Novelist, social theorist, and literary critic. Martineau was born to a Unitarian textile manufacturing family of Huguenot ancestry. From her early childhood, Martineau experienced health problems that included partial deafness that increased in severity as she aged. In 1829, upon the failure of her family's textile business, Martineau turned to her writing to support herself and her family. Martineau remained unmarried throughout her life and was one of few female writers of her time able to earn enough to support herself.

Author of A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (1703).

A British customs official, Martin (or Martyn) is described by Richard Steele as a chief contributor to the Spectator.

English dramatist, poet, and satirist, largely writing plays to be performed by children's companies, organized groups of exclusively boy actors.

Author and literary theorist Jean François Marmontel's philosophical novel Bélisaire (1765) caused an uproar amongst the religious establishment for its advocacy of religious tolerance. Les Incas, ou la destruction de l'empire du Pérou (1777) denounces the fanaticism of the conquistadors. He also authored Contes Moreaux (1755-65). His Éléments de littérature collects his essays on literary theory (1787). His Mémoires were published 1792-4.

Playwright, poet, translator, and alleged spy, the volatile Christopher Marlowe was a significant influence on the work of Shakespeare. Marlowe's major plays include The Tragedie of Dido, Queene of Carthage (in collaboration with Thomas Nashe, 1594); Tamburlaine (1590); Edward II (1594); Dr. Faustus (1604); and The Jew of Malta (1633); He was stabbed to death in a tavern argument for reasons that remain unclear to this day.

Consequential general and statesman whose political career was marked by dramatic swings between favor and disfavor during the volatile shifts in political power and perspective of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Especially for his unfinished La Vie de Marianne (1731-41), Marivaux is often regarded as anticipating the novels of sensibility by Samuel Richardson. Marivaux also authored Le Paysan Parvenu (1734–35).

Roman general and consul.

Italian poet and founder of Marinism, the most dominant school of poetry in seventeenth-century Italy, characterized by a flamboyant style, extravagant imagery, and ornate conceits.