Charles Johnson (1679 – 11 March 1748) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

playwright 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 ...

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

keeper, and enemy of

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, ...

's. He was a dedicated Whig who allied himself with the

Duke of Marlborough General (United Kingdom), General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) was an Engl ...

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 ...

, and those who rose in opposition to Queen Anne's

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 ...

ministry of 1710–1714. Johnson claimed to be trained in the law, but there is no evidence of his membership in any of the

inns of court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

. At the same time, it is possible that he was a lawyer, as his first two published works, in 1704 and 1705 (''Marlborough; on the Late Glorious Victory Near Hochstet in Germany'' and '' The Queen; a Pindaric Ode'') had him living in

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, and he married a Mary Bradbury in Gray's Inn chapel in 1709, the year of his first play, '' Love and Liberty'' (unproduced). Some time around 1710, he became friends with the actor-manager of

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...

Robert Wilks Robert Wilks (''c.'' 1665 – 27 September 1732) was a British actor and theatrical manager who was one of the leading managers of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in its heyday of the 1710s. He was, with Colley Cibber and Thomas Doggett, one of th ...

, and Wilks ensured that Johnson's plays received consideration. In 1711, ''

The Wife's Relief ''The Wife's Relief, or, The Husband's Cure'' is a 1711 comedy play by the British writer Charles Johnson (writer), Charles Johnson. The plot revolves around a virtuous wife who tries to mend her husband's rake (stock character), rakish ways.Golla ...

'' was a great success. The play starred Colley Cibber, Robert Wilks,

Thomas Doggett Thomas Doggett (or Dogget) (20 September 1721) was an Irish actor. The birth date of 1640 seems unlikely. A more probable date of 1670 is given in the Encyclopædia Britannica. Biography Doggett was born in Dublin, and made his first stage app ...

, and

Anne Oldfield Anne Oldfield (168323 October 1730) was an English actress and one of the highest paid actresses of her time. Early life and discovery She was born in London in 1683. Her father was a soldier, James Oldfield. Her mother was either Anne or Eliz ...

. He received £300 for the play, and it remained in print for two decades. In 1712, ''

The Successful Pyrate ''The Successful Pyrate'' is a play by Charles Johnson, first performed 1712, published 1713, dealing with the life of the pirate Henry Avery. It opened at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 7 November 1712 and ran for five evenings. The original ...

'' was acted, and

John Dennis John Dennis may refer to: *John Dennis (dramatist) (1658–1734), English dramatist * John Dennis (1771–1806), Maryland congressman *John Dennis (1807–1859), his son, Maryland congressman *John Stoughton Dennis (1820–1885), Canadian surveyor ...

complained to

Charles Killigrew Charles Killigrew (1655–1725) was an English courtier, theatre manager and Master of the Revels. Life Born at Maastricht on 29 December 1655, he was son of Thomas Killigrew (the elder), by his second wife, Charlotte, daughter of John de Hesse of ...

Master of the Revels The Master of the Revels was the holder of a position within the English, and later the British, royal household, heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels". The Master of the Revels was an executive officer under the Lord Chamberlain. ...

that the play glamorized the pirate

Henry Every Henry Every, also known as Henry Avery (20 August 1659after 1696), sometimes erroneously given as Jack Avery or John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian oceans in the mid-1690s. He probably used several aliases ...

. Nevertheless, the play's controversy helped its attendance, and it was a theatrical success. After the

Hanoverian succession The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

in 1715, when the whigs were ascendant, Johnson had his greatest success with ''

The Country Lasses ''The Country Lasses: or, The Custom of the Manor'' is a 1715 comedy play by the British writer Charles Johnson. The original Drury Lane cast included Robert Wilks as Modely, Barton Booth as Heartwell, John Mills as Freehold, Benjamin Johnson ...

''. It was acted in repertoire until 1813, and it had six editions and two adaptations by 1779. Furthermore, it was used as a test case for Drury Lane. The managers claimed that they needed no license from the master of revels, and they presented ''The Country Lasses'' without license. The play is sentimental, affectionate, and nostalgic, with little of the sexuality or raillery of earlier comedies. The next year, Johnson was more overtly political with '' The Cobler of Preston'', which was a play about the

Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts The House of Stuart, ori ...

