The critics thought Macbeth’s performance poor.
(Three verses omitted here.)
Haply some hoary-headed scribe[21] may say:
“Oft have I seen his ‘Hamlet’ and the ‘Bells.’
He is the greatest actor of the day,
The idol of our most fastidious swells.”
Thus does he seek my merits to disclose,
And leaves my frailties to the world unknown;
And thus I find things quite couleur de rose
Since the Lyceum marked me for its own.