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John Bell (publisher)
John Bell (1745–1831) was an English publisher. Originally a bookseller and printer, he also innovated in typography, commissioning an influential font that omitted the long s. He drew the reading public to better literature by ordering attractive art to accompany the printed work. Life From 1769, Bell owned a bookshop in the Strand, London, the "British Library". His 109-volume, literature-for-the-masses '' The Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill'', which rivalled Samuel Johnson's '' Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1781), was published from 1777 to 1783. Each volume cost just six shillings, much less than what was commonly charged. Bell's joint-stock organisation of his publishing company defied "the trade" — forty dominant publishing companies — to establish a monopoly on top publications. In addition to the extensive ''Poets of Great Britain'', he published book sets on ''Shakespeare'' and ''The British Theatre''. The drawings and illus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
:Template:Infobox Writer/doc
Infobox writer may be used to summarize information about a person who is a writer/author (includes screenwriters). If the writer-specific fields here are not needed, consider using the more general ; other infoboxes there can be found in :People and person infobox templates. This template may also be used as a module (or sub-template) of ; see WikiProject Infoboxes/embed for guidance on such usage. Syntax The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article. All fields are optional. Any unused parameter names can be left blank or omitted. Parameters Please remove any parameters from an article's infobox that are unlikely to be used. All parameters are optional. Unless otherwise specified, if a parameter has multiple values, they should be comma-separated using the template: : which produces: : , language= If any of the individual values contain commas already, add to use semi-colons as separators: : which produces: : , ps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Topham
Edward Topham (1751–1820) was an English journalist and playwright, who publicized the Wold Cottage meteorite which fell on his property. Education and military career He was the son of Francis Topham, LL.D. (d. 15 October 1770), Master of Faculties and judge of the Prerogative Court in York, whose feud with Dean Fountayne was lampooned by Laurence Sterne in ''The History of a Warm Watch Coat''. Edward was educated at Eton College under Dr. John Foster (1731–1774), and remained there for eleven years. While at school he dabbled in poetry and was one of the leaders in the rebellion against Foster's rule. He was admitted at Trinity College, Cambridge, as pensioner on 22 April 1767, and as fellow-commoner on 23 October 1769, but he left without taking a degree. On leaving the university, Topham travelled on the continent and spent six months in Scotland, publishing on his return in 1776 a volume of ''Letters from Edinburgh, 1774 and 1775, containing some Observations on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglas (play)
''Douglas'' is a blank verse tragedy by John Home. It was first performed in 1756 in Edinburgh. The play was a big success in both Scotland and England for decades, attracting many notable actors of the period, such as Edmund Kean, who made his debut in it. Peg Woffington played Lady Randolph, a part which found a later exponent in Sarah Siddons. The opening lines of the second act are probably the best known: Plot Lady Randolph opens the play mourning for her brother. Shortly thereafter, she discloses to her maid that she was married to the son of her father's enemy. She was not able to acknowledge the marriage or the son that she bore. She sent her maid away with her son to the maid's sister's house. They were lost in a storm and never heard from again. Young Norval, the hero is left outside shortly after birth to die of exposure. However, the baby is saved by a shepherd — Old Norval Drabble, Margaret (ed.) '' The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (fifth edi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Brunton Merry
Ann Brunton Merry (30 March 1769 – 28 June 1808) was an English actress popular in the United Kingdom and later America. Life Ann (or Anne) Brunton was born 30 May 1769 in Covent Garden, England, one of 14 children of John Brunton (b. 1741), an actor and manager of the Theatre Royal, Norwich. In February 1785, she first appeared at the Theatre-Royal, Bath as Euphrasia in ''The Grecian Daughter'', which was followed by other leading parts, and on 17 October of the same year she made her debut at Covent Garden theatre in London as Horatia in ''The Roman Father''. Here she attained great distinction, and by many was rated second only to Sarah Siddons. An illustration of her in the role of Horatia appeared in the July 1787 edition of Walker's Hibernian magazine. In 1791 Brunton married Robert Merry, a poet and playwright known by his pen-name "Della Crusca". He had run through his patrimony, but at that time still figured in fashionable circles. She at once retired from the th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Rowe (writer)
Nicholas Rowe (; 20 June 1674 – 6 December 1718), English dramatist, poet and miscellaneous writer, was appointed Poet Laureate in 1715. His plays and poems were well-received during his lifetime, with one of his translations described as one of the greatest productions in English poetry. He was also considered the first editor of the works of William Shakespeare. Life Nicholas Rowe was born in Little Barford, Bedfordshire, England, son of John Rowe (d. 1692), barrister and sergeant-at-law, and Elizabeth, daughter of Jasper Edwards, on 20 June 1674. His family possessed a considerable estate at Lamerton in Devonshire. His father practised law and published Benlow's and Dallison's Reports during the reign of King James II. The future Poet Laureate was educated first at Highgate School, and then at Westminster School under the guidance of Richard Busby. In 1688, Rowe became a King's Scholar, which was followed by his entrance into Middle Temple in 1691. His entrance into Midd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fair Penitent
''The Fair Penitent'' is Nicholas Rowe's stage adaptation of the tragedy ''The Fatal Dowry,'' the Philip Massinger and Nathan Field collaboration first published in 1632. Rowe's adaptation, premiered onstage in 1702 and first published in 1703, was a great popular success through much of the 18th century, and was praised by critics as demanding as Samuel Johnson ("There is scarcely any work of any poet so interesting by the fable and so delightful in the language"). In making his adaptation, Rowe eliminated characters and simplified the action "to create a more focused play than the original." He pursued "neoclassical simplicity" but in the process sacrificed the "underlying moral principles" of the original. Rowe shifted the setting from Dijon to Genoa, and changed the main characters' names: Characters Rowe also accentuated the role of the female protagonist, making the play much more a vehicle for a female star performer, a "better acting piece" for a prominent actress. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Macklin
