passenger come by and,
wondering to see such a conjuring circle kept by hel-houndes, demaund
what spirits they raise there, one of the murderers steps to him,
poysons him with sweete wordes and shifts him off with this lye, that
one of the women is falne in labor: but if any mad Hamlet, hearing this,
smell villanie and rush in by violence to see what the tawny divels are
dooing, then they excuse the fact, lay the blame on those that are the
actors, and perhaps, if they see no remedie, deliver them to an officer
to be lead to punishment."--Decker's _Lanthorne and Candle-light, or the
Bellman's Second Nights-Walke_, 1609, a tract which was reprinted under
more than one different title.

Mr. Collier, in his _Farther Particulars_, 1839, cites a very curious
passage--"a trout, Hamlet, with four legs"--which is given as a
proverbial line in Clarke's _Paroemiologia Anglo-Latina_ (or _Proverbs
English and Latin_), 1639. It is unnecessary to be too curious in
searching for the exact meaning of the phrase, but, as Dr. Ingleby
suggested to me, it is in all probability taken from the older play of
_Hamlet_, which does not appear to have been entirely superseded at once
by the new, or at least was long remembered by play-goers.

The preceding notices may fairly authorize us to infer that the ancient
play of _Hamlet_--1. Was written by either an attorney or an attorney's
clerk, who had not received a university education; 2. Was full of
tragical, high-sounding speeches; 3. Contained the passage "There are
things called whips in store," spoken by Hamlet; 4. Included a very
telling brief speech by the Ghost in the two words "Hamlet, revenge!" 5.
Was acted at the theatre in Shoreditch and at the playhouse at Newington
Butts; 6. Had for its principal character a hero exhibiting more general
violence than can be attributed to Shakespeare's creation of Hamlet.

As the older _Hamlet_ was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Company in
the year 1594, it is possible that Shakespeare might then have undertaken
the part of the Ghost, a character he afterward assumed in his own
tragedy. There is a curious inedited notice of this personage in
Saltonstall's _Picturae Loquentes_, 1635: "a chamberlaine is as nimble as
Hamlet's ghost, heere and everywhere, and when he has many guests,
stands most upon his pantofles, for hee's then a man of some calling."

There are a number of critics, following the lead of Coleridge, who tells
us that Shakespeare