:: :: University of Virginia Library

General title: "Poems, | by | T. L. Peacock." Epigraph (below title): "Nos hæc novimus esse nihil. | Mart:" [Epigrams, XIII.ii.8: "I know these things to be worthless"]. John Cam Hobhouse, who became one of the closest friends of Peacock's later years, used the same epigraph on the title page of his Imitations and Translations from the Ancient and Modern Classics, Together with Original Poems Never Before Published (1809). Both Peacock and Hobhouse would have expected their readers to remember that the passage in Martial continues for two more lines: "non tamen hoc nimium nihil est, si candidus aure | nec matutina si mihi fronte venis" ("and yet they are not absolutely worthless, if you come to me with a just ear, and not with an early morning frown").

(1) "Midsummer Holidays. | Written at twelve years of age."—pp. 1-2. Date: "June 1798." Previously unpublished.

The happy day at last is come,
We're ready all to hasten home,
We all in uproar are:
French Greek and Latin! all adieu!
We now no more remember you.
We fly away from care.

The boxes bring: the stage is here:
To London now our course we steer,
Devoid of grief and sorrow;
We think not of our future fate,

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But joyfully anticipate
Where we shall be tomorrow.

When now at last arriv'd in town,
Deliver'd from the master's frown,
We haste to meet our friends;
No more we cry, no more we fret;
We seem entirely to forget,
That holidays have ends.

The reference to "our future fate" is reminiscent of Gray's "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," 51-60. Biographically, it is interesting to note that Peacock was taking the stagecoach to London rather than some local conveyance to his grandfather's cottage at Chertsey, where he is said to have spent his vacations. Apparently he did not realize, when he wrote this carefree poem, that his schooldays, as well as his holidays, would soon come to an end. According to his own account in a letter to Thomas L'Estrange of 23 June 1862, he left John Harris Wicks's private school at Englefield Green before he turned thirteen on 18 October 1798 (Works, 8:259). For a summary of what little is known of his schooldays, see my "Peacock before Headlong Hall," pp. 10-12.
(2) "The Lord's Prayer, | Paraphrased."—pp. 3-4. Epigraph: "Deo optimo maximo." ["To God the best and greatest"]. Date: "January 1801." Published with "A. Æ. 16." following the title (without epigraph or date) in Palmyra, pp. 106-107. Collated with Works, 6:70.

13-14 Permit not in temptation's road | Our heedless steps to stray;] Oh, keep us from temptation's road, | Lest we should run astray:

Not capitalized: "heav'n" (6). Leigh Hunt used the same Latin tag—in the abbreviated form "Deo Opt. Max."—as the epigraph to his hymn "To the Omnipotent God" in Juvenilia (1801), pp. 135-136.
(3) "The Man of Fashion."—pp. 5-6. Epigraph: ". . . gracilis puer, | Perfusus liquidis odoribus . . ." [Horace, Odes, I.v.1-2, with omissions: "a slender youth, bedewed with liquid perfumes"]. Date: "June 1801". Transcript (without epigraph but with the same date) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 17-18. Collated with Works, 7:162, 466.
5 his knee] the knee
11 only fit] always fit
13-14 The order of these two lines is reversed.

Not capitalized: "chap" (1), "cape" (3), "boots" (5), "gala" (11). Not underlined: "cheats" (8), "modern Man" (16). Not hyphenated: "tomorrow" (10).
(4) "Sir Peter Bohea. | In a letter to a friend."—pp. 7-12. Date: "June 16: 1801." MS letter addressed "Mrs Love Senr, | Chertsey, | Surry." and dated "London July 16—1801—" in the Berg Collection. Transcript titled "Sir Peter Bohea | in a letter to a friend—" and dated "London | June 16. 1801." in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 50-57. Transcript of original letter by Harriet Love in the Pforzheimer Collection: Shelley and His Circle, 1:277-285. Collated with Works, 7:163-166, 466-467.
Dear Grandmother,] Dear . . . ,
7 knaves] rogues
8 asses-head] ass's head
46 such grace] more grace

