Tate, Nahum
Tate, Nahum (1652–1715),poet and playwright. Reviled by early 20th-century critics for daring to adapt Shakespeare, and successfully at that, Tate was in his own time a highly respected writer, made Poet Laureate in 1692: his achievements include the libretto for Purcell's Dido and Aeneas (1689) and collaborations with John Dryden on The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel (1682) and with Nicholas Brady on the New Version of the Psalms (1696). Born in Ireland and educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Tate had settled in London by his mid-twenties, and was soon writing plays, many based on pre-Restoration originals (including Jonson's Eastward Ho and The Devil is an Ass and Webster's The White Devil). Of his three adaptations of Shakespeare, his topical Richard II (1680) was banned and The Ingratitude of a Commonwealth (a gory version of Coriolanus, 1681) was never popular, but...
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