A writer in several genres, Mottley was most prolific as a dramatist. He authored The Imperial Captives: a Tragedy (1720); Antiochus: a Tragedy (1721); Penelope, a Dramatic Opera (1728; with Thomas Cooke); The Craftsman: Or Weekly Journalist, a Farce (1728); the comic The Widow Bewitch'd (1730); and The Devil To Pay; Or, the Wives Metamorphos'd (1731; with Charles Coffey. He also compiled several volumes of jokes. Some of his publications appeared under the pseudonyms Robert Seymour and Elijah Jenkins. See Joe Miller.