A HISTORY OF SHAKESPEARIAN CRITICISM
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—In reviewing my History of Shakespearian Criticism on May 21st, Mr. George Rylands makes the point that criticism is literature suggested by a book, but after passing through
" distracting and condensing machinery it ceases to lw literature and, therefore, ceases to be criticism. I have before me letters from two eminent living Shakespearian critics expressing great satisfaction at the treatment their books have received in the said machinery. I withhold their names but would willingly communicate them to Mr. Rylands privately.
Against my method Mr. Rylands quotes in full a sentence from Dr. Johnson. The gist of this sentence is the word " quibble," and it is all that is needed for historical-critical purposes. I do not usually reply to criticism, but I must enter a mild protest at what I think is an attempt to belittle a book which Mr. Rylands himself calls " a labour of Hercules,
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