resteth in the good choice of persons: neither is it enough to consult concerning persons, “secun"dum genera," as in an idea or mathematical description, what the kind and character of the person should be; for the greatest errors are committed, and the most judgment is shewn in the choice of individuals. It was truly said, "optimi "consiliarii mortui ;" "Books will speak plain "when counsellors blanch;" therefore it is good to be conversant with them, specially the books of such as themselves have been actors upon the stage. Princes had need, in tender matter and ticklish times, to beware what they say, especially in those short speeches which fly abroad like darts, and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions; for as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so much noted. The poets feign, that the rest of the gods would have bound Jupiter, which he hearing of, by the counsel of Pallas, sent for Briareus with his hundred hands, to come to his aid: an emblem, no doubt, to shew how safe it is for monarchs to make sure of the good-will of common people. LORD BACON. ALL precepts concerning kings, are in effect comprehended in these remembrances: Remember thou art a man; remember thou art God's vicegerent. The one bridleth their power, and the other their will. THEY say that the goodliest cedars which grow on the high mountains of Libanus, thrust their roots between the clefts of hard rocks, the better to bear themselves against the strong storms that blow there. As nature hath instructed those kings of trees, so hath reason taught the kings of men, to root themselves in the hardy hearts of their faithful subjects. SIR WALTER RALEGH. THE rule of a king is no more, nor none other, than of a common father over his whole country, which he that knows what the power of a father is, or ought to be, knows to be enough. IBID. A KING should have special care that his children, especially the heir apparent, have such bringing up as is meet for a king, viz. in learning; specially in matters pertaining to state, and in -martial exercise; contrary to the practice of many princes, who suffer their children to be brought up in pleasure, and, to spend their time in hunting, &c. which, by reason of their defects, safterwards is a cause of misgovernment and alteration of state. IBID. WHO hath not observed, what labour, practice, peril, bloodshed, and cruelty, the kings and princes of the world have undergone, exercised, taken on them, and committed, to make themselves and their issues masters of the world? And yet hath Babylon, Persia, Egypt, Syria, Macedon, Carthage, Rome, and the rest, no fruit, flower, grass, nor leaf, springing upon the face of the earth of those seeds. No, their very roots and ruins do hardly remain. SIR WALTER RALEGH. TO be a good governor, is a rare commendation, and to prefer the weal public above all respects whatsoever, is the virtue justly termed heroical. Of this virtue, many ages afford not many examples. Hector is named by Aristotle, as one of them, and deservedly, if this praise be due to extraordinary height of fortitude, used in defence of a man's own country. But if we consider that a love of the general good, cannot be perfect without reference unto the fountain of all goodness; we shall find that no moral virtue, how great soever, can by itself deserve the commendation of more than virtue, as the heroical doth. Wherefore, we must search the Scriptures for patterns hereof; such as David, Josaphat, and Josias were. Of christian kings, if there were many such, the world would soon be happy. It is not my purpose to wrong the worth of any, by denying the praise where it is due, or by preferring a less excellent. But he that can find a king, religious and zealous in God's cause, without enforcement either of adversity, or of some regard of state; a procurer of the general peace and quiet; who not only useth his authority, but adds the travail of his eloquence in admonishing his judges to do justice; by the vigorous influence of whose government, civility is infused, even into those places that had been the dens of savage robbers and cut-throats; one that hath quite abolished a slavish Brehon law, by which a whole nation of his subjects were held in bondage; and one, whose higher virtue and wisdom doth make the praise, not only of nobility and other ornaments, but of abstinence from the blood, the wives, and the goods of those that are under his power, together with a world of chief commendations, belonging unto some good princes, to appear less regardable: he, I say, that can find such a king, findeth an example, worthy to add unto virtue an honourable title, if it were formerly wanting. Under such a king, it is likely, by God's blessing, that a land shall flourish, with increase of trade, in countries before unknown, that civility and religion shall be propagated into barbarous and heathen countries, and that the happiness of his subjects shall cause the nations far off removed, to wish him their sovereign. SIR WALTER RALEGH. AS many kingdoms as the devil shewed our Saviour, and the glory of them, if they could be at once enjoyed, are not worth the gaining, by ways of sinful ingratitude and dishonour, which hazards a soul worth more worlds than this hath kingdoms. KING CHARLES. I KNOW no resolutions more worthy a christian king, than to prefer his conscience before his kingdoms. IBID. I DESIRE always more to remember I am a christian than a king, for what the majesty of one might abhor, the charity of the other is willing to bear; what the height of a king tempteth to revenge, the humility of a christian teacheth to forgive. IBID. I THINK clemency a debt which we ought to pay to those that crave it, when we have cause to believe they would not after abuse it, since God himself suffers us not to pay any thing for his mercy, but only prayers and praises. IBID. THE true glory of princes consists in advancing God's glory, in the maintenance of true religion, and the church's good; also in the dispensation of civil power with justice and honour, to the public peace. |