The commonplace book was likely produced by a woman c1808 and primarily features poems by early Romantic English and Scottish poets. The book begins with several excepts from poems on the subject of war,including James Thomson’s “O beauteous peace!” from Act II, Scene 4 of Tancred and Sigismunda, quotes from William Thomas Fitzgerald, James Macpherson’s Poems of Ossian, and two excerpts from Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian: “On court bien loin pour cherchr le bonheur …” and “Heureux le mortel obscur qui, sans rang, sans biens, sans naissance, ne connait d’autres devoirs …”. The book appears to have been dedicated to one Capt. Colquhoun of the 40th Regiment, given that illustrations of love letters added to the volume are addressed to him, perhaps explaining this early focus on warfare. It is likely that this was Captain Archibald Colquhoun who who fought in the Napoleonic Wars in Portugal with the 2nd Battalion, 40th Regiment of Foot, and was wounded in the Battle of Talavera in July 1809. The book then explores a second theme of slavery, quoting from anti-slavery poets such as William Cowper and James Beattie. The remainder of the book has no theme, but strong Romantic sentiments, quoting from Shakespeare, Homer, Voltaire, Goldsmith, Robert Bloomfield, and Melin de Saint Gelais. In addition, her commonplace book contains excerpts from he works of several women writers and poets including Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Sophia Lee, and one Mrs Kerr, the author of a poem titled “The Complaint.”

There are three volumes of commonplace books. The third volume is in French and features short biographies and occassional quotes from the works of the following authors: Mademoiselle de Scudery; Racine; Boileau-Despréaux; Phillipe Quinault; La Fonatine; Molière; and Voltaire.

1. Pages 1-169. Il sacco di Roma / dal Guicciardini. Copy of the edition: Parigi : Thom. Jolly, 1664

2. Page 170. Sopra un ritratta di Madame de Sévigné : sonetto

3. Pages 171-192. Luoghi mutati nell’ Istoria d. Guicciardini cavati dai suoi originali manoscritti, nel lib. 4 a 127 vers 36. Published in Francisci Guicciardini patricii florentini Loci duo, ob rerum quas continent grauitatem cognitione dignissimi (Basileae, 1569)

4. Pages 193-196. Luogo mutato nel lib. X a 26 v 380, parla di giulio 11

5. Pages 197-198. Nel lib. 3 a 96 vers afflisse sopra modo, parla al tempo di Alessandro VI. Published in Francisci Guicciardini patricii florentini Loci duo, ob rerum quas continent grauitatem cognitione dignissimi (Basileae, 1569)

6. Pages 199-370. Poems and prose writings in Italian, French, and Latin. Includes some writings of Voltaire

The commonplace book contains extracts from Voltaire, William Cowper, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, and Edward Gibbon, as well as biographical sketches of Mary Robinson and John Horne Tooke. Also included are notes taken from Dr Fothergill concerning pollution in London and dietary recommendations for healthy living.

The commonplace book includes: f.1r: Prose text beginning “The despondence of thy heart”, containing reflections on sentiment.
f.2r: Poem beginning “My friend who knew my flame”, expressing fervent love. Prose text beginning “Pour peu qu’on n’ait ni l’esprit ni le coeur mal faits”, containing reflections on the human spirit.
f.3v: Poem beginning “Beneath a beach, th’abandon’d Virgin laid”, expressing passionate love. Prose beginning “J’avais l’âme fière”, expressing the challenges of loving.
f.4r: Prose beginning “Il y a Ans que j’entrai, pour la premiere fois dans cette chère métairie” [? by Jean-François de Saint-Lambert, 1716-1803], on the subject of visiting an elderly parent.
f.6r: Poem beginning “Aurais-je perdu le plaisir d’éstimer?”, on the subject of emotions and love.
f.6v: Proverb beginning “Les Sages de [? illegible] reprochait un jour au grand Hali de faire trop attendre ses paroles”. Prose beginning “L’art de vivre avec l’amitié”, on the subject of friendship.
f.8r: Ballad attributed to [? John] Gay, beginning “Twas when the seas were roaring”.
f.9r: Prose summarising Dion’s remarks on the Emperor Didius and expressing writer’s agreement with his thoughts. Prose beginning “J’essai quelque [?] parmi ces peuples heureux”, detailing a meeting with a man and a feeling of friendship with him. Saying: “Riches beget Riches; Poverty, Poverty; melancholy reflexion!”.
f.9v: Saying: “Que neglige sa reputation, est bien disposé a compter pour peu la vertu”. Prose beginning “Les Dieux j’ose esperer veulent la pardoner”, on the subject of virtue.
f.10r: Prose beginning “La premiere loi de l’amitié [?] de l’amour est le respect mutual” on the subject of character and friendship.
f.10v: Prose beginning “Puisque vous aimez la sagesse”[? from Télephe by Jean de Pechméja, 1741-1785], containing advice on good dispositions.
f.11r: A dialogue between Pylade to Oreste attributed to Voltaire [1694-1778].
f.12v: Saying “Despair gives the shocking ease to the mind that a mortification gives to the body”. Rhyming couplets on the subject of beauty. Rhyming couplet on passionate love separated by death. Four-line poem [? epitaph] on the subject of life as a knightly journey.
f.13r: Poem “Werter to Charlotte [? by Edward Taylor, 1784].
f.16v: Prose beginning “J’ai souvent desiré briller devant quelques personnes” on the subject of behaviour and mortification.
f.17r: Poem beginning “Thou know’st how guiltless first I met thy flame” [?”Eloisa to Abelard”, by Alexander Pope].
f.17v: Observation about hypocrisy beginning “hypocrisy is surely a silent homage”. Prose beginning: “Je vois que l’idée des malheurs a venir a attristé”, directed at Auguste, and speaking of happiness in the present and in the future.
f.18r: Prose entitled “Mon Portrait”, beginning “Je suis en train d’écrire”.
