Shakspeare might have written than either Love's
Labour's Lost, or All's Well that Ends Well.

"For satisfactory proof that the style, phraseology, and imagery of the greater part of this play are truly Shakspearian, the reader has only to attend to the numerous coincidences which, in these respects, occur between Pericles and the poet's subsequent productions; similitudes so striking, as to leave no doubt that they originated from one and the same source.

of incidents, and the great length of time which they Occupy, yet it is, we may venture to assert, the mot spirited and pleasing specimen of the nature and fabric of our earliest romantic drama which we possess, and the most valuable, as it is the only one with which Shakspeare has favoured us. We should therefore welcome this play as an admirable example of “ the neglected favourites of our ancestors, with something of the same feeling that is experienced in the reception If we attend, however, a little further to the 'dra of an old and valued friend of our fathers or grandmatic construction of Pericles, to its humour, sentiment, fathers. Nay, we should like it the better for its gothic and character, not only shall we find additional evidence appendages of pageants and chorusses, to explain the in favour of its being, in a great degree, the product of intricacies of the fable; and we can see no objection to our author, but fresh cause, it is expected, for award- the dramatic representation even of a series of ages in ing it a higher estimation than it has hitherto obtained.' a single night, that does not apply to every description Dr. Drake enters much more at large into the argu- of poem, which leads in perusal from the fireside at ment for establishing this as a juvenile effort of our which we are sitting, to a succession of remote periods great poet, and for placing the date of its composition and distant countries. In these matters faith is allin the year 1590, but we must content ourselves with powerful; and without her influence, the most chastely referring the reader to his work for these particulars.-cold and critically correct of dramas is precisely as He continues:unreal as the Midsummer Night's Dream, or the Winter's Tale."

Steevens thinks that this play was originally named Pyrocles, after the hero of Sidney's Arcadia, the character, as he justly observes, not bearing the smallest affinity to that of the Athenian statesman. "It is remarkable," says he, "that many of our ancient writers were ambitious to exhibit Sidney's worthies on the stage, and when his subordinate heroes were advanced to such honour, how happened it that Pyrocles, their leader, should be overlooked? Musidorus, (his companion,) Argalus and Parthenia, Phalantus and Eudora, Andromana, &c. furnished titles for different tragedies; and perhaps Pyrocles, in the present instance, was defrauded of a like distinction. The names invented or employed by Sidney had once such popularity, that they were sometimes borrowed by poets who did not profess to follow the direct current of his fables, or attend to the strict preservation of his characters. I must add, that the Appolyn of the Storybook and Gower could only have been rejected to make room for a more favourite name; yet however conciliating the name of Pyrocles might have been, that of Pericles could challenge no advantage with regard to general predilection. All circumstances therefore considered, it is not improbable that Shakspeare designed his chief character to be called Pyrocles, not Pericles, however ignorance or accident might have shuffled the latter (a name of almost similar sound) into the place of the former." This conjecture will amount almost to certainty if we diligently compare Pericles with the Pyrocles of the Arcadia; the same romantic, versatile, and sensitive disposition is ascribed to both characters, and several of the incidents pertaining to the latter are found mingled with the adventures of the former personage, while, throughout the play, the obligations of its author to various other parts of the romance may be frequently and distinctly traced, not only in the assumption of an image or a sentiment, but in the adoption of the very words of his once popular predecessor, proving incontestibly the poet's familiarity with and study of the Arcadia to have been very

considerable.

'However wild and extravagant the fable of Pericles may appear, if we consider its numerous chorusses, its pageantry, and dumb shows, its continual succession

'A still more powerful attraction in Pericles is, that the interest accumulates as the story proceeds; for, though many of the characters in the earlier part of the drama, such as Antiochus and his Daughter, Simonides and Thaisa, Cleon and Diony za, disappear and drop into oblivion, their places are supplied by more pleasing and efficient agents, who are not less fugacious, but better calculated for theatric effect. The inequalities of this production are, indeed, considerable, and only to be accounted for, with probability, on the supposition that Shakspeare either accepted a coadjutor, or improved on the rough sketch of a previous writer, the former, for many reasons, seems entitled to a preference, and will explain why, in compliment to his dramatic friend, he has suffered a few passages, and one entire scene, of a character totally dissimilar to his own style and mode of composition, to stand uncerrected; for who does not perceive that of the closing scene of the second act not a sentence or a word escaped from the pen of Shakspeare.

No play, in fact, more openly discloses the hand of Shakspeare than Pericles, and fortunately his share in its composition appears to have been very considerable; he may be distinctly, though not frequently, traced in the first and second acts; after which, feeling the incompetency of his fellow-labourer, he seems to have assumed almost the entire management of the remainder, nearly the whole of the third, fourth, and fifth acts bearing indisputable testimony to the genius and execution of the great master."*

The most corrupt of Shakspeare's other dramas, compared with Pericles, is purity itself. The metre is seldom attended to; verse is frequently printed as prose, and the grossest errors abound in every page. I mention these circumstances only as an apology to the reader for having taken somewhat more licence with this drama than would have been justifiable if the old copies had been less disfigured by the negligence and ignorance of the printer or transcriber.-- Malone.

