Page:The religious life of King Henry VI.djvu/45

Rh saying of Francesco Petrarch: Nuditas beluina in hominibus non placet, sed pudore amictus honestate consulitur. Moreover, the monarch took the greatest care not only to safeguard his own chastity, but carefully watched over his household in such matters. He was determined that no loose woman should ever enter his palace to effect the ruin of any of his servants, if he could help it. He provided upright and virtuous priests to watch over his half-brothers, Jasper and Edmund, to teach them learning and virtue. Indeed, he always had the same care for all who were in attendance upon him, constantly warning them to avoid vicious and dissolute company and to pursue a life of virtue.

The saintly young King showed himself always anxious to avoid the pest of avarice, by which many worldly princes are infected, and in consequence of which so many fall. His mind was never captivated by any unlawful love for the magnificent presents he received, nor by the great riches which at one time he possessed. To the poor he was ever most: liberal and always ready to help them in their needs. Indeed, he enriched very many by his gifts and by the offices he conferred