f.27v: Verse written by the Chevalier de Boufleur to the Marquis who was drawing or painting his portrait.
f.28r: Prose beginning “C’est un grand secret”, explaining how to appeal to a man’s self-esteem. Poem beginning “Tu jurais que l’amour même”, on the subject of an assymetrical loving relationship. Prose beginning “Je vois que j’ai l’immaginations trop faible”, on the subject of a suspicious heart.
f.28v: Poem entitled “Sonnet de Mr D’Urfé, sur l’amour, Auteur de Roman historique Astrée et Celadon ecrit sous le regne d’Henri III, et Henri IV A.D. 1610”. Annotation reads “Mr George Ellis lent it me”.
f.29r: Poem attributed to Boileau, beginning “A quoi bon ravir l’or au sein du nouveau monde?”
f.29v: Petition in verse from several thousand of His Majesty’s subjects of both sexes, inhabitants of the Metropolis, asking to be able to dance in the King’s rooms, and attributed to Mr Ellis.
f.30v: The King’s reply, granting the above petition, also in verse.
f.31r: Poem entitled “On Mr Penelope”, beginning “The gentle pen with look demure”.
f.31v: Poem entitled “My reply to Mr Ellis’ petition”, addressing playfully the question of a dance.
f.33r: Verse beginning “I lov’d thee beautiful”, on subject of the changes undergone by the object of love over time.
f.33v: Poem entitled “Mon portrait”: “A Sketch”, attributed to G. Ellis Esq.
f.37r: Poem “translated from the Latin” beginning “Each various aspect of the moon” on woman and nature. “Chanson” beginning “Te souviens tu de ce beau jour”, on the subject of a loving meeting.
f.37v: “Song” entitled “The je ne scai quoi” [? by William Whitehead, 1715-1785]
f.38r: Genealogical description beginning with James 7th, Earl of Derby.
f.38v: Poem attributed to an anonymous writer, “L”, beginning “To call me friend, you honor me too much”. Proverb about credulity. Epitaph entitled “Sur un lieu ou l’on enterrait les bons”.
f.39r: Letter entitled “Epistle by Mr W-e on seeing Lady Augusta Murray attend divine service”.
f.41v: Verse entitled “Sur un x”, about passionate love. “Chanson” beginning “J’aimais une jeune Berjere”, about betrayal by another lover.
f.42r: “Elegie” beginning “Tout se fait, tout est calme”. Reflection on providence, beginning “Selon moi Il faut se confier en la Providence”.
f.42v: “Chanson” beginning “Je méprisais cette foule importune” [?by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, 1755-1794]. Verse entitled “By Mr A. G. with a seal to Lady Augusta Murray”, beginning, “Go happy seal, and be my friend”.
f.43r: “Chanson” entitled “J’ai cru mon berger capable / De la plus noire trahison”
f.43v: Genealogical description beginning with King Louis XIV. Poem beginning “No banish’d man condemn’d in woods to rove”
f.44v: Short notes on historical personages, beginning with Catinent, pupil of Turenne. Inscription said to be on a ruin at Ermenonville. Verse beginning “De la mére à l’enfant, il rendit les tendresses”. Verse entitled “Sur une Grotte Verte”, beginning “O charmante couleur d’une verte prairie!”
f.45r: Prose entitled “Fable par Lady Augusta Murray à Mr X X. Allégorique” recounting lessons learned in a garden.
f.48r: Poem beginning “The merchant to secure his Treasure” [? by Matthew Prior, 1664-1771].
f.48v: Poem beginning “In vain you tell your parting lover” [? by Matthew Prior, 1664-1771]. Geneological description beginning with the Duke of Monmouth.
f.49r: Poem beginning “When from the cave thou risest with the day” [? by Matthew Prior, 1664-1771].
f.49v: Epitaph from the tomb of Roupeau at Ermenonville. Enscription entitled “Sur un Temple dédié à l’amour”.
f.50r: Prose entitled “Ce que m’est arrivé” attributed to Augusta Murray, relating a dialogue and thoughts on the subject of true happiness.
f.60r: Verse entitled “au bas de la Statue d’un Cupidon désarmé à Chantilly”. Verse entitled “Sur un Roc taillé qui servit d’angle à [?] contre la pluie”.
f.60v: Verse entitled “Sur une fontaine dans le bois de __”
f.61r: Prose entitled “Mon. Memnon, ou Fincastle”, describing the character of a philosopher.
f.63r: Verse entitled “Sur un auberge ou l’Empereur Joseph avait dine”. Verses about faithfulness and love.
f.63v: Description entitled “Portrait de Monsieur H [?]”, describing the impressions made by a man upon the writer.
f.66r: Poem entitled “Ode à la fortune” attributed to Batiste Roupeau. On continuation at f66v and again at f67r, transcriber has written “Some verses are here left out”.
f.67v: “Chanson” entitled “Un bouquet”. “Chanson” beginning “Les Dieux sont grands par leur bienfaits”.
f.68r: Prose entitled “Portrait de …” comprising an address containing expressions of esteem from one person to another.
f.71r: Poetry containing couplets ending “fille” and “Cheval”, with explanatory note that “Monsieur de Bouffler avait fait six vers sur les rimes de fille, et Cheval”, “et il compose impromptu ce badinage piquant”.
f.73r: A history of ancient Rome, beginning with its foundation by Romulus, and containing a chronological list of Roman Emperors with a description of their character.
f.76r: Verse beginning “Life swarms with ills, the boldest are afraid” [?by Edward Young].
f.76v: Sketches of heraldic symbols and their meaning and sketches of the coats of arms of the Bishops of England and Wales.
f.77r: Moral exhortations beginning “Then please the best”.
f.77v: Prose description of heraldic symbols and their meaning.
f.78v: Geneological description beginning with Richard, Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV.
