Life

Daniel was born 16 September 1789, descended from Paul Danieli, a Huguenot who settled in England in the seventeenth century. His father died when he was eight years old. After receiving an education at Thomas Hogg's boarding school in Paddington Green, he became clerk to a stockbroker in Tokenhouse Yard, and was engaged in commerce for the greater part of his life. He lived at Islington

Islington

Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

, and in 1817 he made the acquaintance of Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb

Charles Lamb was an English essayist, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, which he produced with his sister, Mary Lamb . Lamb has been referred to by E.V...

 and of Robert Bloomfield

Robert Bloomfield

Robert Bloomfield was an English labouring class poet whose work is appreciated in the context of other self-educated writers such as Stephen Duck, Mary Collier and John Clare.-Life:...

, both of whom were his neighbours. Until Lamb's death in 1834 Daniel frequently spent the night in his society. Daniel also cultivated actors socially, and the British Museum gained the white satin bill of the play which John Kemble

John Kemble

John Kemble may refer to:*John Kemble , Roman Catholic martyr*John Philip Kemble, English actor and manager*John H. Kemble, American maritime historian...

 on his last appearance on the stage presented to Daniel in the Covent Garden green-room, on the night of 23 June 1817.

Daniel died suddenly of apoplexy

Apoplexy

Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...

, at his son's house at Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

, on 30 March 1864.

Verse

At sixteen he printed 'Stanzas on Nelson's Victory and Death' (1805). Between 1808 and 1811 he contributed poems to Rudolph Ackermann

Rudolph Ackermann

Rudolph Ackermann was an Anglo-German bookseller, inventor, lithographer, publisher and businessman.- Biography :...

's Poetical Magazine, including a satire in heroics entitled Woman. In 1811 he issued anonymously, in a separate volume, a similar poem, entitled 'The Times, a Prophecy' (enlarged edit. 1813), and in 1812 he published under his own name Miscellaneous Poems, which included Woman and more solemn effusions already printed in Ackermann's magazine.

An ambitious follower of Charles Churchill and Peter Pindar, he found his satirical opportunity at the close of 1811. According to his own version of the affair, it was then rumoured that Lord Yarmouth

Lord Yarmouth

Francis Charles Seymour-Ingram, Lord Yarmouth was an English amateur cricketer who made 3 known appearances in major cricket matches from 1797 to 1799...

 had horsewhipped the Prince Regent

George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...

 at Oatlands

Oatlands

Oatlands is a village and small district near Weybridge in Surrey which has acquired its name from the Royal Tudor and Stuart Oatlands Palace, the site of which is now a luxury hotel...

, the Duke of York

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

The Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany was a member of the Hanoverian and British Royal Family, the second eldest child, and second son, of King George III...

's house, for making improper overtures to the Marchioness of Hertford, Yarmouth's mother-in-law. On this incident Daniel wrote a squib in verse, which he called 'R—y—l Stripes; or a Kick from Yar—th to Wa—s; with the particulars of an Expedition to Oat—ds and the Sprained Ancle: a poem, by P—— P——, Poet Laureat.' Effingham Wilson of Cornhill printed the poem and advertised its publication; but it was suppressed and bought up, before it was published, in January 1812, by order of the Prince Regent, and through the instrumentality of Lord Yarmouth and Colonel McMahon, a large sum being given to the author for the copyright. It was advertised and placarded, which drew public attention to it, and a copy was by some means procured by the parties, who applied to the publisher before any copies were circulated. The author secured four copies only, one of which he sold to a public institution for five guineas. A man at the West End of the town who had procured a copy made a considerable sum by advertising and selling manuscript copies at half-a-guinea each' (Daniel's manuscript note in British Museum copy of R—y—l Stripes). But Daniel was not quieted: under the pseudonym of P—— P——, poet laureate, he published other squibs on royal scandals, of which the chief were: 'Sophia's Letters to the B—r—n Ger—b [i.e., Geramb], or Whiskers in the Dumps, with old sighs set to new tunes' (1812); 'Suppressed Evidence on R—l Intriguing, being the History of a Courtship, Marriage, and Separation, exemplified in the fate of the Princess of ——, by P—— P——, Poet Laureat, Author of "R—l Stripes"' (1813) (suppressed), and 'The R—l First Born, or the Baby out of his Leading Strings, containing the Particulars of a P—y Confirmation by B—p of O—g, by P—— P——, Poet Laureat, Author of the suppressed poem,' 1814.

