1680 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1680.

Events

• February – Thomas Otway's blank verse tragedy The Orphan, or The Unhappy Marriage is premiered in London.
• The spring/summer production of Nathaniel Lee's Theodosius at Dorset Garden features Henry Purcell's earliest theatre music.
• August 8 – The Comédie-Française is founded by decree of King Louis XIV to merge the two Parisian acting troupes of the time, those of the Guénégaud Theatre and the Hôtel de Bourgogne.
• unknown dates
• The poem-book Leabhar Cloinne Aodha Buidhe is transcribed by Ruairí Ó hUiginn of Sligo at the command of Cormac Ó Neill.
• Innerpeffray Library, the oldest known (and surviving) public (lending) library in Scotland, is established.

New books

Prose

• John Bunyan – The Life and Death of Mr. Badman
• Gilbert Burnet – Some Passages of the Life and Death of...John Earl of Rochester
• Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz – Neptuno alegórico
• Pedro Cubero – Peregrinación del mundo
• Pu Songling – Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (in manuscript only)
• Sir Robert Filmer – Patriarcha published (written 1642)

Drama

• Aphra Behn – The Revenge
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca – Hado y Divisa de Leonido y Marfisa
• John Crowne – The Misery of Civil War, adapted from Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2 and Part 3
• Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle – Aspar
• Nathaniel Lee
• Lucius Junius Brutus
• The Princess of Cleve
• Theodosius
• Lewis Maidwell – The Loving Enemies
• Thomas Otway
• The History and Fall of Caius Marius published
• The Orphan
• The Soldier's Fortune
• Jacques Pradon – Statira
• Elkanah Settle
• Fatal Love
• The Female Prelate
• Nahum Tate – The Loyal General
• William Whitaker – The Conspiracy

Births

• January 23 – Joseph Ames, English author (died 1759)
• September 22 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (died 1747)
• Unknown dates
• Nicola Coleti, Italian historian and priest (died 1765)
• Lady Elizabeth Germain, English philanthropist and correspondent (died 1769)
• Probable year of birth
• Ephraim Chambers, English encyclopedist (died 1740)
• Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna, Irish poet in Gaelic (died 1756)
• Nezim Frakulla, Albanian poet (died 1760)

Deaths

• January 20 – Ann, Lady Fanshawe, English memoirist (born 1625)
• March 14 – René Le Bossu, French critic (born 1631)
• March 17 – François de La Rochefoucauld, French dramatist and writer of maxims (born 1613)
• March 27 – William Maurice, Welsh antiquary (born c.1620)
• June 18 – Samuel Butler, English satirical poet (born 1612)
• July 3 – John Martyn, English publisher and bookseller
• July 26 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet (born 1647)
• November – Carr Scrope, English poet (born 1649)
• December 4 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish scientist and theologian (born 1616)
• unknown date – François de Grenaille, French dramatist and translator (born 1616)

References