18th century in literature Juvenal’s Third Satire, by Samuel Johnson is published. Like so many poets of the 18th century Johnson sought to breathe new life into his favorite classical author Juvenal. In 1740, Samuel Richardson's "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" is published and Marquis de Sade is born. 1744 1745 1748 1749 1751 1754 1755 1760–1767 Laurence Sterne wrote "Tristram Shandy". 1764 1766 1768 1770 April 7: William Wordsworth is born. 1773 Oliver Goldsmith's play "She Stoops to Conquer", a farce, was performed in London. 1776 The United States Declaration of Independence is created and ratified. 1777 the comedy play "The School for Scandal",
Paris in the 18th century as far away as Saint Petersburg. An important feature of the Paris literary world was the literary salon, where wives of the nobility invited their friends to their homes to hear readings of new books and to discuss literature, and, later in the century, politics. The first famous Paris salon of the 18th century was that of Madame de Lambert in her town house on rue Richelieu in 1710, followed by those of Madames de Tencin, Geoffrin, Du Deffand, d'Épinay, Helvétius, and Necker. The Revolution brought an abrupt end to the literary salons, as the aristocrats were executed or forced