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George Ferrers, Mirror for Magistrates

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In Lyncolnes Inne and Temples twayne,
Grayes Inne and other mo [. . .]
There heare thou shalt a great reporte,
Of Baldwyns worthie name,
Whose Myrrour dothe of Magistrates,
Proclayme eternall fame.
-- Jasper Heywood, “Preface” to Seneca's Thyestes (1560)

The Mirror for Magistrates, a collaboratively-authored, partly-anonymous book of poetic complaints spoken by the ghosts of infamous Englishmen and women, was one of the most popular printed histories in Elizabethan England.

Published in 1559 and designed to be a continuation of John Lydgate's Fall of Princes, a translation of Boccaccio's De casibus illustrium virorum, the first edition, produced by William Baldwin, George Ferrers, Thomas Phaer, Thomas Chaloner, and three anonymous others, contains nineteen poetic complaints narrated by ghosts who tell the tragic tale of their fall from prominent...

1404 words

Citation: Sturgeon, Elizabeth M.. "Mirror for Magistrates". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 September 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30681, accessed 09 June 2026.]

30681 Mirror for Magistrates 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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