question." Rash enterprises often are the only hope of growth into wider light; scientific care, to study values and weight considerations, being always safe-guard against error and presumption. But a guide should eschew rashness, exercise restraint and content itself with the trust of its followers. Two other probabilities or possibilities of Mrs. Dall's are noteworthy. None the less out of place are they, either they or her title, and certainly not new, still very interesting conjectures and enticing points for future study. One is that sometime between his fourteenth and his twentieth year Shakespeare was "a school-master in the countrie;" (quoted from Aubrey's Lives of Eminent Men, 1680,) the other that during the five blank years, from 1587-1592 Shakespeare was a traveler on the continent. Some strictures upon the inconveniences of the Halliwell-Phillipps Outlines for ready reference are courteously made by Mrs. Dall. These are partly met by Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps in a letter, an extract from which bearing on the matter is given in the Literary Notes of this issue of SHAKESPEARIANA. LITERARY NOTES. SHAKESPEARIANA gives place gladly to the announcement of the now forth-coming volume of its valued contributor, Mr. F. G. Fleay. This work makes an attempt to collect neglected material bearing on Shakespeare's theatrical career, to establish certain conclusions as to the chronology of the work from evidence derived from the early production of English plays in Germany, and to throw new light upon the Sonnets. A chronicle history of the life and work of William Shakespeare, Player, Poet, and Playmaker By F. G. Fleay M. A. With 3 etchings of interest. Medium 800, 15s nett. London: John C. Nim mo. 1886. In Shakespearian Scenes and Characters issued this month by Cassell & Co. Mr. Austin Brereton gives an account of the stage history of each play and notes the most famous representation of English and foreign actors for a period extending over two centuries. He runs the scale in short from Betterton to Irving, and crosses the Atlantic to introduce a note or two that has been triumphantly struck upon the American Stage. The volume is sumptuously built, having thirty steel plates and ten wood-engravings in illustration of the plays. Mr. Henry Irving bears the honor of the dedication. The first volume of the biographical series The Actors and Actresses of Great Britain and the United States from the aays of Garrick to the Present Time, as planned by Brander Matthews and Lawrence Hutton will be published this month. Biography, critical essays and extracts, personal anecdote and instances of character are the three rallying points around which will be collected all that can be found to illustrate the life and work of each actor. Mr. J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps writes to an American correspondent: "I am well aware of the two great defects in my Outlines to which you allude, the want of a good index and of an account of the engravings. I had made considerable progress with both of them last spring when I was almost suddenly prostrated; and feeling from what the doctor said that a long and absolute rest was a necessity, I preferred issuing the volume without them, to deferring its publication for an indefinite period. As it was, though pretty well in general health, I was unable to do bookwork all the summer, the examination of the records of two towns being pretty much all I managed to get through with during upwards of six months. If I have better luck this spring, these blemishes will, I hope, be removed. What I have left of literary ambition has been abundantly satisfied by the kind reception my book has met with in every direction, especially among American students a reception that is stimulating me to do my best to add to its utility." [The Nation, March 11th] The New Shakspere Society at its meeting on the 12th of February added a last word to its investigation of the Sonnet mysteries. The Rev. W. A. Harrison's paper on the subject and the discussion that followed seemed to agree upon the acceptance of William Herbert and Mary Fitton as the "onlie begetters" of the Sonnets. Having earnestly worked their way out of a mist upon this hypothesis, the members of the Society have of course a very good right to uphold it in default of any other as tenable, yet there is left one which many Shakespearian lovers will fall back upon with relief, that until a theory is more than possible, or probable, they need believe-nothing. But the most obstinate of Shakespearian agnostics must rejoice in the discussion and the research which has resulted in the republication of the Sonnets, a fac-simile in Photo-lithography by Charles Praetorius of the first quarto, 1609. Mr. Thomas Tyler of the New Shakspere Society furnishes the Introduction in which he follows up all Mr. William Rossetti had said and independently collects many other clues to show that William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, was the beautiful youth of the Sonnets, and the oftenmated mistress Fitton the dark lady "unbiassed in her favours. ” Mr. William Sharp editor of a new edition of the Songs, Poems and Sonnets of William Shakspeare is in his "Critical Introduction," still more confirmed in this faith, A foreign visitor to the United States, on his return home, was telling the peculiarities of the people of different American cities. In one of them, he said, they had for a Shibboleth, "What do you know?" Without regard to any other of the circumstances in which an applicant for admission to their society might be placed, he had to show intelligent experience in a wide range of knowledge or he was excluded. We have often thought that was a very excellent test of character, and it is a test that more people than those living in the particular city referred to make continually, whether consciously or no. It is the ordeal every witness in every court of justice everywhere has to undergo. It is right that the test should be applied, and it is right that every applicant for attention in human society should endure the ordeal. The test is of value under varied conditions. In the sickroom the question is asked of those who once were ill, but who are now enjoying health, about means of restoration, "What do you know?" The kindly hearts of a number of correspondents who, through gratitude, have come forward to tell the story of the means by which they are now well, lead to the publication of the following responses: "DRS. STARKEY & PALEN: "GENTLEMEN:-Permit me to express to you my hearty recognition of the good your Compound Oxygen Treatment has done in my own household. One of our family has been several years afflicted with a combination of lung, head and nerve difficulties, very severe, and resisting every form of medical application. He had tried physicians literally by the score; changes of climate, south and west, and had grown hopeless nearly altogether. You know how complex was his