Transcriber's Notes:
- The original spellings of words have been retained.
- Typos or suspected typos have been noted by [sic.].
- The long "s", which appears as an "f" with the right part of the cross missing, has been replaced with "s".
- Lines joined with brackets in the original have been indented three additional spaces.
- Quote marks at the beginning of successive lines have been changed to the modern convention of one opening double quote and one ending double quote at the end of the quoted text.
- Footnotes in the poem appear as lower-case letters in parentheses. They are alphabeticalfrom (a) to (oo) (excluding j, like in the original) and have been grouped at the end of the book.
S H E A' S
EARLY SOUTHERN TRACTS.
No. II.
THE
Sot-weed Factor:
Or, a Voyage to
MARYLAND.
A
SATYR.
In which is describ'd
The Laws, Government, Courts and Constitutions of the Country, and alsothe Buildings, Feasts, Frolicks, Entertainments and Drunken Humours ofthe Inhabitants of that Part of America.
In Burlesque Verse.
By Eben. Cook, Gent.
LONDON:
Printed and Sold by D. Bragg, at the Raven in Pater-Noster-Row.1708. (Price 6d.)
 |
e have no means of knowing the history of Master "Ebenezer Cook,Gentleman," who, one hundred and forty-six years ago, produced theSot-Weed Factor's Voyage to Maryland. He wrote, printed, published, andsold it in London for sixpence sterling, and then disappeared forever.We do not know certainly that Mr. Cook himself was the actual adventurerwho suffered the ills described by him "in burlesque verse." Indeed,"Eben: Cook, Gent." may be a myth—a nom de plume. Yet, there is acertain personal poignancy and earnestness about the whole Story thatalmost forbid the idea of a secondhand narrative. Nay, I think itextremely probable that it was "Eben: Cook, Gent." or, some otherequally afflicted gentleman assuming that name, who—
"Condemn'd by Fate to wayward Curse,
Of Friends unkind and empty purse,"—
fled from his native land to become a Sot-Weed factor in America....