This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1690.
Events December 10 – Playwright Henry Nevil Payne is tortured for his role in the Montgomery Plot to restore James II to the throne — the last time a political prisoner is subjected to torture in Britain. Colley Cibber becomes an actor with the Drury Lane company.
New books Prose Nicholas Barbon – A Discourse of Trade Pierre Bayle (attributed) – Avis important aux réfugiés Sir Thomas Browne (posthumously) – A Letter to a Friend Antoine Furetière (posthumously) – Dictionnaire universel John Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (dated this year but published 1689) Two Treatises of Government Samuel Pepys – Memoires of the Navy Baro Urbigerus – Aphorismi Urbigerani
Drama John Bancroft – King Edward III, with the Fall of Mortimer, Earl of March Aphra Behn (posthumously) – The Widow Ranter Thomas Betterton – The Prophetess, or The History of Dioclesian (adapted from Fletcher and Massinger's The Prophetess, with music by Henry Purcell) Edmé Boursault – Esope à la ville Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery – Mr. Anthony John Crowne – The English Friar John Dryden Amphitryon, or the Two Sosias Don Sebastian William Mountfort – The Successful Strangers George Powell Alphonso, King of Naples The Treacherous Brothers Elkanah Settle – Distress'd Innocence, or The Princess of Persia Thomas Shadwell – The Scourers Thomas Southerne – Sir Anthony Love "W. C." – The Rape Reveng'd, or the Spanish Revolution (adapted from William Rowley's All's Lost by Lust)
Poetry Thomas D'Urfey: Collin's Walk Through London and WestminsterCox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, New Poems See also 1690 in poetry Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza – Obras líricas y cómicas, divinas y humanas
Births February 3 – Richard Rawlinson, English antiquary and cleric (died 1755) September 12 – Peter Dens, Netherlandish theologian (died 1775) 1689/90 – Susanna Highmore, English poet (died 1750)
Deaths March 21 – Henry Teonge, English diarist and cleric (born 1621) May 5 – Theodore Haak, German-born English translator and natural philosopher (born 1605) May 12 – John Rushworth, English author of Historical Collections (born c. 1612) October 3 – Robert Barclay, Scottish Quaker writer (born c. 1648) October 25 – Cornelius Hazart, Dutch Jesuit controversialist (born 1617) Unknown date – Franciscus Plante, Dutch poet (born 1613) Probable year of death – Jeremias Felbinger, German writer, teacher and lexicographer (born 1616)
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