1750 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1750.

List of years in literature (table)
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Events

• March – The Rambler is founded by Edward Cave; it lasts for 208 issues, and is mostly written by Samuel Johnson.^[1]
• March 5 – Shakespeare's Richard II (in Colley Cibber's version) is presented at their theatre on Nassau Street (Manhattan) by Walter Murray and Thomas Kean,^[2] the earliest known significant professional performance of Shakespeare in North America.
• unknown dates
  • Weekly meetings for contributors to the Encyclopédie begin, at the salon of Baron d'Holbach.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau wins the prize of the Academy of Dijon for his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.
  • London theatres wage "the Romeo and Juliet war" – competing productions appear with David Garrick and Anne Bellamy at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and with Spranger Barry and Susannah Cibber at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
  • Old Orchard Street Theatre opens in Bath (England) under the management of John Palmer, with a performance of Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2.^[3]
  • Carlo Goldoni commits himself to writing a comedy for each week of the 1750–1751 seasons at Gerolamo Medebach's Teatro San Angelo in Venice – 16 plays.^[4]
• After taking an M.D. at Aberdeen, Tobias Smollett travels in France, collecting material for The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.

New books

Fiction

• Anonymous
  • The Adventures of Mr. Loveill, interspers'd with many real amours of the modern polite world
  • The Nominal Husband, or, Distress'd Innocence
  • Revived Fugitive: a novel, translated from the French
• Henry Brooke – A New Collection of Fairy Tales
• John Cleland – Fanny Hill (official and expurgated)
• Sarah Fielding (attributed) – The History of Charlotte Summers
• Edward Kimber – The Life and Adventures of Joe Thompson
• Charlotte Lennox – The Life of Harriot Stuart
• Robert Paltock – The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins
• Sarah Scott – The History of Cornelia

Drama

• Kitty Clive – The Rehearsal, or, Bays in Petticoats
• Carlo Goldoni
  • La Bottega di Caffe (The Coffee Shop)
  • Il bugiardo (The Liar)
  • I pettegolezzi delle donne (Women's Gossip)
  • Il teatro comico (The comic theatre)
  • Il vero amico (The True Friend)
• William Shirley – Edward the Black Prince
• Voltaire – Oreste
• William Whitehead – The Roman Father

Poetry

Main article: 1750 in poetry

• William Collins – The Passions
• Thomas Cooke – An Ode on Martial Virtue
• Robert Dodsley – The Oeconomy of Human Life
• Mary Jones – Miscellanies
• Thomas Warton – The Triumph of Isis
• Edward Young – The Complaint (aka Night Thoughts)

Non-fiction

• John Barrow – Navigatio Britannica
• William Blackstone – An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity
• Samuel Bownas – A Description of the Qualifications Necessary to a Gospel Minister
• John Campbell – The Present State of Europe
• Zachary Grey – A Free and Familiar Letter to William Warburton
• Eliza Haywood – A Present for Women Addicted to Drinking (on the Gin crisis)
• Francis Hutcheson – Reflections Upon Laughter (philosophy of humor)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Discourse on the Arts and Sciences^[5]
• George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (died 1695), edited by Alexander Pope – A Character of King Charles the Second: and political, moral and miscellaneous thoughts and reflections
• Laurence Sterne – The Abuses of Conscience
• Madeleine de Puisieux – La Femme n’est pas inférieure à l'homme (Woman is not inferior to man)

Births

• January 7 – Robert Anderson, Scottish critic (died 1803)
• June 13 – James Burney, English rear-admiral and naval writer (died 1821)
• September 5 – Robert Fergusson, Scottish poet writing in Braid Scots (died 1774)
• October 21 – Juraj Fándly, Slovak non-fiction writer, entomologist and priest (died 1811)
• October 31 – Leonor de Almeida Portugal, 4th Marquise of Alorna, Portuguese noblewoman, painter, and poet (died 1839)^[6]
• unknown date – Henrietta Maria Bowdler, English author and expurgator (died 1830)

Deaths

• February 8 – Aaron Hill, English dramatist (born 1685)
• May 3 – John Willison, Scottish Christian writer (born 1680)
• June 15 – Marguerite De Launay, Baronne Staal, French writer (born 1684)
• November 11 – Apostolo Zeno, Venetian poet and journalist (born 1668)^[7]
• November 18 – Susanna Highmore, English poet (born 1690)

References

1. Thomas Lockwood; Ronald Paulson (31 October 2013). Henry Fielding: The Critical Heritage. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-136-17124-6.
2. Kenrick, John. "Theatre in NYC: A Brief History I". Musicals101. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
3. "Walking with the greats". MQ magazine. July 2004. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
4. Holme, Timothy (1976). A Servant of Many Masters: The Life and Times of Carlo Goldoni. London: Jupiter. ISBN 0-904041-61-1.
5. "Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778)". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
6. Avila e de Bolama, Antonio José de Avila (1916). A marqueza d'Alorna; algumas noticias authenticas para a historia da muito illustre e eminente escriptora que os poetas seus contemporaneos denominaram Alcipe. Lisboa Impr. de M.L. Torres. p. 52. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
7. John Lauris Blake (1840). A General Biographical Dictionary... James Kay, Jun. & Bro. p. 1019.