Forty-four loose leaves (many imperfect and stained) and a fragment containing miscellaneous material in a number of ?late sixteenth and seventeenth century hands. The contents include notes in English and Welsh on palmistry; transcripts, largely incomplete, of Welsh poems in strict and free metres by ? Owen Jones, Griff. ap Dd. Fychan, ? Willi[am] ffylyp, Dd. Llwyd ?Lln. ap Owain, Robin Ddu o Fôn, David Lloyd ap Lln. ap Griffith, Thomas Price, Owen Gwynedd, Wiliam Llyn, Sowdwal, Siôn Keri, Siôn Tudur, Tomas Brydydd, Doctor Siôn Kent, Siôn ap Howel, Gruffudd Hiraethoc, Rys Kain, and Edw[a]rt Maelor; transcripts of two 'englynion', one in English and one in Latin; etc. The inscription 'Hwn o Lyfr Meyryg Dafydd, July 1821' (in the hand of Edward Williams) appears in the volume.

A volume of notes, memoranda, etc., compiled circa 1650-1667 [?by the Reverend Archibald Sparke, incumbent of Northop, 1639-1656 and again 1660-1669, and prebendary of the prebend of Llanefydd in the cathedral church of St. Asaph, 1661-1669], with later additions in an eighteenth century hand. The seventeenth century entries fall into four main groups. Ff. 1-69 contain notes in Latin on theology, points of Christian doctrine, etc., which appear in the main to be based upon or extracted from the writings of St. Augustine. Ff- 70-83 contain meditations or reflections indulged in by the writer on certain days during the years 1652, 1654, 1655, and 1659/60. They are written in English and are occasionally followed by a few lines of Latin verse. Most are of a religious, moralising nature, some arising from incidents in the writer's everyday life, others being based upon recollections of ?historical incidents such as the quarrel and the subsequent duel between Sir Hatton Cheek and Sir Thomas Dutton, two of the officers under the command of Sir Edward Cecill [aft. 1st baron Cecil of Putney and viscount Wimbledon of Wimbledon, co. Surrey], commander of the British forces at the siege of Juliers in the Netherlands [in 1610], and the alleged use of the ribbon of the Order of the Garter which had been awarded to Prince Maurice of Orange by one of his grooms to commit murder. At times the writer's royalist and Anglican leanings appear to come to light, as in his references to 'King James of euer blessed memorie (Let the deuil and his helhounds bark what they can)', and to the 'new piles of heresie and schismaticall advancements' [erected in London]. Occasionally one finds a biographical note such as 'I am now . . . 47 years old . . .' on 21 May 1655. Ff. 114-59 contain expository notes on each verse of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians as far as chapter 5, verse 11 (chapter 4, verse 18 excepted), the verses being mainly in Greek and the notes in Latin and English, whilst ff. 163-221 contain similar notes on each verse of the Song of Solomon, the verses in this instance being in Hebrew and the notes almost entirely in Latin. In most instances each verse and its accompanying notes is headed by the place name Northop (Northhope, Northhopie, apud Northhope, etc.) and a date (Sundays during the period November 1650-July 1652 in the case of the Epistle to the Thessalonians, and Sundays during the period September 1654-December 1656 in the case of the Song of Solomon). This possibly indicates that these were sermon notes, though, given the dates that appear, this would imply a series of sermons on consecutive verses of the two scriptural books in question on consecutive Sundays. Ff. 259-63 contain a list of texts preached upon [by the aforesaid Archibald Sparke] at Northop and occasionally elsewhere, 1662-1667. Included also in the volume are eight lines of Latin verse with the English title 'Vpon the ruins of the Cathedrall Church of St. Asaph, 1657' (f. 84), additional notes similar to those on ff. 1-69 (ff. 270-1), and meditations on death (ff. 110-11, which appear to be in a different hand). The eighteenth century entries on blank pages or half pages, etc., include a poem entitled 'A Begging Epistle In Rhime from a poor poet' mentioning [Alexander] Pope and [Matthew] Prior, a poem dated 1732 being 'ye laments of a true lover for ye death of a Lady', a five stanza poem the fifth stanza of which exhorts the readers to let Warburton be their Member [of Parliament], Manwaring or Bennet their mayor, and Kyff. Williams their sheriff [members of the Warburton, Bennet and Manwaring families feature as members of parliament, sheriffs and mayors for the city and county of Chester in the late seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century], other miscellaneous verse, and incomplete drafts of letters mentioning cousin Bethel Whitmore and approaches to Sir George Wynn [?1st bart. of Leeswood, co. Flint, ob. 1756] with regard to employment. All references are to the modern foliation.