f.79r: Extract from ‘The Mysterious Mother: The Countess of Narbonne’ by Walpole.
f.81r: Geneological description beginning with Henry, Duke of Buckingham.
f.82r: Short mythological descriptions of Aurora, and of Helle, daughter of Atharmas. Quotation of Monsieur de Buffon, along with the opinion that “c’est vrai”. Description of the colour spectrum.
f.82v: Note on the attitude of various historians to the reputation of Richard III.
f.83r: Genealogical notes, beginning with Edward IV and Elizabeth Grey and their issue.
f.83v: Genealogical notes, beginning with the marriage of King James of Scotland and the Lady Catherine Gordon.
f.84r: Blank page.
f.84v: Description of heraldic symbols and their meaning.
f.87r: Poem beginning “Let love have eyes, and beauty will have ears” [?from the Epilogue to the Tragedy of Cato, by Samuel Garth].
f.87v: Epitaph entitled “Epitaph found in a crossroad on a stake by Mr Hamilton on himself”.
f.88v: Verse beginning “Peindrai je o Dieux! Sa grace, et ses attraits” [?from Phrosine et Mélidore by Pierre-Joseph Bernard].
f.89r: Verse beginning “Hard is the fortune that the fair attends”. Verse beginning “Were you, ye fair, but cautious” [?from The Fair Penitent by Nicholas Rowe].
f.89v: Notes on metals and elements and their use.
f.92r: Poem beginning “All night the maid in pensive tumults lay”.
f.92v: Verse beginning “Toi seul, Ô toi cher amant que j’adore!”.
f.93r: Notes on precious stones and minerals found in the soil. Notes on attractions of substances in nature.
f.93v: Short verse about “l’amour heureux”. Poem entitled “Ecrit de la Ville”, beginning “Helas! quel séjour pour un coeur”. Reflection on “la generosité mutuelle”.
f.94r: Notes on ancient Greek lyric poets. Prose entitled “Lines of Voltaire to Haren, the Dutch Poet who has written Aventures de Frise Roi des Gangarides”, beginning “Demosthene au conseil”.
f.94v: Short notes on acids and alkalis. Prose extracts on the subject of opinions, partiality and society from Hume’s Essay, beginning “Our opinions of all kinds are strongly affected by society and sympathy”.
f.95v: Notes on several historians’ assessments of the character of Charles II.
f.97r: Contemplation on the order within the universe beginning “Quand on se figure les hommes tells qu’ils sont en effet”.
f.97v: Poem entitled “Vers sur miladi Augusta Murray” on the subject of her desirability.
f.98v: Prose beginning “J’ai écrit ce depuis de grandes bétises”. Epitaph of Johnson by Jenning.
f.99r: Poem of F. Bryant, Tobacco-pipe maker.
f.100r: Poem entitled “An Egyptian Song”, beginning “Sweet doth blush the rosy morning”. Chanson beginning “Pour un amour frivole”. Chanson beginning “Quand j’étais dans non jeune age”.
f.100v: Verse attributed to John Frederick Bryant, with annotation “not published, in imitation of Thompson’s seasons”, beginning “To breathe fresh air, to view the sylvan scenes” (?John Frederick Bryant, 1753-1791).
f.104r: Short verse attributed to John Mansel Smith Eyre, beginning “Happy my hero with each virtue blest”. Proverbs on the subject of the interpretation of prose and verse. Prose summary of Monsieur (?)Grilliard’s assessment of Charlemagne.
f.104v: Two riddles attributed to “Mr W__m”. Riddle attributed to “Mr St John”.
f.105r: Long prose prayer entitled “Prier que je me suis faite car je suis (?) de celle qu’il faut lire”, dated 1789, expressing the relationship between creature and Creator and containing petitions for perseverance.
f.107r: Riddle. Prose entitled “What I have remarked of Lady XXX” concerning her manner of expressing her opinions.
f.108r: “Canzonetta” beginning “Fra i cari specchi, Oh Dio”. List: “Cibber, Van Brugh, Otway, Rowe, Young, Cowley, Shakespear, Addison, (?)Congrene” with index numbers.
f.108v: Prose beginning “il faut, selon moi, avoir une âme bien grossière” containing reflections on sentiment.
f.109v: Prayer entitled “Priere française qui je me suis faite”, with additional annotation “Short and pithy I hope. Voila qui est beau!”, addressing God as Creator, Father, benefactor and Sovereign, petitioning for virtue and goodness towards neighbour and a loving disposition.
f.110v: Extracts from Rowe’s Tamerlane [? Nicholas Rowe, 1674-1718]. Poem beginning “To [?] Mira turn, she never took the height” [? Based on “Love of Fame” by Edward Young, 1683-1765].
f.111r: Prose reflection on the relationship of consciousness to virtue.
f.111v: Confiteor-type prayer, beginning “Mon Pere je viens devant vous, avec une ame penitente”.
f.112v: Extract from ‘Idomenée”‘ by Crébillon.
f.113r: Extracts from “Electre” by Crébillon.
f.113v: Prayer beginning “Indulgent God, Oh how shall mortal raise”, meditating on the wondrousness of God and the heavens.
f.114r: Anacreontic poem entitled “L’inconstance pardonnable” by Cardinal de Bernice.
f.114v: Short verse beginning “How empty learning, and how vain is art”.
f.115r: List of the Kings and Queens of England, starting with William the Conqueror.
f.116r: Poem beginning “I never yet could see that face”.
f.116v: Poem from beginning “Let never man / Say in the morning, that the day’s his own”.
f.117r: List of the Kings of France and their spouses, beginning with Philippe I.
f.118v: Verse entitled “Vers de Madame de Mirepoix à Monsieur le Duc de Nivernais en lui envoyant ses cheveux” and verse entitled “Réponse de Monsieur de Nivernais”.
f.199r: Notes on colours to be used in different parts of painting composition.
