People List - PA Criticism Archive

People list (Library of Congress Name Authority)

Addison, Joseph, 1672-1719 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A poet and dramatist as well, Addison was the most popular of early eighteenth-century periodical essayist. He collaborated with Richard Steele on the Tatler (12 April 1709 to 2 January 1711), the Guardian (12 March to 1 October 1713), and especially the Spectator (1 March 1711 to 6 December 1712; second series, 18 June to 20 December 1714). He also conducted the Free-holder (23 December 1715-29 June 1716), the Whig Examiner (14 September to 12 October), and The Old Whig, which survived for only two numbers (19 March and 2 April 1719). None of these attained the success of the Spectator. Addison's only successful drama was the tragedy Cato (1713). [MW]
Aeschylus (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Aeschylus (c. 525 BC-456 BC) Greek playwright, born at Eleusis, near Athens, generally considered to be the earliest important writer of the Western theatrical tradition, the first playwright to achieve official recognition in ancient Greece. [RD]
Aikin, Anna Letitia—
See Barbauld, Mrs. (Anna Letitia). [MW]
Aikin, John, 1747-1822 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Physician and brother to Anna Letitia Barbauld, John Aikin was a broad-ranging and prolific literary man whose connections in the burgeoning late eighteenth-century print marketplace make him exemplary of emerging literary professionalism. His writings range through the subjects of science, medicine, reform, history, biography, geography, nature, conduct, children's and educational literature, politics, poetry, and literary criticism. In addition, he was an active and productive editor, including of several of the period's outstanding periodicals, such as the Monthly Magazine, the Athenaeum, and the Annual Register. He and his sister collaborated on Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose (1773) and Evenings at Home; or, the Juvenile Budget Opened (1792-1796). [MW]
Aikin, Lucy, 1781-1864 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Daughter of John Aikin and niece of Anna Letitia Barbauld, Lucy Aikin was a versatile and successful author of poetry, fiction, children’s literature, history, memoirs, biographies, correspondence, translations, adaptations, and edited collections. Her major works include Epistles on Women, Exemplifying Their Character and Condition in Various Ages and Nations: With Miscellaneous Poems (1810); Juvenile Correspondence, or Letters, Designed as Examples of the Epistolary Style, for Children of Both Sexes (1811); Lorimer: A Tale (1814); Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth (1818); Memoirs of the Court of King James the First (1822); Memoir of John Aikin, M.D.: With a Selection of His Miscellaneous Pieces, Biographical, Moral, and Critical (1823); The Works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld, edited, with a memoir (1825); An English Lesson Book, for the Junior Classes (1828); Memoirs of the Court of King Charles the First (1828); and The Life of Joseph Addison (1843), among others. Aikin's biographies stand out for the use of primary materials such as letters and journals, and her work often met with considerable success,
Akenside, Mark, 1721-1770 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet and physician known especially for The Pleasures of Imagination (1744; subsequently revised and expanded) and for his odes, especially those collected in Odes on Several Subjects (1745). [MW]
Albemarle, George Keppel, Earl of, 1724-1772 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prominent politician and army officer, Albemarle was a close friend and policical ally of William, duke of Cumberland. [RD]
Alemán, Mateo, 1547-1614? (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Authored Vita del Picaro Guzman d'Alfarache (1599-1604). [MW]
Alembert, Jean Le Rond d', 1717-1783 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French philosopher and mathematician who assisted Diderot for a time with the Encyclopédie. [MW]
Alexander, the Great, 356-323 B.C. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of Macedonia from 336, Alexander demonstrated brilliance as a general in a campaign that originated as an obsession for vengeance against the Persians and culminated with extending his empire through Egypt and Asia Minor into India. He is known on various occasions for his ruthlessness, heroic bravery, courtesy, and concern for the religious and intellectual heritage of the areas he conquered. [MW]
Allen, Ralph, ca. 1693-1764 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A noted Bath philanthropist particularly recognized for postal system reform, he was a friend of Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Alexander Pope, and numerous other Illustrious personages in eighteenth-century arts and letters. [MW]
Amory, Thomas, 1691?-1788? (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Authored The Memoirs of Several Ladies by John Buncle (1755) and The Life of John Buncle, Esq. (two volumes published separately in 1756 and 1766). [MW]
Goodman Andrews—
Father to the title character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Andromeda—
Greek mythological figure chained to a rock to appease the gods, but rescued by Perseus, who then married her. [MW]
Anne, Queen of Great Britain, 1665-1714 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The last of the Stuart monarchs, Anne became queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1702 and presided over the Acts of Union in 1707 that created Great Britain. [MW]
Annesley, George, Earl of Mountnorris, 1769-1844(Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Succeeded his father Arthur Annesley, first Earl of Mountnorris, in 1816. [vw]
Anstey, Christopher, 1724-1805 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A noteworthy eighteenth-century poet, his best known works include the popular epistle, The New Bath Guide (1766) and The Farmer's Daughter, a Poetical Tale (1795). [RD]
Anti-Jacobin
The arch-conservative Anti-Jacobin, or, Weekly Examiner was published from 1797-1798. On its demise it was followed by the less effective Anti-Jacobin Review and Magazine, or, Monthly Political and Literary Censor (1798-1821). These periodicals lampooned not only "Jacobins," that is, supporters of the French revolution, and other radicals, but Dissenters, Catholics, abolitionists, Whigs, those who would educate the poor, and many other moderate groups as well. [MW]
Apuleius [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c.124-after 170 (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Lucius Apuleius, also known as Madaurensis, after Madaura in Africa, where he was born, authored The Golden Ass (or Metamorphosis), a darkly comic tale or prototypical novel, which contains a version of the story of Cupid and Psyche. [MW]
Arblay, Alexandre Jean Baptiste Piochard, comte d', 1754-1818 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Émigré French general and adjutant to General Lafayette. In 1793 D'arblay married Fanny Burney [MW]
Arblay, Madame D'—
See Burney, Fanny. [MW]
Arbuthnot, John, 1667-1735 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Founder of the Scriblerus Club, which included Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift among the members. Arbuthnot authored a series of pamphlets originating the fictional figure John Bull, the personification of English national character. [MW]
Arcadius, Emperor of the East, 377?-408 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Emperor who ruled the Eastern half of the Roman empire while his younger brother Honorius ruled the western half. [MW]
Ariosto, Lodovico, 1474-1533 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Italian poet best known for his chivalric romance epic, Orlando Furioso (1516). [MW]
Aristides, of Miletus [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); 2nd century B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
His Milesian Tales were a collection of erotic picaresque stories. [MW]
Aristophanes (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Aristophanes was the foremost Greek comic playwright of his time. Many works with which he has been credited are now lost, but among those that survive, Wasps (422 B.C.), Birds (414 B.C.), Lysistrata (411 B.C.), Plutus (also known as Wealth, 408; revised 388), and Frogs (405 B.C.) are among the best known. [RD], [MW]
Arkwright, Richard, Sir, 1732-1792 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Through his inventions of a carding frame and, even more importantly, an innovative spinning frame, Arkwright became a leader in the mechanization of cotton manufacturing and the development of the factory system for textile production. [MW]
Armstrong, John, 1709-1779 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, physician, essayist. Most famous for his didactic poem The Art of Preserving Health (1744). [vw]
Arthur—
A legendary king of England, the subject of a number of verse narratives. [MW]
Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, 1187-1203 —
Fourth Earl of Richmond and Duke of Brittany, Prince Arthur had been designated heir to the throne over his uncle, John, King of England, 1167-1216. [MW]
Aspasia—
Mistress of Pericles often attacked in Athenian dramatic works for her supposed undue political influence. [MW]
Astraea—
Personification of virtue who, when the Golden Age ended and the earth became dominated by iniquity, ascended to the heavens and became the constellation Virgo. [MW]
Até —
Goddess of error, delusion, and rash action. [MW]
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Austen's major novels include Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816), Northanger Abbey (1818), and Persuasion (1818). A minor novel, Lady Susan, was first published in the 1871 edition of James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen along with the fragment The Watsons and a synopsis of the unfinished Sanditon. Austen is also appreciated for her comic juvenilia, especially Love & Freindship [sic] (1922). [MW]
Mr. B.—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Bacchus—
Roman name for the Greek god Dionysus. [KI]
Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
After being disgraced as a public figure by accusations of corruption, Lord Bacon turned to philosophical writing. His major works included his Essays (1597), The Advancement of Learning (1605), De Sapientia Veterum Liber (1609, translated as The Wisedome of the Ancients, 1619), Novuum Organum (1620), History of Henry VII (1622), De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623), and New Atlantis (1627), as well as numerous other historical, biographical, political, and philosophical publications. [MW]
Bage, Robert, 1728-1801 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author and businessman, Bage published six novels in his lifetime: Mount Henneth (1781) Barham Downs (1784), The Fair Syrian (1787), James Wallace (1788), Man as he is (1792), and Hermsprong, or Man as He Is Not (1796). [RD]
Baillie, Joanna, 1762-1851 —
Joanna Baillie stands as the most significant Romantic period British woman playwright as well as being one of the period"s most notable women critics. Scottish by birth, Baillie moved about with her family after her father's death until her brother inherited a London medical practice from his uncle. Eventually settling in Hampstead, Baillie widened her circle of literary acquaintances to include numerous prominent figures. Her own first publication was an anonymous volume, Poems: Wherein It Is Attempted to Describe Certain Views of Nature and Rustic Manners, Etc. (1790). The first volume of A Series of Plays: In Which It Is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind. Each Passion Being the Subject of a Tragedy and a Comedy (1798), with its "Introductory Discourse," was also published anonymously, sparking much speculation about the author. Baillie added additional volumes to this work in 1802 and 1812, with this final volume featuring the preface "To the Reader." Another collection, Miscellaneous Plays, appeared in 1804 and included her tragedy Romiero, which she defended in Fraser's Magazine (December 1836). Baillie meant her plays for the stage, but though they were widely read, only De Monfort was much staged. Nevertheless, Baillie continued her project, adding more plays and extending some of those already published, until 1836, when her three volume collection Dramas appeared. Along with drama and dramatic theory, Baillie published narrative poetry, including Metrical Legends of Exalted Characters (1821). Ahalya Baee, another narrative poem, appeared in 1849. She also published a theological tract, A View of the General Tenour of the New Testament, examining the nature and dignity of Jesus Christ (1831). Finally she agreed to the Longmans' request to collect and edit her entire opus for The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Joanna Baillie, Complete in One Volume, published in 1851, the year she died. [MW]
Barbauld, Mrs. (Anna Letitia), 1743-1825 (Library of Congress Name Authority) —
Barbauld's career opened under her birth name, Anna Aikin, with publication by the Warrington Academy's Eyres Press of Corsica: An Ode (1768), followed by Poems, also first published at Warrington by Eyres Press (1772) before being reprinted in London by Joseph Johnson (1773). The same year, she collaborated with her brother, John Aikin, on a volume of Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose (1773). After she married dissenting clergyman Rochemont Barbauld and the two opened a school, Anna Barbauld authored children's literature and educational materials, including the various installments of Lessons for Children (1775-1788) and Hymns in Prose for Children (1781), which were well loved. She began roughly a decade of political writing with An Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts (1790), quickly followed by the abolitionist poem Epistle to Mr. Wilberforce on the Rejection of the Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade (1791). Her known career in criticism began with a preface to Mark Akenside's The Pleasures of Imagination (1794), followed by the preface to William Collins's Poetical Works (1797), an edition of Selections from Spectator, Tatler, Guardian, and Freeholder, also with a prefatory essay (1804), and a selection of The Correspondence of Samuel Richardson (1804). The British Novelists (1810) constitutes her most ambitious critical project with its lengthy preface "The Origin and Progress of Novel-Writing" and the critical biographical prefaces for each author. In addition, she pursued a long career of periodical reviewing and criticism dating from around 1797 or 1798 up through at least 1815. Her reviews probably included contributions to the Analytical Review, her nephew Arthur Aikin's Annual Review, the Athenæum and the Monthly Magazine while her brother was affiliated with them, the Gentleman's Magazine, and most prolifically, the Monthly Review, to which she contributed several hundred articles on fiction, poetry, educational literature, and several other topics. Her last major publication was the poem Eighteen Hundred and Eleven (1812), for which she received some harsh reviews, but even after this disappointment she continued to publish short poems and literary criticism as well as to arrange her work for a contemplated but never executed complete works edition. [MW]
Barclay, John, 1582-1621 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
His Argenis (1621) was a very popular romance narrative poem. [MW]
Barrow, Thomas—
Friend of William Collins and John Home. In The History of the Rebellion in the Year 1745 (1802; 190-192) Home tells of how Barrow, an Englishman but then a student at Edinburgh, escaped with Home and others from the Castle of Doune after the Battle of Falkirk (1746). [MW]
Bartholomew, Apostle, Saint (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A member of Jesus's Twelve Apostles. He is referred to as Nathanael in the Fourth Gospel and the New Testament. Stories of his martyrdom describe two methods; in one, he was flayed alive. This version is featured in works by several prominent artists, including Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Ribera. [VW] [MW]
Beaufort, Henry, 1374-1447 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester, and grandson to King Edward III, Beaufort was influential in English politics for many years. [MW]
Beaumont, Mme.—
See Elie de Beaumont, Mme. (Anne-Louise Morin-Dumesnil). [MW]
Beaumont, Mrs.—
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A very prolific playwright and poet who collaborated with a number of his contemporary authors, most notably John Fletcher, with whom he authored over a dozen works. A few of the most notable among these include Philaster (c. 1609), A King and No King (c. 1611), The Maid's Tragedy (c. 1611), and The Scornful Lady (c. 1615). The Two Noble Kinsmen, a Shakespeare-Fletcher collaboration, reworks much material from Beaumont's The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn (c. 1613). [MW]
Beckford, William, 1760-1844 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Best known for his Gothic novel Vathek (Lausanne, Switz, 1787; London, 1815), William Beckford published a translation of stories by German author Johann Karl August Musäus as Popular Tales of the Germans (1791). [MW]
Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, novelist, playwright, pamphleteer, translator, and even spy, Behn is one of the most significant and interesting figures in early women's writing and is considered to be the first woman to live by her pen. Her most important novel, Oroonoko; Or, The Royal Slave (1688) was adapted by Thomas Southerne as his play Oroonoko (1695). Behn was a prolific playwright, with The Rover. Or, The Banish't Cavaliers (1677) her most successful play. A number of her play prefaces constitute noteworthy literary criticism, especially the preface to The Dutch Lover (1673). Other play productions include The Forced Marriage (1670), The Amorous Prince (1671), Abdelazer; or, The Moor's Revenge (1676), The Town Fop; or, Sir Timothy Tawdry (1676), The Debauchee (1677), The Counterfeit Bridegroom; or, The Defeated Widow (1677), Sir Patient Fancy (1678), The Feigned Courtesans; or, A Night's Intrigue (1679), The Young King; or, The Mistake (1679), The Revenge: or, A Match in Newgate (1680), The False Count; or, A New Way to Play an Old Game (1681), The Roundheads; or, The Good Old Cause (1681), Like Father, Like Son (1682), The City Heiress: or, Sir Timothy Treat-all (1682), The Lucky Chance; or, An Alderman's Bargain (1686), The Emperor of the Moon (1687), The Widow Ranter; or, The History of Bacon in Virginia (1689), and The Younger Brother; or, The Amorous Jilt (1696). [MW]
Belford—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
Belisarius, ca. 505-565 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Renown Roman general. His noteworthy accomplishments included conquering the piratical Carthaginian Vandals. The story of him having been blinded and reduced to beggary by Justinian is probably apocryphal, but it is featured in the 1765 novel by Marmontel, which Barbauld read. [MW]
Belton—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
Count de Belvedere—
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Berington, Simon, 1680-1755 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Berington authored the utopian narrative Gaudentio di Lucca (1737). [MW]
Berkeley, George, 1685-1753 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Bishop of Cloyne, Berkeley is best known for his Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710). [MW]
Berquin, M. (Arnaud), 1747-1791 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French children's author whose stories were popular with both the French and, in translation, British audiences. L'Ami des enfants (1782-3) is the best known of these works. [MW]
Berry, Mary, 1763-1852 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prominent bluestocking and salonniere, Berry edited The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford (1798) under the name Robert Berry. Her memoirs and letters were published as Social Life in England and France from the French Revolution, (1831) and Journals and Correspondence (1865).
