1710 in literature

Events

• February – A year after the death of the poet, Edmund Smith prints a "Poem to the Memory of Mr. John Philips". Other memorials this year include "A Poem to the Memory of the Incomparable Mr. Philips" by Leonard Welsted. A monument to him is erected by Lord Harcourt in Westminster Abbey, between those to Geoffrey Chaucer and Michael Drayton, with the motto "Honos erit huic quoque pomo" from the title page of Philips' work Cyder.
• February 8 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte is elected to the Académie française, taking the seat vacated by Thomas Corneille.
• April 10 – The Statute of Anne, the first modern copyright act, comes into force in the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• April 28 – After Thomas Betterton's death this day, the great Shakespearean roles he dominated for a generation are divided among fellow actors Barton Booth, Robert Wilks and John Mills.
• September 2 – Jonathan Swift, in London, begins his series of letters to Esther Johnson, which will be collected after his death as A Journal to Stella.
• November 6 – Colley Cibber becomes joint manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.

New books

Prose

• Joseph Addison – The Whig Examiner
• John Bellers – Some Reasons for an European State proposed to the Powers of Europe
• George Berkeley – A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
• Laurent Bordelon – A history of the ridiculous extravagancies of Monsieur Oufle
• Lady Mary Chudleigh – Essays Upon Several Occasions
• Colley Cibber – The Secret History of Arlus and Odolphus
• Anthony Collins – A Vindication of the Divine Attributes
• Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury – Soliloquy
• Daniel Defoe – An Essay Upon Public Credit
• George Hickes – A Second Collection of Controversial Letters relating to the Church of England and the Church of Rome, as they passed between an honourable lady and Dr. George Hickes
• Gottfried Leibniz – Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l'homme et l'origine du mal
• John Leland – The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary
• Delarivier Manley – Memoirs of Europe, towards the close of the eighth century
• Cotton Mather – Bonifacius: Essays To Do Good
• François Pétis de la Croix – Les Mille et un jours ''
• Samuel Richter – Die wahrhaffte und volkommene Bereitung des philosophischen Steins der Brüderschaft aus dem Orden des Gülden und Rosen Kreutzes
• Jonathan Swift – A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick
• Ned Ward – Nuptial Dialogues and Debates; or, a useful prospect of the felicities and discomforts of a marry'd life, incident to all degrees, from the throne to the cottage
• Christian Wolff – Anfangsgründe aller mathematischen Wissenschaften
• Various
• *The Examiner: Remarks upon Papers and Occurrences
• *''The Medley''

Drama

• William Congreve – Semele, an "unacted opera"
• Aaron Hill – Elfrid
• Charles Johnson – The Force of Friendship
• Charles Shadwell – ''The Fair Quaker Of Deal''

Poetry

• George Farquhar – Barcellona: a poem; or, the Spanish expedition under the command of Charles Earl of Peterborough
• Ambrose Philips – ''Pastorals''

Births

• April 13 – Jonathan Carver, American writer and explorer
• April 26 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosophical writer
• October 24 – Alban Butler, English hagiographer
• November 8 – Sarah Fielding, English novelist
• November 13 – Charles Simon Favart, French dramatist
• November 27 – Robert Lowth, English poet, grammarian and bishop
• unknown dates
• *George Alexander Stevens, English dramatist, poet and actor
• *Floyer Sydenham, English classicist

Deaths

• February 16 – Esprit Fléchier, French preacher and memoirist
• February 17 – George Bull, English theologian and bishop
• April 28 – Thomas Betterton, English actor-manager
• July 8 – Jean Donneau de Visé, French historian, publicist and playwright
• November 1 – Michael Kongehl, German poet
• December 14 – Henry Aldrich, English theologian and philosopher
• December 15 – Lady Mary Chudleigh, English poet
• Probable year – Marcus Meibomius, Danish Biblical scholar and classicist