Robert Brinsley Sheridan: Poetry

Scope and Content

Two stanzas of ten lines each by Richard Sheridan, beginning 'When tis night and the midwatch is set', copied in the hand of William Blake on the back of part of the title-page of William Hayley's Ballads (1802). The lines are accompanied by a letter from P.J. Dobell to Geoffrey Keynes, 6 September 1938, and part of a letter to Keynes from an unknown correspondent, 28 January 1965. There is also an extract from a sale catalogue relating to the stanzas.

Access Information

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Acquisition Information

The stanzas were purchased by Bertram Dobell with the Hayley manuscripts before 1914. They were acquired by P.J. Dobell in 1938, who sold them subsequently to Sir Geoffrey Keynes. Received by the University Library from the library of Sir Geoffrey Keynes, 1982.

Other Finding Aids

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

Bibliography

The stanzas were published in The vocal miscellany (1820). The collection is no. 502 in Sir Geoffrey Keynes, Bibliotheca bibliographici (London, 1964), p 54.

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