Isaac Bickerstaff—
Pseudonym. See Richard Steele and Jonathan Swift. [MW]
Blacklock, Thomas, 1721-1791 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known as "the blind bard," the poet Blacklock lost his sight in early his childhood. [MW]
Blackmore, Richard, Sir, d. 1729 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The legacy of this physician and prolific poet as one admired by Samuel Johnson and yet the butt of scorn in Alexander Pope's Dunciad epitomizes the controversies over his merits among his contemporaries. Creation (1712) is his most respected poem. [MW]
Blessington, Marguerite, Countess of, 1789-1849 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Extraordinarily hard-working, particularly after her family's finances were ruined by the extravagance of her companion, the Comte d'Orsay, Lady Blessington was known for novels, travel writing, periodical editing and contributions, and editing and authoring copy for popular literary gift books. [MW]
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 1313-1375 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Decameron (1348-1353) is his collection of 100 tales that inspired fiction by many subsequent writers. [MW]
Boiardo, Matteo Maria, 1440 or 41-1494 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Italian poet Matteo Maria Boiardo was best known for the chivalric romance epic, L'Orlando Innamorato (1495). [MW]
Boileau Despréaux, Nicolas, 1636-1711 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Best known for his satires, epitres, and L'Art poétique (1674), French poet, satirist, and critic Nicolas Boileau published Dialogue des Héros de Roman in 1688. His translation of Longinus's Peri Hypsous as Le Traité du Sublime (1674; Treatise on the Sublime) was followed by Réflexions critiques sur Longin (1694; Critical Reflections on Longinus), which argued for the necessity of classical poetic models. [MW]
Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount, 1678-1751 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
As a British Tory politician, philosopher, and political journalist, Viscount Bolingbroke famously opposed the Walpole administration. Bolingbroke maintained friendships with notable authors including Alexander Pope and Johnathan Swift. A prolific writer, Bolingbroke was especially known for his histories and political journalism, including such publications as A Dissertation upon Parties (1735); A Letter on the Spirit of Patriotism (1736); Letters to a Young Nobleman on the Study and Use of History (1738); Idea of a Patriot King (1738); Remarks on the History of England (1743); Familiar Epistle to the Most Impudent Man Living (1749); and Letters on the Study and Use of History (1752).[RD], [VW]. [MW]
Boreas—
Greek god of the north wind. [MW]
Boswell, James, 1740-1795 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Judge and unsuccessful political aspirant, essayist, poet, and critic, but most famous for The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D (1791), Boswell established the modern biographical focus on the intimacies of private character through this famous biography and his preface defending his methods. That publication was preceded by The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785), which appeared shortly after Johnson's death and aroused reader enthusiasm for a portrait that includes personal foibles as well as venerable accomplishments. Also notable as a unique combination of biography of Pascal Paoli, history, and travel journal, An Account of Corsica (1768) helped inspire British popular support for Corsica's struggle against French domination. [MW]
Bowles, William Lisle , 1762-1850 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of Fourteen Sonnets (1789), admired by the major Lake School authors. [MW]
Boydell, John, 1719-1804 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
London engraver, publisher, and printseller; the various series he sponsored included a gallery of paintings of subjects from Shakespeare, which first opened in 1789 and expanded in subsequent years. [MW]
Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Younger brother to Roger Boyle, earl of Orrery, Robert Boyle was primarily a scientist. His Martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus was printed in 1687. [MW]
Boyle, Roger—
See Orrery, Roger Boyle, Earl of. [MW]
Bradshaigh, Dorothy, Lady, ca. 1708-1785 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
née Dorothy Bellingham; frequent correspondent with Samuel Richardson and others; sister to Lady Echlin. She married Sir Roger Bradshaigh, 1699-1770 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) in 1731. In her essay on Richardson, Barbauld occasionally spells the name "Bradshaw." [MW]
Bradshaw, Lady—
Appears as an alternate spelling of Bradshaigh. [MW]
Brooke, Frances, 1724?-1789 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Brooke began her literary career with The Old Maid (1755-6), a witty essay periodical that she operated under the pseudonym "Mary Singleton, Spinster," and that was reprinted as a single volume in 1764. This periodical staging interactions between a vivid central voice, the perspectives of other contributors (probably fictional), and reader correspondence (much of which may also have been fictional), it is no surprise that her first full-length literary effort was a drama, Virginia: A Tragedy (1756), which she was unable to get staged. Her first two novels similarly capitalized on dramatic dialog skills in their epistolary form. The first, The History of Lady Julia Mandeville (1763), was issued anonymously. It was quite successful, going through multiple editions in its first year. Around the time of its publication, Brooke left England, the country where she was born and lived her early life, to join her husband, who was serving in Canada as part of the British army. The History of Emily Montague by"the Author of Lady Julia Mandeville"(1769) capitalizes on her Canadian experiences. Though not as succesful as her previous novel, this one was also well received and is lauded by some as the first Canadian novel. A second anonymous Canadian novel, All's Right at Last (1774), has tentatively been attributed to Brooke largely on the basis of its subject matter. The Excursion (1777), with its lampoon of actor and stage manager David Garrick, followed next. At this point Brooke began to achieve some dramatic success with stagings of her tragedy Siege of Sinope in 1781, and two comic operas, Rosina in 1782 and Marian in 1788. Her final novel, The History of Charles Mandeville, was posthumously published in 1790. In addition to her own creative works, Brooke translated several from the French, including Letters from Juliet Lady Catesby (1760), an epistolary novel by Marie Riccoboni. [MW]
Brooke, Henry, 1703?-1783 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Brooke authored The Fool of Quality (1765-70), a novel of sensibility, and Gustavus Vasa, the Deliverer of His Country, a drama written in 1739 whose performance was forbidden because of its applicability to English politics in its time. [MW]
Brown, Charles Brockden, 1771-1810 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
As the first professional American author, Brown was known for his Gothic novels, especiallyWieland (1798), Arthur Mervyn (1799), Ormond (1799), and Edgar Huntly (1799), Memoirs of Carwin, the Biloquist (1803–1805). Brown edited or operated a number of periodicals during his life, including the Monthly Magazine, and American Review (1799-1800), renamed the American Review, and Literary Journal (1801-1802), the Literary Magazine, and American Register (1803-1807), and the American Register, or General Repository of History, Politics, and Science (1807-1809). [MW]
Bruce, James, 1730-1794(Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A Scottish explorer who discovered the source of the Blue Nile in 1770. His five volume Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile, in the Years 1768–73 was published in 1790. [vw]
Brumoy, Pierre, 1688-1742 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French Jesuit historian, classicist, and man of letters. His analyses of Greek dramas in Le Théâtre des Grecs (1730) were especially esteemed. [MW]
Brutus, Marcus Junius, 85?-42 B.C. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A notable orator and high-ranking Roman politician, Brutus became a leader in the successful assasination plot against Julius Caesar after Caesar declared his divinity and named himself permanent dictator. [MW]
Buchanan, George, 1506-1582 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A satirical poet and eventually preceptor to James I of England (James VI of Scotland), Buchanan spent seven months of his life imprisoned in a Portuguese monastery for his advocacy of Lutheranism. An incident from Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarvm Historia, published posthumously in 1582, was the inspiration for Tobias Smollett's unsuccessful play The Regicide (1749). [vw], [MW]
Budgell, Eustace, 1686-1737 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A cousin of Joseph Addison and a contributor to the Spectator, the Guardian, and probably the Tatler, Budgell also authored his own periodical, the Bee. He was one of the figures satirized in Alexander Pope's Dunciad (1728). [MW]
Buffon, Georges Louis Lecler, comte de, 1707-1788 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A French naturalist and author, he dedicated the majority of his life to the forty-four volume Histoire Naturelle (1749-1804). [vw]
Bull, John—
See John Bull. [MW]
Bunyan, John, 1628-1688 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Allegorical author and sometime preacher, Bunyan produced among his more important works Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), and The Life and Death of Mr Badman (1680). [MW]
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Statesman, philosopher, historian, and sometime poet, Irish-born Edmund Burke is by far the most articulate representative of the conservative perspective on the French Revolution. His Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) responds critically to a pro-revolution sermon by Rev. Richard Price by castigating the French for their failure to respect historically sanctioned traditional government and private property. Burke also made a landmark contribution to eighteenth-century aesthetic discourse with A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757). [MW]
Burney, Charles, 1726-1814 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Musician, composer, and highly respected musicologist; father of novelist Fanny Burney. A contributor to The Cyclopedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature (1802-1819), Burney authored and translated a number of other works on music, musicians, and music history, the most important of which include The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771), The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Provinces (1773), and A General History of Music, From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period (1776-1789). [MW]
Burney, Fanny, 1752-1840 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A well loved novelist, Fanny (or Frances) Burney authored Evelina; or, A Young Lady's Entrance into the World (1778), Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress (1782), Camilla; or, A Picture of Youth (1796), and The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (1814). She also wrote Memoirs of Dr. Burney (1832) about her father, Charles Burney, a musician, composer, and highly respected musicologist. After serving some years in the British court as an attendant on Queen Charlotte, Fanny Burney became Madame D'Arblay through her marriage to the émigré French officer Alexandre D'Arblay. [MW]
Burns, Robert, 1759-1796 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scottish poet and collector of rural and traditional songs, Burns was sometimes known as the Ploughman Poet for his vocation as a farmer and his depictions of rural life. Much of his work is written in his native Scots. Though admired by many of his contemporaries, Burns was continually dogged by financial strains. His Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) was repeatedly reissued in enlarged editions. He is also credited with collecting and editing the song collection The Merry Muses of Caledonia: A Collection of Favorite Scots Songs (c. 1800). [MW]
Burton, Robert, 1577-1640 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Along with aspiring to summarize everything that had ever been written about melancholy, Burton's widely admired Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) contains a rich trove of legendary love stories. [MW]
Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 1713-1792 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
British politician and tutor to King George III. [vw]
Butler, Samuel, 1612-1680 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet and satirist, Butler is best remembered for Hudibras (1663-4), a political satire of Puritan fanaticism and hypocrisy. [MW]
Byrom, John, 1692-1763 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, shorthand innovator and instructor, and contributor to Joseph Addison's Spectator. [MW]
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A phenomenally popular author also known for his flamboyant and scandalous personal life, Lord Byron produced so much noteworthy work that a complete list is impossible in a short note. Highlights include English Bards, and Scotch Reviewers (1809), Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-19), The Giaour (1813), The Bride of Abydos (1813), The Corsair (1814), Lara (1814), Hebrew Melodies (1815), The Prisoner of Chillon, and Other Poems (1816), Manfred (1817), Beppo (1818), and Don Juan (1819-24). While assisting in the Greek struggle for independence from Turkish domination, Byron died of fever in Missolonghi. Proclaimed a national hero, to this day he symbolizes for many Greeks the embodiment of resistance to oppression. [MW]
Harriet Byron—
Character in Samuel Richardson's History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Caesar, Julius [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); 100 B.C.-44 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Roman general, statesman, member of the First Triumverate, and eventually sole dictator, assassinated on the Ides of March. [MW]
Cagliostro, Alessandro, conte di, 1743-1795 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Medium, magician, and psychic healer Count Cagliostro enjoyed a number of years as a sensation in the fashionable circles of eighteenth-century Europe until his wife denounced him to the Inquisition. [MW]
La Calprenède, Gaultier de Coste, seigneur de, d. 1663 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Calprenède was known along with d'Urfé and Scudéry for promoting literary and cultural aesthetics of delicate refinement exalting chivalric virtues partly through long works of romance fiction that constitute the most significant examples of the Roman de longue haleine, literally the "long-winded novel." His most popular works in that genre include Cassandre (1642-45), which stretched to ten volumes and was translated into English as Cassandra, the Fam'd Romance (1652), and Cléopâtre (1646-57), a twelve volume work, translated as Hymen's Praeludia, or Love's Masterpiece (1665). [MW]
Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French theologian and Protestant reformer responsible for the doctrine known as Calvinism. After publishing his Institution de la religion in 1536, he moved to Geneva, where he published sermons, commentaries, and letters developing and refining the doctrine of predestination, sin, and grace. [MW]
Cambridge, Richard Owen, 1717-1802 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The best known work of this poet is The Scribleriad (1751). He contributed to the World between 1753 and 1756. [MW]
Argyll, Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of, 1659-1735 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Born Elizabeth Gunning, Elizabeth married James Hamilton, sixth duke of Hamilton, in 1752. After his death in 1758 she married a professional soldier, John Campbell, who succeeded to his father’s title of Duke of Argyll. Elizabeth served for over two decades as lady in waiting to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, for which services she was honored in 1776 with the title 1st Baroness Hamilton of Hameldon suo jure. [RD] [MW]
Canning, Elizabeth, 1734-1773 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Disappearing on Jan 1, 1753, Canning reemerged after 28 days with allegations that she had been abducted and held prisoner in a failed attempt to coerce her to become a prostitute. As Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and Westminster, Henry Fielding heard Canning's accusations, and convinced of her veracity, Fielding issued a warrant for her abusers’ arrest. Subsequent recanting by some witnesses left Canning accused of perjury and unleashed a flood of accounts, accusations, and counteraccusations in the popular press, including John Hill’s The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered (1753). In 1754, despite fairly evenly divided opinion among both the public and the court, Canning was convicted of perjury and transported to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where she met and married John Treat, had a family, and lived the remainder of her life. The case has continued to draw adherents on both sides of the question of Canning's guilt into the 20th century. [RD] [MW]
Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da, 1573-1610 —
Italian painter whose intensely chiaroscuro effects inspired the development of tenebrism, where such dramatic lighting dominates the style. [MW]
Carlyle, Alexander, 1722-1805 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scottish churchman, memoirist, and political commentator. [MW]
Carlyle, Thomas, 1795-1881 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Carlyle's humorous, idiosyncratic Sartor Resartus (1836) presents spiritual and philosophical reflections in the form of a biography of the fictional professor Diogenes Teufelsdröckh. The French Revolution (1837) offered a dramatic reassessment of recent historical events that presented the revolution as an inevitable consequence of bad government. On Heroes, Hero-Worship & the Heroic in History (1841) argues that idolization of charismatic heroes is the foundation of all loyalties. Both Chartism (1839) and Past and Present (1843) discuss the chartist movement, the latter by contrasting the current situation with that in the middle ages. [MW]
Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A well regarded poet and member of Elizabeth Montagu's Bluestocking Circle, Carter was also regarded as one of eighteenth-century Britain's leading female intellectuals for her translation, All the Works of Epictetus, Which Are Now Extant (1758), a milestone in the learned achievements of women. The first publication of her collected verse appeared as Poems upon Particular Occasions (1738). The subsequent Poems on Several Occasions came out in 1762 and was subsequently reprinted in an enlarged edition. She also edited the works of her friend and correspondent Catherine Talbot in The Works of the Late Mrs. Catherine Talbot (1780). [MW]
Cassandra—
In Greek mythology, the visionary daughter of King Priam of Troy was condemned by the god Apollo to prophesy but never be believed. [MW]
Cassandra—
The eponymous heroine of a sentimental novel by Calprenède. [MW]
Cato the Younger, 95 BCE-46 BCE (Encyclopedia Britannica) —
Roman statesman, orator, and follower of the Stoic philosophy.
Catullus, Gaius Valerius [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c. 84 B.C.-c. 54 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Roman poet and contemporary of Julius Caesar, whose love poetry was particularly influential on subsequent poets. [MW]
Cavendish, Margaret—
See Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of. [MW]
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 1547-1616 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His most famous work, Don Quixote (1605-15), a picaresque tale of chivalric literary influences gone wrong, is one of the great landmarks in the history of fiction. [MW]
Channing, Johannis, [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); a.k.a. John Channing, c.1703-1775 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Apothecary and translator of Arabic medical treatises. [MW]
Chapone, Mrs. (Hester), 1727-1801 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Born Hester Mulso, Chapone became a significant figure in Elizabeth Montague's eighteenth-century bluestocking circle. Her Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773) proposed a rigorous course of self education for women. [MW]
Charlemagne, Emperor, 742-814 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of the Franks from 768 and legendary figure of La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) (c. 1100), which narrates the Battle of Roncesvalles (Roncevaux) in 778. [MW]
Charles II, King of England, 1630-1685 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Exiled to France during the English Civil Wars and Interregnum, Charles II returned to England in 1660 to be crowned king, bringing French court culture as well as artistic and cultural sophistication with him to inaugurate a reign of relative political stability and flourishing arts but characterized by detractors as profligate and immoral. [MW]
Charles Edward, Prince, grandson of James II, King of England, 1720-1788 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" by his supporters and "The Young Pretender" by detractors, Charles Edward Stuart was raised in exile after his grandfather, James II, was deposed from the British throne for his ambitions to return England to the Catholic faith. Prince Charles Edward mounted the Jacobite Uprising from Scotland in an effort to reclaim the throne for the Stuart royal line. [MW]
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Chateaubriand's Atala (1801) is a novel of ill-fated love between two American Indians of opposing tribes. His literary criticism was highly regarded, especially his Sketches of English Literature; with Considerations on the Spirit of the Times, Men, and Revolutions (London: Henry Colburn, 1836), translated from Essai sur la littérature anglaise et Considérations sur le génie des hommes, des temps et des révolutions (1836). Other works of note include Le Génie du Christianisme (1802) and René (1805), the story of an idealistic and alienated European who comes to America to find solace. Originally part of Le Génie du Christianisme, both Atala and René were detached for separate publication. [MW]
Chatterton, Thomas, 1752-1770 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Inspired by a growing English interest in antiquated and primitive poetry, Chatterton fabricated a number of works supposedly by fifteenth-century Bristol sheriff Thomas Rowley, whom Chatterton fictitiously recast as a poet, providing spurious documentation for the poems' authenticity as well. Made desperate by poverty, he committed suicide while still in his teens, inspiring his reception among Romantic readers as a quintessential example of tragically neglected genius. [MW]
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A translatory, diplomat, and customs official as well as a poet, Chaucer is most famous for The Canterbury Tales, written in the late fourteenth century and composed partly of narratives that Chaucer adapted or even appropriated from Boccaccio's Decameron. Chaucer's many other works include The Legend of Good Women (c. 1386), which collects tales primarily from Ovid and Boccaccio; Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1386), an extended narrative poem adapted from Boccaccio's Il Filostrato relating a dark story of ill-fated love during the Trojan War; and three dream vision poems, The Book of the Duchess (written c. 1370), The House of Fame (c. 1380), and The Parliament of Fowls (c. 1380). Chaucer also authored a number of shorter works, some comic, others lyrical, and a prose Treatise on the Astrolabe. His most important translations include The Romance of the Rose and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. [MW]
Chetwood, Knightley, 1679-1752—
One of the Chetwoods of Queens County, Ireland and nephew of Knightley Chetwood, Dean of Gloucester, 1650-1720 (Library of Congress Name Authority), this Knightley Chetwood is most known for his friendship with Jonathan Swift. [MW]
Chimene—
Character in Corneille's Le Cid. [MW]
Churchill, Charles, 1731-1764 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A premiere English satirist and poet. His best known work, The Rosciad (1761), made him a household name. [vw]
Cibber, Colley, 1671-1757 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Actor, playwright, and poet laureate after 1730, Cibber was especially known for his theatrical comedies, the most notable of which include She Would and She Would Not (1702) and The Careless Husband (1704). He was also the hero of Alexander Pope's Dunciad. [MW]
Clairaut, Alexis-Claude, 1713-1765 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prominent French mathematician, astronomer, and translator. [MW]
Clarissa Harlowe—
Heroine of Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
Clelia—
The eponymous heroine of a novel by Mme. de Scudéry. [MW]
Clementina della Porretta —
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Colburn, Henry, d. 1855 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Particularly known as a fiction publisher, Colburn was widely accused of "puffing" these works in the various literary periodicals he also published, among them the New Monthly Magazine, the Literary Gazette, the Athenaeum (very briefly), the Court Journal, and the United Service Journal. [MW]
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
One of the most important British Romantic period writers and a mesmerizing conversationalist and lecturer, Coleridge authored poetry, plays, criticism, journalism, and philosophical works. His most important poetic works include Poems on Various Subjects (1796), Fears in Solitude (1798), Lyrical Ballads (with William Wordsworth, 1798), Christabel; Kubla Khan, a Vision; The Pains of Sleep (1816), and Sibylline Leaves (1817). His plays include The Fall of Robespierre (with Robert Southey 1794) and Remorse (1813). He authored the periodicals The Watchman (1796), The Friend (1809-1810), and The Statesman's Manual (1816). His Biographia Literaria (1817) is a part aesthetic, part philosophical study in the format of a literary autobiography. Specimens of the Table Talk of the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1835) provides a posthumous record of his conversation. A series of his lectures was published posthumously as Seven Lectures upon Shakespeare and Milton (1856). [MW]
Collier, Jane, 1715?-1755 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of the humorous An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting (1753) and collaborator with Sarah Fielding on The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable (1754); with her sister Margaret (Collier, Margaret, 1719-1794 [Library of Congress Name Authority]), one of the Miss Colliers Barbauld refers to in her biography of Samuel Richardson. [MW]
Collins, William, 1721-1759 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Producing only a relatively small body of work and plagued by mental illness during his later life, Collins was nevertheless one of the most influential poets of the pre-Romantic later eighteenth century. As portrayed in his odes, his conception of poetry as visionary, even prophetic, inspired many of his immediate successors. Major publications of his works included Persian Eclogues (1742), revised as Oriental Eclogues (1757), Verses Humbly Address'd to Sir Thomas Hanmer: On His Edition of Shakespear's Works (1743), revised as An Epistle: Addrest to Sir Thomas Hanmer, on His Edition of Shakespear's Works (1744), Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects (1747), Ode Occasion'd by the Death of Mr. Thomson (1749), The Passions: An Ode (1750), and An Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland (1788). [MW]
Colman, George, 1732-1794 (Library of Congress Name Authority) [George Colman, the Elder]—
This playwright, theater manager, and close friend to actor David Garrick was also known as a generous mentor in the eighteenth century theatrical world. Among the most popular of his many works figure The Clandestine Marriage (1766), Polly Honeycombe (1760), and The Jealous Wife (1761). [MW]
Colman, George, 1762-1836 (Library of Congress Name Authority) [George Colman, the Younger]—
Following in his father's footsteps as an actor, manager, and comic playwright, Colman the Younger also authored a enormous body of work that includes as some of its most substantial pieces Inkle and Yarico (1787), The Iron Chest 1796), The Heir-at-Law (1797), and John Bull (1803). [MW]
Congreve, William, 1670-1729 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
English playwright and poet whose works include The Old Bachelor (1693), The Double Dealer (1693), and Love for Love (1695). [RD]
Corneille, Pierre, 1606-1684 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Corneille's drama Le Cid (1637) was inspired by a twelfth century Spanish narrative. [MW]
Cottin, Madame (Sophie), 1770-1807 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Her Mathilde (1805) and Elisabeth, ou les exilés de Sibérie (1806) were both popular throughout Europe. [MW]
Coventry, Francis, 1725?-1759 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The History of Pompey the Little; or, The Life and Adventures of a Lap-Dog (1751) enjoyed much success. Coventry also authored Penshurst: A Poem (1750). [MW]
Sir Roger de Coverley—
A character often featured in Joseph Addison's Spectator papers. His name is taken from that of a popular dance. [MW]
Cowley, Abraham, 1618-1667 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright, poet, and satirist, Abraham Cowley employed his pen on the royalist side during the English Civil War. [MW]
Cowley, Mrs. (Hannah), 1743-1809 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A popular comic playwright, Hannah Cowley is best remembered for A Bold Stroke for a Husband (1783) and The Belle's Stratagem (1780). [MW]
Cowper, William, 1731-1800 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet who is sometimes viewed as a precursor to the Romantic poets partly for his sensitive and accurate descriptions of nature. His best known works include The Task (1785) and "The Castaway" (1803). He was subject to severe bouts of depression with a strong religious overtone for much of his life. [MW]
Crabbe, George, 1754-1832 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An author known for his verse tales which bring sympathy and humor to an acute observation of human failings, Crabbe is best remembered for The Village: A Poem (1783); The Borough: A Poem (1810); and Tales (1812). Other works include Inebriety, A Poem (1775); The Candidate; A Poetical Epistle To The Authors Of The Monthly Review (1780); The Library. A Poem (1781); The News-paper: A Poem (1785); A Discourse, Read in the Chapel at Belvoir Castle, After the Funeral of His Grace the Duke of Rutland, Late Lord Lieutenant of the Kingdom of Ireland (1788); A Variation of Public Opinion and Feelings Considered, as it Respects Religion. A Sermon (1817); Tales of the Hall (1819) and his collected The Works of the Rev. George Crabbe (1823).
