Samuel Judah

Samuel B. H. Judah (1799 – 21 July 1876) was an American author, lawyer and poet. He was once imprisoned for libel.[1]

Samuel Judah
Died1876 
Not to be confused with Samuel Judah (jurist) also an American lawyer.

Life

Judah was born in New York City, in 1799, the son of Benjamin S. Judah. he was admitted to the bar in 1825. He practised law in New York City. He died 21 July 1876, also in New York City.[1]

Works

His first play, a melodrama, The Mountain Torrent (1820) was a failure.[1] The Rose of Aragorn (1822) was another melodrama. He wrote a long romantic dramatic poem Odofriede, the Outcast the same year. He followed with a patriotic comedy A Tale of Lexington (1823) and in 1827 a novel The Buccaneers, a Romance of Our Own County.[2]

He also wrote, under the pen-name "Terentius Phlogobombos",[3] a scurrilous account of the literary and political life of New York.[2] The work Gotham and the Gothamites contained libellous statements about fellow playwright Mordacai Noah:

descended from Mordacai of old, that hanged Haman, for his desires, like that worthy's, are entirely bent towards the gallows

Despite the use of a pseudonym, Judah's authorship was discerned and he spent time in jail for criminal libel.[2]

A number of freethinking biblical dramas of the 1830s are ascribed to him, but his authorship is doubtful.[2]

References
  1. Joseph R. Rosenbloom (1960). A Biographical Dictionary of Early American Jews: Colonial Times Through 1800. University of Kentucky Press. p. 81.
  2. Early Jewish Writers in America. Encyclopedia of American Jewish History. ABC-CLIO. p. 539. ISBN 9781851096381.
  3. Joseph F. Clarke (1977). Pseudonyms. BCA. p. 132.



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