London: WILLIAM TEGG & CO., 85. Queen Street, Cheapside.
LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1854.
Notes.
GRIFFIN'S "FIDESSA," AND SHAKSPEARE'S "PASSIONATE PILGRIM."
I am the fortunate possessor of a thin volume, entitled Fidessa, a Collection of Sonnets, by B. Griffin, reprinted 1811, from the edition of 1596, at the Chiswick Press; I presume, by the monogram at the end, by Mr. S. W. Singer.
The title of the original edition is Fidessa, more Chaste then Kinde, by B. Griffin, Gent, at London, printed by the Widdow Orwin, for Matthew Lownes, 1596.
The advertisement prefixed by Mr. Singer to the reprint states, that the original is one of the rarest of those that appeared at the period in which it is dated; that he is not aware of the existence of more than two copies, from one of which the reprint is taken, and that the other was in the curious collection of the late Mr. Malone.
Besides the rarity of Fidessa, Mr. Singer states that it claims some notice from the curious reader on account of a very striking resemblance between Griffin's third sonnet, and one of Shakspeare's, in his Passionate Pilgrim (Sonnet IX.).