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.
Rev. Archibald Sparke and others.
