Robert Dodsley (1704-64), poet, playwright, prose writer and publisher, is one of the twenty-first century’s most unduly neglected, eighteenth-century, English, literary figures. He has considerable claims to be regarded as the person who did more to oversee and change literary taste in mid-eighteenth-century England than any other as well as to establish changes in the literary market place. He first made his mark on the literary scene as a poet, lionised in aristocratic circles for his unusual social position, for an author, as a footman. His first collection of poems, A Muse in Livery, published in January 1732, exploited this role and led on to his ballad opera, The Footman (modelled on Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera) performed in March of the same year. This invigorated his interest in the theatre and he went on to...

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Citation: Gordon, Ian. "Robert Dodsley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 November 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1282, accessed 09 June 2026.]