If there must be a great
actor to act Hamlet, there must also be people to
act Laertes, the King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern,
otherwise a drama cannot go on. If even
Garrick himself were to rise from the dead, he
could not act Hamlet alone. There must be generals,
colonels, commanding-officers, subalterns.
But what are the private soldiers to do? Many
have mistaken their own talents, and have been
driven in early youth to try the stage, to which
they are not competent. He would know what to
say to the indifferent poet and to the bad artist.
He would say that it was foolish, and he would
recommend to the poet to become a scribe, and the
artist to paint sign-posts---(loud laughter).---But
you could not send the player adrift, for if he
cannot play Hamlet, he must play Guildenstern.
Where there are many labourers, wages must be
low, and no man in such a situation can decently
support a wife and family, and save something off
his income for old age. What is this man to do
in latter life? Are you to cast him off like an
old hinge, or a piece of useless machinery, which
has done its work? To a person who had contributed
to our amusement, this would be unkind,
ungrateful, and unchristian.
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