1747 In Literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1747.

Events

*March 31 – Laurence Sterne preaches the Good Friday sermon at St Helen Stonegate; ''The Case of Elijah and the Widow of Zerephath'' is later printed and published.
* April 9 – David Garrick becomes joint patentee and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre in London.
*June 21 – Licensing Act transfers responsibility for pre-production censorship of plays in Britain from the Master of the Revels to the Lord Chamberlain and restricts serious drama to the patent theatres.
* December 1 – Samuel Richardson's two-volume epistolary novel ''Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady'' ("by the Editor of ''Pamela''") begins publication in London from his own print shop.
*''unknown date'' – The Załuski Library in Warsaw is opened to the public.

New books

Prose

* William Blackstone (attributed) – ''The Pantheon''
* Thomas Carte – ''A General History of England''
*Juan de Iriarte – ''Discurso sobre la imperfección de los diccionarios''
*Diego de Torres Villarroel – ''Desengaños razonables para sacudir el polvo del espanto''
* Denis Diderot – ''La Promenade du sceptique'' (completed; not published until 1830)
*William Dunkin – ''Boetia''
* Thomas Edward – ''A Supplement to Mr. Warburton's Edition of Shakespear''
* Henry Fielding, as "John Trott Plaid" – ''The Jacobite's Journal'' (periodical)
* Sarah Fielding – ''Familiar Letters Between the Principal Characters in David Simple'' (a defense against unauthorized continuations)
*Samuel Foote – ''The Roman and English Comedy Consider'd''
*Hannah Glasse – ''The Art of Cookery''
*Madame de Graffigny – ''Letters from a Peruvian Woman''
*Henry Home, Lord Kames – ''Essays Upon Several Subjects Concerning British Antiquities''
*Samuel Johnson – ''The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language''
*Charlotte Lennox – ''Poems''
* David Mallet – ''Amyntor and Theodora''
*William Mason – ''Musaeus: A monody to the memory of Pope'' (an imitation of Milton's ''Lycidas'')
*William Memoth, the younger – ''The Letters of Pliny the Consul''
*Josiah Ralph – ''A Miscellany''
* Samuel Richardson – ''Clarissa'' vol. i–ii
* William Shakespeare – ''The Works of Shakespear'' (edited by William Warburton)
* Tobias Smollett – ''Reproof''
* Joseph Spence – ''Polymetis''
* Voltaire – '' Zadig'' (in original form as ''Memnon'')
*Horace Walpole – ''A Letter to the Whigs''
*Joseph Warton – ''Ranelagh House''
* Thomas Warton – ''The Pleasures of Melancholy''

Drama

* John Cunningham – ''Love in a Mist''
*Samuel Foote – ''The Diversions of the Morning or, A Dish of Chocolate''
*David Garrick – '' Miss in Her Teens''
* Christian Fürchtegott Gellert – ''Die zärtlichen Schwestern (The Affectionate Sisters)''
* Carlo Goldoni – ''The Venetian Twins (I due gemelli veneziani)''
*Benjamin Hoadly – '' The Suspicious Husband''
* Edward Moore – ''The Foundling''
*Takeda Izumo II, Miyoshi Shōraku and Namiki Senryū I – '' Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura'' (義経千本桜, Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, original version for bunraku puppet theatre)

Poetry

* Philip Francis – ''A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace''
*Lady Mary Wortley Montagu – ''Six Town Eclogues''

Births

* January 11 – François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, French economics writer (died 1827)
* January 12 – Susanna Blamire, English dialect poet and songwriter (died 1794)
*January 15 – John Aikin, English biographer, activist and physician (died 1822)
* January 26 – Samuel Parr, English schoolmaster and writer, "the Whig Johnson" (died 1825)
*January – William Seward, English man of letters (died 1799)
*February 19 – John "Walking" Stewart, English traveller and philosopher (died 1822)
* March 10 – Iolo Morganwg, Welsh antiquarian, bookseller, poet and literary forger (died 1826)
*September 30 – John Mastin, English memoirist, local historian and cleric (died 1829)
* December 12 – Anna Seward, English poet (died 1809)
*''Unknown date''
**John Edwards (1747–1792), Welsh poet (died 1792)
**Thomas Scott, English cleric and religious writer (died 1821)

Deaths

*January 16 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes German poet (born 1680)
* May 28 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, essayist (born 1715)
*August
**Charles Fleetwood, manager of Drury Lane Theatre (year of birth unknown)
** Leonard Welsted, English poet (born 1688)
* September 7 – Michel Maittaire, French classical scholar, bibliographer and grammarian (born 1668)
* November 17 – Alain-René Le Sage, French novelist and playwright (born 1668)
*November 21 – Robert Mylne, Scottish antiquarian and writer (born 1643)
* November 22 – Joseph Trapp, poet, controversialist and translator (born 1679)
* December 23 – Étienne-François Avisse, French dramatist (born 1694)

References

{{Year in literature article categories

Years of the 18th century in literature