Nicholas Breton (1545?–1626)
Verse which has been Attributed to Breton
Againe vpon the same subiect ('Truthe shewes her selfe is secrett of her truste')
First published as 'Of Truth and Loue' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 21>. Authorship unknown.
BrN 1
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, in several hands, ff. 2r-26r in a single secretary hand, ff. 26r-40v in yet another, with later additions near the end dated 1653, 60 leaves (plus blanks), in contemporary vellum. c.1596 [-1653].
Inscribed (f. 1r) 'Anthonie Babingtonn of warrington', with the date '1596', and 'Roger Wright me possidett ex dono Henerici fratrie Meo'. Later owned and annotated by Thomas Percy (1729-1811), Bishop of Dromore, writer. Signature and bookplate of F.W. Cosens, FSA (1819-89), of Clapham Park, book collector. Sotheby's, 25 July 1890 (Cosens sale), lot 50. Purchased from Jarvis & Son, 15 June 1891.
Identified in Ringler, PQ (1975), as the 'Quarto MS' from which Percy derived the texts of three poems by Breton edited in his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). Substantial extracts from it edited in Grosart's edition of Breton (1879). Also briefly discussed in P.M. Buck, Jr., 'Add MS. 34064 and Spenser's Ruins of Time and Mother Hubberd's Tale', MLN, 22 (1907), 41-6, and in Robertson's edition of Breton, pp. liv-lv.
Typed and MS notes relating to this volume made in the 1920s by Professor Hyder Edward Rollins (1889-1958) are in Harvard MS Eng 1613.
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (t), pp. 19-20. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 85.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 20r.
'Ah, poore conceite, pull downe delight, thy pleasant daies are done'
First published in The Phoenix Nest (London, 1593). Authorship unknown.
Copy, untitled.
In: the MS described under BrN 1. c.1596 [-1653].
Edited from this MS in Grosart.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 20v.
'All my sences stand amazèd'
First published in Grosart (1879), I (t), p. 22. Authorship unknown.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 23r-v.
'All my witte hath will enwrappèd'
First published in John Bartlet, A Booke of Ayres (London, 1606), No. 7. Grosart, I (t), p. 22. Authorship unknown.
Copy, in a musical setting, untitled.
In: An oblong quarto songbook, the lyrics in two or more secretary and italic hands, iv + 43 leaves, in modern quarter-calf. Inscribed (f. 31r) 'MAY 1639' and 'Williane Stirling'. A long note (f. iir) in the hand of John Leyden (1775-1811), linguist and poet, dated 5 March 1800, recording his purchase of the MS in 1788 from the library of the Rev. Mr Cranstow, minister of Ancrum; his lending it to Alexander Campbell in 1795 and retrieving it in December 1799; and his now consigning it to Richard Heber (1774-1833), book collector. c.1639.
A complete facsimile of this volume is in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 11 (New York & London, 1987).
Edited from this MS in Nelly Diem, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Schottischen Musik im XVII. Jahrhundert (Zürich & Leipzig, 1919), pp. 88-9.
National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 5.2.14, f. 13r.
'Among the groves, the woods and thickes'
First published in The Historie of the life and fortune of Don Frederigo di terra Nuoua (London, 1590); Grosart, I (u), p. 10.
Copy of lines 1-20.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, in an accomplished mixed hand throughout, with headings or incipts in engrossed lettering, 194 leaves, in 19th-century half-morocco. c.1596-1601.
This MS volume discussed in Katherine K. Gottschalk, 'Discoveries concerning British Library MS Harley 6910', MP, 77 (1979-80), 121-31.
This MS collated in Robertson, pp. l-li. Recorded in Grosart.
British Library, Harley MS 6910, ff. 163v-4r.
Amoris Lachrimae: For the Death of Sir Philip Sidney ('Emonge the woes of those vnhappie wightes')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 1>. Breton's authorship acknowledged in his Pilgrimage to Paradise (London, 1592).
Copy, the title subscribed.
Edited from this MS in Grosart. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, pp. 65-71.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 41r-7r.
Copy in two hands, headed 'Amoris lachrimae on the deathe of Sr. P. Sidneye', subscribed 'Finis BRJTON on S.P.S.'
In: A quarto miscellany chiefly of verse, largely in a single secretary hand, compiled by a Cambridge student, vii + 130 leaves, in later calf. c.1586-91.
This volume is edited in Cummings, who suggests that the compiler is Sir John Finett (1571-1641), of Fordwich, Kent: hence it is often cited as 'The John Finett miscellany'. The hands do not appear to be his, however, and this attribution is questionable.
This MS collated in Rolins, Bowre, pp. 65-71; recorded in Grosart.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, ff. 27r-34v.
Copy, headed 'An Epitaph composed by Sr Edward Dyer of Sr Phillipp Sidney'.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, in at least seven secretary and italic hands, 118 leaves (plus some blanks), currently disbound. Possibly compiled by one or more persons connected with the Inns of Court. c.1600-1620s.
Later in the library of the Rev. Richard Farmer, FSA (1735-97), Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, literary scholar. Lot 8055 in the sale of his library by Thomas King, 7 May to 16 June 1798. Probably owned afterwards by James Crossley (1800-83), author and book collector. Formerly Chetham's MS 8012.
The volume edited by Alexander B. Grosart as The Dr. Farmer Chetham MS. being a Commonplace Book in the Chetham Library, Manchester, temp. Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, Chetham Society, vols 89 and 90 (Manchester, 1873).
This MS collated in Rollins, Bowre, pp. 65-71, 89. Recorded in Grosart (1879).
Chetham's Library, Mun. A.4.15, ff. 89r-94r (pp. 143-53).
BrN 10
Copy of the last two stanzas (lines 367-78), untitled and here beginning 'Perfeccon, peerles, vertue without pride'.
These stanzas edited in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591) as a separate poem, headed 'A Poem' <No. 30>. Edited from this MS in Grosart. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, pp. 88-9.
