DODSLEY, ROBERT, author and publisher, was born in 1703, near Mansfield, in Not tingham. His father, who is said to have been a schoolmaster, apprenticed him to a stocking-weaver; but finding this employment unsuitable, D. ran away, and was after wards engaged as footman. 'While thus employed he devoted his leisure moments to reading and ° the cultivation of letters, and eventually published, in 1732, a volume of poems entitled The Muse in Livery, or the Footman's Miscellany. His next production, The Toy Shop, a dramatic piece, was submitted in manuscript to Pope, who undertook to recommend it to Rich, the manager of Covent Garden theater. It was acted under Rich's management in 1735 with great success. The proceeds resulting from the pub• lication of these his first two works enabled•13.'to couitnence business as a bookseller, in which trade he was very successful. In 1737, his King and the Miller of Mansfield was brought out at Drury Lane, and met with an enthusiastic reception. This was followed by Sir John Cockle at Court; The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green; and Rex et Pontifex, which were republished in a collected edition of his dramatic works with the title of Trifles (1748). Meantime, he was conducting his business with such ability and
spirit, that in the course of three years after commencement he was in a position to buy copyrights. In 1738, he bought Johnson's London, giving for it no more than ten guineas. His most successful work was a tragedy called Cleone, which was acted Covent Garden with extraordinary success. On its publication, 2,000 copies were sold the first day, and within the year the work ran through four editions. With Cleone he closed his career of dramatic authorship. D. was connected either as contributor or publisher, and occasionally as both, with several magazines. He is, however, chiefly remembered now on account of his Select Collection of Old Plays (12 vols. 8vo, 1780); and his Collection of Poems by several Hands (4 vols. 12rno, 1748). Besides the volume entitled Trzytes, another volume of his collected works was published in 1772 under the title of Miscellanies. He died hi 1704.—See Knight's Shadows of the Old Booksellers (1865).