ABSTRACT
From Shakespear Illustrated: or the Novels and Histories, On which the Plays of Shakespear are Founded, Collected and Translated from the Original Authors, with Critical Remarks, vols I and II (1753); vol. III (1754). Charlotte Lennox, Mrs Ramsay (1720-1804), poet, novelist and translator, is best known for her novel The Female Quixote (1752), a satire on the vogue for romances. She was born in America, and was a friend of Dr Johnson for over thirty years: among Johnson’s many good deeds on her behalf he wrote the Dedication to John, Earl of Orrery for this volume (see Introduction, pp. 6, 43). Orrery, in turn, wrote the preface for the translation of Brumoy which she edited (see No. 172). On Charlotte Lennox and her relationship with Dr Johnson, see Karl Young, Samuel Johnson on Shakespeare, One Aspect, University of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature, No. 18 (Madison, 1924), pp. 147-227.
