he lived within herself,
yet she scarce concealed her wishes, her longing; the tones of desire
were in secret ringing through her soul; and how often may she have
attempted, like an unskillful nurse, to lull her senses to repose with
songs which only kept them more awake? But at last, when her
self-command is altogether gone, when the secrets of her heart are
hovering on her tongue, that tongue betrays her; and in the innocence of
insanity she solaces herself, unmindful of king or queen, with the echo
of her loose and well-beloved songs, 'Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's
Day,' and 'By Gis and by Saint Charity.'

"I am much mistaken," cried he, "if I have not now discovered how the
whole is to be managed; nay, I am convinced that Shakespeare himself
would have arranged it so, had not his mind been too exclusively
directed to the ruling interest, and perhaps misled by the novels which
furnished him with his materials."

"Let us hear," said Serlo, placing himself with an air of solemnity upon
the sofa; "I will listen calmly, but judge with rigor."

"I am not afraid of you," said Wilhelm; "only hear me. In the
composition of this play, after the most accurate investigation and the
most mature reflection, I distinguish two classes of objects. The first
are the grand internal relations of the persons and events, the powerful
effects which arise from the characters and proceedings of the main
figures: these, I hold, are individually excellent, and the order in
which they are presented cannot be improved. No kind of interference
must be suffered to destroy them, or even essentially to change their
form. These are the things which stamp themselves deep into the soul;
which all men long to see, which no one dares to meddle with.
Accordingly, I understand, they have almost wholly been retained in all
our German theatres.

"But our countrymen have erred, in my opinion, with regard to the second
class of objects which may be observed in this tragedy: I allude to the
external relations of the persons, whereby they are brought from place
to place, or combined in various ways by certain accidental incidents.
These they have looked upon as very unimportant; have spoken of them
only in passing, or left them out altogether. Now indeed it must be
owned that these threads are slack and slender; yet they run through the
entire piece, and bind together much that would otherwise fall asunder,
and does actually fall asunder when you cut them o