the tragedies _Gustavus Vasa_ (1739), the production of
which was forbidden in London but which was afterwards staged in
Dublin as _The Patriot_, and _The Earl of Essex_ (1749), which was
played both in London and in Dublin, and has been made famous by the
parody of one line in it by Samuel Johnson. Another novel, _Juliet
Grenville, or the History of the Human Heart_, published in 1774, was
not nearly up to the standard of _The Fool of Quality_. Brooke was a
busy literary man. He made a translation of part of Tasso, drafted
plans for a History of Ireland, projected a series of old Irish
tales, wrote one fragment in a style very like that subsequently
adopted by Macpherson in his _Ossian_, and for a while was editor of
the _Freeman's Journal_. In the beginning, Brooke was violently
anti-Catholic; but, as time progressed, he became more
liberal-minded, and advocated the relaxation of the penal laws and a
more humane treatment of his Catholic fellow-countrymen. Like Swift
and Steele, he fell into a state of mental debility for some years
before his death. His daughter, Charlotte Brooke (1740-1793),
deserves mention as a pioneer of the Irish literary revival, for she
devoted herself to the saving of the stores of Irish literature which
in her time were rapidly disappearing. One of the fruits of her
labors was _The Reliques of Irish Poetry_, published in 1789. She
also wrote _Emma, or the Foundling of the Wood_, a novel, and
_Belisarius_, a tragedy.

Charles Johnstone (c. 1719-1800), a Co. Limerick man, was educated in
Dublin and called to the English bar, but owing to deafness was more
successful as a chamber counsel than as a pleader. Emigrating to
India in 1782, he became joint proprietor of a newspaper in Calcutta,
and there he died. He wrote several satirical romances, such as
_Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea; The Reverie, or a Flight to
the Paradise of Fools_; and _The History of Arsaces, Prince of
Betlis_. Of these the first was the best. Samuel Johnson, who read it
in manuscript, advised its publication, and his opinion was
vindicated, for it proved a huge success. Sir Walter Scott afterwards
said that the author of _Chrysal_ deserved to rank as a prose
Juvenal. Johnstone also wrote _The Pilgrim, or a Picture of Life_ and
a picaresque novel, _The History of John Juniper, Esquire, alias
Juniper Jack_.

Arthur Murphy (1727-1805), born at Cloonquin, Co. Roscommon, was
educated at St. Omer. At first an actor,