CHAPTER XLVII.
JAMES I.
{1612.} This year the sudden death of Henry, prince of Wales, diffused a universal grief throughout the nation.

Though youth and royal birth, both of them strong allurements, prepossess men mightily in favor of the early age of princes, it is with peculiar fondness that historians mention Henry, and, in every respect, his merit seems to have been extraordinary.

He had not reached his eighteenth year, and he already possessed more dignity in his behavior, and commanded more respect, than his father, with all his age, learning, and experience.

Neither his high fortune, nor his youth, had seduced him into any irregular pleasures: business and ambition seem to have been his sole passion.

His inclinations, as well as exercises, were martial.