Samuel Rowlands

Samuel Rowlands was an English writer, probably born around 1573 and active in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He is best known for pamphlets and poems that mix satire, observation, and moral commentary, often focusing on the lower and middle ranks of London life.

Although little is known for certain about his personal life, his work is valued for the vivid picture it gives of the streets, trades, talk, and social habits of his time. He wrote on both comic and religious subjects, and his books show a strong interest in popular literature rather than courtly polish.

Rowlands may not have enjoyed great literary fame in his own day, but later readers have found him important as a witness to everyday urban England. His writing is especially interesting for anyone who enjoys early modern satire, pamphlet culture, or the rough-and-ready humor of Renaissance London.