English

Adjective

Rowleian ‎(comparative more Rowleian, superlative most Rowleian)

1. (literature) Of or pertaining to the literary style and characters of plays by William Rowley (ca1585-1626), English playright.
   • 1988. Ann Thompson. The Modern Language Review, Vol. 83, No. 4, pp. 945n:

     The style of which is neither Rowleian nor Shakespearean but a particular blending of both.

   • 1991. Mark Dominik. William Shakespeare and the Birth of Merlin. (Chp. 2: William Rowley, p. 33):

     Tim [Bloodhound] shows many signs of being a typical Rowleian clown; he is a fat clown, judging from his joke about breaking his girdle.

2. (literature) Of or pertaining to the work of (fictional) poet Thomas Rowley, a pseudonym of Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770), English poet.
   • 1782. Horace Walpole. The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford, p. 319 :

     Mr. Tyrwhitt's book on the Rowleian controversy, which is reckoned completely victorious, are all the novelties I have seen since I left town.

   • 1898. Henry A. Beers. A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

     Chatterton... also imparted to Barrett two Rowleian poems, "The Parliament of Sprites," and "The Battle of Hastings" (in two quite different versions).

   • 1898. Henry A. Beers. A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

     Tyrwhitt pointed out that the Rowleian dialect was not English of the fifteenth century, nor of any century, but a grotesque jumble of archaic words of very different periods and dialects.

References

• The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford, 1782 (Online)