The Canticles or Balades of Salomon phraſelyke declared in Englyſh Metres. Imprinted at London by William Baldwin, ſeruant with Edwarde Whitechurche. It was he who edited and saw this work through the press. He says of it:
"The wurke was begun and parte of it prynted in Queene Maries tyme, but hyndered by the Lorde Chauncellour that then was, nevertheles, through the meanes of my lord Stafford, the fyrst parte was licenced, and imprynted the fyrſt yeare of the raygne of this our moſt noble and vertuous Queene, and dedicate then to your honours with this Preface. Since whych time, although I have bene called to an other trade of lyfe, yet my good Lorde Stafforde hath not ceaſſed to call upon me, to publyſhe ſo much as I had gottẽ at other mens hands, ſo that through his Lordſhyppes earneſt meanes, I have nowe alſo ſet furth an other parte, conteynyng as little of myne owne, as the fyrst part doth of other mens," and he expressed the hope that if these prove acceptable, encouragement may be given to "wurthy wittes to enterpryſe and performe the reſt."
After the abortive attempt of Wayland to print the book, under the title A memorial of suche Princes, as since the tyme of King Richarde the seconde, haue beene unfortunate in the Realme of England. In ædibus Johannis Waylandi: Londini [1555?], the first part referred to was printed by Marshe in 1559. It contained nineteen legends (although twenty are mentioned in the table of contents), fourteen of which were by Baldwin, and the others by Ferrers, Churchyard, Phaer, and Skelton. Of these helpers, Baldwin says in the Epistle: "Whan I firſt tooke it in hand, I had the helpe of many graunted, & offred of ſum, but of few perfourmed, skarſe of any: So that wher I entended to haue contriued it to Quene Maries time, I haue ben faine to end it much ſooner: yet ſo, that it may ſtande for a patarne, till the reſt be ready: which with Gods Grace—(if I may haue anye helpe) ſhall be ſhortly."
The idea of the work is usually said to have originated with Sackville, who, following Lydgate's Fall of Princes, planned it as a review of the illustrious and unfortunate characters in English history from the Conquest to the end of the fourteenth century. He is supposed to have turned the work over to Baldwin and the others, after writing an "Induction," and one legend, the life of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham; but no good reason is given for the omission of these poems from the volume when it came to be printed in 1559. Baldwin's reason, already quoted, seems likely enough, and Lord Stafford's urgent entreaty, referred to, no doubt had the effect of causing both poems to be added to the edition issued now, where they appear as The Seconde Parte of the volume of 1559. The title-pages of the two editions are alike, except for the date and the imprint; this in the earlier edition reads: Londini, In ædibus Thomæ Marſhe. No reference is made to the additional part except in the Epistle. The new part has a separate index.
This new part contains only one poem by Baldwin; the others, besides Sackville's two, are by Dolman, Francis Segar, Churchyard, Ferrers, and Cavyl, eight in all. Besides the poems, there is "A proſe to the Reader, continued betwene the tragedies from the beginning of the booke to the ende," just as in the first part.
To the Earl of Dorset's legend "The complaynt of Henrye duke of Buckingham," is prefixed "The Induction," of which Baldwin speaks in the prose following Howe the Lord Hastynges was betrayed, as follows: "but fyrſt you shal heare his preface or Induction. Hath he made a preface (
one) what meaneth he thereby, ſeeing none hath uſed the like order. I wyl tell you the cauſe thereof (