Samuel Jackson Pratt (25 December 1749 – 4 October 1814) was a prolific English poet, dramatist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym of "Courtney Melmoth"[1] as well as under his own name.

[3] Although his reputation was tainted by scandal during his lifetime, he is today recognised as an early campaigner for animal welfare[4] and the first English writer to treat the American Revolution as a legitimate subject for literature.

[10] According to A History of The City of Brooklyn, Charlotte "had been duped into a sham marriage, while at boarding school, by a Mr. Pratt (known in the literary and theatrical circles of that day as Courtney Melmoth ), and with him went upon the stage, playing in several companies both in England and Ireland.".

[1] In 1773, having abandoned his Church career, Pratt made his first appearance as an actor under the name 'Courtney Melmoth' at the Smock Alley Theatre, in Dublin, playing Marc Antony in John Dryden's All For Love but with no great success.

[15] In 1774, having given up the stage, he had his first literary success – a poem entitled The Tears of A Genius, occasioned by the Death of Dr Goldsmith which attracted the attention of the reading public, and from then onwards he was able to make a living by writing.

[15] By 1802 he was in Birmingham, a well-known literary figure with a reputation for being willing to help and advise aspiring writers, including a young George Mogridge, who would later find fame as "Old Humphrey".

Published in The Annual Register in 1771, it was a 10-verse tale of a mother partridge praying for the safety of her chicks during the shooting season, and revealed Pratt's concern for animal welfare which would be reflected in later writings.

Its licentious tone evoked letters of complaints, the author being described as "a dissipated clergyman"[19] and the Monthly Review magazine said of it "It is unnatural and shocking – it cannot be read without disgust.

'[1] Pratt's reputation suffered as a result, and, in an attempt to repair the damage he wrote a moral work, The Tutor of Truth', two years later, of which the Monthly Review conceded "it is more inoffensive than any of the previous productions of this writer.

[8] His most successful dramatic work was The Fair Circassian, an adaptation of John Hawkesworth's novel Almoran and Hamet, and was first performed at Drury Lane on 27 November 1781.

His scandalous "sham marriage" and the public furore over his "unnatural and shocking" novel The Pupil of Pleasure damaged his reputation, giving him a 'dubious moral character' which deterred respectable readers.

[18] His poem Sympathy, however, was noted for its 'feeling, energy and beauty'[8] and the Gentleman's Magazine remarked "It is a just tribute to his character to say that all his works strongly tended to promote the interests of benevolence and virtue.

[1] However the same publication also noted that "his chief error was not knowing how to check the exuberance of his feeling and imagination; and therefore he sometimes diffused his sentiments to a tedious extent.

The Gentleman's Magazine obituary of Pratt summarised his life with the words "No man who ever attained public distinction was more exempt from envy; and though he may, in the vicissitudes of a life unsupported by fortune and exposed to all the casualties of a precarious subsistence, have fallen into errors, nothing of malice or ill-nature can justly be imputed to him; and as his works are all intended to promote the interests of virtue, none of these errors should be remembered in his epitaph.