his work to Serlo and the rest.
They declared themselves exceedingly contented with it; Serlo in
particular made many flattering observations.

"You have felt very justly," said he, among other things, "that some
external circumstances must accompany this piece; but that they must be
simpler than those which the great poet has employed. What takes place
without the theatre--what the spectator does not see, but must imagine
for himself--is like a background, in front of which the acting figures
move. Your large and simple prospect of the fleet and Norway will very
much improve the piece; if this were altogether taken from it, we should
have but a family scene remaining; and the great idea, that here a
kingly house by internal crimes and incongruities goes down to ruin,
would not be presented with its proper dignity. But if the former
background were left standing, so manifold, so fluctuating and confused,
it would hurt the impression of the figures."

Wilhelm again took Shakespeare's part: alleging that he wrote for
islanders, for Englishmen, who generally, in the distance, were
accustomed to see little else than ships and voyages, the coast of
France and privateers; and thus what perplexed and distracted others was
to them quite natural.

Serlo assented; and both of them were of opinion that as the piece was
now to be produced upon the German stage, this more serious and simple
background was the best adapted for the German mind.

The parts had been distributed before: Serlo undertook Polonius; Aurelia
undertook Ophelia; Laertes was already designated by his name; a young,
thick-set, jolly new-comer was to be Horatio; the King and the Ghost
alone occasioned some perplexity. For both of these was no one but Old
Boisterous remaining. Serlo proposed to make the Pedant King; but
against this our friend protested in the strongest terms. They could
resolve on nothing.

Wilhelm also had allowed both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to continue
in his piece. "Why not compress them into one?" said Serlo. "This
abbreviation will not cost you much."

"Heaven keep me from such curtailments!" answered Wilhelm; "they destroy
at once the sense and the effect. What these two persons are and do it
is impossible to represent by one. In such small matters we discover
Shakespeare's greatness. These soft approaches, this smirking and
bowing, this assenting, wheedling, flattering, this whisking agility,
this wagging of the tail, this all