New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-17
NEW PUBLICAT TIONr,
sBAKESPEARE'S HERON .


cellcpt, especially If It We an illustrated book re-
qures combna' ,n of talent m IRE various in Kind
and higher in >esree s,sn msst cooperate Cor the
production cf fea other works OF msn. This Is
too niue. Thought Of by those who, as ne season
draws rear for thc interchange of memorials OF re-
ga "A halsnce in their minds the conflicting claims
of the multitude of attractive articles which ever
proy;dcnt trsde spread out befoyn them. Half
The dainty volumes tbtt are boueh. ind given away
in the Christmas holidays presented and ar-
cepted with no just appreciation Of the real value
and ccuPolcx'besuty of the GIFT. They are looked
at istleosly for week, and afterward lie deserted
and foron upon waste places, through weary
year. Some Of them deserve this treatment, or
little better; but many do no.; and eminent among
those Of the coming season which merit better
fate is this Stratfor1 Gallery" splendid volume,
truly; 10 which painters, engrayers, paper makers
printers and book binders haze contributed the best
of their skill; all these doing no more than graceful
and becoming duty in thus enshriDing woman's
thoughts about Shakespeare's women.
"But We have had eDOugh Of Shakespeare
No, you have not had enough of him, aud never can
have too much, until you can lay your head closer
TO the great heart of Nature than he did, and hear
more clearly the throb Of her deep pulses. When
you know more Of your fellows or of yourself than
Shakespeare did, you may be able to do without
him but until then sit not only at his feet yourself
but listen gladly to the outpourings Of any docile
spirit who is your senior in that pupage. For
very few, if any, of even the most sensitive souls
and penetrating intelects have fel, for themselves
and perceived for themselves all the beauty and
the strength and the wisdom of those marvellous
works that were written with the immediate pur
Theatre al London in the days of Good Queen Bess.
And thus il is that those who have stu lied Shake
speare in worthy sprt, and have III themselves
the gifts of thought aud utterance, are almost
always able to contribute something to the worlds
knowledge of his genius; and that, while we impa-
tiently brush aside Dryasdust and the pedantry
with which, in such strange perversity, he seeks
10 oyerwhelm him who was Nature incarnate, we
welcome any attempt made in an opposite spirit to
share with us those pure and fresh delights which
the perusa of Shakespeares dramatic poems in
docile mood is sure to bring to all minds of wide
and generous sympathy.
Mrs. Palmer wins her welcome by her unaffect-
edly modest declaration that she speaks of Stakes
peare's .sterhood "oply as one woman may justly
speak of another-judgiDg them, not with sophist-
Gated research nor oracular criticism, bat simply,
naturally, alphabetically, as she may regard her
fellow W omen whom che meets from day to day."
Such an appreciation of real women by real
woman is inestimable in real life. With what sim
pie and instructive directness an intelligent and
observing woman viii see at once the hidden
springs of action in those who pass before her. has
become almost proverbially acknowledged; and
why should not the same judgment OF Shakespeare's
women-who are more real than half the women of
fs sh and blood one meets-be just as authentic,
Just as interesting-even more so for into such an
opinion no taint Of any kind of Jealousy enter.
Some thing of this kind has been done by Mrs.
Jane son in her Characteristics of Women" and
with wbas penetration and what charm of style the
world well knows. But although Mrs. Pamer's
work will inevitably be comp ,red with Mrs. Jane
sons, it will be found not sn imitation or fainter
echo of the Characteristics" Mrs. Palmer has
her own views ard her own style and she does not
hesitate to differ modestlj but firmly J-and, it seems
opinions of her distinguished predecessor.
The forty five ideal portraits which have been
reergraved for this volume represent the prominent
female characters in Shakespeares thirty seven
plays: and are, we think, without doubt the
best series of their kind ever published. They
have long been out of print, and much sought after
and this reproduction of them VIII doubtless meet
q hearty welcome. OF the plots and principal incl
dents of each of the thirty seven plays, Mrs.
Palmer gives synopsis, which is, in fac, short
story, told with such cearness, and such skill in
marsbalDg the progress of events, that @e are IN
cined 10 regard this part of her work as the most
successful We indicate the relation of Hantets
story as marked instance Of the nara ave power
to which We refer. Having thus shown TO her
readers the circumstances in which the various
characters are placed, Mrs. Palmer, in her own
words, and by the aid of we'll. selected passages
from the plays themselves, expresses her instinct
i've appreciation of these heroines, judging them
just as if they were creatures made of flesh and
blood and hoops and crinoline-iudging them gen
erslly with kindly sympathy, sometimes, though
very rarely, with little feminine intolerance, but
always, when their springs of action are not so
complex as to require analy sis and investigate for
the thorough understanding of them, with spon-
taneous recognition Of their distinctive traits.
But 10 give our readers al opportunity to
examine with us some of Mrs. Pamer's yerdcts
upon her Shakespearian Ssterhood" Lady
Macbeth is the first whom she summons before her;
and with regard TO the excuse which has been
made, with smisbe plausibility," for the crimes
Of that ambitious flry-that her ambition is only
tor her husband-AIrs. Palmer remarks, with