[Commonplace book], [early 17th century].

Manuscript on paper, in a single hand, containing about 50 notes and extracts from various works on ancient and contemporary English history; character sketches of classical personages in the manner of Plutarch; and epigrammatic verses in Latin and English. Entries on British history include "Briefe collections out of the history of Greate Brittaine by John Chapham," which contains a history of Britain up to William the Conqueror, and a history of Great Britain from William the Conqueror "unto this present of James I." The volume also contains a treatise on names, including a discussion of surnames, allusions to names, anagrams, and rebuses; several epigrams and humorous epitaphs; a poem on Queen Elizabeth's death; and biographies of such ancient Roman and Greek characters and writers such as Theseus, Romulus, and Solon