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