London, 1677. Todd, V, 452-521.
BeA 23.5
An exemplum of the printed quarto edition (London, 1677), marked-up in black ink in a neat roman hand as a promptbook, with cues for players' entrances and exits, various cuts, and various passages boxed off, imperfect, lacking the last leaf of the Epilogue, in old half-calf on marbled boards. Early 18th century.
Inscribed (title-page verso) ‘Wm West. 1727’, who paid 3 shillings for it. Among the collections of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, MP (1837-1914), Baconian scholar and book collector.
This volume discussed in Edward A. Langhans, ‘Three Early Eighteenth-Century Promptbooks’, TN, 20 (1965-6), 142-50.
University of London, Senate House Library, Special Collections [D.-L.L.] (XVII) Bc [Behn].
The Second Part of The Rover, Act IV, scene i. Song (‘Ah pox upon this needless score’)
First published in London, 1681. Summers, I, 115-213 (p. 188). Todd, VI, 228-98 (pp. 280-1). Also edited, as ‘The Counsel. A Song. Set by Captain Pack’, in Poems upon Several Occasions (London, 1684). Summers, VI, 190-1.
BeA 23.7
Copy of the song, headed ‘Song in ye 2d pt of the Rover A Behn’.
In: the MS described under BeA 20.5. c.1686-94.
BeA 23.9
Copy of the song, untitled.
In: the MS described under BeA 23.3. c.1680s.
Leeds University Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt 34, ff. 8v-9r.
The Young Brother. or, The Amorous Jilt
First published (in an edited version, and with a biographical preface, by Charles Gildon) London, 1696. Summers, IV, 311-99. Todd, VII, 359-417.
BeA 24
Copy, in a professional hand, headed ‘The Younger Brother or the Amorous Jilt a Comedy acted at the Theatre royal By his Majestys Servants Written by the late Ingenious Mrs. Behn’ and with (ff. 2r-3r) [Charles Gildon's]. ‘An account of the Life of the Incomparable Mrs. Behn’, on 34 folio leaves, slightly imperfect. c.1700.
In: A folio composite volume of plays and poems, in various hands, ii + 171 leaves.
The Young King: or, the Mistake
First published in London, 1683. Summers, II, 105-93. Todd, VII, 83-151.
Poems Doubtfully Ascribed to Aphra Behn
The Complaint, A Song (‘I Love, I dote, I rave with pain’)
BeA 26
Copy in: the MS described under BeA 16.5. 1711-12.
The Epilogue to Mrs Behn's play The Lucky Chance (‘Long have we turn'd the point of our just Rage’)
Published as ‘Written by a Person of Quality’ and as ‘Spoken by Mr. Betterton’. Summers, III, 278-9.
The History of Leander and Hero: From the Greek of Musæus (‘Come, sing, my Muse, ytLamp, ytonce did prove’)
The Lamentation for Adonis (‘I mourn Adonis, fair Adonis dead’)
The last Nights Ramble. 1686 (‘Warm'd with the pleasures wch: debauches yield’)
Ascribed to Aphra Behn in BeA 32. Various other MS copies of this poem are anonymous.
BeA 30
Copy in: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state entitled A Choice Collection of Poems, Lampoons, Satyrs &ca, xx + 412 pages (339-411 blank). c.1700.
Among the collections of Sir Charles Harding Firth (1857-1936), historian.
This MS collated in POAS, I.
BeA 31
Copy in: A formal folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, including eleven by Rochester and Sodom, as well as apocryphal items, probably in a single professional hand, 444 leaves (including a six-leaf index). c.1690s.
Cited in IELM, II.ii as the Vienna MS: RoJ Δ 12. Discussed in Rudolf Brotanek, ‘Beschreibung der Handschrift 14090 (Supplement 1776) der Nationalbibliothek in Wien’, in Festschrift der Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Vienna, 1926), 145-62. Recorded and selectively collated in Vieth and in Walker.
