1739 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1739 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- War between the United Kingdom and Spain begins.
- Celebrity hanging of Dick TurpinDick TurpinRichard "Dick" Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's profession as a butcher early in life, but by the early 1730s he had joined a gang of deer thieves, and later became a poacher,...
. - HandelHANDELHANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Saul performed. - John WesleyJohn WesleyJohn Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
and George WhitefieldGeorge WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
both give their first open-air sermons. - Henry Brooke's drama Gustavus Vasa is the first play banned under the Licensing ActLicensing Act 1737The Licensing Act or Theatrical Licensing Act of 21 June 1737 was a landmark act of censorship of the British stage and one of the most determining factors in the development of Augustan drama...
of 1737.
New books
- Corporate authorship - The Scots MagazineThe Scots MagazineThe Scots Magazine is a magazine containing articles on subjects of Scottish interest. It is the oldest magazine in the world still in publication although there have been several gaps in its publication history...
(periodical) - Penelope AubinPenelope AubinPenelope Aubin was an English novelist and translator.-Works:* The Stuarts : A Pindarique Ode * The Extasy: A Pindarick Ode to Her Majesty The Queen...
- A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels - Henry BakerHenry BakerHenry Baker may refer to:* Henry Baker , English*Henry Baker *Henry Williams Baker, hymn writer*Henry Aaron Baker, architect* Henry Baker...
and James Miller - The Works of Molière, French and English (transl.) - Moses BrowneMoses BrowneMoses Browne was a pen-cutter from Clerkenwell, London, England who became a poet and eventually rose amongst the ranks of the Church of England....
- Poems - Elizabeth CarterElizabeth CarterElizabeth Carter was an English poet, classicist, writer and translator, and a member of the Bluestocking Circle.-Biography:...
- Examination of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man (transl.)- - Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the Use of Ladies (transl.)
- Mary CollierMary CollierMary Collier was an English poet, perhaps best known for her poetic risposte to Stephen Duck, The Woman's Labour.Collier is an important figure in the self-taught, laboring-class tradition in eighteenth-century poetry, a tradition which also includes Duck, as well as Ann Yearsley and Mary...
- The Woman's Labour (an answer to Stephen DuckStephen DuckStephen Duck was an English poet whose career reflected both the Augustan era's interest in "naturals" and its resistance to classlessness....
from the "milkmaid poet") - Philip DoddridgePhilip DoddridgePhilip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...
- The Family Expositor - Henry FieldingHenry FieldingHenry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
as "Captain Hercules Vinegar" - The Champion (periodical) - Richard Glover - London
- David HumeDavid HumeDavid Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
- A Treatise of Human Nature - William LawWilliam LawWilliam Law was an English cleric, divine and theological writer.-Early life:Law was born at Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire in 1686. In 1705 he entered as a sizar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was ordained...
- The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration - Mikhail LomonosovMikhail LomonosovMikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries was the atmosphere of Venus. His spheres of science were natural science, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, history, art,...
- Ode on the Taking of Khotin from the Turks - John MottleyJohn MottleyJohn Mottley was an English writer, known as a dramatist, biographer, and compiler of jokes.-Life:He was the son of Colonel Thomas Mottley, a Jacobite adherent of James II in his exile, who entered the service of Louis XIV, and was killed at the battle of Turin in 1706; his mother was Dionisia,...
as "Elijah Jenkins" - Joe Miller's Jests; or, the Wits Vade-Mecum - Robert Craggs Nugent - An Epistle to Sir Robert Walpole (attrib.)
- - An Ode on Mr. Pulteney
- - An Ode, to His Royal Highness on His Birthday
- - Odes and Epistles
- John OldmixonJohn OldmixonJohn Oldmixon was an English historian.He was a son of John Oldmixon of Oldmixon, Weston-super-Mare in Somerset. His first writings were poetry and dramas, among them being Amores Britannici; Epistles historical and gallant ; and a tragedy, The Governor of Cyprus...
- The History of England During the Reigns of Henry VIII. Edward VI. Queen Mary. Queen Elizabeth - Laetitia PilkingtonLaetitia PilkingtonLaetitia Pilkington was a celebrated Anglo-Irish poet and important source of information on the early 18th century. Her Memoirs are the source of much of what is known of the personalities and habits of Jonathan Swift and others.Laetitia was born of two distinguished families...
