[Sylvia Drowned]

The manuscript is held in Dove Cottage as MS 1989:161.40 and consists of a single sheet of white paper, watermarked ‘37’ and measuring 121 by 200 mm. The recto and verso are written in black ink. The watermark may well indicate a date of composition in or soon after 1837 but this is uncertain. The manuscript is exceptionally illegible even by De Quincey’s standards, and the text below is certainly not entirely accurate. It merely offers what appears to be written on the sheet.