John Hoole, His Life and His Tragedies

Excerpt from John Hoole, His Life and His Tragedies: Inaugural-Dissertation Der Philosophischen Fakultät Der Universität Bern Hoole fixed on the Ciro riconosciuto for his first adap tation probably at the instance of his chief Oldmixon, principal auditor at the India House. In order to devote himself entirely to his work he asked for leave of absence and, having obtained it, in autumn 1767 suddenly disappeared from London. As neither his relations nor his friends knew what had become of him, they surmised some accident, particularly his mother. At last the absconder sent a letter to his brother Samuel Hoole, who then lived with his mother in Moorfields, and invited him to his place of refuge, a small country-house on the Thames at Wandsworth in the neighbourhood of Mr. Oldmixon. Samuel Hoole found his brother in good health and only then learnt why he had disappeared from town. Hoole communicated this tragedy, which had thus been written in rural retirement60 to Mrs. Anna Williams,61 the blind friend of Dr. Johnson. She encouraged him to read it to Johnson, who told him/he might send his play to the stage/'62 It was accepted and acted accordingly for the first time at Covent Garden Theatre on Dec. 3rd. 1768 with great success according to the European Magazine63 andrbaker.64 Also the Dedication,65 prefixed to the first edition, and the Gent. Mag.66 announce that the play had a favourable recep tion. Nichols67 and the Diet. Of Nat. Biog.68 only mark a tolerable and a fair success respectively. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.