"Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes"

• Archive Work ID: poems.odfc
• Uniform Title: "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" [e-text]
• First Line: 'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
• Language: English
• First Published: 1748
• References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 5-6; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 78-85
• Summary: Written at Cambridge between 22 February and 1 March 1747 and sent in a letter of that date to Horace Walpole. Mason is the only source for this letter, the poem sent in it has not survived. First published in Dodsley's Collection of Poems by Several Hands, 3 vols, vol. II. (London, 1748), 267-269, reprinted in 6 vols, vol. II. (London, 1758 and later edns.), 328-330.

1 Manuscript:

• • Archive MS ID: mss.0107 (Source: EAD/XML)
  • Title: "Ode On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes"
  • Date: [after 1748]
  • Physical Description: 3 pages, 180 mm x 120 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
  • Language: English
  • Location: BOD MS Eng.poet.e.39, 213-215, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
  • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 88; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 990, item T3395; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=84496>
  • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, stanzas numbered 1.-7., in a volume of copies of verse from various sources, mainly printed, 18th cent., with a list of contents on pp. i, 1-4 (Summary Catalogue, 46462).
  • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.