Perhaps some of your numerous readers may be interested with the
following Note:--A few weeks since I met with at a stall a most
beautifully-written MS. commentary on the Second Epistle of St. Paul to
the Corinthians. The MS. was evidently of the close of the seventeenth,
or the first three or four years of the eighteenth century. I was much
struck with its learning. At the end were two sermons written in a
different hand. The commentary was scored and corrected by the same hand
the sermons were written in. These latter were full of most copious
extracts from the Greek and Latin Fathers. The handwriting was very
remarkable. I discovered that the commentary was that of Dr. Whitby,
though differing in several places from that published by him. By a
comparison with some of Dr. Whitby's letters in the British Museum
(especially Add. MSS. 4276., fol. 194.), two learned friends at once
identified the Doctor's handwriting, which is very peculiar in the
formation of some of the letters, and especially from having a
remarkable curve [Illustration: horizontal curved line]. The two
sermons, I believe, have never been published. Between the leaves of the
MS. I found an old letter, of which I send you a copy. The person to
whom it was addressed was Dr. Elias Sydall, subsequently, I believe,
Bishop of Gloucester, then chaplain to Archbishop Tenison. I know not
whether it has ever appeared in print before.
"To the Pious and Revd Dr Sydall, Chaplain to his Grace the
Archbp. of Canterbury.
"The humble petition of the Inhabitants of the Parish of Allington
in Kent.
"Sr.
"The sublime character his Grace did latelie bestow on a _brace_
of his own Chaplains, that he feared not, not he, _to turn them
loose against any two preachers in England_, has rais'd so high an
opinion of your person in all men of sense and understanding, that
you cannot wonder to see yourself courted by us as the reigning
favourite at Lambeth; be pleas'd, therefore, when business of
State or the care of the Church aford his Grace some minutes of
leisure, to represent our deplorable case to Him: we are now as a
flock without a Shepheard, and are inform'd by a threat'ning
Emissary, who came latelie down only to scatter terror through our
fields, that my Ld designs to thrust a young _looker_ amongst us,
who, tho' fit to be an Amanuensis, should the dreadfull times of
Pulton[3] return, yet knows not yet what doctrine He should give,
nor what tithes He should receive. Good S'r, put his Lordship in
mind that our Fathers had once here the great Erasmus, & that our
living should not be the portion of Sucklings: His Grace's
singular affection to the Church will encline him, we hope, to
consider our case, and we entreat you to favor it with your
gracious countenance; and your Petitioners will, as in duty bound,
pray to God that he will be pleas'd to translate one of the
Prebendaries to Heaven, to make room for you before it is too
late.
[Footnote 3: "The A.B. disputed in K. James' time against Pulton
the Jesuite, who prov'd too hard for Him."]
"Sam. Andrews, }
John Stain, } Churchwardens.
"Will. Sokes.
Hum. Terryl.
Matt. Parker,
x
his mark.
Tim. Pledget.
Ch. Douhty.
W. Rest.
Will. Soper."
I transcribe the letter _verbatim et literatim_. There is no date; but
the writing is very old, evidently of the early part of the eighteenth
century. Perhaps some of your readers can throw light upon the subject
referred to. Does anybody know of more portions of Dr. Whitby's
commentary in MS.?