1768 in literature

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 is established in London.
• *The Theatre Royal, Bath 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.

  New books

Fiction

• John Cleland – The Woman of Honour
• Alexander Dow – 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
• Anonymous – Fumoto no iro

  Children

• Christopher Smart – Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

  Drama

• Isaac Bickerstaffe
• *Lionel and Clarissa
• *The Padlock
• 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
• 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 – 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
• September 4 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat
• November 21 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian

  Deaths

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