Cradock, Charlotte, d. 1744 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
The first wife of Henry Fielding, with whom he had five children. In the preface of Miscellanies, published one year prior to her death, he wrote, "one from whom I draw all the solid Comfort of my Life." [RD]
Crassus, Marcus Licinius [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c. 115 -53 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Roman politician and a member of the First Triumvirate. [MW]
Crébillon, Claude-Prosper Jolyot de, 1707-1777 (Library of Congress Name Authority) [Crébillon fils]—
Son of Crébillon père, Crébillon fils authored several licentious and satirical novels which earned him both popularity and a few periods of exile in the provinces. The best known of them include L'écumoire (1735), Les Égarements du coeur et de l'esprit (1736), and Le Sopha, conte moral (1742). [MW]
Crébillon, M. de (Prosper Jolyot), 1674-1762 (Library of Congress Name Authority) [Crébillon père]—
Noted for his dramas on classical subjects rather than the lascivious novels that constitute the son's claim to fame. [MW]
Cumberland, Richard, 1732-1811 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though far more known as a playwright, Cumberland did author an occasional novel, including Arundel (1789) and Henry (1795). Two of his early plays are among his best: The Brothers, which debuted in 1769, and The West Indian, first staged in 1771. Cumberland's Memoirs were published in 1806 and 1807. [MW and RD]
Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of, 1721-1765 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Son of George II, called "Butcher" Cumberland for his brutal suppression of Highland Jacobites after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. [MW]
Cyrus, King of Persia, d. 529 B.C. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Founder of the Persian empire. [MW]
Danbys—
A family of characters in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
D'Arblay, Madame—
See Burney, Fanny. [MW]
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Credited with articulating the theory of evolution, Darwin first attracting wide attention with the Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle (1839). He published widely on topics of natural history, especially geology and botany, both before and after the two works on which his greatest fame rests, On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection (1859, subsequently revised), and the even more controversial The Descent of Man (1871). [MW]
Darwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Physician, botanist, poet, and grandfather of Charles Darwin. Containing a nascent theory of evolution, The Loves of Plants (1789) was later incorporated into The Botanic Garden (1791). In depicting plant reproduction and generation, Darwin's imagery sometimes becomes so erotic that some conservative authorities on education recommended denying young ladies access to his work. In addition to his two other major pieces, Zoonomia (1794) and The Temple of Nature (1803), he published additional works on botany as well as commemorative poetry and treatises on scientific topics and female education. [MW]
Lady Davers—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Day, Thomas, 1748-1789 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Day's sentimental History of Sanford and Merton (1783-9), a milestone in the history of children's literature, took its inspiration from Henry Brooke's Fool of Quality, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile. [MW]
Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Defoe already had a long and prolific career as a noted political journalist when he published his first novel, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, in 1719. It was followed by The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (1721), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), and The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History Of The Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of… the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana (1724). His many social and political pieces include The True-Born Englishman (1701), The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702), Reformation of Manners (1704), a periodical publication entitled The Review (1704-1713), and Family Instructor (1715), and Religious Courtship (1729). Defoe was also well known for essays on timely social issues, stories of the supernatural, and accounts of notorious criminals such as True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal. (1705) and The History of the Remarkable Life of John Sheppard (1724). [MW] [RD]
Delany, Mrs. (Mary), 1700-1788 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Letter writer and prominent bluestocking, friend to some of the eighteenth century's most noted literary producers and patrons. [MW]
Della Casa, Giovanni, 1503-1556 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An Italian bishop with a talent for satirical and lyric poetry and translations, Della Casa is best known as the author of Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners (1558). [RD]
D'Ewes, Anne, 1707-1761 (Library of Congress Name Authority) [Mrs. Dews]—
Cookbook author and sister to Mary Delany. [MW]
Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Philosopher, novelist, playwright, translator, and critic, Diderot was for his rationalism, religious skepticism, and scientific empiricism a key figure in the Enlightenment. His Encyclopédie stands as a landmark in the systemization and popular dissemination of technical and scientific knowledge. [MW]
Dionysus—
The Greek god of the grape harvest, wine, fertility, and theatre. [KI]
Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known first as a poet, Dodsley opened a London bookselling business in 1735. His shop became an important gathering place for literary and publishing figures of the mid-eighteenth century.
Donnellan, Anne (1700-1762)—
Amateur musician and friend of George Frideric Handel, Donnellan was friends as well with several notable bluestockings and literary figures, especially Elizabeth Montagu and Mary Delany. [MW]
Don Quixote—
The eponymous hero of the novel by Cervantes muddles the line between reality and fiction as a result of his reading chivalric romances. [MW]
Dryden, John, 1631-1700 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet laureate of England from 1668 until his death. Particularly productive as a playwright, Dryden also ventured into a wide range of other genres, including satires, lyric poetry, essays, and literary criticism. His best-known dramatic works include an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest (1667, pub. 1670) and two other plays, Marriage A la Mode (1671; pub. 1673) and All for Love (1677, pub. 1678). Other highlights in his work include Of Dramatick Poesie: An Essay (1668), one of the classics in the canon of literary criticism; Absalom and Achitophel (1681), a political poem in support of Charles II; and Mac Flecknoe (1682), a devastating satire of several rival poets. Additional play productions include The Wild Gallant (1663), The Indian Queen Sir Robert Howard, 1664), The Rival Ladies (1664), The Indian Emperor (1665), Secret Love (1667), Sir Martin Mar-All (with William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle,1667), An Evening's Love; or, The Mock Astrologer (1668), Tyrannic Love (1669), The Conquest of Granada (1671), The Assignation; or, Love in a Nunnery (1672), Amboyna (1673), Aureng-Zebe (1675), The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham (1678), Oedipus (with Nathaniel Lee, 1678), Troilus and Cressida (from Shakespeare's play, 1679), The Spanish Friar (1680), The Duke of Guise with Nathaniel Lee, 1682), Albion and Albanius (text by Dryden, music by Louis Grabu, 1685), Don Sebastian (1689), Amphitryou (1690), King Arthur (text by Dryden, music by Henry Purcell, 1691), Cleomenes (with Thomas Southerne, 1692), and Love Triumphant (1694). [MW]
Duncombe, John, 1729-1786 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of The Feminead; or Female Genius (1757) and, with his father William Duncombe, The Works of Horace in English Verse (1757-9), John Duncombe married Susanna Highmore, daughter of Joseph and Susanna Highmore. [MW]
Duncombe, Susanna 1725-1812 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
née Highmore; an artist in her own right, she was daughter to painter Joseph Highmore and his wife, also Susanna. [MW]
Duncombe, William, 1690-1769 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet and playwright. Between 1757 and 1759, he and his son, clergyman and writer John Duncombe, published The Works of Horace in English Verse. [MW]
Dyer, George, 1755-1841 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Biographer, historian, theologian, poet, and critic, Dyer was known for his congeniality despite his personal eccentricities. His poetry appeared in Poems (1792), The Poet's Fate (1797), Poems (1801), and Poems and Critical Essays (1802). Poetics, or a Series of Poems and Disquisitions on Poetry (1812) defends his poetic method, which some of his contemporaries had criticized as misguided. [MW]
Dyson, Jeremiah, 1722-1776 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Dyson was not only Mark Akenside's friend and literary patron, but he supported Akenside's medical practice as well. As Akenside's literary executor, Dyson edited a collection of Akenside's poetry published as The Poems of Mark Akenside, M.D. (1772). [MW]
Echlin, Elizabeth, Lady, 1704?-1782? (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
née Elizabeth Bellingham; literary patroness and an occasional author herself, Lady Echlin was sister to Lady Bradshaigh and wife to Sir Robert Echlin, 1699-1757 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). [MW]
Edgeworth, Maria, 1767-1849 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A popular Irish author of fiction and children's literature, Edgeworth sometimes collaborated with her father, politician Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Her first publication, with publisher Joseph Johnson, was Letters for Literary Ladies (1795). Johnson was both an important publisher and a family friend, and Edgworth's publishing relationship with him continued for the duration of Johnson's life. Her better known novels include Castle Rackrent (1800), Belinda (1801), The Modern Griselda: A Tale (1805), Leonora (1806), and Harrington (1817). Other noteworthy works include Practical Education (1798), Popular Tales (1804), and Tales of Fashionable Life (1809-12), which includes, among others, the tales "Ennui" (1809) and "The Absentee" (1812). [MW]
Edward III, King of England, 1312-1377 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of England from 1327 to 1377, he led the country into the Hundred Years War with France. [MW]
Edward, Prince of Wales, 1330-1376 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known as The Black Prince allegedly because of the black armor he wore as a commander in the Hundred Years War, Edward was heir apparent to Edward III. [MW]
Edwards, Thomas, 1699-1757 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of Canons of Criticism (1748) as well as a number of sonnets respected by his contemporaries. [MW]
Elie de Beaumont, Mme. (Anne-Louise Morin-Dumesnil), 1729-1783 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known for her Lettres du marquis de Roselle (1764). [MW]
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The last of the Tudor monarchs, Elizabeth became queen in 1558. Sometimes known as "the Virgin Queen" for the fact that never married, she presided over what many regarded as a golden age of British arts and expansionism. [MW]
Emily Jervois—
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Epictetus (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A stoic philosopher who lived from ca. AD 50-125. He was born a slave in Phrygian, Hierapolis in the household of the freedman Epaphroditus in Rome; he later manumitted and started a school of philosophy in Nicopolis. [RD]
Euphrosyne—
In Greek mythology, one of the Three Charites or Graces. [MW]
Euripides [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c. 484 B.C.-406 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
One of the three most important early Athenian tragic dramatists. Among the nineteen of his plays that have survived, the best known include The Bacchae (405), Iphigenia at Aulis (405), Orestes (408), Iphigenia at Tauris (414?), The Trojan Women (415), Electra (417), Andromache (426?), and Medea (431). [MW]
Eurydice—
In Greek myth, wife of Orpheus, who was killed by a snake. To rescue her, Orpheus descended into the underworld, but his efforts were foiled when he violated the conditions imposed on his success by looking back to reassure himself that his wife was still with him. [MW]
Fairfax, Edward, d. 1635 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Translated Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata as Godfrey of Bulloigne; or, the Recoverie of Jerusalem (1600). [MW]
Faulkner, George, 1699?-1775 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Important Dublin bookseller. [MW]
Fénelon, François de Salignac de La Mothe- 1651-1715 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
As preceptor for Louis, duc de Bourgogne, grandson of Louis XIV, Fénelon wrote Les Avantures de Télémaque, fils d'Ulysse (1699), to impart his liberal political views to his pupil. On the surface, the didactic romance narrates the voyage of Telemachus in the Odyssey as he searches for his father accompanied by the goddess Minerva, who teaches him the virtues of an enlightened monarch, while incorporating at the same time a critique on Louis XIV's ideology of monarchy by divine right. [MW]
Fielding, Edmund, 1680-1741 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Veteran of Marlborough's wars and father of the novelists Henry Fielding and Sarah Fielding. [RD]
Fielding, Henry, 1707-1754 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though a productive playwright and author of political and social improvement tracts, Fielding is best remembered for his novels, including The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews (1742), The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the Great (1743), The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), which constitutes one of the most important early landmarks in the development of the British novel, Amelia (1751), and An Apology for the Life of Mrs. Shamela Andrews (1741), a parody of Samuel Richardson's Pamela. His Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon (1755) recounts his travels on an unsuccessful journey to improve his health. A select list of plays by the author includes The Temple Beau (1730), Tom Thumb (1730), Miser (1732), and The Wedding Day (1743). Periodical publications by the author include The Champion (1737-1740), The Covent-Garden Journal (1752), The True Patriot (1745), and The Jacobite Journal (1747), among many others. Political publications by the author include A Charge Delivered to the Grand Jury, at the Sessions of the Peace Held for the City and Liberty of Westminster, & c. On Thursday the 29th of June 1749 (1749), An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers etc. with Some Proposals for Remedying this Growing Evil (1751), and A Proposal for Making an Effectual Provision for the Poor, for Amending Their Morals and for Rendering Them Useful Members of the Society (1753), A Clear State of the Case of Elizabeth Canning, Who Hath Sworn That She Was Robbed and Almost Starved to Death by a Gang of Gipsies and Other Villains in January Last, for Which One Mary Squires Now Lies under Sentence of Death (1753).
Fielding, John, Sir, 1721-1780 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Half-brother to the novelists Henry Fielding and Sarah Fielding. [RD]
Fielding, Sarah, 1710-1768 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Sister to Henry Fielding, Sarah Fielding (1710-1768) was also respected as a novelist. Her best known works include The Adventures of David Simple (1744 with a final volume added in 1753), which has elements in common with Samuel Johnson's later work, Rasselas (1759); The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy (1749) ), written especially for a young female audience to show that the path to virtue can be found through control of emotional excess, cultivation of benevolence, and submission to parental wisdom; The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable (1754), which she wrote in collaboration with Jane Collier; The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia (1757); The History of the Countess of Dellwyn (1759); and The History of Ophelia (1760). In addition, her pamphlet, Remarks on Clarissa (1749), place her as one of the more noteworthy among mid-eighteenth century women literary critics. Her translation of Xenophon was published in 1762. [MW]
Fitzherbert, William, 1712-1772 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Member of Parliment, of Tissington Hall. Father of William Fitzherbert, the first Baronet of Tissington. [RD]
Fletcher, Andrew, 1655-1716 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
As Laird of Saltoun and a member of the Scottish Parliament, Fletcher became known for his political and historical writing. [MW]
Fletcher, John, 1579-1625 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright collaborator with Francis Beaumont and others, Fletcher also worked with Shakespeare on Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) and Henry VIII (1613?). [MW]
Fletcher, Lady—
See Lintot, Catherine. [MW]
Florian, 1755-1794 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian authored Galatée (1783) and Gonsalve de Cordoue (1791). [MW]
Fuseli, Henry, 1741-1825 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Primarily a visual artist, Swiss-born Henry Fuseli produced some literary achievements as well, including Aphorisms on Man (1788), a translation of Lavater's Vermischte unphysiognomische Regeln zur Selbst- und Menschenkenntniß (1787). Among his visual works, The Nightmare (1781) is probably the most famous. His Milton Gallery from the 1790s was also widely known. [MW]
Lady G.—
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754), sister to the title character. [MW]
Gainsborough, Earl of—
Anna Letitia Barbauld suggests as a possible model for Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1) the story of Noel Baptist, Fourth Earl of Gainsborough (1708-1751, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage), who married Elizabeth Chapman, the daughter of his gameskeeper, Christopher Chapman. [MW]
Garrick, David, 1717-1779 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An exceptionally productive playwright and adapter, Garrick was also an effective theater manager and one of the most powerful and popular actors in the history of British theater. Most of Garrick's dramatic compositions consisted of adaptations of existing plays, especially those of Shakespeare. In addition to those from Shakespeare's works, Garrick's plays include Lethe; or Esop in the Shades (1740); The Lying Valet (1741); The Provok'd Wife (1744); Miss in Her Teens: or, The Medley of Lovers (1747); Every Man in His Humour (1751); The Chances (1754); Lilliput (1756); The Male Coquette (1757); Isabella; or, The Fatal Marriage (1757); The Gamesters (1757); The Guardian (1759); Harlequin's Invasion (1759); The Enchanter; or, Love and Magic (a libretto; 1760); The Farmer's Return from London (1762); The Clandestine Marriage (1766); The Country Girl (1766); Neck or Nothing (1766); Cymon (1767); Linco's Travels (1767); A Peep Behind the Curtain; or, The New Rehearsal (1767); The Jubilee (1769); The Institution of the Garter; or, Arthur's Roundtable Restored (1771); The Irish Widow (1772); A Christmas Tale (1773); The Meeting of the Company (1774); Bon Ton; or, High Life above Stairs (1775); The Theatrical Candidates (1775); and May Day; or, The Little Gipsy (also a libretto; 1775).[MW]
Gay, John, 1685-1732 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Best known for The Beggar's Opera, which debuted in London in 1728, Gay authored numerous other noteworthy works, a few of which include the play The Distress'd Wife (1734), a body of poetry, some collections of fables, and the libretto for Handel's Acis and Galatea (1731). [MW]
Gayot de Pitaval, François, 1673-1743 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A French advocate whose Causes célèbres et interesantes avec les jugemens qui les out decidees, a collection of notorious critimal cases that had come to his attention in his official capacities, was published in periodic installments and various expanded editions beginning in 1734 and continuing throughout the eighteenth century. [MW]
Gellert, Christian Fürchtegott, 1715-1769 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
In addition to plays, a novel, verse, fables, and aesthetic treatises, this distinguished author of the German Enlightenment translated Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753-4). [MW]
Genlis, Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de, 1746-1830 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Among French women writers, Mme. de Genlis was one of the more popular with Romantic-era British women writers. Her didactic fiction and educational works included Adèle et Théodore (1782), which features the characters Cecile, the Duchesse de C***, and M. and Mad. Lagaraye. Les Veillées du Chateau (1784) was translated into English as Tales of the Castle; or, Stories of Instruction and Delight (1785). Les Mères rivales, ou la calomnie (1800) was translated as Rival Mothers; or, The Calumny (1800). [MW]
Geoffrey, of Monmouth, Bishop of St. Asaph, 1100?-1154 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
As the author of Prophetiae Merlini (The Prophesies of Merlin) and Historia regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain) as well as the manuscript Vita Merlini, Geoffrey of Monmouth is an important source for the Arthurian legends. [MW]
George I, King of Great Britain, 1660-1727 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The first British monarch of the House of Hanover, George ascended to rule over Great Britain in 1714 on the death of his second cousin Anne. [MW]
George II, King of Great Britain, 1683-1760 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of Great Britain from 1727-1760. [MW]
George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of Great Britain from 1760-1820. The latter part of his reign was punctuated by periods of intermittent madness so that in 1811 Parliament named as Regent his son, then Prince of Wales, but later to become George IV. [MW]
George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Prince Regent for George III from 1811, he became king with his father's death in 1820. [MW]
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The reputation of this eminent English historian rests mostly on his masterwork, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788). [MW]
Glover, Richard, 1712-1785 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright, poet, and writer on various aspects of the West Indies question, Glover published "Admiral Hosier's Ghost" in 1740. [MW]
Godwin, William, 1756-1836 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Novelist, historian, biographer, political theorist, and spouse to Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin published An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness in 1793. His most important novels, including Things As They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1795) and St. Leon (1799), dramatize the theories that Political Justice advances. Fleetwood; or, The New Man of Feeling (1805) critiques the character type made famous by Henry Mackenzie's novel The Man of Feeling. Mandeville. A Tale of the Seventeenth Century in England (1817) is a historical novel in the style of Scott. Cloudesley: A Tale (1830) returns to the theme of aristocratic tyranny that was the subject of Caleb Williams. [MW]
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Goethe anonymously published Die Leiden des jungen Werthers in 1774 (translated as The Sorrows of Young Werther, 1779). The eponymous hero eventually commits suicide over a hopeless passion for a woman engaged to another. Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795-1796) was translated as Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by Thomas Carlyle in 1824. Goethe was eminent as a poet and dramatist as well, with the two part verse drama Faust (1808 and 1832) as the foremost of his works. [MW]
Goldoni, Carlo, 1707-1793 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prolific Italian playwright who introduced elements of realism into dramatic characterizations to help reform the Italian stage. Among his extensive list of dramatic works, his stage adaptations of Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1) include Pamela Nubile (1750) and Pamela Maritata (1759). [MW]
Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Goldsmith is often regarded as the epitome of a grub street writer, living much of his life in poverty and debt despite authoring a massive body of histories, biographies, plays, poems, novels, and literary criticism. Goldsmith's authorial importance was acknowledged by the literary community with his poems The Traveller (1764) and The Hermit (1765), but later texts would give him fame. Satirical and paradoxical, The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) was his most popular novel. The Deserted Village (1770), his best known poem, depicts a traveler's reflections on the demise of Auburn, the village of his youth, after the native inhabitants are forced out by an avaricious local landowner. As a prolific literary journalist, Goldsmith contributed to the Critical Review as well as other periodicals. In 1759, Goldsmith published a weekly paper named The Bee. A collection of his works from the Monthly Review were published under the name The Citizen of the World in 1762. A further selection of Goldsmith's nonfiction includes History of England in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to His Son (1764), Life of Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke (1770), Life of Thomas Parnell (1770), The Roman History: from the foundation of the city of Rome, to the destruction of the western Empire (1769), and Retaliation, The History of Greece (1774). She Stoops to Conquer; or, The Mistakes of a Night (1773), Goldsmith's most famous dramatic comedy, features the heroine Kate Hardcastle, who descends to playing a servant in her own house after a potential suitor mistakes it for an inn. Less popular than She Stoops to Conquer was Goldsmith's dramatic comedy The Goodnatured Man (1768). An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature was published in 1795.
