A Mirrour for Magistrates. Wherein maye be seen by example of other,
with howe greuous plages vices are punished: and howe frayle and
vnstable worldly prosperity is founde, even of those whom Fortune
seemeth most highly to fauour. Fælix quem faciunt aliena pericula
cautum. _Anno._ 1563. _Imprinted at London in Fletestrete nere to Saynct
Dunstans Churche by Thomas Marshe._
=B.L.= 4^o. (7-1/4 × 5-1/4). R. 13.
Title within woodcut border. Collation: [bu]^4A^4B-N^8O-V^4X-Z^8
2A-2B^{8}2C^4, folios numbered. Epistle "To the Nobilitie" etc.,
signed William Baldwin. Prose address to the reader by the same.
Part ii begins, with head-title, at sig. L 2, and another address to
the reader by Baldwin. Table of contents and list of errata at the
end. Part i had appeared in 1559; this second extant edition is the
first containing Part ii. Part i contains nineteen legends; Part ii
eight legends, besides Sackville's 'Induction' to his legend of
Buckingham. The original edition of the 'Mirror' was printed by J.
Wayland probably in 1554 or 1555 at the end of his edition of
Lydgate's 'Falls of Princes'. The publication was stayed and the
title only has survived. The first edition actually published was
that of 1558, which contains Part i only. The contributors to the
collection were William Baldwin (the editor), George Ferrers, Sir
Thomas Chaloner, ---- Caryl, and John Skelton, in Part i; George
Ferrers, Thomas Sackville Earl of Dorset, Thomas Churchyard, Francis
Segars, and John Dolman, in Part ii; while nine legends are
anonymous. For the authorship of the individual legends, see Mr W.
F. Trench's dissertation on the 'Mirror' (1898): the ascriptions
given in the British Museum catalogue are mostly erroneous. In the
later editions initials were frequently placed at the end of the
legends to indicate the authorship, but in many cases they are wrong
and in all want authority.
Sinker 310. BM 91.
A Myrrour for Magistrates, Wherein may be seene by examples passed in
this realme, with howe greueous plagues, vyces are punished in great
princes and magistrates, and how frayle and vnstable worldly prosperity
is founde, where Fortune seemeth moste highly to fauour. Newly corrected
and augmented. Anno 1571. Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum.
_Jmprinted at London by Thomas Marshe dwellynge in Fleetstreete, neare
vnto S. D[~u]stanes Churche._ [Colophon adds] 1571.
=B.L.= 4^o. (7-1/2 × 5-1/4). R. 3.
Title within woodcut border. Collation: *^4A^4B-V^8X^4, folios
numbered. Epistle 'To al the Nobility' etc., signed W. B. Table of
contents. Baldwin's address to the reader. This is a reprint of the
1563 edition; the order of the legends is altered, and in many
cases the authors' names or initials appended. It is not divided
into parts. In the Table appear legends of Duke Humphrey, and the
Duchess of Gloucester, but they are not found in the book. One
legend on these characters had similarly appeared in the Table in
the 1559 edition. This is the third extant edition of the legends
which originally formed Part i.
Sinker 318. BM 91.
The first parte of the Mirour for Magistrates, containing the falles of
the first infortunate Princes of this lande: From the comming of Brute
to the incarnation of our sauiour and redemer Iesu Christe. Ad Romanos.
13. 2. Quisquis se opponit potestati, Dei ordinationi resistit.
_Imprinted at London by Thomas Marshe. Anno._ 1574. _Cum Priuilegio._
=B.L.= 4^o. (7-3/4 × 5-1/2). Q. 10. 1.
Title within woodcut border. Collation: *^6A-I^8K^2, folios
numbered. Table of contents. Epistle 'To the nobilitie' etc.,
signed by the author, Iohn Higgins. Prose address to the reader by
the same. This is an entirely new work, dealing with the early
history and therefore entitled the 'First Part'. It contains
seventeen legends, one being added at the end which is not among
the sixteen mentioned in the Table. The former 'Mirror' was
reprinted in this year, one legend enlarged, as 'The Last Part'
etc. This 'First Part' was reprinted, slightly enlarged, the
following year; also with 'The Last Part'.