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Capitalized: "Alley" (47). Not capitalized: "modesty" (11), "cocknies" (26, 64), "alderman" (56, 57), "square" (70). Underlined: "quite" (11), "improv'd" (23), "worshipful" (24), "experienc'd" (29), "ward" (34), "villanous city" (66), "West" (68), "sweet" (70), "figures away" [no quotation marks] (86), "figure away" [no quotation marks] (88). Not underlined: "valiantly" (31), "fam'd dad" (33), "great" (34), "extinguish" (38), "damn'd farthing rushlight!" (42), "sweet" (46), "Wick" (54), "Bohea" (54), "Lord's Anointed" (58), "knighted" (60), "Peter" (61), "moderate" (62), "dear, pretty wife" (82), "affectionate" (83), "life-loving" (85), "to make both ends meet" [no quotation marks] (87), "in the Fleet" (88). Hyphenated: "Twopence-farthing's" (27), "Candlewick-ward" (34), "Grosvenor-square" (70). Not hyphenated: "tallow chandler" (34). Elided: "distress'd" (67). Not apostrophized: "twas" (42). Spelling: "pennyless" (4), "cocknies" (26, 64), "villanous" (66). Exclamation points after "Gad's curse!" and "Gad demme!" (77). New paragraph after line 60. Two blank lines between paragraphs. It is not clear whether this verse letter was written a month before it was sent to Peacock's grandmother, or whether the 16 June date in the Berg and Sadleir-Taylor MSS is a slip for 16 July taken over from earlier MSS. The text of the Berg MS is much closer to that of the letter than to that of the Sadleir-Taylor MS, which contains a number of corrupt readings and appears to have been based on an early version or rough draft.
(5) "On the death of | Sir Ralph Abercromby."—pp. 13-14. Epigraph: "Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt. | Virg:" [Eclogues, v.78: "Always thy honor and name and glories shall abide"]. Date: "June 1801". Transcript by Harriet Love (without epigraph or date) in the Pforzheimer Collection: Shelley and His Circle, 1:251-253. Collated with Works, 7:171, 468.
5 heart] breast

Not capitalized: "chief" (1), "angels" (3), "fame" (14). The concluding quotation—"The deeds of days of other years!"—is from the opening of "Carthon: A Poem" in James Macpherson's Ossian, ed. Otto L. Jiriczek, 3 vols. (Heidelberg, 1940), 1:127, 128. General Sir Ralph Abercromby, the commander of British troops in the Mediterranean, died on 28 March 1801, as a result of a wound he received a week earlier in the campaign against Alexandria that followed his successful landing in force at Aboukir Bay on 8 March.
(6) "The Storm."—pp. 15-18. Epigraph: "Permitte divis cætera, qui simul | Stravêre ventos æquore fervido | Deprœliantes, nec cupressi, | Nec veteres agitantur orni. | HOR:" [Odes, I.ix.9-12: "Leave the rest to the gods, for as soon as they have stilled the winds battling on the stormy sea, neither the cypresses nor the ancient ashtrees are shaken"]. Date: "October 1801." Transcript (without epigraph but with the same date) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 2-6. Collated with Works, 7:168-170, 467-468.
2 loudly] fiercely
14 blue-forked] sulph'rous
22 he gain] he gains
34 The fields] These fields

Capitalized: "Pleasure's" (40). Not capitalized: "hermit" (9, 19, 31), "whirlwind's" (10), "man" (19), "goal" (22), "west" (26), "sun" (26, 40). Elided: "tow'r" (20), "flow'rs" (28), "ev'ning" (35). Not contracted: "though" (37). Apostrophized: "it's" (11, 17, 39). Ellipsis points at the end of line 24 and at the beginning of line 25.
(7) "Foldath. | Imitated from a little poem in Macpherson's notes on Ossian."—pp. 19-20. Date: "October 1801." Published as "Foldath in the Cavern of Moma. From the Same" (without date) in Palmyra, pp. 122-123, where it follows "Clonar and Tlamín" (no. 25, below). Collated with Works, 6:78.
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10 while] whilst