f.120r: Short historical note on the Knights Templar. Poem entitled “On my Sister Lady Catherine Murray who afterwards married Mr Bouverie on her having been burnt by her cloaks catching fire”.
f.121r: Notes on the earth’s poles and meridians, celestial orbits, tides, consellations and atmospheric conditions.
f.123v: Poem beginning “È la beltà, del Cielo / Un raggio che inamora”.
f.124r: Poem ‘The Pleiades’ by Charles Fox.
f.124v: Poem “On Mrs Crewe”, beginning “Where the loveliest expression to features is join’d” [? By Charles Fox”].
f.125r: Extract from Rowe’s Tamerlane [? Nicholas Rowe, 1674-1718].
f.125v: Poem entitled “Romance – Caroline”, beginning “Un jour pur, éclairait mon ame”.
f.126v: Poem entitled “Un Autre”, beginning “La jeune Hortense, au fond d’un ver[?] bocage”
f.127v: List of female French writers.
f.128v: Proverb on power. Fact about Bonaparte.
f.129r: Anonymous poem entitled “On my not bathing or washing at L- [?]H-n”, beginning “In vain my tortur’d brain I rack”.
f.129v: Recipe for a medicinal infusion.
f.130r: Verses beginning “For [?] lost never the strain”.
f.130v: Poem entitled “The Traveller”, beginning “When thus creation’s charms around combine”. Short thought on the subject of Madame de Lambert’s words to her son.
f.131r: Poem entitled “The deserted village”, beginning “Sweet was the sound, when oft at Evenings close” [? by Oliver Goldsmith, 1730-1774].
f.132v: Poem entitled “by M. B at L. H_n”, beginning “Belle regarde! C’est votre nom”.
f.133r: Summary of Pope’s thoughts on the problem of human vanity.
f.133v: Verse beginning “He can with a resistless charm impart / The loosest wishes to the chastest heart” [? by John Wilmot Earl of Rochester, 1647-1680].
f.134r: Maxim on happiness and virtue. Riddle.
f.134v: Verse of praise, beginning “To smile at death”, on the subject of praise and creation.
f.135r: Reflection on forbearance in length of conversation with men.
f.135v: Notes on the national arms of various European countries.
f.137v: Verse beginning “Now what reward for all this grief and toil?”, on the subject of the subduing power of a female smile.
f.138r: Poem entitled “Sur L’amour”, on the subject of love. “Chanson” on the subject of nature’s rejoicing. Short verse beginning “Let angel forms angelic truths maintain” on the subject of truth, beauty and virtue.
f.138v: Poem entitled “Description du Hameu peint de l'[?]”, on the subject of an attractive hamlet. Dated annotation, sum and endorsement, 21 April 1789. Verse beginning “What female beauty, but an air divine” on the subject of female beauty and grace.

The front inner boards feature short diary entries for 5 July and 10 July 1804. The back boards feature a continuation of the list of books found in the final pages of the volume and an address for Mr Phillimore of Lincoln’s Inn. The commonplace book contains: f.1r – Address for Mr James Martin, purveyor of Scotch muslins.
f.1v: Note of mines in Hungary and Poland.
f.2r: Ejaculation / exclamation to God about a hateful woman. Historical note on General Laudohn’s visit to Prussia.
f.2v: Prose on the subject of an anguished mind and tormented heart.
f.2r: Botanical notes. Prose on the subject of the love, perception and illusion.
f.3v – f9v: Maxims, proverbs, notes and anecdotes on the subject of love, separation, vanity, folly and futility, disappointment, perception and illusion, the passing of time, the holding of opinions, sacrifice, betrayal, joy, attachment, fortune, distress and misery, regret and remorse, resignation, self-preservation, masculinity and femininity, imagination, feeling, sentiment and romanticism.
f.10r – f14r: Proverb on the subject of the heart’s plunging into apathy. Notes on historical personages. Note of Lord Lyttleton’s thoughts on a man’s behaviour after ceasing to love.
f.10v: Prose and verse on the subjects of detachment, despair, lamentations, experience, seriousness, asperity, decisiveness, hope, fear, melancholy, broken heartedness, desire, gaiety, defects, judgement, reason.
f.14v: Anecdotes about Mr de [?] Biase and Sir Hercules.
f.15r – f21v: Notes on the subject of decision, intellectual life, ignorance, remorse, guilt and regret, vanity, folly and futility, time, fear, pleasure, self-governance, grief, loss and mourning, sorrow and forlornness, a beloved, jealousy, torment, love, pleasure, mischief, degradation and wretchedness, fortune, stillness and frenetic activity, fate, hope, disappointment and delusion, imagination, exhaustion, detachment and resignation, secret emotions, forgiveness, wisdom, riddles, love lost, passing of time, honour, forsakenness, the soul, worry, loyalty, hope, contradictions, sentiment, unhappiness, pretence, pain, fatigue.
f.25v: Notes on the will and faithlessness. Poem about a vine.
f.26r: Notes entitled “X her 30th 1800” explaining that the writer has endeavoured to eradicate love from the heart, but that it cannot silence its claim, and the conflict of reason that results. The prose is cut off in the middle of a petition.
f.26v: Poem on wretchedness, sorrow, love lost, ignorance.
f.27r: Notes on the poet Dante.
f.27v: Notes on the recognition of the French Republic. Proverbs on imagination, sorrow, anxiety, feelings.
f.28r: Maxims on expression, argument, friendship, nature, faithfulness, the passing of time, interior thoughts, nobility, self-forgetfulness.
f.30r – f31r: Riddles. Notes on what it is to be a man.
f.31v: Notes on disposition and attitude, contradiction, love, sensibility.
f.32v: Comical poem about a parson and Lord Boringdon. Poems and maxims about the will.
f.33r: Notes on whatever is received, received according to the capacity of the recipient, injustice, attitudes to Bounaparte.
f.33v: Notes on changing one’s mind and shifting principles, character.
