LAST spring we noticed the formation of the new Shakspere Society, and gave the titles of several old books to be reprinted by it, as well as a sketch of the general purposes of its founders. Since that time, notwithstanding the constant attention of its director, Mr. Furnivall, the society has met with some reverses, and it is now plain to be seen that all the hopes of the friends of the movement will not be realized, but that there is still much the society can do, and will do, towards a careful study of Shakspere. It is doubtful whether the plan of weekly or monthly papers to be read before the main society in London can be carried out; the number of living English writers on Shakspere is small, and men seek other ways of addressing the public when they wish to do so. But in the republication of rare books ("Allusion Books") in which reference is made to Shakspere, in issuing copies of the folios and quartos, in collating the texts and comparing them by parallel columns, there is a wide field for work. Already the Chaucer Society has accomplished a great deal in this way, and may well be taken for a model.

The first and fourth volumes of the series promised last spring have now been sent to the members, and the second and third are reported in press. Among the Allusion Books already issued are Greene's Groatesworth of Wit, 1596; Henry Chettle's Kind-Harts Dreame (written in 1593); Englandes Mourning Garment (1603), etc. In the two series now at press are quartos and parallel texts of Romeo and Juliet with old plays from which Shakspere may have drawn. Then, reported as preparing, are a reprint of the Quarto of 1636, of the Two Noble Kinsmen, a play by Shakspere and Fletcher, as also a revised edition, with notes, of the same play. A number of interesting works that the society would do well to publish have been suggested in the Academy, by Mr. Richard Simpson and others. Among them, besides various forms of parallel texts, are suggested reprints of the works of Robert Greene, Thomas Nash, Thomas Lodge, Henry Chettle, and others; reprints of seventeen plays, at some time or other attributed, in whole or in part, to Shakspere; lists of all the companies of actors in Shakspere's time, besides much else that would prove interesting. Among works planned, but still far in the future, the most important is the Towneley Mysteries, re-edited from the unique MS. by the Rev. Richard Morris, LL. D.

We have mentioned these works, not only because they are interesting in themselves, but to call our readers' attention to this Shakspere Society, and to show what a good work it may do if well supported. The list of members up to last July includes 413 names, yet after but 35 of these stand the letters U. S. A. It can hardly be supposed that this number represents all those in this country who care enough for the study of Shakspere to enter the society, and we cannot but hope that Harvard undergraduates, at least, may in future be more fully represented on the list.