Cowley, on maidenhead
Identifiers
CMV:
COWLEY-ON-MAIDENHEAD
Shelfmark:
5-240 (II, f.196), ‘Cowley, on maidenhead.’
Title:
Cowley, on maidenhead
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Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Thou thing of subtil slippery kind / Which women loose and yet no man can find;
Après leur mort où vont les pucelages? / Au paradis, ils tenteraient les saints, etc.
Incipit Modernised:
Thou thing of subtil slippery kind / Which women lose and yet no man can find;
Après leur mort où vont les pucelages? / Au paradis, ils tenteraient les saints, etc.
In Own Hand:
Partly
Brief Summary:
The manuscript contains either an excerpt or the complete poem ‘Maidenhead’ by Abraham Cowley.
Detailed Summary:
The poem consists of five sections, each with eight lines, for a total of forty lines. The manuscript, titled ‘Cowley, on maidenhead’ is given by Voltaire and is in Voltaire’s hand. The opening line of the manuscript corresponds to line seven of the third section. These lines slightly differ from the original, reading ‘ Thou thing of subtle, slippery kind, /Which Women lose, and yet no Man can find.’ Additionally, the manuscript includes the French translation of the incipit, reading ‘Après leur mort où vont les pucelages? / Au paradis, ils tenteraient les saints, etc.’.
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Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
1 f.
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Binding:
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
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History
Date:
c.1656
Ownership:
After Voltaire’s death, the MS passed into the ownership of Catherine II and remained in the imperial and then national collection thereafter.
Origin (transcript):
Origin:
Provenance:
This MS was probably taken to St Petersburg by Wagnière in the summer of 1779 along with the rest of Voltaire’s library.
Bibliography
Bibliography:
Fernand Caussy, Inventaire des manuscrits de la bibliothèque de Voltaire conservée à la bibliothèque impériale publique de Saint-Pétersbourg (Geneva, Slatkine reprints, 1970), p.13.
OCV Reference:
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