Значение слова HOLCROFT в Литературной энциклопедии

THOMAS (1745-1809).-Dramatist, _s._ of a small shoemaker in London, passed his youth as a pedlar, and as a Newmarket stable boy. A charitable person having given him some education he became a schoolmaster, but in 1770 went on the provincial stage. He then took to writing plays, and was the first to introduce the melodrama into England. Among his plays, _The Road to Ruin_ (1792) is the best, and is still acted; others were _Duplicity_ (1781), and _A Tale of Mystery_. Among his novels are _Alwyn_ (1780), and _Hugh Trevor_, and he wrote the well-known song, _Gaffer Gray_. H. was a man of stern and irascible temper, industrious and energetic, and a sympathiser with the French Revolution.