s next acted, remember the beef. In the
same scene _Bernardo_ inquires "Is _Horatio_ here?" who answers "A piece
of him." Warburton, that _bow-wow_, "dog in forehead," says this
signifies his _hand_, which direction should be marked. But how if his
hand be not marked? It is not every player who has committed
manslaughter on anybody but his author. In my opinion, an actor who
scorns to be a mannerist will take it to signify his leg, which is quite
as good a _piece_ of him, as his hand, and, if he be a dancer, a much
better. My interpretation of this passage is strengthened by the usage
of the clown in the dramatic entertainment entitled _Mother Goose_. When
the late Mr. Lewis Bologna, as Pantaloon, proffered his hand in token of
amity and forgiveness, Mr. Joseph Grimaldi protruded his foot into his
master's palm. His reading was certainly the right one.

In the course of conversation, _Horatio_ asks, "What! has this _thing_
appeared again to night?" which is both irreverent and nonsensical.
A _ghost_ is not a _thing_. _Macbeth_ says to that of _Banquo_,
"_Unreal_ mockery, hence!" The passage should be "Has this king
appeared?"

_Bernardo._ Sit down a while
And let us once again assail your ears,
That are so fortified against our story,
What we _two nights_ have seen.

This allusion to fortified ears, implies that the parties wore helmets
that covered these organs. For we two _nights_, therefore, read "we two
knights." Knights were at that time soldiers. So Joppa in his prophecy
of the year 1790.

The knight now, his helmet on,
The spear and falchion handles;
But knights _then_, as thick as hops,
In bushy bobs shall keep their shops,
And deal, good lack! in figs and tripe,
And soap, and tallow candles.

The ghost now enters, and retreats like _lord Burleigh_, in the
_critic_.

_Bernardo._ See, it _stalks_ away.

_Walks_, if you please, Mr. _Bernardo_. I have heard of stalking horses
indeed, and that of Troy made many ghosts. But _ghosts_ themselves
_walk_. In speaking to it _afterwards_, _Horatio_ says, "You spirits oft
_walk_." "He durst as soon have met the devil in fight," as have said
"_stalk_." The shades of difference in the meaning of these two words
were nicely marked in a pantomime song of the late Mr. EDWIN, in which
he courteously applied the word "walk" to the softer sex,

Then ma'am will you _walk_ in, sing folderol liddle,
And sir, will you _stalk_ in, sing folderol li