A schoolmaster, poet, dramatist, novelist, and periodical editor, Hawkesworth had almost no formal education. His literary career began first with poetry, some of which was published in the Gentleman’s Magazine, where he later worked as editor. His stage productions include: Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosias: A Comedy, adapted from John Dryden (1756); Oroonoko: A Tragedy, adapted from Thomas Southerne, (1759); Zimri: An Oratorio (music by Thomas Stanley) (1760); Edgar and Emmeline: A Fairy Tale (1761); and The Fall of Egypt: An Oratorio (music by Thomas Stanley) (1774). Almoran and Hamet: An Oriental Tale, his only novel, was published anonymously in 1761. He published a translation of Fénelon's The Adventures of Telemachus in 1768. Hawkesworth incorporated a noteworthy biographical sketch of Jonathan Swift to his edition of The Works of Jonathan Swift ... with Some Account of the Author's Life and Notes Historical and Explanatory (1754-1765), and he edited as well a collection of accounts of recent south sea exploratory voyages, An Account of the Voyages undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere ... by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour (1773). His periodical The Adventurer (1753, 1754) was modeled on Samuel Johnson's Rambler. It’s combination of essays, Eastern tales, and anecdotes of English life, about half of which were authored by Hawkesworth, proved highly popular.