One of our Library volunteers, Michael Malone-Lee, recently happened upon an unusual, witty, anonymously published poem in an innocuous volume in the Theology Room, dating from 1811.
Enchanted and intrigued, Michael delved deeper to uncover its author, the Revd. C. Valentine Le Grice (1773-1858), and explores the background to his entertaining piece, The Petition of an Old Uninhabited House in Penzance to its Master in Town.
The poem is a lament for the past in which the poet contrasts the ancient, ruined house with the contemporary gentrification of Penzance, a subject perhaps still of relevance today.
Click here to read Michael’s blog
A view of Penzance, printed and published by J.F. Vibert, 1833 (MOR/VIV/16)