We know little more of his education, glory among kings: which hath been since confirmed by the miraculous preservation of him; and Heaven seemed to conduct him to the throne). For this great blessing, the king gave public thanks to the author of it, Almighty God, at St. Paul's church; and God was pleased, in return to those thanks, with a numerous issue afterwards to increase this happiness." It is possible, however, his numerous issue might not be a matter of very high consolation to his majesty in his solitude and sufferings !The appearance of the star above-mentioned was expressed beaming from the center of a small birth-piece struck on this occasion, and still to be seen in the cabinets of the curious. This star is taken notice of by Waller, and made matter of compliment to the prince whose birth it attended: His thoughts rise higher, when he does reflect If we may credit lord Baltimore, the birth of young Charles was received with all expressions of joy in Spain. In a letter to lord Wentworth, dated Castleyard, Aug. 12, 1630, he thus expresses himself: "My lord ambassador-will tell you perhaps with what joy the news of our prince's birth was received in the court of Spain; the king, queen, and all the court in bravery; not so much as the young infant of so many months old but had his feather on his cap, all the town full of masks and music: and not only the temporal * Life of K. Charles, prefixed to his Works, p. 8. fol. Lond. 1687. than that, according to the then and pre state but the spiritual express their gladness. The heads of the clergy, and all the religious houses in the city, came to the ambassador, in the name of their bodies, to congratulate with him the birth of the prince; and solemn masses and prayers were said for his health and prosperity every where." This must have been a fine farce!-Let us now proceed to relate some circumstances attending the baptism of prince Charles: they are related by Mr. Samuel Meddus, in a letter to Mr. Joseph Mede, dated July 2, 1630."Prince Charles was baptised last Lord's day, about four in the afternoon, at St. James's, in the king's little chapple there (not in the queen's), by my Lord of London [Laud] deane of the chaple, assisted by the bishop of Norwich, almoner. The gossips were, the French king, the palsgrave, and the queen mother of France. The deputies, the duke of Lenox, marquis Hamilton, and the duchesse of Richmond; which last was exceeding bountifull. The ordinance and chambers of the Tower [were discharged], the bells did ring, and at night were in the streets plenty of flaming bonfires. The duchesse was sent for by two lords, dyvers knights and gentlemen, six footmen, and coach with six horses plumed (all the queens), and alighted not without the gate but within the court. Her retinue were six women, and gentlemen I know not how many. But all, of both sexes, were clad in white sattine garnished with crimson, and crimson silke stockings. I hear not of any presents from the gossips; but the duchesse, for her own particular, presented to the queen for the prince a jewel estimated at 7 or 8000/. * Strafford's State Papers, vol. I. p. 53. fol. Lond. 1739. sent custom, he had an ecclesiastic for his to the melch nurse a chain of rubies, estimated at 2007. to the midwife and dry nurse, store of massy plate; to the six rockers, each, a fair cup, a salt, and a dozen of spoons. All the lords also gave plate to the nurse. Besides, the duchesse gave to every knight and gentleman of the queens who came for her, and brought her back to her house in the Strand, 50 pieces; to the coachman, 20; and to every of the 6 foot men, 10 pieces. There were neither lords or knights made that I hear of, as there was said would be "."-These are trifling things, it must be confessed;-but, as they mark strongly the character of the age, and the court, they will not be, I am persuaded, unacceptable to some of the most intelligent readers. He had an ecclesiastic for his tutor.] The education of princes is of so great importance to the state, that too great care cannot be taken of it. As the superintendency of the public, and the execution of its laws, is submitted to sovereigns, it behoves those to whose tuition they are intrusted, to inculcate deeply on their minds their high duty of taking the utmost pains for the welfare of the communities over which they preside; the glory and happiness of acting an honest and a worthy part; and the perpetual infamy which will attend them, if, following their passions, or, which is sometimes much worse, their parasites, they act a mean, a base, a little one. To reverence themselves, and the public; to have high notions of honour' and justice, generosity and magnanimity; to consider themselves as the servants of the community over which they preside; and bound by its laws, and Peck's Desiderata Curiosa, vol. II. b. xii, p. 36. fol. Lond. 1735. tutor, Brian Duppa; who, though of a sweet temper, was, if we may believe. Burnet, no way fit for his post. Being their own interest as inseparable from that of the people; ought to be the daily lesson of young princes. "The king," it should be told them, " is superior to the people; but the laws are superior to him. The laws commit the care of the people to him as the most valuable of all trusts, with this condition, that he shall be the father of his subjects. The intention of these laws is precisely this, that one man, by his wisdom and moderation, shall be the instrument of felicity to whole nations; and not that whole nations shall, by their misery and abject slavery, serve to pamper the pride and luxury of one man. The king's revenue ought not to be more than is necessary, either for his support in his painful office, or to infuse into the people that respect which is due to him, who is to inforce the execution of the laws. Besides this, the king ought to be more sober, more an enemy to idleness, more free from pride and ostentation, than any other man. He is not, to exceed others in wealth and pleasure; but in wisdom, virtue, and glory. Abroad, he is to defend his country at the head of its armies; and at home, he is to dispense justice to his people, to make them good, wise, and happy. 'Tis not for his own sake that the gods have appointed him king, but for his people's. 'Tis to them he owes all his time, all his cares, all his watchings, all his affection; and he is no otherwise worthy of his kingdom, but in proportion as he forgets his own personal interests to sacrifice himself to the public a little more advanced in years, he had successively the Earls of Newcastle, Hertford, and Berkshire for his governors, who, good." These are the sentiments of the excellent Fenelon, one of the most worthy of ecclesiastics, and the tutor of a son of France. Whether he was capable of talking to his pupil in a strain thus free and noble, is perhaps a question; though doubtless he was as much so as any of his order; for the well-known rise to preferment among this sort of men is by complai→ sance, flattery, servility, court-services, and intrigues, which put them on their guard, make them cautious of offending, and prone to advance what is pleasing to those who may be able still to befriend them. For these reasons a noble writer of our own observes, "that, had those countries, which in modern times have lost their liberty, whilst they were free, committed the government of their youth to philosophers instead of priests, they had in all probability preserved themselves from the yoke of bondage to this day; whereas now, they not only endure it, but approve of it likewise. Tantum relligio potuit. The Greeks and Romans instituted their academies to quite another purpose; the whole education of their youth tended to make them as useful to the society they lived in as possible. There they were trained up to exercise and labour, to accustom them to an active life: no vice was more infamous than sloth, nor any man more contemptible than him that was too lazy to do all the good he could; the lectures of their philosophers served to quicken them up to this. They recommended, above |