- The Statues - Samuel RichardsonSamuel RichardsonSamuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
- Aesop's Fables - Elizabeth RoweElizabeth Rowe-Life:She was the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Portnell and Walter Singer, a dissenting minister. Born in Ilchester, Somerset, England, she began writing at the age of twelve and when she was nineteen, began a correspondence with John Dunton, bookseller and founder of the Athenian Society.Between...
- Miscellaneous Works - Thomas Sheridan - The Satires of Juvenal Translated
- Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
- Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift - Joseph TrappJoseph TrappJoseph Trapp was an English clergyman, academic, poet and pamphleteer. His production as a younger man of occasional verse and dramas led to his appointment as the first Oxford Professor of Poetry in 1708. Later his High Church opinions established him in preferment and position...
- The Nature, Folly, Sin, and Danger, of Being Righteous Over-much (against George WhitefieldGeorge WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
) - VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
- De la gloire, ou entretien avec un Chinois- - Conseils a M. Helvetius
- Isaac WattsIsaac WattsIsaac Watts was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the "Father of English Hymnody", credited with some 750 hymns...
- The World to Come - John WesleyJohn WesleyJohn Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
- Hymns and Sacred Poems - George WhitefieldGeorge WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
- A Continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal - Paul WhiteheadPaul WhiteheadPaul Whitehead is a painter and graphic artist known for his surrealistic album covers for artists on the Charisma Records label in the 1970s, such as Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator.-England: Liberty Records and Charisma Records:...
- Manners
Newly published drama
- Daniel Bellamy - Miscellanies in Prose and Verse
- Henry CareyHenry Carey (writer)Henry Carey was an English poet, dramatist and song-writer. He is remembered as an anti-Walpolean satirist and also as a patriot. Several of his melodies continue to be sung today, and he was widely praised in the generation after his death...
- Nancy (opera) - Thomas CookeThomas Cooke (author)Thomas Cooke , often called "Hesiod" Cooke, was a very active English translator and author who ran afoul of Alexander Pope and was mentioned as one of the "dunces" in Pope's Dunciad. His father was an inn keeper, and Cooke arrived in London in 1722 and began working as a writer for the Whig causes...
- The Mournful Nuptials (not acted) - David MalletDavid Mallet (writer)David Mallet was a Scottish dramatist.He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and went to London in 1723 to work as a private tutor...
- Mustapha - James Miller - An Hospital for Fools
- Edward Phillips - Britons, Strike Home
- William ShirleyWilliam ShirleyWilliam Shirley was a British colonial administrator who served twice as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and as Governor of the Bahamas in the 1760s...
- The Parricide - James Thomson - Edward and Eleonara
Births
- November 20 - Jean-François de la HarpeJean-François de La HarpeJean-François de La Harpe was a French playwright, writer and critic.-Life:La Harpe was born in Paris of poor parents. His father, who signed himself Delharpe, was a descendant of a noble family originally of Vaud...
, French critic (died 1803) - date unknown
- Johann Augustus EberhardJohann Augustus EberhardJohann Augustus Eberhard was a German theologian and "popular philosopher".-Life and career:Eberhard was born at Halberstadt in the Principality of Halberstadt, where his father was a school-teacher and the singing-master at the church of St. Martin's...
, theologian and philosopher (died 1809) - Hugh Kelly, dramatist and poet (died 1777)
- Johann Augustus Eberhard
Deaths
- June 20 - Edmond MartèneEdmond MartèneEdmond Martène was a French Benedictine historian and liturgist....
, historian (born 1654) - July 25 - Johann Christoph WolfJohann Christoph WolfJohann Christoph Wolf was a German Christian Hebraist, polyhistor, and collector of books....
, Hebrew scholar and bibliographer (born 1683) - October 18 - António José da SilvaAntónio José da SilvaAntónio José da Silva was a Portuguese-Brazilian dramatist, known as "the Jew" . The Brazilian spelling of his first name is Antônio.-Life:...
, dramatist (born 1705) - date unknown
- George LilloGeorge LilloGeorge Lillo was an English playwright and tragedian. He was a jeweler in London as well as a dramatist. He produced his first stage work, Silvia, or The Country Burial, in 1730. A year later, he produced his most famous play, The London Merchant...
, dramatist
- George Lillo