SETTLE, ELKANAH (1648-1724), English poet and play wright, born at Dunstable on Jan. 1, 1648, entered Trinity Col lege, Oxford, in 1666, but left the university without taking a degree. His first tragedy, Cainbyses, King of Persia, was pro duced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1667. Rochester encouraged the new writer as a rival to Dryden. Through his influence Settle's Empress of Morocco (1671) was twice acted at Whitehall, and proved a signal success on the stage. The play was printed with a preface to the earl of Norwich, in which Settle described with scorn the effusive dedications of other dramatic poets. Dryden was obviously aimed at, and he co-operated with Crowne and Shadwell in an abusive pamphlet entitled "Notes and Observa tions on the Empress of Morocco" to which Settle replied in "Some Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco revised" (1674). In the second part of Absalom and Achitophel, in a passage certainly by Dryden's hand, he figures as "Doeg." Neglected by the court party he took an active share in the anti-popish agitation. When this subsided he turned round to
expose Titus Oates, and with the revolution he veered towards the Whig party. But he had lost the confidence of both sides, and "recanting Settle" accordingly abandoned politics for the appointment (1691) of city poet. In his old age he kept a booth at Bartholomew Fair, where he is said to have played the part of the dragon in a green leather suit devised by himself. He became a poor brother of the Charterhouse, where he died on Feb. 12, 1724.
Settle's numerous works include, beside numerous political pamphlets and occasional poems, Ibrahim, the Illustrious Bassa (1676) , a tragedy taken from Madeleine de Scudery's romance ; The Female Prelate; being the History of the Life and Death of Pope Joan (168o), a tragedy ; The Ambitious Slave: or A Generous Revenge (1694) ; The World in the Moon (1697), an opera, of which the first scene was formed by a moon fourteen feet across; and The Virgin Prophetess, or The Fate of Troy (1701) , an opera.