1893.] on the Imaginative Faculty. 125 



Hamlet's hysterical outburst at the conclusion of the play-scene. In 

 this, some actors use the words peacock, and others pajock, signifying 

 toad. But our critic throws a new light upon the passage which may 

 commend itself to some realistic Hamlet of the future. The word in 

 dispute was, says Leo, really " hiccup," which was intended as a stage 

 direction. Our genial critic argues that Hamlet intended to call the 

 King an ass, and ass certainly rhymes with " was." The passage, he 

 contends, should read thus : — 



" For thou dost know, oh Damon dear, 

 This realm dismantled was 

 Of Jove himself, and now reigns here 

 A very — very — (hiccups).'' 



Hamlet's indignation is apparently too deep for words — the very 

 height of tragic emotion finds expression in a hiccup ! The unima- 

 ginativeness of the critic is in this case absolutely monumental. In 

 4 Macbeth ' we have another instance of the astounding imaginative- 

 ness of Shakespeare. The test of the greatness of a work is that it is 

 not only great in itself, but that it is the cause of greatness in others. 

 A very striking instance of this suggestive fecundity of the poet was 

 told me of Mrs. Siddons in her playing the sleep-walking scene. At 

 the words " All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little 

 hand," the conscience-stricken woman sees with her mind's eye a 

 stain upon her hand, and, raising it to her mouth, desperately sucks 

 the imaginary blood from it, spitting it out as she does so. The 

 daring of this piece of realism, which might strike the common-place 

 as vulgar, was in reality a stroke of imaginative genius, and, I am 

 told, produced an electrical effect upon the audience. In dramatic 

 literature that work is highest which is most suggestive, which gives 

 to the artist as to the spectator most opportunities of weaving round 

 the work of the poet the embroidery of his own imagination. If I 

 may instance a modern play, I should say that this quality is dis- 

 played in an eminent degree in Ibsen's latest work, ' The Master 

 Builder.' We know that this play is condemned by some as a flagrant 

 outrage of conventional form, while others dismiss it as a common- 

 place presentation of a commonplace theme. I must confess that, 

 judged by Ibsen's plays, Scandinavia, in its sordid Suburbanism, 

 seems to me an undesirable abiding-place. All the more wonderful 

 is it that the magician should have been able to conjure up from this 

 dank soil, which would appear congenial only to mushroom-growths, 

 such wondrous and variegated plants. In witnessing this play we 

 are moved by its power, we are fascinated by its originality. Few 

 fail to feel the thud of its pulse. Each weaves his own version of its 

 message. The master has gained his end ; he has stirred the imagina- 

 tion of his audience ; he alone remains sphinx-like, unexplained ; he 

 is the artist — wise master ! 



In using Shakespeare as an illustration of the highest develop- 

 ment of the imaginative artist, and in claiming for his work that 



