The World in 1740
ARCHITECTURE
The Pavilion for the Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France, designed by the French
architect Gabriel Germain Boffrant, is completed, one of the finest examples of
the rococo style.
ART
Jean Baptiste Oudry paints 'The Swan'
Arthur Devis paints 'The Bull Family'.
William Hogarth paints 'Portrait of Captain Coram'.
Giovanni Piazzetta paints 'Idyll on the Sea Shore'.
William Hogarth paints 'Portrait of Mary Edwards'.
BORN IN 1740
January 27 - Hester Lynch Piozzi (English author).
February 4 - Carl Michael Bellman (Swedish poet).
February 16 - Giambattista Bodoni (Italian printer).
February 17 - Horace Bénédict de Saussure (Swiss physicist who built the
first hygrometer).
May 9 - Giovanni Paisiello (Italian composer).
June 2 - Marquis de Sade (French writer).
August 26 - Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (French aeronaut).
October 29 - James Boswell (Scottish writer).
November 24 - John Bacon (English sculptor).
DIED IN 1740
May 15 - Ephraim Chambers (English encyclopedist).
May 17 - Jean Cavalier (French soldier).
May 31 - Frederick William I, (King of Prussia)
October 17 - Anna Ivanovna (Empress of Russia).
October 20 - Charles VI (Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria & King
of Hungary).
EVERYDAY LIFE
English Admiral Edward Vernon, nicknamed by his men . Old Grog,. instructs his
crews to dilute their measure of rum with hot water, creating the drink grog.
The estimated total nonindigenous population of the European colonies in North
America reaches 889,000.
LAW & GOVERNMENT
King Frederick II (the Great) abolishes torture and introduces freedom of
worship and a measure of press freedom in Prussia.
LITERATURE & LANGUAGE
The Swedish writer Olof von Dalin publishes his allegory Sagan om hästen/The
Story of a Horse.
The German writer Johann Christoph Gottsched publishes the first volume of his
six-volume Die deutsche Schaubühne/The German Stage. The last volume appears in
1745. This influential compilation of plays, many of them translated from
French, provides the German theater with a classical repertory.
The English writer Samuel Richardson publishes Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded,
generally considered the first English novel.
The Swiss poet, critic, and translator Johann Jakob Bodmer publishes Kritische
Abhandlung von dem Wunderbaren in der Poesie/Critical Treatise on the Miraculous
in Poetry. His work prepared the way for the romantics.
POLITICAL EVENTS
Bengal, northwestern India (present-day Bangladesh), becomes independent under
the Mogul governor Alivardi Khan, but maintains the fiction of allegiance to the
Mogul emperor.
King Nadir Shah of Persia extends his influence in Bukhara (or Buchara), central
Uzbekistan, and Bokhara, Afghanistan (also Vazirabad).
January - The so-called War of Jenkins' s Ear, between England and Spain,
spills over into the North American colonies, when Georgia governor James
Oglethorpe invades Florida.
February 6 - Pope Clement XII dies.
September 18 - May 12, 1744 - The English naval commander George Anson,
sent to attack the Spanish in South America, commands a squadron in the Pacific.
In spite of damage from storms he inflicts considerable injuries on the Spanish
before returning home (circumnavigating the world).
October 20 - The Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, the last Hapsburg
emperor, dies. In the Hapsburg domains, he is succeeded, by virtue of the
Pragmatic Sanction, by his daughter Maria Theresa: she becomes queen of Bohemia
and Hungary and archduchess of Austria. The succession is disputed (i) by
Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, who is married to a daughter of Joseph I,
the former emperor and older brother of Charles VI, and is a claimant by the
will of the earlier emperor Ferdinand I; (ii) by Frederick Augustus II, Elector
of Saxony (and King Augustus III of Poland), through his wife, the eldest
daughter of Joseph I; and (iii) by King Philip V of Spain, as heir of the
Spanish Hapsburgs, who is particularly interested in the Italian provinces.
Britain and the United Netherlands support Maria Theresa while Russia remains
neutral.
October 17 - Empress Anna of Russia dies and is succeeded by Ivan VI, the
grandson of Anna's sister Catherine. Ivan's mother acts as regent. Power is in
the hands of Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, who succeeds in banishing
Anna's favorite, Ernst Biron, Duke of Courland, from Russia.
November 11 - The archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria appoints Count
János Pálffy palatine (governor) of Hungary.
December 16 - Anxious for fame, King Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia
enters Silesia, one of the richest Hapsburg possessions, and begins the first
Silesian War and War of the Austrian Succession. Frederick has previously
demanded the cession of Silesia, offering in return to support Maria Theresa,
Archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, against Bavaria and to
secure the election of her consort Francis Stephen to the imperial crown.
RELIGION
August 17 - The Italian churchman Prospero Lambertini is elected Pope
Benedict XIV following the death of Pope Clement XII
SCIENCE
French scientist Louis Castel publishes Optique des couleurs/Optics of Colors.
French scientist Pierre Bouguer, on the La Condamine expedition to South
America, attempts to measure variations in the earth's gravity with position and
altitude.
The dye "Saxony blue" (indigo extract) is made in Germany.
Swiss naturalist Abraham Trembley discovers the hydra a simple water organism
combining plant and animal characteristics, and capable of regenerating itself.
Scottish mathematician Colin Maclaurin publishes a widely-praised gravitational
theory to explain the tides.
SPORTS
Jack Broughton defeats George Taylor in a bare-knuckle prizefight at Taylor's
Booth in Tottenham Court Road, London, to become champion of England. He holds
the title for ten years.
TECHNOLOGY
British instrument-maker Henry Hindley constructs a dividing-engine for cutting
the teeth of clock wheels evenly and accurately, significantly improving their
timekeeping.
English clockmaker Benjamin Huntsman rediscovers the principle of producing
steel in a crucible. Huntsman's Sheffield steel is far superior to any other
being made.
THEATRE & DANCE
The English dramatist Colley Cibber publishes his autobiography, An Apology for
the Life of Mr. Colley Cibber, Comedian.
The tragedy Edouard III/Edward III by the French writer Jean-Baptiste Louis
Gresset is first performed, in Paris, France. It includes the first murder
enacted on a French stage.
THOUGHT & SCHOLARSHIP
Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia, publishes the first volume of his
Histoire de mon temps/History of My Times. The final part appears in 1745.
Thomas Simpson publishes Treatise on the Nature and Laws of Chance.