1746 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1746.

Events

* May 9 – Voltaire, on being admitted into the Académie française, gives a ''discours de réception'' in which he criticizes Boileau's poetry.
* June 18 – Samuel Johnson signs a contract to compile ''A Dictionary of the English Language'' for a group of London booksellers led by Robert Dodsley at a literary breakfast.
* August 28 – A Native American massacre on this day of two white families in Deerfield, Massachusetts, gives rise to the first known poem by an African American, Lucy Terry, at the time a slave of around 16: "Bars Fight, August 28, 1746".
* October 4 – Irish actor Spranger Barry makes his London stage debut in the title role of ''Othello'' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (with Charles Macklin as Iago).
*''unknown dates''
**The probable first performance of Carlo Goldoni's comedy ''Servant of Two Masters'' ( it, Il servitore di due padroni) takes place at the Teatro San Samuele in Venice.
**The oldest manuscript of Jean de Joinville's ''Life of Saint Louis'' is rediscovered in Brussels.
** Élie Catherine Fréron founds his controversial journal ''Lettres de la comtesse de...''

New books

Prose

*John Arbuthnot (died 1735) – ''Miscellanies''
*John Collier as "Tim Bobbin" – ''A View of the Lancashire Dialect by way of dialogue between Tummus... and Meary...''
* Zachary Grey – ''A Word or Two of Advice to William Warburton''
* James Hervey – ''Meditations Among the Tombs''
* Soame Jenyns – ''The Modern Fine Gentleman''
*Jacques Rochette de La Morlière – ''Angola''
* Pierre Louis Maupertuis – ''Astronomie nautique'', volume 2
* Tobias Smollett – ''Advice''
*Lauritz de Thurah – ''Den Danske Vitruvius'', volume I
* John Upton – ''Critical Observations on Shakespeare''
*Horace Walpole – ''The Beauties''
*John Wesley
**''The Principles of a Methodist Father Explain'd''
**''Sermons on Several Occasions''

Drama

* Charles Macklin – '' Henry VII''
* Pierre de Marivaux – '' Le Préjugé vaincu''
*Takeda Izumo I, Takeda Izumo II, Namiki Sōsuke and Miyoshi Shōraku – ''Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami''

Poetry

*Thomas Blacklock – ''Poems''
* William Collins – ''Odes''
* Thomas Cooke – ''A Hymn to Liberty''
* Christian Fürchtegott Gellert – ''Fabeln und Erzählungen (Fables and Stories)'' (in verse)
*Joseph Warton – ''Odes on Various Subjects''
*''See also 1746 in poetry''

Births

* January 12 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss educational reformer (died 1827)
*January 25 – Stéphanie Félicité, comtesse de Genlis, French writer, harpist, educator (died 1830)
* March 27 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet (died 1767)
* April 3 – Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville, French fantasy novelist (died 1805)
* May 3 – Radu Golescu, Wallachian statesman and literary sponsor (died 1818)
* December 21 – José de la Cruz (Huseng Sisiw), Filipino writer (died 1829)
*''unknown date'' – Victor d'Hupay, French philosopher (died 1818)

Deaths

*February 4 – Robert Blair, Scottish member of the " Graveyard poets" (born 1699)
* February 8 – Anton Josef Kirchweger, Latin Pietist author (year of birth unknown)
*May 16 – Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Italian Jewish rabbi, kabbalist and philosopher (born 1707)
*May 22 – Thomas Southerne, Irish dramatist (born 1660)
*November 12 – Mary Leapor, English kitchenmaid poet (born 1722; died of measles)
* December 6 – Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish poet (born 1665)
*''unknown date'' – Frederic Count de Thoms, German biographer of King Louis XIV of France and art collector (born 1669)

References

{{Year in literature article categories

Years of the 18th century in literature