SOURCE: Dennis, John. “To Mr. * * * In which are some Passages of the Life of Mr. John Crowne, Author of Sir Courtly Nice.” In The Critical Works of John Dennis, edited by Edward Niles Hooker, Vol. II, pp. 404-06. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1943.

In the following letter, dated June 23, 1719, Dennis describes some details of Crowne's life and political difficulties, and offers substantial praise of Sir Courtly Nice, declaring that “the greatest Comick Poet that ever liv'd in any Age, might have been proud to have been the Author of it.”

Sir,

I Shall now, in compliance with the repeated Requests you have made to me, say something concerning the Education of Mr. John Crown, and the most remarkable Passages of his Life. Mr. Crown was bred under his Father, an Independant Minister, in that part of Northern America, which is called Nova Scotia. But the Vivacity of his...