He made claims that he was trained in law but the Charles Johnson that everyone knew was a great writer with little evidence to support his claims that he attended traditional and formal legal training. Charles Johnson was an English playwright and became respected for his work.
Born in 1679, it was a known fact that Alexander Pope and Charles Johnson didn't like each other once Charles reached adulthood. In fact, they considered one another enemies. Charles was a Whig and he aligned himself with the Duke of Marlborough and another playwright by the name of Colley Cibber. In 1709, he married Mary Bradbery and he was friends with Robert Wilks of the Drury Lane Theatre.
The friendship that Johnson had with Wilks proved instrumental to his career because early on, Wilks decided to accept Johnson's work for the Drury Lane Theatre. One such play was The Wife's Relief or The Husband's Cure which earned the theatre a lot of revenue while allowing Charles Johnson success as well. The play remained in print for over two decades.
In 1712, Charles was the target of criticism when he made light of pirate Henry Every's life. Henry's life inspired Charles. Many believed Charles even marveled over Every and his life of crime when he wrote the controversial The Successful Pyrate. Still, the play was successful overall. However, his largest success came with the play The Country Lasses.
After Charles Johnson gave up writing as a playwright, he went on to run a tavern. Johnson died in 1748.
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