''The Pattern of Painful Adventures'' (1576) is a prose

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

. A later edition, printed in 1607 by Valentine Simmes and published by Nathaniel Butter, was a source for

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

Pericles, Prince of Tyre ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre'' is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. It was p ...

''. There was at least one intermediate edition, around 1595. It was a translation by Lawrence Twine of the tale of Apollonius of Tyre from

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works—the ''Mirour de l'Omme'', ''Vox ...

's ''

Confessio Amantis ''Confessio Amantis'' ("The Lover's Confession") is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. Accor ...

'' (in Middle English verse). It is also said to be translated from a French version. William Henry Schofield stated that Shakespeare used both sources. William Henry Schofield, ''English Literature from the Norman Conquest to Chaucer'', p. 306.

Notes

External links

British Library - Shakespeare Quartos
William Shakespeare 1576 novels 1607 novels 16th-century English novels {{16thC-novel-stub