FRANCIS BACON
AND HIS
TIMES
SPEDDING
VOL. I.
Grad. R... 3
B
1197
$74
TRÜBNER & CO
A
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University of Michigan - BUHR
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FROM THE LIBRARY OF
ROBERT MARK WENLEY
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
1896
1922
GIFT OF HIS CHILDREN
TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

B
1197
S74
AN ACCOUNT
OF
THE LIFE AND TIMES
OF
FRANCIS BACON.
EXTRACTED FROM THE EDITION OF HIS OCCASIONAL
WRITINGS BY JAMES SPEDDING.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER AND COMPANY.
1878.
Copyright. All rights reserved.
02-4-39 ↓ Á
GRR3
2-3-39
2V.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
"THE Philosophical, Literary, and Professional Works
of Francis Bacon," in seven volumes, octavo, was issued
in England in 1857-59, under the editorship of Messrs.
Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, and reprinted in this coun-
try with the sanction and aid of Mr. Spedding, in fif-
teen volumes, crown octavo. The plan of the English
edition intended a second series, to contain the occasional
writings of Bacon, and this series, under the editorship of
Mr. Spedding alone, followed in 1861-1874, and occupied
seven volumes, uniform with the previous series. It was
so far a distinct work as to take on an independent title,
as follows:
"The Letters and the Life of Francis Bacon, includ-
ing all his Occasional Works, namely, Letters, Speeches,
Tracts, State Papers, Memorials, Devices, and all authen-
tic writings not already printed among his Philosophical,
Literary, or Professional Works: newly collected and
set forth in chronological order, with a Commentary, bio-
graphical and historical; by James Spedding.'
This descriptive title indicates the editor's purpose to
make the later division of Bacon's writings as exhaustive
as the earlier; the character of the writings led him to
present them in a different manner. In the first series,
critical and historical prefaces and notes precede and
accompany the separate works; in the second, a bio-
#
F
iv
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
graphical and historical commentary forms a frame in
which are set the letters and occasional writings, so that
while the book is entitled "The Letters and the Life of
Francis Bacon," not far from one half of the whole work
consists of Mr. Spedding's commentary. As Bacon en-
tered the service of the state when twenty-four years old,
and remained in it until his death, and as the years in-
cluded by his life, 1560-1626, covered one of the notable
periods of English history, it is plain that the resulting
work must be a contribution both to the personal history
of Bacon and to the political history of England.
Covering this field and displaying so minute a criticism,
"The Letters and the Life of Bacon " is a comprehensive
and suggestive work, which no thorough student of Bacon
and his times can afford to neglect. But the comprehen-
siveness of the plan has stood in the way of a republica-
tion of the book in this country. The number of scholars
who can give themselves to so full an examination of the
subject is necessarily small, and for such the original edi-
tion remains. But the recent issue here of a Popular
Edition of Bacon's works, in two volumes, gathered from
the complete edition in fifteen volumes, has met with
so hearty a reception from the public as to encourage
the publishers in the belief that there is a large body of
readers interested in Bacon and his writings, who would
gladly avail themselves of an opportunity to read a biog-
raphy which should present the result of the most thor-
ough criticism and inquiry, and include so much of con-
temporary history as is needed to give the Life its proper
setting.
With this view the present work has been planned and
executed. Mr. Spedding, in the original edition, gave
every scrap of Bacon's writings, not included in the pre-
vious series, which he could discover, adding also various
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
papers conjecturally Bacon's, and supplied the reader
with all necessary apparatus for an intelligent apprehen-
sion of the occasion, scope, and influence of these writ
ings. His plan led him into many subjects which have
only an antiquarian interest, but it also required him to
examine and state anew many points of English history
which never can lose their interest for English and
American readers. The editor of this American abridg-
ment has followed Mr. Spedding's order and authority in
all points; his part has been to retain those portions
which he judges to be of most interest to American read-
The result is that the relations of the two parts of
the work have been somewhat altered. The commentary
has become the main thing, and the writings are intro-
duced as illustrating that. Hence, the book is no longer
the Letters and the Life; it is not even the Life and the
Letters, for the letters form so subordinate a part that
the introduction of the word in the title would be mis-
leading. Bacon's letters form a considerable portion of
the original work, but in any popular and brief life of
Bacon, the majority of them are not essential to the
reader, although necessary to the writer.
ers.
The task of condensation was undertaken with Mr.
Spedding's permission, but without any suggestion from
him as to its scope. When the selections had been made,
he examined them with a view of their being read as
a separate Life, inserted what he thought wanting in the
way of connection or explanation, and corrected such
errors or supplied such deficiencies as he had discovered
since the publication of his original work. The book,
therefore, as it now stands, may be regarded as embody-
ing the editor's conception of what would be chosen by
an American reader who should judiciously skip in his
reading of the original work, and Mr. Spedding's final
+
vi
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
literary revision. For the selection (though modified
here and there according to Mr. Spedding's suggestions)
the editor is responsible. The text is wholly Mr. Sped-
ding's.
With regard to the specific division into chapters, and
the selection of foot-notes, the editor has used his discre-
tion, without recourse to Mr. Spedding. In the original
work, the division was into books, chapters and sections.
In this, the order of books has been followed, the section
divisions have been dropped, and the chapters have been
reformed to meet the necessities of an abridgment which
sometimes accepted an entire chapter, sometimes com-
bined several chapters into one. In selecting the foot-
notes, the editor's plan has been to retain generally those
which supplement the text, and a few which refer to au-
thorities accessible to American students; he has omitted
those which point to authorities not accessible, or are in-
troduced to enable students to verify statements in the
text. The general reader must and will accept Mr.
Spedding's word in a work of this kind; if he wishes for
final authorities, he will find abundant help in his search
by a reference to Mr. Spedding's original work.
The footnote references to Bacon's Works are in all cases to the
Popular Edition in two volumes, published by Houghton, Osgood & Co.,
unless otherwise specified.
.
¦ ་
CONTENTS
OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Birth. — Parents.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1560-1584. ÆTAT. 1–24.
Circumstances and Impressions of Boyhood.
Residence at Cambridge. Ideas and Aspirations with Regard to
the Advancement of Knowledge. - Three leading Objects of In-
terest. Residence in France with the English Ambassador. -
Condition of Europe at the Time. - Death of his Father, and
Commencement of Law Studies at Gray's Inn. - Application for
Employment in the Queen's Service. - Admitted Utter Barrister.
— Occupations at Gray's Inn
CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1584-1586.
ÆTAT. 24-26.
Commencement of Public Life.-M. P. for Malcombe in the Parlia-
ment of 1584.- Unanimity of Parties in Measures for the Safety
of the Queen's Person. - Strength of the Opposition on Church
Questions. State of the Question between the Nonconformists and
the Government. Orthodoxiolatry. -Great Petition. — Confer-
ence with the Bishops. - Lady Bacon's Application to Burghley in
behalf of the Preachers. Bacon's Letter to Sir Francis Walsing-
ham.
- Fate of his first Suit. - Fresh Application to Burghley
for some Furtherance in his professional Career. - Contemporary
Criticism of his Behavior. — Burghley's Admonition.
Lord Burghley.- Full Admission to the Bench
CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1586-1589.
ETAT. 26-29.
•
Letter to
1-13
14-24
Character of the Act passed in the last Parliament for Defense of
the Queen's Person. - Conspiracy and Trial of Mary, Queen of
Scots.-A new Parliament summoned. —Execution of Mary. -
—
P
viii
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
—
Conduct of Elizabeth. — Proceedings in Parliament. — Subsidy
voted. Benevolence proposed and offered, but declined. Com-
mittal of Members to the Tower for raising Questions concerning
Ecclesiastical Government and Right of Free Speech in the Lower
House. Defeat of the Spanish Armada. — Apprehensions of an-
other Invasion. A new Parliament summoned. -A Double Sub-
sidy granted for the first Time, with Request for a Declaration of
War against Spain. - Progress of Disputes between High Church-
men and Nonconformists. - Martin Marprelate.- Bacon's " Adver-
tisement touching the Controversies of the Church of England.".
Effect of the Controversies upon Opinion abroad. — Importance of
making Elizabeth's Dealings with the Religious Parties in England
properly understood in France. —Letter to Archbishop Whitgift.
Probability that Bacon wrote the Letter from Sir Francis Walsing-
ham to M. Critoy.-The Letter, stating the Relation of the Gov-
ernment to Papists and to Puritans. - Possible Connection of An-
thony Bacon with M. Critoy's Communication. - Clerkship of the
Counsel in the Star Chamber granted to Bacon in Reversion
—
CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1590-1592. ÆTAT. 30–32.
25-49
Beginning of acquaintance between Bacon and the Earl of Essex.
The Promise given by the Earl at the Beginning of his Career.
Anthony Bacon's Return from Abroad. - Objects, Hopes, and
Wishes. Letter to Lord Burghley. The two Brothers to-
gether. Lady Bacon at Gorhambury. Her Interview with Cap-
tain Allen. Her Letter to Anthony on his Return. - Lady Bacon
and her Sons. Bacon at Twickenham. His Relations to Essex.
-Letter to Thomas Phillips. -Bacon's Contribution to the Cel-
ebration of the Queen's Day, 1592.- Publication of Parsons' "Re-
sponsio" and Bacon's "Observations on a Libel "
CHAPTER V.
A. D. 1593. ETAT. 33.
50-68
Fresh Intrigues between Spain and Scotland. Apprehensions of In-
vasion. A new Parliament summoned. Relations between the
Crown, the Lords, and the Commons. Certain Points of Consti-
tutional Usage not yet fully established. — Attempts on the part
of the Crown and the Upper House to encroach. - Committal of
Peter Wentworth and others, for introducing a Petition relating to
the Succession. Motion for Committee of Supply. — Bacon's
Speech in support of the Motion. Grant of a Double Subsidy
recommended by the Committee. — Conference demanded by the
Lords. — Intimation from the Lord Treasurer that the proposed
1
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Grant was not sufficient, and demand of another Conference to dis-
cuss the Matter. - Bacon's Objection to joint Discussion, as against
the Privileges of the Lower House. — The Proposal declined. — The
Queen prepares to retreat ; and the Pretension of the Lords is silently
withdrawn. Grant of three Subsidies, payable in four years,
proposed. Bacon's Speech of Amendment on the Motion.
Original Motion carried in Committee, and agreed to without Di-
vision on the Whole House. - Progress of Taxation. - Bill passed
and presented to the Queen. - Balance of Loss and Gain to the
Crown upon the whole Proceeding. — Conduct of Coke as Speaker.
-
ix
The Queen's Message to the House delivered by him. — Right of
the Crown to determine what Subjects should be discussed in Par-
liament and what not. — Competition between Bacon and Coke for
the Attorney Generalship; their Pretensions declared. - Conse-
quences of Bacon's Speech on the Subsidy Bill.-Intimation of
the Queen's Displeasure. - Letter to the Lord Treasurer in ex-
cuse of his Speech. - Bacon forbidden to come into the Queen's
Presence. - Proposes to give up Court and Law, and betake him-
self to other Pursuits. - Letter to the Earl of Essex. - Essex per-
suades him to postpone his Resolution and promises to get him
made Attorney General.- Bacon endeavors to engage Burghley in
the Cause by the Mediation of his Sons. Letter to Sir Robert
Cecil. — Sir Robert's Advice. — Progress of Essex's Mediation.
Bacon takes Occasion to state his Case for himself. — Letter to the
Earl of Essex.-Letter to the Queen. - The Queen reported to be
appeased
69-107
CHAPTER VI.
ETAT. 33-34.
A. D. 1593-1594.
Importance to Bacon of having the Question settled whichever way.
-Pecuniary Difficulties. — Proposed Relief through the Sale of an
Estate. Lady Bacon's Consent necessary. Conditions required
by her. Letter from Lady Bacon to Anthony Bacon. - Earl of
Essex sworn a Privy Councillor. — Relation between him and the
Bacons.-Progress of Essex's Mediation in Favor of Bacon. ·
Disposition of Burghley.— Still no Resolution taken in regard to
the Attorneyship. - Bacon's first Pleadings in the King's Bench and
Exchequer. — Progress of Canvass for the Attorneyship. Conver-
sation between Essex and Sir Robert Cecil. Conspiracy of Dr.
Lopez to poison the Queen. - Coke to be Attorney General. — Ba-
con the likeliest Candidate for the Solicitorship, if the Impression
of his Speech on the Subsidy Bill were removed. - Letter to the
Earl of Essex. The Queen shows Signs of relenting. Bacon
begins to be employed in Business of the Learned Counsel.- Ap-
pointed to go to the North on State Service. — Letter to the Queen.
-
..
7
X
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
- Takes his M. A. Degrees at Cambridge. - Fragments of a Dis-
course touching Intelligence and the Safety of the Queen's Person.
Conditions of the Time, and Duties of a Crown Lawyer.
State of Elizabeth's Council-Table.-Bacon continues to be em-
ployed in Examinations. Nature of an Examination upon Inter-
rogatories. Money Matters. -Debtor and Creditor Account be-
tween Anthony and Francis. - Holiday Occupations, grave and
gay. Merry Christmas at Gray's Inn." Gesta Grayorum."
The Prince of Purpoole in Council. Speeches of the Six Coun-
cillors. ― Relation of the Composition to Bacon's serious Specula-
tions
108-154
CHAPTER VII.
A. D. 1594–1595, JANUARY-NOVEMBER.
ETAT. 34.
Bacon's Resolution to give up the Suit for the Solicitorship and go
abroad.- Essex's Attempt to bring the Matter to a Crisis. - Bacon
sent for to the Court. Letter to Anthony Bacon. Enclosure to
Sir Robert Cecil. — Appointment still in Suspense, and Bacon still
a Suitor.
Letter to Foulke Greville.-Bacon again reminded of
his old Offense in the Matter of the Subsidy Bill in 1593, and
again tenders the old Excuse. — Serjeant Fleming appointed So-
licitor. Probable Cause of the Queen's long Indecision and final
Resolution. —Essex's Disappointment and his Munificence towards
Bacon. - Grant from the Crown to Bacon of the Lease of certain
Lands at Twickenham, in Reversion. - Letter to the Earl of Essex.
- Apprehensions and Warnings. - Essex in full Favor again. —
Celebration of the Anniversary of the Queen's Accession.
con's Position at this time
-
Ba-
155-173
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1595-1597. ÆTAT. 35-37.
Literary Work: "Formularies and Elegancies," "Essays," etc.
Projected Attack on the Spanish Fleet and Coasts. — Qualifications
of the Earl of Essex for Command. —Expedition against Spain.
Essex Commander of the Forces by Land. - Capture of Cadiz. -
Position of Essex. —Letter of Advice to Essex. -Occupations.
"Maxims of the Law," "Essays," "Colors of Good and Evil,"
σε Meditationes Sacræ." Essex at Court. — Quarrels and Recon-
ciliations. — Made Master of the Ordnance. — Death of Sir Wil-
liam Hatton.-Bacon's Project of Marriage with the Widow.-
Another Expedition against Spain. - Essex Commander-in-chief
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
both by Land and Sea. - Letter to the Earl of Essex. -Inquiry
conceruing the fees exacted by Mr. Mill, Clerk of the Star Cham-
ber.—The Island Voyage. Plan and Conduct of the Expedition ;
Causes of Failure. - Why Essex took the Fleet to St. Michael's
when his Business was to intercept the Passage to Terceira; and
why the Capture of Fayal by Raleigh was not mentioned in the
official Report of the Voyage. The English Coast in Danger.
The Spanish Fleet in the Channel dispersed and disabled by a
Storm. Return of the English Fleet. - Essex's Grievances
CHAPTER II
A. D. 1597-1598.
ÆTAT. 37.
xi
174-203
A new Parliament. - Decorous and dignified Proceeding of the Gov-
ernment. - Postponement of Motion for Supply till all the prin-
cipal Commonwealth Measures had been introduced. -Relief of
the Poor. Maintenance of Husbandry. - Grant of three Subsi-
dies payable in three years passed without a dissentient Voice.
Jealousies and Discontents of the Earl of Essex. - The Lord Ad-
miral created Earl of Nottingham. — Question of Precedence.
Essex made Earl Marshal. - Sir Robert Cecil's Negotiation in
France. - Irish Affairs. - Truce with the Earl of Tyrone. — A
Letter of Advice to the Earl of Essex to take upon him the
Care of Irish Causes when Mr. Secretary Cecil was in France.
Terms offered to Tyrone. His Exception. - Bacon's Advice
asked for by Essex. - A Letter of Advice to the Earl of Essex,
upon the first Treaty with Tyrone, 1598, before the Earl was nom-
inated for the Charge of Ireland. - Tyrone pardoned. Measures
of Precaution neglected. - Progress of Negotiation in France.
Essex and the Queen. The great Quarrel. Letter to the Earl
of Essex. Altered Relation between Essex and the Queen
CHAPTER III.
204-231
A. D. 1598-1599.
ETAT. 38-39.
-
Bacon arrested for Debt. Letter to Sir Robert Cecil, 24th of Sep-
tember, 1598.- Letter to Lord Keeper Egerton. More Tower
Employment. Conspiracy of Edward Squire. - Credibility of
the Story. - Irish Affairs. Breach of the Treaty by Tyrone.
Siege of Blackwater. - Defeat of Sir Henry Bagnall and spread
of the Rebellion. - Essex becomes more submissive and is admitted
again to see the Queen. - Death of Sir Richard Bingham. — Ne-
cessity of a great Effort to reconquer Ireland. - Lord Montjoy
nominated for the Charge. -Nomination canceled by the Influ-
ence of Essex, who undertakes the Task himself. -Bacon, being
applied to for Advice, endeavors unsuccessfully to dissuade him
A
*:
xii
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
from going. Largeness of the Authority stipulated for by Essex.
- Bacon's Uneasiness. Letter of Advice to my Lord of Essex im-
mediately before the going to Ireland. - Misgivings with regard to
Essex's Purposes. - Tone of his Letters to the Council. - Demands
and Complaints. - Behavior before he arrived at the Scene of Ac-
tion. — Proceedings upon his Arrival. - Disposition of the Rebel
Forces. March through Munster, and return to Dublin with the
Army half wasted away. - Professes an Intention to march against
Tyrone in Ulster, but wants a Reinforcement of two thousand
Men. Disaster of Sir Conyers Clifford. March into Ulster. -
State of the Army. - Advice of the Captains. -Meeting with
Tyrone; Parley and Truce. General Result of the Campaign.
Difficulty of believing that Essex's first Object was to put an End
to the Rebellion. Conjecture as to his real Design. - The Queen
demands Explanation, and in the mean time commands him to stay
and wait for his Instructions. - Essex's Difficulty. - Being unable
to explain the Grounds of his Proceeding except in Person, he pro-
poses to return to England at the head of his Army; but by Ad-
vice of Blount and Southampton, consents to take with him only a
select Band of Captains. His sudden Appearance at Nonsuch
and Reception by the Queen. Bacon, hearing that Essex has been
Letter to
commanded to keep his Chamber, repairs to Nonsuch.
the Earl of Essex. - Bacon's Account of their Interview, and of
the Advice he gave him. His Ignorance of Essex's real Posi-
tion
232-274
—
CHAPTER IV.
ÆTAT. 39-40.
A. D. 1599-1600.
- The
Spirit of Essex's Followers. — Danger of a violent Rescue avoided by
the Course which the Queen took with him. Committed to the Cus-
tody of the Lord Keeper. - His Professions. His real Object in
coming over. His Reluctance to disclose the Conditions demanded
by Tyrone. Consequence of the Disclosure when it came.
Queen's Reasons for being dissatisfied with the Earl's Story.
Strange News from Ireland. - Popular Dissatisfaction, and Meas-
Declara-
ures taken to quiet it. - Bacon's Warning and Advice.
tion by the Councillors in the Star Chamber.- Popular Misappre-
hension of the Part which Bacon had taken in the Matter. Vi-
olence threatened. His Absence from the Star Chamber when
the Declaration was made. - Essex still at York House. How
employed. Essex's Position.- His secret Negotiations with the
King of Scots. Part taken by Lord Montjoy. - Object of the In-
trigue. Essex recommended by his Friends to attempt an Escape
into France; but refuses to lead the life of a Fugitive. - Montjoy
appointed to the Command in Ireland. Renewed Proposition to
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
the King of Scots for the Arrangement of some joint Action be-
tween the Army in Scotland, the Army in Ireland, and the Earl's
Partisans in England, to compel a Declaration as to the Succession.
- The King of Scots not prepared.- Essex urges Montjoy to pro-
ceed with the design, who declines. Essex allowed to return to
his own House under charge of a Keeper. The Queen having
no Suspicion of these things, resolves to bring the Case of Essex to
a formal Hearing. — Judicial Proceeding at York House. -Com-
position of the Court and Form of Proceeding. - Part assigned to
Bacon. · Sentence of the Court. Bacon's Advice to the Queen.
His Unsuccess. Essex released from his Keeper, and ultimately
restored to full Liberty
xiii
275-297
CHAPTER V.
A. D. 1600, JULY – 1601, FEBRUARY.
ÆTAT. 40.
His dealings with
Letter to the Earl
Answer. Letters
Bacon's Part in the Proceeding at York House.
and for the Earl during the next two Months.
of Essex, 20th of July, 1600. - The Earl's
drawn up for him by Bacon. - The Objects in View. - Bacon's
Advice followed for awhile. -The Effects of it. Essex's Dan-
gers and secret Fears. Contrast between the Temper in which
he affected to be and the Temper in which he really was. — Change
in the Queen's Feelings towards him, and the Causes of it. Mo-
nopoly Patent not renewed. Bacon's Influence at an end. — Pri-
vate Affairs. Preparation for his Double Reading at Gray's Inn.
-Payment of pressing Debts. Essex, returning to his former
Projects, resolves to carry his Ends by Force. Unsuccessful At-
tempt to engage Montjoy in the Action.- Renewed Intrigues with
King of Scots. — Preparations for surprising and overpowering the
Court. Message from the Council. Sudden Change in the Plan
of Action. - Message from the Queen. -Treatment of the Mes-
sengers. Endeavor to get Help in the City. - Proclamation. –
Fight on Ludgate Hill. The whole Party surrounded in Essex
House and forced to Surrender at Discretion. — Proceedings of the
Council. — Investigations and ultimate Discovery of the whole
Plot.-Bacon's Part. Arraignment of Essex. His intended
Defense. Opening of the Case by the Queen's Counsel. Ac-
count of the MS. from which the History of the Trial is taken.
Evidence of the Tumult at Essex House. The Lord Chief Jus-
tice's Deposition. - The Proceeding how justified by Essex.
Evidence of the preliminary Consultations and Preparations.
Sir Ferdinando Gorge sent for. - Unseasonable Digressions.
Pretext of personal Danger: how justified. — Sir Walter Ralegh's
Deposition. - Story that the Kingdom was to be sold to the Span-
iard: how justified.— Sir R. Cecil and Sir William Knollys. —
M
G

xiv
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Desultory and Disorderly setting forth of the Evidence. · Bacon's
First Speech.
Essex's Retort and unsuccessful Attempt to draw
Bacon into a personal Altercation. His successful Reply to
Coke's Charge of Hypocrisy in Religion. — Southampton's Defense.
- Opinion of the Judges. Coke's Argument.
Bacon's second
Speech. Verdict and Sentence. Errors in the Management of
the Case by Coke, and inadequate Impression on the Public Mind.
Chamberlain's Account of the Trial
—>>
CHAPTER VI.
A. D. 1601, FEBRUARY-APRIL.
ÆTAT. 40.
298-342
Essex's Confession of his own Guilt, and Information against his As-
sociates: how induced and of what Nature. His Behavior on the
Scaffold. Trial of Sir John Davis. Bacon's Speech. Bacon
commanded to draw up a Narrative of the Treason for the Infor-
mation and Satisfaction of the Public. — Misconception of the
Character of this Narrative by the next Generation. Ground-
lessness of the Charge brought against Bacon by Mr. Jardine. -
The Declaration meant and believed by its Authors to be a scrupu-
lously veracious Narrative. The one considerable Error in Ba-
con's Narrative. Probable Origin of the Error. The substan-
tial Truth of his Story confirmed by the Correction of it.— Upon
a fair Review of Bacon's Conduct toward Essex from first to last
no Fault to be found with any part of it
C
343-361
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1601, APRIL-DECEMBER.
ÆTAT. 40.
Altercation between Bacon and Coke in the Exchequer. — Letter to
Mr. Secretary Cecil, 29th of April, 1601.-Letter of Expostula-
tion to the Attorney General.- Death of Anthony Bacon. His
Character and Services. Story told of him by Sir Henry Wotton
accounted for. - Fines and Pardons of the Persons engaged in Es-
sex's Conspiracy. -Sum assigned to Bacon out of Catesby's Fine.
The Queen and the Monopolies. - Occupation of Kinsale in
Ireland by the Spaniards. A new Parliament Summoned. Ba-
con's Views as to the Business of Parliament. - Grant of Four
Subsidies, payable in three years and a half. Commencement
of the Attack upon Monopolies. - Speech in the House against a
Bill for the Explanation of the Common Law in certain Cases of
Letters Patents. - Bill committed. Speech in Committee against
the same. Motion for a Petition to the Queen for Leave to pass
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
an Act making Monopolies of no more Force than they are at the
Common Law.-Seconded by Bacon: but no Decision taken.
Cecil's Interference. - The Queen's Message. Proclamation to
suspend the execution of Monopoly Patents till tried by Common
Law. Satisfaction of the House.—The Queen's last Speech to
her People
XV
362-391
I.
CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1601-1603. ÆTAT. 41-43.
Money Difficulties. - Mortgage of Twickenham Park. - Defeat of
the Spanish Forces in Ireland. - Bacon writes to Cecil touching
the Queen's Service in Ireland. - Submission of Tyrone. - Mont-
joy's Instructions and Proceedings. -Illness and Death of Eliz-
abeth. James L. proclaimed King. — Bacon seeks to get himself
recommended to his Favor. An Offer of Service to his Majesty
K. James upon his first coming in. - A Letter to the Earl of North-
umberland, mentioning a Proclamation drawn for the King at his
Entrance. The Proclamation.-Proceedings of the Council dur-
ing the Interregnum. —Relations between Bacon and Lord South-
ampton. A Letter to the Earl of Southampton upon the King's
coming in. Bacon's Interview with the King and first Impres-
sions. A Letter to the Earl of Northumberland after he had been
State
with the King. - Bacon's Official Position and Prospects.
of his Private Affairs. - Project of Marriage.-Letter to Robert
Lord Cecil 3 July, 1603.-Letter to the same 16 July, 1603.
Progress of Philosophical Speculations. - Preface to intended
Treatise "De Interpretatione Naturæ." - Probable Occasion and
Object of Book on the "Advancement of Learning." - His Opin-
ion upon the Union of England and Scotland, in a Discourse pri-
vately dedicated to King James. Dispute between the High
Churchmen and the Puritans. - True Policy of the Government.
Trial of
The Priests' Plot.
-Conference at Hampton Court. -
Sir Walter Ralegh.- Popular Impressions with regard to Bacon's
Conduct towards Essex: whence derived. - Convenience of the
Time for Explanation. — Reason for believing that the Explana-
tion was not considered unsatisfactory to Bacon's Contempora-
ries
-
392-442
CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1604. ÆTAT. 44.
-
-
A new Parliament summoned. Great Question of Privilege: Sir
Francis Goodwin's Case. Conference with the King. — Com-
mittee appointed to draw up Reasons against conferring : Bacon to
deliver them to the King.-Committee appointed to confer with
*
in
.
xvi
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
the Judges: Bacon to be Spokesman. - Compromise proposed and
agreed to. State of the Law with regard to Wardship, Purvey-
ance, Monopolies, etc., referred to a Committee. — Resolutions of
Committee reported by Bacon.-The King's Attitude in the Mat-
ter of Purveyors. Proceedings with regard to Union. — Com-
missioners chosen and Act passed. Dissatisfaction of the King.
His Letter to the Commons. - Conference with the Lords about
a Book published by a Bishop in derogation of the Lower House.
-The Bishop rebuked and made to acknowledge his Error. - Pro-
test of Convocation against Pretensions of the House of Commons.
Unsatisfactory Conference with the Lords on Wardships and Ten-
ures. — Another Speech from the King. -Union Act passed with
unusual Expedition. — Interchange of Explanations. - Apology of
the Commons. - Hint from the Lords that a Subsidy would be
welcome. Motion received doubtfully and withdrawn by the
King's Desire. Parliament prorogued. -Vacation Work. - Prep-
arations for the Meeting of the Commissioners for the Union.
Proceedings of the Commissioners. — Resolutions digested into form
by Bacon, and a Preamble prepared: The most humble Certificate
or return of the Commissioners of England and Scotland, authorized
to treat of an Union for the Weal of both Realms. - Unanimity of
the Commissioners (all but one) and prosperous Dispatch of their
Business. Causes of Delay in submitting their Recommendations
to Parliament
·
443-471
CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1605-1607. ETAT. 45-46.
The Solicitor General (Fleming) made Chief Baron. - Doderidge
made Solicitor.-Interval of Leisure for Bacon. - Progress of the
"Advancement of Learning.' Gunpowder Plot. Letter to
Toby Matthew. - Bishop Andrewes and the "Advancement of
Learning." - Death of the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
Succeeded by Sir Francis Gawdy, Puisne Judge of the King's
Bench. - Second Session of James's first Parliament. The King
relates the Discovery of a Plot. - Adjournment to January 21.
-Altered Temper of the Commons. - Grant of Two Subsidies
agreed upon. Question of Union postponed. - Temper of the
House toward the King and Grant of Three Subsidies and Six Fif-
teenths and Tenths. Rumor of Promotions in the Law.- Letter
to the Earl of Salisbury. - No Changes made. — Marriage of Ba-
con to Alice Barnham. - Death of Sir Francis Gawdy. — Coke
succeeds him as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.- Sir Henry
Hobart made Attorney General. - Promotion of Doderidge to the
Office of King's Serjeant, and of Bacon to that of Solicitor, in-
tended but not effected. - Death of Mr. Beltenham of Gray's Inn.
-Letter to Sir Thomas Posthumus Hobby. - Memorial to Belten-
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
ham erected by Bacon.- A Letter of Request to Dr. Playfere to
translate the "Advancement of Learning" into Latin.- Death
of Playfere. — Parliament meets again, 28 November, 1606. — An-
swer to the Petition of Grievances. - Debates on the Instrument of
Union. - Committee appointed to prepare for Conference with the
Lords. — Article of Commerce disputed.-House adjourned from
18 December to 10 February. Article concerning General Natu-
ralization opposed by Fuller. - Question of Law concerning the
Post-nati. - Conference with the Lords. - Determination of the
Commons to ignore the Distinction between the Cases of the Ante-
nati and the Post-nati. — Motion for a Perfect Union opposed by
Bacon. - The King's Speech to the Commons immediately before
the Easter Recess. — Another Speech after their Reassembling.
Project of General Naturalization allowed to drop. - Bill for Abol-
ishing Hostile Laws. Bacon made Solicitor General at last.
End of Session. - Enlargement and final Settlement of the Plan of
the "Great Instauration." "Idols of the Theatre." -"Cogitata
et Visa." A Letter to Sir Thomas Bodley. - Dispute about the
Jurisdiction of the Provincial Council in Wales. · Attempt to im-
prove the Constitution of Petty Juries by getting Gentlemen to
serve on them. Proclamation concerning Jurors
—
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1607–1609. ÆTAT. 47–49.
xvii
472-515
Increase of Judges' Salaries. -Fee granted to Bacon. - Delays in
the Exchequer. - A Letter of Expostulation to Sir Vincent Skin-
ner. Conversion of Toby Matthew to the Romish Church.
Committed to Custody on his Return to England. - Allowed to
visit Bacon.— Letter to a Friend, about Reading and giving Judg-
ment upon his Writings. Matthew refuses to take the Oath and
is committed to the Fleet Prison. - Letter to Toby Matthew.
His Banishment. Relation between Bacon and Salisbury. — A
Letter to the Earl of Salisbury, of Courtesy upon a New Year's
Tide. Question whether the Post-nati were naturalized by Law,
argued before all the Judges in the Exchequer, and settled that they
were. - Bacon's Views as to the Foreign Policy of England. — His
Fragment on "The True Greatness of England." - Book of Pri-
vate Memoranda. General Survey of the Contents. - Popish Li-
bels against the Memory of Queen Elizabeth.-Bacon's Memorial
of her Felicities. - To Sir George Cary in France upon sending
him his Writing "In Felicem Memoriam Elizabethæ."- Progress
of the "Great Instauration.”—A Letter to Mr. Matthew, touching
"Instauratio Magna."- Letters to the same on "In Felicem
b
+
•
-
xviii
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Memoriam Elizabethæ." — Redargutio Philosophiarum. A Letter
to Mr. Matthew, upon sending to him Part of the "Instauratio
Magna." - Bishop Andrewes and Cardinal Bellarmin. - A Letter ·
to Bishop Andrewes upon sending his Writing, entitled "Cogitata
et Visa." Bacon's Book on the Wisdom of the Ancients. -
Probable motive for publishing it at this Time. - Modern Views of
the Meaning of the old Myths. A Letter to Mr. Matthew, upon
sending him his Book "De Sapientia Veterum." - Bacon invites
Isaac Casaubon, then in Paris, to a Correspondence.
A Letter to
Casaubon
516-570
CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1610. ÆTAT. 50.
State of the Exchequer. - Ordinary Income of the Crown insufficient
for its ordinary Outlay. - Decrease in the Value of Subsidies.
Death of the Lord Treasurer and Condition of the Treasury. -
Salisbury succeeds to the Office. His first Measures.
J
—
—
His De-
vice of the Great Contract.-Meeting of Parliament. Confer-
Contribution and
ence between the Houses. Bacon's Part.
Retribution. What the King demanded, and what he offered in
Exchange. - Proceedings of the Commons against Dr. Cowell for
Unconstitutional Doctrines published in a Law Dictionary. - Sup-
pression of the Book by Proclamation. Further Conferences con-
cerning the Great Contract. Whether Wards and Tenures were to
be Part of the Retribution. - Liberty to treat granted. Offer
made by the Commons. - Dilatory Proceeding of the Government.
Apparent Impolicy and probable Motive of it. - Pretended Mis-
understandings. Salisbury's new Version of the Government
-
Proposal. Rejected. - Negotiations broken off. Collection of
Grievances. Impositions. - Message from the King to the Com-
mons received through the Council. - Resolved not to receive Mes-
sages from the Council as Messages from the King, but the Reso-
lution not recorded. - The King warns the Commons not to dispute
his Power to lay Impositions upon Merchandises; though willing to
put a limit upon the Exercise of it.-Petition of Right presented,
graciously received and granted. — Assassination of Henri IV. —
Negotiation of the Great Contract resumed.—Salisbury urges Ex-
pedition. — Tries to get a Grant of Subsidies at once, but without
Success. Debate on Impositions. Conference concerning the
Contract. Better offer from the King. - Petition of Grievances
presented. Bacon's Speech to the King in behalf of the Com-
mons. -The King offers to consent to an Act suspending his Power
to impose for the Future without Consent of Parliament. - Dissat
isfaction of the Commons. Grant of one Subsidy and one Fif-
teenth. Great Contract resumed, Terms agreed upon, and Memo-
-
►
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
xix
rials exchanged. - Answer given to the remaining Grievances, and
Parliament prorogued till October. - Terms of the Contract, as
affecting the People, considered
571-622
CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1610-1611. ÆTAT. 50-51.
→
Death of Bacon's Mother. - Probable Condition of her latter Years.
-Letter to Sir Michael Hickes. - Effect of Discussion of the Great
Contract during the Recess. Loss and Gain variously estimated;
and both Parties afraid of the Result. Parliament meets again.
Conference between the Houses, by Invitation of the Lords.
True Copy of the King's Answer to the Petition of Grievances
sent for by the Commous. A resolute and speedy Answer whether
they would proceed with the Contract, required of the Commons
by the King.-Debate in the House upon the Answer to be sent.
Provisions without which the Contract would not be safe for the
People.Terms demanded by the King. - Refusal of the Com-
mons to proceed upon those Terms. - Negotiations broken off.
New Device for obtaining Supplies. The Commons invited to a
Conference. Salisbury's Enumeration of Things to be desired by
both Houses. - Message of Thanks and Explanation resolved upon
but no Supply voted. Dissolution of the Parliament.-Literary
Occupations. Relation between the Crown and the Commons. -
Legal Appointments. - Prospects of Promotion. Letters to the
King in suit for the Attorney's Place. - Letter to Salisbury.- New
Year's Letter to Sir Michael Hickes.-Death of Sir Thomas Sut-
ton, Founder of the Charterhouse. Will contested. Advice to
the King touching Sutton's Estate
623-654
CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1612–1613.
ÆTAT. 52-53.
Death of Salisbury. Result of his Financial Administration.
Critical Character of the Occasion. Bacon's Thoughts and As-
pirations. Letters to the King upon Salisbury's Death. - Diffi-
culty of filling the Place of Principal Secretary of State. — Ba-
con's Offer. Secretaryship left vacant.—Treasurership put in
Commission.-Bacon a Subcommissioner. Increasing Import-
ance of Bacon as a Councillor. - Letter to the King touching his
Estate.- New Volume of Essays published. Intended Dedica-
tion to the Prince. — Death of the Prince. · Remembrance of his
Character written in Latin by Bacon. His Contribution to the
Festivities on Occasion of the Marriage of the Princess Elizabeth.
Question of calling a new Parliament. -Bacon's Views and Ad-
vice. — His Letter to the King, with Advice how to proceed with a
י1

