Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ford, Edward (fl.1647)
FORD, EDWARD (fl. 1647), ballad and verse writer, was probably a native of Norfolk. He wrote:
- 'Wine and Women, or a brief Description of the common Courtesie of a Curtezan,' London, 1647 (3 Dec. 1646), dedicated to 'Robert Walloppe, esq.,' M.P. The author signs his name 'Ed. Foord.' The work is in six-line stanzas, to each of which is appended a scriptural text. Drunkenness and immorality are denounced in alternate stanzas.
- 'An Alarm to Trumpets, or Mounte Chival to every defeated, remisse, and secure Trumpet in England, Scotland, and Ireland,' London (12 Aug.), 1651. The dedication to the author's 'worthy friend, Mr. John Bret, Trumpet in Special' to Cromwell, is signed 'Edw. Ford.' The book collects scattered pieces, chiefly religious, in verse and prose, and shows much sympathy with the parliamentary party.
- 'Fair Play in the Lottery, or Mirth for Money,' London, 1660, dedicated to the author's namesake, Sir Edward Ford [q. v.] a collection of droll verses descriptive of a lottery-drawing.
Four ballads by Ford issued as broadsides about 1640 are extant in the Roxburghe Collection. These are (1). . .or
A merry discourse between him and his Ioane,
That sometimes did live as never did none.
2 parts, signed 'Ed. Ford.' Printed in London by F. Coules (Roxb. Coll. i. 82-3; Roxb. Ballads, ed. Chappell, i. 253); (2) 'A Dialogue between Master Guesright and poore Neighbour Needy,' signed E. F. (ib. i. 74-5; ib. i. 230); (3) 'Impossibilities' (ib. i. 164-5; ib. i. 492); (4) 'A merry Discourse between Norfolke Thomas and Sisly Standtoo't, his wife' (ib. i. 270-1; ib. ii. 170), reprinted in J. O. Halliwell's 'Norfolk Anthology,' 1852, pp. 149-57. Ford in his ballads, as elsewhere, severely denounces the vices of the day.
[Ford's works and ballads as above.]