[q. v.] himself the antagonist of the separating section of puritans. In reference to Christ's descent into hell, he opposed the transitional views of Thomas Bilson [q. v.]
He published: 1. ‘The Resolved Christian,’ &c., 3rd edit., 1602, 8vo. 2. ‘Prodromvs. A Logicall Resolvtion of the I. Chap. … vnto the Romanes,’ &c., Oxford, 1602, 8vo (the dedication to Archbishop Whitgift and William Morgan, bishop of St. Asaph, is dated ‘From St. Marie-Hall the 5 of Julie, A.D. 1602;’ the book was meant as a first instalment of a comment on all the epistles, in English and Latin); in Latin, Oxford, 1615, 8vo. 3. ‘The Catholikes Svpplication,’ &c., 1603, 4to (anon.); enlarged, with title ‘The Svpplication of Certaine Masse-Priests,’ &c., 1604, 4to; another edition, with title ‘A Consideration of the Papists Reasons … for a Toleration,’ &c., Oxford, 1604, 4to. 4. ‘Disputationum Theologicarum de Antichristo libri duo,’ 1604–5, 8vo; bk. ii., 1606, 8vo (Wood specifies five errors of Powell respecting the Oxford standing of writers against Rome). 5. ‘The Vnlawfvlnesse and Danger of Toleration,’ &c., 1605, 4to. 6. ‘A Refvtation of an Epistle Apologetical, written by a Puritan-Papist,’ &c., 1605, 4to (this, and the two following, against Bradshaw). 7. ‘A Consideration of the Deprived and Silenced Ministers' Arguments,’ &c. 1606, 4to (he states that he wrote this at the command of ‘some in authority,’ referring probably to Vaughan and John Buckeridge [q. v.]). 8. ‘A Reioynder to the Myld Defence,’ &c., 1606, 4to. 9. ‘De Adiaphoris Theses,’ &c., 1606, 8vo; in English by T. J. of Oxford (?Thomas Jackson, 1579–1640 [q. v.]), as ‘Theological and Scholastical Positions concerning … Things Indifferent,’ &c., 1607, 4to (added is a reprint of No. 8). Wood mentions a ‘Comment on the Decalogue,’ 8vo, which he had not seen. Powel prefixed some verses to William Vaughan's ‘The Golden-Grove Moralised,’ 1600. On his title-pages his name is spelled Powel, though Wood gives it as Powell.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), ii. 24 seq., 308; Wood's Fasti (Bliss), i. 269, 303; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, 1813, ii. 211 seq.; Hanbury's Hist. Memorials relating to the Independents, 1839, i. 128, 186; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714, iii. 1190.]
POWELL, GEORGE (1658?–1714), actor and dramatist, was the son of an actor, who was a member of the King's company in 1682, when it joined the Duke of York's, and who died about 1698. George Powell is stated by Tony Aston, whose authority, however, is far from conclusive, to have been twenty-three years younger than Betterton, who was born about 1635. He is first heard of at the Theatre Royal in 1687, in which year, as Powell junior, he played Emanuel in the ‘Island Princess, or the Generous Portugals,’ altered by Tate from Fletcher—Powell senior playing King of Bakam—and Don Cinthio in Mrs. Behn's ‘Emperor of the Moon.’ In the theatre was also a Mrs. Powell, whose relationship, if any, to Powell cannot now be traced. In the following year Powell was Longovile in D'Urfey's ‘Fool's Preferment, or the Three Dukes of Dunstable’ (adapted from Fletcher), and Shamwell in Shadwell's ‘Squire of Alsatia;’ in 1689 Bellamour in Crowne's ‘English Friar, or the Town Sparks,’ and in 1690 Muley Zeydan in Dryden's ‘Don Sebastian, King of Portugal,’ Antonio in Mountford's ‘Successful Strangers,’ Friendly in Mrs. Behn's ‘Widow Ranter,’ and Alberto in Harris's ‘Mistakes.’ In 1691 Powell junior appears to the character of Pilgrim in Southern's ‘Sir Anthony Love, or the Rambling Lady.’ This year saw the production of his first drama, ‘Alphonso, King of Naples,’ 4to, 1691, a play taken from Neapolitan history, and owing something to Shirley's ‘Young Admiral.’ It was given, with a prologue by Joe Haines and an epilogue by D'Urfey. The part of Ferdinand in this is assigned to Powell, with no mention of junior. It is impossible, indeed, to be sure what parts were played about this time by the father and what by the son. Genest assigns to George Powell Edward III in Mountford's play of that name, and Captain Bouncer in D'Urfey's ‘Love for Money, or the Boarding School.’ In this year also he played the King of Cyprus in his own ‘Treacherous Brothers,’ 4to, 1676. He appears in 1692 to Colonel Hackwell junior in Shadwell's ‘Volunteers’ and Granger in Southerne's ‘Maid's Last Prayer.’ Dr. Doran states that on 13 Oct. 1692 Sandford, acting with Powell in ‘Œdipus, King of Thebes,’ ran a real dagger, of which he had accidentally become possessed, three inches into the body of Powell, all but taking his life. In 1693 he was Bellmour in Congreve's ‘Old Bachelor’ and Brisk in his ‘Double Dealer,’ Tom Romance in D'Urfey's ‘Richmond Heiress,’ Clerimont in Wright's ‘Female Virtuosos’ (‘Les Femmes Savantes’), Carlos in Dryden's ‘Love Triumphant,’ and Courtwell in his own ‘Very Good Wife,’ 4to, 1693, a comedy the plot of which is taken at second hand from Middleton's ‘No Wit, no Help like a Woman's.’ In the first part of D'Urfey's ‘Don Quixote’ he was in 1694 Don Fernando, and in the second part Manuel, playing also Carlos in Southerne's ‘Fatal Marriage,’ subsequently called ‘Isabella,’ and Careless in Ravenscroft's ‘Canterbury Guests.’
