The Pedlar's Prophecy

A quarto appeared with the date 1595, printed by Thomas Creed and to be sold by William Barley. It was printed in type of a body approximating to modern pica(20 11. = 83 mm.). Copies are in the British Museum and the Bodleian Library.
It has been usual to ascribe this play to Robert Wilson the elder on the ground of its supposed resemblance to the Cobler's Prophecy. The similarity of the titles is indeed striking, and it should be observed that the Pedler's Prophecy though apparently published later, was entered on the Register before its companion or rival, and that the latter was presumably an old piece at the time of printing. At the same time it must be remembered that though the characters of the Pedler's Prophecy are certainly abstract, they are not allegorical, as is the case with those of the Cobler's Prophecy and of other plays usually ascribed to Wilson.