Charles Macklin (26 September 1699 – 11 July 1797), (Gaelic: Cathal MacLochlainn, English: Charles McLaughlin), was an Irish actor and dramatist who performed extensively at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Macklin revolutionised theatre in the 18th century by introducing a "natural style" of acting. He is also famous for accidentally killing a man during a fight over a wig at the same theatre. Macklin was born in County Donegal in the Irish region of Ulster in the north of Ireland. He was raised in Dublin, where he attended school in Islandbridge after his father's death and his mother's remarriage. Macklin became known for his many performances in the tragedy and comedy genre of plays. He gained his greatest fame in the role of Shylock in ''The Merchant of Venice.'' Macklin enjoyed a long career which was often steeped in controversy before dying aged 97. Early life It is thought that Macklin was born near Culdaff, a village in Inishowen in the north of County Doneg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber (6 November 1671 – 11 December 1757) was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir ''Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber'' (1740) describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style. He wrote 25 plays for his own company at Drury Lane, half of which were adapted from various sources, which led Robert Lowe and Alexander Pope, among others, to criticise his "miserable mutilation" of "crucified Molière ndhapless Shakespeare". He regarded himself as first and foremost an actor and had great popular success in comical fop parts, while as a tragic actor he was persistent but much ridiculed. Cibber's brash, extroverted personality did not sit well with his contemporaries, and he was frequently accused of tasteless theatrical productions, shady business methods, and a social and political opportunism that was thought to have gained him the laureateship over far better poets. He rose to ignominious fame when he becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Refusal (play)
''The Refusal, Or, The Ladies Philosophy'' is a 1721 comedy play by the British writer Colley Cibber. It is a reworking of the 1672 farce ''Les Femmes Savantes'' by Molière, with reference to the recent South Sea Bubble. The original Drury Lane Theatre cast included Cibber himself as Witling, William Penkethman as Sir Gilbert Wangle, Barton Booth as Granger, Robert Wilks as Frankly, Margaret Bicknell as Lady Wrangle, Anne Oldfield as Sophronia and Hester Santlow as Charlotte. To counter Cibber's production, John Rich manager at the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre put on a revival of another English-language version of Molière's play ''The Female Virtuosos'' by Thomas Wright. Added problems for Cibber came on the first night of the production when political opponents of his (most probably over his association with the Whig leader Robert Walpole) began heckling and drowning out the performance. The play managed to last for six performances in total, a respectable amount for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Angelo
Henry Charles William Angelo (1756–1835) was an English memoirist and fencing master, as a member of the Angelo family of fencers and son of the Italian master, Domenico Angelo. As the leader of his father's Angelo School of Arms from 1780 to 1817, he consolidated its status among London's high society, with upper class patronage and a cult of celebrity. He also maintained his family's reputation, reissuing his father's seminal fencing manual and composing several memoirs and a single work on fencing, himself. Biography Henry Charles William Malevolti was born on 5 April 1756 at St James's Place, Piccadilly, London. His baptismal surname was Malevolti, but in the late 1750s, he became known as Angelo, following his father's adoption of the surname. Angelo was born to the Italian-born fencing master, Domenico Angelo (1717–1802), and his wife, Elizabeth '' née'' Johnson (1738–1805). This placed Angelo in the second generation of the Angelo Family, a dynasty of f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Foote
Samuel Foote (January 1720 – 21 October 1777) was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager. He was known for his comedic acting and writing, and for turning the loss of a leg in a riding accident in 1766 to comedic opportunity. Early life Born into a well-to-do family,Hartnoll, p. 290. Foote was baptized in Truro, Cornwall on 27 January 1720.Britannica. His father, Samuel Foote, held several public positions, including mayor of Truro, Member of Parliament representing Tiverton and a commissioner in the Prize Office. His mother, née Eleanor Goodere, was the daughter of Sir Edward Goodere Baronet of Hereford.Murphy, p. 1104. Foote may have inherited his wit and sharp humour from her and her family which was described as "eccentric. ..whose peculiarities ranged from the harmless to the malevolent."Howard, p. 131. About the time Foote came of age, he inherited his first fortune when one of his uncles, Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet was murdered by another uncle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Glover (poet)
Richard Glover (1712 – 25 November 1785) was an English poet and politician. Life The son of Richard Glover, a Hamburg merchant, he was born in London and educated at Cheam in Surrey. His mother was a sister of Richard West, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The young Richard was said to have been something of a favourite of his uncle. In 1739 he became one of the founding governors for the Foundling Hospital, a charity dedicated to saving children from the plight of abandonment. The success of Glover's ''Leonidas'' led him to take an interest in politics, and in 1761 he entered parliament as member for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. Glover was one of the reputed authors of the ''Letters of Junius''; but his claims, advocated in 1825 by Richard Duppa, are slight. Works He wrote in his sixteenth year a poem to the memory of Sir Isaac Newton, which was prefixed by Henry Pemberton to his ''View of Newton's Philosophy'', published in 1728. In 1737, he published an epic poem in pra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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