(old series: GEMMS-MANUSCRIPT-741)
Commonplace book (1590-1620) in different hands throughout, containing contemporary transcripts of various notes, extracts from treatises, and sermons written out in full.
In addition to miscellaneous military and theological notes in Latin, Greek, and English, the first part of the volume contains a transcript of instructions for three different secret agents in France, drawn up by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex in 1595-1596.
The second part of the volume includes ten full transcripts of sermons. The same hand is used for all of the sermons, but some feature marginal annotations and unrelated theological notes in different hands. There is a table of contents to this part of the volume, although note that it does not include the third sermon on pp. 20-34. A different hand is used for the remainder of the manuscript, which comprises didactic material and 'observations' on various topics, including minerals and heraldry.
Manuscript quarto, bound in niger morocco. Lettering on the spine reads: 'INSTRUCTIONS TO A SECRET AGENT IN FRANCE, CIRCA 1595, ETC.'
SHL Catalogue; Hannah Yip
See Paul E. J. Hammer, 'Essex and Europe: Evidence from Confidential Instructions by the Earl of Essex, 1595-6', English Historical Review, vol. 111, no. 441 (1996), pp. 357-381.
Sermon on Psalms 75:3 -- pp. 1-10
Sermon on 2 Chronicles 9:8 -- pp. 11-19
Sermon on Genesis 28:12 -- pp. 20-34
Sermon on Genesis 28:13-14 -- pp. 35-48
Sermon 1 on Isaiah 9:6 -- pp. 49-67
Sermon 2 on Isaiah 9:6 -- pp. 68-86
Sermon on Matthew 4:5 -- pp. 87-103
Sermon 1 on John 3:16 -- pp. 104-119
Sermon 2 on John 3:16 -- pp. 120-134
Sermon on Luke 2:10-14 -- pp. 135-149