"26 Nov. 1607.

M. William Shake-speare, His True Chronicle History of the Lear," and on the 26th November he procured the following life and death of King Lear, and his three Daughters. unusually minute memorandum to be made in the Stationers' With the vnfortunate life of Edgar, sonne and heire to the Earle of Glocester, and his sullen and assumed humour of Tom of Bedlam. As it was plaid before the Kings Maiesty at White-Hall, vppon S. Stephens night, in Christmas Hollidaies. By his Maiesties Seruants, playing vsually at the Globe on the Banck-side. Printed for Nathaniel Butter. 1608. 4to. 44 leaves.

The title-page of a third impression in 1608 corresponds with that last above given.

p.

In the folio of 1623, "The Tragedie of King Lear" occupies twenty seven pages, in the division of "Tragedies;" viz. from 283 to p. 309, inclusive. The last page but one, by an error, is numbered 38, instead of 308. In the first, as well as in the folios of 1632, 1664, and 1685, the Acts and Scenes are regularly marked.]

THE most remarkable circumstance connected with the early publication of "King Lear" is, that the same stationer pubfished three quarto impressions of it in 1608, that stationer being a person who had not put forth any of the authentic (as far as they can deserve to be so considered) editions of Shakespeare's plays. After it had been thus thrice printed (for they were not merely re-issues with fresh title-pages) in the same year, the tragedy was not again printed until it appeared in the folio of 1623. Why it was never republished in quarto, in the interval, must be matter of speculation, but such was not an unusual occurrence with the works of our great dramatist: his "Midsummer Night's Dream," "Merchant of Venice," and "Troilus and Cressida " were each twice printed, the two first in 1600, and the last in 1609, and they were not again seen in type until they were inserted in the folio of 1623: there was also no second quarto edition of “Much ado about Nothing," nor of "Love's Labour's Lost," The extreme popularity of "King Lear" seems proved by the mere fact that the public demand for it, in the first year of its publication, could not be satisfied without three distinct impressions.

Na. Butter and Jo. Busby] Entered for their Copie under t' hands of Sir Geo. Bucke, Kt. and the Wardens, a booke called Mr. Willm Shakespeare, his Historye of Kinge Lear, as yt was played before the King's Majestie at Whitehall, upon St. Stephen's night at Christmas last, by his Majesties Servants playing usually at the Globe on the Bank-side." This entry establishes that Shakespeare's "King Lear" had been played at Court on the 26th December, 1606, and not on the 26th December, 1607, as we might infer from the titlepages of the three editions of 1608.

The memorandum we have just inserted would lead us to believe that John Busby was the printer of "King Lear," although his name does not otherwise at all appear in connec tion with it. The differences between the quartos are seldom more than verbal, but they are sometimes important: after a very patient comparison, we may state, that the quartos without the publisher's address are more accurate than that with his address; and we presume that the latter was first issued. It would seem that the folio of 1623 was composed from a manuscript, which had been much, and not very judiciously, abridged for the purposes of the theatre; and although it contains some additions, not in any of the quartos, there are, perhaps, few quartos of any of Shakespeare's plays more valuable for the quantity of matter they contain, of which there is no trace in the folio.

King Lear" was brought out at the Globe Theatre in the We have said that we agree with Malone in opinion, that spring of 1605, according to our present mode of computing the year. We may decide with certainty that it was not written until after the appearance of Harsnet's "Discovery of Popish Impostors" in 1603, because from it, as Steevens established, are taken the names of various fiends mentioned by Edgar in the course of his scenes of pretended madness.

