Frederick Pilon
Frederick Pilon (1750–1788) was an Irish actor and dramatist. Life. Born in Cork, Pilon was educated there and then was sent to Edinburgh University to study medicine. He appeared at the Edinburgh Theatre as Oroonoko, in Thomas Southerne's play of that name; and then joined a minor repertory company, for some years. Pilon drifted to London, where William Griffin the bookseller employed him on "The Morning Post". After Griffin's death, he took on literary hack work until he began to write for the stage. Employed with some regularity at Covent Garden Theatre, he moved in time  to Drury Lane Theatre. There Thomas Carter composed music for his "Fair American" libretto: Pilon would not pay, Carter sued, and Pilon lay low. Pilon died at Lambeth on 17 January 1788. Works. Pilon as a playwright has been thought a follower of Richard Cumberland, an associate of the Della Cruscans, and an admirer of Anthony Pasquin. He wrote the following dramas, mostly ephemeral, all of which were published, besides the pantomime: An unpublished adaptation of "All's Well That Ends Well" was in three acts, and considered representative of contemporary taste. Cuts fell on the early parts, and the  centre of attention was the character of Parolles. It was performed in 1785 at the Haymarket Theatre. Pilon published in 1785 an expanded edition of George Alexander Stevens's "Essay on Heads", which Lee Lewis had been performing from 1780. The "Lecture" was a popular one-man show, a two-hour performance piece that Stevens had acted as a monologue, with a range of papier-mâché busts and wigs, from 1764. Lewis had purchased the "Lecture" from Stevens, and this edition had a prologue by Pilon, and "An Essay on Satire" of his own. Pilon also adapted "The French Flogged  (1755) by Stevens (a droll for Edward Shuter) for performance at Cork in 1780. Pilon published also: Family. In 1787 Pilon married a Miss Drury of Kingston, Surrey.