The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets/Elkanah Settle
Elkanah Settle.
An Author now living, who was some time at Trinity-Colledge, Oxon; but coming to London, and having been there possessed with Poetry, spent a very good Fortune, and then stuck to the Stage, which yet would not stick to him; his fickleness in political Principles (having once been an active Man for the Whigg-Party) lost him too his Friends on the other Side, without any Reward for his Desertion. Whatever his Plays are (which if compar’d with the best of our present Writers, I mean some of them, far excel ’em) in the Opinion of his Enemies, he has perform’d in some, with no less applause than Merit; in his Dispute with Mr. Dryden, he had evidently the better of him; tho’, being a modest Man, he suffer’d himself to be rnn down by his Antagonist in his Interest in the Town.
The Ambitious Slave; or, A Generous Revenge, a Tragedy acted at the Theatre Royal, 4 to. 1694. and dedicated to the Honoured John Bright, Esq; which Dedication the Author begins with the ill Fortune of the Play. The Scene he has plac’d in Persia, from whence I find he is scarce to be got.
Cambyses, King of Persia, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1675. acted at the Duke’s Theatre; dedicated to the Illustrious Princess Ann, Dutchess of Monmouth. This Play sold two Impressions before this time of printing, and is in Heroick Verse. Plot, Justin, Lib. 1. Cap. 9. Amianus Marcellinus, Lib. 23. Herodotus, &c.
The Conquest of China by the Tartars, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1676. acted at the Duke’s Theatre; and dedicated to the Lord Castle-Rising. This Play is founded on History, and writ in Heroick Verse. Plot, Heylin’s Cosmography, Book 3. Conquest of China by Signior Palafax, Englished, 8 vo. Lewis de Gusman, and Gonzales de Mendoza.
Distressed Innocence; or, The Princess of Persia, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1691. acted at the Theatre Royal, by their Majesties Servants; and dedicated to the Right Honourable John, Lord Cutts, Baron of Gowram.
This Play our Author writ after ten Years Silence, and pays his publick Acknowledgment to Mr. Betterton, for his several extraordinary hints to the heightning of its best Characters, and how he was indebted to Mr. Montfort for the last Scene thereof, who also writ the Epilogue. The Story of Hormidas and Cleomira built on true History.
The Empress of Morocco, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1673. writ in Heroick Verse, with Sculptures; acted at the Duke’s Theatre; and dedicated to the Right Honourable, Henry, Earl of Norwich, and Earl Marshal of England. This Play was writ against by Mr. Dryden, Mr. Shadwell, and Mr. Crown, and called, Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco; or, Some few Erratas to be printed instead of the Sculptures, with the second Edition of that Play. 4 to. 1674. Which Pamphlet was answered by another.
Fatal Love; or, The forc’d Inconstancy, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1680. acted at the Theatre Royal; and dedicated to Sir Rob. Owen. Plot from Achilles Tatius’s Clitophon and Lucippe, a Romance, Book 5. which Romance is likewise in English, printed 8 vo.
The Female Prelate; or, The History of the Life and Death of Pope Joan, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1680. acted at the Theatre Royal; and dedicated to the Right Honourable Anthony, Earl of Shaftsbury. Plot from Platina’s Lives of the Popes, Englished by Sir Paul Ricaut, and the Life and Death of Pope Joan, 8 vo. 1675. wherein is a List of such Authors who affirm, and others who deny the Truth of this Story. There is also another small Book of the Life and Death of Pope Joan, writ Dialogue-wise, by one Mr. Cook, formerly Fellow of University-Colledge, Oxon. which Piece was so much valued then, that ’twas translated into the French by J. de la Montaign.
The Heir of Morocco, with the Death of Gayland; a Tragedy, 4 to. 1682. acted at the Theatre Royal; and dedicated to the Lady Henrietta Wentworth, Baroness of Nettlested.
Ibrahim, the Illustrious Bassa; a Tragedy, 4 to. 1677. acted at Duke’s Theatre; and dedicated to the Dutchess of Albermarle; it is writ in Heroick Verse. Plot from The Illustrious Bassa, a Romance, Fol.
Love and Revenge, a Tragedy, 4 to. 1675. acted at the Duke’s Theatre; and dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle. A great part of this Play taken from another, called, Fatal Contract, writ by Mr. Hemmings, formerly of the University of Oxon.
Pastor Fido; or, The Faithful Shepherd, a Pastoral, 4 to. 1677. acted at the Duke’s Theatre, and dedicated to the Lady Elizabeth Delaval. It was first translated by Sir Richard Fanshaw, from the Italian of Guarini, which Translation our Author has endeavoured to improve.
The World in the Moon, an Opera, 4 to. 1698. as it is performed at the Theatre in Dorset-Garden, by his Majesty’s Servants; and dedicated to Christopher Roth, Esq; This is something unusual, being a comical Opera. I think great part of the Run betwixt Palmerin, Worthy, Sir Dotterel, and Jacintha, pleasant enough, tho’ the first and late Essay of our Author in the Soc.