Astrophell his Song of Phillida and Coridon ('Faire in a morne (o fairest morne)')
First published in Englands Helicon (London, 1600), <No. 33>, ascribed to 'N. Breton' ('S. Phil. Sidney' cancelled). Grosart, I (t), p. 8.
This MS collated in Rollins, England's Helicon, II, 111-12.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 17v-18r.
Copy, untitled, subscribed 'Finis. Britton'.
In: the MS described under BrN 8. c.1586-91.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, ff. 1v-2.
Copy of the prologue, untitled.
In: the MS described under BrN 6. c.1596-1601.
This MS collated in Rollins, England's Helicon, II, 111.
British Library, Harley MS 6910, f. 140r.
Copy, untitled and here beginning 'fayre Phillis is the shepherds queene'.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and some prose, 63 leaves, partly mounted on guards, in modern quarter-calf on marbled boards. Compiled by Henry Stanford (d.1616), household tutor to the Paget and Carey families, including George Carey, second Lord Hunsdon. c.1581-1612.
A complete transcription of this volume in Steven W. May, Henry Stanford's Anthology: An Edition of Cambridge University Library Manuscript Dd. 5.75 (New York, 1988).
May, Stanford, pp. 128-9 (No. 201).
Cambridge University Library, MS Dd. 5. 75, f. 38v.
Copy of lines 1-4, 9-12 of the prologue, in a musical setting.
In: Two music part books compiled by Thomas Smith (1614-1701) of The Queen's College, Oxford, later Bishop of Carlisle. c.1637.
Formerly Carlisle Cathedral, Dean & Chapter of Carlisle MSS, Box B1.
These MSS discussed in John P. Cutts, Bishop Smith's Part-Song Books in Carlisle Cathedral Library (American Institute of Musicology, 1972).
A musical setting first published in Thomas Morley, First Booke of Ayres (London, 1600). Edited from this MS in John P. Cutts, Bishop Smith's Part-Song Books in Carlisle Cathedral Library (American Institute of Musicology, 1972), p. 60. Recorded in Rollins, England's Helicon, II, 113-14.
Cumbria Archives, Carlisle, D&C Music 1, Bassus, p. 90.
In: An octavo miscellany of verse and prose, closely written in possibly several minute predominantly secretary hands, 291 leaves (ff. 212-16 bound out of order after f. 24), in modern calf. c.1640s.
Inscribed (f. 1r) 'Joseph Hall' (not the bishop). Later owned by John Payne Collier (1789-1883), literary scholar, editor and forger, who has entered in pseudo-17th-century secretary script copies of various ballads on ff. 39r-41r, 107v-79r, 181r-v, 227r-8v, 243r-6r, as well as adding foliation (1-284) before the more recent foliation (1-291, used below). Quaritch's sale catalogue 'of English Literature' (August-November 1884), item 22350, Collier's transcript of the MS made c.1860 being item 22352. Formerly Folger MS 2071.7.
Discussed, with facsimile examples, in Giles E. Dawson, 'John Payne Collier's Great Forgery', SB, 24 (1971), 1-26.
Edited from this MS in Doughtie, Lyrics from English Airs, p. 500; recorded in Rollins, England's Helicon, II, 114.
Folger, MS V.a.339, f. 189v.
In: A quarto musical part book, in several neat secretary and italic hands, with some initial-letter decoration, headed (f. 5r) 'This is the fyrst Buke addit to the four psalme Bukkes, for songis of four or fyue partis, meit and apt for musitians, to recreat...', with (ff. 2r-4r) a table of contents, 63 leaves, in old blind-stamped calf. One of the part books of the 'St Andrews Psalter'. Early 17th century.
Trinity College, Dublin, MS 412, f. 36v.
Copy of the first line only, in a musical setting, untitled.
In: Three small quarto musical part books of the 'St Andrews Psalter' (the Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1566 etc. by Thomas Wode, afterwards Vicar of St Andrews), copied c.1575-8, in formal angular roman hands, with rubrication and colour decoration, and with a series of secular songs added later in secretary and italic hands at the end, comprising (i) Treble part: iv + 214 pages (including blanks; (ii) Tenor part: iv + 200 pages; and (iii) Bassus part: 214 pages, all in 19th-century black morocco (iii incorporating an original vellum board). c.1575-early 17th century.
For a fourth (Counter-tenor) part book of this Psalter, see British Library, Add. MS 33933.
Edinburgh University Library, MS La. III. 483, Bassus, p. 189.
'At my harte there is a paine'
First published in Grosart (1879), I (t), pp. 18-19. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart. Collated in The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. William Ringler, Jr. (Oxford, 1962), pp. 354-5.
Copy, subscribed 'S. P. S.' [i.e. Sir Philip Sidney].
Edited from this MS in Ringler, op.cit., pp. 354-5.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, ff. 25v-6r.
Bretons resolucon ('If beawtie did not blinde the eies')
First published in Grosart (1879), I (t), p. 14.
Copy, untitled but called in the last line 'Bretons resolucon'.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 5r.
Brittons Diuinitie ('From worldly cares and wanton loues conceit')
First published in The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (London, 1597), <No. 23>. Grosart, I (d), pp. 9-11.
This MS discussed in Ringler, PQ (1975), 35.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 49r-54v.
'Choridon vnhappie swaine'
First published in Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (London, 1765), II, 246-7.
Edited from this MS in Percy, in Grosart, and in Ringler, PQ (1975), 27.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 25v-6r.
Choridon's Dreame ('Fast by a fountaine sweete and clere')
First published in Grosart (1879), I (t), p. 16-17. Authorship unknown.
Copy in: the MS described under BrN 1. c.1596 [-1653].
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 9r-10r.
The complaint of a forsaken Louer ('Let me goe seeke some solitarie place')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 16>. The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (London, 1597), <No. 40>. Grosart, I (d), p. 13. Authorship unknown.
This MS collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 82 (no variants).
The complaint of one being in love ('Leaue me O life, the prison of my minde')
First published in The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (London, 1597), <No. 10>. Grosart, I (d), p. 6. Authorship unknown.
Copy in a musical setting, untitled.
