Evviva L'Italia! Italy, Britain's ancient
friend and loyal ally, has been an important fac-
tor both in winning the war and in bringing it
to an earlier conclusion. The War! That
greatest practical effort that the world has ever
made is now over and we must all work to make
it a better place for all to live in.

Now at the hands of her philosopher-critic,
Italy offers us a first effort at reconstruction of
our world-view with this masterly treatise on
the greatest poet of the English-speaking world,
so original and so profound that it will serve as
guide to generations yet unborn. And it will
not be only the critics of Shakespeare who
should benefit by this treatise, but all critics and
lovers of poetry -- including prose -- who go
beyond the passive stage of mere admiration.
The essays on Ariosto and Corneille are also
unique and the three together should inaugurate
everywhere a new era in literary criticism.

These are the first of Benedetto Croce's lit-
erary criticisms to see the light in English.

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