1723 in literature
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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1723.
Events
- March â Voltaire makes an agreement with Abraham Viret to allow his work to be printed in Rouen.[1]
- July â 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.[2]
- November â After attending a party at the home of the marquis des Maisons, Voltaire contracts smallpox.[3]
- unknown date â 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.[4]
New books
Fiction
- Penelope Aubin â The Life of Charlotta Du Pont, an English lady; taken from her own memoirs[5]
- Jane Barker â A Patch-Work Screen for the Ladies
- Thomas-Simon Gueullette â Les Aventures merveilleuses du mandarin Fum-Hoam, contes chinois (The Transmigrations of the Mandarin Fum-Hoam (Chinese Tales))
- Eliza Haywood â Idalia: Or, the Unfortunate Mistress. A Novel. Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood[6]
- Anton Josef Kirchweger â Aurea Catena Homeri
- Margrethe Lasson â Den beklædte Sandhed (first novel in Danish)
Drama
- Elijah Fenton â Mariamne[7]
- Francis Hawling â The Impertinent Lovers[7]
- Eliza Haywood â A Wife to be Lett[7]
- Ludvig Holberg â Erasmus Montanus[8]
- Hildebrand Jacob â The Fatal Constancy[7]
- Charles Johnson â Love in a Forest (adapted from As You Like It)[7]
- Pierre de Marivaux â La Double Inconstance[9]
- Ambrose Philips â Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester[7]
- Jane Robe â The Fatal Legacy[7]
- Richard Savage â Sir Thomas Overbury[7]
Poetry
- Sir Richard Blackmore â Alfred: an epick poem[10]
- Heyat Mahmud â Jangnama; Bengali[11]
- David Mallet â William and Margaret
- William Meston â Knight of the Kirk
- Ambrose Philips â Ode on the Death of William, Earl of Cowper
- Matthew Prior
- Down-Hall
- The Turtle and the Sparrow
- Allan Ramsay â The Tea-Table Miscellany, Vol. 1
- Voltaire â La Henriade
- Ned Ward â Nuptial Dialogues and Debates, 3rd ed.
Non-fiction
- James Anderson â The Constitutions of the Free-Masons
- Henry Baker â An Invocation of Health: a poem
- Offspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter (died 1716) â Collected Works
- Pietro Giannone â Storia civile del regno di Napoli (History of the Kingdom of Naples)
- Bernard de Mandeville â A Search into the Nature of Society
- Thomas Dempster (died 1625) â De Etruria regali libri VII (printed in sans-serif)
- Thomas Gordon and John Trenchard â Cato's Letters (essays)
- John Nott â The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary or, the Accomplish'd Housewives Companion
- John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham (died 1721) â The Works of John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, Marquis of Normanby, and Duke of Buckingham
Births
- January 21 (or June 21) â Baron d'Holbach, German-born French philosopher and encyclopedist (died 1789)
- February 23 â Richard Price, Welsh-born philosopher (died 1791)
- February 24 â John Burgoyne, English soldier and dramatist (died 1792)
- June 5 (baptized) â Adam Smith, Scottish economist (died 1790)[12]
- June 20 â Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (died 1816)
- July 11 â Jean-François Marmontel, French novelist and dramatist (died 1799)
- September 30 â William Hutton, English local historian and poet (died 1815)
- November 8 â John Byron, English vice-admiral and memoirist (died 1786)
- November 30 â William Livingston, American political writer and politician (died 1790)
- December 26 â Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-born French philosopher and encyclopedist (died 1807)
Deaths

- February 26 â Thomas d'Urfey, English dramatist (born 1653)
- March 13 â René Auguste Constantin de Renneville, French Protestant poet and historian (born 1650)
- March 15 â Johann Christian Günther, German poet (born 1695)
- May 11 â Jean Galbert de Campistron, French dramatist (born 1656)
- June 8 â Isaac Chayyim Cantarini, Italian poet, physician and preacher (born 1644)
- July 28 â Mariana Alcoforado, Portuguese nun (born 1640)
- August 21 â Dimitrie Cantemir, Romanian author (born 1673)
- September 23 â Jacques Basnage, French Protestant poet, linguist and preacher (born 1653)
- December 1 â Susanna Centlivre (Susanna Carroll), English dramatist (born c. 1667â70)
- December 17 â John Trenchard, English politician and writer (born 1662)