Not capitalized: "reflected beam" (11). Peacock's source is the note to Temora: An Epic Poem, Book V, beginning "The fall of Foldath . . ." (Ossian, ed. Jiriczek, 2: 93-94).
(8) "Peace."—pp. 21-23. Epigraph: "Cara Deum soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum! | Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum, | Terrasque, tractusque maris, cælumque profundum; | Aspice, venturo lætentur ut omnia sæclo. | Virg:" [Eclogues, iv.49-52: "Dear child of the Gods, great offspring of Jove! behold the world with its massive dome vibrating, and the lands and the expanse of sea and the unfathomable sky; behold how all things rejoice in the age that is to be!"]. Date: "October 1801." Transcript (without epigraph) misdated January 1801 in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 14-15. Collated with Works, 7:161-162, 465-466.
25 long-wish'd-for] all-cheering

Capitalized: "Faction" (29). Not capitalized: "harpies" (3), "earth" (5), "suns" (19), "isle" (26), "prejudice" (28). Not underlined: "Liberty" (23), "Plenty" (23). Elided: "fled'st" (6), 'giv'n" (17), "Heav'n" (18), "Pow'r" (25), "suff'ring" (26). Spelling: "Oh" (12). On historical grounds, H. F. B. Brett-Smith recognized that the January 1801 date in the Sadleir-Taylor MS was too early and suggested that it was an error for January 1802—Works, l:xxviii, note. However, the October 1801 date in the Berg MS is certainly correct, for preliminary articles of peace were signed in London on 1 October 1801, leading eventually to the Treaty of Amiens on 27 March 1802.
(9) "The Alarmists. | In a letter to a friend."—pp. 24-29. Date: "Decr 25: 1801." Transcript titled "The Alarmists | part of a Letter to a friend | Decr 25 1801—" in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 58-65. Collated with Works, 7:172-175, 468-469.
7 mighty] weighty
23 goodness] greatness
25 Leather] leathers
27 the polish'd] this polish'd
34 nipp'd off] snipp'd off
36 say they have] say they've
37 shreds] sheers
44 would bear] could bear
49 bawl'd a stout] bawl'd out a
52 Bony part] Bonypart
68 curse me, 'tis] damme! it's
69 forbids me] forbids us
71 a fortnight's time] a little time
75 in all their] in their
78 So, my friends, let us all be] So let's all, my good friends, be

Capitalized: "Sir" (20), "Fate" (42). Not capitalized: "peace" (4), "clubs" (5), "club" (8), "auctioneer" (12), "peace" (14, 20, 31, 35, 59, 65), "nation" (16, 64), "cobler" (19), "tailor" (28), "poulterer" (43), "oilman" (45), "cook" (49), "in" (49), "premier" (57), "devils" (59), "zounds" (63), "ministers" (65, 73), "chairman" (69). Underlined: "shameful, iniquitous peace" (4), "learned" (10), "lot" (14), "knock'd down" (16), "wax" (21), "melts away" (21), "tapp'd on the heel" (23), "pegging awls" (24), "in holes" (25), "last" (26), "soles" (26), "worn" (32), "bare" (32), "ready cut" (33), "cabbag'd" (34), "patch'd up" (35), "they" (35), "taken" (36), "measure" (36), "shred" (38), "cloth" (38), "needle" (39), "crack of a nit" (40), "pucker" (41), "choler" (41), "threads" (42), "clipp'd off" (42), "duck" (43), "foul" (44), "goose" (44), "flask" (46), "ooz'd out" (46), "oil" (46), "pickle" (48), "mess" (51), "smoke" (51), "rare" (52), "pot" (53), "sauce" (54), "stew" (54), "trifle" (55), "quake" [? unintentionally underlined
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instead of "jelly"] (55), "Mounseer" (56), "roast beef" (56), "sop" (57), "suck'd up" (57), "cake" (58), "puff" (58), "sweets" (59), "devils" (59), "taste" (59), "baste" (60), "fat" (61), "over-done" (62), "done over" (62), "roasted" (63), "dish'd" (63), "broil" (63), "gravy" (64), "starve" (66), "feed" (66), "fat of the land" (66), "bubble-and-squeak" (68), "important" (70). Hyphenated: "a-going! a-going! ! a-going! ! !" (18), "ready-cut" [? underlining unintentionally omitted] (33), "over-done" (62), "bubble-and-squeak" (68). Elided: "conven'd" (8), "cabbag'd" (34), "patch'd" (35), "liv'd" (61). Not contracted: "Although" (39), "Though" (15, 47). Spelling: "woeful" (3), "villanous" (14), "shewing" (17). New paragraphs after lines 30 and 68. Two blank lines between paragraphs. The Berg MS reveals a number of textual corruptions in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, which may have been copied from an early version or rough draft.
(10) "From the seventeenth chapter of Isaiah."—pp. 30-31. Date: "May 24: 1802." Transcript titled "Paraphrase from the 17 Chapr Isaiah | May 24, 1802." in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 12-13. Collated with Works, 7:175-176, 469. Not capitalized: "tempest" (3), "ocean" (3), "nations" (4), "world" (11), "eternal" (18). Hyphenated: "madly-rushing" (2), "long-resounding" (6), "loudly-eddying" (8), "thistle-down" (16). Elided: "pow'rful" (9), "driv'n" (19). Apostrophized: "it's" (6). Comma after "great" (18). Stanza break after line 6, and possibly after line 12 (where a page break occurs). Peacock's paraphrase is based on the Authorized Version of Isaiah 17:12-13, which he later quoted in a note to Palmyra, pp. 43-44.
(11) "Mira's Tomb."—pp. 32-34. Epigraph: "Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. | Hor:" [Odes, I.iv.15: "Life's brief span forbids us to form distant hopes"]. Date: "May 26: 1802.—" Published as "Mira" (without epigraph or date) in Palmyra, pp. 112-114. Collated with Works, 6:73.
5 ev'ning-close] ev'ning hours
6 softly-mournful] sweetly-mournful
7 The earth its earliest sweets bestows] The red-breast scatters fragrant flow'rs
9 Summer's brightest flow'rs] Spring's first op'ning sweets

