the original. In 1781 he attacked Joseph Priestley's doctrine of philosophical necessity in an anonymous pamphlet entitled ‘The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity briefly invalidated,’ 8vo, 1781. An answer to this pamphlet appeared in the ‘Monthly Review’ for July 1781 (p. 66), without mentioning Dawson's name. He subsequently published a second edition, with an appendix, ‘by John Dawson of Sedbergh,’ London, 1803, 12mo.
Dawson married, 3 March 1767, Ann Thimbeck, by whom he had one child, a daughter, born 15 Jan. 1768. He continued to take pupils till the end of the summer of 1812, when enfeebled health and a failing memory compelled him to desist. He died 19 Sept. 1820, aged 86, and was buried in Sedbergh churchyard. Shortly afterwards a monument was erected to his memory on the south side of the central aisle of the church, at the expense of some of his pupils. It is composed of a niche of black marble, within which is a bust by Levice, and beneath a white marble tablet, bearing a suitable inscription written by Mr. John Bell.
Dawson's portrait was painted by Joseph Allen, in or shortly before 1809, for R. H. Leigh, esq., and was engraved by W. W. Barney in 1809. This picture cannot now be traced, but an excellent copy of it, made by the Rev. D. M. Peacock (afterwards Cust), sometime vicar of Sedbergh, who knew Dawson well, is in the possession of his daughter, Miss Cust of Ripon. Another portrait by William Westall, taken shortly before Dawson's death, is in the possession of Miss Sedgwick of Sedbergh.
Some of his pupils presented him with a piece of plate in token of their grateful esteem; and a suggestion is said to have been made that he should receive an honorary degree from the university of Cambridge, but the proposal was unsuccessful. He was an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, and of the Royal Medical and Philosophical Societies of Edinburgh; but, with those exceptions, his merits received no public recognition during his life.
[Hutton's Miscellanea Mathematica, 1775; European Mag., December 1801, p. 406; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors of Great Britain and Ireland, 1816, s. v. ‘Dawson;’ Chalmers's Biog. Dict. ed. 1817, xxviii. 410, s. v. ‘Stewart;’ A Short Account of the late Thomas Harrison, 1825, p. 9; Ann. Biography, 1828, p. 442; Selections from the Poems and Correspondence of the Rev. Thomas Wilson (Chetham Soc.), 1857, pp. 106–25; Supplement to the Memorial of the Trustees of Cowgill Chapel, by Rev. A. Sedgwick, 1870 (privately printed), pp. 50–4; manuscript correspondence; Autobiographic Recollections of George Pryme, esq., M.A., 1870, p. 29; Notes and Queries, 5th ser. v. 87, 135, 231, 419, vi. 316, vii. 197 (epitaph); Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotint Portraits.]
DAWSON, NANCY (1730?–1767), dancer, daughter of Emmanuel Dawson, a porter, was born in the neighbourhood of Clare Market, probably about 1730. By the death of her mother and the desertion of her father she was cast on the world at an early age. At sixteen she joined the company of one Griffin, a puppet-showman, who taught her to dance; and a figure dancer of Sadler's Wells, happening to see her performance, procured her an immediate engagement at his own theatre. Here, ‘as she was extremely agreeable in her figure, and the novelty of her dancing added to it, with her excellent execution, she soon grew to be a favourite with the town’ (Dramatic History of Master Edward, Miss Ann, &c.) In her second summer season at Sadler's Wells Nancy Dawson was promoted to the part of columbine, and in the following winter she made her first appearance at Covent Garden Theatre under the auspices of Edward Shuter. On 22 April 1758 the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ was played ‘for the benefit of Miss Dawson.’ In October 1759, during the run of the ‘Beggar's Opera,’ the man who danced the hornpipe among the thieves fell ill, and his place was taken by Nancy Dawson. From that moment her professional reputation was made, and she became ‘vastly celebrated, admired, imitated, and followed by everybody.’ The hornpipe by which she danced into fame was performed to a tune which was fitted with words in the shape of a song called ‘Ballad of Nancy Dawson,’ the authorship of which is attributed to George Alexander Stevens. This tune was for a long time the popular air of the day. It was set with variations for the harpsichord as Miss Dawson's hornpipe, was introduced in Carey's and Bickerstaffe's opera ‘Love in a Village,’ is mentioned as ‘Nancy Dawson’ by Goldsmith in the epilogue to ‘She stoops to conquer,’ and in another unspoken epilogue to the same play, and is still sung in nurseries to the words ‘Here we go round the Mulberry Bush.’ The ‘Beggar's Opera,’ by reason of the fashionable dancer, enjoyed an unusually long run, and the house was crowded nightly, to the detriment of the neighbouring theatre.
Though Garrick he has had his day,
And forced the town his law t' obey,
Now Johnny Rich is come in play,
With help of Nancy Dawson.
(Stevens, Ballad of N. D.)
