his crimes, his desperate pursuit of the consolations of religion,
the quick ingenuity with which he plots escape from the inevitable
retribution that dogs his misdeeds, excite--in the full text of the
play--an interest hardly less intense than those wistful musings of
the storm-tossed soul which stay his nephew's avenging hand.

Similarly, Hamlet's incisive wit and honesty are brought into the
highest possible relief by the restoration to the feebly guileful
Polonius of the speeches of which he has long been deprived. Among the
reinstated scenes is that in which the meddlesome dotard teaches his
servant Reynaldo modes of espionage that shall detect the moral lapses
of his son Laertes in Paris. The recovered episode is not only
admirable comedy, but it gives new vividness to Polonius's maudlin
egotism which is responsible for many windings of the tragic plot.

The story is simplified at all points by such amplifications of the
contracted version which holds the stage. The events are evolved with
unsuspected naturalness. The hero's character gains by the expansion
of its setting. One downright error which infects the standard
abridgement is wholly avoided. Ophelia is dethroned. It is recognised
that she is not entitled to share with Hamlet the triumphal honours of
the action. Weak, insipid, destitute of all force of character, she
deserves an insignificant place in Shakespeare's gallery of heroines.
Hamlet's mother merits as much or more attention. At any rate, there
is no justification for reducing the Queen's part in order to increase
Ophelia's prominence. Such distortions are impossible in the
production of the piece in its entirety. Throughout _Hamlet_, in the
full authorised text, the artistic balance hangs true. Mr Benson
recognised that dominant fact, and contrived to illustrate it on the
stage. No higher commendation could be allowed a theatrical manager or
actor.

IV

Much else could be said of Mr Benson's principles, and of his
praiseworthy energy in seeking to familiarise the playgoer with
Shakespearean drama in all its fulness and variety, but only one other
specific feature of his method needs mention here. Perhaps the most
convincing proof that he has given of the value of his principles to
the country's dramatic art is his success in the training of actors
and actresses. Of late it is his company that has supplied the great
London actor-managers with their ablest recruits. Nearly all the best
perfo