1653 in literature
Encyclopedia
The year 1653 in literature involved some significant events.
Events
- James ShirleyJames ShirleyJames Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
's masqueMasqueThe masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
Cupid and DeathCupid and DeathCupid and Death is a mid-seventeenth-century masque, written by the Caroline era dramatist James Shirley, and performed on 26 March 1653 before the Portuguese ambassador to Great Britain...
is performed on March 26. - Pierre CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
retires from the theatre for six years. - John EvelynJohn EvelynJohn Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
buys Sayes CourtSayes CourtLocated in Deptford, in the London Borough of Lewisham and on the Thames Path, Sayes Court once attracted throngs to visit its celebrated garden created by the seventeenth century diarist John Evelyn...
, Deptford. - Robert Cox of the Red Bull TheatreRed Bull TheatreThe Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...
is arrested for performing a "play".
New books
- Richard BromeRichard BromeRichard Brome was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.-Life:Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, indicate that Brome started out as a servant of Jonson, in some capacity...
- Five New Plays, a collection of his dramas including A Mad Couple Well-Match'dA Mad Couple Well-Match'dA Mad Couple Well-Match'd is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome. It was first published in the 1653 Brome collection Five New Plays, issued by the booksellers Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring....
, The NovellaThe Novella (play)The Novella is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome. It was first published in the 1653 Brome collection Five New Plays, issued by the booksellers Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring.-Date and Performance:...
, The Court BeggarThe Court BeggarThe Court Beggar is a Caroline era stage play written by Richard Brome. It was first performed by the acting company known as Beeston's Boys at the Cockpit Theatre. It has sometimes been identified as the seditious play, performed at the Cockpit in May 1640, which the Master of the Revels moved to...
, The City WitThe City WitThe City Wit, or the Woman Wears the Breeches is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Richard Brome that is sometimes classed among his best works...
, and The DamoiselleThe DamoiselleThe Damoiselle, or the New Ordinary is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy by Richard Brome that was first published in the 1653 Brome collection Five New Plays, issued by Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring.-Date and performance:... - Margaret CavendishMargaret CavendishMargaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English aristocrat, a prolific writer, and a scientist. Born Margaret Lucas, she was the youngest sister of prominent royalists Sir John Lucas and Sir Charles Lucas...
- Poems and Fancies - Ann Collins - Divine Songs and Meditations
- Sir Percy Herbert - The Princess Cloria, Parts 1 and 2
- Edward Johnson - A History of New England
- Blaise PascalBlaise PascalBlaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
- Traité du triangle arithmétique - James ShirleyJames ShirleyJames Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...
- Six New Plays, a collection of his drama including The BrothersThe Brothers (James Shirley)The Brothers is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley. First published in 1653, The Brothers has sometimes been hailed as one of Shirley's best plays, though it has also been a focus of significant confusion and scholarly debate....
, The SistersThe Sisters (play)The Sisters is a Caroline stage play, a comedy written by James Shirley. It was the last of Shirley's plays performed in London prior to the closing of the theatres in September 1642, at the start of the English Civil War...
, The Doubtful HeirThe Doubtful HeirThe Doubtful Heir, also known as Rosania, or Love's Victory, is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by James Shirley and first published in 1653...
, The ImpostureThe ImpostureThe Imposture is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by James Shirley and first published in 1653. Shirley himself considered The Imposture the best of his romantic comedies....
, The CardinalThe Cardinal (play)The Cardinal is a Caroline era stage play, a tragedy by James Shirley. It was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on November 25, 1641, and first published in 1653. Nineteenth-century critics like Edmund Gosse, and twentieth-century critics like Fredson Bowers,...
, and The Court SecretThe Court SecretThe Court Secret is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1653. It is generally regarded as the final play Shirley wrote as a professional dramatist....
. - Jeremy TaylorJeremy TaylorJeremy Taylor was a clergyman in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression and was often presented as a model of prose writing...
- Twenty-five Sermons - Sir Thomas UrquhartThomas UrquhartSir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty was a Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his translation of Rabelais.-Life:...
