Captain Cox

Captain Cox of Coventry (fl. 1575) was an English collector of ballads and romances. He was present at Kenilworth on Queen Elizabeth's visit in 1575 and took a leading part in one of the royal entertainments.

Works

Map of the county of Warwickshire by John Speed, c. 1611

Three views of Kenilworth Castle by Wenceslas Hollar, 17th century

Captain Cox, collector of ballads and romances, is described as "an od man, I promiz yoo: by profession a mason, and that right skilfull; very cunning in fens, and hardy as Gavin; … great oversight hath he in matters of storie". The contents of the captain's library, which are described by Laneham at considerable length, are of the most curious character. Among the entertainments provided for Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Kenilworth was a burlesque imitation of a battle, from an old romance, and Captain Cox took a leading part. He is introduced on his hobby-horse in Ben Jonson's Mask of Owls, at Kenelworth. Presented by the Ghost of Captain Cox, 1626.

Sources

• Bullen, A. H.; Goldring, Elizabeth (2004). "Cox, Captain, of Coventry (fl. 1575), collector of ballads and romances". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6517. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Laneham, Robert (1784). A Letter whearin, part of the entertainment unto the Queenz Majesty at Killingwoorth Castl, in Warwik Sh'eer, in this Soomerz Progress, 1575, iz signified. 8vo. Warwick: Printed by and for J. Sharp. p. 36.

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bullen, Arthur Henry (1887). "Cox, Captain". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 403.

Further reading

• Colvile, Frederick Leigh ([1870]). The Worthies of Warwickshire Who Lived Between 1500 and 1800. Warwick: H. T. Cooke & Son.
• Dibdin, Thomas Frognall (1876). The Bibliomania; or Book-Madness. New ed. London: Chatto & Windus. pp. 21, 266–267, 360, 589.

• Dugdale, William (1786). The Antiquities of Warwick, and Warwick Castle: Extracted from Dugdale's 'Antiquities of Warwickshire'. Warwick: Printed by and for J. Sharp. pp. 36, 39.
• Furnivall, Frederick James, ed. (1871). Captain Cox, his Ballads and Books; or Robert Laneham's Letter: On the Entertainment at Kenilworth in 1575. London: Taylor and Co.
• Gifford, William, ed. (1875). The Works of Ben Jonson. Vol. 8. London: Bickers and Son / Henry Sotheran and Co. pp. 52–5.
• Nichols, John (1823). The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth. New ed. Vol. 1. London: John Nichols and Son. pp. 449–50.
• Orgel, Stephen, ed. (1969). Ben Jonson: The Complete Masques. (The Yale Ben Jonson 4). New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp. 425–432.