XX
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Parliament. — Advice given by Sir Henry Neville on the same
Occasion. · Contrast between the two. Death of Sir Thomas
Fleming, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Bacon recommends
Sir H. Hobart for his Successor. Attempt to introduce Parlia-
Creation of new Boroughs.
mentary Government into Ireland.
-Election of Sir John Davies as Speaker. Refusal of the Ro-
man Catholic Members to serve. - - Reference to the King. -Com-
missioners appointed to investigate Complaints. Report of the
Commissioners; and orders issued thereupon. The seceding
Members consent to serve. Coke made Chief Justice of the
King's Bench: Hobart, of the Common Pleas : Bacon, Attorney
General: Yelverton, Solicitor General. Letter of Thanks to the
King. Dissolution of the Marriage between the Earl of Essex
and Lady Frances Howard. Her Marriage to Rochester, created
Earl of Somerset for the Occasion. - Bacon's Complimentary Of-
fering of the "Masque of Flowers." Probable Motive and Occa-
sion. Prevalence of Duels. - Proclamation against them by the
King. -Bacon's Recommendation. - His Proposition for the re-
pressing of Singular Combats or Duels
-
655-709
FRANCIS BACON AND HIS TIMES.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1560-1584.
ÆTAT. 1-24.
FRANCIS BACON was born among great events, and
brought up among the persons who had to deal with
them. It was on the 22d of January, 1560-1, while
the young Queen of Scotland, a two-months' widow, was
rejecting the terms of reconciliation with England which
Elizabeth proffered, and a new Pope in the Vatican was
preparing to offer the terms of reconciliation with Rome
which Elizabeth rejected, that he came crying into the
world, the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord
Keeper of the Great Seal, and Ann, second daughter of
Sir Anthony Cooke, an accomplished lady, sister-in-law
to the then Secretary of State, Sir William Cecil. There
is no reason to suppose that he was regarded as a wonder-
ful child. Of the first sixteen years of his life indeed
nothing is known that distinguishes him from a hundred
other clever and well-disposed boys. He was born at
York House, his father's London residence, opening into
the Strand (not yet a street) on the north, and sloping
pleasantly to the Thames (not yet built out) on the
south. Sometimes there, and sometimes at Gorhambury
in Hertfordshire, he passed his infancy; the youngest of
VOL. L
1
{
:
7
2
BOYHOOD.
[BOOK I.
eight children-six by a former marriage. In April,
1573, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, a little
earlier than was then usual, being twelve years and three
months old. There he resided in the same rooms with
his brother Anthony (his own brother, two years older
than himself), studying diligently, until Christmas, 1575;
apparently with only one considerable interval (i. e. from
the latter end of August, 1574, to the beginning of
March), when the University was dispersed on account
of the plague. On the 27th of the following June he
and his brother Anthony were admitted "de societate
magistrorum" of Gray's Inn; that is, I suppose, ancients;
a privilege to which they were entitled as the sons of a
judge. If we add that during his residence at Cambridge
he was rather sickly, as appears by the frequent pay-
ments to the " potigarie" in Whitgift's accounts, and
that his talents or manners had already been remarked
by the courtiers, and drawn him the special notice of the
Queen herself, who would often talk with him and play-
fully call him the young Lord Keeper, we have all that
is known about him for the first fifteen years and nine
months of his life.
Brief however and barren as this record appears, it
may help us, when studied by the light which his sub-
sequent history throws back upon it, to understand in
what manner and in what degree the accidents of his
birth and education had prepared him for the scene on
which he was entering. When the temperament is quick
and sensitive, the desire of knowledge strong, and the
faculties. so vigorous, obedient, and equably developed
that they find almost all things easy, the mind will com-
monly fasten upon the first object of interest that pre-
sents itself, with the ardor of a first love. Now these
qualities, which so eminently distinguished Bacon as a
man, must have been in him from a boy; and if we would
know the source of those great impulses which began to
1560-84.]
EARLY INFLUENCES.
work in him so early and continued to govern him so
long, we must look for it among the circumstances by
which his boyhood was surrounded. What his mother
taught him we do not know; but we know that she was
a learned, eloquent, and religious woman, full of affection
and puritanic fervor, deeply interested in the condition of
the Church, and perfectly believing that the cause of the
Nonconformists was the whole cause of Christ. Such a
mother could not but endeavor to lead her child's mind
into the temple where her own treasure was laid up,
and the child's mind, so led, could not but follow thither
with awful curiosity and impressions not to be effaced.
Neither do we know what his father taught him; but he
appears to have designed him for the service of the State,
and we need not doubt that the son of Elizabeth's Lord
Keeper, and nephew of her principal Secretary, early
imbibed a reverence for the mysteries of statesmanship,
and a deep sense of the dignity, responsibility, and im-
portance of the statesman's calling. It is probable that
he was present more than once, when old enough to
observe and understand such matters, at the opening
of Parliament, and heard his father, standing at the
Queen's side, declare to the assembled Lords and Com-
mons the causes of their meeting. It is certain that he
was more than once in the immediate presence of the
Queen herself, smiled on by the countenance which was
looked up to by all the young and all the old around
him with love and fear and reverence. Everything that
he saw and heard; the alarms, the hopes, the triumphs
of the time;¹ the magnitude of the interests which de-
pended upon her government; the high flow of loyalty
which buoyed her up and bore her forward; the impos-
ing character of her council, a character which still
stands out distinctly eminent at the distance of nearly
1 He was nine years old when the Bull of Excommunication was published
and the Rebellion in the North broke out.
4
RESIDENCE AT CAMBRIDGE.
[BOOK I.
So
three centuries: must have contributed to excite in the
boy's heart a devotion for her person and her cause.
situated, it must have been as difficult for a young and
susceptible imagination not to aspire after civil dignities
as for a boy bred in camps not to long to be a soldier.
But the time for these was not yet come. For the pres-
ent his field of ambition was still in the school-room
and library; where perhaps from the delicacy of his con-
stitution he was more at home than in the playground.
His career there was victorious; new prospects of bound-
less extent opening on every side; till at length, just
about the age at which an intellect of quick growth be-
gins to be conscious of original power, he was sent to
the University, where he hoped to learn all that men
knew. By the time however that he had gone through
the usual course and heard what the various professors
had to say, he was conscious of a disappointment. It
seemed that towards the end of the sixteenth century
men neither knew nor aspired to know more than was to
be learned from Aristotle; a strange thing at any time;
more strange than ever just then, when the heavens
themselves seemed to be taking up the argument on their
own behalf, and by suddenly lighting up within the very
region of the Unchangeable and Incorruptible, and pres-
ently extinguishing, a new fixed star as bright as Jupi-
ter (the new star in Cassiopeia shone with full lustre.
on Bacon's freshmanship) to be protesting by signs and
wonders against the cardinal doctrine of the Aristotelian
philosophy. It was then that a thought struck him, the
date of which deserves to be recorded, not for anything
extraordinary in the thought itself, which had probably
occurred to others before him, but for its influence upon
his after-life. If our study of nature be thus barren, he
thought, our method of study must be wrong: might
not a better method be found? The suggestion was sim-
ple and obvious. The singularity was in the way he
1560-84.]
took hold of it.
EARLY ASPIRATIONS.
5
With most men such a thought would
have come and gone in a passing regret; a few might
have matured it into a wish; some into a vague project ;
one or two might perhaps have followed it out so far as
to attain a distinct conception of the better method, and
hazard distant indication of the direction in which it lay.
But in him the gift of seeing in prophetic vision what
might be and ought to be was united with the practical
talent of devising means and handling minute details.
He could at once imagine like a poet and execute like a
clerk of the works. Upon the conviction This may be
done, followed at once the question How may it be done?
Upon that question answered, followed the resolution to
try and do it.
Of the degrees by which the suggestion ripened into a
project, the project into an undertaking, and the under-
taking unfolded itself into distinct proportions and the
full grandeur of its total dimensions, I can say nothing.
But that the thought first occurred to him during his
residence at Cambridge, therefore before he had com-
pleted his fifteenth year, we know upon the best author-
ity - his own statement to Dr. Rawley. I believe it
ought to be regarded as the most important event of his
life; the event which had a greater influence than any
other upon his character and future course. From that
moment there was awakened within his breast the ap-
petite which cannot be satiated, and the passion which
cannot commit excess. From that moment he had a vo-
cation which employed and stimulated all the energies of
his mind, gave a value to every vacant interval of time,
an interest and significance to every random thought and
casual accession of knowledge; an object to live for as
wide as humanity, as immortal as the human race; an
idea to live in vast and lofty enough to fill the soul for-
ever with religious and heroic aspirations. From that
moment, though still subject to interruptions, disappoint-
6
THREE LEADING OBJECTS OF INTEREST.
[BOOK I.
ments, errors, and regrets, he could never be without
either work or hope or consolation.
So much with regard to the condition of his mind at
this period we may I think reasonably assume, without
trespassing upon the province of the novelist. Such a
mind as we know from after experience that Bacon pos-
sessed, could not have grown up among such circum-
stances without receiving impressions and impulses of
this kind. He could not have been bred under such a
mother without imbibing some portion of her zeal in the
cause of the reformed religion; he could not have been
educated in the house of such a father, surrounded by
such a court, in the middle of such agitations, without
feeling loyal aspirations for the cause of his Queen and
country; he could not have entertained the idea that the
fortunes of the human race might by a better application
of human industry be redeemed and put into a course of
continual improvement, without conceiving an eager de-
sire to see the process begun.
Assuming then that a deep interest in these three great
causes the cause of reformed religion, of his native
country, of the human race through all their generations
was thus early implanted in that vigorous and virgin
soil, we must leave it to struggle up as it may, according
to the accidents of time and weather. Many a bad season
it will meet with; many a noble promise will be broken.
Sæpius illum
Expectata seges vanis eludet aristis.
It is the universal error of hope and youth to overlook
impediments and embrace more than can be accom-
plished, and to the latter years of all great undertakings
is left the melancholy task of selecting from among many
cherished purposes those which with least injury to the
whole design may be abandoned. But though in the his-
tory of society an abandoned purpose may rightly go for
nothing, it is not so in the history of a man. A man's in-
1560-84.]
PLANS AND HOPES.
7
tentions, so long as they deserve the name of intentions,
mix with his views, affect his actions, and are so much
a part of himself that unless we take them into the ac-
count we can never understand the real conditions of the
problem which his life presents to him for solution. Of
Bacon's life at any rate I am persuaded that no man will
ever form a correct idea, unless he bear in mind that
from very early youth his heart was divided between
these three objects, distinct but not discordant; and that
though the last and in our eyes the greatest was his favor-
ite and his own, the other two never lost their hold upon
his affections. Not until he felt his years huddling and
hurrying to their close did he consent to abandon the hope
of doing something for them all; nor indeed is it easy
to find any period of his life in which some fortunate
turn of affairs might not have enabled him to fulfill it.
But these perplexing necessities are as yet far away,
beyond the horizon. For the present we must picture
him as in the season of victorious and all-embracing hope,
dreaming on things to come, and rehearsing his life to
himself in that imaginary theatre where all things go
right; for such was his case when — a hopeful, sensitive,
bashful, amiable boy, wise and well-informed for his age,
and glowing with noble aspirations he put forth into
the world with happy auspices in his sixteenth year.
-
Sir Nicholas Bacon could not be unaware of his favorite
son's rare qualifications for civil employment. He knew,
by seventeen years' experience of Elizabeth's arduous,
anxious, and prosperous government, how deeply the State
stood in need of the best abilities it could command.
Perhaps he regretted to see such a mind turning its ener-
gies to objects which were really of less immediate ur-
gency, and probably seemed to him of less ultimate im-
portance (for in the eyes of an old privy councillor the
King of Spain might well appear to be a more dangerous
8
STUDIES IN MISGOVERNMENT.
[BOOK I.
enemy of the human race than Aristotle); and being
deeply impressed with the perilous condition in which
England and therefore the Protestant religion - the re-
ligion, as he would have called it then stood, wished
to draw him away from the pursuit of shadows by placing
him face to face with the realities of life. At that mo-
ment a favorable opportunity presented itself. If Eng-
land showed an example of the splendid effects of suc-
cessful government dealing with difficult times, France
showed an example not less striking of the fatal results
of misgovernment, in circumstances not otherwise much
unlike. Both countries possessed great natural advan-
tages in both the materials of trouble abounded, arising
in both from the same cause-divisions in religion. Yet
in England all functions of the State proceeded in healthy,
vigorous, and united action, while in France everything
was in misery and disorder, "the offices of justice sold,
the treasury wasted, the people polled, the country de-
stroyed;"¹ and all through a few years of corrupt, violent,
or feeble administration. Just then Sir Amias Paulet
was going out as ambassador to France, and Sir Nicholas
resolved that his son, who had seen at home the efficacy
of a good regimen in keeping the body politic sound,
should go with him, and see the symptoms of disease pro-
duced in a similar subject by a bad one.
Sir Amias landed at Calais on the 25th of September,
1576, and succeeded Dr. Dale as ambassador in France
in the following February. With the particulars of his
employment we need not trouble ourselves, as it is not
probable that Francis, though he is said to have been once
sent home with a message to the Queen, had much to do
with them. But the general aspect of affairs on the con-
tinent of Europe would naturally engage the attention of
an intelligent boy, and the house of the English ambas-
1 Notes on the Present State of Christendom (questionably attributed to
Bacon).
1560-84.]
7.
RESIDENCE IN FRANCE.
9
sador in France would give him the best opportunities of
understanding the movements of the different powers,
and their bearing upon the interests of his own country.
The period of his residence there was full of great mat-
ters. It included the short, aspiring, and dangerous ca-
reer of Don John of Austria; his "perpetual edict of
peace" pretended and broken; his victory at Gemblours;
his practices by secret help from the Pope to marry the
Queen of Scots and invade England; his death "in no
ill season." It included the treaty of mutual assistance
between England and the states of Holland; the inef-
fectual effort made by England, France, and Austria to
compose the troubles of the Netherlands; the beginning
and the end of the sixth civil war in France; the open-
ing of the negotiation for a marriage between Elizabeth
and the Duke of Anjou; the preparation and accidental
diversion of a design for invading Ireland, under Sebas-
tian King of Portugal, and Thomas Stukley the English
fugitive, supported by the Pope and the King of Spain.
And in the middle of these alarms and great disturbances,
the business of the mission to which he was attached
took him in the wake of the Court through several of the
French provinces, from Paris to Blois, from Blois to
Tours, from Tours to Poitiers, where in the autumn of
1577 he resided for three months. So that he had ex-
cellent opportunities of studying foreign policy. Of the
manner in which he spent his time, however, we have no
information, except what we may gather from a few casual
allusions dropped by himself in his later life, which only
show that his observation was active and his memory re-
tentive; and something, perhaps, from the inscription on
a miniature painted by Hilliard, in 1578, which indicates
the impression made by his conversation upon those who
heard it. There may be seen his face as it was in his
eighteenth year, and round it may be read the significant
words — the natural ejaculation, we may presume, of the
:
10
DEATH OF HIS FATHER.
[BOOK I.
artist's own emotion-Si tabula daretur digna, animum
mallem if one could but paint his mind!
He was still at Paris, and was already wishing to be
at home again, when about the 17th February, 1578–9,
from one of those vague presentiments of evil which make
no impression upon the waking judgment but so often
govern the dream, he dreamed that his father's house
in the country was plastered all over with black mortar.
And certain it was that about that time his father, hav-
ing accidentally fallen asleep at an open window dur-
ing the great thaw which followed a great snow, was
seized with a sudden and fatal illness of which he died
in a few days. It was a critical conjuncture for Fran-
cis. The question whether he was to be an independent
or a dependent man, a man who might "live to study,"
or a man who must " study to live," was then trem-
bling in the balance; and this accident turned the scale
against him. Sir Nicholas, having provided for the rest
of his sons, had at that time (so Dr. Rawley was in-
formed) laid by a considerable sum of money, which he
meant to employ in purchasing an estate for Francis.
His sudden death prevented the purchase, and left Fran-
cis with only a fifth part of the fortune intended for him.
An accident of great moment; which perplexed the
problem of his life by a new and most inconvenient con-
dition. Like a general who after laying out the design
of his campaign, suddenly finds his commissariat fail, he
must now readjust his plans, combining with them some
kind of employment which will pay. There was no help
for it, however, and the less time lost the better.
law was his most obvious and on many accounts his most
promising resource; and being already an ancient of
Gray's Inn, he sat down at once to make himself a work-
ing lawyer. If the accidents should prove favorable, he
might even find an advantage in it; if not, he would at
least find a subsistence. He left Paris for England on
The
1560-84.]
APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT.
11
the 20th of March, 1578-9, bearing a dispatch from Sir
Amias Paulet to the Queen, in which he was mentioned
as "of great hope, endued with many good and singular
parts," and one who, "if God gave him life, would prove
a very able and sufficient subject to do her Highness
good and acceptable service." Soon after (probably in
Trinity Term, but I cannot be sure) he commenced his
regular career as a student at law; and for the next
year, during which we have no further news of him, we
may suppose him to be sufficiently occupied with his
new studies; as wishing to push himself on with all
speed, that he may be the sooner ripe for any worthier
or more congenial employment that may offer.
His intention was to study the common law as his pro-
fession; but at the same time it was his wish and hope
to obtain some employment in it which should make him
independent of ordinary practice at the Bar. What the
particular employment was for which he hoped I cannot
say; something probably connected with the service of
the Crown, to which the memory of his father, an old
and valued servant prematurely lost, his near relation-
ship to the Lord Treasurer, and the personal notice which
he had himself received from the Queen, would natu-
rally lead him to look. From allusions in letters dated
16th September and 18th October, 1580, I gather that he
made some overture to Burghley with this view; that
Burghley recommended it to the Queen; that the Queen,
who, though slow to bestow favors, was careful always to
encourage hopes, entertained the motion graciously, and
returned a favorable answer; and that it was for some
employment requiring a knowledge of the common law.
After this, we hear no more of it till the 15th of April,
1582. But as we find that he was then residing as be-
fore, in Gray's Inn, where he was admitted Utter Bar-
rister on the 27th of June following, we may suppose
that he had been going on quietly with his legal studies.
:
1
12
OCCUPATION AT GRAY'S INN.
[BOOK I.
While his interest in foreign affairs would naturally be
kept up by what he heard from his brother, who was
travelling and gathering political intelligence on the Con-
tinent; and from one of whose English correspondents
(Nicholas Faunt, a secretary of Walsingham's and a
good Puritan) we derive what little information we have.
with regard to Francis's proceedings from this time to
the autumn of 1584. From his letters we learn little
more than that he remained studying at Gray's Inn,
occasionally visiting his mother at Gorhambury, or going
with her to hear Travers lecture at the Temple, and
occasionally appearing at the Court. What particular
studies engaged him we are not told; but when we hear
(August 6th, 1583) that he used then to be "seen in his
outward barrister's babit abroad in the city, and therefore
must needs do well;" and when we remember that (if his
own report forty years after may be depended on) his
first essay on the Instauration of Philosophy, which he
called "Temporis Partus Maximus," was composed about
this time, we need not doubt that between Law and Phi-
losophy he found enough to do; nor need we seek so far
as Mr. Faunt does for his motive in secluding himself on
the following occasion : —
"I was yesterday" (says he, writing on the last of May,
1583) “at Gray's Inn upon occasion, when I would not fail (as
heretofore I have not when I passed that way) to call in, and
know whether your brother will write unto you by my means of
conveyance, or whether he hear more lately than myself of your
being, as one that is desirous to procure you the most content-
ment I may from your best friends here, as I should be glad to
have the like courtesy used in my behalf when I am, as you are
now, absent and far distant from them. But I was answered,
by his servant, that he was not at leisure to speak with me, and
therefore you must excuse me if I cannot tell you how your
mother and other friends do at this present; only I perceive by
your brother's boy that he was but newly come from St. Alban's,
where I take it my Lady now is, and well. I was asked where
1580-84.]
ANXIOUS FOR HIS BROTHER'S RETURN.
13
you were and what I heard lately from you, but I could say lit-
tle that he knew not, neither was I so simple to say all to a boy
at the door, his master being within. This strangeness which
hath at other times been used towards me by your brother, hatlı
made me sometimes to doubt that he greatly mistaketh me, for
I do these offices both towards you and him upon no base re-
spect or for insinuation, but only of good affection to either for
the best considerations, and yet, in truth, the rather unto him by
reason of the good acceptation it hath pleased you to yield of
the poor acquaintance and mutual amity that is between us, and
I hope shall not be lessened hereafter: whereof thus much to
yourself alone, which I trust you shall only take knowledge of,
and in your discretion use it accordingly."
Francis seems to have been as anxious as any one for
his brother's return at the end of his three years.
"Yet by the way, in a word or two, he hath showed his earn-
est desire to have you return at your time limited by your li-
cense, wishing me to be a persuader thereof, and saying that
he marvelled how those that keep abroad more than that time
could live to their contentment, seeing that himself was more
than weary of his being forth, and that the home life is to be
thought upon as of the end in due season."
And again (May 6th, 1583) —
(May 8th, 1582.)
"Whensoever we talk but three words together, two and a
half of them contain a most hearty wish for your speedy return."
*
CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1584–1586. ÆTAt. 24–26.
THE occasion upon which Bacon commenced what may
be called his public life deserves particular notice, as well
fitted to feed and stimulate that interest in questions of
Church and State which I suppose to have been excited
in him by the accidents of his boyhood and encouraged
by his residence in France.
In November, 1584, a new Parliament was called, un-
der circumstances of a highly agitating character. The
Bull of Excommunication which had been issued against
Elizabeth in 1569 having failed to frighten England out
of its Protestantism, and the experience of the next
twelve years having shown that, so long as she lived,
there was little chance of overthrowing the reformed
religion by open methods, the hopes of the Catholic world
turned thenceforward towards her death; in the event of
which (no provision having been made for the succession)
Mary of Scotland would have claimed the crown; her
claim would have been supported by the Pope, by Spain,
by a considerable party in Scotland, and (what was per-
haps of still more importance) by the natural right of
inheritance; and thereupon would probably have ensued
either the reëstablishment of the Catholic religion in
England, or a civil war, or both. Such an apprehension
was sufficient of itself to unite all Protestants in emulous
devotion to Elizabeth; and this devotion was warmed
into enthusiasm by the detection of several secret con-
spiracies against her life, together with her own magnan-
1584-86.]
PARLIAMENT OF 1584.
15
imous contempt for personal danger. Upon this point,
therefore, all varieties of Protestant opinion met. Who-
ever regarded the Reformed Church as God's cause;
whoever believed the anointed head to be under God's
especial protection; whoever abhorred murder and treach-
ery; whoever feared civil war; whoever valued national
independence; whoever felt his blood run warmer at the
sight of a woman who in the face of perils so secret and
imminent could exhibit all majesty and no fear, — all fell
in alike with the popular sentiment of the time, and
swelled the flood of loyalty.¹ During the twelve months
immediately preceding, three several plots for the assas-
sination of Elizabeth had been detected; plots under-
taken indeed by individuals, but all certainly Popish,
and all supposed to be countenanced by the Popish
powers, and to have in view the placing of a Popish
queen on the throne. Hereupon a voluntary association
had been entered into by subjects of all degrees,2 the
members of which bound themselves to defend the Queen
against all her enemies, foreign or domestic; to prosecute
to the death any person by whom or for whom violence
should be offered to her life, and to hold such person for-
ever incapable of the crown. This was in October, 1584.
On the 23d of November, in the midst of the general
fervor and alarm, the Houses met; and Francis Bacon,
now in his twenty-fifth year, took his seat for Melcombe,
in Dorsetshire. The causes of their meeting were ex-
plained by Sir Christopher Hatton, then Vice-Chamber-
lain, with unprecedented frankness. "His speech," says
Fleetwood, Recorder of London, writing to Burghley,
"tended to particularities and special actions, and con-
1 The assassination of the Prince of Orange, July 9, 1584, doubtless had a
strong effect upon the popular mind.
2 Burghley to Lord Cobham, October 27, 1584: Lodge, vol. ii., p. 250.
8 He had been also returned for Gatton, by the interest of Burghley, to
whom, as Master of the Wards, the nomination, during the minority of the one
constituent, at that time belonged. Ellis's Letters, 3d series, vol. iv., p. 52.
1.
16
STRENGTH OF THE OPPOSITION.
[BOOK I.
cluded upon the Queen's Highness's safety. Before this
time I never heard in Parliament the like things ut-
tered; and especially the things contained in the latter
speech. They were magnalia regni." Of the debates
which followed we have no record; but they ended in the
sanction of the "association" by Parliament, in the
creation of a new tribunal for the trial of conspirators
against the Queen's life, and the enactment of new laws,
more severe than ever, against priests and Jesuits. With
such antecedents therefore, such an entrance, and such a
conclusion, we may presume that they were warm, and
that the first breath of Bacon's public life was drawn in
a very contagious atmosphere of loyalty and anti-popery.
But if the debates on this question were impressive
and exciting from the ardor and unanimity of concur-
rence, a unanimity which was proved and strength-
ened rather than disturbed by the single opposition of
Dr. Parry, whose vehement protest against the Jesuit
Bill was treated as a contempt of the House, and who
was himself apprehended and executed not long after for
a design to assassinate the Queen, there were others
which must have been not less so from the very opposite
cause. Upon a question no less vital than the govern-
ment of the Church and the proceedings of the bishops,
a majority, and apparently a very considerable majority,
of the Lower House was in direct opposition to the
Queen. And this difference was the more formidable,
because it arose out of no accidental or transitory occa-
sion, but had its root in the very nature of Protestant-
ism, and went to the heart and conscience of the nation.
If the will of God was not confided exclusively to Pope
or priest, but revealed in the Scriptures to all men, it
was the duty of all men to seek it there. Those who
for that purpose searched and studied the Scriptures
must come to their own conclusions. Those conclusions
must be binding upon their consciences, not only to hold
1584-86.]
ORTHODOXIOLATRY.
17
but to preach. It was God's cause and work. To tell
men to seek, and yet to prescribe limits to what they
should find, was to set human authority above the
Word, the very thing against which Protestantism
protested. Now the first Reformers, being themselves
Protestants in the true sense of the word, that is to
say, dissenters on grounds of conscience from a creed
enjoined by authority, -understood this part of the fact,
and left room enough within the pale of the establish-
ment for all the varieties of opinion which their own time
was likely to breed. Their successors inherited their
work, but not their policy. They accepted the creed of
the first Protestants, but would have no more protesting.
Standing in place of authority, they were for using their
power to stop the progress of what they considered to be
error, and enforce an outward uniformity of doctrine and
discipline. Thus upon the pedestal from which the idol
of the Papacy had been cast down the idol of Orthodoxy
was set up; and the power of the keys, which had been
taken from the Pope as a power not entrusted to human
hands, was transferred to a set of commissioners ap-
pointed by the Crown, who took upon themselves to sus-
pend or silence or remove from office all ministers who
preached what they did not approve. And they made
the fatal mistake of exercising this power not merely
against incompetent and turbulent fanatics, over whom
with opinion on their side they might have prevailed, but
against men as learned, as moderate, as earnest, and quite
as well qualified to interpret the Scriptures as any of
themselves, and who had popular opinion moreover run-
ning strongly in their favor. For at this time the pro-
ceedings of the Catholics, threatening as they did the
overthrow of Church and State both, had naturally made
the people more Protestant than ever, and engaged their
hearty sympathies in favor of the new reformers, who,
with Cartwright and Travers at their head, had come to
VOL. I.
2
[!
!
18
A CRISIS IN ENGLISH HISTORY.
[BOOK I.
be known as the Nonconformist party. This party, far
from being necessarily in opposition to the Government,
were for the present in the same boat, and well disposed,
had reasonable liberty of action been allowed them, to be
among its most zealous and effectual supporters. Their
importance as a party may be understood from the fact
that Leicester, the favorite, was content to put himself at
their head; that Walsingham, Secretary of State, was
known to sympathize with them; that Burghley, Lord
Treasurer, though restrained by official caution and re-
serve, was believed to wish them well; that Grindal, the
late Primate, had been for some time out of favor with
the Queen for giving too much countenance to some of
their opinions; and that they had a large majority in the
present House of Commons. Whether this party was
to be in alliance with the State or in opposition, was the
question now at issue; and to this particular Parliament,
more distinctly perhaps than to any other period, must
be assigned the determination of it.
I doubt whether there has been a more important crisis
in English history, or whether the Queen ever made a
greater mistake than in choosing this moment to stop the
tide and put herself in direct opposition to this party.
She succeeded indeed: she carried her point and stood
her ground during her own life; but it was at the ex-
pense of creating a division among the Protestant party,
which ended in the overthrow of the monarchy itself for
a time, and in making the existence of a national English
Church, in any true sense of the word national, an impos-
sibility to this day. The Church of England emerged
from the storm with the name and legal rights and tem-
poral attractions, but without the moral and spiritual au-
thority, of a national church, to be thenceforward only
one of many Protestant sects¹ into which the English
1 To prevent misconceptions I may mention that I use the word " sect in
exactly the same sense in which Paley uses it in the following passage: "If in
""
1584-86.]
BISHOPS AND NONCONFORMISTS.
19
people are divided. But so it was to be. Grindal was
dead; and Whitgift, known as the uncompromising foe
of the Nonconformists, had been advanced to the Pri-
macy, with the avowed purpose of enforcing uniformity
by silencing and punishing dissentients. The severity of
his proceedings was now taken up by the Commons as a
national grievance, and the complaints of the people were
embodied in a petition to the Queen, the substance of
which may be seen in Fuller's "Church History "1 (ix.
16. 7), and the entire document, together with the an-
swers, in D'Ewes's "Journals," pp. 357-361.
The particulars and progress of the quarrel will be no-
ticed more conveniently a little further on, in connection
with Bacon's tract on Church Controversies. But I
thought it better to introduce the subject in this place,
because of the great impression which it must have made
upon his mind, and some influence which it probably had
upon his career. What his judgment was upon the mat-
ters in controversy we shall see hereafter. What his
prejudices and predispositions were likely to be may be
partly inferred from a letter addressed at the time by his
mother to Burghley.
deference then to these reasons it be admitted that a legal provision for the
clergy, compulsory upon those who contribute to it, is expedient, the real ques-
tion will be, whether this provision should be confined to one sect of Christianity,
or extended indifferently to all. Now it should be observed that this question
never can offer itself where the people are agreed in their religious opinions,
and that it never ought to arise where a system may be framed of doctrines and
worship wide enough to comprehend their disagreement, and which might sat-
isfy all by uniting all in the articles of their common faith, and in a mode of
Divine worship that omits every subject of controversy or offense. Where such
a comprehension is practicable, the comprehending religion ought to be made
the religion of the State." This is exactly what I mean by "a national Church
in the true sense of the word national.” The rest of Paley's argument pro-
ceeds upon the supposition that such a Church is to be despaired of, that " sep-
arate congregations and different sects must unavoidably continue in the coun-
try," and that the only practicable form of national religion is the establish-
ment by law " of one sect in preference to the rest."- Moral and Pol. Philos.
ch. x.
1 Misplaced under the year 1587.
1
20
LETTER FROM LADY BACON.
[BOOK I.
During the Christmas recess a conference had taken
place at Lambeth between the Bishops and the Noncon-
formists—or Preachers, as they were called-upon the
questions raised in the petition; and it seems that the
Bishops were thought to have had much the best of the
argument. Lady Bacon, believing that the Preachers
had not had fair play, in the abundance of her zeal
sought an interview with Burghley to urge their cause,
and the next day reinforced her arguments by a letter,
in which, after pleading earnestly on behalf of the Preach-
ers for leave first to assemble and consult together, and
then to prove the justice of their cause before the Queen
or her Council, and not before the Bishops, being
"parties partial in their own defense"-" for mine own
part," she proceeds : —
"I will not deny, but as I may hear them in their public ex-
ercises as a chief duty commanded by God to widows, and also
I confess as one that hath found mercy, that I have profited
more in the inward feeling knowledge of God his holy will,
though but in a small measure by such sincere and sound open-
ing of the Scriptures by an ordinary preaching within these
seven or eight years, than I did by hearing odd sermons at
Paul's wellnigh twenty years together. I mention this unfeign-
edly the rather to excuse this my boldness towards your Lord-
ship, humbly beseeching your Lordship to think upon their
suit, and as God shall move your understanding heart to further
it."
The day before this letter was written, the House of
Commons had received the answer of the Bishops to
their petition, and the Nonconformists had learned that
they must either abandon their cause, or work it against
the Government by the help of popular sympathy and
alliance.
All this time, it seems, the suit (whatever it was)
which Bacon had made to the Queen, through Burghley
in 1580, remained in suspense, neither granted nor de-
Es
1584-86.]
FATE OF HIS FIRST SUIT.
21
nied; and the uncertainty prevented him from settling
his course of life. From the following letter to Walsing-
ham we may gather two things more concerning it: it
was something which had been objected to as unfit for so
young a man ; and which would in some way have made
it unnecessary for him to follow "a course of practice,
meaning, I presume, ordinary practice at the Bar.
""
To the Right HonorablE SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, PRIN-
CIPAL SECRETARY TO HER MAJESTY.
It may please your Honor to give me leave amidst your
great and diverse business to put you in remembrance of
my poor suit, leaving the time unto your Honor's best
opportunity and commodity. I think the objection of my
years will wear away with the length of my suit. The
very stay doth in this respect concern me, because I am
thereby hindered to take a course of practice, which by
the leave of God, if her Majesty like not of my suit, I
must and will follow: not for any necessity of estate, but
for my credit sake, which I know by living out of action
will wear.
I spake when the Court was at Theball's to
Mr. Vice-Chamberlain,¹ who promised me his furderance;
which I did lest he mought be made for some other. If
it may please your Honor, who as I hear hath great in-
terest in him, to speak with him in it, I think he will be
fast mine. Thus desiring continuance of your Honor's
favor, I wish you all good, and myself occasion to do you
service. Gray's Inn, this 25th of August, 85.
Your Honor's in all duty,
FR. BACON.
This is the last we hear of this suit, the nature and
fate of which must both be left to conjecture. With re-
gard to its fate, my own conjecture is that he presently
gave up all hope of success in it, and tried instead to ob-
1 This was Sir Christopher Hatton.
22
FRESH APPLICATION TO BURGHLEY.
[BOOK I.
tain through his interest at Court some furtherance in
the direct line of his profession. It is certain that about
this time or soon after he made another application to
Burghley, the precise nature of which we are again left
to guess, but which was to facilitate his "coming within
bars;" that is, as I suppose (for the meaning of the
phrase is doubtful), his admission to practice in the
Courts. By the regulations then in force an utter bar-
rister had to continue in "exercise of learning" for five
years, before he was permitted to plead at any of the
Courts at Westminster, or to subscribe any plea. Bacon,
having been admitted to the Utter Bar on the 27th of
June, 1582, had still more than two years to wait; and
if, according to the intention intimated in the last letter,
he was now ready and resolved "to take a course of prac-
tice," he would naturally wish to have his term of proba-
tion shortened. In what precise way this was to be done.
I do not know, but I presume that between Burghley and
the Queen means might have been found, and that he
now submitted to Burghley some proposition with that
view.
We need not assume that his pretensions were really
unreasonable or his manners justly offensive, to account
for the fact which appears from the next letter, that they
had by this time exposed him to some unfriendly criti-
cism, that complaints reached Burghley of his nephew's
arrogance, and that Burghley thought it expedient to
give him some good advice on the subject. The solid
grounds on which Bacon's pretensions rested had not yet
been made manifest to the apprehension of Bench and
Bar; his mind was full of matters with which they could
have no sympathy, and the shy and studious habits which
we have seen so offend Mr. Faunt, would naturally be
misconstrued in the same way by many others. The in-
credulous disdain with which the English public greets
every young aspirant who proclaims himself or is pro
ན
1584-86.]
REPLY TO CHARGE OF ARROGANCE.
23
claimed by his friends as anything out of the common
way speedily disappears if the pretensions be made good;
as we shall see that in Bacon's case it very soon did. To
any one who would understand his position and follow
his career in the world, the little glimpse revealed by the
next letter of the feelings with which some of his contem-
poraries regarded him, now in his twenty-sixth year, will
prove very instructive.
TO LORD BURGHLEY.
MY VERY GOOD LORD,—I take it as an undoubted
sign of your Lordship's favor unto me that being hardly
informed of me you took occasion rather of good advice
than of evil opinion thereby. And if your Lordship had
grounded only upon the said information of theirs, I
mought and would truly have upholden that few of the
matters were justly objected; as the very circumstances
do induce in that they were delivered by men that did
misaffect me and besides were to give color to their own
doings. But because your Lordship did mingle there-
with both a late motion of mine own and somewhat
which you had otherwise heard, I know it to be my duty
(and so do I stand affected) rather to prove your Lord-
ship's admonition effectual in my doings hereafter, than
causeless by excusing what is past. And yet (with your
Lordship's pardon humbly asked) it may please you to
remember that I did endeavor to set forth that said
motion in such sort as it mought breed no harder effect
than a denial. And I protest simply before God that I
sought therein an ease in coming within Bars, and not
any extraordinary and singular note of favor. And for
that your Lordship may otherwise have heard of me, it
shall make me more wary and circumspect in carriage of
myself. Indeed I find in my simple observation that
they which live as it were in umbra and not in public
or frequent action, how moderately and modestly soever
1
24
LETTER TO BURGHLEY.
[BOOK I.
they behave themselves, yet laborant invidiâ. I find
also that such persons as are of nature bashful (as myself
is), whereby they want that plausible familiarity which
others have, are often mistaken for proud. But once I
know well and I most humbly beseech your Lordship to
believe, that arrogancy and overweening is so far from
my nature, as if I think well of myself in anything it is
in this that I am free from that vice. And I hope upon
this your Lordship's speech I have entered into those
considerations as my behavior shall no more deliver me
for other than I am. And so wishing unto your Lord-
ship all honor and to myself continuance of your good
opinion with mind and means to deserve it, I humbly
take my leave. Gray's Inn, this 6th day of May, 1586.
Your Lordship's most bounden Nephew,
FR. BACON.
If a speedier progress through Gray's Inn was what
this "late motion" aimed at, it seems to have had some
success. On the 10th of February, 1585-6, a pension
was held, at which (whether upon the mere motion of
the Benchers or by the help of interest at Court I do not
know) he was admitted "to have place with the Readers
at the Readers' table; but not to have any voice in pen-
sion, nor to win ancienty of any that was his ancient, or
should read before him." And this must have been
speedily followed by full admission to the Bench. For
in a list of his honors, as given in a book which seems to
have been transferred by some accident from Gray's Inn
to the British Museum (Harl. MSS. 1912), he is stated
to have become a Bencher in 1586. And this I presume
gave him that entrance "within bars," with liberty to
plead in the Courts of Westminster, for which he had
been seeking. But before that time he had to witness
another immense national excitement, and to be a spec-
tator, though happily not an actor, in one of the great
tragedies of the world.

CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1586-1589.
ÆTAT. 26-29.
I HAVE spoken of the agitations into which all Eng-
land was thrown by the conspiracies of 1583 and 1584,
and of the expression which it found in Parliament.
The violence of the popular storm may be judged of by
the tenor of the Act which was then passed, and passed
unanimously by both Houses-the Lower House being
at that time not at all remarkable for subserviency, but
quite prepared in a popular cause to take courses most
distasteful to the Crown-for the purpose of giving a
legal sanction to the voluntary association for the defense
of the Queen's life. This Act not only authorized the
trial by a new tribunal-a body of not less than
twenty-four Lords and Privy Councillors appointed for
the purpose by the Queen, with judges to assist-of
any pretender to the Crown by whom or for whom any
attempt should be made against her life; not only em-
powered a majority of these commissioners, upon proof
that such attempt had been made with the privity of
the persons accused, to pass sentence of death upon
them but actually made it lawful, as soon as such sen-
tence had been passed and duly proclaimed, for any of
the Queen's subjects "by virtue of this Act and her
Majesty's direction in that behalf" to "pursue them to
death." So much at least, the words of the Act strictly
construed seem to imply;¹ and I see no reason to doubt
1 27 Eliz. c. 1. "And that thereupon all her Highness' subjects shall and
may lawfully, by virtue of this Act and her Majesty's direction in that behalf,
..
1
.
11
די,
it
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26
CONSPIRACY AND TRIAL OF MARY.
[BOOK I.
that they truly expressed the deliberate wish and inten-
tion of the alarmed and irritated Protestantism of Eng-
land.
Whatever may be thought of its equity in other
respects, the Act had one merit. It was at least a fair
warning to all men, with due notice of the consequences,
not to engage in any such attempt upon their peril. It
had not been in force, however, for much more than a
twelvemonth, when the nation was again alarmed by
news of a fresh conspiracy, more desperate than any of
the former, with the threefold object of assassinating
Elizabeth, raising an insurrection in England, and indu-
cing an invasion from abroad. That such a conspiracy
was actually on foot, and that to liberate Mary of Scot-
land and place her on the throne was the main and ex-
press end of it, therefore, that it was in that sense an
attempt on Elizabeth's life made for her, - did not
admit of a doubt. Whether she knew of it, or was
otherwise accessary, is a question upon which modern his-
torians, knowing some things which nobody knew then,
and ignorant, probably, of many things which every-
body knew then, may reasonably differ. But the unan-
imous verdict of forty noblemen and privy councillors,
duly appointed under the late Act to try the case, would
no doubt be accepted by that generation as decisive.
Before this verdict had been pronounced, and while the
history of the whole plot, fully confirmed by the con-
fession of the parties, was yet fresh news in the land, a
new Parliament had been summoned. The general elec-
tion and the trial of Mary before the commissioners
must have been going on at the same time; and on the
29th of October, 1586, only four days after their sen-
by all forcible and possible means, pursue to death every of such wicked per-
sons, by whom or by whose means, assent or privity, any such invasion or re-
bellion shall be in form aforesaid denounced to have been made, or such
wicked act attempted," etc. The clause may perhaps have been intended to
provide against the chance of rescue or escape.
24.
1586-89.] EXECUTION OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.
-
27
tence had been declared, the houses met. The case was
at once laid before them, was eagerly taken up, vehe-
mently debated (though the speakers seem to have been
all on one side), and concluded by a unanimous confir-
mation of the sentence, accompanied by addresses to the
Queen from both houses, earnestly praying for the pub-
lication and speedy execution of it. And though it must
be owned that their language and arguments, when
looked back upon out of the security of settled times,
seem to savor more of fear and fury than of judgment
and deliberation, yet, perhaps, if a man could really un-
derstand the case, if he could carry his imagination
back into the time, so as truly to conceive the beliefs,
the hopes, the fears, which then ruled in men's minds,
-the vast interests at stake, the solid grounds of alarm,
the universal conviction of Mary's acquiescence in the
whole plot, he would think that this Parliament was
not more extravagant in its humor than parliaments are
apt to be in seasons of popular excitement even now, and
that the practical conclusion to which it came admits of
a fair defense. Certainly, if we might but assume that
the trial before the Commissioners was fairly conducted
and the verdict just (which I have no doubt everybody
believed then), the vote might be justified. The out-
rageous clauses of the statute under which Mary was
tried, were not in question; she had been found guilty
of being an accessary to the projected assassination; and
whatever had seemed to justify her detention in cap-
tivity, must have seemed much more to justify her trial
and execution for such an act, especially after such a
warning.
In this Parliament, Bacon sat for Taunton in Somer-
setshire. His name is mentioned by D'Ewes (4th Nov-
ember) as one of the speakers on "the Great Cause;" also
as one of the committees to whom it was referred, and
who were continually occupied with it until the 2d of
23
CONDUCT OF ELIZABETH.
[BOOK I.
December; on which day the House was adjourned.
But of what he said, or the part he took (more than that
he spoke on the popular side), no record remains; nor
is there any allusion in any of his writings, that I know
of, from which his opinion upon this case can be inferred.
Upon a case so rare, and so full of matter to strike the
imagination, to touch the feelings, and to exercise the
judgment, he must doubtless have had many thoughts;
but whatever the conclusion, they can hardly have been
other than painful; painful for the conflict of feelings in-
volved in the case itself, more painful for the reflection it
cast upon the character of Elizabeth; whose conduct after
the passing and confirmation of the sentence-showing
as it did a disposition not only to evade herself, but to
shift upon others, the responsibility of that which was to
be done could not even to the most favorable inter-
preter but seem unworthy of her. I say a disposition,
not a determination: because those inconsistencies in her
conduct at this juncture which are commonly imputed to
cold-blooded hypocrisy and deliberate double-dealing,
may in my opinion be more probably explained as the
result of a real struggle between strength of will and ir-
resolution of judgment. I believe that she was really per-
plexed in her mind, and did not know what to do; and
as she never troubled herself to conceal from her council-
lors those hesitations and variations of purpose which
almost always preceded her final determinations, I con-
ceive that many of the speeches upon which the charge
of hypocrisy most rests, were in fact the expression of
thoughts half made up, conclusions which were still in
the balance, which she had not decided to act upon, and
did not intend her councillors to adopt as directions.
They on their part had a difficult task to perform. Not
liking to ask for more distinct resolutions on a subject on
which the very difficulty of resolving made her irritable,
they had to guess what hints they were meant to act
1586-89.]
CONTRASTED WITH MARY'S.
29
upon without further orders, and what not; in which it
was easy for them to make mistakes, especially having a
strong bias of their own in favor of the shortest way.
Some such misunderstanding might account for that
doubtful message on the strength of which the warrant
against Mary was at last executed; which Elizabeth dis-
avowed; and for delivering which Davison was prose-
cuted in the Star Chamber and ruined. Such may also
be the true explanation of a blacker transaction; I mean
the joint letter addressed to Sir Amias Paulet by Wal-
singham and Davison¹ signifying the Queen's surprise,
apparent by "speech lately uttered," that none of her
loyal subjects should have found a way to relieve her
from her embarrassment, namely by pursuing Mary to
death (for the words can bear no other meaning), as their
oaths bound and the statute warranted them to do. That
such a solution of the question would have been convenient
to Elizabeth, was true; that in the agitations of irresolu-
tion such a thought should present itself to her mind, was
natural; that in talking with her confidential councillors
it found its way to her tongue, is not improbable; that
her councillors, not daring on so delicate and dangerous a
subject to ask more directly what she meant, should seek
to shift the difficulty from themselves by passing the hint
on to those who were about Mary's person, may be easily
supposed. But that she really intended them to do so, is
to me, considering her character and ways, less easy to
believe, than that they thought she did and were mistaken.
When all is said, however, her behavior throughout the
business, read it as favorably as we may, was not such
as any loyal subject could have thought upon without re-
gret. It showed the worse, too, by contrast with that of
her victim. Mary, whatever else was in her, possessed
in full measure all those qualities which have so often
turned the scaffold into a scene of public triumph, in
1 See Hearne, Rob. of Glouc., p. 673.
30
DEATH OF MARY.
[BOOK I.
which the memory of the sufferer is cleared from all its
stains, and every harsher thought is lost for ever in rever-
ence and pity. It was on the 7th of February, 1586-7,
that she received notice to prepare to die the next morn-
ing. It seems she did not need even that short notice.
She was ready on the instant to meet death with a com-
posure and a dignity such as neither martyr nor philoso-
pher ever surpassed. Even the dry official report of the
day's proceedings, made by the Commissioners to the
Council, reads, in spite of its formal phraseology and im-
passive tone, like a leaf out of the closing scene of some
majestic tragedy ·
High actions and high passions best describing:
whereas Elizabeth-who, if she had proceeded to the
execution with the same openness, directness, and solem-
nity with which she had conducted the trial, would have
seemed, in the eyes of her own people at least, like the
minister of God's justice, contrived by her delays, un-
certainties, and ambiguous directions, to seem like one
sacrificing justice to state policy, and doing what she was
ashamed of.
The Parliament did not meet again for work till the
22d of February; on which day the perilous condition
of the Protestant cause in Europe was set forth at large
to the House by Sir Christopher Hatton, and urged as a
motive for granting a subsidy, to be employed mainly
in supporting the Netherlands against Spain. A com-
mittee, including the first knight of every shire as well
as all the privy councillors that were of the House, was
immediately appointed in the usual form, "to set down
articles for the subsidy." And they appear to have
entered on the business with more than usual alacrity.
If the Journals are not too imperfect to ground a con-
jecture upon, they agreed at once to offer more than was
asked. But a difficulty arose. On the one hand, a single
•

1586-89.]
PARLIAMENT: BENEVOLENCE OFFERED.
31
subsidy was thought insufficient for the exigency; on the
other hand, to grant a double subsidy (which had never
been done yet) would create a precedent which might be
abused. In order to avoid the precedent, and yet not to
withold the necessary supply, it was proposed to increase
the grant by "a loan or voluntary contribution," to be
offered to the Queen by both Houses. Such at least
seems to be the most probable explanation of an entry
in the Journals of the 23d of February (the day after
the appointment of the Subsidy Committee), which de-
serves to be quoted both for the proposal itself — a novel
one as originating in such a quarter- and for the promi-
nent position in which it exhibits Bacon's name. It
runs thus: "The Committees appointed for conference
touching a loan or benevolence to be offered to her Maj-
esty are, Mr. Francis Bacon, Mr. Edward Lewkenor, and
others." And I quote it the rather because in the two
next Parliaments we shall find Bacon's name equally
prominent in connection with motions which, though not
the same, were for the same object. The result in this
case is not distinctly stated. It may be inferred however
from the silence of the Journals, that it was judged best
not to proceed further in the matter till the Subsidy Bill
had been framed and passed in the ordinary way. But
as soon as this was done, as soon as a bill for one sub-
sidy and two fifteenths and tenths had passed through
its three readings and gone to the upper House (which
was on the 7th of March), -the subject was taken up
again; and on the 11th a Committee was appointed to
confer with the Lords, and invite them to join “in a Con-
tribution or Benevolence for the charges of the Low Coun-
tries' wars, which they of the House of Commons meant
to offer unto her Majesty." The Lords declined the pro-
posal, and it was resolved that each House should pro-
ceed by itself. What the Lords did further or whether
they did anything, is not stated; but the Commons, be-
'

-
32
COMMITTAL OF MEMBERS TO THE TOWER.
[BOOK I.
ing informed on the 18th that the Queen, "understand-
ing of their great love unto her in regard of the charges
sustained in the Low Countries," would give audience
that afternoon to some convenient number of them,
appointed a Committee to wait on her; and as we hear
no more of the matter, I conclude that at this audience
the offer was made and declined: a circumstance to
which Bacon probably alludes in his "Discourse in praise
of his Sovereign" (written about the year 1592), where
he says, "there shall you find no new taxes, imposi-
tions, nor devices; but the benevolence of the subject
freely offered by assent of Parliament, according to the
ancient rates, and with great moderation in assessment;
and not so only, but some new forms of contribution of-
fered likewise by the subject in Parliament, and the dem-
onstration of their devotion only accepted, but the thing
never put in ure : a passage of which the substance is
repeated in his "Observations on a Libel."
For the rest, this session was chiefly remarkable for an
ineffectual attempt to revive the question concerning
ecclesiastical government so much discussed in the last
Parliament, and to raise a question concerning the right
of free speech in that House; both which motions were
summarily answered by the removal to the Tower of the
members who stirred them; - also for the quiet way in
which the House took the matter; the majority being
content, it seems, when it was proposed to petition for
the restitution of their missing members, to suppose that
66
they might perhaps be committed for somewhat that
concerned not the business or privileges of the House.”
But the times were too full of danger to allow of a quar
rel between the Queen and the Commons just then.
Parliament was dissolved on the 23d of March, 1586-7:
and from this time we have no more news of Bacon
(unless it be worth while to mention that he assisted in
getting up the masque which was presented to the Queen
..
3
!
33
L
1586-89.]
THE SPANISH ARMADA.
by the gentlemen of Gray's Inn on the 28th of February
following) till after the defeat of the Spanish Armada;
an event which I need only name, that its significance
in relation to all the political questions of the time may
be sufficiently appreciated. On the 20th of July, 1588,
the Spanish Armada appeared in the British Channel,
while the Prince of Parma waited with a large army in
the Low Countries ready to form a junction at Calais..
By the middle of August the wreck of the Armada was
making its way home round the shores of Scotland and
Ireland, and the Prince of Parma was drawing his forces.
away from the coast. But though baffled for the season,
Spain was neither disabled by this disaster, nor perhaps
(considering in how great part it was owing to accidents
of weather) very much discouraged; and next spring
was looked forward to with great and just apprehen-
sion. By way of preparation, Elizabeth summoned a
new Parliament for November, 1588; which did not
however meet for business till the 4th of February fol-
lowing. The cause for which they were called was ex-
plained by Sir Christopher Hatton, now Lord Chancellor,
namely, to take measures for provision of arms, sol-
diers, and money, against the future attempts of the King
of Spain. The Commons were as prompt as before to
meet the extraordinary occasion by an extraordinary sup-
ply; but not less jealous than before of setting an exam-
ple which other Parliaments might be expected to follow
on occasions less urgent, or by sovereigns less frugal, less
disinterested, and less in sympathy with the people.
How they attempted to escape this dilemma in the last
Parliament, I have already explained. They then voted
a single subsidy to be levied in the usual way, but offered
at the same time to sanction the collection of a benevo-
lence or voluntary contribution. To this however the
Queen herself objected (graciously, I suppose, yet so as
to forbid the renewal of a similar offer), and contented
VOL. I.
3
34
BACON'S PART IN PARLIAMENT.
[BOOK I.
herself for that time with the simple subsidy. There
was now nothing left for them (having a due regard to
the exigencies of the State) but to grant a double sub-
sidy, leviable according to the ancient usage; and to
provide as far as might be against its passing into a
precedent for the future, by introducing a clause for that
express purpose into the preamble of the bill. Whether
the precaution originated with Bacon in either case, I
cannot say; but here again his name stands foremost in
connection with it. The suggestion had been made and
approved in the Committee, and "one of the Commit-
tees, to-wit, Mr. Francis Bacon, had for that purpose set
down a note in writing;" which having been read and
approved by the House, it was agreed that the Speaker
should deliver it to her Majesty's learned counsel, who
were charged with the preparation of the Bill; and that
"the said Mr. Bacon should also repair unto them for
the further proceeding therein with them."
No objection seems to have been made; for the pre-
amble of the Act, after reciting in the customary manner
the occasion of the present grant, adds, and for that
we do perceive that the granting only of such an ordinary
subsidy to be levied as hath been commonly used in former
times of smaller dangers, is in no wise sufficient and an-
swerable to the unusual and great charges sustained and
to be sustained by your Majesty for these so great actions,”
etc., and so proceeds to grant two entire subsidies and
four fifteenths and tenths.1 The bill, after some slight
opposition (in which it is worth observing that the ten-
dency of so large a grant to interfere with a Benevolence,
should such a measure be required, was urged as an ob-
jection on the popular side 2) was passed by the Com-
mons on the 8th of March, by the Lords on the 17th, and
was presented to the Queen by the Speaker on the 29th,
together with a request from both Houses that she would
1 See note at end of this volume.
2 See Strype, Annals of the Reformation, vol. iii. (2), p. 566.

1586-89.]
PARLIAMENT: FIRST DOUBLE SUBSIDY.
35
denounce open war against the King of Spain; after
which the Parliament was dissolved.
Bacon, who had just completed his twenty-eighth year,
and was now a "Reader" in Gray's Inn, sat in this
Parliament for Liverpool. The more frequent appear-
ance of his name in the Journals, both as a member of
Committees, and as reporter of their proceedings to the
House, attests his rising importance. But the other pro-
ceedings of this session have little interest for us. A bill
to reform certain abuses by purveyors, and another con-
cerning process and pleadings in the Court of Exchequer,
did indeed at one time threaten to bring Privilege into
collision with Prerogative; the discussion being inter-
rupted by a message from the Queen; but through a
conciliatory demeanor on both sides, the occasion passed
off quietly. For the rest, the House appears to have been
chiefly occupied with questions of Privilege in which the
Crown did not care to meddle; questions concerning elec-
tions, attendance of members, the reporting of speeches
out-of-doors, and the like; important in the history of the
House of Commons, but throwing no light upon the
character or career of Bacon, whom we are now to fol-
low into a new subject, the interest of which is unhappily
not yet worn out.
The great question between the High Church and the
Nonconformists (now beginning to be called Puritans)
was no longer agitated in Parliament; the quarrels be-
tween the two being suspended for the time by the com-
mon danger which threatened both. But it was further
than ever from being settled. The suppressive and ex-
clusive policy pursued by the authorities was already
yielding its natural fruits. The leaders of the reform,
being denied a hearing in the great council of the nation,
had fallen back for support upon the ranks of their own
party. The preachers, being forbidden to preach openly,
!
36
ABUSES IN CHURCH.
[BOOK I.
met in secret synods and conventicles. The licensed press
being closed to their writings, a secret and movable print-
ing apparatus, evading the vigilance of Government by
shifting rapidly from place to place, scattered anonymous
publications all over the land, the more licentious be-
cause published in defiance of authority, and the more
eagerly sought after because forbidden. Hence to moder-
ate projects of reform, framed to avoid reasonable objec-
tions on the part of the Government, succeeded sweeping
propositions framed to conciliate the sympathy and sat-
isfy the desires of an extreme party; to grave discussion
of principles, fairly urged and fairly answered, succeeded
bitter and scurrilous personalities; to the fruits of gradual
reform, the seeds of a violent revolution.
Of all this Bacon had been an attentive and anxious
observer. He had heard at Cambridge the beginnings of
the controversy between the High Churchmen and the
most eminent of the Nonconformists. He had seen in
France the desolating effects of religious dissension in its
later stages. He had listened in the Parliament of 1584,
to debates concerning the abuses of our own church-gov-
ernment; had heard the particulars of those abuses am-
ply set forth and vehemently disputed; had heard of
parishes served by ministers unlearned and incompetent,
or not served at all; of men of the greatest learning and
the purest lives suspended from their ministry for object-
ing to wear a surplice, or for refusing to subscribe articles
newly devised, not imposed by the statutes of the realm,
not touching any vital or essential points of doctrine; of
the gravest functions of bishops delegated to officials and
commissaries; of ministers compelled to answer on oath
to any questions which the bishops might think fit to ask
either out of their own vague suspicions or out of the sug
gestions of common rumor; of excommunication abused
into an ordinary instrument for enforcing slight points of
discipline or exacting fees; of the suppression by author
1.
1586-89.] PROGRESS OF CHURCH CONTROVERSIES.
37
ity of those conferences and exercises among the clergy
which were best fitted to instruct and practice them in
the duties of their calling; of non-residents and plural-
ists; and much else of the kind. He had heard meas-
ures for the redress of these abuses proposed and argued
in no immoderate or unreasonable spirit; had seen the
grounds upon which the authorities resisted them; had
seen all free discussion of them peremptorily suppressed;
and had no doubt formed his own opinion upon the mer-
its of the controversy and the issues to which it was inev-
itably leading. He had seen that, though the principal
demands of the main body of reformers were as yet mod-
erate and just and involved no violent alteration, the ex-
tremes were already beginning to assail the very consti-
tution of the Church, and to erect within it a government
by synods, - that is to say, a government essentially
democratical within a government essentially monarchical
(a proceeding full of peril, because, as the two could
never have gone at the same pace, one must before long
have overthrown the other); and it must have been clear
enough to such a judgment as his, that unless the Church
could distinguish and detach the moderate from the im-
moderate, they would be continually drawing closer to-
gether, and making a common cause of it.
The authorities of the Church, indeed, saw nothing of
this. To them the Puritans were but a turbulent faction,
which was to be suppressed in its beginnings, for conces-
sions would but embolden them to make further demands.
But Bacon knew better. He knew by the example of his
own mother, who sympathized with the cause of the re-
formers from the bottom of her soul, with what depths of
religious emotion it was allied, and that, however poor
and narrow the creed, there burned at the centre of that
cause a fire of authentic faith, which an attempt to sup-
press by denying it vent might raise into a conflagration,
but could never put out. He saw (or if I may not assume
38
THE MARPRELATE CONTROVERSY.
[BOOK I.
that he saw, he at least took the course which such fore-
sight would have suggested) that the one chance for the
Church was to understand this herself, and to understand
it in time, and thereupon to seek, by casting out all that
was evil in herself, to assimilate and draw into her sys-
tem all that was good in them ; a course which, had
it been commenced soon enough, and judiciously fol-
lowed out, would probably have converted the stream
which not many years after burst in upon her like a
torrent and flooded all her chambers, into a source of
continual supply, health, and refreshment; and he re-
solved to try whether a word spoken in season might not
do something to guide her into this course.
The particular occasion which moved him to take a
part in the dispute was the Marprelate controversy; that
disgraceful pamphlet-war which raged so furiously in
1588 and 1589, between the revilers of the bishops on
the one side, and the revilers of the Puritans on the other,
and in which the appeal was made by both parties to the
basest passions and prejudices of the vulgar. Though
this was the natural result of an attempt to suppress all
legitimate demonstration of opinion through Parliament,
pulpit, or press, it was not the less to be deplored, as
tending to inflame animosities, deepen prejudices, and
bring both parties into contempt. The first attack, which
came from some anonymous and probably self-elected
champion of the Puritans, under the assumed name of
Martin Marprelate,¹ had been gravely and temperately
answered by Thomas Cooper, Bishop of Winchester, in
a pamphlet entitled "An Admonition to the People of
England;" but a cause must be very clear and unim-
peachable which can maintain itself before a popular au-
ditory against a nameless antagonist, who can use the
full license of slander and foul language without any per-
1 One Penry, a Welshman, was apprehended, tried as the author of the
pamphlet, and executed in 1593.
ン
​濞​一
​?
1586-89.]
THE MARPRELATE CONTROVERSY.
39
sonal responsibility. The Admonition may have done
something to correct the impressions of reasonable men,
if any such there were, whose opinions had been influ-
enced by Marprelate; but to the controversy it served
only as fresh fuel, and was quickly replied upon by fresh
volumes of scurrility and abuse; which again brought
forth to the rescue of the bishops a new kind of allies,
whose alliance would have disgraced the clearest cause,
men whose best weapon was the vilest slang and ribaldry
of the stage.
This scandalous contest was at its height in the sum-
mer of 1589, and it seems to have been about that time
that Bacon drew up (not for publication apparently, but
for circulation in manuscript) that " Advertisement touch-
ing the Controversies of the Church of England," which
was first printed as a separate pamphlet in 1640, when
the Long Parliament was busy with these questions;
afterwards by Dr. Rawley in "The Resuscitatio" (1657),
and again as a separate pamphlet in 1663, when the
question of toleration to Dissenters was raised under
Charles II., a paper in which he comes forward in the
character of a peace-maker, remonstrating against the
conduct of both sides; and therefore "not likely to be
grateful to either;" yet trusting that his views would
“find a correspondency in their minds who were not em-
barked in partiality, and which loved the whole better
than a part.
""
What use he made of this paper at the time, to whom
he sent copies, or whether he put his name to it, I have
not been able to discover; but I can hardly doubt that
he showed it to Burghley and Walsingham, who would
naturally concur in his views and wish to spread them.
And I think it probable that this led to the employ-
ment of his pen in counteracting another evil consequence
of these divisions; I mean the unfavorable interpretation
which was likely to be put upon them abroad, especially
t.

2.
40
EFFECT UPON OPINION ABROAD.
[BOOK I.
in France, with regard to the stability and constancy of
the Government. The progress of the French confusions
had in the spring of 1589 thrown the King into the arms
of the Protestant party, and he was now at war with the
League and with Spain. "The world is marvellously
changed," writes Burghley on the 27th of May,1 "when
we true Englishmen have cause, for our own quietness,
to wish good success to a French king and a king of
Scots; and yet they both differ one from the other in
profession of Religion; but seeing both are enemies to
our enemies, we have cause to join with them in these
actions against our enemies; and this is the work of God
for our good, for which the Queen and us all are most
deeply bound to acknowledge his miraculous goodness,
for no wit of man could otherwise have wrought it. At
this time the French King's party, by the true subjects
of his crown, both Catholic and Protestant, doth prosper
in every place." The sympathy thus created between
England and France in the latter months of Henry III.'s
reign, ripened into a strict and cordial alliance when
Henry of Navarre, himself a Protestant, succeeded to the
throne; which was in the beginning of August, 1589.
In this new crisis it was a matter of great importance
to the common cause, that no needless distrust or prej-
udice should be excited against Elizabeth in the minds
either of the Protestant or of the more moderate Catholic
party in France, by her dealings with the religious parties
in England; and some communication having been made
to Walsingham on the subject from a gentleman con-
nected with the French Government, it was resolved to
improve the occasion by writing him a letter in which
the true course of her proceedings should be set forth
and justified. Whether Bacon had anything to do with
the suggestion of this measure, I cannot say; but that
he was employed to make a draught of the proposed
1 Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury: Lodge, vol. ii., p. 373.
---༢│
1586-89.]
LETTER TO ARCHBISHOP WHITGIFT.
41
で
​letter may be inferred from the circumstances which I
am now going to explain.
I find in the "Resuscitatio" the following letter from
Bacon to Archbishop Whitgift:
TO MY LORD OF CANterbury.
It may please your Grace,-I have considered the ob-
jections, perused the statutes, and framed the alterations,
which I send; still keeping myself within the brevity of
a letter and form of a narration; not entering into a
form of argument or disputation: For in my poor con-
ceit it is somewhat against the majesty of princes' actions
to make too curious and striving apologies; but rather
to set them forth plainly, and so as there may appear an
harmony and constancy in them, so that one part up-
holdeth another. And so I wish your Grace all pros-
perity. From my poor lodging, this, etc.
Your Grace's most dutiful
Pupil and Servant.
This letter is without date; nor is there any note to
explain the occasion on which it was written, or the
nature of the inclosure which it seems to have conveyed.
But upon a careful examination of the words it clearly
appears,
1st, that Bacon had previously submitted to Archbishop
Whitgift, for consideration, the draft of some brief narra-
tive in explanation of some of the Queen's actions.
2dly, that the object of it was to justify what she had
done; but that the justification was implied in a plain
statement of the facts, without the help of arguments or
apologies.
3dly, that the justification rested upon the fact that
her conduct had been consistent.
4thly, that the narrative included a reference to cer-
tain statutes.
→
&
*
*
-
-
– į
42
WALSINGHAM'S LETTER.
[Book I.
5thly, that the paper had been sent back to him with
some objections, and was now returned by him with alter-
ations made by himself to meet them, but still in the
same form.
If, therefore, a paper can be found answering this de-
scription in all points, and written when Whitgift was
Archbishop of Canterbury and an active Privy Coun-
cillor, we may conclude (if not with absolute certainty,
yet with a probability almost amounting to certainty),
that it was the paper referred to in the foregoing letter;
not perhaps in exactly the same shape (for other alter-
ations may have been introduced afterwards), but the
same substantially.
Now, precisely such a paper do I find in the "Scrinia
Sacra;" that is to say, a letter addressed by Sir Francis
Walsingham to an official person in France, containing
an explanation in a narrative form of the Queen's pro-
ceedings towards the Catholics on the one hand and the
Puritans on the other; framed expressly to show that
her course had been consistent throughout; including a
reference to two statutes; and written before the 6th of
April, 1590 (the date of Walsingham's death), but not
before 1589 (for it has an obvious allusion to the Mar-
prelate libels); the greater part of which letter, I should
add (as a circumstance which, taken along with the
rest, may be considered conclusive), is also found almost
word for word in Bacon's "Observations on a Libel,"
written in 1592. And here it follows:
SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM, SECRETARY, TO MONSIEUR
CRITOY, SECRETARY OF FRANCE.1
SIR,- Whereas, you desire to be advertised touch-
ing the proceedings here in ecclesiastical causes, because
1 Scrinia Sacra, ed. 1654, p. 38. Collated with another copy in Burnet's
History of the Reformation, vol. ii., p. 418, who describes it as a letter written
by Walsingham, in French, to one Monsieur Critoy, a Frenchiman; "of which
*
1.
.
1586-89.]
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PAPISTS.
43
you seem to note in them some inconstancy and varia-
tion, as if we sometimes inclined to one side and some-
times to another, and as if that clemency and lenity were
not used of late which was used in the beginning; all
which you impute to your own superficial understand-
ing of the affairs of this state, having, notwithstanding,
her Majesty's doings in singular reverence, as the real
pledges which she hath given unto the world of her sin-
cerity in religion and of her wisdom in government well
meriteth; I am glad of this occasion to impart that little
I know in that matter to you, both for your own satis-
faction and to the end you may make use thereof to-
wards any that shall not be so modestly and so reasona-
bly minded as you are.
I find, therefore,¹ that her Majesty's proceedings have
been grounded upon two principles :
1. The one, that consciences are not to be forced, but
to be won and reduced by the force of truth, with the
aid of time and the use of all good means of instruction
and persuasion.
2. The other, that the causes of conscience, when they
exceed their bounds and grow to be matter of faction,
lose their nature; and that sovereign princes ought dis-
tinctly to punish the practice or contempt, though col-
ored with the pretense of conscience and religion.
According to these principles, her Majesty at her
coming to the Crown, utterly disliking the tyranny of
Rome, which had used by terror and rigor to seek
commandment of men's faiths and consciences, though
as a prince of great wisdom and magnanimity, she suf-
fered but the exercise of one religion, yet her proceed-
(he says) I have seen an English copy, taken (as is said) from the orig-
inal." Both these copies contain inaccuracies; but each helps to correct the
other.
1 The whole passage which follows, down to "adhere to her enemies,” was
afterwards incorporated, with a few slight variations and insertions, into Ba-
con's Observations on a Libel, 1592.
A
44
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PAPISTS.
[BOOK I.
ing towards the Papists was with great lenity, expect-
ing the good effects which time might work them. And
therefore her Majesty revived not the laws made in the
twenty-eighth and thirty-fifth year of her father's reign,
whereby the oath of allegiance might have been offered
at the king's pleasure to any subject, though he kept
his conscience never so modestly to himself; and the re-
fusal to take the same oath without further circumstance
was made treason. But contrariwise her Majesty, not
liking to make windows into men's hearts and secret
thoughts except the abundance of them did overflow into
overt and express acts or affirmations, tempered her law
so as it restraineth only manifest disobedience, in im-
pugning and impeaching advisedly and maliciously her
Majesty's supreme power, and maintaining and extolling
a foreign jurisdiction. And as for the oath, it was
altered by her majesty into a more grateful form; the
harshness of the name and appellation of supreme head
was removed, and the penalty of the refusal thereof
turned only into disablement to take any promotion or
to exercise any charge; and yet with liberty of being
re-invested therein if any man should accept thereof
during his life. But after, when Pius Quintus had ex-
communicated her Majesty, and the Bulls of Excommu-
nication were published in London, whereby her Majesty
was in a sort proscribed; and that thereupon as upon
a principal motive or preparative followed the rebellion
in the North; yet because the ill humors of the realm
were by that rebellion partly purged, and that she feared
at that time no foreign invasion, and much less the at-
tempt of any within the realm not backed by some.
potent succor from without, she contented herself to
make a law against that special case of bringing in or
publishing of any Bulls or the like instruments; where-
unto was added a prohibition, upon pain not of treason,
but of an inferior degree of punishment, against the
1586-89.]
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PAPISTS.
45
bringing in of Agnus Dei, hallowed beads, and such other
merchandise of Rome, as are well known not to be any
essential part of the Romish religion, but only to be
used in practice as love-tokens to enchant the people's
affections from their allegiance to their natural sovereign.
In all other points her Majesty continued her former
lenity. But when about the twentieth year of her reign
she had discovered in the King of Spain an intention to
invade her dominions, and that a principal point of the
plot was to prepare a party within the realm that might
adhere to the foreigner, and that the seminaries began
to blossom and to send forth daily priests and professed
men, who should by vow taken at shrift reconcile her
subjects from their obedience, yea and bind many of
them to attempt against her Majesty's sacred person;
and that by the poison which they spread, the humors
of most Papists were altered, and that they were no
more Papists in conscience and of softness, but Papists in
faction; then were there new laws made for the punish-
ment of such as should submit themselves to such recon-
cilements or renunciations of obedience. And because it
was a treason carried in the clouds and in wonderful
secrecy, and came seldom to light, and that there was
no presumption thereof so great as the recusance to come
to divine service; because it was set down by their
decrees that to come to church before reconcilement
was to live in schism, but to come to church after recon-
cilement, was absolutely heretical and damnable; there-
fore there were added new laws containing a punishment
pecuniary against such recusants, not to enforce con-
science, but to enfeeble and impoverish the means of
those to whom it rested indifferent and ambiguous,
whether they were reconciled or no. And when, not-
withstanding all this provision, this poison was dispersed
so secretly, as that there was no means to stay it but by
restraining the merchants that brought it in, then lastly,
i.
A
46
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PURITANS.
[BOOK I.
there was added another law whereby such seditious
priests of the new erection were exiled, and those that
were at that time within the land shipped over, and so
commanded to keep hence upon pain of treason.
This hath been the proceeding with that sort, though
intermingled not only with sundry examples of her Maj-
esty's grace towards such as in her wisdom she knew to
be Papists in conscience and not in faction, but also with
an ordinary mitigation towards the offenders in the high-
est degree convicted by law, if they would but protest
that in case this realm should be invaded with a foreign
army by the Pope's authority, for the Catholic cause, as
they term it, they would take party with her Majesty
and not adhere to her enemies.
For the other part, which have been offensive to this
state, though in another degree; which named themselves
Reformers, and we commonly call Puritans; this hath
been the proceeding towards them. A great while, when
they inveighed against such abuses in the church as plu-
ralities, non-residence, and the like, their zeal was not
condemned, only their violence was sometimes censured;
when they refused the use of some ceremonies and rites
as superstitious, they were tolerated with much conni-
vency and gentleness; yea, when they called in question
the superiority of bishops, and pretended to bring a de-
mocracy into the church, yet their propositions were
heard, considered, and by contrary writings debated and
discussed. Yet all this while it was perceived that their
course was dangerous and very popular. As because Pa-
pistry was odious, therefore it was ever in their mouths
that they sought to purge the church from the relics of
Popery; a thing acceptable to the people, who love ever
to run from one extreme to another. Because multitudes
of rogues and poverty were an eyesore and dislike to
every man, therefore they put it into the people's head
that if discipline were planted, there should be no beggars
=;
1586-89.] THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PURITANS.
47
nor vagabonds; a thing very plausible. And in like
manner they promised the people many other impossible
wonders of their discipline. Besides, they opened the
people a way to government by their consistory and pres-
bytery; a thing though in consequence no less prejudicial
to the liberties of private men than to the sovereignty of
princes, yet in the first show very popular. Nevertheless
this (except it were in some few that entered into ex-
treme contempt) was borne with, because they pretended
but in dutiful manner to make propositions, and to leave
it to the providence of God and the authority of the mag-
istrate. But now of late years, when there issued from
them a colony of those that affirmed the consent of the
magistrate was not to be attended; when, under pretense
of a concession to avoid slanders and imputations, they
combined themselves by classes and subscriptions; when
they descended into that vile and base means of defacing
the government of the church by ridiculous pasquils;
when they began to make many subjects in doubt to take
an oath, which is one of the fundamental parts of justice
in this land and in all places; when they began both to
vaunt of the strength and number of their partisans and
followers, and to use comminations that their cause would
prevail though with uproar and violence; then it ap-
peared to be no more zeal, no more conscience, but mere
faction and division; and therefore, though the state were
compelled to hold somewhat a harder hand to restrain
them than before, yet it was with as great moderation as
the peace of the church and state could permit. And
therefore, sir, to conclude, consider uprightly of these
matters, and you shall see her Majesty is no temporizer
in religion. It is not the success abroad, nor the change
of servants here at home, can alter her; only as the
things themselves alter, so she applieth her religious wis-
dom to methods correspondent unto them; still retaining
the two rules before mentioned, in dealing tenderly with
པ
*
1.
48
AUTHORSHIP OF THE LETTER.
[BOOK L.
consciences and yet in discovering faction from conscience
and softness from singularity. Farewell.
Your loving Friend,
FRANCIS WALSINGHAM.
If this letter was really drawn up by Bacon (of which,
for the reasons above stated, I have myself no doubt), it
is interesting as the earliest specimen we have of his
taste, judgment, and policy in conducting the defense of
the government against popular imputations; the best
policy, provided only that the case of the government be
good enough to bear it. It is to be remembered indeed,
that it was not written in his own name, and that his
was not the last judgment which was to be satisfied.
Whitgift, as well as Walsingham, had a strong personal
interest in the matter, nor did he want either authority
or opportunity to correct his old pupil's exercise. If the
original manuscript should ever be discovered, I think
traces will be found here and there, but especially to-
wards the end of the last sentence but two, where the
style and the logic both halt a little, of the Primate's
hand. In the main, however, it bears both in conception
and execution all the marks of Bacon's characteristic
manner.
I have connected it with the "Advertisement touching
the Controversies of the Church," because the subjects
being so nearly related, one employment may have sug-
gested the other. But there is another way in which
this latter task may have fallen naturally to Bacon. His
brother Anthony was still in France, carrying on an ac-
tive correspondence with many eminent persons there,
and also with Walsingham at home. It is not at all un-
likely that M. Critoy's communication came to Walsing-
ham through his and his brother's hands; in which case
the rest would follow naturally. Who this M. Critoy
was I have not been able to learn; but this is not ma-
1586-89.] GRANT OF CLERKSHIP OF STAR CHAMBER.
49
terial, except in so far as it might help to fix the exact
date. The letter explains itself, and has the same value
for us, to whomsoever addressed.
It may be worth observing that, though the view here
taken of the Queen's proceedings towards the Catholics, is
the same which Bacon maintained to the end of his life,
and took pains to impress upon posterity (see the "In
Felicem Memoriam Elizabethæ "1), yet with regard to the
policy of her dealing with the Puritans (except on one oc-
casion, where he denies that breaches of the law and dis-
turbances of church and state on that side had been al-
lowed to go unpunished), he was, so far as I know, silent.
And the truth I take to be that, after the year 1590, he
could not have said that her proceedings towards them
had been "with as great moderation as the peace of the
church and state would permit."
From this time till the latter part of 1591, I find no
other composition of Bacon's; nor any important piece
of news concerning him, except the following entry in a
note-book of Burghley's, dated October 29th, 1589: “A
grant of the office of the Clerk of the Counsel in the
Star Chamber to Francis Bacon." It was procured for
him by Burghley, and the office was a valuable one;
worth £1,600 a year, and executed by deputy. It was
only the reversion, however, that was granted to him,
which did not fall in for twenty years.
Occasional allusions in his brother's correspondence
show that he continued as before at Gray's Inn, but tell
us little or nothing of his occupations. During this in-
terval, however, it must have been that he became ac-
quainted with the Earl of Essex; an acquaintance which
had so great an influence upon his after-life that what I
have to say concerning the commencement of it may fitly
open a new chapter.
VOL. I.
1 The Works of Francis Bacon, vol. ii., pt. 1, page 413.
باد
CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1590-1592. ÆTAt. 30–32.
WHEN, or under what circumstances, the acquaintance
between Bacon and the Earl of Essex began, I cannot ex-
actly learn. In his brother's papers I find no allusion to
it earlier than February, 1591-92, by which time it had
ripened into intimacy; and since Essex had been engaged
in France during the latter half of 1591, as commander
of the forces sent to assist Henry IV., the commencement
of the acquaintance cannot well be dated later than the
preceding July.¹ Essex was then twenty-three, and had
been for some years high in the Queen's favor. In 1585
and 1586, he had served with distinction under the Earl
of Leicester in Holland. In 1587, the Queen had made
him her Master of the Horse. In 1588, on occasion of
the Spanish invasion, she had appointed him General of
the Horse. In 1589, when he returned from the expedi-
tion to Portugal in aid of Don Antonio, which he had
joined against her orders, she had received him, in spite
of his disobedience, with greater favor than ever. Had
this been all, a man in Bacon's position could not but
be glad of his friendship, and their common relation to
Burghley (to whose guardianship Essex had been espe-
cially bequeathed by his father on his deathbed) would
naturally bring them together. But the attraction which
drew them towards each other was not of that ordinary
1 A letter from Bacon to the Earl of Leicester, asking for his furtherance of
some suit which the Earl of Essex had moved in his behalf, has since been
found, — written in 1588.
:
1590-92.]
THE EARL OF ESSEX.
51
kind. Bacon had many things at heart besides the ad-
vancement of his own fortune; and there was promise in
Essex of something far greater than ascendancy in the
Queen's favor. Except Sir Philip Sidney, no man had
appeared on that stage who seemed so likely, if he at-
tained great power, to make a great use of it; especially
in those things which Bacon was most anxious about, but
for which he had little reason to expect encouragement
in high places. How to steer the State through the dan-
gers and difficulties of the present time, none knew better
then Walsingham and Burghley; whose skill and policy,
along with their offices, Robert Cecil seemed destined to
inherit. How to maintain the dignity of the Crown, the
greatness of the kingdom, and the authority of the exist-
ing laws, how to attract, attach, and use the ablest
servants both for peace and war, no one knew better
than the Queen herself. But her cares did not extend
beyond her own people and her own times. Though one
of the greatest of governors, she was no great legislator.
Though of the most learned of women, she was no great
patroness of learning, except where (as in the church and
the law) she wanted it for an instrument to govern with.
Though the champion of Protestantism, and without any
shade of religious bigotry, she took no care to provide for
the spiritual wants of the next generation, by making
room within the church for those varieties of opinion
which the spirit of Protestantism was sure to develop.
Though a reverencer of the laws herself, and well aware
that the reverence of the people for the laws was the
foundation and life of government, she took but little
interest in projects for the reformation of them, by cor-
recting abuses, removing uncertainties, simplifying com-
plexities, and settling principles. Whatever savored of
"speculation" she regarded with indifference or distrust,
as a disqualification for practical service. And as for the
recovery to Man of his lost dominion over Nature by
52
THE EARL OF ESSEX.
[BOOK I.
means of Knowledge, she had enough to do in maintain-
ing the dominion of England within its own shores by
means of vigilance and state policy. Neither to her there-
fore nor to her ministers could Bacon have looked for
much encouragement in the prosecution of those larger
reforms in philosophy, in letters, in church, in state, upon
which his mind was brooding, and which he certainly be-
lieved to be practicable if the Government would take.
them in hand.
But the rise of a man like Essex offered a new and un-
expected chance. He was a man of so many gifts and so
many virtues, that even now, when his defects and the
issue to which they carried him are fully known, it still
seems possible that under more favorable accidents he
might have realized all the promise of his morning: then
it must have seemed more than possible. From his boy-
hood he had been an eager reader and a patient listener.
The first year after he left Cambridge he spent happily
in studious retirement. His knowledge was already con-
siderable, his literary abilities great, his views liberal and
comprehensive, his speech persuasive, his respect for in-
tellectual qualifications in other men earnest and unaf-
fected. His religious impressions were deep, and without
being addicted to any of the religious parties in the state,
he had points of sympathy with them all. His temper
was hopeful, ardent, enterprising; his will strong, his
opinions decided; yet he was at the same time singularly
patient of oppugnant advice, and liked it the better the
more frankly it was given. He had that true generosity
of nature which appeals to all human hearts, because it
feels an interest in all human things; and which made
him a favorite, without any aid from dissimulations and
plausibilities, at once with the people, the army, and the
Queen. A character rare at all times and in all places;
most rare in such a station as he seemed destined thus
early to occupy; and promising fruits proportionably rare,
+ :-
1590-02.]
THE EARL OF ESSEX.
53
if it might only escape the dangers incident to an over-
forward season. It was easy for Bacon to see that here
was a man capable by nature of entering heartily into all
his largest speculations for the good of the world, and
placed by accident in a position to realize, or help to re-
alize, them. It was natural to hope that he would do it.
The favorite of a mighty Queen, herself the favorite of a
mighty nation; with a heart for all that was great, noble,
and generous; an ear open to all freest and faithfullest
counsel; an understanding to apprehend and appreciate
all wisdom; an imagination great enough to entertain
new hopes for the human race; without any shadow of
bigotry or narrowness; without any fault as yet apparent,
except a chivalrous impetuosity of character; the very
grace of youth, and the very element out of which, when
tempered by time and experience, all moral greatness and
all extraordinary and enterprising virtue derive their vital
energy; in times when the recent agitations of society
had stirred men's minds to hope and dare, and exercise
them in all kinds of active enterprise; he must have
seemed in the eyes of Bacon like the hope of the world.
We need not seek any further surely, to account for the
attachment which soon sprang up between the two. The
proffered friendship and confidence of such a man-what
could Bacon do but embrace it as frankly as it was of-
fered? Such a friend and counsellor seemed to be the
one thing which such a spirit stood in need of. If Essex
seemed like a man expressly made to realize the hopes of
a new world, so Bacon may seem to have been expressly
made for the guardian genius of such a man as Essex.
And thus their acquaintance began, about the time at
which we are now arrived; in 1590, probably, or the early
part of 1591. For "I held at that time," wrote Bacon
fourteen years after, "my Lord to be the fittest instru-
ment to do good to the state; and therefore I applied
myself to him in a manner which I think happeneth
**
54
RETURN TO ENGLAND OF ANTHONY BACON.
[BOOK I.
rarely among men ; for I did not only labor carefully and
industriously in that he set me about, whether it were
matter of advice or otherwise; but neglecting the Queen's
service, mine own fortune, and in a sort my vocation, I
did nothing but advise and ruminate with myself to the
best of my understanding, propositions and memorials of
anything that might concern his Lordship's honor, for-
tune, or service. And when, not long after I had entered
into this course, my brother, master Anthony Bacon, came
from beyond the seas, being a gentleman whose ability
the world taketh knowledge of for matters of state spe-
cially foreign, I did likewise knit his service to be at my
Lord's disposing." 1
Anthony Bacon arrived in England in the beginning
of 1592: and was met by his friend Nicholas Faunt with
a letter from his mother (dated February 3d), full of
maternal welcome and advice, while his brother was pre-
paring his chambers in Gray's Inn to receive him. He
was in very bad health; crippled with gout; but well
furnished with information concerning foreign affairs,
gathered during his ten years' residence abroad, and kept
alive by an extensive correspondence with able intelli-
gencers in different parts of Europe; the benefit of which,
hitherto enjoyed by Burghley, he not long after trans-
ferred to Essex.
In the meantime Francis's plans with regard to his
own fortune remained the same; but unhappily the pros-
pect of realizing them did not improve. He had just
completed his thirty-first year. He had been a Bencher
of his Inn for nearly five years, a Reader for nearly three ;
but I do not find that he was getting into practice.
His main object still was to find ways and means for
prosecuting his great philosophical enterprise; his hope
and wish still was to obtain these by some office under the
Government, from which he might derive both position
1 Apology.

