Note 17 — Chapter II

A very good exhibit of best opinions on such points may be found briefly summarized in Stopford Brooke’s little Primer of English Literature; see also Mr. Fleay’s recent Chronical History of Shakespeare; and fuller discussion (though somewhat antiquated) in Dr. Drake’s interesting discussion of Shakespeare and his Times. I name this book, not as wholly authoritative, or comparable with the mass of newer criticism which has been developed under the auspices of the different Shakespeare societies, but as massing together a great budget of information from cotemporaneous authors and full of entertaining reading. In America, the Shakespearean labors of Hudson, Grant White, and Dr. Rolfe are to be noted; and also—with larger emphasis—the beginnings of the monumental work of Mr. Furniss.