# 1739 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1739.

## Events

* January 16 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul is first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, London.
* February 9 – The Scots Magazine first appears.
* February 17 – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England.
* March 16 – Henry Brooke's drama Gustavus Vasa becomes the first play banned under the Licensing Act 1737.
* April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
* November – The Champion (periodical) is launched, with Henry Fielding (under the name Captain Hercules Vinegar) as editor.
* unknown date – The first Bible in the Estonian language, Piibli Ramat, translated by Anton thor Helle, is published.

## New books
### Prose

* Penelope Aubin – A Collection of Entertaining Histories and Novels
* John Campbell – The Travels and Adventures of Edward Bevan, Esq., formerly a merchant in London
* Elizabeth Carter
** Examination of Mr. Pope's Essay on Man (translation of De Crousaz's Examen de l'essai de Monsieur Pope sur l'homme)
** Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy Explain'd for the Use of Ladies (translation of Algarotti's Newtonianismo per le donne)
* Philip Doddridge – The Family Expositor
* Richard Glover – London
* David Hume (anonymously) – A Treatise of Human Nature (issued late 1738 but dated this year)
* William Law – The Grounds and Reasons of Christian Regeneration
* John Mottley (as Elijah Jenkins) – Joe Miller's Jests; or, the Wits Vade-Mecum
* Robert Nugent (attributed) – An Epistle to Sir Robert Walpole
* John Oldmixon – The History of England during the Reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth
* Laetitia Pilkington – The Statues
* Samuel Richardson – Aesop's Fables
* Elizabeth Singer Rowe – Miscellaneous Works
* Thomas Sheridan – The Satires of Juvenal Translated
* Joseph Trapp – The Nature, Folly, Sin, and Danger, of Being Righteous Over-much (against George Whitefield)
* Voltaire
** De la Gloire, ou entretien avec un Chinois
** Conseils a M. Helvetius
* Isaac Watts – The World to Come
* George Whitefield – A Continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's Journal
* Paul Whitehead – Manners

### Drama

* Daniel Bellamy – Miscellanies in Prose and Verse
* Henry Brooke – Gustavus Vasa
* Anthony Brown – The Fatal Retirement
* Henry Carey – Nancy (opera)
* Thomas Cooke – The Mournful Nuptials (not acted)
* David Mallet – Mustapha
* James Miller – An Hospital for Fools
* Edward Phillips – Britons, Strike Home
* William Shirley – The Parricide
* James Thomson – Edward and Eleonora

### Poetry

* Moses Browne – Poems
* Mary Collier – The Woman's Labour: an epistle to Mr Stephen Duck
* Mikhail Lomonosov – Ode on the Taking of Khotin from the Turks
* Robert Nugent
** An Ode on Mr. Pulteney
** An Ode, to His Royal Highness on His Birthday
** Odes and Epistles
* Jonathan Swift – Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift
* John Wesley – Hymns and Sacred Poems

## Births

* January – Twm o'r Nant, Welsh playwright and poet (died 1810)
* August 31 – Johann Augustus Eberhard, German theologian and philosopher (died 1809)
* November 20 – Jean-François de la Harpe, French critic (died 1803)
* Unknown dates
** Hugh Kelly, Irish-born dramatist and poet (died 1777)
** Sophronius of Vratsa, Bulgarian writer and clergyman, early figure in the Bulgarian National Revival (died 1813)

## Deaths

* June 20 – Edmond Martène, French historian (born 1654)
* July 25 – Johann Christoph Wolf, German Hebrew scholar and bibliographer (born 1683)
* September 4 – George Lillo, English dramatist and actor (born 1691)
* October 18 – António José da Silva, Brazilian dramatist (born 1705)
* probable – Liu Zhi (劉智), Chinese Muslim scholar (born c. 1660)