Shakespearian criticism might almost be said to be in its infancy when the period opened. The highest reputation was speedily acquired by John Payne Collier, whose _History of English Dramatic Poetry_ (1831) was a really valuable contribution to the study of the drama. A later work of Collier's however brought dishonour on his name, and threw doubt upon all his conclusions unless they could be proved from other authorities. His _Notes and Emendations to the Plays of Shakespeare_ (1853) professed to give all the 'essential' readings of the Perkins Folio; but when the mystery which for a time hung over this folio was penetrated, it proved that the emendations in question were forgeries. Unfortunately these 'emendations' do not stand alone. Nearly all through Collier's work is tainted with falsehood. He attempted to vitiate the old ballads as well as Shakespeare, and perhaps even now his evil influence in retarding the progress of sound scholarship is not wholly annulled. Mrs. Anna Jameson was a better writer than Collier, and she enjoys an unclouded reputation. Her _Characteristics of Shakespeare's Women_ (1832) still holds its ground as a fine example of the critical analysis of character. She wrote other books afterwards--_Sacred and Legendary Art_, _Legends of the Monastic Orders_, and _Legends of the Madonna_--but none so good as her Shakespearian criticisms. J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps did great service to the study of English literature in general, especially by his elucidation of the life of Shakespeare; and Alexander Dyce deserves mention for one of the most useful editions of Shakespeare's works. The palm for learning and research must however be assigned to the great Cambridge Shakespeare, published between 1863 and 1866, under the editorship of W. G. Clark and W. Aldis Wright. Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke likewise deserve to be remembered. The _Concordance_ of the latter was until lately the standard work of its class, and must always remain an honourable monument of patience and thoroughness. [Sidenote: Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875).] In the sphere of general criticism, a man of great reputation in the middle of the century was Sir Arthur Helps, author of _Friends in Council_, a collection of social and critical dialogues and essays, published between 1847 and 1859. Many of these essays are essentially commonplace, and the book is so long drawn out that it would be intolerable, but for occasional vivid and forcible passages and epigrammatic expressions. Such, for example, are the imaginary picture of the woman taken in adultery, and the description of a great cathedral, with a thin congregation lost in a little corner of it, a bad sermon and a dull service: 'We look about, thinking when piety filled every corner, and feel that the cathedral is too big for the religion, which is a dried-up thing that rattles in that empty space.'