1737 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1737 in literature involved some significant events and new books.
Events
- June 21 - The Theatrical Licensing ActLicensing Act 1737The Licensing Act or Theatrical Licensing Act of 21 June 1737 was a landmark act of censorship of the British stage and one of the most determining factors in the development of Augustan drama...
is passed, introducing censorship to the London stage. Plays now require approval before production. The "legitimate drama" is limited to the theatres at Drury LaneTheatre Royal, Drury LaneThe Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
, Covent GardenRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, and the HaymarketHaymarket TheatreThe Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
. - November 20 - Death of Queen CarolineCaroline of AnsbachCaroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach was the queen consort of King George II of Great Britain.Her father, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, was the ruler of a small German state...
, a significant patron of the arts. - The News LetterThe News LetterThe News Letter is one of Northern Ireland's main daily newspapers, published Monday to Saturday. It is the oldest English language general daily newspaper still in publication in the world, having first been printed in 1737....
begins publication. - Richard JagoRichard JagoRichard Jago was an English poet. He was the third son of Richard Jago, Rector of Beaudesert, Warwickshire.-Education:Jago was educated at Solihull School in the West Midlands. One of the school's five houses bears his name...
becomes curate of Snitterfield.
New books
- Anonymous - A Letter from Mrs. Jane Jones, alias Jenny Diver, in Drury Lane (on the life of a kept womanMistress (lover)A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...
) - Philip DoddridgePhilip DoddridgePhilip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...
- Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children - Stephen DuckStephen DuckStephen Duck was an English poet whose career reflected both the Augustan era's interest in "naturals" and its resistance to classlessness....
- The Vision - Jonathan Edwards - A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Works of God
- Étienne FourmontÉtienne FourmontÉtienne Fourmont was a French orientalist.Born at Herblay near Argenteuil, he studied at the Collège Mazarin in Paris and afterwards in the Collège Montaigu where his attention was attracted to Oriental languages....
- Meditationes Sinicae - Richard Glover - Leonidas
- Matthew GreenMatthew Green (poet)Matthew Green was a British poet born of Nonconformist parents. For many years he held a post in the custom house. The few anecdotes that have been preserved show him to have been as witty as his poems would lead one to expect: on one occasion, when the government was about to cut off funds that...
- The Spleen - William LawWilliam LawWilliam Law was an English cleric, divine and theological writer.-Early life:Law was born at Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire in 1686. In 1705 he entered as a sizar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1711 he was elected fellow of his college and was ordained...
- A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental Errors of a Late Book (an answer to Benjamin HoadlyBenjamin HoadlyBenjamin Hoadly was an English clergyman, who was successively Bishop of Bangor, Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester. He is best known as the initiator of the Bangorian Controversy.-Life:...
from 17351735 in literatureThe year 1735 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Samuel Johnson marries Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, twenty years his senior....
) - 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 British Librarian - 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...
- Horace His Ode to Venus- - The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated
- - Letters of Mr. Alexander Pope, and Several of his Friends (authorized)
- - The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated
- - The Works of Alexander Pope vols. v-vi
- Elizabeth RoweElizabeth Rowe-Life:She was the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Portnell and Walter Singer, a dissenting minister. Born in Ilchester, Somerset, England, she began writing at the age of twelve and when she was nineteen, began a correspondence with John Dunton, bookseller and founder of the Athenian Society.Between...
- Devout Exercises of the Heart - William ShenstoneWilliam ShenstoneWilliam Shenstone was an English poet and one of the earliest practitioners of landscape gardening through the development of his estate, The Leasowes.-Life:...
- Poems - Jonathan SwiftJonathan SwiftJonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
- A Proposal for Giving Badges to the Beggars in all the Parishes of Dublin
New drama
- Henry CareyHenry Carey (writer)Henry Carey was an English poet, dramatist and song-writer. He is remembered as an anti-Walpolean satirist and also as a patriot. Several of his melodies continue to be sung today, and he was widely praised in the generation after his death...
- The Dragon of Wantley (opera) - 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....
