Life and Works of Henry King. 261 



poems included in the editio princeps, and five new poems or new 

 versions. It is evidently an early compilation, for no piece is in- 

 cluded that can be dated after 1633, and some of the pieces are evi- 

 dently earlier versions of the finished poems printed in 1657. 



2. "A MS. copy in the possession of Mr. Pickering," or "the larger 

 MS. volume." This is the MS. with which Hannah collated his 

 Edition of King's poems, in 1843. If Hannah's account ot it is correct 

 and complete, it contained sixty of the seventy-three poems printed 

 in 1657, one of the four added in 1664, and six others as well as a MS. 

 sermon (cf . p. 283, inf.). This collection is certainly later than the 

 Malone MS. vol., for it includes several poems that can be definitely 

 dated in 1637 or later ; the latest of all was added in a different hand, 

 according to Hannah (Ixi, footnote), and so need not affect the earlier 

 date of the rest. Certain poems belonging in the 1640's, however, are 

 missing, and there are the same early versions of certain others ; so, 

 though later in date than the Malone MS. vol., this collection too must 

 have been made some fifteen years before the editio princeps appear- 

 ed. This invaluable MS. has disappeared ; and its recovery seems 

 hopeless, for the exhaustive efforts that have been made to bring it to 

 light have proved vain. This laborious investigation produced only 

 one promising result ; for, finally, an appeal in " N. & Q.", XI S., v. V, 

 p. 468, brought a response in XI S., v. VI, p. 32, which gave an appa- 

 rently hopeful clue : a MS. volume of King's poems, there described, 

 was said to have been sold at Sotheby's rooms Dec. 9, 1900. Two 

 letters to Sotheby produced the curt statement that the catalogue 

 of sales at that period is in the British Museum. A professional 

 copyist looked up the catalogue and found that Dec. 9, 1900, was a 

 Sunday, and researches under Dec. 9 in other years yielded no return. 

 So this tantalizing clue has proved to be worthless, and the status quo 

 has been resumed with a second appeal to "N. & O.", published XI S., 

 V. VIII, p. 189. 



3. "King (Henry) ? (1591 -1669) Poems \yritten between 1610 

 and 1646, beautifully written MS. (166 pp.) bound in blue morocco 

 extra, joints and g. e., small 4/0. 1646. 75 pieces : 2 on Bishop John 

 King." This is the description in "N. & Q.." XI S., v. VI, p. 32. 

 It cannot refer to the particular MS. volume sought for as set forth 

 above, originally owned by Pickering and used by Hannah, for that 

 contained only 67 pieces, according to Hannah's account ; and surely 

 so careful an editor as Hannah would not have passed over, without 

 mention, at least two poems not elsewhere preserved (for the editio 

 princeps contained only 73 pieces), one of them being a new poem 

 about Henry King's father. 



