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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

THE first edition of 'Pericles' appeared in 1609, under the following title:-The late and much admired play, called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. With the true relation of the whole historie, adventures, 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 divers and sundry times acted [by] his Maiesties Seruants at the Globe on the Bank-side. By William Shakespeare. Imprinted at London for Henry Gosson, and are to be sold at the sign of the Sunne in Paternoster-row, &c. 1609.' Other quarto editions appeared in 1611, in 1619, in 1630, and in 1635. The variations in these from the text of 1609 are very slight. In 1664 'Pericles' first appeared in the folio collection of Shakspere's works, being introduced into the third edition, whose title - page states "Unto this impression is added seven plays never before printed in folio."

We advocate the belief that 'Pyrocles,' or 'Pericles,' was a very early work of Shakspere, in some form, however different from that which we possess. That it was an early work we are constrained to believe; not from the evidence of particular passages, which may be deficient in power or devoid of refinement, but from the entire construction of the dramatic action. The play is essentially one of movement, which is a great requisite for dramatic success; but that movement is not held in subjection to an unity of idea. But with this essential disadvantage we can not doubt that, even with very imperfect dialogue, the action presented a succession of scenes of very absorbing interest. The introduction of Gower, however inartificial it may seem, was the result of very profound skill. The presence of Gower supplied the unity of idea which the desultory nature of the story wanted. Nevertheless, such a story we believe could not have been chosen by Shakspere in the seventeenth century,

when his art was fully developed in all its wondrous powers and combinations. With his perfect mastery of the faculty of representing, instead of recording, the treatment of a story which would have required perpetual explanation and connection would have been painful to him, if not impossible.

Dr. Drake has bestowed very considerable attention upon the endeavour to prove that 'Pericles' ought to be received as the indisputable work of Shakspere. Yet his arguments, after all, amount only to the estab lishment of the following theory: "No play, in fact, more openly discloses the hand of Shakspere 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."a We have no faith whatever in this very easy mode of disposing of the authorship of a doubtful play-of leaving entirely out of view the most important part of every drama, its action, its characterisation, looking at the whole merely as a collection of passages, of which the worst are to be assigned to some âme damnée, and the best triumphantly claimed for Shakspere. There are some, however, who judge of such matters upon broader principles. Mr. Hallam says, “Pericles' is generally reckoned to be in part, and only in part, the work of Shakspeare. From the poverty and bad management of the fable, the want of any effective or distinguishable character, for Marina is no more than the common form of female virtue, such as all the dramatists of that age could draw, and a general feebleness of the

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tragedy as a whole, I should not believe the structure to have been Shakspere's. But many passages are far more in his manner than in that of any contemporary writer with whom I am acquainted." Here "the poverty and bad management of the fable" -"the want of any effective or distinguishable character," are assigned for the belief that the structure could not have been Shakspere's. But let us accept Dryden's opinion that

"Shakspeare's own muse his Pericles first bore," with reference to the original structure of the play, and the difficulty vanishes. It was impossible that the character of the early drama should not have been impressed upon Shakspere's earliest efforts. Do we therefore think that the drama, as it has come down to us, is presented in the form in which it was first written? By no means. We agree with Mr. Hallam, that in parts the language seems rather that of Shakspere's "second a History of Literature,' vol. iii. p. 569.

or third manner than of his first." But this belief is not inconsistent with the opinion that the original structure was Shakspere's. No other poet that existed at the beginning of the seventeenth century-perhaps no poet that came after that period, whether Massinger, or Fletcher, or Webster-could have written the greater part of the fifth Act. Coarse as the comic scenes are, there are touches in them unlike any other writer but Shakspere. We are willing to believe that, even in the very height of his fame, Shakspere would have bestowed any amount of labour for the improvement of an early production of his own, if the taste of his audiences had from time to time demanded its continuance upon the stage. It is for this reason that we think that the 'Pericles' which appears to have been in some respects a new play at the beginning of the seventeenth century was the revival of a play written by Shakspere some twenty years earlier.

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This king were great, his greatness was no guard To bar heav'n's shaft, but sin had his reward. ESCA. 'T is very true.

Enter three Lords.

1 LORD. See, not a man in private conference,
Or council, hath respect with him but he.
2 LORD. It shall no longer grieve without reproof.
3 LORD. And curs'd be he that will not second it.
1 LORD. Follow me then: lord Helicane, a word.
HEL. With me? and welcome: happy day, my lords.
1 LORD. Know that our griefs are risen to the top,
And now at length they overflow their banks.

HEL. Your griefs, for what? wrong not your prince you love.
1 LORD. Wrong not yourself then, noble Helicane;

But if the prince do live, let us salute him,

Or know what ground 's made happy by his breath.

If in the world he live, we 'll seek him out;

If in his grave he rest, we 'll find him there;
And be resolv'd, he lives to govern us,

Or dead, gives cause to mourn his funeral,

And leaves us to our free election.

2 LORD. Whose death 's, indeed, the strongest in our censure3: And knowing this kingdom is without a head,

(Like goodly buildings left without a roof

Soon fall to ruin,) your noble self,

That best know'st how to rule, and how to reign,
We thus submit unto,-our sovereign.

OMNES. Live, noble Helicane.

HEL. Try honour's cause; forbear your suffrages:
If that you love prince Pericles, forbear.
Take I your wish, I leap into the seas",
Where 's hourly trouble, for a minute's ease.
A twelvemonth longer, let me entreat you
To forbear the absence of your king;
If in which time expir'd, he not return,
I shall with aged patience bear your yoke.

But if I cannot win you to this love,

Go search like nobles, like noble subjects,

And in your search spend your adventurous worth;

Whom if you find, and win unto return,

You shall like diamonds sit about his crown.

a Censure―opinion. We believe, says the speaker, that the probability of the death of Pericles is the strongest. He then proceeds to assume that the kingdom is without a head. So the ancient

readings, which we follow.

Seas. Malone proposed to read seat.

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a

ACT I.

Enter GOWER.

Before the Palace of Antioch,

To sing a song of old was sung,

From ashes ancient Gower is come;

Assuming man's infirmities,

To glad your ear, and please your eyes.

It hath been sung, at festivals,

On ember-eves, and holy-ales";

And lords and ladies, in their lives,

Have read it for restoratives.

The purposed is to make men glorious;

Et bonum, quo antiquius, eo melius.

a Of. The early editions, that.

The early copies, holy-days. Farmer suggested holy-ales.

In their lives, in all the copies. During their lives.

d

Purpose. In the originals, purchase.

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