Home > Edmond Malone

He was born in Dublin, the son of a barrister and Judge who was a member of the Irish House of Commons. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was called to the Irish bar in 1767. The death of his father in 1774 assured him an income, and he went to London, where he frequented literary and artistic circles. He frequently visited Samuel Johnson and was of great assistance to James Boswell in revising and proofreading his Life, four of the later editions of which he annotated. He was friendly with Sir Joshua Reynolds, and sat for a portrait now in the National Portrait GalleryThe National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in the City of Westminster, in London which was opened in 1856. It houses portraits of historically important and famous British people, selected on the basis of the significance of the sitter rather than th.

He was one of Reynolds' executors, and published a posthumous collection of his works (1798) with a memoir. Horace Walpole, Edmund BurkeEdmund Burke ( January 12, 1729— July 9, 1797) was an Irish philosopher, Whig politician and statesman, remembered principally for his criticism of the French Revolution and his discussion of "the sublime. He was a founder of the Annual Register and is re, George CanningGeorge Canning ( 11 April 1770- 8 August 1827) was a politician and, briefly, British Prime Minister. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, at the expense of his banker uncle, Canning's own father having died when he was a baby. He be, Oliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith ( November 10, 1730(?) April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield ( 1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village ( 1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-natur'd, Lord CharlemontJames Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont ( August 18, 1728 August 4, 1799), was an Irish statesman. The son of the 3rd Viscount Charlemont, he was born in Dublin, and succeeded his father as 4th Viscount in 1734. The title of Charlemont descended from Sir, and, at first, George SteevensGeorge Steevens ( May 10, 1736 January 22, 1800), was an English Shakespearean commentator. He was born at Poplar, the son of a captain and later director of the East India Company. He was educated at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge, where h, were among Malone's friends. Encouraged by the two last, he devoted himself to the study of Shakespearian chronology, and the results of his Attempt to ascertain the Order in which the Plays of Shakespeare were written (1778) are still largely accepted. This was followed in 1780Events January 16 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent February, Armed Neutrality of the North alliance formed between Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. March 26 The British Gazette and Sunday Monitor the first Sunday newspaper in Britain May by two supplementary volumes to Steevens's version. of Dr Johnson's Shakespeare, partly consisting of observations on the history of the Elizabethan stage, and of the text of doubtful plays; and this again, in 1783, by an appendix volume. His refusal to alter some of his notes to Isaac Reed's edition of 1785, which disagreed with, Steevens's, resulted in a quarrel with the latter.

The next seven years were devoted to Malone's own edition of Shakespeare in eleven volumes, of which his essays on the history of the stage, his biography of Shakespeare, and his attack on the genuineness of the three parts of Henry VI, were especially valuable. His editorial work was lauded by Burke, criticized by Walpole and damned by Joseph Ritson. It certainly showed indefatigable research and proper respect for the text of the earlier editions.

Malone published a denial of the claim to antiquity of the Rowley poems produced by Thomas Chatterton, and in this (1782) as in his branding (1796) of the Ireland manuscripts as forgeries, he was among the first to guess and state the truth. His elaborate edition of John Dryden's works (1800), with a memoir, was another monument to his industry, accuracy and scholarly care. In 1801 the University of Dublin made him an LL.D.

At the time of his death, Malone was at work on a new octavo edition of Shakespeare, and he left his material to James Boswell the younger; the result was the edition of 1821 generally known as the Third Variorum edition in twenty-one volumes. Lord Sunderlin (1738-1816), his elder brother and executor, presented the larger part of Malone's splendid collection of books, including dramatic varieties, to the Bodleian Library, which afterwards bought many of his manuscript notes and his literary correspondence. The British Museum also owns some of his letters and his annotated copy of Johnson's Dictionary.

A memoir of Malone by James Boswell is included in the prologemena to the edition of 1821. See also Sir J Prior's Life of Edmond Malone (1860).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica :This article is originally from A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature