A collection of poems mostly moral divine and instructive selected from a much larger performance in three folio's, now reduced into a portable size. Written out at leisure hours with an eye only to the amusement and innocent diversion of the transcriber;Hamby, Nathaniel1729Manuscript, in a single hand, of a collection of several hundred poems on primarily moral or spiritual subjects, many taken from printed works by such poets as John Dryden, William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Isaac Watts. Other entries include epitaphs and psalms. The volume also contains some of Hamby's own religious verses as well as verses by several of his Norfolk acquaintances. The work is prefaced by an introduction which declares that although a preface seems needless when the volume is meant for "one private person," the preface will be useful to those who will read the work after his decease. The preface provides an autobiography of Hamby, focusing on his development as a writer.Autograph on flyleaf: S. S. Toms.Autograph on title page: M. Toms.Binding: contemporary full morocco with gilt and blind-stamped decoration. Title on spine: Manuscript Poetry.Marbled endpapers.Pasted in: engraved portrait of Nathaniel Hamby, "de Wymondham in Com. Norfoliciae."text