f.34r – f36r: Riddles and notes on mixed emotions: relationships, vanity, self-will, abandonment, rage, passion, faithfulness, love, poverty of spirit, despair, hope, comfort, triviality, praise, charms, hidden thoughts, love and suffering, endurance, desire. Quotation attributed to Shakespeare.
f.39r: Prose on the subject of memory, reflection, the exercise of authority, sin.
f.39v – f40r: Note on the fall of Troy. Prose on the subject of emotional extremes, repentance, cunning, sadness, self-governance Quotation attributed to Shakespeare.
f.40v: Verse entitled “Alas poor country”. Prose on the subject of emotional extremes. ?Riddle.
f.41r – f42r: Maxims on guarding virtue, secrets. Dialogue labelled “Mr Lewes’s Alphonso”. Quotation from the Lord Chatham on the King.
f.42v: Quotation on goodness, wisdom, happiness and moderation “copied from Mr Stewarts Letter”. Notes on man and nature.
f.43r: Quotation attributed to Shakespeare. Notes on flattery.
f.43v: Title: “Dirge in Cymbeline by Collins”. Verse. Verse attributed to “Beattie’s Poem on Christianity”.
f.44r: Summary dialogue between Sir Ralph and Sir James on the subject of conquest. Notes on the court of Saladin.
f.44v: Rhetorical question on the subject of reaction purporting as truthfulness.
f.45r: Verse on the subject of love, beginning “Plaisir d’aimer besoin d’une âme tendre”.
f.45v – f47r: Verse entitled “The Felon – by Mr Lewis”.
f.47r: Verse beginning “John Donn his former name forsook”, attributed to Camden.
f.47v: Verse entitled “On truth”. Verse on the subject of a lover mistreating another.
f.48r: Verse beginning: “No ’twas not love in Laura’s Bow’r”, annotated “Charles Stewart sent me these lines – Brighton February 19th 1802”.
f.49v: Text entitled “Mr [?]Helmot approaches Garrick for not having called on Lord Camden after he was made Chancellor”.
f.50r: Riddle; phrase “His pardon may pillow my Bier, but never soothe my living rest.”
f.50v: Fantasy prose entitled “The old Hag in a red cloak [?…] to the Author of the Grime white Woman.”
f.54r: Poem entitled “Between Dover & Calais – 1792”, likening a rough journey to the passions, grief and sorrow after love.
f.56r: Verses reflecting on sorrow, aging, blame, love, friendship, sentiment.
f.56v-57r: Text on the subject of nobility entitled “De l’Encyclopedie”, text on the nobility of the Murrays, Dukes of Atholl, Stanleys Earls of Derby and Lord of Mann and Cliffords Earls of Cumberland.
f.57v: Verses beginning “Then thus the Goddess-born : Ulysses, hear a faithful speech, that knows not art, nor fear” [?from Pope’s Homer].
f.58r: Words of tribute to an adorable princess.
f.59r – f59r: Political poem. “Song by Mr Canning on Mr Pitt”.
f.60v: Verses entitled “To Augusta by Lord A.H. August the 2nd 1802”, on the subject of ten years of doom, sorrow, suffering and woe endured and the hope that remains of love and calling her wife. –SO HE KNEW HER IN 1792
f.61r: Prose and maxims on the subject of affection, its reproof, the virtuous heeding of counsel, patience, character, tardiness, mischief, misfortune, conduct, understanding, feelings, the metaphor of a shipwreck as applied to the soul.
f.62v: Quotation from Machiavelli’s history of Florence – he who does not do good, fears no evil.
f.63r-f65v: Maxims and notes on the subject of impertinence, temperance and intemperance, wiles, governance, longing, sorrow, misery, fate, fortune, truthfulness, boldness, danger, communication between the sexes, consternation, wretchedness, regret, darkness, dismay, deception, prejudice, poor counsel, agony.
f.65v: Quotation attributed to Donn, “Her pure and eloquent blood spoke in her cheeks”.
f.66r: Entry dated June 27th 1803 meditating on time as healer, and ending “Every letter you write me, – Every visit I pay x brings me back to the 10th of February”. Note beginning “Don’t imagine this reparation – a mere worldly generosity – is my whole soul”.
f.66v: Entry dated July 9th 1803, on a cruel fate which has imposed perpetual pain on the author, expressing her loss of pleasure in things and her abandonment to hell and torments, stating that she is “condemned to endure agonies of mind sharpened in some nameless forge”. The author addresses the writer of a letter, received this day, which was calculated to exacerbate hopelessness. Description of a “desolating wind of persecution” and its effect on the devoted soul. The author states “I am reconciled to my lot, a lot of eternal and hopeless misery”.
f.67v: Short maxims and ejaculations on the subject of misery and mournfulness, some expressed using pathetic fallacy, citing Gray’s Elegy, the Apothecary in Juliet and Southey’s Madoc.
f.68r: Notes on reason and human nature, one attributed to the Life of Alexandre Quinte-Curce.
f.68v: Verses on fate, doom, parting, torments, despair, malignity, meanness. Quotation attributed to Johnson, on Milton.
f.69r: Verses on being despised, grief, woman’s effect on the heart.
f.69v: Thoughts on marriage, examining the soul for its motivations and convictions and expressing its pain, and sorrow at the absence of a man. Short verse of praise for a beautiful, angelic woman.
f.70v: Verses attributed to Cowper, beginning “The Voice is but an instrument on which the man may play what tune he pleases”.
f.71r – f74r: Verses and sage observations on the subjects of knowledge, friendship, indifference, fame, cynicism, men, possibility, deception, appearances, slyness, forlornness, flattery, candour, frivolity, pride, snobbery, dejection, manners, understanding and fate. Entry on f74v on a series of inhospitable houses and the author’s dejection and desire to avoid company is dated July 19 1803.
