[Commonplace book], [ca. 1646].Assheton, Ralph, Sir, 1603-1680engManuscript, in a single secretary hand, consisting of about 37 prose and verse pieces, many on political, satirical, and topical subjects. Prose pieces include a tract titled Vox Populi, Or Newes from Spaine, Translated According to the Spanish Coppie; The Oath Sayd to bee Taken by Commanders in the Warre 1639; copies of proclamations, speeches, and warrants dated 1642 which pertain to the activities of Lord Fairfax's army in Yorkshire and the North; and an exposition of a system of shorthand titled The Art of Short Writeing Invented by ____ Laborer gouldsmith & Citizen of London, As Hee Taught Mee. Verses include a dialogue titled A Conference Held Att Angelo Castell Betweene the Pope, the Emperor and The King of Spayne; Verses uppon Prince Charle His Voyage For Spayne, in Febr. 1622; A Coppie of a Printed Ballade Called The Bishops Bridles, Lent by Will. Burton of Wakefield Oct 1639; satirical anagrams and verses on the word "Parliament"; and two verse libels written as petitions from the Lords and Commons in Parliament to King Charles I.In English.The manuscript also includes one page of accounts, including a list of what "I owe to my Mother" and a list of wages for "John Sunderland," who had "begun his year the 5th of June (69)."Pasted in back flyleaf: dealer's description of manuscript.Inside front cover: Bookplate of Henry J.B. Clements, dated 1869, and theOn flyleaf: signature of Benjamin Heywood Bright, 1810.On second page: armorial bookplate with phrase "Sub Robore Virtus" and signature (undecipherable) beneath. Above bookplate: "Memoranda kept by Ralph Assheton."Binding: half calf; machine grain morocco.