1590–92.]
OBJECTS, HOPES, AND WISHES.
55
in the world which would carry influence, employment
in the State which would enable him to serve his coun-
try in her need, and income sufficient for his purposes,
-without spending all his time in professional drudgery.
Nearly six years had passed since his last application to
Burghley (the last which we know of), and his hopes
were no nearer their accomplishment. The clerkship of
the Star Chamber did not help; for it was not in posses-
sion nor likely to be for many years; it was but as
"another man's ground buttailing upon his house; which
might mend his prospect but did not fill his barn."1 It
has been said indeed that before this time the Queen had
appointed him "one of her counsel learned extraor-
dinary;" but even if this be true (which, from the ab-
sence of all contemporary allusions to a distinction so
unusual, I doubt), it does not alter the case; for whether
he obtained it sooner or later, it was an honor only, with-
out any emolument appertaining. 2 The entrance upon
a new decade reminded him of the swiftness of time and
the slowness of his fortune, and suggested a fresh remem-
brance to Burghley of his hopes and objects; the rather,
perhaps, because, with such a friend at Court as Essex,
there was now a fresh chance of favorable entertainment
for them. The following letter needs no further elucida-
tion; and as I have no means of determining the date of
it, except from the allusion it contains to his "thirty-one
1 His own expression, as given by Rawley, Works, vol. i., Part I., p. 41.
2 The best authority for dating this appointment so early is the expression
used by Dr. Rawley in the Latin version of his Life of Bacon, which was pub-
lished after the English one, and occasionally differs from it. "Nondum
tyrocinium in lege egressus, a regina in consilium suum doctum extraordinarium
adscitus est." But this may possibly have been an inference drawn from
Bacon's Letter to Burghley of the 18th of October, 1580 (mentioned above, p.
11) of which Dr. Rawley did not know the date. I am told also that in
legal phraseology a barrister's tyrocinium continues until he is called to be a
Serjeant; and that Rawley may only have meant that Bacon was made a Q. C.
without being first made a Serjeant. Rawley however was a scholar and not a
lawyer, and I am inclined to think that he used the word in its classical sense.
The import of the word extraordinary he evidently misunderstood.
vol. i., Part I., p. 38, note 3.
See Works,
:
C

56
REMEMBRANCE TO BURGHLEY.
[Book I.
years," I place it here at the point when he entered
upon his thirty-second.
TO MY LORD Treasurer Burghley.
My Lord, With as much confidence as mine own
honest and faithful devotion unto your service and your
honorable correspondence unto me and my poor estate
can breed in a man, do I commend myself unto your
Lordship. I wax now somewhat ancient; one and thirty
years is a great deal of sand in the hour-glass. My
health, I thank God, I find confirmed; and I do not fear
that action shall impair it, because I account my ordi-
nary course of study and meditation to be more painful
than most parts of action are. I ever bare a mind (in
some middle place that I could discharge) to serve her
Majesty; not as a man born under Sol, that loveth honor;
nor under Jupiter, that loveth business (for the contem-
plative planet carrieth me away wholly); but as a man
born under an excellent Sovereign, that deserveth the
dedication of all men's abilities. Besides, I do not find
in myself so much self-love, but that the greater parts of
my thoughts are to deserve well (if I were able) of my
friends, and namely of your Lordship; who being the
Atlas of this commonwealth, the honor of my house, and
the second founder of my poor estate, I am tied by all
duties, both of a good patriot, and of an unworthy kins-
man, and of an obliged servant, to employ whatsoever
I am to do you service. Again, the meanness of
my es-
tate doth somewhat move me : for though I cannot accuse
myself that I am either prodigal or slothful, yet my
health is not to spend, nor my course to get. Lastly, I
confess that I have as vast contemplative ends, as I have
moderate civil ends: for I have taken all knowledge to
be my province; and if I could purge it of two sorts of
rovers, whereof the one with frivolous disputations, con-
futations, and verbosities, the other with blind experi
1590-92.]
REMEMBRANCE TO BURGHLEY.
57
ments and auricular traditions and impostures, hath com-
mitted so many spoils, I hope I should bring in industrious
observations, grounded conclusions, and profitable inven-
tions and discoveries; the best state of that province.
This, whether it be curiosity, or vain glory, or nature, or
(if one take it favorably) philanthropia, is so fixed in my
mind as it cannot be removed. And I do easily see, that
place of any reasonable countenance doth bring command-
ment of more wits than of a man's own; which is the
thing I greatly affect. And for your Lordship, perhaps
you shall not find more strength and less encounter in
any other. And if your Lordship shall find now, or at
any time, that I do seek or affect any place whereunto
any that is nearer unto your Lordship shall be concurrent,
say then that I am a most dishonest man.
And if your
Lordship will not carry me on, I will not do as Anaxag-
oras did, who reduced himself with contemplation unto
voluntary poverty: but this I will do; I will sell the in-
heritance that I have, and purchase some lease of quick
revenue, or some office of gain that shall be executed by
deputy, and so give over all care of service, and become
some sorry book-maker, or a true pioneer in that mine of
truth, which (he said) lay so deep. This which I have
writ unto your Lordship is rather thoughts than words,
being set down without all art, disguising, or reservation.
Wherein I have done honor both to your Lordship's wis-
dom, in judging that that will be best believed of your
Lordship which is truest, and to your Lordship's good
nature, in retaining nothing from you. And even so I
wish your Lordship all happiness, and to myself means
and occasion to be added to my faithful desire to do you
service. From my lodging at Gray's Inn.
The two brothers were now established under the same
roof in Gray's Inn, where they lived on the most affec-
tionate and confidential footing; Anthony, in spite of his
+
58
THE TWO BROTHERS.
[BOOK I.
continued ill-heath, taking an earnest interest in foreign
affairs, and carrying on an active intercourse by letter
with his correspondents abroad; Francis busy with his
law and philosophy and home politics, yet continually
consulted by his brother on all questions of importance;
each always ready to help the other to the utmost of his
power with money, credit, or advice. Living thus to-
gether, and seeing each other every day, it was only now
and then (as when one of them visited his mother at
Gorhambury, or retreated for quiet and fresh air to
Twickenham Park, where Francis had a lodge) that they
had occasion to communicate by letter. But Lady Bacon
was continually writing: and a great number of her
letters (directed to Anthony, but addressed generally to
both) are preserved among the Tenison MSS. at Lam-
beth. These throw a very full light upon her own char-
acter, and upon the relations which subsisted between
her and her sons; a relation too important at this period
of Francis's life to be lost sight of; for the feelings of
such a mother, whether in approbation or disapproba-
tion, could not but enter into his consideration, even
where they did not determine his course. But to under-
stand this relation rightly, it is necessary to know her as
well as him and with a view to this, it will be worth
while to quote some passages of the correspondence in
which he is not directly alluded to.
1
I have already introduced her addressing Lord Burgh-
ley on matters of church and state. I shall now show
her in a less constrained mood, under the agitations of
maternal anxiety. It seems that Anthony Bacon, seek-
ing on all sides for intelligence concerning parties and
political intrigues abroad, had used the services of Catho-
lics as well as Protestants; and among others had a con-
fidential servant named Lawson, whose religion was sus-
pected. Him he had sent over to Lord Burghley with
some advertisements, which it was important to deliver
1590-92.]
LADY BACON'S ANXIETIES.
59
safely and secretly. Lady Bacon, a vehement anti-Catho-
lic, suspecting his fidelity and dreading the effect of such
company upon her son's faith and morals, prevailed upon
Burghley to have him arrested and detained in England.
'Anthony, hearing of this, sent his friend Francis Allen, a
frankhearted, plain-spoken soldier, to intercede for him
both with Burghley and his mother; that he might be
allowed to return. Burghley seems to have been will-
ing, for he wrote a letter to Lady Bacon on the subject;
with which Captain Allen proceeded to Gorhambury.
The rest he shall tell himself.
"Upon my arrival at Godombery my Lady used me courte-
ously until such time I began to move her for Mr. Lawson;
and, to say the truth, for yourself; being so much transported
with your abode there that she let not to say that you are a
traitor to God and your country; you have undone her; you
seek her death; and when you have that you seek for, you shall
have but a hundred pounds more than you have now.
"She is resolved to procure her Majesty's letter to force you
to return; and when that should be, if her Majesty give you
your right or desert, she should clap you up in prison. She
cannot abide to hear of you, as she saith, nor of the other es-
pecially, and told me plainly she should be the worse this month
for my coming without you, and axed me why you could not
have come from thence as well as myself.
"She saith you are hated of all the chiefest on that side, and
cursed of God in all your actions, since Mr. Lawson's being with
you.
“I am sorry to write it, considering his deserts and your love
towards him; but the truth will be known at the last, and better
late than never; it is vain to look for Mr. Lawson's return, for
these are her Ladyship's own words: 'No, no,' saith she, 'I
have learned not to employ ill to good; and if there were no
more men in England, and although you should never come
home, he shall never come to you.'
"It is as unpossible to persuade my Lady to send him as for
myself to send you Paul's steeple.

60
CAPTAIN ALLEN AND LADY BACON.
[BOOK I.
"I must confess your brother, Mr. Francis Bacon, is most
tractable and most earnest, if possible it may be done, to fulfill
your demand; he hath used me with great humanity, for which
I humbly pray you to give him thanks.
"My Lady seemed to be angry with me because I had
brought this bearer Guilliaum from you, saying you had but
one honest and trusty man, and I had deboshed him from
you; which is cause I have taken resolution to send him to
you again; I send him not more willingly than he is willing to
return.
"Mr. Lawson is in great necessity, and your brother dares not
help him, in respect of my Lady's displeasure.
"My Lady said she had rather you made the wars with the
King of Navarre than to have staid so long idle in Montoban,
and with great earnestness, also tears in her eyes, she wished
that when she heard of Mr. Selum's imprisonment you had been
fairly buried, provided you had died in the Lord. In my simple
judgment she spoke it in her passion, and repented immediately
her words.
"When you have received your provision, make your repair
home again, lest you be a means to shorten her days, for she told
me the grief of mind received daily by your stay will be her end;
also saith her jewels be spent for you, and that she borrowed the
last money of seven several persons.
“Thus much I must confess unto you for a conclusion, that
I have never seen nor never shall see a wise Lady, an honor-
able woman, a mother, more perplexed for her son's absence
than I have seen that honorable dame for yours. There-
fore lay your hand on your heart, look not for Mr. Lawson;
here he hath, as a man may say, heaven and earth against him
and his return.
"If you think much of my plainness, take heed you give me
no authority another time; for I shall do the like.
"The 17th August, 1589."
"F. ALLEN.
Burghley's letter, and another in the same behalf from
Francis Bacon, she "would not once vouchsafe to look
upon;" and when Anthony returned at last, more than
-
!
1590-92.]
LADY BACON AND HER SONS.
61
two years after, Lawson appears to have been still in
England, and Lady Bacon's feelings towards him unal-
tered. The letter with which she dispatched Nicholas
Faunt, her son's Puritan friend, to greet him on his ar-
rival, will throw some further light upon the character of
this remarkable woman.
"The grace of God be daily multiplied in you, with mercy in
Christ our Lord.
"That you are returned now at length I am right glad. God
bless it to us both. But when I heard withal that Lawson, who
I fore-suspected, stale hence unto you, and so belike hath wrought
upon you again to your hurt, to serve his own turn as hereto-
fore; how welcome that could be to your long-grieved mother,
judge you. I can hardly say whether your gout or his company
were the worse tidings. I have entertained this gentleman, Mr.
Fant, to do so much kindness for me as to journey towards you,
because your brother is preparing your lodging at Gray's Inn
very carefully for you. I thank God that Mr. Fant was willing
so to do, and was very glad, because he is not only an honest
gentleman in civil behavior, but one that feareth God indeed,
and as wise withal, having experience of our state, and is able
to advise you both very wisely and friendly. For he loveth
yourself, and needed not yours, as others have and yet dis
with you. He doth me pleasure in this, for I could not have
found another so very meet for you and me in all the best and
most necessary respects. Use him therefore, good son, and make
much of such, and of their godly and sound friendly counsel.
This one chiefest counsel your Christian and natural mother
doth give you even before the Lord, that above all worldly re-
spects you carry yourself ever at your first coming as one that
doth unfeignedly profess the true religion of Christ, and hath
the love of the truth now by long continuance fast settled in
your heart, and that with judgment, wisdom, and discretion, and
are not afraid or ashamed to testify the same by hearing and
delighting in those religious exercises of the sincerer sort, be
they French or English. In hoc noli adhibere fratrem tuum ad
1 The rest of this word is illegible: perhaps dissemble.
•
1
Su
+
清
​62
LADY BACON TO ANTHONY.
1
[BOOK I.
consilium aut exemplum. Sed plus dehinc. If you will be
wavering (which God forbid, God forbid), you shall have exam-
ples and ill encouragers too many in these days, and that apch
βισσ, since he was βουλευτής, ἐστὶ ἀπολεία τῆς ἐκκλησίας μεθ'
ἡμῶν, φιλεῖ γὰρ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δόξαν πλέον τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
Beware, therefore, and be constant in godly profession without
fainting, and that from your heart; for formality wanteth none
with us, but too common. Be not speedy of speech nor talk
suddenly, but where discretion requireth, and that soberly then.
For the property of our world is to sound out at first coming,
and after to contain. Courtesy is necessary, but too common
familiarity in talking and words is very unprofitable, and not
without hurt-taking, ut nunc sunt tempora.
Remember you
have no father. And you have little enough, if not too little,
regarded your kind and no simple mother's wholesome advice
from time to time. And as I do impute all most humbly to the
grace of God whatsoever he hath bestowed upon me, so dare I
affirm that it had been good for you every way if you had fol-
lowed it long ere this. But God is the same, who is able to
heal both mind and body, whom in Christ I beseech to be your
merciful father and to take care of you, guiding you with his
holy and most comfortable spirit, now and ever.
"Let not Lawson, that fox, be acquainted with my letters.
I disdain both it and him. He commonly opened undermin-
ingly all letters sent to you from counsel or friends. I know it,
and you may too much, if God open your eyes as I trust he
will. Send it back, to be sure, by Mr. Fant sealed; but he will
pry and prattle. So fare you well, and the Lord bless you and
keep you for ever.
"3 Febr."
2
"Your mother,
"A. BACON.
"I trust you, with your servants, use prayer twice in a day,
having been where reformation is. Omit it not for any. It
will be your best credit to serve the Lord duly and reverently,
1 That archbishop (meaning Whitgift), since he was councillor, is the de-
struction of our church, for he loves his own glory more than the glory of
Christ.
2 Anthony Bacon had stayed some time at Geneva.
1590-92.]
LADY BACON AND HER SONS.
63
and will be observed at the first now. Your brother is too
you
negligent herein, but do you well and zealously; it will be
looked for of the best learned sort, and that is best."
The rest of Lady Bacon's letters (of which I have
copies of ten or twelve, written within the next six months)
all exhibit the same tender and anxious affection, the
same fervid piety, the same proneness to suspect every-
body about her son of preying upon him and abusing his
simplicity and inexperience; the same irritable jealousy
with regard to her own maternal authority; curiously
mixed with little solicitudes about his physic, his diet, his
hours of sleeping, waking, and going abroad, and all his
smaller household arrangements.
The relation between the sovereign and the subject, or
the Church and her members, changes, as creeds and con-
stitutions change, till at the distance of a few generations
it becomes impossible to conceive it correctly without
some power of imagination as well as much knowledge of
the facts. But the relation between the mother and the
son remains substantially the same; and Lady Bacon's
affections, dispositions, manners, and temper, reveal them-
selves through her maternal solicitudes, serious and trivial,
as clearly as if it were to-day: an affectionate, vehement,
fiery, grave, and religious soul, just beginning to fail
where such natures commonly fail first, in the power of
self-command: in creed a Calvinist, in morals a Puritan.
Of the letters which must for many years have been con-
tinually passing between her and Francis, only two or
three have been preserved. But if we would understand
his position, we must not forget that he had a mother of
this character and temper living within a few hours' ride
of his chambers, anxiously watching over his proceed-
ings, and by advice or authority continually interfering
in his affairs.
The two brothers seem to have remained at Gray's
64
LETTER TO THOMAS PHILLIPS.
[BOOK I.
Inn together till the beginning of August, when Anthony
went to Gorhambury, and Francis shortly after, "upon
a flying report of the sickness," betook himself along
with some of his lawyer friends to Twickenham Park;
and asked Dr. Andrewes, afterwards the famous Bishop,
to join the party; whose duty however, as preacher
at St. Giles's, detained him. On the 14th he wrote to
invite Mr. Thomas Phillips, who had been formerly in
the service of Walsingham, and was now employed by
the Earl of Essex, apparently upon Bacon's recommen-
dation.
From a letter addressed to this person on the 15th of
September, we catch a glimpse of one kind of work in
which Bacon's relation to Essex now involved him.
Phillips had apparently been employed by the Earl in
procuring intelligence from abroad. The times were so
critical, and so many dark conspiracies on foot, that this
art of procuring intelligence was among the most im-
portant qualifications of a Councillor, and a point in
which the rival courtiers strove to outshine each other.
Essex was not yet a Councillor, but in good hope of be-
ing sworn in soon, and eagerly seeking occasions to prove
his worth. In this case there seems to have been some
danger of disappointment, which Bacon was anxious to
avert. What the particular occasion was cannot be de-
termined from the expressions of the letter; but we hap-
pen to know that about this time the Council was oc-
cupied with some "great business about Jesuits and
seminary priests; by some whereof there were matters
of great weight discovered concerning the State, as a
new practice or plot of invasion between Spain, Scot-
land, the Pope, and some other adherents, as Savoy,
etc.' And it is not improbable that Mr. Phillips's
Mercury" was some intelligencer whom he had dis-
patched to gather news about this.
66
1590–92.]
LABORS IN THE SERVICE OF ESSEX.
65
TO MR. THOMAS PHILLIPS.
SIR, — I congratulate your return, hoping that all is
passed on your side. Your Mercury is returned; whose
return alarmed as upon some great matter, which I fear
he will not satisfy. News of his coming came before his
own letter, and to other than to his proper servant[?],¹
which maketh me desirous to satisfy or to salve. My
Lord hath required him to repair to me; which upon his
Lordship's and mine own letters received I doubt not but
he will with all speed perform; where I pray you to
meet him if you may, that laying our heads together we
may maintain his credit, satisfy my Lord's expectation,
and procure some good service. I pray the rather spare
not your travail, because I think the Queen is already
party to the advertisement of his coming over, and in
some suspect which you may not disclose to him. So I
wish you as myself, this 15th of September, 1592.
Yours ever assured,
FR. BACON.
By what accident this and other letters from Bacon to
Phillips were preserved and found their way into the place
where they now are, I cannot positively say. But I find
that in the beginning of the next reign Thomas Phillips
was examined before the Council concerning certain secret
correspondence which had been held by him with some
one abroad: with which correspondence "there were ac-
quainted the Queen's Majesty, the Earl of Essex, Mr.
Francis Bacon, Sir William Waad, and Mr. Phillips: the
three last being acquainted with it, every man in his
turn, as the Queen and the Earl would employ them.'
On such an occasion all Phillips's papers of this kind
would naturally come into the hands of the Government,
and so finally into the State Paper Office. These letters
VOL. I.
1 I am not sure of this word: but I think it is "St."
5
""
મ
Į
*
1
7
66
A COURT DEVICE.
[BOOK I.
of Bacon's therefore, and others of the same sort which
we shall meet with as we proceed, are to be regarded
merely as specimens and fragments accidently cast up of
the kind of services in which Essex employed him; not
by any means as affording a complete account of his labors,
even in this one kind.
But as Essex aspired to distinction in many other ways,
so Bacon studied in many other ways to help him; among
the rest by contributing to those fanciful pageants or
"devices," as they were called, with which it was the
fashion of the time to entertain the Queen on festive oc-
casions. One of the most notable of his smaller works,
his "Discourse in Praise of his Sovereign," was most
likely composed for some occasion of the kind. We know
now, what had been conjectured before, that it formed
part of an imaginary conversation, in which four friends
meeting for intellectual amusement were represented as
delivering speeches in praise of what they held most
worthy. The first chose for his subject Fortitude, as be-
ing the worthiest virtue: the second Love, as the worthiest
affection; the third Knowledge, as the worthiest power;
the fourth the Queen, as the worthiest person. The his-
torical allusions in the last point to 1592 as the probable
date of composition, and we know that Essex did adorn the
triumphs of the "Queen's Day "in that year with some
distinguished device, and that Bacon was about the Court.
It seems very likely therefore that it was composed for that
entertainment. But though the occasion was complimen-
tary and the style rhetorical, the matter was grave and
there was a special circumstance which would give it at
that time a peculiar and serious interest. The "Respon-
sio ad edictum Reginæ Angliæ" had just appeared ;
a labored invective against the government, charging
upon the Queen and her advisers all the evils of England
and all the disturbances of Christendom.1 It was written
1 Father Parsons is supposed to have been the writer.
1590-92.] PUBLICATION OF PARSONS'S “RESPONSIO.”
67
""
directly in favor of Spain and the Catholic cause, and ad-
dressed itself to all disaffected spirits both at home and
abroad. A copy of it had been sent the week before to
Anthony Bacon by one of the Lord Keeper's secretaries,
with a request that "it might be kept from any but such
as were well affected and knew how to use such things;
so it was quite a fresh matter. Now Francis Bacon's
oration, though not directly alluding to this book (which
might be thought inexpedient, as tending to give it no-
toriety) did by implication meet and answer the princi-
pal allegations which it contained. Whether this would
have been enough to secure a patient hearing at Court
in a time of festivity for a discourse so grave, so solid, and
so long, may be doubted. But whatever the view with
which it was composed or the use to which it was put,
it is not likely that it was allowed to remain unseen by
those whom it most concerned; and I suppose it was
from the zeal and ability which it displayed, that Bacon
was encouraged shortly after to undertake a larger work
on the same subject; and to meet that libellous publica-
tion (which was sure, whether noticed or not, to find its
way into circulation; especially in the quarters where it
would do most mischief) with a detailed reply. Here-
upon, laying aside the rhetorical and panegyrical style,
he fell back into that which was proper for the occasion
and natural to himself; worked up the substance of his
oration into a narrative and argumentative form; and en-
larging his plan to take in the whole state of the kingdom
and all the matters in dispute, produced "Observations
on a Libel published this present year 1592," which was
circulated — and to judge by the number of old copies
still extant, circulated extensively — at the time in man-
uscript; and must always keep its value, not only as a
historical record of the times, but as a specimen of the
manner in which this kind of controversy ought to be
conducted.

