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# PERICLES
displayed a saner judgement regarding Shakespeare's part in the composition of Pericles than any previous writer:—
We dare not charge the whole unequal play
Of Pericles on him; yet let us say,
As gold though mix'd with baser matter shines,
So do his bright inimitable lines
Throughout those rude wild scenes distinguish'd stand,
And shew he touch'd them with no sparing hand.
Dr. Farmer was the earliest professed critic to accept Lillo’s suggestion. In 1766 he pronounced Shakespeare’s hand to be visible in certain scenes and in those only. He as stoutly opposed the attribution of the whole to Shakespeare as the complete withdrawal of the piece from his record. No subsequent Shakespearean commentator of repute has questioned in substance the justice of Dr. Farmer’s verdict.
## IV
Blount’s licence.
Much mystery surrounds the original publication of the play in 1609. The Stationers’ Registers show that on May 20, 1608, Edward Blount, the most cultivated publisher of the day, obtained a licence for its publication. The entry runs:—
[1608] 20 Maij
Entred [to Edward Blount] for his copie under thandes of Sir George Buck knight and Master Warden Seton A booke called. The booke of Pericles pryce of Tyre vjd.¹
On the same day Blount also obtained a licence for ‘A booke Called Anthony and Cleopatra’. In spite of these grants Blount had no hand in publishing Pericles. Nor is Antony and Cleopatra known to have been published till seventeen years
¹ Arber, iii. 378.
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