A would-be dramatist and critic, born in London, in constant broils with the wits of his time; his productions were worth little, and he is chiefly remembered for his attacks on Addison and Pope, and for the ridicule these attacks brought down at their hands on his own head, from Pope in "Narrative of the Frenzy of John Dennis," and "damnation to everlasting fame" in "Dunciad"; he became blind, and was sunk in poverty, when Pope wrote a prologue to a play produced for his benefit (1657-1734).