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The history of English dramatic poetry to the time of Shakespeare
The history of English dramatic poetry to the time of Shakespeare Author:John Payne Collier Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: TRAGEDY AND COMEDY, THEIR RISE AND PROGRESS, (CoNTINVEDJ. A KNACK TO KNOW A KNAVE—THE MISFORTUNES OF ARTHUR—THE RARE TRIUMPHS OF LOVE AND FORTUNE—ARDEN ... more »OF FEVERSHAM. One fact we may consider decisively established— that 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, siiys that it was entered for publication on the Stationers' Books in January 1595 [H. E. P., iv. 305 edit. 8vo.], but the entry wai, 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 Goteham f.' Kemp succeeded Tarlton, who died in September 1588; and Nash, in his Almo...« less