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Cod. 14090, f. 415r.
BeA 32
Copy, ascribed to ‘Mrs Behn’.
In: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in a single professional rounded hand, entitled ‘A Collection of Choyce Poems, Lampoons, and Satyrs from 1673 to 1689. Never Extant in Print’, 335 pages (plus a Table of contents and blanks), in modern red morocco. c.1690s.
In the collection of Robert H. Taylor (1908-85), American book and manuscript collector. Formerly Restoration poetry MS 2.
This MS collated in POAS, I.
BeA 33
Copy in: A folio miscellany of poems on affairs of state, in a single professional hand, in two volumes: Vol. I, including twelve poems by Rochester and Sodom, as well as apocryphal item, spp. 1-461 (plus index); Vol. II, pp. 462-842 (with irregularities of pagination). This MS is closely related to Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Cod. 14090. c.1690s-1700.
Later owned by Alexander Dyce (1798-1869), literary scholar and editor, who records that £50 ‘was given by Perry, for these 2 volumes’.
Cited in IELM, II.ii (1993), as the Dyce MS: RoJ Δ 15.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Dyce MS 43 (Pressmark Dyce 25.F.37-38), p. 784.
Satyr on Dryden (‘Scorning religion all thy life time past’)
See BeA 18-20.
Song (‘Yee happy Swains, whose Hearts are free’)
BeA 34
Copy in: the MS described under BeA 16.5. 1711-12.
Song (‘Ye Virgin Pow'rs, defend my Heart’)
Written by Mrs Taylor.
BeA 35
Copy in: the MS described under BeA 16.5. 1711-12.
Prose
A Discovery of New Worlds
First published, as ‘From the French [of B. Le Bovier de Fontenelle] Made English by Mrs. A. Behn’, in London, 1688.
BeA 36
Extracts.
In: A folio miscellany of extracts, in a single cursive hand, 351 leaves, in modern half brown morocco on marbled boards. c.1685-1700s.
Sotheby's, 13 July 1855, lot 1364.
Letters
Letter(s)
BeA 37
Autograph letter signed by Aphra Behn, to James Halsall, from Antwerp, [6]/16 August 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 36-40. Facsimiles of two pages in Duffy, on endpapers.
*BeA 38
Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, from Antwerp, [17]/27 August 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 40-2.
*BeA 39
Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, from Antwerp, [21]/31 August 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 48-50.
*BeA 40
Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [21/31 August]. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 51-8.
*BeA 41
Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [25 August]/4 September 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 55-8.
*BeA 42
Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, [from Antwerp], [4]/14 September 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 60-1.
*BeA 43
Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [7]/17 September 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 62-4.
*BeA 44
Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, Antwerp, [11]/21 September 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 69-72.
*BeA 45
Autograph letter signed, to James Halsall, [from Antwerp], [15]/25 September 1666. incorporating Aphra Behn's transcript of a letter to her by William Scott. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 74-6.
*BeA 46
Autograph letter signed, to Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, from Antwerp, [24 October]/3 November 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 80-2.
*BeA 47
Autograph letter signed, to Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, [from Antwerp], [16]/26 December 1666, incorporating an extract by Aphra Behn of a letter to her by William Scott. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 83-6.
*BeA 48
An autograph petition by Aphra Behn, to King Charles II, [1668?], in a formal version of her hand, [1668?]. 1668?.
Recorded in Summers, I, xxvi.
BeA 49
A petition by Aphra Behn, in a professional hand, to King Charles II, [1668?]. 1668?.
Recorded in Summers, I, xxvi.
*BeA 50
Autograph letter signed, to Thomas Killigrew, from Antwerp, [1668?]. 1668?
Facsimiles in Summers, I, facing p. xxvi; in Angeline Goreau, Reconstructing Aphra (Oxford, 1980), Plate 14, after p. 180; and in Mary Ann O'Donnell, ‘A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16’, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 5, p. 197).
BeA 51
A petition by Aphra Behn, in a professional hand, to King Charles II, [1668?]. 1668?.
