Arthur Murphy (27 December 1727 – 18 June 1805), also known by the pseudonym Charles Ranger, was an Irish

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. He established himself in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as a leading

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Biography

Murphy was born at Cloonyquin,

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

, Ireland, the son of Richard Murphy and Jane French. He studied at the Jesuit-run College of Saint-Omer, France, and was a gifted student of the Latin and Greek classics. He worked as an actor in the theatre, became a

, a journalist and finally a (not very original) playwright. He edited '' Gray's Inn Journal'' between 1752 and 1754. As

Henry Thrale Henry Thrale (1724/1730?–4 April 1781) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1765 to 1780. He was a close friend of Samuel Johnson. Like his father, he was the proprietor of the large London brewery H. Thrale & Co. B ...

's oldest and dearest friend, he introduced

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

to the Thrales in January 1765. No. 16 Hammersmith Terrace was built for him in 1775.'London Portfolio: 16 Hammersmith Terrace', in ''Country Life'', Vol. 193, Issue 5, February 4, 1999), p. 59 He was appointed Commissioner of Bankruptcy in 1803. But his own debts caught up with him and he was forced to sell the house and part of his library. He died on 18 June 1805 at his new home, 14 Queen's Row, Knightsbridge and was buried in Hammersmith. Murphy is known for his translations of Tacitus in 1793. They were reprinted in the Family Classical Library ( A. J. Valpy, 1830-1834) and were still published in 1922. He also wrote three biographies: his 1792 ''

An Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson ''An Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.'' was written by Arthur Murphy and published in 1792. The work serves as a biography of Samuel Johnson and an introduction to his works included in the volume. Murphy also wrote a biogra ...

'', his 1762 '' Fielding's Works'' and his 1801 ''Life of

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1716 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, Actor-manager, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil a ...

''. Murphy is thought to have coined the legal term ''"wilful misconstruction"'' whilst representing the ''Donaldson v. Becket'' appeal to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in 1774 against the perpetual possession of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

. Arthur Murphy was devoted to Ann Elliot and he missed her after her early death. After Arthur Murphy's death this relationship was written about by Fanny Burney who found Murphy's devotion to Elliot fascinating. A biography was written in 1811 by Dr. Jesse Foot. Nathaniel Dance painted his portrait which is thought to now be in the Irish National Portrait Collection. His elder brother was known as James Murphy French, using his mother's surname. He lived in London with his brother.

Murphy's drama

An example of Murphy's theatrical writings is '' The Citizen'', a farce, first produced at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

in 1761. The play included Ann Elliot as Maria. Ann was Murphy's protege and mistress. Philpot, a wealthy skinflint, has bargained with Sir Jasper Wilding, a fox hunter, for his son Young Philpot, a buck and wastrel, to marry Maria Wilding, and for his daughter Sally to marry Wilding's son, for settlements and twenty thousand pounds paid to Sir Jasper. Young Philpot has lost a fortune, but borrows money from his father and embarks on an insurance fraud involving shipwrecked goods. Maria plans to marry Beaufort, who loves her. As Young Philpot tries to propose, she convinces him she is half-witted, and he spurns her. In the second act, Philpot senior is visiting Corinna, a lady of loose virtue, but hides under the table when his son calls upon her. He overhears as Young Philpot tells her how he has cajoled the money out of his father. Maria's brother surprises them, and old Philpot is also discovered, to their mutual shame. In the final scene Sir Jasper with a lawyer obtains Philpot's signature to the agreements, but meanwhile Maria, an educated girl, shows her strong character to Young Philpot and he again refuses to propose. Having signed away his rights old Philpot offers to marry her, but the lawyer reveals himself as Beaufort, and explains that he has swapped the deeds, so that Philpot has unwittingly signed his agreement for Maria to marry Beaufort.

Works

Dramas

All dates refer to the play's first production, except where otherwise stated.Titles and dates of first productions taken from "A List of the Several Pieces Contained in This Edition", which appears at the start of volume one of ''The Works of Arthur Murphy'' (Murphy 1786). * ''The Apprentice'' (1756) * ''The Upholsterer'' (1758) * '' The Orphan of China'' (1759),

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

(an adaption of '' L'Orphelin de la Chine'' (1755) by

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

and its source, a translation of '' The Orphan of Zhao'') * '' The Way to Keep Him'' (1760),

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

* ''The Desert Island'' (1760), dramatic poem * ''The Citizen'' (1761) * '' All in the Wrong'' (1761),

* ''The Old Maid'' (1761) * ''No One's Enemy But His Own'' (1764) * '' Three Weeks After Marriage'' (1764) * ''The Choice'' (1764) * '' The School for Guardians'' (1767) * ''

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia (Greek: Ζηνοβία, Palmyrene Aramaic: , ; 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner, and she married the ruler of the ...

'' (1768),

* '' The Grecian Daughter'' (1772),

* '' Alzuma'' (1773),

* ''News from Parnassus, A Prelude'' (1776) * '' Know Your Own Mind'' (1777),

* '' The Rival Sisters'' (written 1783, performed 1793),

Biographies

* '' Fielding's Works'' (1762) * ''

'' (1792) * ''Life of

'' (1801)

Notes

Sources

* Emery, John Pike. 1946. ''Arthur Murphy: An Eminent English Dramatist of the Eighteenth Century''.

University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press, also known as Penn Press, is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The press was originally incorporated with b ...

. ASIN B0006AQYEA. * Murphy, Arthur. 1786. ''The Works of Arthur Murphy, Esq. in Seven Volumes''. London: Cadell.
Volume One
is available to download on

Google books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

.) * Spector, Robert Donald. 1979. ''Arthur Murphy.'' Twain. .

External links

Arthur Murphy
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Arthur 1727 births 1805 deaths Writers from County Roscommon Irish dramatists and playwrights Irish male dramatists and playwrights Irish barristers Streathamites 18th-century Irish writers 18th-century Irish male writers 19th-century Irish writers People from Tulsk Lawyers from County Roscommon