The line to Polonius, ' Do yon see yonder cloud ?' was addressed to him at tho
wing, the wand pointing off the side scene, as through a window



EDWIN BOOTH

{^Atlantic Monthly^ May, 1866.) — ^Where a burlier tragedian must elaborately pose
himself for the youth he would assume, this actor so easily and constantly falls into
beautiful attitudes and movements, that he seems to go about, as we heard a humor-

• This extract U from an old newspaper cutting, from which all indication of its date or title has
been cut away. Ed.
256 APPENDIX

ist say, 'making statues aU-over the stage/ No picture can equal the scene where
Horatio and Marcellus swear by his sword, he holding the crossed hilt upright be-
tween the two, his head throwQ back and lit with high resolve.
Lucia Gilbert Calhoun {Thi Galaxy, Jan. 1869) : <0 that this too too solid
flesh would melt/ was given moving from side to side of the stage, or half flung
down upon his chair in an attitude of utter abandonment. The story of the appear-
ance of the Ghost he hears with feverish eagerness, but with extreme quiet.
In the scene with the Ghost, Hamlet is turned away, when Horatio suddenly ex-
claims, * Look, my lord, it comes I' He catches sight of the vision, staggers toward
Horatio, falls against him, gasping, ' Angels and ministers of grace, defend us !' It
is not terror of the supernatural alone. It is the appalling confirmation of his fears.
