Robert Howard (playwright)

"(emphasis added)[2]He was thought of as arrogant and was caricatured in a play by Shadwell as Sir Positive-At-All, a boastful knight.

In his Preface, Howard states that he 'has made it his business truly to set down naked matters of fact as he finds them related by the best authors, without obtruding his own fancies or dreams under the notion of history'.

Howard was active in the London theatrical world after the Restoration, and was both scene designer for, and shareholder in, the Theatre Royal, along with Thomas Killigrew and eight actors.

His plays were successful and continued to be performed in the 18th century, though some later critics, notably Walter Scott, found fault with them.

Howard and his brother-in-law, the poet John Dryden, co-wrote The Indian Queen, later set to music by Henry Purcell.

[4] After the mother of his six children, Anne Kingsmill, died, he married an older widow, Lady Honoria (née O'Brien), and adopted the manor at Wootton Bassett left her by her husband, Sir Francis Englefield.

Their sister, Elizabeth Howard, was married to the influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright John Dryden.