Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/178

 Dodsley worthy son and successor, the Next Day.' To celebrate the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he composed a masque, which was performed at Drury Lane on 21 Feb. 1749, with music by Dr. Arne, and Mrs. Clive as first shepherdess. Johnson's 'Vanity of Human Wishes' and 'Irene' were published by him in the same year.

The first edition of 'The Economy of Human Life' came out in 1750, and was for some time attributed to Dodsley. It has long been recognised to have been written by the Earl of Chesterfield (Notes and Queries, 1st ser. x. 8, 74, 318). Dodsley's connection with the publication of the first separate edition of Gray's 'Elegy' in February 1751 has been investigated by the late E. Solly (The Bibliographer, 1884, v. 57-61). He suggested the title of the 'World,' a well-printed miscellany of the 'Spectator' class, for a new periodical established with the help of Moore in 1753 and produced for four years. It was extremely successful, both in its original form and when reprinted. Chesterfield, Horace Walpole, Soame Jenyns, the Earl of Bath, and Sir C. H. Williams were among the contributors. The last number is signed by Mary Cooper, who published many of Dodsley's books. He had long meditated an ambitious poem on agriculture, commerce, and the arts, entitled 'Public Virtue,' of which the first part alone was published in 1753. This laboured didactic treatise in blank verse was not very favourably received, although the author assured the world that 'he hath taken some pains to furnish himself with materials for the work; that he hath consulted men as well as books.' It was sent to Walpole, who answered, 4 Nov. 1753: 'I am sorry you think it any trouble to me to peruse your poem again; I always read it with pleasure' (Letters, ix. 485).

Johnson wrote to Warton, 21 Dec. 1754: 'You know poor Mr. Dodsley has lost his wife; I believe he is much affected' (Life, i. 277). Johnson wrote for Dodsley the introduction to the 'London Chronicle' in 1756. 'Melpomene,' an ode, which was published anonymously in 1758, is on a much higher level of thought than any other of his compositions. On 2 Dec. of the same year his tragedy of 'Cleone' was acted for the first time at Covent Garden. Garrick had rejected it as 'cruel, bloody, and unnatural' (, Life, i. 223), and Johnson, who supported it, 'for Doddy, you know, is my patron, and I would not desert him,' thought there was 'more blood than brains' in it (Life, i. 325-6, iv. 20-1). The night it was produced Garrick; did his best to injure it by appearing for the first time as Marplot in the 'Busybody,' and his congratulations were accordingly resented by Dodsley (Garrick Correspondence, vol. i. pp. xxxv, 79-80). Warburton, however, writing to Garrick, 18 Jan. 1759, accuses Dodsley of being a wretched fellow, and no man ever met with a worse return than you have done for your endeavours to serve him' (ib. i. 96). The play ran sixteen nights, owing much of its popularity to the acting of Mrs. Bellamy (Apology, 1786, iii. 105-12;, iv. 559-60). Two thousand copies of the first printed edition were sold at once, and five weeks later the fourth edition was being prepared. It is based upon the legend of Ste. Geneviève, translated by Sir William Lower. The original draft in three acts had been shown to Pope, who said that he had burnt an attempt of his own on the same subject, and recommended Dodsley to extend his own piece to five acts. Mrs. Siddons revived it with much success at Drury Lane, 22 and 24 Nov. 1786. His most important commercial achievement was the foundation of the 'Annual Register' in 1758, which is still published with no great variation from its early form. Burke was paid an editorial salary of 100l. for some time, and had a connection with it for thirty years. In this year Dodsley accompanied Spence on a tour through England to Scotland. On their way they stayed a week at the Leasowes.

The Dodsley s published Goldsmith's 'Polite Learning' in 1759, and, with Strahan and Johnson, Johnson's 'Rasselas' in March or April of the same year. Kinnersley having produced an abstract of 'Rasselas' in the 'Grand Magazine of Magazines,' an injunction was prayed for by the publishers, and refused by the master of the rolls, 15 June 1761, on the ground that an abridgment is not piracy (, Reports of Chancery Cases, 1828, i. 402-5). In 1759 Dodsley retired in favour of his brother, whose name had been for some time included in the firm as Robert & James Dodsley, and gave himself up to the preparation of his 'Select Fables,' which were tastefully printed by Baskerville two years later. The volume is in three books, the first consisting of ancient, the second of modern, and the third of 'newly invented' fables; with a preface, and a life from the French of M. de Méziriac. The fables are decidedly inferior to those of Samuel Croxall [q. v.] Writing to Graves, 1 March 1761, Shenstone says: 'What merit I have there is in the essay; in the original fables, although I can hardly claim a single fable as my own; and in the index, which I caused to be thrown into the form of morals, and which are almost wholly mine. I wish to God it may sell; for he has been at great expence about it. The two rivals which he has