A volume of transcripts of miscellaneous poems in English, Latin, and Welsh. The Welsh verse consists of one 'cywydd' each by Davydd Nanmor, Gr[uffydd] ap Ieuan, Iolo Goch, Ll[ewely]n ap Holl ap Ieuan ap Gronwy, and Mredydd ap Rys, and some thirty 'englynion', all anonymous except one which is attributed to Gruffith Llwyd. The English verse includes poems entitled 'A l[ett]re to Ben Johnson' by Nic[ ] Oldisworth, 'A Poem made on Rob[er]t Deuorex, Earle of Essex, by Mr. Henry Cuff, his Chaplaine', 'Epit[aph] on Prince Henery', 'On 2 lawyers who mett at the Hoops tauerne nere Billingsgate', 'On Queene An's Death', 'On Queene Elizabeth', 'On Dandy, sometyme Steward of Greyes-In who died suddenly', 'On Mr. Whitehead, an Attorney', 'On the death of S[i]r Fran[cis] Vere', 'Epit[aph] on S[i]r John Spencer', 'Epit[aph] on John More', 'On The Marriage of the Arts plaid before the King at Christ Church in Oxford', 'Epit[aph] on the Butler of Christ Church in Oxford', 'The Distracted Puritan', 'On one Samborne (a miserable fellow), Sheriff of Oxford', 'On the Remoue of Queene Elizabeth's body from Richmond (where she dyed) to Whitehall', 'Epit[aph] on Prince Henry', 'Sonnett by Queene Elizabeth', 'Made by K[ing] James, 1622', 'Epit[aph] on S[i]r Philip Sid[ney]', 'Mr. Carew on the Fly ', 'Verses mad[e] on ye Duke of Buck[ingham]', 'On feltons hanging in chaynes', 'S[i]r Peeter Mutton', 'Dauenat's neweyeares guift to K[ing] Charles, 1631', 'An Elegie on Gabriell lloyds horse', 'An Epitaph written by S[i]r Andrew Corbett, Knight, vppon a monument w[hi]ch was laid ouer the bodie of Edward Burton, Esqr., who liued and died a true protestant in the later end of the Reigne of Queene marie and was not admitted christian buriall, and . . . was laid in his owne garden at Longner neere Shrewsburie', 'An Epitaph made by S[i]r Thomas Bromley vppon two yonge babes of S[i]r Thomas Littletons w[hi]ch were bewitched to death', 'A Prophesie found in Saint Bennetts in Norfolke', 'An Epitaph on Dr. Dunn, Dean of St. Paules', 'An Elegie vpon the death of S[i]r John Burrowes', 'S[ i]r Walter Rawleigh's Pilgrimage', 'An Elegy on the Death of the Religious and noble gentleman Edward Price of newtowne, Essqr.', 'Poetry made on ye suspected marriage of o[u]r soueraigne w[i]th ye Lady of Spayne', 'An Epitaph on queene Eliza[beth]', 'Clauell his verses when he was arraigned at the king's bench for robbery' by Joh[n] Clauell, 'A poeme as it was presented before his M[ajes]tie in Cambridge . . . To the tune of Bonny Nell', and 'On Doctor Corbets sermon before the King'. The volume appears to have been compiled in the mid and late seventeenth century. As marginalia or on blank pages, etc., and generally in a later hand than the text of the poems, are various inscribed names (see note below) and memoranda, including a copy of a note signed by Edward David, Evenechtyd.