Prayers, biblical extracts, and meditations, 1633

Language: English

Context and purpose

The materials in the manuscript were probably compiled at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire where Hastings spent much of her married life.

Context and purpose

Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 is a manuscript of prayers, biblical extracts, and meditations collected by Elizabeth Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon and dated 1633. Though headed on the first folio, ""Certain Collections of the right honourable Elizabeth late Countess of Huntingdon for her own private use" ", the manuscript must have been intended to reach a readership after her death, because it is one of four similar compilations, all now in the Huntington Library (the other three are MSS HM 15369, EL 6871, and Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 ). Each of these manuscripts is written in the same scribal hand. [All citations from the manuscripts have been modernized in this article for ease of reference, since the four manuscripts often differ in spelling and other minor details.]

Unlike Huntington MSS HM 15369 and EL 6871, this manuscript is not dated 1633 on the first folio. Instead, the second flyleaf (fol. ii r) gives the date 1676. This date does not refer to the transcription of the manuscript, however, but instead refers to the date upon which the manuscript was presented by Ferdidando Davies to a later Elizabeth Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. This Elizabeth Hastings was the wife of the seventh earl, Theophilus Hastings. (The writer of the manuscript was the wife of the fifth earl.) Elizabeth Hastings (1654-1688) was the eldest daughter and coheir of Sir John Lewis, baronet, of Ledstone Hall, Yorkshire, and his wife Sarah (Catherine S. Patterson, "Hastings, Theophilus, seventh earl of Huntingdon (1650-1701)", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). It is not certain exactly who Ferdinando Davies was; he was probably a relative of Lucy Davies, wife of the sixth earl and Theophilus's mother. In his inscription on fol. i v he writes, " "May it please your Honour I think it is no presumption to present your Ladyship with the Collection of that Gallant Lady whose name you bear you may like them the better for that they were hers, however they are to be liked from her for that they direct the way to Paradise which is heartily desired here and hereafter to your Ladyship By Madam Your Honour's most humble servant Ferdinando Davys"".

A third hand, in addition to those of the scribe and Ferdinando Davies, appears at the end of the manuscript, on fol. 34v rev. It is in fact Elizabeth Hastings's own hand (it matches the hand in her holograph manuscript of sermon notes, Hastings Religious, Box 1, Folder 13 . The rough notes on this folio also appear to be sermon notes. It appears that Hastings began to write sermon notes in this volume, but stopped after writing half a page. After her death this manuscript was reversed and begun again so that the final page became a new first page.

Each of the four manuscripts is a polished presentation copy, though Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 contains a few corrections and additions with a later pen. The scribal hand in each is neat and well spaced. The binding of each of the four manuscripts is an unadorned limp vellum. Perhaps its lack of ornamentation is due to the manuscript's status as a modest compilation of spiritual wisdom. Some of the manuscripts have fared better than others: EL 6871's binding is in good condition, but its pages have been gnawed at the foreedge such that one or two letters at the end of each line are lost on each recto. HM 15369's cover is dirty and stained and the upper cover is torn in the top right corner. The binding of Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 is similarly stained, and many of its pages contain large stains which obscure some of the text. Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 is bound by a cover that is dirty, stained, and two-thirds missing. The flyleaves and first folio are also seriously torn.

Huntington MSS EL 6871 and HM 15369 follow each other exactly in the order of their contents; the other two manuscripts, Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6, and Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8, vary them slightly (see below). At first glance the order of items in EL 6871 and HM 15369 seem not to have been carefully planned. Their contents are as follows: biblical extracts (msItem 2-2.2) are followed by prayers (msItem 3-3.11), and then an extract from Lewis Bayly's The practice of piety (msItem 4.1) grouped together with biblical extracts (msItem 4.2) and a meditation (msItem 4.3) on the topic of our unworthiness before taking the sacrament. These are followed by longer extracts from A.H. [Arthur Hildersham] 's The Doctrine of Communicating worthily in the Lord's Supper (msItem 5), two meditations on the misery of man (6-6.2), extracts from the Bible (msItem 7-7.9), and a selection from a Lancelot Andrewes sermon on the resurrection (msItem 8). A meditation on the church (msItem 9) follows, then extracts from Joseph Hall's Meditations and vowes divine and morall on a variety of topics (msItem 10), and finally four more meditations (msItem 11-11.4). This may seem rather fragmented, but when we consider the subjects of these items, a kind of logic can be gleaned.

