Note : This site uses Javascript extensively. While you will still be able to read articles, it is recommended you turn on Javascript for your browser. CLICK HERE if you are unsure how to do that...
Writers born active died
1667, Nov 30 1690s-1740s 1745, Oct 19
an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He is regarded as the foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms or anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
125
Writers
Category -all- Architects Artists Astronomers Cartographers Clergy Commerce Composers Educators Explorers Governance Inventors Legal Military Naval Performers Physicians Pirates Scientists Sculptors Writers Nationality -all- Austria Croatia Denmark England France Germany India Ireland Italy Japan Netherlands Ottoman Empire Poland Russia Scotland Serbia Spain Sweden Ukraine United States Wales
Sort Name Nationality Born Active Died Selected 125
Jonathan Swift 1667, Nov 30 1690
1745, Oct 19 1745, Oct 19
Michael Wigglesworth 1631 1651 1691 1705 a Puritan minister, doctor and poet whose poem The Day of Doom was a bestseller in early N... Samuel Pepys 1633, Feb 23 1655 1691 1703, May 26 an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most well known for the diary ... John Evelyn 1620, Oct 31 1640 1694 1706, Feb 27 an English writer, gardener and diarist. Evelyn's diaries, or memoirs, are largely contemporaneou... Matsuo Basho 1644 1662 1694 1694 the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bash? was recognized for hi... Daibhidh O Duibhgheannain unknown 1651 1696 unknown an active Iriish scribe, compiler and poet between the years 1651 and 1696. In the earliest of hi... Edward Phillips 1630, Aug 1651 1696 1696 ca an English author. His most important work is Theatrum poetarum (1675), a list of the chie... Marie de Rabutin-Chantal 1626, Feb 5 1651 1696 1696, Apr 17 a French aristocrat, remembered for her letter-writing. Most of her letters, celebrated for their... Robert Anderson unknown 1668 1696 unknown an English mathematician and silk-weaver. He wrote articles and books devoting special attention... William Wycherley 1641 ca 1659 1697 1716, Jan 1 an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife ... Gaspar Sanz 1640 1660 1697 1710 an Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the ... Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin 1645 1669 1697 1707 a French, Dutch or Flemish writer best known as the author of one of the most important sourceboo... Thomas Neale 1641 1664 1698 1699 an English project-manager and politician who was also the first person to hold a position equiva... John Fryer 1650 ca 1671 1698 1733, Mar 31 an English doctor and Fellow of the Royal Society, now best remembered for his descriptions of tr... Joan Baptista Aguilar unknown 1655 1699 1714 a dramatic author and poet who lived in Valencia, Spain from his birth until his death in 1714. I... Reuben Bourne unknown 1690 1699 unknown an English dramatist. Bourne belonged to the Middle Temple, and left behind him a comedy which ha... Richard Duckworth unknown 1690 1699 unknown an English campanologist. Duckworth, a native of Leicestershire, is probably identical with the R... Henry Higden 1645 1690 1699 unknown an English poet and dramatist. Higden was a Yorkshireman, and a member of the Middle Temple. He i... Carlo Giuseppe Imbonati unknown 1690 1699 unknown a Cistercian scholar who was active during the last half of the 17th century. He spent much of hi... John Ayres unknown 1680 1700 unknown an English author, scribe and publisher. About 1680 he commenced the execution and publication of... William Bradshaw [2] unknown 1700 1700 unknown a British hack writer. Not much is known about his life. Bradshaw was originally educated for the... Jacques-Benigne Bossuet 1627, Sep 27 1643 1701 1704, Apr 12 a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been conside... Roger L'Estrange 1616, Dec 17 1639 1702 1704, Dec 11 an English pamphleteer, author and staunch defender of Royalist claims. L'Estrange was involved i... Philipp Spener 1635, Jan 13 1653 1702 1705, Feb 5 a German Christian theologian known as the "Father of Pietism." Highly influenced by Johann Arndt... John Locke 1632, Aug 29 1660 1704 1704, Oct 28 an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlighten... Estephan El Douaihy 1630, Aug 2 1670 1704 1704, May 3 He was the 57th Patriarch of the Maronite Church from 1670 to 1704. He is considered one of the m... Sarah Kemble Knight 1666, Apr 19 1704 1705 1727, Sep 25 a teacher and businesswoman, who is remembered for a brief diary of a journey from Boston, Massac... Charles Montagu 1661, Apr 16 1683 1706 1715, May 19 an English poet and statesman. In 1685, Montagu's verses on the death of King Charles II made suc... Thomas Edwards [3] 1652 1685 1707 1721 a Welsh divine and orientalist. Edwards was born at Llanllèchid, near Bangor, Carnarvonshire, in... Jacques de la Faye unknown 1690 1709 unknown a 17th-18th century French writer whose Defensio Religionis (&Defense of Religion') a 251-page cr... Gangadhara Vajapeyi unknown 1700 1709 unknown a great vedic scholar of the Krishna Yajurveda from Thiruvalangadu in Thanjavur district of Tamil... Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux 1636, Nov 1 1656 1711 1711, Mar 13 a French poet and critic. Boileau did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, as Bla... Francisco de Artiga 1650 1670 1711 1711 an engraver, an architect, a mathematician, and an author of reputation. He painted several 'Siby... John Lawson 1674, Dec 27 1700 1711 1711, Sep 16 an English explorer, naturalist and writer. He played an important role in exploring the interior... Haquin Spegel 1645, Jun 14 1670 1714 1714, Apr 17 a religious author and hymn writer who held several bishop's seats for the Lutheran Swedish Churc... Samuel Garth 1661 1691 1714 1719, Jan 18 an English physician and poet. In 1697 he delivered the Harveian Oration , in which he advo... William Congreve [1] 1670, Jan 24 1692 1714 1729, Jan 19 an English playwright and poet. William Congreve is seen as the man who shaped the English comedy... William Dampier 1651, Sep 1673 1715 1715, Mar the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumn... Karen Brahe 1657, Dec 1 1683 1717 1736, Sep 27 a Danish aristocrat and book-collector. Karen became an able administrator of her father's estate... Naphtali Cohen 1649 1690 1718 1718 a Russo-German rabbi and kabalist born in Ostrowo in Ukraine. He belonged to a family of rabbis i... Thomas Parnell 1679, Sep 11 1705 1718 1718, Oct 24 an Anglo-Irish poet and clergyman who was a friend of both Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. He... Seamus O Fearghail unknown 1711 1718 unknown an Irish poet and scribe, fl. 1711-1718. Paul Walsh (priest) wrote of him in 1920:
"James O Farr... Samuel Schotten 1644 1685 1719 1719, Jul 5 He became Rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1685. Shmuel Schotten HaCohen was born ... Joseph Addison 1672, May 1 1693 1719 1719, Jun 17 an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of The Reverend Lanc... Willem Sewel 1653, Apr 1668 1720 1720, Mar a Dutch Quaker historian, of English background. He was son of Jacob Williamson Sewel, a free cit... Thomas d'Urfey 1653 1676 1720 1723, Feb 26 an English writer and wit. He composed plays, songs, and poetry, in addition to writing jokes. He... Pierre Daniel Huet 1630, Feb 8 1651 1721 1721, Jan 26 a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Academie du Physiq... Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach 1656, Jul 20 1671 1723 1723, Apr 5 an Austrian architect, sculptor, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundl... Richard Boulton unknown 1697 1724 unknown a physician and author from England. Boulton was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and for s... Richard Steele 1672, Mar 1697 1724 1729, Sep 1 an Irish writer and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the... Isaac Newton 1642, Dec 25 1665 1726 1726, Mar 20 an English physicist and mathematician (described in his own day as a "natural philosopher") who ... Cotton Mather 1663, Feb 12 1685 1726 1728, Feb 13 a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphle... George Sewell unknown 1713 1726 1726 an English physician and poet, known as a controversialist and hack-writer. In early life Sewell ... Richard Blackmore 1654, Jan 22 1682 1727 1729, Oct 9 an English poet and physician, is remembered primarily as the object of satire and as an example ... Daniel Defoe 1660 ca 1697 1728 1731, Apr an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy, most famous for his novel Robinso... David Nieto 1654 1702 1728 1728, Jan 10 the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in London, later succeeded in this capac... Colen Campbell 1676, Jun 15 1712 1729 1729, Sep 13 a pioneering Scottish architect and architectural writer, credited as a founder of the Georgian s... Samuel Izacke of Devon unknown 1720 1729 unknown a Chamberlain of the City of Exeter and an antiquarian. He was the son of Richard Izacke (c.1624â... Captain Charles Johnson unknown 1720 1729 unknown the British author of the 1724 book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most n... Seon Mac Solaidh unknown 1720 1729 unknown an Irish poet and scribe. A native of Harmanstown, parish of Stackallen, County Meath, Paul Walsh... Sean O Cathain unknown 1720 1729 unknown an Irish scribe.
