University of Virginia Library

Additions to the Nichols File of the Gentleman's Magazine
by
Arthur Sherbo

The history of the Gentleman's Magazine from its inception in 1731 to the death in 1754 of Edward Cave, its founder, has been chronicled by C. Lennart Carlson and more recently by Albert Pailler.[1] Both works are indebted to John Nichols's Rise and Progress of the Gentleman's Magazine . . . Being a Prefatory Introduction to the General Index to that Work, from 1787 to 1818, published in 1821 in the third volume of the General Index. There Nichols gives the early history of Cave and his associates, naming a number of the contributors to the GM, among others Samuel Johnson, John Hawkesworth, John Duncombe, Richard Gough, and William Beloe, and appending a list of names of later contributors which covers some ten columns (pp. lxxiv-lxxviii). His head note to this list reads, "In the preceding pages the names have been enumerated of some of the earliest Correspondents of the Magazine; and it is with equal pride and pleasure that the following List is subjoined of Contributors of a later date, formed principally from a memoriter recollection of departed Friends and Patrons—and which might be considerably enlarged, were the pages of the different Volumes turned over for that particular purpose." Most recently Professor James Kuist's invaluable work, The Nichols File of "The Gentleman's Magazine." Attribution of Authorship and Other Documentation in Editorial Papers at the Folger Library (1982) (hereafter Kuist), has made possible the identification of the authors of some 13,000 anonymous and pseudonymous pieces. What I propose to do is to give the authority or authorities for some of these attributions and to add other pieces by certain of these writers, pieces not marked in the Nichols File. I divide the writers into two categories, those in Nichols's list in his Rise and Progress of the GM and those not in that list. Names with an asterisk prefixed do not appear in Kuist, hence any contributions by these writers are to be added to Kuist. It will be understood that the omissions occur because the Nichols file does not include them. A third category contains the names of those contributors who are not in Nichols's list nor in Kuist. A single corroboratory entry beside each name in all three categories, unless otherwise stated, is to the GM, i.e. Brown, James N.S. 11 (1839), 322 means that the indicated reference to the GM is authority for identifying Brown as a contributor. More than one entry means the items

are contributions, not authorities. In this example Brown is in Kuist; in other instances, the writer may not be, and all contributions identified in the authority will be given. So, too, with possible additions to the contributions of writers in Kuist or in the Nichols File. Additions to the contributions of John Nichols, some one hundred and twenty, are listed separately. Nichols's Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, 9 vols. (1812-15) and his Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, 8 vols. (1817-58) will appear as Lit.A and Illustr.

Pailler (see note 1) estimates that there were between 600 and 700 correspondents to the GM in the years 1731-54 and that of them only some forty contributed two or more pieces (p. 349). In an appendix (pp. 660-665) he lists 183 named contributors in this period with the number of their contributions; only four of these correspondents had more than ten pieces printed, while only eight others had more than five. And only forty-eight of the entire number had more than one piece accepted. In another table (pp. 666-668) Pailler lists ninety-five pseudonymous correspondents and the number of their contributions; only one had more than ten pieces printed, and even that figure is suspect, as Pailler earlier points out, since the initials "A.B." may cover the identity of a number of correspondents. These statistics should be borne in mind in what follows, even though I treat of a later period. In all my lists there are men whose contributions are such as to demand separate treatment. The contributions of some men have been examined in separate studies and will not be treated here, unless something new can be added.

In the following lists I generally give only the first page of a contribution, unless there is a possibility of confusion in identifying it. My somewhat desultory study of the GM extends through the two volumes for 1800, although in a few instances I have gone beyond that date.

