17 APRIL 1920, Page 14

• WAS - SHAKESPEARE UNEDUCATED ?

[TO THE EDITOR. OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—It • was not only in classical proper names such -as Andronious and Posthumus .that Shakespeare seems to have been indifferent to'faiscequantities. • For instance, in Act IV., Scene i., of Macbeth he wrote :—

'" GreatBimam'wood to high Duruanane hill'" ; and in Act V., Scene "Till Birnam wood remove to IhmsInane ";

This seems to. support your correspondent Sir George Green- wood's contention that • Shakespeare meant his lines to be pronounced in accordance with accent rather than with