In a letter of 1747 to Philip Doddridge his father wroteAt twelve years old, he had translated the whole twenty-four books of "Telemachus" from the French; before he was fifteen he translated from the Italian, and published, a treatise on physic of Dr. Cocchi of Florence concerning the diet and doctrines of Pythagoras, and last year, before he was seventeen, he likewise published a treatise of Sir Isaac Newton's "Metaphysics" compared with those of Dr. Leibniz, from the French of M.
[This quote needs a citation]Communications from David Erskine Baker were printed in the Philosophical Transactions, but he married the actress Elizabeth Clendon on 6 August 1752, and joined a company of actors.
In the second edition, Baker's name is given among the list of dramatic authors, and we are told that 'being adopted by an uncle who was a silk throwster in Spital Fields, he succeeded him in his business; but wanting the prudence and attention which are necessary to secure success in trade he soon failed'.
He also wrote a small dramatic piece, 'The Muse of Ossian,' 1763, and translated an Italian comedy in two acts, 'The Maid the Mistress' (La Serva Padrona) which was performed at Edinburgh in 1763 and printed the same year.
[1] Stephen Jones, editor of the third edition of the Companion (1812), says that he died in obscurity at Edinburgh about 1770, while John Nichols[2] gives 16 February 1767 as the date of his death in his Literary Anecdotes.