A lieutenant in the English army who assassinated George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham. After leading multiple failed military expeditions, thereby damaging the reputation of Charles I, Villiers was hated by the public, who rejoiced at the news of his assassination.

Important Dublin bookseller.

Born in Northern Ireland, playwright George Farquhar was best known for his comic plays including The Constant Couple (1699) and The Recruiting Officer (1706). He died at the age of 29 only days after his successful play The Beaux' Stratagem premiered. Other plays, several of which are adaptations from the work of other authors, include Love and a Bottle (1698), Sir Harry Wildair (1701), The Stage-Coach (1702), The Inconstant (1702), and The Twin-Rivals (1702).

A fictional knight appearing in three of Shakespeare's plays: King Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Sir John Falstaff is the friend of Prince Hal, the future King Henry V, and is characterized by his vanity and fatness. Falstaff spends much of his time drinking with petty criminals, and he largely lives off of stolen money. Although the character does not appear in the play, Falstaff's death at the Battle of Agincourt is mentioned in King Henry V.

Translated Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata as Godfrey of Bulloigne; or, the Recoverie of Jerusalem (1600).

A late fifteenth-century London sheriff who redacted a number of sources on events in British history into The Concordance of Chronicles. Also known as Robert Fabian.

Italian writer, author of Delle lettere familiari d'alcuni Bolognesi del nostro secolo (1744).

Catholic priest whose travels in Greece, Sicily, and Malta resulted in the publication of A Tour through Italy (1813). His brief travels in France resulted in Letter from Paris (1814).

In Greek myth, wife of Orpheus, who was killed by a snake. To rescue her, Orpheus descended into the underworld, but his efforts were foiled when he violated the conditions imposed on his success by looking back to reassure himself that his wife was still with him.

One of the three most important early Athenian tragic dramatists. Among the nineteen of his plays that have survived, the best known include The Bacchae (405), Iphigenia at Aulis (405), Orestes (408), Iphigenia at Tauris (414?), The Trojan Women (415), Electra (417), Andromache (426?), and Medea (431).