Not in Nichols's List

• Ellis, Sir Henry Richard Garnett, in DNB sub Mulcaster, Richard, attributes three letters (by E.H.) on Mulcaster (1800. i. 419, 511 and ii. 603) to him. Add to Kuist.
• Haxman, Mr. Add to Kuist. 1792. 797-8 (Ignotus).
• Lofft, Capel I attribute 1792. ii. 789 (C.L.), on Milton, to him.
• Park, Thomas Add 1793. i. 391-2, 496, 516-7, 536; ii. 904, 904-6, 985, 1166; 1794. i. 121, 513; ii. 617; 1795. ii. 902; 1796. i. 197, 399; 1797. ii. 641, 737, 751, 781 (a poem); 1798. i. 277; ii. 688, 933; 1799. i. 191, 385; 1800. i. 29. There is plenty of internal evidence that these are by Park. Four accompany drawings (and Park was an engraver). 1795. ii. 902 is by a friend of the poet Cowper, and Park was that. 1793. ii. 905 is on Dr. William Walley, and the poem of 1797. ii. 781 was written "in Dr. Walley's study." 1798. ii. 933 is on the poet Robert Southwell who also appears in 1800. i. 29. There are eight editions of Southwell's poems in Bibliotheca anglo-poetica . . . (1815); the collection is mainly from Park's library. There are other links. All are signed T.P. Note that 1786. i. 134-6, 377-8 are tentatively attributed to the Rev. John Spicer in the Nichols File (Kuist, p. 145).
• Weston, Rev. Stephen I attribute two poems and two articles, all signed S.W., to him: 1792. i. 464, 560; 1793. ii. 1165 and 1794. i. 206, the last two linked by subject matter although there is some ambiguity about the signature to the last, S.W. also standing for South West. Add also 1790. i. 219.

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In Nichols's List

• Aiken, James Lit. A. 9. 384 n.
• Andrews, James Petitt 1797. ii. 797.
• Ashby, Rev. George E. H. Meyerstein, A Life of Thomas Chatterton (1930), p. 463 attributes 1777. 205-08, an attack on the genuineness of the poems, to him.
• *Barker, Thomas 1754. 58-9; 1783. ii. 655 (T.B.) are his.
• *Barrett, Rev. Stephen Lit. A. 9. 672.
• Berkelely, Mrs. Eliza 1800. ii. 1115.
• Bickerstaffe, Rev. William 1789. i. 182.
• Bowle, John 1788. ii. 1029 states he contributed "under various signatures." Joseph Baretti, Tolondron (1786), attributes attacks on him in 1785. ii. 497-8 (Querist), 608 (Anti-Janus), 675 (X.Y.), and 760 (J.C.) to Bowle. See also Lit. A. 6. 183. Add the above to Kuist. J.B. (not James Boswell) in 1790. ii 1127 says Querist letter was not by Bowle.
• Brooke, John Charles 1794. i. 187.
• Brown, James N.S. 11 (1839), 323.
• Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton Lit. A. 8. 560. Add to Kuist: 1788. ii. 698; 1792. i. 522; 1793. i. 211; 1797. ii. 731.
• *Burton, E. 1783. i. 37, 301, 313; ii. 547, 758, 942; 1784. i. 16, 168.
• *Chalmers, James Lit. A. 3. 691.
• *Christie, James, the younger Nichols's list was published in 1821. The only entry for Christie in Kuist is for 1823. Hence he must have contributed before 1821. James Christie, the elder, does not seem to have written anything.
• Christie, Thomas Illustr. 5. 605 attributes 1785. ii. 687-8 (T.C.) to him.
• Cole, William Lit. A. 1. 661 attributes five pieces in 1779 (an error for 1777): 119 (Paleophilus), 130 (a laudatory anonymous review of Cole's own travel book and hence almost surely not by him), 157-8 (W.C. of Milton near Cambridge), 208 (X.X.), and 219-21 (signed). Add numbers 1, 3 and 4 to Kuist.
• Cowper, William Kenneth Povey in Review of English Studies, 8 (1932), 317 attributes 1790. ii. 801 (Indagator) to him. Norma Russell, A Bibliography of William Cowper (1963), p. 137 says he is Alethes of 1785. ii. 610-13 on Pope's Homer.
• Dalrymple, Sir David, Lord Hailes 1792. ii. 1154. Add to Kuist 1791. i. 399 and ii. 885-7.
• Denne, Rev. Samuel 1799. ii. 723 and Lit. A. 3. 531 attribute 1771. 18 (W.D.) to him. Add to Kuist.
• Duncombe, John 1788. ii. 692 n. attributes 1781. 77 and 332-3 to him. Nichols, Preface to the GM index for 1787-1818, p. lviii. says he wrote the Preface to the 1780 GM. Add to Kuist.
• *Fenn, Sir John 1794. i. 190 attributes 1784. ii. 644-9 (by N.) to him.
• Goodenough, Dr. Samuel Illustr. 6. 255-6. He claims 1794. i. 579-80.
• Graves, Rev. Richard See Charles Jarvis Hill, The Literary Career of Richard Graves, The Author of "The Spiritual Quixote" (Northampton, Mass. n.d.), pp. 102-03 for attribution of two poems "On a favourite little Cur" 1740. 460 and "To Chloe; on her Fondness for the Enigmatists" 1741. 160 to Graves.
• Greene, Edward Burnaby 1788. i. 276. Gordon Goodwin writes in the DNB that Greene contributed occasionally to the GM and singles out a poem, "Pastoral," 1757. 326 as noteworthy. Add to Kuist. Goodwin is mistaken in attributing 1738. 357 and 1740. 50 to him.
• Headley, Rev. Henry I attribute remarks on Thomas Gray (C.T.) in 1788. i. 22 to him. His usual signature is C.T.O. Add to Kuist 1786. i. 134, 311, 486; 1787. ii. 1080 (all by C.T.O.).
• Henley, Rev. Samuel His authorship of 1791. ii. 820 is queried in the Nichols file. Add to Kuist 1791. ii. 900, a continuation from p. 820, and 923-4 (both S.H.).
• Henn, John 1794. ii. 677.
• *Hill, Thomas Ford 1795. ii. 705.
• Holt, John Lit. A. 9. 20.

