THE "LOCAL COLOUR" OF SHAKESPEARE.
Where Shakespeare Set his Stage. By Elise Lathrop. (T. Werner Laurie. 8s. 6d.)-At a time when the worship of Shakespeare is denounced as the worship of a superstition by no less a person than Tolstoi, and when there are some who do not scruple even to doubt the authenticity of the works that bear his name, it is refreshing to find one writer on matters Shakespearean who dismisses these heresies with a lofty silence, and embarks upon a verification, not of Shake- speare's title to fame, but of the local colour of his plays. The result is an artistic volume, the letterpress of which forms a kind of literary guide-book to the Rome of Antony, the Venice of Shylock, and the London of Richard III., while the illustra- tions consist of admirable views of Juliet's house, Desdemona's palace, Kronberg Castle at Elsinore, and other places. True, the topographical optimism even of Miss Lathrop is occasionally damped; but though three Scottish castles claim the honour of having been the scene of the murder of Duncan, at least they are each of sufficient interest to merit a description, and the author wisely solves the difficulty by doing justice to them all. The book is a welcome, if not a weighty, addition to Shakespearean literature, and will form a profitable companion volume to an edition of his works.
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