Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany : a Tragedy. By George Chapman.
With introduction and notes by H. F. Schwarz, (G. P. Putnam's Sons. 5s. net.)—This is a reproduction in facsimile of the original 'edition of 1654. Mr. Schwarz con- tents himself with the common attribution of the play to. Chapman and in an interesting introduction attempts to. establish the relation between Elizabethan tragedy and the life of the time. He shows by quotation from books of travel and history that, although as a treatment of historical fact: "Alphoneus" is grotesquely incorrect, many of the barbarities, and outrages, which make this and other Elizabethan plays. seem so unreal to the modern reader, are in fact mere repro- ductions of recent or contemporary events and customs. The point is worth making, but nothing could give vitality to Alphonsue, Emperor of Germany. Whether by Chapman or not it has no more reality than "The Monk" or "Udolpho" or "The Silver King." 'Yet such is the power of the age in
which it was written that it is still readable, and, although the old type is very hard to decipher, Mr. Schwarz's edition may be commended as something more than a literary curiosity.
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