Hastings opens with biblical extracts which state that if we pray God will pardon our sins (msItem 2.1), and she follows these with ""Psalms of supplication"" (msItem 2.2). Her prayers (msItem 3-3.11) stress her sin and God's mercy, beginning with a morning prayer and ending with a prayer to be said before taking communion. The extracts from Bayly (plus the accompanying material) and Hildersham (msItems 4-4.3 and 5) continue this focus on the sacrament, speaking of our unworthiness, but also moving on (in the Hildersham) to how we might prepare to take the sacrament. The two short meditations on the misery of man (msItem 6-6.2) stress Hastings's common theme: humanity's wretched state (6.1) but also God's mercy (6.2). The biblical extracts (msItem 7-7.9) also follow this arc, as their titles indicate: ""Of man's life", ""Psalms of judgment"", ""Lamentations"", ""The reward of mercy" , ""God's love to those that seek him"", ""Psalms of comfort"", " "Justification and salvation is by Christ only"", ""Christ the object of faith", and ""The promises of God, and who they are that have any interest in them"". MsItem 8 is perhaps the high point of the collection: it consists of sermon notes from Lancelot Andrewes on the resurrection, the ultimate sign of God's mercy to humanity. The next item (msItem 9) steps away from the journey of the individual Christian towards the church itself: its invisible and visible forms, the Catholic church (defined as containing all assemblies of Christians), and the purer churches and impure churches. Hastings's protestant sympathies are particularly clear here: she writes that ""The purer churches are those in which the word of God is purely preached, the sacraments duly administered"" (fol. 28r). Extracts from Joseph Hall's meditations follow next (msItem 10) on ten topics, from the sentiment that it is better to be a Christian who knows how to control passions rather than a stoic who has none, to the need to always hope with fear, and to never defer the task of devotion. Finally, Hastings returns to more personal meditations, on the need for repentance (msItem 11.1) and fasting (11.2), on how afflictions are actually signs of God's favour (11.3), and on the need to prepare for death (11.4). The final meditation notes three types of death: a natural death (which separates the body from the soul), a spiritual death (which separates the soul from God), and an eternal death (which ""parteth both soul and body from God's presence forever""). This is perhaps a grim note on which to end this volume, a volume which stresses sin and the need for penitence, but also God's mercy and the possibility of salvation.

Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 and Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 switch around the order of some prayers and meditations. The last prayer of msItem 3 (""A prayer before the receiving of the holy sacrament"", msItem 3.11 in EL 6871 and HM 15369) is moved up to follow msItem 3.8, instead of being the last prayer before the excerpt from The practice of piety (msItem 4.1). This alteration does not seem logical because it breaks up the continuity of moving from the prayer before taking the sacrament, to the Bayly quotations (and related materials) on our unworthiness to take the sacrament (msItem 4), to the Hildersham extracts on how we might prepare to take the sacrament (msItem 5).

On the other hand, changes in the order of the final seven items of the volume in Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 and Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 (which differ both from the other two manuscripts and from each other) do seem to improve the sequence of items. In HM 15369 and EL 6871 the final seven items are an extract from a Lancelot Andrewes sermon (msItem 8), a meditation on the church (msItem 9), extracts from Joseph Hall's meditations (msItem 10), and then four meditations on the topics of repentance, fasting, affliction, and death (msItems 11.1-11.4). In Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 the order is instead the Andrewes extract, the meditation on the church, the meditation on death, extracts from Hall, and then three meditations on repentance, fasting and prayer, and affliction. Interestingly, beside each of those items is a number in the margin, indicating perhaps an ideal order for the items determined after transcribing this manuscript (1, 3, 7, 2, 6, 5, 4). This suggested ordering is in fact much more logical (the extracts from Andrewes and Hall would be followed by five meditations, ending with the final one on death). Indeed, Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 has adopted just this proposed revised order of items, making the last seven items in that volume as follows: the Andrewes extract, the Hall extracts, then meditations on the church, afflictions, fasting and prayer, repentance, and death. This new order returns to HM 15369's and EL 6871's placement of the death meditation as the final item in the volume, but it perhaps improves upon their order of the final meditations in those manuscripts. The order of the final meditations in Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 allows a movement from the more abstract meditation on the church, to a consideration of the significance of affliction, to a series of meditations which advise what one must do to prepare for death: fast and pray, repent, and then be mindful of the end.

It is not certain which of the four manuscripts was transcribed first, but it is likely that Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 was an early version, given that it is the only manuscript not to place the meditation ""Of death"" as the final item in the manuscript. The order of the final items in Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 seems the most logical, but the placement of the prayer before taking the sacrament (msItem 3.9) is less logical in that manuscript than it is in HM 15369 and EL 6871, which both place that prayer (msItem 3.11) directly before the Bayly extract on the sacrament (msItem 4.1).

