1796 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of1796.

Events

Samuel Irelandpublishes a collection ofShakespearean forgeriesin hisMiscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments Under the Hand and Seal of William Shakespeare(dated this year but actually produced on 24 December 1795).Edmond Maloneexposes them in hisAn Inquiry into the Authenticity of Certain Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instrumentson 31 March, and the forged 'Shakespearean' play,Vortigern and Rowena,is able to sustain just a single performance at theTheatre Royal, Drury Lane,London, on 2 April. Ireland's son,William Henry,confesses to the fraud inAn Authentic Account of the Shakespearean Manuscripts.
January –Charles Lambends a six-week spell in a mental asylum atHoxton(London).
February 29– TheBiblioteca Nacional de Portugalis established as the Royal Public Library of the Court inLisbon.
March 1–Samuel Taylor Coleridgelaunches his periodicalThe Watchman;it lasts for only ten issues. In April his first verse collection,Poems on Various Subjects,is published in London.
July 21– TheScottishnational poet,Robert Burns,dies inDumfriesat the age of 37. His funeral (with honours as amilitary volunteer) takes place on July 25, while his wife,Jean,is in labour with their ninth child together, Maxwell. Burns is at first buried in the far corner of St Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries. The volume ofTheScots Musical Museumpublished this year includes his versions of "Auld Lang Syne"and"Charlie Is My Darling".^[1]
July 30– A performance of a historical drama,Jane Shore,is given inSydney,Australia;the playbill, printed by George Hughes, is the earliest known surviving item printed in that country.^[2]
September 22–Mary Lambcommitsmatricide.^[3]
October
- Jane Austenbegins writingFirst Impressions,the first version ofPride and Prejudice(published1813).
- Caroline von Wolzogen's novelAgnes von Lilienbegins anonymous serialization in the monthlyDie Horen,edited by her brother-in-lawFriedrich Schiller.^[4]

New books

Fiction

Robert Bage–Hermsprong: or, Man As He Is Not
Elizabeth Bonhôte–Bungay Castle
Fanny Burney–Camilla^[5]
Denis Diderot(died1784) –Jacques the Fatalist(the first complete edition of the original French,Jacques le fataliste et son maître)
Marquis Carl von Grosse (translated by Peter Will) –Horrid Mysteries(translation ofDer Genius)
Elizabeth Hamilton–Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah
Mary Hays–Memoirs of Emma Courtney
Elizabeth Inchbald–Nature and Art
Matthew Lewis–The Monk
Eliza Parsons–The Mysterious Warning, a German Tale
Regina Maria Roche–The Children of the Abbey: a Tale
Jane West(as Prudentia Homespun) –A Gossip's Story, and a Legendary Tale

Children

François Guillaume Ducray-Duminil–Victor, ou l’Enfant de la forêt(Victor, or The Child of the Forest)^[6]
Maria Edgeworth–The Parent's Assistant(stories, second volume later in the year)
Jane West–A Gossip's Story, and a Legendary Tale(as Prudentia Homespun)

Drama

George Colman the Younger–The Iron Chest
Richard Cumberland
- Don Pedro^[7]
- The Days of Yore
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe–Egmont^[8]
Thomas Holcroft
- The Force of Ridicule^[9]
- The Man of Ten Thousand^[9]
William Henry Ireland–Vortigern and Rowena
Robert Jephson–The Conspiracy
Sophia Lee–Almeyda, Queen of Granada
Thomas Morton–The Way to Get Married^[10]
John O'Keeffe–The Doldrum
John Penn–The Battle of Eddington
Frederick Reynolds–Fortune's Fool
Mary Darby Robinson–The Sicilian Lover^[11]
The Iron Chest(adaptation ofWilliam Godwin's novelCaleb Williams)

Poetry

Non-fiction

Ralph Broome
- Observations on Mr. Paine's Pamphlet Entitled the Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance...
- Strictures on Mr. Burke's Two Letters, Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament
Edmund Burke–A Letter from The Right Honourable Edmund Burke to a Noble Lord, on the Attacks made upon him and his pension
Edward Gibbon–Memoirs of My Life and Writings
Susannah Willard Johnson–A Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson(edited byJohn Curtis Chamberlain)
John Gabriel Stedman–The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam
Mary Wollstonecraft–Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark

Births

January 4–Henry George Bohn,English bibliographer and publisher (died1884)
February 17–Charlotte Anley,English didactic novelist and religious writer (died1893)
May 1–Junius Brutus Booth,English-born actor (died1852)
May 4–William H. Prescott,American historian (died1859)
August 19–Agnes Strickland,English historical writer and poet (died1874)
September 19–Hartley Coleridge,English poet, biographer and essayist (died1849)
July 15–Thomas Bulfinch,American writer on mythology (died1867)
November 2–Frederick Chamier,English novelist and Royal Navy captain (died1870)^[12]
December 19–Manuel Bretón de los Herreros,Spanish playwright (died1873)

Deaths

January 13–John Anderson,Scottish natural philosopher and scientist (born1726)
February 17–James Macpherson,Scottish poet (born1736)^[13]
March 6–Guillaume Thomas François Raynal,French philosophical writer (born1713)^[14]
May 6–Adolf Freiherr Knigge,German writer on etiquette (born1752)^[15]
June 7–Elisabetta Caminèr Turra,Venetian writer and translator (born1751)
June 8–Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois,French dramatist (born1749)^[16]
July 21–Robert Burns,Scottish poet (born1759)^[17]
October 7–Thomas Reid,Scottish philosopher (born1710)
October 16–Antoine-Joseph Pernety,French writer and mystic (born1716)
December 24–John Maclaurin, Lord Dreghorn,judge and poet (born1734)^[18]

