It
was a little quarto of thirty-two leaves, with a portrait of the
author, taken at the age of thirteen. This pamphlet, dedicated to
the Dean of Westminster, and with introductory verses by Cowley and
two of his schoolfellows, contained "Constantia and Philetus," with
the "Pyramus and Thisbe," written earlier, and three pieces written
later, namely, two Elegies and "A Dream of Elysium." The
inscription round the portrait describes Cowley as a King's Scholar
of Westminster School; and "Pyramus and Thisbe" has a special
dedication to the Head Master, Lambert Osbalston. As schoolboy,
Cowley tells us that he read the Latin authors, but could not be
made to learn grammar rules by rote. He was a candidate at his
school in 1636 for a scholarship at Cambridge, but was not elected.
In that year, however, he went to Cambridge and obtained a
scholarship at Trinity.
Cowley carried to Cambridge and extended there his reputation as boy
poet. In 1636 the "Poetical Blossoms" were re-issued with an
appendix of sixteen more pieces under the head of "Sylva." A third
edition of the "Poetical Blossoms" was printed in 1637--the year of
Milton's "Lycidas" and of Ben Johnson's death.
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