Значение слова DENNIS в Литературной энциклопедии

JOHN (1657-1734).-Critic, etc., _s._ of a saddler, was _b._ in London, and _ed._ at Harrow and Caius Coll., Camb., from the latter of which he was expelled for stabbing a fellow-student, and transferred himself to Trinity Hall. He attached himself to the Whigs, in whose interest he wrote several bitter and vituperative pamphlets. His attempts at play-writing were failures; and he then devoted himself chiefly to criticising the works of his contemporaries. In this line, while showing some acuteness, he aroused much enmity by his ill-temper and jealousy. Unfortunately for him, some of those whom he attacked, such as Pope and Swift, had the power of conferring upon him an unenviable immortality. Embalmed in _The Dunciad_, his name has attained a fame which no work of his own could have given it. Of Milton, however, he showed a true appreciation. Among his works are _Rinaldo and Armida_ (1699), _Appius and Virginia_ (1709), _Reflections Critical and Satirical_ (1711), and _Three Letters on Shakespeare_. He _d._ in straitened circumstances.