f.75r: Entry dated “Xber 17th 1803” stating that Archibald has promised to be governed by her will and hoping that wisdom will be their guide. Sage remark on the irrelevance of comparison.
f.75v – f76v: Sage remarks on holding confidence with another, vigour, confusion, darkness and bewilderment, quotation attributed to Milton beginning “I fled and cried not Death”. Prose on sleep, dreaming and reflection, enthusiasm, sentiment.
f.77r: Notes on succession from Knights Hospitaliers to Knights of Malta. Notes on the subject of a superior mind, who has within it the cure for its own grief.
f.77v: Verse attributed to Pope, beginning “Born to no pride, inheriting no strife”, sage phrase on pity and charity.
f.78r: Verse attributed to Cowper, beginning “I would not enter in my list of friends” shunning the man who needlessly kills small creatures. Verse on a traveller’s warm welcome at an inn.
f.78v: Sage observation on men who exude gravity and yet are conceited. Verse beginning “Is it because each tie is gone” on the subject of indifference to love and hate. Lamentation stating that the author have the whole soul to a man’s care, relying on him, and which was wounded.
f.79r: Quotation attributed to Charles Fox on the subject of pride, with critical notation. Prose on the subject of being assailed by influences. Short verse on a butterfly and flower said to be translated by d’Israeli, from “Commire a Latin poet”.
f.79v – f80r: Prose on the subject of teaching her son to rely on anyone and sage advice on the lessons learned in life. Phrase “The expiration of my last hope seems a pang more bitter than that of my last breath can ever be”.
f.80v: Verse attributed to Milton, “on his wife”, beginning “Her face was veil’d yet to my fancied sight”. Verse attributed to Cunningham, beginning “Oh what is’t to me that the grasshopper sings”. Short phrase favouring love over pity as comfort in disgrace.
f.81r: Patriotic verse beginning “Champions of Britain’s cherish’d rights ye stand”. Explication of the degree of assent required to give the soul to a man. Quote attributed to Cervantes, “I sit down to write what I think not to think what I shall write”.
f.81v – f82r: Sage observation on aimability, novelty and attachment in the interplay between a man and a woman. Notes on station in life and fulfilment of duty in one’s small area of influence having more purpose than the studies of a cosmopolitan person. Notes on a man who ought never to have married, since he burdened his family with all his vexations, while maintaining a cheerful disposition to the outside world. Thoughts on loving and using one’s gifts and on the passing of time.
f.82v: Thoughts on love, pardoning, self-reproach, melancholy, a mother’s loss, ruin and guilt.
f.83v: Notes on the depravity of a man’s licentious passions, and his masculine pride [?from John Thelwell’s “The Daughter of Adoption”, 1801]
f.84r – f86r: Couplet invoking romance and the summer’s sea [?from Matthew Prior’s Henry and Emma]. Prose beginning “is her love to be more ruinous than her hate”, telling of a tumultuous relationship involving extremes of emotions and sacrifice, and the woman’s response to being deprived of love and affection. Short resolution, stating that the author will not be degraded and shall accept a man’s bounty, having lost his love. Reflection, “Love, gratitude, & unsuspecting confidence (3 cardinal vices in this wise World) have degraded me from my rank in society”. Phrase beginning “But all is deceitful – “the exulting demon of the storm”. Reflection on the disappointment of a woman no longer considered an equal by a male lover, who “banqueted upon the offal from another’s table”, a love “rival”.
f.86v – f87v: Poems and proverbs on the subject of wishing, intelligence, restlessness, the passing of time, confusion, anger, hate, gloominess, suspicion, conspiracies.
f.88r – f88v: Maxims and prose on hope, indifference and melancholy. Passage relating the interior life of a melancholic and caustic man.
f.89r: Passage relating a woman aspiring to conjugal and maternal love and the tears she shed over a men. Short message of advice on how a man should ignore the faults of a friend.
f.89v: Description of a man whose heart is too cold even to sin, and whose heart is cold and has no love of virtue. Notes on a man who demands recognition, and that people fulfil obligations and duty.
f.90r: Prose on the subject of repugnance being a proof of natural morality, and the impossibility of not believing that the object of love is good. Prose on the difference between animals and humans, being that animals act on instinct and men by choices.
f.90v – f91r: Notes on misfortune and sorrow. Prayer for happiness. Phrase beginning “A Race outlandish fills the throne” [? from Robert Burn’s Lines on Stirling].
f.91v: Reflection on the affects of solitude.
f.92r: Short description of a man full of regret. Extract on beauty [? From Rowe’s Fair Penitent]. Notes on slander, abuse, prejudice and ill nature, censoriousness, idleness, vanity and mischief.
f.92v: Notes on a woman’s flight of imagination, a resort from a querulous impassioned mind. Poem beginning “My days are distinguish’d with tears”.
f.93r: Proverb. Notes on a man’s weaknesses proceeding from a powerful and enterprising mind.
f.93v – f96r: Observation on capriciousness, on listening and keenness to please, on vanity, desires, guilt, coquetry, flattery, badness. Anecdote about the late Lord Chatham saying that “the press was like the air, a chartered libertine”. Reflections with hindsight on being seduced and the sentiments, and bad fortune, ridicule and wounding, anger, and the heart’s difficulty in adapting to the changing nature of a relationship, citing one Lady and a man called XX.
f.96v – f98v: Character observations and proverbs on weak-mindedness, deception, mental afflictions, trials of the imagination, vanity, doubt, dismay, apprehensions, pretension, sorrow, poor judgement, the overwhelming passing of time, unrequited consecration, the pursuit of happiness, ill temper, sadness, indifference, grief, pity, love lost, solitude, natural justice, a woman’s intuition, wisdom and weakness, memory and remembrance, jealousy, mistrust, suspicion, humiliation, regret, confusion.
