* 1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general ( d. 1817 )

* 1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia ( d. 1740 )

* 1740 – Pope Pius VII ( d. 1823 )

* 1740 – Matthias Claudius, German poet ( d. 1815 )

The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, Girolamo Amati, known as Hieronymus II ( February 26, 1649 – February 21, 1740 ).

* 1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English merchant banker ( d. 1810 )

* 1752 – Start of Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in Burmese Civil War ( 1740 – 1757 )

* 1740 – War of Jenkin's Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa.

* 1740 – Samuel Arnold, English composer and organist ( d. 1802 )

* 1652 – Pope Clement XII ( d. 1740 )

In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great ( 1740 – 1786 ), came to power.

( 1739 – 1740 )

Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV ( pope 1740 – 1758 ), a special congregation collected much material for an official revision, but nothing was published.

1710 – 14 October 1740 ) was an Italian singer, harpsichordist, and composer whose works bridge the Baroque and Classical periods.

* 1814 – Marquis de Sade, French writer ( b. 1740 )

* 1740 – Arthur Lee, American diplomat ( d. 1792 )

In 1757, he married Mary ( Polly ) Howard ( 1740 – 1770 ).

Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821 ) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and was elected as a U. S. Congressman for New Jersey following the American Revolutionary War.

* 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal ( b. 1667 )

* 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia ( d. 1740 )

* 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver ( d. 1813 )

The Royal Navy captured a handful of the new French frigates during the War of the Austrian Succession ( 1740 – 1748 ) and were impressed by them, particularly for their inshore handling capabilities.

Frederick William I () ( 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740 ) was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg ( as Frederick William II ) from 1713 until his death.

* 1740 – Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe begins an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine.

* James Boswell ( 1740 – 1795 ) Scottish.

Although a lot across Sixth Street from Independence Hall was offered without cost by James Logan, its owner, the Trustees realized that the building erected in 1740, which was still vacant, would be an even better site.

* Proposals relating to the war in Georgia and Florida, 1740 — a document suggesting strategies by which General James Oglethorpe might defeat the Spanish during the War of Jenkins ' Ear, from the collection of the Georgia Archives.

* James Napper Tandy ( 1740 – 1803 ), member of the Society of United Irishmen

* James Boswell ( 1740 – 1795 ) lawyer, author of Life of Johnson

He was joined shortly thereafter by Spencer Clack ( 1740 – 1832 ) and James McMahan, and a community known as " Forks of the Little Pigeon " developed around them.

Although the first land grant in the area was issued by Lord Fairfax in 1740 it was not until 1764 that Purcellville's first known settler, James Dillon from Buck's County, Pennsylvania, arrived. 1 As might be expected, it would take a road to make a town ; the early ox cart track which wound westward from Leesburg, known later as the " Great Road ," served the purpose.

Brockes ' poetic works were published in a series of nine volumes under the fantastic title Irdisches Vergnügen in Gott ( 1721 – 1748 ); he also translated Giambattista Marini's La Strage degli innocenti ( 1715 ), Alexander Pope's Essay on Man ( 1740 ) and James Thomson's Seasons ( 1745 ).

In 1740, she moved to London and later married James Summs on 6 January 1744.

When he returned in November 1740, tensions were beginning to emerge at Yale between the faculty staff and the students as the staff considered the spiritual enthusiasm of the students, which had been prompted by visiting preachers such as George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, Ebenezer Pemberton and James Davenport, to be excessive.

* James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven ( d. 1740 )

James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven ( died 12 October 1740 ) was the son of James Tuchet, 5th Earl of Castlehaven and his wife Anne Pelson.

* James Tuchet, 6th Earl of Castlehaven ( d. 1740 )

: First recorded performance: possibly on 2 December 1603 at Wilton House in Wiltshire, where a play was performed for James I ; earliest definite performance on 20 December 1740, at Drury Lane.

Samuel Allyne Otis ( son of James Otis, Sr., father of Harrison Gray Otis and brother of prominent revolutionary James Otis, Jr. and America's first female playwright Mercy Otis Warren ), a Delegate from Massachusetts ; born in Barnstable, Barnstable County, Mass., November 24, 1740 ; was graduated from Harvard College in 1759 ; engaged in mercantile pursuits in Boston ; member of the state house of representatives in 1776 ; member of the Board of War in 1776 ; collector of clothing for the Continental Army in 1777 ; member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention ; again a member of the state house of representatives 1784-1787 and elected speaker of the house in 1784 ; Member of the Continental Congress in 1787 and 1788 ; elected Secretary of the United States Senate on April 8, 1789, and served until his death in Washington, D. C., April 22, 1814 ; interment in Congressional Cemetery.

* Maria Karolina Sobieska, ( 1697 – 1740 ) duchesse de Bouillon, daughter of James Louis Sobieski.

James Napper Tandy ( 1740 – August 24, 1803 ), in Ireland, began his career at the Dublin Corporation.

Also following her to America was her brother, William Lee ( 1740 – 1784 ); Nancy Lee, her niece ; James Whittaker ( 1751 – 1787 ), who had been brought up by Mother Ann and was probably related to her ; John Hocknell ( 1723 – 1799 ), who provided the funds for the trip ; his son, Richard ; and James Shepherd and Mary Partington.

* James Cannon ( mathematician ) ( 1740 – 1782 ), Scottish-born mathematician who was one of the principal authors of Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution

James II's papers identified the father as " E. Carlingson " ( according to the copy made by Thomas Carte around 1740 ) or " the Earl of Carlington " ( in the copy by James Macpherson in the 1770s, the independence of which is unclear ).