Not hyphenated: "tomorrow" (24). The last two lines are annotated in pencil in an unknown hand: "Such as they are to day, | Such we, alas! may be tomorrow. | (Prior's Garland)" [Matthew Prior, "The Garland," 37-38: "Such as She is, who dy'd to Day; | Such I, alas! may be to Morrow"].
(12) "On the death of Mr Pembroke."—pp. 35-36. Epigraph: "Quis desiderio sit pudor, aut modus, | Tam cari capitis? . . . Hor:" [Odes, I.xxiv.1-2: "What restraint, or limit, should there be to our grief for so dear a person?"]. Date: "Octr 1802." Published as "On the Death of Charles Pembroke, Esq." (without epigraph or date) in Palmyra, pp. 101-102. Collated with Works, 6:67. Not capitalized: "friendship" (2), "virtue" (5, 18). Hyphenated: "soft-eyed" (6). Spelling: "honor'd" (7). Within quotation marks, but not underlined: "Like Autumn's leaves the present race decays, | Another race succeeds." (16-17). I have not identified this quotation, which is strongly reminiscent of Homer, Iliad, vi.146-149. After the title, Mr. Pembroke is identified in pencil in an unknown hand: "(of Chertsey) | (Father of the Rev. Charles Pembroke)". An obituary notice in the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1802 indicates that "Charles Pembroke, esq. attorney at law" died on 25 September 1802, at Chertsey, "in his 45th year" (72:979). Peacock's change of title may have been prompted by Mrs. Sewell's poem "On the Death of Charles Pembroke, Esq. of Chertsey. 1802," published in her Poems, pp. 247-248 (see no. 16, below).
(13) "Slender's Love-Elegy."—pp. 37-39. Epigraph: Xαλεòν Τò —ὴ øιλῆσαι, | Xαλεòν δέ Καί øιλῆσαι, | XαλεπΤερον δέ iáνΤων | AiοΤυγχáνειν øιλοῦνΤα. | ANAKPEΩN. [Anacreontea, 27B (Bergk) or 29 (Edmonds): 1-4: "It is painful not
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to love, and also painful to love, but it is most painful of all to be unsuccessful in love"]. Date: "Jany 30: 1803." Published (without epigraph or date) in Palmyra, pp. 137-139. Collated with Works, 6:90-91. Elided: "am'rous" (36). Spelling: "splendour" (17). Quotation marks around the refrain in lines 16, 32, and 40. The refrain is, of course, from The Merry Wives of Windsor, III.i.70 and 114. However, Peacock's poem also owes something to William Shenstone's "Slender's Ghost," with its similar refrain, "O sweet! O sweet Anne Page!"—The Works in Verse and Prose of William Shenstone, Esq., 2 vols. (1764), 1:216-217.
(14) "Translation | From the Italian of Guarini."—pp. 40-41. Epigraph: "O Primavera, gioventù del anno! . . . &c.—" [Il Pastor Fido, III.i.l: "O Spring, youth of the year!"]. Date: "Jany 31: 1803.—". Transcript (without epigraph or date) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 37-38. Published from an unlocated MS dated 1 February 1803 (with the epigraph) in The Works of Thomas Love Peacock, ed. Henry Cole, 3 vols. (1875), 3:2. Collated with Works, 7:177, 470. Capitalized: "Spring" (1, 9), "Winter's" (5), "Nature" (6, 7). This passage from Il Pastor Fido was a set piece, translated by Leigh Hunt as late as 1844—see The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt, ed. H. S. Milford (1923), p. 466. Peacock translated another passage from Guarini's pastoral drama as "Amarillis; from the Pastor Fido" (IV.v.197-206, 222-224) in Palmyra, pp. 115-117.
(15) "To a friend at Guernsey."—pp. 42-43. Date: "March 1803—". Previously unpublished.
When hen-peck'd cit, in old scratch wig,
Forsakes tea, sugar, prune, and fig,
And down to Margate hastes, to lave
His greasy carcase in the wave,
With "dainty duck," supremely great,
A lady of amazing weight,
And darling Jacky, hopeful boy!
So pleasant! stow'd on board the hoy; . . .
When dapper cocknies (dext'rous crew!)
Enjoy their Sunday's row to Kew,
And, gliding down the silver stream,
Beneath the cool meridian beam,
Cry, as they tug the oar for pleasure,
"Vell! this is charming beyond measure!"
"How sweet the prospect on each side!
It looks so monstrous countrified!
I loves to see the fields and trees,
And snuff the flagrant rular breeze!" . . .
When Cuckoo sings his "note of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear;" . . .
When raging Sirius fiercely burns; . . .
In short . . . when Summer's reign returns; . . .
Still on our shores should peace remain,
Then may I see my friend again,
Nor may he quickly bid farewell
To London and to . . . Shacklewell!