In: A folio volume of songs, madrigals and motets, 48 leaves, the leaves now mounted with other MSS (1015-1019) in a double-folio guardbook. Early 17th century.
Formerly at St Michael's College, Tenbury Wells.
A complete facsimile of this volume in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 6 (New York & London, 1987).
Edited from this MS in John P. Cutts, 'The Strange Fortunes of Two Excellent Princes and The Arbor of Amorous Deuises', RN, 15 (1962), 2-11 (pp. 9-10).
Bodleian, MS Tenbury 1018, f. 10r.
Coridons supplication to Phillis ('Sweete Phillis, if a silly Swaine')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 47>. England's Helicon (London, 1600), <No. 40>, ascribed to 'N. Breton'. Grosart, I (t), pp. 8-9.
This MS collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 102.
The Countess of Pembroke's Passion ('Where shall I finde that melancholy muse')
See BrN 55-57.
An epitaph on the death of a noble Gentleman ('Sorrow come sit thee downe, and sigh and sob thy fill')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 18>. The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (London, 1597), <No. 42>. Grosart, I (d), pp. 13-14. Authorship unknown.
This MS collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 83.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 14r-15r.
'Faire, fairer then the fairest'
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 8v-9r.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, f. 25r.
'Goe muse vnto the bower, whereas the mistress dwelles'
First published, as 'A Poem', in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 7>. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (t), p. 14; collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 75.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 3v.
Copy, in a new secretary hand, untitled.
Copy of lines 1-8 (with a version of lines 7-8 repeated on f. 28v).
In: A quarto verse miscellany, including 18 poems by Donne, in several hands over a period (the predominant secretary hand on ff. 1r-35v, 45v-63r), written from both ends, 91 leaves, in later green morocco. c.1630s [-1777].
Inscribed (f. 1r) 'E Libris Richardo Glovero pharmacopol. Londinense pertinantibus', the date '1638' possibly added in a different hand. The name 'William Allen' on f. 77v among scribbling. Inscribed (f. 1v) by a later owner, apparently for 'Mr Thorpe', 'I was informed by the bookseller of whom I bought this book; that it belonged formerly to a literary gentleman who lived in Burton Crescent and who died about six months ago. 3rd Augt. 1835'.
Cited in IELM, I.i (1980), as the 'Glover MS': DnJ Δ 42.
British Library, Egerton MS 2230, ff. 29r-28v.
The Hate of Treason, with a touch of the late Treason
See BrN 39.
His complaint against Loue and Fortune ('Yf heavne and earthe were bothe not fullie bente')
I and U ('A placed aloane is but an idle worde')
Copy, possibly by Powle, headed 'i617: / oct: i7:', the first line originally reading 'I. and: U: A by it selfe is butt an idle Worde' and changed to 'I. and: U: A placed aloane is butt an idle Worde'. October 1617.
In: A folio compendium or entry book of state letters and other documents and memoranda, in various secretary and italic hands, 231 leaves (including numerous blanks), in modern half-calf. Compiled over a period, and partly written, by Sir Stephen Powle (c.1553-1630), Clerk of the Crown.
Bodleian, MS Tanner 169, f. 173v.
'I would thou wert not faire, or I were wise'
First published in The Strange Fortunes of Two Excellent Princes Fantiro and Perillo (London, 1600). Grosart, II (d), p. 22. The setting published in John Bartlet, A Booke of Ayres (London, 1606).
Copy, in a musical setting by John Bartlet, untitled.
In: An oblong folio songbook, the lyrics in two or more secretary and italic hands, 44 leaves, in contemporary vellum within brown calf gilt, stamped with the initials 'A. B.', now within modern half red morocco. c.1630.
Inscribed (f. 1r) 'Richard Elliotts his Booke' and 'William Wilkins 1743'. The cover initials 'A. B.' conjecturally attributed to Adrian Batten (1591-1637), composer. Puttick & Simpson's, 30 June 1873.
Facsimile of ff. 2r-26v in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 1 (New York & London, 1986).
Edited from this MS in John P. Cutts, 'The Strange Fortunes of Two Excellent Princes and The Arbor of Amorous Deuises', RN, 15 (1962), 2-11 (p. 11).
'If beawtie did not blinde the eyes'
'Yf heavne and earthe were bothe not fullie bente'
First published as 'His complaint against Loue and Fortune' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 25>. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, pp. 86-7.
In the praise of his Mistresse ('Poets lay downe your pennes, let fancie leaue to faine')
In the praise of his Penelope ('When Authors wryte, god knowes what thinge is true')
See BrN 106.
'In time of yor when Sheppherds dwelt'
An Invective against Treason ('Oh what a wicked wretched worlde is this?')
First published as The Hate of Treason, with a Touch of the Late Treason (London, 1616).
*BrN 39
Copy, in a professional secretary and italic hand (the same as in BrN 99), with Breton's autograph dedication to the Duke of Lennox, on ten quarto leaves. [1605-13].
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (r). Discussed in Robertson, pp. cxii-cxiv (where it is mistakenly described as entirely autograph). Facsimiles of the dedication in Grosart and in Greg, English Literary Autographs, plate XXXV (c).
British Library, Royal MS 17 C. XXXIV.
'Looke not to longe vpon thes lookes, that blindes the ouerlooker sore'
First published as 'A Poem' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 27>. Authorship unknown.
A Louers complaint ('The fire to see my wrongs for anger burneth')
Grosart, I (d), pp. 6-7.
See SiP 24-29.
A Metaphor ('A little fire doth make the fagot burne')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 39>. Attributed to Breton by F.H. McCloskey. See Rollins, Bowre, p. xviii.
Copy of the first stanza, untitled.
This MS collated in Rollins, p. 94.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, f. 114v.
Mr. Brittons verses ('twoe to one is odds: twoe with one makes oddes')
Copy, at least partly in Powle's hand, under a general heading 'Mr Brotton. 5. Juni 1616'. 1616.
In: the MS described under BrN 34.
Bodleian, MS Tanner 169, f. 147r.
