* * * * *

SILENT SHAKSPEARE.

DEAR MR. EDITOR,

The great success that has attended the production of _L'Enfant Prodigue_
at the Prince of Wales's Theatre has encouraged me to make a suggestion in
the cause of English Art. Why not SHAKSPEARE in dumb show? The Bard himself
introduced it in "The Play Scene." Allow me to suggest it thus:--

SCENE--_A more remote part of the Platform in Elsinore Castle. Enter_
GHOST; _then_ HAMLET.

_Hamlet_ (_in dumb show_). "Where wilt thou lead me? Speak!" (_In dumb
show._) "I'll go no further."

_Ghost, by kissing his hand towards the horizon, shows that his hour is
almost come, when he is bound to render himself to sulphurous and
tormenting flames. The latter part of his description is composed of his
shrinking about the stage, as if suffering from intense heat._

_Hamlet buries his face in his hands, and sobs pitifully, expressing_
"Alas, poor Ghost!"

_Ghost repudiates compassion by turning up his nose, and throwing forward
his hands; and then, by pointing from his mouth to his ear, demands_
HAMLET'S _serious attention._

_Hamlet touches his own lips, points to_ GHOST, _slaps his heart, and bows,