The Comic Almanack, Volume 2 / An Ephemeris in Jest and Earnest, Containing Merry Tales, Humerous Poetry, Quips, and Oddities

by William Makepeace Thackeray; Gilbert Abbott À Beckett; Henry Mayhew; Horace Mayhew; Albert Smith

The Shakspeare Jubilee Festival will be celebrated at the "only national theatre" on the 23rd, with the following performances:—

"The Grand Opera of 'Hamlet:' the Music by Mr. Balfe; the libretto by Messrs. Shakspeare and Bunn.

"After which, a Divertissement; in which Mr. Delferier and Madame Giubelei will, as Romeo and Juliet, dance the Capulet Polka. Grotesque Pas de Caliban, from the 'Tempest,' by Mr. Wieland; and the celebrated Desperate Combat from 'Richard the Third,' by Messrs. T. Matthews and W. H. Payne.

"The whole to conclude with a New Grand Pantomime of 'Harlequin Macbeth; or, the Magic Caldron and Walking Wood.'"

From the Opera, the following song may be predicted to be sung by the first tenor, Hamlet:—

"TO BE, OR NOT TO BE."

"Oh say!—To be, or not to be?

That is the question grave;