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Notes
Its full library classification is ZDU: Eb 1737 H—ZDU for New Zealand, Dunedin, and University of Otago respectively. The remains are enclosed in a wrapper bearing the bookplate of the de Beer Collection, the words 'The Gift of E. S. de Beer Esq.', and in pencil 'I. A. Williams' Collection', also the accession number [19]73-18724. The front and back covers are missing; the leather spine, elaborately gold-tooled, retains its red label with the words 'POEMS SET TO MUSIC BY DR. GREENE'. The largely intact head-band projecting some 5 mm to one side of the remaining leaves shows that a quantity of leaves, perhaps as many as 16 to 24, are missing at the front. Leaf size (trimmed) is a uniform 195 by 125 mm, save for The force of truth, which is 195 by 121 mm.
The handwriting has been checked against Hoadly's autograph letter of 'Sepr. 6th. 1763'—see footnote 14—and by Miss Pamela J. Willetts, Department of Manuscripts, British Library, who compared a photograph of the 'Sonnet in Imitation of Milton' with BL. Add. MS. 35612. (Miss Willett's letter of 6 March 1961 is held with ZDU: Eb 1737 H.
It will be helpful to summarise the several contents of ZDU: Eb 1737 H in due order.
- A. χ1r,v 'Dedication of ye. Pastoral of Love's Revenge to Diana Duchess of Bedford' (2 pp.); χ2r,v 'To James Harris Esqre. of Salisbury' (2 pp.)
- B. A 2 B-D2 E1, Love's Revenge, [1737]
- C. A-B4, Jephtha, 1737
- D. χ1r-χ6r, 'The Choice of Hercules . . . 1740' (11 pp.); χ6v, 'To Mrs. Bowes with ye. Force of truth' (1 p.)
- E. A8, The force of truth, 1744
- F. χ1r-χ2r (χ2v blank), 'To the most Honourable the Marchioness Grey' (3 pp. of text, 1 blank)
- G. A-C4 D2, Phoebe, 1748
- H. χ1r (χ1v blank) χ2r,v 2χ4 3χ1r,v (3χ2r,v blank), 'Love's Artifice' (13 pp. of text, 3 blank); 3χ3r-4v 4χ1r,v, 'The Song of Moses . . . 1743' (6 pp.)
The painting is reproduced in the article on Greene in The New Grove dictionary of music and musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (1980), vol. 7.
Identification of some of the singers has been made from The London stage 1660-1800: a calendar of plays, entertainments & afterpieces together with casts, box-receipts and contemporary comment, compiled from the playbills, newspapers and theatrical diaries of the period, Part 3: 1729-1747, vol. 2, ed. Arthur H. Scouten (1961), and from Roger Fiske, English theatre music in the eighteenth century, 2nd edn (1986), p. 178.
In all the transcriptions long s has been modernised, superscript letters brought down, hyphens regularised, and line numbers added. The text is as follows:
The Sigher of Arcadia's Plain
(As Stories tell, or Poets feign)
When Chloe's gone, to kill the Hours,
Stroles round the Fields & gathers Flow'rs,
And of his Myrtles, Pinks, & Roses
A Crown for Chloe's Head composes.
But vain is all his Art & Care,
Vain the Beauty that They wear,
Vain their Hue, their fragrant Breath,
Unless his Fair accept the Wreath:
Unless his Chloe deign to take 'em
Their fragrant Breath & Hue forsake 'em.
O Bedford, shou'd You thus refuse
This humble Garland of the Muse,
Or view it with neglectfull Eye,
The little Bloom it boasts would die;
Each Flow'r would mourn ye. absent Ray,
And ev'ry Beauty fade away.
But if in the fantastic Twine
Some Blossom should superior shine,
Some fav'rite Sprig your Eye shd. meet
Pure, innocent, and simply-sweet,
Accept the All the Muse can give,
—Add new Grace, and bid it live.
J. Hoadly.
The text is as follows:
No sweeter Notes, than of The Mind.
The Thracian Youth ye. Woods among,
Made Hearts of Oak attend his Song;
Quarries obey'd Amphion's Call,
And danc'd into the Theban Wall.
