As no evidence to the contrary has been found, it appears highly probable that the "Mr. S." of _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ was William Stevenson, Fellow of Christ's College from 1559 to 1561. It is further probable that he is identical with the person of the same name who was Fellow of the college from 1551 to 1554,[646] and who appears in the bursar's accounts as the author of a play acted in the year 1553-54. It may be presumed that he was deprived of his fellowship under Queen Mary, and was reinstated under Elizabeth. Whether Stevenson's play of 1559-60 was the same which had been given six years before, or whether it was a new one, there is no evidence to show. The former supposition, however, derives some plausibility from the fact that, as several critics have pointed out, the allusions to church matters in _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_ seem to indicate a pre-Elizabethan date for its composition.[647] At all events it seems likely that the play of 1553-54 was in English, for the accounts speak of a Latin play (managed by another Fellow, named Persevall) as having been performed in the same year. Of Stevenson's history nothing is known, beyond the bare facts that he was born at Hunwick in Durham, matriculated as a sizar in November, 1546, became B.A. in 1549-50, M.A. in 1553, and B.D. in 1560. He was ordained deacon in London in 1552, appointed prebendary of Durham in January, 1560-61, and died in 1575, the year in which _Gammer Gurton_ was printed. It may at first sight appear to be a formidable objection to Stevenson's authorship of the play, that the title-page of the edition of 1575 speaks of the representation at Cambridge as having taken place "not longe ago." But Colwell had had the MS. in his possession ever since 1563; and there is nothing unlikely in the supposition that the wording of the original title-page was retained without any other alteration than the change in the name of the piece. The title-page, it may be remarked, is undated, the tablet at the foot, which is apparently intended to receive the date, being left blank. This fact may possibly indicate that when the printing of the volume was begun it was anticipated that its publication might have to be delayed for some time.[648] The appearance of the title-page suggests the possibility that it may have been altered after being set up: "_Gammer gur_-| _tons Nedle_" in small italic may have been substituted for =Diccon of= | =Bedlam= in type as large as that of the other words in the same lines. In Colwell's edition of Ingelend's _Disobedient Child_ (printed 1560) the title-page has the same woodcut border, but the name of the piece is in type of the same size as that of the preceding and following words. As this woodcut does not occur in any other of Colwell's publications now extant, it seems reasonable to infer that _Gammer Gurton_ was printed long before 1575.