1701 in literature

Events

• January
• *Matthew Prior, English poet, enters Parliament as the member for East Grinstead.
• *George Granville's The Jew of Venice, an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, receives its première at Lincoln's Inn Fields, with Thomas Betterton as Bassanio. It is so popular it displaces the original from the stage for the next four decades.
• July 9 – St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, makes a grant for work on Marsh's Library, newly-established by Narcissus Marsh as the first public library in Ireland with refugee French Huguenot scholar Élie Bouhéreau as its first librarian.
• September 7 – The Treaty of Den Haag is the catalyst for the War of the Spanish Succession, which will continue and have frequent discussion in literature until 1713.
• unknown date – Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome is established by the Dominican Order.

  New books

Prose

• Daniel Defoe, The Original Power of the Collective Body of the People of England
• John Dennis, The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry
• Richard Steele, The Christian Hero
• Jonathan Swift, A Discourse of the Contests and Dissensions Between the Nobles and the Commons in Athens and Rome
• William Temple, Miscellanea: the Third Part
• John Toland, The Art of Governing by Partys
• Benjamin Whichcote, Several Discourses, posthumously published in four volumes, from this year to 1707

  Drama

• Thomas Baker, The Humour of the Age
• Colley Cibber, Love Makes a Man; or, The Fop's Fortune: A comedy
• Thomas D'Urfey, The Bath; or, The Western Lass: A comedy
• George Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, performed about April; sequel to The Constant Couple 1699
• Charles Gildon, Love's Victim: or, the Queen of Wales: A tragedy
• George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne, The Jew of Venice: A comedy
• Peter Anthony Motteux, The Masque of Acis and Galatea
• Mary Pix, The Double Distress: A tragedy
• Nicholas Rowe, The Ambitious Step-Mother
• Sir Edward Sherburne The Tragedies of Seneca the Younger
• Richard Steele, The Funeral: or, Grief a-la-mode: A comedy
• Catherine Trotter, later Cockburn:
• *Love at a Loss; or, Most Votes Carry It: A comedy
• *The Unhappy Penitent: A tragedy

  Poetry

• Lady Mary Chudleigh, The Ladies Defiance: Or, the Bride-woman's Counsellor Answer'd
• Jeremy Collier, The Great Historical, Geographical, Genealogical and Poetical Dictionary, translated from Louis Moreri, Le Grand Dictionnaire historique
• Daniel Defoe, The True-Born Englishman
• Peter Anthony Motteux - A Poem in Praise of Tea
• John Norris, An Essay Towards the Theory of the Ideal or Intelligible World
• John Philips, The Sylvan Dream
• Pavao Ritter Vitezović, Stemmatografia, an illustrated heraldic essay written mostly in verse

  Births

• March 2 – Lewis Morris, Welsh lexicographer and writer
• March 12 – Johann Friedrich Cotta, German theologian
• unknown dates
• *Matthew Concanen, Irish wit, poet and playwright
• *Wu Jingzi, Chinese scholar and novelist

  Deaths

• June 2 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French salonnière
• August 1 – Jan Chryzostom Pasek, Polish memoirist
• August 20 – Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet, English playwright
• August 24 – Ahasverus Fritsch, German poet and legal writer
• September 15 – Edmé Boursault, French dramatist