It will be seen by the exact copies of the title-pages which As we find a "King Leir" entered on the Stationers' books we have inserted on the opposite leaf, that although Nathaniel in 1594, we can have no hesitation in arriving at the concluButter was the publisher of the three quarto editions, he only sion that the old play, printed by Simon Stafford for John Wright, in 1605, when Shakespeare's "King Lear " was (as put his address on the title-page of one of them. It is perhaps impossible now to ascertain on what account the differ- we have supposed) experiencing a run of popularity at the ence was made; but it is to be observed that "Printed by J. Globe, was considerably anterior in point of date. There is Roberts," without any address, is found at the bottom of the little doubt that Shakespeare was acquainted with it, and title-pages of some of the copies of "The Merchant of probably adopted from it at least that part of the conduct of Venice" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1600. A his story which relates to the faithful Kent. There are other more remarkable circumstance, in relation to the title-pages materials were evidently derived from Holinshed, but Shakegeneral, but few particular resemblances; for both the chief of "King Lear," is, that the name of William Shakespeare is materials were evidently derived from Holinshed, but Shakemade so obvious at the top of them, the type being larger speare varied from all authorities in his catastrophe: he than that used for any other part of the work: moreover, we ordinary and popular narrative, would heighten and improve seems to have thought, that to abandon the course of the have it again at the head of the leaf on which the tragedy the effect of his drama, and give a novelty to its termination. commences, "M. William Shake-speare, his History of King The story of Lear and his daughters is briefly told by SpenLear." This peculiarity has never attracted sufficient attention, and it belongs not only to no other of Shakespeare's ser in B. ii. c. 10, of his "Fairie Queene," and thence it has plays, but to no other production of any kind of that period delia, till then usually called Cordella. That portion of the been thought that Shakespeare obtained the name of Corwhich we recollect. It was clearly intended to enable purchasers to make sure that they were buying the drama which plot which relates to the Earl of Gloster, he may have pro"M. William Shakespeare " had written upon the story of cured from Sir Philip Sidney's "Arcadia," first printed in 1590, 4to. B. ii. c. 10, of that romance is thus headed: King Lear. The cause of it is, perhaps, to be found in the fact, that King, and his kind son." "The pitifull state and storie of the Paphalgonian unkinde there was another contemporary drama upon the same sub- also published (see Percy's Reliques, vol. ii. p. 249; edit. King, and his kind son." An early ballad on King Lear was ject, and with very nearly the same names to the principal 1812), but no copy with a date has come down to us: although characters, which was not by Shakespeare, but which the publisher probably had endeavored to pass off as his work. it employs the older names of some of the characters, it adopts An edition of this play was printed in 1605, under the follow-that of Cordelia; and there are several circumstances, besides ing title:"The True Chronicle History of King Leir and his a more modern style of composition, which lead us to the three Daughters, Gonorill, Ragan, and Cordella. As it hath belief that it was written posterior to the production of Shakebene divers and sundry times lately acted." It was printed, speare's Tragedy. by Simon Stafford, for John Wright; and we agree with Malone in thinking that this impression was put forth in consequence of the popularity of Shakespeare's "King Lear," which was then in a course of successful performance at the Globe theatre. That this edition of "The True Chronicle History of King Leir" was a re-impression we have little doubt, because it was entered at Stationers' Hall for publication as early as 14th May, 1594: it was entered again on 8th May, 1605, anterior to the appearance of the impression with that date, the title-page of which we have above quoted. We may presume that in 1605 no bookseller was able to obtain from the King's Players a copy of Shakespeare's "King"The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice," occupies Lear;" for there is perhaps no point in our early stage-history more clear, than that the different companies took every precaution in order to prevent the publication of plays belonging to them. However, in the autumn of 1607, Nathaniel Butter had in some way possessed him of a manuscript of "King

OTHELLO.

["The Tragedy of Othello, The Moore of Venice. As it hath beene diuerse times acted at the Globe, and at the BlackFriers, by his Maiesties Seruants. Written by William Shakespeare. London, Printed by N. O. for Thomas Walkley, and are to be sold at his shop, at the Eagle and Child, in Brittans Bursse. 1622." 4to. 48 leaves, irregularly paged.

339

thirty pages in the folio of 1623; viz. from p. 310 to p. inclusive, in the division of "Tragedies:" it is there, as in the three later folios, divided into Acts and Scenes, and on the last page is a list of the characters, headed, "The Names of the Actors."

