Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hornby, William
HORNBY, WILLIAM (fl. 1618), poet, was, according to his own account, educated at Peterborough free school, of which he gives an amusing account in his ‘Hornbook.’ He is the author of ‘The Scovrge of Drvnkennes,’ 1618, 4to. On the title-page is a woodcut of a wild man holding a scourge in his right hand and a pipe in his left. The British Museum copy is dated 1619. Prefixed is a dedicatory epistle in verse ‘to his loving Kinsman and approved Friend, Mr. Henry Cholmely, Esquire,’ which is followed by a metrical address headed ‘To all the Impious and relentlesse-harted Ruffians and Roysters vnder Bacchus: Cornu-apes [i.e. Horn-bee] wisheth remorse of Conscience and more increase of Grace,’ and by some verses to Drunkenness. The poem, entitled ‘The Scovrge of Drvnkennes,’ follows ‘Cornu-apes his Farewell to Folly, or his Metamorphosis,’ &c. Appended are two short poems entitled ‘A Meditation of the Flesh and Spirit’ and ‘A Prayer against Temptation.’ The author was a reformed drunkard. He published one other work, a whimsical poem called ‘Hornbyes Hornbook,’ 1622, 8vo (Brit. Museum), dedicated to Sir Robert Carr, baronet, of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, Thomas Grantham, son and heir to Sir Thomas Grantham, knight, and Mr. Rochester Carre.
[Corser's Collectanea; Brit. Mus. Cat.]