Gordon, John —
A surgeon at the University of Glasgow and mentor to Tobias Smollett and Dr. John Moore. H.L. Fulton writes, "[John Moore] was apprenticed to William Stirling and John Gordon, surgeons in a large practice and formerly masters to Moore's distant cousin Tobias Smollett." (Fulton, H.L. "Moore, John (1729-1802)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Vol. 38. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. 970.) [VW][RD]
Gosling, Lady—
neé Elizabeth Midwinter, she married bookseller and banker Sir Francis Gosling (Gosling, Francis, Sir, d. 1768 [Library of Congress Name Authority]). [MW]
Sir Henry Gould, 1643/4-1710 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Judge of the king's bench and maternal grandfather to the novelist Henry Fielding. [RD]
Grafigny, Mme de (Françoise d'Issembourg d'Happoncourt), 1695-1758 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Mme de Grafigny's novel Lettres d'une Péruviennes (1747) tells the story of Zilia, an Incan princess captured by the Spanish. [MW]
Grainger, James, 1721?-1766 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The most interesting literary work by West Indian poet and physician James Grainger is The Sugar-Cane (1764). His "Solitude, an Ode" was reprinted, among other places, in Southey's Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807). He translatesd several Latin works, including the elegies of Tibullus. Grainger also authored groundbreaking medical treatises on the care of slaves. [MW]
Sir Charles Grandison—
Hero of Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Grantham, Thomas Robinson, Baron, 1695-1770 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Diplomat and politician. [MW]
Graves, Richard, 1677-1729 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Antiquary and father of the author Rev. Richard Graves. [RD]
Graves, Richard, 1715-1804 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A gifted novelist, Graves published The Festoon, a collection of Epigrams in 1765, The Spiritual Quixote; or, The Summer's Ramble of Mr. Geoffry Wildgoose in 1773 and Columella; or, The Distressed Anchoret in 1779. Senilities; or, Solitary Amusements: in Prose and Verse appeared in 1801. Other publications by the author include Euphrosyne; or, Amusements on the Road of Life (1776); Eugenius; or, Anecdotes of the Golden Vale, an Embellished Narrative of Real Facts (1785); Lucubrations: Consisting of Essays, Reveries etc. in Prose and Verse (1786); Recollections of some Particulars in the Life of Recollections of Some Particulars in the Life of the Late William Shenstone, Esq. in a Series of Letters from an Intimate Friend of His to----Esq. F. R. S. (1788); Plexippus, or the Aspiring Plebeian (1790); The Reveries of Solitude; Consisting of Essays in Prose, a New Translation of the Muscipula, and Original Pieces in Verse (1793); The Coalition; or, The Opera Rehears'd: A Comedy in Three Acts (1794); The Farmer's Son: A Moral Tale Inscribed to Mrs. Hannah More by the Rev. P. P. M. A. (1795); and The Invalid, with the obvious Means of enjoying Long Life, by a Nonagenarian (1804). Also proficient in Latin, Greek, and several modern languages, Graves translated Galateo; or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners, from the Italian of Monsig. Giovanni De La Casa (1774), Goethe's Sorrows of Werther(1779), probably from a French version, Fénelon's Fleurettes, Containing an Ode on Solitude (1784), Herodian, The Heir Apparent; or, The Life of Commodus, Translated from the Greek (1789), The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: A New Translation, with a Life, Notes Etc. (1792), and Hiero on the Condition of Royalty: A Conversation from the Greek of Xenophon (1793).
Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The rather reclusive Thomas Gray, one of the most esteemed poets of the eighteenth century, left a comparatively small body of work, highlights of which include An Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1747), An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751), and a collection of Odes (1757) that included "The Progress of Poesy" and "The Bard" (1754). [MW]
Griffiths, Ralph, 1720-1803 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
In addition to publishing books on a wide array of topics, bookseller Ralph Griffiths was also the proprietor of several literary journals, including the London Advertiser and Literary Gazette (1751-1753), the Grand Magazine of Universal Intelligence (1758-1760), and the Library (1761-1762). Two of the periodicals Griffiths founded continued long after his death: the St. James's Chronicle (1761-1866) and, most famously, the Monthly Review (1749-1845), the first and for nearly half a century the most important British literary review.
Grove, Henry, 1684-1738 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Clergyman and conduct and theological writer, Grove contributed as well to Joseph Addison's Spectator. [MW]
Guarini, Battista, 1538-1612 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, dramatist, and critic. Guarini's pastoral tragicomedy Il Pastor Fido (1590; translated as Il pastor fido; or The Faithful Shepherd, 1602) was one of the most famous plays of the seventeenth century. [MW]
Guido—
See Reni, Guido. [MW]
Haller, Albrecht von, 1708-1777 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Swiss physiologist, poet, and romance writer, whose scientific work did much to establish the reputation of the recently founded University of Göttingen. He translated Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9) into German. [MW]
Hamilton, Anthony, Count, 1646-1720 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known for his Memoires de la vie du comte de Grammont (1715). [vw]
Hamilton, Douglas Hamilton, Duke of, 1756-1799 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Second son of Elizabeth Campbell, duchess of Hamilton and Argyll. His older brother James having died at the age of fourteen, Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton and 5th Duke of Brandon, also inherited the title Baron Hamilton of Hameldon upon the death of his mother. He lived in Europe between 1772 and 1776 under the tutelage of Dr. John Moore. He was a patron of Moore's son, the future Sir John Moore. [RD]
Hamilton, Elizabeth, 1758-1816 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Many, including Hays herself, believed that Hamilton composed the anonymously published Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800) to satirize London's radical circle in general, and author Mary Hays in particular. Hamilton's other novels include Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah (1796) and The Cottagers of Glenburnie (1808). She also authored several biographies, including Memoirs of the Life of Agrippina, Wife of Germanicus (1804). She was respected as well for her educational and conduct literature, the most prominent of which are her Letters on the Principles of Education (1801) and Letters Addressed to the Daughter of a Nobleman (1806). [MW]
Hamilton, James George Hamilton, Duke of, 1755-1769 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
First son of Elizabeth Campbell, duchess of Hamilton and Argyll. James died from an illness in 1769 at the age of fourteen. [RD]
Handel, George Frideric, 1685-1759 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
German composer who emigrated to London, Handel was a prolific and much loved author of well over 100 operas, oratorios, concertos, and other musical pieces, including his most famous work, Messiah (1742). An extremely abbreviated list of other major works includes Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (1713), Water Music (1717), Acis and Galatea (1718), The Harmonious Blacksmith (1720), Giulio Cesare (1724), Tamerlano (1724), Zadok the Priest (1727), Alcina (1735), Alexander's Feast (1736), Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739), Saul (1739), Israel in Egypt (1739), Semele (1743), Hercules (1745), and Fireworks Music (1749). [MW]
Hanmer, Thomas, Sir, 1677-1746 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known mostly for his political career, Hanmer also made a few minor contributions to the field of literature. [MW]
Harley, Robert—
See Oxford, Robert Harley, Earl of, 1661-1724. [MW]
Harmodius—
Ancient writer whose work is known through later quotations rather than through surviving texts. [MW]
Harrington, James, 1611-1677 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Political philosopher James Harrington authored The Common-wealth of Oceana (1656), in which he promotes his ideas on the ideal design of a republic. [MW]
Hartley, David, 1705-1757 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
In his Observations on Man, his Frame, his Duty, and his Expectations (1749), physician David Hartley expounded a physiological theory of "vibrations" to explain his conviction that the moral sense was not inborn, but rather a consequence of the association of ideas. Particularly after his work was popularized by Joseph Priestley in his abridgment Hartley's Theory of the Human Mind on the Principle of the Association of Ideas (1775), Hartley's ideas exerted broad influence on literature, philosophy, medicine, psychology, and issues such as education and reform. [MW]
Hawkesworth, John, 1715?-1773 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A schoolmaster, poet, dramatist, novelist, and periodical editor, Hawkesworth had almost no formal education. His literary career began first with poetry, some of which was published in the Gentleman’s Magazine, where he later worked as editor. His stage productions include: Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosias: A Comedy, adapted from John Dryden (1756); Oroonoko: A Tragedy, adapted from Thomas Southerne, (1759); Zimri: An Oratorio (music by Thomas Stanley) (1760); Edgar and Emmeline: A Fairy Tale (1761); and The Fall of Egypt: An Oratorio (music by Thomas Stanley) (1774). Almoran and Hamet: An Oriental Tale, his only novel, was published anonymously in 1761. He published a translation of Fénelon'sThe Adventures of Telemachus in 1768. Hawkesworth incorporated a noteworthy biographical sketch of Jonathan Swift to his edition of The Works of Jonathan Swift ... with Some Account of the Author's Life and Notes Historical and Explanatory (1754-1765), and he edited as well a collection of accounts of recent south sea exploratory voyages, An Account of the Voyages undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere ... by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour (1773). His periodical The Adventurer (1753, 1754) was modeled on Samuel Johnson's Rambler. It’s combination of essays, Eastern tales, and anecdotes of English life, about half of which were authored by Hawkesworth, proved highly popular. [MW]
Haywood, Eliza Fowler, 1693?-1756 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Among the better-known productions of the almost inexhaustible actor and writer Eliza Haywood are the novels Love in Excess; or, The Fatal Enquiry (1719-1720), The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1751), and The Invisible Spy (1755). Her Anti-Pamela; or, Feign'd Innocence Detected, in a Series of Syrena's Adventures (1741) satirized Samuel Richardson's popular novel. Haywood penned a large number of plays as well, and conducted an essay periodical loosely modeled on Joseph Addison's Spectator which she called Female Spectator (1744-1746). After that paper ended, she followed it for a few months by another, the Parrot (1746), a name she had already used for a periodical during 1728. She was among the many writers attacked by Alexander Pope in The Dunciad. [MW]
Hays, Mary, 1759 or 60-1843 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A close friend of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin, feminist, philosopher, biographer, historian, literary critic, novelist, and educational writer Mary Hays was among the most radical of British women writers during the 1790s. Her career as an intellectual began with her publication of Cursory Remarks on an Enquiry into the Expediency and Propriety of Public or Social Worship: Inscribed to Gilbert Wakefield (1791), which she published under the pseudonym Eusebia. Next followed a collection for the improvement of young women, Letters and Essays, Moral and Miscellaneous (1793), a collaborative work with her sister Elizabeth. Hays published two major novels, Memoirs of Emma Courtney (1796), drawn substantially from autobiography, and The Victim of Prejudice (1799), and three lesser novels, Harry Clinton (1804), The Brothers; or, Consequences (1815), and Family Annals; or, The Sisters (1817). Her anonymously published Appeal to the Men of Great Britain in Behalf of Women (1798) is her most important feminist statement, but her views on the condition of women are evident in much of her work, including her novels and her biographical series such as Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of all Ages and Countries (1803) and Memoirs of Queens (1821). Hays was brought in to complete History of England, from the Earliest Records, to the Peace of Amiens: In a Series of Letters to a Young Lady at School (1806), which Charlotte Smith had begun but become too ill to continue. Hays contributed at least some novel reviews to the Analytical Review while Wollstonecraft was a regular contributor, and it is believed she may have edited the novels section of the periodical for a few months as well. [MW]
Hazelrig, Sir Arthur—
Sir Arthur Hesilrige, 7th Baronet, d. 1763 (Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage) presided over the demise Noseley Hall, the family seat. The story of Hesilrige and his wife Hannah was one of several suggested as the original for Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Heliodorus, of Emesa [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Born in Emesa in Syria, author Heliodorus wrote The Æthiopica or Theagenes and Charicleia in the third or fourth century CE. He became Bishop of Tricca or Trieca in Thessaly. [MW]
Henry IV, King of France, 1553-1610 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of Navarre from 1572 and of France from 1589, Henry IV was known almost as much for his numerous love affairs as for his political effectiveness during a period of extreme hostility and widespread violence between Catholics and Protestants. [MW]
Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A representative of the Tudor line and father to Elizabeth I, Henry became king in 1509. He led the separation of the Church of England from papal authority and the Roman Catholic church. A patron of the arts, he was a capable musician and poet in his own right. [MW]
Heracles (Greek) or Hercules (Latin)—
Hero known for his strength, stamina, and courage, and particularly for his accomplishment of a series of extraordinary labors. [MW]
Herbert, Mary, Countess of Pembroke—
See Pembroke, Mary Sidney Herbert [MW]
Herodian (Library of Congress Name Authority)‚
A Greek historian who lived c. 170 to c. 240. He wrote History of the Roman Empire since Marcus Aurelius, which was published after the year 240. [RD]
Hesiod [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c. 700 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Major works of this early Greek poet include Theogeny, Works and Days, and, more questionably, Shield of Heracles. [MW]
Mr. Hickman—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
Highmore, Joseph, 1692-1780 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
British portrait and historical painter and painting theorist. His wife Susanna (1689/90-1750 [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]) was a poet. [MW]
Highmore, Miss Susanna—
See Dunscombe, Susanna. [MW]
Hildesley, Mark, 1698-1772 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Bishop of Sodor and Man. With his predecessor Thomas Wilson he translated the Bible into Manx. [MW]
Hill, Aaron, 1685-1750 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A moderately successful playwright, theater manager, and essayist, Hill was one of Alexander Pope's targets in the Dunciad. [MW]
Hill, John, 1714?-1775 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Also known as Sir John Hill, he was a notable botanist, writer, and journalist. Many of his publications are collected in The letters and papers of Sir John Hill, 1714-1775 (1982). Between the years of 1752 and 1753, Hill engaged in a "paper war" with rival authors including Tobias Smollet and Henry Fielding. In particular, The Story of Elizabeth Canning Considered (1753) was hostile to Canning and Fielding, arguing in favor of the perjury verdict that resulted in Canning's transportation to Connecticut.[RD] and [MW]
Hoadly, Dr. (Benjamin), 1706-1757 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Physician and researcher into electricity, Hoadly authored one enormously popular dramatic comedy, The Suspicious Husband (1747). [MW]
Hogarth, William, 1697-1764 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
English painter and engraver, Hogarth produced numerous popular satirical series, including The March to Finchley, A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress, and Marriage A-la-Mode. [RD]
Holcroft, Thomas, 1745-1809 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Radical journalist, critic, novelist, translator, and playwright; Holcroft's two most important novels include Anna St. Ives (1792), a novel that reworks plot and character elements of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9) to shape a response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), and The Adventures of Hugh Trevor (1794), which offers a more general satire on the established order. The majority of his plays were comedies, though later work includes the dark, unsuccessful drama, The Inquisitor (1798). A few other highlights include Alwyn; or, The Gentleman Comedian (1780), Duplicity (1781), Seduction (1787), The School for Arrogance (1791), The Road to Ruin (1792), his most popular piece, The Deserted Daughter (1795), and He's Much to Blame (1798). [MW]
Holland, Henry Fox, Baron, 1705-1774 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
First Baron Holland of Foxley and notable eighteenth-century British politician. He attended Eton College in 1775 where he became acquainted with Henry Fielding. [RD]
Home, John, 1722-1808 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scottish poet, dramatist, historian, and clergyman. Douglas, his best remembered drama, opened in 1756. His The History of the Rebellion in the Year 1745 appeared in 1802. [MW]
Homer [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Greek poet reputed to be the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Considered during the eighteenth century to be the paradigmatic example of the inspired and primitive bardic poet, Homer became the single most influential poet of all time. [MW]
Honorius, Flavius, Emperor of Rome, 384-423 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Younger brother of Arcadius, Emperor of the East, Honorius ruled the western half of the Roman empire. [MW]
Horace [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); 65 B.C.-8 B.C (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
A poet known for his satires, odes, and verse epistles, Horace also authored Ars Poetica (c. 19 B.C.), a major landmark in the history of literary criticism and theory. [MW]
Howard, John, 1726-1790 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A highly respected Dissenting hospital and prison reformer. [MW]
Miss Anna Howe—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
Huet, Pierre-Daniel, 1630-1721 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scholar, skeptical philosopher, and bishop of Avranches. [MW]
Hughes, John, 1677-1720 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright, poet, librettist, translator, editor, and critic; Hughes's plays include Amalasont, Queen of the Goths (possibly c. 1697-1700), Calypso and Telemachus (1712), Apollo and Daphne (1716), and The Siege of Damascus (1720). [MW]
Hume, David, 1711-1776 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Noted as a philosopher and historian, Hume was among those who exerted the most powerful and lasting influences on eighteenth-century thought. His best-known publications include A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Essays, Moral and Political (1741), Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding (1748), An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, 4 volumes (1753), and The History of Great Britain (1754-1762). [MW]
Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, Countess of, 1707-1791 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Occasional writer on religious subjects. [MW]
Hutcheson, Francis, 1694-1746 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scottish moral philosopher who further developed the ideas of Shaftesbury. [MW]
Inchbald, Mrs., 1753-1821 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
One of the most successful among Romantic-era women authors, Elizabeth Inchbald did only moderately well in her early career as an actress, but went on to produce numerous theatrical adaptations and original plays, two novels (A Simple Story, 1791, and Nature and Art, 1796), and a substantial body of literary criticism, most of which appeared as prefaces to the plays included in The British Theatre (1806-1808). Her most noteworthy theatrical pieces include her first play, A Mogul Tale (1784); I'll Tell You What! (1785); Such Things Are (1787), a piece exposing social ills and celebrating reformer John Howard; The Child of Nature (1788); Every One Has His Fault (1793); Wives as They Were, and Maids as They Are (1797); Lovers' Vows (1798), the play that threw the Bertram family into turmoil in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, which was Inchbald's adaptation of Das Kind der Liebe by August Friedrich von Kotzebue; and To Marry, or Not to Marry (1805). She arranged herself for the printing of her drama of the St. Bartholomew's day massacre of 1572, The Massacre (1792), but complied with friends' advice to suppress it for its potentially inflammatory parallels to the French revolution. [MW]
James I, King of Scotland, 1394-1437 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
James I of Scotland spent much of his early life as a prisoner of the English, then part of the household of Henry V. He returned to Scotland and was crowned in 1424. Thereafter he exercised a strong, even despotic, royal hand in a country that had long been dominated by semi-autonomous lords, meanwhile extending his international influence through both marital alliances and successful warfare. His methods compromised Scottish internal stability, however, and in a February 1437 coup attempt he was attacked, cornered, and, after a desperate fight, killed.
James I, King of England, 1566-1625 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Son of Mary, Queen of Scots, King James VI of Scotland became King of England in 1603 with the death of Elizabeth I. [MW]
James II, King of England, 1633-1701—
[James VII of Scotland]- Brother to Charles II, James succeeded him to the throne in 1685. A convert to Catholicism, he made sweeping legal decisions consolidating royal power and extending tolerance to and empowering Catholics, leading to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which placed the Dutch Protestant William of Orange on the British throne. [MW]
Mrs. Jervis—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Mrs. Jewkes—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Saint John—
Believed to have authored the biblical book of Revelation while in exile on the island of Patmos, Saint John is by some also regarded as the same apostle of Jesus credited with the gospel of John. [MW]
John Bull—
A fictional personification of English character originating in a series of pamphlets by John Arbuthnot that later figures in satires, caricatures, and cartoons. [MW]
Johnson, Joseph, 1738-1809 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Frequently described as radical or at least progressive, eighteenth-century bookseller and publisher Joseph Johnson made important contributions to the careers of several women critics, including Anna Letitia Barbauld, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Mary Hays, all of whom contributed to his literary review, the Analytical Review, which ran from 1788 to 1799. Johnson also published creative work by all three of these writers among many others. [MW]
Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Literary biographer, critic, fiction writer, moralist, and poet, Samuel Johnson was one of the two or three most important figures in eighteenth-century British literary history. His most notable poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), makes its content clear in its title. His fable Rasselas, first published under the title The Prince of Abissinia (1759), narrates the story of the residents of a fictional Happy Valley, who enjoy gratification of all wants, but nevertheless find themselves discontented because they have nothing to long or hope for and so no outlet to exercise imagination. He is also known for his allegorical moral tale Vision of Theodore(1748). His two essay periodicals, The Rambler (1750-1752) and The Idler (1758-1760), were well received, though not as popular as predecessors such as Joseph Addison's Spectator. Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755), a massive undertaking for a single researcher, remained the standard for a century after its publication. Johnson's own commentary in The Plays of Shakespeare (1765) was later supplemented with the remarks of George Steevens (1773) to become one of the landmarks in the history of Shakespeare criticism. But Johnson's most important contribution to criticism is his Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets (1779-81), better known as The Lives of the Poets.
