Add MS 34782

"LOVE'S LAURELL GARLAND," a romance by John Reynolds. Preceded by: (1) Dedication to Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery and Baron of Shurland [afterwards Earl of Pembroke, 1630], and his Countess, f. 2;-(2) "Praeface" to the "Gentelmen Readers," f. 3 b;-(3) Sonnet to the Countess of Montgomery, beg. "To you, great Countesse, Englands mirrour fayre," f. 5 b;"(4) Sonnet, in French, addressed "a Ian Reynolds sur sa Guirlande du laurier d'Amour," by "H. Guillousou, sieur du Menece, Gentilhomme Breton," f. 6. The author's name, appended to the first three of these, has in each case been struck out, but remains legible. He describes himself (f. 4 b) as being of a "profession opposyte to a scholler," and is therefore probably not to be identified with John Reynolds, Scholar and Fellow of New College, Oxford, author of Disticha Classis Epigrammatum (1611-12), but with John Reynolds or Raynolds, merchant, of Devonshire, author of The Flower of Fidelitie (1650) and probably of Dolarny's Primerose (1606); cf. the edition of the latter by A. B. Grosart, LL.D., 1880, pp. xv.-xxxviii. The style of these works and of their dedications supports this identification. In this case the present work must have been finished before 1606, since the author describes it as "the first essayes of my muse" (f 3); and as Philip Herbert was only created Earl of Montgomery in 1605, its completion cannot be placed earlier than that year. The subject of the romance is the loves and adventures of Philisander and Diaphania, and it includes several poems. It was evidently intended for the press, but is not known to have been printed. Paper; ff. 169. A.D. 1605 (see above). Belonged to Arthur Haydon (1632), to Philip Collarde (17th cent., see f 148b) to J. Strutt (18th cent.), Richard Heber (sale-cat., part. xi., 1836, no. 1274), Thomas Thorpe (sale-cat., 1836, no. 1115), and Sir T. Phillipps (cat. no. 9242). Small Quarto.

John Reynolds: "Love's Laurell Garland " : a romance: 1605.

includes:

• ff. 5 b, 21 b, 37, 48, 76 b, 80 b, 81 b, 93 b, 96, 102 b, 109, 114 b, 117, 149, 154 b Poetry: Poems by J. Reynolds, in "Love's Laurell Garland": 1605.