Bonamy Dobrée, alarmed at some recent criticism of Shakespeare, reminds us, in a civilized essay, that the plays were, after all, written to be enjoyed; and Ernest Barker, equally alarmed by the application of the techniques of classical scholarship to the text of Shakespeare, asks for the use of imagination and common sense in the interpretation of the plays. Although these warnings are salutary, there are a few books published each year which add to our understanding without detracting from our enjoyment. In the period under review the most stimulating criticism is to be found in M. M. Mahood’s study of Shakespeare’s quibbles. Expanding her essay entitled ‘The Fatal Cleopatra’, and applying its ideas to five plays and the sonnets, Miss Mahood provides the first comprehensive study of the subject. Not only does she throw light on scores of passages, but she also increases our understanding of the subtlety and complexity of Shakespeare’s style and meaning. In her last chapter she outlines Shakespeare’s chaning attitude to the problem of meaning, and shows that in the tragic period there is a conflict between “the world of words and the world of facts”.