A Collection of Poems Referring to the times : Miscellany c. 1701.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dialogue.

Religious literature--Authorship.

Religious literature.

Title pages.

Barker, Jane, 1652-1732.

Barker, Jane.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Notes:

AMDigital Reference:Add. MS 21621

After the Revolution of 1688, Barker, in accordance with her Jacobite principles, followed James II and his family into exile in France. BL MS 21,621 is dedicated to James Francis Edward Stuart, the Jacobite Prince of Wales, subsequently known as the Old Pretender. Kathryn King writes that the manuscript is "generally assumed" to be the actual copy intended for presentation to its dedicatee, James Francis Edward Stuart, the exiled Jacobite Prince of Wales, subsequently known as the Old Pretender. However, she also observes that "Certain physical imperfections suggest that the BL volume may not have been the actual presentation copy... Peter Beal, manuscript expert at Sotheby's, thinks it possible it was a prototype, a copy retained for private use, or one intended for wider circulation in the St-Germain community. Evidence for the latter possibility is found in the language of a preface 'To the Reader' ... which suggests the volume was intended to be read outside court circles" (King, Jane Barker, Exile 108). It is impossible to date this manuscript exactly. Indeed, it is impossible to ascertain whether or not the BL copy is indeed the fair copy intended for presentation to the Prince of Wales. However, King's comments on the presumed date of the presentation copy help establish an approximate date of the BL manuscript: "The actual presentation copy to the Prince, ... must have been ready in late December 1700 or very early in January 1701, for the Dedication wishes the Prince 'not only a happy new year, but a happy new Century', the century commencing in January 1701 (according to the New Style calendar in use in France). Moreover, the reference to the 'coming Felicity' that follows in the Dedication alludes to what Barker and other Jacobites hoped - devoutly but, as it proved, wrongly -would be a Stuart restoration. Jacobite hopes were soon quashed: in June 1701 the Act of Settlement established the Hanoverian succession" (King, The Magdalen Manuscript 14). Each of the poems that appear in the British Library volume can also be found in Barker's Magdalen Manuscript (Magdalen College Library MS 343). The poems demonstrate Barker's commitment to Jacobitism and also comment on her conversion to Roman Catholicism. Many of these poems are referred to below as simultaneously religious and political writings, in that they reflect Barker's belief that the Stuart cause was divinely sanctioned and that events in British political history were manifestations of a greater struggle between the forces of good and evil.