Page:The Psychology of Shakespeare.pdf/150

Rh “Aye, every inch a king. When I do stare, see how the subject !" Perilous height, too giddy for the poor human brain : Uneasy lies the head which wears a crown | Unsafely thinks the head which wears a crown The very first king

i.

by divine appointment went mad. What are the statistics of insanity among crowned heads ' Who can tell ? About - half a century ago, one fourth of the crowned heads of Europe were insane, those of Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and England. But often the chariot of government may be kept in the ruts of routine long after the guiding mind is obscured. With trembling hands, royal servants and kins folk hold a veil before the piteous spectacle.

Not as of old

does Nebuchadnezzar wear his chains in public. The wide purple hides all, until the service becomes too dangerous; and then perchance the sharp remedy of the assassin's scarf has to be applied round Paul's imperial neck. Or the madness may not be quite so extreme, nor the remedy so conclusive. It may be disguisable and tolerable until it abates, and the poor patient emerges to become one of Mr. Carlyle's hero-kings. It may display itself, as in Frederick Wilheim of Prussia, only in violence of language and conduct towards his children, in beatings and kickings, in restless frightened nights and wanderings from chamber to chamber, in terrors of assassination with loaded pistols

under the pillow, and yet the government machine be guided by the frantic hand in an altogether admirable manner, according to Mr. Carlyle, and those who bow down in pious worship before power in high places, be it ever so wild. And why should not Mr. Carlyle make a hero of his mad king, who is also a dumb poet polishing to perfection prac tical unspoken stanzas, as that of his giant regiment, which might irreverently be called one of his delusions ! Why not ? since Schiller has made a beautiful, all perfect hero