Holograph commonplace book containing excerpts from books, magazines and newspapers on a variety of subjects, including antiquities; recent history and politics; voyages of discovery; agriculture and agricultural improvement; natural history; methods of selecting books; and medical and household recipes. Bailye’s reading included Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burney’s History of Music, Gibbons’ Decline and Fall, and Boswell’s Life of Johnson, from which he extracted two pages of "Dr. Johnson’s Remarks and Observations." There are five pages of quotations from Rousseau’s Emile. A number of entries concern Lichfield antiquities and monuments, including descriptions of Lichfield Cathedral and information on the cost of James Wyatt’s repairs to the choir. Bailye also copied documents related to the administration of the estate of David Garrick, with which he was involved. Pages 98-100 contain "Mr. Wallis’s Acct. of the Effects of the late D. Garrick Esq. 1783," which includes statements of revenue from properties and investments as well as payments on legacies and annuities and is followed by a quotation from a 1785 letter by Wallis apologizing for the partial distributions. A more detailed account of Garrick’s Hendon property is found on page 114.
Books and reading --Great Britain, Distribution of decedents’ estates --Great Britain, Learning and scholarship --Great Britain, and Recipes --Great Britain
Manuscript on paper, in a single hand, containing brief quotations and maxims on approximately 500 primarily moral and philosophical subjects, arranged alphabetically under Latin headings. Sample headings include Ars, Consilio, Deus, Felicitas, Ingratitudo, and Veritas. Under Passio, the author writes, "There is noe heat of Affection but is joyn’d with some Impotence of brain"; under Vita, the author lists "Lives of persons written," including "Of Cowley, by Dr. Sprot, Of Mr. Herbert, Dr. Donne, Sr. Henry Wotton, & Mr. Hooker by Mr. Isaac Walton." The volume also includes commentary on the popes; the derivation of the phrase "Hocus Pocus"; and notes about political figures in Europe.
Description:
Imperfect: errors in pagination; pages 336-339 wanting.
Subject (Geographic):
Europe --Politics and government, Great Britain --Intellectual life --17th century, and Great Britain --Religious life and customs --17th century
Autograph manuscript of a collection of didactic material. The manuscript begins with specimens of calligraphy, labeled Courte hande, Chancerie hande, Secretarie hande, cloven hande, curled hand, chayned hand, and Roman hande, as well as examples of writing in reverse and recipes for making ink, red wax, and white letters on black paper. This section is followed by arithmetic tables; measurements and conversions for dry goods as well as salmon, eels, wine, and oil; a sample genealogical chart drawn as a tree; instructions on how to use counters for counting; and a chart of the names of English kings and the years of their reigns up to James I, dated 1607. The bulk of the collection, however, consists of several hundred Latin proverbs on such topics as error, excellence, faith, honor, and ingratitude, followed by English proverbs and admonitions, and then several English proverbs translated into Latin. This section includes excerpts from King James' Basilikon Doron and How to live and that well by William Perkins. These proverbs are followed by "prettie and necessary rules for such as use to deale in merchandize, easy to be had in memorye," and, at the end of the manuscript, genealogical information for the Hill family, beginning in 1568.
Description:
Imperfect: some pages mutilated with loss of text.
Subject (Name):
Hill family, James I, King of England, 1566-1625, and Perkins, William, 1558-1602
Subject (Topic):
Arithmetic--Handbooks, manuals, etc, Calligraphy --England, Children--Conduct of life, English poetry --17th century, Genealogy--England, Proverbs, English, Proverbs, Latin, Recipes--Great Britain, and Weights and measures--England
