1723 in literature

• March – Voltaire makes an agreement with Abraham Viret to allow his work to be printed in Rouen. • July – A new edition of Bernard Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees is presented as a public nuisance by the Grand Jury of Middlesex, England, to the Court of King's Bench. Mandeville escapes prosecution. • November – After attending a party at the home of the marquis des Maisons, Voltaire contracts smallpox. • unknown date – The book collection of Samuel Pepys (died 1703), including his Diary, is transferred to the Pepys Library at his alma mater, Magdalene College, Cambridge, in accordance with his will. ==New books==

Fiction • Penelope Aubin – The Life of Charlotta Du Pont, an English lady; taken from her own memoirs • Jane Barker – A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies • Thomas-Simon Gueullette – Les Aventures merveilleuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, contes chinois (The Transmigrations of the Mandarin Fum-Hoam (Chinese Tales)) • Eliza Haywood – Idalia: Or, the Unfortunate Mistress. A Novel. Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood • Anton Josef Kirchweger – Aurea Catena Homeri • Margrethe Lasson – Den beklædte Sandhed (first novel in Danish) Drama • Elijah Fenton – Mariamne • Hildebrand Jacob – The Fatal Constancy • Ambrose Philips – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester • Jane Robe – The Fatal Legacy • Heyat Mahmud – Jangnama; Bengali • David Mallet – William and Margaret • William Meston – Knight of the Kirk • Ambrose Philips – Ode on the Death of William, Earl of Cowper • Matthew Prior • Down-Hall • The Turtle and the Sparrow • Allan Ramsay – The Tea-Table Miscellany, Vol. 1 • Voltaire – La Henriade • Ned Ward – Nuptial Dialogues and Debates, 3rd ed. Non-fiction • James Anderson – The Constitutions of the Free-Masons • Henry Baker – An Invocation of Health: a poem • Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter (died 1716) – Collected Works • Pietro Giannone – Storia civile del regno di Napoli (History of the Kingdom of Naples) • Bernard de Mandeville – A Search into the Nature of Society • Thomas Dempster (died 1625) – De Etruria regali libri VII (printed in sans-serif) • Thomas Gordon and John Trenchard – ''Cato's Letters'' (essays) • John Nott – ''The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary or, the Accomplish'd Housewives Companion'' • John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham (died 1721) – The Works of John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, Marquis of Normanby, and Duke of Buckingham ==Births==

• January 21 (or June 21) – Baron d'Holbach, German-born French philosopher and encyclopedist (died 1789) • February 23 – Richard Price, Welsh-born philosopher (died 1791) • February 24 – John Burgoyne, English soldier and dramatist (died 1792) • June 5 (baptized) – Adam Smith, Scottish economist (died 1790) • June 20 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (died 1816) • July 11 – Jean-François Marmontel, French novelist and dramatist (died 1799) • September 30 – William Hutton, English local historian and poet (died 1815) • November 8 – John Byron, English vice-admiral and memoirist (died 1786) • November 30 – William Livingston, American political writer and politician (died 1790) • December 26 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-born French philosopher and encyclopedist (died 1807) ==Deaths==

at St James's Church, Piccadilly • February 26 – Thomas d'Urfey, English dramatist (born 1653) • March 13 – René Auguste Constantin de Renneville, French Protestant poet and historian (born 1650) • March 15 – Johann Christian Günther, German poet (born 1695) • May 11 – Jean Galbert de Campistron, French dramatist (born 1656) • June 8 – Isaac Chayyim Cantarini, Italian poet, physician and preacher (born 1644) • July 28 – Mariana Alcoforado, Portuguese nun (born 1640) • August 21 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Romanian author (born 1673) • September 23 – Jacques Basnage, French Protestant poet, linguist and preacher (born 1653) • December 1 – Susanna Centlivre (Susanna Carroll), English dramatist (born c. 1667–70) • December 17 – John Trenchard, English politician and writer (born 1662) ==References==