but it is a step forward.

This may to some appear extravagant praise, but for its justice we
confidentially appeal to the record. The plays which have most
severely tried the sagacity of Shakspeare's critics, are Hamlet,
Macbeth, Lear, and Othello. We do not hesitate to say that Mr.
Hudson's analysis and representation of these are the most thorough,
accurate, and comprehensive which exist at present either in English
or German. Compare him or these tragedies with Goethe, with Schlegel,
with Coleridge, with Hazlitt, with Ulrici, and it will be found that
he excels them all in completeness. It is needless to add that he is
able to excel them only by coming after them; and that it is by
diligently digesting all the positive results of Shaksperian criticism
that he has been enabled to advance the science. He has grasped the
principles which Schlegel and Coleridge established, and applied them
to the discovery of new truths. By the most patient and toilsome
analysis he has fully brought out many things which they simply
hinted, and distinctly set forth conclusions which lay dormant in
their premises. And in the analysis of individual character, meaning
by that the resolving each Shaksperian personage into its original
elements, and indicating the degree of general truth it covers, our
countryman has hardly a rival. Few even of Shakspeare's diligent
readers are aware of the vast stores of thought and knowledge implied
in Shakspeare's characters, because the fact is so commonly stated in
general terms. Mr. Hudson proves that the characters are classes
intensely individualized, by showing how large is the number of
persons each character represents, or of whom it is the ideal. He thus
indicates the extent of Shakspeare's range over the whole field of
humanity, and the degree of his success in _classifying_ mankind. No
one, therefore, can read Mr. Hudson's interpretative criticisms
without new wonder at the amazing reach and depth of Shakspeare's
genius.

It would be impossible in the space to which we are necessarily
confined, to do justice to Mr. Hudson's powers of analysis and
representation, as exercised through the wide variety of the
Shaksperian drama. The volumes swarm with strong and striking thoughts
on so many suggested topics, that it is difficult to fix upon any
particular excellence for especial praise. The first quality which
will strike the reader will be the author's opulence of expression and
profusion of w