the expression of them must be wild and whirling also.  Mr. Irving, I think, manages his voice with singular art; it was impossible to discern a false note or wrong intonation in his dialogue or his soliloquies, and his strong dramatic power, his realistic power as an actor, is as effective as ever.  A great critic at the beginning of this century said that Hamlet is the most difficult part to personate on the stage, that it is like the attempt to ‘embody a shadow.’  I cannot say that I agree with this idea.  Hamlet seems to me essentially a good acting part, and in Mr. Irving’s performance of it there is that combination of poetic grace with absolute reality which is so eternally delightful.  Indeed, if the words easy and difficult have any meaning at all in matters of art, I would be inclined to say that Ophelia is the more difficult part.  She has, I mean, less material by which to produce her effects.  She is the occasion of the tragedy, but she is neither its heroine nor its chief victim.  She is swept away by circumstances, and gives the opportunity for situation, of which she is not herself the climax, and which she does not herself command.  And of all the parts which Miss Terry has acted in her brilliant career, there is none in which her infinite powers of pathos and her imaginative and creative faculty are more shown than in her Ophelia.  Miss Terry is one of those rare artists who needs for her dramatic effect no elaborate dialogue, and for whom the simplest words are sufficient.  ‘I love you not,’ says Hamlet, and all that Ophelia answers is, ‘I was the more deceived.’  These are not very grand words to read, but as Miss Terry gave them in acting they seemed to be the highest possible expression of Ophelia’s character.  Beautiful, too, was the quick remorse she conveyed by her face and gesture the moment she had lied to Hamlet and told him her father was at home.  This I thought a masterpiece of good acting, and her mad scene was wonderful beyond all description.  The secrets of Melpomene are known to Miss Terry as well as the secrets of Thalia.  As regards the rest of the company there is always a high standard at the Lyceum, but some particular mention should be made of Mr. Alexander’s brilliant performance of Laertes.  Mr. Alexander has a most effective presence, a charming voice, and a capacity for wearing lovely costumes with ease and elegance.  Indeed, in the latter respect his only rival was Mr. Norman Forbes, who played either Guildenstern or Rosencrantz very gracefully.  I believe one of our budding Hazlitts is preparing a volume to be entitled ‘Great Guildensterns and Remarkable Rosencrantzes,’ but I have never been able myself to discern any difference between these two characters.  They are, I think, the only characters Shakespeare has not cared to individualise.  Whichever of the two, however, Mr. Forbes acted, he acted it well.  Only one point in Mr. Alexander’s performance seemed to me open to question, that was