1665 to 1668

Society

1665. English naval forces defeat a Dutch fleet off Lowestoft, June 3, as a second Anglo-Dutch war begins.

1665. The New Jersey colony is founded by English colonists under the leadership of Philip Carteret.

1665. London has its last outbreak of the Black Death which is introduced either by Dutch prisoners of war or bales of merchandise from Holland that originated in the Levant. Some two-thirds of London's 400,000 inhabitants leave town to avoid contagion, but at least 68,506 die.

Literature

Don Juan or the Stone Guest. Moliere. French. 1665. Play. Don Juan mistreats Elvire. Invites the statue of a man he murdered to dinner and the statue reciprocates.

Society

1666. The calculus discovered (or invented) by Cambridge University mathematics professor Isaac Newton, 23, provides rules for dealing with rates of change.

1666. The Great Fire of London that begins early in the morning of Sunday, September 2, in Pudding Lane near London Bridge, spreads through the crowded wooden houses to the Thames wharf warehouses and continues for 4 days and nights until the flames have consumed four-fifths of the walled city plus another 63 acres of property outside the city walls.

1666. Destroyed in London's Great Fire are thousands of old dwellings that have harbored lice-bearing rats which spread plague.

Literature

Le Misanthrope. Moliere. French. 1666. Play. Alceste decides to speak and act with complete honesty and to ignore conventions.

Le Medecin Malgre lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself) Moliere. French. 1666. Play. Woodcutter pretends to be a doctor. Recites the medical jargon. "Cures" Lucinde of her pretended dumbness.

Society

1667. Architect Christopher Wren, 35, is assigned the task of rebuilding London which in January is still smoldering after the Great Fire of 4 months earlier.

Literature

Andromaque. Racine. French. 1667. Play. First representation of psychology of passion. Pyrrhus, Andromaque, Pyrrhus's fiancee Hermione and Orestes. Pyrrhus wants Andromaque. Hermione is insanely jealous. She begs Orestes to kill Pyrrhus and he does. Hermione repudiates Orestes and commits suicide on Pyrrhus's funeral pyre.

Annus Mirabilis. Dryden. British. 1667. Poetry. "Year of Wonder." London fire, the Dutch War, chief events of 1666. Discusses the poetic imagination.

Paradise Lost. Milton. British. 1667. Epic poem. Greatest epic in any modern language. The story of the Devil's temptation of Adam and Eve.

Society

1668. John Dryden is named England's first Poet Laureate.

Literature

Simplicissimus. Hans Grimmelhausen. German. 1668. Novel. Thirty Years' War. Development of the hero's simple soul toward resignation and wisdom. Panorama of contemporary events. Horrors and injustices of war.