By the subsequent extract from "The Egerton Papers," | must be wrong, the compositor of the folio having caught printed by the Camden Society, (p. 343) it appears that "keeps" from the later portion of the same line. In Pope's "Othello" was acted for the entertainment of Queen Eliza- edition, "feels " was substituted for keeps, and the word has beth, at the residence of Lord Ellesmere (then Sir Thomas since usually continued in the text, with Malone's note, "the Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal) at Harefield, in the correction was made by Mr. Pope." The truth is, that Pope beginning of August, 1602 :was right in his conjecture as to the misprinted word, for in the quarto of 1630, which Malone could not have consulted, but which he nevertheless pronounced “of no authority," the passage stands thus :

"6 August 1602. Rewards to the Vaulters, players, and dauncers. Of this xi to Burbidge's players for Othello,

Ixiiiii xviiiia xa.”

The part of the memorandum which relates to "Othello" is interlined, as if added afterwards; but thus we find decisively, that this tragedy was in being in the summer of 1602; and the probability is, that it was selected for performance because it was a new play, having been brought out at the Globe theatre in the spring of that year.1

"Like to the Pontick sea,

Whose icy current, and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb," &c.

If Malone had looked at the quarto of 1630, he would have
seen that Pope had been anticipated in his proposed emen-
dation about a hundred years; and that in the manuscript
from which the quarto of 1630 was printed, the true word
was "feels," and not keeps, as it was misprinted in the folio
of 1623. We will take an instance,
We will take an instance, only six lines earlier in
the same scene, to show the value of the quarto of 1630, in
supporting the quarto of 1622, and in correcting the folio of
1623. Othello exclaims, as we find the words in the folio,
Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell,"

The incidents, with some variation, are to be found in Cinthio's Hecatommithi, where the novel is the seventh of the third Decad, and it bears the following explanatory title in the Monte Regale edition of 1565 :--" Un Capitano Moro piglia per mogliera una cittadina Venetiana: un suo Alfieri l'accusa di adulterio al marito; cerca che l'Alfieri uccida colui ch'egli credea l'adultero: il Capitano uccide la moglie, è accusato dallo Alfieri, non confessa il Moro, ma essendovi chiari inditii è bandito; et lo scelerato Alfieri, credendo nuocere ad altri, a line which has been generally thus printed, adopting the procaccia à se la morte miseramente." This novel was early text of the quarto of 1622:translated into French, and in all probability into English, but no such version has descended to us.

of Desdemona.

Our great drama

"Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell;"

tist may indeed have read the story in the original language; and these are exactly the words in the quarto of 1630, although and it is highly probable that he was sufficiently acquainted it can be established that it was printed, not from the quarto with Italian for the purpose. Hence he took only the name of 1622, nor from the folio of 1623, but from a manuscript which in many places differed materially from both, and in some few supplied a text inferior to both. It is not necessary to pursue this point farther, especially as our brief notes abundantly establish that the quarto of 1630, instead of being "of no authority," is of great value, with reference to the true reading of some important passages.

We have seen, by the quotation from "The Egerton Papers," that the company by which "Othello" was performed at Harefield was called "Burbidge's players ;" and there can be no doubt that he was the leading actor of the company, and thereby in the account gave his name to the association, though properly denominated the Lord Chamberlain's Servants. Richard Burbage was the original actor of the part of Othello, as we learn from an elegy upon his death, among the late Mr. Heber's manuscripts. To the same fact we may quote the concluding stanza of a ballad, on the incidents of Othello," written after the death of Burbage, which has also come down to us in manuscript :

"Dick Burbage, that most famous man,

That actor without peer,

With this same part his course began,
And kept it many a year.
Shakespeare was fortunate, I trow,
That such an actor had:

If we had but his equal now,

For one I should be glad."

The writer spoke at random, when he asserted that Burbage began his career with Othello, for we have evidence to show that he was an actor of high celebrity, many years before Shakespeare's "Othello" was written, and we have no proof that there was any older play upon the same subject.

Walkley, the publisher of the quarto of 1622, thus entered that edition on the Stationers' Registers, shortly previous to its appearance:—

"6 Oct. 1621.

