Add. MS 30982, folio 75 verso
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The British Library has graciously contributed the above images to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.
Copyright status of the manuscript and unpublished Materials: The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (as amended) states that unpublished literary and artistic works remain in copyright in the UK until at least 31 December 2039. Therefore important parts of the library’s collection remain in copyright, including very old manuscripts. However for unpublished material created many centuries ago and in the public domain in most other countries, the Library believes this material to be very unlikely to offend anyone. As an institution whose role it is to support access to knowledge, we have therefore taken the decision to release certain digitised images technically still in copyright in the UK under the Public Domain Mark.
Document-specific information
Creator:
Title: POETICAL pieces, chiefly social, and some political; generally tempp. James 1. and Charles l., with additions of later date. Several refer to events at Oxford.
Date: 17th century
Repository: The British Library, London, UK
Call number and opening: Add. MS 30982, fols. 75v-76r
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Add. MS 30982, folio 76 recto
From the collections of: THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Terms of use
The British Library has graciously contributed the above images to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.
Copyright status of the manuscript and unpublished Materials: The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (as amended) states that unpublished literary and artistic works remain in copyright in the UK until at least 31 December 2039. Therefore important parts of the library’s collection remain in copyright, including very old manuscripts. However for unpublished material created many centuries ago and in the public domain in most other countries, the Library believes this material to be very unlikely to offend anyone. As an institution whose role it is to support access to knowledge, we have therefore taken the decision to release certain digitised images technically still in copyright in the UK under the Public Domain Mark.
Document-specific information
Creator:
Title: POETICAL pieces, chiefly social, and some political; generally tempp. James 1. and Charles l., with additions of later date. Several refer to events at Oxford.
Date: 17th century
Repository: The British Library, London, UK
Call number and opening: Add. MS 30982, fols. 75v-76r
View online bibliographic record
From the collections of: THE BRITISH LIBRARY
Terms of use
The British Library has graciously contributed the above images to Shakespeare Documented under a Creative Commons Public Domain Mark.
Copyright status of the manuscript and unpublished Materials: The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (as amended) states that unpublished literary and artistic works remain in copyright in the UK until at least 31 December 2039. Therefore important parts of the library’s collection remain in copyright, including very old manuscripts. However for unpublished material created many centuries ago and in the public domain in most other countries, the Library believes this material to be very unlikely to offend anyone. As an institution whose role it is to support access to knowledge, we have therefore taken the decision to release certain digitised images technically still in copyright in the UK under the Public Domain Mark.
Document-specific information
Creator:
Title: POETICAL pieces, chiefly social, and some political; generally tempp. James 1. and Charles l., with additions of later date. Several refer to events at Oxford.
Date: 17th century
Repository: The British Library, London, UK
Call number and opening: Add. MS 30982, fols. 75v-76r
View online bibliographic record
SHAKESPEARE DOCUMENTED IS STILL GROWING! Descriptive content and transcriptions will continue to be added, updated and expanded. Check back for regular updates!
[This transcription is pending final vetting]
[Image 1: fol. 75v]
To Mr B: J:
Neither to follow fashion, nor to show
my witt against the state, nor yat I know
any thing now, with which I am with Child
till I haue told, nor hoping to be stild
a good Epistler, through the towne, with which
I might be famoust, nor with any itch
like these writ in this letter, but to shewe
the Loue I carry, is mee thinkes dew
to you aboue ye number, which are best
in something, which vse not to be exprest.
to write this I inuoke none but ye post
of doare, or some Carriers pistling ghost.
for if this equall but the stile which men
send Cheese to towne with, and thanks dowen
tis all I seeke for heere; I would let slipp
if I had any in me scholler shippe.
and from all Learninge keepe these lines as deare
as Shakespeares best are, is our heyres shall teare
Preachers apt to their Auditors to show
how farr somtimes a mortall man may goe
by ye dimme light of Nature, tis to mee
an help to write of nothing, is as free
as hee whoe was, god made all that is,
all to (speake) I meane, what doe you thinke of his
[Image 2: fol. 76r]
state, who hath now ye last yat he could make
in white and Orange tawny on his backe
at Windsor, is not this mans miserie more
then a falne sharers yat now keepe a doore,
hath not his state allmost as wretched bin
as is that, is ordained to the Ginne
after the ffawne, is feare shall be as sure
some one there is allotted to endure
yat cross there are some I could wish to know
to loue, is keepe with, if they would not show
their studies to mee, or I wish to see
their works to laugh at, if they suffer mee
not to knowe them, is yat I would commerce
with honest Poets that make scuruy verse.
by this time you perceiue you did a misse
to leaue the worthyer studies to vse this.
which is more tedious to you then to walke
In a Jewes Church, or Brittans common talke.
but know yat I wrote not these lines to the end
to please Ben Johnson, but to please my frind.
Last updated February 1, 2020
