history have endowed a nation, may be dissipated
when, on the one hand, the rulers prove selfish, frivolous, and
unequal to the responsibilities which a great past places on their
shoulders, and when, on the other hand, the nation acquiesces in the
depravity of its governors. In his opening lines the speaker lays
emphasis on the possibilities of greatness with which the natural
physical conditions of the country and its political and military
traditions have invested his countrymen. Thereby he brings into lurid
relief the sin and the shame of paltering with, of putting to ignoble
uses, the national character and influence. The dying patriot
apostrophises England in the familiar phrases, as:--

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle....
This fortress, built by nature for herself,
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands:
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world.

(_Richard II._, II., i., 40-58.)

The last line identifies with the patriotic instinct the aspiration of
a people to deserve well of foreign opinion. Subsequently the speaker
turns from his survey of the ideal which he would have his country
seek. He exposes with ruthless frankness the ugly realities of her
present degradation.

England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of wat'ry Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds,--
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.

(_Richard II._, II., i., 61-6.)

At the moment the speaker's warning is scorned, but ultimately it
takes effect. At the end of the play of _Richard II._, England casts
off the ruler and his allies, who by their self-indulgence and moral
weakness play false with the traditions of the country.

In _Henry V._, the only one of Shakespeare's historical plays in which
an English king quits the stage in the full enjoyment of prosperity,
his good fortune is more than once explained as the reward of his
endeavour to abide by the highest ideals of his race, and of his
resolve to