FITZBALL', Eowaan (properly BALI.) (1702. 1873 ) . Au English dramatist. I e was born at Bur well. Cambridgeshire. was educated in a private school at Newmarket, and became a printer's ap a-entice in 1809. In 1819. after having unsuccess fully edited a magazine at Norwich, he changed his name to Fitzball, by prefixing his mother's name to his own, and began to write fur the stage. IIis first success was won by his The I nnkeeper of .1 bbc vi/k, performed at the Norwich Theatre in 1820, and in London in 1S21-22. This was followed, in 1822, by an adaptation of 'I'hr Portuncs of Nigel. and an original drama entitled Joan of .Ire. For the next twenty-five years Fitzball was the most prolific dramatic author in England, turning out an enormous number of eomedies, tragedies, and melodramas, most of which were written to order for the managers of various metropolitan theatres. He was attached in succession to the Adelphi, Covent Garden, and Drury Lane theatres, as a stock dramatist.
Among his numerous successes were: l'everil of the Peak (1823) ; Waverly (1824) ; The Floating Beacon (1824) ; The Pilot (1825), an adaptation of Cooper's novel, which ran over 200 nights; The Flying Dutchman (1828) Thr lard Rorer (1828) ; The Devil's Elixir (1830) ; Hoer, the Tell of the Tyrol (1832) ; Jonathan Bradford (1833), a melodrama which ran over 400 nights at Covent Garden ; Two Cringlc (1834) ; Waller Tyrell (1835); Zazczizorm (1836) ; The II omen t ous Question; The Miller of Deneentwater: and Nilocris (1859). Besides numerous popular ballads and songs he wrote the librettos for Balk's operas, The Siege of Rochelle ( 1S35) ; Joan of Arc; Diatleste; lieolantbc (1840); and The Maid of Honor ( 1S47) ; for Dmiizetti's La Facorita ; for Bishop's Adelaide; and Wallace's ilaritana. He published his memoirs under the title, Thirty-five Years of a Dramatic Author's Life (1859).