The pocket diary contains:

• Elegiac lines to the memory of Maurice Margarot by Clio Rickman
• A fragment by Clio Rickman
• Impromptu Reply to Impertinence by Clio [Rickman]
• A mathematical riddle on the name of Napoleon Buonaparte
• Passport issued to William Bland, 1816 to travel from London to Paris via Calais
• Half sheet of a letter about procuring certain Roman coins the writer requires and how much he is willing to pay. On the back is a sentence about Voltaire and ‘this blockhead Lewis’.

The collection consists of c.150 separate pieces in English and French, in a variety of different hands, dating mainly from ca. 1780 to 1824. There are also some printed items such as lottery tickets and pages from books. The manuscripts appear in most cases to have been given to Anne Rushout by acquaintances in her circle, which included Fanny Burney, Mrs. Walsingham, Lady Hardwick, Mrs. Hastings, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, Miss Lyttelton, Miss Catherine Fanshawe, Princess Augusta Sophia. Almost all are poetry and include charades, acrostics, riddles, engimas, anecdotes, and elegies culled from various sources including: the Thesaurus Aenigmaticus, The Satirist, General Evening Post, Gentleman’s Magazine, and The Universal Magazine. The topics featured range from friendship and love, through virtue and death. Names mentioned as writers or subjects, giving an insight into the circle in which Anne moved and their interests, include: Voltaire, Mr. Selwyn, the Countess Bouchon, Sir William Jones, Lord Lyttelton, Lord Coventry, Lord Palmerston, Lord Strangford, Warren Hastings, William Hayley, Norhtwick, William Shenstone, Colley Cibber, David Garrick, Bishop Richard Heber, Horace Walpole, Walter Scott, John Dryden, the Sheridans and Sarah Siddons. In addition to the poetical contents there are few printed pieces and two accomplished mathematical conundrums. The principal places mentioned are Northwick Park, Worcestershire (now Gloucestershire), Wanstead Grove, and Daylesford Grove.

The unidentified author of this commonplace book extracted quotations on moral topics from some of the most popular, widely read French authors of the later 18th century, including Voltaire, Corneille, Rousseau, LaFontaine, Sédaine, and Béranger. While there is no indication of when the book was assembled, the handwriting appears consistent with a late 18th century origin, though the inclusion of a work by Béranger (1780-1857) and a work by Chemin-Dupontès published in 1798 suggests that it must have been at the very end of the period. The first section, the longest devoted to a single writer, is taken from Jean-Baptiste Chemin-Dupontès’ Morale des sages de tous les pays et de tous les siècles, ou collection épurée des moralistes anciens et modernes (Paris, 1798). This is followed by selections of poetry in various genres, songs, and a section of riddle-like word games.

The collection includes: historical miscellanea on government, law, political philosophy, church hierarchy, and contemporary politicians. Notes on Carolingian, Confucian, Solomonic, Egyptian, Roman, Athenian, and Spartan laws; on slavery and legal status of mixed-race children in the West Indies; on the Spanish Inquisition and Protestant Reformation; on English kings and queens; against universal suffrage; on Catholic clergy in Ireland; on the House of Commons; axioms of Burgleigh [sic]; a few brief riddles and verse satires. Includes a brief excerpt from David Hume’s History of England, quotes from la Bruyere, Byron, Dryden, Voltaire, and others, and several excerpts in French, and a few in Latin. Entries dated 1821-1840.