The quotations in lines 5 and 19-20 are from A Midsummer Night's Dream, V.i.281, and Love's Labor's Lost. V.ii.901-902 and 910-911 (with "note" for "word"). The village of Shacklewell, near Hackney, was the residence of Lucretia Oldham—"the beauty of Shacklewell Green"—for whom Peacock wrote a number of poems between November 1802 and November 1803. The "friend at Guernsey" was also the addressee of "Letter to a friend" (no. 20, below), which is titled "To a friend at Guernsey" in the Sadleir-Taylor MS. Since he was evidently a member of Peacock's circle of friends
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in the vicinity of Hackney, I have speculated elsewhere that he may have been William de St. Croix, whose father was born in Jersey—see my "Peacock before Headlong Hall," pp. 13-14.
(16) "To Mrs Sewell, | on her poems." —pp. 44-46. Date: "June 1803." Transcript titled "To Mrs. Sewell, on reading her poems." (with the same date) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 26-28. Collated with Works, 7:179-180, 470. Not capitalized: "muse" (16), "virtue's" (25), "religion" (26). Hyphenated: "regularly-wild" (6), "many-sounding" (14). Elided: "tun'd" (3), "pow'r" (21), "giv'n" (27), "Heav'n" (30). Mary Sewell, née Young, was the author of Poems, by Mrs. G. Sewell, Relict of the Late Geo. Sewell, Rector of Byfleet, Surrey, published at Egham and Chertsey by R. Wetton and Sons in 1803. The list of subscribers includes "Mr. T. L. Peacock" as well as "Lieut. Wm. Love, R.N." (Peacock's uncle) and a "Mrs. Love" (either Peacock's aunt or his grandmother)—pp. xiv, xviii.
(17) "Nina-thoma. | Imitated from Ossian."—pp. 47-48. Date: "July 1803." Transcript titled "Imitated from Ossian (Barrathan)." (with the same date) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 29-31. Collated with Works, 7:180-181, 470-471.
23 to-morrow] the morrow