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• Kippis, Rev. Dr. Andrew 1795. ii. 883.
• Langton, Wenman 1836. ii. 664.
• Lort, Michael M.G. (i.e. Nichols) in 1790. ii. 1199 n. attributes 1778. 219 (D.J.) to him.
• Loveday, John, the elder 1789. i. 471.
• Loveday, Dr. John 1809. i. 395 gives Vindex as one of his pseudonyms, too far afield from Verax, another of his pseudonyms, to be an error for the latter, yet there are no Vindex attributions in the Nichols File.
• Markham, William 1784. i. 124 n. attributes anonymous Latin verses in 1766. 329 to him.
• *Marshall, Edmund 1797. i. 446.
• Mawbey, Sir Joseph 1798. i. 543.
• Milner, John Lit. A. 9. 215.
• *Morgan, Rev. Thomas 1799. ii. 717 attributes, "among other articles" commonly signed with his initials, 1751. 588; 1754. 564.
• Nicholson, Rev. Ralph 1793. i. 16.
• Pegge, Samuel, the younger Add 1791. i. 525-6 (L.E.).
• Porson, Richard 1808. ii. 948.
• Prince, Daniel 1796. i. 530.
• Pulteney, Dr. Richard Lit. A. 8. 196 gives as a partial list: 1750. 68 (D.Y., i.e. Richard Pulteney); 1751. 455. R.P.; 1755. 29, 69, 114, 159, 210, 270, 308, 348, 393, 450 (all anonymous, but a series ending with 491, signed R.P. from Leicester); 542 continued at 585 the latter signed R.P. So with 1756. 415 and 463. 1757. 208 (R.P.), 315 (by Linnaeus, submitted anonymously). 1758. 313 (R.P.), 360, 407, 463, 515, 568 (all anonymous). 1759. 262 (R.P.) 454, 509 (anonymous but a series ending with 564, R.P.) 509. 511 in Lit. A. 8. 196 is an error for 509-11. 1765. 57 (anonymous). 1772. 12 and 227; 1773. 76; 1776. 123; 1777. 63; 1782. 113 (all R.P.). 1791. ii. 202 and 1792. 233 (An Old Correspondent).
• Reynolds, Thomas Cox Add 1790. i. 201 (T.C.R.)
• Robertson, Rev. Joseph 1802. i. 108. Add 1798. ii. 581; 1800. i. 300; 1800. ii. 604 (all Eusebius).
• Robinson, John 1792. ii. 1059.
• Russell, Rev. Thomas 1788. ii. 752.
• *Ryland, John 1798. ii. 629.
• *Scott, John Norma Russell in The Book Collector XIV, no. 3 (1965) lists the following as by Scott: 1753. 583-4 and 1754. 525, two poems signed R.S. (pp. 355-6) and 1777, 361-5 (A Detester of Literary Imposition, but a Lover of good Poetry) on the Rowley poems.
• Seward, Anna 1793. ii. 1100, where she claims 1786. i. 125-6 (not "129") and 302; 1787. ii. 684. In her Letters (1811), II. 230 she claims a letter in 1789. i. 27-9 (Anti-Zoilus).
• Spicer, John Lit. A. 9. 546 attributes an anonymous poem, "On the Expedition to America," in 1776. 178 to him.
• Stevens, Rev. William Bagshot H[enry] White in GM 1786. ii. 1109 attributes three poems signed M.C.S. in GM 1786. i. 426-7 to him. See also GM 1801. 106-09 and Sir Egerton Brydges's Autobiography (1834), I. 56 where Stevens is said to have written translations of Horace for the GM. Add to Kuist the Sonnet at 1786. i. 427; 1783. 784; and 1796. i. 421.
• Tasker, Rev. William 1800. i. 284.
• *Thomas, Nathaniel 1795. i. 349.
• Thorpe, John 1792. ii. 770.
• Tyers, Thomas 1787. i. 183.
• Tyrwhitt, Thomas Bishop Percy attributes 1784. ii. 817-8 (T.T.) to him. See The Percy Letters, vol. I (1960), pp. 28-9.
• Waldron, Francis Godolphin I attribute 1788. i. 199-200 (F.W.) on the "hangers" in Hamlet to him, although he also signs F.G.W. Also 1788. ii. 769-70, anecdotes

