Son of the founder of the publishing house bearing his name. This John Murray was probably the most important among early nineteenth century British publishers, bringing out work by authors that included Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Walter Scott, Robert Southey, and many others. He helped establish and published the Quarterly Review and participated for a time in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.
A prolific and popular Irish actor, playwright, and eventually barrister, Murphy also translated classical history and modern poetry and plays, contributed to and/or edited a number of journals, and authored biographies on Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, and David Garrick. A few of his more notable plays include The Englishman from Paris (1756), The Orphan of China (1759), and The Way to Keep Him (1760).
Munden was a comedic actor and a part of the company at Covent Garden for 20 years, from 1790 to 1810, before performing at Drury Lane until retiring in 1824.
Brother of Hester Chapone, née Mulso, Thomas Mulso was author of Callistus; or, The man of fashion. And Sophronius; or, The country gentleman (1768).
See Mary Prescott.
See Hester Chapone.
The Arabic prophet of Allah and the founder of the Abrahamic religion of Islam, born roughly 570 C.E.
A writer in several genres, Mottley was most prolific as a dramatist. He authored The Imperial Captives: a Tragedy (1720); Antiochus: a Tragedy (1721); Penelope, a Dramatic Opera (1728; with Thomas Cooke); The Craftsman: Or Weekly Journalist, a Farce (1728); the comic The Widow Bewitch'd (1730); and The Devil To Pay; Or, the Wives Metamorphos'd (1731; with Charles Coffey. He also compiled several volumes of jokes. Some of his publications appeared under the pseudonyms Robert Seymour and Elijah Jenkins. See Joe Miller.
After unsuccessfully attempting to become a lawyer, Thomas Morton turned to writing plays instead, authoring some two dozen overall. His first play was Columbus, or A World Discovered (1792), based on Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'empire du Pérou (1777) by Marmontel. Morton’s most successful plays include The Way to Get Married (1796), The Cure for the Heart Ache (1797), Speed the Plough (1798), and The School of Reform, or, How to Rule a Husband (1805).
Irish writer Sydney Owenson tended to be coy about her age, perhaps because she may have been several years older than her husband. Date of birth speculations range from 1776-1785. Owenson began writing poetry and fiction while working as a governess. Her first publication, Poems, Dedicated by Permission to the Countess of Moira (1801) appeared the same year that the Act of Union shattered nationalist hopes for Irish independence. She perhaps imbibed the theme of Irish patriotism from her father, an actor and theater manager who had hoped to establish an Irish national drama.
