This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1668.
Events c. February – The English Parliament and bishops seek to suppress Thomas Hobbes' treatise Leviathan. September 9 – Molière's comedy The Miser (L'Avare) is first performed, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris. unknown date – Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler goes into its fourth edition.
New books
Prose Juan Caramuel – Primus calamus Meric Casaubon – Of Credulity and Incredulity Josiah Child – Brief Observations concerning Trade and the Interest of Money Jean Claude – Réponse au livre de P. Nouet sur l'eucharistie Jan Comenius – The Way of Light John Dryden – Essay of Dramatick Poesie Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman – Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing Richard Flecknoe – Sir William Davenant's Voyage to the Other World Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen – Simplicius Simplicissimus (first picaresque novel in German, dated 1669 but probably published this year) Johannes Hevelius – Cometographia Peter Heylin – Cyprianus Anglicanus (biography of William Laud) Urban Hjärne – Stratonice (completed) Adriaan Koerbagh – Een Bloemhof Henry Neville – The Isle of Pines William Penn – Truth Exalted Francisco Santos – Periquillo el de las gallineras John Wilkins – An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language
Drama Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of OrreryOxford Dictionary of National Biography 7 (2002) pp. 110–111. Tryphon (performed) Henry V (published) Mustapha (published) Margaret Cavendish – Plays, Never Before Printed, Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent Princess, the Duchess of Newcastle (closet dramas) Sir William Davenant – The Man's the Master (a translation of Paul Scarron's Jodelet, ou le maître valet) John Dryden – An Evening's Love George Etherege – She Would If She Could Sir Robert Howard – The Great Favourite or the Duke of Lerma Molière L'Avare (The Miser) George Dandin ou le Mari confondu Sir Charles Sedley – The Mulberry-Garden Thomas Shadwell – The Sullen Lovers
Poetry Abraham Cowley – Poemata Latina (posthumous) Sir John Denham – Poems and Translations Jean de La Fontaine – Fables choisies, mises en vers Georg Stiernhielm – Musæ Suethizantes
Births May 8 – Alain-René Lesage, French novelist and playwright (died 1747) September – Joseph Bingham, scholar (died 1723) November (baptised) – Thomas Woolston, deist writer (died 1731) November 11 – Johann Albert Fabricius (died 1736) December 21 – Herman Boerhaave, humanist (died 1738)
Deaths April 7 – Sir William Davenant, poet and playwright (born 1606) May 21 – Josephus Adjutus, theologian (born c. 1602) August 9 – Jakob Balde, Latinist poet and academic (born 1604) November 17 – Joseph Alleine, Nonconformist writer (born 1634) December 11 – Marquise-Thérèse de Gorla, actress (born 1633) December 22 – Stephen Daye, first American printer (born 1594) December 23 – Martin Baučer, Slovene historian (born 1595)
References