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Rowe (NICHOLAS an English dramatist)

NICHOLAS, an English dramatist and translator; born in Little Barford, Bedfordshire, England, June 30, 1674. He was educated at Westminster under Busby, and studied law in the Middle Temple; but early inheriting a small competency by the death of his father, he devoted himself to literature.

Between 1700 and 1714 he produced eight plays, of which three were long popular: "Tamerlane" (1702); "The Fair Penitent" (1703); "and "Jane Shore" (1714). The character of Lothario in "The Fair Penitent" was the prototype of Lovelace in Richardson's "Clarissa Harlowe," and indeed the name is still the proverbial synonym for a fashionable rake. Rowe translated Lucan's "Pharsalia." His edition of Shakespeare (6 vols. 1709-1710) at least contributed to the popularity of his author. His comedy, "The Biter" (1705), failed.

The Duke of Queensberry made him under-secretary of state; in 1715 he succeeded Tate as poet-laureate; the same year he was appointed one of the surveyors of customs to the port of London; the Prince of Wales made him Clerk of his Council; and the Lord Chancellor Parker clerk of Presentations in Chancery. He died Dec. 6, 1718, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.