[Commonplace book]

"Mid-eighteenth century commonplace book containing poems, cookery recipes, medical home remedies and notes on natural history and physics. Poems include John Hughes's "Ode to the creator of the world," Isaac Watts's "Stanzas to my Lady Sutherland," Pope's "Universal prayer," and the traditional ballad of Chevy Chase, as well as many other works by prominent poets, such as Anne Finch, Lord Orrery and Joseph Addison. The compiler gathered many of these poems from contemporary periodicals such as the Daily gazetteer, Gloucester journal and Gentleman's magazine. The volume contains many entries made at least partially in short-hand."@en
"Manuscript commonplace book compiled during the late-17th and the 18th centuries, containing poetry, religious works, historical works, mathematical tables, geographical information, scientific facts and vocabulary words. The volume contains several different hands and there appear to have been perhaps 3 central compilers of the works excerpted therein. Many pages are crowded with text written in the margins and around passages entered at earlier dates. There are no signs as to the identities of the compilers, though a 20th century bookseller's description in the front of the volume mentions that it was purchased from a family library in Wiltshire."@en