372 A Century of Science 



Winter's Tale " the statue of Hermione is called 

 " a piece . . . now newly performed by that rare 

 Italian master, Julio Romano." Now, since Ro- 

 mano is known as 'a great painter, but not as a 

 sculptor, this has been cited as a blunder on 

 Shakespeare's part. It appears, however, that the 

 first edition of Vasari's " Lives of the Painters," 

 published in 1550 and never translated from its 

 original Italian, informs us that Romano did work 

 in sculpture. In Yasari's second edition, pub- 

 lished in 1568 and translated into several lan- 

 guages, this information is not given. From these 

 facts, the erudite German critic Dr. Karl Elze, 

 who is not a bit of a Delia-Baconian, but only an 

 occasional sufferer from vesctnia commentatorum, 

 introduces us to a solemn dilemma: either the 

 author of " The Winter's Tale " must have con- 

 sulted the first edition of Vasari in the original Ital- 

 ian, or else he must have travelled in Italy and 

 gazed upon statues by Romano. Ah ! prithee not 

 so fast, worthy doctor ; be not so lavish with these 

 " musts." It is, I think, improbable that Shake- 

 speare ever saw Italy except with the eyes of his 

 imperial fancy. On the other hand, there are 

 many indications that he could read Italian, but 

 among them we cannot attach much importance to 

 this one. Why should he not have learned from 



