forward in the few stern words in which Bolingbroke pronounces the ominous command "Go, some of you, convey him to the Tower." Richard is soon removed to the dungeon of Pomfret Castle. The prison-scene of a dethroned king seldom fails to be the death-scene. In what way he was deprived of life is doubtful; whether by the slow misery of famine, as the poet Gray has represented, "Close by the regal chair Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest,"* or by the violence of assault, as in the tragedy. The gentle and lofty morality of Shakspeare was never more finely shown than in this,-that before Richard's soul is summoned from earth, there is added to the utterance of his anguish the contrite confession of a misspent life. You may remember how, in the tragedy of King Lear, the crazed mind of the "child-changed father" was soothed and healed, not only by Cordelia's voice, but by the remediate virtue of soft music. In the dungeon scene in Richard the Second, the poet has likewise appealed to the power of music for the different purpose of moving to a healthy wakefulness a distracted, I may say, a delirious, conscience. A sound of rude music reaches the imprisoned king; he listens in that mood in which the fancy in solitude and sorrow is so quickly apprehensive of all, even chance, impressions, and then exclaims * Gray's Poetical Works, p. 172. "How sour sweet music is, When time is broke, and no proportion kept! So is it in the music of men's lives. I wasted time and now doth time waste me." When his thoughts run on into the conscious misery of his downfall, still the music calls forth a kindly feeling and a blessing; for he thinks of it as the last tribute of some humble and still loyal subject, who is lingering with affection about his prison walls : "This music mads me, let it sound no more; For though it have holp madmen to their wits, Richard meets the murderous assault of Exton and the armed servants with prompt and manly valour; and his last words are expressive of the remanent feeling of royalty, and of his chastened and restored humanity. "That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire, That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand Thus it is that Shakspeare a great historian-teaches how tragedy "the power and divinity of suffering"can bring the weak, the wilful, and wicked to a better mind, and can win for them a just sympathy; so that one would fain close the story of this reign in the same compassionate spirit with which Froissart, who was an eye-witness of it, ends his chronicle of that period of English history by saying:-"King Richard was buried at Langley. God pardon his sins and have mercy on his soul !"* *Froissart. Johnes's Translation, vol. xii. p. 193. LECTURE VI.* The Reign of Henry the Fourth. Henry the Fourth's accession to the throne an usurpation-Character of the king-Error of historical reasoning-Carlyle on Cromwell-Henry's education and exile-Analogy to Macbeth -His popularity-Counsel to his son-His visit to foreign lands -Palestine-Castile-His return-Severe policy after his coronation-The Bishop of Carlisle-Shakspeare's "Chronicle-Plays" tragic-Comic element here-Falstaff and Prince Hal-Henry the Fourth's reign without national interest-Unquiet times-Plan of his crusade-Its origin and his visit to the Holy Land-Intercession of the Greek emperor for English aid-Visit of Palæologus to London-St. Bernard-Plan of crusade frustrated-Insurrection in Scotland-Percy and Douglas-Battle of Otterbourne-Mortimer -Glendower-Chevy Chase-Hotspur and Falstaff-The Battle of Shrewsbury-Death of Henry the Fourth. WHEN Henry of Lancaster ascended the throne of England, the regular line of hereditary succession was broken for the first time for two hundred years. The due course of the law of inheritance had been followed during that period of time, and was thus strongly fortified by prescription and consent. The rights of no lawful heir to the throne had been violated since the innocent Arthur of Brittany fell a victim to the ruthless ambition of King John. After that time the crown regularly passed from * Monday, February 1st, 1847. father to son, from first-born to first-born, during two centuries, until the aspiring Bolingbroke placed it upon his own brow. Not only was the rightful monarch, the frail and offending Richard, discrowned and dispossessed, imprisoned and soon slaughtered, but the legitimate heir was kept out of his inheritance by that strong Lancastrian usurpation, which was not shaken until the violated claim was revived, causing a civil war which lasted for thirty years, and in which Englishmen died by the hands of Englishmen in no fewer than twelve pitched battles. I have endeavoured to show how the follies and vices of Richard the Second paved the way for Bolingbroke to the throne; but I purposely confined the view as much as possible to the downfall of Richard, reserving for consideration the career of his adversary, as he sought to turn the weakness and tyranny of the king to his own great gain, and to rise at last upon the ruins. This career of Bolingbroke's was probably a long and studied course of politic ambition. It proved successful, in so far as the grand object of his hopes and aspirations was attained,— he gained the throne; and we shall see whether the possession, so dearly coveted and so strenuously won, brought along with it happy days and a tranquil death. I have spoken of the occupation of the English throne by Henry of Lancaster, as the crowning result of longcontinued effort and long-cherished purposes of ambitious premeditation; yet, I am aware that, in the study of history, there is an error, which frequently deludes the student, in this way-that, looking at any remarkable achievement of political ambition, we are very apt, and naturally so, to persuade ourselves, that the ambition which has been thus successful must have been more far |