Figure of Speeches

Perhaps we have all had the experience of a book coming into our lives that rearranges the furniture. The last time this happened to me, it was over a surprising find. The Greatest Englishman of History is a transcription of an address delivered to the Canadian Club of Toronto in 1936. The speaker was Arthur Meighen, our ninth prime minister, and the great man he singled out was William Shakespeare.

I first encountered Shakespeare’s works early in my English grammar school education. Ever since, I have savoured his words and turned to them for guidance whenever I’ve needed it. Macbeth’s line “Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day” has comforted me often, whether in moments of boredom or during anxious sits in medical waiting rooms. Reading one of Shakespeare’s plays or seeing a good production, I find myself frequently exclaiming, “How did he know that?”

The Greatest Englishman of History came into my...