Mirror for Magistrates, Volume 1 — Reading Notes

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Authors: Haslewood, Joseph, 1769-1833 [Editor] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2023 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources; Great Britain -- History -- Poetry Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 141,195

Reading time 614 min

Text sections 96

This digital edition of Mirror for Magistrates, Volume 1 — Reading Notes is described by source-level measurements including 141,195 words, 10 hr 14 min estimated reading time, and 96 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 28.4 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Sources,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #72463

Joseph Haslewood's 1815 edition of 'Mirror for Magistrates' collects Elizabethan verse tragedies of fallen rulers. This volume opens with John Higgins's and Thomas Blenerhasset's contributions, framed by Haslewood's historical notes and a dedication to Francis Douce. The excerpts reveal a poem of civil strife, maternal persuasion, and divided empire, with a distinctive voice blending classical allusion and moral warning.

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Title & short description10 pts
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Text length15 pts
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uendoline_. Ant. C. 1064. _Higgins_ 53

4 How Queene _Elstride_ the Concubine, and second Wife, of King _Locrinus_, was miserably drowned by Queene _Guendoline_. Ant. C. 1064. _Higgins_ 62

5 How the Lady _Sabrine_, daughter of King _Locrinus_ and _Elstride_, was drowned by Queen _Guendoline_. Ant. C. 1064. _Higgins_ 77

6 How King _Madan_ for his euill life was slayne by wolues. Ant. C. 1009. _Higgins_ 86

7 How King _Malin_ was slayne by his brother King _Mempricius_. Ant. C. 1009. _Higgins_ 92

8 How King _Mempricius_ giuen all to lust, was deuoured by wolues. Ant. C. 989. _Higgins_ 98

9 How King _Bladud_ taking on him to fly, fell vpon the Temple of _Apollo_, and brake his necke. Ant. C. 844. _Higgins_ 106

10 How Queene _Cordila_ in dispaire slew her selfe. Ant. C. 800. _Higgins_ 123

11 How King _Morgan_ of Albany was slayne at Glamorgan in Wales. Ant. C. 760. _Higgins_ 143

12 How King _Iago_ dyed of the Lethargie. Ant. C. 612. _Higgins_ 149

13 How King _Forrex_ was slayne by his brother King _Porrex_. Ant. C. 491. _Higgins_ 153

14 How King _Porrex_ which slewe his brother, was slaine by his owne mother and hir maydens. Ant. C. 491. _Higgins_ 163

15 How King _Pinnar_ was slain in battayle by _Mulmucius Donwallo_. Ant. C. 441. _Higgins_ 172

16 How King _Stater_ of Scotland was slayne by _Mulmucius Donwallo_. Ant. C. 441. _Higgins_ 175

17 How King _Rudacke_ of Wales was slayne by _Mulmucius Donwallo_. Ant. C. 441. _Higgins_ 178

18 How the noble King _Brennus_ after many triumphant victories, at the seege of Delphos in Greece slewe himselfe. Ant. C. 375. _Higgins_ 183

19 How King _Kimarus_ was deuoured by wilde beastes. Ant. C. 321. _Higgins_ 208

20 How King _Morindus_ was deuoured by a monster. Ant. C. 303. _Higgins_ 213

21 How King _Emerianus_ for his tirany was deposed. Ant. C. 235 _Higgins_ 220

22 How King _Chirinnus_ giuen to dronkennesse, raygned but one yeare. Ant. C. 137. _Higgins_ 222

23 How King _Varianus_ gaue himselfe to the lustes of the flesh. Ant. C. 136. _Higgins_ 226

24 How the worthie Britaine Duke _Nennius_, as a valiaunt soldier and faithfull subiecte, encountred with _Iulius Cæsar_, and was by him death wounded. Ant. C. 52. _Higgins_ 230

25 How the Lord _Irenglas_ cosen to King _Cassibellane_, was slayne by the Lord _Elimine_ cosen to _Androgeus_ Earle of London. Ant. C. 51. _Higgins_ 246

