Career
He was largely a hack writer, working for Edward Dilly, and he padded his credentials with a bogus Master of Arts and a portrait in clerical dress. Some of his works had a more lasting value. He was probably born about 1703, and resided in the parish of Saint Dunstan"s, Stepney.
In 1755 he agreed with John Shebbeare and Jonathan Scott to write for their anti-ministerial paper, The Monitor, appearing every Saturday, at a salary of £200 a year.
And his attacks on the government caused his house to be entered and his papers seized under a general warrant in November 1762. He sued the authorities for illegal seizure over this, claiming £2,000 in damages, and obtained a verdict for £300 in 1765.
He died at Stepney, where he was buried, on 22 May 1773, being about seventy years old.