According to Locke, Thomas Cooper decided to walk to Paris to join the French Revolutionary Army but was dissuaded by Thomas Holcroft and Godwin and encouraged to follow a career as an actor, with Holcroft undertaking to provide him with some training and arranging for him to go to Edinburgh (see 10 July 1792) to join Stephen Kemble’s travelling company. His first major outing was not a success, but he went on to achieve a considerable reputation, especially in America.

See Locke, pp. 38-39.