Devotional miscellany : Religious writing; Prose; Miscellany c. 1662-1672.

Format:

Other

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religious literature--Authorship.

Religious literature.

Prayer.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

1662

Summary:

The volume is a copy of the commonplace book of Ursula Wyvill. The scribe is most likely to be a sibling of Ursula, a member of the D'Arcy family.

Notes:

AMDigital Reference:MS b.222

The manuscript is inscribed "A Coppy of a Booke that was writ by my Ever Deare Sister Wyvills owne Hands" and seems therefore to be a roughly contemporary copy by a sibling or in-law. It is a quarto volume comprising 126 leaves of size 19 x 15 cm, and contains sermon notes, prayers, religious maxims and extracts from the devotional poetry of Alexander Ross and William Birchley (John Austin). One poem, reworked in four drafts in the manuscript (pp. 112, 122, 134, 135), may be Wyvill's own. A long prayer on pp. 113-121 thanks God for encouraging her to take communion, at a time when she was experiencing a spiritual crisis (possibly due to the death of a child, which she also refers to in this prayer). There are two hands: the main hand is italic, while an early section on pages 4 to 27, a treatise on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is in a more formal mixed secretary hand and was possibly written before the rest. It would appear from the blank pages at the end of the manuscript that it was pre-bought. The original manuscript was probably written in the 1660s and 70s, based on internal evidence; this copy is a little later and probably post-dates Wyvill's death in 1680 (the foolscap watermark would indicate a date in the 1670s or 80s).