| Administrative History | Anne Hunter (nee Home) was born in Greenlaw, Berwickshire in 1742, the eldest daughter of Robert Boyne Home, surgeon, and his wife, Mary Hutchinson. Her brothers included Sir Everard Home (1756 – 1832) and Robert Home (1752 – 1834), painter.
She married John Hunter (1728 – 1793) in 1771, with whom she had four children. John Hunter was a Scottish surgeon and anatomist who is now remembered as the pioneer of the empirical approach to surgical practice. He began in 1748 as an assistant and prosector in the London school of anatomy run by his brother, William Hunter (1718 - 1783) and joined the army as staff-surgeon in 1760. Through his war service, he qualified as a surgeon and in 1776 he was appointed surgeon-extraordinary to the King and surgeon-general to the army in 1789. He combined an anatomy school of his own with a passion for collecting specimens of plants and animals. The government purchased his collection of papers and specimens in 1799 and presented them to the Company of Surgeons.
Anne Hunter enjoyed the company of Elizabeth Carter, Mary Delany, Elizabeth Montagu, and Hester Thrale, and in the 1790s became acquainted with Haydn, who set a number of her songs to music and for whom she anonymously provided the lyrics for his Six Original Canzonettas (1794), which he dedicated to her, and for some of his Second Set of Canzonettas (1795). Her collected 'Poems' were published in 1802 (2nd edn, 1803) and 'The Sports of the Genii' in 1804. |
| Description | Manuscript volume of odes, ballads, songs, sonnets and other poems by Mrs Hunter of Leicester Square, London, with annotations and corrections in her own hand. The volume is signed on the title page by Dr Gregory, No. 2 St Andrew's Square (previously, St John's Street), Edinburgh, with further notes and additions in his hand, throughout.
The poems contained in the volume are Ode (When the awakened soul receives); La Douce Chimere; The progress of November; an Ode; A Vow to Fortune; Ode to the Old Year; What Time Can and What Time Cannot Do; Ode to John Banks Hunter aged 13, 11 June 1785; Ode to John Banks Hunter aged 15, 11 June 1787; Lines to the memory of James Hunter, written by his mother 7 years after his death; To The Nightingale upon her leaving E_____________ C________; A Sonnet, in the manner of Petarch; Laura to Petarch; Laura; Ode addressed to Mr Delaney; To the Memory of Thomas Chatterton; To James Barry Esq of the Royal Academy, London; Cherokee Death Song; The Wandering Lady's Song to her Sheep; Funeral Dirge; The Song at Maria's Grave; Ballad of the 18th century; Songs, written and set to music by Mrs Hunter; Despair; The Ballad of Queen Mary's Lamentation written for and adapted to a very ancient Scottish Air; Verses by Mary Queen of Scots composed during her confinement in Fotheringay Castle, Old French; Ode; Evening, night and morning; A Song; My mother bade me bind my hair; Song - written for an air of Dr Haydn's - where the green ivy twining; Song - To wander alone…; Song - The season comes when first we met; To Mr and Mrs B - on the anniversary of their marriage, November 20th 1788; To Mrs B - in answer to some lively verses - sonnet; To Mr and Mrs B on their taking possession of their new house at Fairyhill in H___shire, 1789; A Soldier Song, written for Dr Haydn, 1792; A Highland Soldier's Return to his Native Country; Winter - A Sonnet; Song - Far from this throbbing bosom haste; Ode from the Isle of Sky addressed to Mrs Thraile by Dr Johnson attempted in English; Ode to Conduit Vale; Epigrams.
A note on title page in Gregory's hand reads: 'N.B. the corrections or various readings of some passages are all by herself.' This volume presumably belonged to James Gregory (1753 - 1821). |