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Editorial note: Long s's have been turned into s's, and the occasional use of a macron over a vowel to express a following n or m has been replaced with the following n or m. Otherwise, the spelling is as in the original edition of 1617, as difficult and inconsistent as it may be.
By Samuel Rowlands
With an Introductory Note by Alfred Claghorn Potter
Introductory Note
When the complete works of Samuel Rowlands were issued by theHunterian Club in 1872-1880, in an edition of two hundred and ten copies,the Editor was obliged to omit from the collection the poem entitled"The Bride." No copy of this tract was supposed to be extant. Twentyyears later, in the article on Rowlands in the Dictionary of NationalBiography, Mr. Sidney Lee also names this poem as one of the author'slost works. All that was known of it was the entry in the Stationers'Register: [Footnote: Arber's Transcript, vol. iii. p. 609.]
"22 [degrees] Maij 1617
"Master Pauier. Entred for his Copie vnder the handes
of master TAUERNOR and both the wardens, A Poeme
intituled The Bride, written by SAMUELL ROWLANDE vj'd."
While all of Rowlands's works are classed by bibliographers as "rare,"this one seemed to have disappeared entirely. No copy was to befound in any of the large libraries or private collections, nor was thereany record of its sale.
Last spring a copy was discovered in the catalogue of a bookseller in asmall German town, and was secured for the Harvard College Library,being purchased from the Child Memorial Fund. The copy is perfect,except that the inner corner at the top of the second and third leaveshas been torn off, with the loss of parts of two words, which havebeen supplied in manuscript. From this copy the present reprint ismade. As in the Hunterian Club edition of Rowlands's Works, to whichthis may be considered a supplement, the reprint is exact. The generalmakeup of the book as to style and size of type has been followed asclosely as possible; and the text has been reproduced page for pageand word for word. The misprints, which are unusually numerous, evenfor a book of this period, have been left uncorrected. The title-pageand the two head-pieces have been reproduced by photography.
Of the poem itself, since it is now before the reader, little need besaid. It cannot be claimed that it presents great poetical merit.Rowlands at his best was but an indifferent poet,—hardly morethan a penny-a-liner. In his satirical pieces and epigrams, and inthat bit of genuine comedy, "Tis Merrie vvhen Gossips meete," hiswork does have a real literary value, and is distinctly interesting aspresenting a vivid picture of London life at the beginning of theseventeenth century. In "The Bride," it must be confessed, Rowlandsfalls below his own best work. Yet the poem is by no means whollylacking in interest. If not his best work, "The Bride" is by no meanshis worst. Like most of his poems, it is written in an heroic stanzaof six lines, and, as is not so common with him, is in dialogue form.The dialogue for the most part is well sustained and sprightly. Thestory of the birth of Merlin, it is true, seems to have been insertedmainly to fill out the required number of pages; but this digression has aninterest of its own, in that the name here given to Merlin's mother,"Lady Adhan," does not appe