1744 in literature

• February 6 – Samuel Foote makes his debut as an actor as Othello at the Haymarket Theatre, London, England. • February 15 – Spranger Barry makes his debut as an actor at the Theatre Royal, Dublin. • April – The Female Spectator (a monthly) is founded by Eliza Haywood in England, the first periodical written for women by a woman. • April 14 – The Physico-Historical Society is formed in Dublin for the preservation of 'manuscripts, rare printed books, and natural curiosities relating to Ireland'. • May 29 – Alexander Pope is received into the Catholic Church, a day before his death. ==New books==

Fiction • Mary Collyer – Felicia to Charlotte • Sarah Fielding – The Adventures of David Simple • Eliza Haywood – The Fortunate Foundlings • Edward Moore – Fables for the Female Sex • Joseph Warton – The Enthusiast Children • John Newbery – A Little Pretty Pocket-Book • ''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book'' (earliest extant English nursery-rhyme collection) Drama • Robert Dodsley – A Select Collection of Old Plays • William Havard – Regulus • James Miller (died April 27) • Joseph and his Brethren (music by Handel) • Mahomet the Imposter (adapted from Voltaire's Mahomet; completed by John Hoadly) • James Ralph – The Astrologer (adapted from Thomas Tomkis's Albumazar, itself adapted from Giambattista della Porta's ''L'astrologo'') • Antonio de Zamora – No hay deuda que no se pague y convidado de piedra Poetry • Mark Akenside • The Pleasures of the Imagination • An Epistle to Curio • Jane Brereton – Poems • Gabriel Álvarez de Toledo (ed. Diego de Torres Villarroel) – Obras póstumas poéticas, con la Burromaquia Non-fiction • John Armstrong – The Art of Preserving Health • George Berkeley – Siris • Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix – Histoire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle France (History and General Description of New France) • Émilie de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet -Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu • Colley Cibber – Another Occasional Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope • David Garrick – An Essay on Acting (attrib.) • Samuel Johnson • Life of Mr Richard Savage • An Account of the Life of John Philip Barretier • Francis Moore – A Voyage to Georgia • William Oldys (editor) – The Harleian Miscellany (introduction by Samuel Johnson) • Alexander Pope – Essay on Man, volume 4: "Epistle: Of the Nature and State of Man, with Respect to" (4) "Happiness" (the first 2 epistles were written in 1732 and the third in 1733). • John Ranby – The Method of Treating Gunshot Wounds • Emanuel Swedenborg – The Animal Kingdom (Soul's Domain) (1744–45) • Jonathan Swift – Three Sermons ==Births==

• January 29 – Catharina Charlotta Swedenmarck, Swedish writer (died 1813) • February 10 – William Mitford, English historian (died 1827) • April 11 (baptised) – Elizabeth Bonhôte, English novelist, essayist and poet (died 1818) • August 25 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German poet (died 1803) • December – Elsa Fougt, Swedish editor and publisher (died 1826) ==Deaths==

• January 28 – Thomas Innes, Scottish historian (born 1662) • January 23 – Thomas Griffith, Irish actor and theatre manager (born 1680) • March 31 – Antiochus Kantemir, Russian diplomat and writer (born 1708) • April 27 – James Miller, English playwright, poet and satirist (born 1704) • May 30 – Alexander Pope, English poet and satirist (born 1688) • September 18 – Lewis Theobald, English literary historian (born 1688) ==References==