f.99r – f99v: Prose relating to the longing for a love to return and how faith in a good outcome contrasts with the unhappy reality in which the writer finds herself. She states that she desires to live in the past – the only place out of the reach of fortune – because the present brings only sorrow, yet remembrance too brings sorrow.
f.100r: Notes on Mr Pitt’s views on Bonaparte dated Monday 24 April, given on the occasion of Mr Fox’s motion on the defence of the country.
f.100v: Notes on indifference and despair. Summary of Lord Bacon’s views on the relation of writing, writing and speaking to the making of a man, questioning whether thinking should not also have been mentioned. Maxim stating that utility is the best action where there is no divine or human law to forbid it.
f.101r: Maxim relating imbecility to malice. Exhortation relating to property and public liberty.
f.101v – f102v: Reflections on human reason, wisdom and verses on the subject of perception of self, suffering, remembrance, a metaphor of the person as pilot who ventures out, the clouding of the mind, the contrast between men’s acting agreeably while in company but in a discontented way to their wives.
f.103r: Maxim on how good counsel is freely given yet easily thrown away. Verse beginning “Those ears, alas! For other notes repine” [?by Gray]. Phrase: “What graces are left to adore Virtue, -if Vice wears those of Augusta”.
f.103v: Notes on the evils of absence and loss.
f.104r: Notes on the longing of love to find an object. Note dated June 4 1804, in which the writer states that her heart is so affectionate that if only her loved one were to see it, he would be compelled to do her justice and renounce the whole world for her. She writes that her love is not a product of nature, but of singular attraction to one person.
f.104v: Note stating that the sentiment on which she based her happiness has itself become the source of her misfortune. Note on the opinion of an author that nothing is more poetic than a heart at 16 years old, about the optimism of youth.
f.105r: Observations and reflections on passion, enthusiasm, sentiments, character, spirits, secrets, confidence, tenderness, grace, timidity, virtue, charm, weakness, strength, love, egoism, self-love, generosity, the soul, happiness, vanity, affections, foolishness, duties, gloominess, despondency, hopelessness. Note on the pride and sullenness of “Marco” (f108v).
f.107v – f108r: Prose on the subject of boredom, monotony, regret, humility. A cry made to a son who is passed between mother and father.
f.108v – f109r: Entry dated June 8 1904, stating that the author’s “heart & soul, life & person, hopes & prospects” belong to another despite her will, and stating that the object of her love has only to “remove the weight” of his oppression, and stating that they shared 12 years’ affection. The author begs the object of her love not to betray or vilify the devoted heart of a faithful wife which was “ever consecrated” to him. The writer appeals to nature and her essence to justify her love.
f.109r – f117v: Prose beginning “if nature owns a monster in a human form” on betrayal. Notes on sadness, struggle, character, enjoyment, reserve, love, conversation, weakness, monotony, lamentation, impertinence, self-possession, passion, love, chastity, purity, virtue, faithfulness, mistrust, simplicity, resignation, endurance, temptation, forsakenness, madness, propriety, duty, matrimony, longing, absence, sullenness, shrewdness, indolence, faults, contradiction, memory, thoughtfulness, fearing, doubting, hoping, destiny, uncertainty, conflict, regulating the feelings, self-consciousness, susceptibility, mental turmoil, disappointment, weariness, fraudulence, vanity, inconsolableness, melancholy, indignation, distress, fortitude, ruin, despair, restlessness, anxiety, regret, tumultuousness, solitude, misanthropy, female idealism, fear, repentance, bereavement, fate, misery, pain, memorise, mortification, loss, wretchedness, an exhortation to a man to marry another, darkness.
f.118r: Notes on the fleetingness of joy, and on the treasure to be had in motherhood, when the child is the uniting pledge of mother and father.
f.118v – f119v: Sage notes on knowing one’s own merits, resolve, frugality, daringness, indolence, the weaknesses of husbands and wives in love and their trouble communicating and reciprocating affection, with advice.
f.120r: Notes on victory over grief, a quotation attributed to Milton, regret, fortitude, pain, disordered love. A quotation on wisdom and virtue attributed to Shakespeare. Verse on Addington.
f.121r – f121v: Thoughts on how a man left her due to caprice and satiety, but she ceased to love him only because he had left her. Quotation on the sadness of monotony and hopelessness, and how subjective fear clouds our judgement, and how one arrives thus at a state of dismay, said to be “copied from my favourite author – July the 6th 1804”. Notes on memory.
f.122r – f122v: Quotation attributed to Fontenelle. Notes on courtesans, government, populace, politics, and the national character of Russians, and qualities and vices.
f.123r – f124v: Entry dated August 1 1804, using the metaphor of an idle wind to describe the state of desolation. Entry dated August 4, on receiving news of you, and stating “my heart, my mind, memory & hope all all repose on you”, and describing a state of woe caused by her “unmeasurable, inextinguishable love, – & even a blasphemous devotion of soul”, which is unable to possess the object of its love. Note on the frightfulness of nature.
f.123r: Note comparing a man to a vicious animal. Note on his presence which was like the mildew of heaven.
f.124v: Verse beginning “He who reigns, but climbs to care” [? From Mérope by Voltaire].
f.125r: Verse on the deluded heart which is soothed by flattery, attributed to the Earl of Essex. Verse on grief and solitude, attributed to Mason. Exclamation on the misery and suffering in the world.
f.125v –f126v: Sage observations on character and feelings, vanity.
f.127r: Quotation attributed to Plato, on listening to the voice of experience. Observations on character, politeness, dignity. Couplet on woman’s bitter tongue [? From The Wanton Wife of Bath]
f.127v – f113v: Quotations and sage notes on injustice, virtue, vice, forgiveness, motherhood, being a wife, love, fraternity, submission, kindness, poverty, sorrow, ugliness, flattery, enmity, conflict, cruelty, misery, desolation, death, conduct, folly, sentiments, sacrifice, failure, intimacy, social norms, self-love, brokenness, bigotry, hypocrisy, power, womanhood, charms, character, sycophancy. [? Quotation from La Fontaine’s The Village Pastor and his Children]. Historical note on Frederick of Prussia. “M.’s present account of France”. [? Quotation from a speech of Curren on bigotry]. Quotation attributed to Dryden.
