Answer. This allusion to the dramatic characters of Shakespear is certainly unfortunate, and Mr. Coleridge himself hints as much. Rioters and mob-preachers are not the only persons who appear in ‘the Wat Tyler.’ The King and the Archbishop come forward in their own persons, according to Mr. Coleridge, with appropriate sentiments, labelled and put into their mouths. For example:—
Philpot. Every moment brings
Fresh tidings of our peril.
King. It were well
To yield them what they ask.
Archbishop. Aye, that my liege
Were politic. Go boldly forth to meet them,
Grant all they ask—however wild and ruinous;—
Meantime, the troops you have already summoned
Will gather round them. Then my Christian power