[70] Louis the XIIIth, for no superior virtues surnamed “Le Juste.” I have seen it somewhere observed that he chose his ministers for extraordinary reasons: Richlieu, because he could not govern his kingdom without him; Des Noyers, for psalm-singing; and le duc de Zuynes, for being an expert bird-catcher. The satire of Corbet seems to justify the remark. He was born 1601; married Anne of Austria 1615; and died at St. Germain’s 1643. [71] Upon a similar declaration being issued by Charles in 1633, “one Dr. Dennison,” says lord Strafford’s garrulous correspondent, “read it here (London), and presently after read the ten commandments; then said, ‘Dearly beloved, you have now heard the commandments of God and man: obey which you please.’” Strafford Papers, vol. i. 166. fol. [72] Whalley’s Ben Jonson, vol. v. 299. [73] Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. ii. p. 444. [74] See his Poems, p. 1657. [75] Howell’s Letters, p. 64. ed. 1650. This fool, _quasi_ knave, whose surname was Armstrong, had his coat pulled over his ears, and was discharged of his office, for indignity to archbishop Laud. See Rushworth’s Collections, vol. ii. p. 471. [76] This refers to a popular tract published in 1622, under that title, in favour of the Low Countries, and for the purpose of prejudicing the people of England against the marriage which Villiers was negotiating when this poem was addressed to him. The negotiation was not only disgraceful, but unsuccessful: —αισχρον γαρ ἡμιν, και προς αισχυνη κακον. [77] “On the 29th of May,” says sir Richard Baker, “the queen was brought to bed of a young son, which was baptized at St. James’s on the 27th of June, and named Charles. It is observed that at his nativity, at London, was seen a star about noon-time: what it portended, good or ill, we leave to the astrologers.” Baker’s Chronicle, p. 497. 1660. fol. [78] If any one is at this time ignorant of the practice alluded to in this line, of the sponsors at christenings giving spoons to the child as a baptismal present, it is not the fault of the commentators on Shakespeare, who have multiplied examples of the custom in their notes on Henry the Eighth, vol. xv. p. 197. edit. 1803. [79] Reg. Prerog. Court Cant. Sadler 97. [80] Ibid. Rivers 18. [81] Cartwright has not unhappily imitated this poem in his address “To Mr. W. B. at the Birth of his first Child:” a few lines may be given: I wish religion timely be Taught him with his A B C. I wish him good and constant health, His father’s learning, but more wealth, And that to use, not hoard; a purse Open to bless, not shut to curse. May he have many and fast friends Meaning good will, not private ends!—&c. Poem, p. 208. 8vo. 1651. [82] At Aston on the Wall, in Northamptonshire, where Christopher Middleton, as rector, accounted for the first-fruits Oct. 12th, 1612; and was buried Feb. 5th, 1627.