1768 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1768.

Events

 * March – John Wilkes, returning from exile in France, is elected to the Parliament of Great Britain.
 * May 10 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for attacking King George III of Great Britain in print.
 * July 28 – Thomas Gray succeeds Lawrence Brockett as Regis Professor of History at the University of Cambridge.
 * December 12 – Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde, father of Lady Eleanor Butler, inherits Kilkenny Castle in Ireland. This brings about the first meeting of the Ladies of Llangollen.
 * unknown dates
 * John Murray (publisher) is established in London.
 * The Theatre Royal, Bath (Old Orchard Street Theatre) and Theatre Royal, Norwich assume these titles on being granted Royal Patents, making them officially England's only legal provincial theaters.
 * The Leeds Library is founded, becoming the oldest surviving subscription library of its type in Britain.

Fiction

 * John Cleland – The Woman of Honour (attributed)
 * Alexander Dow (translated) – Tales Translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi
 * Voltaire – La Princesse de Babylone
 * José Francisco de Isla – Historia del famoso predicador fray Gerundio de Campazas, alias Zotes (second part)
 * Anonymous – Fumoto no iro (麓の色)

Children

 * Christopher Smart – Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (verse)

Drama

 * Isaac Bickerstaffe
 * Lionel and Clarissa
 * The Hypocrite
 * The Padlock
 * Alexander Dow – Zingis
 * Samuel Foote – The Devil on Two Sticks
 * Oliver Goldsmith – The Good-Natur'd Man
 * John Hoole – Cyrus
 * Hugh Kelly – False Delicacy
 * Arthur Murphy – Zenobia
 * Michel-Jean Sedaine – La gageure imprévue
 * Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg – Ugolino
 * Horace Walpole – The Mysterious Mother (published)
 * William Shakespeare, ed. Edward Capell – Mr. William Shakespeare His Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

Poetry

 * Isaac Hawking Browne – Poems
 * Thomas Gray – Poems
 * Richard Jago – Labour and Genius
 * Edward Jerningham – Amabella
 * Mary Wortley Montagu – Poetical Works
 * Henry James Pye – Elegies
 * Alexander Ross – The Fortunate Shepherdess
 * Christopher Smart – The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
 * William Wilkie – Fables

Non-fiction

 * Abraham Booth – The Reign of Grace
 * James Boswell – An Account of Corsica
 * William Gilpin – An Essay upon Prints, containing remarks upon the principles of picturesque beauty
 * Oliver Goldsmith – The Present State of the British Empire in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia
 * Richard Gough – Anecdotes of British Topography
 * Joseph Priestley – An Essay on the First Principles of Government
 * Tobias Smollett – The Present State of all Nations
 * Laurence Sterne – A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy
 * Gilbert Stuart – An Historical Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of the English Constitution
 * Emanuel Swedenborg – Deliciae Sapientiae de Amore Conjugiali
 * Abraham Tucker (as Edward Search) – The Light of Nature Pursued
 * Horace Walpole – Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III
 * Arthur Young – A Six Weeks' Tour Through the Southern Counties of England and Wales

Births

 * March 22 – Melesina Trench, Irish-born writer and socialite (died 1827)
 * September 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (died 1848
 * November 18 – Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (died 1823)
 * November 21 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (died 1834)

Deaths

 * March 1 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher (born 1694)
 * March 18 – Laurence Sterne, Irish-born novelist and cleric (born 1713)
 * April 9 – Sarah Fielding, English novelist and children's author (born 1710)
 * May 30 – Eggert Ólafsson, Icelandic writer and linguist (drowned, born 1726)
 * July 4 – Willem van Haren, Dutch poet (born 1710)
 * August 20 – Joseph Spence, English memoirist and professor of poetry (born 1699)
 * November 25 – Alexander Russell, Scottish physician and naturalist (born c. 1715)
 * December 20 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (born 1692)