1747 in literature

Template:Short description Template:Year nav topic5 Template:Use British English This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1747.

Events

• March 31 – Laurence Sterne preaches the Good Friday sermon at St Helen Stonegate; The Case of Elijah and the Widow of Zerephath is later printed and published.<ref>St Helen Stonegate: Laurence Sterne and the Good Humour Club Template:Webarchive. Accessed 27 March 2016.</ref>
• April 9 – David Garrick becomes joint patentee and manager of the Drury Lane Theatre in London.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• June 21 – Licensing Act transfers responsibility for pre-production censorship of plays in Britain from the Master of the Revels to the Lord Chamberlain and restricts serious drama to the patent theatres.
• December 1 – Samuel Richardson's two-volume epistolary novel Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady ("by the Editor of Pamela") begins publication in London from his own print shop, dated 1748.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• unknown date – The Załuski Library in Warsaw is opened to the public.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

New books

Prose

• William Blackstone (attributed) – The Pantheon
• Thomas Carte – A General History of England
• Juan de Iriarte – Discurso sobre la imperfección de los diccionarios<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Diego de Torres Villarroel – Desengaños razonables para sacudir el polvo del espanto
• Denis Diderot – La Promenade du sceptique (completed; not published until 1830)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• William Dunkin – Boetia
• Thomas Edward – A Supplement to Mr. Warburton's Edition of Shakespear
• Henry Fielding, as "John Trott Plaid" – The Jacobite's Journal (periodical)
• Sarah Fielding – Familiar Letters Between the Principal Characters in David Simple (a defense against unauthorized continuations)
• Samuel Foote – The Roman and English Comedy Consider'd<ref>{{#if: |

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• Hannah Glasse, as "A Lady" – The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Madame de Graffigny – Lettres d'une Péruvienne
• Henry Home, Lord Kames – Essays Upon Several Subjects Concerning British Antiquities
• Samuel Johnson – The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language
• David Mallet – Amyntor and Theodora
• William Memoth, the younger – The Letters of Pliny the Consul
• Josiah Ralph – A Miscellany
• Samuel Richardson – Clarissa vol. i–ii
• William Shakespeare – The Works of Shakespear (edited by William Warburton)
• Tobias Smollett – Reproof
• Joseph Spence – Polymetis<ref >Template:Cite book</ref>
• Voltaire – Zadig (in original form as Memnon)
• Horace Walpole – A Letter to the Whigs
• Joseph Warton – Ranelagh House
• Thomas Warton – The Pleasures of Melancholy

Drama

• John Cunningham – Love in a Mist
• Samuel Foote – The Diversions of the Morning or, A Dish of Chocolate<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• David Garrick – Miss in Her Teens
• Christian Fürchtegott Gellert – Die zärtlichen Schwestern (The Affectionate Sisters)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Carlo Goldoni – The Venetian Twins (I due gemelli veneziani)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Benjamin Hoadly – The Suspicious Husband<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Edward Moore – The Foundling
• Takeda Izumo II, Miyoshi Shōraku and Namiki Senryū I – Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura (義経千本桜, Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees, original version for bunraku puppet theatre)

Poetry

• Philip Francis – A Poetical Translation of the Works of Horace
• Charlotte Lennox – Poems
• William Mason – Musaeus: A monody to the memory of Pope (an imitation of Milton's Lycidas)
• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu – Six Town Eclogues

Births

• January 11 – François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, French economics writer (died 1827)
• January 12 – Susanna Blamire, English dialect poet and songwriter (died 1794)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• January 15 – John Aikin, English biographer, activist and physician (died 1822)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• January 26 – Samuel Parr, English schoolmaster and writer, "the Whig Johnson" (died 1825)<ref>Template:DNBfirst</ref>
• January – William Seward, English man of letters (died 1799)
• February 19 – John "Walking" Stewart, English traveller and philosopher (died 1822)
• March 10 – Iolo Morganwg, Welsh antiquarian, bookseller, poet and literary forger (died 1826)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• September 30 – John Mastin, English memoirist, local historian and cleric (died 1829)
• December 12 – Anna Seward, English poet (died 1809)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Unknown date
  • John Edwards (1747–1792), Welsh poet (died 1792)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• • Thomas Scott, English cleric and religious writer (died 1821)

Deaths

• January 16 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes German poet (born 1680)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• May 28 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, essayist (born 1715)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• August
  • Charles Fleetwood, manager of Drury Lane Theatre (year of birth unknown)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• • Leonard Welsted, English poet (born 1688)<ref>James Sambrook: The life of the English poet Leonard Welsted (1688 – 1747) : the culture and politics of Britain's eighteenth-century literary wars, Lewiston [u.a.] : Edwin Mellen Press, 2014, Template:ISBN</ref>
• September 7 – Michel Maittaire, French classical scholar, bibliographer and grammarian (born 1668)<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref>
• November 17 – Alain-René Le Sage, French novelist and playwright (born 1668)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• November 21 – Robert Mylne, Scottish antiquarian and writer (born 1643)<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref>
• November 22 – Joseph Trapp, poet, controversialist and translator (born 1679)
• December 23 – Étienne-François Avisse, French dramatist (born 1694)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>