ABSTRACT
Charlotte Lennox's (1729–1804) Shakespear Illustrated (1753–1754) provides the first extensive source study of twenty-two of Shakespeare's plays. The work stands in opposition to the growing bardolatry of mid-eighteenth-century Shakespeare studies and offers a sound scholarly evaluation of Shakespeare's literary indebtedness rather than an uncritical celebration of his genius. In addition to identifying and discussing the source material, Lennox's comments on Othello correct the deeply flawed critical remarks of Thomas Rymer (1643–1713).
