The sleepless king
points to the irony of reclining on the kingly couch beneath canopies
of costly state when sleep refuses to weigh his eyelids down or steep
his senses in forgetfulness. The king is credited with control of
every comfort; but he is denied by nature comforts which she places
freely at command of the humblest. So again does Richard II.
soliloquize on the vain pride which imbues the king, while death all
the time grins at his pomp and keeps his own court within the hollow
crown that rounds the prince's mortal temples. Yet again, to identical
effect is Henry VI.'s sorrowful question:--
Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade,
To shepherds looking on their silly sheep,
Than doth a rich-embroidered canopy
To kings that fear their subjects' treachery?
(III. _Henry VI._, II., v., 42-5.)
To this text Shakespeare constantly recurs, and he bestows on it all
his fertile resources of illustration. The reiterated exposition by
Shakespeare of the hollowness of kingly ceremony is a notable feature
of his political sentiment The dramatist's independent analysis of the
quiddity of kingship is, indeed, alike in manner and matter, a
startling contribution to sixteenth century speculation.
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