Eighteenth-Century Chronology: 1774

This page in the Eighteenth-Century Chronology is maintained by Jack Lynch. Please send suggestions and corrections to jlynch@andromeda.rutgers.edu.

Literature

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
Samuel Johnson and the Thrales travel to North Wales

Theatre

Art

Thomas Rowlandson visits France
Joseph Wright of Derby visits Italy (through 1775) and sees the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Music

Science, Technology, & Medicine

Joseph Priestley and Karl Scheele independently discover oxygen
Mount Vesuvius, neir Pompeii, erupts
J. G. Gahn isolates magnesium
F. A> Mesmer of Austria first uses hypnosis as a medical treatment

Politics & Law

Warren Hastings becomes the first Governor General of India
May: Louis XV of France dies.
Edward Gibbon becomes an MP
The port of Boston is closed
Parliament passes the Quebec Act
The First Continental Congress in Philadelphia
November: A general election
November: Samuel Johnson, The Patriot

Philosophy & Theology

Milestones

May: Death of Louis XV of France
Death of Oliver Goldsmith

Miscellaneous

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