12 



The gist of the matter is his complaint at having his comforts and 

 the number of his servants reduced ; nothing about his being in the 

 way ; and so he asks Regan to note how unbecoming it would be in 

 him, an unthroned king, to confess to his daughter that she was right 

 in reducing his train, and to beg for the bare necessaries of life. It is 

 worthy of note that Shakespeare has here enumerated the items which 

 the law regards as " necessaries" — a fact which may well be cited to 

 show that Shakespeare had received a legal education. 



One of the best satires on Shakespearian criticism is John Poole's 

 Travesty of Hamlet, with notes after the manner of Pope, Johnson, 

 Warburton, etc., published in London in the early part of this century. 

 As it is not a familiar book I will give an extract. First the text: 

 "Ophelia. I thank you — so 'tis best — you counsel right — 



My coach — three thirty-five — good night, good night." 



Then the commentary : 



"My coach— three thirty-five — 



" This is an exquisite touch of nature. Ophelia is now wavering 

 between sense and insanity; she calls first for one coach, and then for 

 three hundred and thirty-five coaches.— Warburton." 



"This I allow to be an exquisite touch of nature; but by the 

 illustration which the Right Reverend has attempted, its force is 

 obstructed, and its beauty obscured. Three thirty-five is evidently the 

 number of the hackney coach which brought Ophelia to the palace. 

 And here the poet has given an instance of his unbounded knowledge of 

 human nature. In a short interval of lucidity Ophelia calls for her 

 coach; and then, regardless of the presence of the 'Majesty of Den- 

 mark/ she calls for it by its number, 335. This is madness pathetic 

 and interesting; had she, as Dr. Warburton erroneously supposes, 

 called for three hundred and thirty-five coaches, it would have been a 

 representation of madness too terrific for exhibition on the stage. 

 Madness is agreeable only until it becomes outrageous.— Jo hnsoti." 



The reader of Dickens will remember in Nicholas Nickleby that 

 Nicholas, while a member of Mr. Crummies' theatrical company, went 

 with Miss Snevillici, the leading lady, to solicit the patronage of the 

 leading townspeople for her "bespeak" or benefit. Among others, 

 they called on Mr. Curdle. "As to Mr. Curdle," says the author, 

 "he had written a pamphlet of sixty-four pages, post octavo, on the 

 character of the Nurse's deceased husband in Romeo and Juliet, with 



