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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1697.

Events

  • May 7 – The 13th century royal Tre Kronor ("Three Crowns") castle in Stockholm burns to the ground and a large portion of the royal library is destroyed.
  • The actors of the Comédie-Italienne in Paris announce a performance of La fausse prude (The False Hypocrite), a play that ridicules King Louis XIV's wife, Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, which causes the King to disband the company.
  • George Farquhar arrives in London from Dublin.
  • Thomas Corneille publishes his translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses into French.
  • Daniel Defoe's An Essay Upon Projects suggests insurance, an income tax and the education of women, among other public measures.
  • First publication of the 13th century Heimskringla in Old Norse, with Swedish and Latin translations by Johan Peringskiöld in Stockholm

New books

Prose

  • Mary Astell – A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Part II
  • Pierre Bayle – ' (Historical and Critical Dictionary, first part, publication continued until 1702)
  • Richard Blackmore – King Arthur
  • Thomas Burnet – Remarks upon An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding (on John Locke)
  • William Congreve – The Birth of the Muse
  • William Dampier – A New Voyage Round the World
  • Daniel Defoe – An Essay Upon Projects
  • John Dryden
  • Alexander's Feast; or, The Power of Musique (ode)
  • The Works of Virgil
  • John Evelyn – Numismata: A discourse of medals
  • Jane Lead – A Fountain of Gardens
  • John Locke
  • A Letter to the Right Reverend Edward Ld Bishop of Worcester
  • Mr Locke's Reply to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Worcester's Answer to his Letter
  • A Second Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity
  • Charles Perrault (as Pierre Perrault Darmancourt) – ' (Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose)
  • John Phillips – '
  • Humphrey Prideaux – The True Nature of Imposture Fully Display'd in the Life of Mahomet
  • John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester – Familiar Letters
  • William Wotton – Reflections upon Ancient and Modern Learning (setting off the English "quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns")

Drama

  • Anonymous (A Young Lady) – The Unnatural Mother
  • Colley Cibber – Woman's Wit
  • William Congreve – The Mourning Bride
  • John Dennis – A Plot and No Plot
  • Thomas Dilke – The City Lady, or Folly Reclaimed
  • Thomas D'Urfey
  • Cinthia and Endimion (opera)
  • The Intrigues at Versailles; or, A Jilt in all Humours
  • James Drake – The Sham Lawyer
  • Charles Gildon – The Roman Brides Revenge
  • Charles Hopkins – Boadicea, Queen of Britain
  • Peter Anthony Motteux – The Novelty, or Every Act a Play
  • Mary Pix
  • The Deceiver Deceiv'd
  • The Innocent Mistress
  • George Powell – The Imposture Defeated, or a Trick to Cheat the Devil
  • Jacques Pradon – Scipion
  • Elkanah Settle – The World in the Moon
  • John Vanbrugh
  • Aesop
  • The Provoked Wife
  • The Relapse (performed 1696, published 1697)

Births

  • April 1 - Abbé Prévost, French writer (died 1763)
  • June 16 – Jean-Baptiste de La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, French historian, classicist and lexicographer (died 1781)
  • December 27 – Sollom Emlyn, Irish legal writer (died 1754)

Deaths

  • February 5 – Hester Biddle (Esther Biddle), English Quaker writer (born c. 1629)
  • March 1 – Francesco Redi, Tuscan physician, naturalist and poet (born 1626)
  • June 7 – John Aubrey, English memoirist (born 1626)
  • December 9 – Scipion Abeille, French surgeon and poet (year of birth unknown)
  • Unknown date – Juan del Valle y Caviedes, Spanish Peruvian poet (born 1645)
  • Probable year of death – Gilbert Clerke, English mathematician, natural philosopher and theologian (born 1626)

References