Thomas Southerne

Thomas Southerne , 1660-1746, English dramatist, b. Ireland. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he moved to London where he pursued a career as a writer. He was a friend of Dryden and wrote prologues and epilogues for several of Dryden's plays. Southerne is chiefly remembered for his two sentimental tragedies, The Fatal Marriage (1694) and Oroonoko (1696), both based on novels by Aphra Behn.

Bibliography: See study by J. W. Dodds (1933, repr. 1970).

Southerne, Thomas or Thomas Southern, (1659–1746), of Irish parentage, lived in London from 1680. He was a friend of Dryden, for several of whose plays he wrote prologues and epilogues. His first tragedy, The Loyal Brother: or the Persian Prince (1682), was an attack on Shaftesbury and the Whigs. He wrote several comedies, but is chiefly remembered for his two highly successful tragedies, The Fatal Marriage (1694) and Oroonoko (1695), both founded on novels by A. Behn. Remarkably little is known of his long and, in later years, unproductive life. Southerne is regarded as a successor to Otway in the art of pathos, and as a link between Restoration tragedy and the sentimental tragedies of the 18th cent.

Southerne, Thomas (1660–1746), English dramatist, a friend of Dryden, for whose plays he wrote a number of prologues and epilogues, and of Aphra Behn, two of his plays, The Fatal Marriage; or, The Innocent Adultery (1694) and Oroonoko (1695), being based on her novels. His tragedies, which include his first play The Loyal Brother; or, The Persian Prince (1682), The Fate of Capua (1700), and The Spartan Dame (1719), show a mingling of heroic and sentimental drama which had some influence on the development of 18th-century tragedy as exemplified by Nicholas Rowe. He was also the author of three comedies which enjoyed some success when first produced: Sir Anthony Love; or, The Rambling Lady (1690), The Wives' Excuse; or, Cuckolds Make Themselves (1691), and The Maid's Last Prayer; or, Any, Rather than Fail (1693). They contain some witty scenes, but are weak in construction and overloaded with detail and have not been revived. It was on Southerne's recommendation that Colley Cibber's first play Love's Last Shift; or, The Fool in Fashion was produced at Drury Lane in 1696.