If not, how can one obtain access to the questions which have been asked during the last forty or fifty years?
Iota.
Crabbe MSS.—In some second-hand book catalogue the following is inserted, viz.,—
"1353. Crabbe (Rev. Geo., Poet), Poems, Prayers, Essays, Sermons, portions of Plays, &c., 5 vols. entirely autograph, together with a Catalogue of Plants, and Extracts from the second Volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, 1795 (this volume only contains a few Autograph Verses in pencil at the end). An Autograph letter of 4 pages to the Dean of Lincoln, dated Trowbridge, March 31, 1815. A curious Anonymous letter from 'Priscian' to Mr. Murray, dated Dec. 8th, 1833, on the Orthography of the name of the Birthplace of the Poet, and which the writer observed in the View of the Town of Aldeburgh in the frontispiece to the Prospectus Mr. M. has just issued, &c., interspersed with some portraits and scraps, in 6 vols. 4to. and 8vo., dated from 1779 to 1823, 8l. 8s."
This is a note underneath:
"The following portion of a Prayer, evidently alluding to his troubles, occurs in one of the volumes bearing date Dec. 31, 1779: 'A thousand years, most adored Creator, are in thy Sight as one Day. So contract in my Sight my Calamities! The Year of Sorrow and Care, of Poverty and Disgrace, of Disappointment and wrong, is now passing on to join the Eternal. Now, O Lord! let, I beseech thee, my Afflictions and Prayers be remembered; my Faults and Follies be forgotten.' 'O! Thou who art the Fountain of Happiness, give me better Submission to thy Decrees, better Disposition to correct my flattering Hopes, better Courage to bear up under my State of Oppression,'" &c.
Can any of the reader of "N. & Q." tell me who possesses this? I should very much like to know.
H. T. Bobart.
Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Tilly, an Officer of the Courts at Westminster.—What office did one Tilly hold in one of the Courts at Westminster, circa 8 William III.? Was he Warden of the Fleet? What were his connexions by birth and by marriage? Was he dispossessed? and if so, why?