Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 31.djvu/269

 the Plough,’ and Corporal Foss in the ‘Poor Gentleman.’ After acting with his wife for three years at Covent Garden, they went together to Edinburgh, where she played on 2 July 1799 Aura in the ‘Farm House,’ and he made what was called, probably in error, his first appearance in Edinburgh as Sir Harry Beagle in the ‘Jealous Wife.’ Mrs. Knight afterwards played at Newcastle and elsewhere, returned to Bath, where she was welcomed, and died there in 1804.

With Fawcett, Holman, Johnstone, Pope, H. Johnston, Munden, and Incledon, Knight signed the well-known statement of the ‘Differences subsisting between the Proprietors and Performers of Covent Garden,’ London, 1800, 8vo (3rd edit.). The lease of the Liverpool Theatre having come into the market, the house was taken by Knight in partnership with Lewis for fourteen years, at a rent elevated from 360l. to 1,500l., and was opened 6 June 1803 with ‘Speed the Plough’ and ‘No Song, no Supper,’ and an address by T. Dibdin, spoken by Knight. During this season Knight remained at Covent Garden, where his last performance took place for his benefit, 15 May 1804, as Farmer Ashfield in ‘Speed the Plough,’ and, for the first time, Lenitive in the ‘Prize.’ He also spoke an address. In 1802 he was living at 10 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. While managing the Liverpool Theatre he lived first at Norton Hall, Lichfield, and subsequently at Woore, Shropshire. In 1817 a new lease was granted to Knight, Thomas Lewis, a son of his late partner, and Banks, with whom Knight became associated in the management of the Manchester Theatre. At the Manor House, Woore, 4 Feb. 1820, Knight died with ‘appalling suddenness.’

Knight wrote many pieces himself. His ‘Thelyphthora, or the Blessings of two Wives at once,’ a farce, was acted at Hull in 1783, but neither printed nor apparently brought to London; ‘Trudge and Wowski,’ a prelude, supposedly from ‘Inkle and Yarico,’ was acted by Knight for his benefit in Bristol 1790, and ‘Honest Thieves,’ a two-act abridgment of the ‘Committee’ of Sir Robert Howard, was produced at Covent Garden with Knight as Abel, 9 May 1797. On 14 Nov. 1799 he appeared at Covent Garden as Robert Maythorn in his own ‘Turnpike Gate.’ This farce was printed in 8vo, 1799, was well received, went through five editions in two years, and kept possession of the stage. Munden made in it as Crack a noteworthy success. Knight's ‘Turnpike Gate’ and the ‘Honest Thieves’ are included in collections of acting plays by Oxberry, Cumberland, Mrs. Inchbald, &c. The anonymous author of the ‘Managers' Note-book,’ which appeared in the ‘New Monthly Magazine,’ attributes to Knight the ‘Masked Friend,’ an anonymous and unprinted reduction to three acts of Holcroft's ‘Duplicity,’ given at Covent Garden for the benefit of Mr. and Mrs. Knight, 6 May 1796, with the former as Squire Turnbull and the latter as Miss Turnbull, and ‘Hints for Painters,’ an unprinted farce, given on the same occasion; also ‘What would the Man be at?’ a one-act piece, unprinted, in which, for his benefit, he played Charles, George, and Will Belford, three brothers. Knight also wrote an ‘Ode on the late Naval War and the Siege of Gibraltar,’ Hull, 4to, 1784, and some comic songs or recitations.

Knight was an admirable actor, and a worthy man. Though living in good style, and consorting with men of science and letters, he realised an independence, which was augmented by a legacy from an uncle. His repertory was not unlike that of his namesake Edward Knight [q. v.] He had a light and elegant figure, a melodious voice, and much sense and tact. As Watty Cockney in the ‘Romp,’ chosen for his second part, he did not create much effect, and his wife's Priscilla Tomboy was a failure, the result being that both were relegated for a time into obscurity. His great parts were Jacob Gawkey, Plethora in ‘Secrets worth knowing,’ Count Cassel, and Farmer Ashfield, all very distinct impersonations. His Master Stephen in Ben Jonson's ‘Every Man in his Humour,’ which he revived for his benefit, also won much praise. During the latter part of his life he assumed the position of a country gentleman, and left a reputation for great liberality. A portrait of him, by Zoffany, as Roger in the ‘Ghost,’ is in the Garrick Club, where also are other portraits of him by De Wilde as Jacob, and by Wageman. 

KNIGHT, THOMAS ANDREW (1759–1838), vegetable physiologist and horticulturist, born at Wormesley Grange, near Ludlow, Herefordshire, on 12 Aug. 1759, was the younger son of Thomas Knight, rector of Ribbesford and Bewdley, Worcestershire, a member of an old Shropshire family, whose fortunes had been made by his father, Richard Knight, an ironmaster. [q. v.] the numismatist was Thomas