Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, also known for being the victim of a murder which led to a scandalous trial. His poem A Wife, which depicted the virtues that a young man should demand of a woman, played a large role in the events that precipitated his murder.
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1723.
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, was a politician, and favourite of King James VI and I.
Richard Savage was an English poet. He is best known as the subject of Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage, originally published anonymously in 1744, which is based on one of the most elaborate of Johnson's Lives of the English Poets.
Theophilus Cibber was an English actor, playwright, author, and son of the actor-manager Colley Cibber.
Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset, was an English noblewoman who was the central figure in a famous scandal and murder during the reign of King James I. She was found guilty but spared execution, and was eventually pardoned by the King and released from the Tower of London in early 1622.
Sir Gervase Helwys, also known as Jervis Yelwys, was a Lieutenant of the Tower of London found guilty of complicity in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury and hanged in 1615. The scandal provoked much public and literary conjecture and irreparably tarnished King James I's court with an image of corruption and depravity. There are variations in the spelling of Helwys: Helwis, Helwiss, Helewyse, Helwysse, Yelwys, Ellowis, Elwys, Elwis, Elvis, Elwes, and Elwaies.
Mrs. Anne Turner, aka Mistress Anne Turner, was the widow of a respectable London doctor who was hanged at Tyburn for her role in the famous 1613 poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury referenced in the plays A New Trick to Cheat the Devil, The Widow, The World Tossed at Tennis and The City Nightcap.
Martha Fowke, later Martha Sansom, was an English poet associated chiefly with the circle about Aaron Hill. She was the daughter of Major Thomas Fowke, an army officer murdered in 1708, and his wife Mary. Born in Hertfordshire on 1 May 1689 to a family of Roman Catholic gentry, she was educated at home and at boarding school. Her mother had been less supportive of her daughter's writing than her father. Fowke lived in London after her mother died in 1705, but moved to East Anglia in 1730 with her husband, Arnold Sansom, whom she had married around 1721. Their marriage was not a happy one.
The Fatal Vision is a 1716 tragedy by the British writer Aaron Hill. It is also known as The Fatal Vision: Or, the Fall of Siam.
Fatal Extravagance is a 1721 tragedy by the British writer Aaron Hill. It was presented by another writer Joseph Mitchell, a friend of Hill, at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London. The original cast included James Quin as Bellmour, Anthony Boheme as Courtney, John Ogden as Bargrave and Anna Maria Seymour as Louisa. It was printed with the slightly longer title The Fatal Extravagance.
Elfrid: or The Fair Inconstant, generally shortened to Elfrid, is a 1710 tragedy by the British writer Aaron Hill.
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester is a 1723 tragedy by the British writer Ambrose Philips. It is based on the life of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, youngest brother of Henry V.
The Fair Captive is a 1721 tragedy by the British writer Eliza Haywood.
Roger Bridgewater was a British stage actor of the eighteenth century. He worked as party of the Drury Lane company for many years, specialising in dramatic roles, before switching to Covent Garden in 1734. In later years he frequently played Falstaff.
Sophonisba is a 1730 tragedy by the British writer James Thomson. It is based on the story of the Carthaginian noblewoman Sophonisba who committed suicide rather than be paraded in a Roman triumph at the end of the Second Punic War. The story has been made into a number of plays including Nathaniel Lee's restoration tragedy Sophonisba and Voltaire's later Sophonisbe.
The Impertinent Lovers: or, A Coquet at her Wit's End is a 1723 comedy play by the British writer Francis Hawling. It was submitted to Sir Richard Steele and three gentlemen as patentees and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick Lane, A. Dodd at the Peacock without Temple Bar, and the booksellers of London and Westminster.
The Tuscan Treaty is a 1733 tragedy by the British writer William Bond also known by the longer title The Tuscan Treaty: or, Tarquin's overthrow. It is set during the time of the Overthrow of the Roman monarchy.
The Fatal Legacy is a 1723 tragedy by the British writer Jane Robe. It was inspired by Jean Racine's 1664 play La Thébaïde. It concerns the children of Oedipus in Ancient Thebes.
Zara is a 1736 tragedy by the British writer Aaron Hill, based on the 1732 French play Zaïre by Voltaire.
