the Empire of Morocco,' with a dedication to Sir William Trumball, in which he said he endeavoured to appear as much an Englishman as he could, even in his writings. In the same year Motteux published on a single sheet 'Words for a Musical Entertainment [by John Eccles] at the New Theatre in Little Lincoln's Inn Fields, on the Taking of Namur, and His Majesty's safe Return.'
Motteux's first play, 'Love's a Jest,' a comedy from the Italian, was produced in 1696, with a dedication to Lord Clifford of Lanesborough. It was followed in 1697 by 'The Novelty. Every Act a Play. Being a short Pastoral, Comedy, Masque, Tragedy, and Farce, after the Italian manner,' by Motteux and others, with a dedication to Charles Caesar ; and by 'The Loves of Mars and Venus,' a masque (dedicated to Colonel Codrington), which was acted and printed in connection with the 'Anatomist, 'by Motteux's friend Ravenscroft. In June 1698 Motteux produced a tragedy, 'Beauty in Distress,' to which were prefixed a 'Discourse of the Lawfulness and Unlawfulness of Plays, lately written in French by Father Caffaro,' and complimentary lines by Dryden,' to my friend Mr. Motteux,' with reference to Collier's recent attack on the stage. The fault of the play, as Dryden hinted, is that the plot is too complicated. In the dedication to the Hon. Henry Heveningham, Motteux says that it had been the happy occasion of recommending him to the bounty of the Princess Anne, her gift alone outweighing the benefit of a sixth representation ; but he adds that his uninterrupted success had created enemies. It was alleged by a satirist that Heveningham himself wrote this dedication, offering to pay Motteux five guineas for the use of his name (Poems on Affairs of State, 1703, ii. 248-54; Eyerton MS. 2623, f. 68). In 1699 Motteux turned Fletcher's 'Island Princess' into an opera, wrote words for an interlude, 'The Four Lessons, or Love in every Age,' and contributed an epilogue to Henry Smith's 'Princess of Parma.'
From a letter of 28 April 1700 from Dubois, afterwards cardinal, to 'Monsieur Pierre Motteux a la grande Poste, a Londres' (Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. pt. ii. p. 464), it would appear that Motteux had then already received what the old biographers call ' a very genteel place in the General Post Office relating to foreign letters, being master of several languages ; ' but official records only show that by 1703 he had 40J. as a clerk in the foreign office of the post-office, and that by 1711 the place had been given to another. A song by Motteux, given at a post-office feast on the queen's birthday, is printed in Oldmixon's 'Muses Mercury' for January 1708. There are other verses by Motteux in the same paper for March 1707.
'Acis and Galatea,' a masque, was produced in 1701, and 'Britain's Happiness,' a musical interlude, in 1704. On 16 Jan. 1705 'Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus, an Opera after the Italian manner,' was brought out at Drury Lane Theatre, and was acted fifteen times. It was printed in 1707 (see Addison, Spectator, 21 March 1711). 'The Amorous Miser,' a farcical comedy, appeared at the same theatre on 18 Jan. 1705, and was acted about six times. Motteux wrote an epilogue for Vanbrugh's ' Mistake,' first acted on 27 Dec. 1705 ; and on 7 March 1706 the 'Temple of Love, a Pastoral Opera, Englished from the Italian,' was performed at the Haymarket with but little success. In the following year (1 April 1707) 'Thomyris, Queen of Scythia, an Opera,' was produced under Dr. Pepusch's direction, and it was followed by ' Farewell Folly, or the Younger the Wiser, a Comedy. With a Musical Interlude called "The Mountebank, or the Humours of the Fair."' 'Love's Triumph,' an opera, 1708, was dedicated to Thomas Falkland, son of the postmaster-general ; the words had been written, Motteux said, 'very near you, at a place where my duty often calls me from other business ; . . . they were in a manner done in Post-haste,' Early in 1712, or at the close of 1711, Motteux published a good though free translation of Cervantes's 'Don Quixote,' in four volumes. He was assisted by Ozell and others, but revised the whole himself. This work has been frequently reprinted. In the 'Spectator' for 30 Jan. 1712 (No. 288) appeared a letter from Motteux, who spoke of himself as ' an author turned dealer,' and described the large variety of goods which ladies would find at his warehouse in Leadenhall Street, many of them bought by himself abroad. In July 1712 he published, in folio and duodecimo, 'A Poem in Praise of Tea,' with a dedication to the 'Spectator,' in which he again referred to the way he was engrossed in his 'China and India trade, and all the distracting variety of a Doyly.' In December Steele drew an attractive picture of his friend's ' spacious warehouses, filled and adorned with tea, China and Indian wares' (Spectator, No. 552). From a letter of 1714 to Sir Hans Sloane, in the British Museum, it appears that Motteux dealt also in pictures (Sloane MS. 4054, f. 12).
Motteux's death took place on his birthday, 18 Feb. 1718, in a house of ill-fame
