s to his reading, religion, folk-lore,
and so on. More significant in its effect on our general view have been
the efforts of historical criticism. As our knowledge of Elizabethan
literature, drama, theater, have increased, it has been possible to see
Shakespeare in relation to his time and environment. The study of
Shakespeare as a sixteenth-century dramatist aims not merely at a better
appreciation of his work, but also to explain his development and to
account for some of the qualities of his achievement. Its attitude is
that of the scientific historian examining the records of any great
human activity, and trying to understand its causes, results, and
meaning. Somewhat allied to this has been technical dramatic criticism,
which is uniting knowledge of the Elizabethan theater with interest in
drama as a peculiar form, and thereby studying Shakespeare as a
dramatist rather than as a poet or philosopher. In fact, Shakespeare is
no longer merely man, poet, dramatist, philosopher, or genius. Jonson's
tribute, Dryden's summary, Johnson's judicial essay, or Coleridge's
admiring studies, all seem hopelessly inadequate to express the range of
his dominion. He has become the source of the most various and extensive
interests, a continent that ever expands its fields for exploration, an
epoch that ever extends the years of its duration, a race that never
dies, though its progeny ever multiplies.

[Page Heading: In Germany]

It is in the nineteenth century that Shakespeare's dominance becomes
international. Four of his plays were acted at Dresden and elsewhere
early in the seventeenth century, but there seems to have been no
literary acquaintance with the plays in Germany until about the middle
of the eighteenth century, when two poor translations of _Julius Caesar_
and _Romeo and Juliet_ appeared, and J. C. Gottsched severely criticized
Shakespeare's art. In 1759, in a journal, "Litteraturbriefe," Lessing
began a warm defense of Shakespeare and declared his superiority to
Racine and Corneille. His _Hamburgische Dramaturgie_ (1767) went far in
directing the change of taste from French classicism and in
establishing Shakespeare in German thought as the greatest of poets,
whether ancient or modern. A prose translation was begun by Wieland in
1762 and completed by Eschenburg in 1789. What is perhaps the best
translation of Shakespeare into any foreign tongue was begun in 1797 by
A. W. von Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck, two leaders of