26 JANUARY 1889, Page 44

Sir Anthony Shirley the Author of Shakespeare's Plays. By Scott

Surtees. (H. Gray.)—Mr. Scott Surtees does not think that Mr. Ignatius Donnelly has proved his case, and doubtless is right in so thinking. Yet one of his reasons is a curious one,—viz., that those who read Bacon are bored, those who read Shakespeare enchanted. But it does not show that a patient in a lunatic asylum is sane if he thinks his companions mad. All patients do. The only redeeming thing about Mr. Surtees' statement of his theory is that it is brief, only forty-three pages. If he has not much wit, he has at least brevity.