Possible Clues:

• Addict who explored murder as a fine art
• Essayist starts to dispute everything you've written about Shakespearean role
• Thomas -- --, author of 'Confessions of an English Opium-Eater'
• Thomas - - - - , English essayist and critic 1785-1859
• English critic died, a hundred in horse years
• Confessed drug taker you'd recalled eating fruit
• Opium-eater you would back to bear fruit
• Drug-taking critic brought to book