1744 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1744 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- May 29 - Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
is received into the Roman Catholic faith, a day before his death. - Samuel FooteSamuel FooteSamuel Foote was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager from Cornwall.-Early life:Born into a well-to-do family, Foote was baptized in Truro, Cornwall on 27 January 1720. His father, John Foote, held several public positions, including mayor of Truro, Member of Parliament representing...
makes his debut as an actor. - The Female Spectator (periodical) is founded by Eliza HaywoodEliza HaywoodEliza Haywood , born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest...
.
New books
- Mary CollyerMary CollyerMary Collyer was an English translator and novelist.Mary Collyer was part of the John "Bankes" pedigree which can be viewed at Geoff's Genealogy...
- Felicia to Charlotte (prose fiction) - Sarah FieldingSarah FieldingSarah Fielding was a British author and sister of the novelist Henry Fielding. She was the author of The Governess, or The Little Female Academy , which was the first novel in English written especially for children , and had earlier achieved success with her novel The Adventures of David Simple...
- The Adventures of David Simple - Eliza HaywoodEliza HaywoodEliza Haywood , born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest...
- The Fortunate Foundlings (prose fiction) - Edward Moore - Fables for the Female Sex
- John NewberyJohn NewberyJohn Newbery was an English publisher of books who first made children's literature a sustainable and profitable part of the literary market. He also supported and published the works of Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Johnson...
- A Little Pretty Pocket-BookA Little Pretty Pocket-BookA Little Pretty Pocket-Book, intended for the Amusement of Little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly with Two Letters from Jack the Giant Killer is the title of a 1744 children's book by British publisher John Newbery. It is generally considered the first children's book, and consists of simple... - William OldysWilliam OldysWilliam Oldys was an English antiquarian and bibliographer.The illegitimate son of Dr William Oldys, chancellor of Lincoln, London was probably his place of birth. His father had held the office of advocate of the admiralty, but lost it in 1693 because he would not prosecute as traitors and...
- The Harleian MiscellanyHarleian MiscellanyThe Harleian Miscellany was a collection of material from the library of the Earl of Oxford collated and edited by Samuel Johnson between 1744 and 1753...
(introduction by Samuel Johnson) - Joseph WartonJoseph WartonJoseph Warton was an English academic and literary critic.He was born in Dunsfold, Surrey, England, but his family soon moved to Hampshire, where his father, the Reverend Thomas Warton, became vicar of Basingstoke. There, a few years later, Joseph's younger brother, the more famous Thomas Warton,...
- The Enthusiast - Paul Whitehead - The Gymnasiad
- Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song BookTommy Thumb's Pretty Song BookTommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book is the earliest extant printed collection of English language nursery rhymes, published in London in 1744. It was a sequel to the lost Tommy Thumb's Song Book and contains the oldest version of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that have been...
(earliest extant collection of English language nursery rhymes)
New drama
- Robert DodsleyRobert DodsleyRobert Dodsley was an English bookseller and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where his father was master of the free school....
- A Select Collection of Old Plays - William Harvard - Regulus
- James MillerJames Miller (playwright)James Miller was an English playwright, poet, librettist, and minister.-Biography:Miller was born in Dorset, the son of a clergyman who possessed two considerable livings in the county...
- Joseph and his Brethren (music by 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....
)- - Mahomet the Imposter (adapted from 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...
's Mahomet)
- - Mahomet the Imposter (adapted from Voltaire
- Thomas Odell - The Prodigal
- James Ralph - The Astrologer (adapted from Thomas TomkisThomas TomkisThomas Tomkis was an English playwright of the late Elizabethan and the Jacobean eras, and arguably one of the more cryptic figures of English Renaissance drama....
's Albumazar, which was adapted from Giambattista della PortaGiambattista della PortaGiambattista della Porta , also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta and John Baptist Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Scientific Revolution and Reformation....
's L'astrologo)
Poetry
- Mark AkensideMark AkensideMark Akenside was an English poet and physician.Akenside was born at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the son of a butcher. He was slightly lame all his life from a wound he received as a child from his father's cleaver...
- The Pleasures of the ImaginationThe Pleasures of the ImaginationThe Pleasures of the Imagination is a long didactic poem by Mark Akenside, first published in 1744.The first book defines the powers of imagination and discusses the various kinds of pleasure to be derived from the perception of beauty; the second distinguishes works of imagination from philosophy;...
- An Epistle to Curio
- The Pleasures of the Imagination
- Jane BreretonJane BreretonJane Brereton was an English poet notable as a correspondent to The Gentleman's Magazine.-Biography:Jane was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Hughes, of Bryn Gruffydd near Mold, Flintshire by Anne Jones, his wife, and was born in 1685. Unusually for the time, Jane was educated, at least up to the age...
- Poems
Non-fiction
- John ArmstrongJohn Armstrong (poet)Dr. John Armstrong was a poet. He was the son of the minister of Castleton, Roxburghshire, Scotland and studied medicine, which he practised in London....
- The Art of Preserving Health - George BerkeleyGeorge BerkeleyGeorge Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
- Siris - Emilie de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet -Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu
- Colley CibberColley CibberColley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
- Another Occasional Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson... - David GarrickDavid GarrickDavid Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
- An Essay on Acting (attrib.) - Samuel JohnsonSamuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
- Life of SavageRichard SavageRichard Savage was an English poet. He is best known as the subject of Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage , on which is based one of the most elaborate of Johnson's Lives of the English Poets....
- An Account of the Life of John Philip Barretier
- Life of Savage
- Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
- Essay on Man, volume 4: "EpistleEpistleAn epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians...
: Of the Nature and State of Man, with Respect to" (4) "Happiness" (the first 2 epistles were written in 1732 and the third in 1733). - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
- Three Sermons
Births
- February 10 - William MitfordWilliam MitfordWilliam Mitford , English historian, was the elder of the two sons of John Mitford, a barrister and his wife Philadelphia Reveley.-Youth:...
, historian (died 1827) - August 25 - Johann Gottfried HerderJohann Gottfried HerderJohann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism.-Biography:...
, German poet (died 1803) - date unknown - Elsa FougtElsa FougtElsa Fougt was a Swedish printer, publisher, book importer and newspaper editor and an important figure in the literary market in the second half of the 18th century Sweden. Between 1772 and 1811, she ran the Royal printing and was responsible for the country's official print. Fougt was the...
, Swedish editor and publisher
Deaths
- March 31 - Antiochus Kantemir, diplomat and writer (born 1708)
- May 30 - Alexander PopeAlexander PopeAlexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
, poet and satirist (born 1688) - September 18 - Lewis TheobaldLewis TheobaldLewis Theobald , British textual editor and author, was a landmark figure both in the history of Shakespearean editing and in literary satire...
, Shakespearean editor and literary "dunce" (b. 1688) - unknown date
- Charlotte Fielding, wife of 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....
; she was his model for Sophia Western in Tom Jones - Thomas InnesThomas InnesThomas Innes was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest and historian. He studied at the Scots College, , of which he became vice-principal...
, Scottish historian (born 1662) - James MillerJames Miller (playwright)James Miller was an English playwright, poet, librettist, and minister.-Biography:Miller was born in Dorset, the son of a clergyman who possessed two considerable livings in the county...
, poet and dramatist (born 1703)
- Charlotte Fielding, wife of Henry Fielding