A most excellent passion set downe of N.B. Gent
My Witche ('Yor. eies bewitchte my wit, yor. wit bewitchte my will')
Copy, subscribed by Powle 'Theis 12 verses weare made and geauen me by Mr. Nic. Bretton anno et die supradictis'. [October 1617].
'...Neuer thinke vpon anoye'
Copy, imperfect, lacking the first part of the poem.
Of a discontented minde ('Poets come all, and each one take a penne')
Of a wearie life ('Who can delight in suche a wofull sounde')
Of his Mistresse Beautie ('What ailes mine eies, or are my wits distraught')
Of the foure Elements ('The Aire with swete my sences doe delight')
Of Truth and Loue ('Againe vpon the same subiect')
See BrN 1.
'Oh eies, leave of your weepinge'
First published in Robert Dowland, A Musicall Banquet (London, 1610), No. 3. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (t), p. 16.
Copy, untitled and here beginning 'Myne eyes leaue of your weepynge'.
BrN 48.5
Copy of stanzas 1-3, in a musical setting by Robert Hales.
In: A lute book. c.1610.
Owned by one Francis Turpyn.
This MS collated in Doughtie, Lyrics from English Airs, pp. 583-4.
Facsimile in The Turpyn Book of Lute Songs, ed. Richard Rastall (Leeds, 1973).
King's College, Cambridge, Rowe MS 2, ff. 4v-5r.
'Oh that desire colde leave to liue, that longe hath lookt to die'
Pasqvils Mad-cappe ('Why should man loue this wretched world so much')
First published in London, 1600. Grosart, I (e).
Copy, in double columns, subscribed 'FINIS. xxo Die Mensis Maij Anno Dni 1604'.
In: A folio miscellany chiefly of verse, formally set out in a single neat secretary hand, compiled between 6 April and 17 November 1604, 80 pages, in modern marbled boards. 1604.
Phillipps MS 9062. Sotheby's (Phillipps sale), lot 00. Inscribed in pencil (f. [iir]) as owned on 11 May 1903 by William Augustus White (1843-1927), American banker and collector. Items 185 and 624 respectively in two unidentified sale catalogues.
Folger, MS V.b.210, pp. 59-69.
The Passion of a Discontented Minde ('From silent night, true register of mones')
First published in London, 1601. Attributed to Breton in Robertson, pp. xcii-xcviii, but see also Doughtie, Lyrics from English Airs, pp. 613-15. Printed and firmly attributed to Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, in The Poems of Edward De Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, and of Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex, ed. Steven W. May, Studies in Philology, 77, No. 5 (Early Winter 1980), pp. 49-59 (No. 11) and pp. 94-106.
Copy in: A small quarto verse miscellany, 51 leaves. c.1601.
Owned in 1601 by one Thomas Wenman. Later by W. Stonehouse and by the Rev. Thomas Corser, FSA (1793-1876), book collector.
This MS discussed in Mary Shakeshaft, 'Nicholas Breton's The Passion of a Discontented Mind: Some New Problems', SEL, 5 (1965), 165-74; partly collated in Doughtie. Collated in May, pp. 125-7.
British Library, Egerton MS 2403, ff. 38-48.
Copy, in an italic hand, headed 'The passion of a discontented minde', on all four pages of a pair of conjugate quarto leaves, frayed and imperfect. Early-mid-17th century.
Among papers of the Knatchbull family, Barons Brabourne, of Mersham-le-Hatch, Kent.
Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, U951 C222.
Copy, in a secretary hand, with the partly obliterated heading '...Essex made these verses...', heavily damaged and imperfect.
In: A quarto composite volume of state papers and tracts, in various hands, 212 leaves, in modern half crushed morocco on cloth boards gilt.
This MS recorded in Edward Doughtie, 'Nicholas Breton and Two Songs by Dowland', RN, 17 (1964), 1-3, and in Lyrics from English Airs, p. 614.
British Library, Sloane MS 1779, ff. 208v-12v.
Copy, headed 'The Copie of those verses that ye Earle of Essex made before his Death in ye Towre'.
In: A quarto verse miscellany, written from both ends, 192 leaves (including blanks), in old brown calf. Compiled, over a period, principally by Thomas Manne (1581/2-1641), Chaplain of Christ Church, Oxford, and Henry King's amanuensis, including (ff. 7r-61r) 24 poems by King in Manne's formal hand, written c.1625-30s; ff. 61v-72v, 73r-99v, 100r-101v written in a variant style of Manne's hand, c.1630s; and (ff. 72v, 99v, 102r-14v, 190v-169r rev.) additions in six other hands, c.1630s-44, with (ff. 75r, 76r, and 76v) three poems to which the subscription 'R. Dorset' is added in the hand of King himself. c.1625-46.
Inscribed (f. 190v rev.) 'Ann Littleton'. Thomas Rodd's sale catalogue, [June 1848], p. 31. Sotheby's, 4 Februry 1850 (Rodd sale), lot 500, to James Orchard Halliwell[-Phillipps] (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector. Afterward owned by the Rev. Thomas Corser, FSA (1793-1876), book collector. Sotheby's, 25 June 1873 (Corser sale), lot 325, to William Pickering (1796-1854), publisher. Later owned by the bookdealer Philip Robinson. Sotheby's, 26 June 1974, lot 3013, with a facsimile example in the sale catalogue.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the 'Thomas Manne MS': KiH Δ 7. Used in Crum. Described in Mary Hobbs's thesis (see KiH Δ 6).
British Library, Add. MS 58215, ff. 186r-182v rev.
Copy of stanzas 22-61, headed 'A Penitential wch I found with other Papers concerning the Earl of Essex's Crimes and Arraignmt in a MS of that time of his Confinemt to the Ld Keeper's House, from Octobr 1599 to April 1600; Or as it seems from Stanza 36, Compar'd wth Cambden's Annals in fine A. 1600...'. Early 17th century.
In: A folio composite volume of state papers, in various hands, 180 leaves, in calf. Compiled by Thomas Tanner (1674-1735) 17th century.
Bodleian, MS Tanner 76, ff. 89r-92v.
