September 1826–21 March 1827. 
	Toward the end of MS I, Margaret Ruskin wrote, “this book begun about Sept or Oct 1826 / finished about Jany 1827” (see “The Needless Alarm”: Date). Since she inserted her notation within the MS I poetry anthology at the end, it is probable that Ruskin devoted approximately the first month of 1827 to copying the poems, while he had spent the fall/winter 1826 to writing “Harry and Lucy . . . vol. 1.”
	Margaret’s note, depending on how one interprets it, possibly suggests also that at least one of the poems, “The Needless Alarm,” was composed earlier than its copy in MS I, while the rest of the poems may be dated no earlier than their copies at the end of this manuscript.
	Probably a few months after Margaret’s annotation, Ruskin added Drawing, Miscellaneous: The Heights of Wisdom and Depths of Folly to the back inside endboard and dated the drawing 21 March, although no year is given. This appears to establish the latest date of Ruskin’s work on the manuscript.
	Thus, while Ruskin thus composed or at least fair-copied the manuscript between September 1826 and March 1827(?), he may have originally composed some of the contents earlier. In particular, “The Needless Alarm” may date from early 1826; and “Harry and Lucy . . . vol. 1” probably at least describes some events that occurred before fall 1826, if not actually drafted earlier.