INDEX OF WORDS EXPLAINED.

WITH NOTES BY WM. J. ROLFE., A.M.,

ILLUSTRATED WITH WOODCUTS.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 16mo, Cloth, 60 cents.

THE TEMPEST. 16mo, Cloth, 60 cents.

HENRY THE EIGHTH. 16mo, Cloth, 60 cents.

JULIUS CÆSAR. 16m0, Cloth, 60 cents.

RICHARD The second. 16mo, Cloth, 60 cents.
MACBETH. 16mo, Cloth, 60 cents.

MIDSUMMER-nights' DREAM.

16mo, Cloth.

HENRY THE FIFTH. 16mo, Cloth. (In Press.)

From Prof. F. J. CHILD, of Harvard University. After using the book with an evening class in Shakespeare, Prof. Child writes as follows: I read your "Merchant of Venice" with my class, and found it in every respect an excellent edition. I do not agree with my friend White in the opinion that Shakespeare requires but few notes-that is, if he is to be thoroughly understood. Doubtless he may be enjoyed, and many a hard place slid over. Your notes give all the help a young student requires, and yet the reader for pleasure will easily get at just what he wants. You have indeed been conscientiously concise.

From L. R. WILLISTON, A.M., Head Master of the High-School, Cambridge, Mass.

Mr. Rolfe's edition of "The Merchant of Venice" is an excellent one for school or general use. The notes contain all the explanations and references needful for a critical study of the language, as well as for understanding the thought of the play. The extracts from Schlegel, Mrs. Jameson, and others, in the Introduction, helping to a better appreciation of the characters of the play, are a peculiar recommendation of this edition. From Rev. A. P. PEABODY, D.D., Professor in Harvard University.

I regard your own work on this play as of the highest merit, while you have turned the labors of others to the best possible account. I want to have the higher classes of our schools introduced to Shakespeare chief of all, and then to other standard English authors; but this can not be done to advantage, unless under a teacher of equally rare gifts and abundant leisure, or through editions specially prepared for such use. I trust that you will have the requisite encouragement to proceed with a work so happily begun.

Your "Merchant of Venice" seems to me by no means limited, in its adaptation, to school use. All who have not access to a somewhat extended Shakespearian apparatus need such editions as this; and there are many not unintelligent adult readers of Shakespeare who lose half the pleasure and profit of reading him for lack of precisely such aid as you supply.

2

Rolfe's Shakespeare.

From Prof. J. DORMAN STEELE, Free Academy, Elmira, N. Y.

The copy of the "Tempest" is at hand, and very carefully examined. We shall use it in the Spring Term. Adoption in our school is, of course, the highest commendation I can give. The "Merchant of Venice" is now in use and gives unqualified satisfaction. Prior to this, Shakespeare's plays were failing to interest the pupils, because of the difficulty found in understanding and appreciating the text. Your beautiful and comprehensive edition is very helpful indeed, and it has quickened the enthusiasm of the pupils.

From W. C. COLLAR, A.M., Master of the Roxbury Latin School, Boston.

Please accept my thanks for a copy of your "Merchant of Venice." I have made a trial of it with my first class, and find it admirably adapted for use in the school-room. I think no one who was not an experienced teacher and a careful student of Shakespeare could have anticipated and supplied so well the needs of the learner; and, if I may judge from my own case, instructors will find the copious references contained in the notes very helpful in the preparation of their lessons. Give us a few more plays edited on the same plan, and there will no longer be any excuse for excluding Shakespeare from our classical and high schools. From S. M. CAPRON, A.M., Master of the High-School, Hartford, Conn. In my judgment, you have produced, in "The Merchant of Venice," the best and most sensible edition of one of Shakespeare's plays which has yet appeared for school use. The publishers have done every thing for you in respect to the form and general appearance of the book; and your notes are not only critical, but sufficiently brief and pointed, and, so far as I have examined them, they seem to cover the very points in the text which particularly need elucidation.

Go on as you have begun.

This work has been done so well that it could hardly have been done better. It shows throughout, knowledge, taste, discriminating judgment, and, what is rarer and of yet higher value, a sympathetic appreciation of the poet's moods and purposes. *** Mr. Rolfe's notes are numerous but brief, and are generally well adapted to their purpose, which is that of explanation, instruction, and suggestion without discussion. The peculiarities of Shakespeare's style-which, rarely obscure, is often involved, and in which the main thought is sometimes suspended, and even for a moment lost sight of amid the crowd of others that itself has called upare pointed out and elucidated; his allusions are explained; his singular use of words, of moods and tenses and cases is remarked upon; and the archaic and transitional phraseology which is found in many passages of his plays (positively many, but comparatively very few), are made the occasion of instructive but unpedantic comment.-N. Y. Times.

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