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He was born in Orange Court, Leicester Fields, London. His father had a shoemaker's shop, and kept riding horses for hire; but having fallen into difficulties was reduced to the status of hawking pedlar . The son accompanied his parents in their travels, and obtained work as a stable boy at Newmarket, where he spent his evenings chiefly in miscellaneous reading and the study of music. Gradually he obtained a knowledge of French, German and Italian.

When his job as stable boy came to an end, he returned to assist his father, who had resumed his trade of shoemaker in London; but after marrying in 1765, he became a teacher in a small school in Liverpool. He failed in an attempt to set up a private school, and became prompter in a Dublin theatre. He acted in various strolling companies until 1778, when he produced The Crisis; or, Love and Famine, at Drury Lane. Duplicity followed in 1781.

Two years later he went to Paris as correspondent of the Morning Herald. Here he attended the performances of BeaumarchaisPierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais ( January 24, 1732 May 18, 1799) was, among other accomplishments, a writer and librettist. Born Pierre-Augustin Caron in Paris, he changed his surname to "Caron de Beaumarchais" in 1757, in reference to land inherite's Mariage de Figaro until he had memorized the whole. The translation of it, with the title The Follies of the Day, was produced at Drury Lane in 1784Events January 6 the Turks agree to Russia's annexation of the Crimea in the Treaty of Constantinople January 14 The U. Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with England to end the American Revolutionary War February 27 Count of St Germain dies of pneumo. The Road to Ruin, his most successful melodrama, was produced in 1792Events January 25 The London Corresponding Society is founded. February 20 The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington. March 16 King of Sweden Gustav III Shot in the back by Jaco. A revival in 1873 ran for 118 nights.

He was a member of the Society for Constitutional Information, and as a result was, in 1794Events February 11 1st session of US Senate open to the public. March 14 Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin. March 27 The United States Government established a permanent United States Navy and authorized the building of six vessels (in 17, indicted of high treason, but was discharged without a trial. Among his novels may be mentioned Alwyn (1780), an account, largely autobiographical, of a strolling comedian, and Hugh Trevor (1794-1797). He also was the author of Travels from Hamburg through Westphalia, Holland and the Netherlands to Paris, of some volumes of verse and of translations from the French and German.

His Memoirs written by Himself and continued down to the Time of his Death, from his Diary, Notes and other Papers, by William HazlittWilliam Hazlitt ( 10 April 1778 18 September 1830) was an English writer remembered for his humanitarian essays. Hazlitt came of Irish Protestant stock, and of a branch of it which moved in the reign of George I from the county of Antrim to Tipperary., appeared in 1816, and was reprinted, in a slightly abridged form, in 1852.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.