"The Profligate " by Arthur Wing Pinero is an English romance play and society satire, set in the 19th century. Sir Arthur Wing Pinero ( 1855 – 1934) was an English playwright and, early in his career, actor.

The Legend of Anne Bonny was recorded by Captain Charles Johnson in a book published in 1724 entitled A General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. Anne was a colonial aristocrat and the embellished daughter of the revered Chancellor of South Carolina. She rebelled at the age of sixteen when she eloped with James Bonny and was taken to the island of Providence to live among the pirates in 1716. Anne was a woman way before her time who had the courage to search for true love and discover the ultimate meaning of freedom. As she sailed the open seas as a pirate, Anne faced challenges and quests that no other woman of her era had ever endured. Her exploits branded her as an Ill-tempered harlot as she sailed under the command of her captain John Rackam and was pursued by the inescapable armed forces of the English Royal Colony Jamaica. Despite the public shame of her deeds, her father’s unending love prevailed during her times of trials and tribulations. We follow their adventures with intrigue and hope for Anne and her fellow pirates, as well as for her true love’s safety. Only several plot points are known about the life of Anne Bonny and over the years the connection between each has been filled in with speculation labeling her as an uncouth woman, while ignoring other parts of her legend that reveal a more noble character. The Profligate was written in order to resurrect her vibrant spirit and tell her story where all the plot points are included to reveal a more realistic portrait as to who Anne Bonny may truly have been.

A profligate son was every Georgian parent's worst nightmare. To his father, William Jackson's imprudent spending, incessant partying, and sexual adventures were a sure sign he was on the slippery slope to ruin. But to his friends, William was a "damned good fellow," a charming, impeccably dressed young gentleman with enviable seductive skills who was willing to defend his honor in duels. Mr. Jackson and his son viewed each other across a generational gap that neither could bridge, and their flawed relationship had catastrophic consequences for their family. In The Profligate Son, historian Nicola Phillips hauntingly reconstructs this family tragedy from a recently discovered trove of letters and court documents. After Mr. Jackson's acquisition of a fortune during his service for the East India Company in Madras was undermined by false accusations that ruined his career, he invested all his future ambitions in his only son. William grew up in great comfort and was sent to the best schools in the country. But when the family moved to London, the teenager rebelled against the loneliness and often brutal regimes of public schooling and escaped to explore the pleasures of the town with his wealthy friends. His attempts to impress his peers led him into disastrous levels of debt that resulted in his imprisonment and ever more illegal efforts to satisfy his creditors, which appalled his prudent, sternly moralistic father. Mr. Jackson decided that the only way to combat his son's wayward behavior was to completely cut him off. In doing so, he condemned William to repeated imprisonment and a perilous voyage to an Australian penal colony. In Sydney William sought to rebuild his life with a family of his own, but even there his father's legacy brought further tragedy. A masterpiece of literary nonfiction as dramatic as any Dickens novel, The Profligate Son transports readers from the steamy streets of India and the elegant squares and seedy brothels of London to the sunbaked shores of Australia, tracing the arc of a life long buried in history.