Tho. Walkley] Entered for his, to wit, under the handes of Sir George Buck and of the Wardens: The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice." It is perhaps not too much to presume, that this impression, though dated 1622, had come out at the close of 1621; and that it preceded the folio of 1623 is very obvious, from the fact, that "Othello" was not included in their list by Blunt and Jaggard, the publishers of the folio of 1623, because they were aware that it had already been printed, and that it had been entered as the property of another bookseller. The quarto of 1622 was preceded by the following address:—

"The Stationer to the Reader.

"To set forth a book without an epistle were like to the old English proverb, A blue coat without a badge;' and the author being dead, I thought good to take that piece of There are two quarto editions of "Othello," one bearing work upon me. To commend it I will not-for that which date in 1622, the year before the first folio of "Mr. William is good, I hope every man will commend without entreaty; Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies " appeared, and the other printed in 1630. An exact copy of the title-page of the quarto of 1622, will be found in the usual place, and that published in 1630 differs only in the imprint, which is "by A. M. for Richard Hawkins," &c. We have had frequent occasion in our notes to refer to this impression, which has, indeed, been mentioned by the commentators, but nothing like sufficient attention has been paid to it. Malone summarily dismissed it as "an edition of no authority," but it is very clear that he had never sufficiently examined it. It was unquestionably printed from a manuscript different from that["The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra" occupies twenty

used for the quarto of 1622, or for the folio of 1623; and it presents a number of various readings, some of which singularly illustrate the original text of "Othello." Of this fact it may be fit here to supply some proof.

In Act iii. sc. 3, a passage occurs in the folio of 1623, which is not contained in the quarto of 1622, and which runs thus imperfectly in the folio:

"Like to the Pontick sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er keeps retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontick and the Hellespont," &c.

It will not be disputed that "Ne'er keeps retiring ebb"

1 It appears from Mr. P. Cunningham's "Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court," (printed for the Shakespeare Society) p. 203, that a play, called "The Moor of Venis," no doubt, "Othello," was acted at Whitehall on Nov. 1, 1604. The tragedy seems to have

and I am the bolder, because the author's name is sufficient to vent his work. Thus leaving every one to the liberty of judgment, I have ventured to print this play, and leave it to the general censure. Yours, THOMAS WALKLEY. The publishers of the folio of 1623, perhaps purchased Walkley's interest in "Othello."

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

368

nine pages in the folio of 1623; viz. from p. 340 to p. inclusive, in the division of "Tragedies." Although at the beginning it has Actus Primus. Scana Prima, it is not divided into acts and scenes, nor is the defect cured in any of the subsequent folio impressions of 1632, 1664, and 1685. They are all without any list of characters.] WE are without any record that "Antony and Cleopatra " was ever performed,; and when in Act v. sc. 2, the heroine anticipates that "some squeaking Cleopatra" will "boy her greatness on the stage, Shakespeare seems to hint that no young male performer would be able to sustain the part without exciting ridicule. However, the same remark will,

been always so popular as to remain what is termed "a stock piece;" and it was performed again before King Charles and his Queen at Hampton Court on Dec. 8, 1636. Ibid. Introd. p. xxv.

bovs.

more or less, apply to many of his other female characters; The novel by Boccaccio has many corresponding features: and the wonder, of course, is, how so much delicacy, tender- it is the ninth of Giornata II., and bears the following title: ness, and beauty could be infused into parts which the poet "Bernabo da Genova, da Ambrogiuolo ingannato, perde il knew must be represented by beardless and crack-voiced suo, e comanda che la moglie innocente sia uccisa. Ella scampa, et in habito di huomo serve il Soldano; ritrova l'inThe period of the year at which "Antony and Cleopatra" gannatore, e Bernabo conduce in Alessandria, dove l'inganwas entered on the Stationers' Registers might lead to the natore punito, ripreso habito feminile col marito ricchi si inference, that, having been written late in 1607, it was tornano a Genova." This tale includes one circumstance brought out at the Globe in the spring of 1608, and that Ed-only found there and in Shakespeare's play: we allude to ward Blunt (one of the publishers of the folio of 1623) thus the mole which Iachimo saw on the breast of Imogen. The put in his claim to the publication of the tragedy, if he could procure a manuscript of it. The memorandum bears date on the 20th May, 1608, and the piece is stated to be "a book" called "Anthony and Cleopatra." Perhaps Blunt was unable to obtain a copy of it, and, as far as we now know, it was printed for the first time in the folio of 1623.

parties are all merchants in Boccaccio, excepting towards the close of his novel, where the Soldan is introduced: the villain, instead of being forgiven, is punished by being anointed with honey, and exposed in the sun to flies, wasps, and mosquitoes, which eat the flesh from his bones.

