Both were kings, and both unfortunate. Both lost their crowns owing
to their mismanagement and imbecility; the one from a thoughtless,
wilful abuse of power, the other from an indifference to it. The
manner in which they bear their misfortunes corresponds exactly to
the causes which led to them. The one is always lamenting the loss
of his power which he has not the spirit to regain; the other seems
only to regret that he had ever been king, and is glad to be rid of
the power, with the trouble; the effeminacy of the one is that of a
voluptuary, proud, revengeful, impatient of contradiction, and
inconsolable in his misfortunes; the effeminacy of the other is that
of an indolent, good-natured mind, naturally averse to the turmoils
of ambition and the cares of greatness, and who wishes to pass his
time in monkish indolence and contemplation.--Richard bewails the
loss of the kingly power only as it was the means of gratifying his
pride and luxury; Henry regards it only as a means of doing right,
and is less desirous of the advantages to be derived from possessing
it than afraid of exercising it wrong. In knighting a young soldier,
he gives him ghostly advice--
Edward Plantagenet, arise a knight,
And learn this lesson, draw thy sword in right.
Richard II in the first speeches of the play betrays his real
character.
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