Page:A study of Shakespeare (IA cu31924013158393).pdf/24

however, such a wealth and weight of learning, such brilliancy and fertility of conjecture, have together been brought to bear upon this question as we have seen of late years applied to it, we cannot but hope that some real light may be struck out on the subject in passing; and even if we get none sure or strong enough to steer by in safety towards any actual port of belief, we may thankfully enjoy the new knowledge and the fresh illustration supplied by such labours as those of the editor of the Siege of Antwerp, the first and (to the keen disappointment I should think of many students besides myself) the last instalment issued during the editor's lifetime of a series projected under the title of The School of Shakespeare, or the author of some articles in the last numbers published of the North British Review, on the supposed secret meanings and latent controversies traceable in the works of Shakespeare, Jonson, and their several satellites or subordinates, antagonists or allies. Absolute confidence or positive belief we need not feel bound or inclined to accord to the conjectures of such writers; but from the treasures of their critical and historical scholarship, from the acute and strenuous exercise of the energies of their thought, from the ardour of study and