References

^"Robert Burns".BBC.Retrieved2012-01-26.
^"For the benefit of J. Butler and W. Bryant".Digital Collection – Books and Serials.Canberra:National Library of Australia.Retrieved2014-08-07.
^Hitchcock, Susan Tyler (2005).Mad Mary Lamb.New York; London: W. W. Norton & Co. pp.15–17.ISBN 0-393-05741-0.mad mary lamb
^Simon Richter; James Hardin (2005).The Literature of Weimar Classicism.Boydell & Brewer. pp. 242–.ISBN 978-1-57113-249-9.
^Fanny Burney (15 July 1999).Camilla: Picture of Youth.OUP Oxford. p. 7.ISBN 978-0-19-160608-3.
^Timothy Unwin; Unwin Timothy (28 October 1997).The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel: From 1800 to the Present.Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–.ISBN 978-0-521-49914-9.
^Richard Cumberland (1982).The Plays of Richard Cumberland.Garland Pub. p. 294.ISBN 978-0-8240-3587-7.
^David G. John (8 July 1998).Images of Goethe through Schiller's Egmont.McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 176.ISBN 978-0-7735-6697-2.
^^a ^bGeorge Watson; Ian R. Willison; J. D. Pickles (2 July 1971).The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 2, 1660-1800.Cambridge University Press. p. 839.ISBN 978-0-521-07934-1.
^Michael R. Booth (1980).Prefaces to English Nineteenth-century Theatre.Manchester University Press. p. 67.ISBN 978-0-7190-0823-8.
^Mary Robinson (1796).The Sicilian Lover: A Tragedy. In Five Acts.author.
^Frederick Chamier (23 May 2011).Life of a Sailor.Pen and Sword. p. 7.ISBN 978-1-78346-873-7.
^Lewis Namier; John Brooke (1985).The House of Commons, 1754-1790.Boydell & Brewer. p. 96.ISBN 978-0-436-30420-0.
^Charles Sumner (1900).His Complete Works: With Introduction by Hon. George Frisbie Hoar.Lee & Shepard. p. 326.
^Ernest Ludwig Stahl; William Edward Yuill; Hannah Priebsch Closs; M. Q. Smith (1970).German Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.Barnes & Noble. p. 380.
^Encyclopedia Britannica.Encyclopedia Britannica, Incorporated, William Benton Publisher. 1973. p. 69.ISBN 978-0-85229-173-3.
^"Pistols belonging to Robert Burns".National Museums Scotland.Archived fromthe originalon 25 March 2019.Retrieved25 March2019.
^John Stark (1805).Biographia Scotica: Or Scottish Biographical Dictionary.A. Constable & Company. p. 300.

[1] "Robert Burns".BBC.Retrieved2012-01-26.

[2] "For the benefit of J. Butler and W. Bryant".Digital Collection – Books and Serials.Canberra:National Library of Australia.Retrieved2014-08-07.

[3] Hitchcock, Susan Tyler (2005).Mad Mary Lamb.New York; London: W. W. Norton & Co. pp.15–17.ISBN 0-393-05741-0.mad mary lamb

[4] Simon Richter; James Hardin (2005).The Literature of Weimar Classicism.Boydell & Brewer. pp. 242–.ISBN 978-1-57113-249-9.

[5] Fanny Burney (15 July 1999).Camilla: Picture of Youth.OUP Oxford. p. 7.ISBN 978-0-19-160608-3.

[6] Timothy Unwin; Unwin Timothy (28 October 1997).The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel: From 1800 to the Present.Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–.ISBN 978-0-521-49914-9.

[7] Richard Cumberland (1982).The Plays of Richard Cumberland.Garland Pub. p. 294.ISBN 978-0-8240-3587-7.

[8] David G. John (8 July 1998).Images of Goethe through Schiller's Egmont.McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 176.ISBN 978-0-7735-6697-2.

[WatsonWillison1971-9] George Watson; Ian R. Willison; J. D. Pickles (2 July 1971).The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: Volume 2, 1660-1800.Cambridge University Press. p. 839.ISBN 978-0-521-07934-1.

[10] Michael R. Booth (1980).Prefaces to English Nineteenth-century Theatre.Manchester University Press. p. 67.ISBN 978-0-7190-0823-8.

[11] Mary Robinson (1796).The Sicilian Lover: A Tragedy. In Five Acts.author.

[12] Frederick Chamier (23 May 2011).Life of a Sailor.Pen and Sword. p. 7.ISBN 978-1-78346-873-7.

[13] Lewis Namier; John Brooke (1985).The House of Commons, 1754-1790.Boydell & Brewer. p. 96.ISBN 978-0-436-30420-0.

[14] Charles Sumner (1900).His Complete Works: With Introduction by Hon. George Frisbie Hoar.Lee & Shepard. p. 326.

[15] Ernest Ludwig Stahl; William Edward Yuill; Hannah Priebsch Closs; M. Q. Smith (1970).German Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.Barnes & Noble. p. 380.

[16] Encyclopedia Britannica.Encyclopedia Britannica, Incorporated, William Benton Publisher. 1973. p. 69.ISBN 978-0-85229-173-3.

[17] "Pistols belonging to Robert Burns".National Museums Scotland.Archived fromthe originalon 25 March 2019.Retrieved25 March2019.

[18] John Stark (1805).Biographia Scotica: Or Scottish Biographical Dictionary.A. Constable & Company. p. 300.

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