Here, therefore, we find (reforming the uncouth spelling of the old manager) that the play under consideration was acted, for the first day,[19] between the 9th and 12th June 1592, and that Henslowe's share of the receipts amounted to 3l. 12s. 0d. It was acted again on 15th and 22d June, when the account ends. William Kemp was at this time a member of the company in the prosperity of which Henslowe was interested, and had not yet joined the association acting under the sanction of the Lord Chamberlain, to which, in 1592, Shakespeare had for some years belonged. "Ed. Allen and his Company," spoken of on the title-page to the printed copy of "A Knack to know a Knave" as those by whom it had been "played," were the actors of Lord Strange.[20]
With regard to the date when the "Knack to know a Knave" was printed, we are in possession of pretty distinct evidence that it came out in the early part of 1594, the year stated on the title-page. The imprint also informs us that Richard Jones, then carrying on business at the Rose and Crown near Holborn Bridge, was the typographer; and we meet with the following entry at Stationers' Hall, preparatory to the publication, with his name prefixed to it.
"vij'o Januarij [1593-4]
"Rich. Jones. Entred for his Copie &c. A comedie entitled a Knack to knowe a Knaue, newlye sett fourth, as it hath sundrye tymes ben plaid by Ned Allen and his Companie, with Kemps applauded Merymentes of the men of Goteham."[21]
The sum paid to the clerk who kept the register was, as usual, sixpence; and from the terms above employed, which nearly follow those of the title-page, we may feel pretty sure that the copy taken to Stationers' Hall was a printed one, and not, as seems to have been generally the case, a manuscript.
There is no doubt that the drama was extremely popular both on and off the stage; and although it is now one of the scarcest of our old plays, it must have been a profitable speculation to the publisher. In order that the various parties interested might more effectually avail themselves of the favour with which it had been received, a sort of counterpart was written to it, and acted for the first time on 22d October 1594, by the players of the Queen and of the Earl of Sussex (then performing together), under the title of "A Knack to know an Honest Man." This drama, though inferior in every respect, appears by "Henslowe's Diary" (for he was also interested in the receipts of these united associations) to have had a long and advantageous run.[22] It was not published until 1596, and it was previously entered on the Stationers' books by Cuthbert Burby. In the same year was printed by Valentine Simmes a work, the title of which was evidently borrowed from the proverbial expression "a knack to knowe a knave," which possibly had its origin in the great popularity of the drama we have reprinted. This work was by M.B., and was called "The Triall of true Friendship; or a perfect mirror to discerne a trustie friend from a flattering Parasite—Otherwise a Knack to know a Knave from an honest man." One principal purpose of the play under consideration was to expose the flattery of the parasite Perin, who endeavoured to impose upon King Edgar, but was detected by Honesty. It seems not unlikely that Honesty was the character sustained by Edward Alleyn, but we have no knowledge of the distribution of any of the parts, beyond the fact that Kemp played a chief blunderer in the comic scene; whether that was the Miller, the Cobbler, or the Smith may, perhaps, admit of dispute.
The story of the serious portion of the play was doubtless derived from an old ballad, inserted by Thomas Deloney in his "Garland of Good Will" (probably written by him), where it is entitled "A Song of King Edgar, showing how he was deceived of his Love." As it is reprinted in all the editions of "Evans's Old Ballads," and has been the subject of two plays in comparatively modern times,[23] it is not necessary here to give any detail of the plot, which also, in several incidents, strongly resembles parts of Robert Greene's "Friar Bacon and Friar Bongay," which, like the "Knack to know a Knave," was printed in 1594.[24]
The Editor was, some years ago, permitted to make a transcript of this rare play from a copy in the library of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, that in the British Museum being very defective in several places, and the missing pages having been supplied by very delusive manuscript. The Rev. Alexander Dyce also possesses a perfect exemplar, which was extremely useful for the purpose of collation.