Bartholomew Griffin

Bartholomew Griffin (1596 fl.) was an English poet.

Overview
Griffin, of whom almost nothing is known, published in 1596 a collection of 62 sonnets under the title of Fidessa, of which some are excellent.

Biography
B. Griffin, poet (probably related to the Griffins of Dingley, Northamptonshire), has been identified with a Bartholomew Griffin of Coventry, who was buried on 15 December 1602 at Holy Trinity in that town. From his will (P.C.C., 37 Bolein), proved on 13 May 1603 by his widow Katherine it appears that Bartholomew Griffin left a son called Rice (a frequent family name in the Griffins of Dingley).

His only book, Fidessa, contains an epistle to the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, from which it might be inferred that Griffin himself belonged to an Inn, but no trace of him can be found in the registers. He was more probably an attorney, as he styles himself "gentleman" only. In the same epistle he mentions an unfinished pastoral, which he intended, ‘for varietie sake,’ to have appended to ‘Fidessa,’ but was obliged to postpone it until the next term. No trace of it has been found (Cat. of Huth Library, ii. 630).

Writing
Griffin wrote a series of 62 charming sonnets entitled Fidessa: More chaste than kinde, 8vo, London, 1596, of which only 3 copies are at present known, those in the Bodlein, Huth, and Lamport libraries. The dedication is to William Essex of Lamborne, Berkshire.

The 3rd sonnet in Fidessa, commencing "Venus and yong Adonis sitting by her," was reproduced with much textual alteration in the miscellany brought together in 1599 by W. Jaggard, and entitled ''The Passionate Pilgrime. By W. Shakespeare.''

From the copy in the Bodleian Library 100 copies of Fidessa were reprinted by Bliss, 8vo, Chiswick, 1815; and 50 copies by A.B. Grosart in vol. ii. of Occasional Issues, 4to, Manchester, 1876.