f.132r – 132v: Notes on the subject of passion, hypocrisy, hope, peace.
f.133r – f139v: “On the death of Mr Hare by the Duchess of Devonshire”. Quotations on worldliness, famine, disputation. Quotation attributed to Waller, beginning “Her look & mind at once were lofty”. Quotation labelled “Prior’s character of the indifferent”. Verse and couplets on beauty, insipidness, villainy. Quotations on virtue attributed to Milton. Poem beginning “Canst though forget the silent tears”. Notes on character, obstinacy, fortune, wisdom, knowledge, human nature, selfishness, sadness, communication, expressiveness, dejection, decisiveness, reason, attraction, persuasiveness, harmony, time as healer, sensibility, the nature of books.
f.140r – f140v: Poem entitled “The Mother, to her sleeping Child”.
f.141r – f142v: Poem entitled “A la Dsse de Sussex”. Descriptions of men’s intrigue, character, reputation, honesty, rashness, violence, pleasure.
f.143r: Text entitled “From Lord Archd Hamilton to Prince Augustus on his birthday with a 1 Pound bank note January 13th 1805”, exhorting him to use the note wisely and to make each year in which he lives the one in which he acts the best.
f.143v: Notes on the difference between rage and strength. Verse entitled “To Augusta, Lord A. H. January 27th 1805” wishing her birthday joy and speaking of the union of marriage [? by Lord Archibald Hamilton, 1770-1827].
f.145r – f162v: Notes and poetry on love, desire, passion, forgiveness, genius, morality, conscience, sagacity, naivety, tedium, unhappiness, darkness, sickliness, wit, bravery, suspicion, misery, impudence, misfortune, turmoil, happiness, smiles, relationships, childbirth, motherhood, dreams, shabbiness, contempt, triumph, allure, sadness, temper, sensibility, sensations, utility, pleasure, emptiness, hope, forbearance, firmness, steadfastness, the passing of time, waiting, obstacles, indifference, virtues, depression, desolation, fate, torments, adversity, good sense, pride, doubt, evils, contempt, expectation, disappointment, despair, imagination, fancy, errors, guilt, regret, selfishness, misapprehension, fame, curiosity, rumour, suffering, justice, falsehood.
f.163r f163v – Notes on natural history and history.
f.164r: Verse attributed to Mr Cumberland, on Lord Nelson’s death.
f.164v: Verse attributed to Mr Sheridan on the death of Mr [?]S’s Brother.
f.165r: Noes on faults, desolation, inferiority, broken-heartedness.
f.165v: Poem on Lord Nelson, attributed to Mr Fresham.
f.166f – f168r: Notes and poems on peculiarity, perplexity, refinement, verse, beauty, grief, saintliness, pride, death. Riddles.
f.168v: Notes on chess.
f.169r: Poem beginning “Where the stream of Solofrena” on the subject of an oriental game of chess.
f.170r: Notes and verse on suffering, ignorance, absence of a child.
f.170v: Satirical poem about “Paull”. Note on the truthfulness of a man’s word.
f.171r: Notes on sensibility, detachment, wretchedness, suffering, another woman.
f.171v: Poem attributed to Mr Hughes, on Lady B.
f.172r: Note on Methodists, calling them ignorant, mad and a threat to Church and State.
f.172v – f173r: Notes and poetry on common senses, suffering, counsel, the problem of evil. Text labelled “Prologue to ‘Not at home'”.
f.173v – f174r: Notes and verse on patriotism, homesickness, political liberty, chivalry, opinion, love.
f.174v: Blank page.
f.175r: Text reading “For four months my Boy promises to ask nothing – for one month never asks to sit up”, signed Augustus Frederick of Sussex, 30 May 1802.
f.175v – f176v: Blank pages.
f.177r – f186v: List of books, presumably owned by Lady Augusta Murray, entitled “List of my books”. Text is back-to-front. Continuation on interior of back board.
f.187 – Loose newspaper cutting insert, containing an abstract of a speech of Mr Curran made in the Massey vs. Marquis of Headport trial in Ireland. Reverse lists sales at auction.

The commonplace book features a number of Voltaire’s plays, including: f.1r, Guébres; f.2v, Le Triumvirat; f.3v, Alzire; f.5r, Les Lois de Minos; f.8v, Les Scythes; f.11r, Irène; f.12r, Oedipe; f.14v, Mariamne; f.16v, Le Mort de César; f.17v, Oreste; and f.21v, Adelaide du Guesclin.

A note at the beginning of the commonplace book records that ‘The Collection was commenced at an early Age, and consequently in the first Pages many Things are inserted which might as well, and without any injury to the Book, have been omitted.’ There are headings used throughout, including: ‘Love’. ‘Mediocrity’, ‘Laugh’, ‘Deluge’, ‘Liberty’, ‘Sleep’, ‘Bees’, ‘East India Company’, ‘Gold’, ‘Women, ‘Wit and Humour’, and ‘Impeachment. Sources quoted in the commonplace book include Shakespeare, Addison, Burney, Pope, Johnson, and Rousseau. Much of the material was written during Owen’s time at Trinity College and so many of the quotations have a strong connection to Cambridge, including ‘Song Imitated from Voltaire by Mr Rough, Trin. Coll. Cant.’

Contains Landor’s thoughts and opionions on various aspects of life and literature. There are comments on old age, on Napoleon, and on a host of writers and poets including Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, Pope, Byron, Wordsworth, Gibbon, Sterne, Coleridge, Otway, and Voltaire. There are also passages on Elizabethan poets, and on the progress of poetry in general, with a tribute to Sir Walter Scott.