ABSTRACT
A single piece of evidence about the reputation that John Shirley enjoyed within his own lifetime survives in the poem 'Evidens to Beware and Gode Counsayle' by Richard Sellyng. Sellyng states that he sends his poem to Shirley for correction, which indicates that Shirley was known to be interested in poetry and to have some skill either in composition himself, or perhaps merely in judging the merits of others' verses. Sellyng's poem survives uniquely in MS Harley 7333 where it is accompanied by a rubric which is clearly in Shirley's style, asserting that it was 'made late by that honurable squier Richard Sellyng'. The bookplate stanza is proof that Shirley lent out his anthologies, but although it addresses itself directly to the borrowers of his books, it gives no indication whatsoever as to the nature, status, or identity, of the figures.
