Title-page of the Quarto Edition of Much Ado About Nothing 1600

Of the early popular success of Much Ado there can be little doubt: by 1640 Leonard Digges versified "let but Beatrice /And Benedicke be seene, loe in a trice/ The Cockpit Galleries, Boxes, all are full."(Shakespeare Allusion Book) King Charles I, in his copy of Shakespeare's plays, crossed out the play's title, renaming it “Beatrice and Benedick,"