great seal of Scotland, then temporarily in his keeping, to that of O’Neill in 1641, and of having incurred some responsibility for the Irish rebellion. Towards the end of 1645, when the king’s cause was finally lost, Porter abandoned England, and resided successively in France, Brussels, where he was reduced to great poverty, and the Netherlands. The property which he had accumulated during the tenure of his various appointments, by successful commercial undertakings and by favours of the court, was now for the most part either confiscated or encumbered. He returned to England in 1649, after the king’s death, and was allowed to compound for what remained of it. He died shortly afterwards. and was buried on the 20th of August 1649 at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, leaving as a special charge in his will to his sons and descendants to “ observe and respect the family of my Lord Duke of Buckingham, deceased, to whom I owe all the happiness I had in the world.” He left five sons, who all played conspicuous, if not all creditable, parts in the history of the time. According to Wood, Porter was “beloved by two kings: James I. for his admirable wit and Charles I. for his general bearing, brave style, sweet temper, great experience, travels and modern languages.” During the period of his prosperity Porter had gained a great reputation in the world of art and letters. He wrote verses, was a generous patron of Davenant, who especially sings his praises, of Dekker, Warmstrey, May, Herrick and Robert Dover, and was included among the 84 “essentials” in Bolton’s “Academy Royal.” He was a judicious collector of pictures, and as the friend of Rubens, Van Dyck, Mytens and other painters, and as agent for Charles in his purchases abroad he had a considerable share in forming the king’s magnificent collection. He was also instrumental in procuring the Arundel pictures from Spain. The authorship of Eἰκὼν πιστὴ, 1649, a vindication of the Eἰκὼν βασιλικὴ, has been attributed with some reason to Porter.
Authorities.—Life and Letters of Endymion Porter, by D. Townshend (1897); article in the Dict. of Nat. Biog., by C. H. Firth and authorities there cited; Memoires, by D. Lloyd (1668), p.657; Burton’s Hist. of Scotland (1873), vi. 346-347; Eng. Hist. Rev. ii. 531, 692; Gardiner’s Hist. of England; Lives of the Lords Strangford (1877), by E. B. de Fonblanque (Life and Letters); Wood, Athenae Oxonienses; Clarendon’s History of the Rebellion; State Papers and Calendar of State Papers; Calendar of State Papers: Dom. and of Committee for Compounding; The Chesters of Chichele, by Waters, i. 144-149; Eikon Basilike, by Ed. Almack, p. 94. There are also various references, &c., to Endymion Porter in Additional Charters, British Museum, 6223, 1633, 6225; Add. MSS. 15,858; 33, 374; and Egerton 2550, 2533; in the Hist. MSS. Comm. Series; MSS. of Duke of Portland, &c., and in Notes and Queries; also Thomason Tracts, Brit. Mus., E 118 (13).
PORTER, FITZ-JOHN (1822–1901), American soldier, was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 31st of August 1822. He was the son of a naval officer, and nephew of David Porter of the frigate “ Essex.” He graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1845 and was assigned to the artillery. In the Mexican War he won two brevets for gallantry-that of captain for Molino del Rey and that of major for Chapultepec. He served at West Point as instructor
and adjutant (184Q"1855), and he took part in the Utah
expedition. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he
was employed on staff duties in the eastern states, and
rendered great assistance in the organization of Pennsylvanian
volunteers. In the absence of higher authority Porter sanctioned
on his own responsibility the request of Missouri Unionists for
permission to raise troops, a step which had an important
influence upon the struggle for the possession of the state.
He became colonel of a new regiment of regulars on the 14th
of May, and soon afterwards brigadier-general of volunteers.
