1654 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1654. Events July – Lady Dorothy Osborne plays the leading role in a country-house staging of Sir William Berkeley's tragicomedy The Lost Lady. While the London theatres remain closed, amateur theatricals continue at private houses in England. Like performances of courtly masques before 1642, many of these performances feature women, foreshadowing the acceptance of professional women performers in the early Restoration era. New books Prose Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery – Parlhenissa, a novel Martino Martini – De Bello Tartarico Historia John Milton – Defensio Secunda Richard Sherlock – The Quaker's Wilde Questions objected against the Ministers of the Gospel.