University Microfilms International - Arizona Campus Repository

INTRODUCTION*
Robert Tofte
The younger son of William Tofte and Mary Cowper, Robert Tofte
was born in December or January 1561/2 in the parish of St. Magnus
Martyr in Bridge Ward, London. William, a fishmonger, died in 1563,
only five years after his marriage. Mary, who remarried in 1567 and
bore three more children, died sometime between 1595 and 1618, the exact
date being unknown. The poet's brother John may have sailed with Sir
Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins on their disastrous voyage of 1595.
If he did, he was among the small remnant who returned safely; he died
in 1599. 1 Little else is known of the poet's family. 2
Nothing is known about Tofte's early life, and there are
contradictory views of his education. Williams believes that "the
poet's education remains a mystery, and no one of the name appears at
either university" (p. 285). But Fox states flatly: "Robert went to
Oxford, the following entry appearing in Foster's 'Alumni Oxoniensis
1500-1714,' 'Robert Tafte of London Gent. Coll. Matric. 24th Nov. 1581
Aged 19'" (p. 11). Tofte signed his name "R. Tafte" in at least one
instance, in his annotations of a 1561 edition of the works of Chaucer. 3
It is also possible that the "Robert Tafte" who is named in a Public
Records Office document as the recipient of a fee for carrying letters
from the court of Elizabeth to the English ambassador in France is the
poet (Williams, p. 287).
*References and other notes to the Introduction begin on page 63.
1