A modification of this production seems to have found its It does not appear that there was any preceding drama on way into our language at the commencement of the seventhe story, with the exception of the "Cleopatra" of Samuel teenth century. Steevens states that it was printed in 1603, Daniel, originally published in 1594, to which Shakespeare and again in 1620, in a tract called "Westward for Smelts." was clearly under no obligation. Any slight resemblance If there be no error as to the date, the edition of 1603 has between the two is to be accounted for by the fact, that both been lost, for no copy of that year now seems to exist in any poets resorted to the same authority for their materials-Plu- public or private collection. Mr. Halliwell, in his reprint of tarch-whose "Lives" had been translated by Sir T. North The First Sketch of "The Merry Wives of Windsor," (for in 1579. The minuteness with which Shakespeare adhered the Shakespeare Society) p. 135, has expressed his opinion to history is more remarkable in this drama than in any other; that Steevens must have been mistaken, and that "Westand sometimes the most trifling circumstances are artfully, ward for Smelts" was not published until 1620: only one but still most naturally, interwoven. Shakespeare's use of copy even of this impression is known; and if, in fact, it. history in "Antony and Cleopatra" may be contrasted with were not, as Steevens supposes, a reprint, of course ShakeBen Jonson's subjection to it in "Sejanus." speare could not have resorted to it: however, he might, without much difficulty, have gone to the original; or some version may then have been in existence, of which he availed himself, but which has not come down to our day. The incidents in "Westward for Smelts" are completely anglicised, and the scene is laid in this country in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV. In the French and Italian versions, Iachimo (or the person answering to him) is conveyed to Imogen's

"Of all Shakespeare's historical plays (says Coleridge) Antony and Cleopatra' is by far the most wonderful. There is not one in which he has followed history so minutely, and yet there are few in which he impresses the notion of angelic strength so much-perhaps none in which he impresses it more strongly. This is greatly owing to the manner in which the fiery force is sustained throughout, and to the numerous momentary flashes of nature, counteracting the historic ab-chamber in a chest, but in "Westward for Smelts," where straction.' (Lit. Rem. vol. ii. p. 143.)

CYMBELINE.

["The Tragedie of Cymbeline" was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it stands last in the division of "Tragedies," and occupies thirty-one pages; viz. from p. 369 to p. 399, misprinted p. 993. There is another error in the pagination, as p. 379 is numbered p. 389. These errors are corrected in the three later folios.]

the tale is in other respects vulgarised, he conceals himself under her bed.

Some German critics, whose opinions are often entitled to the most respectful consideration, have supposed that "Cymbeline" was written in 1614 or 1615, not adverting to the circumstance that Shakespeare had then relinquished all connection with the stage, and had retired from the metropolis. Malone thought that 1609 was the year which could be most probably fixed upon; and although we do not adopt his reesoning upon the point, we are strongly inclined to believe that this drama was not, at all events, written at an earlier period. Forman, the astrologer, was present when "Cymbenot in his Diary insert the date when, nor the theatre where, he saw it. His brief account of the plot, in his "Booke of Plaies and Notes thereof" (MS. Ashmol. No. 208), is in the following terms:

THE materials in Holinshed for the historical portion of "Cym-fine." was acted-most likely, in 1610 or 1611-but he does beline" are so imperfect and scanty, that a belief may be entertained that Shakespeare resorted to some other more fertile source, which the most diligent inquiries have yet failed to discover. The names of Cymbeline and of his sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, occur in the old Chronicle, and there we hear of the tribute demanded by the Roman emperor, but nothing is said of the stealing of the two young princes, nor of their residence with Bellarius among the inountains, and final restoration to their father.

