Mary Knep (died 1681), also Knepp, Nepp, Knip, or Knipp, was an English actress and one of the first generation of female performers to appear on the public stage during the Restoration era.
She never achieved the same fame as her younger contemporary Nell Gwyn; in 1672 Knep secured the lead female role in The Assignation, but the play was a flop.
[3] Scholars disagree on the full extent of the Pepys/Knep relationship; but much of what we know about Knep comes from Samuel Pepys' famous private diary.
Pepys first met Knep on 6 December 1665; he described her as "pretty enough, but the most excellent, mad-humoured thing, and sings the noblest that I ever heard in my life."
When they wrote notes to each other, Pepys signed himself "Dapper Dickey," while Knep was "Barbary Allen" (a popular song that was an item in her musical repertory).