possible doubt about it. Would that it had been twice as long!

On arrival at our quarters I found my horses very well. They are
looking perfectly beautiful just now, their coats shining, smooth
and glossy like silk. My big one really blazes on a sunny day,
and my cob is not far behind him. I shall have a very busy time
in the next ten days, arranging for a supply of about 30 tons a
week of green fodder to be purchased in weekly instalments in the
neighbouring countryside. All the troops are going to bivouac in
the fields shortly, as they always do this time of the year,
remaining under canvas until September, or even October if the
weather permits.

_May 18th, 1916._

Thanks so much for the "Shakespeare"; it was exactly what I
wanted. I am making a careful study of the Bard's works again,
and with an enthusiasm that has not one whit abated; rather it
has augmented. I only wish it had been possible to see some of
his plays whilst on leave.

What a superman Shakespeare was! The interest of his plays is
absolutely perennial. Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of
his work is the astonishing consistency of the characters in his
_dramatis personae_. His characters invariably behave exactly as
people of that type would and do behave in real life. Thus we
have the illusion that the characters conceived by his mighty
imagination are themselves real. He has hit with marvellous
accuracy on the points in human nature that are common to almost
all ages, and, _mutatis mutandis_, his plays could be staged in
the nineteenth or twentieth century without losing any of their
power.

Men of the type of Hamlet are doubtless rare, yet we all know the
sort of genius who is so much a genius that he is incapable of
action and does nothing but reflect. Hamlet seems meant to show
how vain it is to be merely a philosopher in this world. Hamlet
is always pondering, thinking of the abstract rights and wrongs
of the case. In the result, though he does eventually avenge his
father's murder, his introspection and vacillation have led to
the death of himself and no fewer than three other innocent
persons--Ophelia, Polonius and Laertes. Yet Hamlet was at least
twice as brainy as the rest of them, and he was also