;
68
"OBSERVATIONS ON A LIBEL.”
[BOOK I.
I have not succeeded in ascertaining the exact time
at which this treatise was composed, but I suppose it to
have been in January or February, 1592-3; when Bacon
had just completed his thirty-second year, and was about
to play a conspicuous part in a new Parliament a part
which brought out his character in some new aspects and
had a serious influence upon his after-fortunes.
CHAPTER V.
A. D. 1593. ÆTAT. 33.
ONE of the principal objects of the author of the libel
was to set forth the pacific policy of the King of Spain.
It proved to be the immediate forerunner, if not the
actual preparative and accomplice, of a new intrigue in
Scotland more alarming than any of the rest. And be-
fore the reply was finished, several of the most powerful
nobles had formally pledged themselves to receive Span-
ish forces in Scotland, and to raise, by help of Spanish
money, forces of their own to join with them. Of this
fact the English government received certain intelligence
early in January, 1592-3. It was necessary therefore to
be prepared for an invasion at both ends of the king-
dom at once; and as the double subsidy granted three
years before had been already spent in aids to the
Netherlands and France, no time was to be lost in sum-
moning a new Parliament and obtaining fresh and liberal
supplies.
The Houses met on the 19th of February. The Lord
Keeper, in the Queen's presence and by her command,
informed them why they had been called, what they were
to do, and what not to do. He told them that the King
of Spain had since 1588 been furnishing himself with
ships of a different build, fitter for our waters; had
possessed himself of the principal strongholds in Brit-
tany, places convenient to assail us from by sea; had won
a party in Scotland to give landing to his forces there,
sent over large sums of money, and received written prom-
70
THE LORD KEEPER'S ADMONITION.
[BOOK I.
ises of assistance; and that his purpose was to invade us
by land and sea at once, from north and south. Mean-
time, the Queen's treasure being spent, she had called
them "that she might consult with her subjects for the
better withstanding of these intended invasions, which
were now greater than were ever heretofore heard of."
He told them that they were not called to make any new.
laws, of which there were already so many that an abridg-
ment of those there were was more wanted than an addi-
tion to the number; that the session could not be long,
for spring was near when gentlemen would be wanted in
their counties and the justices of assize in their circuits;
therefore that the good hours must not be lost in idle
speeches, but employed wholly in the needful business of
the time.
In these admonitions there was nothing unusual. No
remonstrance was made; no symptoms of opposition
manifested; nor did there seem to be any reason for
doubting that if the Commons were left to take their
ordinary course without further interference, they would
do the business willingly and satisfactorily. It is true
that they had shown themselves on late occasions very
jealous of their trust, and very reluctant to make prece-
dents for double subsidies. But in times of war subsi-
dies were understood to be the constitutional resource.
The wars in which the country was then engaged were
popular. There was no suspicion of waste or misem-
ployment or ill success in the administration of former
grants. And if extraordinary sacrifices were due to ex-
traordinary occasions, never was there a time in which
they might have been more reasonably expected than
upon the fresh alarm (for the King of Spain's design
was not known to the English public before Parliament
met) of so formidable a danger. Yet scarcely a week
had passed before obstructions and misunderstandings
arose, and that in a manner and quarter so unexpected,
1593.] THE GOVERNMENT AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 71
that historians have had to seek far, and hitherto I think
unsuccessfully, for an explanation of them.
That there had grown up under the leadership of the
Earl of Essex a parliamentary "opposition," whose ob-
ject was to embarrass the ministers in the hope of sup-
planting them, is a modern suggestion, drawn from mod-
ern experiences, without a shadow of direct evidence to
support it, and incredible to any one acquainted with
those times. To embarrass Queen Elizabeth's govern-'
ment in a crisis of national danger was no man's way to
a seat at her council-table. To me it appears more prob-
able that the opposition she met with was legitimately
provoked by the Queen herself; for that, seeing the grad-
ual encroachments which for some years Privilege had
been making upon Prerogative, she had intended to take
advantage of what seemed a favorable crisis, not merely
for obtaining those supplies which she was entitled to ask
for, but also for establishing one or two precedents in her
own favor upon certain points of form which custom had
not yet settled. The right of free debate in the Lower
House, for instance, had its limits in fact, as we know;
but Peter Wentworth had formally disputed them;¹ and
the dispute, though silenced, had not been decided. So
also the rule of voting only one subsidy at a time had
been broken by the last Parliament; but it was with an
intimation that the case was extraordinary, and a proviso
that it should not be taken for a precedent. Now this
rule was inconvenient for the public service, and by a
little judicious management might be made to lose its
prescriptive authority. Again, the Commons had been
allowed hitherto to discuss all questions of supply by
themselves, without dictation or interference. But since
it was not possible to judge how large a supply ought to
be offered, without knowing the occasion which called for
it; and since the Commons were not then admitted to be
1 28th February, 1586-7. See D'Ewes, p. 411.
72
COMMITTAL OF PETER WENTWORTH ET AL. [BOOK I.
fit judges of council-table matters; it would certainly be
convenient for the government, and might appear not al-
together unreasonable in itself, to introduce a custom of
discussing such questions in conference with the Lords.
Here then were three constitutional points, all fairly dis-
putable, which the Queen would naturally wish to settle
in her own favor; and it probably occurred to her that
the urgency of the occasion, and the enthusiastic loyalty
which she could so well count upon in times of national
danger, might enable her silently to advance a step in
these directions. Nor was she altogether mistaken. In
the first point she succeeded completely for the time,
and without a struggle. For when the Speaker proffered
the usual petition for liberty of speech, the Lord Keeper
was instructed to answer "that liberty of speech was
granted in respect of the Aye and No; but not that every
one should speak what he listed; "a declaration which,
in strict construction, denied liberty of speech and allowed
only liberty of vote. And this principle, so frankly
avowed, she took the earliest opportunity of enforcing in
practice. For the first proceeding on the part of the
Lower House being the delivery by certain members to
the Lord Keeper (the House itself not being able to sit
because the Speaker was too ill to attend) of a petition
relating to the succession of the Crown, the members who
delivered it, Peter Wentworth and others, were im-
mediately called before the Council, and committed some
to the Tower and others to the Fleet; where they re-
mained, I believe, to the end of the session; thus losing
their liberty of vote and speech both. And when it was
proposed to petition the Queen for their release (lest
their constituents should complain of having to pay taxes
to which their representatives had not consented), answer
was made by the privy councillors that "her Majesty
had committed them for causes best known to herself,"
and that to press her with the proposed suit "would only
1593.] THE GOVERNMENT AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 73
hinder them whose good they sought;" with which an-
swer the House seems to have been satisfied. This was
no novelty, it is true; for many precedents might have
been cited in justification; but it was one more added to
the list, and a strong one. And so that point was made
good for that time.
How she fared with regard to the two others will ap-
pear in the narrative of the proceedings; which I must
give at some length, because of the prominent and unex-
pected part which Bacon played in them. If
If my inter-
pretation of the Queen's policy be correct, the course he
took will be more easily understood.
The question of supply was brought forward on the
26th of February. Sir Robert Cecil set forth at large
the danger in which England stood from the King of
Spain; his ancient malice, visible in all the proceedings
of past years, still as active as ever; his advantages
greater than ever, by reason of his recent successes in
Lorraine and Brittany, his intrigues in Scotland, and the
numbers of the Catholic party gradually increasing. Sir
John Wolley (another privy councillor) explained the
conditions and designs of the Leaguers in France. And
Sir John Fortescue (Chancellor of the Exchequer) fol-
lowed with a statement of the Queen's finances, past and
present; showing that all had been spent upon the great
services of the kingdom, -in clearing the Crown of
debt, in increasing the strength of the navy, in assisting
the French king, and protecting the Netherlands ; — that
subsidies did not now yield above half the sum which
they yielded in Henry VII.'s time; and that all bor-
rowed money had been repaid.
When the case had been thus set forth on behalf of
the government, and motion made for "a select and
grave Committee to consider of the dangers of the realm
and of speedy supply and aid to her Majesty," Bacon
74 BACON'S ATTITUDE TOWARD GOVERNMENT.
[BOOK I.
(now knight of the shire for Middlesex, and therefore
entitled, I suppose, to take a leading part among the
independent members) rose to support the motion. Of
his speech only the few opening sentences have been pre-
served, and, strange to say, they seem at first sight to
have no bearing on the question under discussion. Speak-
ing in favor of supply in a Parliament expressly called
not for laws but money, all that remains of his speech
relates not to money but to laws. But the truth was
(and this it is which gives an interest to the small and
mutilated fragment which has floated down to us) that
he had notions of his own concerning the relations which
subsisted between the Crown and Parliament, and the
courtesies appertaining to them, which the proceeding of
the Queen and her ministers on this occasion did not
quite satisfy. In his later life at least, he held it for a
point of constitutional doctrine that between the sov-
ereign and the people in a monarchy there was a tie of
mutual obligation; the sovereign by advice and consent
of Parliament making laws for the benefit of his people,
and the people by their representatives in Parliament sup-
plying the wants of the sovereign; therefore that the vot-
ing of money should never be proclaimed as the sole cause
of calling a Parliament, but always accompanied with
some other business of state tending to the good of the
commonwealth.1 It was also his constant opinion, ex-
pressed both early and late in life, that no greater benefit
could be conferred on the commonwealth than a general
revision of the whole body of laws, and the reduction of
them into one consistent and manageable code. Now al-
though it cannot be said that this Parliament was called
for no business of state except money, considering how
vitally the state was interested in the cause for which the
money was wanted, yet I suppose he thought it unfit
that the necessities of the Crown and the demand for
1 See a letter to James I., in 1613, which will be given in its place.
1598.]
BACON'S SPEECH ON MOTION FOR SUPPLY.
75
money should be placed so nakedly in the foreground,
and all other functions of Parliament so completely set
aside, as they seemed to be both in the Lord Keeper's
speech on opening the session, and in those of the privy.
councillors on moving for the committee of supply. Seek-
ing therefore to remove such an impression, and remem-
bering what the Lord Keeper had said about the multi-
plicity of laws and the expediency of abridging them, he
set that great topic in the front of his, speech; and so
contrived not only to draw attention towards the proj-
ect itself, but also to impart to the meeting between the
Queen and her people a more gracious aspect, by sug-
gesting that if she wished them to make no more laws
at that time, it was not from any forgetfulness of their
just interest in legislation.
Such I take to be the most probable explanation of the
apparent irrelevancy of the commencement of Bacon's
speech; the end of it being (as we learn from the jour-
nals) to enforce the necessity of "present consultation and
provision of treasure" to prevent "the dangers intended
against the realm by the King of Spain, the Pope, and
other confederates of the Holy League." Of the par-
ticulars we know nothing but what is contained in the
following imperfect and inaccurate report: -
OPENING OF SPEECH ON MOTION FOR SUPPLY.
“MR. SPEAKER: That which these honorable per-
sonages have spoken of their experience, may it please
you to give me leave to deliver of my common knowl-
edge.
“The cause of the assembling of all Parliaments hath
been heretofore for Laws or Money; the one being the
sinews of Peace, the other of War. To the one I am
not privy; but the other I should know.
"I did take great contentment in her Majesty's speeches
the other day delivered by the Lord Keeper, how that it
:
་
4
76
RECOMMENDATION OF A DOUBLE SUBSIDY.
[BOOK I.
was [fitting an abridgment were made of the laws and
statutes of the realm]: a thing not to be done suddenly
nor at one Parliament; nor scarce a whole year would
suffice, to purge the statute-book nor lessen the volume of
laws;-being so many in number that neither common
people can half practice them, nor the lawyer sufficiently
understand them ;-than the which nothing should tend
more to the eternal praise of her Majesty.
"The Romans appointed ten men who were to correct
and recall all former laws, and set forth their Twelve
Tables, so much of all men to be commended. The
Athenienses likewise appointed six to that purpose.
And Lewis IX.¹ of France did the like in reforming of
laws," etc.
Now to proceed with the narrative.
The committee was appointed without further discus-
sion; met that afternoon; the next day, which was
Tuesday, brought up their report, recommending the
same grant which had been made by the last Parliament,
two subsidies and four fifteenths and tenths; with the
same condition, that the present necessity should be
stated in the Bill as the motive for so extraordinary a
supply; to all which the House assented without opposi-
tion, and appointed another committee to meet on the
following Saturday for the purpose of drawing up the
articles and preamble.
So far all seemed to be going smoothly and rapidly
enough. But the Lords were impatient. And whether
1 So all the copies. I believe it should be XI. I have followed a MS. in the
Hargrave Collection (324. 10), which agrees, except for a few verbal differ-
ences, with the copy in Townsend and D'Ewes. None of the journals which I
have met with, either in print or manuscript, give any more. The words
within brackets I have supplied by conjecture, something to that effect being
necessary to complete the sense. But the inaccuracies of this report are of the
less consequence, because the substance of all this will be found hereafter, in
the "
Proposal for an Amendment of the Laws," the "Offer of a Digest of
Laws," and other places.
1593.]
CONFERENCE PROPOSED TOUCHING SUBSIDY.
77
it were that they really thought that the question would
not bear three days' delay (which is hard to believe), or
that they had resolved (which I think more likely) to
seize the first fair pretext for putting in their own claim
to take part in such deliberations, certain it is that on
Thursday (only four days after the first motion) they sent
a message to the Commons reminding them of the busi-
ness, saying that they had expected to hear something
from them before, and therefore had omitted as yet to
do anything therein themselves, and now demanding a
conference. To this no objection was made. A com-
mittee was immediately named for the purpose; the
conference took place the same afternoon, and the result
was reported to the House the next morning by Sir Rob-
ert Cecil.
They had been invited to confer, it appeared, for the
purpose of receiving some information from the Lord
Treasurer, showing that a double subsidy would not be
sufficient for the exigency. Subsidies, owing to some
error or mismanagement in the assessment, did not now
yield so much as they used to do. The double subsidy
last granted, with its four fifteenths and tenths, had not
brought into the treasury more than £280,000; and
since it was granted, the Queen had been obliged to
spend in these defensive wars above £1,030,000 of her
own. Therefore a larger supply was required now, and
a more speedy collection.
Thus far the proceeding seems to have been legitimate
and unobjectionable. These explanations were material
to an understanding of the case; the Lord Treasurer was
the person who could best give them; and a conference
between the two Houses was, according to the practice of
those times, the constitutional channel of communication.
Had they stopped there, the Commons would have taken
the facts into consideration, and instructed their Com-
mittee of Supply accordingly.
·1
78
THE LORD TREASURER'S INTIMATION.
[Book I.
But the Lord Treasurer, who was the spokesman,
went further; and here it was that the Commons had
need to be on their guard. He warned them, in the
name of the Upper House, that "their Lordships would
not in anywise give their assents to pass any act in their
own House of less than three entire subsidies," payable
in the three next years at two payments in each year.
Whether they would assent to so little as three, he left
doubtful. "To what proportion of benevolence, or unto
how much their Lordships would give their assents in
that behalf, they would not as then show;" but desired
another conference.
1
Such was the substance of the Lord Treasurer's com-
munication, as I gather it from the memorandum of Sir
Robert Cecil's report entered in the original journal-book
of the House of Commons; and if it was not a proposal
that the two Houses should, at a conference, discuss the
question of supply together, I am at a loss for an inter-
pretation of the words. Cecil, having finished his report,
made no motion of his own, but referred it to the House.
Bacon, who had been a member of all the committees
on this question, was present at the conference, and
therefore had had all the night to consider what he should
do. As his affairs then stood, it could have been no
slight matter which determined him to oppose the Lord
Treasurer's proposition. But the case was critical.
Once admit the claim of the Lords to take part in delib-
erations on questions of supply, and half the power of the
Commons would be gone. The encroachment must be
withstood then and there. He came prepared; and as
1 "Their denial" (says another report, Hargrave MS. 324. 21) "was flat.
They might not, nor they would not give their consents to less than a treble
subsidy; and not to a treble nor a quadruple, unless the same were the better
qualified, both in substance and in circumstance of time." The statement in
the text is taken from the journal-book of the House, as quoted by D'Ewes.
This report is from a MS. journal kept by some member, and probably gives
more of the words actually spoken, though it may not represent more accurately
the general effect.
•
1593.]
CONFERENCE PROPOSED TOUCHING SUBSIDY.
79
soon as Cecil sat down, he rose. "He yielded to the
subsidy," - that is, he was willing to vote for the addi-
tional subsidy which appeared by the statement of the
Lord Treasurer to be required by the public service,
"but misliked that this House should join with the
Upper House in the granting of it. For the custom and
privilege, he said, of this House hath always been first to
make offer of the subsidy from hence unto the Upper
House. And reason it is that we should stand upon our
privilege. Seeing the burden resteth upon us as the
greater number, no reason the thanks should be theirs.
And in joining with them in this motion we shall derogate
from ourselves; for the thanks will be theirs and the
blame ours, they being the first movers. Wherefore I
wish that in this action we should proceed, as heretofore
we have done, apart by ourselves, and not joining with
their Lordships. And to satisfy them, who expect an
answer from us to-morrow, some answer would be made
in all obsequious and dutiful manner." And out of his
bosom he drew an answer framed by himself, to this
effect, that they had considered of their Lordships' mo-
tion, and thought upon it as was fit, and in all willing-
ness would address themselves to do as so great a cause
deserved. But to join with their Lordships in this busi-
ness they could not but with prejudice to the privileges of
this House; wherefore desired, as they were wont, so that
now they might proceed therein by themselves apart
from their Lordships. "Thus, I think," he added, "we
may divide ourselves from their Lordships, and yet with-
out dissension; for this is but an honorable emulation
and division." To this he cited a precedent in Henry
VIII.'s time, where four of the Lords came down into
the Lower House, and informed them what necessity there
was of a subsidy, and thereupon the House took it to con-
sideration apart by themselves, and at last granted it.”
The motion seems to have taken the government party
-
80
THE POINT AT ISSUE.
[BOOK I.
by surprise; for it met with no opposition, but being
"well liked by the House," the Subsidy Committee was
ordered to meet in the afternoon for the purpose of fram-
ing an answer, to be reported to the House the next
morning. The Committee met accordingly at two o'clock
on Friday. But doubts being raised as to the nature and
extent of their commission, some thinking that the
question was already carried in favor of an answer in
the spirit of Bacon's note, and that their business was
only to agree upon the wording of it; others that they
were appointed to consider generally what answer they
thought fittest, they parted for that day without
agreeing upon anything. On Saturday morning however
they met again, and the question being put to the vote,
a majority of the Committee was in favor of an answer
to the opposite effect, namely that they would grant a
conference. Sir Robert Cecil reported their proceedings
to the House, and delivered this as the recommendation
of the Committee. The question was, whether it should
be adopted.
Now this was precisely the proposition which should
have been moved as an amendment to Bacon's motion
the morning before. The point at issue was exactly the
same, Shall the Lower House consent to a conference
with the Upper for the avowed purpose of assenting to a
proposition, or discussing a question, of supply? They
were not asked to come and receive information about
the necessities of the kingdom or the state of the finances;
they had heard all that at the last conference, and had
been willing to hear whatever else the Lords had to
communicate. What they had not heard then was the
amount of subsidy which they must vote if they meant
the bill to pass; and what they were now invited to hear
must have been either that or something bearing upon
that specific point. Still therefore the question was,
what answer they should send. Bacon's opinion had
1593.]
THE OBJECTION OF THE COMMONS.
81
been given already in the House, and the case being no
way changed, there was no occasion for him to speak
again. The other member for Middlesex, Mr. Wroth,
had voted with him in committee, and now spoke against
the conference, as "prejudicial to the ancient liberties
and privileges of the House, and to the authority of the
same." Mr. Beale was of the same mind, and produced
a precedent in point from the reign of Henry IV., when
upon a like occasion the same proposal had been made,
and upon the same ground refused, and the refusal had
been allowed by the King as just. Sir Robert Cecil in
reply pleaded for the conference, on the ground that the
Lords, being some of them privy councillors, understood
both the strength of the enemy and the resources of the
kingdom better than the Commons could. But as to any
misapprehension of the object of the conference, he said
not a word. The debate ended at last in a resolution
carried by 217 to 128, "That no such conference should
be had." Whereupon (to quote the fullest report I
have met with, for the terms of the answer are impor-
tant) "Committees to the number of thirty were ap
pointed to go up to the Lords, and to say that we hum-
bly thanked their Lordships for imparting to us, at our
last meeting with them, matters of great consideration
and needful for the state. We would think upon them ac-
cordingly as to such causes appertained. But where they
desired our conference about an aid and subsidies to be
yielded to the Queen, we would do therein amongst our-
selves our best endeavors; because without breach of
privilege to our own House we could not have conference
with their Lordships; and for the maintenance of this
privilege some precedents have been showed us in the
like case."
The terms of the answer therefore left no room for any
mistake as to the nature and limits of the objection which
the Commons took to the proposal; and if they had mis-
VOL. I.
6
82
THE CLAIMS OF THE LORDS.
[BOOK I.
taken the nature of the proposal itself, so that the objec-
tion was inapplicable, now was the time to set them
right. But no. The answer of the Lords shows that the
nature of the proposal had been understood quite cor-
rectly. For the report proceeds,
"This answer Sir John Fortescu delivered to the Lords
from the Lower House, speaking for the Committees.
And the Lords, having received it and considered it apart
after the delivery of it, came again and told the Com-
mittees, that they thought very well of it, and took it in
kind part that the House did so well accept of their last
meaning, and considered so thoroughly upon the things
delivered; and desired us to go on our course with our
best endeavors in these great causes. But where we
denied a conference with them about the subsidy, they
thought that point of honor a niceness more than needed
to be stood upon; for they and we make one House, where-
fore no such scruples ought to be observed, that we should
not confer together. It was for the aid of the realm,
where they had as great an interest, bare as great a
burden, as we; therefore fittest we should join. And
for the precedent alleged, they desire it may be sent
them."
How could the Upper House more distinctly assert its
pretension to take part with the Lower in deliberations
concerning supply? How more distinctly dispute the
privilege of the Commons to deal with such questions
apart by themselves, and not joining with their Lord-
ships?" But the Commons were not disposed to retreat.
66
"This being put to the question (continues the re-
porter), whether the precedent should be sent, it was
clearly answered No." They then merely ordered the
Committee of Supply to meet again on Monday; and so
Saturday's work ended.
Sunday coming between gave the Court time to con-
sider. The Queen, to whom of course everything was
་་་་་
•
1593.]
TACTICS OF THE GOVERNMENT.
83
She must
reported, found she had gone a step too far.
give way; how to retreat without seeming to be beaten,
was the question. But this was an art in which she
excelled, and it may be fairly suspected that the plan of
operations which commenced on Monday morning was
designed and guided by herself.
In the first place, the Lower House was not to be
pressed to submit its precedents to the consideration of
the Upper. That motion was to be silently dropped.
But it was privately explained to Mr. Beale that the
precedent which he had produced was not in point; for
in that case the Lords, having agreed among themselves
to a greater subsidy than the Commons had granted, in-
vited them to a conference in order that they might con-
firm what they had done; which was not the present
proposition; and he was content to acknowledge in the
House that he had mistaken the question, and that if he
had understood it as it was meant, he would have been
of a different opinion.
If upon this explanation the Commons should consent
to reverse their resolution, so much the better: the prin-
ciple of joint discussion might still be saved. But that
could hardly be reckoned upon. For their objection to
the conference had not in fact turned upon any such
point. They had objected, not because they were asked
to confirm a resolution which the Lords had taken, but
because they were asked to join in conference with them
about a subsidy. In the second place, therefore, the ob-
jection, if persevered in, was to be met by boldly declar-
ing that it was not about a subsidy that they had been
asked to confer; that the subject of the proposed confer-
ence was the dangers of the kingdom and the means of
withstanding them; and that if any one had thought it
was to be about a subsidy, he was mistaken. To do this
after what had passed would require a firm countenance;
but once done it would make all the rest easy; and since
;
1
84
THE METHOD OF PROCEDURE.
[BOOK I.
it would involve a virtual concession of the entire prin-
ciple for which the Lower House contended, they would
let it pass if they were wise.
The plan of operation having been thus laid (so at
least I suspect; for we have no means of knowing what
did actually pass between the Queen and her ministers,
but are left to infer it from the proceedings which
followed), the business was opened on Monday morning
by an explanation from Mr. Beale. He said that since
the decision of the House was supposed to have been in-
fluenced by the precedent which he had quoted, it was
right they should know that he had quoted it under a
misapprehension of the question under discussion. He
showed in what respects his precedent failed to fit the
present case; and wished that, if any had been led by
him, they would now be satisfied; for if he had conceived
the matter aright, he should himself have thought dif-
ferently. "There being but a conference desired of the
Lords, and no confirming of anything they had done, he
thought they might, and it was fit they should, confer."
The explanation being made, it was immediately moved
by two of the privy councillors (Sir Thomas Heneage and
Sir John Wolley) that Saturday's resolution be reversed,
as having proceeded upon a mistake.
For this however the House (as might have been ex-
pected) was not quite ready. What the precise mistake
had been,— to what therefore, if they revoked their No,
they would be understood as saying Yes, was not yet
clear. And to remove all doubt, Sir Henry Unton, after
reciting the whole proceeding, moved that they should
agree to “confer with the Lords about a subsidy, but not
in any sort to be conformed therein unto them." Hereupon
Sir Robert Cecil, finding I suppose that they were fall-
ing back into the old dispute, resolved at last to throw
the disputed point fairly overboard; wondered what the
last speaker could be thinking of; "his motion was that
í
1593.]
THE STAND TAKEN BY THE COMMONS.
85
they should confer with the Lords about a subsidy, but
not conclude a subsidy, with them; which motion
seemed contrary to his meaning, or else it was more than
ever was meant, for it was never desired of them by the
Lords to confer about a subsidy." This avowal removed
at once all obstacles to agreement, and when, upon the
motion of Sir Walter Raleigh, "the Speaker put the
question, whether they would have a general conference
with the Lords or no? it was answered by all, Aye.
A message was sent accordingly, which was graciously
received, and it was agreed that the conference should
take place next day.
Still it was necessary to be watchful, for still there was
room for more misunderstanding. They had agreed to
confer; but "what (asked Sir Thomas Heneage) are we
to confer upon? For either we must conform ourselves
to somewhat that they will say, or else we must deliver
them somewhat that we will say; for we desiring their
conference, and to come with nothing to say to them, will
be unfit for us." A statement of the case so obviously
inaccurate, that one can hardly help suspecting a design
in it; the rather because, when it was very justly objected
to as "a mistaking of the thing agreed upon," the ob-
jector was suddenly called to account by two of the privy
councillors for imputing a mistake to the Vice-Chamber-
lain, and that with a degree of unnecessary sharpness
which is most easily explained by supposing that the ob-
jection was fatal to their scheme. But however that may
be, it was resolved at last that they, should have authority
to confer generally about the dangers and remedies, but
"not in any manner of wise to conclude anything partic-
ularly" without first reporting the whole proceeding to
the House and receiving further orders.
With this commission they went up to the Lords, and
told them that "if they desired to enter into speech of
the great cause, they were ready to hear them. But if
#
:
86 CLAIM OF THE LORDS SILENTLY DROPPED.
[BOOK I.
they would have them to descend into consideration of it
amongst themselves, they desired a little respite, and by
Thursday would bring them a resolute determination."
And now what had the Lords to say, which they might
not have said last Thursday? Of the subsidies not a
word. Not a word of what they had said before on that
subject (if two independent reports of the conference
may be trusted) was repeated; not a word added to it.
But they had to inform them of "divers dangers not
heard of before ;" a new sum of 50,000 crowns had been
sent into Scotland by Spain; the Scotch King had gone
into the north, and there was fear that, willingly or un-
willingly, he would be taken by the lords who were com-
bined against him. These and the like intelligences they
imparted to the Commons for their consideration; con-
sented to give them a clear day to consult upon the case;
and expected their answer on Thursday afternoon.
It is clear, therefore, that the Lords had at last silently
abandoned their former position; for what they now so
easily assented to was in fact all that the Commons upon
Bacon's motion had asked. The communication from the
Upper House had been received; they would take it into
consideration apart by themselves.
The point of privilege being now no longer in the
way, the original question came on again, and was re-
ferred to the same Committees, who were ordered to meet
on Wednesday afternoon, with a general commission "to
confer of all matters of remedies.' And now Bacon,
whose name has not been mentioned in any of the pro-
ceedings since Friday, when he raised the question which
we have just seen settled, appears again upon the
stage.
The Lords had in their first conference demanded a bill
of not less than three subsidies, payable in three years.
Now the invariable custom had hitherto been to allow
two years for the payment of each subsidy. The propo-
1593.]
THE MOTION FOR A GRANT OF SUBSIDY.
sition would therefore involve a double innovation.
87
Not
only the total amount of taxation ordinarily imposed by
one Parliament would be trebled (which if Parliaments
were less frequent might, as far as the burden went, have
come to the same thing), but the amount payable in each
of these three years would be doubled. And it might
well be thought a hazardous experiment, however unex-
ceptionable the purpose and however popular the occasion,
to introduce two such novelties at once; first a breach of
constitutional usage, which in so tender a matter might
naturally awaken jealousy in the people; and next, at the
very same instant to send the tax-gatherer among them
to demand twice as much as they had ever before been
called on to pay. The latter was probably the more haz-
ardous step of the two; for it could hardly be known till
tried whether the people could pay so much; and accord-
ingly it was upon this point that dispute arose in the
Committee. Indeed the Government party themselves
so far modified the proposal as to allow four years in-
stead of three for the payment of the three subsidies.
And this, as I gather, was the motion submitted to the
Committee.
Now Bacon, it will be remembered, had from the first
declared his assent to the treble subsidy; but the innova-
tion in the mode of collection, even thus modified, was
greater than he was prepared to advise; and after a
speech from Mr. Heale in favor of a still larger grant
than the one proposed, which he contended that the
country, being so much richer than heretofore, could well
afford, he rose at once to oppose it. The note which
has been preserved of his speech runs thus:-
SPEECH ON MOTION FOR A GRANT OF THREE SUBSI-
DIES, PAYABLE IN FOUR YEARS.
"Mr. Francis Bacon assented to three subsidies, but
not to the payment under six years; and to this pro-
+
0
88
BACON'S AMENDMENT.
[BOOK I.
pounded three reasons, which he desired might be an-
swered.
"1. Impossibility or difficulty.
"2. Danger and discontentment.
“3. A better manner of supply than subsidy.
"For impossibility, the poor men's rent is such as they
are not able to yield it, and the general commonalty is
not able to pay so much upon the present. The gentle-
men must sell their plate and the farmers their brass
pots ere this will be paid. And as for us, we are here to
search the wounds of the realm and not to skin them
over; wherefore we are not to persuade ourselves of their
wealth more than it is.
"The danger is this: we [shall thus] breed discontent-
ment in the people. And in a cause of jeopardy, her
Majesty's safety must consist more in the love of her
people than in their wealth. And therefore [we should
beware] not to give them cause of discontentment. In
granting¹ these subsidies thus we run into [two] perils.
The first [is that] in putting two payments into one
[year], we make it a double subsidy; for it maketh 48.
in the pound a payment. The second is that this being
granted in this sort, other princes hereafter will look for
the like; so we shall put an ill precedent upon ourselves
and to our posterity; and in histories it is to be observed
that of all nations the English care not to be subject,
base, taxable, etc.
"The manner of supply may be by levy or imposi-
tion when need shall most require. So when her Maj-
esty's coffers are empty, they may be imbursed by these
means.
"2
So ends the note; the last paragraph breaking off, as
it would seem abruptly; and not giving even the sub-
stance (so at least I infer from comparing it with Bacon's
1 Paying in MS.
2 The words within brackets supplied by conjecture.
A
1593.]
THE OBJECTIONS TO THE BILL.
89
own words in a letter written shortly after, which will
appear in its place) of the proposition with which he
concluded; which I think was this; that two subsidies
should be granted and raised in the ordinary way; but
that some difference should be made with regard to the
third, with a view partly to mark it as extraordinary
(for the mere insertion of a proviso that it was not to be
a precedent, though it might do for once, would if often
repeated lose all its value, and pass into a precedent it-
self), and partly to prevent the burden from falling upon
the poorer classes.¹ But of the exact terms of his amend-
ment no record has been preserved.
How far these objections were just, it is not easy at
this distance of time to judge. But that they were urged
out of a sincere apprehension that the measure proposed
was hazardous, and rather to save the government from
embarrassments to come than to obstruct them at the
moment, no one I think can doubt who considers Ba-
con's position, and reads the record, imperfect as it is, of
the proceedings which followed. We may not indeed
conclude that he was the only speaker who opposed the
proposition of the government in the Committee: for
many speeches may have been, and some probably were,
made of which we have no account; but when we find
that, of the only speakers who are mentioned as having
risen after him, four addressed themselves directly to an-
swer his arguments, and the other four all spoke in favor
of the grant, only recommending some independent meas-
ures to accompany it; and that a proposition to grant
three subsidies and six fifteenths and tenths, - payable,
the first at a single payment in the first year, the second
at a single payment in the second year, the third at two
1 "It is true that, from the beginning, whatsoever was above a double sub-
sidy I did wish might for precedent's sake appear to be extraordinary, and for
discontent's sake might not be levied upon the poorer sort." — Letter to Burgh-
ley, undated. See p. 98.
13
**
90
INCREASE OF TAXATION.
[BOOK I.
payments in the third and fourth years, was agreed to
without a division in the Committee, and confirmed "by
all without any contradiction" in the whole House;
we may at least conclude that there was no popular party
in opposition strong enough to be worth conciliating at
the expense of offending the party in power. The result
of the experiment proved indeed that he was mistaken in
thinking that the country could so ill bear such an in-
crease of taxation; for though the struggle in anticipa-
tion of which it was imposed never came, and during the
two years in which the double payment was exacted in-
ternal peace gave leisure enough for discontent to express
itself, it does not appear that any difficulty was experi-
enced in the collection, or that the overpressure of subsi-
dies (though the burden was increased instead of dimin-
ished during the remaining years of Elizabeth's reign)
ever took a prominent place among grievances. But the
mistake (if mistake it was) was a natural one, and shared
by many. It is evident from the records which remain
of the speeches both in this Parliament and the last, that
the continual increase of taxation 1 was a subject of gen-
eral anxiety among the Members. And it was one on
which Bacon might easily suppose himself in some re-
spects better able to form an opinion than the Queen or
her ministers. As a Member of the Commons, now of
some years' experience, and representing such constitu-
encies as Liverpool and Middlesex; as a lawyer, who
heard the talk of the Inns of Court and Westminster
Hall; as a poor man, before whom people would talk
without reserve; as a seeker for knowledge in all quar-
ters, whereby he was brought into familiar communica-
tion with craftsmen as well as learned men; he had op-
1 During the first twenty-six years of Elizabeth's reign, only six subsidies
had been granted, the intervals between one and another being generally four
and sometimes five years. During the last eight four had been granted; more
During the next twelve, there were granted no less
than double the average.
than ten ; nearly quadruple.
1593.]
THE TRIPLE SUBSIDY PASSED.
91
portunities of feeling the popular pulse which greater
persons could not have. And thinking the measure pro-
posed by the Government hazardous, he recommended
another which he thought safer and yet sufficient for the
occasion. Being out-voted, however, he acquiesced in
the decision and offered no further obstruction.
On Thursday, at the hour appointed, the resolution of
the Commons was signified to the Lords, and received
with expressions studiously framed to efface all traces of
the previous misunderstanding; the Commons "desiring
their Lordships' correspondency with them in this their
cause," and at the same time intimating a hope that "in
some other things which they had not yet resolved" they
would "join with them in recommending the matters to
her Majesty;" the Lords, on their part, acknowledging
that the offer of subsidy "came from them as feeling and
understanding the dangers they were in," praising their
zeal, and adding that "they would commend nothing unto
them, because they did perceive it needless." Thus all
was in tune again. The Bill - after a little delay in ar-
ranging details, some of which were new, but without any
further dispute on the main points- passed through its
regular stages, and was in due time presented by the
Speaker to the Queen; who (after a slight rebuke con-
veyed by the mouth of the Lord Keeper to "some per-
sons,"
-meaning Bacon,-"who had seemed to regard
their countries, and made their necessity more than it
was, forgetting the necessity of the time "), received it
in her own person with all thanks and gracious acknowl-
edgment. And on the whole she had good reason to be
satisfied. The project of introducing a custom of joint
consultation between the two Houses in matters of sup-
ply had indeed failed, and the Commons remained in
secure possession of their privilege; but the prescription
which forbade one Parliament to grant more than one
subsidy was effectually overthrown, which was a better
:
92
CONDUCT OF COKE AS SPEAKER.
[BOOK I.
thing; for subsequent experience showed that when their
privilege was not questioned, they were far from nig-
gardly in the use of it.
And her authority to determine the limits of liberty of
speech in the House, which had been sufficiently asserted
in the imprisonment of Peter Wentworth, received a fresh
illustration shortly afterwards in a case still more notable
by reason of the part which the Speaker had to play in
it, that Speaker being no other than Edward Coke,
-who had been Solicitor General since June, and as-
pired to be Attorney General upon the next vacancy,
of which there was now an immediate prospect; for
the Mastership of the Rolls was already vacant by the
death of Sir Gilbert Gerrard on the 4th of February
preceding. Coke had had no experience in Parliament ;
but had got up the precedents and was ready in every
emergency to lay down the law; and what with his
great reputation, what with his confidence and force of
will, what with his dexterity, he contrived to keep the
House in very good order, and proved himself a most
effective ally of the Government. He is accused of hav-
ing on more than one occasion prevented an inconvenient
debate, or an adverse vote by "overreaching" the House in
the subtle propounding of the question: but in this case
his course was direct and his meaning unmistakable. A
motion had been made (27th February) by Mr. Morris,
Attorney of the Court of Wards,—a lawyer of very high
character, for leave to bring in a Bill to restrain certain
abuses of authority practiced by the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission. This being a forbidden subject, for raising
which, that day six years, four members had been sent
to the Tower, the Bill was objected to by the more
moderate of the Government party on that ground; and
Sir Robert Cecil, observing that "it seemed to contain
things needful," proposed to avoid the difficulty by hav
1
1 See above, p. 72.
1593]
THE QUEEN'S MESSAGE BY COKE.
93
ing it first "commended to the Queen" privately, that
so it might be "recommended" by her to them; in which
behalf he offered his own services. Here, as the ques-
tion seemed to be turning upon a point of order or privi-
lege, Coke, though not appealed to, felt called upon to
give an opinion; but first, because the Bill was long and
had many parts, so that "if they put him presently to
open it, he could not (he said) so readily understand it
and do it as he should," he was allowed to take it home
to read, the debate being in the meantime adjourned.
He had scarcely read it through, when a special messen-
ger summoned him to the Queen. She, to his great com-
fort did not ask to see the Bill (which he had promised
that none but himself should see), but only to know
"what were the things in it that were spoken to by the
House." Which having heard, she commanded him to
tell them from her that it was in her power to call Par-
liaments, in her power to end them, in her power to as-
sent or dissent to anything done in them; that having de-
clared her pleasure by the Lord Keeper, namely, "that
it was not meant they should meddle with causes of state
or matters ecclesiastical," she "wondered any could be
so forgetful of her commandment to attempt a thing
which she had so expressly forbidden; finally, to prevent
all further misunderstanding, "her present charge and
express command was that no Bill touching the said
matters of state or reformation in causes ecclesiastical be
exhibited." All this she commanded the Speaker to de-
liver as from herself to "the body of the realm," as she
called them. All this he delivered faithfully; adding
only for himself that "upon his allegiance he was com-
manded, if any such Bill were exhibited, not to read it,”
and leaving them to conclude that he had no duty but to
obey. All this the House heard without remonstrance in
word or deed. So that a precedent more full and une-
quivocal in favor of the Queen's right to determine what
""
ID
94
COKE'S INFLUENCE IN THE DEBATE.
[BOOK I.
subjects should be discussed in Parliament and what not,
could hardly have been devised. The imprisonment of
Peter Wentworth and his friends a few days before did
not directly raise, and therefore could not directly settle
the question; for the House had avoided the difficulty by
affecting not to know what their members had been im-
prisoned for. Now they had no such subterfuge. The
Queen's formal message through the Speaker left no room
for doubt either as to the fact that she was interfering
with their proceedings, or as to the grounds upon which
she claimed the right to interfere. Nor was it a trifling
increase of weight which the precedent gained from the
part which Coke had to take in it. For so ready as he
was to interpose his opinion in the debates of the House
whenever any question of law or usage gave him an op-
portunity, his acquiescence in a course of silent submis-
sion on this occasion could hardly go for less than an ad-
mission on his part that the Queen had the right which
she claimed. And though it be true that in his later
life he decided the question the other way,2 we are not
therefore justified in doubting that his admission was on
this occasion sincere and conscientious. It is certain that
many similar acts might have been cited in defense of the
Queen's proceeding, and if the question had at that
time been determined by the preponderance of prece-
dents, it would probably have been carried in her favor.
1 See above, p. 72.
2 Inst., part iv., chap. 1. "This" (the Speaker's petition on being presented
to the King) "is in the Parliament Rolls called a Protestation, in respect of the
first part," i. e. that the Commons may have free speech, etc.; "the nature of
which is to be the exclusion of a conclusion; and herein, that the House of
Commons be not concluded to speak only of those things which the King or Lord
Chancellor hath delivered to them to be the causes of the calling of this Court of
Parliament, but in a Parliamentary course of all other arduous and urgent busi-
ness, which principally consists of these five branches," etc.; the state of the
Church of England being expressly mentioned as one.
His argument turns chiefly upon the terms used in the writs of summons, and
is by no means so conclusive as to justify us in assuming that he saw the force
of it in 1593. It is, in truth, one of those arguments which do very well for the
stronger party, but are worth little or nothing in the mouth of the weaker.
2
i.
1593.]
BACON AND COKE AS COMPETITORS.
95
But whether he were right or wrong as regarded the
constitutional point, there can be no doubt that he was
right as regarded his own prospects of promotion. His
conduct as Speaker, besides being good service in itself,
had given token of a serviceable disposition, and contained
promise of merits to come as well as proof of merits past.
And therefore it may seem strange that, when it was re-
solved to promote the Attorney General to the vacant
mastership of the Rolls, the Queen should have hesitated
whom to make Attorney. That her choice settled at last
upon Coke need surprise no one. But that Bacon was
put forward and upheld for a whole year as a likely com-
petitor, is a fact which calls for explanation. Coke was
in the very prime of life, and though rather young for
the office (being only forty-one), his reputation was al-
ready so great, his professional learning and experience so
extensive, and his mastery of all the weapons of his craft
so perfect, that youth was in his case no disadvantage;
his energy was unrivalled; his constitution equal to any
quantity of work; he had incurred no suspicion of popu-
larity; and his devotion to the service of the Crown was
not likely to be interfered with either by nice scruples or
by alien interests. Bacon was nine years younger; had
had little or no practice in the Courts; what proof he
had given of professional proficiency was confined to his
readings and exercises in Gray's Inn; his influence as a
speaker in the House of Commons would be of no avail,
for the Attorney General was not then considered eligi-
ble; law, far from being his only, was not even his favor-
ite, study; his constitution was delicate and his health
uncertain; his head was full of ideas so new and large,
that to most of those about him they must have seemed
visionary; he had just shown that he was not to be reck-
oned upon even as a supporter, on all occasions, of the
Government, much less as an unscrupulous partisan or
obedient instrument; and he was at this very time and
96
THE WEIGHT OF BACON'S CLAIMS.
[BOOK I.
for that very thing an object of the Queen's marked and
serious displeasure. How came such a man at such a
time to be so much as proposed or seriously thought of as
a fit competitor with Coke for such an office as that of
Attorney General? The true answer I suspect is, that
the Queen knew them both, and was aware not only of
some very great merits in Bacon which were not in Coke,
but also of some very great defects in Coke which were not
in Bacon. Such merits and such defects there certainly
were, as after-trial abundantly proved - merits and de-
fects sufficient in my opinion (the nature of the times
and the duties of the office considered) to have turned
the scale in favor of the younger man, the less learned
lawyer, and the more scrupulous politician. For Coke
was, from defect of judgment, always putting himself in
the wrong, and from defects of temper, always turning
men's hearts against him; whereas Bacon's judgment
rarely failed to guide him to the most impregnable posi-
tion which his case contained; and his temper never be-
trayed him into the use of language justly offensive or
needlessly irritating. Of this the Queen had probably
seen something, but not all; and it is to her partial ap-
prehension of the truth that I attribute the difficulty she
found in making up her mind.
At whose suggestion Bacon was proposed for Attorney
(his pretensions to the Solicitorship were obvious and
natural), it is not difficult to guess.
The Earl of Essex
had every motive for wishing his friend in the higher
office. He really believed him to be the fitter man, he
knew him to be affectionately attached to himself, the
mere reputation of procuring such an appointment under
such circumstances would draw all suitors into his ser-
vice, and his was a temper and a time of life upon which
obstacles act as incentives. The greatest obstacle was
the offense which the Queen had taken at Bacon's con-
duct in Parliament; but Essex's strength was in her
1593.]
BACON'S DEFENSE OF HIS SPEECH.
97
affection, and his pride in subduing her inclinations to
his own.
Her displeasure was no secret. Bacon had heard of it
from Burghley and written him a letter in explanation,
the tone of which is very remarkable; remarkable not
only for the absence of all expressions implying regret
for what he had done or intention to do otherwise in fu-
ture (which is the less surprising, because as he could
have had no motive for what he did except a conviction
that it was right, so nothing had happened since to alter
his opinion), but also for his apparent unconsciousness of
having given any just cause of offense. He writes as if
he thought it strange that any fault should be found with
a member of Parliament for moving an amendment which
he honestly believed to be an improvement upon the
original motion, as if his opposition to the Government
measure could require no justification even in the eyes of
ministers beyond an assurance that he really disapproved
of it. Nor is there any reason for thinking that his sur-
prise was affected. For when we remember that the pro-
ceedings of the Commons were then quite private, and
that a member of the House had no more right to publish
abroad what had been said within its walls, than a privy
councillor to divulge the secrets of the Council Table, we
may understand how this might really be the case then,
strange as it sounds now; for in every assembly which is
truly deliberative, in every assembly whose business is
not to decide whether this or that shall be done, but to
consider what shall be done, this liberty of counsel
must always be expected and allowed; and such was still
the character of the Lower House, though symptoms of a
great change were already showing themselves. The let
ter is without date, but was probably written in March,
1592-9; the speech in question having been made on
the 7th of that month. It is the first of Bacon's letters
which has been preserved by his own care.
VOL. I.
7
།
98
BACON'S LETTER TO BURGHLEY.
[BOOK I.
A LETTER TO THE LORD TREASURER BURGHLEY, IN EX-
CUSE OF HIS SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT AGAINST THE
TRIPLE SUBSIDY.
It may please your Lordship,—I was sorry to find by
your Lordship's speech yesterday that my last speech in
Parliament, delivered in discharge of my conscience and
duty to God, her Majesty and my country, was offensive.
If it were misreported, I would be glad to attend your
Lordship to disavow anything I said not. If it were
misconstrued, I would be glad to expound my words, to
exclude any sense I meant not. If my heart be mis-
judged by imputation of popularity or opposition by any
envious or officious informer, I have great wrong; and
the greater, because the manner of my speech did most
evidently show that I spake simply and only to satisfy
my conscience, and not with any advantage or policy to
sway the cause; and my terms carried all signification of
duty and zeal towards her Majesty and her service. It
is true that from the beginning, whatsoever was above a
double subsidy, I did wish might (for precedent's sake)
appear to be extraordinary, and (for discontent's sake)
mought not have been levied upon the poorer sort; though
otherwise I wished it as rising as I think this will prove,
and more.
This was my mind, I confess it. And there-
fore I most humbly pray your Lordship, first to continue
me in your own good opinion; and then to perform
the part of an honest friend towards your poor servant
and ally, in drawing her Majesty to accept of the sin-
cerity and simplicity of my heart, and to bear with the
rest, and restore me to her Majesty's favor.
This letter, being a justification and no apology, was
far from satisfying the Queen. It was not so that she
chose to be served. Bacon, whom she had hitherto dis-
tinguished by unusual freedom of access, was now forbid-
1503.]
ever.
BACON'S EMBARRASSMENT.
99
den to come into her presence; and as he had nothing
more to offer in the way of submission or defense, at
least nothing that was likely to be more satisfactory,
for a repetition of his arguments would have made mat-
ters worse,
the road in which he had been hitherto
encouraged to look for fortune seemed to be closed for-
At the same time his means were running very
low. He had some heavy debts, and his brother who
was always ready to lend, even at the cost of becoming
himself a borrower, was now obliged by importunate
creditors to think of selling a part of his patrimony.
Some course must be thought of at once either for in-
creasing income or reducing expenditure. He explained
the case to Essex, and told him what he thought of
doing. Essex disapproved his project and endeavored to
dissuade him. But the fragment of letter from which I
learn this circumstance unluckily breaks off without ex-
plaining more, and leaves us equally in the dark as to
Bacon's design and Essex's objection. I print it from a
copy at Lambeth, written in the hand of one of his
brother's men, and docketed "Une lettre au Mons. le
Compte d'Essex de Mons. François Bacon, 1593, an mois
d'Avrill." The rest it must tell for itself.
TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.
MY LORD: I did almost conjecture by your silence
and countenance a distaste in the course I imparted to
your Lordship touching mine own fortune; the care
whereof in your Lordship as it is no news to me, so
nevertheless the main effects and demonstrations thereof
past are so far from dulling in me the sense of any new,
as contrariwise every new refresheth the memory of many
past. And for the free and loving advice your Lord-
ship hath given me, I cannot correspond to the same
with greater duty, than by assuring your Lordship that I
will not dispose of myself without your allowance; not
....
100
CHANGE OF PROSPECTS AND PLANS.
[BOOK J.
only because it is the best wisdom in any man in his own
matters to rest in the wisdom of a friend (for who can
by often looking in the glass discern and judge so well of
his own favor, as another with whom he converseth?),
but also because my affection to your Lordship hath
made mine own contentment inseparable from your sat-
isfaction. But notwithstanding, I know it will be pleas-
ing to your good Lordship that I use my liberty of re-
plying; and I do almost assure myself that your Lordship
will rest persuaded by the answer of those reasons which
your Lordship vouchsafed to open. They were two; the
one that I should include
Here our light goes suddenly out, just as we were go-
ing to see how Bacon had resolved to dispose of him-
self at this juncture. Knowing however which way his
thoughts had turned the year before,¹ when the same
question pressed for decision, and were again to turn two
years after,2 we may venture to guess that his plan was
to abandon the Court, from which he could no longer
hope for preferment, to give up the practice of a profession
by which he could not earn a livelihood without the ex-
pense of more time than he was willing to spare, to turn
his fortune into an annuity, and himself into a poor
student. From such a course, Essex both from public
and private reasons would naturally wish to dissuade
him; nor is anything more likely than that (the Master-
ship of the Rolls having just fallen vacant) the eager-
ness of his friendship, joined with a somewhat presump-
tuous confidence in his influence with the Queen, should
tempt him to enforce his arguments by promising to get
Bacon made Attorney General upon the first change of
offices. Upon which Bacon could hardly do otherwise
than suspend his determination till he saw how the un-
dertaking was likely to succeed.
1 See Letter to Burghley, p. 56.
* See Letter to Anthony Bacon, Jan. 25, 1594.
1593.]
INTERPOSITION OF HIS FRIENDS.
101
This being agreed on, the first thing to be done was
to engage Burghley's interest in the cause, and, if possi-
ble, as a first mover. Bacon did not however venture
(remembering perhaps the admonition he had received
from him on a former occasion) to propose it to him di-
rectly; but, breaking the matter to Sir Thomas Cecil,
requested him to ascertain first how his father was likely
to receive such a proposal. This I learn from the fol-
lowing letter, unluckily without date, but written evi-
dently about this time. Sir Thomas Cecil was Burgh-
ley's eldest son by his first wife.
IT MAY PLEASE your Lordship: The title of being your son,
as it is the cause that many do use me as their mediator unto
your Lordship in their private suits, an office which often through
importunity I am thrust unto against my will, yet at this time I
must confess I am importuned with my will to be a motioner
unto your Lordship for one nearly allied to your house, and
whose gifts and qualities of mind I know your Lordship will
not think unfit [for] the place he seeketh. It is Mr. Francis
Bacon, who hearing of late that the Attorney is likened for the
Master of the Rolls, his desire is to be remembered by me unto
your Lordship's good acceptance and conceit of him for that
place which Mr. Attorney shall leave, and thereby to be recom-
mended by your Lordship to her Majesty. My Lord, I cannot
better recommend the good parts that are in the gentleman than
I know your Lordship's own opinion is of him. But I know
none that is likely to be called to the place that is and ought to
be more assured to your Lordship than he; and an honor to
your Lordship to prefer them that are assuredly tied to your
Lordship in blood as well as in benefit, if their worth be fit for
the place.
Thus my Lord I have discharged both my promise and desire
to do the gentleman good, and he doth rest to know by me how
your Lordship doth accept of this motion; which I humbly be-
seech your Lordship to signify unto me by your letter, or to
himself in my absence; who according as he shall hear from
your Lordship, meaneth himself to wait upon your Lordship; in
the meantime forbeareth for modesty's sake to speak for himself.
102 RECOMMENDATION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL.
[BOOK I.
And so craving pardon of your Lordship for this my boldness,
I humbly take my leave. From
Your Lordship's most loving and obedient Son.
I had myself moved your Lordship herein, but that at my
passing by I had neither fit time nor place.
This letter is a copy, in the hand I believe of Michael
Hicks, Burghley's secretary; docketed: "Coppy. Sr
Tho. Cecill to my L. touching Mr. Fra. Bacon." It has
no date, except a large 1606 in pencil; put in, I suppose,
by the arranger of the volume, and certainly wrong, for
Burghley died in 1598, and Bacon was knighted in 1603.
In the mean time Bacon, having communicated his
wishes to Sir Robert Cecil and received an assurance of
goodwill, requested him also to use his influence with his
father for the same purpose, as appears by the following
letter:
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR ROBERT CECIL, Knight, one
OF HER MAJESTY'S MOST HONORABLE PRIVY COUNCIL.
Sir,—I thank your Honor very much for the signifi-
cation which I received by Mr. Hickes of your good
opinion, good affection, and readiness. And as to the
impediment which you mention and I did forecast, I
know you bear that honorable disposition as it will
rather give you apprehension to deal more effectually for
me than otherwise; not only because the trial of friends.
is in case of difficulty, but again for that without that
circumstance your Honor should be only esteemed a true
friend and kinsman, whereas now you shall be further
judged a most honorable counsellor. For pardons are
ever honorable, because they come from mercy, but most
honorable towards such offenders. My desire is your
Honor should break with my Lord your father as soon as
may stand with your convenience, which was the cause
why now I did write. And so I wish your Honor all
happiness. From Gray's Inn, this 16th of April, 1593.
Your Honor's in faithful affection to be commanded,
FR. BACON.
PR
1593.]
CECIL'S LETTER OF ADVICE.
103
How Burghley received the motion we are not in-
formed. Probably in silence, as not wishing to cross it,
and yet thinking it injudicious, and feeling that it would
be idle to apply for so high a preferment on behalf of
a man whom the Queen was at the very time, whether
justly or not, taking pains to distinguish by her dis-
pleasure. Such at least was the opinion of Sir Robert
Cecil; as appears by the following letter, written about
three weeks after the last, in answer to some application
from Bacon for advice; the question being (it seems)
whether he had better keep near the Court, so as to be
at hand to take advantage of any favorable accident, or
stay away until the Queen's displeasure abated. Cecil's
advice, though worded (whether from caution or careless-
ness) rather obscurely, amounts to this: "Make it your
first object to obtain leave of access again, of which your
best chance is through the Earl of Essex. Till this is
obtained, it will be premature to apply for preferment;"
advice which seems to me very judicious, and in the
spirit of which Bacon, so far as he interfered in the mat-
ter himself, appears to have acted. Cecil's letter runs
thus:
"Cousin, I have received your letter wherein you request my
help [and] advice. For the first, I do and will assure you of
it as firmly and honestly as any man that can do it powerfully.
But for the second, I must be tender with you, because the
effect may be doubtful in things which are here so variable.
"Of the matter which you speak of I do assure you there
passeth not so much as any bruit by mine ears; and therefore
in mine opinion the vacation may happily pass over before the
places be altered; but thereof I can only speak conjecturally;
and therefore do I think that as time may do you good, so loss
of occasion may do you much harm. And therefore for your
coming or not coming, this is my conceit, - that if either by
your own presence or by other mediation your way be not made
so as that the veil now covering you may be uncovered, though
it do but
¹ you, according to the slender proportion of
1
1 I cannot make out these words.
that
"
1
*
%
{
!:
104
STATES HIS CASE FOR HIMSELF.
[Book I.
her Majesty's mislike, whereof you have given so small cause,
that surely it will be still a stumble for any man that shall thrust
resolutely to deal for that preferment, which being a thing
second in honor will be second ordine, and therefore the first
must be gained to open the way for the second. In conclusion, I
thus write because you seem to care for my advice, which with
my best means and poorest wit likewise shall be at your com-
mandment to do you any pleasure; assuring [you] that you
must press the Earl for it, who hath both true love towards you.
and the truest and greatest means to win it of her Majesty.
From the Court, this 7th of May, 1593.
"Your loving cousin and friend,
ROB: CYCELL."
That zealous friend needed no pressing, but rather
the contrary. As early as the 16th of April, Anthony
Bacon writes to his mother, "The Earl of Essex hath
been twice very earnest with her Majesty touching my
brother; whose speech being well grounded and directed
to good ends, as it cannot be denied but it was, I doubt
not that God in his mercy will in time make it an occa-
sion of her Majesty's better opinion and liking." And
so earnestly did the Earl continue his mediation, that by
the beginning of June the stumbling-block seemed to be
removed. Of the particulars and progress of the negotia-
tion no account has been preserved; but there are two
letters of Bacon's, both unluckily without date, and one
without the name of the person to whom it was ad-
dressed, which may be referred to this period more prob-
ably I think than to any other. Essex would naturally
inform Bacon of the progress of his suit and the state of
the Queen's feelings; and this would naturally supply Ba-
con with an occasion to write, since he could not speak, for
himself; an occasion which he would be the more apt to
take, if he felt, as he could hardly help doing, that Essex
was likely to urge the matter on both too fast and too far.
He would naturally wish to state for himself, first, the
1593.]
THE QUALITY OF HIS DEFENSE.
105
true ground on which he claimed pardon for his speech;
and secondly, the true nature and extent of the favor for
which he presumed to ask. The one he did in a letter
which, though it has always been printed as a letter to
the Lord Keeper Puckering, I rather believe to have
been addressed to Essex; the other in a letter to the
Queen herself.
A copy of the first lies by itself in the middle of a
volume of the Harleian MSS.; without address, head-
ing, date, signature, or indorsement; but it explains and
fathers itself. And it will be seen that the remarks
which I just now made upon the letter to Burghley, writ-
ten upon the first intimation of the Queen's displeasure,
are equally applicable to this; in which though the ex-
pression of regret is stronger (time having shown how
deep the displeasure had sunk in her mind, and how little
satisfactory his excuse had been), yet the substance of
his plea is precisely the same; nor is there any approach
to an acknowledgment that he is sorry for having made
the speech; he is still only sorry that she should take it
in bad part.
MY LORD,- It is a great grief unto me, joined with
marvel, that her Majesty should retain an hard conceit
of my speeches in Parliament. It mought please her
sacred Majesty to think what my end should be in those
speeches, if it were not duty, and duty alone. I am not
so simple but I know the common beaten way to please.
And whereas popularity hath been objected, I muse
what care I should take to please many, that taketh a
course of life to deal with few. On the other side, her
Majesty's grace and particular favor towards me hath
1 It is entered in the catalogue as, "Copie of a letter to the Lord Keeper
Puckering? concerning the writer's speech in Parliament, which had disgusted
the Queen." Birch saw that the writer was Bacon, and adopted the guess of
the catalogue-maker as to the person addressed, but omitted the note of inter
rogation.
7
106
LETTER TO THE QUEEN.
may be her
[BOOK I.
been such, as I esteem no worldly thing above the com-
fort to enjoy it, except it be the conscience to deserve it.
But if the not seconding of some particular person's opin-
ion shall be presumption, and to differ upon the manner
shall be to impeach the end, it shall teach my devotion
not to exceed wishes, and those in silence. Yet notwith-
standing (to speak vainly as in grief) it
Majesty hath discouraged as good a heart as ever looked
towards her service, and as void of self-love. And so in
more grief than I can well express, and much more than
I can well dissemble, I leave your Lordship, being as
Your Lordship's entirely devoted.
A copy of the letter to the Queen is preserved among
Anthony Bacon's papers, and needs no comment. It is
docketed" Copie que Mons' François Bacon a escrivit à
sa Mate, 1593." But the date does not appear to have
been written at the same time as the rest.
ever,
TO THE QUEEN.
MADAM,— Remembering that your Majesty had been
gracious to me both in countenancing me and conferring
upon me the reversion of a good place, and perceiving
your Majesty had taken some displeasure towards me,
both these were arguments to move me to offer unto
your Majesty my service, to the end to have means to
deserve your benefit and to repair my error. Upon this
ground I affected myself to no great matter, but only a
place of my profession, such as I do see divers younger in
proceeding to myself, and men of no great note, do with-
out blame aspire unto. But if any of my friends do
press this matter,¹ I do assure your Majesty my spirit is
not with them. It sufficeth me that I have let your
Majesty know that I am ready to do that for your ser-
vice which I never would do for mine own gain. And if
1 The words "more than as a simple nomination" follow in the MS., with a
line drawn through them.
•
1598.]
ITS FAVORABLE RECEPTION.
107
your Majesty like others better, I shall with the Lace-
demonian be glad that there is such choice of abler men
than myself. Your Majesty's favor indeed, and access
to your royal person, I did ever, encouraged by your own
speeches, seek and desire; and I would be very glad to
be reintegrate in that. But I will not wrong mine own
good mind so much as to stand upon it now, when your
Majesty may conceive I do it but to make my profit of
it. But my mind turneth upon other wheels that those
of profit. The conclusion shall be that I wish your Maj-
esty served answerable to yourself. Principis est virtus
maxima nosse suos. Thus I most humbly crave pardon
of my boldness and plainness. God preserve your Maj-
esty.
The appeal seems not to have been without effect.
On the 2d of June, Bacon went to Twickenham for the
vacation, having just received intelligence from Essex
that the Queen was at length "thoroughly appeased,
and that she stood only upon the exception of his years
for his present preferment. But I doubt not, saith my
Lord, that I shall overcome that difficulty very soon, and
that her Majesty will show it by good effects." News
which, if true, was as favorable as he could have ex-
pected, and might fairly serve him for encouragement
during the rest of the summer. For the long vacation,
-the season of progresses and general dispersion, was
now near; and if the question were not decided during
the next fortnight, it was likely to stand over till Sep-
tember. Such delay was a ground for anxiety but not
for discouragement; for the Queen did not know, proba-
bly, how ill Bacon's case could bear the uncertainty, and
how nearly it concerned him to have the question one
way or another settled.
..
I
CHAPTER VI.
A. D. 1593-94. ÆTAT. 33-34.
HAD the question been settled once for all, it would
have mattered little, perhaps, which way. With a view
to the great purposes of Bacon's life either fortune would
have had its special advantages and its special disadvan-
tages. Much worse than either was the suspense which,
making it doubtful which road he ought to take,
postponed all decided action at a time when sudden reso-
lution was especially necessary. To have given up politics
and business at once and sequestered himself to philoso-
phy, would have answered very well; though, consider-
ing the growing importance of civil questions and the
advantageous position in which he stood by reason of
his reputation and influence in the House of Commons,
the sacrifice would have been considerable. But he
would have had a worthy vocation, and means sufficient
(after paying his debts) for the comparatively inexpen-
sive life of a private student. To have been advanced at
once to office with its ordinary emoluments would have
answered, all things considered, still better. The in-
come would have enabled him to bear the expenses of
public life. The duties of his place would have given
him work worthy of his powers and for which they were
eminently suited, and yet left him leisure for other
studies. And the loss of time would have been in great
part made up by the influence and authority incident to
an eminent position, the commandment (to use his
own words) of more wits than his own. But to be kept
འ
1593-94.]
PECUNIARY DIFFICULTIES.
109
spending much and earning nothing, tempted on by
hopes continually renewed and never realized, while cred-
itors were growing impatient, and debts increasing, for
the satisfaction of which it seemed only necessary to
have patience till the next term, what was this but
practice in the fatal art of sleeping on a debtor's pillow?
Let Bacon be blamed, not for his anxiety to be relieved
from this condition of dangerous uncertainty, but for not
putting an end to it at once, at whatever sacrifice. And
yet in what particular week or month or quarter he could
have taken such a step without appearing to be deliber-
ately throwing away his fairest chance of obtaining that
which, on his country's account scarcely less than his
own, he had most reason to desire, it is not by any means
easy to say. For it would almost seem that this was the
condition in which the Queen wished to keep him; not
knowing probably how dangerous such a condition was
for him, as his affairs then stood. If she could have seen
the letters which were passing during all these months
between his mother and his brother, about the means of
helping him to pay his debts without sacrificing his re-
version, and which may now be seen in the Lambeth
library, she would have better understood the risk she
ran of letting her watch-candle, as she used to call him,
go quite out. The resource proposed in his present diffi-
culty was the sale of an estate in which his mother had
an interest, and which could not be sold without her
concurrence. Anthony urged her to surrender her in-
terest in it, that the sale might proceed without delay:
adding that the ground of his motion (made without his
brother's knowledge) being only a brotherly care and
affection, he hoped her Ladyship would think and accept
of it accordingly, — believing that "being so near and
dear unto me as he is, it cannot but be a grief unto me to
see a mind that hath given so sufficient proof of itself in
having brought forth many good thoughts for the gen-
..
110
LADY BACON'S CONDITIONS.
[BOOK I.
eral, to be overburdened and cumbered with a care of
clearing his particular estate." Lady Bacon was ready
to do anything for either of her sons which she could be
sure was for their good; but being strongly possessed
with a notion that they were preyed upon by unfaithful
servants, she would not consent to this except upon condi-
tions; and her answer gives us a glimpse of the domestic
troubles of a very affectionate family.
"If your brother desire a release to Mr. Harvey, let him so
require it himself, and but upon this condition by his own hand
and bond I will not; that is, that he make and give me a true
note of all his debts, and leave to me the whole order and re-
ceipt of all his money for his land, to Harvey, and the just pay-
ment of all his debts thereby. And by the mercy and grace of
God it shall be performed by me to his quiet discharge without
cumbering him and to his credit. For I will not have his cor-
morant seducers and instruments of Satan to him committing
foul sin by his countenance, to the displeasing of God and his
godly true fear. Otherwise I will not pro certo.
"A. B.”
Now though Lady Bacon may have had some reason
for thinking that Francis was an over-trustful and over-
indulgent master, and later experience showed that
this was really one of his principal weaknesses, it does
not follow that she was herself very fit to be his stew-
ardess; for if he had too little suspicion of those about
him, she most certainly had too much; which in most
human dealings is as bad a fault. And at any rate, even
if she had been the best woman of business in the world,
an arrangement which implied that he was not fit to
manage his own affairs would at that time, when he was
aspiring to be the Queen's Attorney, have had an awk-
ward appearance. His reply is lost; but the general ef-
fect of it may be gathered from his mother's remarks in
a letter sent to Anthony the next morning (April 18th)
which, being very characteristic and interesting from the
1593-94.]
A LETTER OF LADY BACON'S.
111
sudden relapse into tenderness which follows the first dis-
charge of passion, I shall give at length.
"I received somewhat late yesterday all sent by the Glover.
All the notes savor of discontents mixed. God turn all to the
best. Your continuance in debt still I fear still. Often and
divers surveys, and no good effect procured. I doubt the bar-
gain; but look you if troubles threaten, purchasers will be low,
more
1
"I send herein your brother's letter. Construe the inter-
pretation. I do not understand his enigmatical folded writing.
Oh that by not hearkening to wholesome and careful good
counsel, and by continuing still the means of his own great hin-
drance, he had not procured his own early discredit; but had
joined with God that hath bestowed on him good gifts of natural
wit and understanding. But the same good God that hath given
them to him will I trust and heartily pray to sanctify his heart
by the right use of them to glorify the Giver of them to his own
inward comfort. The scope of my so called by him circum-
stance, which I am sure he must understand, was not to use him
as a ward, a remote phrase to my plain motherly meaning,
and yet, I thank the Lord and the hearing of his word preached,
not void of judgment and conceiving. My plain proposition
was and is to do him good. But seeing so manifestly that he is
robbed and spoiled wittingly by his base exalted (?) men, which
with Welsh wiles prey upon him, and yet bear him in hand they
have other maintenance, because their bold natures will not ac-
knowledge, I did desire only to receive the money to discharge
his debts indeed; and dare not trust such his riotous men with
the dealing withal. I am sure no preacher, nor lawyer, nor
friend, would have misliked this my doing for his good and my
better satisfying."
So far she is carried on in wrath; then comes the
relenting: -
"He perceives my good meaning by this, and before too.
But Percie had winded him. God bless my son. What he
would have me do and when for his own good as I now write
1 I cannot make out these words.
.
L
112
THE BACONS AND ESSEX.
[BOOK I.
let him return plain answer by Fynch. He was his father's
first choice¹ (?), and God will supply if he will trust in him and
call upon [him] in truth of heart; which God grant to mother
and sons.
"I send the first flight of my doves to you both, and God
bless you in Christ.
"A. B."
But these private cares, however importunate, formed
a small part of the occupations which made this vacation
a busy one for both the Bacons. The Earl of Essex had
just been made a Privy Councillor, and plunged with
characteristic ardor into the business belonging to his
new dignity. The times, by the alarms and anxieties
which they bred, gave an impulse and a value to his ac-
tivity. Both in France and Scotland, Spanish intrigue
joined with internal faction was so powerful, that the
cause of Protestantism had rarely seemed in greater
jeopardy than in this summer of 1593; while the King of
Scots on the one side was tossed helplessly this way and
that between the contending parties, and the King of
France on the other was driven, as the only apparent
means of securing his crown, settling his kingdom, and
saving the Protestant cause from utter overthrow, to the
deplorable alternative of publicly renouncing the faith
for which he had so long fought, and conforming out-
wardly to a church to which he scarcely pretended to be
a real convert. In both these countries Essex had corre-
spondents, in his intercourse with whom Anthony Bacon
appears to have served him in a capacity very like that
of a modern under-secretary of state; receiving all let-
ters, which were mostly in cipher, in the first instance;
forwarding them (generally through his brother Francis's
hands) to the Earl, deciphered and accompanied with
their joint suggestions; and finally, according to the in-
structions thereupon returned framing and dispatching
1 The word is written so close to the edge of the paper that I cannot make it
out. It looks like chis.
1593-94.]
LABORS IN THE SERVICE OF ESSEX.
113
the answers. The three thus acting together formed a
kind of small Foreign Office, the business of which seems
to have grown so rapidly in extent, importance, and
credit with the Queen, that before the end of the
"all matters of intelligence" were reported to be" wholly
in the Earl's hands."
year
There is evidence enough to show that Francis, who
attended the Court during the greater part of this sum-
mer, was constantly consulted in all these matters, and
in frequent communication with the Earl. But he had
not yet begun to keep his letters, and none of them have
been preserved. Of the kind of services however in
which he was employed, the following letter, addressed
to him by Essex about this time, and remaining among
his brother's papers, may serve as an illustration.
MR. BACON, The Queen hath sent for me in such kindness
this morning as I must not refuse to go on to her. I hear not
of Mr. Phillips. I will acquaint you with my business, that
you upon conference with him may do that which myself would
have done. The Queen did require of me a draft of an In-
struction for matter of intelligence, seeming willing now she
hath sworn me one of her Council to use my service that way.
I persuade myself she doth it rather to try my judgment in it
than for any present necessity for direction of any man that is
to go. The places are Rheims and Rome. Mr. Phillips hath
known Mr. Secretary's courses in such matters; so as I may
have counsel from you and precedents from him. I pray you,
as your leisure will serve, send me your conceipt as soon as you
can; for I know not how soon I shall be called on. I will
draw some notes of mine own which I will reform and enlarge
by yours. In haste, this Friday morning.
Your most assured friend,
ESSEX.
Meantime the Earl of Essex was on his part doing
everything which zeal and assiduity could do to make
good the expectations which he had held out to Bacon;
and that with an appearance of success which was in fact
VOL. I.
8
2
+
-
114
THE QUEEN'S COURSE WITH ESSEX.
[BOOK I.
unfortunate; for it inflamed a self-confidence of which he
had naturally too much, kindled in him a pride in the
consciousness and display of court-influence and an ambi-
tion to overbear court-rivals, and betrayed him into a
misapprehension of the real tenure of his power over the
Queen. Elizabeth admired his enthusiasm, liked to see
and hear him pleading for his friend with an ardor
which became him so well, and her pleasure and patience
in hearing him sue flattered him into the belief that he
was prevailing. He had yet to learn that she could be
well pleased in listening to suits which she had no inten-
tion of granting. In the beginning of the long vacation,
when the time of decision was yet far off, she appears
to have been very encouraging. "Our most honorable
and kind friend the Earl of Essex "so Anthony writes.
to his mother from Twickenham on the 18th of July -
was here yesterday three hours, and hath most friendly
and freely promised to set up, as they say, his whole rest
of favor and credit for my brother's preferment before
Mr. Cooke whensoever the now Attorney shall be re-
moved to the place of the Rolls. His Lordship told me
likewise that he had already moved the Queen for my
brother, and that she took no exceptions to him, but said
that she must first dispatch the French and Scotch Am-
bassadors and her business abroad, before she think of
such home matters." But as the time of decision drew
near, her former exceptions revived, and her old offense
at the speech in Parliament, which two months before
Essex had supposed to be "thoroughly appeased,” was
found to be as much in the way as ever. The effect
cannot be described so well as in the words of the Earl's
own letter to Francis, written on the 24th of August.
66
SIR, -I spake with the Queen yesterday and on Wednesday.
On Wednesday she cut me off short; she being come newly
home and making haste to her supper. Yesterday I had a full
audience, but with little better success than before. The points
型
​1593-94.]
BURGHLEY'S PROFESSION OF GOOD-WILL.
115
I pressed were an absolute åµvyoría, and an access as in former
times. Against the first she pleaded that you were in more
fault than any of the rest in Parliament; and when she did for-
give it and manifest her receiving of them into favor that of-
fended her then, she will do it to many that were less in fault
as well as to yourself. Your access, she saith, is as much as
you can look for. If it had been in the King her father's time,
a less offense than that would have made a man be banished his
presence for ever. But you did come to the Court when you
would yourself; and she should precipitate too much from be-
ing highly displeased with you to give you near access, such as
she shows only to those that she favors extraordinarily. I told
her that I sought for you was not so much your good, though it
were a thing I would seek extremely and please myself in ob-
taining, as for her honor, that those excellent translations of
hers¹ might be known to them who could best judge of them.
Besides, my desire was that you should neither be stranger to
her person nor to her service; the one for your own satisfaction,
the other for her Majesty's own sake; who if she did not em-
ploy you should lose the use of the ablest gentleman to do her
service of any of your quality whatsoever. Her humor is yet
to delay. I am now going to her again: and what I cannot
effect at once I will look to do sæpe cadendo. Excuse
Excuse my ill
writing. I write in haste and have my chamber full of company
that break my head with talking. I commend myself to your
brother and to yourself, and rest your assured friend,
ESSEX.
And what was Burghley doing all this time? To the
application made to him through his sons in April, his
answer, if he gave any, has not been preserved. But on
the 29th of August, Lady Bacon received from him the
following letter: —
GOOD MADAM, — I thank you for your kind letter; and for
your sons, I think your care of them is no less than they both
deserve, being so qualified in learning and virtue as if they had
1 Alluding perhaps to some translations from Boetius, De Consolatione, with
which she is said to have consoled herself after the news of the French king's
apostasy.
·
TV
7
116
HOPE STILL DEFERRED.
[BOOK I.
a supply of more health they wanted nothing. But none are,
or very few, ab omni parte beati; for such are not elect, but sub-
ject to tentations from the highway to heaven. For my good-
will to them, though I am of less power to do my friends good
than the world thinketh, yet they shall not want the intention
to do them good. And so God continue you in his favor by
your meditations, and that I as your old friend may be partaker
of your good wishes and prayers.
From my house at Theobald's, the 29th of August, 1593.
Your Ladyship's loving brother-in-law,
W. BURGHLEY.
If I am right in supposing that from the beginning
Burghley thought the suit for the Attorneyship unlikely
to succeed, and therefore injudicious, this is just such a
letter as might have been expected. He did not wish to
cross the suit; to encourage it would have been to flatter
with false hopes. I see no reason whatever to doubt the
sincerity of his profession of goodwill, and if he was pre-
pared to recommend Bacon for Solicitor when Coke
should be made Attorney (which the event showed would
have been the wiser course), no one can say that he be-
lied it.
Meantime Christmas passed without any resolution
concerning the Attorneyship either way. On the 18th
of January, Bacon was informed by the Earl that he
might retire at his pleasure, for nothing more would be
done till Easter term; and his thirty-third birthday
found him still unpreferred, still without professional
practice, still entangled in the unavoidable expenses of
attendance about the Court, and gradually growing fa-
miliar with the fatal necessity of borrowing money to
pay the interest due upon money already borrowed.
The strongest point against Bacon's pretensions for the
Attorneyship was his want of practice. His opponents
said that "he had never entered the place of battle."
Whether this was because he could not find clients, or
་
1593-94.]
BACON'S FIRST PLEADINGS.
117
because he did not seek them, I cannot say. It is certain
that his ambition never pointed to the life of a private
lawyer as his fit vocation, and that as often as he began
to despair of employment in the service of the Crown, he
began likewise to think of giving up his profession. It
was important, however, in present circumstances to meet
the objection by showing what he could do; and oppor-
tunity favored him. On the 25th of January, 1593–94,
he made his first pleading in the King's Bench-ap-
pearing for the heir of Lord Cheyney against the pur-
chasers of his land- and acquitted himself so well that
Burghley sent his secretary "to congratulate unto him.
the first-fruits of his public practice," and to ask for a
note of "his case and the chief points of his pleading, to
the end he might make report thereof there where it
might do him most good." On the 5th of February he
argued another case in the King's Bench, and on the 9th
appeared again "in a most famous Chequer Chamber
case, where the Lord Keeper and the Lord Treasurer (if
he were able), the two Lords Chief Justices, with two
other judges of each bench, the Lord Chief Baron, and
the rest of the Barons," were expected to be present.
A letter from Nicholas Faunt (11th of February)
speaks of this pleading as having obtained general ap-
plause. "I hope (he says) his Saturday's work (though
half-holiday) shall weigh more than the whole week's
travel employed by some. Howsoever, in my poor opin-
ion, it cannot but be well in the end that is generally of
all sorts so well taken.'
No doubt it was a successful performance, and Bacon
prepared to retire to Twickenham for the vacation (which
began on the 13th of February and lasted till the 17th
of April) with an increased reputation, and the appear-
ance of a better chance of success in his suit; which
Essex continued to follow on his behalf as earnestly as
ever, though without making any real way. Two va-
י .
ارڈ
-
--
ESSEX'S FIRMNESS IN BACON'S BEHALF.
118
[BOOK I.
cancies among the puisne judges had been recently filled
up, but the Mastership of the Rolls was still empty; no
one had yet been appointed to succeed Walsingham, who
had been dead now nearly four years; and there was an-
other secretaryship vacant besides. Burghley, weary of
the delay, had begun to press the Queen for a decision,
and "straitly urged her to the nomination of Coke to be
her Attorney General"-the Rolls seem to have been
all along destined for Sir Thomas Egerton-"and also
to the nomination of a pair of secretaries, Sir Robert
Cecil and Sir Edward Stafford, and a pair of other of-
ficers in her household." But Essex set his face against
all these appointments, and in a conversation with Sir
Robert Cecil (30th of January) declared himself more
resolutely than ever in favor of Bacon. Sir Robert
"prayed him to be better advised; saying, 'If your Lord-
ship had spoken of the solicitorship, that might be of
easier digestion to the Queen.' 'Digest me no digesting
(said the Earl); for the Attorneyship is that I must have
for Francis Bacon; and in that I will spend my uttermost
credit, friendship, and authority against whomsoever,
and that whosoever went about to procure it to others,
that it should cost both the mediators and the suitors
the setting on before they came by it. And this be you
assured of, Sir Robert,' quoth the Earl, 'for now do I fully
declare myself; and for your own part, Sir Robert, I do
think much and strange both of
my Lord
your father
and you, that can have the mind to seek the preferment
of a stranger before so near a kinsman; namely consider-
ing if you weigh in a balance his parts and sufficiency in
any respect with those of his competitor, excepting only
four poor years of admittance, which Francis Bacon bath
more than recompensed with the priority of his reading,
in all other respects you shall find no comparison be-
tween them.'" 1
1 A. B. to his mother, 5th February, 1593–94.
i
1593-94.]
THE CONSPIRACY OF DR. LOPEZ.
119
In such terms the matter stood at the beginning of the
Easter vacation, before the end of which it was likely at
last to be settled. I do not find that at this time Bacon
took any part in the canvass himself.
The vacation supplied him with a little piece of work
of another kind; which also fell in seasonably to prove
his capacities for business. The Earl of Essex had been
engaged for the last three months in tracing the par-
ticulars of a conspiracy, which, though nothing was sus-
pected at first more than a Portuguese intrigue with the
King of Spain, turned out to be nothing less than a plot
to murder Queen Elizabeth. Don Antonio was at that
time entertained in England as the lawful King of Por-
tugal, driven from his throne by Philip. But as his
prospects grew dimmer, his followers began to fall away
and to think of making their peace with the usurper;
whose favor they could best deserve (living as they did
about the English Court) by the sale of English secrets.
About the middle of October, 1593, suspicion of some
such transaction falling upon one Ferrera de Gama, a
Portuguese gentleman in Don Antonio's service, he was
apprehended; himself handed over to his master, and his
papers to the Earl of Essex, with commission to search
the matter out. Order was accordingly taken to inter-
cept all letters and messengers addressed to subjects of
Portugal resident in England. By these it soon ap-
peared that some important secret was in hand, but so
carefully wrapt up that nothing could be distinctly made
out, until Ferrera himself, in his anxiety to avoid detec-
tion, furnished a clue which being closely followed led to
the discovery of all. This was a letter despatched by
him in great secrecy to one Dr. Lopez, physician to
Queen Elizabeth, which fell into the hands of Don
Antonio. By this it appeared that a certain messenger
was expected from the Continent with letters, the dis-
covery of which would be fatal to them both. It was
120
CONSPIRACY OF DR. LOPEZ.
[BOOK I.
clear therefore that Lopez, of whose fidelity nobody had
the least suspicion, was somehow concerned in the in-
trigue; and Ferrera being interrogated upon the matters
thus disclosed, and finding that it was useless to deny all,
and concluding that Lopez had betrayed him, was con-
tent to admit thus much: that himself and others had
indeed been endeavoring to make their peace with Spain,
and that Lopez, who had for some years been in corre-
spondence with the King, was a party to the negotiation.
This declaration, though set down in writing for Don
Antonio as early as the 11th of November, was not made
known to the Government till the 20th of January; for
what reason I cannot guess. It seems however that the
Cecils were either wanting in their usual sagacity on this
occasion, or unwilling to help forward an investigation
which, having been entrusted almost entirely to their
young rival, would put a new feather in his cap if it led
to anything important. It is certain that at first neither
they nor the Queen attached any importance to the
charge against Lopez; and when he was examined upon
it (21st January) and his house searched, and no papers
of intelligence found there, the accusation was set down
as a malicious calumny, and Essex himself as "a rash
and temerarious youth to enter into a matter against the
poor man which he could not prove," thereby com-
promising the Queen's honor. But Essex had better
grounds for his suspicion than they thought. He had
conducted the examination in person; had seen the faces
of the witnesses and heard their voices; had closely
studied all the intercepted correspondence; and so re-
ceived deeper and truer impressions, probably, than the
written depositions could convey. And though he took
the Queen's rebuke in such dudgeon that for the next
two days he would not come out of his chamber, yet
presently relenting he resolved to justify himself by fol-
lowing up the scent. This he did with such skill and
1593-94.]
CONSPIRACY OF DR. LOPEZ.
121
assiduity that through a careful scrutiny of all the in-
tercepted letters, and repeated examination of the sev-
eral parties whom they had in custody, evidence enough
was extracted within a few days to implicate Lopez in a
much more serious charge than even he had suspected.
"I have discovered" (he writes to Anthony Bacon on
the 28th of January) "a most dangerous and desper-
ate treason. The point of conspiracy was her Majesty's
death. The executioner should have been Dr. Lopez ;
the manner poison. This I have so followed as I will
make it as clear as the noonday." Lopez was then sent
to the Tower; and in the course of the ensuing month a
case was made out (not however, I am sorry to say, till
one of the chief witnesses had had the " manacles "shown
to him) clear enough to go to a jury with, and on the
28th of February he was tried at Guildhall and found
guilty.
Up to this point Bacon had had nothing to do with
the case; unless Essex, whom he frequently saw while
it was going on, consulted him about it privately; which
we do not know. But it was no ordinary business. Two
principal officers of the King of Spain were directly and
deeply implicated in the plot. It is hardly possible to
doubt that the King himself knew and approved of it;
and proof of this was inextricably interwoven with the
evidence produced on the trial. Now it was desirable for
many reasons that a case so grave, so singular, and so
complicated should be embodied in an authentic narrative
for the information and satisfaction of the public. But
how was Philip's part in it to be treated? Elizabeth
was always strongly disposed to stand by her order;
always loath to degrade her office by publishing the
crimes of kings and queens, even though they were en-
emies and she herself the party sinned against. And it
would seem from the number of narratives of this case
which were drawn up at the time but not published, that
122
CONSPIRACY OF DR. LOPEZ.
[BOOK I.
upon this point there was a division of opinion among her
councillors. The final resolution however was to publish
nothing for the present, and to delay the execution of
Lopez; in hope that Philip (who must have known well
enough from the proceedings at the trial how much his
own character was concerned) would take some step to
clear himself of the imputation.
Meanwhile, among the other narratives which were
drawn up but not published, was one by Bacon, who was
present at the trial; written (as appears by an incidental
allusion to the French king's entry into Paris) before the
end of March; but whether by the Queen's direction, or
at Essex's request, or at his own suggestion, I cannot say.
Judging by the elaborate title which it bears,¹ I should
think it was composed with a view to publication, though
I believe it appeared in print for the first time in the
"Resuscitatio" (1657), and as I have met with no manu-
script copy, I conclude that it had never been much cir-
culated. It is interesting, though the composition is
hasty and careless, not only as containing the clearest
and most compendious account of the case that is to be
found, but also as giving Bacon's idea of the manner in
which the King of Spain's part in the business was to be
touched upon.
Of the use which was made of this paper we have no
account, nor of the impression made on the Queen by
Bacon's professional successes during the preceding term.
All we know is that the effect was not decisive in his
favor. Though at the end of March the law places were
still unfilled, it seems to have been now understood that
Coke was to be Attorney. Essex's "uttermost credit,
friendship, and authority" had been spent in opposing
1 "A true Report of the Detestable Treason, intended by Dr. Roderigo
Lopez, a Physician attending upon the Person of the Queen's Majesty, Whom
he, for a Sum of Money, promised to be paid to Him by the King of Spain, did
undertake to have destroyed by Poison; with certain Circumstances both of the
Plotting and Detecting of the same Treason. Penned during the Queen's Life."
ཧི?,
..
.
1593-94.]
CANVASS FOR THE SOLICITORSHIP.
123
that resolution, but spent in vain. He had only suc-
ceeded in procuring a long delay, which was itself any-
thing but a benefit; and he was content at last to be a
suitor on his friend's behalf for that which two months
before he had disdained to hear of, the Solicitorship. In
this secondary suit, however, he seemed to have every
prospect of prevailing. Among Bacon's competitors for
the Solicitorship, there was none eminent enough to be
even talked of as a formidable rival. Among the coun-
cillors and courtiers there was none conspicuous enough
to have been mentioned by name as opposing him. The
list of his declared supporters, on the other hand, in-
cluded Essex, Burghley, the Lord Keeper, the new
Master of the Rolls, the Vice-Chamberlain, and all the
Judges, whose interest was now united in his favor. But
though the accessories were so much changed to his
advantage, the original and real impediment remained
where it was, and as it was. His conduct in the last
Parliament had neither been forgotten nor explained nor
forgiven; and it must be admitted that his own subse-
quent behavior had done nothing either to efface the
remembrance or to alter the significance of it. Much as
he had lamented the displeasure which it had provoked
in the Queen, he had never yet acknowledged it as a
fault in himself, and therefore it is but justice to admit
that if she had a right to resent it as an offense when it
was committed (which I think she had not), she had a
right to continue her resentment still, as for an offense
which had not been repented of. And to this obstruc-
tion in the Queen's will (which I have no doubt was the
main hindrance to Bacon's promotion) there was prob-
ably added a secret current of opposition from another
will as strong as her own, namely, Coke's; whose posi-
tion and reputation and overruling confidence (sweetened
as in those days it was with a reverence for the Majesty
royal quite sufficient to make it palatable) would give
124
LETTER TO ESSEX.
[BOOK I.
him many opportunities of influencing her judgment in
the choice of a law-officer; and who certainly disliked
Bacon, and held him cheap both as to acquirements and
abilities, and I dare say really thought him unfit for the
place. Nor must it be forgotten among Bacon's disad-
vantages that, being still denied access to the Queen, he
had no means of speaking for himself. How annoying
the delay was to him, we may learn from a letter which
he wrote at this time (30th March, 1593) to the Earl of
Essex :
MY LORD: -I thank your Lordship very much for
your kind and comfortable letter, which I hope will be
followed at hand with another of more assurance. And
I must confess this very delay hath gone so near me, as
it hath almost overthrown my health. For when I re-
volved the good memory of my father, the near degree
of alliance I stand in to my Lord Treasurer, your Lord-
ship's so signalled and declared favor, the honorable testi-
mony of so many counsellors, the commendation unla-
bored and in sort offered by my Lords the Judges and
the Master of the Rolls elect; that I was voiced with
great expectation, and (though I say it myself) with the
wishes of most men, to the higher place; that I am a
man that the Queen hath already done for; and princes,
especially her Majesty, loveth to make an end where they
begin; and then add hereunto the obscureness and many
exceptions to my competitors; when (I say) I revolve
all this, I cannot but conclude with myself that no man
ever received a more exquisite disgrace. And therefore
truly, my Lord, I was determined, and am determined,
if her Majesty reject me, this to do. My nature can
take no evil ply; but I will by God's assistance, with
this disgrace of my fortune, and yet with that comfort of
the good opinion of so many honorable and worthy per-
sons, retire myself with a couple of men to Cambridge,
t
1598-94.]
PLANS IN CASE OF REJECTION.
125
and there spend my life in my studies and contempla-
tions, without looking back. I humbly pray your Lord-
ship to pardon me for troubling you with my melancholy.
For the matter itself, I commend it to your love. Only
I pray you communicate afresh this day with my Lord
Treasurer and Sir Robert Cecil; and if you esteem my
fortune, remember the point of precedency. The objec-
tions to my competitors your Lordship knoweth partly.
I pray spare them not, not over the Queen, but to the
great ones, to show your confidence and to work their
distaste. Thus longing exceedingly to exchange troub-
ling your Lordship with serving you, I rest
Your Lordship's,
In most entire and faithful duty,
F. B.
I humbly pray your Lordship I may hear from you
sometime this day.
Egerton and Coke had their patents for their respec-
tive offices made out and delivered on the 10th of April,
1594; but no resolution was taken as to the solicitorship.
Bacon's friends could not induce the Queen to admit him
to her presence, or take his case into serious considera-
tion. He himself appears to have remained passive.
He had not been at Court during the month, and the
only letters of his which have been preserved relate to
other matters. His patience was in fact wearing out, as
well it might. "Touching my brother," Anthony writes
to his mother on the 17th of May,
66 we are both resolute
that in case he be not placed betwixt this and the next
term, never to make any more words of it." And 1
think it probable that he would really have taken this
occasion to cast himself loose and fulfill the resolution in-
timated in his letter to Essex of the 30th of March, if
the Queen (who meant to punish but not to lose him)
had not contrived to renew his lease of patience by em-
126 THE QUEEN SHOWS SIGNS OF RELENTING.
[BOOK I.
ploying him in a service of importance. From a casual
remark in a letter to his mother it appears that as late
as the 9th of June, which was the end of the first week
in Trinity Term, the Queen had not held out any posi-
tive encouragement to him, nor done anything to sweeten
his disappointment. She did not think fit, however, to
try him with another long vacation passed in total eclipse,
lest his hope should go quite out; which was not her in-
tention. Before the term was over, therefore, she let a
ray from the light of her countenance fall upon him.
The conspiracy of Lopez had been detected; himself
and his two confederates had been tried, found guilty,
and after remaining for three months under sentence of
death, at last executed. But there were more conspira-
cies behind, the bottom of which had not yet been fath-
omed. The authors and contrivers did not themselves
venture within reach, but corresponded with some per-
sons in the north of England; their plot being to procure
the assassination of the Queen, and at the same instant
to raise a rebellion. Two of the parties to this corre-
spondence - Henry Walpole and Edward Lyngen — had
been taken and sent up to London, where they had al-
ready undergone several examinations. On the 13th of
June, Lyngen was examined again in the Tower,
think for the fifth time; and on this occasion Bacon's
name appears among the signatures. It seems therefore
that though the Queen still refused to speak with him,
she had at last relented so far as to employ him; a fact
of the more importance because I find no evidence of
his having been employed before in any service of this
nature. Other signs of relenting she showed in speeches
to his friends; nor were these favorable symptoms alto-
gether fallacious: for early in the next month we find
Bacon endeavoring to borrow a sum of money to furnish
him for a journey towards the north, which he was to
undertake immediately, upon some important business of
I
1593-94.]
BACON'S LETTER TO THE QUEEN.
127
the Queen's; Anthony assisting him as usual with all his
credit and interest, and offering to pledge his own estate
as a security for the repayment of the loan. What this
business was, is not expressly stated; but on comparing
the time with the other circumstances before and after,
I have no doubt that it related to this new conspiracy,
the seat of which being somewhere in the north, it was
necessary to send some one down to study it on the spot.
Bacon had proceeded on his "northern journey" as
far as Huntingdon, when he was attacked with some ill-
ness, which, though of no great consequence in itself,
made it impossible for him to travel. This we learn
from the following letter from himself to the Queen :-
FRANCIS BACON TO THE QUEEN.
As
MOST GRACIOUS AND ADMIRABLE SOVEREIGN,
I do acknowledge a providence of God towards me that
findeth it expedient for me tolerare jugum in juventute
mea, so this present arrest of me by his divine Majesty
from your Majesty's service is not the least affliction that
I have proved. And I hope your Majesty doth conceive
that nothing under mere impossibility could have de-
tained me from earning so gracious a vail as it pleased
your Majesty to give me. But your Majesty's service
by the grace of God shall take no lack thereby [and
thanks to God, it hath light upon him, that may be best
spared]; only the discomfort is mine; who nevertheless
have the private comfort that in the time I have been
acquainted with this service it hath been my hap to
stumble upon somewhat unseen, which may import the
same [as I made my Lord Keeper acquainted before my
going]. So leaving it to God to make a good ending
of a hard beginning [and most humbly craving your
Majesty's pardon for presuming to trouble your Maj-
esty],¹ I recommend your sacred Majesty to God's tend-
1 The words within brackets are interlined.
IS

