composed by Thomas Busby, was pronounced by Genest to be the first and best ‘of those melo-drames with which the stage was afterwards inundated’ (Account of the English Stage, vii. 579). Holcroft returned to England in 1803, and soon afterwards set up a printing business in connection with his brother-in-law, Mercier, which proved a complete failure. Holcroft died after a long illness in Clipstone Street, Marylebone, on 23 March 1809, aged 63, and was buried at Marylebone in the larger parish cemetery on the south side of Paddington Street.
Holcroft was a stern and conscientious man, with an irascible temper, great energy, and marvellous industry. Charles Lamb [q. v.], in his letter to ‘R. S., Esq., on the Tombs in the Abbey,’ speaks of Holcroft as ‘one of the most candid, most upright, and single-meaning men’ whom he ever knew (Life, Letters, and Writings of Charles Lamb, ed. P. Fitzgerald, 1876, vi. 78), while William Godwin the elder [q. v.], with whom Holcroft was for several years very intimate, numbered him among his ‘four principal oral instructors’ (C. K. Paul, William Godwin, i. 17). As an actor he was harsh and unsympathetic, and he appears to have taken no further part on the stage after his performance of Figaro. In spite of his poverty and many adverse circumstances, Holcroft with great tenacity of purpose contrived to educate himself creditably, and to acquire a competent knowledge of French, German, and Italian. His career, however, was one continuous struggle against misfortune, and owing to his many rash speculations and his ‘picture-dealing insanity’ his affairs were perpetually in an embarrassed condition. He married four times. His son William (by his second wife) when only sixteen committed suicide while attempting to escape to the West Indies after robbing him of 40l. in November 1789 (Memoirs, pp. 140–142). His daughter Fanny (d. 1844) was the authoress of several novels and translations, while another daughter, Louisa, became the wife of Carlyle's friend Badams (Carlyle, Reminiscences, ed. C. E. Norton, 1887, i. 93–95). His widow, whose maiden name was Louisa Mercier, remarried James Kenney [q. v.], the dramatic writer.
One of the three portraits of Holcroft, which were painted at different times by his friend John Opie, is now in the National Portrait Gallery. There are engravings of Holcroft in the ‘European Magazine’ (vol. xxii. opp. p. 403), the ‘Register of the Times’ (vol. ii. opp. p. 4), the ‘Monthly Mirror’ (vol. viii. opp. p. 323), and in the first volume of his ‘Memoirs,’ 1816.
The ‘Memoirs written by himself and continued down to the time of his death, from his Diary, Notes, and other Papers,’ were edited by his friend William Hazlitt. Though completed in 1810, they were not published until 1816, London, 12mo, 3 vols. They were reprinted in a slightly abridged form in 1852 as part of Longman's ‘Travellers' Library,’ London, 8vo. The account of his life down to his fifteenth year (pp. 7–65), and his diary from 22 June 1798 to 12 March 1799 (pp. 190–256) were written by Holcroft himself, while the remaining portion of the ‘Memoirs’ were compiled by Hazlitt. Some of Holcroft's correspondence is appended to the ‘Memoirs’ (pp. 269–315). Thomas Moore regarded the ‘Memoirs’ as ‘amongst the most interesting specimens of autobiography we have’ (Moore, Memoirs, ii. 167). Many of Holcroft's letters to Godwin are printed in Mr. Paul's ‘William Godwin.’ Two or three of his dramatic pieces were set to music by his friend Shield, who also composed the music for several songs which Holcroft wrote for Vauxhall, some of which became very popular.
Holcroft was a most prolific writer, and appears to have contributed to the ‘Westminster Magazine,’ the ‘Wit's Magazine,’ the ‘Town and Country Magazine,’ and to the early numbers of the ‘English Review.’ According to Hazlitt, Holcroft also wrote for the ‘Monthly Review,’ but from an entry in the diary this would seem not to have been the case (Memoirs, pp. 184, 199). Owing to the violent political prejudices against him, some of Holcroft's plays were printed without his name. He published the following works in addition to numerous translations from the French of Madame de Genlis, M. Savary, and other writers besides those mentioned: 1. ‘Elegies: I. On the Death of Samuel Foote, Esq.; II. On Age,’ London, 1777, 4to. 2. ‘A Plain … Narrative of the late Riots in London, … Westminster, and … Southwark, … with an Account of the Commitment of Lord G. Gordon to the Tower, &c. … By William Vincent of Gray's Inn,’ London, 1780, 8vo; the second edition, corrected, with an appendix, London, 1780, 8vo. 3. ‘Alwyn, or the Gentleman Comedian’ [a novel], anon., London, 1780, 12mo. 4. ‘Duplicity,’ a comedy [in five acts and in prose], &c., London, 1781, 8vo, third edition, London, 1782, 8vo; another edition, Dublin, 1782, 12mo. This comedy was cut down to three acts, and revived at Covent Garden Theatre as ‘The Mask'd Friend,’ 6 May 1796. 5. ‘Human Happiness, or The Sceptic,’ a poem in six cantos, London, 1783, 4to. 6. ‘The Family Picture, or Domestic Dialogues on Amiable … Subjects,’ London, 1783, 12mo, 2 vols.
