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Writers born active died
1737, May 8 1758-1788 1794, Jan 16
an English historian, writer and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788 and is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of organized religion. Gibbon's work has been criticised for its scathing view of Christianity as laid down in chapters XV and XVI, a situation which resulted in the banning of the book in several countries.
118
Writers
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Sort Name Nationality Born Active Died Selected 118
Edward Gibbon 1737, May 8 1758
1788 1794, Jan 16
Alexander Volck unknown 1740 1759 unknown the city scribe for the Wetteravian town of Büdingen in Hesse, Germany during the mid 18th centu... John Angell unknown 1750 1759 unknown an Irish professional shorthand writer. Angell was from Dublin, and professor of the art there. A... Zhiyanzhai unknown 1750 1759 unknown the pseudonym of an early, mysterious commentator of the 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of t... Francesco Vanneschi unknown 1732 1760 unknown an Italian opera manager, director and librettist. He was known as having been active as a libret... Johann Georg Bergmuller 1688, Apr 15 1702 1762 1762, Apr 2 a painter, particularly of frescoes, of the Baroque. Bergmüller quickly acquired a high reputati... Edward Young 1681 1713 1762 1765 an English poet, best remembered for Night-Thoughts . Young is said to have been a brillian... Richard Brookes unknown 1721 1763 unknown an English physician and author of compilations and translations on medicine, surgery, natural hi... Ann Smith Franklin 1696, Oct 2 1736 1763 1763, Apr 16 an American colonial newspaper printer and publisher. She inherited the business from her husband... Mikhail Lomonosov 1711, Nov 8 1742 1764 1765, Apr 4 a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, educati... Firmin Abauzit 1679, Nov 11 1698 1767 1767, Mar 20 a French scholar who worked on physics, theology and philosophy, and served as librarian in Genev... Laurence Sterne 1713, Nov 24 1737 1768 1768, Mar 18 an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. He is best known for his novels The Life and Opin... Menon unknown 1739 1768 unknown the pseudonym of an 18th-century French cookbook author; his true identity is unknown. His numero... Thomas Secker 1693 1758 1768 1768, Aug 3 the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1758 until his death in 1768. In 1737 ... Johann Joachim Quantz 1697, Jan 30 1716 1769 1773, Jul 12 a German flutist, flute maker and composer. He composed hundreds of flute sonatas and concertos, ... William Stork unknown 1750 1769 1768 an oculist in England and the American colonies, and subsequently settled in the British colony o... Pal Bajai unknown 1760 1769 unknown a Hungarian Franciscan friar of the Observant reform and spiritual writer during the 18th century... Marie-Anne de Roumier-Robert unknown 1760 1769 unknown an 18th-century French writer. Very little is known about her life. She wrote one of the earliest... Gabrielle-Charlotte Patin 1666 1680 177 unknown a French numismatist, writer and painter during the 17th century. Granddaughter of medical doctor... Enrique Florez 1701, Feb 14 1716 1770 1773, Aug 20 a Spanish historian. At 15 years old, he entered the order of St Augustine. He subsequently becam... David Hume 1711, Apr 26 1736 1771 1776, Aug 25 a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, who is best known today for his highl... Tobias Smollett 1721, Mar 19 1748 1771 1771, Sep 17 a Scottish poet and author. He was best known for his picaresque novels, such as The Adventures o... Walter Gale unknown 1750 1771 unknown the first schoolmaster of the Mayfield Charity School in Mayfield, East Sussex, now the Mayfield ... Thomas Nugent 1700 ca 1749 1772 1772, Apr 27 an erudite Irish historian and travel writer. Today he is known most of all for his travelogue of... John Woolman 1720, Oct 19 1755 1772 1772, Oct 7 a North American merchant, tailor, journalist, and itinerant Quaker preacher, and an early abolit... Junius unknown 1769 1772 unknown the pseudonym of a writer who contributed a series of letters to the Public Advertiser, from 21 J... James Ferguson [3] 1710, Apr 25 1720 1773 1776, Nov 17 a Scottish astronomer, instrument and globe maker. It is, as the inventor and improver of astron... Oliver Goldsmith [1] 1728, Nov 10 1756 1774 1774, Apr 4 an Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield... Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712, Jun 28 1739 1776 1778, Jul 2 a philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th century. His political philosophy influenced the ... Voltaire 1694, Nov 21 1713 1778 1778, May 30 a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the ... Robert Rogers 1731, Nov 7 1746 1779 1795, May 18 an American colonial frontiersman. Rogers served in the British army during both the French and I... Thomas Edwards [4] 1729 1751 1779 1785 an Anglican clergyman and divine. In 1759 Edwards published The Doctrine of Irresistible Grace pr... George Andrews unknown 1770 1779 unknown a barrister-at-law. Andrews published reports of cases argued in the court of King's Bench during... M.D.T. Bienville unknown 1770 1779 unknown an obscure French doctor, he wrote the first full-length study abount nymphomania, entitled Nymph... Sophia Briscoe unknown 1770 1779 unknown an 18th-century English novelist. Little is known of her life. Briscoe was the author of the epis... Phillis Wheatley 1753 1773 1779 1784 the first published African-American female poet. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery ... Constantin Christian Dedekind 1628, Apr 2 1652 178 1715 a German poet, dramatist, librettist, composer and bass singer of the Baroque era. His 1657 songb... Hemmou Talb unknown 1760 1780 unknown a Moroccan poet from the 18th century writing in Berber (Tashelhit). His nickname was bab n umarg... Jose Francisco de Isla 1703, Apr 24 1722 1781 1781, Nov 2 a Spanish Jesuit, celebrated as a preacher and a humorist and satirist of the stamp of Miguel de ... Samuel Johnson [2] 1709, Sep 18 1744 1781 1784, Dec 13 an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moral... John Witherspoon 1723, Feb 5 1745 1781 1794, Nov 15 a Scots Presbyterian minister and a signatory of the United States Declaration of Independence a... Denis Diderot 1713, Oct 5 1743 1782 1784, Jul 31 a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment... Cesar-Francois Cassini de Thury 1714, Jun 17 1735 1784 1784, Sep 4 a French astronomer and cartographer. His chief works are: La méridienne de l’Observatoire ... Henry Alline 1748, Jun 14 1776 1784 1784, Feb 2 minister, evangelist, and writer, who became known as "The Apostle of Nova Scotia". Born at Newpo... Benjamin Calau 1724 1743 1785 1785 a German portrait painter, who used an encaustic technique. He painted some portraits for Johann ... Patience Wright 1725 1770 1785 1786, Mar 23 the first recognized American-born sculptor. She chiefly created wax figures of people. She loved... Rudjer Boscovich 1711, May 18 1740 1786 1787, Feb 13 a Ragusan physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit p... Carl Wilhelm Scheele 1742, Dec 9 1757 1786 1786, May 21 a Swedish Pomeranian and pharmaceutical chemist. Isaac Asimov called him "hard-luck Scheele" bec... Jupiter Hammon 1711, Oct 17 1760 1786 1806 ca a black poet who in 1761 became the first African-American writer to be published in the present-... Maurycy Beniowski 1746, Sep 20 1762 1786 1786, May 23 a Hungarian nobleman of Polish and Hungarian ancestry. He was an explorer, writer, the self-decla... Robert Nugent 1709 1739 1788 1788, Oct 13 an Irish politician and poet. He was tersely described by Richard Glover as a jovial and voluptuo... Benjamin Franklin 1705, Jan 6 1718 1789 1790, Apr 17 one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading aut... Adam Smith 1723, Jun 5 1748 1789 1790, Jul 17 a Scottish economist, philosopher, and author. He was a moral philosopher, a pioneer of political... Ethan Allen 1737, Jan 10 1757 1789 1789, Feb 12 a farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, lay theologian, and American Revolut... Isaac Alexander unknown 1770 1789 unknown a German author. He lived in South Germany in the second half of the 18th century, and wrote on p... John Ledyard 1751, Nov 1770 1789 1789, Jan 10 an American explorer and adventurer. In June 1776, Ledyard joined Captain James Cook's third and ... Mohammed al-Haik unknown 1780 1789 unknown a Moroccan poet, musician and author of a songbook (el-kunash) comprising eleven nubas, that had ... Abraham Brook unknown 1780 1789 unknown an English bookseller in Norwich, now remembered as an experimental physicist, working with