Rev. William Dodd

The son of a Lincolnshire clergyman, William Dodd attended Clare College Cambridge (B.A. 1750, M.A. 1759, LL.D, 1766). Dodd was lecturer at West Hampstead, chaplain at Magdalen House (1758), chaplain to the King (1763-74), prebendary of Brecon (1763), Rector of Hockliffe and Chalgrave, Bedfordshire (1772), and Vicar of Wing, Buckinghamshire (1775-77). A popular preacher, he tutored the son of the earl of Chesterfield. Dodd's ambitions and habit of living beyond his means got him into considerable trouble, culminating in a failed attempt at forgery and a celebrated trial. Despite Samuel Johnson's efforts to win clemency, Dodd was executed at Tyburn.

TEXT RECORDS:

1747Diggon Davy's Resolution on the Death of his Last Cow. A Pastoral.
1748A Pastoral.
1750A Day in Vacation at College. A Mock-Heroic Poem.
1750The Parsons. An Eclogue.
1760Sonnet, occasioned by hearing a young Lady sing Spenser's Amoretti, &c.
1760 ca.Sonnet. Occasioned by reading The Truth and Importance of Natural and Revealed Religion.
1763[Moral Pastorals:] Pastoral the Third. The Servant.
1767Moral Pastorals: Pastoral the Fifth. The Husband and Wife.
1767Moral Pastorals: Pastoral the First. The Son.
1767Moral Pastorals: Pastoral the Fourth. The Mother.
1767Moral Pastorals: Pastoral the Second. The Good Old Woman.
1767Moral Pastorals: Pastoral the Sixth. The Benevolent Man.
1767Moral Pastorals: Preface.

PUBLICATIONS:

Diggon Davy: a pastoral, on the death of his last cow. 1747.
The African prince when in England to Zara. 1749.
Zara at the Court of Annamaboe to the African Prince. 1749.
A new book of the Dunciad. 1750.
An elegy on the death of the Prince of Wales. 1751.
A day in vacation at college: a burlesque poem. 1751.
The beauties of Shakespeare. 2 vols, 1752.
An epistle to a lady concerning truths in religion. 1753.
A sermon preached ... before the president and governors of the city lying-in hospital. 1754.
The sisters: or the history of Lucy and Caroline Sanson. 2 vols, 1754.
The hymns of Callimachus translated. 1755.
The sinful Christian condemn'd by his own prayers. A sermon. 1755.
The easiness of Christ's yoke. A sermon. 1756.
The nature and necessity of fasting. 1756.
Discourses on the miracles and parables. 4 vols, 1757-58.
Thoughts on the epiphany of Christ: a poetical essay. 1758.
Hall, Joseph, Contemplations on the histories of the New Testament. [ed. Dodd]. 2 vols, 1759.
Ode to the Marchioness of Granby. 1759.
A sermon preached ... before the Governors of the Magdalen House. 1759.
Unity recommended in a sermon. 1759.
The Christian's magazine: or a treasury of divine knowledge [ed. Dodd]. 1760-67.
Hymn to good nature. 1760.
A sermon ... preached at the Chapel of the Magdalen House. 1760.
The wisdom and goodness of God in the vegetable kingdom. A sermon. 1760.
Account of the Magdalen charity. 1761.
A conference between mystic, an Huchinsonian, and others. 1761.
The wisdom and goodness of God in the vegetable kingdom farther considered in a second sermon. 1761.
The wisdom and goodness of God in the vegetable kingdom farther considered in a third sermon. 1761.
A familiar explication of the poetical works of Milton. 1762.
The frequency of capital punishments inconsistent with justice, sound policy, and religion. 1762?
A sermon [preached before] the governors of the Magdalen Charity. 1762.
Youth dissuaded from vice; in a discourse. 1763.
Comfort for the afflicted ... with suitable devotions. 1764.
The visitor, by several hands [ed. Dodd]. 2 vols, 1764.
The Holy Bible with a commentary and practical improvements. 3 vols, 1765-70.
A commonplace book to the Bible. 1766.
Mutual knowledge in a future state ... in a sermon. 1766.
Poems. 1767.
The practice of inoculation recommended. A sermon. 1767?
Popery inconsistent with the natural rights of man in general, and of Englishmen in particular. A sermon. 1768.
Cautions against Methodism ... in a sermon. 1769.
Reflections on death. 1769.
A sermon ... preached before the ... governors of the Magdalen Hospital. 1769.
Sermons to young men. 3 vols, 1771.
The prisoner released. A sermon. 1772.
Compassion to infants enforced, in a sermon. 1773.
An oration delivered at the dedication of Free-Mason's Hall. 1776.
A sermon ... before the humane society. 1776.
The convict's address to his unhappy brethren. 1777.
Occasional papers, by the late William Dodd [with Samuel Johnson]. 1777.
A sermon preached by Dr. Dodd in the Chapel of Newgate to his unhappy brethren [with Samuel Johnson]. 1777.
Thoughts in prison, in five parts. 1777.
The beauties of history: or pictures of virtue and vice. 1795.
A journey from Margate ... in the year 1763 in Waldron, A collection of miscellaneous poetry. 1802.
Moral pastorals and other poems. 1824.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Clare College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
Doctor of Laws
courtier

