ABSTRACT
N. Elliot's title pages identify him as both 'Overseer of the Poor, Of the Parish of St. Peter le Bailey' in Oxford, and a shoemaker in St. Ebb's Lane. None of his volumes supply his full first name. Elliot's poems are dominated by forcefully expressed theological views, a recurrent feature of poetry by shoemakers, an occupation with which Elliot proudly identifies himself particularly when making claims of his 'right to write'. Not much is known of Elliot, beyond what little he reveals about himself in his poems. Indeed, there is bibliographic as well as biographical uncertainty surrounding Elliot. This is due to the fact that the Jesuit provincial serving in England at the time the Oxford shoemaker published his poetry, used the pseudonym Nathaniel Elliot. Regardless, if N. Elliot was not authentically labouring-class, his poetry merits inclusion in so far as he adopts a labouring-poet persona for himself.
