Book-worms to know that so important a work was not undertaken without
even more than the usual amount of reflection.

THE BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.

* * * * *

THE HAMLET IN THE HAYMARKET.

With Mr. TREE's impersonation of _Hamlet_ most London playgoers
are by this time acquainted, though not yet familiar. It is a
most interesting performance, especially to those who remember
the inauguration of startling new departures by CHARLES FECHTER.
The question for every fresh _Hamlet_ must always be, "How can I
differentiate my _Hamlet_ from all previous _Hamlets_? What can I
do that nobody has as yet thought of doing?" "To be or not to be"
_Hamlet_, "that is the question"; whether 'tis better continuously to
suffer the tortures of uncertainty as to what you might have achieved
had you essayed the part, or to take up the study of it, and ceasing
to shiver on the bank, leave off your damnable faces, and plunge in?
Mr. TREE has plunged, and is going on swimmingly.

Mrs. TREE's _Ophelia_ sane, is charming. Her distraught _Ophelia_ is
very mad indeed, and her method in her madness is excellent.

[Illustration: "I am thy Father's Ghost!"]

There is a curious monotony in some of the stage-business. Thus,
_Ophelia_ pauses in her exit and comes up quietly behind the
absent-minded Prince as if to play bo-peep with him: then, later on,