Events Jippensha Ikku begins work on the first of the satirical novels, Shank's Mare New Books The Accusing Spirit - Mary Pilkington Astonishment - Francis Lathom The Baron's Daughter - Isabella Kelly Belinda - Maria Edgeworth Delphine - Anne Louise Germaine de Stael The Farmer's Boy - Elizabeth Gunning The Genius of Christianity - François-René de Chateaubriand The History of the Grubthorpe Family - Rachel Hunter Independence - Mary Meeke Justina - Harriet Ventum Midnight Weddings - Mary Meeke René - François-René de Chateaubriand The Rules of the Forest - Susannah Oakes The Soldiers of Dierenstein - Elizabeth Craven Warkfiefld Castle - Jane Harvey The White Knight - Theodore Melville Births January 9 - Catharine Parr Traill, author (+ 1899) February 11 - Lydia Child, author (+ 1880) February 26 - Victor Hugo, author (+ 1885) June 12 - Harriet Martineau, British writer (+ 1876 July 10 - Robert Chambers, Scottish writer, publisher (+ 1871) July 24 - Alexandre Dumas, père, novelist (+ 1870) December 23 - Sara Coleridge, author, daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Deaths April 18 - Erasmus Darwin, poet, grandfather of Charles Darwin Awards