New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-02
BARTLETTS CONCORDANCE
A VALUABLE BOOK FOR sHAKEsPEARIAN
STUDENTS.

Poems. a.
Of the American Academy Of Arts and Sciences.
PIP. 1910 Macmillan & Co.
The most obvious popularity OF Mr.. Bartletts
excellent book is one that VIII commend IL 10
those who believe in the composite authorship
Of the Shakespearian plays. 1t aims. as the COM
piler remarks 10 give passages or some leng'h
independent of the context. Two or more words
are sometimes given together In connection with
those TO which they Immediately Joined in
the text to show directly the particular
use of a word. The result of this is an apprecia-
bic increase in the size Of the volume. II Is re-
markable how many words and individual
phrases occur but once in Shakespeare. The
significance OF this observation lies In the fact
that all authors have been found by investigation
10 be limited 10 the use Of fixed vocabulary.
small or great. as the case may be- beyond which
they rarely pass Shakespeare is almost the only
exception to th law. His vocabulary was enor-
NOUS. and vet he used many Of his words but
once in a comparatively small body Of literature
II any other man had shown this trait in COM
position the origin Of the passages In which the
rare words occurred would at once be put In
question on that ground alone. II is axiom Of
translation that the careful perusal of one-third
or one-half at most. Of an unknown book in an
unfamiliar language enables the reader 10 rush
through the remainder with hardly glance az
q dictionary This could not be done with shake
speare New words constantly appear on every
fresh page Of the plays But these rare words
and phrases however. are not such as would De
considered exceptional in the general usage OF
the language Such phrases as almost lau'''
almost fray, almost a man, almost ''i'e'
almost miracle. almost an alien. almost an
apple almost any. almost as bad. almost as great
almost as like. almost freezes. almost here bad
child bad courses bad dealings. bad enough pau
friends bad fruit bad habit bad neighbor bad
report bad sons bad thing. came aboard, came
about came along. came ashore. came pach'
came down. courted. cried up, difiicult, dlrect
way. disciple directing, each ear. each end each
eve each mortal thing. ever again. eVerihofe'
relonious fellow partner. feminine. ferry. ferry
man feud fnical first Of all. go-between, rely
ing savagey. seafaring. set in order. set OF
books set Of sun, waver. well-born well-oreo'
and many others are likely to recur often in
English books Of every period and yet they are
found each but once in Shakespeare. as attested
ny Mr. Rartlett's Concordance. The single occa-
sion on which the verb ''waver'' is used Illus
4rates one phase Of these phenomena. 1t Is In
massage from the Merchant Of Venice" Thou
almost makest me waver in my faith Here
evidently a religious expression In common use
occurred to the dramatist. He would possibly
never have used the word II it had not come 10
him as part Of familiar saying. In other cases
the familiarity would have to be discounted
which the modern has for Shakespear,ah
nbrases Rut there would still remain a vast
number Of words and phrases used but once IN
these plays which might be explained by the
study Of contemporary poets, players and prose-
writer's
In view Of this question 1t is fortunate that
tod
the poems from that of the plays. In the poems
also many words are used but once, but II Will
he found upon comparison that most OF these
words occur frequently in the plays. The be-
lever in the composite authorship OF the snake
spt arian dramas nay then take the poems as a
more or less adequate test Of what he would cal
the genuine Shakespearian vocabulary lie may
start with the hypothesis that all these words
and phrases used but once In the plays and never
in the poems open TO doubt ana scrutiny
Then he will proceed to examine other books OF
the Elizabethan period to find whether or not
any of these were favored by one au-
thor or another Of those whom Shake
speare could have known Considering the
endlessness Of the Shakespearian controversy. az
carried on in the past and at present 1t Is to be
hoped that sooner or later some self-sacrincihe
scholar will make a working concordance to the
whole
No device could be invented that would be more
likely than this TO put an end 10 the vague con-
lectures, the haphazard quotation and the illog-
zeal argument which have hitherto characterized
the more fanciful efforts at shakespearan cr!ti-
cism 1t would probably lay the Baconian ghost
IN its narrow grave forever. but 1t might prove
that there was more than malice in the remark
NJ q Jealous contemporary Of Shakespeare about
his borrowed pun,age. On the other hand OF
course II might b, found that Shakespeare had
even higher clair1s tn tt. world has granted
To rank In class by himself as the one author
who comprehended all the variations Of human
nature and sounded all the depths Of human
knowledge.
Mere connective and auxiliary words have not
been neglected in this Concordance 1t ap-
proaches completeness by the inclusion Of the
verbs to be, TO do. to have. may, and their
lenses, though the references to the use Of these
words do not cover every instance In Shake
speare's works for obvious reasons. The same Is
true of the adjectives much. many, more most
of many adverbs and the pronouns. propositions
intertect ons and conjunctions. The author ex-
plains that The definite and indefinite articles
the, a. an the words a. all, an %. and; some
repetitions Of words used Internationally. which
are merely the prefix and terminal Of a sentence.
and titles when Joined to proper names, are not
included among the index words" Words abbre-
Waited by the cutting off of letters at the be-
ginning are included not only where they would
be placed. spelled out in full but also where
they belong alphabetically according to their
actual photography. The text referred TO through
out Is that OF the last edition Of the Globe
Shakespeare. published in 1891. The expansion OF
the Concordance by means OF separate entries
for particular phrases Is compensated to some
extent by the cases where phrases in frequent
Use are followed by a list Of the places in which
thew occur without the usua, quotations. The
hook ought to make a study of Shakespeare
easier than II has ever been. The type, though
small is clear and the volume. though no, exact
" portable can be handled without difficulty.