Henry Brooke (1703 – 10 October 1783) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. He was born and raised at Rantavan House near Mullagh, a village in the far south of

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (''D.I.B.''): Brooke, Henry. https://www.dib.ie/biography/brooke-henry-a0990 the son of a clergyman, and he later studied law at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, but embraced literature as a career. Brooke's father was

The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

William Brooke, the well-off

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

Rector of Killinkere and Mullagh within the Church of Ireland Diocese of Kilmore. Henry first began his career as a poet. His now forgotten ''Universal Beauty'' was published in 1735, and

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

thought its sentiments and poetry fine. He then turned dramatist by adapting extant plays, such as ''The Earl of Essex.'' He wrote from the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

point of view and became one of the most important figures in

Augustan drama Augustan drama can refer to the dramas of Ancient Rome during the reign of Caesar Augustus, but it most commonly refers to the plays of Great Britain in the early 18th century, a subset of 18th-century Augustan literature. King George I referre ...

, although not for his successes. His ''Gustavus Vasa'' (1739) has the distinction of being the first play banned by the

Licensing Act Licensing Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation relating to licensing. List * Licensing Order of 1643, an Act imposing pre-publication censorship and prompting Milton to write ''Areopagitica''. ...

of 1737. The play concerned the liberation of Sweden from

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in 1521 by '' Riksföreståndare'' (Protector of the Realm or Regent) Gustav Vasa (who later became King Gustav I of Sweden).

Sir Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

believed that the villain of the play resembled him. Further, a facetious "attack" on it was the first public writing of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

, whose ''A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the English Stage'' feigns support for Walpole while it drives the censor's argument to ''

reductio ad absurdum In logic, (Latin for "reduction to absurdity"), also known as (Latin for "argument to absurdity") or ''apagogical arguments'', is the form of argument that attempts to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to absu ...

.'' Brooke lived in Ireland most of his life, but he spent time in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

when his plays were on the stage. In politics, he was somewhat radical in arguing publicly for loosening the laws persecuting

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the United Kingdom. His daughter

Charlotte Brooke Charlotte Brooke ( – 1793), born in Rantavan, beside Mullagh in County Cavan, Ireland, was the author of ''Reliques of Irish Poetry'', a pioneering volume of poems collected by her in the Irish language, with facing translations. She was one ...

was herself an important figure in the history of

Irish literature Irish literature comprises writings in the Irish, Latin, English and Scots ( Ulster Scots) languages on the island of Ireland. The earliest recorded Irish writing dates from the 7th century and was produced by monks writing in both Latin an ...

, publishing ''Reliques of Irish Poetry'' (1789) and working to increase the profile of Irish language poetry. Later, his ''Earl of Essex'' came back to the boards in a revival. Again, Samuel Johnson offered his public support of Brooke, but when he heard the Earl saying at the end of Act II, "Who rules o'er free men must himself be free," Johnson replied, "Who drives fat oxen must himself be fat." Although Johnson was objecting to the misuse and overuse of "freedom" and was at that time in a vexatious debate over the United States

War of Independence This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence. List See also * Lists of active separatist movements * List of civil wars * List of o ...

(saying, "Why is it that we hear the loudest cries for liberty from the drivers of Negroes?"), Brooke was mortified by Johnson's parody and changed the line for his ''Collected Works''. Brooke had a difficult life and made a very poor living. The

robbed him of his primary avenue to making a living, for, after the Act, he was the first man banned by it. Whatever fame this lent him was made up for by his inability to get new plays performed. His greatest commercial successes came from the ''Earl of Essex'' and his two novels, ''The Fool of Quality'' (1760-1772) and ''Juliet Grenville'' (1774), which are two of the finest

sentimental novel The sentimental novel or the novel of sensibility is an 18th-century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensi ...

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

was so fond of ''

The Fool of Quality ''The Fool of Quality; or, The History of Henry, Earl of Moreland'' (1765 in literature, 1765–1770 in literature, 70), a Picaresque novel, picaresque and sentimental novel by the Irish writer Henry Brooke (writer), Henry Brooke, is the only one ...

'', in which Brooke declares his belief in

universal salvation In Christian theology, universal reconciliation (also called universal salvation, Christian universalism, or in context simply universalism) is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ulti ...

,John McClintock.
Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature
'. Harper & brothers (1891). p. 660. that he sought to have a copy of it given out to all new

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

churches. He had twenty-two children. Of these, only Charlotte survived adolescence. She shepherded his ''Works'' through the press after his death.

References

External links

Brooke at Princess Grace Irish Library
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Henry 1703 births 1783 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish male dramatists and playwrights People from County Cavan 18th-century Christian universalists 18th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights 18th-century Irish novelists Irish male novelists 18th-century Irish male writers