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, he afterwards studied law and was called to the English bar in 1762.  He made a translation of Tacitus, and wrote several farces and comedies, among which may be mentioned The Apprentice; The Spouter; The Upholsterer; The Way to Keep Him; and All in the Wrong.  He also wrote three tragedies, namely, The Orphan of China; The Grecian Daughter; and Arminius.  For the last-named, which was produced in 1798, and which had a strongly political cast, he received a pension of L200 a year.  His plays long held the stage.