PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.] The story on which this play is formed, is of great antiquity. It is found in a book, once very popular, entitled Gefta Romanorum, which is fuppofed by Mr. Tyrwhitt, the learned editor of The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, 1775, to have been written five hundred years ago. The earlieft impreffion of that work (which I have feen) was printed in 1488;* in that edition the hiftory of Appolonius King of Tyre makes the 153d chapter. It is likewife related by Gower in his Confeffio Amantis, Lib. VIII. p. 175–185, edit. 1554. The Rev. Dr. Farmer has in his poffeffion a fragment of a MS. poem on the fame subject, which appears, from the hand-writing and the metre, to be more ancient than Gower. The reader will find an extract from it at the end of the play. There is alfo an ancient romance on this fubject, called Kyng Appolyn of Thyre, tranflated from the French by Robert Copland, and printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510. In 1576 William Howe had a licence for printing The most excellent, pleafant, and variable Hiftorie of the Strange Adventures of Prince Appolonius, Lucine his wyfe, and Tharfa his daughter. The author of Pericles having introduced Gower in his piece, it is reasonable to fuppofe that he chiefly followed the work of that poet. It is obfervable, that the hero of this tale is, in Gower's poem, as in the prefent play, called Prince of Tyre; in the Gefta Romanorum, and Copland's profe Romance, he is entitled King. Most of the incidents of the play are found in the Conf. Amant. and a few of Gower's expreffions are occafionally borrowed. However, I think it is not unlikely, that there may have been (though I have not met with it) an early profe tranflation of this popular story, from the Geft. Roman. in which the name of Appolonius was changed to Pericles; to which, likewife, the author of this drama may have been indebted. In 1607 was published at London, by Valentine Sims, "The patterne of painful adventures, containing the most excellent, pleasant, and variable Hiftorie of the ftrange Accidents that befell unto Prince Appolonius, the lady Lucina his wife, and Tharfia his daughter, wherein the uncertaintie of this world and the fickle ftate of man's life are lively described. Tranflated into English by T. Twine, Gent." I have never feen the book, but it was without doubt a re-publication of that published by W. Howe in 1576. Pericles was entered on the Stationers' books, May 2, 1608, by Edward Blount, one of the printers of the first folio edition of Shakspeare's plays; but it did not appear in print till the following year, and then it was published not by Blount, but by * There are several editions of the Gesta Romanorum before 1488. DOUCE. Henry Goffon; who had probably anticipated the other, by getting a hafty tranfcript from a playhouse copy. There is, I believe, no play of our author's, perhaps I might say, in the English language, fo incorrect as this. The moft corrupt of Shakspeare's other dramas, compared with Pericles, is purity itfelf. The metre is seldom attended to; verfe is frequently printed as profe, and the groffeft errors abound in almost every page. I mention these circumstances, only as an apology to the reader for having taken fomewhat more licence with this drama than would have been justifiable, if the copies of it now extant had been lefs disfigured by the negligence and ignorance of the printer or tranfcriber. The numerous corruptions that are found in the original edition in 1609, which have been carefully preferved and augmented in all the fubfequent impreffions, probably arofe from its having been frequently exhibited on the itage. In the four quarto editions it is called the much admired play of PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE; and it is mentioned by many. ancient writers as a very popular performance; particularly, by the author of a metrical pamphlet, entitled Pymlico, or Run Redcap, in which the following lines are found: "Amaz'd I ftood, to fee a crowd "Of civil throats ftretch'd out fo loud: "Did fwarm with gentles mix'd with grooms; "Came to fee Shore or Pericles." In a former edition of this play I faid, on the authority of another person, that this pamphlet had appeared in 1596; but I have fince met with the piece itself, and find that Pymlico, &c. was published in 1609. It might, however, have been a republication. The prologue to an old comedy called The Hog has loft his Pearl, 1614, likewife exhibits a proof of this play's uncommon fuccefs. The poet, fpeaking of his piece, fays: if it prove fo happy as to please,. "We'll fay, 'tis fortunate, like Pericles.". By fortunate, I understand highly fuccessful. The writer can hardly be fupposed to have meant that Pericles was popular rather from accident than merit; for that would have been but a poor eulogy on his own performance. An obfcure poet, however, in 1652, infinuates that this drama was ill received, or at least that it added nothing to the reputation of its author: "But Shakespeare, the plebeian driller, was Verfes by J. Tatham, prefixed to Richard Brome's The paffages above quoted show that little credit is to be given to the affertion contained in these lines; yet they furnish us with an additional proof that Pericles, at no very diftant period after Shakspeare's death, was confidered as unquestionably his performance. In The Times difplayed in Six Seftiads, 4to. 1646, dedicated by S. Shephard to Philip Earl of Pembroke, p. 22, Seftiad VI. ftanza 9, the author thus fpeaks of our poet and the piece before us : "See him, whofe tragick fcenes Euripides Compare great Shakspeare; Aristophanes "He wrote of luftful Tarquin's rape, fhows he For the divifion of this piece into fcenes I am refponfible, there being none found in the old copies.