Nicholas Rowe (writer) many years regularly acted on the anniversary of William's landing at Torbay. In Dublin in 1712, at a time when political passions were running high, the performance provoked a serious riot. "The Fair Penitent" (1703), an adaptation of Massinger and Field's "The Fatal Dowry", was pronounced by Samuel Johnson as one of the most pleasing tragedies ever written in English. It featured the character of Lothario from "The Impertinent Curious Man", a story within a story in Miguel de Cervantes' 1605 novel "Don Quixote". As a result of this play, the name became synonymous with a rake (womaniser). Calista is
The Fatal Dowry play that deal with the fashionable world of Beaumelle and Novall Junior, while Massinger handled the parts involving soldiers, the law court, and the serious moral issues of the drama. The play has been called "unique among the plays of the Massinger canon in being both weak in plot and unusually strong in characterization." The play has been praised by critics; Arthur Symons considered it one of Massinger's "two most distinct and most distinguished tragedies" (the other being "The Duke of Milan"). In 1702, Nicholas Rowe adapted "The Fatal Dowry" into a new version he titled "The Fair Penitent". Aaron