Kingly Superstitions

Kingship bas been kin to superstition always. James I. of England was superstitious about dates, and there were remarkable coincidences in his life with certain dates of the calendar. Th day of the month on which he was born was strangely interwoven with the days of birth and marriage of his wife and some of his children and their wives. But James was an old fool who made love to young Buckingham, who laughed in his face and robbed him of his jewels.

Napoleon was superstitious about the way be put on his stockings. Frederick the Great and the great Peter of Russia were superstitious about dozens of things. Marlborough, both as Jack Churchill and the duke, was superstitious as well as a thief and a traitor. Nearly all the Stuarts were superstitious and double dealers in religion. Henry of Navarre was superstitious, but that never kept him from a thousand infidelities. All the children of Catherine of Medici were scared to death by their superstitions, but they could lie, cheat and murder just as well. If Cromwell was a victim of superstition, he kept it to himself.—New York Press