* Shakspeare and his Times, by Dr. Drake, vol. II. P. 262 and seq.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ANTIOCHUS, King of Antioch.
PERICLES, Prince of Tyre.
HELICANUS, two Lords of Tyre.
ESCANES,

SIMONIDES, King of Pentapolis.'
CLEON, Governor of Tharsus.

LYSIMACHUS, Governor of Mitylene.
CERIMON, a Lord of Ephesus.
THALIARD, a Lord of Antioch.
PHILEMON, Servant to Cerimon.
LEONINE, Servant to Dionyza. Marshal.

A Pandar, and his Wife. BOULT their Servant.
GOWER, as Chorus.

The Daughter of Antiochus.
DIONYZA, Wife to Cleon.

THAISA, Daughter to Simonides.

MARINA, Daughter to Pericles and Thaisa.
LYCHORIDA, Nurse to Marina. DIANA.

Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pi-
rates, Fishermen, and Messengers, &c.
SCENE, dispersedly in various Countries.†

us, a district of Cyrenaica in Africa, comprising five cities, of which Cyrene was one.

We meet with Pentapolitana regio, a country in Africa, consisting of five cities. Pentapolis occurs in the thirty-seventh chapter of King Appolyn of Tyre, That the reader may know through how many re1510; in Gower; the Gesta Romanorum; and Twine's gions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessi translation from it. Its site is marked in an ancient map to observe that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; of the world, MS. in the Cotton Library, Brit. Mus. Ti- Tyre a city of Phoenicia in Asia; Tharsus, the metropolis berius, b. v. In the original Latin romance of Apollo- of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital nius Tyrius it is most accurately called Pentapolis Cy- of Lesbos, an island in the Egean sea; and Ephesus, renorum and was, as both Strabo and Ptolemy inform I the capital of Ionia, a country of the Lesser Asia.

! Chorus, in the character of Gower, an ancient Eng-Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance lish poet, who has related the story of this play in his Confessio Amantis.

3 The defect of metre (sung and come being no father of Pericles is living. By prince, therefore, rhymes) points out that we should read

From ancient ashes Gower sprung;'

alluding to the restoration of the Phenix.

4 That is, says Dr. Farmer, by whom this emendation was made, church-ales. The old copy has 'holy days.' Gower's speeches were certainly intended to rhyme throughout.

5 The purchase' is the reading of the old copy; which Steevens, among other capricious alterations, changed to purpose. That Steevens and Malone were ignorant of the true meaning of the word purchase, I have shown, King Henry IV. part i. act ii. sc. 1. It was anciently used to signify gain, profit; any good or advantage obtained; as in the following instances:-James the First, when he made the extravagant gift of 30,0007. to Rich, said, 'You think now that you have a great purchase; but I am far happier in giving you that sum than you can be in receiving it.'

No purchase passes a good wife, no losse Is, than a bad wife a more cursed crosse.'

Chapman's Georgics of Hesiod, b. ii. 44, p. 32. Long would it be ere thou hast purchase bought, Or welthier wexen by such idle thought.' Hall, Satire ii. b. 2. 6 Wife; the word signifies a mate or companion. 7 i. e. completely exuberantly beautiful. A full for tune, in Othello, means a complete one. 8 Account for accounted.

9 i. e. shape or direct their course thither.

10 To keep her still to himself, and to deter others from demanding her in marriage.

11 Gower must be supposed to point to the scene of the palace gate at Antioch, on which the heads of those unfortunate wights were fixed.

12 Which (the judgment of your eye) best can justify, i. e. prove its resemblance to the ordinary course of nature. Thus afterwards :-

When thou shalt kneel and justify in knowledge.' 18 It does not appear in the present drama that the

3

11 The man who knows the ill practices of princes is 3 I will act as sick men do; who having had expe- unwise if he reveals what he knows; for the publisher rience of the pleasures of the world, and only a vision of vicious actions resembles the wind, which while it ary and distant prospect of heaven, have neglected the passes along, blows dust into men's eyes. When the latter for the former; but at length, feeling them-blast is over, the eyes that have been affected by the selves decaying, grasp no longer at temporal pleasures, but prepare calmly for futurity."

13 The earth is oppressed by the injuries which crowd upon her. Steevens altered throng'd to wrong's; but apparently without necessity. 14 The mole is called poor worm as a term of commiseration. In The Tempest, Prospero, speaking to Miranda, says, Poor worm, thou art infected. The mole remains secure till it has thrown up those hillocks which betray his course to the mole-catcher. 15 Flatter, insinuate.

16 To the destruction of your life.

17 Where has here the power of whereas; as m other passages of these plays. It occurs again with the same meaning in Act ii. Se. 8, of this play.

By your untimely claspings with your child,
(Which pleasure fits a husband, not a father ;)
And she an eater of her mother's flesh,
By the defiling of her parent's bed;
And both like sepents ar, who though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night,
Will shun' no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, auother doth provoke;
Murders as near to lust, as flame to smoke.
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets, to put off the shame :
Then, lest my life be cropp d to keep you clear,2
By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. [Exit.

