Page:The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets.djvu/142

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Known Authors. S

The Unhappy Kindneſs; or, A Fruitleſs Revenge, a Tragedy, 4 to. acted at the Theatre Royal, 1696. This Play is only the Wife for a Month of Fletcher’s alter’d, tho’ he has thought fit to retain its greateſt Faults, in the Character of the Wife, whoſe Behaviour to her Husband, to provoke him to eaſe her of her Maiden-head, is by no means agreeable to the Modeſty of the Sex, which is a Sin againſt the Manners.

Elkanah Settle.

An Author now living, who was ſome time at Trinity-Colledge, Oxon; but coming to London, and having been there poſſeſſed with Poetry, ſpent a very good Fortune, and then ſtuck to the Stage, which yet would not ſtick to him; his fickleneſs in political Principles (having once been an active Man for the Whigg-Party) loſt him too his Friends on the other Side, without any Reward for his Deſertion. Whatever his Plays are (which if compar’d with the beſt of our preſent Writers, I mean ſome of them, far excel ’em) in the Opinion of his Enemies, he has perform’d in ſome, with no leſs applauſe than Merit; in his Diſpute with Mr. Dryden, he had evidently the better of him; tho’, being a modeſt Man, he ſuffer’d himſelf to be rnn down by his Antagoniſt in his Intereſt in the Town.

The Ambitious Slave; or, A Generous Revenge, a Tragedy acted at the Theatre Royal, 4 to. 1694. and dedicated to the Honoured John Bright, Eſq; which Dedication the Author begins with the ill Fortune of the Play. The Scene he has plac’d in Perſia, from whence I find he is ſcarce to be got.

Cambyſes, King of Perſia, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1675. acted at the Duke’s Theatre; dedicated to the Illuſtrious Princeſs Ann, Dutcheſs of Monmouth. This Play ſold two Impreſſions before this time of printing, and is in Heroick Verſe. Plot, Juſtin, Lib. 1. Cap. 9. Amianus Marcellinus, Lib. 23. Herodotus, &c.

The Conqueſt of China by the Tartars, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1676. acted at the Duke’s Theatre; and dedicated to the Lord Caſtle-Riſing. This Play is founded on Hiſtory, and writ in Heroick Verſe. Plot, Heylin’s Coſmography, Book 3. Conqueſt of China by Signior Palafax, Engliſhed, 8 vo. Lewis de Guſman, and Gonzales de Mendoza.

Diſtreſſed Innocence; or, The Princeſs of Perſia, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1691. acted at the Theatre Royal, by their Majeſties Servants; and dedicated to the Right Honourable John, Lord Cutts, Baron of Gowram.

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