BOOKS RECEIVED.

(43) THE HENRY IRVING SHAKESPEARE. Edited by Henry Irving and Frank A. Marshall, with notes and introductions to each play by F. A. Marshall and other Shakespearian scholars, and numerous illustrations by Gordon Browne and other artists. Volume VI. (Othello, Anthony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, King Lear.) New York: Scribner, Welford & Co. Sq. 8vo, cloth, pp. 430.

(44) OLD ENGLISH PLAYS. Edited with notes and introductions by T. Evan Jacobs, B. A., late Scholar of St. Catharine's School, Cambridge. London: L. Reeve & Co. 16mo, cloth, pp. 243.

(45) THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE. I. The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Edited by W. H. Payne Smith, Senior Student of Christ Church, Oxford, and Assistant Master at Rugby School. II. The First Part of Henry the Fourth. Edited by O. Elton, late Scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. III. Julius Cæsar. Edited by H. C. Beeching, late Exhibitioner of Balliol College, Oxford. IV. The Merchant of Venice. Same editor as III. London: Rivingtons. 16mo, cloth, pp. 170, 142, 131, 234.

(46) THE BANKSIDE SHAKESPEARE. Vol. VI., The Much Ado About Nothing. With Introduction by Wm. H. Fleming, Esq. New York: The New York Shakespeare Society, Brentano's, Union Square, Agents. pp. 216.

(47) SHAKESPEARE'S FUNERAL, and Other Papers. By Sir Edward Hamley. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons. 12mo, cloth, pp. 311.

(48) SHAKESPEARE. The Harvard Edition. Edited by Henry N. Hudson, D.D. 20 v. Boston: Ginn & Co. 8vo, cloth, pp. about 300.

(49) THE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Universal Edition, with Life, Glossary, etc., carefully edited from the best texts and compared with recent commentators, by the editor of the Chandos Classics. London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co. 12mo, cloth, pp. 1125.

(50) THE WORKS OF The Albion Edition.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. With Life.
Prepared from the texts of the First

Folio, the Quartos, with Glossary. London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co. 12mo, cloth, pp. 1136.

(51) OUTLINES OF THE LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE. By J. O. Halliwell-Phillips, F.R.S., F.S.A. The Eighth Edition. (Using the wood-blocks and electros of wood-blocks bequeathed by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps to the Shakespeare Society of New York, by License of the Society.) London and New York: Longmans, Green & Co. 2 v., cl., royal 8vo, pp. 416, 432.

From Harper's Weekly.

Copyright, 1870, by Harper & Brothers. GULIAN CROMMELIN VERPLANK.

The first American Editor of Shakespeare.

ONG before the appearance of the latest exposition of the Baconian hypothesis, Mr. Richard Grant White tersely expressed his opinion of its supporters. He thought, as Professor Huxley thought of certain illogicians, that they should be phlebotomized and put on low diet; that they needed a calm retreat, the soothing care of the nurse, and the restoring hand of the physician. His opinion was, perhaps, expressed less delicately, but what I have said will show his meaning. The hypothetists, presumably, did not like the advice, but the violence of their language since has justified his wisdom. He has been rashly compared to " Jack the Ripper," whose mania is the destruction of abandoned characters. He has been charged with obtaining money under false pretences; actually accused of having been a Baconian when he published his edition of Shakespeare, and with having suppressed the fact because its knowledge would injure the sale of his volume. This is peculiar treatment, but the Baconians are a peculiar people; for, as we shall abundantly see, they, while accusing others of misstatement and suppression, themselves conceal facts with the ease of professionals and waive probabilities with an airy grace that would be admirable if it were not idiotic. It might have been expected that the hypothetists would treat Truth and Shakespeare with equal disregard; but their infatuation drives them further; they buffet Reason, deride Philosophy, and are even disrespectful to Geography. Yet it is impossible to be angry with them. While we can explain their action by a gesture it would be a sin to be impatient.