the Holy Roman Empire is contested widely because she is a woman, but she will reign for 40 years. November 6 – Samuel Richardson's popular and influential epistolary novel, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, is published anonymously in London. November 14 – The University of Pennsylvania is officially established. December 16 – Frederick II of Prussia invades the Habsburg possession of Silesia, starting the War of the Austrian Succession. Date unknown Enfield, North Carolina, is founded. Spain begins construction on Fort Matanzas in the Matanzas Inlet, approximately south of St. Augustine, Florida. Births February 4 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet, composer (d. 1795) February 15 – Juan Andrés, Spanish Jesuit (d. 1817) February 16 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (d. 1813) February 17 – John Sullivan, American General in the American Revolutionary War, delegate in the Continental Congress (d. 1795) March – Johann van Beethoven, German musician, father of Ludwig van Beethoven (d. 1792) March 16 – Johann Jacob Schweppe, German-born inventor, founder of the Schweppes Company (d. 1821) April 7 – Haym Salomon, Polish-Jewish American financier of the American Revolution (d. 1785) April 14 – Anna Strong, Patriot spy during the American Revolutionary War (d. 1812) May 7 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian police chief (d. 1814) June 2 – Marquis de Sade, French author, for whom sadism is named (d. 1814) June 24 – Juan Ignacio Molina, Spanish-Chilean Jesuit priest, naturalist, historian, translator, geographer, botanist, ornithologist and linguist (d. 1829) June 27 – James Woodforde, English clergyman and diarist (d. 1803) July 27 – Jeanne Baré, French explorer (d. 1803) August 23 – Emperor Ivan VI of Russia (d. 1764) August 26 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French inventor (d. 1810) September 12 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German writer (d. 1817) September 23 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813) September 25 – Hercules Mulligan, tailor and spy during the American Revolutionary War (d. 1825) October 29 – James Boswell, Scottish author (d. 1795) October 31 – Philip James de Loutherbourg, English artist (d. 1812) December – Elisabeth Olin, Swedish opera singer (d. 1828) Date unknown Ali Pasha of Ioannina, Albanian ruler (d. 1822) Margaret Bingham, Countess of Lucan, born Margaret Smith, English portrait miniature painter and writer (d. 1814) John Milton, American politician and officer of the Continental Army (d. 1817) (earliest estimated date of birth) Septimanie d'Egmont, French salonist (d. 1773) Deaths January – Louise Élisabeth de