106 BERTHA'S VISIT TO HER 



Shakspeare keeps up the nice distinctions be- 

 tween the understanding, the habits, and the 

 motives of mankind. 



" The plot of this play maybe, as Bertha says, 

 confused, and the catastrophe, as Johnson tells 

 us, not very happily produced by the awkward 

 exchange of weapons; but if you study it as a 

 display of character, you will discover fresh beau- 

 ties every time you read it ; you will perceive that 

 it is of a higher order of dramatic painting than 

 many of Shakspeare' s more popular works, and 

 that it abounds in the most eloquent and striking 

 reflections on human life." 



18th. The Lumleys arrived yesterday; my 

 aunt having invited them to meet Mrs. P. I 

 feel very glad, indeed, to see them again, and I 

 am not this time out of humour at interruption 

 from visiters. 



We amused ourselves part of yesterday even- 

 ing with story play, which I had never heard of 

 before. You are to whisper a word, which must 

 be a substantive, to the person who begins the 

 play, and who is to tell a short story or anecdote, 

 into which that word is to be frequently intro- 

 duced. It requires some ingenuity to relate the 

 story in so natural a manner, that the word shall 

 not be too evident, and yet that it may be suffi- 

 ciently marked. When the story is finished, 