elect... Aaron ben Isaac of Rechnitz unknown 1780 1789 unknown the author of a midrashic commentary on the Bible, the first portion of which (Genesis) was publi... James Bruce 1730, Dec 14 1762 1790 1794, Apr 27 a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethi... Phebe Gibbes unknown 1764 1790 1805 an 18th-century English novelist and early feminist. She authored twenty-two books between 1764 a... Robert Burns 1759, Jan 25 1775 1790 1796, Jul 21 a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celeb... Francis Hopkinson 1737, Sep 21 1761 1791 1791, May 9 designed the first official American flag. He was an author, a composer, and one of the signers o... Carl Michael Bellman 1740, Feb 4 1768 1791 1795, Feb 11 a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swe... George Whatley unknown 1772 1791 unknown a contemporary, friend and correspondent of Benjamin Franklin. He was also Vice-President (1772-1... John Burgoyne 1722, Feb 24 1743 1792 1792, Aug 4 a British army officer, politician and dramatist. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War... George Mason 1725, Nov 30 1747 1792 1792, Oct 7 a Virginia planter and politician, and a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, ... Henry Emlyn 1729 1781 1795 1815, Dec 10 an English architect. Emlyn published A Proposition for a new Order in Architecture, with rules f... Sir William Chambers 1723, Feb 23 1740 1796 1796, Mar 10 a Scottish-Swedish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, Lon... Horace Walpole 1717, Sep 24 1737 1797 1797, Mar 2 an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill... Giacomo Casanova 1725, Apr 2 1742 1797 1798, Jun 4 an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma v... Benjamin Banneker 1731, Nov 9 1753 1797 1806, Oct 9 a free African American almanac author, surveyor, naturalist and farmer. His knowledge of astrono... Ashley Bowen 1728, Jan 8 1741 1799 1813 the first American sailor to write an autobiography. Although Bowen's career as a sailor was not ... John Andree unknown 1780 1799 unknown an English surgeon. Andree published several books, chiefly on surgical subjects. Through not bei... Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson 1737, Feb 3 1764 1801 1801, Feb 23 an American poet and writer; her main literary project was the translation of Telemachus from the... Eliza Bromley unknown 1784 1803 unknown an English novelist and translator. Nothing is really known about the details of her life. Mrs B... Thomas Paine [2] 1736, Jan 29 1761 1804 1809, Jun 8 an English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. One of... Friedrich Schiller 1759, Nov 10 1781 1804 1805, May 9 a German poet, philosopher, physician, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years... Mercy Otis Warren 1728, Sep 14 1765 1805 1814, Oct 19 a political writer and propagandist of the American Revolution. In the eighteenth century, topics... Jacob Bailey 1731, Apr 16 1755 1808 1808, Jul 26 an author and clergyman of the Church of England, active in New England and Nova Scotia. Bailey w... Xosefa Xovellanos 1745, Jun 4 1740 1809 1807 the younger sister of Asturian politician illustrated Gaspar Melchor de Xovellanos and prominent ... Joseph Quesnel 1746, Nov 15 1766 1809 1809, Jul 2/3 a French Canadian composer, poet, and playwright. Among his works were two operas, Colas et Co... William Batt 1744, Jun 18 1770 1809 1812, Feb 9 an English physician, chemist, and botanist. On completing his studies he returned to England, bu... Jean-Dominique Cassini 1748 Jun 30 1768 1810 1845, Oct 18 a French astronomer, he succeeded his father as director of the observatory. He published in 177... Louis Antoine de Bougainville 1729, Nov 12 1753 1811 1811, Aug 31 a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of the British explorer James Cook, he took part in... Paul Revere 1734, Dec 21 1756 1811 1818, May 10 an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and a Patriot in the American Revolution.... Joel Barlow 1754, Mar 24 1778 1812 1812, Dec 26 an American poet and diplomat, and French politician. In politics, he supported the French Revolu... Shneur Zalman of Liadi 1745, Sep 4 1780 1812 1812, Dec 15 an Orthodox Rabbi, and the founder and first (Lubavitcher) Rebbe of Chabad (1780–1812), a branc... Samuel Bard 1742, Apr 1 1765 1813 1821, May 24 an American physician who founded the first medical school