- the first English translation of Rabelais' Gargantua and PantagruelGargantua and PantagruelThe Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It is the story of two giants, a father and his son and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein...
, Books I and II - Izaak WaltonIzaak WaltonIzaak Walton was an English writer. Best known as the author of The Compleat Angler, he also wrote a number of short biographies which have been collected under the title of Walton's Lives.-Biography:...
-The Compleat Angler - Arthur WilsonArthur Wilson (17th century)-Life:Wilson was born in Yarmouth. In the 1620–25 period he served as secretary to Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and accompanied the Earl on his military campaigns on the Continent. After two years' study at Oxford University , Wilson entered the service of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of...
- The History of Great Britain, being the Life and Reign of King James I.
New drama
- Anonymous - The Ghost, or the Woman Wears the Breeches published
- John FordJohn Ford (dramatist)John Ford was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.-Life and work:...
(attributed to) - The QueenThe Queen (play)The Queen, or The Excellency of Her Sex is a Caroline era tragicomedy. Though published anonymously in 1653, The play is now generally attributed to John Ford — making it a significant addition to the very limited canon of Ford's works....
published - William HemingesWilliam HemingesWilliam Heminges , also Hemminges, Heminge, and other variants, was a playwright and theatrical figure of the Caroline period. He was the ninth child and third son of John Heminges, the actor and colleague of William Shakespeare.William Heminges was christened on October 3, 1602, in the parish of...
- The Fatal ContractThe Fatal ContractThe Fatal Contract: A French Tragedy is a Caroline era stage play, written by William Heminges. The play has been regarded as one of the most extreme of the revenge tragedies or "tragedies of blood," like The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus, that constitute a distinctive sub-genre of English...
published - Henry Killigrew - Pallantus and Eudora published (Killigrew's revision of his own The Conspiracy, 1638)
- Philippe QuinaultPhilippe QuinaultPhilippe Quinault , French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris.- Biography :Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of Marianne. Quinault's first play was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, when he was only eighteen...
- Les Rivales - Paul ScarronPaul ScarronPaul Scarron was a French poet, dramatist, and novelist. His precise birthdate is unknown, but he was baptized on July 4, 1610...
- Don Japhel d'Arménie
Births
- January 13 - Philipp Jakob SpenerPhilipp Jakob SpenerPhilipp Jakob Spener was a German Christian theologian known as the "Father of Pietism."...
, theologian (died 1705) - probable - Nathaniel LeeNathaniel LeeNathaniel Lee was an English dramatist.He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth...
, dramatist (died 1692) - probable - Matthew TindalMatthew TindalMatthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.-Life:...
, deist writer (died 1733)
Deaths
- May 26 - Robert FilmerRobert Filmerthumbnail|150px|right|Robert Filmer Sir Robert Filmer was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings...
, political writer (born 1558) - July 10 - Gabriel NaudéGabriel NaudéGabriel Naudé was a French librarian and scholar. He was a prolific writer who produced works on many subjects including politics, religion, history and the supernatural. An influential work on library science was the 1627 book Advice on Establishing a Library...
, librarian and scholar (born 1600) - September 3 - Claudius SalmasiusClaudius SalmasiusClaudius Salmasius is the Latin name of Claude Saumaise , a French classical scholar.-Life:Salmasius was born at Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy. His father, a counsellor of the parlement of Dijon, sent him, at the age of sixteen, to Paris, where he became intimate with Isaac Casaubon...
, classical scholar (born 1588) - date unknown - Zachary BoydZachary BoydZachary Boyd was a Scottish religious writer.Boyd was born into the family of Boyd of Pinkhill, Ayrshire. He first studied at the University of Glasgow and then went to Saumur in France. There he followed courses of his kinsman Robert Boyd and in 1611 became Regent Professor. He returned to...
, poet (born 1585) - date unknown - Piaras FeiritéarPiaras FeiritéarPiaras Feiritéar was an Irish poet.Feiritéar was a Norman-Irish lord of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in Corca Dhuibhne. Although best known as a poet, it was his role as a leader of the nascent Catholic Irish community of Norman- and Gaelic- Irish origin which ultimately lead to his execution in...
, Irish language poet (born c.1600)