Henry Joseph Ruggles, a lawyer by profession, may be classed with a group of gentleman-scholars known as amateur critics. These nonacademics, for whom literary criticism is an avocation, commonly display a tendency to push a thesis beyond its legitimate suitability, an earnest, almost driving need to be innovative and arresting, and a limited productivity in which depth is substituted for breadth. Ruggles does not wholly escape these perils, especially the tendency to push a thesis too far. As well, his choice of Shakespeare as the topic of his two books of criticism belie his desire to elicit attention and even controversy. Despite these failings, his work undeniably warrants attention. Schooled in the law, he emphasized the particulars of language to a degree uncommon for his period. He maintained that the vocabulary of a play--its metaphors and diction--is "the best key for unlocking ... more hidden and secret meanings and...