THE HUNCHBACK

by James Sheridan Knowles




INTRODUCTION



James Sheridan Knowles was born at Cork in 1784, and died at Torquay
in December, 1862, at the age of 78. His father was a teacher of
elocution, who compiled a dictionary, and who was related to the
Sheridans. He moved to London when his son was eight years old, and
there became acquainted with William Hazlitt and Charles Lamb. The
son, after his school education, obtained a commission in the army,
but gave up everything for the stage, and made his first appearance
at the Crow Street Theatre, in Dublin. He did not become a great
actor, and when he took to writing plays he did not prove himself a
great poet, but his skill in contriving situations through which a
good actor can make his powers tell upon the public, won the heart
of the great actor of his day, and as Macready's own poet he rose to
fame.

Before Macready had discovered him, Sheridan Knowles lived partly by
teaching elocution at Belfast and Glasgow, partly by practice of
elocution as an actor. In 1815 he produced at the Belfast Theatre
his first play, Caius Gracchus. His next play, Virginius was
produced at Glasgow with great success. Macready, who had, at the