By March 1758, he was so short of money that he joined the Marine Corps as a lieutenant stationed at Plymouth and served through the Seven Years' War.

His years growing up in Dublin, a cultural hub at the time, had greatly influenced his views on writing and the arts.

[6] Bickerstaff also hurt his chances of success by publicly criticising David Garrick, the leading actor-manager of the era, for "barbarity" in his recent attempts to set Shakespeare plays to music.

Bickerstaffe also wrote bowdlerised versions of plays by William Wycherley and Pedro Calderon de la Barca.

His Love in the City (1767), The Padlock (1768), based on "The Jealous Husband" in Cervantes' Novelas (this included the character Mungo, a negro servant played by Dibdin, one of the earliest comic black roles in English drama).

[11] In 1770, a newspaper published a false report that in a fit of despair, he had thrown himself into the sea in the south of France, and perished.

[14] However, in March 1772, it was reported that he was writing a small piece, which was to be called the Coterie, and would be performed at the Haymarket theatre that summer.

[15] In early August 1772, it was reported that "Bickerstaff...who lately absconded for a detestable crime, died miserably a few days ago in Sussex".