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  of the actor Smith in whose company Waldron was when Smith related the anecdotes. A poem in 1793. ii. 1039 (F.W.) may be his.
• Weston, Rev. Stephen 1830. i. 373.

Not in Nichols's List nor in Kuist

• Buckeridge, Theophilus Illustr. 6. 315. The obituary notice of his son, 1789. i. 280, is by him. Also 1746. 646 and 1747. 62 (both signed T.B.) and 1751. 406 (signed with three asterisks).
• Burton, John 1797. ii. 743. See also 1797. i. 460, 512.
• Calamy, Adam Bertram Davis, A Proof of Eminence, The Life of Sir John Hawkins (1973), pp. 11-14 attributes 1739. 18 (A consistent Dissenter) 117, 297, 417 (anon.) to him. See also Carlson, First Magazine, p. 18.
• Chandler, Dr. Richard R. Holt-White, The Life and Letters of Gilbert White (1901), II. 105 states the "Remarkable Register" of 1783. ii. 579 is his.
• Collett, John Alumni Cantabrigienses, 1752-1900, sub Collett, is authority for his authorship of the poem signed J. C-ll-t in 1757. 521.
• Duck, Stephen 1856 (vol. 201), 274 n. gives the poem "Imitation" in 1738. 429 by S-n D-k to him.
• Duncan, Rev. John 1783. ii. 959 n. attributes several poems written "near forty-six years ago," singling one out "in vol. VII. p. 376" on "Small-Beer." Duncan is not named, but the note is appended to the fourth installment of "Horace, Ep. II. B. I. Modernised By Dr. D--n, of S. W--rm [read "n"] b--r--gh, as a moral Lesson for his Son at Winchester School," the previous three occurring at p. 606 and at pp. 430 and 494 of 1783. i. Since St. John's College, Oxford had the advowson of the living at South Warnborough, I was able to dig Duncan out of Alumni Oxonienses. Two sons, John Shute and Philip Bury, were keepers of the Ashmolean Museum, Philip succeeding his brother. Three other poems attributed to Duncan are not traceable through the very incomplete and often inaccurate 1731-1787 index to the GM.
• Duncombe, Lewis 1795. ii. 806 attributes an epigram in 1795. ii. 773 to him. See also 1795. ii. 893 where Edward Pearson attributes it to "Mr. Duncombe, of Canterbury."
• Elderton, Joseph 1796. i. 445, "frequently an entertaining correspondent in our Miscellany" (i.e. the GM).
• Fawkes, Francis I attribute the "Epitaph on John Hawkesworth, L.L.D." signed F.F. in 1773. 614.
• Hakewill, James 1799. i. 79 notes he was many years a contributor to GM, "for which he had but a few days before his death prepared the brief note which is printed in p. 72." There is no note on p. 72, nor can I discover one in this January number.
• Hall, Westley I attribute two poems, 1753. 45, one signed West. Hall, and the other, W.H., both having to do with the King of Prussia, to him.
• Harrison, Matthew M.H.F.S.A. in GM. 1795. ii. 366 is almost surely he, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the only M.H. in the list of Fellows up to 1796. See also 1790. i. 306 on Samuel Johnson's Shakespeare.
• Harte, Walter Joseph Cockfield in Illustr. 5.791 attributes a poem on Lord Chesterfield in 1769. 38 to him.
• Hylton, John Scott 1793. ii. 767-8 attributes 1791. ii. 1097-8 and 1792. i. 557-8 to him. He is also J.S.H. of 1809. i. 198-9, the latter a posthumously published poem submitted by Δ.π, i.e. David Parkes.
• Jackson, Samuel 1856 (vol. 201) 271 n. attributes the translation of Samuel Johnson's "Ad Urbanum" on the verso of the title-page of 1786. ii. to him.
• Lindsay, John 1789. i. 178 attributes "papers on water-spouts and several other pieces." See 1781. 559; 1783. ii. 1025; 1785. ii. 594 for the water-spout papers (signed).
• Morrell, Thomas 1784. i. 154 calls him one of the earliest contributors to the GM;

