1655 in literature

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This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1655.

Events

February 24 – The English playwright Thomas Porter abducts his future bride Anne Blount.^[1]
March 26 – The playwright Thomas Porter kills a soldier named Thomas Salkeld in Covent Garden, probably in a duel, is consequently tried for murder, pleads guilty to manslaughter, is allowed benefit of clergy, and is sentenced to be burned in the hand.
May–October – Church of England clergyman Jeremy Taylor is imprisoned at Chepstow Castle for an injudicious preface to his popular manual of devotion, Golden Grove; or a Manuall of daily prayers and letanies, published this year.
August 6 – The Blackfriars Theatre in London is demolished.^[2]
October 29 – To celebrate Lord Mayor's Day, Edmund Gayton's pageant Charity Triumphant or the Virgin Show is staged in London; it is the first City pageant in fifteen years.

New books

Prose

John Bramhall – Defense of True Liberty (Anglican divine begins exchange of treatises with Thomas Hobbes)
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle – The World's Olio
Nicholas Culpeper – Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick
Thomas Fuller – The Church History of Britain
John Heydon – Eugenius Theodidacticus
Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange (attributed) – L'Escole des filles
William Prynne
- A New Discovery of Free-State Tyranny
- The Quakers Unmasked
Thomas Stanley – History of Philosophy^[3]
John Wallis – Elenchus geomeiriae Hobbianae (attack on the works of Thomas Hobbes)
Izaak Walton – The Compleat Angler (2nd edition)
Baltasar Gracián – El comulgatorio
Francisco de Quevedo – Política de Dios y gobierno de Cristo (second part)
Diego de Saavedra Fajardo – Juicio de artes y ciencias

Drama

Antony Brewer – The Lovesick King
Lodowick Carlell – The Passionate Lovers, Parts 1 and 2
Robert Daborne – The Poor Man's Comfort
Robert Davenport – King John and Matilda
Thomas Heywood and William Rowley – Fortune by Land and Sea
Philip Massinger – Three New Plays, a collection that included The Guardian, The Bashful Lover, and (with John Fletcher) A Very Woman
James Shirley
- The Gentleman of Venice
- The Politician
Jeremy Taylor – Golden Grove; or a Manuall of daily prayers and letanies

Poetry

Henry Vaughan – Silex Scintillans (part 2)

Births

January 1 – Christian Thomasius, German philosopher (died 1728)
February 7 – Jean-François Regnard, French dramatist and diarist (died 1709)
February 28 – Johann Beer, Austrian author, court official and composer (died 1700)
c. November – Jacob Tonson, English bookseller and publisher (died 1736)
unknown date – Lin Yining (林以寧), Chinese poet (died c. 1730)

Deaths

February 25 – Daniel Heinsius, Dutch poet (born 1580)^[4]
May 8 – Edward Winslow, English theologian, pamphleteer and New England politician (born 1595)
July 28 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist (born 1619)^[5]
September 7 – François Tristan l'Hermite, French dramatist (born c. 1601)^[6]
October 24 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher (born 1592)^[7]
probable – John Reynolds, English poet, story-writer and pamphleteer (born c. 1588)

References

^ Montague Summers (1964). The Playhouse of Pepys. Humanities Press. p. 230. ISBN 9780391004702.
^ Milling, Jane; Thomson, Peter; Donohue, Joseph W.; Kershaw, Baz (2004). The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 462. ISBN 9780521650403.
^ Giovanni Santinello (17 April 2013). Models of the History of Philosophy: From its Origins in the Renaissance to the 'Historia Philosophica'. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 163. ISBN 978-94-015-8181-3.
^ "Daniël Heinsius | Dutch poet". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
^ Cyrano de Bergerac (1923). Cyrano de Bergerac: Voyages to the Moon and the Sun. Routledge & Sons Limited. p. 24.
^ The Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Incorporated. 2002. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-7172-0135-8.
^ Virginia Trimble; Thomas R. Williams; Katherine Bracher (18 September 2007). Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 408. ISBN 978-0-387-30400-7.

[1] Montague Summers (1964). The Playhouse of Pepys. Humanities Press. p. 230. ISBN 9780391004702.

[2] Milling, Jane; Thomson, Peter; Donohue, Joseph W.; Kershaw, Baz (2004). The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 462. ISBN 9780521650403.

[3] Giovanni Santinello (17 April 2013). Models of the History of Philosophy: From its Origins in the Renaissance to the 'Historia Philosophica'. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 163. ISBN 978-94-015-8181-3.

[4] "Daniël Heinsius | Dutch poet". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 7 April 2019.

[5] Cyrano de Bergerac (1923). Cyrano de Bergerac: Voyages to the Moon and the Sun. Routledge & Sons Limited. p. 24.

[6] The Encyclopedia Americana. Grolier Incorporated. 2002. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-7172-0135-8.

[7] Virginia Trimble; Thomas R. Williams; Katherine Bracher (18 September 2007). Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 408. ISBN 978-0-387-30400-7.

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