1708 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1708. Events July 14 – Joseph Trapp becomes the first Oxford Professor of Poetry. unknown date – Edward Lhuyd becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society. New books Prose Joseph Addison – The Present State of the War (pro-Marlborough tract) Francis Atterbury – Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions Joseph Bingham – Origines Ecclesiasticae, or Antiquities of the Christian Church, vol. 1 Laurent Bordelon – Mital; ou Aventures incroyables Elizabeth Burnet – A Method of Devotion Jeremy Collier – An Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, Chiefly of England, vol. 1 Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury – A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm (opposing radical Protestantism) Edmund Curll – The Charitable Surgeon Anne Dacier (Anne Lefèvre) – Homer's Odyssey (prose, first translation into French) John Downes – Roscius Anglicanus (historical review of the stage) John Fisher, Cardinal Bishop of Rochester (executed 1535) – Funeral Sermon for Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby (originally delivered 1509; published with an anonymous preface by Thomas Baker) John Gay – Wine Charles Gildon Libertas Triumphans (re Battle of Oudenarde) The New Metamorphosis (fiction) John Harris – Lexicon Technicum: Or, A Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, vol. 1 (2nd edition) Aaron Hill & Nahum Tate – The Celebrated Speeches of Ajax and Ulysses, for the Armour of Achilles (from Ovid) Benjamin Hoadly – The Unhappiness of the Present Establishment, and the Unhappiness of Absolute Monarchy Anne de La Roche-Guilhem – La Foire de Beaucaire François Leguat – Voyage et avantures de François Leguat et de ses compagnons, en deux isles désertes des Indes orientales (A new voyage to the East-Indies) John Locke (died 1704) – Some Familiar Letters Simon Ockley – The Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Aegypt by the Saracens (vol. 1 of History of the Saracens) John Oldmixon – The British Empire in America Jonathan Swift Predictions for the Year 1708 The Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bickerstaff's Predictions (together with part of the "Bickerstaff Papers") An Argument against Abolishing Christianity