1661_in_literature

1661 in literature

The year 1661 in literature involved some significant events.

Events

The Book of Kells is presented to Trinity College, Dublin.
Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy.
John Gauden claims authorship of Eikon Basilike.
Third edition of Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler.
Sir William Davenant's troupe of actors, the Duke's Company, moves from the Salisbury Court Theatre to the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, where they are joined by Thomas Betterton. On August 24, Samuel Pepys sees their new production of Hamlet, with the innovation of stage scenery; he praises Betterton's Hamlet as "beyond imagination."
The trend toward closet drama (often highly politicized), which distinguished the English Civil War and Interregnum periods, does not immediately end once the theatres re-open with the Restoration — as the publication of Hell's High Court of Justice (below) illustrates.
Abraham Cowley's pamphlet The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy helps to inspire the foundation of the Royal Society.

Anonymous ("J. D.") - Hell's High Court of Justice, or the Trial of the Three Politic Ghosts, viz. Oliver Cromwell, the King of Sweden, and Cardinal Mazarin published
George Cartwright - The Heroic Lover, or the Infanta of Spain published
Abraham Cowley - The Cutter of Coleman Street
Richard Flecknoe - Erminia, or the Fair and Virtuous Lady published
John Fountain - The Rewards of Virtue published
Thomas Fuller - Andronicus published
Thomas Middleton - Hengist, King of Kent published
Molière - Dom Garcie de Navarre, ou le Prince jaloux
John Webster & William Rowley - A Cure for a Cuckold published
William Rowley & Thomas Heywood (?) - The Thracian Wonder published (misattributed to Webster and Rowley)