There is no direct evidence to indicate when "King Lear" was written or first performed. It is thought to have been composed sometime between 1603 and 1606. A Stationers' Register entry notes a performance before James I on 26 December 1606. The 1603 date originates from words in Edgar's speeches which may derive from Samuel Harsnett's "Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures" (1603). A significant issue in the dating of the play is the relationship of "King Lear" to the play titled "The True Chronicle History of the Life and Death of King Leir and his Three Daughters", which was published for the first time after its entry in the Stationers' Register of 8 May 1605. This play had a significant effect on Shakespeare, and his close study of it suggests that he was using a printed copy, which suggests a composition date of 1605–06. Conversely, Frank Kermode, in the "Riverside Shakespeare", considers the publication of "Leir" to have been a response to performances of Shakespeare's already-written play; noting a sonnet by William Strachey that may have verbal resemblances with "Lear", Kermode concludes that "1604–05 seems the best compromise".