Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/178

 on 24 Aug. 1794. About 1804 he became a clerk in a solicitor's office, and afterwards entered the service of Moses Hooper, solicitor, Great Marlborough Street. At this early period he wrote songs, among them 'Pretty star of the night all others outshining,' which became popular. He soon became manager of the Regency Theatre (afterwards known as the Queen's Theatre, and then as the Prince of Wales's), for which, in 1810, under the name of William George Thomas Moncrieff, he wrote 'Moscow, or the Cossack's Daughter,' to which succeeded several other original dramas. When the theatre closed he wrote articles in magazines, and the theatrical criticisms for the 'Satirist' [cf. ] and the 'Scourge.' After gaining a livelihood as a working law stationer, he was introduced to Robert William Elliston [q. v.], lessee of the Olympic, and wrote and produced at that house 'All at Coventry,' a musical farce, 20 Oct. 1815; 'The Diamond Arrow,' a comedy, 18 Dec. 1815; 'Giovanni in London, or the Libertine Reclaimed,' an extravaganza, 26 Dec. 1817; and 'Rochester, or King Charles the Second's Merry Days,' a musical comedy, 16 Nov. 1818. Becoming manager at Astley's, he put on the stage an equestrian drama, 'The Dandy Family,' which ran nearly one hundred nights. From Astley's he removed to the Coburg Theatre, which he managed for Joseph Glossop, where he brought out in rapid succession the 'Vampire,' 'Gipsey Jack,' 'Reform, or John Bull,' the 'Ravens of Orleans,' the 'Shipwreck of the Medusa,' and, in 1820, the 'Lear of Private Life,' a drama founded on Mrs. Opie's 'Father and Daughter,' in which Junius Brutus Booth [q. v.] played the hero with brilliant success for fifty-three nights. In 1820 he joined Elliston at Drury Lane, and wrote for him 'Wanted a Wife,' 3 May 1819 (reproduced under the title of 'A Cheque on my Banker,' 13 Aug. 1821); 'Monsieur Tonson,' a successful farce, 20 Sept. 1821; 'The Spectre Bridegroom,' 2 July 1821; 'The Cataract of the Ganges,' a romantic drama, 27 Oct. 1823, which, owing to the introduction of a real waterfall, then a great novelty, drew large audiences; and 'Zoroaster,' a melodrama, 19 April 1824. During the same period he became connected with William Oxberry [q. v.], comedian and printer, and with him published in 1818 and the following years Pierce Egan's 'Boxiana.' He afterwards dramatised Egan's 'Life in London,' under the title of 'Tom and Jerry, or Life in London,' and produced it at the Adelphi Theatre on 26 Nov. 1821. The piece met with a success only second to that of the 'Beggar's Opera;' 'it ran consecutively for nearly two seasons, introduced slang into the drawing-room, and was equally popular in town and country (, The True History of Tom and Jerry, 1890;, London Stage, 1889, ii. 77-82; see also , 1772-1849). At the Adelphi he also brought out his 'Secret,' 29 Feb. 1823; 'Bringing Home the Bride,' March 1825; 'Monsieur Mallet,' 22 Jan. 1829; and the 'Hearts of London,' February 1830. At Easter 1822 he brought Monsieur N. M. Alexandre the ventriloquist to London, and wrote for him an entertainment entitled 'Rogueries of Nicholas,' which well paid both author and actor. For his friend Charles Mathews the elder [q. v.] he wrote 'The Bashful Man,' a comic drama, produced at the English Opera House (now the Lyceum), 1826, besides furnishing him with many entertainments. In 1827 he undertook the management of Vauxhall Gardens, when his 'Actors al Fresco, or the Play in the Pleasure Ground,' a vaudeville, 4 June, and 'The Kiss and the Rose,' an operetta, 29 June, were first seen. In 1828, in conjunction with John Barnett, he opened a music shop in Regent Street. On 17 Feb. in the same year 'The Somnambulist, or the Phantom of the Village,' a dramatic entertainment, was produced at Covent Garden, and 'One Fault' on 7 Jan. 1833.

At the Surrey also many of his pieces were put on the stage, among others, 'Old Heads and Young Shoulders,' 8 Jan. 1828; 'The Irresistibles/ a comic drama, 11 Aug. 1828; 'Shakespeare's Festival, or a New Comedy of Errors,' a drama, April 1830, and 'Tobit's Dog,' 30 April 1838. At the Haymarket 'The Peer and the Peasant' was acted 11 Sept. 1832. He became lessee of the City Theatre, Milton Street, in 1833, for which he wrote two pieces, both acted on 4 Nov., 'How to take up a Bill' and 'The Birthday Dinner.' His next successful plays were 'Lestocq, or the Conspirators of St. Petersburg,' 2 March 1835; 'The Jewess, or the Council of Constance,' 30 Nov. 1835; and 'The Parson's Nose,' a comedietta, 1837, all acted at the Victoria Theatre. His sight now began to fail him, but he accepted an engagement with W. J. Hammond at the Strand Theatre, for whom he wrote 'My Aunt the Dowager,' 5 June 1837; 'Sam Weller, or the Pickwickians,' 10 July 1837; and 'Tarnation Strange, or More Jonathans,' 3 Aug. 1838. At Sadler's Wells he produced 'Giselle, or the Phantom Night Dancers,' 23 Aug. 1841; 'Perourou, the Bellows Mender, and the Beauty of Lyons,' 7 Feb. 1842; 'The Scamps of London,' 13 Nov. 1843; and 'The Mistress of the Mill,' a comedietta, 17 Oct. 1849. In