Meditations : Religious writing September 1667- c. 1671.

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Meditation.

Prayer.

London (England).

Dunfermline (Scotland).

Etna, Mount (Italy).

Sicily (Italy).

Edinburgh (Scotland).

Torryburn (Scotland).

Catania (Italy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Summary:

The manuscript remained in the library at Pitfirrane House, seat of the Halkett family, until it was purchased by the National Library of Scotland in 1951-52 (though it was borrowed from Pitfirrane on two occasions).

Notes:

AMDigital Reference:MS 6492

National Library of Scotland MS 6492 is the fourth of fourteen extant manuscripts of religious meditations written by Anne, Lady Halkett. For a discussion of all of the surviving manuscripts plus the lost volumes, see the Context and Purpose article in NLS MS 6489. This manuscript consists of occasional meditations from pp.1-140 (msItems 12-35), select or biblical meditations from pp.141-243 (msItems 36-41), instructions to her son Robert from pp.244-308 (msItem 42), and scriptural extracts grouped under different headings from pp.309-350 (msItems 43-47, and 49). MsItem 48 is a table of contents for the select meditations (under which heading she includes msItems 36-49). The final item of the manuscript is Halkett's New Year's resolutions made on 2 January 1671 (pp.351-352, msItem 50). The occasional meditations cover a range of topics including illnesses of herself and others, deaths of relatives, the Act of Supremacy, her reading material, and sending her son, Robert, to school. The final meditations of this section discuss the death of her husband, Sir James Halkett and her new state of widowhood. The select meditations discuss Hebrews 13:5, I Samuel 4:22, Psalm 18:20, I Corinthians 13:7, Jeremiah 35:18-19, and I Corinthians 6:11. The occasional meditations contemplate events that happened from September 1667 (despite Halkett writing that she began this manuscript on the first Monday in January 1668 [p. 2]) to the death of her husband on 24 September 1670, and the final meditation of the volume is dated 2 January 1671. Some of the prefatory material (msItems 1-11), however, was written later than the items in the manuscript itself. The front pastedown (p. i) contains a table of contents for the select meditations, including the instructions to her son, the scriptural extracts, and the final resolution (pp.141-352). The next leaf (pp. ii-iii) contains a note about the date the volume was begun, a prayer, and a table of contents for the occasional meditations (pp.1-140). This table of contents continues on p. iv, and ends with a note explaining Halkett's original plan for the volume. On the verso of that leaf (p. v) Halkett begins a meditation about going to live in Dunfermline on 14 February 1671. This meditation continues for the next four-and-a-half leaves (to p. xii). The verso of that final leaf (p. xiii) contains a short meditation on how she consecrated her widowhood to God on 28 May 1671. At this point in the volume five leaves of differing sizes have been inserted, the fourth and fifth of which are conjugate. The first inserted leaf (pp.xiv-xv) is an account of the eruption on Mount Etna in Sicily described in the London Gazette on 1 February 1688. The second leaf (p.xvi) is an incomplete meditation on her resolution made in October 1670 to spend each Saturday in retirement and devotion because that was the day of her husband's death. Its verso is unpaginated and blank. The third leaf (p.xvii) contains a poem by Halkett written on her husband's death. Its verso is also unpaginated and blank. On the fourth and fifth conjugate leaves (pp.xviii-xxi) Halkett has written a meditation on her resolution made on 9 December 1670 to become a widow indeed. After this prefatory material the occasional meditations begin on p.1.Halkett has returned at several points to edit her words, trace words again, and underline words, suggesting that she highlighted certain important words while rereading them for her future contemplation or for future readers. In her table of contents for the occasional meditations (pp.ii-iv, msItem 4) Halkett has used several different inks, writing different parts of the table of contents at different times.