LIFE AND ADVENTURE OF BARON TRENCK - VOLUME 2




TRANSLATED BY THOMAS HOLCROFT




INTRODUCTION.




Thomas Holcroft, the translator of these Memoirs of Baron Trenck,
was the author of about thirty plays, among which one, The Road to
Ruin, produced in 1792, has kept its place upon the stage. He was
born in December, 1745, the son of a shoemaker who did also a little
business in horse-dealing. After early struggles, during which he
contrived to learn French, German, and Italian, Holcroft contributed
to a newspaper, turned actor, and wrote plays, which appeared
between the years 1791 and 1806. He produced also four novels, the
first in 1780, the last in 1807. He was three times married, and
lost his first wife in 1790. In 1794, his sympathy with ideals of
the French revolutionists caused him to be involved with Hardy,
Horne Tooke, and Thelwall, in a charge of high treason; but when
these were acquitted, Holcroft and eight others were discharged
without trial.