Admirable is the judgment with which Shakspeare 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 favoritism, 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 Shakspeare wrote, and illustrate his care to connect the past and 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-honor'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 befall—
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.