Eh? Yes. But to the point in hand. The Ghost has come and gone; and the Scholar addresses his Mates the two Non-Scholars. And show me the living Scholar who could speak as Horatio spake. Touching the matter that is in all their minds oppressively, _he_ will transport _their_ minds a flight suddenly off a thousand years, and a thousand miles or leagues--their untutored minds into the Region of History. He will take them to Rome--"_a little ere_"--and, therefore, before naming Rome, he lifts and he directs their imagination--"In the most high and palmy STATE." There had been Four Great Empires of the World--and he will by these few words evoke in their minds the Image of the last and greatest. And now observe with what decision, as well as with what majesty, the nomination ensues--OF ROME. TALBOYS. I feel it, sir. NORTH. Try, Talboys, to render "State" by any other word, and you will be put to it. You may analogise. It is for the Republic and City, what Realm or Kingdom is to us--at once Place and indwelling Power. "State"--properly Republic--here specifically and pointedly means Reigning City. The Ghosts walked in the City--not in the Republic. TALBOYS. I think I have you, sir--am not sure. NORTH. You have me--you are sure. Now suppose that, instead of the solemn, ceremonious, and stately robes in which Horatio attires the Glorious Rome, he had said simply, "in Rome," or "at Rome," where then his @psychagôgia@--his leading of their spirits? Where his own scholar-enthusiasm, and love, and joy, and wonder? All gone! And where, Talboys, are they who, by here understanding "state" for "condition"--which every man alive does-- TALBOYS. Every man alive? NORTH. Yes, you did--confess you did. Where are they, I ask, who thus oblige Horatio to introduce his nomination of Rome--thus nakedly--and prosaically? Every hackneyer of this phrase--_state_--as every man alive hackneys it--is a nine-fold Murderer. He murders the Phrase--he murders the Speech--he murders Horatio--he murders the Ghost--he murders the Scene--he murders the Play--he murders Rome--he murders Shakspeare--and he murders Me. TALBOYS. I am innocent. NORTH. Why, suppose Horatio to mean--"in the most glorious and victorious _condition_ of Rome, on the Eve of Cæsar's death, the graves stood tenantless"--You ask--WHERE? See where you have got. A story told with two determinations of Time, and none of Place! Is that the way that Shakspeare, the intelligent and intelligible, recites a fact? No. But my explanation shows the Congruity or Parallelism. "In the _most high and palmy_ State,"--that is, City of Rome--ceremonious determination of Place--"a little ere the _mightiest_ Julius fell,"--ceremonious determination of Time. TALBOYS. But is not the use of State, sir, for City, bold and singular? NORTH.