Johnstone, Charles, 1719?-1800? (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a Guinea (1760-65). [MW]
Jonas, Philip—
A conjurer or magician specializing in card tricks who was active during the mid to late eighteenth century in London. He was challenged briefly by a second Mr. Jonas in 1769, and for a time advertised himself as "the famous Jonas (who is the real and only Mr. Jonas)." A third Mr. Jonas performed under royal patronage at Bath as late as 1814. [MW]
Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
German philospher who marked the transition from the Enlightenment to the nineteenth century. His Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime was published in 1764 as Beobachtungen über das Gefühl des Schönen und Erhabenen. Among his major works that followed, the Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781; translated as Critique of Pure Reason, 1855) established his fame when its ideas were condensed and reformulated in Prolegomena zu einer jeden künftigen Metaphysik (1783; translated as Prolegomena to Every Future Metaphysic, 1819). Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (1788; Critique of Practical Reason) and Kritik der Urteilskraft (1790; Critique of Judgement) then followed. Kant also published a number of essays in the Berliner Monatsschrift. [vw] and [MW}
Kelly, Hugh, 1739-1777 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An English dramatist, Kelly is best known for his sentimental comedy, False Delicacy (1768). Also a periodical essayist, Kelly assisted Charlotte Lennox with her popular Lady's Museum (1760-1). [VW and MW]
Klinger, Friedrich Maximilian, 1752-1831 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Klinger's play Sturm und Drang (1776) gave the title to the eighteenth-century German literary movement of the same name. [MW]
Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, 1724-1803 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Germany's first major poet of the eighteenth-century, Klopstock was a significant influence on the Sturm und Drang poetic movement to follow. A few of his most important works include The Messiah (1748-1773); a number of religiously inspired stage tragedies, especially The Death of Adam (1757), Solomon (1764), and David (1772); and a large body of shorter poetry. His essay, "On Divine Poetry," written as an introduction to The Messiah, inaugurates a new critical concern with the emotional effects of poetry in its claim that a work of genius must "move the soul." [MW]
Klopstock, Margareta, 1728-1758 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Also known as Meta, the Danish wife of the poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was an esteemed literary intellectual whose letters charmed her contemporaries. [MW]
Knight, Samuel, approximately 1677-1746 (Library of Congress Name Authority)‚
Archdeacon of Berkshire from 1735 to 1746. [RD]
Knowles, Charles, Sir, 1704?-1777 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Rear-Admiral of Great Britain, Sir Charles Knowles famously and successfully sued Tobias Smollett for libel in 1761. [vw]
Knowles, Mary, 1733-1807 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Born Mary Morris, Knowles married physician Thomas Knowles. A poet, friend of Samuel Johnson, and a gifted conversationalist, Knowles published her "Dialogue between Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Knowles" in the Gentleman's Magazine in June 1971. [RD] and [MW]
Kock, Paul de, 1793-1871 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known for racy novels about sophisticated Parisian life, such as Georgette (1820), Gustave, ou le Mauvais Sujet (1821), Mon voisin Raymond (1822), and L'Amant de lune (1847). [MW]
La Fayette, Madame de (Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne), 1634-1693 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Her La Princesse de Clèves (1678) was initially believed to have been written by a man, with Bishop Huet and Jean Regnauld de Segrais among those proposed as candidates for author. [MW]
Lafontaine, August Heinrich Julius, 1758-1831 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
German author of novels and moral tales, August Lafontaine was one of the most popular writers of his time. [MW]
La Fontaine, Jean de, 1621-1695 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
La Fontaine's poetic Fables were drawn from eastern and classical sources. He updated the Cupid and Psyche story in Les Amours de Psiché et de Cupidon (1669). [MW]
Lake School—
The poets who for a time lived and collaborated in the northern English lake district, including William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey. [MW]
Lambard, Lady—
Jane, née Fowler (b. 1695), wife of Sir Multon Lambard (1675-1758), of Seven Oaks in Kent. [MW]
L. E. L. (Letitia Elizabeth Landon), 1802-1838 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A celebrity sensation for her best-selling poetry and the erotic scandal that is inextricable from her fame, Letitia Landon, better known as L. E. L., enjoyed a wide and appreciative audience for her poetry and literary essays. Less known to her readers and still often unsung today was her periodical editing work and anonymous reviewing, especially for the Literary Gazette, edited by Landon's literary mentor and eventual lover, William Jerdan. In addition, Landon made momentous contributions to the popular early-Victorian gift annuals, authoring and editing entire volumes of some of the more successful and contributing poetry to many others. Landon first began writing poetry for her own enjoyment, but when her family found itself in financial crisis, Landon's mother showed some poems to Jerdan, who lived nearby. First publishing only in the Literary Gazette, Landon brought out her debut volume of poetry, The Fate of Adelaide, A Swiss Romantic Tale; and Other Poems in 1821. Though only moderately successful, this volume was soon followed by The Improvisatrice; and Other Poems (1824), which quickly went into several editions. This success coupled with the death of her father the same year placed Landon as the main financial support for both her mother and her brother. She continued regular contributions to the Literary Gazette and other periodicals, especially the New Monthly Magazine, meanwhile bringing out a number of other poetry volumes, including The Troubadour; Catalogue of Pictures, and Historical Sketches (1825), The Golden Violet, with its Tales of Romance and Chivalry; and Other Poems (1827), The Venetian Bracelet, The Lost Pleiad, A History of the Lyre, and Other Poems (1829), and The Vow of the Peacock, and Other Poems (1835). Landon also authored three novels, Romance and Reality (1831), Francesca Carrara (1834), and Ethel Churchill; or The Two Brides (1837). She wrote a play, several translations, and some children’s literature as well. Landon died rather mysteriously shortly after her marriage to George Maclean, governor of the Cape Coast settlement on the African Gold Coast. The inquest officially assigned the cause of death to accidental prussic acid poisoning, but Landon’s romantic public image and the stormy course of her relationship with Maclean have left doubts about the verdict to this day.
Latimer, Hugh, 1485?-1555 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Made Bishop of Worcester under Henry VIII, Latimer was martyred for his Protestant views by Mary, Queen of Scots [MW]
Lavater, Johann Caspar, 1741-1801 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Founder of the pseudo-sciences of physiognomy and animal magnetism, Lavater was also known for his Vermischte unphysiognomische Regeln zur Selbst- und Menschenkenntniß (1787), translated by Henry Fuseli as Aphorisms on Man (1788). [MW]
Lauderdale, James Maitland, Earl of, 1759-1839 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Politician, political economist, and eighth earl of Lauderdale. He was was Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland and represented Scotland in the House of Lords. [RD]
Leake, James, -1764 (Library of Congress Name Authority); 1686-1764 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Brother to Samuel Richardson's second wife, Elizabeth, and Bath's most important bookseller, James Leake was Richardson's longtime friend. [MW]
Lee, Nathaniel, 1653?-1692 —
A leading tragic dramatist in his time and an occasional collaborator with John Dryden, Lee was an early leader in the dramatic use of blank verse. He is known as well for the violent content of some of his work. His plays include The Tragedy of Nero, Emperour of Rome (1674), Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow (1675), Gloriana, or the Court of Augustus Caesar (1676), The Rival Queens, or the Death of Alexander the Great (1677), Mithridates King of Pontus (1678), Oedipus (with John Dryden, 1678), Caesar Borgia; Son of Pope Alexander the Sixth (1679), Theodosius: or, The Force of Love (1680), Lucius Junius Brutus; Father of his Country (1680), The Duke of Guise (with John Dryden, 1682), The Princess of Cleve (1683), Constantine the Great (1683), and The Massacre of Paris (1689). [MW]
Le Fevre, John—
Often mentioned friend of Samuel Richardson. [MW]
Le Sage, Alain René, 1668-1747 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French novelist Alain Le Sage was also a prolific playwright. His major works include the Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane (1715), Le Diable Boiteux (1707), Le Bachelier de Salamanque (1736), and Histoire de Guzman d'Alfarache (1732), an adaptation of Vita del Picaro Guzman d‘Alfarache (1599-1604), by Mateo Alemán. [MW]
Le Tourneur, P. (Pierre), 1736-1788 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French translator of English poetry, particularly the works of Shakespeare, Young, Johnson, and Macpherson. [MW]
Lennox, Charlotte, ca. 1729-1804 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Born Charlotte Ramsay, Lennox is known as a versatile woman of letters, part of the eighteenth-century Bluestocking circle and friend to numerous other literary luminaries such as Samuel Richardson, Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, and Fanny Burney. She is best remembered for her 1752 novel The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella, an update and parody of Cervantes's Don Quixote, though in the case of The Female Quixote the heroine's delusions are set in motion by her voluminous reading of recent French fiction. It was preceded by The Life of Harriot Stuart (1751), Lennox's first novel, and by Poems on Several Occasions, Written by a Young Lady (1747), her first publication. Her next novel, Henrietta (1758), took a story by Marivaux for its model. It was popular enough that Lennox adapteded it for the stage as The Sister, but the play survived only one performance in 1769. Meanwhile, Lennox began a career of editing and translating, including Shakespear Illustrated (1753-1754), which collects novels and stories from which Shakespeare drew many of his plots. She also produced an essay periodical, the Lady's Museum (1760-1) under the pseudonym "The Trifler". Though not the only woman writer of this time to run a periodical, she was something of an innovator, partly because with a title page blazoning "by the author of The Female Quixote" anonymity was a mere fiction, and partly for use of the forum to serialize her next novel, Sophia (1762), which appeared in the Lady's Museum under the title "The History of Harriot and Sophia" from 1760-1. Lennox's play Old City Manners (1775) was much more successful than her previous drama. Her final and far less successful novel Euphemia (1790) was her first attempt at the epistolary form. Lennox completed a number of translations, including Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully (1751), Voltaire's The Age of Louis XIV (1752), The Memoirs of the Countess of Berci (1756), Memoirs for the History of Madame de Maintenon and of the Last Age (1757), The Greek Theatre of Father Brumoy (1759), and Meditations and Penitential Prayers by the Duchess de la Vallière (1774). [MW]
Lintot, Catherine, 1733-1816 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
After inheriting her father's bookselling business, Lintot went into partnership with Samuel Richardson and withdrew from active management. She married Henry Fletcher (Fletcher, Henry, 1727?-1807 [Library of Congress Name Authority]), who was awarded a baronetcy in 1782. [MW]
Lobb, Samuel, d. 1760 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A clergyman and friend to Samuel Richardson. He authored The Benevolence Incumbent on Us as Men and Christians (1746). [MW]
Lobo, Jerónimo, 1596-1678 (Library of Congress Name Authority) —
A Jesuit priest who began missionary work in Abyssinia in 1625. Samuel Johnson's translated account of his travels, A Visit to Abyssinia was published in 1735. [vw]
Locke, John, 1632-1704 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) and Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) both exerted a profound influence on educational and psychological theory during the eighteenth century and beyond. He argues against absolute monarchy in favor of government based on civil contract in Two Treatises of Government (1690). Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) also influenced the views on childrearing and education of a number of his eighteenth-century successors. He published a long list of additional works on topics such as government, economics, human psychology, and religion. [MW]
Longinus, 1st cent. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Unidentified Greek author of On the Sublime, which was for a time thought to be the work of rhetoretician and philosopher Cassius Longinus, c. 213-273. After his text was translated into French by Boileau in 1674, it become one of the central works in eighteenth-century aesthetic theory. [MW]
Longus [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Daphnis and Chloe by Longus dates from the mid-third century CE. The English language edition by George Thornley and J.M. Edmonds (1935) opens its introduction explaining, "Nothing is known of the author of the Pastoralia. He describes Mytilene as if he knew it well, and he mentions the peculiarities of the Lesbian vine. He may have been a Lesbian, but such local colouring need not have been gathered on the spot, nor if so, by a native. His style and language are Graeco-Roman rather than Hellenistic; he probably knew Vergil's Bucolics; like Strabo and Lucian he writes in Greek and yet bears a Roman name. Till the diggers discover a dated papyrus-fragment, we can say provisionally that he may have written as early as the beginning of the second century after Christ, probably not much later than the beginning of the third." [MW]
Lothario—
Character in Nicholas Rowe's The Fair Penitent (1703), whose name became a byword for a cavalier seducer. [MW]
Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Often called "The Sun King," Louis XIV presided over a period of great military success and artistic and architectural achievement. He was responsible for the construction of the Palace of Versailles, an architectural marvel. [MW]
Louis XVI, King of France, 1754-1793 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
King of France beginning 1774, Louis XVI was guillotined by the French Revolutionary National Convention in 1793. His failed efforts to reform the French aristocracy undermined his popularity, and a debt crisis consequent on his support for the North American colonists in their war for independence from Britain as well as an extravagant court left him vulnerable to the hostility of the French middle and lower classes, and his palace was stormed by a revolutionary mob in 1789.
Louvet de Couvray, Jean-Baptiste, 1760-1797 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Louvet authored the licentious novel Les Amours du Chevalier de Faublas (1786-91). [MW]
Lovelace—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). A deceptively attractive but vicious seducer and rapist, Lovelace became a byword for a licentious and predatory aristocrat. [MW]
Widow Lovick—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
Lucas, Richard, 1648-1715 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Lucas authored a number of theological works, the most famous being An Enquiry after Happiness, the first volume of which appeared in 1685, and Practical Christianity (1677). [MW]
Lucian—
See Apuleius, Lucius. [MW]
Luther, Martin, 1483-1546 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The German theologian whose challenges to church practice formed the foundation of the Protestant Reformation. [MW]
Lyttelton, George Lyttelton, Baron, 1709-1773 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prominent Whig politician and author, George Lyttelton was satirized by author Tobias Smollett in his novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751). He was also a friend of notable writers of his day including Alexander Pope and Henry Fielding. His most famous satirical work, Dialogues of the Dead was published in 1760.[VW][RD]
Mackenzie, Henry, 1745-1831 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Two of Mackenzie's novels, The Man of Feeling (1771) and Julia de Roubigné (1777) rank in the forefront of eighteenth-century literature of sensibility. Mackenzie also published The Man of the World (1773) and edited two periodicals, The Mirror and The Lounger. [MW]
Macpherson, James, 1736-1796 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet and historian James Macpherson is best known for his “translations” of the Gaelic epic poems by the fictitious ancient bard Ossian. Though the authenticity of these poems came under attack almost immediately, they nevertheless exerted a powerful influence on the British Romantic literature that soon followed. Born in a small town in the Scottish highlands, Macpherson began his career collecting, then translating Gaelic verse, and was encouraged by literary antiquarian Hugh Blair to publish some of these efforts as Fragments of Ancient Poetry, Collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and Translated from the Galic or Erse Language (1760). Supported by funds contributed in response to this publication, Macpherson set out to search for ancient Celtic poetry, returning with the alleged third century epics Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books: Together with Several Other Poems (1761) and Temora, an Ancient Epic Poem, in Eight Books: Together with Several Other Poems (1763), both professedly "Composed by Ossian, the Son of Fingal" and translated by Macpherson. The authenticity of Macpherson’s Celtic works was vehemently debated during his lifetime, but only after his death was it determined that the poems consisted partly of some Gaelic verse dating as far back as the fifteenth century and partly of Macpherson’s own material. Macpherson’s historiography and political writing includes An Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland (1771); The History of Great Britain from the Restoration to the Accession of the House of Hannover (1775); The Rights of Great Britain Asserted against the Claims of America: Being an Answer to the Declaration of the General Congress (1776); Original Papers relative to Tanjore (1777), also possibly a Macpherson forgery; A Short History of the Opposition during the Last Session of Parliament (1779); and The History and Management of the East-India Company, from its Origin in 1600 to the Present Times (1779).
