1750 in literature

EventsEdit

March – The Rambler is founded by Edward Cave; it lasts for 208 issues, and is mostly written by Samuel Johnson.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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- 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
After taking an M.D. at Aberdeen, Tobias Smollett travels in France, collecting material for The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle.

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<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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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)

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)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
unknown date – Henrietta Maria Bowdler, English author and expurgator (died 1830)

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)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
November 18 – Susanna Highmore, English poet (born 1690)