Bickerstaffe

Bickerstaffe, ISAAC, popular play-writer, was born in Ireland about the year 1735, and at the age of eleven became page to Lord Chesterfield, the lord-lieutenant. He was afterwards an officer of marines, but was dismissed the service for some discreditable offence, and in 1772 had to flee the country on a capital charge. Nothing is certainly known regarding his after-life, but he is supposed to have died on the Continent in or soon after 1812. Of his numerous pieces, produced between 1766 and 1771, the best-known are: The Maid of the Mill, The Padlock, He Would if He Could, Love in a Village, The Hypocrite, and The Captive.—Under the nom de guerre of 'Isaac Bickerstaff,' Swift wrote works in 1708-9; and the same name was used by Steele in the Tatler.