A commonplace book, primarily in Anne Ley (Norman)'s hand, with extracts from Bishop Joseph Hall's Meditations; her poems and letters; her will, funeral sermon and epitaph; and sermons, treatises and eulogies by Roger Ley. There are two poems occasioned by sermons on ff. 91-92, including one in the form of an acrostic, and several poems to ministers. On the first page, there is a bibliographic note on Anne in Roger's hand: "Anne Ley the wife of Roger Ley Curate of S Leonard Shoreditch was married in her Parish Church of S. Bultolph without Bishophgate London Februarie. 25. 1621. from the house of Thomas Norman her father and was buried in Shoreditch October 22 1641. in Middlesex." Beneath this is a quotation from Proverbs 31:30: "Favour is deceitful and beautie is vaine: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised".
Bound in full brown leather with marbled endpapers, and gilt decoration on the spine and cover.
On p. 3 is an autograph of Joseph Hunter and on p. 12: "Joseph Hunter, Bath, 1826. The gift of Benjamin Heywood Bright."
Catherine Evans
Digitaised version available via Calisphere. Some of the poems have been reproduced in Millman and Wright "Early Modern Women's manuscript poetry" (2005).