LATIN COMPOSITIONS OF AN ETON BOY
[ORDE, John Powlett.]
A collection of 111 original compositions in Latin (and occasionally Greek) verse and prose.
Eton, 1818–1820.
111 manuscript compositions, mostly pen on paper, each written on a single quarto leaf or bifolium, then folded into a tall thin packet, most docketed with an English title and a date, tied into nine bundles; housed in a blue cloth box.
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A collection of 111 original compositions in Latin (and occasionally Greek) verse and prose.
A delightful insight into classical education at Eton, where until the mid-nineteenth century Greek and Latin were the only official classroom subjects, and Latin composition was considered a key accomplishment. Subjects covered here include ‘The Pigeon’ (5 May 1818), ‘Instruction’ (21 July 1818), ‘Surviving the fall of one’s country’, ‘Fire’, ‘Against Wealth’ (17 September 1818), ‘Devil on two Sticks’ (15 October 1818), ‘Female Eloquence’ (13 and 14 July 1820), ‘Whale fishery; (17 June 1819), and the surely controversial ‘Death of the King’ (2 February 1820). Some subjects recur several times and many are headed by a ‘theme’ taken from a classical source, say for ‘Captivity’, ‘Grais servitum matribus ibo’ from the Aeneid.
The best such compositions at Eton were submitted to the Head Master and caches kept by both boys and tutors survive in the Eton College archives; the present collection is delightful in preserving the draft compositions, often heavily revised, rather than the finished articles.
Son of the admiral Sir John Orde, first Baronet, of Morpeth, Northumberland, a former governor of Dominica, John Powlett Orde (1803–1878), studied at Eton before progressing to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1821. After his marriage in 1826 to Eliza Woollery Campbell (d. 1829) he built a country house at Kilmory, Argyllshire.
Provenance: the family papers of the Orde, later Campbell-Orde baronets, of Morpeth, Northumberland, and Kilmory House, Argyllshire, Scotland; sold as part of lot 16, Bonhams, Fine Books, Manuscripts, 4 December, 2019.
