The Life and Death of King John. Edited by Horace
Howard Furness, Junior. (Lippincott. 25s. net.)—Dr. Furness, con- tinuing his father's work, has added King John to the famous Variorum edition of Shakespeare. It is an excellent and exhaust- ive piece of work, in which one may find almost all that com- mentators have written about the play, together with a reprint of the earlier drama on the same subject, the stage history, and a large selection of general criticisms. Much space is given to the old controversy as to whether King John, in rejecting the Papal demands put forward by Pandulph, was expressing the dramatist's own Protestant sentiments. The editor himself does not believe that " Shakespeare ever made use of his dramatic art for the purpose of instructing or as a means of enforcing his own views." Those who study the rival commentators will agree heartily with Dr. Furness. The well-known puzzles, like "Alcides shooes upon an Asse," are brought nearer to solution when the varying explanations are collected, as in this elaborate edition. -
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