Copy of stanzas 22-61, in a secretary hand, headed 'A penitential wch I found wth other papers concerning ye Earl of Essex's Crimes & Arraignmt in a MS. of ye time. Whether verses made by him in the time of confinement to ye Ld Keeps House, fro Oct. 1599 to April 1600...'. Early 17th century.
In: the MS described under BrN 52.5. 17th century.
This MS recorded in Doughtie. Collated in May, pp. 125-7.
Bodleian, MS Tanner 76, ff. 113v-16v.
Copy, headed 'A repentant Poem made by Robert Earle of Essex while he was Prisonner in the Tower. 1601.'
In: A quarto volume of writings relating to the Earl of Essex and his rebellion, in two professional secretary hands, 162 leaves (including many blanks), in modern half morocco marbled boards. Early 17th century.
This MS partly collated in Doughtie, Lyrics from English Airs, pp. 613-15. Collated in May, pp. 125-7.
Folger, MS V.a.164, ff. 134r-44r.
Copy of a 64-stanza version.
In: A MS volume. 17th century?.
William Salt Library, Stafford, MS. 450, ff. 48r-55v.
A passionate Sonett made by the Kinge of Scots uppon difficulties ariseing to crosse his proceedinge in love & marriage with his moste worthie to be esteemed Queene ('In sunny beames the skye dothe shewe her sweete')
Copy, in a professional secretary and italic hand, subscribed by Powle 'Geauen me by Mr. Britton who had beene (as he sayed) in Scotland wth the Kinges Maiesty: but I rather thinke they weare made by him in the person of the Kinge'. [1606].
Bodleian, MS Tanner 169, f. 43r.
The Passions of the Spirit ('Where shall I finde that melancholy muse')
First published London, 1599. Grosart, I (c), as 'The Countess of Pembroke's Passion.'
Copy, in a roman hand, transcribed from the edition of 1599.
In: A quarto composite volume of printed works by Breton, with twenty leaves of MS verse and prose, in four different hands, bound-in at the end, in contemporary calf. Early 1600s.
This MS recorded in Robertson, p. lv.
Bodleian, MS Tanner 221, MS, ff. 3r-18v.
Extensive extracts subject to Gurney's 'corrections' in red ink
In: A small folio volume of estate and personal records and of verse written by Henry Gurney (1549-1616), lord of the Manor of Great Ellingham, Norfolk, including his comments on other writers and inventory of his books, ii + 239 leaves. c.1570s-1608.
This MS discussed in Steven W. May, 'Henry Gurney, A Norfolk Farmer, Reads Spenser and Others', Spenser Studies, 20 (2005), 183-223.
Bodleian, MS Tanner 175, passim.
Copy, headed 'The Countesse of Penbrookes passion'.
In: A folio volume of tracts and poems, in a single secretary hand, 73 leaves. c.1600.
Inscribed (f. 1r) 'Sum liber Johannis Botterilli, Ano Dni 1600. Nouembris 27 don Me 18 Augusti 1602 Myles B.'
Edited from this MS in A Poem on our Saviour's Passion. By Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke. From an Unpublished MS in the British Museum, ed. R.G.B. (London, 1862). Collated in Grosart.
British Library, Sloane MS 1303, ff. 60r-71r.
Copy, headed 'The Countesse of Penbrook's Passion'. c.1590s?
Apparently donated by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), literary scholar and book collector, to the Plymouth Proprietary Library. Probably destroyed in World War II.
Edited from this MS (described as 'The Original Manuscript') in James Orchard Halliwell, A Brief Description of the Ancient and Modern Manuscripts preserved in the Public Library at Plymouth (London, 1853), pp. 177-210, whence edited in Grosart. Probably the MS described by Halliwell ('H') in 1852 as 'a small manuscript in quarto, containing fifteen leaves, written about the year 1590' in 'Poem by Nicholas Breton', N&Q, 1st Ser. 5 (22 May 1852), 487.
Untraced, [Plymouth MS].
A pastorell of Phillis and Coridon ('On a hill there growes a flower')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 15>. The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (London, 1597), <No. 39>. Englands Helicon (London, 1600), <No. 11>, ascribed to 'N. Breton'. Grosart, I (d), pp. 12-13.
This MS collated and the last stanza edited in Rollins, Bowre, p. 81.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 8r-v.
'Pawse awhile my prittie muse'
Copy in: the MS described under BrN 8. c.1586-91.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, f. 3r.
'Perfeccon, peerles, vertue without pride'
Phillida and Coridon ('In the merry moneth of May')
First published as 'The Plowmans Song' in The Honorable Entertainment at Elvetham (London, 1591). Englands Helicon (London, 1600), <No. 12>, ascribed to 'N. Breton'; Grosart, I (t), p. 7. English Songs 1625-1660, ed. Ian Spink, Musica Britannica XXXIII (London, 1971), No. 29. A musical setting first published in Michael East, Madrigals to Three, Four, and Five Parts (London, 1604).
Edited from this MS in Ringler, PQ (1975), 28-9; collated in Rollins, England's Helicon, II, 90-1.
Copy, in a musical setting by Michael East.
In: An oblong folio songbook of glees and madrigals, chiefly written by the composer Philip Hayes (1738-97), 78 leaves. Mid-late 18th century.
Bodleian, MS Mus. d. 8, f. 3v.
Copy, headed 'The lover's replye to the maiden's fye fye'.
In: A small quarto volume of 80 English ballads and songs, in probably two variable secretary hands, transcribed from edited black-letter broadsides, iii + 162 leaves, originally foliated 98-257, imperfect, lacking the original first 97 leaves, in 19th-century half-calf gilt. This volume edited in full in The Shirburn Ballads, ed. Andrew Clark (Oxford, 1907), with facsimile examples opposite pp. 236, 246 and 272. c.1609-16.
Inscribed (f. 59r) 'Edwarde Hull', possibly the main scribe of the MS. Also variously inscribed 'Thomas Sturgies is the right Oner of this booke' and the names of Edward Sturgis, Thomas Manton, Richard Manton, Richard Halford, William Halford, Dorothy Halford, William Wagstaffe and Thomas Wagstaffe. Later in the library of the Parker family, Earls of Macclesfield, at Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire. Acquired 30 March 2007.
