Introduction
ALBERT SANDS SOUTHWORTH (1811–1894) and JOSIAH HAWES (1808–1901), Charles Sprague Daguerreotype, c. 1850
LINCOLN & FOSS (1848–57), Silver Pitcher, Boston, Owned by Charles Sprague
“Toujours le même“ [“Always the same"], Small Friendship Pouch (?) given to Charles Sprague by Col. Moore
ISAAC WATTS (1674–1748), The Psalms of David, Boston: Printed by David Carlisle, 1804, Owned by Charles Sprague
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “Do, good Creatures, send some dinner,” Manuscript, 1812
WILLIAM B. CALLENDER AND CHARLES SPRAGUE, Articles of Partnership, April 1, 1813
CHARLES SPRAGUE TO J. D. WHITNEY, ESQ., ASL, July 1, 1843
Globe Bank Dollar Bill and Fragment of $1000 bill, 1852
GRESHOM COBB, Explanation and Use of Cobb’s Patent Geometrical Interest Table and Sliding Scale of Equal Numbers for the Days and Months of the Year, Boston: Hastings, Etheridge and Bliss, 1809. Owned by Charles Sprague.
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “The Family Meeting” in The Poetical and Prose Writings of Charles Sprague, Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850
CHARLES SPRAGUE, Manuscript page for the “Shak[e]spear Ode”
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “The Puritans,” in Student and Schoolmate and Forrester’s Boy’s and Girls Magazine: A Reader for Schools and Families, Volume VIII, N. A. Calkins, W. T. Adams, Father Forrester (Editors), Boston: Robinson, Greene & Co., December 1859
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “Centennial Ode,” Manuscript
Ticket for the Centennial Dinner at Faneuil Hall, Boston, September 17, 1830
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “The Winged Worshippers,” in Samuell Kettell, Ed., Specimens of American Poetry with Critical and Biographical Notices, Boston: S.G. Goodrich et al., 1829
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “The Wood Robin,” Manuscript and Sheet Music, 1812
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “To My Cigar” in The Poetical and Prose Writings of Charles Sprague, Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1841
CHARLES SPRAGUE, “The Novel Reader” in The Boston book: Being specimens of metropolitan literature, occasional and periodical, Boston: Light and Horton, 1836
ANONYMOUS, “Literary Portraits No. 4: Charles Sprague,” New England Magazine, Volume 3, August 1832
RUFUS WILMOT GRISWOLD (1815–57), The Poets and Poetry of America To the Middle of the Nineteenth Century, Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1852
EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809–49), “An Appendix of Autographs,” Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine, Volume 20, Issue 1, January 1842
EDMUND QUINCY and R. C. WATERSTON, Memoirs of Charles Sprague

CHARLES SPRAGUE, Manuscript page for the “Shak[e]spear Ode”

< BACK | NEXT >

CHARLES SPRAGUE, Manuscript Page for the “Shak[e]spear Ode”

This never-before-displayed working draft of Sprague’s most celebrated poem, “The Shak[e]spear Ode” (1823), takes us inside his creative process. Note the table of rhymed pairs below the verse lines. Does it seem mechanical, calculating? Written in a steady, precise hand, Sprague’s manuscripts show heavy but also methodical, focused, and precise revision. As much as the materials relating to his business life, they reveal the banker in the banker-poet.

Private Collection

< BACK | NEXT >

Forgotten Chapters of Boston's Literary History

The Poet Buried on Boston Common

CHARLES SPRAGUE, Manuscript page for the “Shak[e]spear Ode”

CHARLES SPRAGUE, Manuscript Page for the “Shak[e]spear Ode”