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Brief lives: Samuel Derrick

Samuel Derrick (1724-69), was an Irish writer, friend of Dr Johnson, Boswell, and Tobias Smollett, and master of the ceremonies at both Bath and Tunbridge Wells.

He published, among other works:

The Dramatic Censor, No. 1;
Sylla, a dramatic entertainment, from the French of Frederick II of Prussia;
A Voyage from the Moon, from the French of Cyrano de Bergerac;
Memoirs of the Count de Beauval, from the French of D’Argens;
The Third Satire of Juvenal, translated into English verse;
A View of the Stage;
The Battle of Lora, a poem, from Ossian;
Dryden’s Works, with a Life and Notes;
A Poetical Dictionary (4 vols.);
A Collection of Voyages (2 vols.);
Letters written from Leverpoole, Chester, Corke (2 vols.);
Derrick’s Jests – or, The Wit’s Chronicle;
and a novel narrated mostly by the ghost of William Shakespeare.

He is remembered for being the author of a directory of prostitutes.

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