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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1768.

Events

  • March – John Wilkes, returning from exile in France, is elected to the Parliament of Great Britain.
  • May 10 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for attacking King George III of Great Britain in print.
  • July 28 – Thomas Gray succeeds Lawrence Brockett as Regis Professor of History at the University of Cambridge.
  • December 12 – Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde, father of Lady Eleanor Butler, inherits Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. This brings about the first meeting of the Ladies of Llangollen.
  • unknown dates
  • John Murray (publisher) is established in London.
  • The Theatre Royal, Bath (Old Orchard Street Theatre) and Theatre Royal, Norwich assume these titles on being granted Royal Patents, making them officially England's only legal provincial theaters.
  • The Leeds Library is founded, becoming the oldest surviving subscription library of its type in Britain.

New books

Fiction

  • John Cleland – The Woman of Honour (attributed)
  • Alexander Dow (translated) – Tales Translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi
  • Voltaire – La Princesse de Babylone
  • José Francisco de Isla – Historia del famoso predicador fray Gerundio de Campazas, alias Zotes (second part)
  • Anonymous – Fumoto no iro ()

Children

  • Christopher Smart – Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (verse)

Drama

  • Isaac Bickerstaffe
  • Lionel and Clarissa
  • The Hypocrite
  • The Padlock
  • Alexander Dow – Zingis
  • Samuel Foote – The Devil on Two Sticks
  • Oliver Goldsmith – The Good-Natur'd Man
  • John Hoole – Cyrus
  • Hugh Kelly – False Delicacy
  • Arthur Murphy – Zenobia
  • Michel-Jean Sedaine – La gageure imprévue
  • Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg – Ugolino
  • Horace Walpole – The Mysterious Mother (published)
  • William Shakespeare, ed. Edward Capell – Mr. William Shakespeare His Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

Poetry

  • Isaac Hawking Browne – Poems
  • Thomas Gray – Poems
  • Richard Jago – Labour and Genius
  • Edward Jerningham – Amabella
  • Mary Wortley Montagu – Poetical Works
  • Henry James Pye – Elegies
  • Alexander Ross – The Fortunate Shepherdess
  • Christopher Smart – The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
  • William Wilkie – Fables

Non-fiction

  • Abraham Booth – The Reign of Grace
  • James Boswell – An Account of Corsica
  • William Gilpin – An Essay upon Prints, containing remarks upon the principles of picturesque beauty
  • Oliver Goldsmith – The Present State of the British Empire in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia
  • Richard Gough – Anecdotes of British Topography
  • Joseph Priestley – An Essay on the First Principles of Government
  • Tobias Smollett – The Present State of all Nations
  • Laurence Sterne – A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy
  • Gilbert Stuart – An Historical Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the English Constitution
  • Emanuel Swedenborg – Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Conjugiali
  • Abraham Tucker (as Edward Search) – The Light of Nature Pursued
  • Horace Walpole – Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III
  • Arthur Young – A Six Weeks' Tour Through the Southern Counties of England and Wales

Births

  • March 22 – Melesina Trench, Irish-born writer and socialite (died 1827)
  • September 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (died 1848
  • November 18 – Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (died 1823)
  • November 21 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (died 1834)

Deaths

  • March 1 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher (born 1694)
  • March 18 – Laurence Sterne, Irish-born novelist and cleric (born 1713)
  • April 9 – Sarah Fielding, English novelist and children's author (born 1710)
  • May 30 – Eggert Ólafsson, Icelandic writer and linguist (drowned, born 1726)
  • July 4 – Willem van Haren, Dutch poet (born 1710)
  • August 20 – Joseph Spence, English memoirist and professor of poetry (born 1699)
  • November 25 – Alexander Russell, Scottish physician and naturalist (born c. 1715)
  • December 20 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (born 1692)

References