SOURCE: Grosart, Alexander B. “Memorial-Introduction.” In The Works of Gabriel Harvey, D. C. L., edited by Alexander B. Grosart, pp. ix-l. New York: AMS Press, 1966.

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1884 for private circulation, Grosart provides an extremely unflattering assessment of Harvey and his works, calling his efforts little more than curiosities of literature that are interesting only for the glimpses they provide into the Elizabethan period and for the background they offer on the writings of Thomas Nashe.

In his Preface to the Letter-Book of Gabriel Harvey, a.d. 1573-80 (Camden Society, 1884), Mr. E. J. Long Scott, M.A., commences his little notice thus:

Gabriel Harvey, the writer of the following Letter-Book, is better known to us than almost any other man among the literary characters who crowd the Elizabethan stage. His celebrated controversy with Nashe (who raked up against him every circumstance in his life...