SHAKESPEARE IN THE CAPITOL

The dedication on his three-hundredth anniversary of two monuments to William Shakespeare directs attention to the large part which Americans have played in honoring the poet. The quiet and fruitful work of American scholars has carried on for many years, but the co-operation of some of the financial leaders of the country is a more recent development. In opening the new theatre at Stratford both the Prince of Wales and the poet-laureate paid tribute to the American donors without whom the building could not have been erected. On the same day the Folger Memorial Library of Amherst College was dedicated at Washington. In it this country possesses the most valuable collection of Shakespeariana in the world.

At a time when the wisdom and generosity of the nation's financial leaders is being widely questioned it is refreshing to find this example of a man devoting his time and energy to gathering and preserving books whose value has previously been diminished by their inaccessibility. The service has been rendered complete by making the Library, through Amherst College, the possession of the nation as a whole. Happily the authorities at Amherst have comprehended fully the spirit in which the gift was made. The dedicatory speeches, which revealed a willingness to make the Library an open field for all students of Shakespeare, showed that Amherst's policy will be in accord with the best traditions of American scholarship.