"
[BOOK I.
128 DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE QUEEN'S SAFETY.
erest preservation. From Huntingdon, this 20th of July,
1594.
Your sacred Majesty's
in most humble obedience and devotion,
FR. BACON.
His illness did not confine him long, though long
enough to prevent him from proceeding on his mission ;
and being so near Cambridge he made use of the oppor-
tunity to take his degree of Master of Arts; which was
conferred upon him in a special congregation, the usual
exercises and ceremonies being dispensed with, on the
27th of July. But we have no further news of the visit:
and by the end of the month we find him in London
again, and well.
Being thus interrupted in the prosecution of the par-
ticular case, his thoughts would naturally turn to the
general question—whether better measures might not
be taken for encountering at their source those con-
spiracies against the Queen's life, of which every year
brought forth a fresh one. Among the papers at Lam-
beth there are two rough drafts in his handwriting which
seem to have been parts of a lost treatise on that sub-
ject; the produce probably of that little interval of leis-
ure which his illness forced upon him. One is docketed
by himself "The first fragments of a discourse touching
intelligence and the safety of the Queen's person," and
cannot well have been written earlier than January, or
later than September, 1594. It runs thus:
"The first remedy in my poor opinion is that against
which as I conceive least exception can be taken, as a
thing without controversy honorable and politic; and
that is the reputation of good intelligence. I say not
only good intelligence, but the reputation and fame
thereof. For I see that where booths are set for watch-
ing thievish places there is no more robbing. And
1593-94.] DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE QUEEN'S SAFETY. 129
though no doubt the watchmen many times are asleep or
away, yet that is more than the thief knoweth, so as the
empty booth is strength and safeguard enough. So like-
wise if there be sown an opinion abroad that her Maj-
esty hath much secret intelligence, and that all is full of
spies and false brethren, the fugitives will grow into such
a mutual jealousy and suspicion one of another, as they
will not have the confidence to conspire together, not
knowing whom to trust, and thinking all practice boot-
less, as that which is assured to be discovered. And to
this purpose (to speak reverently as becometh me), as I
do not doubt but that those honorable counsellors to
whom it doth appertain do carefully and sufficiently
take order that her Majesty receive good intelligence,
so yet under correction, methinks it is not done with
that glory and note to the world which was in Mr. Sec-
retary Walsingham's time. And in this case as was
said opinio veritate major.
"The second remedy I deliver with less assurance, as
that which is more removed from the compass of mine
understanding; and that is to treat and negotiate with
the King of Spain or Archduke Ernest, who resides in the
place where these conspiracies are most forged, upon the
point of the law of nations; upon which kind of points
princes' enemies may with honor negotiate; viz. that con-
trary to the same law of nations and the sacred dignity
of kings and the honor of arms, certain of her Majesty's
subjects (if it be not thought meet to impeach any of
his ministers) refuged in his dominions have conspired
and practiced assassination against her Majesty's per-
son."
Here the paper ends; nor is there anything to show
that there was ever any more of it. The last paragraph
fixes the date of the composition between the 30th of
January, 1593-94, when Archduke Ernest entered upon
the government of the Low Countries, and the early part
VOL. L.
9
>
130 DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE QUEEN'S SAFETY.
[BOOK I.
of September, when Elizabeth applied to him for a pass-
port for a messenger, whom she proposed to send " with
the avowed purpose of expostulating with him the wicked
practices of the Spanish king's ministers and her Maj-
esty's rebels in going about to take her Majesty's life by
poisonings and murderings," which being the very
step that Bacon in this paper advises, must be supposed
to have been taken subsequently to it, whether in con-
sequence or not.
Whoever was the author of it, it brought no good effect
except that of putting the Archduke in the wrong. For
though he sent the passport, he accompanied it with a
letter so little respectful that Elizabeth broke off the
negotiation at once; and resolved" by more public man-
ner to declare it to the world how far the said king was
directly to be touched in that foul and wicked practice."
And shortly after was published the "true report of sun-
dry horrible conspiracies, etc.," which I have already
mentioned in connection with Bacon's report of the Lopez
case, and which differs from it in this respect, that
whereas the object of Bacon's paper was to explain the
fact and the evidence, the object of this was to fix upon
the King of Spain the imputation of being at the bottom
of it. "The Lord Treasurer Burghley (says Coke in a
MS. note on the title-page of the copy now in the British
Museum) thought best to rely principally upon the con-
fessions of the delinquents, without any inferences or
arguments;" and adds, "this book was never answered
to my knowledge; and this is the best kind of publica-
tion."
The other rough draft is on a separate sheet, and is
docketed, also by Bacon himself, "The first copy of my
discourse touching the safety of the Queen's person."
But this docket appears to have been written on the
back of the last sheet of the bundle; which would be on
the outside when the papers were folded up; and the
....
༤།
1593-94.] DISCOURSE TOUCHING THE QUEEN'S SAFETY.
131
rest have slipped out and been lost. For the only sheet
now remaining contains nothing but the concluding para-
graph, which runs thus:
"These be the principal remedies I could think of for
extirpating the principal cause of those conspiracies, by
the breaking the nest of those fugitive traitors, and the
filling them full of terror, despair, jealousy, and revolt.
And it is true I thought of some other remedies, which
because in mine own conceit I did not so well allow, I
therefore do forbear to express. And so likewise I have
thought and thought again of the means to stop and
divert as well the attempts of violence as poison in the
performance and execution. But not knowing how my
travel may be accepted, being the unwarranted wishes
of a private man, I leave; humbly praying her Majesty's
pardon if in the zeal of my simplicity I have roved at
things above my aim.”
It is a pity that more of this treatise has not been pre-
served, for the discussion of the question would have
given a livelier and juster idea of the real conditions of
the time than any modern narrator can supply; which
conditions, if we would form a true judgment of the
men who had to deal with the business of that day, it is
very necessary that we should both know and remember.
To condemn the intercepting of letters as immoral; to
show how the practice of examining suspected persons
privately upon interrogatories might be abused into a
means of ensnaring the innocent; to prefer the escape of
ten guilty to the suffering of one not guilty: all this is
natural, and requires no great virtue in an Englishman
of the nineteenth century. But we must not forget that
even to an Englishman of the nineteenth century such
doctrines are natural only in the case of crimes by which
none of the great interests of society are supposed to be
endangered; upon the prevention of which nothing vital
is felt to depend. For even now cases occur occasionally
E

132
THE DUTIES OF A CROWN LAWYER.
[BOOK I.
when the ne quid detrimenti respublica capiat dispenses
with our ordinary rules of evidence. Even now, if every
year brought forth an attempt under the auspices of
Rome and Austria to assassinate the Queen; and if we
really believed that upon the assassination of the Queen
would follow the loss of Protestantism and Habeas Cor-
pus; we should be less content to allow the attempter
ten chances of impunity against one of punishment. For
Austria put Spain, and such was in Queen Elizabeth's
time the simple historical fact. What mighty interests
were believed to hang upon her life may be inferred from
the number and pertinacity of the attempts that were
made to take it. And when we see what deep prepara-
tions and what insidious methods were for that purpose
resorted to, together with the manner in which they
were actually defeated, we cannot but admit that with-
out large powers rigorously used by her Council her life
would not have been safe for a day. Nor is the remem-
brance of these facts more essential to a just apprecia-
tion of the character of the Government than to a right
apprehension of the duties of private subjects. Feeling
how deep an interest we still have in Bacon's other
labors and how little in these, we naturally exclaim,
what a pity that one who might have been devoting his
time to our business should have wasted so much of it
upon his own! But let us not forget what that business
was.
"To serve the Queen in place" (for that was the
condition upon which alone he could have pursued the
vocation of a lawyer with satisfaction to himself) was
nothing less than to assist in the preservation of the State
from imminent surrounding perils, in the warding off of
which not his own age only but all succeeding ages, ours
as much as any, had a deep interest. I do not say that
the defeat of our enemies could not have been accom-
plished without his help: it was but little he was allowed
to do, and the danger passed notwithstanding. But I
1593-94.]
STATE OF ELIZABETH'S COUNCIL-TABLE.
133
say that it depended upon him among the rest, and that
to desire a forward post in such a service was natural to
a man who felt equal to the duties of it and anxious for
the issue. No one who saw the times from his point
of view could possibly think such an employment un-
worthy of him; for no one could think that it was such
service as any other man could have performed equally
well. To secure at once the detection of the guilty, the
acquittal of the innocent, the quieting of public fears,
the satisfaction of a Protestant majority justly irritated,
and the clear vindication of the Government against sus-
picion of injustice towards the Catholic minority, was a
task requiring the rarest combination of sagacity, pru-
dence, patience, candor, temperance, and fortitude; and
many illustrations might be found in the annals of Eliza-
beth's reign of great inconveniences traceable directly to
the imperfect performance of it. Elizabeth was not
nearly so well provided with counsel now as she had
been. Walsingham was gone; Burghley was nearly
worn out, and frequently disabled for business; Robert
Cecil, though very acute, dexterous, and industrious, and
for so young a man well practiced, had more of craft than
wisdom; Essex was only twenty-seven years old, quite
new in business, naturally impetuous and governed by
casual impulses, and ambitious of greatness rather in war
than at the council-board; of Cobham we know but lit-
tle; Raleigh was out of favor and away; there was no
Solicitor General; and Coke, who was now the principal
champion of the Crown in the courts of criminal justice,
where its most hazardous battle had to be fought, was
impatient, intemperate, offensive, overbearing, and (for
all his subtlety and legal skill) had no genius either for
discovering the truth so that he might choose an unas-
sailable position, or for maintaining it in such a manner
as to carry with him the sympathies of a popular audi-
ence for his great errors in this kind, which are com-
i
134
EXAMINATION UPON INTERROGATORIES.
[BOOK I.
monly admitted, but imputed to the servility of his youth,
are in my opinion more truly attributable to willfulness.
of temper and defect of understanding. In such circum-
stances, who can say that Bacon, being called on to assist
in the investigation of a secret and extensive conspiracy
of which no one yet knew either the centre or the circum-
ference, ought to have declined the task and retired with
a couple of men to philosophize at Cambridge?
From this task his illness, though it prevented him
from proceeding with the special business on which he
had been dispatched, did not otherwise absolve him. On
his return to London at the end of July he found the
Council busy with the examination of persons implicated
in the plot, Essex and Cobham bearing a principal
part. And it was not long before he was himself em-
ployed again as an examiner, and engaged in drawing up
"interrogatories," for guidance in the preliminary in-
vestigations which all cases underwent before they were
brought into court. Of this part of the detective process
as then practiced, modern popular writers, lawyers as
well as historians, are apt to speak as a scandalous abuse
of power, a process essentially iniquitous, in inten-
tion, in theory, in practice, merely tyrannous and op-
posed to the true ends of justice. And liable to abuse it
no doubt was, as all secret proceedings must be; for the
Government acted under no effective check, beyond the
fear of seeing their case break down when it came to
public trial; and this was materially diminished by the
then general practice of the Courts, in receiving as evi-
dence depositions of witnesses that had been taken pri-
vately, without requiring that the witnesses themselves
should be produced in open court to confirm them. Cer-
tainly there was nothing to prevent a Government from
abusing such a power, except conscience and shame. But
conscience and shame have their operation in princes and
ministers as in other men, and the question is whether
1593-91.]
EXAMINATION UPON INTERROGATORIES.
135
during Elizabeth's reign this power was so abused. Now
I must say that the records which I have examined (and
I have had occasion to examine several in the course of
this work) do not seem to me to justify any such impu-
tation. To me the usual order of proceeding in these
cases seems, in principle at least, rational, and the likeli-
est that could be adopted for the discovery of the truth,
supposing that to be the object. Information is received
which throws suspicion upon A of having been a party
to some treasonable correspondence. A is apprehended
and questioned upon the particular matters in which he
is suspected of having had a hand. He must say some-
thing, and if he cannot give the true account of what he
has done, he must give a false one. The questions and
answers are carefully set down, generally signed by him-
self, always signed by the Commissioners before whom
the examination is taken. He is then remanded. Upon
a careful scrutiny of his statement it appears that if true
it will be confirmed, if false confuted, by the evidence of
B and C, whom it implicates. B and C are then sent
for and severally questioned. Not knowing what A has
said, they can hardly invent statements which shall agree
in all particulars with his and with each other, unless all
be true. Their answers are taken down in like manner,
and are found upon a like scrutiny to involve new partic-
ulars. This supplies matter for a fresh examination of A.
The same process is repeated as long as it promises to
bring out anything new; till at last by successive siftings
the several witnesses (each being carefully kept in the
dark as to the others' tale) find themselves involved in
irreconcilable contradictions or inextricable embarrass-
ments; and one or other, in despair of maintaining the
falsehood, confesses the truth. This I believe to be a cor-
rect description of the Elizabethan practice; and though
it cannot be denied that a government bent upon making
out a case, and using unscrupulously all the means at

Y
136
MONEY MATTERS.
[BOOK I.
their disposal for terrifying, tempting, or perplexing the
examinates, for suppressing the statement of one and
garbling the statement of another, might by this method
extort evidence which would make an innocent man seem
guilty, and that this is a good reason for altering the
practice, neither can it be denied that a government
bent upon discovering the truth, and using their powers
fairly and scrupulously to that end, would by this method
have the best chance of succeeding. And I do not see
why a government in the judgment of history is not en-
titled to the same benefit as a private man in the judg-
ment of his peers, - that of being presumed innocent in
the absence of direct evidence implying or indicating
guilt.
The winter of 1594 set in early with frost and snow;
and still no Solicitor appointed. Meanwhile the burden
of debt and the difficulty of obtaining necessary supplies
was daily increasing. Anthony's correspondence during
this autumn is full of urgent applications to various
friends for loans of money, much of his own necessity
arising from his anxiety to supply the necessities of his
brother.
It is not often, I suppose, that a relation of debtor and
creditor like this continues long even between the best.
friends without making their intercourse more or less.
uncomfortable; especially when the lender has so good
an excuse for objecting to fresh demands as that of not
being able to lend more without embarrassing himself,
and placing himself under fresh obligations to other ac-
quaintance. It is worth recording, therefore, that in all
this correspondence I find no trace of disagreement be-
tween these brothers. Not a word of reproof, expostu-
lation, reluctance, or impatience, drops from Anthony:
though his temper had much of the irritability as well
as all the generosity which commonly belongs to an affec-
tionate nature; and the fact deserves notice, not merely
:
1593-94.]
HOLIDAY OCCUPATIONS.
137
for the honor which it reflects upon himself, but as afford-
ing a strong presumption that he at least, who had the
best means of judging and was every way so much inter-
ested, did not disapprove the course which Francis was
taking, or suspect him of prodigality or carelessness.
To suppose that Bacon's mind was not troubled with
this disease in his finances, would be a great and unjust
reproach. We shall see shortly that he had in fact once
more resolved to shake himself free of the ties which
bound him to a service so much worse than unprofitable
so far as he was himself concerned. We shall see also by
what means and upon what conditions he was tempted
once more to renew his term.
But it was no part either of his duty or his nature to
waste his spirits in vain regret. The vacation gave him
leisure for work, and Christmas brought festivities for
recreation. And it happens luckily that some traces re-
main of the manner in which he improved both. It
was on the 5th of December, 1594, that he commenced
his" Promus of Formularies and Elegancies," in which
may be traced (if I have read it right) the footprints of
a journey in the mind over a large field of reading and
meditation, with a view to fix the leading features in
memory and store them for future use. And it was on
the 29th of the same month that he was called in to as-
sist in “recovering the lost honor of Gray's Inn,” which
had suffered the night before by the miscarriage of a
Christmas revel.
The circumstances are set forth at full length in a
tract, which is not difficult to procure, having been re-
printed in Nichols's "Progresses of Queen Elizabeth."1
But as Bacon's name does not appear upon the face of
the narrative; and as his connection with it, though suf-
ficiently obvious, has never so far as I know been pointed
out or suspected; I assume that the little story which I
1 III. 262.
:
E

•
138
MERRY CHRISTMAS AT GRAY'S INN.
[BOOK I.
am going to tell (presenting as it does a curious and very
picturesque illustration of the manners of the time and
the humors of the people among whom all his early and
middle life was spent) is not so familiar to the students
of his works but that they will be glad to see it here.
"I trust they will not mum nor mask nor sinfully
revel" (so writes Lady Bacon to her son Anthony, on
the 5th of December), " at Gray's Inn. Who were some-
time counted first, God grant they wane not daily and
deserve to be named last." But it was too late for pray-
ing. The youth of Gray's Inn were already deep in
sinful consultation. Their revels, in which they used to
excel, had been intermitted for the last three or four
years, and they were resolved to redeem the time by
producing this year something out of the common way.
Their device was to turn Gray's Inn, "with the consent
and advice of the Readers and Ancients," into the sem-
blance of a court and kingdom, and to entertain each
other during the twelve days of Christmás license with
playing at kings and counsellors. They proceeded ac-
cordingly to elect a prince the Prince of Purpoole.
They provided him with a Privy Council for advice in
matters of state; with a presence-chamber for audience,
and a council-chamber for business; with all officers of
state, law, and household; with gentlemen pensioners
to wait on his person, and a guard, with a captain of the
guard, to defend it. They raised treasure for the sup-
port of his state and dignity, partly by a benevolence,
which was granted by those who were present, and
partly by "letters in the nature of privy seals” which
were directed to those who were away. They sent to
"their ancient allied friend, the Inner Temple," a formal
communication of their proceedings, with request that
an ambassador from that state might be sent to reside
amongst them: which was with equal formality accorded,
'as ancient amity and league required and deserved."
66

*
1593-94.]
MERRY CHRISTMAS AT GRAY'S INN.
139
On the 20th of December the Prince with all his state,
after the pattern of a royal procession exactly marshalled,
proceeded to the great hall of Gray's Inn, and took his
seat on the throne. The trumpets sounded thrice, the
King-at-Arms proclaimed his style and blazoned his arms;
the Champion rode in in full armor and threw down
his gage in defiance of all disputers; the Attorney made
his speech of congratulation; the Solicitor recited the
names of all homagers and tributaries, with the nature
of their tenures and services (a recital which gave occa-
sion to many jocose allusions, veiled under legal phrase-
ology and many of them much in need of a veil — to
the manners, customs, and occupations of the several
suburban localities), and summoned them to appear and
do homage. A Parliament, which was to have been
held, was given up, owing to the necessary absence of
some special officers;" but as a subsidy was obtained
and a general pardon granted notwithstanding, the jest
was rather improved perhaps than injured by the omis-
sion. The pardon was read at full length; an elaborate
burlesque, beginning with a proclamation of free pardon
for every kind of offense for which a name could be in-
vented, and ending with a long list of cases excepted,
which does in fact include every offense which could pos-
sibly be committed. Then the Prince, having made a
short speech to his subjects, called his Master of the
Revels, and the evening ended with dances.
66
This was the first day's entertainment; and though the
humor has lost its edge for us, it hit the fancy of the
time so well and raised such great expectation that the
performers were encouraged to enlarge their plan and
raise their style. They resolved therefore (besides all
this court-pomp and their daily sports among themselves)
to have certain "grand nights," in which something
special should be performed for the entertainment of
strangers. But the same expectation which suggested the

!
:
·
140
66
THE NIGHT OF ERRORS.
[BOOK I.
design spoiled the performance. For on the first of these
grand nights" (which was intended for the special
honor of the Templarians), when the Ambassador had
arrived in great state, and been conducted to the presence
with sound of trumpet, and after interchange of elaborate
compliments seated beside the Prince, and the entertain-
of
ment was ready to begin before a splendid company
“lords, ladies, and worshipful personages that did expect
some notable performance,"— the throng grew suddenly
so great and the stage so crowded with beholders that
there was not room enough for the actors; and nothing
could be done. The Ambassador and his train retired
in discontent; and when the tumult partly subsided they
were obliged (in default of those "very good inventions
and conceipts " which had been intended) to content
themselves with ordinary dancing and revelling; and
when that was over, with "a Comedy of Errors (like to
Plautus his Menechmus)," which "was played by the
players." This performance seems to have been regarded
as the crowning disgrace of this unfortunate Grand Night ;
a fact, by the way, indicating (if it were Shakespeare's
play, as I suppose it was) either rich times or poor tastes;
for the historian proceeds, " so that night was begun, and
continued to the end, in nothing but confusion and errors;
whereupon it was ever afterwards called the Night of
Errors."
This was on the 28th of December. The next night
was taken up with a legal inquiry into the causes of those
disorders. A commission of Oyer and Terminer was
issued. A certain "sorcerer or conjurer that was sup-
posed to be the cause of that confused inconvenience "
was arraigned before a jury of twenty-four gentlemen, on
several charges; of which the last was "that he had
foisted a company of base and common fellows to make
up our disorders with a play of errors and confusions."
He met the charge by a counter-statement, set forth in a

1593-94.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
141
petition which was presented and read by the Master of
Requests, showing that all was due to negligence on the
part of the Council and great officers, and appealing to
the Prince; who finding the allegations in the petition
to be true, pardoned and released the prisoner; but find-
ing them also to be offensive, as taxing the Government,
and therefore not proper to pass unpunished, ordered to
the Tower (along with the Attorney and Solicitor, whose
delinquencies it exposed) the Master of Requests, who
had been acquainted with its contents.
After this broad parody upon the administration of
justice by the Crown in Council, they proceeded to “hold
a great consultation for the recovery of their lost honor;"
which ended in a resolution "that the Prince's Council
should be reformed, and some graver conceipts should
have their places, to advise upon those things that were
propounded to be done afterward." And here it is that
the story begins to have an interest for us. It is most
probable that one of these "graver conceipts" was Bacon
himself. It is certain that an entertainment of a very
superior kind was produced a few days after, in the prep-
aration of which he took a principal part.
Friday the 3d of January, was to be the night.
"Divers plots and devices" were arranged. Order was
taken to prevent overcrowding and confusion. A great
number of great persons, among them the Lord Keeper,
the Lord Treasurer, the Vice-Chamberlain, and several
other Privy Councillors, were invited and came. When
all were seated, the Prince came in full state and took
his throne. The Ambassador from Templaria followed
with his train, and was placed by the Prince's side; and
the performance began, after the fashion of those enter-
tainments, with a dumb-show; the object of which was
to represent the reconciliation between Gray's Inn and
the Temple, which had been disturbed by the Night of
Errors.
Fas

142
""
GESTA GRAYORUM.
[BOOK I.
The curtain being withdrawn discovered the Arch-
flamen of the Goddess of Amity standing at her altar,
and round it nymphs and fairies singing hymns in her
praise, and "making very pleasant melody with viols
and voices. Then came in, pair by pair, all the heroic
patterns of friendship, Theseus and Pirithous, Achilles
and Patroclus, Pylades and Orestes, Scipio and Lælius,
each pair offering incense upon the altar as they passed;
"which shined and burned very clear without blemish."
Last came Graius and Templarius, lovingly, arm in arm ;
but when they offered their incense the flame was choked
with "troubled smoke and dark vapor," until the Arch-
flamen performed certain mystical ceremonies and invo-
cations, and the nymphs sang hymns of pacification, upon
which the flame burnt up clearer than it had ever done
before, and continued longer, and the Arch-flamen pro-
nounced them to be as true and perfect friends as any of
those others, and divined that their love would be per-
petual; "and so with sweet and pleasant melody the cur-
tain was drawn as it was at the first.'
The show being ended, the Prince in token of satisfac-
tion invested the Ambassador and twenty-four of his ret-
inue, with the Collar of the Knighthood of the Helmet;
upon which the King-at-Arms, having first declared
how the Prince had instituted this Order in memory of
the arms he bore, which were given to one of his ances-
tors for saving the life of the then sovereign, "in regard
that as the helmet defendeth the chiefest part of the
body, the head, so did he then defend the head of the
state," proceeded to read the articles of the Order;
which they were all to vow to keep, each kissing the hel-
met as he took his vow.
66 va-
The ceremony of investiture was followed by a
riety of consort-music" and a running banquet served
by the Knights of the Helmet who were not strangers:
and so this part of the entertainment ended.

1593-94.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
143
Next follows the part in which we are more especially
concerned, that part for the better illustration of which
I have thought it worth while to tell the story.
"This being done (proceeds the narrator) there was a
table set in the midst of the stage before the Prince's
seat; and there sat six of the Lords of his Privy Coun-
cil, which at that time were appointed to attend in Coun-
cil the Prince's leisure. Then the Prince spake to them
in this manner:
MY LORDS: We have made choice of you, our most
faithful and favored counsellors, to advise with you not
any particular action of our state, but in general of the
scope and end whereunto you think it most for our honor
and the happiness of our state that our government
should be rightly bent and directed. For we mean not
to do as many princes use, which conclude of their ends.
out of their own humors¹ and take counsel only of the
means, abusing for the most part the wisdom of their
counsellors [to 2] set them in the right way to the wrong
place. But we, desirous to leave as little to chance or
humor as may be, do now give you liberty and warrant
to set before us to what port, as it were, the ship of our
government should be bounden. And this we require
you to do without either respect to our affections or your
own; neither guessing what is most agreeable with our
disposition, wherein we may easily deceive you, for
Princes' hearts are inscrutable; nor on the other side
putting the case by yourselves, as if you would present
us with a robe whereof measure were taken by your-
selves. Thus you perceive our mind and we expect your
answer.
1 honors in original.
2 to omitted in original, and abusing
•
counsellors within parenthesis.
144
GESTA GRAYORUM.
[BOOK I.
་་
THE FIRST COUNSELLOR, ADVISING THE EXERCISE OF
WAR.
1
MOST EXCELLENT PRINCE, — Except there be such
amongst us, as I am fully persuaded there is none, that
regardeth more his own greatness under you than your
greatness over others, I think there will be little differ-
ence in choosing for you a goal worthy your virtue and
power. For he that shall set before him your magna-
nimity and valor, supported by the youth and disposition
of your body; your flourishing Court, like the horse of
Troy, full of brave commanders and leaders; your popu-
lous and man-rife provinces, overflowing with warlike
people; your coffers, like the Indian mines when that
they were first opened; your storehouses and arsenals,¹
like to Vulcan's cave; your navy like to an huge floating
city; the devotion of your subjects to your crown and
person, their good agreement amongst themselves, their
wealth and provision; and then your strait 2 and unrevo-
cable confederation with these 3 noble and honorable per-
sonages, and the fame and reputation without of so rare
a concurrence, whereof all the former regards do grow;
how can he think any exercise worthy of your means but
that of conquest? For in few words, what is your
strength, if you find it not? your fortune, if you try it
not? your virtue, if you show it not? Think, excellent
Prince, what sense of content you found in yourself,
when you were first invested in our state; for though I
know your Excellency is far from vanity and lightness,
yet it is the nature of all things to find rest when they
come to due and proper places. But be assured of this,
that this delight will languish and vanish; for power
will quench appetite and satiety will induce tediousness.
1 are as sea-walls in original.
2 strength in original; for which streight might easily be mistaken.
8 the in original.
5 endure in original.
4 So original, qy. possession.
4
-M

1593-94.]
1
GESTA GRAYORUM.
145
But if you embrace the wars, your trophies and triumphs
shall be as continual coronations, that will not suffer
your glory and contentment to fade and wither. Then
when you have enlarged your territories, ennobled your
country, distributed fortunes, good or bad, at your pleas-
ure, not only to particulars but to cities and nations;
marked the computations of times with your expeditions
and voyages, and the memory of places by your exploits
and victories; in your later years you shall find a sweet
respect ¹ into the adventures of your youth; you shall
enjoy your reputation; you shall record your travels;
and after your own time you shall eternise your name,
and leave deep footsteps of your power in the world. To
conclude, excellent Prince, and most worthy to have the
titles of victories added to your other high and deserved
titles, Remember, the divines find nothing more glorious
to resemble our state unto than a warfare. All things
in earnest and jest do affect a kind of victory; and all
other victories are but shadows to the victories of the
wars. Therefore embrace the wars, for they disparage
you not; and believe that if any Prince do otherwise it
is either in the weakness of his mind or means.
THE SECOND COUNSELLOR, ADVISING THE STUDY OF
PHILOSOPHY.
It may seem, most excellent Prince, that my Lord
which now hath spoken did never read the just censures
of the wisest men, who compared great conquerors to
great rovers and witches, whose power is in destruction
and not in preservation; else would he never have ad-
vised your Excellency to become as some comet or blaz-
ing star, which should threaten and portend nothing but
death and dearth, combustions and troubles of the world.
And whereas the governing faculties of men are two,
force and reason, whereof the one is brute and the other
VOL. I.
1 Probably respect (= retrospect).
10
F
J
E
E
146
GESTA GRAYORUM.
2
[BOOK I.
divine, he wisheth you for your principal ornament and
regality the talons of the eagle to catch the prey, and not
the piercing sight which seeth into the bottom of the sea.
But I contrariwise will wish unto your Highness the ex-
ercise of the best and purest part of the mind, and the
most innocent and meriting conquest,¹ being the conquest
of the works of nature; making this proposition, that
you bend the excellency of your spirits to the searching
out, inventing, and discovering of all whatsoever is hid
and 3 secret in the world; that your Excellency be not as
a lamp that shineth to others and yet seeth not itself, but
as the Eye of the World, that both carrieth and useth
light. Antiquity, that presenteth unto us in dark visions
the wisdom of former times, informeth us that the [gov-
ernments of] kingdoms have always had an affinity with
the secrets and mysteries of learning. Amongst the Per-
sians, the kings were attended on by the Magi. The
Gymnosophists had all the government under the princes
of Asia; and generally those kingdoms were accounted
most happy, that had rulers most addicted to philosophy.
The Ptolemies in Egypt may be for instance; and Salo-
mon was a man so seen in the universality of nature
that he wrote an herbal of all that was green upon the
earth. No conquest of Julius Cæsar made him so re-
membered as the Calendar. Alexander the Great wrote
to Aristotle, upon the publishing of the Physics, that he
esteemed more of excellent men in knowledge than in
empire. And to this purpose I will commend to your
Highness four principal works and monuments of your-
self: First, the collecting of a most perfect and general
library, wherein whatsoever the wit of man hath hereto-
fore committed to books of worth, be they ancient or
modern, printed or manuscript, European or of the other
parts, of one or other language, may be made contribu-
4
5
1 request in original.
.
4 Solyman in original.
2 his proportion in original.
8 in in origins!
5 in the empire in original.
- *
1593-94.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
147
tory to your wisdom. Next, a spacious, wonderful gar-
den, wherein whatsoever plant the sun of divers climates,
out of the earth of divers moulds, either wild or by the
culture of man brought forth, may be with that care that
appertaineth to the good prospering thereof set and cher-
ished: This garden to be built about with rooms to stable
in all rare beasts and to cage in all rare birds; with two
lakes adjoining, the one of fresh water the other of salt,
for like variety of fishes. And so you may have in small
compass a model of universal nature made private. The
third, a goodly huge cabinet, wherein whatsoever the
hand of man by exquisite art or engine hath made rare
in stuff, form, or motion; whatsoever singularity chance
and the shuffle of things hath produced; whatsoever Na-
ture hath wrought in things that want life and may be
kept; shall be sorted and included. The fourth such a
still-house, so furnished with mills, instruments, furnaces,
and vessels, as may be a palace fit for a philosopher's
stone. Thus, when your Excellency shall have added
depth of knowledge to the fineness of [your] spirits and
greatness of your power, then indeed shall you be¹ a
Trismegistus; and then when all other miracles and
wonders shall cease by reason that you shall have discov-
ered their natural causes, yourself shall be left the only
miracle and wonder of the world.
THE THIRD COUNSELLOR, ADVISING ETERNIZEMENT AND
FAME BY BUILDINGS AND FOUNDATIONS.
My Lords that have already spoken, most excellent
Prince, have both used one fallacy, in taking that for
certain and granted which was most uncertain and doubt-
ful; for the one hath neither drawn in question the suc-
cess and fortune of the wars, nor the other the difficulties
and errors in the conclusions of nature. But these im-
moderate hopes and promises do many times issue forth,³
1 lay in original.
2 from in original.

148
GESTA GRAYORUM.
[BOOK I.
those of the wars into tragedies of calamities and dis-
tresses; and those of mystical philosophy into comedies
of ridiculous frustrations and disappointments of such
conceipts and curiosities. But on the other side, in one
point my Lords have well agreed; that they both ac-
cording to their several intentions counselled your Excel-
lency to win fame and to eternize your name; though
the one adviseth it in a course of great peril, and the
other of little dignity and magnificence. But the plain
and approved way, that is safe and yet proportionable to
the greatness of a monarch, to present himself to pos-
terity, is not rumor and hearsay, but the visible ¹ memory
of himself in the magnificence of goodly and royal
buildings and foundations, and the new institutions of
orders, ordinances, and societies; that is, that (as) your
coin be stamped with your own image, so in every part
of your state there may be somewhat new, which by con-
tinuance may make the founder and author remembered.
It was perceived at the first, when men sought to cure
mortality by fame, that buildings was the only way;
and thereof proceeded the known holy antiquity of build-
ing the Tower of Babel; which as it was a sin in the
immoderate appetite of fame, so it was punished in the
kind; for the diversities of languages have imprisoned
fame ever since. As for the pyramids, the colosses, the
number of temples, colleges, bridges, aqueducts, castles,
theatres, palaces, and the like, they may show us that
men ever mistrusted any other way to fame than this
only, of works and monuments. Yea even they which
had the best choice of other means. Alexander did not
think his fame so engraven in his conquests, but that he
thought it further shined in the buildings of Alexandria.
Augustus Cæsar thought no man had done greater things
in military actions than himself, yet that which at his
death ran most in his mind was his building, when he
1 usual in original.
2 is in original.
**
1593-91.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
149
said, not, as some mistake it, metaphorically, but literally,
I found the city of brick but I leave it of marble. Con-
stantine the Great was wont to call with envy the Em-
peror Trajan, wallflower, because his name was upon so
many buildings; which notwithstanding he himself did
embrace in the new founding of Constantinople, and sun-
dry other buildings; and yet none greater conquerors than
these two. And surely they had reason; for the fame
of great actions is like to a landflood which hath no cer-
tain head or spring; but the memory and fame of build-
ings and foundations hath, as it were, a fountain in an
hill, which continually feedeth and refresheth the other
waters. Neither do I, excellent Prince, restrain my
speeches to dead buildings only, but intend it also to
other foundations, institutions, and creations; wherein I
presume the more to speak confidently, because I am
warranted herein by your own wisdom, who have made
the first-fruits of your actions of state to institute the
honorable Order of the Helmet; the less shall I need to
say, leaving your Excellency not so much to follow my
advice as your own example.
THE FOURTH COUNSELLOR, ADVISING ABSOLUTENESS OF
STATE AND TREASURE.
Let it not seem pusillanimity for your Excellency,
mighty Prince, to descend a little from your high thoughts
to a necessary consideration of your own estate. Neither
do you deny, honorable Lords, to acknowledge safety,
profit, and power to be of the substance of policy and
fame and honor rather to be as flowers of well ordered
actions than as good ends.¹ Now if you examine the
courses propounded according to these respects, it must
be confessed that the course of wars may seem to in-
crease power, and the course of contemplations and foun-
dations not prejudice safety. But if you look beyond the
1 guides in original.
i
.
150
GESTA GRAYORUM.
[BOOK I.
exterior you shall find that the first breeds weakness and
the latter nurse 1 peril. For certain it is during wars
your Excellency will be enforced 2 to your soldiers and
generally to your people, and become less absolute and
monarchical than if you reigned in peace; and then if
your success be good, that you make new conquests, you
shall be constrained to spend the strength of your an-
cient and settled provinces to assure your new and
doubtful, and become like a strong man that by taking a
great burden upon his shoulders maketh himself weaker
than he was before. Again, if you think you may in-
tend³ contemplations with security, your Excellency will
be deceived; for such studies will make you retired and
disused with your business, whence will follow a diminu-
tion 4 of your authority. As for the other point, of erect-
ing 5 in every part of your state something new derived
from yourself, it will acquaint your Excellency 6 with an
humor of innovation and alteration, which will make your
reign very turbulent and unsettled; and many times your
change will be for [the] worse, as in the example last
touched of Constantine, who by his new translation of
his estate ruinated the Roman Empire. As for profit,
there appeareth a direct contrariety between that and all
the three courses; for nothing causeth such a dissipation
of treasure as wars, curiosities, and buildings; and for all
this to be recompensed in a supposed honor, a matter apt
to be much extolled in words, but not greatly to be
prized in conceipt, I do think it a loser's bargain. Be-
sides that many politic princes have received as much
commendation for their wise and well-ordered govern-
ment as others have done for their conquests and glori-
ous affections; and more worthy, because the praise of
wisdom and judgment is less communicated with fortune.
2 So in original.
4 admiration in original.
1 note in original.
8 not end in original.
5 exercising.
6 So in original. Perhaps it should be, "your Excellency's subjects."
7 praised in original.
!
1593-94.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
151
Therefore, excellent Prince, be not transported with
shows. Follow the order of nature, first to make the
most of that you possess, before you seek to purchase
more. To put the case by a private man (for I cannot
speak high), if a man were born to an hundred pounds
by the year, and one show him how with charge to pur-
chase an hundred pounds more, and another should show
him how without charge to raise that hundred pounds
unto five hundred pounds, I should think the latter ad-
vice should be followed. The proverb is a country prov-
erb, but significative, Milk the cow that standeth still;
why follow you her that flieth away? Do not think, ex-
cellent Prince, that all the conquests you are to make
be foreign. You are to conquer here at home the over-
growing of your grandees in factions, and too great lib-
erties of your people; the great reverence and formalities
given to your laws and customs, in derogation of your
absolute prerogatives: these and such-like be conquests
of state, though not of war. You want a Joseph, that
should by advice make you the only proprietor of all
the lands and wealth of your subjects. The means how
to strain up your sovereignty, and how to accumulate
treasure and revenue, they are the secrets of your state;
I will not enter into them at this place: I wish your
Excellency as ready to [desire] them, as I have the
means ready to perform them.
THE FIFTH COUNSELLOR, ADVISING HIM VIRTUE AND
A GRACIOUS GOVERNMENT.
MOST EXCELLENT PRINCE, I have heard sundry
plats and propositions offered unto you severally; one to
make you a great Prince, another to make you a strong
Prince, and another to make you a memorable Prince, and
a fourth to make you an absolute Prince. But I hear of
no invention ¹ to make you a good and a virtuous Prince;
1
1 mention in original.

