Scriptorium : Collection of extensive reading notes by Sir John Brownlowe; English; third quarter of the seventeenth century.

Collection of extensive reading notes by Sir John Brownlowe; English; third quarter of the seventeenth century. (Belton MS S. 115.20)

Information about this document

Physical Location: Belton House
Classmark: Belton MS S. 115.20
Subject(s): Reading Notes; History; Politics; Church History; Devotional; Prose; Verse; 1650 - 1700
Origin Place: England
Date of Creation: 1650-1700
Language(s): English
Extent: 147 leaves height: 190 mm, width: 140 mm.
Collation:
A tight and somewhat fragile binding makes it difficult to collate this manuscript. A blank front flyleaf is integral to the textblock. One stub appears after f. 133.
Material:
Paper
Condition:
The manuscript is in a relatively good condition, and the textblock very clean. The binding is slightly friable at its base.
Binding:
Brown calf on paper boards, rather scuffed at both ends.
Blind tooling on front, back, and on spine. Additional gold tooling and lettering on spine, reading 'MISCELLEN'S'.
Script:
Typical mixed italic and secretary features. Mixture of backwards and italic 'e': see first line on f. 39r for example, 'thinke Jerusalem was neare taking', employing both letter forms. Italic 's' and 'h' do not descend below the baseline, as their earlier secretary forms would have done. Characteristics of this hand include the occasional ligature over 'ff' (see, for instance, f. 2r, f. 121v), and the long-backwards sloping ascender of minuscule 'd'. The very uniform appearance of this hand suggests that the compilation was finished in a relatively short period of time.
Our scribe liberally employs full stops and commas (the difference not always being very clear). Lines are occasionally filled out with tilde-like flourishes. At the end of a paragraph or an item final words are frequently centred. Spelling is idiosyncratic, but not unusually so for the period (for instance, frequent doubling of 'll' in 'generall', or 'Allexander'). Almost no abbbrevations, and few superscript letters (but occasionally 'y^e').
Foliation:
The manuscript is unfoliated and unpaginated.
Layout:
No ruling or pricking. Occasional catchwords added in the hand of the main scribe.
The scribe has left good-sized margins, so no text has been lost. Nevertheless, little space is wasted in this manuscript. The size of the hand and the length of the lines is very uniform throughout, giving an organised appearance. Items or sections of text are frequently divided by blank spaces or dotted horizontal lines.
Decoration:
There is no illustration or decoration anywhere in the manuscript; however, the top, front, and bottom edges of the paper (see Additional images) have been marbled in red and blue pattern. The vogue for marbled edges was apparently shortlived, between the 1670s and 1690s. Indeed, as David Pearson suggests (English Bookbinding Styles, 1450-1800), 'bindings with edges like this can normally be dated within that twenty-year window' (p. 112). This helps us confirm a date for the manuscript in the third (or final) quarter of the seventeenth century.
Provenance:
A Belton House bookplate can be found inside the front cover. No other marks of ownership. It is very likely that the manuscript never left Belton House after the collection was compiled by 'Old' Sir John Brownlowe.
Funding: Arts and Humanities Research Council
Bibliography:
Cust, Lady Elizabeth, Records of the Cust Family. Series II: The Brownlows of Belton, 1550-1779 (London: Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1909).
Pearson, David, English Bookbinding Styles: 1450-1800 (London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2005).

By permission of the National Trust and Belton House.

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If one should aske why doe writers take paines (image 5, page 2r) Since in the Following treatise I am often found (image 6, page 2v) Sampson the Lyons sturdy lims did teare (image 7, page 3r) Intending to set fourth in this voloum (image 8, page 3v) Dr. Taylor mentions the daughter of one (image 8, page 3v) King Phillipe the Father of Allexander the Great (image 9, page 4r) Notes out of Doctor Fullers holy war (image 24, page 11v) Now wee are com to the main body (image 100, page 49v) d^r. Tayler in his Rules of holy liueing, notes
these signes of a good man, & one that
belonges to God (image 100, page 49v) In an Epistle to the Earle of Carbery hee hath this \saying/ (image 169, page 84r) And now I am com to a Full stop (image 217, page 108r) It is said in holy Scripture
That Loue. or Charity Edifieth, but knowledg puffeth vp (image 218, page 108v) From hence I will proseed to mention
som witty sayings as I haue found
collected by a namless Authour (image 237, page 118r) The history of the booke
of Ruth practically Explained (image 244, page 121v) Adam, whilst hee had not seene (image 271, page 135r) Meditations vpon the 107 p〚l〛salme (image 277, page 138r) vpon the Lords prayer
by an vnknowne Author (image 284, page 141v) Magno verborum fræno vti decet cum superiori colloquentem (image 296, page 147v)

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Information about this document

