[ 1583] Good and Bad Kings and Princes, &c. their difference.
WE see all the motions of superiour bodies,* 1.1 in what excellent order and perfection they move, and if some exhalation starts up amongst them from grosse and putrid matter, whose course is not yet known, What horrid trepidations bring they with them? And, what prodigious calamities are they the forerunners of? yet they hold not that station long, but blaze a little there, and then extinguish. And all that can be said of them is, That we know not for what mischievous intents these Meteors did appear: Whereas the other Coelestial bodies beget no wonder, are no Prodigies, but keep a constant course in their own spheres, and are not contaminated with things below them, yet they retain a powerfull influence over them:* 1.2 So Kings and Princes alwayes shine in glory and a noble Soul, when they loath to soyl themselves in sordid things; But when they grovell her•• for trash and trumpery, and trade away that gallant stock of Love, hous'd in their Peoples hearts, for some false coyn, minted by passion, mutable affection, or misled Reason, they do deg••ade themselves so far, that the onely difference betwixt a King and a mean Man is, that the one by his trade cosens a few, the other a great many, but himself most.