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  the DNB states he contributed essays and verses. Lit. A. 1. 652 attributes the Latin poem on Ashton, signed Morellus, in 1770. 153 (read 183) to him.
• Paget, Richard 1794. ii. 1157 states he contributed as D.T. until those initials were usurped in the 1790 Supplement; thereafter he signed R.P. in black letter. See 1795. i. 99-100, 382-3 on him, and 1794. ii. 607, 701-03, 703-04 for contributions by him in but one volume of the GM.
• Parkes, James 1828. i. 376, "He was . . . an occasional contributor to Mr. Urban's pages," listing "views" at 1812. i. 9; 1814. i. 217; and 1816. ii. 209. Whoever marked the first of these as by his father, David Parkes (Kuist, p. 134), suffered a lapse of memory.
• Richardson, Richard 1857 (vol. 202) 289 n. attributes 1747. 322-4, signed R.R., to him. See R. Richardson on the same subject in 1750. 536.
• Rowe, Elizabeth Kuist, in Studies in Bibliography (1976), p. 313, n. 23, lists a poem by Mrs. Rowe in 1769. 503 but not in The Nichols File.
• Spalding, Samuel 1799. i. 80, "an occasional correspondent" to the GM "under different signatures."
• Wendal, Matthew 1760. 169-70 (M. W-l.)

Additions to Nichols's Contributions

• Eugenio 1778. 312, 486, 536, 574, 582, 621; 1779. 149, 205, 283, 547; 1789. ii. 935; 1799. ii. 1123; 1780. 316, 365, 474, 559, 605; 1781. 123, 236, 318, 363, 515; 1782. 113, 169, 224, 430; 1783. i. 101, 227, 463; 1783. ii. 843, 921, 1029; 1784. i. 175-6, 257, 336, 403; 1785. i. 246, 309, 411, 434; 1787. i. 102; ii. 745, 760, 943, 1001 (1st column); 1788. i. 98, 195.
• Eusebia 1794. i. 211; 1795. i. 98.
• M.G. 1778. 470; 1780. 404; 1781. 304, 370; 1782. 221, 235, 337, 375; 1784. i. 5; 1797. i. 120.
• M. Green 1779. 149, 541; 1780. 126, 270, 459; 1781. 256; 1782. 169, 282, 424; 1783. i. 99, 128, 225, 395, 482; 1783. ii. 552, 1007; 1784. i. 48, 175, 248, 324, 420; 1786. ii. 1019; 1787. ii. 557, 1157; 1789. ii. 973; 1792. ii. 746; 1793. ii. 981; 1794, ii. 620, 791; 1795. i. 8, 105, 185; 1796. ii. 810; 1797. i. 272; 1800. ii. 737.
• N. 1781. 406; 1783, i. 394; 1784. i. 79; ii. 975; 1785. i. 416; 1787. ii. 1039 (footnotes); 1788. ii. 593.
• J.N. 1777. 260, 316; 1778. 309, 363, 409, 449, 513, 521, 569; 1779. 391, 545; 1780. 23; 1781. 164, 314, 455; 1782. 368; 1783. i. 284; 1787. ii. 847; 1793. i. 452.

I can only say by way of conclusion that any scholar interested in proving any aspect of the problems presented by the anonymous and pseudonymous contributions to the GM must base himself on Kuist's work and then turn over the pages of the periodical for himself. The various members of the Nichols family, it has been seen, were neither infallible nor exhaustive in their attributions. And from my list of contributors whose names and/or pseudonyms are neither in Nichols's list nor in the Nichols File, it is equally obvious that much work remains to be done in adding to that list. I have termed my study "desultory," and it is precisely that, especially in the area of identifying new contributors, for I have not been a diligent reader of the obituary notices in the GM, nor have I scanned all the pages of the seventeen volumes of Nichols's two great compendia of eighteenth-century literature, the most important sources for such identifications. Much, then, remains to be done.

Notes