d help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,
Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them: nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest but true."

And it certainly seems that Shakespeare's historic dramas produced a very
deep effect on the minds of the English people, and in earlier times they
were familiar even to the least informed of all ranks, according to the
relation of Bishop Corbett. Marlborough, we know, was not ashamed to
confess that his principal acquaintance with English history was derived
from them; and I believe that a large part of the information as to our
old names and achievements even now abroad is due, directly or indirectly,
to Shakespeare.

Admirable is the judgment with which Shakespeare always in the first
scenes prepares, yet how naturally, and with what concealment of art, for
the catastrophe. Observe how he here presents the germ of all the after
events in Richard's insincerity, partiality, arbitrariness, and
favouritism, and in the proud, tempestuous, temperament of his barons. In
the very beginning, also, is displayed that feature in Richard's
character, which is never forgotten throughout the play--his attention to
decorum, and high feeling of the kingly dignity. These anticipations show
with what judgment Shakespeare wrote, and illustrate his care to connect
the past and the future, and unify them with the present by forecast and
reminiscence.

It is interesting to a critical ear to compare the six opening lines of
the play--

"Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster,
Hast thou, according to thy oath and band," &c.

each closing at the tenth syllable, with the rhythmless metre of the verse
in _Henry VI._ and _Titus Andronicus_, in order that the difference,
indeed, the heterogeneity, of the two may be felt _etiam in simillimis
prima superficie_. Here the weight of the single words supplies all the
relief afforded by intercurrent verse, while the whole represents the
mood. And compare the apparently defective metre of Bolingbroke's first
line--

"Many years of happy days befal"--

with Prospero's--

"Twelve years since, Miranda! twelve years since."

The actor should supply the time by emphasis, and pause on the first
syllable of each of these verses.

Act i. sc. 1. Bolingbroke's speech:--

"First (heaven be the record to my speech!),
In the devotion of a subject's love," &c.

I remember in the Sophoclean drama