Under McClellan he commanded a division of infantry in the
Peninsular campaign, and directed the Union siege operations
against Yorktown, and he was soon afterwards placed in command
of the V. army corps. When the Seven Days' battle (q.v.)
began Porter's corps had to sustain alone the full weight of the
Confederate attack, and though defeated in the desperately
fought battle of Gaines's Mill (June 27, 1862) the steadiness
of his defence was so conspicuous that he was immediately
promoted major-general of volunteers and brevet brigadier general
U.S.A. His corps, moreover, had the greatest share in
the successful battles of Glendale and Malvern Hill. Soon afterwards,
with other units of the Army of the Potomac, the V. corps
was sent to reinforce Pope in central Virginia. Its inaction on
the first day of the disastrous second battle of Bull Run (q.e.)
led to the general's subsequent disgrace; but it made a splendid
fight on the second day to save the army from complete rout,
and subsequently shared in the Antietarn campaign. ~ On the
same day on which McClellan was relieved from his command,
Porter, his warm friend and supporter, was suspended. A few
days later he was tried by court-martial on charges brought
against him by Pope, and on the ZISL of January 1863 was
sentenced to be cashiered “ and for ever disqualified from holding
any office of trust under the government of the United States.”
After many years Porter's friends succeeded (1878) in procuring
a revision of the case by a board of distinguished general officers.
This board reported strongly in Porter's favour, but at the
time the remission of the disqualifying penalty was all that was
obtained in the way of redress. General Grant had now taken
Porter's part, and wrote an article in vol. 135 of the North
American Review entitled “An Undeserved Stigma.” Against
much opposition, partly political (1879–1886) and a veto on a legal
point from President Arthur, a relief bill finally passed Congress,
and Porter was on the 5th of August 1886 restored to the United
States army as colonel and placed on the retired list, no provision,
however, being made for compensation. After the Civil War
General Porter was engaged in business in New York, and later
held successively many important municipal offices. In 1869
he declined the offer made by the khedive of the chief command
of the Egyptian army. He died on the 21st of May 1901, at
Morristown, New Jersey.
See, besides General Grant’s article, Cox, The Second Battle of Bull Run as connected with the Porter Case (Cincinnati, 1882); Lord, A Summary of the Case of F. J. Porter (1883), and papers in vol. ii. of the publications of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts.
PORTER, HENRY (fl. 1596–1599), English dramatist, author of The Two Angry Women of Abingdon, may probably be identified with the Henry Porter who matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, on the 19th of June 1589, and is described as aged sixteen and the son of a gentleman of London. From 1596 to 1599 he was engaged in writing plays for Henslowe for the admiral’s men, and his closest associate seems to have been Henry Chettle. The earlier entries in Henslowe’s Diary are
respectful in tone, and the considerable sums paid to “Mr Porter”
prove that his plays were popular. Henslowe secured in February
1599 the sole rights of any play in which Porter had a hand,
the consideration being an advance of forty shillings. As time
goes on he is familiarly referred to as “Harry Porter”; his
borrowings become more frequent, and the sums less, until on
the 16th of April 1599 he obtained a loan of twelve pence in exchange for a bond to pay all he owed to Henslowe-twenty five shillings-on pain of forfeiting ten pounds. Whether he paid or not does not appear, but his last loan is recorded on the 26th of May 1599, after which nothing further is known of him. It seems in the highest degree unlikely that he is the Henry Porter who took his degree as Mus. Bac. at Christ Church in 1600 after twelve years' study, and whose skill in sacred music is celebrated in an epigram by John Weever. The entries in Henslowe's Diary indicate that he wrote a play called Love Prevented (1598), Hot Anger soon Cold, with Chettle and Ben Jonson (1598), the second part of The Two Angry Women of Abingdon (1598), The Four Merry Women of Abingdon (1599), and The Spencers (1599), with Chettle. None of these are extant, unless, as has been suggested, Love Prevented is another name for The Pleasant History of the two angry women of Abingdon. With the humorous mirth of Dick Coomes and Nicholas Proverbes, two serving men (1599), the importance of which is well described by Professor Gayley: “ As a comedy of unadulterated native flavour, breathing rural life and manners and the modern spirit, constructed with knowledge of the stage, and without affectation or