All that relates to Posthumus, Imogen, and Iachimo is merely fabulous, and some of the chief incidents of this part of the plot are to be found in French, Italian, and English. We will speak of them separately.

Lucius' time: 'how Lucius came from Octavius Cæsar for tribute, "Remember, also, the story of Cymbeline, king of England in and being denied, after sent Lucius with a great army of soldiers, who landed at Milford Haven, and after were vanquished by Cymbe line, and Lucius taken prisoner; and all by means of three outlaws, of the which two of them were the sons of Cymbeline, stolen from him when they were but two years old, by an old man whom Cymbeline banished; and he kept them as his own sons twenty years with him in a cave. And how one of them slew Cloten, that was the king's daughter, whom he had banished also for loving his the queen's son, going to Milford Haven to seek the love of Imogen, daughter.

They had been employed for a dramatic purpose in France at an early date, in a Miracle-play, printed in 1889 by Messrs. Monmerqué and Michel, in their Theatre Francois au Moyen- "And how the Italian that came from her love conveyed himself age, from a manuscript in the Bibliothèque du Roi. In that into a chest, and said it was a chest of plate, sent from her love and piece, mixed up with many romantic circumstances, we find others to be presented to the king, And in the deepest of the night, the wager on the chastity of the heroine, her flight in the she being asleep, he opened the chest and came forth of it, and viewdisguise of a page, the proof of her innocence, and her final bracelet, and after accused her of adultery to her love, &c. And in ed her in her bed, and the marks of her body, and took away her restoration to her husband. There also we meet with two the end, how he came with the Romans into England, and was circumstances, introduced into Shakespeare's "Cymbeline," taken prisoner, and after revealed to Imogen, who had turned herself but not contained in any other version of the story with into man's apparel, and fled to meet her love at Milford Haven; and which we are acquainted: we allude to the boast of Beren-chanced to fall on the cave in the woods where her two brothers gier (the Iachimo of the French Drama), that if he were allow-were and how by eating a sleeping dram they thought she had ed the opportunity of speaking to the heroine but twice, he in her love's apparel that he left behind him, and how she was found been dead, and laid her in the woods, and the body of Cloten by her, should be able to accomplish his design: Iachimo (Act i. by Lucius," &c.

sc. 5) makes the same declaration. Again, in the French

Miracle-play, Berengier takes exactly Shakespeare's mode We have certainly no right to conclude that "Cymbeline " of assailing the virtue of Imogen, by exciting her anger and was a new piece when Forman witnessed the performance of jealousy by pretending that her husband, in Rome, had set it; but various critics have concurred in the opinion (which her the example of infidelity. Incidents somewhat similar we ourselves entertain) that in style and versification it reare narrated in the French romances of La Violette, and Floresembles "The Winter's Tale," and that the two dramas et Jehanne: in the latter, the villain, being secretly admitted belong to about the same period of the poet's life. Forman by an old woman into the bed-room of the heroine, has the means of ascertaining a particular mark upon her person while she is bathing.

1 Among Capell's books, which he gave to Trinity College, Cambridge, and which are there preserved with care proportionate to their

value.

saw

"The Winter's Tale" on 17th May, 1611, and, perhaps, he saw "Cymbeline" at the Globe in the spring of the preceding year. However, upon this point, we have no evidence to guide us, beyond the mere mention of the play and its incidents in Forman's Diary. That it was acted at court at an early date is more than probable, but we are without any record of such an event until 1st January, 1688 (Vide Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, vol. ii. p. 57); under which date Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, registers that it was performed by the King's Players, and that it was "well liked by the King." The particular allusion in Act ii. sc. 4, to "proud Cleopatra" on the Cydnus, which "swell'd above his banks," might lead us to think that "Antony and Cleopatra" had preceded "Cymbeline.' It is the last of the "Tragedies" in the folio of 1623, and we have reason to suppose that it had not been printed at any earlier date. The divisions of acts and scenes are throughout regularly marked.