Not capitalized: "king's" (15), "harp's" (17), "virgin" (20). Hyphenated: "Blue-tumbling" (10). Apostrophized: "did'st" (20). No stanza break after line 5. Ellipsis points at the end of line 10 (where a page break occurs). Peacock's source is in Macpherson's "Berrathon: A Poem" (Ossian, ed. Jiriczek, 1:262-263).
(18) "Levi Moses."—pp. 49-52. Epigraph: "Sed quò divitias hæc per tormenta coactas? | Cum furor haud dubius, cum sit manifesta phrenesis, | Ut locuples moriaris egenti vivere fato? | Juv:" [Satires, xiv.135-137: "But to what end do you heap up wealth by means of these torments, when it is sheer madness, when it is plain frenzy, to live in want so that you may die rich?"]. Date: "August 1803." Published (with epigraph but without date) in Palmyra, pp. 133-136. Collated with Works, 6:87-89 (after correcting "my laborsh" to "ma laborsh" in line 26 on the basis of the text in Palmyra).
7 bargains two hundred] bargainsh tree hondred
19 inshtructions] inshtructionsh
20 ma bushinesh] my bushinesh [? unintentionally normalized]
25 mashelf] myshelf [? unintentionally normalized]
33-48 The order of the last two stanzas is reversed.
33, 40 vit] vid
29, 39, 47, 48 goot] good

Not capitalized: "lane" (3), "fortune" (26). Underlined: "cleverly" (22), "cleverly cheated him" (23). Not underlined: "shent per shent" (31). Not hyphenated: "Roshemary lane" (3). Not elided: "shcraped" (27). Spelling: "Vich" (14), "laboursh" (26). Numerous examples of "Jews' Songs" can be found in The Universal Songster; or, Museum of Mirth, 3 vols. (1825-26).
19) "Paddy's Lamentation."—p. 53. Date: "Augt 1803." Transcript dated 1803 in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 46-47. Collated with Works, 7:183-184, 471.
1 shoul's dearest] shoul's darest
2 dear joy] best joy
3 my dear] my sweet
4 did ye] did you
5 Oh! my] Ah! my

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6 potatoes] porators,
7 wish and nothing to cry for] wish, you had nothing to sigh for
9 leave] lave
11 dear creature] dare crater [? underlining unintentionally omitted]

Not capitalized: "oh" (1), "jewel" (4, 8, 12). Spelling: "whisky" (6). The Berg MS restores the dialect of the comic Irishman, which is almost completely normalized in the Sadleir-Taylor MS.
(20) "Jack Allspice. | Imitated from the French."—pp. 54-55. Date: "Octr 1803." Previously unpublished.

Jack Allspice late in Wapping dwelt,
In coffee, tea, and snuff he dealt,
And all before him carried:
He saw, and lov'd, a blithsome maid,
With joy he found his love repaid,
And little Jack was married.

Three months pass on in love and joy:
The fourth arrives: a chopping boy
To Jacky's arms they bear:
Jack look'd amaz'd: the doctor smil'd:
"Doctor!" says Jack, "this pretty child
Has come too soon, I fear!"

"Friend Jack! amongst the sons of men,
These things will happen now and then,
Repine not thus at fate:
But learn this truth, you silly loon,
The child came not at all too soon,
Your marriage came too late!"

