play of Mahomet and Hiren the fair Greek, may have been a revival and alteration, with additions and improvements, of what is named in the preceding list the History of a Greek Maid. Murderous Michael, perhaps, was an ancient version of the story of Arden of Fevershum: the History of Error was possibly the true source of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors; and the History of the Collier there is ground to believe was the original of Grim the Collier of Croydon *. One of the plays mentioned under the date of 1600, in Henslowe's Diary, preserved in Dulwich College (but omitted among various others by Malone), is called The Devil and his Dame, and it is there attributed to William Haughton: this is doubtless no other than Grim the Collier of Croydon, the second title of which is The Devil and his Dame. It bears evident marks of greater antiquity than the year 1600, when Haughton was engaged upon it; and the Collier there is the same personage who had figured in Edwards's Damon and Pythias, for both describe themselves as Colliers to the King's own Majesty's mouth.' It also contains an allusion, in Act iv. Scene 1, to Ulpian Fulwell's Like will to Like, first printed in 1568. It will be observed, that that part of the plot of Grim the Collier of Croydon which relates to Grim, Joan, Clack the Miller, and Parson Shorthose, has no connexion with the rest of the story, and is, besides, in its language and style, far older than the other parts of the piece, which are borrowed from Machiavel's Novel of Belphegor. This, I apprehend, was added by Haughton in 1600, when he also made some alterations in what relates to Grim and his companions, though he still preserved very many of the rhyming lines he found in the old copy, and which, as I have suggested, was perhaps the very same piece that had been performed before Queen Elizabeth, in 1576, by the Earl of Leicester's servants. This clue seems to explain all the difficulties arising out of the discordance, especially in point of date, of many parts of Grim the Collier of Croydon. It was not printed until 1662, when it was attributed to J. T., Lut this might be only a guess by the bookseller. TRAGEDY AND COMEDY, THEIR RISE AND PROGRESS, (CONTINUED). A KNACK TO KNOW A KNAVE-THE MISFORTUNES OF ARTHUR-THE RARE TRIUMPHS OF LOVE AND FORTUNE-ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM, ONE fact we may consider decisively establishedthat between 1568 and 1580, the Morals represented bore but a small proportion to the Tragedies, Comedies, and Histories; but some time before the race of Morals was quite extinct, an attempt was made to unite in a five-act comedy, as had been previously done in interludes, the two species of performance. The title of this attempt is, A Knack to know a Knave; and although it was not printed until 1594*, we are warranted in supposing that in the shape in which it now appears, it was written and acted prior to 1590: it is mentioned in Henslowe's accounts, not as a new piece, under the date of the 10th June, 1592. It was performed by his company (of which Edward Alleyn was the leader, and William Kemp a principal member) only three times anterior to June 1592; and that * Warton, who only seems to have been acquainted with its title, says that it was entered for publication on the Stationers' Books in January 1595 [H. E. P., iv. 305 edit. 8vo.], but the entry was, in fact, first made in September 1593. circumstance may be accounted for, if we imagine that it was then a play which had not the recommendation of novelty. It may be doubted whether that portion of it, which in its nature and characters resembles a Moral, was not founded upon a still older performance. The name of its author cannot now be recovered *, but the title-page informs us that it had been played 'sundry times by Ed. Allen and his company,' and that it contained Kemp's applauded merriments of the men of Gotehamt.' Kemp succeeded Tarlton, who died in September 1588; and Nash, in his Almond for a Parrat, printed probably in the next year, calls him Jest-monger, and Vice-gerent general to the ghost of Dick Tarlton.' The piece might, however, have been produced prior to the death of Tarlton, but Malone, without a particle of evidence, in a MS. note to his copy of A Knack to know a Knave, assigns it to Robert Greene, who, he says, equally loosely, wrote most of the anonymous pieces prior to 1592. If it had been Greene's, the bookseller would not have failed to put the name of so popular a writer on the title-page. A Knack to know an honest Man, printed in 1596, was written as a counterpart to A Knack to know a Knave, to which it is infinitely inferior, and altogether unworthy of notice. A Knack to know a Knave was unquestionably extremely well liked by the audiences, and the phrase in the title was subsequently adopted by other writers: thus, in 1596, appeared a pamphlet, called 'The Triall of True Friendship, &c.; otherwise, A Knack to know a Knave, from an honest man, &c. By M. B.' Ritson (Bibl. Poet. 261) mentions Kemp's 'applauded merryments of the men of Goteham,' which were entered on the Stationers' Books in 1593, apparently without being aware that they formed part of the play of A Knack to know a Knave. Kemp had been an author in 1587, when he printed a dutifull Invective against the most haynous Treasons of Ballard and Babington,' &c. certainly after 1586. The dramatis persona consist of abstract impersonations and historical characters; and the following belong to the former class, and are engaged more especially with that part of the play which resembles a Moral. Honesty, employed in exposing crimes and vices. The four last are supposed to be the sons of the old Bailiff of Hexham, who is himself a sort of representative of the iniquities practised by inferior magistrates. On his death-bed, early in the performance, he tells his sons, whom he has summoned round him Here have I been a bailiff threescore years, For counterfeiting any hand or seal, The matter heard, the witness brought to me, I took a bribe and set the prisoners free. So by such dealings I have got my wealth.' When he dies, the stage direction is, Enter a devil, and carry him away;' and the whole of this portion of the performance is a severe and somewhat coarse satire on the reigning iniquities of the court and country. This is not the only time when the devil makes his appearance for the sake of pleasing the mob, and in strict conformity with the practice of the old Morals. To show the general nature of the satire, the follow ing, from one of the speeches of Honesty, may be quoted 'Tis strange to see how men of honesty are trou'bled many times with subtle knavery; for they have 'so many cloaks to cover their abuses, that Honesty may well suspect them, but dares not detect them. For if I should, they have by their knavery got so many friends, that though never so bad they will 'stand in defence with the best. I was at the waterside, where I saw such deceit, I dare not say knavery, in paying and receiving custom for outlandish ware, that I wondered to see, yet durst not complain of : 'the reason was, they were countenanced with men of 'great wealth, richer than I a great deal, but not honester. Then I went into the markets, where I saw petty knavery in false measuring corn, and in scales that wanted no less than two ounces in the 'pound. But all this was nothing, scant worth the talking of; but when I came to the Exchange, I 'espied in a corner of an aisle an arch cozener—a coney-catcher, I mean, which used such gross cozen'ing as you would wonder to hear.' 6 In the end Honesty exposes the wickedness of all classes to the King, and they are punished according to the enormity of their offences. The chief historical personages in the play are Edgar, King of England. Ethenwald, Earl of Cornwall. Osrick, an old lord, and Alfrida his daughter. |