Add MS 78364 - Ta ton Omilion Peripsemata tina, or a breife Account of divers Sermons recollected at my after Retirement

GEMMS Manuscript ID
GEMMS-MANUSCRIPT- 197
(old series: GEMMS-MANUSCRIPT-775)
Title
Ta ton Omilion Peripsemata tina, or a breife Account of divers Sermons recollected at my after Retirement
Shelfmark
Add MS 78364
Creation Date
1650 - 1687
Repository
British Library
Contents Note

John Evelyn's volume of notes on sermons, mainly preached between 1650 and 1660, with less frequent notes recorded between 1661 and 1671, but more frequent notes again after 20 October 1672. There are some indications in the text that the volume was written well after the preachings of the sermons, based on notes recorded earlier. On f. 1v, Evelyn has recorded a list of texts from sermons stretching back to 1634, including a note describing his early experience as a notetaker: "I first tooke notes of Sermons when very young at schoole, also at the University but they were so imperfect . . . that I have onely noted the Texts in my Journal". He adds that when he took poor notes it was usually because the sermon was preached with insufficient study or by a poor preacher, or he did not have time to reflect on it (as when he was travelling). After f. 37, the foliation and sermon numbers start over: the next sermon is identified Sermon I (f. 2r-v). This begins a series of sermon preached at the chapel of Sir Richard Browne, Evelyn's father-in-law, in Paris. At the end of the volume is a section with leaves added later containing notes on sermons from 1658, with the title "An Account of such Sermons as I heard at my Parish-Church by the Ordinary Minister there Beginning Anno 1658". This section has been removed from another notebook and sewn into this one. On the last page, Evelyn has written, "In those sermons which I have marked with a X some considerable note may occur", which includes all the sermons preached between 1672 and 1674. The cataloguer notes that this was a time when Evelyn had a close friendship with Margaret Blagge that inspired him to record many sermon notes.

Material Features

Large folio in contemporary brown calf binding. iii + 151 leaves, 350 x 235 mm. Red ink borders. The year of preaching is recorded at the top of the notes, with the date in the left margin, and the preacher and location in the right margin. The sermons are numbered with Roman numerals beginning with Sermon LI. After Sermon LXXVII, Evelyn evidently made a mistake in the numbering, continuing with Sermon LXVIII and repeating several numbers. There are also various other minor inconsistencies in the numbering. At ff. 30r-37r (the first time these folio numbers are used), most of the dates are lost in the gutter, except for the year, in which case only the year has been noted here.

Associated People
Provenance

From the Evelyn Papers

Source of Data

Anne James; British Library manuscript catalogue

Other Note

The volume appears to use New Style dates, except for a few dates toward the end of the manuscript. The cataloguer notes that Evelyn's diary contains shorter version of many of these (and other) sermon notes. This manuscript is cited in Ian M. Green, Continuity and Change in Protestant Preaching in Early Modern England (London: Dr Williams's Trust, 2009), p. 25 n. 57.

Sermons Contained
GEMMS record created
March 12, 2018
GEMMS record last edited
July 15, 2024