■
?
."
152
GESTA GRAYORUM.
[BOOK I.
which surely my Lords have left out in discretion, as to
arise of your own motion and choice; and so I should
have thought, had they not handled their own proposi-
tions so artificially and persuadingly, as doth assure me
their speech was not formal. But most worthy Prince,
fame is too light, and profit and surety are too low, and
power is either such as you have or ought not so to seek
to have. It is the meriting of your subjects, the making
of golden times, the becoming of a natural parent to your
state; these are the only [fit] and worthy ends of your
Grace's virtuous reign. My Lords have taught you to
refer all things to yourself, your greatness, memory, and
advantage; but whereunto shall yourself be referred? If
you will be heavenly you must have influence. Will
you be as a standing pool, that spendeth and choketh his
spring within itself, and hath no streams nor current to
bless and make fruitful whole tracts of countries where-
by it runneth ?1 Wherefore, first of all, most virtuous
Prince, assure yourself of an inward peace, that the storms
without do not disturb any of your repairers of state with-
in. Therein use and practice all honorable diversions.
That done, visit all the parts of your state, and let the
balm distil everywhere from your sovereign hands, to the
medicining of any part that complaineth. Beginning
with your seat of state, take order that the faults of your
great ones do not rebound upon yourself; have care
that your intelligence, which is the light of your state, do
not go out or burn dim or obscure; advance men of vir-
tue and not of mercenary minds; repress all faction be
it either malign or violent. Then look into the state of
your laws and justice of your land; purge out multiplic-
ity of laws, clear the incertainty of them, repeal those
that are snaring, and press 3 the execution of those that
are wholesome and necessary; define the jurisdiction of
your courts, repress all suits and vexations, all causeless
1 reneweth in original.
8 prize in original.
2 fault of your greatness in original.
4 reprize in original.
1598-94.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
153
delays and fraudulent shifts and devices, and reform all
such abuses of right and justice; assist the ministers
thereof, punish severely all extortions and exactions of
officers, all corruptions in trials and sentences of judg-
ment. Yet when you have done all this think not that
the bridle and spur will make the horse to go alone with-
out time and custom. Trust not to your laws for cor-
recting the times, but give all strength to good educa-
tion; see to the government of your universities and all
seminaries of youth, and to¹ the private order of families,
maintaining due obedience of children towards their par-
ents and reverence of the younger sort towards the an-
cient. Then when you have confirmed the noble and
vital parts of your realm of state, proceed to take care of
the blood and flesh and good habit of the body. Remedy
all decays of population, make provision for the poor,
remove all stops in traffic, and all cankers 2 and causes of
consumption in trades and mysteries; redress all - But
whither do I run, exceeding the bounds of that perhaps
I am now demanded? But pardon me, most excellent
Prince, for as if I should commend unto your Excellency
the beauty of some excellent Lady, I could not so well
express it with relation as if I showed you her picture;
so I esteem the best way to commend a virtuous govern-
ment, to describe and make appear what it is; but my
pencil perhaps disgraceth it; therefore I leave it to your
Excellency to take the picture out of your wise obser-
vation, and then to double it and express it in your
government.
THE SIXTH COUNSELLOR, PERSUADING PASTIMES AND
SPORTS.
When I heard, most excellent Prince, the three first
of my Lords so careful to continue your fame and mem-
ory, methought it was as if a man should come to some
2 cancers in original.
1 of in original.
!
154
GESTA GRAYORUM.
[Book I.
young prince as yourself is, and immediately after his
coronation be in hand with him to make himself a sump-
tuous and stately tomb. And, to speak out of my soul,
I muse how any of your
servants can once endure to think
of you as of a prince past. And for my other Lords
who would engage you so deeply in matters of state, the
one persuading you to a more absolute, the other to
a more gracious government, I assure your Excellency
their lessons were so cumbersome, as if they would make
you a king in a play, who, when one would think he
standeth in great majesty and felicity, he is troubled to
say his part. What! nothing but tasks, nothing but work-
ing-days? No feasting, no music, no dancing, no tri-
umphs, no comedies, no love, no ladies? Let other men's
lives be as pilgrimages, because they are tied to divers
necessities and duties; but princes' lives are as prog-
resses, dedicated only to variety and solace. And [as] if
your Excellency should take your barge in a summer
evening, or your horse or chariot, to take the air; and if
you should do any the favor to visit him; yet your pleas-
ure is the principal, and that is but as it falleth out; so
if any of these matters which have been spoken of fall
out in the way of your pleasure, it may be taken, but no
otherwise. And therefore leave your wars to your lieu-
tenants, and your works and buildings to your surveyors,
and your books to your universities, and your state-mat-
ters to your counsellors, and attend you that in person
which you cannot execute by deputy: use the advantage
of your youth; be not sullen to your fortune; make your
pleasure the distinction of your honors, the study of your
favorites, the talk of your people, and the allurement of
all foreign gallants to your Court. And in a word, sweet
Sovereign, dismiss your five counsellors, and only take
counsel of your five senses.¹
1 There follows here, in the narrative from which this is taken, a reply from
the Prince, which reads to me like an interpolation. It interrupts the action,
T
1593-94.]
GESTA GRAYORUM.
155
THE PRINCE'S ANSWER AND CONCLUSION TO THE
SPEECHES OF THE COUNSELLORS.
MY LORDS,- We thank you for your good opinions;
which have been so well set forth, as we should think
ourselves not capable of good counsel if in so great va-
riety of persuading reasons we should suddenly resolve.
Meantime it shall not be amiss to make choice of the last,
and upon more deliberation to determine of the rest; and
what time we spend in long consulting, in the end we
will gain by prompt and speedy executing.
"The Prince (proceeds the reporter) having ended his speech,
arose from his seat and took that occasion of revelling. So he
made choice of a Lady to dance withal; so likewise did the
Lord Ambassador, the Pensioners, and Courtiers attending the
Prince. The rest of that night was passed in those pastimes.
The performance of which night's work being very carefully
and orderly handled, did so delight and please the nobles and
the other auditory, that thereby Gray's Inn did not only recover
their lost credit and quite take away all the disgrace that the
former Night of Errors had incurred; but got instead thereof
so great honor and applause as either the 'good reports of our
honorable friends that were present could yield, or we ourselves
desire."
Thus ended one of the most elegant Christmas enter-
tainments, probably, that was ever presented to an audi-
ence of statesmen and courtiers. That Bacon had a
hand in the general design is merely a conjecture; we
know that he had a taste in such things, and did some-
and is inferior in style. It may have been spoken extempore by the Prince,
"But if a
but can hardly have been part of the composition. It runs thus:
man should follow your five senses" (said the Prince), "I perceive he might
follow your Lordship now and then into an inconvenience. Your Lordship is a
man of a very lively and pleasant advice; which though one should not be for-
ward to follow, yet it fitteth the time, and what our own humor inclineth a oft-
entime to, delight and merriment. For a prince should be of a cheerful and
pleasant spirit, not austere, hard-fronted, and stoical, but, after serious affairs,
admitting recreation, and using pleasures as sauces for meats of better nourish-
ment.'
a inclined in original.
}
•
+
156
BACON'S PART IN THE ENTERTAINMENT.
[BOOK I.
times take a part in arranging them; and the probability
seemed strong enough to justify a more detailed account
of the whole evening's work than I should otherwise have
thought fit. But that the speeches of the six councillors
were written by him, and by him alone, no one who is at
all familiar with his style either of thought or expression
will for a moment doubt. They carry his signature in
every sentence. And they have a much deeper interest
for us than could have been looked for in such a sportive.
exercise belonging to so forgotten a form of idleness. All
these councillors speak with Bacon's tongue and out of
Bacon's brain; but the second and fifth speak out of his
heart and judgment also. The propositions of the latter
contain an enumeration of those very reforms in state and
government which throughout his life he was most anx-
ious to see realized. In those of the former may be
traced, faintly but unmistakably, a first hint of his great
project for the restoration of the dominion of knowledge,
a first draft of "Solomon's House," a rudiment of
that history of universal nature, which was to have
formed the third part of the "Instauratio," and is in
my judgment (as I have elsewhere explained at large)
the principal novelty and great characteristic feature of
the Baconian philosophy. This composition is valuable,
therefore, not only as showing with what fidelity his
mind when left to itself pointed always, in sport as in
earnest, towards the great objects which he had set be-
fore him, but also as giving us one of the very few cer-
tain dates by which we can measure the progress of his
philosophical speculations in these early years.
It remains for me to give what account I can of the
narrative in which it is preserved.
It is a quarto pamphlet of sixty-eight pages; printed in
1685, for "W. Canning, at his shop in the Temple Clois-
ters; " with a dedication to Matthew Smyth, Esq., Comp-
troller of the Inner Temple; apparently from a manu-
".
1593-94.]
THE HOLIDAYS OVER.
157
script written by some member of Gray's Inn who was
an eye-witness of what he relates; and bearing the title
"Gesta Grayorum, or the History of the high and mighty
Prince, Henry, Prince of Purpoole, etc., who reigned and
died A. D. 1594." Whom it was by, where and when it
was found, how it came into the publisher's hands, we are
not informed. We can only gather from the dedication
that it was found by accident, and printed without altera-
tion. The dedication is signed W. C., which stands, I
presume, for W. Canning, the printer. But Nichols,
who reprinted the pamphlet (without the dedication) in
his "Progresses of Queen Elizabeth" (III. 262), tells us
that "the publisher was Mr. Henry Keepe, who pub-
lished the Monuments of Westminster.'
6
,,,
It is a pity that the publisher, whoever he was, did
not tell us a little more about the manuscript, though it
is probable enough that he had not much more to tell.
Nothing is more natural than that such a narrative should
have been written at the time for the amusement and
satisfaction of the parties concerned; should have been
laid by and forgotten; and found again lying by itself,
without anybody to tell its story for it.
There is more of it; the historian proceeding to re-
cord other achievements of the Prince of Purpoole, whose
reign was prolonged beyond the days of ordinary license,.
and did not end before Shrove Tuesday. But I look in
vain for any further traces of Bacon's hand. His Christ-
mas holidays were over; Gray's Inn Hall was stripped
of its scaffoldings and regal furniture; the business of
real life commenced again; and the business which most
concerned him was the appointment of a Solicitor Gen-
eral, which still seemed as near, and was still as far off,
as ever. But the suit takes a somewhat livelier aspect
from the closer proximity into which it brings us with
the Queen herself, as will be seen in the next chapter.
CHAPTER VII.
A. D. 1594–1595, JANUARY - NOVEMBER.
ÆTAT. 34.
WHILE Bacon's friends were doing what they could to
speed this unfortunate suit, he was himself considering
how to make an end of it, one way or another. He had
made up his mind, in case he were not appointed Solicitor
at the beginning of the next term, to give up the suit and
the profession at once, to waste no more of his time and
means in that attendance, but to make such arrangements
as he best might for betaking himself to the life of a
student; and in the first place to go abroad for awhile.
This is what he had half-determined to do some twenty
months before, just before the Attorney Generalship fell
vacant; when he was persuaded to wait awhile, probably
by Essex; to whom it seems that he now declared his
intention to wait no longer, but do it at once. Essex,
judging rightly enough that the Queen did not intend to
lose Bacon altogether, thought to bring matters to a crisis
by telling her what would happen if she delayed longer:
a characteristic but unlucky move; for it was a kind of
challenge which her spirit could never endure. On Tues-
day, January 21, Bacon was sent for to the Court; and
on Saturday sent his brother the following account of
what passed.
The passage about his brother's "travels" alludes to
his study of the affairs of Europe during ten years' resi-
dence abroad, the acquaintances he had cultivated, the
information which he had supplied to Burghley and Wal-
singham, and the extensive correspondence which he still
1594-95.]
LETTER TO ANTHONY BACON.
159
kept up; in consideration of which it was hoped that the
Queen would find some employment for him in that line.
GOOD BROTHER, -Since I saw you this hath passed.
Tuesday, though sent for, I saw not the Queen. Her
Majesty alleged she was then to resolve with her Coun-
sel upon her places of law.
But this resolution was ut supra; and note the rest of
the counsellors were persuaded she came rather forwards
than otherwise. For against me she is never peremptory
but to my Lord of Essex.
I missed a letter of my Lord Keeper's; but thus much
I hear otherwise.
The Queen seemeth to apprehend my travel; where-
upon I was sent for by Sir Robert Cecil in sort as from
her Majesty; himself having of purpose immediately
gone to London to speak with me, and not finding me
there, he wrote to me. Whereupon I came to the Court,
and upon his relation to me of her Majesty's speech, I
desired leave to answer it in writing; not I said that I
mistrusted his report but mine own wit; the copy of
which answer I send; we parted in kindness secundum
exterius.
This copy you must needs return; for I have no
other; and I wrate this by memory after the original
sent away.
The Queen's speech is after this sort. Why? I have
made no Solicitor. Hath anybody carried a Solicitor
with him in his pocket? But he must have it in his
own time (as if it were but yesterday's nomination) or
else I must be thought to cast him away. Then her
Majesty sweareth that if I continue this manner, she will
seek all England for a Solicitor rather than take me.
Yea she will send for Houghton and Coventry 1 to-mor-
1 Thomas Coventry, afterwards one of the Justices of the Common Pleas,
and father of the Lord Keeper Coventry. - BIRCH.
i
:
་་ས
:

160
HIS STANDING WITH THE QUEEN.
[BOOK I.
row next (as if she would swear them both). Again
she entereth into it, that she never dealt so with any as
with me (in hoc erratum non est); she hath pulled me
over the bar (note the words, for they cannot be her
own), she hath used me in her greatest causes. But
this is Essex; and she is more angry with him than
with me; and such-like speeches, so strange, as I should
leese myself in it, but that I have cast off the care of
it.
My conceit is, that I am the least part of mine own
matter. But her Majesty would have a delay, and yet
would not bear it herself. Therefore she giveth no way
to me, and she perceiveth her counsel giveth no way to
others, and so it sticketh as she would have it. But
what the secret of it is oculus aquilæ non penetravit.
My Lord¹ continueth on kindly and wisely a course
worthy to obtain a better effect than a delay, which to
me is the most unwelcome condition.
Now to perform the part of a brother and to render
you the like kindness, Advise you whether it were not a
good time to set in strongly with the Queen to draw her
to honor your travels. For in the course I am like to
take, it will be a great and a necessary stay to me, besides
the natural comfort I shall receive. And if you will
have me deal with my Lord 'of Essex, or otherwise break
it by mean to the Queen, as that which shall give me
full contentment, I will do it as effectually and with as
much good discretion as I can. Wherein if you aid me
with your direction, I shall observe it. This as I did.
ever account it sure and certain to be accomplished in
case myself had been placed, and therefore deferred it
till then as to the proper opportunity; so now that I see
such delay in mine own placing, I wish ex animo it should
not expect.
1 Birch understood "My Lord" to mean Essex, and put the name in the mar-
gin. I rather suspect that Burghley is meant.
1594-95.]
TALKS OF GOING ABROAD.
161
I pray let me know what mine uncle Killigrew will do. ¹
For I must now be more careful of my credit than ever,
since I receive so little thence where I deserved best.
And to be plain with you, I mean even to make the best
of those small things I have with as much expedition as
may be without loss; and so sing a mass of requiem I
hope abroad; for I know her Majesty's nature, that she
neither careth though the whole surname of the Bacons
travelled, nor of the Cecils neither.
I have here an idle pen or two, specially one that was
cozened, thinking to have gotten some money this term;
I
pray send me somewhat else for them to write out be-
sides your Irish collection, which is almost done. There
is a collection of Dr. James of foreign states, largeliest
of Flanders, which, though it be no great matter, yet I
would be glad to have it. Thus I commend you to
God's good preservation. From my lodge at Twicken-
ham Park, this 25th of January, 1594.
Your entire loving brother,
FR. BACON.
LETTER TO SIR R. CECIL, ENCLOSED IN THE LAST.
SIR, Your Honor may remember that upon your
relation of her Majesty's speech touching my travel, I
asked leave to make answer in writing; not but 2 I knew
then what was true; but because I was careful to express
it without doing myself wrong. And it is true I had
then opinion to have written to her Majesty. But since,
weighing with myself that her Majesty gave no ear to
the motion made by yourself that I might answer it by
mine own attendance, I began to doubt the second degree,
whether it might not be taken for presumption in me to
write to her Majesty; and so resolved that it was best
for me to follow her Majesty's own way in committing it
to your report.
1 Relating to the borrowing of money.
2 But because in MS.; no doubt the transcriber's error.
$
162
LETTER TO CECIL.
[BOOK I.
It may please your Honor therefore to deliver to her
Majesty, first, that it is an exceeding grief to me that
any, not motion (for there was not now a motion), but
mention that should come from me should offend her
Majesty, whom for these one-and-twenty years (for so
long it is ¹ that I kissed her Majesty's hands upon my
journey into France) I have used the best of my wits to
please.
my
Next, mine answer standing upon two points, the one,
that this mention of travel to my Lord of Essex was no
present motion, suit, or request; but casting the worst of
fortune with an honorable friend that had long used
me privately, I told his Lordship of this purpose of mine
to travel, accompanying it with these very words, that
upon her Majesty's rejecting me with such circumstance,
though my heart might be good yet mine eyes would be
sore that I should take no pleasure to look upon my
friends; for that I was not an impudent man, that could
face out a disgrace; and that I hoped her Majesty would
not be offended, if not being able to endure the sun, I
fled into the shade.
The other, that it was more than this; for I did ex-
pressly and particularly (for so much wit God then lent
me) by way of caveat restrain my Lord's good affection
that he should in no wise utter or mention this matter
till her Majesty had made a Solicitor; wherewith (now
since my looking upon your letter) I did in a dutiful
manner challenge my Lord, who very honorably acknowl-
edged [it],² seeing he did it for the best; and therefore
I leave his Lordship to answer for himself.
All this my Lord of Essex can testify to be true; and
I report me to yourself, whether at the first, when I de-
sired deliberation to answer, yet nevertheless said I would
1 A mistake. "Sir Amice Paulett landed at Calais, going to be ambassador
in France in place of Dr. Dale, 15th September, 1576." See Burghley's Diary.
It was not so much as eighteen years and a half.
2 This word is torn off. The next is probably miscopied, and should be saying.
1594-05.]
SOLICITORSHIP STILL VACANT.
163
to you privately declare what had passed, I said not in
effect so much. The conclusion shall be, that whereso-
ever God and her Majesty shall appoint me to live, I
shall truly pray for her Majesty's preservation and feli-
city. And so I humbly commend me to you,
Your poor kinsman to do you service,
FR. BACON.
Bacon was not yet to be released. He could not have
gone abroad without a license from the Queen, and as
things stood he could not well have applied for one; cer-
tainly would not have got it except at the cost of seri-
ously displeasing her. He travelled no further than his
favorite retreat at Twickenham, which appears however
to have been enough for his health of mind and body;
for on the 7th of March his brother reports to Lady Ba-
con that he “has not seen him looking better." But the
Solicitorship not having been filled up during the term,
and Essex being still determined that he should have it,
the canvassing time was not over yet. As Easter Term
approached, preparations were to be made for another
fight among the rival patrons, and Bacon had to reappear
in the old part, of which how weary he was all his letters
written at that time might be cited to prove.
But he writes to Burghley under a feeling of ceremoni-
ous restraint, to Sir Robert Cecil in an outbreak of impa-
tience, to his brother as to one who already knew all he
felt, and shared all his feelings. It is interesting there-
fore to know how he expresses himself to a familiar but
not very intimate friend. The following letter to Foulke
Greville belongs apparently to this spring, and represents
his condition in a very lively and natural manner.
TO FOULKE GREVILLE.
SIR, — I understand of your pains to have visited me,
for which I thank you. My matter is an endless ques-
tion. I assure you I had said Requiesce anima mea : but
,,』,

164
THE CHILD AND THE BIRD.
[BOOK I.
I now am otherwise put to my psalter: Nolite confidere.
I dare go no further. Her Majesty had by set speech
more than once assured me of her intention to call me to
her service; which I could not understand but of the
place I had been named to. And now whether invidus
homo hoc fecit; or whether my matter must be an appen-
dix to my Lord of Essex suit; or whether her Majesty,
pretending to prove my ability, meaneth but to take ad-
vantage of some errors which, like enough, at one time or
other I may commit; or what it is; but her Majesty is
not ready to dispatch it. And what though the Master
of the Rolls, and my Lord of Essex, and yourself, and
others, think my case without doubt, yet in the mean
time I have a hard condition, to stand so that whatsoever
service I do to her Majesty, it shall be thought to be but
servitium piscatum, lime-twigs and fetches to place my-
self; and so I shall have envy, not thanks. This is a
course to quench all good spirits, and to corrupt every
man's nature; which will, I fear, much hurt her Maj-
esty's service in the end. I have been like a piece of
stuff bespoken in the shop; and if her Majesty will not
take me, it may be the selling by parcels will be more
gainful. For to be, as I told you, like a child following
a bird, which when he is nearest flieth away and lighteth
a little before, and then the child after it again, and so
in infinitum, I am weary of it; as also of wearying my
good friends; of whom, nevertheless, I hope in one course
or other gratefully to deserve. And so, not forgetting
your business, I leave to trouble you with this idle letter,
being but justa et moderata querimonia: for indeed I do
confess, primus amor will not easily be cast off. And
thus again I commend me to you.
Towards the end of May, 1595, he thought the chase
was at end; retired to Twickenham with the feeling of a
man “enlarged from some restraint ;" and wrote a short
3
1594-95.] THE OLD OFFENSE AND THE OLD EXCUSE.
165
letter to Lord Keeper Puckering which his Lordship
docketed "Mr. Fr. Bacon, his contentation to leave the
Solicitorship." But Easter Term ended as it began, the
place being still unsupplied, and the Queen's mind ap-
parently not made up either way. Burghley had been
ill and had to keep his house; confined, I suppose, by
one of his frequent attacks of gout; and she had been
to visit him there, probably to consult him about the ap-
pointment. He mentioned Bacon. In the conversation
which ensued it came out that his old offense in the affair
of the money-bill in 1592–93, was still uppermost in her
mind. And I suppose that this was after all the real
impediment which stood in his way. It cannot be denied
indeed (as I said before) that if she had reason to resent
his conduct in that matter at all, she had reason to perse-
vere in resenting it. For certainly he had neither said
nor done anything to atone for it, or to imply that in a
similar case he would not do the same again. If an of-
fense at all, it was an offense not yet repented of. And
I can well imagine that Elizabeth, though she would
otherwise have been glad to promote him, and was in fact
glad to employ him, had said to herself that until he
showed a proper sense of the offense he had committed,
he should not be an officer of hers. It does not appear,
however, that she had yet held out hopes to any one else;
and it may be that when she reminded Burghley of the
old grievance, she meant it for a hint that there was still
a locus pœnitentiæ, and that the penitence had still to be
exhibited. Burghley, it seems, told Bacon where the
obstruction lay. But on that point he had already given
the only explanation he had to give, and could only re-
peat in substance what he had said two years before.
How she took it we do not know, but she employed
him the next term on Star-Chamber business, and it was
not till near the middle of October that she finally re-
solved the place to another. In what spirit Bacon ac-
дам
*
4
166
SUIT FINALLY REJECTED.
[BOOK I.
cepted the decision we learn from the following letter to
the Lord Keeper: -
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP,
I conceive the end already made, which will I trust be
to me a beginning of good fortune, or at least of content.
Her Majesty by God's grace shall live and reign long.
She is not running away, I may trust her. Or whether
she look towards me or no, I remain the same, not altered
in my intention. If I had been an ambitious man, it
would have overthrown me. But minded as I am, re-
vertet benedictio mea in sinum meum. If I had made any
reckoning of anything to be stirred, I would have waited
on your Lordship, and will be at any time ready to wait
on you to do you, service. So I commend your good
Lordship to God's holy preservation. From Twicknam
Park, this 14th of October.
Your Lordship's most humble
at your hon. commandments,
FR. BACON.
At last then the chase was really at an end. The
Queen had finally resolved that Bacon should not be her
Solicitor General, and on the 5th of November following,
Serjeant Fleming received the patent of the office. It
does not appear however that the resolution was brought
on by any new offense given either by Bacon or Essex,
or by any fresh distaste conceived by the Queen. Rather,
I think, it was the end of that long displeasure. In the
beginning of March, 1592-93, he had done a thing which
Elizabeth did not choose persons in her service to do. As
a member of the House of Commons representing Mid-
dlesex, he had taken a leading part in a movement which
was certainly opposed to the wishes of the Government
and ended (if my interpretation of the proceedings be
correct) in the defeat of a project for getting rid of one
of the most important privileges of the Lower House,—
.
1.
1594-95.]
END OF THE QUEEN'S DISPLEASURE.
167
most important to them and by consequence most incon-
venient in many cases to the Crown. He was a young
man, however, of unquestioned and most affectionate
loyalty, attached to the Crown by all ties both of inter-
est and feeling; and he might see his error and make
amends. Reward and punishment lay before him month
after month, and year after year, and he was still free to
choose. The Attorney Generalship was kept vacant for
a year; during which it was twice at least intimated to
him, that his conduct in Parliament was the thing which
stood most in his way. When the Attorney Generalship
was filled up, the Solicitorship was kept vacant for a year
and a half, during which the same intimation was once
at least conveyed to him. But all this time he had shown
no symptom of repentance, no consciousness even of
having done anything wrong. In April, 1593, all he
had to say was that he had said nothing but what he
thought it his duty to say; and in June, 1595, he had
nothing to add in the way of excuse, except that the
points in which he had opposed the Government prop-
osition were only "circumstances of time and manner,'
and that "variety is allowed in counsel as a discord in
music, to make it more perfect." Upon this point then it
seemed that he was incorrigible; he could not see, or
would not own, his fault; and he must take the conse-
quences. But Elizabeth, though she could not bring her-
self to pardon such an offense, was not the less likely to
feel respect for such an offender. And it seems that she
was willing to let the final rejection of his suit for the
Solicitorship pass for a full quittance, and allow the cloud
which had so long hung upon her countenance to clear
away.
To the Earl of Essex the decision was in every way a
mortification. He felt his friend's disappointment as his
own; his whole credit for influence at Court had been
notoriously staked upon success in this suit; and such a

2
168
66
DISAPPOINTMENT OF ESSEX.
[Book I.
friend in such an office would have been a material sup-
port to him; so that it was a real loss to him in all re-
spects. And if he was not yet convinced that his method
of dealing with the Queen was unwise, he must at least
have felt keenly that it had been in this case unlucky,
and that Bacon had always disapproved of it, and warned
him what it would come to. So deeply indebted as the
Bacons were to him for his endeavors in this matter, they
could not of course criticize the manner of them; but we
know that in the management of his own affairs it was
a point on which he and Bacon always "directly and con-
tradictorily differed;" and when Lady Bacon said that
though the Earl showed great affection yet he marred
all with violent courses," there can be little doubt now
that she made a true judgment. In the account be-
tween him and Bacon the obligation was not all on one
side. Bacon owed him much for his friendship, trust,
and eager endeavors to serve him. He owed Bacon
much not only for affection and zeal, but for time and
pains gratuitously spent in his affairs. These he had
done his best to requite in the best way, namely, by ad-
vancing him in his profession; but having failed, he (not
unnaturally) desired to make him some reparation. And
this he accordingly did with characteristic ardor and gen-
erosity. Of the particulars of the transaction, and indeed
of the transaction itself, our only information is derived
from Bacon's own narrative, published nine years after.
And as subsequent events give it a peculiar importance,
I shall quote at length all that relates to it.
"After the Queen had denied me the Solicitor's place,
for the which his Lordship had been a long and earnest
suitor on my behalf, it pleased him to come to me from
Richmond to Twicknam Park, and brake with me, and
said, 'Master Bacon, the Queen hath denied me yon
place for you, and hath placed another; I know you are
the least part of your own matter, but you fare ill be-
1594-95.]
HIS MUNIFICENCE TOWARDS BACON.
169
cause you have chosen me for your mean and depend-
ence; you have spent your time and thoughts in my
matters: I die (these were his very words) if I do not
somewhat towards your fortune: you shall not deny to
accept a piece of land which I will bestow upon you.'
My answer I remember was, that for my fortune it was
no great matter, but that his Lordship's offer made me
to call to mind what was wont to be said when I was in
France of the Duke of Guise, that he was the greatest
usurer in France, because he had turned all his estate
into obligations; meaning that he had left himself noth-
ing, but only had bound numbers of persons to him.
Now, my Lord,' said I, 'I would not have you imitate
his course, nor turn your state thus by great gifts into
obligations, for you will find many bad debtors.' He
bade me take no care for that, and pressed it: where-
upon I said, 'My Lord, I see I must be your homager
and hold land of your gift: but do you know the manner
of doing homage in law? Always it is with a saving of
his faith to the king and his other lords: and therefore,
my Lord' (said I), 'I can be no more yours than I was,
and it must be with the ancient savings: and if I grow
to be a rich man, you will give me leave to give it back
to some of your unrewarded followers.
6
‘I
The end was that the Earl "enfeoffed" Bacon "of
land," which he afterwards "sold for £1,800, and thought
was more worth." The land in question is said (prob-
ably enough, though on no better authority, so far as I
know, than Bushell, upon whose authority I do not my-
self believe anything) to have been in Twickenham Park,
a piece, perhaps, adjoining Bacon's lodge there. It was
certainly at this time that he received from the Crown
a lease of certain lands at Twickenham, for twenty-one
years, dating from Michaelmas, 1624, upon the same
terms on which they had formerly been held by Edward
Bacon, and were then held by one Milo Dodding; viz. a
!.
170
BACON AND THE QUEEN.
[BOOK I.
rent of twelve guineas a year. It was granted, however,
in consideration of the services and at the suit of one
Ralph Fletcher
“unum Valett' de le Vestrie in Hos-
pitio nostro "—of whose relations with Bacon and in-
terest in the matter we know nothing; and probably
formed part of a transaction of which the history has not
been preserved. The grant of the reversion of the lease
is dated the 17th of November, 1595; ¹ and, however he
came by it, was a thing of value, upon the security of
which money could be raised. In the mean time the
transfer of the lease to a stranger did not interfere with
his occupation, for he continued to reside at Twickenham
Park as before.
1
As I find that the Court was at Richmond from the
20th of October, 1595, to the 5th of November, or there-
abouts, I suppose this conversation took place within that
period: perhaps after the Queen's resolution had been
taken, and before the place had been actually given to
Fleming. The next letter, which comes from Rawley's
supplementary collection and has no date, may have been
written a few days after, when everything was settled;
and the last sentence may have reference to the munif-
icent present for which Bacon had already made his ac-
knowledgments in the manner above reported.
TO MY LORD OF ESSEX.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP, I pray God
her Majesty's weighing be not like the weight of a bal-
ance; gravia deorsum, levia sursum. But I am as far
from being altered in devotion towards her, as I am from
distrust that she will be altered in opinion towards me,
when she knoweth me better. For myself, I have lost
some opinion, some time, and some means; this is my
account: but then for opinion, it is a blast that goeth
and cometh; for time, it is true it goeth and cometh not;
but yet I have learned that it may be redeemed.
1 See a copy of the patent in Dixon's Personal History of Lord Bacon, p. 359.
1594-95.]
BACON'S CAUTION TO ESSEX.
171
For means, I value that most; and the rather, because
I am purposed not to follow the practice of the law: (If
her Majesty command me in any particular, I shall be
ready to do her willing service :) and my reason is only,
because it drinketh too much time, which I have dedi-
cated to better purposes. But even for that point of
estate and means, I partly lean to Thales' opinion, That
a philosopher may be rich if he will. Thus your Lord-
ship seeth how I comfort myself; to the increase whereof
I would fain please myself to believe that to be true
which my Lord Treasurer writeth; which is, that it is
more than a philosopher morally can digest. But with-
out any such high conceit, I esteem it like the pulling
out of an aching tooth, which, I remember, when I was
a child and had little philosophy, I was glad of when it
was done. For your Lordship, I do think myself more
beholding to you than to any man. And I say, I reckon
myself as a common (not popular, but common); and as
much as is lawful to be enclosed of a common, so much
your Lordship shall be sure to have.
Your Lordship's, to obey your honorable commands,
more settled than ever.
The remarkable sentence with which this letter con-
cludes, I cannot understand otherwise than as a warning,
similar to that with which the conversation at Twicken-
ham concluded, and suggested by some apprehension that
Essex might misunderstand the nature of the relation be-
tween them, and expect from Bacon a devotion incom-
patible with his devotion to the State, which had the first
claim upon him. "I can be no more yours than I was:
it must be with the ancient savings that is, of faith to
the king and his other lords." I am but "as a common;
you can have for your own share only "so much as is
lawful to be enclosed: " that is, I can only offer you such
services as can be lawfully rendered by one whose chief
...
•
172
ESSEX AND THE QUEEN.
[BOOK I.
service is due to the State. It is true that Essex was
still a loyal subject, and that all the objects of his per-
sonal ambition lay as yet within the limits of patriotism
and duty. But he had already engaged deeply in a game
very dangerous to play at with such a nature as the
Queen's. The history of his relation with the Court is
a history of quarrels and reconciliations, provocations
given and forgiven, the liberties of a spoiled child with
a mother, whose affection though mortified and irritated
cannot afford to sacrifice him; each victory emboldening
him to repeat the same experiment, without considering
that patience has its limits, and that every successive
strain put upon the affection leaves it less able to endure
another. It was a point in which Bacon had always
thought Essex in the wrong, and told him what would
come of it. But though he listened, he was not con-
vinced; and it seems to me that Bacon had already begun
to fear that these repeated trials of the Queen's affection
(there being, I fancy, not much real affection on Essex's
part to temper provocations on his side) might end at
last in some fatal alienation. I do not doubt that Essex's
benefaction looked to the past and not to the future, and
was bestowed out of the frank generosity of a nature in
that respect truly noble, without any thought of condi-
tions or requitals. But it was not the less desirable to
remind him that he was dealing with one whose duty
was preëngaged, and who could have nothing to do
with any factious dependence. And such a warning was
naturally suggested by the condition of the times, which
were full of serious alarms. At that very time the news
from Ireland was very bad, and great offensive prepara-
tions were known to be making by Spain, which it was
thought might issue in another Armada this very autumn.
For the present, however, the differences which had
been between Essex and the Queen, and which had lately
looked very serious, cleared suddenly away, leaving fairer
1594-95.]
RESTORATION OF GOOD FEELING.
173
weather than ever. A book on the forbidden subject of
the succession had appeared in Holland, with a dedication
to Essex as the man who, in respect of "nobility, call-
ing, favor with his prince, and high liking of the peo-
ple," was likely to have most sway in deciding this great
affair, etc. This book came into the Queen's hands, who
showed it to Essex (3d November) in a manner which
greatly disturbed him, and they say made him fall really
ill. But the Queen coming to visit him, and being satis-
fied I suppose, that he had had nothing to do with it,
made all fair again. And on the 12th of November the
Court news was that "my Lord of Essex had put off the
melancholy he fell into by a printed book delivered to
the Queen; wherein the harm was meant him, by her
Majesty's gracious favor and wisdom is turned to his
good, and strengthens her love unto him; for I hear that
within these four days many letters sent to herself from
foreign countries were delivered only to my Lord of
Essex, and he to answer them." And a few days after
we find him adorning the triumphs of the Queen's day
with a "device" in which Bacon had a principal hand.
These triumphs may be regarded as the conclusion of
the long controversy the celebration of the reinstate-
ment of Essex in the Queen's full favor, and the expres-
sion of Bacon's unshaken devotion to her service, disap-
pointments and discouragements notwithstanding, and of
his earnest desire to keep those two spirits in tune with
each other. For himself, he is free at last from the ser-
vitude of suitorship, though not released from court ser-
vice, and otherwise much as he was; except that the
piece of land which Essex has given him (very soon, I
fancy, to be mortgaged for the best part of its value) will
enable him to raise money enough to satisfy for awhile
those creditors, whose increasing and I will not say un-
reasonable importunity was not the least among the anx-
ieties which beset him.
F
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1595-1597. ÆTAT. 35–37.
So enormous were the results which Bacon anticipated
from such a renovation of Philosophy as he had conceived
the possibility of, that the reluctance which he felt to
devote his life to the ordinary practice of a lawyer can-
not be wondered at. But it is easier to understand why
he was resolved not to do that, than what other plan he
had to clear himself of the difficulties which were accumu-
lating upon him, and to obtain means of living and work-
ing. A few years after (while he was still without any
official place) I find him expressing a wish to “increase
his practice," in the hope of making a fortune sufficient
to retire upon; and I suppose he had found on trial that
to give up the "ordinary practice of the law" was a lux-
ury he could not afford. What course he betook himself
to at the crisis at which we have now arrived, I cannot
positively say. I do not find any letter of his, which can
be probably assigned to the winter of 1595, nor have I
met among his brother's papers with anything which in-
dicates what he was about; more than a few notes relat-
ing to the satisfaction (or more generally the dissatisfac-
tion) of creditors. I presume, however, that he betook
himself to his studies. One of the loose sheets which I
have printed under the title of "Formularies and Ele-
gancies "1 is dated January 27, 1595. About a twelve-
1 Complete Works, vol. vii., p. 208.
1595-97.]
PROJECTED ATTACK ON SPAIN.
175
month after, he printed the little volume containing
the Essays in their first shape, the "Colors of Good
and Evil," and the "Meditationes Sacræ." The dedi-
catory letter to the "Maxims of the Law" is dated Jan-
uary, 1596, and several of the opuscula, which were ulti-
mately either incorporated into his philosophical works,
or laid by as incomplete, may have been written at this
period.
It was in the spring of 1596 that the Earl of Essex
took a leading part in the memorable expedition against
Spain, which issued in the taking of Cadiz and the de-
struction of the fleet stationed there; a leading part not
only in the action, but in the counsels which led to it.
It would have been very interesting to know what Bacon
thought of that enterprise when it was in project. But I
have not met with any letter or other writing of his in
which his opinion is stated: except so much of it as may
be inferred from an expression in a letter of advice ad-
dressed to Essex some months after it was over; an ex-
pression which seems to imply that he had been, if not
against the expedition itself, at least against the course
which Essex had taken in regard to it.
"And here, my
Lord" (he writes), "I pray mistake me not.
. I
am infinitely glad of this last journey, now it is past: the
rather because you make so honorable a full point for a
time."
The project of an attack upon the coasts and fleet of
Spain had been agitated in the winter, when fears were
entertained of a new Spanish invasion; and Burghley is
supposed to have been against it. It is not improbable
that Bacon shared his apprehensions at that time; and
there were reasons, no doubt, independent of the policy
of the expedition itself, for the friends of Essex to be
anxious as to the result. Though he had qualities which
made him very popular as a leader, and showed a gallant
spirit in particular actions, I cannot think that he was a
$

176
UNFITNESS OF ESSEX TO LEAD.
[BOOK II
fit man to conduct military enterprises on a large scale.
His plans and hopes were large and his self-confidence
great, and where these meet there is always an imposing
tale for those who cannot compare the means with the
ends; but his judgment was no match for his imagina-
tion, and his strength of will was shown rather in over-
ruling the reasons of those who differed from him than
in patiently examining and steadily pursuing his own
designs. In cases where his propositions were overruled
by his colleagues, it may always be said that if they had
been adopted they would have succeeded: but it cannot
be affirmed that the actions in which he had the sole direc-
tion were the most successful, or most deserved success.
It would even seem that though he pulled so hard against
the rein, yet when his head was given him he did not al-
ways know which way to go. Impatient of authority
and oppugnant to advice, he was ill fitted to act either
under a superior or with colleagues. Placed so early in
high command, he had had no schooling in his profession,
he had never been obliged, against his own judgment,
to follow the course prescribed by maturer experience,
and so to see the effect fairly tried; nor had he had op-
portunities enough of observing the consequences of his
own mistakes. So that unless nature had given him
some peculiar genius not only for leading soldiers, but
for managing the movements of armies, he could hardly
be considered a match for such a power as Spain under
such a king as Philip II.
The fleet sailed from Plymouth with a favorable wind
on the second of June, arrived at Cadiz on the 20th, and
on the 21st performed one of the most brilliant day's
works that was ever accomplished. "This journey "
(Bacon wrote twenty-six years after)" was like lightning.
For in the space of fourteen hours the King of Spain's
navy was destroyed and the town of Cales taken. The
navy was no less than fifty tall ships, besides twenty gal-
·
1595-97.]
SUCCESSFUL ATTACK.
177
leys to attend them. The ships were straightways beaten,
and put to flight with such terror as the Spaniards in the
end were their own executioners, and fired them all with
their own hands. The galleys, by the benefit of the
shores and shallows, got away. The town was a fair,
strong, well-built, and rich city; famous in antiquity, and
now most spoken of for this disaster. It was manned
with four thousand soldiers on foot, and some four hun-
dred horse. It was sacked and burned, though great
clemency was used towards the inhabitants. But that
which is no less strange than the sudden victory, is the
great patience of the Spaniards; who though we stayed
upon the place divers days, yet never offered us any play
then, nor never put us in suit by any action of revenge
or reparation at any times after." 1
Essex (to whom the successful assault upon the town
as well as the measures taken to keep order and protect
inoffensive persons from outrage were chiefly due)
was urgent to follow up the advantage and endeavor
to destroy the Indian fleet, then on its way homeward;
but his colleagues would not risk it. So the fleet returned
with its spoil and its honor; and Essex himself with an
immense increase of favor with the people, and not a lit-
tle of discontent with the Court. There seem to have
been many charges and counter-charges; and much dis-
pute about the division of the spoil, as well as who was
entitled to the credit of what had been done, and who
to blame for what had been left undone. Essex wrote
some papers in justification of his own views, and was so
little satisfied with the reception of his service, that he
appears to have thought of keeping aloof from Court and
Council, as he had so often done before on similar occa-
sions. But news arriving that the homeward-bound In-
dian fleet, which he had proposed to wait for, had sailed
safely into the Tagus within a day or two after his pro-
1 Considerations touching War with Spain, 1624.
VOL. I
12
178
ESSEX'S DISCONTENT.
[BOOK II.
posal had been overruled in the Council of War, seemed
to show that the rejection of his advice had in fact been
the loss of a great prize: upon which his opponents were
obliged to draw in their horns, and at the date of the
letter which comes next all was fair weather between
him and the Queen. The time was not however the less
critical on that account, with a man who had so strong a
love for glory and popularity, and so little patience with
those who crossed him, and who had been so often suc-
cessful in carrying his ends by the open expression of
discontent. Enemies at Court he was sure to make, and
the favor of the people and the army was a dangerous
ally to meet them with, when the decision rested with
such a queen as Elizabeth. It was at this juncture that
Bacon wrote him a letter of advice, which, though of the
most confidential character, and one which cannot have
been intended for strange eyes, has been by some accident
preserved. It comes from the supplementary collection
in the "Resuscitatio," and therefore with Dr. Rawley's
sanction as to genuineness; and we could hardly have
better evidence as to the nature of Bacon's relation with
Essex at this time, or of the policy which he wished him
to pursue.
TO MY LORD OF ESSEX, FROM MR. BACON.
MY SINGULAR GOOD LORD, I will no longer dis-
sever part of that which I meant to have said to your
Lordship at Barn-Elms from the exordium which I then
made. Whereunto I will only add this: that I humbly
desire your Lordship, before you give access to my poor
advice, to look about, even jealously a little if you will,
and to consider, first, whether I have not reason to think
that your fortune comprehendeth mine. Next, whether
I shift my counsel, and do not constare mihi; for I am
persuaded there are some would give you the same coun-
sel now which I shall, but that they should derogate
1595-97.]
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
179
from that which they have said heretofore. Thirdly,
whether you have taken hurt at any time by my careful
and devoted counsel; for although I remember well your
Lordship once told me that, you having submitted upon
my well-meant motion at Nonsuch (the place where you
renewed a treaty with her Majesty of obsequious kind-
ness), she had taken advantage of it; yet I suppose you
do since believe that it did much attemper a cold malig-
nant humor then growing upon her Majesty towards
your Lordship, and hath done you good in consequence.
And for my being against it, now lately, that you should
not estrange yourself, although I give place to none in
true gratulation, yet neither do I repent me of safe coun-
sel, neither do I judge of the whole play by the first act.
But whether I counsel you the best, or for the best, duty
bindeth me to offer to you my wishes. I said to your
Lordship last time, Martha, Martha, attendis ad plurima,
unum sufficit; win the Queen: if this be not the begin-
ning, of any other course I see no end. And I will not
now speak of favor of affection, but of other correspond-
ence and agreeableness; which, whensoever it shall be
conjoined with the other of affection, I durst wager my
life, (let them make what prosopopeias they will of her
Majesty's nature,) that in you she will come to the ques-
tion of Quid fiet homini, quem rex vult honorare? But how
is it now? A man of a nature not to be ruled; that hath
the advantage of my affection, and knoweth it; of an es-
tate not grounded to his greatness; of a popular reputa-
tion; of a military dependence: I demand whether there
can be a more dangerous image than this represented
to any monarch living, much more to a lady, and of
her Majesty's apprehension? And is it not more evi-
dent than demonstration itself, that whilst this impres
sion continueth in her Majesty's breast, you can find no
other condition than inventions to keep your estate bare
and low; crossing and disgracing your actions; extenuat-
-
#
180
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
per-
[BOOK II.
ing and blasting of your merit; carping with contempt
at your nature and fashions; breeding, nourishing, and
fortifying such instruments as are most factious against
you; repulses and scorns of your friends and dependents
that are true and steadfast; winning and inveigling away
from you such as are flexible and wavering; thrusting you
into odious employments and offices, to supplant your
reputation; abusing you and feeding you with dalliances
and demonstrations, to divert you from descending into
the serious consideration of your own case; yea and
case venturing you in perilous and desperate enterprises.
Herein it may please your Lordship to understand me;
for I mean nothing less than that these things should be
plotted and intended as in her Majesty's royal mind
towards you: I know the excellency of her nature too
well.
But I say, wheresoever the formerly-described
impression is taken in any King's breast towards a sub-
ject, these other recited inconveniences must, of necessity
of politic consequence, follow; in respect of such instru-
ments as are never failing about princes: which spy into
their humors and conceits, and second them; and not.
only second them, but in seconding increase them; yea
and many times, without their knowledge, pursue them
further than themselves would. Your Lordship will ask
the question, wherewith the Athenians were wont to in-
terrupt their orators, when they exaggerated their dan-
gers: Quid igitur agendum est?
I will tell your Lordship quæ mihi nunc in mentem
veniunt; supposing nevertheless that yourself out of your
own wisdom, upon the case with this plainness and lib-
erty represented to you, will find out better expedients
and remedies. I wish a cure applied to every of the
five former impressions, which I will take, not in order,
but as I think they are of weight.
For the removing the impression of your nature to be
opiniastre and not rulable: First, and above all things, I
1595-97.]
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
181
wish that all matters past, which cannot be revoked, your
Lordship would turn altogether upon insatisfaction, and
not upon your nature or proper disposition. This string
you cannot upon every apt occasion harp upon too much.
Next, whereas I have noted you to fly and avoid (in
some respect justly) the resemblance or imitation of my
Lord of Leicester and my Lord Chancellor Hatton; yet
I am persuaded (howsoever I wish your Lordship as dis-
tant as you are from them in points of favor, integrity,
magnanimity, and merit) that it will do you much good
between the Queen and you, to allege them (as oft as
you find occasion) for authors and patterns. For I do
not know a readier mean to make her Majesty think you
are in your right way. Thirdly, when at any time your
Lordship upon occasion happen in speeches to do her
Majesty right (for there is no such matter as flattery
amongst you all), I fear you handle it magis in speciem
adornatis verbis, quam ut sentire videaris; so that a
man may read formality in your countenance; whereas
your Lordship should do it familiarly et oratione fidâ.
Fourthly, your Lordship should never be without some
particulars afoot, which you should seem to pursue with
earnestness and affection, and then let them fall, upon
taking knowledge of her Majesty's opposition and dislike.
Of which the weightiest sort may be, if your Lordship
offer to labor in the behalf of some that you favor for
some of the places now void; choosing such a subject as
you think her Majesty is like to oppose unto. And if
you will say that this is conjunctum cum aliena injuriâ, I
will not answer, Hæc non aliter constabunt; but I say,
commendation from so good a mouth doth not hurt a
man, though you prevail not. A less weighty sort of
particulars may be the pretense of some journeys, which
at her Majesty's request your Lordship mought relin-
quish ; as if you would pretend a journey to see your liv-
ing and estate towards Wales, or the like: for as for
1
י,
182
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
great foreign journeys of employment and service, it
standeth not with your gravity to play or stratagem with
them. And the lightest sort of particulars, which yet are
not to be neglected, are in your habits, apparel, wearings,
gestures, and the like.
I
The impression of greatest prejudice next, is that of a
militar dependence. Wherein I cannot sufficiently won-
der at your Lordship's course; that you say the wars are
your occupation, and go on in that course; whereas, if I
mought have advised your Lordship, you should have
left that person at Plymouth; more than when in coun-
sel, or in commending fit persons for service for wars, it
had been in season. And here (my Lord) I pray mis-
take me not. I am not to play now the part of a gown-
man, that would frame you best to mine own turn.
know what I owe you. I am infinitely glad of this last
journey, now it is past; the rather, because you may
make so honorable a full point for a time. You have
property good enough in that greatness. There is none
can, of many years, ascend near you in competition. Be-
sides, the disposing of the places and affairs both, con-
cerning the wars, (you increasing in other greatness,) will
of themselves flow to you; which will preserve that de-
pendence in full measure. It is a thing that of all things
I would have you retain, the times considered, and the
necessity of the service; for other reason I know none.
But I say, keep it in substance, but abolish it in shows
to the Queen. For her Majesty loveth peace. Next,
she loveth not charge. Thirdly, that kind of dependence
maketh a suspected greatness. Therefore, quod instat
agamus. Let that be a sleeping honor awhile, and
cure the Queen's mind in that point. Therefore again,
whereas I heard your Lordship designing to yourself the
Earl Marshal's place, or the place of Master of the Ord-
nance, I did not in my mind so well like of either; be-
cause of their affinity with a martial greatness. But of

1595-97.]
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
183
the places now void, in my judgment and discretion, I
would name you to the place of Lord Privy Seal. For
first, it is the third person of the great officers of the
crown. Next, it hath a kind of superintendence over the
Secretary. It hath also an affinity with the Court of
Wards, in regard of the fees from the liveries. And it
is a fine honor, quiet place, and worth a thousand pounds
by year. And my Lord Admiral's father had it, who
was a martial man. And it fits a favorite to carry her
Majesty's image in seal, who beareth it best expressed in
heart. But my chief reason is, that which I first alleged
to divert her Majesty from this impression of a martial
greatness. In concurrence whereof, if your Lordship
shall [not]¹ remit anything of your former diligence at
the Star Chamber; if you shall continue such intelli-
gences as are worth the cherishing; if you shall pretend
to be as bookish and contemplative as ever you were: all
these courses have both their advantages and uses in them-
selves otherwise, and serve exceeding aptly to this pur-
pose. Whereunto I add one expedient more, stronger
than all the rest; and, for mine own confident opinion,
void of any prejudice or danger of diminution of your
greatness; and that is, the bringing in of some martial
man to be of the Council; dealing directly with her Maj-
esty in it, as for her service and your better assistance;
choosing nevertheless some person that may be known
not to come in against you by any former division. I
judge the fittest to be my Lord Mountjoy, or my Lord
Willoughby. And if your Lordship see deeplier into it
than I do, that you would not have it done in effect; yet
in my opinion, you may serve your turn by the pretense
of it, and stay it nevertheless.
The third impression is of a popular reputation; which
because it is a thing good in itself, being obtained as
your Lordship obtaineth it, that is bonis artibus; and be-
1 Omitted in R.
:
--:

V
184
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
sides, well governed, is one of the best flowers of your
greatness both present and to come; it would be handled
tenderly. The only way is to quench it verbis and not
rebus. And therefore to take all occasions, to the Queen,
to speak against popularity and popular courses vehe-
mently; and to tax it in all others; but nevertheless to
go on in your honorable commonwealth courses as you do.
And therefore I will not advise you to cure this by deal-
ing in monopolies, or any oppressions. Only, if in Parlia-
ment your Lordship be forward for treasure in respect of
the wars, it becometh your person well. And if her Maj-
esty object popularity to you at any time, I would say to
her, a Parliament will show that; and so feed her with
expectation.
The fourth impression, of the inequality between your
estate of means and your greatness of respects, is not to
be neglected. For believe it (my Lord) that till her
Majesty find you careful of your estate, she will not only
think you more like to continue chargeable to her, but
also have a conceit that you have higher imaginations.
The remedies are, first, to profess it in all speeches to
her. Next, in such suits wherein both honor, gift, and
profit may be taken, to communicate freely with her
Majesty, by way of inducing her to grant, that it will be
this benefit to you. Lastly, to be plain with your Lord-
ship (for the gentlemen are such as I am beholding to),
nothing can make the Queen or the world think so much
that you are come to a provident care of your estate, as
the altering of some of your officers; who though they
be as true to you as one hand to the other, yet opinio
veritate major. But if, in respect of the bonds they may
be entered into for your Lordship, you cannot so well
dismiss yourself of them, this cannot be done but with
time.
For the fifth and last, which is of the advantage of a
favorite; as, severed from the rest, it cannot hurt; so,
.
1595-97.]
LETTER OF ADVICE TO ESSEX.
185
joined with them, it maketh her Majesty more fearful
and shadowy, as not knowing her own strength. The
only remedy to this is, to give way to some other favor-
ite, as in particular you shall find her Majesty inclined;
so as the subject hath no ill nor dangerous aspect towards
yourself. For otherwise, whosoever shall tell me that
you may not have singular use of a favorite at your de-
votion, I will say he understandeth not the Queen's affec-
tion, nor your Lordship's condition. And so I rest.
October 4, 1596.
Well would it have been for Essex if he could have
taken this view of his own case, and been content to rest
upon the honor which he had achieved. For fortune had
no more prizes of that kind in reserve for him. And
besides the policy of leaving off a winner in a game
where there were many chances against him, it is prob-
able that a serious endeavor to follow Bacon's advice
would have corrected the defects of his character as well
as made his fortunes secure: for the habit of self-control
and submission would have taught him the constancy and
composure which he wanted. But it was advice which,
if not followed consistently, might better have been let
alone. Fits of affected obsequiousness, interrupted by
outbreaks of haughty self-opinion, formed the worst mix-
ture: the one losing all its grace, and other all its excuse;
and such a mixture, I am afraid, it really led to. For
awhile, however, Essex seems to have acted upon it with
good effect; and the rest of the year passed without any
differences that we hear of. For Bacon himself also
things looked better. During the Christmas holidays he
received "gracious usage and speech" from the Queen:
prelude, it was hoped, to more substantial favors. While
he on his part presented her with a sample of a work
which he meditated, on the Maxims of the Law; which
was meant to be his great contribution to the science of
!
ני
L
186
A NEW EXPEDITION.
[BOOK II.
his profession; a collection of the principal Rules and
Grounds of Law dispersed through the body of decided
cases. How far he proceeded with this work at a later
period is not known. But the specimen which has come
down to us is supposed by Mr. Heath to have been com-
posed entirely at this period of his life. To the same pe-
riod must be referred the "Essays" in their earliest form,
the fragment entitled "Colors of Good and Evil,” and
the "Meditationes Sacræ;" which were published shortly
after. From these we may partly infer the nature of his
occupations during the autumn and winter of 1596, con-
cerning which we should otherwise be left in ignorance.
It was not to be supposed that the King of Spain
would take the capture of Cadiz and the destruction of
his shipping quietly: and rumors of great naval prepara-
tions aimed at England or Ireland were rife during the
winter. The alarm grew hotter as the fighting season
approached, and it was resolved to set forth another ex-
pedition of sea and land forces to meet him. With this
resolution came the first severe trial which Essex's im-
proved courtship had to endure. In the Tiltyard and the
Presence, where he naturally without dispute took the
first place, love and loyalty supported him under many
afflictions. But a war with Spain, and anybody but
himself to enjoy the glory of it, was more than his spirit
could endure. As early as the 25th of February we find
that he had been keeping his chamber (under pretense
of sickness, but really in discontent) "for a full fort-
night;" the ground of discontent being apparently the
appointment of colleagues; for it is added, that "her
Majesty had resolved to break him of his will and pull
down his great heart: who found it a thing impossible,
and says he holds it from the mother's side;" and that
on being told by her "that Lord Thomas Howard and
Sir Walter Ralegh were to be joined with him in equal
authority," he had "refused to go, and been well chidden
| *
1595-97.]
LORD COBHAM.
187
for it." And though it was understood that all was well
again then (February 25) between him and the Queen,
we find him on the 4th of March still at enmity with Sir
Robert Cecil, and (in spite of Ralegh's mediation, who
had been trying to reconcile them) on the point of quit-
ting the Court and making a journey into Wales.
About the same time another quarrel arose upon the
appointment to the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports,
vacant by the death of Lord Cobham (March 6); whose
eldest son, an enemy of the Earl's, was one of the com-
petitors. Essex wished Sir Robert Sydney to have the
place; but finding the Queen resolute in favor of the
new Lord Cobham, and "seeing he is likely to carry it
away, I mean (said the Earl) resolutely to stand for it
myself against him.
66
My Lord Treasurer is come
to Court, and we sat in council this afternoon in his
chamber. I made it known unto them that I had just
cause to hate the Lord Cobham, for his villainous dealing
and abusing of me: that he hath been my chief persecu-
tor most injustly; that in him there is no worth: if
therefore her Majesty would grace him with honor, I
may have right cause to think myself little regarded by
her." This was on Monday: on the following Saturday,
we learn from the same reporter how the quarrel ended.
My Lord of Essex stood for the Cinque Ports; but the
Queen told him that the now Lord Cobham should have
it. Whereupon he was resolved to leave the Court, and
upon Thursday morning, 10th March, himself, his follow-
ers, and horses were ready. He went to speak with my
Lord Treasurer about ten o'clock, and by Somerset
House Mr. Killigrew met him, and willed him to come
to the Queen. After some speech had privately with
her, she made him Master of the Ordnance, which place
he hath accepted and receives contentment by it."
Here then we see the same dangerous game, which Ba-
con so earnestly deprecated, once more played and won:
י
坐
​.
4:
A viol
M
188
LADY HATTON, THE WIDOW.
[BOOK II.
a fact not to be forgotten with reference to the growing
troubles and fatal termination of his fortune, which we
shall shortly witness.
Meanwhile Bacon's fortunes are still as they were;
only with this difference-that as the calls on his in-
come are increasing in the shape of interest for borrowed
money, the income itself is diminishing through the sale
of lands and leases. At this juncture (12th March,
1596-97) Sir William Hatton died; leaving a young
widow, clever, handsome, and well provided: daughter
of Sir Thomas Cecil, whose step-mother was Bacon's
aunt: probably therefore an early acquaintance. What
sort of person she was or seemed to be in those years,
I
do not find reported. There can be no doubt that the
worst disease under which Bacon was at present labor-
ing would have been effectually relieved by a wealthy
marriage; and I have no reason to suppose that this
particular marriage would have been otherwise ineligible.
It is certain at any rate that he did make up his mind
to try his fortune with the young widow, certain also
that nothing came of it. But this, I am sorry to say, is
all we know. He asked the Earl of Essex to write to
her parents and to herself on his behalf; who wrote ac-
cordingly but whether the affair proceeded any fur-
ther-whether Bacon proposed to her parents or to her-
self; whether he proposed at all; and, if he proposed,
how, why, and by whom he was rejected-all this must
remain in obscurity. The letter which comes next
without which I believe it would not be known that he
had ever entertained such a project-contains, so far as
I am aware, all that is known about it.
The few words relating to the forth-going expedition,
with which the same letter concludes, are of more interest
to us.
It may be the knowledge of what is coming that
gives a significance and solemnity to such passages be-
yond their natural import; but to me there is a tragic
1595-97.]
CONTINUED WARNING TO ESSEX.
189
pathos in these continually repeated notes of warning,
so lightly touched, yet so full of sad foreboding, and so
terribly justified by the coming event which they fore-
shadowed.
How far Essex was concerned in the original project
of this expedition is doubtful. He said himself that the
Queen "had armed and victualled ten of her own ships
and caused the States of the Low Countries to furnish the
like number, before ever he was spoken of to go to sea;
and it is true- so at least the rumor ran at the time —
that when a coördinate command was offered him, he
refused to go. But from the time that the scope of the
enterprise was enlarged and the sole command offered to
himself, it appears from his own account that he entirely
approved and urged it forward. He made no doubt that
he should destroy both the fleet and army then collected
at Ferrol, and so have the Spanish commerce, coasts, and
islands at his mercy. And as a further proof how well
he liked the service, we find that immediately after his
nomination as commander-in-chief he laid his rivalries
and jealousies aside, made friends with Sir Robert Cecil,
and saw without discontent Ralegh used graciously by
the Queen and coming boldly to the Privy Chamber as
he was wont. It seems too that Bacon had talked of it
with him at the time, as an action of which, if not the
author, he was at least the favorer. "Nay I remember"
(says he) "I was thus plain with him upon his voyage
to the islands, when I saw every spring put forth such
actions of charge and provocation, that I said to him,
'My Lord, when I came first unto you, I took you for a
physician that desired to cure the diseases of the State;
but now I doubt you will be like those physicians which
can be content to keep their patients low because they
will be always in request. And indeed whatever
Bacon may have thought of the policy of the expedition
in itself, we need not doubt that he regretted the part
190
LETTER TO ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
which Essex was to have in it. After what he had said
in October of the conduct which he wished him to pur-
sue, to find him engaged in a new military enterprise
next May could be no matter of congratulation. But
when the following letter was written, the decision had
been taken: Essex had accepted the commission, and all
that could be done was to excite him to discharge it
worthily, thinking of the thing and not of the glory.
TO MY LORD OF ESSEX.
MY SINGULAR GOOD LORD, - Your Lordship's so hon-
orable minding my poor fortune the last year, in the
very entrance into that great action (which is a time of
less leisure), and in so liberal an allowance of your care
as to write three letters to stir me up friends in your
absence, doth after a sort warrant me not to object to
myself your present quantity of affairs, whereby to
silence myself from petition of the like favor. I brake
with your Lordship myself at the Tower, and I take it
my brother hath since renewed the same motion, touch-
ing a fortune I was in thought to attempt in genere
œconomico. In genere politico, certain cross winds have
blown contrary. My suit to your Lordship is for your
several letters to be left with me, dormant, to the gentle-
woman and either of her parents; wherein I do not doubt
but as the beams of your favor have often dissolved the
coldness of my fortune, so in this argument your Lord-
ship will do the like with your pen. My desire is also,
that your Lordship would vouchsafe unto me, as out of
your care, a general letter to my Lord Keeper, for his
Lordship's holding me from you recommended, both in
the course of my practice and in the course of my em-
ployment in her Majesty's service. Wherein if your
Lordship shall in any antithesis or relation affirm that
his Lordship shall have no less fruit of me than of any
other whom he may cherish, I hope your Lordship shall
L
1595-97.]
LETTER TO ESSEX.
191
engage yourself for no impossibility. Lastly and chiefly,
I know not whether I shall attain to see your Lordship
before your noble journey; for ceremonies are things
infinitely inferior to my love and to my zeal. This let
me, with your allowance, say unto you by pen. It is
true that in my well-meaning advices, out of my love to
your Lordship, and perhaps out of the state of mine own
mind, I have sometimes persuaded a course differing;
ac tibi pro tutis insignia facta placebunt. Be it so: yet
remember, that the signing of your name is nothing,
unless it be to some good patent or charter, whereby
your country may be endowed with good and benefit.
Which I speak, both to move you to preserve your per-
son for further merit and service of her Majesty and your
country; and likewise to refer this action to the same
end. And so, in most true and fervent prayers, I com-
mend your Lordship and your work in hand to the pres-
ervation and conduct of the Divine Majesty; so much
the more watchful, as these actions do more manifestly
in show, though alike in truth, depend upon His divine
providence.
If Bacon's success with the young widow had depended
upon the strength of Essex's recommendation, he would
not have been disappointed. A good opinion more con-
fident, an interest more earnest and unmistakably sincere,
could not be conveyed in English.¹ Of the further pro-
ceeding we know nothing; not even whether the pro-
posal was ever made. All we know is that in 1597
rumor assigned Lady Hatton to Mr. Greville, without
any allusion to Bacon, and that on the 7th of November,
1598, she became the wife neither of Greville nor of
Bacon, but of Coke. In after-years we shall meet her
again; but at present I have no information to give
about the wooing either of the successful suitor or the
unsuccessful.
1 The letters are printed in Birch's Memoirs, ii., p. 347.
::
...