Manley, Mrs. (Mary de la Rivière), 1663-1724 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of the satirical roman a clef The New Atalantis (1709), Manley was also well-known as a playwright. Her Secret Memoirs and Manners of Several Persons of Quality (1709) resulted in her arrest for libel. [MW]
Map, Walter, fl. 1200 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of a miscellany known as De nugis curialium. [MW]
Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121-180 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Roman emperor and philosopher; born 26 April 121 in Rome, son of Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla; originally named M. Annius Verus; became emperor 3 July 161, with name M. Aurelius Antoninus Augustus; at first joint ruler with Lucius Verus; upon Verus's death in 169, Marcus Aurelius ruled alone; he died on a military campaign in Viminacium and Sirmium on 17 March 180. Also known as Antoninus, author of Meditations. [RD]
Marguerite, Queen, consort of Henry II, King of Navarre, 1492-1549 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron was published posthumously in 1558-59 with only seventy-two tales complete. [MW]
Marius, Gaius, ca. 157-86 B.C. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Roman general and consul. [MW]
Marivaux, Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de, 1688-1763 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Especially for his unfinished La Vie de Marianne (1731-41), Marivaux is often regarded as anticipating the novels of sensibility by Samuel Richardson. Marivaux also authored Le Paysan Parvenu (1734–35). [MW]
Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of, 1650-1722 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Consequential general and statesman whose political career was marked by dramatic swings between favor and disfavor during the volatile shifts in political power and perspective of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. [MW]
Marmontel, Jean François, 1723-1799 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Marmontel's Bélisaire (1765) is a philosophical novel that advocates religious tolerance. Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'empire du Pérou (1777) denounces the fanaticism of the conquistadors. [MW]
Martin, Henry, d. 1721 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A British customs official, Martin (or Martyn) is described by Richard Steele as a chief contributor to the Spectator. [MW]
Martin, Martin, d. 1719 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (1703). [MW]
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542-1587 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Forced to flee to England after being deposed from rule over a fractious Scotland, the great niece of Henry VIII of England and mother of James I of England was beheaded as a threat to the throne of her distant cousin, Elizabeth I. [MW]
Massinger, Philip, 1583-1640 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prolific Jacobean dramatist, frequent collaborator with John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, and others. Among his many dramas, some of the more important include The Fatal Dowry (c. 1617-1619), Sir John van Olden Barnavelt (1619), The Custom of the Country (c. 1619), The Maid of Honour (c. 1621-1622), The Duke of Milan (c. 1621-1622), The Bondman (1623), The Renegado (1624), The Parliament of Love (1624), The Unnatural Combat (c. 1624-1625), A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625), The Roman Actor (1626), Believe As You List (1631), The Emperor of the East (1631), The City Madam (1632), A Very Woman (1634), and The Bashful Lover (1636). [MW]
Memnon—
In Greek myth, King of the Ethiopians, and slayer of Achilles in the Trojan War. The colossi of Memnon consist of two huge statues on the Nile near Luxor. One of them was reputed to "sing" at dawn, probably in consequence of an earthquake during the first century producing fissures through which air currents moved, sometimes producing a sound. [MW]
Menippus, of Gadara [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Cynic philosopher of the third century B.C. [MW]
Merlin—
Legendary wizard from the Arthurian legends. [MW]
Merlin, John Joseph, 1735-1803 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Belgian born Merlin was known in eighteenth-century London for the ingenius devices exhibited at Merlin's Mechanical Museum, including complex mechanical toys and household devices, sickroom supplies such as an innovative wheelchair and an adjustable wheeled bed, and musical instruments both whimsical and practical. Merlin's best known patron would probably have been Dr. Burney, who commissioned from him a pianoforte with an extended keyboard for playing duets. [MW]
Miller, Philip, 1691-1771 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The eighteenth century's most noted horticulturist, Miller was the author of several important works on gardening, the most notable of which were The Gardeners Kalendar (1731) and The Gardener's Dictionary (1732), both of which were updated for numerous additional editions. [MW]
Milner, John, 1718-1779 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Founder of the Peckham Academy and author of A Practical Grammar of the Greek Tongue (1740). Milner also worked as a doctor of chemistry at the Peckham Academy where he instructed Oliver Goldsmith. [vw]
Milton, John, 1608-1674 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
By the late eighteenth century Milton was regarded as one of Britain's most important literary figures, second only to Shakespeare. His most influential poetic works included his masque Comus (1637), "Lycidas" (1638), "L'Allegro" (1745) and "Il Penseroso" (1745), Paradise Lost (1667), Paradise Regained (1671), and Samson Agonistes (1671). In addition, his sonnets offered inspiration to the Romantic period sonnet revival. Among his prose works, Areopagitica (1644), originally written as a speech, defends freedom of the press. [MW]
Molière, 1622-1673 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Pseudonym of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. An actor and director as well, Molière is probably the best known playwright in the history of French drama. Some of his most important works include Les Précieuses ridicules (1660, The Affected Young Ladies), Sganarelle, ou Le Cocu imaginaire (1660, The Imaginary Cuckold), L'École des maris (1661, The School for Husbands), Le Misantrope (1666, The Misanthrope), L'École des femmes (1663, The School for Wives), La Critique de L'École des femmes (1663, Critique of The School for Wives), Le Mariage forcé (1664, The Forced Marriage), Le Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur (1669, Tartuffe, or The Impostor), L'Avare (1669, The Miser), and George Dandin, ou Le Mari confondu (1669, Georges Dandin, or The Defeated Husband). [MW]
Monimia—
The orphan character in Otway's The Orphan. She dies tragically, poisoning herself out of guilt over the consequences of romantic entanglements that constitute the play's plot. [MW]
Monmouth, James Scott, Duke of, 1649-1685 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Illegitimate son of Charles II, he was executed for his role in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, which attempted to overthrow James II. [MW]
Montagu, Mrs. (Elizabeth), 1720-1800 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Wealthy literary hostess, critic, patron of the literary arts, and head of the Bluestocking Circle of women intellectuals, Montagu presided for many years over salon-style parties famed for their intellectual vivacity. A landmark in literary criticism by women, her Essay on the Writing and Genius of Shakespeare (1769) refuted Voltaire's critique of the poet. As a literary patron, she was especially generous to Elizabeth Carter, on whom she bestowed an annuity. [MW]
Montagu, Mary Wortley, Lady, 1689-1762 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though the subject of lampoon in the verse of Alexander Pope, Lady Montagu was respected by many of her contemporaries for her poetry, which she circulated among a coterie that included a number of the period's notable literary figures. She is best remembered today, however, for her letters, particularly the vivid accounts of her travels in Turkey after her husband's appointment as ambassador to Constantinople. In addition, after being introduced to Turkish methods of smallpox inoculation, she worked to introduce the practice in England. [MW]
Montalvo—
See Rodríguez de Montalvo. [MW]
Monthly Review, 1749-1845—
A London periodical established in 1749. Its focus on review and criticism began a new periodical tradition. It was founded by Ralph Griffiths and featured works by Oliver Goldsmith. Publications of the review stopped in 1845. [vw]
Montolieu, Isabelle de, 1751-1832 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Montolieu authored Caroline de Lichtfeld (1786). [MW]
Moody, Elizabeth, 1737-1814 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Moore, Edward, 1712-1757 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Moore's most significant works include the plays The Foundling (1748) and The Gamester (1753) as well as the periodical The World (1753-6). [MW]
Moore, John, 1729-1802 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scottish physician and author. Titles by the author include Zeluco (1789) — his most popular novel —, A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, and Germany (1779), Medical Sketches (1786), A View of Society and Manners in Italy (1787), A Journal during a Residence in France, from the Beginning of August to the Middle of December (1792), An Account of the most remarkable Events that happened at Paris, from that Time to the Death of the late King of France, Edward (1796), and Mordaunt (1800). [RD]
Moore, Sir John (1761-1809) (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Son of John Moore, the physician and novelist. Sir John Moore became famous in his own right for his successful military career. He died from an injury he sustained in the 1809 Battle of Corruna during the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. [RD]
Morais, Francisco de, ca. 1500-1572 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
This Portuguese author produced Palmerin de Inglaterra (Palmerin of England), a chivalric romance. [MW]
Colonel Morden—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9). [MW]
More, Hannah, 1745-1833 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The highly successful evangelical writer Hannah More was also a noted poet and playwright. Her poem The Bas Bleu (1786) commemorated Elizabeth Montagu's bluestocking circle, most of whom she knew well. Her most important plays included Percy (1778) and The Fatal Falsehood (1779). The abolitionist Slavery: A Poem appeared in 1788. She was best known for a collection of moral tales and instruction for the poor published as Cheap Repository Tracts (1795-98). Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799) contributed to the period's debates on the woman question. Her only novel, Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1808), was also one of her most popular works. [MW]
More, Thomas, Sir, Saint, 1478-1535 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Rhetorician and religious writer Sir Thomas More published Utopia in 1516. [MW]
Mulso, Hester—
See Hester Chapone. [MW]
Mulso, Mrs.—
See Mary Prescott. [MW]
Mulso, Thomas [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Brother of Hester Chapone, née Mulso, Thomas Mulso was author of Callistus; or, The man of fashion. And Sophronius; or, The country gentleman (1768). [MW]
Murphy, Arthur, 1727-1805 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prolific and popular Irish actor, playwright, and eventually barrister, Murphy also translated classical history and modern poetry and plays, contributed to and/or edited a number of journals, and authored biographies on Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, and David Garrick. A few of his more notable plays include The Englishman from Paris (1756), The Orphan of China (1759), and The Way to Keep Him (1760). Murphy also contributed drama criticism and political essays to a number of journals, including the Covent Garden Journal, the Gentleman's Magazine, the World, the London Chronicle, his own Gray's Inn Journal, which he edited and authored under the pseudonym Charles Ranger, Esq., and publications. He also published political journalism throughout his writing career. In 1762 he published The Works of Henry Fielding, Esq; with the Life of the Author. [RD and MW]
Murray, John, 1778-1843 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Son of the founder of the publishing house bearing his name. This John Murray was probably the most important among early nineteenth century British publishers, bringing out work by authors that included Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Walter Scott, Robert Southey, and many others. He helped establish and published the Quarterly Review and participated for a time in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. [MW]
Musäus, Johann Karl August, 1735-1787 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Musäus's stories were translated and published as Popular Tales of the Germans (1791) by Gothic novelist William Beckford. Musäus anonymously published Physiognomische Reisen, voran ein physiognomisch Tagebuch (1778-1779), a satire of the work of Johann Kaspar Lavater, founder of the pseudo-sciences of physiognomy and animal magnetism. Anne Plumptre translated the satire as Musaeus's Physiognomical Travels, Preceded by a Physiognomical Journal (1800). [MW]
Nairne, William, Sir, d. 1811 (Library of Congress Name Authority); baptized 1731 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
5th Baronet of Dunsinnan; a Scottish judge who became close enough to Samuel Johnson to accompany him during part of his Scottish travels. Nairne was celebrated as highly principled, reputedly once paying for a poor man to take Nairne's own judgment to an appellate court after realizing his original judgment had been mistaken. [MW]
Nanteuil, Robert, 1623-1678 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French portrait engraver Robert Nanteuil is credited with elevating engraving from the status of a craft to that of an art. As an official engraver for Louis XIV he produced hundreds of portraits, including likenesses of many of the notable and high ranking figures of his day [MW]
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Born in Corsica, Napoleon Bonaparte began his career in the French army, rising to the rank of General for his success during the wars following the French Revolution. In 1799 he brought about a coup d'etat, assuming the title of First Consul of the French Republic. In 1804 he was crowned Emperor of France, leading the French to military conquest over most of Europe. He reigned as Emperor until April 1814, when he was forced by the allied European armies to abdicate. Exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba, he remained only until his escape in February 1815, when he returned to France to resume his title of Emperor. In June of that year he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled once again, this time to the Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he remained until his death. His legacy is mixed; he was responsible for extensive modernizing reform in France, and the Napoleonic Code widely influenced the legal systems of many nations. On the other hand, his ambition for world power seemed inexhaustible and his campaigns were often marked by extraordinary devastation and cruelty towards non-combatants, including women and children. Napoleon's battle strategies are still studied in military schools today. [MW]
Necker, Jacques, 1732-1804 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Director General of Finance under Louis XVI, Necker had much of the responsibility for the late eighteenth-century French financial crisis that precipitated the events leading to the French revolution. He was father to Germaine de Staël. [MW]
Nemesis—
In Greek myth, the personification of anger. [MW]
Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of, 1624?-1674 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright, philosopher, memoirist, and fiction writer, Margaret Cavendish is probably best remembered for her CCXI Sociable Letters (1664). She first published Poems, and Fancies in 1653, subsequently revising and republishing it several times. In addition to the poems, it is notable for its preface, which overtly intervenes to negotiate the publishing of her own work, an unconventional step for a woman of her class and time. [MW]
Newton, Isaac, Sir, 1642-1727 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Profoundly influential mathematician and natural scientist. His writings were voluminous, with his most important publications being Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), which included his formulation of the law of universal gravitation, Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light (1704), and Arithmetica Universalis (1707). [MW]
Odysseus —
Hero of Homer's Odyssey, which recounts the adventures of this Ithacan king during his decade-long return from the ten year Trojan War. [MW]
Lady Olivia —
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [MW]
Olivia—
Character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. [MW]
Onslow, Arthur, 1691-1768 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Speaker of the House of Commons from 1728-1761. [MW]
Opie, Amelia Alderson, 1769-1853 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Popular as a poet, novelist, and author of short tales, Amelia Alderson was the wife of artist John Opie, a significant figure in the circle of Norwich religious dissenters. Her better-known novels and tales include The Father and Daughter, A Tale, in Prose (1801), Adeline Mowbray; or, The Mother and Daughter (1805), Tales of Real Life (1813), and Tales of the Heart (1820). Her volume Poems appeared in 1802. Her contributions to the abolition debate include The Negro Boy's Tale (1824) and The Black Man's Lament; or, How to Make Sugar (1826). [MW]
Opie, John, 1761-1807 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
British portrait and history painter. [MW]
Orestes—
Subject of Euripides's Oresteia, Orestes was pursued by the Furies for killing his mother. [MW]
Orithyia—
Daughter of King Erechtheus, this Athenian princess was abducted by Boreas, the wind god of the north. Her story appears in Ovid's Metamorphosis [MW]
Orpheus—
In Greek myth, a singer and lyre-player whose music was so beautiful it could tame wild beasts. When his wife Eurydice was killed by a snake, Orpheus descended to the Underworld to bring her back. After charming Hades with his music, Orpheus was permitted to retrieve his wife on condition that he not look back at her until they had returned to daylight. Just before reaching safety, Orpheus violated this condition, and Eurydice was returned to the Underworld permanently. [MW]
Orrery, Roger Boyle, Earl of, 1621-1679 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Orrery published a romance called Partheuissa (1664) as well as a number of dramatic works. [MW]
Orsay, Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, comte d', 1801-1852 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French artistic and literary dandy who spent much time in England and became the companion of Lady Blessington. He was reputed to display notable generosity, and his extravagance contributed to Blessington's financial ruin. [MW]
Osborne [or Osborn], John, Sr.—
Bookseller often associated in business with Samuel Richardson and Charles Rivington, among others. [MW]
Otway, Thomas, 1652-1685 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright Thomas Otway's dramatic productions include Alcibiades (1675), Don Carlos (1676), Titus and Berenice (1676), The Cheats of Scapin (1676), Friendship in Fashion (1678), Caius Marius (1679), The Orphan (1680), The Souldiers Fortune (1680), Venice Preserved (1682), and The Atheist (1683). Plagued with pecuniary difficulties for much of his short life, he died destitute. [MW]
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Roman poet whose Metamorphoses inspired many British writers, especially during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. [MW]
Oxford, Robert Harley, Earl of, 1661-1724 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Important literary patron and effective politician who survived multiple assassination attempt as he rose to the position of Lord Treasurer under Queen Anne, only to be impeached and imprisoned on treason charges under George I. [MW]
Paine, Thomas, 1737-1809 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The most important reform writer of the late eighteenth century. His revolutionary writings made him a hero of the American revolution. His works were plentiful, but he is most remembered for Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants of America (1776), encouraging American independence from England; The Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke's Attack on the French Revolution (1791 with a second part issued in 1792); and The Age of Reason (1793), an attack on Christianity that Paine published from France, where he fled on being alerted of his impending arrest for sedition. In France, Paine was arrested and nearly guillotined for his opposition to the execution of Louis XVI. [MW]
Palmer, Elizabeth—
née Echlin, she was the daughter of Lady Echlin. [MW]
Pamela Andrews—
Heroine of Samuel Richardson's Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded. [MW]
Parnell, Thomas, 1679-1718 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, translator, and classicist. His best regarded narrative poem, "The Hermit," appeared in Poems on Several Occasions (1721). Parnell was one of the contributors to the Spectator and the Guardian. [MW]
Pearce, Zachary, 1690-1774 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of several papers in the Guardian and the Spectator, Pearce also offered modest assistance to Samuel Johnson in the compilation of his dictionary. He was made Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster in 1756. [MW]
Pembroke, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of, 1561-1621 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Sister to Sir Philip Sidney and aunt to Lady Mary Wroth, this literary patroness was a poet and translator in her own right, authoring a substantial body of religious verse. [MW]
Percy, Thomas, 1729-1811 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Best remembered today for his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), poet, translator, and antiquarian Thomas Percy published Hau Kiou Choaan or The Pleasing History (1761), consisting of partly his own translation from a Portuguese version of the Chinese narrative, and partly a redaction of a previous English translation by a representative of the British East India Company in China. The novel's heroine, Shuy Ping Sin, suffers trials somewhat similar to those of the eponymous heroines of Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1) and Clarissa (1747-9).He is also the author of The Friar of Orders Grey (1765).
Pericles, ca. 495-429 B.C. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Athenian statesman. [MW]
Perseus—
Greek mythological figure who slew the Gorgon and rescued Andromeda. [MW]
Pharamond—
A legendary early king of the Franks from some time before the fifth century. [MW]
Philips, Ambrose, 1674-1749 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright and poet who probably contributed to the Spectator. He was known primarily for his pastoral poems and for his play The Distrest Mother (1712). He established and authored much of the content of the Freethinker from 1718-1721. [MW]
Phillips, R. (Richard), Sir, 1767-1840 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
One of the most important publishers of the early nineteenth century. In addition to his many book and pamphlet publications, he operated several periodicals over his career, including the Leicester Herald, the Museum, the Antiquaries Magazine, and most importantly, the Monthly Magazine. He was convicted and imprisoned for a time for selling Thomas Paine's Rights of Man. [MW]
Pilkington, Laetitia, 1712-1750 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An Irish-born poet and occasional playwright who was known for her witty conversation. Her Memoirs (1748-9) and correspondence offer a lively picture of a number of noteworthy eighteenth-century literary figures. [MW]
Chatham, Hester Grenville Pitt, Countess of, 1720-1803 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Formerly, Lady Hester Grenville; Wife of William Pitt, first earl of Chatham. Through their marriage, Pitt formed new political alliances with the men of the Grenville family. [RD]
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 1708-1778 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Also known as Pitt the Elder to distinguish him from his son, Pitt the younger. William Pitt is best known for his long politicial career and controversial political activism; he held the office of British Prime Minister from 1766 to 1768. [RD]
Plato [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Eminent Greek philosopher who lived from c. 428 B.C.-347 B.C. He was a friend and admirer of Socrates, whom he features as a character in many of his dialogues and treatises. Among these, some of the most important include Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Ion, Republic, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Symposium, Timaeus, Critias, and Laws. [MW]
Plumptre, Anne, 1760-1818 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Novelist, translator, and travel writer, Plumptre was part of the late eighteenth-century Norwich dissenting community. She authored several novels, with Something New, or, Adventures at Campbell-house (1801) now the best remembered. A Narrative of a Three Years' Residence in France (1810) is the publication that did the most for her fame. She also published Musaeus's Physiognomical Travels, Preceded by a Physiognomical Journal (1800), her translation of Johann Karl August Musäus's anonymously published Physiognomische Reisen, voran ein physiognomisch Tagebuch (1778-1779), a satire of the work of Johann Kaspar Lavater. [MW]
Pope, Alexander, 1688-1744 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Pope was so significant to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers who followed him that an exhaustive catalog of his work is far beyond the scope of a brief note. Among the most important are An Essay On Criticism (1711); Windsor-Forest (1713); The Rape of the Lock (1714); Eloisa to Abelard (1719); The Dunciad (1728); Of False Taste (1732); An Essay On Man (1733-1734); An Epistle From Mr. Pope, To Dr. Arbuthnot (1735); Of The Characters of Women: An Epistle To A Lady (1735); a series of Horatian satires; and a sequence of pastoral poems. His edition of The Works of Shakespear (1725) was also a landmark, as were several of his translations, most notably those of Homer's Iliad (1715-1720) and Odyssey (1725-1726). [MW]
Pratt, Mr. (Samuel Jackson), 1749-1814 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Pratt's Emma Corbett; or, The Miseries of Civil War (1780) sets a love story against the backdrop of the American Revolution. [MW]
Prescott, Mary—
Friend of Hester Chapone, and later wife to Chapone's brother, Thomas Mulso. [MW]
Prévost, abbé, 1697-1763 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Abbé Antoine-Francois Prévost authored Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut (1767). He also translated Samuel Richardson's major novels into French. [MW]
Price, Richard, 1723-1791 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Radical Unitarian minister and close friend of Joseph Priestley, Rev. Price is best remembered for his sermon A Discourse on the Love of Our Country (1789), which provoked Edmund Burke to write Reflections on the Revolution in France. [MW]
Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Unitarian minister Joseph Priestley was a well known radical philosopher, theologian, historian, scientist, and reform writer. An important member of the Dissenting circle that frequented Joseph Johnson's publishing establishment, he was also a particularly close friend of Anna Letitia Barbauld. During the 1791 "church and king" riots in Birmingham, Priestley's home and laboratory were destroyed by the mob, and in 1794 he emigrated to America. [MW]
Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An important and influential poet, Prior was most successful with his publication of Poems on Several Occasions (1718), which included his longest poem, "Solomon on the Vanity of the World," a soliloquy on the failure to find worldly happiness. [MW]
Proserpine—
Roman goddess of the Underworld. [MW]
Psalmanazar, George, 1679?-1763 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though probably born in France, Psalmanazar claimed to be a native of the island of Formosa kidnapped by European missionaries and brought to Europe against his will. In that capacity he authored several works, including the far-fetched yet very successful An historical and geographical description of Formosa (1704) and a number of contributions to the seven volume An universal history; from the earliest account of time to the present (with G. Sale, A. Bower, G. Shelvocke, J. Campbell, J. Swinton, etc., 1736-44). His Memoirs of ****, commonly known by the name of George Psalmanazar: a reputed native of Formosa (1764) was published posthumously. [MW]
Rabelais, François, ca. 1490-1553? (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-64) is a satirical epic that earned its author wide acclaim. [MW]
