Charles Johnson (writer)

He was a dedicated Whig who allied himself with the Duke of Marlborough, Colley Cibber, and those who rose in opposition to Queen Anne's Tory ministry of 1710–1714.

At the same time, it is possible that he was a lawyer, as his first two published works, in 1704 and 1705 (Marlborough; on the Late Glorious Victory Near Hochstet in Germany and The Queen; a Pindaric Ode) had him living in Gray's Inn, and he married a Mary Bradbury in Gray's Inn chapel in 1709, the year of his first play, Love and Liberty (unproduced).

In 1712, The Successful Pyrate was acted, and John Dennis complained to Charles Killigrew, Master of the Revels that the play glamorized the pirate Henry Every.

In 1717, he wrote The Sultaness, a tragedy, and in the preface to the printed play, he satirized the recent Three Hours after Marriage as "Long-labour'd Nonsense."

His plays emphasize tragic female characters (a late version of the she-tragedy), and contemporary accounts suggest that he was an extremely friendly and inoffensive individual.