- NLW MS 23958C.
- File
- [?1818]
Manuscript notebook, [?1818], containing copies of prose and poetry by Ann of Swansea (Ann Julia Hatton) connected with her novel Chronicles of an Illustrious House (London, 1816) which caused controversy for satirising Swansea polite society as the fictional 'Gooselake'.
Included are extracts from the novel, specifically sections relating to Gooselake, beginning at vol. 2, p. 74 (ff. 1-18 verso), dated 5 July 1818 (f. 18 verso); two poems responding to the furore surrounding the novel, the first addressed 'To the Great Dons of Swansea' (ff. 19-20), the second beginning 'Arms, Arms I sing! and many battles dire' (ff. 20 verso-26); 'Elegy on the Death of Mr Bamboo', dated January 1817 (ff. 26 verso-28 verso), and a single verse beginning 'Now lost in dust is Cambria's boast', dated 1816 (f. 29). A leaf identifying some characters from the novel with their real-life counterparts has been tipped in on f. i; this suggests that the unknown compiler of the volume had a close connection with Swansea.