1698 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1698. Events March – In his Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage, clergyman Jeremy Collier attacks leading contemporary dramatists (William Congreve and Sir John Vanbrugh most prominently, but also John Dryden, Thomas d'Urfey, and William Wycherley) for moral shortcomings in their works. Collier's book launches a controversy that dominates the literary world of Britain for the year; future editions of the book continue the controversy until Collier's death in 1726. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is formed by the Reverend Thomas Bray. The latest edition of the Bay Psalm Book is the first to include music. New books Prose Anonymous – The Maxims of the Saints Explained, Concerning the Interiour Life (translation of François Fénelon) Francis Atterbury – A Discourse Occasion'd by the Death of the Right Honourable the Lady Cutts Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet – Relation sur le quiétisme Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery – Dr.