James Shirley, ‘Upon the Death of King James’ (1625)

When busy Fame was almost out of breath,
With telling to the world King James his death,
I gave the voice no credit; not that I
Believed in law, that kings can never die:
For though of purer mould, at last they must
Resolve to their cold principle, the dust,
Distinguished only from the common men,
That being dead, their dust is royal then.