References to the works of William Baldwin between the years 1557 and 1587, from the Registers of The Stationers' Company of Works (1848) edited and with notes by John Payne Collier.


[ The first volume covers entries in 1558-9 and 1559-60; the second volume covers entries in 1576-7 and 1580-1. The last three entries in the second volume refer to titles which have in all likelihood disappeared long ago and therefore Collier's comments can not be verified. ]


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From Extracts from the Registers of The Stationers' Company of Works entered for Publication between the years 1557 and 1587. With Notes and Illustrations (1848) ed. John Payne Collier, London: Printed for The Shakespeare Society; Vol I, p.21, & pp.24-25.


[ Extract from the entries for 1558-9, in relation to William Baldwin:]

/ p.21 /

      Thomas marshe hathe lycense to prynte The myrroure of majestrates ..........................................................vjd.

      [The first part of the celebrated work, “ The Mirror for Magistrates,” came out in 1559, printed by Marsh, and was the sole authorship of William Baldwin. We shall presently have to notice the second part of the same work, in which he was assisted by Thomas Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst and Earl of Dorset. Farther on, we shall have to assign to Baldwin, on indisputable evidence, a very singular production, called “ Beware the Cat;” Ritson and all other bibliographers not being aware that he had anything to do with it. See also p. 24. Baldwin's initials are subscribed to a broadside, headed,

“ A free admonition without any fees,
To warne the Papistes to beware of three trees.”
It was printed by John Awdeley for Henry Kirham, in 1571.]


[ Extract from the entries for 1559-60, in relation to William Baldwin:]

/ p.24 /

      Recevyd of Thomas mashe [ lit.], for his lycense for pryntinge of the funeralles of kynge Edwarde, the xxiiij. daye of January ..........................................................iiijd.

      [ This was the work of William Baldwin, and the title of it is— “ The Funeralles of King Edward the sixt. Wherin are declared the

/ p.25 /
causers and causes of his death, &c. Imprinted at London, in Flete-strete, nere to saynct Dunstons church, by Thomas Marshe. Anno Domini 1560.” It consists of three poems ; and in a preliminary prose address, headed “ William Baldwin to the Reader,” he says that he wrote the work to resolve the doubt “by what meane he (Edw. VI.) dyed, and what were the causes of his death.” He adds, that he had penned the tract “before the corse was buryed, and endevoured since, by many meanes, to have had it been printed ; but, such was the time, that it could not be brought to passe.” This accounts for the non-appearance of the entry until the 24th January, 1559-60. Baldwin attributes the death of the king to drinking cold water, when hot at tennis; and he personifies Crazy Cold as slily creeping into the cup and assailing the vitals of Edward.
“ But crazy cold lurkt all this while at court
To watche his time when he the king might hourt;
And when he saw him on a morning sweat,
And call for drinke to coole his tennis heat,
He slyly crept and hid him in the cup;
And when the king, alas, had drunke him up
Into his stomacke downward he him got,” &c.
      Baldwin lived with Edward Whitechurch, the printer, and while his “ servant,” in 1549, printed in his own name “ The Canticles or Balades of Salomon,” which he had “ phrase-lyke declared in Englysh Metres.” The Roxburghe Club reprinted “ The Funerals of King Edward VI.” in 1817; and there is a copy of “ The Canticles or Balades of Salomon” in Lambeth Library.]



From Extracts from the Registers of The Stationers' Company of Works entered for Publication between the years 1557 and 1587. With Notes and Illustrations (1849) ed. John Payne Collier, London: Printed for The Shakespeare Society; Vol II, p.25, p.34, & p.128.


[ Extract from the entries for 1576-7, in relation to William Baldwin:]

/ p.25 /

      Hugh Jackson. Rd a ballat intituled the gryndinge of the hatchet, and whippinge the Catt .............. iiijd. and a copie.

      [On p.34 we shall meet with an entry of Elderton's “ Answer to the Whipping of the Cat.” Are they in any way connected with W. Baldwin's “ Beware the Cat ?”   See Extracts, i., 200.]


/ p.34 /

      Ric. Jones. Lycensed unto him a ballate intituled an Answere to the Whippinge of the Catt, by W. Elderton      iiijd.

      [ The ballad of “ Whipping the Cat,” to which William Elderton wrote an answer, has been licensed to Hugh Jackson on p. 25. It is possible that both had reference to W. Baldwin's “ Beware the Cat,” first printed in 1561, licensed in 1568-9, and of which a new edition came out in 1584. See Extracts, i. 200.]


[ Extract from the entries for 1580-1, in relation to William Baldwin:]

/ p.128 /

SECUNDO DIE NOVEMBR.
      Roberte Walgrave. Lycenced unto him, &c., a dialogue betweene Baldwin and a Sailor ............. vjd.

      [ If this entry relate to William Baldwin, author of “ Beware the Cat ,”   editor of the First Part of the Mirror for Magistrates, &c., it is valuable, as it may serve to show that he was not dead in 1580. He might very well be living at that date, and perhaps not a very old man. Herbert (ii., 1146) makes it a dialogue with six sailors.]