1768 in literature

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1768.

Events

• March - John Wilkes, returning from exile in France, is elected to the Parliament of Great Britain.
• May 10 - John Wilkes is imprisoned for attacking King George III of Great Britain in print.
• July 28 - Thomas Gray succeeds Lawrence Brockett as Regis Professor of History at the University of Cambridge.^[1]
• John Murray (publisher) established in London.
• The Theatre Royal, Bath (Old Orchard Street Theatre) and Theatre Royal, Norwich, assume these titles having been granted Royal Patents, making them officially England's only legal provincial theatres.^[2][3]
• The Ladies of Llangollen meet for the first time, in Ireland.

New books

• John Cleland - The Woman of Honour (attrib.)
• Alexander Dow, (trans) - Tales Translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi
• Voltaire - La Princesse de Babylone
• José Francisco de Isla - Historia del famoso predicador fray Gerundio de Campazas, alias Zotes (second part)

New drama

• Isaac Bickerstaffe
  • Lionel and Clarissa
  • The Padlock
• Samuel Foote - The Devil on Two Sticks
• Oliver Goldsmith - The Good-Natur'd Man
• John Hoole - Cyrus
• Thomas Hull - The Royal Merchant
• Hugh Kelly - False Delicacy
• Arthur Murphy - Zenobia
• Michel-Jean Sedaine - La gageure imprévue
• Cándido María Trigueros - Juan de buen alma
• Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg - Ugolino
• Horace Walpole - The Mysterious Mother (published)
• William Shakespeare, ed. Edward Capell - Mr. William Shakespeare His Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

Poetry

• Isaac Hawking Browne - Poems
• Thomas Gray - Poems
• Richard Jago - Labour and Genius
• Edward Jerningham - Amabella
• Mary Wortley Montagu - Poetical Works
• Henry James Pye - Elegies
• Alexander Ross - The Fortunate Shepherdess
• Christopher Smart - The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
• William Wilkie - Fables

Non-fiction

• Abraham Booth - The Reign of Grace
• James Boswell - An Account of Corsica
• William Gilpin - An Essay upon Prints, containing remarks upon the principles of picturesque beauty
• Oliver Goldsmith - The Present State of the British Empire in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia
• Richard Gough - Anecdotes of British Topography
• Joseph Priestley - An Essay on the First Principles of Government
• Tobias Smollett - The Present State of all Nations
• Laurence Sterne - A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy
• Gilbert Stuart - An Historical Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the English Constitution
• Emanuel Swedenborg - Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Conjugiali
• Abraham Tucker as "Edward Search" - The Light of Nature Pursued
• Horace Walpole - Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III
• Arthur Young - A Six Weeks' Tour Through the Southern Counties of England and Wales

Births

• March 22 – Melesina Trench, Irish-born writer and socialite (died 1827)
• September 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (died 1848
• November 18 – Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (died 1823)
• November 21 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (died 1834)

Deaths

• March 1 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher (born 1694)
• March 18 – Laurence Sterne, Irish-born novelist and cleric (born 1713)
• April 9 – Sarah Fielding, English novelist and children's author (born 1710)
• May 30 – Eggert Ólafsson, Icelandic writer and linguist (drowned, born 1726)
• July 4 – Willem van Haren, Dutch poet (born 1710)
• August 17 – Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (born 1703)
• August 20 – Joseph Spence, English memoirist and professor of poetry (born 1699)
• December 20 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (born 1692)

References