Editing 1737 in literature

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{Year nav topic5|1737|literature|poetry}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2020}}
This article contains information about the literary events and publications of '''1737'''.

==Events==
*[[March 2]] – [[Samuel Johnson]] and his former pupil [[David Garrick]] leave [[Lichfield]] to seek their fortunes in London.
*[[June 21]] – The [[Licensing Act 1737|Theatrical Licensing Act]] is passed, introducing censorship to the London stage. Plays now require approval before production. [[Edward Capell]] is appointed deputy-inspector of plays. "Legitimate drama" is limited to the theaters at [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]], [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]], and the [[Haymarket Theatre|Haymarket]]. The anonymous satire ''[[The Golden Rump]]'' (which may never have existed in full) is used as ammunition by the Act's proponents.
*[[September 1]] – ''[[The News Letter]]'' is first published in [[Belfast]] by Francis Joy, making it the world's oldest existing English [[newspaper]].<ref>{{Cite web |first=Ruth |last=Johnston |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/newsletter.shtml |work=Your Place & Mine |title=Belfast News Letter |publisher=[[BBC]] |accessdate=2011-11-15}}</ref>
*October – The first professional stage production in the [[Swedish language]] by native-born actors is given in [[Sweden]], of the comedy ''Den Svenska Sprätthöken'' at the [[Bollhuset]] in [[Stockholm]].
*[[November 20]] – [[Caroline of Ansbach]], Queen Consort of Great Britain and a significant patron of the arts, dies.
*''unknown date'' – The poet [[Richard Jago]] becomes curate of [[Snitterfield]].

==New books==
===Prose===
*[[Guillaume-Hyacinthe Bougeant]] – ''Amusement philosophique sur le language des bêtes (Philosophical Amusements on the Language of the Animals)''
*[[Alexander Cruden]] – ''[[Cruden's Concordance|A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament]]''
*[[Philip Doddridge]] – ''Submission to Divine Providence in the Death of Children''
*[[Stephen Duck]] – ''The Vision''
*[[Jonathan Edwards (theology)|Jonathan Edwards]] – ''[[A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Works of God]]''
*[[Étienne Fourmont]] – ''Meditationes Sinicae''
*[[William Law]] – ''A Demonstration of the Gross and Fundamental Errors of a Late Book'' (an answer to [[Benjamin Hoadly]] from [[1735 in literature|1735]])
*[[Marguerite de Lubert]] – ''Tecserion''
*[[William Oldys]] – ''The British Librarian''
*[[Elizabeth Singer Rowe]] – ''Devout Exercises of the Heart''
*[[Sarah Stone (midwife)|Sarah Stone]] – ''[[Sarah Stone (midwife)#A Complete Practice of Midwifery|A Complete Practice of Midwifery]]''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Adrian |title=The Making of Man-Midwifery: Childbirth in England, 1660-1770 |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780429663352 |page=207 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sal-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT204 |accessdate=18 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Jan Swammerdam]] – ''Biblia Naturae''<ref>Winsor, Mary P. "Swammerdam, Jan." Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1976</ref>
*[[Jonathan Swift]] – ''A Proposal for Giving Badges to the Beggars in all the Parishes of Dublin''
*[[Diego de Torres Villarroel]] – ''Médico para el bolsillo''<ref>[http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaAutor.html?Ref=86 Torres Villarroel's works]</ref>

===Drama===
*[[Henry Carey (writer)|Henry Carey]] – ''[[The Dragon of Wantley]]'' (burlesque opera adaptation)
*[[Robert Dodsley]] – ''The King and the Miller of Mansfield''
*[[Henry Fielding]]
**''[[The Historical Register for the Year 1736]]''
**''Eurydice Hiss'd, or a Word to the Wise''
*[[Robert Gould (poet)|Robert Gould]] (died 1709) – ''Innocence Distress'd'' (published; written c. 1689 but never performed)
*[[William Havard (actor)|William Havard]] – ''[[King Charles I (play)|King Charles I]]''
* John Hewitt – ''[[A Tutor for the Beaus]]''
* [[Samuel Johnson (dramatist)|Samuel Johnson]] – ''[[All Alive and Merry]]''
*[[George Lillo]] – ''[[Fatal Curiosity]]''
*Francis Lynch – ''[[The Independent Patriot]]''
*[[Pierre de Marivaux]] – ''[[Les Fausses Confidences]]''
*[[James Miller (playwright)|James Miller]] – ''[[The Universal Passion]]'' (adapted from ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'')

