3 FEBRUARY 1900, Page 24

We have received the twelfth volume of the " New

Variorum Edition of Shakespeare," edited by Horace Howard Furness (J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 18s.) The volume contains Much Ado About Nothing. Mr. Furness is severe in his preface on various predecessors, notably Messrs. Fleay and Furnivall, and has something to tell us about the genesis of the play. All students of Shakespeare are greatly indebted to him and to his publishers for this really magnificent edition. It is a shame to dismiss with these few lines this latest instalment of a noble work by a great scholar ; but considering the •number of new books that are now being published we have no choice.