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respect to the poems, up to the appearance of the text here adopted, that of Malone,—no attempt was made to separate the genuine poetical compositions of Shakspeare from the spurious performances with which they had been so long intermixed, or to compare them with the earliest editions. Shortly after his death, a very incorrect impression of his poems was issued, which in every subsequent edition had been implicitly followed. In Malone's edition they were faithfully printed from the original copies, except his Venus and Adonis, which the Editor, unable to procure the first impression, printed from a copy of that poem published in 1600, which he carefully collated for his work.

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.

VOL. V.

B

PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.

PERICLES, Prince of Tyre, was entered on the Stationers' books May 2, 1608, by Edward Blount, and was printed in the following year, by Henry Gosson. The text of this play, so printed, is corruption itself; and despite the infinite pains that have since been bestowed upon it, that text still remains, in all probability, far from accurate. As to the authorship of the play, though its position in this edition of Shakspeare indicates that the parentage has been doubted, yet the balance of criticism appears favourable to its claim upon the great poet: to what extent, is another question. Aulus Gellius tells us that several plays are ascribed absolutely to Plautus, which he merely repolished and retouched; and this, no doubt, was the case with Shakspeare. This, at all events, is certain, that the play was extremely successful on the stage.

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