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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1708.

Events

  • July 14 – Joseph Trapp becomes the first Oxford Professor of Poetry.
  • unknown date – Edward Lhuyd becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society.

New books

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Prose

  • Joseph Addison – The Present State of the War (pro-Marlborough tract)
  • Francis Atterbury – Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions
  • Joseph Bingham – Origines Ecclesiasticae, or Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. 1
  • Laurent Bordelon – Mital; ou Aventures incroyables
  • Elizabeth Burnet – A Method of Devotion
  • Jeremy Collier – An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, Chiefly of England, vol. 1
  • Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury – A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm (opposing radical Protestantism)
  • Edmund Curll – The Charitable Surgeon
  • Anne Dacier (Anne Lefèvre) – Homer's Odyssey (prose, first translation into French)
  • John Downes – Roscius Anglicanus (historical review of the stage)
  • John Fisher, Cardinal Bishop of Rochester (executed 1535) – Funeral Sermon for Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby (originally delivered 1509; published with an anonymous preface by Thomas Baker)
  • John Gay – Wine
  • Charles Gildon
  • Libertas Triumphans (re Battle of Oudenarde)
  • The New Metamorphosis (fiction)
  • John Harris – Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, vol. 1 (2nd edition)
  • Aaron Hill & Nahum Tate – The Celebrated Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, for the Armour of Achilles (from Ovid)
  • Benjamin Hoadly – The Unhappiness of the Present Establishment, and the Unhappiness of Absolute Monarchy
  • Anne de La Roche-Guilhem – La Foire de Beaucaire
  • François Leguat – Voyage et avantures de François Leguat et de ses compagnons, en deux isles désertes des Indes orientales (A new voyage to the East-Indies)
  • John Locke (died 1704) – Some Familiar Letters
  • Simon Ockley – The Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Aegypt by the Saracens (vol. 1 of History of the Saracens)
  • John Oldmixon – The British Empire in America
  • Jonathan Swift
  • Predictions for the Year 1708
  • The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff's Predictions (together with part of the "Bickerstaff Papers")
  • An Argument against Abolishing Christianity

Drama

  • Thomas Baker – The Fine Lady's Airs (first performed December 18)
  • Charles Goring – Irene
  • Peter Anthony Motteux – Love's Triumph (opera)
  • Nicholas Rowe – The Royal Convert
  • William Taverner – The Disappointment
  • Lewis Theobald – The Persian Princess
  • July 8 – Claude-Henri de Fusée de Voisenon, French dramatist (died 1775)
  • August 29 – Olof von Dalin, Swedish poet (died 1763)
  • September 2 – André le Breton, French publisher (died 1779)
  • October 16 – Albrecht von Haller, Swiss biologist and poet (died 1777)
  • unknown dates
  • Richard Dawes, English classical scholar (died 1766)
  • Thomas Seward, English poet (died 1790)

Deaths

  • January 1 – Johannes Kelpius, German polymath (born 1673)
  • March 4 – Thomas Ward, English Catholic writer (born 1652)
  • March 5 – Charles Le Gobien, French Jesuit writer (born 1653)
  • March 15 – William Walsh, English poet and critic (born 1662)
  • October 11 – Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, German philosopher (born 1651)
  • October 21
  • Kata Szidónia Petrőczy, Hungarian Baroque writer (born 1659)
  • Christian Weise, German dramatist and poet (born 1642)
  • October 22 – Hermann Witsius, Dutch theologian (born 1636)
  • November 15 – Gregory Hascard, English religious writer and cleric (year of birth unknown)
  • unknown date – Nikolai Spathari (Nicolae Milescu), Moldavian travel writer and diplomat (born 1636)

References