- The King and the Miller of Mansfield - 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....
- The Historical Register for the Year 1736The Historical Register for the Year 1736The Historical Register for the Year 1736 is a 1737 play by Henry Fielding published by William W. Appleton. A denunciation of contemporary society and politics, it was presented for the first time in April 1737.... - Robert GouldRobert GouldRobert Gould was a significant voice in Restoration poetry in England.He was born in the lower classes and orphaned when he was thirteen. It is possible that he had a sister, but her name and fate are unknown. Gould entered into domestic service...
- Innocence Distress'd (published 29 years posth.) - George LilloGeorge LilloGeorge Lillo was an English playwright and tragedian. He was a jeweler in London as well as a dramatist. He produced his first stage work, Silvia, or The Country Burial, in 1730. A year later, he produced his most famous play, The London Merchant...
- Fatal Curiosity - Pierre de MarivauxPierre de MarivauxPierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux , commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French novelist and dramatist....
- Les Fausses confidences - James Miller - The Universal Passion (adapted from Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
)
Births
- January 29 - Thomas PaineThomas PaineThomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
, free thinkerFreethoughtFreethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...
and revolutionary (died 1809) - April 27 - Edward GibbonEdward GibbonEdward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
(died 1794) - unknown date - Frances AbingtonFrances AbingtonFrances "Fanny" Abington was a British Actress.-Biography:She was born Frances Barton, the daughter of a private soldier, and began her career as a flower girl and a street singer. As a servant to a French milliner, she learned about costume and acquired a knowledge of French which afterwards...
, actress, a leading exponent of Shakespeare and Sheridan (died 1815)
Deaths
- May 4 - Eustace BudgellEustace BudgellEustace Budgell was an English writer and politician.Born in St Thomas near Exeter, Budgell was educated at Oxford University. His cousin, the writer Joseph Addison, took him to Ireland and got him appointed to a lucrative office...
, satirist - June 21 - Matthieu MaraisMatthieu MaraisMatthieu Marais was a French jurist and writer. Legal advocate at the Parlement of Paris, he was one of the luminaries of the bar during his times. Friend of Pierre Bayle and Henry de Boulainviller, he collaborated on the Dictionnaire Historique, and wrote the articles "Henri III", "Henri, duc de...
, memoirist - date unknown
- Claude BuffierClaude BuffierClaude Buffier , French philosopher, historian and educationalist, was born in Poland, of French parents, who returned to France, and settled at Rouen, soon after his birth....
, philosopher and historian - Abel EvansAbel EvansAbel Evans was an English clergyman, academic, and poet, a self-conscious follower of John Milton.-Life:He was son of Abel Evans of London, born in February 1679. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1685. He was elected probationary fellow of St. John's College, Oxford , proceeded regularly to...
, poet - Matthew GreenMatthew Green (poet)Matthew Green was a British poet born of Nonconformist parents. For many years he held a post in the custom house. The few anecdotes that have been preserved show him to have been as witty as his poems would lead one to expect: on one occasion, when the government was about to cut off funds that...
, poet - John HutchinsonJohn Hutchinson (writer)John Hutchinson was an English theological writer.He was born at Spennithorne, Yorkshire, and served as steward in several families of position, latterly in that of the Duke of Somerset, who ultimately obtained for him the post of riding purveyor to the master of the horse, a sinecure worth about...
, theologian - Elizabeth RoweElizabeth Rowe-Life:She was the eldest daughter of Elizabeth Portnell and Walter Singer, a dissenting minister. Born in Ilchester, Somerset, England, she began writing at the age of twelve and when she was nineteen, began a correspondence with John Dunton, bookseller and founder of the Athenian Society.Between...
, dramatist and poet - Jean Alphonse TurretinJean Alphonse TurretinJean Alphonse Turretin , son of Francis Turretin, was born at Geneva in August 1671. He studied theology at Geneva under Louis Tronchin, and after travelling in Holland, England and France was received into the "Venerable Compagnie des Pasteurs" of Geneva in 1693...
, theologian
- Claude Buffier