1685 in literature

Events

• January 22 – Antoine Furetière is expelled from the Académie française for proposing to publish a complete dictionary of the French language himself.
• February – The death of King Charles II of England brings a major theatrical flop in the Restoration era: Albion and Albanius – an allegorical drama in praise of the king with a text by John Dryden and music by Louis Grabu – is in rehearsal at the time.
• June – A revised version of Albion and Albanius fails largely because it coincides with the invasion of the Duke of Monmouth.
• June – Parliament revives the Licensing of the Press Act 1662, limiting London printers.
• unknown date – The Fourth Folio of Shakespeare's works is published in London.

New books

Prose

• Scipion Abeille – Histoire des Os ("Description of the Bones")
• Aphra Behn – Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister
• Ihara Saikaku – Five Women Who Loved Love
• John Spencer – De Legibus Hebraeorum, Ritualibus et earum Rationibus libri tres

Drama

• Jean Galbert de Campistron – Andronic
• John Crowne – Sir Courtly Nice
• Thomas d'Urfey
  • The Banditti, or A Lady's Distress
  • A Commonwealth of Women (adapted from The Sea Voyage)
• Nahum Tate
  • The Cuckold's Haven (adaptation of Eastward Ho)
  • A Duke and No Duke (adaptation of Sir Aston Cockayne's Trappolin Suppos'd a Prince)

Births

• January 9 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch critic (died 1766)
• March 12 – George Berkeley Irish philosopher and bishop (died 1753)
• June 30 – John Gay, English poet and dramatist (died 1732)

Deaths

• March 18 – Francis Harold, Irish Franciscan historian (year of birth not known)
• c. April 14 – Thomas Otway, English dramatist (born 1652)
• April 29 – Luc d'Achery, French author of critical editions of medieval manuscripts (born 1609)
• June 16 – Anne Killigrew, English poet and painter (born 1660)
• June 17 – Andrew Allam, English historian (born 1655)
• July 1 – Nalan Xingde, Chinese ci poet (born 1655)
• September 25 – Jean Cabassut, French theologian (born 1604)
• October 23 – Yamaga Sokō (山鹿 素行), Japanese philosopher (born 1622)
• unknown date – Placido Puccinelli, Italian historian (born 1609)

References

References

1. Helen Julia McKinney. (1936). "Antoine Furetière, Novelist". University of California, Berkeley.
2. [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A36588.0001.001?view=toc Libretto. Retrieved 23 May 2020.]
3. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000008008 Grove. Retrieved 23 May 2020.]
4. [https://academic.oup.com/library/article-abstract/s5-XXXIII/4/296/1003993?redirectedFrom=PDF Licensing acts. Retrieved 23 May 2020.]
5. "Thomas D'Urfey". English Poetry 1579-1830: Spenser and the Tradition.
6. "John Gay – British Library".
7. John McClintock. (1874). "Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature". Harper.
8. (1824). "Bibliotheca Britannica; Or a General Index to British and Foreign Literature. By Robert Watt, M.D. in Two Parts: - Authors and Subjects".