26 How _Caius Iulius Cæsar_, which first made this Realme tributorie to the Romans, was slaine in the Senate house. _Higgins_ 260

27 How _Claudius Tiberius_ Nero Emperour of Rome, was poysoned by _Caius Caligula_. A. D. 39. _Higgins_ 276

28 How _Caius Cæsar Caligula_ Emperour of Rome, was slayne by _Cherea_ and others. A. D. 42. _Higgins_ 283

29 How _Guiderius_ King of Britayne and the elder sonne of _Cimbaline_, was slayne in battayle by a Romayne. A. D. 44-46. _Higgins_ 286

30 How _Lelius Hamo_ the Romayne Captayne was slayne after the slaughter of _Guiderius_. A. D. 46. _Higgins_ 289

31 How _Claudius Tiberius Drusus_ Emperour of Rome, was poysoned by his wife _Agrippina_. A. D. 56. _Higgins_ 291

32 How the Emperour _Domitius Nero_ liued wickedly and tyrannously, and in the end miserably slewe himselfe. A. D. 70. _Higgins_ 296

33 How _Sergius Galba_ the Emperour of Rome (gieuen to slaughter, ambition, & glotony) was slayne by the souldiers. A. D. 71. _Higgins_ 301

34 How the vicious _Siluius Otho_, Emperour of Rome, slew himselfe. A. D. 71. _Higgins_ 304

35 How _Aulus Vitellius_ Emperour of Rome, came to an infortunate end. A. D. 71. _Higgins_ 307

36 How _Londricus_ the Pict was slayne by King _Marius_ of Britaine. A. D. 80. _Higgins_ 310

37 How _Seuerus_ the Emperour of Rome and Gouernour of Britayne was slaine at Yorke, fighting against the Picts. A. D. 206-13. _Higgins_ 313

38 How _Fulgentius_ a Scythian, or Pict, was slayne at the seege of Yorke. A. D. 206-13. _Higgins_ 320

39 How _Geta_ the yonger sonne of the Emperour _Seuerus_ once Gouernour of Britayne, was slayne in his mother’s armes, by his brother _Antonine_ Emperour of Rome. A. D. 214. _Higgins_ 325

40 How _Aurelius Antonius Bassianus Caracalla_ Emperour of Rome, was slayne by one of his owne seruauntes. A. D. 209. _Higgins_ 330

_The Printer’s Advertisement_ 347

_The Authour’s Epistle. Blenerhasset_ 348

_The Induction. Blenerhasset_ 353

41 How _Guidericus_ refused to paye tribute vnto _Claudius Cæsar_: how he subdued _Galba_: how hee became desirous to winne all the worlde: spoyled France, Germany, and a great part of Italy: and lastly how hee was miserably slayne in a tempest of Thunder. _Blenerhasset_ 355

42 How _Carrassus_ a Husbandman’s son, slewe _Lodrike_ the King of the Pictes, and howe the Emperour made him a captayne. Then howe he obtayned the Britayne crowne and how suspition brought him to decay. A. D. 293. _Blenerhasset_ 369

43 How Queene _Helena_ was Empresse of all the world. A. D. 289. _Blenerhasset_ 384

44 How _Vortiger_ destroyed the young King _Constantine_, and howe he obtyned the crowne: & how after many miseries he was miserably burnt in his Castle by the brethren of _Constantine_. A. D. 446. _Blenerhasset_ 396

45 How _Vter Pendragon_ was inamoured with Duke _Garelus_ wife: and howe by lawlesse loue he lost his kingdome. A. D. 500. _Blenerhasset_ 409

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The 1815 edition of Mirror for Magistrates, edited by Joseph Haslewood, opens with a dedication to Francis Douce and an introduction that situates the work within Elizabethan literary history. Haslewood acknowledges the challenge of adding new material to well-trodden bibliographical accounts, yet his edition collates multiple earlier versions with historical notes. The volume presents Parts I and II, by John Higgins and Thomas Blenerhasset respectively, in a format that invites comparison between the two poets' treatments of tragic falls from power.

