Sentence:  Eurydice...meaning nothing lesse than to let her husband serue as a <WSD>Stale</WSD>, keeping the throne warme till another were growne old enough to sit in it. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A patsy, a pawn, someone used under some false pretext to forward another's (usu. sinister) designs; a stalking horse.