Play is based loosely on the first part of Richard Johnsons short Arthurian novel Tom a Lincoln (1599) but with an added clown figure Rusticano. Ascribed by Sothebys to Thomas Heywood, the prolific dramatist, it may perhaps have been by a member of the Inns of Court, possibly one Morgan Evans, whose name appears in the colophon
Item Provenance
Discovered among the papers of Charles Is Secretary of State, Sir John Coke at Melbourne Hall, Derbyshire; sold at Sothebys 1973 its export licence was denied. Bought by BL by private treaty from the Marquess of Lothian