ied of him, that his fall is little meaned
(minded) by the rest of his subjects, and smiled at by his neighbours."

And he desires that the prince, his son, should so perform his royal
duties, that, "In case ye fall in the highway, yet it should be with the
honourable report and just regret of all honest men." In the dedicatory
sonnet to Prince Henry of the "Basilicon Doron," in verses not without
elevation, James admonishes the prince to

Represse the proud, maintaining aye the right;
Walk always so, as ever in his sight,
Who guards the godly, plaguing the prophane.

The poems of James I. are the versifications of a man of learning and
meditation. Such an one could not fail of producing lines which reflect
the mind of their author. I find in a MS. these couplets, which condense
an impressive thought on a favourite subject:--

Crownes have their compasse, length of daies their date,
Triumphs their tombes, Felicitie her fate;
Of more than earth, can earth make none partaker;
But knowledge makes the king most like his Maker.[A]

[Footnote A: "Harl. MSS.," 6824.]

These are among the elevated conceptions the king had formed of the
character of a sovereign, and the feeling was ever present in his mind.
James has preserved an anecdote of Henry VIII., in commenting on it, which
serves our purpose:--

"It was strange," said James I., "to look into the life of Henry VIII.,
how like an epicure he lived! Henry once asked, whether he might be saved?
He was answered, 'That he had no cause to fear, having lived so mighty a
king.' 'But, oh!' said he, 'I have lived too like a king.' He should
rather have said, not like a king--for the office of a king is to do
justice and equity; but he only served his sensuality, like a beast."

Henry VII. was the favourite character of James I.; and it was to gratify
the king that Lord Bacon wrote the life of this wise and prudent monarch.
It is remarkable of James I., that he never mentioned the name of
Elizabeth without some expressive epithet of reverence; such as, "The late
queen of famous memory;" a circumstance not common among kings, who do not
like to remind the world of the reputation of a great predecessor. But it
suited the generous temper of that man to extol the greatness he admired,
whose philosophic toleration was often known to have pardoned the libel on
himself for the redeeming virtue of its epigram. In his forgiving temper,
James I. would call such effusions