Abstract
Few problems of literary history have tempted the scrutiny of historians more than the earliest influence of Shakespeare in seventeenth century France. In the works of two or three French playwrights of the period, they have caught a few dubious traces of possible inspiration from the great English dramatist; but the similitudes they cite are so vague and general that recent criticism has denied them any significance. Cyrano de Bergerac's Agrippine, for example, contains some philosophical reflexions that are reminiscent of Hamlet and of the Merchant of Venice. Recently, however, M. Jusserand has proved that the similarity between a few expressions in these plays is due to mere verbal coincidence, derived from their common ultimate source, Seneca. On the other hand, as against M. Jusserand's views, the probability of an influence of Shakespeare upon de Schélandre's Tyr et Sidon (1628) has been defended by M. Hankiss. (Mod. Lang. Notes XXXVI, p. 464.)
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