Page:Studies of a Biographer 4.djvu/48

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34
STUDIES OF A BIOGRAPHER

in Shakespeare, and one which is a corollary from this position. Hamlet states it in explaining his regard for Horatio, the man

Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled
That they are not a pipe for fortune's finger
To sound what stop she please: Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart,
As I do thee.

In a world so full of passion and violence, the essential condition of happiness is the power of keeping your head. They, as he says in a remarkable sonnet, 'who moving others are themselves as stone,' are the right inheritors of 'Heaven's graces.' The one character who, as commentators agree, represents a personal enthusiasm is Henry V., and Henry V.'s special peculiarity is his superlative self-command. It is emphasised even at some cost of dramatic propriety. Critics at least have complained of the soliloquy—

I know you all, and will a while uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness,

in which the prince expresses a deliberate intention of throwing off his wild companions. He is