His advice to the players was not advice. He did not speak it as an
actor. Nearly all Hamlets in that scene give away the fact that they
are actors and not dilettanti of royal blood. Henry defined the way
he would have the players speak as an order, an instruction of the
merit of which he was regally sure. There was no patronising flavour
in his acting here, not a touch of "I'11 teach you how to do it." He
was swift, swift and simple--pausing for the right word now and again,
as in the phrase "to hold as 't were the mirror up to nature." His
slight pause and eloquent gesture, as the all embracing word "nature"
came in answer to his call, were exactly repeated unconsciously, years
later, by the Queen of Roumania (Carmen Sylva). She was telling us
the story of a play that she had written. The words rushed out
swiftly, but occasionally she would wait for the one that expressed
her meaning most comprehensively and exactly, and, as she got it, up
went her hand in triumph over her head--"Like yours in Hamlet," I told
Henry at the time.