publication. The play is not therefore necessarily later than Tamburlaine (c. 1587). But the tone is that of the Armada period. Shakespeare used the play, with which, from the booksellers' point of view, his King John seems to have been treated as identical. Judith c. 1595 (?) [MS.] National Library of Wales, Peniarth (formerly Hengwrt), MS. 508. G. A. Jones, A Play of Judith (1917, M. L. N. xxxii. 1) describes the MS. which contains the Latin text of the Judithae Constantia of Cornelius Schonaeus, of which a reprint was issued in London in 1595, together with an incomplete English translation in unrhymed verse written as prose, perhaps as a school exercise, in a late sixteenth-century or early seventeenth-century hand. A Knack to Know an Honest Man. 1594
S. R. 1595, Nov. 26. 'A booke intituled The most Rare and plesaunt historie of A knack to knowe an honest man.' Cuthbert Burby (Arber, iii. 54). 1596. A Pleasant Conceited Comedie, called, A knacke to know an honest Man. As it hath beene sundrie times plaied about the Citie of London. For Cuthbert Burby.
Editions by H. De Vocht (1910, M. S. R.) and J. S. Farmer (1912, T. F. T.). The play was produced by the Admiral's on 22 Oct. 1594, and twenty-one performances were given between that date and 3 Nov. 1596 (Greg, Henslowe, ii. 171). The text is confused and probably surreptitious. A Knack to Know a Knave. 1592
S. R. 1594, Jan. 7. 'A commedie entitled "a Knack to knowe a knave" newlye sett fourth as it hath sundrye tymes been plaid by Ned. Allen and his Companie with Kemps applauded Merymentes of the menn of Goteham.' Richard Jones (Arber, ii. 643). 1594. A most pleasant and merie new Comedie, Intituled, A Knacke to knowe a knave. Newlie set foorth, as it hath sundrie tymes bene played by Ed. Allen and his Companie. With Kemps applauded Merrimentes of the men of Goteham, in receiuing the King into Goteham. Richard Jones.
Editions by J. P. Collier (1851, Five Old Plays), in Dodsley^4 (1874, vi), and by J. S. Farmer (1911, T. F. T.).
Strange's men produced 'the Knacke to Knowe a Knave' on 10 June 1592, and played it seven times to 24 Jan. 1593. Henslowe usually enters it as 'the cnacke'. Fleay, 100, suggests that the Osric, revived by the Admiral's men on 3 and 7 Feb. 1597, may also be this play. Both Fleay, ii. 310, and Greg, Henslowe, ii. 156, suggest that Kempe's 'merriments' are to be found in sc. 12, and that of the rest the romantic part may be Peele's and the moral part Wilson's.
