Fernández de Moratín, Leandro (1760–1828)

Spanish dramatist and poet. Influenced by Molière, he wrote five comedies, including La comedia nueva 1792, a satire on extravagant melodramas; El sí de las niñas/A Daughter's Consent 1800, concerning the problems of forced marriages; and La mojigata 1804, inspired by Molière's Tartuffe.

He also translated Molière's L'Ecole des maris and Le Médecin malgré lui and Shakespeare's Hamlet. During the reign of Joseph Bonaparte (1808–13), he became director of the Royal Library. After the restoration of Ferdinand VII, he fled to Paris and spent the rest of his life in exile.