Professors C. J. Sisson, who died in 1966, was from 1951 to 1959 Assistant Director and Senior Fellow at the Shakespeare Institute in the University of Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon. He held a succession of distinguished academic posts including the Lord Northcliffe Professorship of Modern English Literature, University College, London, and was Editor of the Modern Language Review from 1928 to 1958. He published much work of permanent value on Shakespeare and his age, including his one-volume edition of the complete Works. This masterly essay surveys the entire history of the attitudes to Shakespeare taken up by scholars, critics, writers, and the playgoing public in succeeding centuries. The result is an extremely interesting, clear, and valuable guide through the vast literature of the subject. The survey is accompanied by Professor J. R. Brown's newly revised Select Bibliography, originally prepared in collaboration with Professor Sisson as a reading guide for the lecturer and student.