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE. ["The late, And much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole Historie, aduentures, and fortunes of the said Prince: As also, The no lesse strange, and worthy accidents, in the Birth and Life, of his Daughter Mariana. As it hath been diuers and sundry times acted by his Maiesties Seruants, at the Globe on the Banck-side. By William Shakespeare. Imprinted at London for Henry Gosson, and are to be sold at the signe of the Sunne in Pater-noster row, &c. 1609." 4to. 35 "The late, And much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, aduentures, and fortunes of the saide Prince. Written by W. Shakespeare. Printed for T.P. 1619." 4to. 34 leaves. "The late, And much admired Play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, aduentures, and fortunes of the sayd Prince: Written by Will. Shakespeare: London, Printed by I. N. for R. B. and are to be sould at his shop in Cheapside, at the signe of the

leaves.

Bible. 1630." 4to. 34 leaves.

we feel persuaded that we could extract nearly every line that was not dictated by his great intellect. We apprehend that Shakespeare found a drama on the story in the possession of one of the companies performing in London, and that, in accordance with the ordinary practice of the time, he made additions to and improvements in it, and procured it to be represented at the Globe theatre. Who might be the author of the original piece, it would be in vain to conjecture. Although we have no decisive proof that Shakespeare ever worked in immediate concert with any of his contemporaries, it was the custom with nearly all the dramatists of his day, and it is not impossible that such was the case with "Pericles." The circumstance that it was a joint production, may partly account for the non-appearance of "Pericles" in the folio of 1623. Ben Jonson, when printing the volume of his Works, in 1616, excluded for this reason The Case is Altered," and "Eastward Ho!" in the composition of which he had been engaged with others; and when the player-editors of the folio of 1623 were collecting their materials, they perhaps omitted "Pericles" because some living author might have an interest in it. Of course we only advance this point as a mere speculation; and the fact that the publishers of the folio of 1623 could not purchase the right of the bookseller, who had then the property in "Pericles," may have been the real cause of its non-insertion.

The Registers of the Stationers' Company show that on the 20th May, 1608, Edward Blount (one of the proprietors of the folio of 1623) entered "The booke of Pericles, Prynce of Tyre," with one of the undoubted works of Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra." Nevertheless, "Pericles" was not published by Blount, but by Gosson in the following year; and we may infer, either that Blount sold his interest to Gosson, or that Gosson anticipated Blount in procuring a manuscript of the play. Gosson may have subsequently parted with "Pericles" to Thomas Pavier, and hence the re-impression by the latter in 1619.

and of the possible reason why "Pericles" was not included
Having thus spoken of the internal evidence of authorship,
and of the possible reason why
in the folio of 1623, we will now advert briefly to the external
evidence, that it was the work of our great dramatist. In
the first place it was printed in 1609, with his name at full
length, and rendered unusually obvious, on the title-page.
it had been previously committed in the cases of the first part
The answer, of course, may be that this was a fraud, and that
of "Sir John Oldcastle," 1600, and of "The Yorkshire
Tragedy," 1608. It is undoubtedly true, that Shakespeare's
name is upon those title-pages; but we know, with regard to
to have been "Written by William Shakespeare
"Sir John Oldcastle," that the original title-page, stating it
to have been "Written by William Shakespeare

In the folio of 1664, the following is the heading of the page on which the play begins: "The much admired Play, called, Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true Relation of the whole History, Adventures, and Fortunes of the said Prince. Written by W. Shakespeare, and published in his life time." It occupies twenty-pages; viz. from p. 1 to p. 20, inclusive, a new pagination of the volume commencing with "Pericles." It is there divided into Acts, but irregu-celled, no doubt at the instance of the author to whom it was larly, and the Scenes are not marked.]

was can

falsely imputed; and as to "The Yorkshire Tragedy," many persons have entertained the belief, in which we join, that Shakespeare had a share in its composition. We are not to forget that, in the year preceding, Nathaniel Butter had made very prominent use of Shakespeare's name, for the sale of three impressions of "King Lear ;" and that in the very year when "Pericles" came out, Thorpe had printed a collection of scattered poems, recommending them to notice in very large capitals, by stating emphatically that they were "Shakespeare's Sonnets."

