University of Virginia Library

Museum Attributions in John Cooper's Unpublished Letters
by
James E. Tierney

While Horace Walpole, David Garrick, and Samuel Johnson represent the most distinguished contributors to Robert Dodsley's fortnightly The Museum; or, Literary and Historical Register, by far the most frequent contributor to the fashionable periodical was John Gilbert Cooper (1723-1769). Until recently, however, only tenuous evidence supported Cooper's extensive role in the Museum's production. In fact, the entire attribution pivoted upon W. P. Courtney's discovery[1] that the 1782 edition of Dodsley's Collection of Poems by Several Hands attributed to Cooper three poems which had been signed merely "Philaretes" in all earlier editions of the Collection. A later scholar,[2] realizing that these same three poems had been previously published in the Museum, extended the attribution to include seventeen Museum essays also marked "Philaretes."

Attribution made on the basis of such evidence, however, can be no more than highly probable. In an age when publishers frequently failed to

distinguish between hearsay and fact, the 1782 identifications, made fully eighteen years after Dodsley's death, could hardly be accepted without question. Dodsley had negotiated for and published the poems twenty-six years before the author's name appeared with them in print. Moreover, it must be remembered that eighteenth-century periodicals frequently used a single pseudonym for more than one contributor. Consequently, it would seem hazardous to certify the authorship of twenty pieces on the basis of three, especially when it involves jumping from one genre to another, from poetry to prose.

Now, however, an examination of the author's correspondence with Dodsley[3] during the Museum years not only supports scholarship's earlier assumptions but also discloses two, possibly three, more Museum essays as Cooper's. Cooper expressed his first interest in the periodical even before the initial issue appeared. Writing on March 12, 1745/46, he refers to the announcement of the Museum's publication in the St. James Evening Post and offers Dodsley "any little assistance I can give you." A month later he is making his first contribution. On April 7, he sends the publisher the essay "On Education," and, more significantly, in the postscript requests that "[If] the enclos'd or any other paper I send proves acceptable, [sign] it Philaretes."

Although this single reference tempts one to conclude that Cooper wrote all seventeen essays and three poems in the Museum marked with the nom de plume, such a conclusion would have to remain only probable, however well founded. Happily, though, Cooper's subsequent letters provide more specific evidence for his authorship by mentioning his essays and poems individually by title. Particularly revealing is the letter of February 11, 1746/47. After having contributed many pieces to the Museum during its first year, Cooper writes to Dodsley on this day, indicating his desire to have his Museum essays "collected together, and publish'd" in a "handsome volume in Octavo."[4] To remind Dodsley which papers had been his, he lists individually by title fourteen essays and one poem[5] which had appeared in the Museum signed "Philaretes," an essay signed "Musophilus," another essay signed "Philoptochus," and still another essay which appeared without a by-line at all. These last two have never before been credited to Cooper.

The "Philaretes" and "Musophilus" pieces mentioned in this letter include: "On Friendship" (also mentioned in Cooper's letter of April 23, 1746), "The Plebeian Politicians," "A Project for Raising an Hospital for Decayed Authors" by Musophilus[6] (also mentioned in a letter of July 26, 1746), "On the Polite Arts" (also mentioned in his letter of July 7, 1746), "On the Predominant Passion in Women," "On Contentment, A Fable" (also mentioned in the letter of July 26, 1746), "An Epistle from Muli Azareth" (also mentioned in the July 26, 1746 letter), "On Conjugal Love," "On Good and Beauty," "The Vision of Heaven," "On the Death of Socrates," "On Self Love, A Fable," "A Persuasive to Erect an Academy for Lying," "On True and False Religion," and "The Folly of Noblemen and Gentlemen's paying their Debts" (also mentioned in the July 26, 1746 letter). The poem referred to in this letter is Cooper's "Epistle from Theagenes to Sylvia."

The two Museum essays never before credited to Cooper which come to light in this letter of February 11, 1746/47 are "On Education"[7] (also mentioned in Cooper's earlier letter of April 7, 1746), and "An Account of the Kingdom of Beggars." These two papers seem to evidence the fact that the Museum's editor, Mark Akenside, did not always abide by Cooper's request to mark all of his contributions with "Philaretes."[8] In the case of "On Education" the anonymous authorship might be explained by the appearance of another Cooper essay, "On Friendship," in the same number of the periodical. Possibly to forestall the impression that Cooper was exerting too strong an influence on the periodical, Akenside thought anonymity best for Cooper's second piece. For the other essay, "An Account of the Kingdom of Beggars," Cooper's letter of November 15, 1746, seems to indicate that Akenside had also supplied the pseudonym "Philoptochus," thinking it more appropriate for the subject of the paper.[9] The author makes a second allusion to this essay when writing to Dodsley on November 15, 1746.

Of the three Philaretes essays still unaccounted for here, two—"On Solitude and Society" and "Advertisement"—are specifically acknowledged by Cooper in his letter to Dodsley on February 18, 1746/47. Hence only the Philaretes essay entitled "Two Parliament Speeches" goes unmentioned in Cooper's correspondence. Nonetheless, since sixteen of the seventeen essays originally subscribed "Philaretes" are now clearly proved to be Cooper's, it seems reasonable to assume that the only other essay marked with that pseudonym belongs to Cooper as well.

Although completely anonymous, still another Museum essay might be attributed to Cooper not only because of a similarity in content and diction to another of Cooper's essays, but also because of its significant placement in relation to that essay. Topically, "An Essay on True Public Spirit" is a sequel to Philaretes' "Two Parliament Speeches," for both essays carry the same satiric attack on William Pitt during a low point in that statesman's career. Furthermore, not only does "Public Spirit" appear in the Museum just two numbers after "Parliament Speeches," but the use of the rather uncommon word "bowels" in both pieces suggests the same author.

Finally, the three poems which Courtney found in the 1782 edition of the Collection, Cooper clearly acknowledges as his own. On July 7, 1746, at the end of a letter to Dodsley, he mentions the first: "I sent by last Saturday's Post . . . a Hymn to Health." Cooper changed his mind on the title of the second poem. On July 26, 1746, he writes: "If you think the Title Bioapotimatist not so proper, you may call it, the Estimate of Life," which Dodsley did. The third poem, "Epistle from Theagenes to Sylvia," as indicated above, Cooper mentions in his February 11, 1746/47 letter.

The Cooper-Dodsley correspondence, then, certifies Cooper's authorship of at least twenty Museum essays and three poems and suggests his authorship of still another essay. Not only is this discovery important for defining Cooper's canon, but it also proves valuable for our understanding of the almost entirely anonymous corpus of the original Museum. For, together with the pieces already attributed to other authors,[10] those now clearly belonging to Cooper permit us to determine the authorship of almost forty percent of the Museum essays and poetry.

Notes