I have not identified Peacock's French source.
(21) "Glee."—pp. 56-57. Epigraph: "Nunc est bibendum. | Hor:" [Odes, I.xxxvii.1: "Now it is time to drink"]. Date: "Decr 1803." Transcript (without epigraph but with the same date) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 32-33. Collated with Works, 7:185-186, 472. Lines 1, 3, 9, and 11 are each divided into two lines of three and four syllables, respectively. Not hyphenated: "tomorrow" (4).
(22) "Letter to a friend."—pp. 58-60. Date: "Decr 23: 1803—". Transcript titled "To a friend at Guernsey | Decr 23d 1803" in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 66-69. Collated with Works, 7:186-187, 472-473. Not capitalized: "this" (16), "turkies" (17), "season" (20), "bellman's" (22), "christmas" (25), "care" (26), "demons" (27), "aldermanic" (28), "turkey" (28), "muse" (29), "sir" (33), "answer" (34). Underlined: "I" (6), "reason" (19), "aldermanic" (28). Elided: "requir'd" (31), "tir'd" (32), "pr'ythee" (33). Not contracted: "Though" (3, 7), "Through" (23). Apostrophized: "'till" (35). Comma after "absent" (2). The concluding quotation—"Adieu! Adieu! remember me!"—is, of course, from Hamlet, I.v.91 and 111. The addressee was evidently the "friend at Guernsey" to whom Peacock had written no. 15, above.
(23) "To Matilda."—pp. 61-62. Epigraph: "Che barbaro addio! | Che fato crudel! | Che attendono i rei | Dagli astri funesti, | Se i premi son questi | D'un alma fedel?— | Metastasio." [Demofoonte, II.xi.33-38: "What a rude farewell! What a cruel fate! What can the guilty expect from their fatal stars, if these are the rewards of a faithful soul?"]. Date: "Feby 1804." Holograph MS dated "Feb. 7 1804." (without epigraph) in the Pforzheimer Collection: Shelley and His Circle, 1:332-334. Transcript of an earlier version titled "To Matilda—on parting | Jany 24. 1804." (without
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epigraph) in the Sadleir-Taylor MS, pp. 34-36. Collated with Works, 7:187-188, 473. Hyphenated: "storm-beaten" (2).
(24) "To Rosalia."—pp. 63-64. Epigraph: ". . . Miseri quibus | Intentata nites! . . . | Hor:" [Odes, I.v.12-13: "Wretched they to whom thou, untried, seemest fair!"]. Date: "Feby 1804." First three stanzas published (with a different name, with a different epigraph, and without date) as the opening of the much longer "Farewell to Matilda" in Palmyra, pp. 108-111. See Works, 6:71-72. Last two stanzas previously unpublished.

Rosalia . . . farewell! Fate has doom'd us to part;
But the prospect occasions no pang to my heart;
No longer is love with my reason at strife,
Though once thou wert dearer, far dearer than life.

As together we roam'd, I the passion confess'd,
Which thy beauty and virtue had rais'd in my breast;
That the passion was mutual, thou mad'st me believe,
And I thought my Rosalia could never deceive!

My Rosalia! no! false one! my claims I resign;
Thou can'st not, thou must not, thou shalt not be mine!
I now scorn thee as much as I lov'd thee before,
Nor sigh when I think I shall meet thee no more.

Thou love! no, Rosalia! debase not the name,
Not in bosoms like thine glows so noble a flame;
Thine was felt without pleasure, was lost without sorrow,
Thou could'st love me to-day, and forget me tomorrow!

Thy breast swells with joy at the thought of my pain,
But I mourn not the loss of a heart I disdain,
Though I once thought it death from Rosalia to sever,
With a smile I can leave thee, and leave thee for ever!

The interchangeability of the names Rosalia and Matilda—both of which were common in Gothic novels—suggests that they have no biographical significance.
(25) "Clonar and Tlamín. | Imitated from a little poem in Macpherson's notes on Ossian."—pp. 65-68. Date: "July 1804." Holograph MS (with the same date) in the Pforzheimer Collection: Shelley and His Circle, 1:374-377. Published (without date) in Palmyra, pp. 118-121. Collated with Works, 6:76-77.
The quotation from Macpherson's note is omitted.
3 wind] breeze
9 the war-tempest] war's stern tempest
14 Ye blue mists of Lutha] Ye mists of the valley
18 While fix'd on the mind] Whilst fix'd on the soul
23 Then why] Oh why
27 Towards green-vallied Erin] Tow'rds Erin's green vallies

