New-York tribune., 1882-08-13
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
xcurrt,r Or suAKESPEARE.


sutlines of a biography that ever were put before
,he nnhlic Tie modest title which Mr.. Halliwell-
phllipps heSt known in literature by his fanny
name of Uaiiiwell. to which lie has added the name
pf his wife the daughter and heueSs Of Sir Thomas
Phiiipps Bart) has given his book is one cohSc-
ouence of his Thorough acquaintance with MS SUI
ject lie knows that even his patent ana peh''I"'
ing researches, continued through NE ''no' '-
afford Us only gmpses here and there OF the c"ool
of the mary cllous playwright and poet wno' IL Wv
performances of the labor by winch ne so"En' W
gain at first daily bread for himself ana HIS
family and then competence and an eS'a.'''S'l5"
position in his native place reaehe" """''9''
the summit of literary fame
NJ, u.lIiwen Pbillipps has heretofore published
ope Life of Shakespeare. 1t appeared III 1915
thirty-four years ago. and took then. and mas Shco
maintained the position Of an authoritative book
uuon its subject. Most men of letters would nave
been satisfied with the results OF such PERFORM
ance and have sat down content with what they
had done so successfully. All the more might tins
have been expected 10y those who are ACQUAINTED
with his magnificent edition OF Shakespeare
works in fifteen Volumes large toho. Whi'h - hoV
only the most splendid literary monument ever
built up to the fame of the great Engllsh drauS''
but which contains IN its notes such eNluon0o VI
tboronch acauaintance with the social, polltl-
exists in no other publication. For tins Is MI HAM
we'll Pbilippss distinction rs ShakeSpearean
scholar-he knows so much; he has studied SO
thoroughly and has used the results OF his studies
with snch clear perception and such temperate
Judgment that be of all his class Is most trust
worthy and most instructive. Al his fellow
l,borers in the same field of literature are obliged
60 go to him for facts: they know that he is equally
cautious and well informed. What he says can Dc
relied upon: what he does not know about shake
snearc is not worth knowing. He has stunned
alike the fancful and the sc-called philosophical
way Of writing about Shakespeare, and has devoted
himself to accumuating facts upon which he could
form reasonable deductions. Nor has he gone
largely INTO the field OF verbal criticisms although
what lie has dore IN this way has a valne peeu-
larlv It's own His edition of the first Quafto OF
.The Merry Wives of Windsor" prepared for and
published 10y the original Shakespeare Society oil
London, many years ago is an uneXcepuohaoy
good piece of editorial work and seems to be COM
n ulete aud final. And it is matter of some little
general interest ut thus particular time that he was
the first to see and point out that the words or the
phrase too too had in shakcspcarc's time the
sense of a single thought; that then too too
was Il reduplicated adjective and that we should
read, for example. in Hamlet not
80 that this toe, too solid flesh would melt
but,
40 that this too-foo solid flesh would melt"
thus showing that the aesthetics" OF our own day,
of whom we have bad one fantastic specimen re-
Gently among us, were fOIestaled by Shakespeare
(who seems to have forestaled everybody in their
too oo-too-iug.
Fortune has given Mr.. Hclliw ell-Phnpps the
ability to indulge himself IN the luxury OF printing
for private circulation small editions of such of his
books as would not appeal TO the interests of fub-
fishers because of the limited class Of readers by
whom they would be bought and lie has thus
enriched Shakespearean literature with many val
liable and beautiful books which eagerly sought
both for their contents and their rarity. About
wear ago he issued a thin octave having the same
tite-page as the book before us. except that III
place OF "a publishers name 1t bore the wOrds
Printed for The authors friends" Ii was in TACT
a tentative book. preparatory to the present. and,
indeed the authOr in note solicited the crclsmO OF
those to whom it was sent The result is the present
formidable and valuable volume. The " Outlines
have been expanded from ninety pages to one
hundred and lightweight, in the same type
having been more than doubled in extent; but
the most important additions, and those which give
the present work its chef value the illustrative
notes which fiji no less than five hundred and nine
pages in smaller type, and which present mass of
information il regard to Shakespeare and his times,
and particularly regard to the drama and the
theatre of his times that can be found in other
single publication.
The Preface is not one OF the least interesting
parts OF the work. In it the author takes very
decidedly and with evidence of very clear
knowledge OF what he is doing, position directly
adv erse TO that Of the COedge and German school of
Shakespearean critics. Nor is he less in sympathy
with the metlical critcs-those who profess to be
able to tell by the dis and middles of lines when
play vas written and when it rewritten, and
who helped Shakespeare write 1t. He brushes all
this aside and in his consideration OF Shake
speare's life and shakespeares works his only
guides are fact and common sense
As to the incidents of the poets liie Mr. IIalli-
Il-Phillpps, after all his painful and extended
researches (which from the account he gives Of
them seem truly Hercueanl is able to add little or
nothing to what had been discovered before the
beginning OF the present century, 1t has been
more recently discovered, however that the name
OF Shakespeare. although it is rare one cOmpara-
lively old in England, where 1t has existed for at
least six centuries. The name OF u certain Johan
shakespere is found in legal document of the
year 1878. But most of those of the OF
whom any record has been found were Warwick
shire people, and none of them above the
rank OF yeomen farmers. Shakespeare's grand
father was Richard, small farmer at Smithfeld,
near Standardization. lie had two sons. Henry,
q thriving farmer, and John, who became a glover
at Stratford and throve also. lie married Mary,
the daughter of Robert Arden farmer Of the
higher class and man Of considerable property.
From her father Mary Arden inherited house and
SIXTY acres of land and the reyersion OF two other
small estates at Winecote and Smthield. John
Shakespeare, IN fact, had married an heiress, and
soon began TO enjoy that sort of Importance which
-, 81 NV He unle
became high-bailifl or "mavOr" OF his dirty little
town; which, indeed, according to all accounts