O'KEEFE, tckef'. Jour 1747-1833). An Irish playwright and actor. Ile was born in Dub lin, and in his youth studied painting, but he be gan writing comedies at the age of fifteen. A few year. later he joined a theatrical company in his native city. :Id wrote meanwhile a number of small pieces, in which he appeared at his own benefits. Ills Tony Lumpkin in Town was pro duced at the Ilaymarket, London, in 1778, and gained for its author an English reputation. Ile settled in London. and. though threatened with blindness, continued to write for the stage. Ins dramatic pieces by Ids own statement number sixty-eight, of which about fifty were performed, and some of them, such as the operatic. farces, The Highland iS el and The .1(Ircenblc :11111 the farce S. were unusually success fut. In when he hail become almost totally blind, he published Dramatic Works of John ti1{r,1,. Esq., in four volumes. Fm. sumo yVIIN
aflerlyartis he wits in straitened circumstances, till he was relieved by in pension from the Crown. In 1s:30 he went to live in Southampton, where he died on February 1, 1333. The next year. his daughter Adelaide, who was herself an an thor, published a collection of his verse under the title of .1 Fathcr's Lcyucy to llis Daughter. rkeefe's plays, many I if which have been sep arately published, amp deficient in charaeteriza tion and ineident. and rough in dietion, but full of broad humor Anil rollicking spirits. Consult the l !If the Li(r of .11,1,11 cf r written by himself (London. 13261 : also as edited by II. 11. Stoddard (New York, 1876) ; CencAte, History of 1 he English Nlage ( Both. 18321.