New-York tribune., 1905-03-04
SH4KESPEARIANA.
Recent Studies of the Poets Work
and Personal History.

Macmillan Company
WILLIAM sHAKEsPEARE. ,F HIS FAMILY NIL Es1SI AND
one of her late Ma;esty's counsel Author Of
n.h he hfs0ry asn0Tss o. etc Edited BY a Hamilson
drew Lang. svo PIP. x, S2l E. P. Dutton s.
AN IMRsRTAh sTTPT WTs OF 9gEAcgEMirsE THE SEAKE s;
John II H. stStssnS96g 9 Mn21 syS; PIP xii go Louis
A NEW vARIoRUM EDITION OF, SHAKE
sPEARE Edited by hoTaee Howard ward FurneSs; SD,;S
Lost svo.. pp Xxx. %Oi- Philadelphia: J. B. Lip
WIPP66laAcMa IPP6acaER sRAh Drama. By Riehard Garnett
limo. PIP Ill John Lane
These five books all save OF them massive
octavos illustrate well the quantity and the
range OF that Shakespearian criticism which is
becoming formidable TO the scholar and the
librarian, and is almost beginning TO threaten
the peace OF mind OF the general reader of cult
IRE When shan have done with this end
less analysis OF characters that never existed;
with antiquarian gropings in a darkness that
seems provi6entially designed for the exercising
OF human ingenuity: with iconociasm that itches
10 pull down the idol o. the race and the ages.
and with superstitious loyalty that cherishes
even the hiusiest support OF its fetch; with
scholarship that reverentially weighs every grain
OF dust that has gathered on every extant
Elizabethan qusrto or folio. and finally with the
hazardous imagination that seeks to recon-
struct an epoch already marvellously bodied
forth In the artistic creations OF the most highly
endowed Of the OF men7 Some such ques-
tons as these are almost TO present them
selves to the mind OF any who attempts to
keep up with the books each year. added to the
mass OF shakespear!ana: but they pass as quick
iy as they present themselves and we open the
NEXT volume with undiuinished interest So
perenniaIy fresh is the myriad minded dra-
uaatist-
We risk ittle by saying that no recent volume
devoted to Shakespeare compares in point of
ecuteness and solidity with the lectures OF Pro-
lessor Bradley. They are closely reasoned
that wonders how they succeeded we'll
es lectures: as q volume they require such MI
nute attention that one fears they will not make
q strong appeal to the public that reads ii
runs This will doubtless not disappoint the
learned and subtle author. who may comfort
himself by thinking that he has permanently
enlarged the conceptions OF Shakespearian
tragedy held by every one that has read his
book Unlike most English Shakespearians
Professor Bradley conce!ves a play Of Shake
speare's as something 10 be acted. not primarily
something to be read-although he frequently
adopts the readers point Of view-and he is
generally careful to distinguish between the
artistic purposes we can discover in play and
the actual dramaturgcal purposes present in
Shakespeare's mind. This is but TO say that
there is refreshing absence Of fine writing
ana an astonishing amount OF vigorous and
subtle thinking in his book. His discussion OF
the character Of Hamlet and Iago and of the
poetical greatness and dramaturgical defcien-
cies of king Lear would alone justify the high
praise We have given him. His philosophical
remarks the nature Of the Shakespearian
tragedy in general. especially those at the close
Of the third section Of the eighth lecture. show
him to be a critic of large intelligence. and his
elaborate appendix of notes on disputed points,
well as his discussions Of specific passages in
tragedies analyzed in the body OF his book.
a clean proof Of his scholarship and his acumen.
Occasionally he betrays. as he Acknowledges in
his preface. unfainiliarity with recent
Shakespearian criticisms British failing-but
only once. think, does he cause his reader to
think OF him as anything but exceptionally
equipped student of the master dramatist This
IS at the close OF his discussion of the vexed
question Of the color of Otheo where he makes
some remarks about the marriage Of an English
lady TO negro like Toussaint, which will amuse
horrfy or leave unmoved his readers. according
10 circumstances, but scarcely be regarded
as happy called for
The late Mr. Eton's bulky volume will please
readers Of antiquarian tastes who wish to thrash
out once more the puzzle about Anne and Agnes
Hathaway; 90 determine the exact date Of
shakespeare's birth; to learn many particulars
about Stratford-on-Avon and the surrounding
villages; to track the history Of Shakespeare's
descendants. and TO investigate other similar
topics It is needless to say that rival anti
quarians have already come forward to combat
some Of the authors statements and concIr
slons. or that future Shakespearian connnenta
tors will find it advantageous TO draw on his
pages for illustrative material From Mr. or.,,o
pleasant sketch one gathers that Mr. Elton must
have been a singularly delightful REPRESENTATIVE
OF class OF cultured antiquaries more common
IN an old country like England than in new one
like America
america seems more likely to produce at pres
ent ingenious gentlemen like Mr. Stotsenburg
who believes that Sir Philip Sidney wrote the
sonnets that pass as Shakespeare's that Raoon
wrote venus and Adonis." and that AT least
eleht oTamatists. beginning with DraytoD ann
including Decker, Middleton and Webster. had
q hano in such Of the plays as he has closely ex
alnined. The conclusions 10 which Mr. stotsen-
burg has come, while they are not CONVINCING m
the present reviewer. are too honestly held and
zoo vigorously supported TO be treated with the
rioicue which is often meted out 10 such coura
geous theorists. Ridicule has been heaUed unon
the Bacontans. or perhaps we should rather can
them the revilers of William shaksner..-
niiterate person whom they never tire NJ de-.
nouhcing-with the apparent result that their
number has steadily increased II seems be,ter
70 pass over their books in silence or tn CIV
quietly that their arguments are unconvincing
or else 10 argue point by point with them IN a
'e0oS way. hloicule does good both be-
'"e'e is great deal OF mystery sur
rounding the shakespearian plays which
peariahs have endeavOred to dissi-
nat f-