Clark, No. IV (pp. 29-31).
Copy, subscribed 'Britton'.
This MS collated in Rollins, England's Helicon, II, 90-1.
Copy, untitled, in a musical setting by John Wilson.
In: A folio songbook, 121 leaves (including c.20 blanks and an index), in contemporary calf (rebacked). Including ten poems by Carew and twelve poems by or attributed to Herrick, in musical settings, predominantly in a single hand (ff. 2r-63v, 92r-9r, 100r, with a change of style on ff. 64r-5v and in the index probably by the same hand), with 18th-century additions on ff. 81v-7v, 89r-v and 145v-53r, and scribbling elsewhere. c.1640s-60s.
Later owned by Colonel W.G. Probert, of Bevills, Bures, Suffolk. Sold by Quaritch in 1937.
Cited in IELM, II.i (1987), as the 'Probert MS': CwT Δ 4, HeR Δ 1. Discussed and analysed in John P. Cutts, 'A Bodleian Song-Book: Don. C. 57', M&L, 34 (1953), 192-211. Also briefly discussed in George Thewlis, 'Some Notes on a Bodleian Manuscript', M&L, 22 (1941) 32-5, and in Willa McClung Evans, 'Shakespeare's "Harke Harke ye Larke"', PMLA, 60 (1945), 95-101 (with a facsimile of f. 78r). A facsimile of the volume in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 6 (New York & London, 1987).
This MS collated in Spink, p. 196.
Bodleian, MS Don. c. 57, f. 77r.
Copy in a musical setting by John Wilson, headed 'Lady of the May'.
In: A large folio volume of songs in musical settings by John Wilson (1595-1674), composer and musician, vi + 214 leaves (plus some blanks), gilt-edged, in contemporary black morocco elaborately gilt, lettered on each cover 'DR. / I.W', with silver clasps. Possibly Wilson's formal autograph MS or else in the hand of someone similarly associated with Edward Lowe (c.1610-82). c.1656.
Complete facsimile in Jorgens, Vol. 7 (1987). Discussed in John P. Cutts, 'Seventeenth Century Lyrics: Oxford, Bodleian, MS. Mus. b. 1', MD, 10 (1956), 142-209.
Wilson's setting first published in Henry Playford, Select Musicall Ayres and Dialogues (London, 1653). Edited from this MS in Spink; collated in John P. Cutts, 'Seventeenth Century Lyrics', MD, 10 (1956), 142-209 (p. 195).
Bodleian, MS Mus. b. 1, f. 135r.
Copy in a musical setting by John Wilson.
In: A folio music part book (2nd treble part), viii + 218 pages, in contemporary calf. Compiled by Edward Lowe (c.1610-82), organist and composer. c.1650s.
Bookplate of Povert Henley.
Bodleian, MS Mus. d. 238, p. 110.
Copies of the first lines (and, f. 76r, chorus), in a musical setting for four voices by Richard Nicholson, untitled, here beginning 'In a mery May morne'.
In: An oblong octavo volume of madrigals and motets, generally arranged for five voices, the lyrics in a single cursive italic hand, 90 leaves, in modern half red morocco. Early 17th century.
Puttick & Simpson's, 25 June 1849, lot 521.
British Library, Add. MS 17797, ff. 4r, 22r, 40r, 58r, 76r.
In: A small oblong folio part book, for the Bass voice, of vocal and instrumental music, the lyrics in a single formal secretary hand, 71 leaves, in modern half dark red morocco. Compiled (and signed at the foot of every page) by David Melvill, of Aberdeen, brother of James Melvill (1556-1614), Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages. Early 17th century.
Inscribed (f. 1r) 'William Forbes [? of Tolquhon, near Aberdeen] Ought this Book 1705'. Bookplate of 'W. H. S. F[orbes] L[eigh]'.
Copy, in a cursive mixed hand, untitled.
In: A quarto miscellany of verse and prose, in possibly several hands, a cursive secretary hand predominating, ii + 77 leaves, imperfect, in contemporary limp vellum, within modern reversed calf. Owned and possibly compiled by Richard Waferer, of Buckinghamshire (name on ff. 43r and 76v). c.1597-1628.
Also inscribed (f. ii) with names of 'Marth: Waferer' and Walter Jesson.
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany, including (ff. 113r-15r) copies of, or brief extracts from, 30 poems by Donne (plus two apocryphal poems), in a single hand, transcribed from the 1635 or 1639 edition of Donne's Poems, headed 'Donnes quaintest conceits' in several hands, 156 leaves (plus blanks), in modern black morocco gilt. Late 17th century.
Once owned by Thomas Rawlinson (1681-1725) and afterwards among the collections of Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford (1689-1741).
Cited in IELM I.i (1980) as the 'Harley Rawlinson MS': DnJ Δ 64.
British Library, Harley MS 3991, f. 81v.
Copy, in a musical setting by John Baldwin.
In: A folio songbook, the lyrics in a single formal italic hand, iii + 188 leaves, in modern half red morocco on marbled boards. Compiled by John Baldwin, of Windsor, with (ff. iv, iiv-iiir) verse addresses by him signed as the book's owner, and (f. 173r) his inscription 'finis: John baldwine: 1592'. 1592.
Edited from this MS, with a facsimile, in Ernest Brennecke, 'The Entertainment at Elvetham, 1591', Music in English Renaissance Drama, ed. John H. Long (Lexington, 1968), 32-56 (pp. 47-51).
British Library, R.M. 24. d. 2 , ff. 171v-3r.
Copy, in a musical setting by John Wilson, untitled.
In: A folio songbook (First Treble part), in a single hand, written from both ends, viii + 213 pages (paginated 1-191, then 1-22 rev.), lacking pp. 87-8, 115-18, the first two of which are now Birmingham Central Library, Acc. No. 57316, Location No. S747.01, in modern half brown morocco marbled boards. Compiled entirely by Edward Lowe (c.1610-82), organist and composer. Mid-late 17th century.
