1696 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1696. Events January – Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. March 5 – William Penn marries his second wife, Hannah Callowhill. September – The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, stages The Female Wits, an anti-feminist satire targeting Mary Pix, Delarivier Manley and Catherine Trotter, the three significant women dramatists of the era. The play is a hit, and runs for three nights straight (unusual in the repertory system of the day). November 21 – John Vanbrugh's first play, the comedy The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger, a sequel to Love's Last Shift, is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, with Cibber in the cast. unknown date The Tuscan poet Vincenzo da Filicaja becomes governor of Volterra. Chapbook peddlers in England are required to hold a licence. New books Fiction John Aubrey – Miscellanies Philip Ayres – The Revengeful Mistress Aphra Behn (died 1689) – The Histories and Novels of the Late Ingenious Mrs. Behn Charles Leslie – The Snake in the Grass Mary Pix – The Inhumane Cardinal; or, Innocence Betray'd (novel) John Suckling – The Works of Sir John Suckling John Tillotson – The Works of John Tillotson