Re-enter ANTIOCHUS.

(The tomb where grief should sleep,) can breed me quiet!

Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes
shun them,

And danger, which I feared, is at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here:
Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.
Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by misdread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done,
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.
And so with me; the great Antiochus,
('Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he's so great, can make his will his act,}
Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence;

Ant. He hath found the meaning, for the which Nor boots it me to say, I honour him,

we mean

Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.4
Mess. My lord, Prince Pericles is fled.
[Exit Messenger.
As thou

Ant.
Wilt live, fly after: and, as an arrow, shot
From a well experienc'd archer, hits the mark
His eye doth level at, so ne'er return,
Unless thou say, Prince Pericles is dead.
Thal. My lord, if I

Can get him once within my pistol's length,
I'll make him sure; so farewell to your highness.
[Exit.

Ant. Thaliard, adieu! till Pericles be dead,
My heart can lend no succour to my head. [Exit.
SCENE II. Tyre. A Room in the Palace. Enter
PERICLES, HELICANUS, and other Lords.
Per. Let none disturb us: Why should this
change of thought?"

The sad companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
By me so us'd a guest is, not an hour,
In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful night,

1 The old copy erroneously reads shor. The emendation is Malone's. The expression here is elliptical:For wisdom sees that those men who do not blush to commit actions blacker than the night, will not shun any course in order to preserve them from being made public.

2To prevent any suspicion from falling on you.'So in Macbeth:

always thought, that I

Require a clearness.

3 In The Winter's Tale the word partake is used in an active sense for participate :

your exultation

Partake to every one.'

4 These words are addressed to the Messenger, who enters in haste.

5 Why should this change of thought? This is the reading of the old copies; which Steevens changed to, Why this charge of thoughts? I think without necessity. Pericles, addressing the Lords, says, 'Let none disturb us.' Then apostrophising himself, says, 'Why should this change in our thoughts disturb

If he suspect I may dishonour him:

And what may make him blush in being known,
He'll stop the course by which it might be known;
With hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land,
And with the ostent of war' will look so huge,
Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
Our men be vanquish'd, ere they do resist,
And subjects punish'd, that ne'er thought offence:
Which care of them, not pity of myself,
(Who am no more but as the tops of trees,
Which fence the roots they grow by, and defend
them,)

Makes both my body pine, and soul to languish,
And punish that before, that he would punish.

1 Lord. Joy and all confort in your sacred breast! 2 Lord. And keep your mind, till you return to us, Peaceful and comfortable!

Hel. Peace, peace, my lords, and give experience

tongue.

They do abuse the king, that flatter him :
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;

The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,
To which that breath gives heat and stronger
glowing;

Whereas reproof, obedient, and in order,
Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err,
When Signior Sooth19 here does proclaim a peace,
He flatters you, makes war upon your life:
Prince, pardon me, or strike ine, if you please;
I cannot be much lower than my knees.

Per. All leave us else; but let your cares o'erlook
What shipping, and what lading's in our haven,
And then return to us. [Exeunt Lords.] Helicanus,

metre.

Rise, pr'ythee rise;

6 Him was supplied by Rowe for the sake of the 7 Old copies :

And with the stent of war will look so huge.' The emendation, suggested by Mr. Tyrwhitt, is con firmed by the following passage in Decker's Entertainment to King James I. 1604:

And why you bear alone th' ostent of warre.' Again in Chapman's translation of Homer's Batracho. muomachia :

Both heralds bearing the ostents of war." 8 The old copy reads, Who once no more,' &c The emendation is by Steevens. Malone reads, Who wants no more,' &c.

9 i. e. the breath of flattery. The word spark was here accidentally repeated by the compositor in the old copy.

10 A near kinsman of this gentleman is mentioned in The Winter's Tale: And his pond fished by his next neighbour, by Sir Smile."

Bring arms to princes, and to subjects joys.'

3 To smooth is to sooth, coar, or flatter. Thus in King Richard III. :-

Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog.' So in Titus Andronicus:

10 Who this wise fellow was, may be known from the following passage in Barnabie Riches Soldier's Wishe to Briton's Welfare, or Captaine Skill and Captaine Yield to his humour, smooth, and speak him fair.' Pill, 1604, p. 27 :-'I will therefore commende the poet The verb to smooth is frequently used in this sense by Philipides, who being demaunded by King Lisimachus, our elder writers; for instance, by Stubbes in his Ana-what favour he might doe unto him for that he loved tomie of Abuses, 1583: If you will learn to deride, scoffe, mock, and flowt, to flatter and smooth,' &c.

4 The quarto of 1609 reads, And should he doot,' &c.; from which the reading of the text has been formed. Should he be in doubt that I shall keep his secret, (as there is no doubt but he is,) why, to lop that doubt,' i. e. to get rid of that painful uncertainty, he will strive to make me appear the aggressor, by attacking me first as the author of some supposed injury to himself.'

5 That is to lament their fate. The first quarto reads, to grieve for them.'

6 This transfer of authority naturally brings the first

cene of Measure for Measure to our mind.