1739 in literature explained

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

See main article: article and 1739 in 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)

Notes and References

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