e had also written a tolerably successful
comedy, as well as an unsuccessful tragedy; and he was, besides, a
formidable critic, whose scalping strictures, in a weekly journal, were
the terror of all authors and actors who were either unable or unwilling
to dispense turtle and champagne.

Mr. Stubbs, it should be mentioned, considered himself a profound reader
of Shakspeare, and believed he had discovered many hitherto concealed
beauties in the wonderful productions of that writer. He prided himself,
too, upon the critical acumen and philosophical penetration with which he
had elicited various qualities intended by the poet to belong to his
characters; and he had often said if he had been an actor he should have
established quite a new method of playing several of them. He was now
about to become an actor, and he resolved, in his very first essay, to
introduce one of his novelties, or new readings. What this was, will be
best explained in the following conversation, which took place between
himself and Mr. McCrab upon the subject.

"Depend upon it, my dear McCrab," said Stubbs, taking down a volume of
Shakspeare from his shelves, "depend upon it, I am borne out in my
opinion, novel as it is, by the text of the immortal author himself; and
I shall _stuff_ the character when I play it. I maintain Hamlet ought to
be"----"A Falstaff in little, I suppose," interrupted McCrab. "No,"
rejoined Stubbs, "he should not be exactly corpulent--but rather
_embonpoint_, as the saying is--sleek--plumpish--in good condition as it
were."

"You talk of the text of Shakspeare as your authority," replied
McCrab,--"I will appeal to the text too--and I will take the description
of Hamlet by Ophelia, after her interview with him. What is her language?

'Oh what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The expectancy and rose of the fair state:
The _glass_ of _fashion_ and the _mould_ of _form_,
The _observed_ of all _observers_.'

This eulogium paints in distinct colours what should be the personation
of Hamlet on the stage. It demands, not a little fellow, five feet five,
by three feet four, as you will be, if you _stuff_ the character as you
call it, but rather what Hamlet himself describes his father to have
been,

'A combination, and a form indeed.
Where every god did seem to set his seal,
To give the world assurance of a man.'"

"Never mind my height," said Stubbs, elevating his head, and raising his
chin an inch or two out