Little is known of Ó Catháin. He transcribed Trà Biorghaoithe an Bháis – ... Laurence Eusden 1688, Sep 1711 1730 1730, Sep 27 an English poet who became Poet Laureate in 1718. Eusden, who was thirty years-old at the time of... Matthew Tindal 1657 1678 1733 1733, Aug 16 an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, ... John Arbuthnot 1667, Apr 1685 1735 1735, Feb 27 a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contribution... William Wake 1657, Jan 26 1716 1737 1737, Jan 24 a priest and Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1716 until his death in 1737.... Alexander Pope 1688, May 21 1709 1738 1744, May 30 an 18th-century English poet. He is best known for his satirical verse, as well as for his transl... Tobias Fitch unknown 1720 1739 unknown wrote a journal of his mission from Charleston to the Creeks. Succeeded Colonel Chicken as Indian... John Bowack unknown 1730 1739 unknown a British topographer, for many years a writing-master at Westminster School. In 1705-6, when liv... George England unknown 1730 1739 unknown an English divine and author. England was a member of the England family which flourished at Yarm... John Zenger 1697, Oct 26 1730 1739 1746, Jul 28 a German American printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly ... Hristofor Zhefarovich 1690 ca 1730 1739 1753 an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of Pan-Slavism. His na... Jethro Tull 1674 1693 1740 1741, Feb 21 an English agricultural pioneer from Berkshire who helped bring about the British Agricultural Re... John Adams [1] 1704 1728 1740 1740, Jan an American poet. Adams was distinguished for his intellect and piety. As a preacher he was much ... Melchior de Polignac 1661, Oct 11 1683 1742 1742, Nov 20 a French diplomat, Cardinal and neo-Latin poet. During the last years of Louis XIV, Abbé de Poli... John Atkins 1685 1703 1742 1757 a British Royal naval surgeon. Atkins published two books, both of which have had more than one e... Richard Tipper unknown 1709 1742 unknown an Irish scribe. Richard Tipper lived at Mitchelstown, parish of Castleknock, County Dublin. He l... Alain-Rene Lesage 1668, May 6 1695 1743 1747, Nov 17 a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two ... Eric Benzelius the Younger 1675, Jan 7 1742 1743 1743, Sep 23 a priest, theologian, librarian, bishop of Linköping, 1731-1742 and Archbishop of Uppsala, Swede... Charlotte-Catherine Patin 1672 ca 1683 1744 1744 a 17th- and 18th-century French writer and art critic. Granddaughter of medical doctor and letter... Jonathan Richardson 1667, Jan 12 1715 1745 1745, May 28 an English artist, collector of drawings, and writer on art, working almost entirely as a portrai... John Potter 1674 ca 1737 1747 1747, Oct 10 the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Church of England from 1737-1747. He was the son of a linen... Gavril Stefanovic Venclovic unknown 1680 1749 unknown a Serbian priest, writer, poet, orator, philosopher, and illuminator. He was one of the first and... Johann Heinrich Zedler 1706, Jan 7 1727 1749 1751, Mar 21 a bookseller and publisher. His most important achievement was the creation of a German encyclope... Thomas Cannon unknown 1740 1749 unknown an English author of the 18th century. He wrote what may be the earliest published defence of hom... William Barrowby 1682 1718 1751 1758, Dec 30 an English physician. Barrowby was born in London, the son of John Barrowby, a physician. He was ... John Wood the Elder 1704 1725 1754 1754, May 23 an English architect, working mainly in Bath. In 1740 he surveyed Stonehenge and the Stanton Drew... Henry Fielding 1707, Apr 22 1728 1754 1754, Oct 8 an English novelist and dramatist best known for his rich, earthy humour and satirical prowess, a... Allan Ramsay [1] 1686 1712 1755 1758 a Scottish poet (or makar), playwright, publisher, librarian and wig-maker. As a pastoral writer ... Aaron Hart 1670 1692 1756 1756 the first chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and the rabbi of the Great Synagogue of London from 1... Simon Awad 1683 1708 1756 1756, Feb 12 the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1743 to his death in 1756, remembered as an Arab writer. I... Samuel Richardson 1689, Aug 19 1706 1758 1761, Jul 4 an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: ... James Ralph 1705 1724 1758 1762, Jan 24 an American born English political writer, historian, reviewer, and Grub Street hack writer known... Pope Benedict XIV 1675, Mar 31 1740 1758 1758, May 3 Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1740 until his death in1758. Perhaps one of the greatest s... Alexander Volck unknown 1740 1759 unknown the city scribe for the Wetteravian town of Büdingen in Hesse, Germany during the mid 18th centu... 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... 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, ... 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... 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... 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 ... 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... 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 ... Benjamin Calau 1724 1743 1785 1785 a German portrait painter, who used an encaustic technique. He painted some portraits for Johann ... Rudjer Boscovich 1711, May 18 1740 1786 1787, Feb 13 a Ragusan physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit p... 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... 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... 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... 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 ... Xosefa Xovellanos 1745, Jun 4 1740 1809 1807 the younger sister of Asturian politician illustrated Gaspar Melchor de Xovellanos and prominent ...