clergyman
poet
dramatist
novelist
essayist

Gentleman's Magazine
British Magazine
Christian's Magazine

Lord Chesterfield
Rev. John Duncombe
Susanna Duncombe
William Duncombe
Thomas Gainsborough
Rev. Richard Jago
Samuel Johnson
John Newbery
Rev. John Wesley
William Woty

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); "Dr. Dodd" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (8 January 1772); Dodd, Thoughts in Prison (1777); "Life of William Dodd" Westminster Magazine 5 (February 1777; and passim) 118-20; "Memoirs of Dr. Dodd" Walker's Hibernian Magazine 7 (March-June 1777) 186-92, 226-37, 301-03, 409-11 [portrait]; "Life of Rev. Dodd" Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement 36 (10 April 1777) 73-76; "Account of William Dodd" Sentimental Magazine 5 (April, June 1777) 73-78, 115-18; "Anecdotes of William Dodd" Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement 37 (14 August 1777) 155-57; Isaac Reed, Historical Memoirs and Writings (1777); Annual Register for 1778 (1778) 187; John Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82); Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); Bell's Fugitive Poetry (1789-97); "Anecdotes of Doctor Dodd" Gentleman's Magazine 60 (December 1790) 1066-67, 1077; Lounger's Common-Place Book (1792; 1796) 1:144-48; "The Fatal Effects of Dissipation in Doctor Dodd" Boston Weekly Magazine 1 (1 October 1803) 198; Robert Southey, Specimens of Later English Poets (1807); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58); "Was Dr. Dodd restored to Life after he was hanged?" Newcastle Magazine NS 1 (January 1822) 18-19; "Original Poem by Dr. Dodd" Literary Chronicle 4 (March 1822) 206; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34) 1:244-47; Percy Fitzgerald, A Famous Forgery (1859); Percy Fitzgerald, "Unfortunate Doctor Dodd" Dublin University Magazine 63 (1864); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Henry Chartres Biron, "Dr. Johnson and Dr. Dodd" National Review 85 (1925) 416-20; Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); Fairchild, in Religious Trends in English Poetry (1942); J. H. Warner, "The Macaroni Parson" Queen's Quarterly 53 (1946); R. R. Gross, Doctor Dodd, Bucknell University Studies 4 (1953); Edwin Willoughby, "The Unfortunate Dr. Dodd" Proceedings of the Royal Society of Literature 29 (1958) 124-34; A. N. L. Munby, Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons (1971-75); Gerald Howson, The Macaroni Parson (1973); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Rev. William Dodd:

1.	1750  Anonymous, "To Mr. Dodd, on his intended Translation of Callimachus" Gentleman's Magazine 20 (August 1750) 372.
2.	1760  Horace Walpole to George Montague, 28 January 1760; Letters, ed. Cunningham (1906) 3:282-93.
3.	1761  William Woty, "To the Rev. Mr. Dodd" Lloyd's Evening Post (24 April 1761) 385.
4.	1764  Charles Churchill, in The Times (1764); Poetical Works of Charles Churchill, ed. William Tooke (1804) 2:319-20.
5.	1764  A. Weekes, "On hearing the Rev. Mr. Dodd preach" London Magazine 33 (September 1764) 477.
6.	1766  Anonymous, "Verses occasioned by going to the Magdalen Chapel, and hearing a Sermon on the text, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, &c.' preached by the Rev. Dr. D—" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (4 October 1766).
7.	1769  Joseph Cockfield to Weeden Butler, 18 September 1769; in John Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 5:796.
8.	1769  Alexander Carlyle, 1769; in Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle (1910) 528-29.
9.	1769  Antigallican, "Extempore Lines on a late Translation of French Sermons. Addressed to Dr. D—d" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (15 November 1769).
10.	1772  Anonymous, "A New-Year's Gift to a certain Court Chaplain" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (2 January 1772).
11.	1773  G. B. H., "To Dr. Dodd, on hearing him preach at Margaret Chapel for the Bath Hospital" Bath Journal (18 October 1773).
12.	1774  Horace Walpole to the Countess of Ossory, 29 January 1774; Letters, ed. Cunningham (1906) 6:55.
13.	1774  A. B., "To the Rev. Dr. Dodd" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (11 June 1774).
14.	1774  Anonymous, in A Bagatelle. A Dialogue (1774) 14 &n.
15.	1777  Elizabeth Montagu to Elizabeth Carter, 1777; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 2:26.
16.	1777  Samuel Johnson to James Boswell, 28 June 1777; Boswell, Life of Johnson (1791); ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 3:136-39.
17.	1777  J. T., "The Clerk's Mite" Public Advertiser (26 April 1777).
18.	1777  Thomas Hastings, in Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (11 June 1777).
19.	1777  Anonymous, in A Tear of Gratitude, to the Memory of the unfortunate Dr. Dodd. A Poem; London Chronicle (5 August 1777) 121.
20.	1777  Anonymous, "Epitaph on Dr. Dodd" General Evening Post (28 June 1777).
21.	1777  Belinda, "Upon the late unfortunate Dr. Dodd" Newcastle Chronicle (5 July 1777).
22.	1777  Humanicus, "On the late Dr. Dodd, executed for Forgery, June 27, 1777" St. James's Chronicle (19 July 1777).
23.	1777  W. W., "On the melancholy Situation of a certain unfortunate Clergyman" Scots Magazine 39 (March 1777) 159-60.
24.	1777  D. J., "A Ballad" Gentleman's Magazine 47 (April 1777) 187.
25.	1777  M. S., "To the Memory of Dr. William Dodd" Hibernian Magazine 7 (July 1777) 504.
26.	1777  Mira, "An Ode for Music. Addressed to the Magdalens. For Doctor Dodd" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (8 April 1777).
27.	1777  John Huddlestone Wynne, "Verses on Doctor Dodd" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (6 June 1777).
28.	1777  Clio, "Lines addressed to an unfortunate Divine" Morning Chronicle (28 March 1777).
29.	1777  Clericus, "To Mr. Winterbottom, on the Death of Doctor Dodd" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (7 August 1777).
30.	1778  M. Macgreggor, Esq., in "The Battle of the Busts" Hibernian Magazine 8 (April 1778) 195.
31.	1778  Charles Graham, "A Soliloquy on the late Dr. William Dodd" Graham, Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose and Verse (1778) 37-40.
32.	1785  William Cowper, in The Task (1785) 64-65.
33.	1791  James Boswell, in Life of Johnson (1791); ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 3:158-68.
34.	1794  Anonymous, "Lines addressed to Dr. Dodd" European Magazine 25 (February 1794) 141.
35.	1795  Anonymous, "Anecdote of the late Dr. Dodd" New York Magazine 6 (August 1795) 455-56.
36.	1804  William Tooke, Note to The Times; Poetical Works of Charles Churchill (1804) 2:319-21n.
37.	1806  Robert Southey to G. C. Bedford, 22 March 1806; New Letters, ed. Currey (1965) 1:419.
38.	1807  Robert Southey, in Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807) 3:133-34.
39.	1809  Nathan Drake, in Essays Illustrative of the Rambler (1809-10) 2:348-49.
40.	1810  Alexander Chalmers, in "Life of Samuel Johnson" Works of the English Poets (1810) 16:565.
41.	1813  George Colman the Younger, in Vagaries Vindicated (1813) 32-33.
42.	1815  Charles Lamb to Robert Southey, 9 August 1815; Works of Charles Lamb, ed. Lucas (1903-05) 6:67.
43.	1824  Anonymous, Review of Dodd, Moral Pastorals and other Poems; Imperial Magazine 6 (February 1824) 196-98.
44.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 2:250-53 &n.
45.	1842  C. H. Timperley, in Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical Anecdote (1842) 2:705n.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Rev. William Dodd:

1.	1780  John Nichols, in Select Collection of Poems with Notes Biographical and Historical (1780-82) 7:228-31.
2.	1782  Isaac Reed, in Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse (1782) 1:127.
3.	1789  Anonymous, in Bell's Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry (1789-97) 7:163.
4.	1812  Stephen Jones, in Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse (1812) 1:191-92.
5.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 12:147-53.
6.	1814  George Dyer, in History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge (1814) 2:56-57.
7.	1832  William Clarke and Robert Shelton Mackenzie, in The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most eminent Persons who have flourished in Great Britain (1832-34) 1:244-47.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1745 ca.  Rev. Francis Fawkes:   William Dodd, "Epigram, occasion'd by reading a merely descriptive Poem, called Barham-Downs" 1745 ca.; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 7:233.
2.	1745 ca.  Sir Richard Steele:   Anonymous, "Verses written in the Summer-house where Sir Richard Steele wrote his Conscious Lovers" 1750 ca.; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 7:313.
3.	1750  Rev. John Duncombe:   William Dodd in "A Day in Vacation at College" Poems (1767) 43-44.
4.	1750  Susanna Duncombe:   William Dodd, "On Seeing Miss H*h*re's Picture, done by Mr. H*h*re" Whitehall Evening Post (17 November1750).
5.	1750  Samuel Johnson:   William Dodd, 1750; in Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed. Croker (1831) 4:139n.