Physical Location: Belton House
Classmark: Belton MS S. 115.20
Subject(s): Reading Notes; History; Politics; Church History; Devotional; Prose; Verse; 1650 - 1700
Origin Place: England
Date of Creation: 1650-1700
Language(s): English
Extent: 147 leaves height: 190 mm, width: 140 mm.
Collation:
A tight and somewhat fragile binding makes it difficult to collate this manuscript. A blank front flyleaf is integral to the textblock. One stub appears after f. 133.
Material:
Paper
Condition:
The manuscript is in a relatively good condition, and the textblock very clean. The binding is slightly friable at its base.
Binding:
Brown calf on paper boards, rather scuffed at both ends.
Blind tooling on front, back, and on spine. Additional gold tooling and lettering on spine, reading 'MISCELLEN'S'.
Script:
Typical mixed italic and secretary features. Mixture of backwards and italic 'e': see first line on f. 39r for example, 'thinke Jerusalem was neare taking', employing both letter forms. Italic 's' and 'h' do not descend below the baseline, as their earlier secretary forms would have done. Characteristics of this hand include the occasional ligature over 'ff' (see, for instance, f. 2r, f. 121v), and the long-backwards sloping ascender of minuscule 'd'. The very uniform appearance of this hand suggests that the compilation was finished in a relatively short period of time.
Our scribe liberally employs full stops and commas (the difference not always being very clear). Lines are occasionally filled out with tilde-like flourishes. At the end of a paragraph or an item final words are frequently centred. Spelling is idiosyncratic, but not unusually so for the period (for instance, frequent doubling of 'll' in 'generall', or 'Allexander'). Almost no abbbrevations, and few superscript letters (but occasionally 'y^e').
Foliation:
The manuscript is unfoliated and unpaginated.
Layout:
No ruling or pricking. Occasional catchwords added in the hand of the main scribe.
The scribe has left good-sized margins, so no text has been lost. Nevertheless, little space is wasted in this manuscript. The size of the hand and the length of the lines is very uniform throughout, giving an organised appearance. Items or sections of text are frequently divided by blank spaces or dotted horizontal lines.
Decoration:
There is no illustration or decoration anywhere in the manuscript; however, the top, front, and bottom edges of the paper (see Additional images) have been marbled in red and blue pattern. The vogue for marbled edges was apparently shortlived, between the 1670s and 1690s. Indeed, as David Pearson suggests (English Bookbinding Styles, 1450-1800), 'bindings with edges like this can normally be dated within that twenty-year window' (p. 112). This helps us confirm a date for the manuscript in the third (or final) quarter of the seventeenth century.
Provenance:
A Belton House bookplate can be found inside the front cover. No other marks of ownership. It is very likely that the manuscript never left Belton House after the collection was compiled by 'Old' Sir John Brownlowe.
Funding: Arts and Humanities Research Council
Bibliography:
Cust, Lady Elizabeth, Records of the Cust Family. Series II: The Brownlows of Belton, 1550-1779 (London: Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1909).
Pearson, David, English Bookbinding Styles: 1450-1800 (London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2005).

Section shown in images 5 to 5

Title: If one should aske why doe writers take paines
Language(s): English
Excerpts:
Incipit: If one should aske why doe writers take paines
Explicit: most materiall & needfull to be knowne

Section shown in images 6 to 6

Title: Since in the Following treatise I am often found
Language(s): English
Excerpts:
Incipit: Since in the Following treatise I am often found
Explicit: tale as well as the Rich

Section shown in images 7 to 7

Title: Sampson the Lyons sturdy lims did teare
Language(s): English
Excerpts:
Incipit: Sampson the Lyons sturdy lims did teare
Explicit: Since he may sit & tast. & heare. & see

Section shown in images 8 to 8

Title: Intending to set fourth in this voloum
Language(s): English
Excerpts:
Incipit: Intending to set fourth in this voloum
Explicit: that which follows

Section shown in images 8 to 8

Title: Dr. Taylor mentions the daughter of one
Language(s): English
Note(s): Reading note from Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, 1651 (cf. p. 66). See further items 9 and 10 below.
Excerpts:
Incipit: Dr. Taylor mentions the daughter of one
Explicit: his Fat

Section shown in images 9 to 24

Title: King Phillipe the Father of Allexander the Great
Language(s): English
Note(s): Notes on the life and military history of Alexander the Great. On ff. 10v-11v follow more interpretative notes starting 'these I gathered out of the history of Allexander [...] though noe doubt there has bin the like Exsamples in our owne Country'. Several localised examples then follow, including one from the scribe's own dreams.
Excerpts:
Incipit: King Phillipe the Father of Allexander the Great
Explicit: bin mistaken

Section shown in images 24 to 99

Title: Notes out of Doctor Fullers holy war
Language(s): English
Note(s): Reading notes from Thomas Fuller's The Historie of the Holy Warre, first printed 1639 and frequently thereafter. Our scribe provides an extensive running commentary (at times critical of Fuller), and his own thoughts on ff. 44v-49r culminate in 'this Epithalamium'.
Excerpts:
Rubric: Notes out of Doctor Fullers holy war
Incipit: Out of the writings of Josephus Exemplified by
Explicit: the Sunn thou shalt not neede, the Lamb shall be thy light

