 ==events== *samuel ireland publishes a collection of shakespearean forgeries in his miscellaneous papers and legal instruments under the hand and seal of william shakespeare (dated this year but actually produced on 24 december 1795). edmond malone exposes them in his an inquiry into the authenticity of certain miscellaneous papers and legal instruments on 31 march, and the forged 'shakespearean' play, vortigern and rowena, is able to sustain just a single performance at the theatre royal, drury lane, london, on 2 april. ireland's son, william henry, confesses to the fraud in an authentic account of the shakespearean manuscripts. *february 29 - the biblioteca nacional de portugal is established as the royal public library of the court in lisbon. *march 1 - samuel taylor coleridge launches his periodical the watchman; it lasts for only ten issues. *july 30 - a performance of an historical drama, jane shore, is given in sydney, australia; the playbill, printed by george hughes, is the earliest known surviving item printed in the country. *september 22 - mary lamb commits matricide. ==new books== *robert bage - hermsprong or man as he is not *elizabeth bonhÃ´te - bungay castle *edmund burke - a letter to a noble lord *fanny burney - camilla *denis diderot - jacques le fataliste et son maÃ®tre *edward gibbon - memoirs of my life and writings *mary hays - memoirs of emma courtney *matthew lewis - the monk *jane purbeck - matilda and elizabeth *regina maria roche - the children of the abbey: a tale *mary wollstonecraft - letters written in sweden, norway, and denmark *susannah willard johnson - a narrative of the captivity of mrs. johnson ==new drama== *johann wolfgang von goethe - egmont *richard cumberland - don pedro *mary darby robinson - the sicilian lover ==new poetry== {{main|1796 in
1796_books Years_in_literature