The Pattern of Painful Adventures was a 1576,[1] prose novel. A later edition, printed in 1607 by Valentine Simmes and published by Nathaniel Butter, was drawn on by William Shakespeare for his play Pericles, Prince of Tyre.[2] There was at least one intermediate edition, around 1595.[3]
It was a translation by Lawrence Twine of the tale of Apollonius of Tyre from John Gower's Confessio Amantis (in Middle English verse). It is also said to be translated from a French version.[4] William Henry Schofield stated that Shakespeare used both sources.[5]