1739 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1739.

Events

January 16 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul is first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London.^[1]
February 9 – The Scots Magazine first appears.^[2]
February 17 – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England.^[3]
March 16 – Henry Brooke's drama Gustavus Vasa becomes the first play banned under the Licensing Act 1737.^[4]
April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.^[5]
November – The Champion (periodical) is launched, with Henry Fielding (under the name Captain Hercules Vinegar) as editor.^[6]
unknown date – The first Bible in the Estonian language, Piibli Ramat, translated by Anton thor Helle, is published.^[7]

New books

Prose

Penelope Aubin – A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels^[8]
John Campbell – The Travels and Adventures of Edward Bevan, Esq., formerly a merchant in London
Elizabeth Carter
- Examination of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man (translation of De Crousaz's Examen de l'essai de Monsieur Pope sur l'homme)
- Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the Use of Ladies (translation of Algarotti's Newtonianismo per le donne)
Philip Doddridge – The Family Expositor
Richard Glover – London
David Hume (anonymously) – A Treatise of Human Nature (issued late 1738 but dated this year)
William Law – The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration
John Mottley (as Elijah Jenkins) – Joe Miller's Jests; or, the Wits Vade-Mecum
Robert Nugent (attributed) – An Epistle to Sir Robert Walpole^[9]
John Oldmixon – The History of England during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth^[10]
Laetitia Pilkington – The Statues
Samuel Richardson – Aesop's Fables
Elizabeth Singer Rowe – Miscellaneous Works
Thomas Sheridan – The Satires of Juvenal Translated
Joseph Trapp – The Nature, Folly, Sin, and Danger, of Being Righteous Over-much (against George Whitefield)
Voltaire
- De la Gloire, ou entretien avec un Chinois
- Conseils a M. Helvetius
Isaac Watts – The World to Come
George Whitefield – A Continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal
Paul Whitehead – Manners

Drama

Daniel Bellamy – Miscellanies in Prose and Verse
Henry Brooke – Gustavus Vasa
Anthony Brown – The Fatal Retirement
Henry Carey – Nancy (opera)
Thomas Cooke – The Mournful Nuptials (not acted)
David Mallet – Mustapha
James Miller – An Hospital for Fools
Edward Phillips – Britons, Strike Home
William Shirley – The Parricide
James Thomson – Edward and Eleonora^[11]

Poetry

Moses Browne – Poems
Mary Collier – The Woman's Labour: an epistle to Mr Stephen Duck^[12]
Mikhail Lomonosov – Ode on the Taking of Khotin from the Turks
Robert Nugent
- An Ode on Mr. Pulteney
- An Ode, to His Royal Highness on His Birthday
- Odes and Epistles
Jonathan Swift – Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift
John Wesley – Hymns and Sacred Poems

Births

January – Twm o'r Nant, Welsh playwright and poet (died 1810)
August 31 – Johann Augustus Eberhard, German theologian and philosopher (died 1809)
November 20 – Jean-François de la Harpe, French critic (died 1803)
Unknown dates
- Hugh Kelly, Irish-born dramatist and poet (died 1777)^[13]
- Sophronius of Vratsa, Bulgarian writer and clergyman, early figure in the Bulgarian National Revival (died 1813)

Deaths

June 20 – Edmond Martène, French historian (born 1654)^[14]
July 25 – Johann Christoph Wolf, German Hebrew scholar and bibliographer (born 1683)^[15]
September 4 – George Lillo, English dramatist and actor (born 1691)^[16]
October 18 – António José da Silva, Brazilian dramatist (born 1705)^[17]
probable – Liu Zhi (劉智), Chinese Muslim scholar (born c. 1660)

