Eighteenth-Century Chronology: 1664

Literature

• Charles Cotten, The Compleat Gamester

Theatre

• Nell Gwyn's acting debut
• Sir Robert Howard and John Dryden, The Indian Queen
• Molière, Le mariage forcé (The Forced Marriage), Palais-Royal, Paris
• George Etherege, The Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub
• John Dryden, The Royal Ladies, Theatre Royal
• June: Jean Baptiste Racine, La Thébaïde, ou les frères ennemis (The Thebans, or The Enemy Brothers), Palais-Royal, Paris
• July: Pierre Corneille, Othon, Hötel de Bourgogne, Paris

Art

• Jan Steen, The Christening Feast
• Jan Vermeer, The Lacemaker
• Nicolas Poussin, Apollo and Daphne

Music

• Heinrich Schütz, Christmas Oratorio

Science, Technology, & Medicine

• René Descartes, Traité de l'homme et de la formation du foetus, argues that the blood circulates at all times
• Plague kills twenty-four thousand in Amsterdam and spreads to Brussels
• December: The first reports of the plague in London, as two Frenchmen die in Drury Lane

Politics & Law

• Nieuw Amsterdam becomes New York, named for James, Duke of York

Philosophy & Theology

Milestones

• Birth of John Vanbrugh, architect and dramatist

Miscellaneous

• Thomas Browne gives evidence against two English women who are condemned as witches