Recorded in Summers, I, xxvi.
*BeA 52
Autograph letter signed by Behn, to Abigail Waller, following her father-in-law's death on 21 October 1687, originally accompanying BeA 10. 1687.
Edited (from a transcript owned by George Thorn-Drury) in Summers, I, l-li. Facsimiles of the last page in Sotheby's sale catalogue, 21 July 1981, Lot 440, and in Mary Ann O'Donnell, ‘A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16’, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 8, p. 202).
*BeA 53
Autograph letter signed, to Jacob Tonson, [undated]. Late 17th century.
Formerly among Tonson papers belonging to W.R. Baker, at Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire. Christie's, 17 December 1907, lot 152, to Sotheran. Sotheby's, 17 March 1930, lot 183, to Maggs.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 70. Edited in Gentleman's Magazine, NS 5 (May 1836), 481-2, and (from a transcript made by Edmond Malone and owned by G. Thorn-Drury) in Summers, I, xlv-xlvi.
BeA 54
Copy of Behn's letter to Jacob Tonson, undated.
In: A quarto volume of transcripts by Edmond Malone (1741-1812), literary scholar, biographer and book collector, of letters to Jacob Tonson, copied ‘from the originals in the possn. of Willm. Baker, Esqre’, 143 pages (plus numerous blanks), in contemporary vellum. Late 18th century.
Documents
Document(s)
*BeA 55
An autograph bond relating to Zachary Baggs and the ‘playing my first play’, on one side of an oblong octavo leaf, 1 August 1685. 1685.
Formerly among the Tonson papers belonging to W. R. Baker at Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire.
Recorded in HMC, 2nd Report (1871), Appendix, p. 70. Edited in Gentleman's Magazine, NS 5 (May 1836), 482, and in Summers, I, xlviii. Facsimile example in Mary Ann O'Donnell, ‘A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16’, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 6, p. 198).
*BeA 56
Aphra Behn's autograph copy of a letter to her by William Scott, from Rotterdam, 28 August/7 September 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 58-9. Facsimile in Mary Ann O'Donnell, ‘A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c. 16’, EMS, 2 (1990), 189-218 (Plate 4, p. 196).
BeA 57
Official copy of a letter to Aphra Behn by William Scott. 1666.
Edited in Cameron.
*BeA 58
Aphra Behn's autograph copy of a letter to her by William Scott.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 65-8. Facsimile example in Duffy, p. 76.
BeA 59
Official copy of a letter to Aphra Behn by William Scott. 1666.
Edited in Cameron.
BeA 60
Official copy of instructions sent to Aphra Behn, headed ‘Memorialls for Mrs Affora’. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 34-5.
*BeA 61
Autograph letter signed by William Scott, to Aphra Behn, with her autograph footnote before she sent it on to James Halsall in London. 1666.
Edited in Cameron, pp. 43-8. Facsimile of the last page in Duffy, p. 80.
BeA 62
Official copy of ‘the Contents’ of a letter to Aphra Behn by William Scott, from Rotterdam, 5 October 1666. 1666.
Edited in Cameron.
BeA 63
Copy of Behn's bond relating to Zachary Baggs, 1 August 1685.
In: the MS described under BeA 54. Late 18th century.
Books Owned by Aphra Behn
Killigrew, Thomas. Comedies and Tragedies (London, 1664)
*BeA 64
An exemplum of the printed folio edition, with the title-pages for the ten individual plays inscribed ?‘Mad Behn’, most of the inscriptions probably in Behn's own hand. c.1664.
Editorial Papers
Editorial Papers
BeA 65
A collection of over forty letters by Montague Summers, to A. H. Bullen, principally discussing at length his edition of The Works of Aphra Behn, c.80 quarto and octavo pages. 1913-21.
Sotheby's, 13 December 1990, lot 294, to T. D'Arch Smith, with a facsimile example in the sale catalogue.