I am very desirous of gaining some knowledge respecting the following MSS.,
especially as regards their locality at the present time. Perhaps some of
your numerous readers can help me to the information which I seek.
1. "Whitelocke's Labours remembered in the Annales of his Life, written for
the use of his Children." This valuable MS. contains a most minute and
curious account of the performance of Shirley's masque, entitled _The
Triumphs of Peace_. In 1789, when Dr. Burney published the third volume of
his _History of Music_, it was in the possession of Dr. Morton of the
British Museum.--Query, Was Dr. Morton's library disposed of by auction, or
what was its destiny?
2. "A MS. Treatise on the Art of Illumination, written in the year 1525."
This MS. is said by Edward Rowe Mores, in his _Dissertation upon English
Typographical Founders_, to have been in the possession of Humphrey Wanley,
who by its help "refreshed the injured or decayed illuminations in the
library of the Earl of Oxford." The MS. was transcribed by Miss Elstob in
1710, and a copy of her transcript was in the possession of Mr. George
Ballard. Where now is the original?
3. "A Memorandum-book in the handwriting of Paul Bowes, Esq., son of Sir
Thomas Bowes, of London, and of Bromley Hall, Essex, Knight, and dated
1673." In 1783 this MS., which contains some highly interesting and
important information, was in the possession of a gentleman named Broke, of
Nacton in Suffolk, a descendant from the Bowes family; but I have not been
able to trace it further.
4. "The Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey, Cardinall." This valuable MS. was in
the collection of Dr. Farmer, who wrote on the fly-leaf,--
"I believe several of the Letters and State Papers in this volume have
not been published; three or four are printed in the collections at the
end of Dr. Fiddes' _Life of Wolsey_, from a MS. in the Yelverton
Library."
If I remember rightly, the late Richard Heber afterwards came into the
possession of this curious and important volume. It is lamentable to think
of the dispersion of poor Heber's manuscripts.