Radcliffe, Ann Ward, 1764-1823 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The foremost author in the development of the Gothic novel, Radcliffe also also produced a travel narrative, A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794, through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany, with a Return Down the Rhine (1795), which features the same proficiency in natural description that delighted readers of her fiction. Her novels include The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789), A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Italian, or The Confessional of the Black Penitents (1797), and the posthumously published Gaston de Blondeville (1826). Her essay "On the Supernatural in Poetry" appeared posthumously in the New Monthly Magazine 16 (February 1826): 145-52. [MW]
Ramsay, Allan, 1686-1758 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though known for his Scottish songs and fables, Ramsay's greatest success was the pastoral drama The Gentle Shepherd (1725). [MW]
Ramsay, Chevalier (Andrew Michael), 1686-1743 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Scottish writer Andrew Michael Ramsay settled in France in 1710, where he published Les Voyages de Cyrus in 1727. [MW]
Raphael, 1483-1520 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Italian painter appreciated for the harmonious grace of his painting. [MW]
Rapin de Thoyras, M. (Paul), 1661-1725 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Paul de Rapin authored a notable history of England (1724), translated from the French and published in English in 1725. [MW]
Read, John—
A clerk assistant to the House of Commons, Read was close enough friend to Samuel Richardson that Richardson intended to leave Read a mourning ring, but was prevented by Read's own death. [MW]
Reeve, Clara, 1729-1807 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A landmark figure in the development of the Gothic novel, Reeve was also a poet, educational writer, and literary critic. Her Original Poems in Several Occasions appeared in 1769 under the initials C.R. Reeve's most significant novel was The Champion of Virtue. A Gothic Story (1777), republished as The Old English Baron (1778). Its preface offers important comments on the theory of the Gothic novel. Her historical novel Memoirs of Sir Roger de Clarendon, the Natural Son of Edward Prince of Wales, Commonly Called the Black Prince (1793) is also noteworthy. Reeve's other novels include The Two Mentors: A Modern Story (1783), The Exiles; or, Memoirs of the Count de Cronstadt (1788), The School for Widows: A Novel (1791), Plans of Education; With Remarks on the Systems of Other Writers. In a Series of Letters Between Mrs. Darnford and Her Friends (1792), and Destination; or, Memoirs of a Private Family (1799). The Phoenix; or, The History of Polyarchus and Argenis, is her translation of Argenis (1621) by John Barclay. In literary criticism Reeve was best known for The Progress of Romance (1785) and an exchange with Anna Seward in a series of letters to the Gentleman's Magazine. [MW]
Reich, Erasmus—
A Leipzig bookseller. [MW]
Reni, Guido, 1575-1642 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Italian baroque painter of mythological and religious subjects, very much admired in England during the Romantic period. A portrait of Beatrice Cenci ascribed to him inspired Percy Bysshe Shelley's play The Cenci (1819). [MW]
Ribera, Jusepe de, 1591-1652 —
Spanish artist also known as José de Ribera and as "Lo Spagnoletto." His paintings followed those of Caravaggio in style but emphasized scenes of agony and horror such as The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew, depicting the saint's flaying. [MW]
Riccoboni, Marie Jeanne de Heurles Laboras de Mezières, 1713-1792 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A French epistolary novelist, Riccoboni's influence in England depended on early translations of several of her novels, including Histoire de M. le marquis de Cressy (1758; translated as The History of the Marquis de Cressy in 1759), Lettres de Milady Juliette Catesby (1759; translated as Letters from Juliet Lady Catesby by Frances Brooke, 1760), Histoire de Miss Jenny (1764; translated as The History of Miss Jenny Salisbury the same year), Lettres d'Adélaïde de Dammartin, comtesse de Sancerre (1767; translated as Letters from the Countess de Sancerre the same year), and Lettres d'Elisabeth-Sophie de Vallière à Louise-Hortence de Canteleu, son amie (1772; translated as Letters from Elizabeth Sophia de Valiere the same year). [MW]
Rich, John, 1682?-1761 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An English theatre manager and actor. He is responsible for the popularization of English pantomime. [vw]
Richard I, King of England, 1157-1199 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known as "the Lionhearted," for his brave fighting in the Crusades, Richard I's legend was popularized through a number of sources as part of the Robin Hood legends. [MW]
Richardson, Anne (a.k.a. Nancy; baptized in 1737)—
Samuel Richardson's daughter with his wife Elizabeth. [MW]
Richardson, Elizabeth—
Samuel Richardson's daughter. [MW]
Richardson, Elizabeth, née Leake—
Samuel Richardson's second wife, whom he married in 1733. [MW]
Richardson, Martha, née Wilde —
Daughter of Samuel Richardson's master during his apprenticeship, she became in 1721 his first wife. She died in 1731. [MW]
Richardson, Martha (a.k.a. Patty; baptized in 1736)—
Samuel Richardson's daughter with his wife Elizabeth. She married Edward Brigden. [MW]
Richardson, Mary (a.k.a. Polly; baptized 1753—
Samuel Richardson's daughter with his wife Elizabeth. She married Philip Ditcher. [MW]
Richardson, Samuel, 1689-1761 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Richardson is known as the inventor of the epistolary novel, which he developed while working on a collection of model letters, Letters Written to and for Particular Friends, on the Most Important Occasions, better known as Familiar Letters (1741). His three most famous works are all named after the sentimental heroes or heroines whose stories they relate. Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded (1740-1) tells of a virtuous servant who holds out against her employer's immodest advances until ultimately he rewards her with marriage. In Clarissa (1747-9), one of the best-loved novels of the eighteenth century, the heroine is locked up by her parents in an attempt to force her to marry a wealthy but abhorrent neighboring landowner. Rescued by Lovelace, a rakish local aristocrat, she is kept prisoner and subjected to his relentless advances and eventual rape before her prolonged and dramatic death. The eponymous and infinitely kind and virtuous hero of Richardson's History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754) rescues the heroine, Harriet Byron, after she has been abducted by an iniquitous nobleman. The Italian Clementina della Porretta is one of Harriet's rivals for the hero's affection. [MW]
Richardson, Sarah (a.k.a. Sally; baptized 1740)—
Samuel Richardson's daughter with his wife Elizabeth. She married Richard Crowther. [MW]
Ridley, James, 1736-1765(Library of Congress Name Authority)—
James Ridley is remembered mainly for his Tales of the Genii, published in 1764 under the pen name Sir Charles Morell. [vw]
Rimius, Henry, d. ca. 1757 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author ofa number of tracts on the Moravians, Rimius translated Stinstra's A Pastoral Letter against Fanaticism into English. [MW]
Rivington, Charles, 1688-1742 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A long-standing business associate and friend to Samuel Richardson, Rivington founded one of the most important family bookselling concerns of the late eighteenth century. Among other significant works, his firm published the first volume of Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Robespierre, Maximilien, 1758-1794 —
A French lawyer and persuasive public speaker who rose to power during the French Revolution, Robespierre was the primary force responsible for the bloody Reign of Terror and the guillotining of tens of thousands. Robespierre himself lost his life to the guillotine in July 1794. [MW]
Robinson, Thomas—
See Grantham, Thomas Robinson, Baron. [MW]
Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of, 1647-1680 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Regarded by many of his time as one of the day's best poets, Rochester was known for his ribald wit, elegance, cynicism, and incisive satire, which he exhibited in works that circulated in a coterie associated with the court of Charles II. His work presents a particularly impressive example of the collaborative composition and resulting complexities of attribution associated with coterie poetry. [MW]
Rodríguez de Montalvo, Garci [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c. 1440-c. 1500 (Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature)—
Rodríguez de Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula (1508) is a romance narrative reworked from a previously existing story dating from at least the late thirteenth century. Robert Southey's translation into English appeared in 1803. [MW]
Rogers, Woodes, -1732 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Rogers, later Royal Governor of The Bahamas, led the Dampier expedition against the Spanish which rescued Selkrik on February 1, 1709. His book, A Cruising Voyage Round the World (1712), sold well due largely to public fascination with Selkrik's rescue. [RD]
Roland—
Originally a historical character who served under Charlemagne, Roland is the legendary hero of the French chanson de gesteLa Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) and, as Orlando, in the L'Orlando Innamorato of Boiardo and Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. [MW]
Rosa, Salvatore, 1615-1673 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Especially known for his wild, dramatic landscapes and battle scenes, Italian painter Salvator Rosa influenced many Romantic writers’ literary evocations of the sublime. [MW]
Rosalind—
Character in Shakespeare's As You Like It. [MW]
Roscius Gallus, Quintus (d. 62 B.C.; Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Roman comic actor; the most famous of his time. [MW]
Rousseau, Jean-Baptiste, 1670-1741 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French poet and dramatist whose Odes sacrées (1702) were well regarded. He was exiled in 1710 for some defamatory verses attributed to him, and died in poverty. [MW]
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
One of the most influential among eighteenth-century writers, Rousseau was one of the period's most controversial figures as well. His most important works translated into English include Discours qui a remporté le prix à l'Académie de Dijon, en l'année 1750, sur cette question proposée par la même Académie: "Si le rétablissement des Sciences et des Arts a contribué à épurer les moeurs" (1750 as "a citizen of Geneva"; translated as A Discourse on the Arts and Science, 1751), Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes (1755; translated as Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of the Inequality among Mankind, 1762), Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse (1761; translated 1761), Emile (1762; translated 1762), Du Contrat social, ou principes du droit politique (1762; translated as A Treatise on the Social Compact; or, The Principles of Political Law, 1764), Essai sur l'origine des langues (1781; translated as Essay on the Origin of Languages, 1966), and his autobiographical Les Confessions de J.-J. Rousseau suivies des Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (1782-89; translated as The Confessions of J. J. Rousseau; with The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, 1783-91). Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse was an immediate and lasting sensation, exerting a powerful influence on late eighteenth century European views of sensibility and romantic love. Emile exploits the popularity of the novel form to champion Rousseau's views on education. [MW]
Rowe, Nicholas, 1674-1718 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
English Restoration dramatist. Rowe's play productions include The Ambitious Stepmother (1700), Tamerlane (1701), The Fair Penitent (1703), The Biter (1704), Ulysses (1705), The Royal Convert (1707), The Tragedy of Jane Shore (1714), and The Tragedy of the Lady Jane Gray (1715). Samuel Johnson's Life of Rowe first appeared as a preface to the volume of Works of the English Poets (1779-81) devoted to Rowe and Thomas Tickell. [MW]
Sack, Antoinette—
Daughter of August Friedrich Wilhelm Sack, 1703-1786 (Library of Congress Name Authority), chaplain to Friedrich Wilhelm I, and sister to Friedrich Samuel Gottfried Sack, 1738-1817 (Library of Congress Name Authority), chaplain successively to Frederick the Great, Frederick Wilhelm II, and Frederick Wilhelm III. [MW]
Saint-Pierre, Bernardin de, 1737-1814 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Saint-Pierre is the author of Paul et Virginie (1788) and La Chaumière Indienne (1790). [MW]
Saltoun—
See Fletcher, Andrew. [MW]
Savage, Richard, d. 1743 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Savage was best known for satirical poems and occasional verse, including The Authors of the Town (1725), The Bastard (a poem dedicated to his mother on his own illegitimate birth, 1728), The Wanderer (1729), and An Author to Be Lett (1729). He also authored two dramas, Love in a Veil: a Comedy (1719) and The Tragedy of Sir Thomas Overbury (1724). Savage lived a colorful life marked, among other events, by a conviction and later pardon on murder charges. He died destitute in prison. [MW]
Scarron, Monsieur, 1610-1660 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Dramatist and novelist Paul Scarron is best remembered for his picaresque Le Roman Comique (1651-59). [MW]
Schiller, Friedrich, 1759-1805 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
As a playwright and lyric poet, Schiller was the most important author in the German Sturm und Drang movement. Only after it was published anonymously in 1781 did Die Räuber, with its theme of taking from the rich to redress the wrongs done to the dispossessed, attract the attention of a director willing to bring it to the stage. His Der Geisterseher was published in 1788. Wallenstein (1799), the most successful among his many dramas, was translated in part by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as The Piccolomini (1800) and The Death of Wallenstein (1800). Wilhelm Tell (1804) was translated into English as William Tell in 1829. Schiller authored some admirable criticism, especially " Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen in einer Reihe von Briefen" ("On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a Series of Letters," 1795) and "Über naive und sentimentalische Dichtung" ("On Naive and Sentimental Poetry," 1795-1796). He was appreciated for his poetry as well, with the two volumes of Gedichte being issued in 1800-1803. [MW]
Scott, Walter, Sir, 1771-1832 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, novelist, biographer, critic, translator, editor, historian, antiquarian, and collector of literary curiosities, Scott was especially well loved for his representations of the culture and scenery of his native Scotland. His initial fame derived from Romantic poems such as The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), and The Lady of the Lake (1810). But though he continued to publish poetry, it became apparent to Scott by the time The Lady of the Lake appeared that public taste was changing, and he responded by turning most of his attention to novel writing, inaugurating the "Waverly Novels" series with Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since (1814). Among the many novels and tales that followed, the most important include Guy Mannering (1815), The Antiquary (1816), Rob Roy (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1818), The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), Ivanhoe (1819), Kenilworth (1821), and Redgauntlet (1824). Scott also produced important literary biographies of Dryden and Swift, and an extensive body of literary criticism, authoring prefaces to reissues of major works and discussing some of the most memorable literary works of the early nineteenth century as a reviewer for Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, the Edinburgh Review, the Quarterly Review, and other periodicals. [MW]
Scudéry, M. de (Georges), 1601-1667 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Brother to Madeleine de Scudéry, his works include the play L'Amour tyrannique (1640) and the epic poem Alaric (1655). [MW]
Scudéry, Madeleine de, 1607-1701 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Novelist and salonnière, Mme. de Scudéry was known along with d'Urfé and Calprènede for promoting literary and cultural aesthetics of delicate refinement exalting chivalric virtues partly through long works of romance fiction that constitute the most significant examples of the Roman de longue haleine, literally the "long-winded novel." She published most of her work under the name of her brother, Georges, but her authorship was recognized. Artamène ou Le Grand Cyrus (1649-1653), Clélie (1654-1660), and Mathilde d'Aguilar (1667) are her best-remembered works. She also published conduct literature in the form of a series of Conversations excerpted from her novels. [MW]
Secker, Thomas, 1693-1768 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Archbishop of Canterbury from 1758. [MW]
Sedley, Charles, Sir, 1639?-1701 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Dramatist and poet, he was part of a drinking and literary coterie attached to the court of Charles II. His plays include Pompey the Great (1664), translated from Corneille, The Mulberry-Garden (1668), Antony and Cleopatra (1677), and Bellamira, Or The Mistress (1687). [MW]
Segrais, Jean Regnauld de, 1624-1701 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French poet, novelist, translator, and collaborator with Mme. de La Fayette. [MW]
Selkirk, Alexander, 1676-1721 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, spent four years shipwrecked on the South Pacific island. His story was well known at the time and likely served as Defoe's inspiration for The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. [RD]
Sethos—
A priest of Hephaistos, mentioned briefly in Herodotus, who has at times been confused with Seti I, father of Ramesses II. [MW]
Seward, Anna, 1742-1809 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known as "The Swan of Lichfield," poet, critic, and literary biographer Anna Seward often contributed poetry to the Gentleman's Magazine. She and novelist Clara Reeve carried out a literary debate there as well through an exchange of letters, with Seward signing hers "Benvolio." Seward also revised and edited her personal letters for publication, and though they did not appear until 1811, they made a noteworthy contribution to the field of literary criticism. [MW]
Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of, 1671-1713 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
British philosopher and historian whose emphasis on feeling in his writing on history, moral philosophy, and aesthetics helped to establish the eighteenth-century culture of sensibility. His most important work is Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711). [MW]
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
While Shakespeare work is so widely known and biographies and criticism so abundant that a brief sketch can only be redundant, it is useful to be reminded that through the work of the eighteenth-century British literary history and criticism establishment, Shakespeare had by the later part of the century attained the status of the most exemplary of British writers, a national treasure and incontestable proof of Britain's supposed cultural superiority over the rest of the world. Dramatic productions include Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3 (c. 1589-1592), Richard III (c. 1591-1592), The Comedy of Errors (c. 1592-1594), Titus Andronicus (1594), The Taming of the Shrew (1594), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594), Love's Labor's Lost (c. 1594-1595), King John (c. 1594-1596), Richard II (c. 1595), Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595-1596), A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595-1596), The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596-1597), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597), Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598-1599), Henry V (1599?), Julius Caesar (1599), As You Like It (c. 1599-1600), Hamlet (c. 1600-1601), Twelfth Night (1601-1602?), Troilus and Cressida (c. 1601-1602?), All's Well That Ends Well (c. 1602-1603), Measure for Measure (1604), Othello (1604), King Lear (1606), Timon of Athens (c. 1605-1608), Macbeth (1606), Antony and Cleopatra (c.1606-1607), Pericles (c. 1606-1608), Coriolanus (c. 1607-1608), Cymbeline (1609), The Winter's Tale (1611), The Tempest (1611), Cardenio, probably by Shakespeare and John Fletcher (c. 1612-1613), Henry VIII, by Shakespeare and possibly John Fletcher (1613), and The Two Noble Kinsmen, by Shakespeare and John Fletcher (1613). Non-dramatic verse includes his sonnets, which were published in 1609; Venus and Adonis (1593), The Rape of Lucrece (1594), and The Phoenix and Turtle (1601). [MW]
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though his life was short, Percy Bysshe Shelley was a prolific poet, authoring a list of works far too extensive to name in full in a brief note. Some of the more important of them include the Gothic novel Zastrozzi (1810); The Necessity of Atheism (1811), a treatise that caused him to be expelled from Oxford; a variety of political pamphlets; Queen Mab (1813); Alastor (1816); Adonais (1821); Julian and Maddalo (1824); The Masque of Anarchy (1832); and many sonnets, odes, and other shorter poems. Among his verse dramas, The Cenci (1819) and Prometheus Unbound (1820) stand out. His Defense of Poetry (1821) represents a major landmark in literary criticism. In 1816, after his first wife's suicide over his 1814 elopement, Shelley married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who was to become the author of Frankenstein. [MW]
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Most famous as the author of Frankenstein (1818) and wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley was daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. She authored a significant body of travel narrative, biographical essays, and some literary criticism as well as numerous novels, novellas, and tales. In addition to Frankenstein, her novels include Valperga (1823), The Last Man (1826), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837). Among her shorter works, those that stand out include Mathilda (1959), "The Transformation" (1831), and "The Mortal Immortal" (1834), the latter two originally published in the gift annual The Keepsake. Her work in editing and introducing her deceased husband's poems did much to define his reception for many years. [MW]
Shenstone, William, 1714-1763 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Writer and longtime friend of Richard Graves. Shenstone publised his first poetical volume, Poems upon Various Occasions (1737), anonymously. It contained his most important work, The Schoolmistress, revised versions of which were published in later years. His later writings included The Judgement of Hercules (1741), adressed to George Lyttleton. [RD]
Sheridan, Frances Chamberlaine, 1724-1766 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright and novelist Frances Sheridan was wife to actor and theater manager Thomas Sheridan and mother of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, one of the eighteenth century's most important playwrights, who was influenced by his mother's work. Frances Sheridan published the novel Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph in two parts in 1761 and 1767. Her play The Discovery (1763) is worthy of at least as much attention as any of her fiction. [MW]
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Though few in number, some of R. B. Sheridan's plays are still well remembered. His more important work includes The Rivals (1775), The Duenna (1775), The School for Scandal (1777), The Camp (1778), and The Critic (1779). [MW]
Sheridan, Thomas, 1719-1788 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An Irish actor, theater manager, and educator, Thomas Sheridan was husband to Frances Sheridan and father to Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In addition to his other pursuits, he delivered a series of lectures on elocution, which he then published in 1762, and a series on reading, published 1775. [MW]
Shirley, Mrs.—
Probably Henrietta Maria, d.1792 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography), née Phillips- wife of Walter Shirley (Shirley, Walter, 1725-1786 [Library of Congress Name Authority]), a Methodist clergyman and hymnist actively patronized by Lady Huntingdon. He coauthored A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself (1770). [MW]
Sidney, Philip, Sir, 1554-1586 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Sidney's major works include Arcadia (1590), which he dedicated to his sister, Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; the sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella (1591); and a landmark essay in the history of literary criticism, The Defence of Poesie (1595). [MW]
Skelton, Philip, 1707-1787 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An Irish scholar and friend of Samuel Richardson. [MW]
Skrine, William, of Arlington Street, London, ?1721-83 (The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964)—
Member of UK Parliment for Callington, 1771-1780. Born of Claverton Manor; he sold the estate to Ralph Allen in 1758. [RD]
Slocock, Benjamin, b. 1691 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Chaplain of St. Saviour's in Southwark. [MW]
Smith, Charlotte Turner, 1749-1806 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet and novelist Charlotte Turner Smith provides an unusual example of a Romantic period woman who began as a coterie poet, but out of necessity became a professional writer. Charlotte Turner was born into a well-to-do family, but after the early death of her mother, she was consigned first to the care of an aunt, then to boarding school. Soon after she reached her teens, her father remarried, and having thus become an inconvenience, Charlotte was married off at the age of fifteen to the dissipated, unfaithful, and violent Benjamin Smith, who kept the family perpetually in debt and with whom she ultimately bore twelve children. The groom's father clearly understood his son's nature, for at his death he left a significant fortune specifically for his daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The will was so complex, however, that the money was tied up in litigation until after both Charlotte and her husband were dead and the children matured. In the meantime, Smith's husband was consigned to prison for debt, where she joined him, there composing poetry for sale in an attempt to relieve their financial distress. The result was Elegiac Sonnets, and Other Essays (1784), which was revised and enlarged numerous times until 1797 and eventually included prefatory essays that delineate principles of sonnet composition. Though she separated from her husband soon after, Smith continued to support herself, her children, and to some extent her estranged spouse through her writing. She first tried translating, and then in 1788 she published her first novel, Emmeline, the Orphan of the Castle. The novels that followed include Ethelinde; or, The Recluse of the Lake (1789), Celestina (1791), Desmond (1792), The Old Manor House (1793), The Wanderings of Warwick (1794), The Banished Man (1794), Montalbert (1795), Marchmont (1796), and The Young Philosopher (1798). The Letters of a Solitary Wanderer (1800-1) is a collection of short narratives. Smith's second major poetic publication was The Emigrants: A Poem, in Two Books (1793). Beachy Head: With Other Poems (1807) was published posthumously. Smith's contributions to youth literature are also extensive, beginning with Rural Walks: In Dialogues. Intended for the Use of Young Persons (1795), and continuing through Rambles Farther: A Continuation of Rural Walks, in Dialogues. Intended for the Use of Young Persons (1796), Minor Morals, Interspersed with Sketches of Natural History, Historical Anecdotes, and Original Stories (1798), Conversations Introducing Poetry: Chiefly on the Subjects of Natural History. For the Use of Children and Young Persons (1804), The History of England, from the Earliest Records to the Peace of Amiens, in a Series of Letters to a Young Lady at School (1806), which was begun by Smith but completed by Mary Hays when Smith became too ill to finish the project, and The Natural History of Birds: Intended Chiefly for Young Persons (1807). Smith also published two translations, the first in 1785 translates Manon Lescaut by Abbé Antoine-Francois Prévost. The second translates anecdotes from François Gayot de Pitaval's Causes Célèbres et interessantes as The Romance of Real Life, (1787). [MW]
Smith, Lawrence, 1656-1728 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of Conversation in Heaven. Being Devotions; consisting of meditations and prayers on several considerable subjects in practical divinity (1693). [MW]
Smollett, Anne Lassells, 1721-1791 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Tobias Smollett's wife. Daughter of a Jamaican Plantation owner. Anne lived in Jamaica with her mother, then twice widowed, in Kingston. Smollett met and married Anne on a visit to Jamaica in 1743. Smollett described her as 'a delicate creature, who had scare ever walked a mile in her life.' [vw]
Smollett, James, d. 1714 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) —
The second son of Sir James Smollett and uncle to Tobias Smollett. [vw]
Smollett, James of Bonhill, d. 1775 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) —
This James Smollett was grandson of Sir James Smollett, grandfather also to Tobias Smollett, and was therefore Tobias Smollett's cousin. On the death of his grandfather, Sir James, James Smollett inherited the grandfather's Bonhill estate.
