A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Brooke, Henry
Brooke, Henry (1703-1783).—Novelist and dramatist, b. in Ireland, s. of a clergyman, studied law, but embraced literature as a career. He wrote poems, dramas, and novels; but the only work which has kept its place is The Fool of Quality (5 vols. 1766-70), which was a favourite book with John Wesley. His now forgotten poem, Universal Beauty (1735) was admired by Pope. His dau., Charlotte, the only survivor of 22 children, tended him to his last days of decay, and was herself a writer, her principal work being Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789). She d. 1793.