On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object; can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;

And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.

Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts:
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance;

Think when we talk of horses that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;

For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years

Into an hour glass; .

Here we find a direct appeal to the spectators to exert their imaginations and overlook the crudities inevitable to the stage presentation of a pageant.

The Chorus prologue to Act II contains a like appea!:

and well digest

The abuse of distance while we force a play.
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton:
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And then to France must we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass;

Again:

"Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies
In motion of no less celerity

Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet

With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning:
Play with your fancies and with them behold
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
To sounds confus'd; behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge. O! do but think
You stand upon the rivage and behold

And eke out our performance with your mind."

Again:

"And so our scene must to the battle fly;
Where,-O for pity,-we shall much disgrace,
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
Right ill dispos'd in brawl ridiculous,

The name of Agincourt. Yet sit and see;
Minding true things by what their mockeries be."

In these passages we find a plain apology for the deficiencies of stage-setting and as well for the stage conventions of time and place. In his more artistic work

Shakespeare avoids such appeal to his audience, but he none the less endeavors to overcome the limitations which he felt keenly, by passages of great descriptive power and beauty skilfully introduced.

The humorous attempt of Bottom, Quince and their companions to rehearse a play has been taken by some critics as an expression of Shakespeare's satirical contempt for realistic stage setting.

Quince:-"One must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern, and say he comes to disfigure or present, the person of moonshine. Then there's another thing; we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyhamus and Thisby, says the story did talk through the chink of a wall."

tom?"

Snug:-"You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bot

Bottom :-"Some man or other must present wall; and let him have some plaster, or some loam or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold his fingers thus, and through the cranny shall Pyramus and Thisby whisper."

It is not a far fetched conclusion that such a passage is a satire upon stage methods which aimed at a bold realism. But we must also remember that the passage was primarily designed to entertain a popular audience. Would not the humor of it be more evident if it were taken at its face value as a travesty upon good stage management? Would not the audience appreciate the joke better if, as may have been the case, it was accustomed to a satisfactory realism in the use of stage properties? The question is an open one and the passage may be quoted as a defense of either of two contradictory positions.

Constant reference has been made in these articles to the traditional use of the stage to represent at one time and within small space two widely distant points. This custom we have seen originated in the Mystery Plays. Effective use of this traditional convention is made by Shakespeare in at least one instance, Scene 3, Act V of "Richard III.” In this scene the ghosts of Richard's victims appear before Richard and Richmond, prophesying ill to the one and good fortune to the other. The tents of the two generals are pitched both upon the stage and the apparitions appear first