THE first question to be settled in relation to "Pericles," is its title to a place among the collected works of Shakespeare. There is so marked a character about every thing that proceeded from the pen of our great dramatist,-his mode of thought, and his style of expression, are so unlike those of any of his contemporaries, that they can never be mistaken. They are clearly visible in all the later portion of the play; and so indisputable does this fact appear to us, that, we confidently assert, however strong may be the external evidence Confirmatory of what precedes, it may be mentioned, that to the same point, the internal evidence is infinitely stronger: previously to the insertion of "Pericles" in the folio of 1664, to those who have studied his works it will seem incontro- it had been imputed to Shakespeare by S. Shepherd, in his vertible. As we do not rely merely upon particular expres-Times displayed in Six Sestiads," 1646; and in lines by J. sions, nor upon separate passages, but upon the general Tatham, prefixed to R. Brome's "Jovial Crew," 1652. complexion of whole scenes and acts, it is obvious, that we Dryden gave it to Shakespeare in 1675, in the Prologue to C. cannot here enter into proofs, which would require the re- Davenant's "Circe." Thus, as far as stage tradition is of impression of many of the succeeding pages. value, it is uniformly in favour of our position; and it is moreover to be observed, that until comparatively modern times it has never been contradicted.

An opinion has long prevailed, and we have no doubt it is well founded, that two hands are to be traced in the composition of "Pericles." The larger part of the first three Acts were in all probability the work of an inferior dramatist: to these Shakespeare added comparatively little; but he found it necessary, as the story advanced and as the interest increased, to insert more of his own composition. His hand begins to be distinctly seen in the third Act, and afterwards

1 By a list of theatrical apparel, formerly belonging to Alleyn, and preserved at Dulwich College, it appears that he had probably acted in a play called "Pericles." SeeMemoirs of Edward Alleyn," printed for the Shakespeare Society, p. 21. This might be the play which Shakespeare altered and improved.

2 It seems that "Pericles" was reprinted under the same circumstances in 1611. I have never been able to meet with a copy of this edition, and doubted its existence, until Mr. Halliwell pointed it out to me, in a sale catalogue in 1804 it purported to have been "printed for S. S." This fact would show, that Shakespeare did not then contradict the reiterated assertion, that he was the author of the play.

The incidents of "Pericles" are found in Lawrence Twine's translation from the Gesta Romanorum, first published in 1576, under the title of "The Patterne of Painfull Adventures," in which the three chief characters are not named as in Shakespeare, but are called Apollonius, Lucina, and Tharsia3. This novel was several times reprinted, and an

3 The novel is contained in a work called "Shakespeare's Library," as well as Gower's poetical version of the same incidents, extracted from his Confessio Amantis. Hence the propriety of making Gower the speaker of the various interlocutions in "Pericles." The origin of the story, as we find it in the Gesta Romanorum, is a matter of dispute: Belleforest asserts that the version in his Histoires Tragiques was from a manuscript tiré du Grec. Not long since, Mr. Thorpe printed an Anglo Saxon narrative of the same incidents; and it is stated to exist in Latin manuscripts of as early a date as the tenth century.-"Shakespeare's Library," part v. p. ii.

edition of it came out in 1607, which perhaps was the year it was so originally. Pericles tells Simonides, in the novel, in which "Pericles" was first represented "at the Globe on that the Bank-side," as is stated on the title-page of the carliest "His blood was yet untainted, but with the heat got by the wrong edition in 1609. The drama seems to have been extremely the king had offered him, and that he boldly durst and did defy himpopular, but the usual difficulty being experienced by book- self, his subjects, and the proudest danger that either tyranny or sellers in obtaining a copy of it, Nathaniel Butter probably treason could inflict upon him." employed some person to attend the performance at the theatre, and with the aid of notes there taken, and of Twine's version of the story, (which, as we remarked, had just before been reprinted) to compose a novel out of the incidents of the play under the following title: "The Painfull Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre. Being the true History of the Play of Pericles, as it was lately presented by the worthy and ancient Poet Iohn Gower. At London. Printed by T. P. for Nat. Butter. 1608." It has also a wood-cut of Gower, no doubt, in the costume he wore at the Globe.