this Commody. . . . Thomas Colwell. [Preface; Epilogue, followed by 'Finis, qd. Iohn Phillipp'.] Edition by R. B. McKerrow and W. W. Greg (1909, M. S. R.). The characters include Politic Persuasion, the 'Vice'. Elizabeth is mentioned as Queen in the epilogue, and a reference (51) to the 'wethercocke of Paules' perhaps dates before its destruction in 1561. JOHN PICKERING (c. 1567-8). Brie records several contemporary John Pickerings, but there is nothing to connect any one of them with the play.
Horestes. 1567-8
1567. A Newe Enterlude of Vice Conteyninge, the Historye of Horestes, with the cruell reuengment of his Father's death, vpon his one naturtll Mother. By John Pikeryng. . . . The names deuided for VI to playe. . . . William Griffith. [On the back of the t.p. is a coat of arms which appears to be a slight variant of that assigned by Papworth and Morant, Ordinary of British Armorials, 536, to the family of Marshall. Oddly enough, there was a family of this name settled at Pickering in Yorkshire, but they, according to G. W. Marshall, Miscellanea Marescalliana, i. 1; ii. 2, 139, had quite a different coat.]
Editions by J. P. Collier (1866, Illustrations of Old English Literature), A. Brandl (1898, Q. W. D.), J. S. Farmer (1910, T. F. T.).—Dissertation: F. Brie, Horestes von J. P. (1912, E. S. xlvi. 66).
The play has a Vice, and ends with prayer for Queen Elizabeth and the Lord Mayor of 'this noble Cytie'. Feuillerat, Eliz. 449, thinks it too crude to be the Court Orestes of 1567-8, but the coincidence of date strongly suggests that it was.
JOHN POOLE (?).
Possible author of Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany (cf. ch. xxiv).
HENRY PORTER (c. 1596-9).
Porter first appears in Henslowe's diary as recipient of a payment of £5 on 16 Dec. 1596 and a loan of £4 on 7 March 1597, both on account of the Admiral's. It may be assumed that he was already writing for the company, who purchased five plays, wholly or partly by him, between May 1598 and March 1599. Meres, in his Palladis Tamia of 1598, counts him as one of 'the best for Comedy amongst vs'. He appears to have been in needy circumstances, and borrowed several small sums from the company or from Henslowe personally (Greg, Henslowe, ii. 304). On 28 Feb. 1599, when he obtained £2 on account of Two Merry Women of Abingdon, 'he gaue me his faythfulle promysse that I shold haue alle the boockes w^{ch} he writte ether him sellfe or w^{th} any other'. On 16 April 1599, in consideration of 1s. he bound himself in £10 to pay Henslowe a debt of 25s. on the following day, but could not meet his obligation. Porter is not traceable as a dramatist after 1599. His extant play, on the title-page of which he is described as 'Gent.', suggests a familiarity with the neighbourhood of Oxford, and I see no a priori reason why he should not be