192
STAR CHAMBER FEES.
[BOOK II.
The fortune in genere economico having thus shared
the same fate with the fortune in genere politico, Bacon
had to consider whether for relief of his immediate
necessities anything could be made of his reversion of
the Clerkship of the Star Chamber. It was a saleable
office; and the present possessor was in some danger of
being deprived of it, upon a charge of exacting unlawful
fees. For some years the administration of this office
had given rise to complaints. In the last Parliament a
bill had been brought in, for the reformation of it; but
by a little management on the part of the Speaker had
been thrown out on the second reading. Upon this I
suppose the complainants addressed themselves to the
Queen. For it appears that the matter was under in-
quiry in 1595, when Puckering was Lord Keeper; and
it is certain that at a later period some of the fees
claimed by the Clerk of the Council were by authority
of the Lord Keeper Egerton restrained.
The complaint afterwards took the form of a bill ex-
hibited against Mill in the Star Chamber, the consider-
ation of which was by the Queen referred to Egerton,
Buckhurst, Cecil, Fortescue, and Popham; but the end
was that the complaints were dismissed, the proceedings
cancelled, and the Commissioners ordered to settle what
fees, etc., were fit to be allowed in future, and “the same
to confirm unto the said William Mill." So the reversion
of the office remained with Bacon as before, and the day
of possession was no nearer.
While these private cares were occupying Bacon at
home, the great expedition had set forth; not, how-
ever, on this occasion, with happy winds, nor in token of
happy adventures. Of the last adventure of the kind
Bacon had been "infinitely glad, now that it was
past." No such consolation was reserved for him here.
If he thought, as I suppose he did, that Essex was not
the man for such enterprises, and that his fortunes
1595-97.]
ESSEX'S EXPEDITION.
193
would one day be shipwrecked in them, everything that
happened in the course of this new voyage must have
tended to confirm him in his judgment.
The frustration of the original design was indeed due
simply to weather, and could not have been helped. The
fleet, dispersed and disabled by a storm, and driven back
to Plymouth to refit, was found to be too much reduced
in strength for an attempt upon the Armada collected at
Ferrol. But it was thought that they were still strong
enough to intercept the Indian treasure on its homeward
voyage, and upon an attentive study of the confused and
unsatisfactory narrative, drawn by Essex and signed by
all the commanders, which passes for the official report,
it is difficult not to think that the attempt failed merely
for want of ordinary judgment in the conduct of it.
Last year, after the successful attack on Cadiz, Essex
had proposed to sail to Terceira and capture the Indian
fleet, but was overruled by his colleagues; and when it
was found that, within a day or two after his proposition
had been rejected, the fleet in question sailed quietly into
the Tagus, everybody said it was a prize lost by ill coun-
sel, it must have been taken if his advice had been fol-
lowed. On this occasion he had no council to hamper
his movements, no weather to baffle them. He sailed
to the Azores, where the homeward fleet was sure to
touch, for the special purpose of intercepting it, an
enterprise certainly not made more difficult by the ab-
sence of the Adelantado, whom he expected to find there
before him. It arrived at the expected season in the
expected place, was met with by some ships of his own
squadron, who fired guns and carried lights all night to
give notice of it. Yet not a ship was taken or damaged,
except three or four stragglers that had got separated
from the main body.
He said afterwards, and no doubt thought, that it
was only by a very unfortunate accident that he was pre-
VOL. I.
13

194
1
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
[BOOK II.
vented from taking them all, the accident of a false
intelligence, which made him stand one night a contrary
way. But looking at his own story, told at the time, it
would rather seem that he was in fact indebted to the
concurrence of three separate accidents, which, if any
good had come of them, must have been considered
uncommonly fortunate, for the chance of taking one.
The "contrary way" which he stood that night was the
way which he was going; the "false intelligence" did
not make him alter his course, only prevented him from
altering it. Why he was going that way, is a question
which modern historians and biographers do not seem to
have asked themselves, and which the companions of his
voyage, though they must have asked it with wonder,
were evidently unable to answer. And as this is the first
action of which he had the sole direction, it is worth
while to examine it a little more closely; for in order to
understand Bacon's relations with Essex, it is indispen-
sable to understand Essex himself.
As soon as he arrived at the Azores he ascertained
that the Adelantado was not there, and that Terceira,
which was the Spanish stronghold in those islands, was
too strong to be attempted with the force he had. The
one considerable service which remained for him there-
fore, was to intercept the fleet of treasure which was
expected from the Indies, but was detained as yet by
contrary winds. His first proceeding was obvious and
natural: he passed through the group of islands to Flores,
the westernmost of them, took in water and stores, and
waited some ten days, when he was joined by Ralegh
with thirty other ships, which had been separated by
weather off the coast of Spain. At that time the wind
changed.2 If the fleet was coming at all, therefore, now
1 Essex's Apology.
2 "As yet the wind has been contrary for all Indian fleets, but now it is
Essex to Cecil, 16th September, Lives of the Earls of Essex, i., p. 456.
good."
1595-97.]
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
195
was the time to look out for it. And the object being to
prevent it from getting under the batteries of Terceira,
the only place in the islands where it could not be at-
tacked, it would seem to have been above all things
desirable to keep the body of the fleet in a position to
command that passage. Yet it was precisely at this junc-
ture, and with the wind N. N. W., that Essex ordered his
whole force to St. Michael's, of all places, an island ly-
ing both southward and eastward of Terceira; his reason,
-the only reason he gives, being, that "he was told
by a small pinnace come from the Indies, that it was
doubtful whether the Indian fleet came from thence or
not, and if they did, they would change their usual
course and come in some height [i. e. latitude] more to
the southward, till they were passed these islands, where
usually they are attended." Which information (he pro-
ceeds) "made us resolve in council to go for Fayal, and
so for St. Michael, and to have some nimble ships to lie
off and on at sea both to the southward and the north-
ward."
If the movement had been only to Fayal, which was
the most central position on the western side of the group,
and in nearly the same latitude with Terceira, it would
have been judicious, and would in fact have met with the
success it deserved. But if the Spaniards themselves had
had the disposition of the English fleet, they could not
have done better then order it to St. Michael's. Much
has been said of Essex's ill luck in so narrowly missing
his prize; but his ill luck was all of his own choosing.
Luck struggled hard on his side. For what happened?
While he was on his way "towards St. Michael's, but
still, it seems, on the northwest of Terceira, - hearing
that a great ship had been seen off Graciosa (in the
neighborhood of which he must then have been) moving
westward, he immediately prepared to form his fleet in
three divisions, one to go round Terceira by the north,
""
|
196
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
[Book II.
another by the south, and a third to ply westward, and
so cut her off from Fayal if she should make thither. By
this disposition he made sure of intercepting her before
she could gain a place of refuge; and the occasion came
opportunely to warn him against taking a course in which
such a disposition would become impracticable. But it
seems he was so bent upon St. Michael's that nothing
less than the immediate prospect of a prize could divert
him from it. For being told, while he was giving the
orders for this movement, that the ship had been fol-
lowed and proved to be an English pinnace, he forthwith
countermanded his directions and proceeded on his for-
mer course, followed (as he thought) by all the fleet;
proceeded (that is) to a position from which, while the
wind continued in its present quarter, it would be im-
possible to intercept the passage either to Terceira or
Fayal; so that if the treasure-fleet were coming by the
usual route, it had nothing to do but sail quietly under
the batteries while his back was turned. And if all had
gone as he intended, not a ship would have been taken
or molested. For, as if to be sooner out of their way, he
shaped his course to St. Michael's by the north side of
Terceira, so as not even to cross their line of passage.¹
But here accident interposed in his favor again. For
it so happened that the person who was charged with the
order for the movement which was so suddenly counter-
manded, being, I suppose, dull of hearing, made two extra-
ordinary mistakes: "mishearing" the effect of the first
order, and not hearing the countermand at all; the con-
sequence of all which was that four ships stood about to
the westward by themselves, while the Admiral with the
rest of the fleet sailed away due east, quite unconscious
of the fact. These four ships being thus by mistake sent
in the direction in which the treasure-fleet was most
likely to be met, did that very night (and no wonder)
1 Monson, p. 36.
J
1595-97.]
THE ISLAND VOYAGE
197
fall in with a fleet of twenty-five sail, among which were
some sixteen richly laden carracks. But accident could
do no more when design was so deliberately adverse.
The four ships by themselves were not strong enough to
stop them, and it was in vain that they burned lights
and fired guns for help, the Admiral being by this time
far out of sight and hearing, and (which made it worse)
far to leeward. So that by the time he heard the news
the fleet was safe under the batteries, and it still took
him three days to weather the point, and ascertain by
inspection that he could not help it.
After all, however, luck did something for him, for it
was in this fruitless endeavor to intercept the main body
that he fell in with three stragglers, which, having already
struck to Ralegh, he sent his own boats to take possession
of, and which proved a good prize; the only prize of the
voyage worth mentioning.
Had this been anybody's account of the matter but
his own, I should not have believed it, the proceeding
seems so unaccountable. Being his own, we must at
least suppose that he wished it to pass for the true ac-
count, and that if his course admits of any other ex-
planation, it was one which he could not so conveniently
avow. We know, however, that it is at least a very
imperfect account, and putting the facts omitted and the
fact of their omission together, we may, I think, make
it a little more intelligible.
Essex, it must be remembered, had had no experience
in this kind of service. He had all his mistakes to make;
and being naturally impatient, impetuous, and over-con-
fident, though at the same time (according to Sir W.
Monson, whom I can very well believe)" of a flexible
nature to be overruled, "- they would doubtless be
many. The principal objects with which he undertook
the expedition had all failed. The Spanish fleet, while
it remained at Ferrol, was unassailable. If it had gone
2
198
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
[BOOK II.
to the Azores, as reported, he might do something with
it there; but it had not gone, so that chance was cut off.
Could he take Terceira? No, it was too strong? Could
he intercept the treasure? Yes, if it came; but was it
coming? And if not, what then? He might sack the
other islands, and so secure a little plunder, a few pris-
oners, and perhaps some glory. It would be of no real
use, but might yield something to talk of; it was what
the soldiers about him wished for, and it would sound
better than nothing, which was the alternative. In this
state of mind he waited at Flores till he was tired of
waiting. He began to fear that the homeward fleet was
not coming. The first ship which came with the change
of wind from that quarter brought no tidings of it; per-
haps it would come another way. It was absolutely nec-
essary to do something. Now a plan had been already
arranged for "taking in" the islands, as they called
it one division was to attack St. Michael, another Pico,
another Graciosa, another Fayal. The last, which was
the nearest, he was to undertake himself, with the assist-
ance of Ralegh, should he arrive in time. This plan,
as originally designed, was probably intended to com-
bine with the main object of intercepting the treasure.
Three parts of the fleet would still be to windward of
the passage to Terceira, and though they could not be so
ready in that case to give chase upon the instant as they
should have been, still they were in the way and would
have their chance. And this plan it was resolved to
carry into effect at once, for when Ralegh arrived at
Flores, he was ordered not to stay to take in water, but
to follow the Admiral at once to Fayal. This order was
given on the 16th of September. It seems, however, that
something came across Essex the same day, and changed
or interrupted his purpose, for when Ralegh arrived at
Fayal the same evening, he found there neither Admiral
nor Vice-Admiral, nor any news of them. And they did
1595-97.]
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
199
not arrive till the 22d.¹ What they had been doing in
the interval is not hinted either in the official report, or
in Essex's "Apology," or in any other account of the
voyage that I have met with; but I suppose they had
heard of a sail seen somewhere, and had gone suddenly
off in pursuit forgetting to send word of it to the other
squadron.
However that may be, they were not to be found or
heard of. And an affair happened in consequence, which,
though not mentioned in the official report, I take to be
the real explanation of the resolution taken shortly after,
and otherwise so unaccountable, to proceed with the
whole fleet to St. Michael's.
Ralegh was Rear Admiral. He had been ordered to
Fayal to assist in an attack upon the island, and had
been told that he need not stay to water at Flores, be-
cause he could get what he wanted there. He was in
great want of water, but found that he could not land
without opposition. After waiting four days, and re-
ceiving no tidings or instructions, he determined to force
a landing. Which he did, and, one thing leading to
another, he followed his fortune, and succeeded in taking
the town. So that when Essex arrived, he found that
part of his work nearly completed, and everything ready
for an attack upon the high fort, which was still in the
hands of the enemy. This was so much gained. But it
involved the loss of one thing which, unfortunately, he
valued more. He might take possession of the island
in the Queen's name and carry off whatever was worth
taking, but he could not carry off the glory of it. The
credit of the achievement was not transferable, and must
go to another. This touched Essex's worst weakness,
a weakness which was increasing upon him, and not only
marring his work but degrading his character. His old
ambition to outstrip competitors in the race of glory,-
1 See Sir Arthur Gorges' narrative, printed in Purchas.
200
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
[BOOK II.
was
a
an ambition not incompatible with magnanimity,
fast degenerating into intolerance of competition,
vice with which magnanimity can have nothing to do.
It was not enough to win, unless the credit of winning
were his own, and his own only. He had already in the
course of this very service shown symptoms of the dis-
ease. Though he had been on friendly terms with Ra-
legh ever since it was settled that he should have the sole
command himself, he had shown himself extremely ap-
prehensive lest he should find an opportunity for indi-
vidual distinction. When Ralegh was separated from
the fleet of Spain by the breaking of his mainyard, and
on repairing to the appointed rendezvous could hear no
tidings of the Admiral, but was joined by several other
ships that had in like manner parted company, Essex
was easily persuaded that he was keeping away on pur-
pose that he might do some work on his own account.
And now that accident had presented him (being again
at the appointed rendezvous and again without tidings
of the Admiral) with an opportunity of doing by him-
self the very service which he had been ordered thither
to assist in, Essex was hardly persuaded to let him off
without trial upon a capital charge. Not that he had
failed. Not that by premature action he had marred any
one object of the voyage. Not that what remained to
be done could not be done more easily than if he had
rested inactive. But he had won a little glory which
would otherwise have fallen to the commander-in-chief.
For this offense it was said the proper punishment was
nothing less than death. And it seems that it was ul-
timately passed over upon a very strange condition. Ra-
legh had not only to apologize for the error, but to resign
the glory; which, as it could not be transferred, was to
be cancelled. Such at least I infer to have been the
terms upon which peace was made, from the singular
fact, that in the official report of the voyage, signed by
·
J.
1595-97.]
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
201
all the commanders, this particular action, the taking
of Fayal,- though by far the most remarkable feat per-
formed, and really a gallant one, had the object been ade-
quate, is not mentioned or alluded to.
While such humors reigned, it is not strange if foolish
things were done, and I cannot help suspecting that im-
patience to eclipse the capture of Fayal was the true
motive of the voyage to St. Michael's, and that the poor
success of that enterprise was the real reason why the
first action was suppressed in the narrative and the last
unexplained. Effectual precautions were taken on this
occasion to exclude Ralegh from all share in the expected
glory, but, unfortunately, the glory did not come.
But though fortune did not favor Essex in this partic-
ular, she was still to interfere most signally in his behalf
in a matter of much more importance. Where was the
fleet of Ferrol all this time? Finding that it had not
gone to the Azores, he inferred that it would stay where
it was.1 It does not seem to have occurred to him that
though the Adelantado would not come out in the face of
an English fleet newly equipped to engage him, he might
come well enough when that fleet was in the middle of
the Atlantic. Why he did not start sooner is, I suppose,
to be explained by the proverbial slowness of Spanish
movements; for from the middle of September to nearly
the end of October, he had the Channel to himself. But
what actually happened, and how little it was owing to
good management that England escaped that autumn a
great disaster, I cannot better explain than in the words
of Sir William Monson, one of the captains of the voyage.
"The Spaniards, who presumed more upon their advantages
than their valors, thought themselves in too weak a condition to
follow us to the islands, and put their fortunes upon a day's ser-
vice, but subtilly devised how to intercept us as we came home,
1 "We have missed the Adelantado, who will not leave Ferrol this year.”
Essex to Cecil, 16th September, Lives of the Earls of Essex, i., p. 456.
202
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
[BOOK II.
when we had least thought or suspicion of them; and their fleet,
that was all the while in the Groyne and Ferrol, not daring to
put forwards while they knew ours to be upon the coast, their
General, the Adelantada came for England, with a resolution to
land at Falmouth and fortify it, and afterwards with their ships
to keep the sea, and expect our coming home scattered.
(6
Having thus cut off our sea forces, and possessing the harbor
of Falmouth, they thought with a second supply of thirty-seven
Levantiscos ships, which the Marquis Arumbullo commanded,
to have returned and gained a good footing in England.
"These designs of theirs were not foreseen by us; for we
came home scattered, as they made reckoning, not twenty in
number together.
"We may say, and that truly, that God fought for us; for the
Adelantada being within a few leagues of the island of Scilly,
he commanded all his captains on board him to receive his di-
rections; but whilst they were in consultation, a violent storm
took them at east, insomuch that the captains could hardly re-
cover their ships, but in no case were able to save their boats,
the storm continued so furious, and happy was he that could
recover home, seeing their design thus overthrown by the loss
of their boats, whereby their means of landing was taken away.
Some who were willing to stay and receive the further com-
mands of the General kept the seas so long upon our coast, that
in the end they were taken; others put themselves into our
harbors for refuge and succor, and it is certainly known that in
this voyage the Spaniards lost eighteen ships, the St. Luke and
the St. Bartholomew being two, and in the rank of his best gal-
leons.
"We must ascribe this success to God only: for certainly the
enemies' designs were dangerous, and not to be diverted by our
force; but by his will who would not suffer the Spaniards in
any of their attempts to set footing in England, as we have
done in all the quarters of Spain, Portugal, the Islands, and
both the Indies.” 1
It was near the end of October when the fleet arrived,
1 A True and Exact Account of the Wars with Spain in the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth of Famous Memory, by Sir William Monson, p. 38.

1595-97.]
THE ISLAND VOYAGE.
203
and found all the south coast in great alarm, and the
danger not yet over. The necessity of making ready for
fresh action postponed all else for the time, and I am not
aware that the conduct of the voyage was ever made the
subject of a formal investigation. It was rumored, how-
ever, in Court, that the Queen was not well pleased with
Essex, either for his management of the business or for
his treatment of Ralegh; and that he was already (5th
If to his many
November) acting the injured man.
great gifts there had but been added the gift of profiting
by his own errors in the knowledge of himself, the result
of the enterprise, though worthless enough to the coun-
try, might have been of infinite value to him. But that
gift was wanting. He appears to have been just as pop-
ular as ever, and not at all wiser. Still ready to find a
personal grievance in every smile bestowed on a rival,
whether friend or enemy, he had many grievances at this
time to digest. These I shall have to refer to hereafter;
but as I find no record of any meeting or other commu-
nication at this time between him and Bacon, who was
now deeply engaged in the business of the new Parlia-
ment which had just met, I must now give some account
of that.

...
+
CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1597-1598.
ÆTAT. 37.
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S courage was of that rare temper
which can rise even into passion without disturbing the
judgment. Being unconscious of fear, she had no need
to prove her valor either to herself or others by facing
danger, and could the more steadily see and avoid it.
When she saw symptoms of mutiny in the House of
Commons, and the issue doubtful or the struggle incon-
venient, though she stood her ground while the dispute
lasted, she took care that the occasion should not arise
again. And, therefore, although the most important busi-
ness of the new Parliament was much like that of the
last, and the circumstances not materially different, we
hear nothing this time of any attempt in the Upper
House to dictate to the Lower, of any proposal for joint
deliberation on questions of supply, of any warnings
from the Throne not to waste time in speeches or meddle
with ecclesiastical causes, or of any intimation that they
were not called to make new laws. On the contrary, to
consider the state of the laws was represented as their
proper business; and if provision for the defense of the
kingdom was the first thing to be thought of, it was only
because, if that were neglected, laws were made in vain.
"And whereas " (said the Lord Keeper, in terms which
Bacon must have entirely approved) "the number of
laws already made is very great, some of them being ob-
solete and worn out of use, others idle and vain, serving
to no purpose; some again over-heavy and too severe for
e
..
1597-98.]
PARLIAMENT OF 1597.
205
the offense; others too loose and slack for the faults they
are to punish, and many so full of difficulty to be under-
stood, that they cause many controversies and much diffi-
culty to arise amongst the subjects; therefore you are to
enter into a due consideration of the laws, and where you
find superfluity, to prune and cut off; where defect, to
supply; and where ambiguity, to explain; that they be
not burdensome but profitable to the commonwealth.
Which being a service of importance and very needful to
be required, yet as nothing is to be regarded if due mean
be not had to withstand the malice and the force of those
professed enemies which seek the destruction of the whole
state, this before all and above all is to be thought of,"
etc. And so he proceeds to speak generally of the neces-
sity of aids and subsidies. Nothing was said of any im-
mediate alarm, though this was spoken on the 24th of
October, while the Spanish fleet was still hovering about
the coasts, and our own not yet returned. And so little
appearance was there of hurry, anxiety, or impatience,
that immediately after the presentation of the Speaker
on the 27th, the Houses were adjourned by the Queen's
command till the 5th of November. Nor was it till ten
days after that, that any motion was made on the sub-
ject of supply. All the principal common wealth bills
had precedence. The way was led by a bill against fore-
stallers and regrators, those ancient and unconquerable
offenders with whom the legislature was still waging an
ineffectual war. Then followed a motion against en-
closures and depopulation, and for the maintenance of
husbandry and tillage—a measure then very popular, of
which I shall speak further presently. Then questions
of privileges and returns - the House's own special busi-
ness. Next day (Monday, 7th November) came a bill
to take away benefit of clergy in cases of abduction of
women, and a motion "touching sundry enormities grow-
ing by patents of privilege and monopolies," which was
+
+
206
PARLIAMENT OF 1597.
[BOOK II.
renewed the next day, and discussed several times after-
wards, without any intimation that it was an interference
with the prerogative. On the 8th came a motion for the
relief of the people from the obligation to keep certain
kinds of armor and weapons, now obsolete.
Then a
motion "for the abridging and reforming of the exces-
sive number of superfluous and burdensome penal laws.'
On the 10th a question was raised about certain abuses
in the ecclesiastical courts, which called forth a message
from the Queen, not now to imprison the member who
made the motion or to forbid the Speaker to read the
bill, but to command the House to prosecute the inquiry.
On the 11th a committee was appointed for continuance
of statutes. On the 12th a bill was brought in for the
increase of mariners and the maintenance of navigation.
On the 14th a bill for the suppression of robberies, which
had been brought in before, but I do not know on what
day, was thrown out upon the second reading. On the
15th a bill was introduced for extirpation of beggars.
After which the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for
a committee to treat and consult concerning supply.
!
As nothing could be more decorous than the order of
proceedings, so nothing could be more successful. All
went smoothly. No difference arose which caused any
embarrassment, either between the parties in either
House, or between one House and the other, or between
either of them and the Crown. An amount of supply,
equal to that given by the last Parliament (which was
greater than any Parliament had given before), was
voted without a dissentient voice.
The laws which were passed bear the impress of the
time, both in the matters dealt with and the mode of
dealing. But they were all framed, according to the best
political economy of the day, either to check the diseases
or to improve the general health of society. How large
a space in their deliberations was occupied by the great
M
1597-98.]
PARLIAMENT OF 1597.
207
problem of the Relief of the Poor, may be inferred from
the fact that on the 22d of November eleven separate
bills, all bearing upon that subject, were referred to the
same committee; and if they did not succeed in settling
the question forever, they placed it on a footing on which
it stood for nearly two hundred and fifty years; and
might have been standing now, if abuses had not crept
into the administration of it for which its authors were
not responsible; for the 43d of Elizabeth, chap. 2, which
has been called the "great charter of the poor, the first
comprehensive measure of legal charity," is only the 39th
of Elizabeth, chap. 3, continued, and improved in some
details. In principle and in all its main features it is the
same.
The
In this, as indeed in almost every measure of general
policy discussed in this Parliament, Bacon appears to
have been more or less engaged, for there is scarcely a
committee-list in which his name does not appear. But
the records are not full enough to show the part he took
in the deliberations, except in three or four cases.
motion “for abridging and reforming the excessive num-
ber of superfluous and burdensome penal laws" was
seconded by him, but appears to have dropped or merged
in an ordinary "Continuance" Act. An act for the
"increase of mariners for the service and defense of the
realm" led to conferences with the Lords, some of which
were reported by him to the Commons. But in the acts
for the prevention of enclosures and the maintenance of
tillage he appears to have had the chief management,
and a fragment of his introductory speech has been pre-
served. Of these measures it may be worth while to
give a more particular account, the rather because the
changes which have intervened, not only in opinion on
such questions but in the essential conditions of the
case, make it difficult in these days to understand their
true import.
F'
208
PARLIAMENT OF 1597.
[Book II.
They were meant to give effect to a measure introduced
originally by Henry VII., and as Bacon himself in his
later life drew attention to that measure as a specimen
of profound legislation, and explained at large the ob-
jects, provisions, and operation of it, I cannot introduce
the subject better than by quoting his remarks.
"Another statute was made of singular policy, for the
population apparently, and (if it be thoroughly considered)
for the soldiery and militar forces of the realm. En-
closures at that time began to be more frequent, whereby
arable land (which could not be manured without people
and families) was turned into pasture, which was easily
rid by a few herdsmen; and tenancies for years, lives,
and at will (whereupon much of the yeomanry lived)
were turned into demesnes. This bred a decay of peo-
ple, and by consequence a decay of towns, churches,
tithes, and the like. The King likewise knew full well,
and in nowise forgot, that there ensued withal upon this
a decay and diminution of subsidies and taxes; for the
more gentlemen ever the lower books of subsidies. In
remedying of this inconvenience, the King's wisdom was
admirable, and the Parliament's at that time. Enclos-
ures they would not forbid, for that had been to forbid
the improvement of the patrimony of the kingdom; nor
tillage they would not compel, for that was to strive with
nature and utility; but they took a course to take away
depopulating enclosures and depopulating pasturage, and
yet not that by name, or by any imperious express pro-
hibition, but by consequence. The ordinance was, That
all houses of husbandry that were used with twenty
acres of ground and upwards should be maintained and
kept up forever; together with a competent proportion
of land to be used and occupied with them, and in nowise
to be severed from them (as by another statute, made
afterwards in his successor's time, was more fully de-
clared): this upon forfeiture to be taken, not by way of
!
f *
1597-98.] LAWS FOR MAINTENANCE OF HUSBANDRY.
209
popular action, but by seizure of the land itself by the
king and lords of the fee, as to half the profits, till the
houses and lands were restored. By this means the
houses being kept up did of necessity enforce a dweller,
and the proportion of land for occupation being kept up
did of necessity enforce that dweller not to be a beggar
or cottager, but a man of some substance, that might
keep hinds and servants and set the plough on going.
This did wonderfully concern the might and mannerhood
of the kingdom, to have farms as it were of a standard
sufficient to maintain an able body out of penury, and
did in effect amortise a great part of the lands of the
kingdom unto the hold and occupation of the yeomanry
or middle-people, of a condition between gentlemen and
cottagers or peasants. Now how much this did advance
the militar power of the kingdom is apparent by the
true principles of war and the examples of other king-
doms. For it hath been held by the general opinion of
men of best judgment in the wars (howsoever some few
have varied, and that it may receive some distinction of
case) that the principal strength of an army consisteth
in the infantry or foot. And to make good infantry it
requireth men bred not in a servile or indigent fashion,
but in some free and plentiful manner. Therefore if a
state run most to noblemen and gentlemen, and that the
husbandmen or ploughmen be but as their work-folks or
laborers, or else mere cottagers (which are but housed
beggars), you may have a good cavalry, but never good
stable bands of foot; like to coppice-woods that if you
leave in them staddles too thick, they will run to bushes
and briars and have little clean underwood. And this is
to be seen in France and Italy (and some other parts
abroad), where in effect all is noblesse or peasantry (I
speak of people out of towns), and no middle people;
and therefore no good forces of foot; insomuch as they
are enforced to employ mercenary bands of Switzers
VOL. I.
14
210 LAWS FOR MAINTENANCE OF HUSBANDRY. [Book II.
(and the like) for their battalions of foot. Whereby it
also comes to pass that these nations have much people
and few soldiers. Whereas the King saw that contrari-
wise it would follow that England, though much less in
territory, yet should have infinitely more soldiers of their
native forces than those other nations have. Thus did
the King secretly sow Hydra's teeth, whereupon (accord-
ing to the poet's fiction) should rise up armed men for
the service of this kingdom." 1
Now when we remember that in those days there was
no standing army, and that in case of war, either at home
or abroad, success depended upon the fitness and readiness
of the general population of the country to turn soldiers,
we see that the keeping up of a supply of the stuff out of
which soldiers are made was an object of primary national
importance. It was also one which the legislature had
to look after, for in the natural course of supply and de-
mand it was sure to be left unprovided for. The wealth
of the country, its total stock both of men and of the
things men want, would, I suppose, have been increased
rather than diminished by the process which was going
on; the more luxuries the more labor; the more labor
the more people; the more people the more food; and
therefore the increase of provision for times of peace
would have been best cared for by leaving each man to
help himself according to his own appetite and means.
Not so for times of war. That was a chance which
neither the buyer nor the seller was providing for or think-
ing of.
It did not concern them for the present; and to
provide for the future, though it was all men's interest,
was no man's business. Here therefore the legislature
steps in, not to teach people how to get what they are all
pursuing, but to prevent them from losing something,
which when lost they will all feel the want of, but if left
to themselves they will certainly let slip.
1 Hist. of Henry VII., Works, ii.,
Part I., pp. 142–145.
*..
4
~ 3
1597-98.]
ANOTHER TRIPLE SUBSIDY GRANTED.
211
The difficulty, in this as in all such cases, was to en-
force the provisions of a law made to counteract a natural
tendency of civilization. In spite of Henry VII.'s Act,
"sundry towns, parishes, and houses of husbandry had
of late years been destroyed and become desolate ; "1 and
the conditions of the time being well fitted to remind
statesmen of the importance of the policy, Bacon com-
menced the session with a motion for leave to bring in
two bills on the subject. Of his speech we have only a
meagre and obviously inaccurate report, little better, I
suspect, than a string of fragments of sentences connected
by transitional words to make them read grammatically.
The notices of these bills in the Journals, as they
passed through their several stages, show that Bacon was
the chief manager of them, and that they were "well
liked by the House;" but we have no particulars of the
debates, nor is there anything in the acts themselves, so
far as I can see, upon which it is worth while to dwell.
Of the history of the Subsidy Bill, we learn from the
Journals little more than that the first motion was made
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 15th of No-
vember, who stated that the Queen had been obliged to
spend in the defense of the kingdom more than thrice
the amount of the last grant; that it was seconded by
Sir Robert Cecil, who showed at large the designs and
attempts of the King of Spain since the last Parliament;
that after speeches in support of it from Sir Edward
Hoby and Mr. Francis Bacon, a committee was appointed;
that upon their report, made on the 19th, the House
agreed to a grant of three subsidies and six fifteenths and
tenths, the same as was voted by the last Parliament,
but payable this time in three years instead of four;
that on the 21st the articles were read, approved, and
delivered to the Solicitor that he might "draw the
book;" that the Bill passed its first reading on the
1 Preamble to the Act of 1597.
212
[BOOK II.
7th of December, its second on the 10th, and its third
on the 14th; that it met with no obstruction, and was
presented to the Queen at the close of the session by the
Speaker as a gift granted "I hope and think without
the thought of a No; sure I am without the word of a
No." A fact from which we cannot, I think, infer less,
than that the apprehensions entertained by Bacon with
regard to the bill of 1593 had not been justified by the
event, and that the people had been found well enough
able to bear the double payment. If it had caused any
material discontent in the country, it is hardly conceiva-
ble that there should have been no member in the House
to represent that discontent.
ESSEX'S JEALOUSIES AND DISCONTENTS.
The Earl of Essex returned to Court from his island
voyage on the 29th of October. A week after, we hear
that "for himself he is already disquieted, keeps in, and
went not this day to the Parliament." It was the begin-
ning of another fit of discontent, which was to last nearly
two months.
The reason was partly, no doubt, the reception which
his last service met with from the Queen, who was (very
naturally, I think) but ill satisfied with his management
of it. But he had other griefs which he could still worse
endure. In his absence Sir Robert Cecil had been made
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; and on the 23d
of October," as the Queen came from the chapel, she
created my Lord Admiral Earl of Nottingham..
Her Majesty made a speech unto him in acknowledg-
ment of his services, and Mr. Secretary read the letters
patents aloud, which were very honorable: all his great
services recited in anno 88, and lately at Cales. He was
to take his place ut Comes de Nottingham, for so were
the words in his patent." This Lord Admiral was
Charles Baron Howard of Effingham; a man more than
twice as old as Essex, who had never been his enemy,
who had done good service and held high offices in peace
J.
卞
​1597-98.]
ESSEX'S JEALOUSIES AND DISCONTENTS.
213
and war before Essex was a man, and was now too old
for active work at sea. It seems strange that a man who
had any real nobleness of nature (as Essex certainly
had) should have looked upon the honoring of such a
person only as a wrong to himself: stranger still, that at
the distance of two hundred and fifty years admiring
biographers should repeat the complaint and parade the
injury, without seeing what an unworthy thing they are
making of him. About the fact, however, I fear there is
no doubt. Such imputations, when they only rest on
popular report, I am apt enough to discredit. Friends as
well as enemies impute to others the feelings which in
like circumstances would have been their own. And the
offense which Essex is reported to have taken at Sir Rob-
ert Cecil's appointment has, I dare say, no better founda-
tion. But in the case of the Lord Admiral the trial was
harder and the evidence is more circumstantial. His
elevation touched Essex personally in two points. The
glory of the Cadiz action was regarded by him as his
own exclusive property. It was true that Effingham,
being commander-in-chief by sea, held an equal position:
and in a victory by land and sea forces combined, the
honor would naturally be shared equally by both, which
the patent expressed. Nevertheless, in popular opinion
and in his own, Essex had been the sole hero of that
victory; and all that the others had done was to hinder
him from following it up by capturing the treasure-fleet
on its return; so that to attribute to the Lord High Ad-
miral a joint share in the action, was to cancel half his
property in it. But besides this, the patent involved by
consequence a question of precedency. By the 31 Hen.
VIII. c. 10, certain officers, among whom was the Lord
High Admiral, took precedence of all other personages of
the same degree. Consequently the Lord High Admiral,
who while he was a baron sat below the Earl of Essex,
now that they were both earls, would sit above him.
214
ESSEX PACIFIED.
[BOOK II.
These indignities were too much for his spirit. He
would not appear in Parliament, in Council, or in Court.
On the Queen's Day (17th of November) he was re-
ported to be very sick. On the 30th he was still keep-
ing aloof. On the 21st of December, however, we are
told that "the gallant Earl doth now show himself in
more public sort than he did; and he is purposed to have
the patent of the late-created earl altered, who abso-
lutely refuses to consent to it." "The Queen," it seems,
"by this patience and long-suffering of my Lord Essex,
was grown to consider and understand better the wrong
done unto him.' "I hear" (continues the same re-
porter, in the next paragraph of the same letter) “that
iny Lord Essex desires to have right done unto him,
either by a commission to examine it, or by combat either
against the Earl of Nottingham or any of his sons or of
his name that will defend it. Or that her Majesty will
please to see the wrong done unto him; and so will he
suffer himself to be commanded by her as she please her-
self. Here is such ado about it, as it troubles this place
and all other proceedings. Sir Walter Ralegh is em-
ployed by the Queen to end this quarrel and to make an
atonement between them. But this is the resolution of
Lord Essex, not to yield but with altering the patent,
which cannot be done but by persuasion to bring the
Earl of Nottingham unto it.'
""
I give the story in the words of the contemporary re-
porter (who writes simply and seriously, without any
touch of irony), because it is difficult to tell it in one's
own without some color from the feeling which it excites.
But that this was the real ground of offense seems indis-
putable, especially when we correct the narrative by
introducing a fact which the writer did not then know
of, but which supplies the true explanation of Essex's
reappearance in public. Among the offices which gave
precedence above all persons of equal degree, that of Earl
1597-98.]
MASTER OF THE ORDNANCE.
215
Marshal came before that of Lord High Admiral. Now,
on the 18th of December, three days before, Essex
had been created by patent Earl Marshal of England,
and he was happy again.
1
In Rawley's edition of Bacon's "Collection of Apoph-
thegms" we find the following anecdote: "A great
officer at Court, when my Lord of Essex was first in
trouble, and that he and those that dealt for him would
talk much of my Lord's friends and of his enemies, an-
swered one of them, I will tell you, I know but one friend
and one enemy my Lord hath; and that one friend is the
Queen, and that one enemy is himself." The truth of the
remark could not have been better illustrated than by
these last quarrels and the issue of them. It must have
been a very singular personal charm which in a temper
and judgment like the Queen's could so often prevail
over such trials as he put them to. His last quarrel had
made him Master of the Ordnance; this has made him
Earl Marshal; the very offices which Bacon, in October,
1596, had tried to dissuade him from seeking, as being
most likely to bring him into trouble. Judging indeed
by the immediate event, it might seem that he knew
best what he was about. But to those friends who had
watched his proceedings in the meantime, it could only
have been a respite from anxiety; one more danger
escaped; one more chance of striking into a safer path.
Bacon, whom even the splendid success of Cadiz had
not deceived into the belief that war was a fit vocation
for him, who had urged him to use that glory as an
honorable resting-place, and to aspire after another kind
of greatness, could not be altered in opinion by the
results of the island voyage. Another chance was now
offered, and several accidents concurred to favor it.
Philip II. of Spain had begun to feel that he was
dying, and was anxious to wind up his many businesses
1 Resuscitatio, ed. 1661.
1
216
IRISH AFFAIRS.
[BOOK II.
and transmit a settled kingdom to his son. Henry IV.
of France was longing to give his kingdom rest after
twelve years of war, and try his hand at the arts of peace.
He had just retaken Amiens, and finding Philip willing
to come to terms, was loath to forego so advantageous
an opportunity. But his former necessities had involved
him in alliances and obligations with England and the
Netherland States, which gave them both a right to in-
terfere. England, as far as she was herself concerned,
might have been glad enough to join in a peace; for
towards Spain she stood at advantage, while in Ireland
she had a difficult business on hand. But she could not
leave the States in the lurch, and Spain being released
from France would be the harder to deal with. This
made it necessary to send a first-rate ambassador to
Henry, to represent her case and remind him of his en-
gagements. On which mission Sir Robert Cecil was dis-
patched in the middle of February, 1597-8. In the
meantime the affairs of Ireland had become very critical.
The Earl of Tyrone—a man of Irish genius improved
by English cultivation, a soldier of tried valor and full
of resources, combining with shameless facility in break-
ing or evading promises past an extraordinary power of
inducing people to accept his promises for the future-
had now been for three years in open rebellion, suspended
only by truces, which the government was at all times
only too ready to grant for the purpose of hearing his
grievances and his offers of submission. Certain arbi-
trary proceedings of Sir William Fitzwilliams, who was
Lord Deputy from 1590 to 1594, supplied him with some
plausible grounds of complaint and some color for alleg-
ing fear of personal danger as his motive for taking up
arms; upon which he was always ready with a case for
the consideration of a new Lord Deputy, and for refer-
ence to the English government. Sir John Norreys, the
greatest soldier of his time, sent out as Lord General
1
".

1597-98.]
IRISH AFFAIRS.
217
in 1595,- Sir W. Russell, with whom he did not
well agree, being Lord Deputy, after two years spent
chiefly in fruitless negotiations, was by the appointment
of a new Lord Deputy with supreme authority for
war as well as peace superseded, and died soon after of
a broken heart, it was thought; of heart-disease likely
enough, for brave men do die of that. Lord Burgh, by
whom he was superseded, beginning with a resolution to
listen to no treaties, but to march directly against the
principal stronghold of the rebellion, died suddenly on
the march, thus leaving another interregnum, of which
Tyrone knew how to make use. The civil government
being now (October, 1597) provisionally entrusted to two
Lords Justices, and the command-in-chief of martial af-
fairs to the Earl of Ormond, Tyrone opened afresh his
old budget of grievances and promises, and was admitted
to a meeting at Dundalk; where, upon offers of submis-
sion, protestations of penitence, entreaties for pardon,
etc., a truce of eight weeks dating from the 22d of De-
cember was accorded, that his case might be laid before
the Queen.
It was during this time, I suppose, and while these
matters were under consideration of the Council in Eng-
land, that the next letter was written.
The Earl of Essex was now on good terms again with
everybody. The Queen (at the instance, it was thought,
of Sir Robert Cecil) had on the 10th of February, 1597–
98, made him a present of £7,000 worth of cochineal,
part of the booty of the island voyage; and on the 15th
we hear of his “giving very diligent attendance upon the
Queen, and in some sort taking upon him the dispatch-
ing of all business, in the absence of the Secretary, that
concerns her Majesty's service." This was exactly the
position in which Bacon most wished to see him, and
although Essex had begun to tire of asking counsel from
one who was always advising him not to do the thing he

