ike the Second and Third Parts of "King Henry VI.," which came from
his 'prentice hand, connected in some way, we do not know exactly what,
with a drama by an elder contemporary upon the same subject. There are
traces in contemporary satirical literature of a "Hamlet" which had been
performed as early as 1589, or possibly two years earlier. It is
remarkable that in the first edition of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (1603)
Polonius is called Corambis, and Reynaldo, Montano; in which latter
names we may safely assume that we have relics of the old play; and,
although I am sure that in this edition of 1603 we have merely a
mutilated and patched-up version, surreptitiously obtained, and printed
in headlong haste, of the perfected play (in which opinion I differ from
some English scholars, whose learning and judgment I respect, but to
whom I would hold myself ready to prove, under forfeit, to their
satisfaction the correctness of my view); there are also in this
mutilated 1603 edition passages which not only are manifestly not what
Shakespeare wrote, but not even a mutilated form of what he wrote. They
are probably taken from the older play to supply the place of passages
of the new play which could not be obtained in time for the hasty
publication of this pirated edition of Shakespeare's tragedy. Remark,
here, in this hasty and surreptitious edition, evidence of the great
impression suddenly made by Shakespeare's "Hamlet." On its production it
became at once so popular that a piratical publisher was at the trouble
and expense of getting as much of the original as he could by unfair
means, and vamping this up with inferior and older matter to meet the
popular demand for reading copies. There is evidence of a like success
of "King Lear." Since the time when these plays were produced there has
been, we are called upon to believe, a great elevation of general
intelligence, and there surely has been a great diffusion of knowledge;
and yet it may be safely remarked that "Saratoga" and "Pique" and "The
Golden Age," which ran their hundred nights and more, are not quite
equal to "Hamlet" or to "King Lear," which, even with all their success,
did not run anything like a hundred nights; and we may as safely believe
that if "Hamlet" or "King Lear" were produced for the first time this
winter in New York or in London, there would not be such a great and
sudden demand for copies that extraordinary means would be taken by
publishers to supply it.