Scope and arrangement
Holograph poem, "The Felon," signed : [ca. 1800?] : (B'ANA 0641) : 1 p.; begins, "Oh! mark his wan and hollow cheeks! & mark his eye-balls glare! / & mark his teeth in anguish clenched, the anguish of despair!" Nearly a fair copy, save two minor emendations in the second line of the second stanza. Another known mansucript of "The Felon" is dated 1800 (cf. D. L. Macdonald's Monk Lewis, p. 239).|||Holograph poem, "To Lady Anne Hamilton," signed : 7 Aug 1802 : (MISC 4161) : 4 p.; begins, "You bid me, lady, use my art / To show, what steps will reach your heart: ..." At the head of the poem is a watercolored emblem featuring a ladder, at the top of which rests a heart, above which hovers a crown; on the steps of the ladder are written the stages of "sensibilite." At the foot of the poem, the same figure is reprised in miniature, beneath which a list of Lewis's published works are written, in another hand.|||Holograph poem, "The Maid of Ulva," with autograph note, signed : [no date] : (B'ANA 0640) : 1 p.; poem begins, "No form so fair, no heart so tender! / But why to Earth must sorrow bend her?" The note begins, "Is this what you want? But if it is, what an uncommonly stupid set of people ...".|||To Elizabeth Lamb, née Milbanke, Viscountess Melbourne, political hostess and agricultural improver : 1 autograph letter signed : 3 Dec 1804 : (B'ANA 0639) : from Howick : begins, "It would not be fair for a person, who received a shilling, to return but sixpence; in the same way it would be absolute cheating in me, were I only to return you letter for letter, since yours are at least worth double of the value of mine." Among other bits of chat and gossip, Lewis announces his Bravo of Venice; gives a long account of a recent execution of a murderer; and recounts a story of Lady Caroline Ponsonby and Lady Harriet Cavendish going to a tavern in blue and buff in support of Sir Thomas Burdett.|||To Lord Henry Petty (later third Marquess of Lansdowne), Chancellor of the Exchequer : 1 autograph letter signed : [ca. 1806-1807?] : (MISC 4142) : from Barnes : earnestly suggesting ideas for two new taxes, on the sale of "works of Imagination" (i.e., novels, poetry, drama); and on "All men employed in professions, which might be equally well filled by women"; begins, "At the risque of being thought very absurd, I cannot resist my inclination to recommend two objects of taxation to your consideration ...".