Editions in Dodsley4 (1874), and by G. M. Gayley (1903, R. E. C. i), J. S. Farmer (1911, T. F. T.), W. W. Greg (1912, M. S. R.).
The play shows no signs of being a sequel, and is presumably the First Part, to which Porter wrote a Second Part (vide infra) in the winter of 1598–9. It was an Admiral’s play, and therefore one would expect to find it in Henslowe’s very full, if not absolutely exhaustive, chronicle of the company’s repertory. Of the plays named as his by Henslowe, Love Prevented seems the only likely title. But he was in the pay of the company before the diary began to record the authorship of plays, and Part i may therefore be among the anonymous plays of 1596–7 or an earlier season. Gayley suggests The Comedy of Humours, produced 11 May 1597, but that is more plausibly identified with Chapman’s Humorous Day’s Mirth (q.v.). Another possibility is Woman Hard to Please, produced 27 Jan. 1597.
Lost Plays
Henslowe’s diary records the following plays for the Admiral’s men, in which Porter had a hand in 1598 and 1599:
(i) Love Prevented.
May 1598. Vide Two Angry Women of Abingdon, supra.
(ii) Hot Anger Soon Cold.
With Chettle and Jonson, Aug. 1598.
(iii) 2 Two Angry Women of Abingdon.
Dec. 1598–Feb. 1599.