Forty Select Poems on Several Occasions, by the Right Honourable the Earl of H*******n. To which is added, The Duke of Argyle s Levee: a Poem, Written by the late Lord Binning, and spoken by Colonel Chartres.

HAMILTON, THOMAS, Sixth Earl of Haddington.

Published by London: Printed for J.H. Bell in Pater-noster-row, 1769.

About this Item

2 vols.: [ii], viii, [ii], 154; and [iv], 176pp., 12mo. Fine copies in contemporary sprinkled calf, spines gilt-ruled and numbered but discreetly unlettered. Early manuscript note "2 Vols. 6s." on the front free endpaper of Vol. I along with a small oval stamp in purple ink "Izaak Walton Hotel Dovedale," the stamp repeated on the lower endpaper of Vol. II. Probably the seventh edition. The sequence is difficult to determine because of varying title-page statements, e.g. a "fifth" edition in 1764 and a "fourth" in 1765. As David Foxon notes, "This collection was certainly intended to be attributed to the Earl of Haddington. . . but the extent of his authorship has never been determined; it seems clear that some at least of the poems are by other hands." (English Verse 1701-1750, p. 324). ESTC adds "`The Duke of Argyle s levee was very likely by Joseph Mitchell, not Charles Hamilton, Baron Binning, according to near-contemporary accounts." In 1985 I catalogued the Charles Tennant copy in the first of my decennial catalogues of English libertine literature, and I commented "Lowndes calls the work `extremely meretricious, but it is at least arguably the best series of erotic poems produced in the eighteenth century, clearly indebted to the Rochester miscellanies and imbued with a spirit all its own." I then quoted in full one of its poems, called "The Rebuke," which forty years later I still find irresistible: I Always thought it want of sense, And the worst kind of impudence, In men who are for love unfit, Yet ever are attempting it, Since women, when they find the cheat, Can never pardon the deceit; And whate er face they put upon t, Will soon or late revenge th affront. Not long ago a well known rake, Who still was lewd for lewdness sake, One ev ning, when twas wearing dark, Went out a strolling to the park; Where he did meet a harlot gay, Who soar d about in hopes of prey. The rake, well vers d in such affairs, Soon guess d her meaning by her airs, And, going briskly up, began, No farther look, for I m your man. My man, said she, I know you not; What do you mean, you drunken sot? Not know me, said the forward spark! Faith, madam, tho the night grows dark, Yet you may know me by this mark: Then in her hand he something laid, At which the strumpet seem d afraid. What s that, said she, you wicked beast? The fellow, tickled with the jest, Apply d his lips close to her ear, And said, it is my p---k, my dear. Thy p---k, she cry d in great surprize; A p---k, and of so small a size! It either is your little finger, Or you re a vile Italian singer .Ê For the quotation from Lowndes, see Bibliographer s Manual (1859) IV, 957. Foxon, cited above, goes outside the remit of his bibliography to describe "those eighteenth-century editions known to me," all printed post-1750, "because of the rarity of editions and uncertainty about their relationship." Six copies of the present edition in ESTC: Bodleian, Cambridge, National Library of Scotland; New York Public, and the Universities of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles. The Izaak Walton Hotel is still operating in Dovedale. The oval inkstamp is almost certainly Victorian and the presence of Haddington s poems on the hotel s bookshelves suggests some racy possibilities for it as a destination. These books were likely sold off in 1875 when, as the hotel s website puts it, "the House, contents, and the estate which included the Izaak Walton Hotel & fishing rights were put up for auction.".

Seller Inventory # 14421

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Forty Select Poems on Several Occasions, by the Right Honourable the Earl of H*******n. To which is added, The Duke of Argyle s Levee: a Poem, Written by the late Lord Binning, and spoken by Colonel Chartres.
• Publisher: London: Printed for J.H. Bell in Pater-noster-row, 1769.
• Binding: Hardcover