===Poetry===
{{main article|1737 in poetry}}
*[[Richard Glover (poet)|Richard Glover]] – ''Leonidas''
*[[Matthew Green (poet)|Matthew Green]] – ''The Spleen''
*[[Ignacio de Luzán]] – ''Poética''
*[[Alexander Pope]]
**''Horace His Ode to Venus''
**''The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated''
**''The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated''
**''The Works of Alexander Pope'' vols. v-vi
*[[William Shenstone]] – ''Poems''
*Prince [[Thammathibet]] – ''The Legend of [[Phra Malai]] (พระมาลัยคำหลวง, Phra Malai)''
*[[Voltaire]] – ''Défense du Mondain ou l'apologie du luxe'' ("Defense of the Worldling or an Apology for Luxury"), a poetic response to criticism of his ''[[Le Mondain]]''<ref name="ocv_intro">"Introduction" in ''Le Mondain'' Critical edition by Haydn T. Mason, in ''Œuvres complètes de Voltaire'', Volume 16 ([[Voltaire Foundation]], Oxford) {{ISBN|0729407942}}</ref>
*[[John Wesley]] – ''A Collection of Psalms and Hymns''

==Births==
*[[January 19]] – [[Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre]], French novelist and travel writer (died [[1814 in literature|1814]])
*[[January 29]] – [[Thomas Paine]], English [[Freethought|free thinker]] and revolutionary (died [[1809 in literature|1809]])
*[[February 22]] – [[Anne Ford]], English writer, singer and musician (died [[1824 in literature|1824]])
*[[April 18]] – [[William Hazlitt (Unitarian minister)|William Hazlitt]] Sr., Irish religious writer, radical and Unitarian minister (died [[1820 in literature|1820]])
*[[April 27]] – [[Edward Gibbon]], English historian (died [[1794 in literature|1794]])
*[[May 11]] (baptised) – [[Richard Chandler (antiquary)|Richard Chandler]], English antiquary (died [[1810 in literature|1810]])
*''unknown dates''
**[[Frances Abington]], née Barton, English actress (died [[1815 in literature|1815]])
**[[Nicolas Fernández de Moratín]], Spanish literary reformer (died [[1780 in literature|1780]])

==Deaths==
*[[February 21]] – [[Elizabeth Singer Rowe|Elizabeth Rowe]], English dramatist and poet (born [[1674 in literature|1674]])<ref>{{cite book|author=M. Bigold|title=Women of Letters, Manuscript Circulation, and Print Afterlives in the Eighteenth Century: Elizabeth Rowe, Catharine Cockburn and Elizabeth Carter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAvKy3UzGGcC&pg=PT54|date=12 January 2013|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-03357-4|pages=54}}</ref>
*May – [[Jean Alphonse Turretin]], Swiss theologian (born [[1671 in literature|1671]])
*[[May 4]] – [[Eustace Budgell]], English satirist (suicide, born [[1686 in literature|1686]])<ref>{{cite book |last=Colt |first=George Howe |title=The Enigma of Suicide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOz3hStePfYC&pg=PA169|accessdate=July 17, 2009 |year=1992 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-76071-7 |page=169}}</ref>
*[[May 17]] – [[Claude Buffier]], philosopher and historian (born [[1661 in literature|1661]])
*[[June 21]] – [[Matthieu Marais]], French memoirist (born [[1664 in literature|1664]])
*[[August 28]] – [[John Hutchinson (writer)|John Hutchinson]], theologian (born [[1674 in literature|1674]])
*[[September 18]] – [[Jane Fearon]], English Quaker pamphleteer (born 1654 or 1656)
*[[October 18]] – [[Abel Evans]], English poet (born [[1679 in literature|1679]])
*''unknown dates'' – [[Matthew Green (poet)|Matthew Green]], English poet (born [[1696 in literature|1696]])

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

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