ELIZABETHAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY. By
. M.- St. Clare Byrne, (Methuen.. 78.
Miss BYRNE is a well-known authority on certain aspects of Elizabethan literature, and from her intimate knowledge of
the period has . built up this picture of life in Elizabeth's England. It makes excellent reading. Religion, customs, food, gossip, country life, economics, education, the theatre,
superstition, travelling and games are all called upon to give a liveliness to the description. The one danger, not entirely absent from the chapter on " An Elizabethan Day," is the sentimental arrangement of indubitable facts in order to produce a pretty. picture. The author has spared no pains to
make the account comprehensive. Much material is brought together for the first time, and general readers are given the benefit of the intensive Elizabethan scholarship of recent years. The bibliography and footnotes are very valuable guides to the background of Shakespeare's age.
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