So much for the order of the items in the four manuscripts. In terms of content there are numerous minor differences in word choice, word order, and punctuation between the manuscripts. There is also some new commentary (though excised) in one of the manuscripts, and some differences among the titles of items. Specifically, Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 ends the ""Psalms of comfort"" collection of extracts (msItem 7.6) with some commentary beginning, ""Therefore it grieveth me not that I am afflicted"", which the scribe has crossed out. In Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 and Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 msItem 3.8 is untitled, while in the other two manuscripts it appears under the heading ""Prayers"". In Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 that heading ""Prayers"" appears above msItem 3.10, the prayer beginning ""Oh my God I confess thou art slack"" (msItem 3.9 in EL 6871 and HM 15369), but the heading is not used in Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8. In Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6 and Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8 the meditation on fasting (msItems 12.2 and 10.3 respectively, and msItem 11.2 in EL 6871 and HM 15369) has two extra words in its title: ""On fasting and prayer"". In the case of Joseph Hall's meditations and vows (msItem 11 in Hastings Literature, Box 1, Folder 6, msItem 9 in Hastings Religious, Box 2, Folder 8, and msItem 10 in EL 6871 and HM 15369), only one manuscript, EL 6871, has reduced the title by two words to ""Doctor Hall's meditations"".

These volumes might be appreciated as kinds of religious commonplace books in prose. A good deal of the material in each volume is extracted from other sources (contemporary religious writers and the ultimate spiritual source, the Bible). Sometimes Hastings transcribes meticulously, other times she alters and responds to what she is reading. In her choice of writers we can help determine her religious allegiances. Lewis Bayly, Arthur Hildersham, Lancelot Andrewes, and Joseph Hall were all Church of England ministers, but all with puritan or "godly" sympathies (see discussions of their careers in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Hildersham, Andrewes, and Hall all have connections to Ashby-de-la-Zouch and the Hastings family. Hildersham preached at Ashby for several years and was patronized by the fifth Earl of Huntingdon, Elizabeth Hastings's husband, Andrewes was chaplain to the third earl, a noted godly man, and Hall was born at Ashby and educated at the radically protestant grammar school. Elizabeth Hastings must have known Hildersham personally; Andrewes's and Hall's works may have been given to or acquired by the family in honour of the writers' associations with Ashby. Each of these divines trod a line at least to some extent between religious conformity and nonconformity. Hastings's writings seem to achieve a similar balance between faith in God's grace and a Calvinist awareness of sin.

In addition to collecting and shaping her chosen materials Hastings also appears to have written prayers and meditations of her own. She has carefully cited the authors from whom she has extracted work; since she does not attribute her prayers and meditations to other writers, they may be original. The original manuscript or rough notes from which these four volumes were transcribed does not seem to have survived, so we will perhaps never know to what extent the scribe altered and shaped Hastings's material.

Hastings is also the author of 46 letters in the Hastings collection at the Huntington Library (HA 4809-4854, see discussion in biographical article) and an autograph manuscript of sermon notes and religious meditations, also at the Huntington (Hastings Religious, Box 1, Folder 13 ). It was written between about 1625 and 1633 and lists many ministers' names in its titles. Hastings evidently exchanged books with members of her family; she gave a copy of John Preston's The new covenant, or the saints portion in 1632 to her sister Frances, Countess of Bridgewater, whose scribe has recorded this in her library catalogue (Huntington Library MS EL 6495).

Four copies of this collection of prayers, biblical extracts, and meditations were produced after Hastings's death, suggesting both the author's social status and that this genre of writing was to be celebrated in a woman. Links might be drawn between this work and the mother's legacy tradition of writing: see the manuscripts of Elizabeth Jocelyn ( British Library MS Additional 4378 and British Library MS Additional 27467), and especially Elizabeth Richardson (Folger Shakespeare Library MS V.a.511 and East Sussex Record Office ASH 3501), who wrote prayers and meditations for her daughters. Whether Hastings compiled these extracts and wrote these prayers and meditations ""for her own private use"" or not, after her death they were seen, probably by her husband, as worthy of wider dissemination. This manuscript was one of two which remained in the Hastings collection, a third has a Huntingdon bookplate, and a fourth was preserved in the Bridgewater collection: these patterns of provenance suggest that these manuscripts did not migrate too far beyond the family circle.