[Footnote 5: Performances of plays in Shakespeare's time always took
place in the afternoon.]
As the Ghost vanished and the air rang mysteriously with his piercing
words "Remember me," we would like to imagine the whole intelligence
of Elizabethan England responding to that cry as it sprang on its
first utterance in the theatre from the great dramatist's own lips.
Since that memorable day, at any rate, the whole intelligence of the
world has responded to that cry with all Hamlet's ecstasy, and with
but a single modification of the phraseology:--
Remember thee!
Ay, thou _great soul_, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe.
III
There is a certain justification, in fact, for the fancy that the
_plaudites_ were loud and long, when Shakespeare created the role of
the "poor ghost" in the first production of his play of _Hamlet_ in
1602. There is no doubt at all that Shakespeare conspicuously caught
the ear of the Elizabethan playgoer at a very early date in his
career, and that he held it firmly for life. "These plays," wrote two
of his professional associates of the reception of the whole series in
the playhouse in his lifetime--"These plays have had their trial
already, and stood out all appeals.
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