1777 in literature
Encyclopedia
Events
- Fanny BurneyFanny BurneyFrances Burney , also known as Fanny Burney and, after her marriage, as Madame d’Arblay, was an English novelist, diarist and playwright. She was born in Lynn Regis, now King’s Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to musical historian Dr Charles Burney and Mrs Esther Sleepe Burney...
is introduced to 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...
by her father - Robert LowthRobert LowthRobert Lowth FRS was a Bishop of the Church of England, Oxford Professor of Poetry and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of English grammar.-Life:...
becomes Bishop of LondonBishop of LondonThe Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey... - First appearance of James BoswellJames BoswellJames Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
's The Hypochondriak in the London MagazineLondon MagazineThe London Magazine is a historied publication of arts, literature and miscellaneous interests. Its history ranges nearly three centuries and several reincarnations, publishing the likes of William Wordsworth, William S...
New books
- Frances BrookeFrances BrookeFrances Moore Brooke was an English novelist, essayist, playwright and translator.-Biography:Brooke was born in, Claypole, Lincolnshire, the daughter of a clergyman. By the late 1740s, she had moved to London, where she embarked on her career as a poet and playwright...
- The Excursion - Phoebe Gibbes - Modern Seduction
- Henry MackenzieHenry MackenzieHenry Mackenzie was a Scottish novelist and miscellaneous writer. He was also known by the sobriquet "Addison of the North."-Biography:Mackenzie was born in Edinburgh....
- Julia de Roubigne - Samuel Jackson PrattSamuel Jackson PrattSamuel Jackson Pratt was a prolific English poet, dramatist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym of "Courtney Melmoth" as well as under his own name...
- Charles and Charlotte
- (as "Courtney Melmoth") Travels for the Heart
- Clara ReeveClara ReeveClara Reeve was an English novelist, best known for her Gothic fiction work The Old English Baron .Reeve was born in Ipswich, England, one of the eight children of Reverend Willian Reeve, M.A., Rector of Freston and of Kreson in Suffolk, and perpetual curate of St Nicholas...
- The Champion of Virtue
- The Old English Baron
New drama
- Charles DibdinCharles DibdinCharles Dibdin was a British musician, dramatist, novelist, actor and songwriter. The son of a parish clerk, he was born in Southampton on or before 4 March 1745, and was the youngest of a family of 18....
- The Quaker - Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
- Iphigenie auf TaurisIphigenie auf TaurisIphigenia in Tauris is a reworking by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of the ancient Greek tragedy Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις, Iphigeneia en Taurois, by Euripides. Goethe's chosen Latinized title for his work, however, is a false analogy to the title of Euripides's tragedy, which really means "Iphigenia... - Richard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley SheridanRichard Brinsley Butler Sheridan was an Irish-born playwright and poet and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. For thirty-two years he was also a Whig Member of the British House of Commons for Stafford , Westminster and Ilchester...
- The School for ScandalThe School for ScandalThe School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
New poetry
- Thomas ChattertonThomas ChattertonThomas Chatterton was an English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He died of arsenic poisoning, either from a suicide attempt or self-medication for a venereal disease.-Childhood:...
- Poems - William CombeWilliam CombeWilliam Combe was a British miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was passed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench Prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author of The Three Tours of Dr. Syntax, a comic poem...
- The Diaboliad- - The First of April
- Thomas DayThomas DayThomas Day was a British author and abolitionist. He was well-known for the children's book The History of Sandford and Merton which emphasized Rousseauvian educational ideals.-Life and works:...
- The Desolation of America - William DoddWilliam Dodd (clergyman)William Dodd was an English Anglican clergyman and a man of letters. He lived extravagantly, and was nicknamed the "Macaroni Parson"...
- Thoughts in Prison - William RoscoeWilliam RoscoeWilliam Roscoe , was an English historian and miscellaneous writer.-Life:He was born in Liverpool, where his father, a market gardener, kept a public house called the Bowling Green at Mount Pleasant. Roscoe left school at the age of twelve, having learned all that his schoolmaster could teach...
- Mount Pleasant - Thomas WartonThomas WartonThomas Warton was an English literary historian, critic, and poet. From 1785 to 1790 he was the Poet Laureate of England...
- Poems - 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:...
- Poems
Non-fiction
- Hugh BlairHugh BlairHugh Blair FRSE was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse....
- Sermons - Edmund BurkeEdmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
- Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol - James CookJames CookCaptain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
- A Voyage Toward the South Pole - John HowardJohn Howard (prison reformer)John Howard was a philanthropist and the first English prison reformer.-Birth and early life:Howard was born in Lower Clapton, London. His father, also John, was a wealthy upholsterer at Smithfield Market in the city...
- The State of the Prisons in England and Wales - 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...
- The Life of David Hume - Hannah MoreHannah MoreHannah More was an English religious writer, and philanthropist. She can be said to have made three reputations in the course of her long life: as a poet and playwright in the circle of Johnson, Reynolds and Garrick, as a writer on moral and religious subjects, and as a practical...
- Essays - Maurice Morgann - An Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff
- Joseph PriestleyJoseph PriestleyJoseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
- Disquisitions Relating to Matter and Spirit
- The Doctrine of Philosophical Necessity Illustrated
- Isaac ReedIsaac ReedIsaac Reed was an English Shakespearean editor.-Life:The son of a baker, he was born in London. He was articled to a solicitor, and eventually set up as a conveyancer at Staple Inn, where he had a large practice.-Works:...
- The Repository - William RobertsonWilliam Robertson (historian)William Robertson FRSE FSA was a Scottish historian, minister of religion, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh...
- The History of America - Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield - Characters
Births
- February 12 - Friedrich de la Motte Fouquet
- July 27 - Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet.
Deaths
- October 21 - 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...
, English dramatist - Hugh Kelly, poet and dramatist