These shew'd the Virtue of their Strings
On Stocks, & Stones, & senseless Things;
But You, great Master of the Lyre,
To nobler Harmony aspire:
You, by Analogy divine,
Can Sounds to moral Truths refine,
This universal Fabrick scan,
And read The Harmony of Man:
Can see the Parts in Concert roll,
And join to form One beauteous Whole;
And in angelic Strains can raise
The great Composing Spirit's Praise.
Thence, (if such mean Relief need be)
Look down on Greene, & think on Me,
And own a Friend like Musick finds
In skillfull Notes and equal Minds.
J. Hoadly.
Oxford (1991), p. 77. I am grateful to Professor Probyn for sending me a transcript of the full text of the British Library version, and for other advice and encouragement.
The text is as follows:
To Verse of mine such Harmony & Grace,
With Innocence of Mind & Voice & Face,
Mixing thy Rill with my Castalian Wave;
Now that your virgin Hand you given have
To thy Myrtillo in that Holy Place,
Let artfull Fuges renew ye. harmonious Chase,
And Musick's ev'ry Charm his Heart enslave.
Of Verse & Harmony the Muses join'd
Shall teach him (Knowledge seen but of the Few,)
Great in his Works ye. God of Truth to find,
And praise that Greatness greatly shewn in you:
There see ye. nobler Temple of the Mind,
And own ye. Force of Truth & Beauty too.
Octr. 30, 1743. J. Hoadly.
Jemima, marchioness Grey and baroness Lucas of Crudwell, first daughter of John Campbell, third earl of Breadalbane, was born 9 October 1722, and married 22 May 1740 to Philip Yorke, second earl of Hardwicke (Complete Peerage, 1926, 6.118-119).
The text is as follows:
From gilded Domes, and tainted Air,
From Pleasures toilsome, Time a Load
Retirement but from Croud to Croud;
Where Love but drives a Trade at best,
(An Alley-Broker He profess'd)
Not giving corresponding Hearts,
But chaff'ring with his golden Darts;
Where Innocence the World amazes,
(A Face scarce known in publick Places,)
But rather loves—at Home—to share
One Corner of St. James's Square—
Far hence permit the simple Swain
To lead Thee to the guiltless Plain,
Where Phoebe innocent and gay,
Dares with the dangerous Passion play;
And Celia, uninstructed Maid,
Stoops her pure Cause Herself to plead.
Nor scornfully wilt Thou disdain
The Shepherd's Pastimes pure tho' plain.
Thou, (whose well-cultivated Mind
Nor for Enjoyment too refin'd,
Nor Other's Woes to feel too wise,
Knows all but Nature to despise,)
Serene shalt teach the madding Train,
False Pleasure is but real Pain.
Superior to her Syren-Song
Prudent Thou glid'st the Stream along,
Not heedless of the Baits of Youth,
But steddy to the Pilot, Truth.
With Her upon the Helm advanc'd
In purer Joys Thou sit'st intranc'd,
And seest with Pity and Amaze
The voluntary Herds, that graze
Th'inchanted Shore of Circe's Isle,
Transform'd so foully by her Smile.
Lady from all their painted Pride,
Come, let the Shepherd be thy Guide—
He'll lead Thee to the Fountain's Brink,
Where the Sylvan Muses drink;
Whose spotless & translucent Face
Heaven reflects with Heav'n's own Grace,
And pure by Nature's Arts refin'd
Presents a Mirror to thy Mind.
He'll lead Thee, (go with Him along)
Where Greene's sweet Muse attunes her Song,
And plays her not unusual Part,
Mixing Simplicity with Art:
Thy Genius shall according move,
And self-approving Her approve.
Fiske, pp. 199-200. The standard literary account of this theme is Maren-Sofie Røstvig, 'Tom Jones and the Choice of Hercules', in Fair forms: Essays in English literature from Spenser to Jane Austen, ed. Maren-Sofie Røstvig (1975), pp. 147-177.
The original is in the Harvard Theatre Collection, Harvard College Library. I thank the Curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection, Dr. Jeanne T. Newlin, for permission to quote from this letter. The recipient is not identified in the catalogue entry. The Bowyers, father and son, printed much for Hoadly's father, the bishop, but the only printing done by Bowyer junior for John Hoadly was the edition of his father's Works . . . Published by his son John Hoadly, LL. D., 1773 (The Bowyer ledgers, ed. Keith Maslen and John Lancaster [1991], item 4986).
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