Literature

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) marries Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, 20 years his senior

New books

Le Doyen de Killerine Abbé Antoine François Prévost (1697-1763) The Christian Hero George Lillo (1693-1739) British playwright and tragedian. Very little is known of him except that he was a London jeweller as well as a dramatist Gil Blas (L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillana) Alain-René Le Sage (1668-1747) whose four-volume pioneer picaresque novel appeared in its first volume 20 years before and is based in part on the 1618 novel by the late Vicente Espinel Les Memoires de Comte Comminges French courtesan and novelist Claudine-Alexandrine Guerin de Tencin (1682-1749) who came to Paris 1714 after having lived a religious life. She attracted a string of lovers with her wit and beauty and used her influence to further the fortunes of her older brother Cardinal Pierre Guérin de Tencin, who died 1724. Imprisoned briefly in the Bastille after one of her lovers shot himself in her house, 1726, she went on to maintain one of the most glittering salons in Paris.

New drama

The Art of Management Charlotte Charke (née Cibber, also Charlotte Secheverell, aka Charles Brown) (1713–1760) English actress The Toyshop Robert Dodsley (1703-1764) English bookseller and miscellaneous writer Nonfiction A Defence of Free-Thinking in Mathematics George Berkeley (1685-1753) Poetry Liberty James Thomson, whose political poem traces the history of civil and religious freedom The Chace Staffordshire-born poet and country gentleman William Somerville, 59, whose verses trace the history of hunting up to the time of the Norman Conquest, providing information on breeding and training dogs, kennel design and hunting hare, otter, and stag Births Jul 5 - August Ludwig von Schlözer (d 1809) German historian who laid foundations for the critical study of Russian history Dec 31 – Michelle Guyillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, French-American writer commonly known as Hector St John de Crèvecoeur (d 1813) James Beattie (d 1803) Scottish academic and writer. Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, soldier and writer (d 1814) Deaths As mentioned before - John Arbuthnot in London and Samuel Wesley