ADVICE TO SIR GEORGE VILLIERS. 403 



make you to be such as he would have you to be ; for 

 this I may say, without flattery, your outside pro- 

 miseth as much as can be expected from a gentleman : 

 but be it in the one respect, or other, it belongeth to 

 you to take care of yourself, and to know well what 

 the name of a favourite signifies. If you be chosen 

 upon the former respects, you have reason to take 

 care of your actions and deportment, out of your gra 

 titude, for the king s sake ; but if out of the latter, 

 you ought to take the greater care for your own 

 sake. 



You are as a new-risen star, and the eyes of all 

 men are upon you ; let not your own negligence 

 make you fall like a meteor. 



[Remember well the great trust you have un 

 dertaken ; you are as a continual centinel, always to 

 stand upon your watch to give him true intelligence. 

 If you flatter him, you betray him; if you conceal 

 the truth of those things from him which concern 

 his justice or his honour, although not the safety of 

 his person, you are as dangerous a traitor to his 

 state, as he that riseth in arms against him. A false 

 friend is more dangerous than an open enemy : kings 

 are styled gods upon earth, not absolute, but &quot; Dixi, 

 Dii estis ;&quot; and the next words are, &quot; sed moriemini 

 sicut homines ;&quot; they shall die like men, and then all 

 their thoughts perish. They cannot possibly see all 

 things with their own eyes, nor hear all things with 

 their own ears ; they must commit many great 

 trusts to their ministers. Kings must be answer 

 able to God Almighty, to whom they are but vas- 