. In 1717, he wrote ''

The Sultaness ''The Sultaness'' is a 1717 tragedy by the British writer Charles Johnson. It is a reworking of the 1672 French play '' Bajazet'' by Jean Racine set in the Ottoman Empire. In common with early eighteenth century plays it places much greater emph ...

'', a tragedy, and in the preface to the printed play, he satirized the recent ''

Three Hours after Marriage ''Three Hours After Marriage'' was a restoration comedy, written in 1717 as a collaboration between John Gay, Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot, though Gay was the principal author. The play is best described as a satirical farce, and among i ...

'' as "Long-labour'd Nonsense." That play had been written by

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

, Alexander Pope, and

John Arbuthnot John Arbuthnot FRS (''baptised'' 29 April 1667 – 27 February 1735), often known simply as Dr Arbuthnot, was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contributions to mathematics, his membersh ...

, and Pope repaid Johnson with interest in the 1728 ''

The Dunciad ''The Dunciad'' is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bring ...

'', where he deplores :"A past, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, new piece, :'Twixt

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

Fletcher Fletcher may refer to: People * Fletcher (occupation), a person who fletches arrows, the origin of the surname * Fletcher (singer) (born 1994), American actress and singer-songwriter * Fletcher (surname) * Fletcher (given name) Places United ...

, Congreve, and

Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

, :(That) Can make a

Cibber Cibber is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Caius Gabriel Cibber, Danish sculptor; father of Colley Cibber * Charlotte Cibber, English actress, playwright, novelist, autobiographer, and noted transvestite *Colley Cibber, British ...

, Johnson, or Ozell." (I. 235-40) Johnson was therefore lumped in with his much more political theatrical manager, Cibber, and the overtly political accountant, John Ozell. In comparison with those two individuals, Johnson was an innocent. In 1719 his '' The Masquerade'' was performed at the

. Johnson's next play was a comedy ''

The Female Fortune Teller ''The Female Fortune Teller'' is a 1726 comedy play by the British writer Charles Johnson.Nicoll p.142 It is a reworking of Edward Ravenscroft's 1683 restoration comedy ''Dame Dobson''. The original cast featured James Quin as Spring, Lacy Ry ...

'' from 1726. In 1729 he produced a

ballad opera The ballad opera is a genre of English stage entertainment that originated in the early 18th century, and continued to develop over the following century and later. Like the earlier '' comédie en vaudeville'' and the later ''Singspiel'', its dist ...

'' The Village Opera'' followed by the tragedy ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

'' in 1730, and his last play was '' Caelia'', which was a comedy that failed so badly that it was withdrawn early. In the preface to ''Medea'', Johnson replied to Pope, admitting that Pope was a better poet but complaining of the pettiness shown by Pope's treatment of those who offended him. It is possible that during these decades Johnson was already engaged in other business. He ran a tavern in Bow Street,

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. He died in 1748. His plays emphasize tragic female characters (a late version of the

she-tragedy The term she-tragedy, also known as pathetic tragedy refers to a vogue in the late 17th and early 18th centuries for tragic plays focused on the sufferings of a woman, sometimes innocent and virtuous but often a woman who had committed some sort o ...

), and contemporary accounts suggest that he was an extremely friendly and inoffensive individual. He was personally corpulent, and one biographer suggested that he was attacked in ''

'' simply for being too large a target to avoid. Johnson's remarks in ''Medea'' show that he was personally very surprised and sorry to be mentioned in ''The Dunciad.''

Plays

* '' The Force of Friendship'' (1710) * ''

The Generous Husband ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' (1711) * ''

'' (1712) * '' The Victim'' (1714) * ''

'' (1715) * '' The Cobler of Preston'' (1716) * ''

'' (1717) * '' The Masquerade'' (1719) * ''

Love in a Forest ''Love in a Forest'' is a 1723 comedy play by Charles Johnson (writer), Charles Johnson. It is a substantial reworking of Shakespeare's ''As You Like It'' cutting out characters and passages, while borrowing from other Shakespeare plays amongst o ...

'' (1723) * ''

'' (1726) * '' The Village Opera'' (1729) * ''

'' (1730) * '' Caelia'' (1731)

References

* Kelly, James William. "Charles Johnson". In Matthew, H.C.G., and Brian Harrison (eds), ''

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

.'' vol. 30. 239–240. London:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Charles 1679 births 1748 deaths English dramatists and playwrights English male dramatists and playwrights Whig (British political party) politicians

Plays

See also

References