Section shown in images 100 to 100

Title: Now wee are com to the main body
Language(s): English
Note(s): Note on the 'choysest collections' to follow, which deserve the pride of place of being right in 'the middle' of the manuscript.
Excerpts:
Incipit: Now wee are com to the main body
Explicit: may see them as they pas

Section shown in images 100 to 169

Title: d^r. Tayler in his Rules of holy liueing, notes
these signes of a good man, & one that
belonges to God
Language(s): English
Note(s): Reading notes from Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living, first printed 1650 and very frequently thereafter. As in item 7, the scribe adds extensive commentaries; see for instance ff. 80v-82r, where the he notes Catholic versus Protestant debates about the holy sacrament, relating to parliamentary action 'in the yeare [1]673 or [1]674' (f. 81v).
Excerpts:
Rubric: d^r. Tayler in his Rules of holy liueing, notes
these signes of a good man, & one that
belonges to God
Incipit: one that beleeues & is baptised into all the
Explicit: when he shall com again vnto vs &c:

Section shown in images 169 to 216

Title: In an Epistle to the Earle of Carbery hee hath this \saying/
Language(s): English
Note(s): Reading notes from Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying, 1651. See item 5 above, also 9, from which this is a continuation.
Excerpts:
Incipit: In an Epistle to the Earle of Carbery hee hath this \saying/
Explicit: And keepe the Faith. Amen

Section shown in images 217 to 217

Title: And now I am com to a Full stop
Language(s): English
Note(s): Poem presumably from the hand of the scribe, concluding 'the maine body' of the manuscript, and now introducing 'the Reare'. Cf. item 8 above, which introduced this section in the manuscript. The scribe's use of 'gleanings' connects to item 13 below: he might have purposefully emulated Grove's practice of extraction.
Excerpts:
Incipit: And now I am com to a Full stop
Explicit: to close vp the Reare

Section shown in images 218 to 237

Title: It is said in holy Scripture
That Loue. or Charity Edifieth, but knowledg puffeth vp
Language(s): English
Note(s): Series of scriptural and moral truisms illustrated with, and validated by, historical accounts of Alexander the Great, and more recent English and European history.
Excerpts:
Rubric: It is said in holy Scripture
That Loue. or Charity Edifieth, but knowledg puffeth vp
Incipit: this was well seene in those two kinges
Explicit: had got such a cold - he had quite lost his smelling

Section shown in images 237 to 243

Title: From hence I will proseed to mention
som witty sayings as I haue found
collected by a namless Authour
Language(s): English
Note(s): Copied from Robert Grove's GLEANINGS, or, A Collection of some Memorable passages, both Antient and Moderne Many in relation to the late warre, 1651.
Excerpts:
Rubric: From hence I will proseed to mention
som witty sayings as I haue found
collected by a namless Authour
Incipit: Maximillian the Emperour, accounted vpon three
Explicit: it was pitty. he should Euer com into it

Section shown in images 244 to 270

Title: The history of the booke
of Ruth practically Explained
Language(s): English
Note(s): No printed source for this has been identified, although various analogous works expound the Book of Ruth. This may be the work of our scribe.
Excerpts:
Rubric: The history of the booke
of Ruth practically Explained
Incipit: The Vniuersall Father of the whole Creation
Explicit: thinge this day
Final Rubric: the End of the 3 fist chapters

Section shown in images 271 to 276

Title: Adam, whilst hee had not seene
Language(s): English
Note(s): Continuation of Item 14 above, treating of Naomi and Boaz.
Excerpts:
Incipit: Adam, whilst hee had not seene
Explicit: the Father of king Dauid

Section shown in images 277 to 283

Title: Meditations vpon the 107 p〚l〛salme
Language(s): English
Note(s): No printed source for this has been identified.
Excerpts:
Rubric: Meditations vpon the 107 p〚l〛salme
Incipit: And the lord that made heauen and Earth
Explicit: of the Lord
Final Rubric: Text is divine and pure
Comment is but of man
the first is good be sure
the last like as you can

Section shown in images 284 to 295

Title: vpon the Lords prayer
by an vnknowne Author
Language(s): English
Note(s): No printed source for this has been identified.
Excerpts:
Rubric: vpon the Lords prayer
by an vnknowne Author
Incipit: O heauenly Father. I most humbly & heartily
Explicit: Eternall Liberty
Final Rubric: Amen

Section shown in images 296 to 296

Title: Magno verborum fræno vti decet cum superiori colloquentem
Language(s): English
Note(s): Latin motto attributed to Petrarch and quoted by Jeremy Taylor in his 'Second Letter: Written to a Person newly Converted to the Church of England', printed, for instance, in his The Measures and offices of friendship with Rules of conducting it: to which are added, Two Letters written to persons newly changed in their Religion, 1657, p. 200.
Excerpts:
Incipit: Magno verborum fræno vti decet cum superiori colloquentem