Sinker 322. BM 813.
The Mirour for Magistrates, wherin may bee seene, by examples passed in
this Realme, with how greeuous plagues vices are punished in great
Princes and Magistrates, and how fraile and vnstable worldly prosperity
is found, where Fortune seemeth most highly to fauour: Newly imprinted,
and with the addition of diuers Tragedies enlarged. _At London in
Fleetestreete, by Henry Marsh, being the assigne of Thomas Marsh._
1587. _Cum Priuilegio._
=B. L.= 4^o. (7 × 5-1/4). S. 5.
Title within ornamental border. Collation: A-C^4=A=-2=M=^8 (omitting
=Z=), folios numbered. Wanting A 1 (? blank). Higgins' epistle 'To
the Nobility' etc. as in 1574, but here dated, Winceham, December
7, 1586. Higgins' address to the reader, and table of contents.
Commendatory verses by Thomas Newton, dated 1587. 'The Authors
Induction.' Baldwin's address to the reader at sig. =O=4^v. This
edition consists of Higgins' and Baldwin's collections ('First' and
'Last Part') together. It is the first edition in which the two
parts are really incorporated into one whole, with signatures
continuous and a common Table of Contents. It is enlarged from the
edition of 1575 by the addition of twenty-three legends to Higgins'
part, and seven to Baldwin's, making a total of seventy-four,
Sackville's 'Induction' being here for the first time counted as a
separate legend.
Sinker 678. BM 814.
A Mirour for Magistrates: being a true chronicle Historie of the
vntimely falles of such vnfortunate Princes and men of note, as haue
happened since the first entrance of Brute into this Iland, vntill this
our latter Age. Newly enlarged with a last part, called A Winter nights
Vision, being an addition of such Tragedies, especially famous, as are
exempted in the former Historie, with a Poem annexed, called Englands
Eliza. _At London Imprinted by Felix Kyngston._ 1610.
4^o (7-1/2 × 5-1/2). R. 1.
Collation: A^8B^2C-3K^{8}3L^6, paged. Higgins' epistle dated 1586.
Address to the reader (by R. Niccols, the editor of this edition).
Table of contents. Commendatory verses by Th. Newton. 'The Authors
Induction'. Errata. At the end of Higgins' portion is added, at
sig. O 5, but without any fresh title or heading, the legends by
Thomas Blenerhasset originally published in 1578 as 'The Second
Part of the Mirror for Magistrates'. These are signed with the
author's name, and stand as legends 41-49 in the Table. The legends
of Guidericus and Alured however have been omitted. The legend of
Edricus is also omitted in the Table but appears in the text.
Baldwin's portion begins at sig. S 6 with a separate titlepage 'The
variable Fortunes and vnhappie Falles of such Princes as hath
happened since the Conquest', bearing the same imprint except for
the date 1609. For Baldwin's address is substituted a note to the
reader signed with the editor's initials, R. N. Sackville's
'Induction' is for the first time placed at the beginning instead
of immediately before the legend of Buckingham. Four legends (James
I, Richard Duke of Gloucester, James IV, and Flodden) are omitted,
while at the end is added Drayton's Legend of Cromwell, which had
already appeared separately in 1607 and 1609. The editor also added
two parts of his own. The first of these begins at sig. 2O 3 with a
separate titlepage, 'A Winter Nights Vision ... By Richard Niccols,
Oxon. Mag. Hall', with the same imprint, dated 1610. This consists
of an 'Induction' and ten legends, with a prose address to the
reader, and is ornamented with woodcuts. The second begins at sig.
3E 2 with a separate title 'Englands Eliza: or the victorious and
triumphant Reigne of that virgin Empresse of sacred memorie,
Elizabeth, Queene of England, France and Ireland', &c., with
woodcut portrait, again bearing the same imprint, dated 1610. This
part contains dedicatory verses to Lady Elizabeth Clere, prose
address to the reader, induction, and the poem itself. This
edition, the only one after 1587, was re-issued with a new
titlepage 'The Falles of Vnfortunate Princes' in 1619 and again in
1620.