1690 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1690 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- December 10 - Playwright Henry Nevil PayneHenry Nevil PayneHenry Nevil Payne was a dramatist and agitator for the Roman Catholic cause in Scotland and England. He wrote The Fatal Jealousie , The Morning Ramble , and The Siege of Constantinople . After he finished writing plays, he was heavily involved in the Montgomery Plot in 1689, and was captured and...
is tortured for his role in the "Montgomery Plot" to restore James IIJames II of EnglandJames II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
to the throne — the last time a political prisoner is subjected to torture in Britain. - Colley CibberColley CibberColley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
becomes an actor with the Drury LaneDrury LaneDrury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
company.
New books
- Nicholas BarbonNicholas BarbonNicholas If-Jesus-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebon who traded as Nicholas Barbon was an English economist, physician and financial speculator. He is counted among the critics of mercantilism and was one of the first proponents of the free market...
- A Discourse of Trade. - Pierre BaylePierre BaylePierre Bayle was a French philosopher and writer best known for his seminal work the Historical and Critical Dictionary, published beginning in 1695....
(attr.) - Avis important aux refugies. - Sir Thomas BrowneThomas BrowneSir Thomas Browne was an English author of varied works which reveal his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric....
- A Letter to a FriendA Letter to a FriendA Letter to a Friend , by the 17th century philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne is a medical treatise of case-histories and witty speculations upon the human condition.-External links:*...
(published posthumously). - John LockeJohn LockeJohn Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
- An Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingAn Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingFirst appearing in 1690 with the printed title An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke concerns the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. He describes the mind at birth as a blank slate filled later through experience...
. - Samuel PepysSamuel PepysSamuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
- Memoires of the Navy. - Baro UrbigerusBaro UrbigerusBaro or Baru Urbigerus was a seventeenth century writer on alchemy. He is known for his Aphorismi Urbigerani This collection of 100 aphorisms claims to set out completely the theory of the alchemical work, the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone. A shorter collection of 31 aphorisms, contained...
- Aphorismi Urbigerani
New drama
- John Bancroft - King Edward III, with the Fall of Mortimer, Earl of March
- Aphra BehnAphra BehnAphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
- The Widow Ranter (published posthumously) - Thomas BettertonThomas BettertonThomas Patrick Betterton , English actor, son of an under-cook to King Charles I, was born in London.-Apprentice and actor:...
- The Prophetess, or The History of DioclesianDioclesianDioclesian is a tragicomic semi-opera in five acts by Henry Purcell to a libretto by Thomas Betterton based on the play The Prophetess, by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, which in turn was based very loosely on the life of the Emperor Diocletian. It was premiered in late May 1690 at the...
(adapted from FletcherJohn Fletcher (playwright)John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
and MassingerPhilip MassingerPhilip Massinger was an English dramatist. His finely plotted plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.-Early life:The son of Arthur Massinger or Messenger, he was baptized at St....
's The Prophetess; with music by Henry PurcellHenry PurcellHenry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
) - Edmé BoursaultEdmé BoursaultEdmé Boursault was a French dramatist and miscellaneous writer, born at Mussy l'Evéque, now Mussy-sur-Seine ....
- Esope à la ville - Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of OrreryRoger Boyle, 1st Earl of OrreryRoger Boyle redirects here. For others of this name, see Roger Boyle Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery was a British soldier, statesman and dramatist. He was the third surviving son of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Richard's second wife, Catherine Fenton. He was created Baron of Broghill on...
- Mr. Anthony published - John CrowneJohn CrowneJohn Crowne was a British dramatist and a native of Nova Scotia.His father "Colonel" William Crowne, accompanied the earl of Arundel on a diplomatic mission to Vienna in 1637, and wrote an account of his journey...
- The English Friar, or the Town Sparks - John DrydenJohn DrydenJohn Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
- Amphitryon, or the Two SosiasAmphitryon (Dryden)Amphitryon is an English language comedy by John Dryden which is based on Molière's 1668 play of the same name which was in turn based on the story of the Greek mythological character Amphitryon as told by Plautus in his play from ca. 190-185 B.C. Dryden's play, which focuses on themes of sexual...
- Don Sebastian
- Amphitryon, or the Two Sosias
- George Powell
- Alphonso, King of Naples
- The Treacherous Brothers
- Elkanah SettleElkanah SettleElkanah Settle was an English poet and playwright.He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, Cambyses, King of Persia, was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1667...
- Distress'd Innocence, or The Princess of Persia - Thomas ShadwellThomas ShadwellThomas Shadwell was an English poet and playwright who was appointed poet laureate in 1689.-Life:Shadwell was born at Stanton Hall, Norfolk, and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and...
- The Scourers - Thomas SoutherneThomas SoutherneThomas Southerne , Irish dramatist, was born at Oxmantown, near Dublin, in 1660, and entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1676. Two years later he was entered at the Middle Temple, London....
- Sir Anthony Love - "W. C." - The Rape Reveng'd, or the Spanish Revolution (adapted from William Rowley's All's Lost by LustAll's Lost by LustAll's Lost by Lust is a Jacobean tragedy by William Rowley. A "tragedy of remarkable frankness and effectiveness," "crude and fierce," it was written between 1618 and 1620.-Publication:...
)
Births
- February 3 - Richard RawlinsonRichard RawlinsonRichard Rawlinson FRS was an English clergyman and antiquarian collector of books and manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford.-Life:...
, collector of manuscripts and curiosities (died 1755) - September 12 - Peter DensPeter DensPeter Dens was a Flemish Roman Catholic theologianHe was born at Boom near Antwerp. Most of his life was spent in the archiepiscopal college of Mechelen, where he was for twelve years reader in theology and for forty president...
, Belgian Catholic theologian (died 1775)
Deaths
- May 12 - John RushworthJohn RushworthJohn Rushworth , English historian, was born at Acklington Park in the parish of Warkworth, Northumberland, England. He compiled a series of works called Historical Collections , concerning the period of history covering the English Civil Wars throughout the 17th century.-Background:John Rushworth...
, author of Historical Collections (born c.1612) - October 3 - Robert BarclayRobert BarclayRobert Barclay was a Scottish Quaker, one of the most eminent writers belonging to the Religious Society of Friends and a member of the Clan Barclay. He was also governor of the East Jersey colony in North America through most of the 1680s, although he himself never resided in the...
, Quaker writer (born c.1648) - date unknown - Franciscus PlanteFranciscus PlanteFranciscus Plante was a Dutch poet and chaplain.Plante studied theology at Oxford. In October 1636 he traveled as personal chaplain with John Maurice of Nassau to the Dutch colony in Brazil, returning together in 1644...
, poet (born 1613)