References

^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
^ Ward, A. W. (2009). The Cambridge History of English Literature. Vol. 9. p. 614.
^ Mathew Backholer (29 January 2018). Reformation to Revival, 500 Years of God’s Glory: Sixty Revivals, Awakenings and Heaven-Sent Visitations of the Holy Spirit. ByFaith Media. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-907066-61-0.
^ Julia Swindells; David Francis Taylor (2014). The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737–1832. OUP Oxford. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-19-960030-4.
^ Erwin Fahlbusch; Geoffrey William Bromiley; Jan Milic Lochman (14 February 2008). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 728. ISBN 978-0-8028-2417-2.
^ Simon Varey (31 July 1986). Henry Fielding. CUP Archive. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-521-26244-6.
^ Bruce M. Metzger; Michael David Coogan (20 December 2001). The Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues of the Bible. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 524. ISBN 978-0-19-514917-3.
^ Penelope Aubin (1739). A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels... D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth and C Hitch, J. and J. Pemberton, R. Ware, C. Rivington, A. Ward, J. and P. Knapton, T. Longman, R. Hett, S. Austen, and J. Wood.
^ Emrys Jones (13 June 2013). Friendship and Allegiance in Eighteenth-Century Literature: The Politics of Private Virtue in the Age of Walpole. Springer. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-137-30050-8.
^ Laird Okie (1991). Augustan Historical Writing: Histories of England in the English Enlightenment. University Press of America. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-8191-8050-6.
^ James Thomson (1739). Edward and Eleonora: A Tragedy. As it was to Have Been Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. author, and sold.
^ Donna Landry; Professor Donna Landry (1990). The Muses of Resistance: Laboring-Class Women's Poetry in Britain, 1739-1796. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-521-37412-5.
^ Charles Anderton Read (1879). The cabinet of Irish literature, with biogr. sketches and literary notices by C.A. Read (T.P. O'Connor). p. 289.
^ Catholic Encyclopedia. Appleton. 1910. p. 721.
^ George Ripley; Charles Anderson Dana (1863). The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. D. Appleton. pp. 512.
^ George Lillo; Thomas Davies (1810). Mr. Lillo's Life. Silvia; or The Country Burial, an opera. George Barnwall, a tragedy. The Life of Scanderbeg. The Christian Hero, a tragedy. W. Lowndes. p. 32.
^ António Teixeira; Juliet Perkins; António José da Silva (2004). A critical study and translation of António José da Silva's Cretan labyrinth: a puppet opera. E. Mellen Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7734-6519-0.

[Cassell's_Chronology-1] Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.

[2] Ward, A. W. (2009). The Cambridge History of English Literature. Vol. 9. p. 614.

[3] Mathew Backholer (29 January 2018). Reformation to Revival, 500 Years of God’s Glory: Sixty Revivals, Awakenings and Heaven-Sent Visitations of the Holy Spirit. ByFaith Media. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-907066-61-0.

[4] Julia Swindells; David Francis Taylor (2014). The Oxford Handbook of the Georgian Theatre 1737–1832. OUP Oxford. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-19-960030-4.

[5] Erwin Fahlbusch; Geoffrey William Bromiley; Jan Milic Lochman (14 February 2008). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 728. ISBN 978-0-8028-2417-2.

[6] Simon Varey (31 July 1986). Henry Fielding. CUP Archive. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-521-26244-6.

[7] Bruce M. Metzger; Michael David Coogan (20 December 2001). The Oxford Guide to Ideas & Issues of the Bible. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 524. ISBN 978-0-19-514917-3.

[8] Penelope Aubin (1739). A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels... D. Midwinter, A. Bettesworth and C Hitch, J. and J. Pemberton, R. Ware, C. Rivington, A. Ward, J. and P. Knapton, T. Longman, R. Hett, S. Austen, and J. Wood.

[9] Emrys Jones (13 June 2013). Friendship and Allegiance in Eighteenth-Century Literature: The Politics of Private Virtue in the Age of Walpole. Springer. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-137-30050-8.

[10] Laird Okie (1991). Augustan Historical Writing: Histories of England in the English Enlightenment. University Press of America. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-8191-8050-6.

[11] James Thomson (1739). Edward and Eleonora: A Tragedy. As it was to Have Been Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. author, and sold.

[12] Donna Landry; Professor Donna Landry (1990). The Muses of Resistance: Laboring-Class Women's Poetry in Britain, 1739-1796. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-521-37412-5.

[13] Charles Anderton Read (1879). The cabinet of Irish literature, with biogr. sketches and literary notices by C.A. Read (T.P. O'Connor). p. 289.

[14] Catholic Encyclopedia. Appleton. 1910. p. 721.

[15] George Ripley; Charles Anderson Dana (1863). The New American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. D. Appleton. pp. 512.

[16] George Lillo; Thomas Davies (1810). Mr. Lillo's Life. Silvia; or The Country Burial, an opera. George Barnwall, a tragedy. The Life of Scanderbeg. The Christian Hero, a tragedy. W. Lowndes. p. 32.

[17] António Teixeira; Juliet Perkins; António José da Silva (2004). A critical study and translation of António José da Silva's Cretan labyrinth: a puppet opera. E. Mellen Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7734-6519-0.

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