Capitalized: "Death's" (31). Elided: "E'en" (11). Apostrophized: "it's" (18), "'Till" (22). Question mark after "streams" (6). No comma after "hill" (13). The name Tlamín is accented in the title and the first heading, but not afterwards. The readings of the Berg MS almost always agree with those of the Pforzheimer MS. Peacock's source—misidentified in Shelley and His Circle—is the note to Temora: An Epic Poem, Book VIII, beginning "Tla-min, mildly soft . . ." (Ossian, ed. Jiriczek, 2:146).
(26) "Ancient War-Song."—p. 69. Date: "Augt 1804." Included as the opening "Chorus of Bards" in the undated holograph MS drama "The Circle of Loda" (written
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on paper with an 1801 watermark): British Library Additional MS 36816, fol. 104. Published by A. B. Young in "Unpublished Songs of T. L. Peacock," Notes and Queries, 10th series, 10 (5 December 1908); 442, and in his edition of The Plays of Thomas Love Peacock (1910), pp. 75-76. Collated with Works, 7:293. Not hyphenated: "Dimly seen" (3). Apostrophized: "it's" (10).
(27) "The Monks of St Mark. | A Tale of Wonder."—pp. 70-77. Date: "Septr 1804." Epigraph: "In these deep solitudes and awful cells, | . . . | What means this tumult . . .? | Pope." [Eloisa to Abelard, 1, 4]. Privately printed (without subtitle or epigraph, but with the same date) by Thomas Bensley, in the same format and probably at the same time as Palmyra. Collated with Works, 7:189-192, 474-475.
15 Or, all] All
23-24 While Pedro protested, it vex'd him infernally | To see such good beverage taken "externally!"] Whilst Pedro declar'd, "he could pretty well guess, | That a parboil'd calf's foot was a very fine mess!"
consented, but all] complied, but all yet
50 did Pedro] poor Pedro
53-54 And prone on the floor fell this son of the cowl, | And howl'd, deeply-smarting, a terrible howl!] Who, thus stretch'd on the floor, yell'd out ah!s and holloa!s, | As if half a score devils were tweaking his nose!
55 Poor Augustine's bosom with terror was cold] Amaz'd and confounded did Augustine stand
56 his hold] his hand

Capitalized: "Brother" (34). Not capitalized: "abbot" (17, 25, 61), "brother" (63). Underlined: "held forth" (16), "flock" (17), "feelingly" (25), "heels" (46), "head" (46), "serpentin'd" (66). Not underlined: 'Te Deums" (13), "lend him a hand" (34), "boozing about" (61). Not hyphenated: "corridor stairs" (74). Elided: "begg'd" (34). Not elided: "Bewildered" (67). Apostrophized: "it's" (4, 20), "'Till" (17, 36). Not apostrophized: "Stead" (13). Spelling: "boozing" (61), "vapours" (82). No quotation marks around lines 26-30. The subtitle is helpful in establishing the literary origins of Peacock's poem, which is evidently an experiment in the comic vein of Matthew Gregory Lewis's Tales of Wonder, 2 vols. (1801). Lewis's celebrated collection contains a good deal of humor and self-parody, most notably in his parody of his own "Alonzo the Brave and Fair Imogine" in "Giles Jollop the Grave, and Brown Sally Green" (1:26-30), and in the anonymous parody of "The Erl-King" and "The Cloud King" in "The Cinder King" (2:416-418). The six-line anapestic stanza of The Monks of St. Mark is found in only one poem in Lewis's collection: H. Bunbury's "The Little Grey Man" (1:113-121).
(28) "Maria's return to her native cottage."—pp. 78-82. Epigraph: "Che debbo far, che poss'io far qui sola? | Chi me da ajuto, oime! chi me consola? | Ariosto." [Orlando Furioso, X.xxvii.7-8: "What shall I do, what can I do here alone? Who will help me, alas! who will comfort me?"]. Date: "Septr 1804." Published (with a different epigraph and without date) in Palmyra, pp. 59-66. Collated with Works, 6:41-46. The first two lines of each stanza in the printed text are combined into one in the MS.
4 While] Whilst
13-18 Hope's visions wild . . . prospect blighting.] In hapless hour love's fatal pow'r | My too fond bosom cherish'd: | Oh! happier far, if, ere my heart | First felt the sharp envenom'd dart, | This wretched form had perish'd!
25 fondest] firmest
27 soul] heart
28 in those] in youth's
34 my days] each hour

Not capitalized: "heav'n" (23), "disobedient daughter" (54). Not hyphenated: "tomorrow" (72). Elided: "wint'ry" (12).