Nicholas Rowe (writer) said to have suggested to Samuel Richardson the character of Clarissa Harlowe, as Lothario suggested Lovelace. Samuel Johnson noted of "The Fair Penitent" that, "The story is domestic, and therefore easily received by the imagination, and assimilated to common life; the diction is exquisitely harmonious, and soft or spritely as occasion requires." In 1704, Rowe tried his hand at comedy, producing "The Biter" at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was unsuccessful, and Rowe returned to tragedy in "Ulysses" (1706). According to Johnson, this play was to share the fate of many such plays based on mythological heroes, as, "We have been
The Fair Maid of the Exchange modest bashfulnesse, / And that I dread a base contentious name, / I would not be a by-word to th'Exchange, / For every one to say (my selfe going by) / Yon goes a vassal to authoritie." In addition to giving importance to the characters themselves, eponyms in the play also inform the audience of the characters' personalities or purposes, as shown in the "key terms" below. APTRONYM: It is worth noting that there are 'personae' in the play who never appear but whose names likewise carry meaning: LEGERDEMAIN: The Fair Maid of the Exchange The Fair Maid of the