Peter Anthony Motteux, of eventful life and unsavory death, was during his career as a playwright (1694"-1708) known chiefly for his continual strivings for novelty in the interest of financial gain: most of his dramatic works are characterized by extensive use of music and range from short masques to translations and imitations of Italian opera. It is to his operas that Motteux owes the attention of the student of theater, because he swayed public taste in such a manner as to pave the way for G. F. Handel.

Born Pierre Antoine le Motteux in Rouen, France, in 1663, son of a well-to-do Huguenot merchant, Antoine le Motteux, Motteux seems to have received a wide and thorough education that emphasized letters and languages. In his early twenties he was forced to immigrate to London during the religious oppression which ensued after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Thus...