Princes — The thought of Psalms 118:8-9 is here elaborated, with distinct allusion to Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19 (Comp. 1Ma. 2:63.) The verse, no doubt, was in Shakespeare’s mind when he made Wolsey say:
“Oh, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favours!”
as it was quoted by Strafford when the news reached him that Charles I. had given the royal assent to the bill of attainder against him. But in the psalm it is not the caprice of princes, as in these notable instances, but their frailty as men that is declared untrustworthy.