Background
John Crowne was born about 1640, probably in England but possibly in Nova Scotia, where his father, William Crowne, received a grant of land from Oliver Cromwell.After the Restoration William Crowne lost his lands in Nova Scotia, and his son spent the greater part of his life in trying to regain his patrimony.
Education
John Crowne attended Harvard in 1657-1660.
Career
John Crowne came to England in the reign of Charles II, took a position as gentleman-usher to a wealthy lady, and began his writing career with a romance, Pandion and Amphigenia, or the History of the Coy Lady of Thessalia (1665). In 1671 he wrote his first play, a tragicomedy entitled Juliana, or the Princess of Poland. Requested to write a court masque in 1675, he produced Calisto, or the Chaste Nymph, which won him the favor of Charles II. He subsequently wrote Country Wit (1675), The Destruction of Jerusalem (1677), The Ambitious Statesman, or the Loyal Favorite (1679), and Thyestes (1681). At the request of the king he adapted a Spanish play into Sir Courtly Nice, or It Cannot Be (1685), generally considered his best work. In 1698 he wrote the tragedy Caligula. Crowne was in his day a rival of John Dryden, but his plays have not survived changes in popular taste.