1769 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1769. Events January 21 – The first of the Letters of Junius criticising the government appears in the Public Advertiser (London). The identity of Junius remains a mystery, but modern-day scholarly consensus favours Philip Francis. February–April – John Wilkes is expelled from the Parliament of Great Britain three times. May – One of 16-year-old Thomas Chatterton's poems attributed to the imaginary medieval monk "Thomas Rowley" – Elinoure and Juga – first appears in Alexander Hamilton's Town and Country Magazine. This year also Chatterton sends specimens of "Rowley"'s poetry and history The Ryse of Peyncteynge yn Englade to Horace Walpole, who at first offers to print them, but discovering Chatterton's age, rightly considers they may be forgeries and scornfully dismisses him. September 5–7 – English actor-manager David Garrick stages a Shakespeare Jubilee festival in Stratford-upon-Avon (with no performances of Shakespeare's works). On October 14 a version opens at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London as The Jubilee. unknown date Jean-François Ducis stages his version of Shakespeare's Hamlet in Paris. Jean-Jacques Rousseau completes the Confessions New books Fiction Elizabeth Bonhôte – Hortensia, or, The Distressed Wife Frances Brooke – The History of Emily Montague (the first novel written in Canada) Elizabeth Griffith – The Delicate Distress (published together with Richard Griffith – The Gordian Knot) Charles Jenner – The Placid Man Susannah Minifie – The Cottage Nicolas-Edme Rétif – Le Pied de Fanchette Tobias Smollett – The History and Adventures of an Atom William Tooke – The Loves of Othniel and Achsah