Later owned by Edward Francis Rimbault (1816-76), organist and author.
Discussed in John P. Cutts, 'Seventeenth-Century Songs and Lyrics in Edinburgh University Library Music MS. Dc. 1. 69', MD, 13 (1959), 169-94. A complete facsimile is in English Song 1600-1675, ed. Elise Bickford Jorgens, Vol. 8 (New York & London, 1987).
This MS recorded in Spink, p. 196.
Edinburgh University Library, MS Dc. 1. 69, p. 112.
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.
Folger, MS V.a.308, f. 8r-v.
Copies, in a musical setting by John Wilson.
In: A set of four oblong duodecimo music part books, (i) Cantus Primus, (ii) Cantus Secundus, (iii) Bassus and (iv) Basso Continuo, each written from both ends, compiled by John Playford (1623-86?), 50, 36, 48, and 35 leaves respectively, each volume in limp vellum lettered 'I. P.'. Leaves excised from these volumes are in the Folger, MS V.a.411 (five leaves) and (nine leaves) at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (Halliwell-Phillipps, Shakespearean scrapbooks). c.1660.
A flyleaf in the Cantus Secundus part book inscribed 'Decemb. 30. 1674. Note that I Thomas Clifford bought this sett of Musick Books of Mr Richard Price's widow Mrs Dorothy Price for --7s--6d'.
University of Glasgow, MS Euing R.d.58-61, (i) f. 12v; (ii) f. 14v; (iii) f. 11v; (iv) f. 10r.
Copies, in a musical setting by Benjamin Rogers.
In: the MS described under BrN 73. c.1660.
University of Glasgow, MS Euing R.d.58-61, (i) f. 45r; (ii) f. 33v; (iii) f. 46v; (iv) f. 30v.
Copy in: A quarto verse miscellany of Scottish provenance, chiefly in a single cursive hand, written from both ends, including some shorthand, inscribed (f. 1r) 'Incept. March. 23. 1652/3.', 190 leaves, in old brown calf gilt (rebacked). c.1653-64.
Purchased c.1798.
National Library of Scotland, Adv. MS 19.3.4, f. 13v.
A pleasant Sonet ('I will forget that ere I sawe thy face')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 41>. Attributed to Breton by F.H. McCloskey: see Rollins, Bowre, p. xviii.
In: A quarto composite verse miscellany, comprising three miscellaneous MSS in different hands, 151 leaves, in modern half-morocco gilt. Fols 11r-78r, largely in a single secretary hand, comprising a verse miscellany compiled by the antiquary St Loe Kniveton, of Gray's Inn. c.1585-90s.
This MS collated in Rollins, pp. 98-9.
British Library, Harley MS 7392, ff. 64v-5r.
The Plowmans Song ('In the merry moneth of May')
A Poeme upon this word trueth ('In trust is trust, distrust not then my truthe')
'Pour downe poore eyes the teares of true distres'
First published, as 'A Poem', in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 28>. Authorship unknown.
A pretie fancie ('Who takes a friend and trusts him not')
'The pretie Turtle dove that with no litle moans'
First published as 'A Sonet' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 6>. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (t), pp. 13-14; collated in Rollins, Bowre, pp. 74-5.
Quatuor elementa ('The Aire with swete my sences doe delight')
First published as 'Of the foure Elements' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 55>. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart, I (t), p. 19. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, pp. 106-7.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, f. 10r-v.
In: the MS described under BrN 16. c.1640s.
Folger, MS V.a.339, f. 192r.
A Sheepheards dreame ('A Silly Sheepheard lately sate')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 50>. England's Helicon (London, 1600), <No. 50>, ascribed to 'N. Breton'. Grosart, I (t), p. 9.
Sr. Ph. Sydney's Epitaph ('Deepe lamenting losse of treasure')
Copy, untitled, subscribed 'finis Britton one. S. P. S.'.
Bodleian, MS Rawl. poet. 85, f. 26v.
'Sitting late with sorrow sleepinge'
Copy, subscribed 'La: R' (i.e. ? Lady Rich).
Copy of lines 1-18, untitled.
In: the MS described under BrN 14. c.1581-1612.
A Solemn Passion ('Awake my Soule, out of the sleepe of sinne')
First published in 1595.
British Library, Harley MS 6910, ff. 130r-7r.
'Some men will saie, there is a kinde of muse'
Lines 37-66 (beginning 'Who can delight in suche a wofull sounde') first published as 'Of a wearie life' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 23>. Lines 49-66 are lines 13-18, 25-36 of 'A most excellent passion set downe of N.B. Gent.' in The Phoenix Nest (London, 1593). First published complete in Grosart (1879), I (t), p. 20.
Edited from this MS in Grosart. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 85.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, ff. 20v-lv.
Copy of lines 1-36, 43-8, untitled.
Edited from this MS in The Complete Works of John Lyly, ed. R. Warwick Bond (Oxford, 1902), III, 499.
Copy in: the MS described under BrN 6. c.1596-1601.
Copy of lines 37-66, untitled.
This MS recorded in Rollins, Bowre, p. 85.
A Sonett vpon this worde in truth spoken by a Lady to her Servaunte ('In trust is trust, distrust not then my truthe')
First published as 'A poeme upon this word trueth' in The Arbor of Amorous Deuises (London, 1597), <No. 29>. Authorship uknown.
The Soules immortall crowne ('Oh my deere Muse, that neuer could'st endure')
First published in London, 1605. Grosart (1879), I (o).
A formal copy of a work comprising seven poems, or 'graces', in a professional secretary and roman hand (the same as in BrN 39), 39 quarto leaves, in modern brown calf gilt. With a formal title-page, the heading 'A Poeme vpon the praise of Vertue', and dedication 'To his Sacred Maiestie' (James I), the work subscribed by the scribe (f. 39v) 'Gloria in excelsis Deo: / Nicholas Breton / Flos Calami, Flatus Dei; / J: C.', this being probably a presentation copy to the King. c.1603-5.
