Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/180

 Dodsley 4to. 15. 'The Museum, or the Literary and Historical Register,' London, 1746-7, 3 vols. 8vo (No. 1, Saturday, 29 March 1746, to No. 39, 12 Sept, 1747). 16. 'The Preceptor, containing a general course of education,' London, 1748, 2 vols. 8vo (reprinted). 17. 'A Collection of Poems by Several Hands,' London, 1748, 3 vols. 12mo (a second edition with considerable additions and some omissions the same year; a fourth volume was added in 1749. A fourth edition, 4 vols., appeared in 1755. The fifth and sixth volumes were added in 1758; other editions, 1765, 1770, 1775, 1782. Pearch, Mendez, Fawkes, and others produced supplements. For the contributors see Gent. Mag. 1. 122-4, 173-6, 214, 406-8, and Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. xi. 172; see also 1st ser. ii. 264, 343, 380, 485; 2nd ser. i. 151, 237, ii. 274, 315). 18. 'The Art of Preaching, in imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry,' London, n. d. folio (anonymous, but attributed to Dodsley by Chalmers, who includes it in his collection; the authorship is doubtful). 19. 'Trifles,' London, 1748, 2 vols. 8vo; 2nd edit. 1777, 2 vols. 8vo, with portrait (reprint of pieces issued separately). 20. 'The Triumph of Peace, a masque perform'd at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane on occasion of the General Peace concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle,' London, 1749, 4to (Chalmers was unable to obtain a copy). 21. 'The World,' London, 1753-6, 4 vols. fol. (No. 1, Thursday, 4 Jan. 1753, to No. 209, 30 Dec. 1756; frequently reprinted in 8vo; No. 32 by Dodsley; for an account of the contributors see, Essays illustrative of the Rambler, &c. 1810, ii. 253-316). 22. 'Public Virtue, a Poem, in three books—i. Agriculture, ii. Commerce, iii. Arts,' London, 1753,4to (only book i. published). 23. 'Melpomene, or the Regions of Terror and Pity, an Ode,' London, 1757, 4to (without name of author, printer, or publisher). 24. 'Cleone, a Tragedy as it is acted at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden,' London, 1758, 8vo (5th edit. 1786). 25. 'Select Fables of Esop and other Fabulists, in three books,' Birmingham, printed by J. Baskerville for R. & J. Dodsley, 1761, 12mo (2nd edit. 1764, by Baskerville, eighteen pages less and inferior in appearance). 26. 'Fugitive Pieces on various subjects,' by several authors, London, 1761, 2 vols. 8vo (reprinted; see, Lit. Anecd. ii. 373-80). 27. 'The Works in Verse and Prose of William Shenstone, most of which were never before printed,' London, 1764, 2 vols. 8vo.

 DODSON, JAMES (d. 1757), teacher of the mathematics and master of the Royal Mathematical School, Christ's Hospital, is known chiefly by his work on 'The Anti-Logarithmic Canon' and 'The Mathematical Miscellany.' Of his early life nothing is known, except that his contemporary, Dr. Matthew Maty, in his 'Mémoire sur la vie et sur les écrits de M. A. de Moivre,' enumerated Dodson among 'les disciples qu'il a formés.' In 1742 Dodson published his most important work, 'The Anti-Logarithmic Canon. Being a table of numbers consisting of eleven places of figures, corresponding to all Logarithms under 100,000, with an Introduction containing a short account of Logarithms.' This was unique until 1849. The canon had been actually calculated, it is asserted, by Walter Warner and John Pell, about 1630-40, and Warner had left it to Dr. H. Thorndyke, at whose death it came to Dr. Busby of Westminster [q. v.], and finally was bought for the Royal Society; but for some years it has been lost. From a letter of Pell's, 7 Aug. 1644, written to Sir Charles Cavendish, we find that Warner became bankrupt, and Pell surmises that the manuscript would be destroyed by the creditors in ignorance. In 1747 Dodson published 'The Calculator. . . adapted to Science, Business, and Pleasure.' It is a large collection of small tables, with sufficient, though not the most convenient, seven-figure logarithms. This he dedicated to William Jones. The same year he commenced the publication of 'The Mathematical Miscellany,' containing analytical and algebraical solutions of a large number of problems in various branches of mathematics. His preface to vol. i. is