in New York City and the second medica... Samuel Osgood 1747, Feb 3 1771 1813 1813, Aug 12 an American merchant and statesman born in Andover, Massachusetts, currently a part of North Ando... Alexander Cumming 1733 1750 1814 1814, Mar 8 a Scottish watchmaker and instrument inventor, who was the first to patent a design of the flush ... David Ramsay 1749, Apr 2 1773 1815 1815, May 8 an American physician, public official, and historian from Charleston, South Carolina. He was one... Friedrich Maximilian Klinger 1752, Feb 17 1773 1817 1831, Feb 25 a German dramatist and novelist. His play Sturm und Drang (1776) gave name to the Sturm und Drang... Nathan Drake 1766, Jan 15 1780 1817 1836 an English essayist and physician. Drake was apprenticed to a doctor in York in 1780, and in 1786... Jane Austen 1775, Dec 16 1787 1817 1817, Jul 18 an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a pl... Anne Seymour Damer 1749, Nov 8 1784 1818 1828, May 28 an English sculptor and novelist. During the period 1784–1818, Damer exhibited 32 works as an h... Jacob Axelsson Lindblom 1746, Jul 27 1779 1819 1819, Feb 15 a Swedish scholar who eventually became archbishop of Uppsala for the Lutheran Swedish Church, a ... Henry Fuseli 1741, Feb 7 1761 1820 1825, Apr 17 a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his... Moses Hoge 1752, Feb 15 1787 1820 1820, Jul 5 a Presbyterian minister and educator. He served as the sixth President of Hampden–Sydney Colleg... Joaquim Machado de Castro 1731, Jun 19 1770 1822 1822, Nov 17 one of Portugal's foremost sculptors, and a celebrated figure throughout Europe in the eighteenth... Thomas Jefferson 1743, Apr 2 1767 1824 1826, Jul 4 an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and ... Hannah Adams 1755, Oct 2 1784 1824 1831, Dec 15 an American author of books on comparative religion and early United States history. She was born... William Hull 1753, Jun 24 1775 1825 1825, Nov 29 an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolution and was appointed as Gov... Claude Henri de Rouvroy 1760, Oct 17 1779 1825 1825, May 19 a French political and economic theorist and businessperson whose thought played a substantial ro... Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749, Mar 23 1771 1827 1827, Mar 5 an influential French scholar whose work was important to the development of mathematics, statist... Franz Xaver von Zach 1754, Jun 4 1780 1827 1832, Sep 2 a Hungarian astronomer born in Pest, Hungary. Zach published Tables of the Sun (Gotha, 179... William Maclure 1763, Oct 27 1782 1827 1840, Mar 23 an Americanized Scottish geologist, cartographer and philanthropist. He is known as the 'father o... Luigi Romanelli 1751, Jul 21 1785 1828 1839, Mar 1 an Italian opera librettist. Romanelli was born in Rome. He wrote tens of librettos, most of them... Hannah Webster Foster 1758, Sep 10 1770 1829 1840, Apr 17 an American novelist. Her epistolary novel, The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton ... Jonathan Swift 1667, Nov 30 1690 183 1745, Oct 19 an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Torie... Richard Allen [2] 1760, Feb 14 1777 1831 1831, Mar 26 a minister, educator, writer, and one of America's most active and influential black leaders. In ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749, Aug 28 1770 1832 1832, Mar 22 a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a varie... William Dunlap 1766, Feb 19 1783 1834 1839, Sep 28 a pioneer of American theater. He was a producer, playwright, and actor, as well as a historian. ... Christian Heinrich Nebbien 1778 1783 1839 1841 a German-born landscaping architect, mainly active in Austria. He also wrote a book on the metho... Edmund Fanning [2] 1769, Jul 16 1773 1841 1841, Apr 23 an American explorer and sea captain, known as the "Pathfinder of the Pacific." As master of the ... Noah Webster 1758, Oct 16 1781 1843 1843, May 28 an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer... William Wordsworth 1770, Apr 7 1787 1847 1850, Apr 23 a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Ag... Charles Hamilton Smith 1776, Dec 26 1787 1859 1859, Sep 21 an English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, soldier, and spy. His military career bega... Rebecca Hammond Lard 1772, Mar 7 1786 194 1855, Sep 28 called by some critics "the first poet in Indiana". Her poetry reflects on the lives of the early...
