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.