This MS collated in Grosart (and mistakenly described as autograph in Grosart and in Robertson, p. cx).
British Library, Royal MS 18A. LVII.
The sum of the former in foure lines ('Grace, Vertue, Valor, Wit, Experience, Learning, Loue')
BrN 100
A sweete Pastorall ('Good Muse rock me asleepe')
First published in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 5>. England's Helicon (London, 1600), <No. 23>, ascribed to 'N. Breton'. Grosart, I (t), pp. 7-8.
Copy, headed 'A pastorall.'
Edited from this MS in Ringler, PQ (1975), 30-1; collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 74.
British Library, Add. MS 34064, f. 2v-3r.
'Tempus adest, et tempus abest, fugit Amnus, et amnis'
Copy, headed 'Mr. Brittons Verses'. [1616-17].
'The feildes are grene, the springe growes on a-pace'
'Those eyes that hold the hand of euerie heart'
Grosart, I (d), p. 12.
See RaW 355-356.
'Tyme is but shorte, and shorte the course of tyme'
First published as 'A Sonet of Time and Pleasure' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 52>. Authorship unknown.
Edited from this MS in Grosart. Collated in Rollins, Bowre, p. 104.
'Vpon a deintie hill sumtime'
'When Authors wryte, god knowes what thinge is true'
First published as 'In the praise of his Penelope' in Brittons Bowre of Delights (London, 1591), <No. 26>. Grosart, I (t), p. 21. Authorship unknown.
'When fate decreeth'
Copy, in double columns, untitled.
'When nature fell to studie firste to frame a daintie peece'
Copy, headed in the margin 'Elizabeth Regina'.
'Will it neuer better be?'
'Wytt whether will you?'
Auspicante Jehovah, Auxilium memoriae Liber
Unpublished.
*BrN 111
Autograph MS of three dialogues, 24 folio leaves, in contemporary vellum. Namely 'Religio' (ff. 2r-10r), 'De philosophia: Quid considerandum?' (ff. 11v-17r), and Qu[estion]: 'Whatt is moste Necessary in a Common-welth to be Considered' (ff. 19r-24v), with a signed dedication to Lord North, probably Dudley, third Baron North (1581-1666) (f. 1r); the title-page (f. ii) inscribed 'Auspicante Jehovah. Auxilium memoriae Liber. Nicolai Bretoni, opus, non minus sibi Laboriosum, quam Lectori studioso frustuosum'. [1597-1626].
Probably in one of the sales of North papers in the 1930s and perhaps purchased by Messrs Bernard Halliday, of Leicester. Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 13 November 1968, lot 20, to C.A. Stonehill.
Facsimile of the dedication in the Parke-Bernet sale catalogue. Facsimile of f. 5r in IELM, I.i (1980), Facsimile IV (p. 103).
Yale, MS 394.
Character of Queen Elizabeth
A prose character, beginning 'In the yere of or Lord 1534: Sept: 7: in the pallace of Greenwch...'. First published in John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, III (London, 1805).
Copy, in a formal secretary hand, untitled, with a dedication to Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, subscribed 'Nicholas Breton'. Early 17th century.
In: A quarto composite volume of state letters and papers, in various hands, 152 leaves, in modern half-calf gilt.
Edited from this MS in Nichols and in Grosart, II (v). Mistakenly described as autograph in Grosart and in Robertson, p. cxv.
British Library, Harley MS 6207, ff. 14r-22r.
A Mad World my masters, Mistake me not
A Merrie Dialogue betwixt the Taker and Mistaker
First published in London, 1603. Grosart II (i), printed from the edition of 1635 entitled A Mad World my masters, Mistake me not.
Extract.
In: The greater part of a quarto commonplace book of extracts, compiled by Edward Pudsey (1573-1613), iii + 104 leaves, in 19th-century green morocco gilt. Four leaves of this commonplace book are in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ER 82/1/21. c.1604-9.
Owned in 1615-16 by one 'Bassett' and in the 1880s by Richard Savage. At the Neligan sale, 2 August 1888, lot 1098. Bought by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-89), and his sale 4 July 1889, lot 1257.
All the Shakespearian texts except Othello were edited from this MS in Richard Savage's Shakespearean Extracts (1887). The MS also edited in Juliet Mary Gowan, An Edition of Edward Pudsey's Commonplace Book (c.1600-1615) (unpublished M. Phil., University of London, 1967). It was then found that the miscellany lacked several of its original leaves, including extracts from six plays by Shakespeare. These leaves were rediscovered in 1977 among Savage's papers at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, ER 82/1/21, and the Othello extracts identified by Gowan. The MS also discussed in J. Rees, 'Shakespeare and "Edward Pudsey's Booke", 1600', N&Q, 237 (September 1992), 330-1, and in Fred Schurink, 'Manuscript Commonplace Books, Literature, and Reading in Early Modern England', HLQ, 73/3 (2010), 453-69 (pp. 465-9), with a facsimile of f. 31r on p. 467.
Bodleian, MS Eng. poet. d. 3, f. 78v.
Autograph inscription, 'Da Virtu L. honore | Dá Vita che non Muore:| il tuo che suo: / Nicholo Bretono:'.
In: The liber amicorum of Captain Francis Segar, brother of Sir William Segar (c.1564-1633), Garter King of Arms, including signed inscriptions in numerous English and continental hands and various arms emblazoned in colours, 121 quarto leaves, in contemporary calf. c.1599-1611.
Later owned by James Bindley, FSA (1737-1818), book collector. His sale, London, 7 December 1818, I, item 362, to Triphook. Thorpe's sale catalogue, 1836, item 14. Sale in London 1865 of the library of Dr Henry Wellesley (1794-1866), Oxford College head and connoisseur, sold to Henry Huth (1815-78), book collector. A.H. Huth sale, London, 1918, VII, item 6680, to Sabin. Then owned by G. Wells and sold at Anderson's Galleries, New York, 17 February 1919, lot 894, to G.D. Smith.
Huntington, HM 743, f. 86r.