Porter wrote: 1. ‘The Pentateuch and the Gospels,’ which appeared in 1864 during the Colenso controversy. 2. ‘The Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places,’ 1865, which has been several times republished. In this work he maintains that the massive buildings, the ruins of which are plentifully found in Bashan, are the work of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country long before its occupation by the Jews. 3. ‘The Life and Times of Dr. Cooke’ (his father-in-law), 1871; four editions were published. 4. ‘Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Bethany,’ 1887. 5. ‘Galilee and the Jordan,’ 1885.
He also published a ‘Pew and Study Bible’ in 1876. He contributed extensively to the edition of Kitto's ‘Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature,’ which was commenced in 1862. Nearly all the geographical articles on localities in Palestine are from his pen. He also wrote for Smith's ‘Dictionary of the Bible,’ the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ and Kitto's ‘Pictorial Bible;’ and contributed many papers, principally on subjects connected with the Holy Land, to the ‘Bibliotheca Sacra’ (New York), when it was edited by Dr. Robinson, to Kitto's ‘Journal of Sacred Literature,’ and to other magazines and reviews.
Porter married, in 1849, just before going to Damascus, Margaret Rainey, youngest daughter of the Rev. Dr. Henry Cooke (1788–1868) [q. v.] of Belfast, by whom he had several children; two sons and two daughters survived him.
A portrait of Porter, by Hooke, hangs in the examination hall of Queen's College, Belfast.
[Personal knowledge and manuscripts in the possession of the writer; information kindly supplied by Mr. William Haldane Porter, Porter's youngest son; Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, passim; Calendars and Annual Reports of Queen's College, Belfast; Minutes of Senate of Royal University of Ireland; obituary notices in the Belfast News-letter, Witness, and Northern Whig.]
PORTER, MARY (d. 1765), actress, is said to have been the child of a private marriage between Samuel Porter and a daughter of Nicholas Kaufmann Mercator. After the early death of her father she was brought up by her uncle, David Mercator, a clerk in the office of ordnance in the Tower. Sent by her mother to act at Bartholomew Fair, where she played the Fairy Queen, she was seen by Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Bracegirdle, and recommended by them to Betterton, who engaged her and lodged her with Mrs. Smith, sister to the treasurer of the theatre. Upon Mrs. Barry, whose successor she was afterwards to become, she was for a time an attendant. She made her first recorded appearance at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1699 as Orythia in Hopkins's tragedy of ‘Friendship Improved, or the Female Warrior.’ In 1701 she was the original Jessica in the ‘Jew of Venice,’ altered by George Granville (Lord Lansdowne) from Shakespeare; Tyrelius, a boy of twelve or thirteen, in ‘Love's Victim, or the Queen of Wales,’ attributed to Gildon, and Lettice, an original part in Burnaby's ‘Ladies' Visiting Day.’ About the same time she was the original Emilia in the ‘Beau's Duel’ of Mrs. Carroll (Centlivre). She was also Philadelphia in Betterton's ‘Amorous Widow’ (4to, 1706), revived about 1702 or 1703. Lady Loveman in ‘Different Widows’ (anonymous); Amaryllis in the ‘Fickle Shepherdess,’ extracted from Randolph's ‘Amyntas,’ and played by women, ascribed to 1703; Zaida in Trapp's ‘Abra Mulé’ to January 1704; Okima in Dennis's ‘Liberty Asserted,’ to 24 Feb. The name Mrs. Potter (Porter?) also appears to Fidelia in ‘Love at First Sight.’ At the new theatre (Opera House) in the Haymarket she was on 30 Oct. 1705 the original Araminta in Vanbrugh's ‘Confederacy,’ on 27 Dec. Isabella in the ‘Mistake’ of the same dramatist, and on 21 Feb. 1706 Corisana in Granville's ‘British Enchanters.’ At the Haymarket, 1706–7, she played, besides many other parts, Lady Graveairs in the ‘Careless Husband,’ Melinda in the ‘Recruiting Officer,’ Fainlove in the ‘Tender Husband,’ Eugenia in ‘London Cuckolds,’ Cydaria in the ‘Indian Emperor,’ Porcia in the ‘Adventures of Five Hours,’ Isabella in ‘Wit without Money,’ Sophonisba in Lee's play of that name, Mrs. Welborn in ‘Bartholomew Fair,’ Bellamira in ‘Cæsar Borgia,’ and the Duchess of Malfi. Tragic parts were, it is thus seen, already assigned her.
The Haymarket being temporarily surrendered to opera, Mrs. Porter migrated to Drury Lane Theatre, where, under Rich and Brett, on 9 Feb. 1708, she made a successful appearance as the original Zaida in Goring's ‘Irene, or the Fair Greek.’ Melisinda in ‘Aureng-Zebe,’ Leonora in the ‘Mourning Bride,’ Morena in the ‘Empress of Morocco,’ the Queen in ‘Don Carlos,’ Maria in the ‘Libertine,’ Lady Tossup in D'Urfey's ‘Fine Lady's Airs,’ Silvia in the ‘Old Batchelor,’ Mrs. Frail in ‘Love for Love,’ Roxana, Morayma in ‘Don Sebastian’ are a few only of the characters, original or other, in which she was seen before reappearing at the Haymarket, to which house, with Wilks, Dogget, Cibber, and Mrs. Oldfield, she seceded, on 22 Sept. 1709, reappearing as Melinda in the ‘Recruiting Officer.’ Here she
