1714 in literature

Events from the year 1714 in literature. Events March – The Scriblerus Club, an informal group of literary friends, includes Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot (at whose London house they meet), Thomas Parnell, Henry St. John and Robert Harley. July 4 – The scholar Antonio Magliabechi bequeaths his personal library to his patron Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to serve as a public library for the city of Florence. In doing so he founds the National Central Library. July 27 – Robert Harley is dismissed as Britain's Lord High Treasurer. August 1 – George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain after the death of Queen Anne. This leads many writers to oppose the new Whig ministry, initiating the rise of Robert Walpole and indictment of Henry St. John. Samuel Garth publishes a poem in praise of Queen Anne; he subsequently becomes royal surgeon and is the first man to be knighted by George I. August 12 – Jonathan Swift writes to Esther Vanhomrigh to tell her he is returning to Ireland. Soon afterwards, she follows. unknown date – Moses ben Avraham Avinu is imprisoned in Halle for printing Hebrew texts with supposedly anti-Christian content, but escapes to Amsterdam. New books Prose Anonymous A Compleat Key to The Dispensary (response to Samuel Garth's 1699 poem) The Court of Atalantis (attributed to Delarivier Manley or possibly John Oldmixon or others) The Ladies Tale (stories) The Ladies Library (ed. Richard Steele) John Arbuthnot A Continuation of the History of the Crown-Inn A Postscript to John Bull Anne Dacier – Des Causes de la corruption du goût (On the Causes of the Corruption of Taste, in defence of Homer) Daniel Defoe – A Secret History of the White-Staff (reporting allegations against Harley) William Diaper – An Imitation of the Seventeenth Epistle of the First Book of Horace Thomas Ellwood – The History of the Life of Thomas Ellwood Laurence Eusden – A Letter to Mr Addison, on the King's Accession to the Throne Sir John Fortescue – The Difference between an Absolute and a Limited Monarchy (written c. 1473) Charles Gildon – A New Rehearsal (an attack on Pope, et al.) Anthony Hamilton – Memoirs of the Life of the Count de Grammont (translation of Abel Boyer) William King et al.