| Content Description | The epigram of Foulkes and it's theme appear at the top of f 1r (Harley's hand); the main poem commences on the lower part of f 1r.
Above the main poem is a note in the hand of Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford: 'By Mr Wesley upon the Quarrel about young Foulks'. There are also notes by Harley, written in English and Latin, relating to the argument between Foulkes and Mr Wigan on f 1r, 1v and f 2v.
The incident took place at Westminster School, when Mr Wigan refused to accept an epigram submitted by Foulkes, as being written by his father. f 2v purports to give a dialogue between Wigan and Foulkes, mostly in Latin.
The identity of 'young Foulkes' is not certain, since there are three Foulkes attested at Westminster in the 1720s, though not any later (Record of Old Westminsters p 345). Wigan is unidentified, though called a 'Rhetoric reader'.
For details of the poems, see Pw V 480/1-2. |