Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smalle, Peter
SMALLE, PETER (fl. 1596–1615), poet, born in 1578 or the end of 1577, was a native of Berkshire. He matriculated from St. John's College, Oxford, on 5 Nov. 1596, and graduated B.C.L. on 17 Dec. 1602. In 1604 he became rector of Pinnock in Gloucestershire.
In 1615 Smalle published a poem of considerable merit, entitled, ‘Mans May or a Moneths minde: wherein the libertie of mans minde is compared to the Moneth of May, by Peter Smalle, Batchelour in the Lawes, London: printed by George Purslowe for Samuel Rand,’ 1615, 4to. It is prefaced by verses ‘to all Gentlemen Students and Schollers,’ ‘to the Reader the Authors Resolution,’ ‘to the Right Worshipfull my most loving good friend Sir Henry Blomar of Hatherup in the county of Gloucester, knt.,’ and finally by a single stanza ‘Ad eundem.’ The poet not only shows a keen appreciation of natural beauty, but describes contemporary fashions with quaint vividness. Copies of the book are in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries.
[Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, v. 242–245; Register of the University of Oxford, II. ii. 218, iii. 239; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Hazlitt's Handbook, p. 563; Arber's Transcript of the Stationers' Register, iii. 572.]