thinking, the spurs to dull revenge, the self-contempt, the assumed antic
disposition, at times the real mental disturbance--all this was set before
us with a fine skill and resource. The "To be or not to be" soliloquy was
masterly in its sincerity and restraint; the two broken love passages with
_Ophelia_ showed a fine tenderness through the distraught, bitter mood. An
ingenious turn was given to that difficult change of weapons in the fencing
bout, though I doubt if the Sword Club would wholly have approved the
technique of the fencing.

Miss GERTRUDE ELLIOTT'S _Ophelia_ in the Mad Scene was full of beauty,
sweetness and dignity--and we have so often been bored by our lesser
_Ophelias_. A very fine performance. Mr. HOLMAN CLARK was the foolish
prating knave, a _Polonius_ robbed of his best speech, and the more
consistent therefore. Mr. IRVING is obviously right in his view that
_Polonius_ could never by any chance have given any such advice to his
truculent son.

One may congratulate the producer on the courage of his convictions. But I
wonder if the Shakspearean tradition is really dying. The general quality
of the performance was, it must be confessed, not inspiring. There was
little of the king's divinity hedging _Claudius_; the _Queen_ (an always
difficult part) was elaborately unconvincing, though played by a clever
actress; _Guildenstern_ and awkward _Rosencrantz_ deserved any fate which
awaited them in England. Neither _Laertes_ nor _Horatio_ seemed authentic.
But Mr. TOM REYNOLDS' grave-digger had humour and avoided tedium. _Hamlet_
was the thing.

T.

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