1706 in literature

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1706.

Events

 * April 8 – George Farquhar's Restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer is performed for the first time, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London.
 * April/May – Philosopher Samuel Clarke attacks the views of Henry Dodwell on the immortality of the soul.
 * September 13 – Daniel Defoe leaves England for Edinburgh, Scotland, where he acts as a government agent to promote ratification of the Treaty of Union.
 * unknown date – The first translation of the New Testament into the Upper Sorbian language, made by pastor Michał Frencel who dies this year, is published by his son Abraham in Zittau.

Prose

 * Anonymous – The Arabian Nights' Entertainments (serial, the first English translation of One Thousand and One Nights, taken from the first French translation)
 * Samuel Clarke – A Discourse Concerning the Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion
 * Stephen Clay – An Epistle from the Elector of Bavaria to the French King
 * Daniel Defoe
 * An Essay at Removing National Prejudices Against a Union with Scotland
 * A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal (attrib)
 * John Dennis – Essay on the Operas after the Italian Manner
 * White Kennett – The History of England from the Commencement of the Reign of Charles I to the End of William III
 * John Locke – Posthumous Works of Mr John Locke
 * Simon Ockley – Introductio ad linguas orientates
 * Jonathan Swift – Baucis and Philemon
 * Matthew Tindal – The Rights of the Christian Church Asserted
 * Ned Ward – The London Spy

Drama

 * Thomas Betterton – The Amorous Widow
 * Susanna Centlivre –
 * Love at a Venture
 * The Platonick Lady
 * Colley Cibber – Perolla and Izadora
 * Catherine Trotter Cockburn – The Revolution of Sweden
 * Antoine Danchet – Cyrus
 * Thomas D'Urfey – Wonders in the Sun (opera)
 * George Farquhar – The Recruiting Officer
 * George Granville – The British Enchanters, or No Magic Like Love
 * Delarivière Manley – Almyna, or The Arabian Vow
 * Mary Pix (attr.) – Adventures in Madrid
 * Jean-François Regnard – Le Légataire universel (The Residuary Legatee)
 * John Vanbrugh – The Mistake
 * José de Cañizares – El pastelero de Madrigal

Poetry

 * Richard Blackmore – An Advice to the Poets: a poem occasioned by the wonderful success of Her Majesty's arms, under the conduct of the Duke of Marlborough in Flanders
 * William Congreve – A Pindarique Ode.... The Conduct of the Duke of Marlborough
 * Daniel Defoe
 * Caledonia
 * A Hymn to Peace
 * Jure Divino (on divine right)
 * The Vision (on national union)
 * John Dennis – The Battle of Ramillia
 * Mihai Iștvanovici – Stihuri politice (Political Verse)
 * John Philips – Cerealia: An imitation of Milton
 * Matthew Prior – The Squirrel
 * Thomas Tickell – Oxford
 * Isaac Watts – Horae Lyricae

Births

 * January 17 – Benjamin Franklin, American polymath and politician (died 1790)
 * February 10 – Benjamin Hoadly, English physician and dramatist (died 1757)
 * November 8 – Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German philosopher and jurist (died 1772)
 * December 17 – Émilie du Châtelet, French writer and translator (died 1749)

Deaths

 * January 21 – Adrien Baillet, French critic (born 1649)
 * February 27 – John Evelyn, English diarist (born 1620)
 * August 6 – Jean-Baptiste du Hamel, French natural philosopher (born 1624)
 * December 8 – Abraham Nicolas Amelot de la Houssaye, French historian (born 1634)
 * December 28 – Pierre Bayle, French encyclopedist and philosopher (born 1647)
 * unknown dates
 * John Phillips, English satirist (born 1631)
 * Rahman Baba, Indian Pashto poet (born 1632)
 * Guillaume Vandive, French printer and bookseller (born 1680)