The dedication prefixed to the MS. also varies somewhat from that ultimately published. Whether it ever reached the Countess’s hands, it is impossible to say; but the following interesting passage from the MS. clearly explains the purpose of that excellent piece of calligraphy:
Yet ere I committed it [i.e. the poem] to the presse (for fame undivulged is an hidden Minerall) being unknowne unto you I might have been imputed as much impudent as fond, if I had not first presented it to your milder view: Earnest to understand whether your acceptation and liking may priviledge the passe under your honorable conduct: wch if it may I shall deme my willing paines (though hitherto confined to the Inns of Court, a Studie different) highly guerdoned, and myne unfeathered Muse richlie graced wth ye plumes of soe worthie a protectresse.
This dedication is signed in a clear Italian hand, “John Ford,” despite the fact that the surname was printed as Forde in the edition of 1606. ‘This is a point worth noting because there has always been some uncertainty about the correct spelling. J. P. Collier, in his Shakespeare Society reprints of Ford, strongly insisted on the necessity of retaining the final e; and in this he has been followed by other scholars, notably by Professor W. Bang-Kaup, in whose excellent Louvain reprints of Ford’s plays the name is printed “Forde” passim. But Ford, with his legal training and profession, must have been a skilled penman; and since only two of his signatures are known to exist, and neither contains a final e, it is obvious that the commonly accepted spelling of his name ought to become the universally accepted one.
MATTHEW STEVENSON
The D.N.B. is not able to be more precise with regard to his dates than “fl. 1654–1685,” the latter apparently inserted upon the ground that there was a reissue of his poems, under the title of The Wits, in that year. I think the following entry in the register of S. Mary in the Marsh, Norwich, relates to his burial:—
“Stevenson, Matthew b. 20 March 1683” (i.e. 16834).
