Monumenta quaedam R.P. Caroli Parker poetica [manuscript] [1670-1690].

Monumenta quaedam R.P. Caroli Parker poetica [manuscript] [1670-1690].

[Low Countries, 1670-1690]

1 volume ; 185 x 145 mm

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Benelux countries, -- production place.

273147 MS

From dealer's description: "PARKER, Charles. ‘MONUMENTA POETICA quedam R.P. Caroli Parkeri’. [Low Countries, probably c. 1670-90] Manuscript in ink, on paper (185 x 145mm), pp. 62; and ff. [34], written in a single hand in brown ink, bound in contemporary vellum over pasteboard, marked but very sound. Two manuscript plays in Latin verse, clearly by an English or Scottish Catholic priest in exile, probably teaching at a seminary for English boys in the Low Countries. I have not been able to discover a priest of the name of Charles Parker, but his Catholic allegiance is evident from the subject matter and the inscription ‘Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam’ written on the title page verso; this is followed by ‘Actio in Poësi exhibita’. It seems very probable that the entire manuscript is autograph, and that it is the only surviving copy. The two plays are: ‘Ouis Perdita, & Inuenta, siue, Atticus, et Eugenius’ [that is, The lost and found sheep, or, Atticus and Eugenius], which is set in Ephesus. It features St John the Evangelist, and the characters Atticus and Eugenius who are disciples of the saint; also Apollonius Tyaneus, who is a ‘magus celebris’, and his disciples Damis and Corax. There is a cast of incidental characters, too, including ‘Angeli, Pastores, Phrenetici, Rustici, Dæmones’ and so forth. This is on pp. 1-62. ‘Duffus, siue Sanguis iustus, Tragoedia’ [that is, Duff, or, Righteous Blood, a tragedy]. This play deals with the reign of the Scottish King Duff, more correctly known as Dub or Dubh, who was the son of Malcolm I and who reigned in Scotland for five years in the late 10th century. The Argumentum makes it clear that the play leans heavily on Hector Boece and John Leslie. Apart from Duffus, the characters include ‘Malcolmus, Eius Filius’, ‘Kennethus, Regis Frater’, ‘Culenus, Cumbriae Princeps’, and other minor characters such as Magia, Rebellio, Genij, Personae mutae. Both plays are largely in verse but there are some scenes entirely in prose. It is a reasonable to suppose that these dramatic compositions were written for performance at a British Catholic school in exile on the continent. There are no early ownership inscriptions, and the watermark in the paper shows a church surmounted by a cross with a serpent: I have not been able to find this watermark in Briquet. Provenance. Ampleforth Abbey, with its large purple stamp on the upper endpaper, and with shelfmarks MS 49a (deleted) and, on spine and upper pastedown, MS 68."

Ordered from Christopher, Edwards, D9825, 2025-04-29, Manuscripts, autograph letters and printed books mostly new acquisitions catalog, item 57

273147