midnight
They cast me for ` Polonius ' and some other odds and ends . You may remember , sir , that at one point the Prince of Denmark is instructed to ` enter reading . ' That stage direction I caught at , and by a happy ` improvisation ' spread it over the entire play . Not as ` Polonius ' only , but as ` Bernardo ' upon the midnight platform , as ` Osric , ' as ` Fortinbras , ' as the ` Second Gravedigger , ' as one of the odd Players -- always I entered reading . In my great scene with the Prince we entered reading together . They killed me , still reading , behind the arras ; and at a late hour I supped with the company on Irish stew ; for , incensed by these novelties , the audience had raided a greengrocer 's shop between the third and fourth acts and thereafter rained their criticism upon me in the form of cabbages and various esculent roots which we collected each time the curtain fell . `` Every cloud , sir , has a silver lining .