Preface. THIS HIS version of "Hamlet," which, in its construction and embellishment, is unlike all others, has been made for practical use on the stage. It is shorter than the original by about one thousand lines. The passages excluded are those which, it is thought, might prove tedious in the representation, and which, therefore, may well be spared. Among them are the episode of Fortinbras, the colloquy between Polonius and Reynaldo, and the interview between Hamlet and the Norwegian soldiers. Certain speeches which momentarily arrest the action of the piece—such as that of Horatio on the preparations for war, and that of Hamlet on the custom of revelry in Denmark-have been rejected, as impediments to directness of dramatic effect. The excisions also include dialogues, such as those at the beginning of the fourth act, which are but the descriptive repetition of action that has already been shown, or the narration of incident that has been distinctly implied. Passages which do but amplify and reiterate ideas that have previously been made sufficiently clear for the practical purposes of the stage have likewise been discarded. The servility of Rosencrantz and |