Daniel next turned his attention to the poetasters and petty journalists of the day, and these he satirised in 'The Modern Dunciad, a satire, with notes biographical and critical,' 1814, 2nd edit. 1816. He also applauded Lord Byron, George Crabbe

George Crabbe

George Crabbe was an English poet and naturalist.-Biography:He was born in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the son of a tax collector, and developed his love of poetry as a child. In 1768, he was apprenticed to a local doctor, who taught him little, and in 1771 he changed masters and moved to Woodbridge...

, William Cowper

William Cowper

William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry...

, and Robert Southey

Robert Southey

Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...

, to whom in later editions he added Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

. In 1835 he collected and revised a few poems, The Modern Dunciad, Virgil in London, which had originally appeared in 1814, The Times, and some short pieces.

Drama and the theatre

On 21 July 1818 a 'serio-comick-bombastick-operatick interlude' by Daniel, entitled 'Doctor Bolus,' was acted at the English Opera House (afterwards the Lyceum) with great success. The principal parts were filled by Fanny Kelly, John Pritt Harley

John Pritt Harley

John Pritt Harley was an English actor known for his comic acting and singing.-Early years:Harley was the son of John Harley, a draper and silk mercer, and his wife Elizabeth. He was baptised in the parish church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 5 March 1786. At the age of fifteen, he was...

, and William Simmonds Chatterley, and Harley became one of Daniel's friends. The piece was printed soon after its performance, and went through two editions. On 1 December 1819 a musical farce, 'The Disagreeable Surprise,' by Daniel, was acted at Drury Lane, and in 1833 another of his farces, 'Sworn at Highgate,' was performed.

Meanwhile he had undertaken the task of editing for John Cumberland, a publisher, his British Theatre, with Remarks Biographical and Critical, printed from the Acting Copies as performed at the Theatres Royal, London. The first volume was issued in 1823, and the last (thirty-ninth) in 1831. For each of the plays of this edition, which numbered nearly three hundred, and included nearly all Shakespeare's works, and the whole eighteenth-century drama, Daniel, under the initial 'D———G,' wrote a preface.

In 1831 and 1832 he prepared an appendix of fourteen volumes, which was known as Cumberland's Minor Theatre, and in 1838 and later years these two series were republished consecutively in sixty-four volumes. Subsequently Daniel helped to edit portions of T. H. Lacy's Acting Edition of Plays and Davison's Actable Drama, in continuation of Cumberland's Plays. He was working at the latter series as late as 1862. He saw the talent of Marie Wilton in 1862, in her performance of Thomas Morton

Thomas Morton (playwright)

Thomas Morton was an English playwright.-Life:Morton was born in the city of Durham. He was the son of John and Grace Morton of Whickham, County Durham. He went to London to study law at Lincoln's Inn, but abandoned his studies for playwriting. For much of his life, Thomas lived in Pangbourne in...

's Great Russian Bear. In 1838 he had commented in similar terms on Mary Anne Stirling

Mary Anne Stirling

Mary Anne Stirling was an English actress-Biography:Stirling was born in London, the daughter of a Captain Kehl. After some experience at outlying theatres, she appeared in London in 1836...

, when editing Mrs. Cornwell's Venus in Arms for Cumberland. His remarks on Mary Russell Mitford

Mary Russell Mitford

Mary Russell Mitford , was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford, Hampshire. Her place in English literature is as the author of Our Village...

's Rienzi in Cumberland's series were republished separately in 1828.

Prose and later works

A prose novel in three volumes called Dick Distich, which Daniel says he wrote when he was eighteen, was printed anonymously in 1812; it is a story of the struggles of a Grub Street

Grub Street

Until the early 19th century, Grub Street was a street close to London's impoverished Moorfields district that ran from Fore Street east of St Giles-without-Cripplegate north to Chiswell Street...

 author. In 1819 he and James Robinson Planché produced 'More Broad Grins, or Mirth versus Melancholy,' and in 1821 Daniel edited 'Chef d'Œuvres from French Authors, from Marot to Delille,' in two volumes. He published in 1829 a scurrilous attack on Charles Kean

Charles Kean

Charles John Kean , was born at Waterford, Ireland, the son of the actor Edmund Kean.After preparatory education at Worplesdon and at Greenford, near Harrow, he was sent to Eton College, where he remained three years...

's domestic life, entitled 'Ophelia Kean, a dramatic legendary tale,' which was suppressed.

He contributed to Bentley's Miscellany

Bentley's Miscellany

Bentley's Miscellany was an English literary magazine started by Richard Bentley. It was published between 1836 and 1868.-Contributors:Already a successful publisher of novels, Bentley began the journal in 1836 and invited Charles Dickens to be its first editor...

 a long series of gossipy papers on old books and customs, which he issued in two volumes in 1842, under the title of 'Merrie England in the Olden Time,' with illustrations by John Leech

John Leech

John Leech was an English caricaturist and illustrator.-Early life:John Leech was born in London...

 and George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank

George Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.-Early life:Cruikshank was born in London...

. This was followed by a religious poem, 'The Missionary,' in 1847, and by 'Democritus in London, with the Mad Pranks and Comical Conceits of Motley and Robin Goodfellow, to which are added Notes Festivous and the Stranger Guest,' in 1852. 'Democritus' is a continuation in verse of the 'Merrie England,' and the 'Stranger Guest' is another religious poem. His last published work was 'Love's Last Labour not Lost' (1863), and included his recollections of Charles Lamb and Robert Cruikshank, with a reply to Thomas Babington Macaulay's essay on Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...

, and many genial essays in prose and verse. The volume concludes, a little incongruously, with a pious and very long poem Non omnis moriar.

Collector

Daniel bought copies of the first four folio editions of Shakespeare's works, and of many of the quarto editions of separate plays. His collection of black-letter ballads was especially notable, and he issued in 1856 twenty-five copies of 'An Elizabethan Garland, being a Descriptive Catalogue of seventy Black-letter Ballads printed between 1559 and 1597.' Daniel purchased these and seventy-nine other ballads from a Mr. Fitch, postmaster of Ipswich

Ipswich

Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...

, for £60; he sold the seventy-nine to a bookseller acting for Richard Heber

Richard Heber

Richard Heber , English book-collector, the half-brother of Reginald Heber, was born in London.As an undergraduate at Brasenose College, Oxford, he began to collect a purely classical library, but his taste broadening, he became interested in early English drama and literature, and began his...

 for £70; at the sale of his library, those retained by Daniel fetched £750.

On 22 August 1835 he bought at Charles Mathews

Charles Mathews

Charles Mathews was an English theatre manager and comic actor, well-known during his time for his gift of impersonation and skill at table entertainment...

's sale, for forty-seven guineas, the cassolette

Cassolette

Cassolette may refer to:A small porcelain, glass or metal container used for the cooking and serving of individual dishes...

, or carved casket made out of the mulberry-tree of Shakespeare's garden, and presented to David Garrick

David Garrick

David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...

 with the freedom of the borough of Stratford-on-Avon in 1769. Daniel was proud of this relic, and wrote a description of it, which was copiously illustrated, for Charles John Smith

Charles John Smith

-Life:He was born in 1803 at Chelsea where his father, James Smith, practised as a surgeon. He was a pupil of Charles Pye, and became an engraver of book illustrations of a topographical and antiquarian character...

's Literary Curiosities in 1840, together with a sketch of Garrick's theatrical career, entitled Garrick in the Green-room. Garrick's cane was also his property, together with a rich collection of theatrical prints, a small number of water-colours by David Cox

David Cox (artist)

- David Cox Junior :David Cox had a son of the same name who followed his calling as a watercolour painter. He was born in Dulwich, but educated in Hereford. He exhibited in London from 1827, although today he is known mainly through association with his father. He died in Streatham on 4 December...

, Stansfield, David Wilkie

David Wilkie (artist)

Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter.- Early life :Wilkie was the son of the parish minister of Cults in Fife. He developed a love for art at an early age. In 1799, after he had attended school at Pitlessie, Kettle and Cupar, his father reluctantly agreed to his becoming a painter...

, and others.

Legacy

By his will Garrick's cassolette passed to the British Museum,. The rest of his literary collection was sold by auction on 20 July 1864 and the nine following days, and realised £15,865 12s. His first folio Shakespeare fetched £716 2s. and was purchased by the Baroness Burdett Coutts.

Three volumes of cuttings from printed works and engravings, arranged by Daniel, together with some manuscript notes by him, went to the British Museum: 1. 'An Account of Garrick's Cassolette.' 2. 'An Account from contemporary sources of the Shakespeare Jubilee of 1769.' 3. 'Accounts of the Sale of Shakespeare's House in 1847, of the subsequent Purchases made by the Public at Stratford-on-Avon, and of the Perkins Folio Controversy.'