The excerpts from Higgins's poem on the Roman emperor Geta and his brother Bassianus (Caracalla) show a sustained dramatic monologue. The speaker, Bassianus, describes his own roughness and thirst for blood in contrast to Geta's mildness. Their mother Julia's plea to divide her corpse rather than the empire introduces a striking image of maternal sacrifice, a rhetorical device that underscores the poem's moral weight.

A Voice of Violent Ambition

The excerpt from Higgins's poem gives Bassianus a first-person voice that is unflinchingly self-aware. He describes himself as “rough, and violent, and fearce, / Of fiery Mars affected all to bloud.” This direct characterization, rare in the period's complaint poetry, establishes a speaker who admits his own moral failings. The contrast with his brother Geta, “of maners milde, of doome exact,” is drawn through parallel stanzas, each beginning with “Both” to emphasize their symmetrical opposition. Bassianus claims his empire stood on “threatnings, force, and feare,” a blunt admission that aligns with the Mirror's tradition of holding up flawed rulers as warnings.

The Mother's Intercession

Julia's speech in stanzas 13–16 provides the poem's emotional pivot. She asks, “How will you your mother now deuide?” and offers her own body as a gruesome solution: “My woefull corps I pray you here to kill, / And it deuide betweene you both in twaine.” This hyperbole, delivered “with teares” and “sobbes,” is a rhetorical appeal that the Senate hears in silence. The stanza form—seven lines with a rhyme scheme that varies—gives her words a measured, almost legalistic quality, contrasting with Bassianus's earlier bluntness. The scene recalls classical accounts of the Severan dynasty, but Higgins adapts it to fit the Mirror's pattern of a fallen speaker confessing past errors.

Structural Repetition and Moral Framing

Higgins uses anaphora and parallel structure to reinforce the poem's themes. Stanzas 7 and 8 both begin with “Both,” listing the brothers' shared fears and mutual suspicion: “Both fearing poyson, force or treason wrought, / Both crauing all the empire to enioy.” This repetition creates a sense of inescapable conflict. The poem also employs a framing device common to the Mirror: the speaker recounts his downfall from a posthumous perspective. Though the excerpt does not include the framing narrative, the first-person voice implies a warning to living magistrates. The historical notes by Haslewood, which accompany the text, likely clarify the source material in Roman history, but the poem itself relies on internal contrasts rather than external annotation.

Editorial Apparatus and Reader's Approach

Haslewood's introduction explicitly addresses the work's origin and the “primary inventor,” citing Thomas Warton's history of English poetry. The editor notes that the Mirror appeared during the “turbulent and unpropitious reign of Queen Mary,” a context that may inform the poem's preoccupation with civil strife. Readers approaching this volume should attend to the interplay between the poetic text and Haslewood's marginal notes, which collate variant readings and historical references. The dedication to Francis Douce, a noted antiquary, signals the edition's scholarly ambition. The excerpts suggest that the poem rewards attention to its stanzaic structure and rhetorical figures, which carry the moral argument more than narrative action.

This first volume of Haslewood's edition offers a chance to see how two Elizabethan poets, Higgins and Blenerhasset, adapted the de casibus tradition to English verse. The excerpts from Higgins's poem on Bassianus and Geta show a poet skilled in dramatic monologue and moral contrast. Readers may find it useful to compare the treatment of ambition and fraternal conflict here with other poems in the collection, noting how each poet shapes the warning to magistrates. The historical notes provide context, but the verse itself carries the weight of the lesson.

This old book makes me think of my grandmother’s shelf, where fallen kings felt like family quarrels—wars of words and stubborn wills. I remember reading Mirror for Magistrates and feeling that heavy quiet. Later, Idylls of the Skillet Fork — Reading Notes gave me the same ache: small empires crumbling over a kitchen table, hearts split like kingdoms, no hero to save them.