Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rowland, David
ROWLAND, DAVID (fl. 1569–1586), author, was a native of Anglesey. He entered St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, and studied logic and grammar, without, however, taking a degree. On leaving the university he became tutor to the son of the Earl of Lennox, and with him travelled through France and Spain, thus obtaining some knowledge of modern languages. After his return he became a teacher of Greek and Latin in London.
In 1569 he published ‘An Epytaphe of my Lorde of Pembroke,’ licensed to Thomas Colwell (Arber, Stationers' Register). For the use of his pupils he also wrote ‘A Comfortable Aid for Scholers,’ London, 1578, 8vo, a collection of various renderings of English phrases in Latin. But his chief work was the translation of the first part of Mendoza's ‘Lazarillo de Tormes,’ which he published under the title of ‘The Pleasant History of Lazarillo de Tormes.’ It appeared in 1576, being printed by Henry Bynneman, with a dedication to Sir Thomas Gresham [q. v.], but it had apparently been licensed as early as 1568 to Colwell. No copy of the first edition is extant. Another edition of 1586, London, 8vo, contains laudatory verses by George Turberville [q. v.] The Spanish original was imperfect, having been expurgated by the inquisition. The translation ran through several editions, the latest being that of 1677, which was supplemented by a translation of the second part of the history by James Blakeston.
[Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, i. 528; Tanner's Bibliotheca Brit. p. 645; Collier's Bibl. Cat. of Early English Lit. ii. 275; Hazlitt's Handbook, pp. 387–8, and Collections, i. 492, iii. 60, 116, iv. 30; Arber's Transcript of Stationers' Reg. passim.]