Sir James Smollett, 1648-1731 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The grandfather of Tobias Smollett. He sat on a variety of parliamentary commissions and committees; however, his most important position was the commissioner for union with England, first in August 1702, and more successfully in February 1706. He helped frame the articles of the union, and in 1707 was the elected member for Dunbartonshire to the first parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. His manuscript Memorials of Certain Passages of the Lord's Signal Mercies provide his comments on the affairs of the time. [vw]
Smollett, T. (Tobias), 1721-1771 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A versatile author who produced satire, history, drama, poetry, polemical pamphlets, and journalism, Smollett is best known for his picaresque novels such as The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748, modeled after Lesage's Gil Blas, which Smollett translated), The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751), The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom (1753), and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771). At the age of eighteen, he authored his first play, The Regicide (1749). His literary journalism was important as well. He reviewed at the Monthly Review before helping to found and for many years conduct the Critical Review, which became the Monthly Review's most important rival. Smollett was founder of the British Magazine and the Briton as well. Smollett also wrote many poems, including The Ode to Leven Water (1746), The Tears of Scotland (1746), Verses to a young Lady playing on a Harpsichord and Singing (1746). His satirical epistles Advice: A Satire (1746) and Reproof: A Satire (1747) were the cause of much trouble. Smollett considered his major work to be A Complete History of England which was published in four volumes from 1758-1765. Not afraid to share his opinion regarding British politics, Smollett also wrote The History and Adventures of an Atom (1769), which satirized the British handling of the Seven Years' War. A rare, first-hand account of his travels and domestic life were published in his Travels through France and Italy (1766).
Socrates [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); c. 470-399 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Greek philosopher whose teachings caused him to be condemned to death. [MW]
Solon, ca. 630-ca. 560 B.C. (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Greek statesman and poet whose reform-oriented writings are known mostly through quotation by later Greek historians. [MW]
Southerne, Thomas, 1660-1746 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Irish dramatist Thomas Southerne adapted his best-known play Oroonoko (1695) from the 1688 novel, Oroonoko; Or, The Royal Slave, by Aphra Behn (1640-1689). [MW]
Southey, Robert, 1774-1843 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
An important translator, biographer, travel writer, and critic as well as poet laureate from 1813, Southey enjoyed his most enthusiastic audience for his romantic verse tales such as Thalaba the Destroyer (1801), Madoc (1805), Metrical Tales, and Other Poems (1805), and The Curse of Kehama (1810). His early drama, The Fall of Robespierre (1794), was authored in collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Some of his other more important works include the epic Joan of Arc (1796), Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814), Wat Tyler (1817), and A Vision of Judgement (1821). His literary journalism appeared in the Critical Review, the Annual Review, the Quarterly Review, and the Foreign Quarterly Review. [MW]
Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
One of the most revered of English poets, Spenser is best known for his allegorical epic The Faerie Queene (1590-1596), which features among its subjects the adventures of the Redcrosse Knight as he attempts to save the virgin Una from the machinations of the villainous Archimago and Duessa. Another of his long poems, The Shepheardes Calender (1579) combines the form of pastoral eclogue with political satire. Spenser's important shorter poems include a series of love sonnets that follow a unique rhyme pattern of Spenser's origination. [MW]
Staël, Madame de (Anne-Louise-Germaine), 1766-1817 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Staël's Delphine (1803) was popular among British women, but her Corinne, ou l'Italie (1807) exerted a crucial influence on Romantic women's conceptions of the female artist. Her career as a critic, literary philosopher, and analyst of national character began with Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau (1788), translated as Letters on the Works and Character of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1789). Some of the most important of her publications that followed include De l'influence des passions sur le bonheur des individus et des nations (1796), translated as A Treatise on the Influence of the Passions upon the Happiness of Individuals and of Nations (1798); De la littérature considérée dans ses rapports avec les institutions sociales (1800), translated as A Treatise on Ancient and Modern Literature (1803); and De l'Allemagne (1810-1813), translated as Germany (1813). Also a dramatist, Staël authored some fourteen plays, a number of which were performed in salons, but were little-known outside those settings. She was the daughter of Jacques Necker, Director General of Finance under Louis XVI. [MW]
Steele, Richard, Sir, 1672-1729 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, dramatist, and satirist, Irish writer Sir Richard Steele is best remembered for his collaboration with Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift in essay periodicals such as the Spectator, the Tatler, and the Guardian, many of which he penned, as did Addison and especially Swift, under the pseudonym "Isaac Bickerstaff." [MW]
Sterne, Laurence, 1713-1768 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Sterne's two most important novels, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (1760-67) and The Sentimental Journey (1768), mark him as a major figure in the history of both sentimental and experimental fiction. [MW]
Stinstra, Johannes, 1708-1790 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Controversial Dutch theologian and translator. [MW]
Strada, Famiano, 1572-1649 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Strada's Prolusiones academicæ (1617) were published in numerous editions during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Joseph Addison adapted sections into English prose for the Spectator and the Guardian. [MW]
Stuart, Charles Edward—
See Charles Edward, Prince, grandson of James II, King of England. [MW]
Sulla, Lucius Cornelius [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); 138-78 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Dictator of Rome. [MW]
Sully, Maximilien de Béthune, duc de, 1559-1641 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French statesman and financial minister to Henry IV of France. [MW]
Sutton, Robert, Sir, 1671-1746 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Diplomat Robert Sutton married Judith, née Tichborne, Countess of Sunderland (Sutton, Judith, ca. 1702-1749 [Library of Congress Name Authority]), with whom he had a daughter, Miss Isabella Sutton. [MW]
Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A prolific poet, satirist, and political pamphleteer, Swift began his career in satirical fiction with A Tale of a Tub (1704). His most famous work is Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships (1726). A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents, or the Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick (1729) is his best remembered non-fiction satire. He collaborated with Joseph Addison and Richard Steele on the Tatler, publishing essays both there and independently in the character of "Isaac Bickerstaff," a penname he sometimes shared with his collaborators. Swift's Examiner is one of the three or four most important early eighteenth-century essay periodicals, a genre best exemplified by Addison's Spectator. Referring to his Dublin origins, he is sometimes called "the Irish dean." [MW]
Talbot, Catherine, 1721-1770 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Noted eighteenth-century bluestocking, author, and scholar Catherine Talbot declined to publish any but a very few of her writings during her lifetime. They were edited by her friend Elizabeth Carter as The Works of the Late Mrs. Catherine Talbot (1780). On her father's early death she was adopted by her father's friend, Thomas Secker, later Archbishop of Canterbury. [MW]
Tasso, Torquato, 1544-1595 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Italian poet whose La Gierusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered) dates from 1581 also garnered much sympathy among later readers for his long confinement to a mental asylum. Rinaldo (1562), his first publication, is an epic poem. Aminta, written in 1573 and published in 1591, and Torrismondo (1586) are dramas. His shorter poems include many odes and love sonnets. He authored criticism as well, especially Dircorsi dell'arte poetica (1587) and Discorsi del poema erico(1594). [MW]
Tate, Nahum, 1652-1715 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright and librettist known more for adaptations than for original compositions, he became poet laureate in 1692. [MW]
Taylor, Jeremy, 1613-1667 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of The Great Exemplar (1649) and Cases of Conscience (1671).[vw]
Telemachus—
In Homer's The Odyssey, the son of Odysseus. [MW]
Teniers, David, 1610-1690 (Library of Congress Name Authority);—
Teniers was the most famous in a family of celebrated Flemish painters that included his father, David Teniers the Elder (1582–1649), himself, David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690), his son, David Teniers III (1638–1685), and a much less well known grandson, David Teniers IV. Teniers the Younger specialized in depictions, often comic, of Flemish peasantry. He was related by marriage to the Bruegel family of painters. [RD] and [MW]
Terrasson, Jean, 1670-1750 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Abbé Terrasson's Sethos (1731) fictitiously purports to recount incidents in the life of an ancient Egyptian as translated from a Greek manuscript. It served as the source for much of the material on Freemasonry for Mozart's The Magic Flute (1791). [MW]
Thalaba—
Character in Robert Southey's Thalaba the Destroyer (1801). [MW]
Theophrastus (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Also known as Theophrastus of Eresus. He was a peripatetic philosopher who studied in Athens as a pupil of Alcippus; he may have studied with Plato and probably had contact with Aristotle. After Aristotle's death, he became the head of the peripatetic school in Athens. [RD]
Thomson, James, 1700-1748 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Thomson's nature and landscape poem The Seasons (1730) was much revered by his contemporaries and influenced Romantic period poetic depiction of nature. Other works include several republican political poems including the unsuccessful Liberty (1735-1736); The Castle of Indolence (1748), a Spenserian allegory; and five dramatic tragedies: The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1730), Agamemnon (1738); Edward and Eleonora (1739), Tancred and Sigismunda (1745), and Coriolanus (1749). [MW]
Tibullus (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Albius Tibullus is a first century BCE Latin poet and elegist. The Library of Congress lists his birth date between 60 and 50 BC; death date between 19 and 17 BC.
Tickell, Thomas, 1686-1740 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, translator, friend of Joseph Addison, and occasional contributor of essays on pastoral poetry to the Guardian, Tickell was also connected by marriage to Lady Echlin's circle. Tickell's elegy on Addison was thought by many of his contemporaries to be one of the finest in the language. [MW]
Turpin, Archbishop of Reims, fl. 748 or 9-753 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Said to be a peer of Charlemagne, Turpin appears in La Chanson de Roland. [MW]
Tusser, Thomas, 1524?-1580 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A farmer and writer on agricultural methods, Tusser first published A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie in 1557, then repeatedly expanded it to become Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie by 1580. [MW]
Ulysses —
Latin form of Odysseus. [MW]
Urfé, Honoré d', 1567-1625 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
L'Astrée appeared in installments between 1607 and 1627, and was translated into English as Astrea (1657-1658). Along with Calprènede and Scudéry, d'Urfé was known for promoting literary and cultural aesthetics of delicate refinement exalting chivalric virtues partly through long works of romance fiction that constitute the most significant examples of the Roman de longue haleine, literally the "long-winded novel." [MW]
Vane, Frances Anne. Viscountess, 1713-1788 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Wife to the eccentric William Holles Vane (1713-1789), 2nd Viscount Vane. She was known for her many marital infidelities. Her Memoirs of a Lady of Quality were included in Tobias Smollet's novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle (1751). [vw]
Venus—
Roman goddess of love. [MW]
Viola—
Character in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1601-1602?). [MW]
Virgil [n.d.] (Library of Congress Name Authority); 70-19 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica)—
Roman poet whose rich and complex Eclogues (c. 37 B.C.) and Georgics (29 B.C.) provided the model for poetry about rural life to subsequent ages. His Aeneid (written c. 29-19 B.C.), an epic poem on the founding of the city of Rome that centers on the story of the hero Aeneas, was incomplete at the time of his death. [MW]
Vitriarius, Johann Jakob, 1679-1745 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Notable lawyer and professor of law at Heidelberg University and Leyden University. [RD]
Voiture, Monsieur de (Vincent), 1597-1648 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French court and occasional poet, Voiture was admired for the letters and poems he circulated among a fashionable literary coterie. [MW]
Voltaire, 1694-1778 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
French author of a voluminous body of poetry, criticism, history, and drama, Voltaire was probably best known for his comic yet philosophical fiction. Among his most notable works, his first dramatic tragedy, Oedipe (1718), was a tremendous success. His epic poem La Henriade (1723) celebrates the life of Henry IV of France. Zaire (1732) is a tragic love drama. Letters Concerning the English Nation (1733) offers a comparison between England and France that is favorable to England particularly for its religious tolerance. Le Siècle de Louis XIV (1751) celebrates the humanistic achievements during the era of that monarch's reign. Le Monde Comme Il Va, Vision De Babouc (1748) and Candide; ou, L'optimisme (1759) satirize overly naïve optimism. L'Ingénu (1767) offers social satire through a depiction of innocent simplicity in the "noble savage" vein. [MW]
Wace, ca. 110 0-ca. 1175 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Author of the Brut d'Angleterre (Le Roman de Brut, 1155). [MW]
Wächter, Leonhard, 1762-1837 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The Sorcerer probably refers to Teufelsbeschwörung, by Viet Weber, Wächter's pseudonym. [MW]
Wallace, William, Sir, 1272(?)-1305 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Leader in the Wars of Scottish Independence, Wallace became Scotland's greatest national hero and the subject for several literary works as well as the film biography Braveheart. [vw]
Waller, Edmund, 1606-1687 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet and notable legislator, Waller authored a variety of coterie verse, including "The Story of Phoebus and Daphne, Applied " (1645). [MW]
Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Son of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Horace Walpole was a prolific letter writer, memoirist, poet, dramatist, novelist, antiquarian, and critic. He is best known for inaugurating the Gothic novel with The Castle of Otranto (1764), a tale of aristocratic decadence, incest, and the supernatural. He privately printed and circulated among his acquaintances copies of a second gothic work, The Mysterious Mother (1768), this time a blank verse tragedy on the theme of Catholicism and incest. His biographical account of Roger Boyle appears in A Catalogue of the Royal and Noble Authors of England, With Lists of Their Works (1758). Walpole's other works include Anecdotes of Painting, enlarged from Vertue (1762) and An Essay on modern Gardening (1780). Walpole is also well known for his "little jeu d'esprit" with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. One of Walpole's publically circulated letters to David Hume openly mocked what Walpole percieved to be Rousseau's self-important nature. The letter offered a spurious invitation to Potsdam from the King of Prussia to Rousseau. The letter caused quite a stir among British and French high society. Walpole succeeded as the fourth Earl of Orford in 1791 on the death of his nephew George Walpole, the third Earl of Orford.
Walpole, Robert, Earl of Orford, 1676-1745 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Father of Horace Walpole, British Prime Minister from 1721 to 1742, and the author of Bob—Lynn against Franck—Lynn, or, A full history of the controversies and dissentions in the family of the Lynn's (1732). [RD] [VW]
Warburton, William, 1698-1779 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Eventually to become Bishop of Gloucester, Warburton entered the clergy largely to pursue his interest in literature. Controversial as both a theologian and critic, he held a collaborative view of literary creation, particularly evident in his friendship with Alexander Pope. Warburton's edition of the works of Shakespeare is an early landmark in the body of the criticism that brought Shakespeare to the apex of the British literary canon. [MW]
Warton, Joseph, 1722-1800 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Poet, critic, literary editor, and brother to Thomas Warton. His major poetic works include Fashion: An Epistolary Satire to a Friend (1742), The Enthusiast; or, the Lover of Nature (1744), Odes on Various Subjects (1746), Ranelagh House: A Satire (1747), and An Ode, Occasioned by Reading Mr. West's Translation of Pindar (1749). An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope was published in 1756, then revised as An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope (1762), with additional revised editions thereafter. [MW]
Warton, Thomas, 1728-1790 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Also a poet and critic, Thomas Warton, brother to Joseph Warton, is best remembered as a literary historian, particularly for The History of English Poetry, from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century (1774-1781). His poem The Triumph of Isis: A Poem. Occasioned by Isis: An Elegy appeared in 1750. Warton's sister Jane appears to have been a critic as well, assisting him with some of his work. [MW]
Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Clergyman, theologian, and poet, Watts was interested in the application of Lockean theories of sensation to theological questions. His hymns, the genre for which he is best known, established the form for subsequent generations. [MW]
Weber, Viet—
Pseudonym of Leonhard Wächter. See Wächter. [MW]
West, Mrs. (Jane), 1758-1852 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
The works of novelist, poet, and conduct book author Jane West (1758-1832), including the novel A Gossip's Story (1796), tended toward conservative didacticism. [MW]
Westcombe, Sarah (or Wescomb), later Mrs. John Scudamore—
Not a formally adopted daughter of Samuel Richardson, but a close correspondent. She married John Scudamore of Kentchurch, Herefordshire. [MW]
Williams, Lady Betty—
Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754). [RD]
Wharton, Philip Wharton, Duke of, 1698-1731 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Politically controversial and personally profligate politician who flaunted his Jacobite sympathies. He published the True Briton from 1723 to 1724 with Samuel Richardson as printer. Some believe that Wharton served as Richardson's model for the character Lovelace in Clarissa. [MW]
Wharton, Thomas, first marquess of Wharton, 1648-1715 (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)—
Father to Philip, Duke of Wharton. After a rather colorful youth, Thomas Wharton rose to political influence in the Protestant regime installed through the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He became lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1688 and appointed Joseph Addison as his secretary. [MW]
Wieland, Christoph Martin, 1733-1813 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Geschichte des Agathon (1776-7, expanded in 1773 and 1794) is Wieland's fictionalized autobiography. Wieland's novel Geheime Geschichte des Philosophen Peregrinus Proteus (1791) examines fanaticism over scientific and philosophical developments. [MW]
Wilde, John—
Samuel Richardson's master during his apprenticeship from 1706-1713, and the father of Richardson's first wife, Martha. Wilde's son Allington remained Richardson's lifelong friend. [MW]
Wilkes, John, 1725-1797 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A political leader and reformer, Wilkes was elected to parliment in 1757. He began to publish an anti-Tory weekly, the North Briton, in 1762. [vw]
Wilkie, David, Sir, 1785-1841 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A Scottish painter, Wilkie is best known for his genre paintings. [VW]
William III, King of England, 1650-1702 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Known as William of Orange, this Protestant Dutch prince deposed his father-in-law James II and ascended to the British throne in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. [MW]
Williams, Mr.—
Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1). [MW]
Wilmot, John—
See Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of. [MW]
Wilson, Thomas, 1663-1755 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Bishop of Sodor and Man before Mark Hildesley, Wilson began a translation of the bible into the local dialect that Hildesley later completed. [MW]
Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759-1797 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Wife of radical author William Godwin and mother of novelist Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft was a versatile professional writer who attained fame for her radical ideas through her two political treatises, A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790), which responded to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), her most famous publication and one of the greatest landmarks in the history of writing about women. Wollstonecraft's first publication was an educational treatise, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), which was published by radical London bookseller Joseph Johnson, for whose publishing business Wollstonecraft worked as a writer, translator, and editor for a number of years. Wollstonecraft's fiction includes Mary, A Fiction (1788), Original Stories, from Real Life (1788), and the incomplete Maria; or, The Wrongs of Woman (1798), published posthumously. Her conduct book, The Female Reader; Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Verse; Selected from the Best Writers and Disposed under Proper Heads; For the Improvement of Young Women., appeared under the pseudonym Mr. Cresswick, teacher of Elocution (London, 1789) An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution (1794) was the fruit of Wollstonecraft's residence in France during the Revolution. Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796) compiled her correspondence with her lover, the American Gilbert Imlay, for whom she traveled to Scandinavia as a business emissary. "On Artificial Taste," an essay that appeared in the Monthly Magazine (April 1797), was revised, probably by William Godwin, for republication as "On Poetry" in Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1798). Wollstonecraft also produced at least one additional fictional sketch, translations of texts from French, Dutch, and German, a few adaptations, and a large body of reviews for Joseph Johnson's Analytical Review. [MW]
Wordsworth, William, 1770-1850 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Wordsworth's most famous publication is Lyrical Ballads (with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798; repeatedly revised and expanded, including its famous Preface, added in 1800 and expanded thereafter). Some of his other more important poetic works include An Evening Walk (1793), Descriptive Sketches (1793), Poems, in two Volumes (1807), The Excursion, which was to be a portion of the never-completed The Recluse (1888), and which included "The Ruined Cottage," Poems (1815), The White Doe of Rylstone (1815), Peter Bell (1819), Yarrow Revisited (1835), Poems, Chiefly of Early and Late Years (1842), which included a tragic drama that was not staged in Wordsworth's lifetime, and The Prelude, Or Growth of a Poet's Mind (1850, posthumous), which was substantially complete by 1805, but which Wordsworth continued to work on until his death. [MW]
Wroth, Mary, Lady, ca. 1586-ca. 1640 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Niece of Sir Philip Sidney and Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Wroth authored, among other works, The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania (1621) and a sonnet sequence, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, which was printed at the end of Urania. [MW]
Wycherley, William, 1640-1716 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
Playwright who wrote four popular plays in his lifetime: the Love in a Wood (1671), the Gentleman Dancing-Master (1672), the Country Wife (1675), and the Plain Dealer (1676). [RD]
Xenophon [n.d.} (Library of Congress Name Authority); 431-c. 350 B.C. (Encyclopedia Britannica
Greek historian. A devotee of Socrates, he authored several laudatory works about him. [MW]
Young, Edward, 1683-1765 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
A versatile poet, Young is best remembered for his Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality (1742-1746), which attained phenomenal popularity and went through hundreds of printings over the century following its publication. His satires were published as The Universal Passion (1725-1728) and revised as a single volume, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion (1728). He also authored the tragedies Busiris (1719), The Revenge (1721), and The Brothers (1752) as well as the poem Resignation (1762). [MW]
Zinzendorf, Nicolaus Ludwig, Graf von, 1700-1760 (Library of Congress Name Authority)—
German Moravian religious and social reformer, missionary to the Americas, and prolific theological writer, Zinzendorf authored hymns, poetry, philosophical treatises, and sermons. [MW]

POETESS ARCHIVE / The Criticism Archive /