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.
Walter, representing the frauds, &c. of Farmers.
Priest, representing the vices of the Clergy.
Coneycatcher, representing the tricks of Cheats.
Perin, representing the vices of Courtiers.

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,
'And us'd exaction on the dwellers by;
'For if a man were brought before my face
'For cozenage, theft, or living on his wit,
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 water'side, 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.”

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.
Bishop Dunstan.

Ethenwald, Earl of Cornwall.

Osrick, an old lord, and

Alfrida his daughter.

Edgar, on the report of the beauty of Alfrida, sends Ethenwald to court her in his name: he arrives in the evening, and thus picturesquely describes the approach of night.

"The night draws on,

' And Phœbus is declining towards the west.
'Now shepherds bear their flocks into the folds,
And wint'red oxen, fodder'd in their stalls,
'Now leave to feed, and 'gin to take their rest.
'Black dusky clouds environ round the globe,
• And heaven is cover'd with a sable robe.'

Ethenwald, who has previously seen Alfrida, and is in love with her, grieves bitterly that he cannot court the lady for himself, and afterwards Osrick introduces him to his innocent and unconscious daughter. Ethenwald complains that a painful rheum' afflicts his eyes, and that he cannot look up

Osrick. I am sorry that my house should cause your grief.

Daughter, if you have any skill at all,

I

pray you use your cunning with the Earl,

'And see if you can ease him of his pain.

6

Alfrida. Father, such skill as I receiv'd of late

By reading many pretty-penn'd receipts,

Both for the ache of head and pain of eyes,

I will, if so it please the Earl to accept it,

'Endeavour what I may to comfort him.

My Lord, I have waters of approved worth,
And such as are not common to be found,

'Any of which, if please your honour use them,
'I am in hope will help you to your sight.

'Ethenwald. No, matchless Alfrida, they will do me
no good,

'For I am troubled only when I look.
'Alfr. On what, my Lord? on whom?
'Ethenw. I cannot tell.

Alfr. Why, let me see your eyes, my Lord: look
upon me.

• Ethenw. Then 'twill be worse.

Alfr. What! if you look on me? Then I'll begone. 'Ethenw. Nay, stay, sweet love, stay, beauteous Alfrida,

And give the Earl of Cornwall leave to speak.

Know, Alfrida, thy beauty hath subdued

'And captivate the Earl of Cornwall's heart.

Briefly, I love thee, seem I ne'er so bold,

So rude and rashly to prefer my suit:

And if your father give but his consent, 'Eas'd be that pain that troubles Ethenwald; ' And this considered, Osrick shall prove

'My father, and his daughter be my love.

Speak, quick Osrick-shall I have her or no?

Osrick. My Lord, with all my heart: you have my

consent,

If so my daughter please to condescend.

'Ethenw. But what saith Alfrida?

Alfr. I say, my Lord, that seing my father grants, 'I will not gainsay what his age thinks meet. 'I do appoint myself, my Lord, at your dispose.' The blank-verse sometimes halts a little, perhaps, owing to the errors of the printer, which in many places are obvious. Ethenwald reports to Edgar that Alfrida is well enough for an Earl, but not sufficiently beautiful for a King: Edgar disbelieves him, and visiting Osrick to ascertain the truth, Ethenwald endeavours to pass off the kitchen-maid upon the king as Alfrida. The trick is detected, and by the advice