It was while he sat there, that the audiences of that player who was bringing forth, on 'the banks of Thames,' such wondrous things out of his treasury then, first heard the Roman foot upon their stage, and the long-stifled, and pent-up speech of English freedom, bursting from the old Roman patriot's lips.

_Cassius_. And let us swear our resolution._Brutus_. _No_, not an oath: If not the face of men,
The sufferance of our soul's, the time's abuse,
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man hence to his idle bed;
_So_ let high-sighted tyranny range on,
Till _each man drop by lottery_.

It was while he sat there, that the player who did not _write_ his speeches, said--

_Nor stony tower_, nor walls of beaten brass,
Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,
Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;
If I know this, know _all the world beside_,
That part of tyranny that _I_ do bear,
_I_ can shake off at pleasure.And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
_Poor Man_! I know he would not be a wolf,
But that he sees the _Romans_ are but sheep:
_He_ were no lion, were not _Romans_ hinds.But I, perhaps, speak _this_
Before a willing bondman._Hamlet_. My lord,--you played once in the university, you say?_Polonius_. That did I, my lord; and was accounted a good actor._Hamlet_. And what did you enact?_Polonius_. I did enact _Julius Caesar_. I was killed i'the Capitol;
Brutus killed me._Hamlet_. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf
there.--Be the players ready?

Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ, and the liberty. _These_ are the only _men_.

_Hamlet_. Why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you
would drive me into a toil?_Guild_. O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too
unmannerly._Hamlet_. I do not well understand that. Will you play upon this
pipe?_Guild_. My lord, I cannot._Hamlet_. I pray you._Guild_. Believe me, I cannot._Hamlet_. I do beseech you._Guild_. I know no touch of it, my lord._Hamlet_. 'Tis as _easy as lying. Govern_ these ventages with your
fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, _and it will
discourse most eloquent music_. Look you, _these are the stops_._Guild_. But _these_ cannot _I_ command to any _utterance of
harmony: I have not the_ SKILL._Hamlet. Why, look you now_, how _unworthy a thing_ you make of ME?
You would _play upon_ ME; _you would seem_ to know _my stops_; you
would pluck out the heart of MY MYSTERY; you would sound me from
my lowest note to the top of my key; and there is much _music_,
excellent voice in _this little organ, yet_ cannot you make it
speak. 'Sblood! do you think I AM EASIER TO BE PLAYED ON THAN A
PIPE? Call me what _instrument_ you will, though you can _fret_
me, you cannot PLAY upon me._Hamlet_. Why did you laugh when I said, _Man_ delights not me?_Guild_. To think, my lord, if you delight not in _man_, what
lenten entertainment THE PLAYERS shall receive from you. We
coted them on the way, and thither are they coming to offer
you--SERVICE.

BOOK I.

THE ELIZABETHAN ART OF DELIVERY AND TRADITION.

PART I.

MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE'S 'PRIVATE AND RETIRED ARTS.'

And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,
With windlaces and with _assays_ of _bias_,
By _indirections_, find _directions out_;
So by my former lecture and advice,
Shall you, my son.--_Hamlet_.

The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded by Bacon, Delia, 1811-1859

BOOK I.

THE ELIZABETHAN ART OF DELIVERY AND TRADITION.

PART I.

MICHAEL DE MONTAIGNE'S 'PRIVATE AND RETIRED ARTS.'

CHAPTER I.