CENT LIVRE, MRS. SUSANNA (1667-1723)

—Dramatist and actre , was the dau. of a gentleman of the name of either Rawkins or Freeman, who appears to have belonged either to Lincoln shire or Ireland, or was perhaps connected with both, and who suffered at the hands of the Stuarts. She m. at 16, lost her husband in a year, then m. an officer, who fell in a duel in 18 months, and finally, in 1706, m. Joseph C., cook to Queen Anne, with whom she lived happily for the rest of her days. She wrote 18 or 19 plays, well constructed and amusing, among which may be mentioned The Perjured Husband (1700), The Busybody (1709), The Warder (1714), and A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717). She was a strong Whig, and sometimes made her plays the medium of expre ing her political opinions. CHALK HILL, JOHN ( fl. 1600). —Poet, mentioned by Izaak Walton as having written a pastoral poem, The alma and Clearchus . As nothing else is known of him it has been held by some that the name was a nom-de-plume of W. himself. It has been shown, however, that a gentleman of the name existed during the reign of Elizabeth. W. says he was a friend of Spenser, and that his life was "useful, quiet, and virtuous."