William Elderton was a prolific English ballad-writer. Little is known of his life, though he was well known in London literary circles, except a reputation as drunkard.

Works

An early dated ballad of Elderton is The Panges of Loue and louers fttes (sic), 1559. Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton

Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...

, in his epistle to Henry Reynolds

Henry Reynolds (poet)

Henry Reynolds was a Suffolk man, schoolmaster, English poet and literary critic of the seventeenth century.He is known for two works, Aminta Englisht of 1628, a translation from Tasso, and Mythomystes, a 1632 critical work on poetry considered to be most influenced by the Neoplatonism of the...

, writes —

I scornd your ballet then, though it were done
And had for Finis William Elderton.

A lost book, entitled Eldertons Jestes with his mery Toyes, was licensed for publication in 1561-2 (Arber, Transcript, i. 179). It provoked 'An Admonition to Elderton to leave the toyes by him begone,' which was followed by 'Eldertons answere for his mery toyes.' Both the 'Admonition' and the 'Answer' are also lost. Among Elderton's extant ballads are

• 'The true fourme and shape of a monsterous chyld which was borne at Stony Stratforde... 1565';
• 'An Epytaphe upon the Death of the Right Reverent and learned Father in God, I. Iuell,' 1571;
• 'A ballat intituled Northomberland Newes,' &c., n. d. (licensed 1569);
• 'A new Yorkshyre song,' &c., 1584, describing a match at archery
  Archery
  Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
  
  , in twenty-two six-line stanzas.

Some verses of Elderton are printed before Claudius Hollyband's Arnalt and Lucenda, 1575. John Stow

John Stow

John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...

 in his 'Survey,' (chapter on 'Cheape Warde'), quotes some verses on the images over the Guildhall Gate, composed 'about thirty yeares since by William Elderton, at that time an Atturney in the Sheriifes Courtes there.' From 'A true reporte of the death and martyrdome of M. Campion,' 1581, it appears that he published some 'scurile balates' on Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion

Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Roman Catholic martyr and Jesuit priest. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Protestant England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason by a kangaroo court, he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn...

's execution.

Elderton died in or before 1592. In that year Gabriel Harvey

Gabriel Harvey

Gabriel Harvey was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, though his reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe...

 published his 'Foure Letters,' in which he describes Elderton and Robert Greene

Robert Greene

Robert Greene may refer to:*Robert Greene , English writer*Robert Greene *Robert Greene American author of books on strategy*Robert L. Greene, American psychologist...

 as 'two notorious mates and the very ringleaders of the riming and scribbling crew'. He speaks in the same tract of 'Elderton's ale-crammed nose.' Thomas Nashe

Thomas Nashe

Thomas Nashe was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, playwright, poet and satirist. He was the son of the minister William Nashe and his wife Margaret .-Early life:...

, in 'Foure Letters Confuted,' 1593, upbraids Harvey for 'plucking Elderton out of the ashes of his ale,' and says that there had been a 'monstrous emulation' between Elderton and Harvey. There are two jocular epitaphs on Elderton in William Camden

William Camden

William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...

's 'Remaines,' 1605, p. 56. Some of his ballads were re-printed by John Payne Collier

John Payne Collier

John Payne Collier , English Shakespearian critic and forger, was born in London.-Reporter and solicitor:...

 for the Percy Society

Percy Society

The Percy Society was a British book-club. It was founded in 1840 and collapsed in 1852.It was a scholarly collective, aimed at publishing limited-edition books of rare poems and songs...

 ('Old Ballads from Early Printed Copies') in 1840; others are included in 'Ancient Ballads and Broadsides' (Philobiblon Society), 1867. The opening lines of a ballad by Elderton are quoted in Much Ado about Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....

, v. 2.