Men are what they are, and will act accordingly as the cat mews by nature, and the dog bays, so a man, by nature choleric, splenetic, and impulsive, will rush rashly into actions which "cannot but make the judicious grieve."

On Hamlet's sudden departure, Claudius, in fear of further trouble, earnestly entreats Horatio to follow and wait upon him. Then turning to the Queen, he pleads that she look to her son, and set some watch upon him. He next addresses Laertes. Reading upon the face of the crestfallen and sullen youth how terribly his vanity had been lacerated, he comforts him, and urges him to strengthen his patience by the thought of the conspiracy which shall be carried out at once. In words enigmatic to the Queen, he assures him that "the living Hamlet shall by his death be a monument to his Esister's grave. The scene concludes as the King, at the thought of Hamlet's speedy death, shares his hopes with = Laertes that

"An hour of quiet shortly shall we see;

Till then, in patience our proceedings be."

Hamlet, having hurried away from the scene of the disturbance, was overtaken by Horatio. Both made the way to the royal castle where they held a secret conferen There were several important incidents that had happe during the Prince's absence, such as the dementia and des of Ophelia, and these, because already well-known to th audience needed no exposition. But to Hamlet they were and of supreme interest; hence Horatio gives him the f particulars as he had gathered them. The narration finishe the curtain rises as Hamlet exclaims: "So much for this si now shall you see the other," that is, he will now give a c cumstantial account of his own adventures in the interim, he had promised in the letter: "Repair thou to me with much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I have words to spea in thine ear that will make thee dumb."

He begins the story with events of his second night at sea) After setting sail from Elsinore at nightfall, he had neither during that night nor on the following day, caught sight ef the pretended pirate ship, which according to his plot, was to pursue, overtake, grapple with the royal vessel, capture him. and restore him again safely to Denmark. As it had not overtaken them in the more narrow waters of the Baltic, it was less likely to do so now that the royal ship was swiftly cours ing in the broad expansive waters of the North Sea. Hence, fears and doubts perplexed his anxious mind. Perhaps, after all, his "deep plot had palled;" perhaps, the pirate ship in the darkness of the night was unable to follow in their track and had swerved from its course; perhaps, it was stayed in

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ort, because some minion of the King had betrayed the plot. Whatever the cause of failure, he perceived his great peril. He knew that the main and secret purpose of the specious embassy, was to rid Denmark of his presence. Now, helpless on the open sea in the power of royal officers, the willing tools of an unscrupulous and villanous king, he felt increasing fears that the secret letters meant his perpetual imprisonment Be in England, if not his immediate execution; in either case, as surely as he set foot on English soil, his sacred cause would be lost forever. Often through the day had he with anxious eye scanned the horizon to catch a glimpse of the longed-for pirate ship, but with the passing of the second night his last ray of hope was swiftly vanishing. Was the "smiling villain" to outwit him? Was the bloody usurper to dye his soul still deeper by the perpetration of another secret murder? Were all the sacrifices he himself had made for the purpose of his sworn "revenge," only to prove him in fine a miserable ingrate, recreant to duty and to the memory of a loved and honored father? Such thoughts racked his being to its very depths, as restless upon the couch he lay: "in his heart there was a kind of fighting that would not let him sleep." Fears and doubts, as well as an actual sense of imminent peril, roused his brain to feverish activity. In wild imagination he lay a helpless prisoner, like a mutinous sailor, his limbs shackled with Bilboan fetters. Within him, his soul cried aloud for action; but his sense of inability of exertion, his sense of utter helplessness, tortured him with an overpowering pain, which drove him to despair, and despair "rashly" drove him to an "indiscreet" performance.

How Hamlet stole the secret packet, he graphically tells Horatio, and in the narration reveals the refinement of his moral nature; though the letters were a treacherous design upon his life, and their seizure warranted by right of self

defence, he, nevertheless, pleads in excuse the fact that th breaking of the royal seals was not a human act, since promp ed, not by reason, but by over-mastering fear. He furth informs Horatio of the royal knavery disclosed in the usu per's command for his immediate execution, and also th peculiar reasons by which Claudius hoped to induce th English monarch to comply with the "exact command" the sealed death-warrant. It required that without the lea delay Hamlet's "head should be struck off." One cause al leged was that the good of England, as well as of Denmari demanded the death of the Prince; other reasons were a med ley of bugs and goblins," that is, bugbears or fantasti dangers and gross distortions of the actual facts of his life There can be little doubt that a fratricide, so vilely criminal & Claudius, resorted to false charges, in order to win the English king to his cause, especially when he deemed the crown, as well as his own life endangered by the continued existence of the Prince. To Horatio, surprised and apparently incredu lous, Hamlet hands the telltale document for leisurely perusal in proof of his words. He had been earnestly seeking tangible evidence of the villain's guilt, and here at last was one which would help him to justify before the citizens of Denmark, his impending stroke of "revenge.'

He next proceeds to narrate how, when "be-netted round with villainies," he, in self-defence, and not from malignity, devised his supplementary plot; how in jubilant confidence of his ready wit, he penned that secret conjuration to the English king. His action, he asserts, was under stress of circumstances, sudden and without thought or reflection. Before he could consider what was to be done, his mind, completely aroused by impending perils, had in fiery activity shot forth flaming thoughts, which formed instantly a scheme of action; and these winged burning thoughts "had begun the

The

play," before he could devise even an introduction. scheme, therefore, came impromptu; it was an inspiration r which like a sudden ray of light banished perplexing darkness. It was so rich in ingenuity, that, completely fascinating him, it impelled him, under a strong impulse of imagination rather than of will, to write out the substituted commission. It was an easy matter, because of his skill in penmanship, a skill which he had "labored much" to forget; since he had come to think with statesmen of the day, that "to write fair" was a baseness in them, though an accomplishment in their underlings. His skill, however, now served him well in enabing him to counterfeit the hand of Claudius. As he found the royal document assigned many reasons for his execution, so he prefaced the new mandate with many a whereas, such as might induce the tributary king to execute the spies without delay.

Hamlet recognized his subsidiary plot as a divine inspiration. He saw Heaven's ordination in the fact that he had on his person his father's signet ring, the very one after which that of Claudius had been fashioned. With the royal seal affixed to the spurious document, nothing more was wanting for the completion of the scheme, and he calmly awaited results. On the next day, after all hope had been abandoned, the pretended pirates overtook them and grappled with the ship. As soon as he had leaped in their midst, they instantly cut away, as prearranged, and, leaving the royal vessel to continue on its course to England, hastened back and landed him safely in Denmark.

DIVINE PROVIDENCE

After mature reflection upon these incidents, Hamlet comes to see more than ever the interposition of Divine Providence in the affairs of men. In self-reliance, he had boasted