The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-17
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS
SOME OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
 THE SEASON.

aShakspeare's London" by Professor
 Henry Thew stephenson-"A Knot of
 Blue Ribbon" by William R. 4. Will
 son-New Books in ''The Nutshell Li-
 brnry" Series by Sherwin Cody
 Forthcoming Books.
 "A book of great interest is "Shake- speare's London" by Henry Thew Stephenson, assistant professor of Eng fish in Indiana university. It forms a volume of some three hundred and fif- ty pages, exclusive of illustrations, and considers severally the period, the early growth of the city; the theatres and tayerns, the military companies, and such important sections as Old St. PauIs, The Tower, Holborn and Smith field, the Strand and Southwark. "While the book is primarily topo- graphical description of that city" says MT. Stephenson, ''as 1t was seen by Shakespeare, the task could not be per formed satisfactorily without frequent references to the manners and customs of the people. The Introductory chap ter, however, and the description of theatrical performance, do not, it is hoped, encroaeh materially upon the field of companion volume with which it is expected to follow this one, a volume devoted wholly to manners and customs It is a significant tri- bute to the value of MT. Stephenson's record that it is something more than mere typographical survey, and that the daily life of the people is described as vividly as their streets, their houses, and the mere external aspects of their week to week existence.
 MT. Stephenson devotes large space to a description of London Bridge, the city's only bridge until the eighteenth century. It resembled 8 street rather than a bridge, and excited the enthusi- astic admiration of the Elizabethans. The numerous sketches that have come down to us, one of which is reproduced in the work before us, would seem to justify this enthusiasm. It is difficult to imagine anything more picturesque than must have been it's appearance at the time, with its twenty irregular arches, its drawbridge, 9ts towers. chapels, old houses, mills, and, espe- cially, the arcade that capped the arch es throughout the entire length. An added attraction was the huge lowered gate-house at the southern end, which was never without score of heads grinning from spikes, for the axe was kept busy on Tower Hill in the days of Good Queen Bess. MT. Stephenson has failed, however, to mention a building that in the eyes of Elizabethans, lent a peculiar distinction to the bridge Nonesuch House, which had been inn ported from Holland in 1880, and which was considered marvel for it's sculp- lures and carvings.
 One of the fullest and most original chapters in the volume is that devoted to Old St Paul's, which the author con- siders, and justly, to have been far su- perior, from an artistic point of view, to it's modern namesake. It was, in fact, the largest and most splendid ca uhedral in England, and this increases our wonder at the astounding desecra- ton to which it was subject during the whole of Elizabeth's reign. MT. Ste phenson's description of the scenes en- acted in the venerable church sounds almost incredible, but it is fully con- frned by the contemporary plays and other authorities.
 In the chapters on the Theatres many points in connection with the Eliza bethan stage that are more or less fa- miiiar receive fresh interest from the authors treatment of them. He shows conyfncingly that several recent wri- ters are entirely astray in their descrip- ton of Elizabethan stage effects. It is incorrect to say that the Elizabethans possessed neither scenery nor curtain, nor stage properties. The clothes worn by the actors were often magnifi- cent, although costuming in the mod ern sense was unknown. Caesar wore a doublet, and Richard III. appeared in the same military accoutrements as Sir Walter Raleigh.
 The whole work ahounds with illumi- mating descriptions of places of world wide interest both to the scholars and the general reader, and will richly re- pay careful perusal. Price $2.00; for sale by the E. P. Judd Co.
 "A Knot of Blue Ribbon" by Will Ham R. A. Wilson, is rattling good story, full of adventure and dramatic surprises. It captures the readers in- terest at the start and holds it to the