principatu
dignam inspicit, quam moralis et heroica, virtus illustrat," etc.--We
need scarcely observe that even a Scotchman would not have risked a
public compliment to Richard's face, if so inappropriate as to seem a
sarcasm, especially as the orator immediately proceeds to notice the
shortness of Richard's stature,--a comment not likely to have been
peculiarly acceptable in the Rous Roll, the portrait of Richard
represents him as undersized, but compactly and strongly built, and
without any sign of deformity, unless the inelegant defect of a short
neck can be so called.] commended Richard's "princely countenance," the
compliment was not one to be disputed, much less contemned. But now as
he rose, obedient to a whisper from the duchess, and followed her to the
window, while Edward appeared engaged in admiring the shape of his
own long, upturned shoes, those defects in his shape which the popular
hatred and the rise of the House of Tudor exaggerated into the absolute
deformity that the unexamining ignorance of modern days and Shakspeare's
fiery tragedy have fixed into established caricature, were sufficiently
apparent. Deformed or hunchbacked we need scarcely say he was not, for
no man so disfigured could have possessed that great personal strength
which he invariably exhibited in battle, despite the comparative
slightness of his frame. He was considerably below the ordinary height,
which the great stature of his brother rendered yet more disadvantageous
by contrast; but his lower limbs were strong-jointed and muscular.
Though the back was not curved, yet one shoulder was slightly higher
than the other, which was the more observable from the evident pains
that he took to disguise it, and the gorgeous splendour, savouring of
personal coxcombry--from which no Plantagenet was ever free,--that
he exhibited in his dress. And as, in a warlike age, the physical
conformation of men is always critically regarded, so this defect and
that of his low stature were not so much redeemed as they would be in
our day by the beauty and intelligence of his face. Added to this, his
neck was short, and a habit of bending his head on his bosom (arising
either from thought, or the affectation of humility, which was a part of
his character) made it seem shorter still. But this peculiarity, while
taking from the grace, added to the strength of his frame, which, spare,
sinewy, and compact, showed to an observer that power of endurance,
that comb