- probably written in 1608–9. An edition was issued by the Shakespeare Society in 1846.
- ‘The Excellent Comedy called the Old Law, or a new way to please you, by Phil. Massinger, Tho. Middleton, William Rowley,’ 1656, 4to, acted before the king and queen at Salisbury House. The original draft was doubtless by Middleton. Some highly effective humorous business (esp. iii. 1 and v. 1) was added by Rowley about 1618, and the play was subsequently revised by Massinger (Dyce's and Bullen's Middleton).
- ‘The Witch of Edmonton; a known true story composed into a tragi-comedy by divers well esteemed poets, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford,’ &c., 1658, 4to. This topical play was written hurriedly after the execution of the ‘notorious witch’ Elizabeth Sawyer in June 1621. Dekker appears to have the chief share, but Rowley supplied some acceptable buffoonery. It was acted at the Cockpit.
- ‘A Cure for a Cuckold,’ 1661, 4to, published as by Rowley and Webster, was played in 1618. Mr. Fleay is convinced from internal evidence that Rowley's collaborator in this piece was not Webster. It is quite possible that Massinger contributed the serious portions. Rowley's hand is conspicuous in the humorous scenes. Those traditionally assigned to Webster were reprinted at Mr. Daniel's private press at Oxford in 1885. Altered into ‘The City Bride, or the Merry Cuckold,’ it was given at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1696 (cf. Genest, ii. 89).
- ‘The Thracian Wonder,’ 1661, 4to. This vile comedy, which is similarly attributed to Rowley and Webster, is believed by Mr. Fleay to be substantially identical with Heywood's lost play, entitled ‘War without Blows’ (1598). It is given in ‘Old English Plays,’ 1814.
- ‘The Birth of Merlin, or the Child has lost a Father,’ 1662, 4to, appears on the title-page as by Shakespeare and Rowley. The use of Shakespeare's name is manifestly unauthorised, and there is little doubt that this is an old play refashioned by Rowley, with fresh buffooneries, and possibly with some aid from Middleton. It is given in ‘Pseudo-Shakespearean Plays,’ No. iv. (Halle, 1887).
In the ‘Biographia Dramatica’ (1812) are enumerated, in addition to the above, five unprinted plays by Rowley:
- ‘The Fool without Book.’
- ‘A Knave in print, or One for Another.’
- ‘The Nonesuch.’
- ‘The Booke of the four honoured Lives.’
- ‘The Parliament of Love;’ it is stated that the last three were destroyed by Warburton's cook, but No. 20 may be identical with Massinger's extant, although unfinished, ‘Parliament of Love.’
Apart from his dramatic work Rowley wrote a pamphlet (now scarce), in Dekker's vein, entitled ‘A Search for Money; or the lamentable complaint for the losse of the Wandring Knight, Mounsieur l'Argent, or Come along with me, I know thou lovest Money,’ 1609, 4to (Brit. Mus.; reprinted in Percy Soc. ii. and extracted in ‘Brit. Bibl.’ iv.), dedicated to a fellow-actor of the author, one ‘Maister Thos. Hobbs.’ The quest for money leads the characters through queer byways of metropolitan life, and the descriptions are marked by humour and fidelity. Rowley wrote ‘For a Farewell Elegie on the Death of Hugh Atwell, Seruant to Prince Charles’—a broadsheet in possession of the Society of Antiquaries (see Collier's History of Early Dramatic Poetry, i. 423).
[Mr. A. H. Bullen's edition of Middleton's Works contains frequent allusions to Rowley and valuable criticism. See also Dyce's edition of Middleton; Mr. Fleay's Hist. of the Stage and Biographical Chron. of the English Drama, s.v. ‘Middleton;’ Cunningham's Revels Account vol. xlii.; Rowley's Fortune by Land and Sea (Shakespeare Soc.), Introduction; Ward's Hist. of Engl. Dram. Lit.; Rapps's Englisches Theater; Langbaine's Hist. of the Dramatic Poets, and notes by Oldys and Haslewood; Hunter's Chorus Vatum (Add. MS. 24487, f. 263); Brydges's Censura Lit. ix. 49; Chetwood's British Theatre; Baker's Biogr. Dramatica, ed. 1812; Allibone's Dict. of English Lit.; Lamb's Dramatic Essays, 1891, pp. 208–10; Mr. Swinburne in Nineteenth Century, January 1886; Brit. Mus. Cat.; cf. arts. Dekker, Thomas, and Middleton, Thomas.]
ROWLEY, Sir WILLIAM (1690?–1768), admiral of the fleet, born about 1690, of an old family of Worfield, Shropshire, was son of William Rowley of Whitehall, a court official under William III and Anne. He entered the navy in 1704 as a volunteer per order in the Orford, with Captain (afterwards Sir John) Norris. He passed his examination on 15 Sept. 1708, and in December was promoted lieutenant of the Somerset, in which he served, mostly in the Mediterranean, till May 1713. Early in 1716 he was in Paris on a special errand for George I, and on 26 June was promoted to command the Bideford, from which date he took post. For the next two years the Bideford was at Gibraltar, and cruising against the Sallee pirates. She was paid off in February 1718–19. In September 1719 Rowley was appointed to the Lively, a small frigate employed on the coast of Ireland, mostly between Dublin and Carrickfergus, for preventing piracy and smuggling, and for raising men, with occasional visits to Bristol, Plymouth, or Portsmouth. He continued on this service
