THOMAS, an English dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, in the county of Dublin, in 1660, and received his education in Trinity College. He came young to London to study law; but instead of that, devoted himself to poetry and the writing of plays. His Persian Prince was introduced in 1682, when the Tory interest was triumphant in England; and the character of the Loyal Brother being intended to compliment James Duke of York, he rewarded the author when he came to the throne with a commission in the army. On the Revolution taking place, he retired to his studies, and wrote several plays, from which he is supposed to have derived a very handsome subsistence, being the first who raised the advantage of play-writing to a second and third night. The most finished of all his plays are the Fatal Marriage and Oroonoko, which is founded on a true story related in one of Mrs Behn's novels. Southern died in 1746, in the 86th year of his age; the latter part of which he spent in peaceful serenity, having, by his commission as a soldier, and the profits of his dramatic works, acquired a handsome fortune, and being an exact economist, he improved what fortune he gained to the best advantage. His plays were printed in 3 vols. 12mo. in 1774.