1678 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1678.

Events

*February – English dramatist Thomas Otway, perhaps escaping from an unhappy love affair with his leading actress, obtains a commission in an English regiment serving in the Franco-Dutch War and is sent in July to Flanders.
*February 18 – The first part of English nonconformist John Bunyan's Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', partly written while he was imprisoned for unlicensed preaching, is published in London.
*March – The novel ''La Princesse de Clèves'', presumed to be by Madame de La Fayette, is published in Paris. It is set in 1558–1559 and an early example of a psychological novel.
*November – The English printer Joseph Moxon becomes the first tradesman to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

New books

Prose

* Manuel Ambrosio de Filguera – '
* John Barret – ''The Christian Temper, or, A Discourse Concerning the Nature and Properties of the Graces of Sanctification''
*Jacob Boehme – '', '' (Amsterdam & Frankfurt; contains a portrait of Boehme by N. van Werd)
*John Bunyan – ''The Pilgrim's Progress''
*Ralph Cudworth – ''The True Intellectual System of the Universe''
*Madame de La Fayette (anonymously) – ''La Princesse de Clèves''
*Sir Thomas Herbert – '' Threnodia Carolina''
*Thomas Hobbes – ''Decameron Physiologicum''
*Josiah King – ''The Examination and Trial of Old Father Christmas Together with his Clearing by the Jury''
*''The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News out of Hartford-Shire'' (a woodcut showing what is alleged to be the first crop circle)
*''The Works of Geber, Englished by Richard Russell''.
*Thomas Rymer – ''The Tragedies of the Last Age Considered''
*Jacob Spon – ''Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant''
* Aernout van Overbeke – ''De rym-wercken''

Drama

*Anonymous
**'' Actio Curiosa''
*John Banks – '' The Destruction of Troy''
*Aphra Behn – '' Sir Patient Fancy''
* William Chamberlayne – '' Wits Led by the Nose, or a Poet's Revenge'' published
*Thomas Corneille – ''Le Comte d'Essex''
*John Dryden
**'' All for Love''
**'' The Kind Keeper''
*Thomas d'Urfey
**'' Trick for Trick''
**'' Squire Oldsapp''
* Edward Howard – '' The Man of Newmarket''
* Nathaniel Lee – ''Mithridates, King of Pontus''
*John Leanerd
**''The Counterfeits''
**''The Rambling Justice''
*Thomas Otway – '' Friendship in Fashion''
*Samuel Pordage – ''The Siege of Babylon''
*Edward Ravenscroft – ''The English Lawyer'' (adapted from George Ruggle's Latin play ''Ignoramus'')
*Thomas Rawlins – ''Tunbridge Wells''
**''Titus Andronicus, or the Rape of Lavinia'' (adapted from Shakespeare's play)
*Thomas Shadwell
**''The History of Timon of Athens the Man-Hater''
**''A True Widow''
*Nahum Tate – '' Brutus of Alba''

Poetry

*Anne Bradstreet – ''Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning'' (posthumously published)
* Samuel Butler – ''Hudibras'', Part 3
*Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter – '' ("The Souls Spiritual Offering of Song")''

Births

*January 10 – Paul Gabriel Antoine, French theologian (died 1743)
*July – Thomas Hearne, editor of medieval manuscripts (died 1735)
*December 14 – Daniel Neal, English historian (died 1743)
*''Unknown dates''
**Thomas Sherlock, English religious writer and bishop (died 1761)
** William Wogan, Welsh religious writer in English (died 1758)

Deaths

*January 16 – Madeleine de Souvré, marquise de Sablé, French writer and salonnière (born 1599)
*March 10 – Jean de Launoy, French historian (born 1603)
*April 12 – Sir Thomas Stanley, English poet, writer and translator (born 1625)
*May 4 – Abraham Woodhead, English Catholic writer (born 1609)
*May 14 or 15 – Anna Maria van Schurman, Dutch poet and scholar (born 1607)
*August 16 – Andrew Marvell, English poet and politician (born 1621)
*August 17 – Guillaume Herincx, Netherlandish theologian (born 1621)
*November 21 – Robert Thoroton, English antiquary (born 1623)
*''Unknown date'' – Theophilus Gale, English theologian (born 1628)
*''Probable date'' – Richard Flecknoe English dramatist and poet (born c. 1600)

References

{{Year in literature article categories

Years of the 17th century in literature