_The neglect of punctilious exactness_, etc. The entire passage follows pretty closely the interpretation of Lamb: "Among the distinguishing features of that wonderful character, one of the most interesting (yet painful) is that soreness of mind which makes him treat the intrusions of Polonius with harshness, and that asperity which he puts on in his interviews with Ophelia. These tokens of an unhinged mind (if they be not mixed in the latter case with a profound artifice of love, to alienate Ophelia by affected discourtesies, so to prepare her mind for the breaking off of that loving intercourse, which can no longer find a place amidst business so serious as that which he has to do) are parts of his character, which to reconcile with our admiration of Hamlet, the most patient consideration of his situation is no more than necessary; they are what we _forgive afterwards_, and explain by the whole of his character, but _at the time_ they are harsh and unpleasant.... [His behavior toward Ophelia] is not alienation, it is a distraction purely, and so it always makes itself to be felt by that object: it is not anger, but grief assuming the appearance of anger,--love awkwardly counterfeiting hate, as sweet countenances when they try to frown." "On the Tragedies of Shakespeare." (Works, ed. Lucas, I, 103-104) _He may be said to be amenable_, etc. Cf. Coleridge (Works, IV, 145): "His thoughts, and the images of his fancy, are far more vivid than his actual perceptions, and his very perceptions, instantly passing through the _medium_ of his contemplations, acquire, as they pass, a form and a colour not naturally their own. Hence we see a great, an almost enormous, intellectual activity, and a proportionate aversion to real action, consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and accompanying qualities." P. 82. _his father's spirit_. i, 2, 255. _I loved Ophelia_. v, 1, 292. _Sweets to the sweet_. v, 1, 266. P. 83. _There is a willow_. See p. 39. _our author's plays acted_. See pp. 70, 87. P. 84. _Kemble_, John Philip (1757-1823), younger brother to Mrs. Siddons and noted as the leader of the stately school in tragedy. Hazlitt often contrasted his manner with that of Kean: "We wish we had never seen Mr. Kean. He has destroyed the Kemble religion; and it is the religion in which we were brought up." Works, VIII, 345. _a wave o' th' sea_. "Winter's Tale," iv, 4, 141. _Kean_, Edmund (1787-1833), the great English tragic actor whom Hazlitt was instrumental in discovering for the London public. Shylock and Othello were his most successful roles. For accounts of his various performances, see "A View of the English Stage" (Works, VIII). Most of the points in this essay are reproduced from the notice of Kean's Hamlet (VIII, 185-189). ROMEO AND JULIET This extract is the opening paragraph of the sketch.