case, and how apparently beyond help, for he visited you in person when just able to be out of bed. You did not think him curable. Nor can I say that he was cured, but he was amazingly helped. He tried the Compound Oxygen with little faith, and his cough grew less, his strength greater. His nervous condition improved steadily, but whenever the Oxygen was intermitted for a time he lost ground again. Last spring he had become so well and strong that the treatment did not seem necessary, and he gave it up. He had regained his former weight, his cough was rarely ever heard by night or day. He walked about with vigor, and attended actively to business. His wonderful improvement surprised himself and all who knew him. This fall, when the autumnal changes began, he should have resumed it as a safeguard, but did not. He took a new cold, and was careless of consequences. As a result, he has lost much of the ground so gratefully recovered, but I believe the Compound Oxygen can and will again do its beneficent work. My faith in it is great. Yours, "A. A HOPKINS. "ROCHESTER, N. Y., December 2, 1885." Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., LL. D., President of Middlebury College, Vermont, writes: "I derived so much benefit from your Compound Oxygen Treatment last year that I will ask you to send me the same supply for home treatment with the Inhaler, for which I inclose the price. By my advice others have tried it, and never without benefit." REV. A. A. JOHNSON, A. M., formerly financial agent, and now President of Wesleyan College, Fort Worth, Texas, wrote us under date of February. 21, 1885: DRS. STARKEY AND PALEN:-From 1878 to June, 1883, I was troubled more or less with catarrh. During those years I tried several remedies, but from them I received no permanent relief. In the winter and spring of 1883 I grew a great deal worse, and suffered greatly with sore throat, hoarseness, and catarrhal fever. At times I could not speak publicly, because of hoarseness and coughing; Alarmed at my condition, I sought a remedy, and was led to try the Compound Oxygen cure. It worked like magic. Within two weeks my hoarseness and sore throat were gone, and my general health began to improve at once. At the end of three months, when I had finished the first treatment, the catarrh was gone. I have not been specially troubled with catarrh since. I regard the Compound Oxygen treatment as a wonderful discovery of science, and a blessing to suffering humanity. A. Ä. JOHNSON. On November 2, 1885, Mr. Johnson wrote: "You are at liberty to use anything I have written you in favor of Compound Oxygen. I regard it as a great remedy." REV. JOSEPH H. FESPERMAN, of Capel Grove, N. C., was a great sufferer from lung disease until he took a course of treatment of Compound Oxygen. He writes: "I believe the cavity in my left lung is healed. Until two weeks ago have not coughed a dozen times in a year." REV. J. T. HUTCHESON, a clergyman of the Episcopal Church, sends the following from San Antonio, Texas: "During the latter part of the summer of 1884, my wife and myself took the office treatment of Compound Oxygen, under Drs. Starkey and Palen, of Philadelphia, and were greatly benefited by it. Our troubles were malaria, dyspepsia, biliousness, headache, and in my own case, nervous exhaustion. My wife, who was a great sufferer from dyspepsia, has never been troubled with it since." From REV. G. W. GRAHAM, Clarendon, Texas, Nov. 7, 1885: "I very gladly give my consent for my name to be used. I have been taken out of the jaws of death by your Compound Oxygen, and wish my former and present condition could be known to every afflicted one in all of this great land." REV. I. S. COLE, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Manitowaning, Algoma, Ontario, Canada, bears this testimony: "I deem it a high privilege to assist in any way in making known so wonderful a discovery as your Compound Oxygen. I have found it of great benefit in my own family, and know of good results in the families of acquaintances.' Curiosity as to Compound Oxygen may be fully gratified by any one who will take the trouble to write a postal card or letter of request to Drs. Starkey & Palen, at 1529 Arch Street, Philadelphia. They publish a brochure of nearly two hundred pages, entitled Compound Oxygen-Its Mode of Action and Results, also monographs on asthma, catarrh, consumption, dyspepsia, hay fever, neuralgia, rheumatism, etc.; also, once a quarter, they issue Health and Life, a record of cures of patients made by the patients themselves. publication has been issued every quarter for over six years, and is a complete answer to all questions as to the virtues of Compound Oxygen. All this literature, or anypart of it, will be sent, post-paid, freely to any address on application. This BE SURE to include in your list of PERIODICALS FOR 1886 some, if not all, of the following, for they are the very best and are found in the homes of all cultured people. No other journal numbers among its contributors Nineteenth Century. ing an epitome of all that best deserves attention in the world of thought and action. Fortnightly British Quarterly. While discussing all branches of modern thought, is par ticularly devoted to the consideration of the more recent theories in Theology and Philosophy. Its articles are characterized by a keenly critical spirit, and for fulness of treatment and justness of criticism it stands alone, in its special field, among the periodicals of the world. Edinburgh Review. Numbers among its contributors the greatest names that have moulded English thought for the past eighty years. While its policy admits the discussion of all questions, its conservatism is tempered with a liberalism that marks it as the INDEPENDENT REVIEW of the world. Quarterly Review. Its reviews cover all the leading issues of the day, and embrace the latest discoveries in Science, in History, and in Archæology. Much space is devoted to ecclesiastical history and matters connected with the Church, thus making the Review invaluable to the clerical student, as well as of great interest to the general reader. Westminster Review. Is notable for the latitude of its theological views, many of the most advanced of modern theories in theology having received in its pages their first authoritative support. A distinctive feature of this Review is its "INDEPENDENT SECTION," containing articles advocating views at variance with those of its editors. Blackwood's Magazine. Is the leading and most popular magazine All of above are printed line for line-page for page—with English Editions, but in handier form. Shakespeariana. While aiming to furnish a recognized medium for the inter- designed to extend the influence of Shakespeare as a popular educator, and to stim ⚫ulate the study of his works in our colleges and institutions of learning. Full Index Circulars furnished upon application. LEONARD SCOTT PUBLICATION CO., All Three, $12.00. 1104 Walnut Street. Philadelphia. THE FERREE PRESS, PHILA. |