A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland

land Muse,¹ which Parks printed in his Annapolis establishment. In a note
at the conclusion of this volume, described on its title-page as the third
edition, the author thanked his friends and benefactors for the encourage-
ment which they had given him and promised the publication of an annual
collection under the same title. No traces remain, however, either of a
second volume of the series, or of the two earlier editions of the first vol-
ume. A part of its contents was a poem entitled and described as "The
History of Colonel Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia, Done into Hu-
dibrastick Verse from an old Ms." One is fain to accept the pedigree for
this poem which is provided in the pleasant, punning address indited by an
unknown "H. J." to its author, E. Cooke, Gent. There are few who will
not be amused by the lines which follow:

To THE AUTHOR.²
Old Poet,

As you may remember,
You told me sometime in September,
Your pleasant Muse was idly sitting,
Longing for some new Subject fitting
For this Meridian, and her Inditing,
Worth Praise and Pence, for Pains in Writing.
I therefore (thinking it great Pity
A Muse should pine, that is so witty)
Have sent an old, authentick Book,
For Her in Doggrel Verse to Cook;
For since it never was in Print,
(Tho' wondrous Truths are written in't)
It may be worthy Clio's Rhimes,
To hand it down to future Times.
You know what never-fading Glory,
Old Salust got by Catlin's Story;
The Fame Hyde gain'd, I need not tell y'on,
By's Hist'ry of the Grand Rebellion:
You know how Butler's witty Lays
Procur'd for him immortal Praise:
I'll add no more—But if you please, Sir,
Attempt the same for Ebenezer,
Which you may gain, or I'm mistaken
If you can nicely Cook this Bacon.

H. J.

¹See Maryland Historical Society Fund Publication, No. 36, for reprint* of the "Sotweed Factor" (London
Edition of 1708), the "Sotweed Redivivut" and another poem of this Ebenezer Cooke or "E. C." who sometimes
signed himself "Laureat," but by whose appointment is not known. Tyler, M. C., History of American Literature.
N. Y., 1881, a: 255, discusses Cooke and his satires. Nothing is known of Cooke besides his writings. He may
have been that Ebenezer Cooke who was resident in St. Mary's City in 1693.

²The lines which follow were copied for this work from the unique British Museum copy of The Maryland

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