Abraham Portal

Abraham Portal was the son of the Rev. William Portal of Essex. In addition to writing poems and plays, he was a silversmith in London, and some time after 1770 a bookseller in the Strand. His Nuptial Elegies (1774) seem to have been popular. Portal could count among his friends the poets John Langhorne, Edmund Cartwright, and John Scott of Amwell.

TEXT RECORDS:

1755Eliza's Wedding-Day. An Occasional Eclogue.
1762An Evening Elegy.
1763A Morning Elegy.
1763War. An Ode.
1765Stanzas, addressed to Mr. Woodhouse.
1781The Rural Philosopher, or, Sacrifice to Humanity; an Elegy.

PUBLICATIONS:

Olindo and Sophronia. A tragedy. The story taken from Tasso. 1758.
Innocence. A poetical essay. In two books. 1762.
War. An ode. 1763.
The indiscreet lover: a comedy. 1768.
Nuptial elegies. 1774.
Poems. 1781.
Vortimer; or, the true patriot: a tragedy. 1796.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

no formal education

artisan
poet
dramatist
book trade

Lloyd's Evening Post
Universal Chronicle

Rev. Edmund Cartwright
Rev. John Langhorne

REFERENCE:

DNB; not NCBEL.

"James Freke and Abraham Portal" St. James's Chronicle (12 February 1763); Poetical Calender (1763); David Erskine Baker, Companion to the Play-House (1764); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Abraham Portal:

1.	1765  W. R., "To Abraham Portal on the Death of William Shenstone" Lloyd's Evening Post (30 January 1765) 98.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Abraham Portal:

1.	1764  David Erskine Baker, in Companion to the Play-House (1764) Sigs. Bb5v-Bb6.
2.	1782  Isaac Reed, in Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse (1782) 1:359.
3.	1812  John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 2:725.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1779  Rev. John Langhorne:   Abraham Portal, in "Elegy on the Death of Dr. Langhorne" Portal, Poems (1781) 31-32.