A very fine performance. Mr. HOLMAN CLARK was the foolish
prating knave, a _Polonius_ robbed of his best speech, and the more
consistent therefore. Mr. IRVING is obviously right in his view that
_Polonius_ could never by any chance have given any such advice to his
truculent son.
One may congratulate the producer on the courage of his convictions. But I
wonder if the Shakspearean tradition is really dying. The general quality
of the performance was, it must be confessed, not inspiring. There was
little of the king's divinity hedging _Claudius_; the _Queen_ (an always
difficult part) was elaborately unconvincing, though played by a clever
actress; _Guildenstern_ and awkward _Rosencrantz_ deserved any fate which
awaited them in England. Neither _Laertes_ nor _Horatio_ seemed authentic.
But Mr. TOM REYNOLDS' grave-digger had humour and avoided tedium. _Hamlet_
was the thing.
T.
* * * * *
"A Berlin official telegram states that the Kaiser has sent the
following telegram to the Crown Prince:--'The troops of all the German
tribes under your command, with steel-hard determination and strongly
led, have brought to failure the great French attempt to break through
on the Aisne and in Champagne.
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