-See the notes at the end of the play. MALONE. The Hiftory of Apollonius King of Tyre was fuppofed by Mark Welfer, when he printed it in 1595, to have been tranflated from the Greek a thousand years before. [Fabr. Bib. Gr. v. p. 821.] It certainly bears ftrong marks of a Greek original, though it is not (that I know) now extant in that language. The rythmical poem, under the fame title, in modern Greek, was retranflated (if I may so speak) from the Latin-año Aalivixys eis Puμaïnyy yλwooav. Du Frefne, Index Author. ad Gloff. Græc. When Welfer printed it, he probably did not know that it had been published already (perhaps more than once) among the Gefta Romanorum. In an edition, which I have, printed at Rouen in 1521, it makes the 154th chapter. Towards the latter end of the XIIth century, Godfrey of Viterbo, in his Pantheon or Universal Chronicle, inferted this romance as part of the hiftory of the third Antiochus, about 200 years before Christ. It begins thus [MS. Reg. 14, C. xi.]: "Filia Seleuci regis ftat clara decore, Matreque defunctâ pater arfit in ejus amore. "Res habet effectum, preffa puella dolet." The reft is in the fame metre, with one pentameter only to two hexameters. Gower, by his own acknowledgement, took his story from the Pantheon; as the author, (whoever he was) of Pericles, Prince of Tyre, profeffes to have followed Gower. TYRWHITT. Chaucer alfo refers to this story in The Man of Lawe's Prologue: "Or elles of Tyrius Appolonius, "How that the curfed king Antiochus There are three French tranflations of this tale, viz.-" La Chronique d'Appollin, Roy de Thyr;" 4to. Geneva, bl. 1. no date ;-and" Plaifante et agreable Hiftoire d'Appollonius Prince de Thyr en Affrique, et Roi d'Antioche; traduit par Gilles Corozet," 8vo. Paris, 1530;-and (in the seventh volume of the Hiftoires Tragiques &c. 12mo. 1604, par François Belle-Foreft, &c.) "Accidens diuers aduenus à Appollonie Roy des Tyriens: fes malheurs fur mer, fes pertes de femme & fille, & la fin heureufe de tous ensemble." In the introduction to this laft novel, the tranflator says:Ayant en main une hiftoire tiree du Grec, & icelle ancienne, comme aufli je l'ay recuellie d'un vieux livre écrit à la main" &c. But the prefent ftory, as it appears in Belle-foreft's collection, (Vol. VII. p. 113, &feq.) has yet a further claim to our notice, as it had the honour (p. 148-9) of furnishing Dryden with the outline of his Alexander's Feaft. Langbaine, &c. have accufed this great poet of adopting circumftances from the Hiftoires Tragiques, among other French novels; a charge, however, that demands neither proof nor apology. The popularity of this tale of Apollonius, may be inferred from the very numerous MS. in which it appears. Tho Both editions of Twine's tranflation are now before me. mas Twine was the continuator of Phaer's Virgil, which was left imperfect in the year 1558, In Twine's book our hero is repeatedly called-" Prince of Tyrus." It is fingular enough that this fable fhould have been re-published in 1607, the play entered on the books of the Stationers' Company in 1608, and printed in 1609. I must still add a few words concerning the piece in question. Numerous are our unavoidable annotations on it. Yet it has been fo inveterately corrupted by tranfcription, interpolation, &c. that were it published, like the other dramas of Shakspeare, with fcrupulous warning of every little change which neceffity compels an editor to make in it, his comment would more than treble the quantity of his author's text. If, therefore, the filent infertion or tranfpofition of a few harmless fyllables which do not affect the value of one fentiment throughout the whole, can obviate thofe defects in conftruction and harmony which have hitherto molefted the reader, why fhould not his progrefs be facilitated by fuch means, rather than by a wearifome appeal to remarks that disturb attention, and contribute to diminish whatever intereft might otherwise have been awakened by the scenes before him? If any of the trivial fupplements, &c. introduced by the present editor are found to be needlefs or improper, let him be freely cenfured by his fucceffors, on the fcore of rafhness or want of judgment. Let the Nimrods of ifs and ands pursue him; let the champions of nonfenfe that bears the ftamp of antiquity, couch their rufty lances at the desperate innovator. To the fevereft hazard, on this account, he would more cheerfully expofe himself, than leave it to be observed that he had printed many paffages in Pericles without an effort to exhibit them (as they must have originally appeared) with some obvious meaning, and a tolerable flow of verfification. The pebble which aspires to rank with diamonds, fhould at least have a decent polish be ftowed on it. Perhaps the piece here exhibited has merit infufficient to engage the extremeft vigilance of criticism. Let it on the whole, however, be rendered legible, before its value is estimated, and then its minutiæ (if they deserve it) may become objects of contention. The old perplexed and vitiated copy of the play is by no means rare; and if the reader, like Pericles, should think himself qualified to evolve the intricacies of a riddle, be it remembered, that the editor is not an Antiochus, who would willingly subject him to such a labour. That I might escape the charge of having attempted to conceal the liberties taken with this corrupted play, have I been thus ample in my confeffion. I am not confcious that in any other drama I have changed a word, or the pofition of a fyllable, without conftant and formal notice of such deviations from our author's text. To these tedious prolegomena may I fubjoin that, in confequence of researches fuccefsfully urged by poetical antiquaries, I should exprefs no furprize if the very title of the piece before us were hereafter, on good authority, to be difcarded? Some lucky rummages among papers long hoarded up, have discovered as unexpected things as an author's own manufcript of an ancient play. That indeed of Tancred and Gifmund, a much older piece, (and differing in many parts from the copy printed in 1592) is now before me. It is almoft needless to observe that our dramatick Pericles has not the least resemblance to his historical namesake; though the adventures of the former are fometimes coincident with those of Pyrocles, the hero of Sidney's Arcadia; for the amorous, fugitive, fhipwrecked, mufical, tilting, defpairing Prince of Tyre is an accomplished knight of romance, disguised under the name of a statesman,— |