[Commonplace book], 1799-1805 | WorldCat.org
Manuscript, in multiple hands, of a collection of several hundred prose extracts and verses, including original poems and verses inscribed by friends, primarily on such lighthearted or sentimental subjects as love and marriage. The first volume contains numerous verse epitaphs, many of them humorous; other verses include a poem addressed to a lady who desired the author to write on nothing, by M. Madan, Esq.; On Lady Elizabeth Foster by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire; Words spoken extempore by Mrs Charlotte Smith on the choice of a wife; and Verses written by a young lady on a musical swindler. The volume also contains poems by Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Henry James Pye, as well as a translation of a book of Horace by Warren Hastings on his voyage home from Bengal. Prose pieces include a parody on one of Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son; and a letter of excuse from a lady's maid to her friend, being prevented the pleasure of attendnig her to the opera