The ~hole civilised world is paying this year a special homage t? the immortal genius of Shakespeare on the quatercentenary of his birth. He is certainly the most widely read poet and the most fre- ;uent.ly staged dramatist not only in England and in all English peaking countries, but in most others too. I . No literary work can exemplify better than his the universality ~f art and thought. It is no exaggeration (and I hope no g[eat sin) to say that his appeal to the minds and hearts of men.of a l races and of all creeds during the last four centuries has been second only to that of holy books, the Bible and the ~oran. E In his life time ~he popularity of his plays w.as conf~ned to ngland. Even there It went through a forced waning durmg· the :ustere years of Cromwell's rule. But after the Restoration it starbed to g:ow again by leaps and bounds, soon to burst ou~ the oundanes of his native land, making him the common heritage of the civilised world.

The ~hole civilised world is paying this year a special homage t? the immortal genius of Shakespeare on the quatercentenary of his birth. He is certainly the most widely read poet and the most fre- ;uent.ly staged dramatist not only in England and in all English peaking countries, but in most others too. I . No literary work can exemplify better than his the universality ~f art and thought. It is no exaggeration (and I hope no g[eat sin) to say that his appeal to the minds and hearts of men.of a l races and of all creeds during the last four centuries has been second only to that of holy books, the Bible and the ~oran. E In his life time ~he popularity of his plays w.as conf~ned to ngland. Even there It went through a forced waning durmg· the :ustere years of Cromwell's rule. But after the Restoration it starbed to g:ow again by leaps and bounds, soon to burst ou~ the oundanes of his native land, making him the common heritage of the civilised world.