John Crowne

David Roberts (Birmingham City University)
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Unusually for a Restoration dramatist, John Crowne’s life was dominated by his father’s dream of land in North America. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the life of this man of many dramatic genres – he wrote comedies, tragedies, histories, Shakespeare and Racine adaptations and even a pastoral court masque – was in many ways more distinctive than his work, which Robert D. Hume has described as “second-rate Dryden”.

William Crowne, resident of St Martin’s-in-the-Fields parish and Rouge Dragon Pursuivant of Arms to Charles I, survived the Civil War with diplomatic aplomb by marrying into a family of Shropshire Parliamentarians and discharging a number of offices in that county during Cromwell’s period of office. So successful was he that in 1656 he was able to

2558 words

Citation: Roberts, David. "John Crowne". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 April 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1084, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1084 John Crowne 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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