Irish novelist whose best-known work is Chrysal; or, The Adventures of a Guinea (1760-65).

Literary biographer, critic, fiction writer, moralist, and poet, Samuel Johnson was one of the two or three most important figures in eighteenth-century British literary history. His most notable poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), makes its content clear in its title. His fable Rasselas, first published under the title The Prince of Abissinia (1759), narrates the story of the residents of a fictional Happy Valley, who enjoy gratification of all wants, but nevertheless find themselves discontented because they have nothing to long or hope for and so no outlet to exercise imagination.

Frequently described as radical or at least progressive, eighteenth-century bookseller and publisher Joseph Johnson made important contributions to the careers of several women critics, including Anna Letitia Barbauld, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Mary Hays, all of whom contributed to his literary review, the Analytical Review, which ran from 1788 to 1799. Johnson also published creative work by all three of these writers among many others.

The youngest surviving son of Henry II and a controversial ruler, King John became a popular figure for fictionalization after his death, his most popular portrayals being the eponymous character in Shakespeare's King John and the villain of the Robin Hood legends. During his reign, King John lost the Angevin Empire with his French lands being seized by King Philip II of France. Landowner dissatisfaction with this loss as well as with John's despotic rule led to the sealing of the Magna Carta.

A fictional personification of English character originating in a series of pamphlets by John Arbuthnot that later figures in satires, caricatures, and cartoons.

Believed to have authored the biblical book of Revelation while in exile on the island of Patmos, Saint John is by some also regarded as the same apostle of Jesus credited with the gospel of John.

Within the span of her short life, Maria Jewsbury's work included poetry, fiction, satire, reflective essays, and literary criticism. Upon her mother's death, Jewsbury assumed responsibility for her six siblings at the age of 19, a role she filled for over 12 years, during which time she published in The Manchester Gazette, The Athenaeum, and a number of gift annuals. She anonymously published Phantasmagoria; or, Sketches of Life and Literature, (1825) a collection dedicated to William Wordsworth, which he praised.

Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1).

Character in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740-1).

Robert Jephson was an Irish politician and dramatist. His most notable works include his tragedy Braganza (1775), The Conspiracy (1796), Julia (1797), The Law of Lombardy (1779), and The Count of Narbonne (1781). Jephson also published The Confessions of Jacques Baptiste Couteau, a satire on the excesses of the French Revolution.