William Kenrick (writer)

William Kenrick (c. 1725 – 10 June 1779) was an English novelist, playwright, translator and satirist, who spent much of his career libelling and lampooning his fellow writers.

Kenrick was born at Watford, Hertfordshire, son of a stay-maker. He apparently obtained a doctorate at Leiden University (although other sources maintain he went to a Scottish university) and appeared for the first time as a pamphletist in 1751 where he wrote, under the name of "Ontologos", The Grand Question debated; or an Essay to prove that the Soul of Man is not, neither can it be Immortal. In typical fashion, Kenrick forthwith provided an answer to this question proving the reverse, a tactic he often used in order to publicize his productions.

One of his first targets was the vulnerable Christopher Smart whose poem Night Piece he attacked in the London monthly journal The Kapelion; or Poetical Ordinary, consisting of Great Variety of Dishes in Prose and Verse, recommended to all who have a Good Taste or Keen Appetite in 1750 under the nom de plume Whimsey Banter.

In 1752 Kenrick publicly mocked Henry Fielding and Tobias Smollett in his entertainment Fun: a Parodi-tragi-comical Satire, a parody of Macbeth in which the weird sisters circle about their cauldron, throwing in contemporary novels, periodicals and pamphlets. The play was banned by the Lord Mayor however "as it was to have been perform’d at the Castle-Tavern, Pater-noster-Row, on Thursday, February 13, 1752, but Suppressed, by a Special Order from the Lord-Mayor and Court of Aldermen." (see the Paper War of 1752-1753).

James Boswell records a meeting with Kenrick on Friday, 3 April 1772:

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