Byron.

Byron. HENRY JAMES, dramatist, born in Manchester, January 1834, entered the Middle Temple in 1858, and was for many years a prolific and popular writer of burlesques and extravaganzas. He wrote extensively for periodicals, was the first editor of Fun, and leased several theatres, where he produced more ambitious plays, in which he himself occasionally appeared. These were less comedies than domestic dramas, enlivened by the smart dialogue and brisk incidents of farce. The best was Cyril's Success (1868); the most successful, Our Boys, which had an unprecedented run in London from January 16, 1875, to April 18, 1879. Byron died in London, April 11, 1884. He excelled in depicting Cockney vulgarity, and his dialogue is clever and amusing, but overladen with repartee and puns, for which he readily sacrificed probability and appropriateness. His plots are, however, original and ingenious, and are always healthy and full of human interest.