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Nicholas Rowe

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Nicholas Rowe (/roʊ/; 20 June 1674 – 6 December 1718), English dramatist, poet and miscellaneous writer, was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1715. His plays and poems were well-received during his lifetime, with one of his translations described as one of the greatest productions in English poetry. He was also considered the first editor of the works of William Shakespeare.

The Ambitious Stepmother, Rowe's first play, produced in 1700 at Lincoln's Inn Fields by Thomas Betterton and set in Persepolis, was well received. This was followed in 1701 by Tamerlane. In this play the conqueror Timur represented William III, and Louis XIV is denounced as Bajazet. It was for many years regularly acted on the anniversary of William's landing at Torbay. In Dublin in 1712, at a time when political passions were running high, the performance provoked a serious riot.

The Fair Penitent (1703), an adaptation of Massinger and Field's The Fatal Dowry, was pronounced by Samuel Johnson as one of the most pleasing tragedies ever written in English. It featured the character of Lothario from The Impertinent Curious Man, a story within a story in Miguel de Cervantes' 1605 novel Don Quixote. As a result of this play, the name became synonymous with a rake (womaniser). Calista is said to have suggested to Samuel Richardson the character of Clarissa Harlowe, as Lothario suggested Lovelace. Samuel Johnson noted of The Fair Penitent that, "The story is domestic, and therefore easily received by the imagination, and assimilated to common life; the diction is exquisitely harmonious, and soft or spritely as occasion requires."

In 1704, Rowe tried his hand at comedy, producing The Biter at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was unsuccessful, and Rowe returned to tragedy in Ulysses (1706). According to Johnson, this play was to share the fate of many such plays based on mythological heroes, as, "We have been too early acquainted with the poetical heroes to expect any pleasure from their revival"

The Royal Convert (1707) was a story about a love triangle between two brothers, Hengist and Aribert, and a Christian woman named Ethelinda, who is martyred.

The Tragedy of Jane Shore, professedly an imitation of Shakespeare's style, was played at Drury Lane with Anne Oldfield in the title role in 1714. It ran for nineteen nights, and kept the stage longer than any other of Rowe's works. In the play, which consists chiefly of domestic scenes and private distress, the wife is forgiven because she repents, and the husband is honoured because he forgives.

The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey followed in 1715, and as this play was not successful, it was his last foray into the medium.

Rowe published the first 18th-century edition of William Shakespeare in six volumes in 1709 (printed by Tonson) and is also considered the first editor of Shakespeare. His practical knowledge of the stage helped him divide the plays into scenes (and sometime acts), with the entrances and exits of the players noted. He also normalised the spelling of names and prefixed each play with a list of the dramatis personae. This 1709 edition was also the first to be illustrated, a frontispiece engraving being provided for each play. Unfortunately, Rowe based his text on the corrupt Fourth Folio, a course which was followed by many later 18th-century editors who followed in his editorial footsteps. Rowe also wrote a short biography of Shakespeare, entitled, Some Account of the Life &c. of Mr. William Shakespear.

Rowe wrote occasional verses addressed to Godolphin and Halifax, adapted some of the odes of Horace to fit contemporary events, and translated the Caractères of Jean de La Bruyère and the Callipaedia of Claude Quillet. He also wrote a memoir of Boileau prefixed to a translation of the Lutrin. He also wrote a version of Lucan's Pharsalia.

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