Richard Bentley ( – ) was an English writer and designer who was friends with

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely ...

and

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

Life

The son of

Richard Bentley Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellenis ...

, Master of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, he was admitted to the college at age 10. He entered the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1720. His father's influence saw him made fellow of

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

in 1728; but he never settled to a career, endured financial troubles, and spent time in France and Jersey. During the 1750s Bentley developed significant friendships, with

and

; in Jersey in 1754 he met also Johann Heinrich Müntz. He fell out with Walpole in 1761.

Works

Bentley made drawings for Gray's poems, and some were published in 1753, as ''Designs by Mr. Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray''. It was influenced by French style, a

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

work showing also Gothic aspects and traces of

chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other Sinosphere artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...

. He was one of Walpole's group of advisers, with John Chute and

Thomas Pitt Thomas Pitt (5 July 1653 – 28 April 1726) was an English merchant, colonial administrator and politician who served as the president of Fort St. George from 1698 to 1709. Born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, he eventually went to the Indian ...

, who steered the design for Strawberry Hill, Pitt being Bentley's successor on the "Committee of Taste" when he fell out of favour. The poem illustrations have been thought connected with the style of Jean Bérain; Bentley's subsequent architectural designs were eclectic. Around 1761 Bentley turned playwright. His comedy ''The Wishes, or Harlequin's Mouth opened'' was acted 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 ...

for three nights (27, 28, 80 July 1761), and at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

, 3 October 1761. It was written to ridicule the construction of

Ancient Greek drama A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as par ...

, especially the

three unities The classical unities, Aristotelian unities, or three unities represent a prescriptive theory of dramatic tragedy that was introduced in Italy in the 16th century and was influential for three centuries. The three unities are: #''unity of action' ...

and moralisings of the chorus: the chorus in the ''Wishes'' are informed that a madman, a torch in his hand, is just on the point of setting fire to a powder magazine, and commence in strophe and antistrophe to lament their own condition, proceeding to exclaim against the thrice-unhappy madman and against the six-times unhappy fate of themselves thus exposed to a madman's fury. His tragedy ''Philodamus'' (printed 1767), with its scenes of courtship, paternal vigilance, and spousal preparations, is said to have convulsed the house with laughter. A posthumous comedy of his, ''The Prophet'', was acted for a few nights in 1788. Among Bentley's other writings were ''Patriotism, a Mock Heroic in five cantos'', London, 1763; and ''A Letter to the Right Hon. C. F. Fox'', 1793. He also translated the travels of Paul Hentzner; and verse for tomb inscription by Elizabeth Russell, Lady Russell.

Notes

;Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Richard 1700s births 1782 deaths Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge English dramatists and playwrights English illustrators English male dramatists and playwrights English male non-fiction writers 18th-century English translators