University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

The same Scene continued.
Enter Garrick and Johnson.
Garrick.
Well! The play's over, Johnson.

Johnson.
Sir, it is.

Garrick.
What for to-morrow night did they give out?

Johnson.
The Fashionable Lover.

Garrick.
And they all
Went off contented: did they not?

Johnson.
To me
It seem'd so.

Garrick.
Ha!—that's well—and so they think
The Fashionable Lover, which I once
So cherish'd in my bosom, but now say
Deals nought but sentiment; 'tis that they think
We mean to act.

Johnson.
That is their present expectation, Sir.

Garrick.
Came any round to you for places?

Johnson.
None:
There's not a single being wants a place.

Garrick.
If we had let them know that I play Hamlet
To-morrow night, then the whole crowd had rush'd
To you for places, urging loud demands;
And then the friends to whom I've given my word,
Had all been disappointed. When they see,
At nine to-morrow, Hamlet is the play,
With those fam'd alterations I have made,
Servants will come in crowds: do you prepare
The book, and fill it as this paper marks.

Johnson.
Your orders, Sir,
Shall be with all attention due perform'd.

[Exit Johnson.
Garrick,
solus.
Though yet of Shakespear our great poet's name
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear his Jubilee to Avon's banks;
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature,
That we think now to alter all his plays.
O, that that too, too solid house, which Foote
Has in the Haymarket, would melt at once,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Royal Pleasure had not fix'd
A patent for the summer in his hands!
Fie on 't! O fie!—Foote's an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank, and gross in nature,
Possess him merely. That it should come to this!
But nine months giv'n to me! nay, not so much—
Not nine!—So excellent an actor! and to him
Hyperion to a Satyr. Heav'n and earth!
Must I remember? why, the town hangs on me
As if increase of appetite did grow
By what it fed on.—Yet, eight little months!
But thirty weeks—a play'r no more like me
Than I to Hercules!—Most wicked speed,
To post with such dexterity from me
To him, and on this mountain leave to feed,
To batten on that moor! to quit with scorn
My Neck or Nothing for his Major Sturgeon!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good,
But break, my heart: for I must hold my tongue!

Enter George, Hopkins, and Becket.
George.
Hail to you, brother!

Garrick.
George!—or I cannot see.

George.
The same, and your poor servant ever.

Garrick.
Hopkins!

Hopkins.
My good master!

Garrick.
I am very glad to see you; good even, Sir.—
But what, in faith, doth make you out of bed?

Hopkins.
I came to hear what you will act to-morrow.

Garrick.
Hamlet, with Alterations.—I am glad
To lose no drop of that immortal man.
Shakespear—Methinks, I see my Shakespear.

George.
Where,
My brother?

Garrick.
In my mind's eye, dear George.
He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.

George.
I think I saw him yesternight.

Garrick.
Saw whom?

George.
Your favourite Shakespear.

Garrick.
My favourite Shakespear!

George.
Season your admiration for a while
With an attentive ear; till I deliver,
Upon the witness of these gentlemen,
This marvel to you.

Garrick.
For Heav'n's love, let me hear.

George.
Two nights together had these gentlemen,
Hopkins and Becket, both upon the watch,
In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encounter'd. The form of Shakespear
Appears before them, and, with solemn march,
Goes slow and stately by them: they, distill'd,
As if with jalap, by the act of fear,
Stand dumb and speak not to him. This to me
In dreadful secrecy they did impart;
And I with them, the third night, kept the watch:
Where, as they had deliver'd, both in time
And form of the thing, each word made true and good,
The apparition comes: I've Shakespear seen
Both in the Abbey, and that curious carving
In mulberry, which dangled at your breast;
These hands are not more like.

Garrick.
But where was this?

George.
Here, between trap and lamp, where we all watch'd.

Garrick.
Did you not speak to it?

George.
At length I did;
But answer made it none: yet, once methought,
It lifted up its head, and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak:
But, even then, the playhouse cock crew loud;
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away,
And vanish'd from our sight.

Garrick.
'Tis very strange.
Indeed, indeed, Sirs, but this troubles me.
Hold you the watch to-night?

Both.
We do, good Sir.

Garrick.
What, look'd he frowningly?

George.
A count'nance more
In sorrow than in anger.

Garrick.
Pale, or red?

George.
Nay, very pale.

Garrick.
And fix'd his eyes upon you?

George.
Most certainly.

Garrick.
A branch of mulberry bore he in his hand?

Becket.
He did; of which I'll take my Bible oath.

Garrick.
I would I had been there.

George.
It would have much amaz'd you.

Garrick.
'Tis very like. Pray, stay'd it long?

Becket.
While one, with moderate haste, might fairly tell
An hundred lies.

Hopkins.
Oh, longer; longer.

George.
Not when I saw it.

Garrick.
His collar, say, was it unbutton'd?

George.
It was, as I have seen it in the Abbey,
Quite loose and open.

Garrick.
I'll watch to-night. Perchance 't will walk again.

George.
I'll enter bail for its appearance.

Garrick.
If it assume immortal Shakespear's person,
I'll speak to it, though ev'ry trap-door gape,
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still;
And whatsoever shall befall to-night,
Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
You shall dine with me; so, all, fare ye well.
Upon the stage here, 'twixt eleven and twelve,
I'll visit you.

All.
Our duty to you, Sir.

[Exeunt.
Garrick.
Your loves, as mine to you. Farewell.
The Ghost of Shakespear seen! all is not well.
There's something rotten in the state o' th' stage:
Something offends him. Would the time were come!
Till then sit still, my soul. His Plays will rise,
Though ev'n my pen o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes.