Page:A Mainsail Haul - Masefield - 1913.djvu/96

84 poet named Robert Daborne. The play treats of Ward and his associates. It is based upon two chapbooks concerning him; the one called "Newes from Sea" (dated 1609), the other (far superior) by Andrew Barker, called "A True and Certaine Report," first published in the same year. There are numerous contemporary references to him. The best known is that in Ben Jonson's "Alchemist," act, scene 2. There are others in Howell's Letters; in a play by Dekker ("If it be not a good Play"), in Donne's 15th Elegy, and in the "Observations of Captain John Smith." More trustworthy authorities concerning him are in the Venetian Series of State Papers, 1603-1610; and in the Irish Series of State Papers, 1606-1608. It may be added that the Sieur de Brèves, a French Ambassador, gives Ward, or "Wer," the credit of having taught the Moorish pirates to cruise in sailing-ships. Until his coming they relied on their galleys, which were excellent, but severely limited in their application to the art of piracy.