218
IRISH AFFAIRS.
[BOOK II. '
was bent on doing, and had not of late consulted him as
he used to do, it seems that he now found or made an
occasion to represent to him the value of the opportunity,
and exhort him to improve it. The Irish difficulty, un-
fortunate in all other respects, might prove very fortu-
nate for him if he could be induced to take it by the
right handle, that is, to address himself earnestly to it
in Council. Bacon had opened the matter to him in
conversation, and now followed it up in a letter, which
(like several others we shall meet with) has been pre-
served through two independent channels and in two
different forms; one in the collection kept by himself,
and printed by Rawley in the "Resuscitatio:" the other
in a collection made we do not know by whom, and
printed very incorrectly in the "Remains" (1648) and
afterwards in the "Cabala" (1654). I imagine that in
writing letters of importance, Bacon made first a draft
and then a fair copy; that in copying, alterations sug-
gested themselves, which he did not at the time take the
trouble to enter in the draft; and that his own collec-
tion was made from the drafts, while that in the Re-
mains' was from the letters themselves that were sent.
The differences are exactly such as would naturally arise.
under such a process, and therefore both versions are
worth preserving.
1 The estrangement must have begun in the autumn of 1597, if Bacon's rec-
ollection seven or eight years after can be trusted for the dates.
"This dif-
ference" (he says in his Apology) "in two points so main and material, bred
in process of time a discontinuance of privateness (as it is the manner of men
seldom to communicate when they think their courses are not approved) between
his Lordship and myself, so as I was not called nor advised with for some year
and a half before his Lordship's going into Ireland, as in former time." Essex
arrived in Dublin on the 15th of April, 1599, about fourteen months after the
date of the next letter.
1597-98.]
ADVICE TO ESSEX.
219
A LETTER OF ADVICE TO THE EARL OF ESSEX, TO
TAKE UPON HIM THE CARE OF IRISH CAUSES, WHEN
MR. SECRETARY CECIL WAS IN FRANCE.
MY SINGULAR GOOD LORD, — I do write, because I
had no time fully to express my conceit to your Lordship,¹
touching Irish affairs, considering them as they may con-
cern your Lordship; knowing that you will consider
them as they may concern the state. That it is one of
the aptest particulars 2 for your Lordship to purchase
honor upon, I am moved to think for three reasons.
Because it is ingenerate in your house, in respect of my
Lord your father's noble attempts: because of all the ac-
tions of state on foot at this time, the labor resteth most in
that particular: and because the world will make a kind
of comparison between those that have set it out of frame
and those that shall bring it into frame: which kind of
honor giveth the quickest kind of reflexion. The trans-
ferring this honor upon yourself consisteth in two points:
the one, if the principal persons employed come in by
you and depend upon you; the other, if your Lordship
declare yourself and profess to have a care of that king-
dom. For the persons, it falleth out well that your
Lordship hath had no interest in the persons of imputa-
tion. For neither Sir William Fitzwilliams nor Sir John
Norris was yours. Sir William Russell was conceived
yours, but was curbed. Sir Coniers Clifford (as I con-
ceive it) dependeth on you, who is said to do well. And
if my Lord of Ormond, in the interim, do accommodate
things well (as it is said he doth), I take it he hath
always had good understanding with your Lordship. So
as all things hitherto are not only whole and entire, but
1 "Because I have not yet had time fully to express my conceit, nor now to
attend you." Rem. and Cab.
2 "One of the aptest particulars, that hath come or can come upon the stage,
for," etc. · R. and C.
8 "Declare yourself to undertake a care of that matter.'
R. and C.
2201
ADVICE TO ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
of favorable aspect towards your Lordship, if hereafter
you choose well.¹ Concerning the care of the business,
the general and popular conceit hath been, that Irish
causes have been much neglected; whereby the reputa-
tion of better care will put life into them.2 But for a
beginning and key to that which shall follow, it were
good your Lordship would have some large and serious
conference with Sir William Russell, Sir Richard Bing-
ham, the Earl of Toumond, and Mr. Wilbraham, to know
their relation of the past, their opinion of the present,
and their advice for the future.
For the points of apposing them, I am too much a
stranger to the business to deduce them. But in a gen-
eral topic, methinks the pertinent interrogations must be,
either of the possibility and means of accord, or of the
nature of the war, or of the reformation of abuses, or of
the joining of practice with force in the disunion of the
rebels. If your Lordship doubt to put your sickle into
another's harvest; first, time brings it to you in Mr.
Secretary's absence: next, being mixt with matter of
3
1 The copy in the Remains goes on: Wherein in your wisdom you will
remember there is a great difference in choice of the persons, as you shall think
the affairs to incline to composition or to war. For your care-taking, general
and popular conceit,” etc.
2 The Cabala (following the Remains, with some corrections) gives it thus:
Whereby the very reputation of better care will be a strength. And I am
sure her Majesty and my Lords of the Council do not think their care dis-
solved when they have chosen whom to employ; but that they will proceed
in a spirit of state, and not leave the main point to discretion. Then, if a
resolution be taken, a consultation [must proceed, and the consultation] must
be governed [qy. grounded] upon information to be had from such as know the
place and matters in fact; and in the taking of information I have always noted
there is a skill and a wisdom. For I cannot tell what account or inquiry hath
been taken of Sir William Russell, and of Sir R. Bingham, of the Earl of Tho-
mond, of Mr. Wilbraham. But I am of opinion much more would be had of
them, if your Lordship shall be pleased severally to confer, not obiter, but ex-
pressly upon some caveat given to think of it before: for bene docet qui pruden-
ter interrogat.
"For the points,” etc.
8 "Yet consider you have these advantages. First, time being fit to you in
Mr. Secretary's absence: next vis unita fortior; thirdly, the business being
mixed with matters of war, it is fittest for you," etc. - Cab.
1597-98.]
TREATY WITH TYRONE.
221
war, it is fittest for you: and lastly, I know your Lord-
ship will carry it with that modesty and respect towards
aged dignity, and that good correspondence towards my
dear kinsman and your good friend now abroad, as no
inconvenience may grow that way.
Thus have I played the ignorant statesman, which I
do to nobody but your Lordship: except to the Queen
sometimes when she trains me on. But your Lordship
will accept my duty and good meaning, and secure me
touching the privateness of that I write.
Upon this advice the Earl appears to have been dis-
posed to act; and accordingly to have communicated to
Bacon the last intelligence from Ireland, and asked his
opinion.
But by this time the negotiation had advanced a step
further. Tyrone's case had been considered, and the
Earl of Ormond had been instructed as to the terms
upon which his pardon would be granted.
"And now
at another meeting at Dundalk, on the 15th of March,
the Lord Lieutenant signified to Tyrone that her Majesty
by his humble submission had been induced again to re-
ceive him to mercy, and to give him and all the inhab-
itants of Tyrone her gracious pardon, upon conditions
following: -
1. That he renew his humble submission to the Lord
Lieutenant in some public place.
2. That he promise due obedience of a subject, and
not to intermeddle with the Irish, nor his adherents, not
only hereafter, but now; leaving them to themselves,
that they may become humble suitors for their own
pardons; in which case it is promised them also.
3. That he disperse his forces upon receipt of his par-
don, and dismiss all strangers, Irish, Scots, or others.
4. That he renounce the name and title of Oneale.
5. Not to intermeddle with her Majesty's Vriaghts
་
5
•
!
►
222
TREATY WITH TYRONE.
[BOOK II.
(so the Irish call the bordering lords, whom the Ulster
tyrants have long claimed to be their vassals).
6. That he build up again, at his own charges, the fort
and bridge of Blackwater, and furnish the soldiers with
victuals, as formerly he did.
7. That he deliver to the Lord Lieutenant the sons of
Shane Oneale, who were her Majesty's prisoners; till
breaking out they fell into his hands, and were imprisoned
by him.
8. To declare faithfully all intelligence with Spain,
and to leave it.
9. That he receive a sheriff for Tyrone, as all other
countries do.
10. That he put in his eldest son for pledge, and at
all times come to the State, being called.
11. That he pay a fine in part of satisfaction for his
offense, according to her Majesty's pleasure.
12. That he aid no rebel, nor meddle with the inhab-
itants on the east side of the Ban; yet so as he may
enjoy any lands or leases he hath there.
13. That he receive not any disloyal person, but send
such to the chief governor."
Of these articles Tyrone took exceptions to the 5th,
7th, 9th, 10th, and 13th. Such duties as the Vriaghts
yielded since his grandfather's time were all he desired
of them: but these he still claimed. To receive a sheriff
he did not altogether refuse-provided he were a gen-
tleman of the county: but "craved forbearance for a
small time." The sons of Shane Oneale, whom (being
the true heirs of the Earldom till it was forfeited by their
father's rebellion) it was important to him to keep, he
refused to deliver up "because he had not those
prisoners from the State." He refused to give his eldest
son for a pledge: and stipulated that he should not de-
liver up to the State any man "who came to him for
cause of conscience." To the rest, with some trifling
1597-98.] LETTER OF ADVICE TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. 223
reservations, he agreed. Only he asked for some delay,
in order that "the lords, his associates, might have time
to assemble, according to the second article, "that they
might therein lay no imputation on him: "—whereupon
the Lord Lieutenant granted him further day till the
10th of April following: at which time he pledged him-
self, whether they appeared or not, to make his own sub-
mission.
The result of this conference was of course immediately
reported to the government at home, and it seems that
the Council in Ireland (having had old experience of
Tyrone's ways) were disposed to advise that the treaty
should not on these conditions be proceeded with. Such
I suppose was the question now before the Council in
England, such the state of things upon which Essex
now asked for Bacon's advice. The next letter contains
his answer, and must be supposed therefore to have been
written about the end of March, 1598.
A LETTER OF ADVICE TO THE EARL OF ESSEX, UPON
THE FIRST TREATY WITH TYRONE, 1598, BEFORE
THE EARL WAS NOMINATED FOR THE CHARGE OF
IRELAND.
MY VERY GOOD LORD,
Concerning the advertise-
ments which your Lordship imparted to me touching the
state of Ireland, for willing duty's sake,¹ I will set down
to your Lordship what opinion sprang in my mind upon
that I read.
The letter from the counsel there, leaning to mistrust
and to dissuade the treaty,2 I do not much rely on for
three causes. First, because it is always the grace and
1 The copy in the Remains and the Cabala begins thus: "These advertise-
ments which your Lordship imparted to me, and the like, I hold to be no more
certain to make judgment upon than a patient's water to a physician; therefore
for me upon one water to make a judgment were indeed like a foolish bold
mountebank, or Dr. Birket: yet for willing duty's sake,” etc.
2 Leaning to distrust, I do not, etc.— R. and C.
224 LETTER OF ADVICE TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. [Book II.
1
the safety of such a counsel to err in caution: where-
unto add, that it may be they, or some of them, are not
without envy towards the person who is used in treating
the accord. Next, because the time of this treaty hath
no show of dissimulation; for that Tyrone is now in no
straits: but he is more like a gamester that will give
over because he is a winner, than because he hath no
more money in his purse. Lastly, I do not see but that
those articles whereupon they ground their suspicion
may as well proceed out of fear as out of falsehood. For
the retaining the dependence of the Vriaghts, the pro-
tracting the admission of a sheriff, the refusing to give
his son for an hostage, the holding off from present repair
to Dublin, the refusing to go presently to accord without
including Odonnell and other his associates, may very
well come of an apprehension 2 in case he should receive
hard measure, and not out of treachery. So as if the
great person you write of be faithful, and that you have
not here³ some present intelligence of present succors
from Spain (for the expectation whereof Tyrone would
win time), I see no deep cause of distrusting this course
of treaty, if the main conditions may be good. For her
Majesty seemeth to me to be a winner thereby three ways.
First, her purse shall have some rest. Next, it will divert
the foreign designs upon that place. Thirdly, though
her Majesty be like for a time but to govern precario
in the north, and be not (as to a true command) in better
state there than before; yet, besides the two respects.
of ease of charge and advantage of opinion abroad before
mentioned, she shall have a time to use her princely
policy in two points to weaken them: the one, by division
and disunion of the heads; the other, by recovering and
1 Both the grace and the safety from blame. — R. and C.
2 A guilty reservation.
8 heard: Res.
R. and C.
↑ Of distrusting the cause (qy. course) if it be good. And for the question.
her Majesty seemeth, etc. R. and C.
1597-98.] LETTER OF ADVICE TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. 225
winning the people from them by justice: which of all
other courses is the best.
Now for the Athenian question; you discourse well,
Quid igitur agendum est? I will shoot my fool's bolt,
since you will have it so. The Earl of Ormond to be
encouraged and comforted. Above all things, the garri-
sons instantly to be provided for. For opportunity makes
a thief, and if he should mean never so well now, yet
such an advantage as the breaking of her Majesty's garri-
sons might tempt a true man. And because he may as
well waver upon his own inconstancy as upon occasion
(and wanton variableness is never restrained but by
fear), I hold it necessary he be menaced with a strong
war, not by words, but by musters and preparations of
forces here, in case the accord proceed not: but none to
be sent over, lest it disturb the treaty, and make him
look to be over-run as soon as he hath laid away arms.
And but that your Lordship is too easy to pass in such
cases from dissimulation to verity, I think if your Lord-
ship lent your reputation in this case, that is, to pre-
tend that if peace go not on, and the Queen mean not to
make a defensive war as in times past, but a full recon-
quest¹ of those parts of the country, you would accept
the charge, I think it would help to settle Tyrone in
his seeking accord, and win you a great deal of honor
gratis.
And (that which most properly concerns this action,
if it prove a peace) I think her Majesty shall do well to
cure the root of the disease; and to profess, by a com-
mission of peaceable men of respect and countenance, a
reformation of abuses, extortions, and injustices there;
1 The copy in the Remains has: "It is to pretend that if a defensive war
as in times past, but a wofull reconquest of those parts in the country, you
would accept the charge."
The Cabala gives: "It is to pretend that if not a defensive war as in
times past, but a full reconquest of those parts of the country be resolved on,
you would accept the charge." Which looks like a conjectural emendation.
VOL. I.
15
226
TYRONE'S PARDON.
[BOOK II.
and to plant a stronger and surer government than here-
tofore, for the ease and protection of the subject. For
the removing of the sword or government in arms from
the Earl of Ormond, or the sending of a deputy (which
will eclipse it, if peace follow), I think it unseasonable.¹
Lastly, I hold still my opinion (both for your better
information, and the fuller declaration of your care and
meddling in this urgent and meriting service) that your
Lordship have a set conference with the persons I named
in my former letter.
What part Essex took in the subsequent deliberations
I do not know, nor have we any detailed account of the
measures which were taken in the exigency. We hear
only that about the middle of March, Sir Thomas Cecil,
Sir William Russell, Sir Walter Ralegh, and Sir R. Bing-
ham, were called and consulted: that order was taken
for sending corn and victual: that there was talk of send-
ing out as deputy either Sir W. Russell, who "absolutely
refused to go," or Sir Walter Ralegh, who "did little like
it:" and that up to the 22d of March, no dispatch had
been made of deputy or forces. The main issue, how-
ever, must have been an instruction to proceed with the
treaty, and accept Tyrone's submission upon the terms
proposed: for we learn from Moryson that "at the in-
stance of the Lord Lieutenant, the Lords Justices caused
Tyrone's pardon to be drawn and sealed with the great
seal of Ireland, bearing date the 11th of April."
So much Bacon, it seems, would have approved. But
I do not find that anything was done either to provide
for the garrisons, or to keep Tyrone in order by the mus-
tering of forces in England, or to detach the people from
him by the public manifestation of an intention to reform
abuses in Ireland. At any rate, whatever was done was
not enough, as things turned out; for before winter the
whole country was in revolt.
1 So Resusc. The MS. has unreasonable.
4.
1597-98.] QUARREL BETWEEN ESSEX AND THE QUEEN. 227
The truth I suppose is, that the negotiation with
France, which was going on at the same time and not
going on at all successfully, distracted the Queen's at-
tention from Ireland, and both the menace of war which
was to awe Tyrone, and the commencement of refor-
mation which was to detach the people, were put off too
long.
Sir Robert Cecil returned at the end of April, unsuc-
cessful. But though the King of France could not be
dissuaded from making a separate treaty with Spain, he
accompanied it with a stipulation that England should
be invited to join, if she were so disposed. This led to
warm debates at the English council-board between the
peace-party, represented by Burghley, and the war-party,
represented by Essex. Bacon's opinion on the particular
question which was in agitation has not been recorded.
It is probable however that he approved of peace, and
certain that he must have disapproved of the temper and
method in which Essex was proceeding; who was now
once more on the brink of his favorite precipice, and
would naturally be indisposed to seek counsel in a quar-
ter from which he knew he could expect no encourage-
ment. That he should take a leading part in the choice
of an officer for Ireland, and should even make a point
of securing, if he could, the employment of one of his
own party, was natural, and in accordance with Bacon's
former advice. But if the report be well founded—and
it rests upon better authority than such reports usually
do that he quarrelled with the Queen for proposing to
send his uncle, Sir William Knollys, and insisted on the
appointment of Sir George Carew, only because being
on bad terms with him he wished to remove him from
the Court; still more, if it be true that upon no worthier
quarrel than that he turned his back upon her in a man-
ner so insulting that she was provoked to strike him;
whereupon taking fire in his turn he laid his own hand
228 QUARREL BETWEEN ESSEX AND THE QUEEN. [Book II.
on his sword, swearing that he neither could nor would
swallow such an indignity, and would not have endured
it from Henry VIII. himself, and so retired in dudgeon
from the Court, refusing to make any submission: if all
this be true, it is clear that he was going headlong in a
course the direct opposite of that which Bacon had al-
ways urged upon him. Such however is the story, as
gravely and dispassionately told by Camden,¹ who may
have heard the scene described by those who saw it,
for it is stated to have taken place in the presence of
Lord Nottingham, Sir Robert Cecil, and Windebank,
a story never I believe contradicted; and confirmed, in
the earlier part of it, by one of the "brief notes and re-
membrances" found among the papers of Sir John Har-
ington, who was one of Essex's friends.2 Nor is it to be
denied that it is quite in the spirit of his former proceed-
ings, only more reckless and intemperate. The exact
date of this outbreak is not stated: and the cause and
issue of the quarrel which followed is only to be gathered
from scraps of Court news, which cannot be arranged
into a consistent tale. It seems probable, however, that
the scene at Court took place in June or July, 1598; and
that four or five months passed in ineffectual endeavors
on the Queen's part to extract from him some apology or
submission which might open the door to reconciliation,
and in moody discontent and wailings as of a much in-
jured man on his; till, about the end of October, the
absolute necessity of agreeing upon some course for the
reduction of Ireland to obedience (the condition of which
I shall have to treat more at large in another chapter)
overruled smaller matters, and so they made it up. Not
1 Camd. Ann., iii., p. 771.
2 "Note here how much will a man even benefit his enemy, provided he
doth put him out of his own way. My Lord of Essex did lately want Sir
George Carew to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, rather than his own uncle, Sir
William Knollys; because he had given him some cause of offense, aud by
thus thrusting him into high office he would remove him from Court." -Nugœ
Antiquæ, p. 173.
1597-98.]
LETTER TO THE LORD OF ESSEX.
229
however, as on former occasions, with satisfaction on both
sides, and some substantial object gained on the Earl's;
for this last offense was but imperfectly digested by
either. The reconciliation, such as it was, cannot be
dated earlier than the 18th of October, if that be the
true date of Essex's well-known letter to the Lord
Keeper; but I suppose it took place not long after. And
then it probably was that Bacon's next letter was writ-
ten; though my only ground for assigning this date to
it is that it suits so well with the circumstances.
TO MY LORD OF ESSEX.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP, That your Lord-
ship is in statu quo prius, no man taketh greater glad-
ness than I do; the rather, because I assure myself that
of your eclipses, as this hath been the longest, it shall be
the last.¹ As the comical poet saith, Neque illam tu
satis noveras, neque te illa; hoc ubi fit, ibi non vivitur.2
For if I may be so bold as to say what I think, I believe
neither your Lordship looked to have found her Majesty
in all points as you have done, neither her Majesty per-
case looked to find your Lordship as she hath done.
And therefore I hope upon this experience may grow
more perfect knowledge, and upon knowledge more true
consent; which I for my part do infinitely wish; as ac-
counting these accidents to be like the fish Remora;
which though it be not great, yet hath it a hidden prop-
erty to hinder the sailing of the ship. And therefore as
bearing unto your Lordship, after her Majesty, of all
public persons the second duty, I could not but signify
unto you my affectionate gratulation. And so I com-
mend your good Lordship to the best preservation of the
Divine Majesty.
From GRAY'S INN.
1 Least in original.
2 So in the original. The passage is in Terence's Heautontimoroumenos, i. 1,
where the last clause stands thus, “hocque fit ubi non vere vivitur.”

==
..
7
230
PARTIAL RECONCILIATION.
[BOOK II.
That the circumstances of this last quarrel had altered
the relation between Essex and the Queen was most true.
But Bacon's hope that it would prove an alteration for
the better which was really perhaps an expression of
his fear that it would prove otherwise was not destined
to fulfill itself. The Queen indeed, though her affection
had received another mortification and her judgment
another warning, retained her affection still, and would
have gladly taken him back upon any reasonable assur-
ance of good behavior. But in Essex the season of good
behavior was past. "Ambitious men,"
“Ambitious men," says Bacon, "if
they rise not with their service, they will take order that
their service fall with them." Prosperity had made him
such as we have seen him hitherto: what effect adversity
was to have upon him if such mortifications as he had
now to endure can be dignified with the name of adver-
sity we shall see shortly. For the present we must
leave him in a state of partial reconcilement, with the
sound of Bacon's voice in his ear, hoping that his better
knowledge may guide him into a safer course.
4
CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1598-1599. ÆTAT. 38-39.
THE poverty which in the summer of 1597 was still
coming on Bacon like one that travelleth, came in the
autumn of 1598 like a sheriff's officer. A money-lender
who held his bond for £300 had sued him for it in
Trinity Term of that year, but agreed to "respite the
satisfaction" till the beginning of the term next ensuing.
A full fortnight, however, before Michaelmas Term began
(without any warning and upon what pretense we are
not informed), he served an execution upon him and had
him arrested as he came from the Tower, where he was
engaged in business of the learned counsel; in which he
seems now to have taken his part, though a subordinate
one, as a matter of course.
All we know of the case is contained in the two next
letters, which I leave to tell their own story. The orig-
inals were found by Murdin in the Hatfield collection of
state papers, and communicated by him to Birch, who in-
cluded them in a volume entitled "Letters, Speeches, etc.,
of Francis Bacon," published in 1763; from which they
are here taken.
TO SIR ROBERT CECIL, SECRETARY OF STATE.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR HONOR, — I humbly pray you
to understand how badly I have been used by the en-
closed, being a copy of a letter of complaint thereof,
which I have written to the Lord Keeper. How sensi-
tive you are of wrongs offered to your blood in my par-
::
க்
#
232
BACON ARRESTED FOR DEBT.
[BOOK II.
ticular, I have had not long since experience. But
herein I think your Honor will be doubly sensitive, in
tenderness also of the indignity to her Majesty's service.
For as for me, Mr. Sympson might have had me every
day in London; and therefore to belay me, while he
knew I came from the Tower about her Majesty's special
service, was to my understanding very bold. And two
days before he brags he forbore me, because I dined with
sheriff More. So as with Mr. Sympson, examinations at
the Tower are not so great a privilege, eundo et redeundo,
as sheriff More's dinner. But this complaint I make in
duty; and to that end have also informed my Lord of
Essex thereof; for otherwise his punishment will do me.
no good.
So with signification of my humble duty, I commend
your Honor to the divine preservation. From Coleman
Street, this 24th of September (1598).
At your honorable command particularly,
FR. BACON.
TO SIR THOMAS EGERTON, LORD KEEPER OF THE
GREAT SEAL.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP, — I am to make
humble complaint to your Lordship of some hard dealing
offered me by one Sympson, a goldsmith, a man noted
much, as I have heard, for extremities and stoutness
upon his purse: but yet I could scarcely have imagined
he would have dealt either so dishonestly towards my-
self, or so contemptuously towards her Majesty's service.
For this Lombard (pardon me, I most humbly pray your
Lordship, if being admonished by the street he dwells in,
I give him that name) having me in bond for £300
principal, and I having the last term confessed the action,
and by his full and direct consent respited the satisfac-
tion till the beginning of this term to come, without ever
giving me warning either by letter or message, served an
1598-99.]
BACON ARRESTED FOR DEBT.
233
execution upon me, having trained me at such time as I
came from the Tower, where, Mr. Waad can witness,
we attended a service of no mean importance. Neither
would he so much as vouchsafe to come and speak with
me to take any order in it, though I sent for him divers
times, and his house was just by; handling it as upon a
despite, being a man I never provoked with a cross word,
no nor with many delays. He would have urged it to
have had me in prison; which he had done, had not
sheriff More, to whom I sent, gently recommended me
to an handsome house in Coleman Street, where I am.
Now because he will not treat with me, I am enforced
humbly to desire your Lordship to send for him, accord-
ing to your place, to bring him to some reason; and this
forthwith, because I continue here to my further dis-
credit and inconvenience, and the trouble of the gentle-
man with whom I am. I have an hundred pounds lying
by me, which he may have, and the rest upon some
reasonable time and security; or, if need be, the whole;
but with my more trouble. As for the contempt he
hath offered, in regard her Majesty's service, to my un-
derstanding, carrieth a privilege eundo et redeundo in
meaner causes, much more in matters of this nature, es-
pecially in persons known to be qualified with that place
and employment, which, though unworthy, I am vouch-
safed, I enforce nothing; thinking I have done my part
when I have made it known; and so leave it to your
Lordship's honorable consideration. And so with signifi-
cation of my humble duty, etc.
The service in the Tower from which Bacon was re-
turning when thus interrupted, and of which Mr. Waad
could witness the importance, was no doubt the examina-
tion (taken on the 23d of September, 1598, before Pey-
ton, Waad, and himself) of John Stanley.
The case under investigation was one of those conspira-
ور
•
1
234
CONSPIRACY OF EDWARD SQUIRE.
[BOOK. II.
cies for the assassination of Elizabeth, got up by the
Popish refugees in Spain, which had become so frequent
of late years; and of which (as they all failed, some
through the vigilance of the Government, and some,
like the present, from the weakness of the means em-
ployed) it is difficult in a world so changed to feel the
true importance in relation to the business of that day.
It has become the fashion, upon a general assumption
that the Government by the control they had over the
evidence could convict anybody of anything, and that
they used their power without any scruple, to treat all
such stories with contempt. But if the records show that
evidence was in those days both obtained and used in a
manner which would not now be thought fair, they show
also that a vast deal of labor and ingenuity was spent in
extracting it; and that when a man was arrested on sus-
picion of treason his trial and conviction did not by any
means follow as a matter of course. Long delays inter-
vened. Sheets upon sheets of interrogatories were care-
fully drawn up. All the answers were taken down in
writing and authenticated by the signatures of all the
examiners present. Fresh evidence was taken upon the
hints derived from what had been obtained before.
Often it happened that this evidence was not found
sufficient, and the charge was dropped. Often, after
public trial and conviction, a history of the case was
put forth for public satisfaction. All which implies that
the authorities of those days were careful of their reputa-
tion for justice, anxious in all public proceedings of that
nature to have the feeling of the people with them, and
differed from ourselves rather in the way they went
about it than in respect for the thing.
The case then under investigation was an attempt to
poison the Queen, which had been made in July, 1597,
by one Edward Squire and failed; and about which no
suspicion had been raised at the time. It was not till
..
دن
1598-99.]
HISTORY OF SQUIRE'S CONSPIRACY.
235
May, 1598, I believe, that the Government heard of it;
not till October that they made the story out. A
strange story, and in some parts hard to believe: but
certainly resting upon admissions made by the accused
party under cross-examination, which it is still harder to
account for if they were false. As a fact in the history
of criminal proceedings, it is still a curiosity worth pre-
serving. And it happens to have been preserved in a
manner which gives it a literary interest as well.
Early in 1599 there appeared from the press of the
Queen's printer a pamphlet, purporting to be a letter
written by a gentleman in England to a friend in Padua,
giving a full account of it: and though the writer's name
was not mentioned, I have no doubt, judging by the style,
that it was written by Bacon. Whether it was really
a private letter, a copy of which being shown to the
Queen, she resolved to have it printed by authority
(which is not unlikely, for both the Bacons had corre-
spondents in Italy, who used to send them "relations" of
affairs there); or whether it was originally drawn up
for publication, the form of a private letter being
chosen to avoid the appearance of a "too curious and
striving apology," I cannot say; nor is it a matter of
any consequence. A copy was sent to Dudley Carle-
ton, the Bishop's brother, by Chamberlain, on the 1st of
March, 1598-9: with the remark that it was "well
written," but without any speculation as to the writer.
In ascribing it to Bacon I rely entirely on the internal
evidence which in this case, however, is to me almost
as conclusive as the discovery of a draft in his own hand-
writing would be. The external evidence goes no fur-
ther than to show that he was in a position to write it.
He was certainly present at many of the examinations:
probably present at the trial; and had a right to know
everything that he tells. The original examinations and
confessions may still be seen in the State Paper Office.
1 See above, p. 41.
*
236
HISTORY OF SQUIRE'S CONSPIRACY.
[BOOK II.
Camden, who gives a concise summary of the case in
exact accordance with this narrative (probably taken
from it), adds that "Walpoole,¹ or some other for him,
set forth a book in print, wherein he precisely denied
with many detestations all which Squire had confessed."
But unfortunately the motives of such a denial are ob-
vious and strong, and some of them of a nature which
might seem to a person in Walpoole's position to make it
a duty above that of telling truth; whereas if the story
told by Squire was false, it is impossible to conceive his
motive for telling it. Supposing him to have been really
involved in some such conspiracy, I can understand how
he may have been induced to acknowledge some part of
it, and may thereby have entangled himself in his own
admissions till he had no escape. But if the story was
all false, what possible inducement could he have for in-
venting it? He was merely spinning a rope for his own
neck. And besides this difficulty (which seems to me
insuperable), the principles avowed by the Jesuits in
those days must necessarily deprive their assertions of
all value. There may be obligations higher than that of
veracity, but he who accepts them must be content to
have all his words distrusted. A promise is worth noth-
ing from a man who acknowledges an authority that may
release him from it. An oath that he speaks truth is
worth nothing from a man who may believe it his duty
to declare upon oath that which is false. For my own
part I believe the story as here told to be substantially
true. Those who think it a fiction (that is to say, the
report of a fiction, for the reporter was certainly not the
inventor) will still find it interesting for the manner in
which it is told. A better specimen of the art of narra-
tion it would be difficult to find. And it is interesting
besides as showing Bacon's idea (for I suppose those who
1 Father Richard Walpoole, a Jesuit; charged with being the "deviser and
suborner" of the conspiracy.
1598-99.]
SUCCESSES OF THE REBELS IN IRELAND.
237
are most familiar with his acknowledged writings in this
kind will be least inclined to doubt that it is his work) of
the manner in which such cases ought to be treated,
cases in which the conduct of the government was sure
to be misrepresented by an interested faction.
We return now to the affairs of the Earl of Essex;
whom we left in a state of partial recovery from his last
and most serious fit of disgust; again in attendance at
Court and Council, and received by the Queen; but
upon the new and indigestible condition of giving instead
of receiving satisfaction, making submissions instead of
extorting boons.
Tyrone had broken faith so often and so often received
pardon upon promise not to break it again, that he had
come at last to regard both as matters of course. This
last treaty, not being backed by preparations for effec-
tual chastisement in case of breach, appears to have been
simply ignored. What pretexts he alleged we are not
informed. Moryson only says, "Tyrone wanted not pre-
tenses to frustrate the late treaty, and to return to his
former disloyalty; and the defection of all other submit-
ties depending on him followed his revolt." And cer-
tainly his engagement to repair the fort of Blackwater
and furnish the garrison with victual can hardly have
been two months old, when having in vain tried to take
it by assault he was proceeding to reduce it by famine.
It was in marching to the relief of the brave little band
who held it, that the English first learned how rapidly
the natives were improving in the art of war; a lesson
which England has had to learn many times since in
many parts of the world by the same kind of teaching.
The siege had lasted so long that the garrison were feed-
ing on the vegetation of the walls and ditches, when Sir
Henry Bagnall, Marshal of Ireland, "with the most
choice companies of foot and horse troops of the English
army," was sent to relieve them. Having to pass among
-..
•
:
238
SUCCESSES OF THE REBELS IN IRELAND.
[BOOK II.
hills, bogs, and woods, the force got separated, and Ty-
rone taking his advantage, charged the foremost body,
killed the Marshal, and in the end gained a complete vic-
tory. Thirteen captains and fifteen hundred soldiers
were slain on the field, and the rest fell back upon Ar-
magh; whereupon the garrison, having first learned that
there was no further hope of succor, yielded up the fort.
By this victory"—which happened on the 14th of
August" the rebels" (says Moryson) "got plenty of
arms and victuals; Tyrone was among the Irish cele-
brated as the deliverer of his country from thraldom, and
the combined traitors on all sides were puffed up with
intolerable pride. All Ulster was in arms, all Connaught
revolted, and the rebels of Leinster swarmed in the Eng-
lish pale: while the English lay in their garrisons, so far
from assailing the rebels, as they rather lived in contin-
ual fear to be surprised by them." In October Munster
followed the example.
After this, it was clear that the case of Ireland could
no longer be allowed to wait upon Court quarrels. The
Council had recently suffered a great loss both in brains
and heart by the death of Burghley a fortnight before.
Sir Robert Cecil's abilities, though great, were not of
that simple and direct kind which gives a natural ascend-
ency and authority in council; nor was he perhaps alto-
gether the man to deal with such a problem as Ireland
now presented, if he had been left to himself. Ralegh,
who had all the faculties for it, is for some reason or
other not heard of at this juncture. I fancy he kept
aloof, knowing that such a business could not be under-
taken with any chance of success, except by a man who
had the advantage both of popularity in the country and
a commanding party in Court and Council: and he had
had taste enough of Essex's disposition towards rivals in
general and himself in particular, to know what sort of
support he was likely to receive from a Council 'swayed
1598-99.] SUCCESSES OF THE REBELS IN IRELAND.
239
by him. Essex himself was as yet in no humor to help,
though still powerful to hinder. He had refused to give
counsel when last called to the Lord Keeper, unless he
might be first heard by the Queen herself. On hearing
of the disaster of Blackwater he had posted up and made
offer of his advice, but only (it seems) on the same con-
dition. And though he succeeded in obtaining access in
the course of the next month, it was not till after the
18th of October (according to Camden's account) that
"he became more submiss, and obtained pardon; and
was received again of her into favor."
1
Of the occasion and process of his recovery I find no
news. But I am inclined to think that a second blow of
ill luck in Ireland had something to do with it. On the
29th of August, a fortnight after the Blackwater dis-
aster, we learn from Chamberlain that he was still out
of favor, "though he had relented much and sought by
divers means to recover his hold: but the Queen said he
had played long enough upon her, and that she meant to
play awhile upon him, and to stand as much upon her
greatness as he had done upon his stomach." On the
12th of September (as I learn from a letter of Toby
Matthews) he saw the Queen for the first time since the
quarrel, and was supposed to be in favor again. Yet
the reconciliation cannot have been a very sound one;
for the letter of remonstrance addressed to him by Eger-
ton and his reply (18th October) show that the old
wound was still as sore as ever, and that he was then
standing on terms little short of defiance.
Now it must have been about this time that the case
of Ireland assumed a new aspect. Upon news of the
death of Sir Henry Bagnall at Blackwater, Sir Richard
Bingham" a man," says Camden, "of all others the
most valiant and fortunate against the rebels" — had
been sent over to take his place as Marshal of Ireland
See his own Letter, printed in the Lives of the Earls of Essex, i., 496.
1
:
240
APPOINTMENT OF A NEW LORD DEPUTY.
[BOOK II.
and General of Leinster. But Sir Richard had hardly
arrived in Dublin when he died. This was another great
loss to the government and great encouragement to the
rebellion, which was rapidly spreading on all sides. The
reconquest of Ireland became now the main problem of
the time, and could only be accomplished by a strong ef-
fort and a large army. Whoever commanded that army
would be the chief man of the day; would draw the eyes
of all soldiers upon him while the action was in progress,
and if he succeeded, would have done a much greater
thing than the capture of Cadiz. Now it must be con-
fessed that if Essex could be content to see any one else
in such a position as that, he was within the last twelve-
month a much altered man; and I cannot help suspect-
ing that it was this apprehension which overcame his
disgusts and induced him to make the necessary submis-
sion. Certain it is that only two days after the date of
that letter to Egerton, a letter breathing of anything
but submission, a report was abroad that he meant to
take the charge of Ireland upon himself; and from that
time the rumor which had previously assigned it to Lord
Montjoy died away, no one but he was spoken of for the
appointment, and the delays arose not from the preten-
sions of any competitor or from any hesitation in him-
self, but from the difficulty of satisfying him as to the
conditions. The truth is, he found that if he held out
longer the service would be committed to another man.
While he was still nursing his grievance and refusing to
attend, Lord Montjoy had been fixed upon;¹ a man sin-
gularly qualified for the office, as appeared afterwards ;
and one also whom Essex (ever since he quarreled and
fought with him, some ten years before, for wearing a
1 "When the Earl of Essex went Lord Lieutenant into Ireland, the Lord
Montjoy was first named to that place; whereupon by my brother Sir Richard
Moryson's inwardness with him, I then obtained his Lordship's promise to follow
him into Ireland." — Moryson, p. 84. It is clear therefore that the selection of
Lord Montjoy was more than a rumor.

1598-99.]
APPOINTMENT OF A NEW LORD DEPUTY.
241
Queen's favor in the tiltyard) had reckoned among his
friends. But it was now some time since Essex had been
able to continue on terms of friendship with any man
who stood in a position to be in any way his competi-
tor; and all accounts agree that it was by his influence
that the nomination of Montjoy was canceled and the
task laid upon himself.
That he disliked the service at all is by no means clear
to me. If he did, he disliked still more that another man
should be entrusted with it. But whether he liked it or
not, he was to go; and before he went, if not before he
had finally resolved on going, he asked Bacon's advice.
The time is not known. If I have guessed the occasion
of Bacon's last congratulatory letter right, it may have
been then, and that letter may have suggested the com-
munication. At any rate it seems to have been while
there was yet time for consideration. What Bacon was
likely to think of such a project may be inferred from
the significant qualification with which he guarded the
suggestion thrown out in his last letter of advice,
written when he hoped that the rebellion would be
quelled without a war. "And (says he) but that your
Lordship is too easy to pass in such cases from dissimu-
lation to verity, I think if your Lordship lent your repu-
tation in this case, — that is to pretend that if peace go
not on and the Queen mean to make, not a defensive war
as in times past, but a full reconquest of those parts of
the country, you would accept the charge; I think it
would help to settle Tyrone in his seeking accord, and win
you a great deal of honor gratis." Of the value of the
loan of Essex's reputation there could be no doubt. His
fame in England was at its height, and carried over to
Ireland with echoes from every side, would no doubt
sound still louder there than here. Nothing is more
likely than that in April, when the rebellion had not
1 See above, p. 229.
:
242
BACON ADVISES ESSEX NOT TO GO. Book II.
as yet been encouraged by any considerable success, the
fear of a royal army under the command of Essex would
have made the leaders pause and given healing measures
time to work. But it is clear that even then Bacon
would not have advised him to put it to the proof- much
less now, when the work was so much more arduous, and
his own position so much worse by reason of the feelings
which his recent behavior had excited in the Queen. Of
the advice which Bacon did in fact give we must be con-
tent with his own report, there being no other record of
it. "Touching his going into Ireland it pleased him
expressly and in a set manner to desire mine opinion
and counsel. At which time I did not only dissuade but
protest against his going; telling him with as much ve-
hemency and asseveration as I could that absence in that
kind would exulcerate the Queen's mind, whereby it
would not be possible for him to carry himself so as to
give her sufficient contentment, nor for her to carry her-
self so as to give him sufficient countenance; which will
be ill for her, ill for him, and ill for the state. And be-
cause I would omit no argument, I remember I stood
also upon the difficulty of the action; setting before him
out of histories that the Irish were such an enemy as the
ancient Gauls or Germans or Britons were; and we saw
how the Romans, who had such discipline to govern their
soldiers and such donatives to encourage them and the
whole world in a manner to levy them, yet when they
came to deal with enemies which placed their felicity
only in liberty and the sharpness of their sword, and had
the natural elemental advantages of bogs and woods and
hardness of bodies, they ever found they had their hands
full of them; and therefore concluded that going over
with such expectation as he did, and through the churl-
ishness of the enterprise not like to answer it, would
mightily diminish his reputation; and many other reasons
I used, so as I am sure I never in anything in my life-
1598-99.]
BACON ADVISES ESSEX NOT TO GO.
243
time dealt with him in like earnestness, by speech, by
writing, and by all the means I could devise. For I did
as plainly see his overthrow chained as it were by destiny
to that journey, as it is possible for a man to ground a
judgment upon future contingents. But my Lord, how-
soever his ear was open, yet his heart and resolution was
shut against that advice." 1
The questions which arose with regard to the extent
of his commission it is not necessary to discuss. If Bacon
was consulted about any of them (which I do not think
likely) no record remains of his opinion. The amplitude
of the authority for which Essex stipulated and the per-
tinacity with which he insisted on his demands is said to
have been remarked at the time as strange and even sus-
picious. "In such sort did he bear himself," says Cam-
den, "that he seemed to his adversaries to wish nothing
more than to have an army under his command and to
bind martial men unto him; and that with such earnest
seeking that some feared lest he entertained some mon-
strous design, especially seeing he showed his contumacy
more and more against the Queen, that had been most
bountiful to him." And certainly considering the temper
he was in, the sense of injury which he was still nursing
in himself and which was cherished in him by a whole
world of sympathizing followers, his long habit of coming
a winner out of every dispute with the Queen, and his
inveterate tendency to consider every man who crossed
him as an enemy to his country as well as to him, it may
well be believed that one of the objects which he had
now in view was to make himself formidable: which he
had the means of doing, because he was in fact formidable
already so much so that the danger of refusing his de-
mands was thought to be (even with the Queen) one of
the reasons for granting them.2
1 Apology.
2 "He had long been a dear favorite with the Queen, but had of late ain so
244
ESSEX RESOLVED TO GO.
[BOOK II.
Bacon himself was, I think, very far from easy on this
head. He had long since warned him of the impression
which his favorite courses would sooner or later make on
the Queen's mind, whether or not there were any real
ground for it: latterly he had begun, I fancy, to suspect
that there was juster reason for that impression than there
should have been. And now when the Earl was on the
point of setting out on the great enterprise, he wrote him.
a letter, the full significance of which will not be under-
stood without bearing this among other things in mind.
He had in vain advised him to decline an undertaking
to which he did not think him equal. His advice had
been heard and rejected. All was now settled. Every
demand which the Earl made had been conceded; the
rather (they say) by the furtherance of his enemies, who
foresaw the issue. He was to have a larger army under
his command than had ever been seen in Ireland, and
larger powers than any deputy had ever been trusted
with. The one chance for him now was to be inspired
with a due sense of the responsibility of his position; to
have his ambition directed into the right channel, and
his spirit roused to perform worthily the service which
he had, however rashly, undertaken. If he could but be
persuaded to lay aside personal aims and emulations, and
think only of the public duty with which he was trusted;
to make the performance of that his sole aim, and address
himself to it earnestly, strenuously, and loyally; he had
still a noble alternative before him: the honor and merit
of a great achievement if he succeeded; of a faithful en-
deavor if he failed. In reminding him once more of the
open to his enemies, as he had given them power to make his embracing of mil-
itary courses and his popular estimation so much suspected of his sovereign, as
his greatness was now judged to depend as much upon her Majesty's fear of
him as her love to him."-Moryson, p. 26.
1 "Nec quicquam in optatis habuit quod officiosa, ne dicam insidiosa, adver-
sariorum opera non impetravit."-Camden. A comment curiously contrasting
with Essex's own complaints, the unvarying burden of which is that whatever
he asks for is refused.
་
+-
1598-99.]
BACON'S LETTER.
245
dangers which awaited him, to rouse his ambition to en-
counter and overcome them, is the task to which Bacon
now addressed himself. He looks on all sides for hopeful
prognostics; tries to see them in the rareness of the op-
portunity, an occasion forced on as it were by Providence
for reducing and settling the whole kingdom of Ireland:
in the badness of the cause he was going against, three of
the unluckiest vices of all others: Disloyalty, Ingratitude,
and Insolency in the goodness and justice of the cause
he was going to maintain; a recovery of subjects from
barbarism to humanity no less than from rebellion to
obedience: in the Earl's own character and qualities: in
the nature of the present difficulty, as caused by former
errors in the greatness of the trust committed to him,
which should stimulate him to deserve it: nay, in the
very thing which he had before used as an argument of
dissuasion (for the same apprehension which alarms the
judgment may serve to rouse the courage), namely, the
difficulty of the enterprise and the nature of the enemy:
all which considerations, in making the merit of success
greater might be expected to make the endeavor more
strenuous. But in each successive note of encouragement
there is heard also a voice of warning, sad and ominous.
The vision of success which "some good spirit leads him
to presage" is clouded with the presentiment of an ap-
proaching catastrophe. And all he can say in the way
of advice amounts to no more than a repetition of the
old warning, to seek merit, not fame; and to keep within
the limits of obedience.
The date of the letter is not given: but I suppose it
was written in March, 1599.
A LETTER OF ADVICE TO MY LORD OF ESSEX, IMME-
DIATELY BEFORE HIS GOING INTO IRELAND.
MY SINGULAR GOOD LORD, Your late note of my
silence in your occasions hath made me set down these
:
216
BACON'S LETTER.
[BOOK II.
few wandering lines, as one that would say somewhat,
and can say nothing, touching your Lordship's intended
charge for Ireland: which my endeavor I know your
Lordship will accept graciously; whether your Lordship
take it by the handle of [the] occasion ministered from
yourself, or of the affection from which it proceeds.
Your Lordship is designed to a service of great merit
and great peril; and as the greatness of the peril must
needs include a like proportion of merit: so the great-
ness of the merit may include no small consequence of
peril, if it be not temperately governed. For all immod-
erate success extinguisheth merit, and stirreth up distaste
and envy; the assured forerunners of whole charges of
peril.¹ But I am at the last point first, some good spirit
leading my pen to presage to your Lordship success;
wherein, it is true, I am not without my oracles and div-
inations; none of them superstitious, and yet not all nat-
ural. For first, looking into the course of God's provi-
dence in things now depending, and calling to considera-
tion how great things God hath done by her Majesty and
for her; I collect he hath disposed of this great defection
in Ireland, thereby to give an urgent occasion to the re-
duction of that whole kingdom; as upon the rebellion of
Desmond there ensued the reduction of that whole prov-
ince.
Next, your Lordship goeth against three of the un-
luckiest vices of all others, Disloyalty, Ingratitude, and
Insolency; which three offenses, in all examples, have
seldom their doom adjourned to the world to come.
Lastly, he that shall have had 2 the honor to know
your Lordship inwardly, as I have had, shall find bona
exta, whereby he may ground a better divination of good
than upon the dissection of a sacrifice. But that part I
leave; for it is fit for others to be confident upon you,
1 So in Resuscitatio; Add. MS. 5503 has "the assured forerunners of
changes."
2 had omitted in MS.
i
A
1598-99.]
BACON'S LETTER.
1
247
and you to be confident ¹ upon the cause; the goodness
and justice whereof is such as can hardly be matched in
any example; it being no ambitious war against foreign-
ers, but a recovery of subjects, and that after lenity of
conditions often tried; and a recovery of them not only
to obedience, but to humanity and policy, from more
than Indian barbarism.
:
There is yet another kind of divination familiar in
matters of state, being that which Demosthenes so often
relieth upon in his time, when he saith, That which for
the time past is worst of all, is for the time to come the
best which is, that things go ill, not by accident, but by
errors. Wherein, if your Lordship have been heretofore
a waking censor, you must look for no other now, but
Medice, cura teipsum. And though you should not be
the blessed 2 physician that cometh in the declination of
the disease, yet you embrace that condition which many
noble spirits have accepted for advantage; which is that
you go upon the greater peril of your fortune, and the
less of your reputation; and so the honor countervaileth
the adventure. Of which honor your Lordship is in no
small possession, when that her Majesty (known to be
one of the most judicious princes in discerning of spirits
that ever governed) hath made choice of you (merely
out of her royal judgment, her affection inclining rather
to continue your attendance) into whose hand and trust
to put the commandment and conduct of so great forces ;
the gathering of the fruit of so great charge; the execu-
tion of so many counsels; the redeeming of the defaults
of so many former governors; and the clearing of the
glory of so many and happy years' reign, only in this
part eclipsed. Nay further, how far forth the peril of
that State is interlaced with the peril of England, and
¹ So Cabala; The words from upon to
the MS. and in the Resuscitatio.
2 shall and happy in Resuscitatio.
"confident are omitted both in
F1
-
✩
J

ہنا
248
ADVICE TO ESSEX BEFORE HIS GOING.
[BOOK II.
therefore how great the honor is, to keep and defend the
approaches or avenues of this kingdom, I hear many dis-
course; and indeed there is a great difference, whether the
tortoise gather herself within her shell hurt or unhurt.
And if any man be of opinion, that the nature of the
enemy doth extenuate the honor of the service, being
but a rebel and a savage, I differ from him. For I
see the justest triumphs that the Romans in their great-
ness did obtain, and that whereof the emperors in their
styles took addition and denomination, were of such an
enemy as this; that is people barbarous and not re-
duced to civility, magnifying a kind of lawless liberty,
prodigal in life, hardened in body, fortified in woods
and bogs, and placing both justice and felicity in the
sharpness of their swords. Such were the Germans and
the ancient Britons, and divers others. Upon which
kind of people, whether the victory were a conquest,
or a reconquest upon a rebellion or a revolt, it made
no difference that ever I could find in honor. And there-
fore it is not the enriching predatory war that hath the
preeminence of honor, else should it be more honor to
bring in a carrack of rich burden than one of the twelve
Spanish Apostles. But then this nature of people doth
yield a higher point of honor, considering the truth and
substance,¹ than any war can yield which should be
achieved against a civil enemy, if the end may be pa-
cique 2 imponere morem, to replant and refound the pol-
icy of that nation; to which nothing is wanting, but a
just and civil government. Which design as it doth de-
scend unto you from your noble father who lost his life
in that action (though he paid tribute to nature and not
to fortune), so I hope your Lordship shall be as fatal a
captain to this war as Africanus was to the war of Car-
thage, after that both his uncle and father had lost their
1 considered in truth and substance: Resuscitatio.
2 So all the copies.
1=-6
1598-99.]
ADVICE TO ESSEX BEFORE HIS GOING.
249
lives in Spain in the same war. Now although it be true
that these things which I write, being but representations
unto your Lordship of the honor and appearance of suc-
cess of the enterprise, be not much to the purpose of any
advice; yet it is that which is left to me, being no man
of war, and ignorant in the particulars of State. For a
man may by the eye set up the white right in the midst
of the butt, though he be no archer. Therefore I will
only add this wish, according to the English phrase,
which terms a well-willing advice a wish that your
Lordship in this whole action, looking forward, would set
down this position, That merit is worthier than fame;
and looking back hither, would remember this¹ text,
That obedience is better than sacrifice. For designing
to fame and glory may make your Lordship in the ad-
venture of your person to be valiant as a private soldier,
rather than as a General; it may make you in your com-
mandments rather to be gracious than disciplinary; it
may make you press action (in respect of the great ex-
pectation conceived) rather hastily than seasonably and
safely; it may make you seek rather to achieve the war
by fine force, than by intermixture of practice; it may
make you (if God shall send prosperous beginnings)
rather seek the fruition of that honor, than the perfec-
tion of the work in hand. And for the other point, that
is the proceeding like a good Protestant upon express
warrant, and not upon good intention, your Lordship
knoweth in your wisdom that as it is most fit for you to
desire convenient liberty of instructions, so it is no less
fit for you to observe the due limits of them; remember-
ing that the exceeding of them may not only procure in
case of adverse accident a dangerous disavow; but also
in case of prosperous success be subject to interpretation,
as if all were not referred to the right end.
1 So Resuscitatio. The words from "position
the MS.
"
to this" are omitted in
250 IRISH CAMPAIGN: OBJECTS AND PURPOSES.
[Book II.
Thus have I presumed to write these few lines to your
Lordship, in methodo ignorantiæ; which is when a man
speaketh of a subject not according to the parts of the
matter, but according to the model of his own knowl-
edge; and I most humbly desire your Lordship, that the
weakness thereof may be supplied in your Lordship by
a benign acceptation, as it is in me by my best wishing.
The Earl set out on the 27th of March, 1599, with
great popular expectation and acclamation, but with
strange and serious misgivings on the part of other
people besides Bacon, among those who had better
means of judging. A very confidential letter of advice
and warning addressed to Sir John Harington by a friend
and kinsman holding some office about the court, and
printed in the "Nugæ Antiquæ," gives us a glimpse be-
hind the curtain:
•
"I hear you are to go to Ireland with the Lieutenant, Essex.
If so, mark my counsel. ... Observe the man who command-
eth, and yet is commanded himself; he goeth not forth to serve
the Queen's realm, but to humor his own revenge.
If the
Lord Deputy performs in the field what he hath promised in the
Council, all will be well; but though the Queen hath granted
forgiveness for his late demeanor in her presence, we know not
what to think hereof. She hath in all outward semblance placed
confidence in the man who so lately sought other treatment at
her hands; we do sometime think one way and sometime another.
You have now a secret from one that wisheth you all
welfare and honor; I know there are overlookers set on you all,
so God direct your discretion. Sir William Knolles is not well
pleased, the Queen is not well pleased, the Lord Deputy may
be pleased now, but I sore fear what may happen hereafter."
And more in the same strain.
These were conjectures no doubt, drawn from dark
hints and rumors of the Court; but they were conjec-
tures formed at the time by lookers-on not personally
::

1598-99.] IRISH CAMPAIGN: OBJECTS AND PURPOSES.
251
implicated, and when questions arise hereafter as to the
objects with which Essex undertook and entered upon his
task, it is fit they should be remembered. And to me I
must confess that however gayly and hopefully he ex-
pressed himself to private friends like Harington and
Bacon,¹ the tone of his letters to the Government from
the very first seems less like that of a man undertaking
either a hopeful enterprise with spirit or an unhopeful
one with resolution, than of one who is preparing to quar-
rel with his employers and throw upon them the respon-
sibility for what may happen. All his demands are for
increase of strength and authority. As fast as one is
granted he makes another. And upon the least demur
comes always the querulous warning that if things go
wrong it is not his fanlt. A little before he had pro-
posed to make the Earl of Southampton (a man then
under the Queen's displeasure, but entirely devoted to
himself) General of the Horse; and when the Queen
"showed a dislike of his having any office," he had told
her that she might revoke his commission if she would,
but if she meant him to execute it "he must work with
his own instruments." And now immediately upon his
departure, when he was yet no further on his way than
Bromley, we find him insisting in the same peremptory
fashion upon the appointment of his step-father, Sir
Christopher Blount, to a seat in the Irish Council. Sir
Christopher was a Roman Catholic, and a man who was
ready (as appeared afterwards) to go almost all 2 lengths
of disloyalty with him. The Queen had agreed that he
should accompany him as Marshal of the Army; where-
upon Essex applied to have him made a Councillor also;
which being refused, he replied that in that case he
should not want him, and had therefore sent him back.
1 "Confessing that your Lordship, in your last conference with me before.
your journey, spake not in vain, God making it good, that you trusted we say,
Quis putasset.' See further on, p. 272.
2 Not all; see p. 270.

•
252 IRISH CAMPAIGN: DEMANDS AND COMPLAINTS. [Book II.
"I have returned Sir Christopher Blount whom I hoped
to have carried over; for I shall have no such necessary
use of his hands, as being debarred the use of his head I
would carry him to his own disadvantage and the dis-
grace of the place he should serve in. Hereof I thought
fit to advertise your Lordships, that you might rather
pity than expect extraordinary successes from me." So
he wrote to the Council on the 1st of April; charging the
bearer at the same time with a verbal message for the
Queen to this effect; he would do his best to discharge
both offices himself, but begged that his successor might
quickly be sent after him,- for "he that should do two
such offices, and discharge them as he ought, should not
value his life at many months' purchase." And though
he can hardly have meant so petulant a proceeding to be
well taken, the offense which it naturally gave was ac-
cepted as another grievance.
"As for Sir Christopher
Blount's ill-success, or rather mine for him, I fear it will be
semble to all my speed when I sue or move for anything.
I sued to her Majesty to grant it out of favor, but I spake
a language that was not understood, or to a goddess not
at leisure to hear prayers. I since, not for my sake but
for her service sake, desired to have it granted; but I
see, let me plead in any form, it is in vain. I must save
myself by protestation that it is not Tyrone and the
Irish rebellion that amazeth me, but to see myself sent
of such an errand, at such a time, with so little comfort
or ability from the Court of England to effect that I go
about." To leave Sir Christopher behind, however, was
not his intention. He had not really sent him back; and
upon a second letter from the Council, he agreed, though
he were "utterly unprovided of all things necessary for
such a journey," to take him. "But, my Lords," he
added, "it must be all our devout prayers to God and our
humble suit to her Majesty that she will be as well
served by her vassals as obeyed; and that when she
1598-99.] IRISH CAMPAIGN: OBJECTS AND PURPOSES.
253
grants not the ability she will not expect nor exact great
performance. For myself, if things succeed ill in my
charge I am like to be a martyr for her; but as your
Lordships have many times heard me say, it had been far
better for her service to have sent a man favored by her,
who should not have had these crosses and discourage-
ments which I shall ever suffer. Of your Lordships I do
entreat that you will forget my person and the circum-
stances of it, but remember that I am her Majesty's
minister in the greatest cause that ever she had; that
though to keep myself from scorn and misery it shall be
in mine own power, yet to enable me to reduce that re-
bellious kingdom of Ireland to obedience lies in her
Majesty; for if I have not inward comfort and outward
demonstration of her Majesty's favor, I am defeated in
England."
All this comes from a man who is setting out at the
head of an army of 16,000 foot and 1,500 horse-an
army "as great as himself required, and such for number
and strength as Ireland had never seen;" carrying with
him “three months' pay beforehand, and likewise victual,
munition, and all habiliments of war whatsoever, with
attendance of shipping allowed and furnished in a suit-
able proportion, and to the full of all his own demands;"
with commission "to command peace or war, to truce,
parley, or such matter as seemeth best for the enterprise
and the good of the realm;" to pardon all treasons and
offenses; to bestow almost all offices; to remove all offi-
cers not holding by patent, and suspend such as held by
patent; to make martial laws and punish the trans-
gressors; to dispose of the lands of rebels; to command
the ships; to issue treasure to the amount of £300,000
by the year, with liberty, by consent and advice of the
Irish Council, "to alter that which was signed by the
Lords in England," — provided only that he did not ex-
ceed the sum of the establishment; - and all because
À
:
་་ ཟ ཟ ་
254 IRISH CAMPAIGN: DEMANDS AND COMPLAINTS. [Book II.
one devoted dependent was not to have a seat in Council.
Next came complaints about the arrangements for vict-
ualling, paying, and recruiting the army, complaints
which must at any rate have been premature,
but ex-
pressed in the same style and still ending with the same
burden: "compassion I myself shall not greatly need, for
whatsoever the success may be, yet I shall be sure of a
fair destiny. Only her Majesty and your Lordships
must and will, I doubt not, pity Ireland, and pity the
army under my charge, lest if you suffer your men in un
out ravelin to be lost, you be hardly afterwards able to
defend the rampier.
All this, it will be observed, was on the way between
London and Beaumaris, before he had arrived at the
scene of action, and while his commission was not a fort-
night old. And never surely was a formidable enter-
prise commenced in a humor so inauspicious; a humor
which in a man personally brave and constitutionally
sanguine is very hard to understand, without supposing
that he had something or other in his head besides the
faithful performance of it.
Still harder is it without some such supposition to
understand his proceedings after he did arrive at the
scene of action. Whatever differences of opinion there
had been in the Council, upon one point they were all
agreed that the attack was to be upon the heart and
stronghold of the rebellion, and that measures were to
be taken to keep the mastery when gained: a policy
which no one had urged more vehemently than himself.
On the 11th of April, when he was on the point of em-
barking, he had censured the "drawing of the troops
into idle miserable journeys, whereby he should find
them unserviceable when he came," as a main error of
the Irish Government, requiring his instant presence to
correct. On the 15th he landed in Dublin, and called
for a report of the state of the country. He found that
1598-99.] IRISH CAMPAIGN: MARCH THROUGH MUNSTER. 255
the rebel forces amounted altogether to upwards of
18,000 foot and upwards of 2,000 horse; that nearly half
of these were in Ulster, the northern extremity of the
island, Tyrone's own country, from which the whole
rebellion was nourished and spread; that in Leinster,
the central province lying round the English pale, there
were about 3,000; in Connaught, to the west, about as
many more; and in Munster, the southwestern ex-
tremity, most distant from the heart of the rebellion,
and in which all the cities and port towns, almost all
the castles, and many great lords and gentlemen still
held for the Queen, about 5,000: also that Tyrone
meant to make two several heads of rebellion, one in
Ulster, and the other in Connaught. How then will he
begin?
He proposed to begin with an attack on Tyrone in
Ulster. But being advised by the Council to put it off
till the middle of June or the beginning of July, when
grass and forage would be more plentiful, cattle fatter,
and means of conveyance more complete, he readily ac-
quiesced; and as he acquiesced on this occasion without
complaining of crosses and discouragements, I presume
that he had no personal inclination the other way. In-
stead of a march towards Ulster then, a "present prosecu-
tion in Leinster, being the heart of the whole kingdom,"
was resolved on. This resolution having been forwarded
to the Council in England on the 28th of April, and al-
lowed by them on the 8th of May, on the 10th he set out
professedly to set on foot this "present prosecution in
Leinster." And if six weeks must pass before the main
action could be attempted with advantage, it would cer-
tainly seem that they might have been well spent in re-
covering and making secure those parts which lay next
to the seat of Government and within easy reach of all
resources, a work which might serve to exercise the
army without wasting it. This, however, was not what
#
។
.

-
256 IRISH CAMPAIGN: MARCH THROUGH MUNSTER. [Book II.
he did, or attempted, or apparently ever intended, to do.
He began, it is true, with a march through Leinster, for
he had to march through it before he could get out of it.
But he took his course straight for the borders of Mun-
ster. No sooner was he there than he sent word that he
had been persuaded by the president of that province
"for a few days to look into his government." And
thereupon, without waiting for instructions from either
Council, he proceeded to march his troops up and down
Munster, to the south as far as Clonmel on the south-
ern border of Tipperary, then to the northeast as far as
Askeaton on the northern border of Limerick, then south
again as far as Killmalloch; thence (the necessities of the
army, now short of food and ammunition, obliging him
to think of returning) southeast to Dungarvon, and so
along the southern and eastern shores to Waterford, to
Arklow, and back to Dublin; - forcing his passage
everywhere through the rebel skirmishers, who gave way
before him and closed after him; taking and garrisoning
here and there a stronghold; displaying much personal
activity and bravery, a shining figure still in the eyes.
of the soldiers and probably in his own; welcomed with
Latin orations and popular applause as he entered the
principal towns; and writing plaintive letters home
about ill-usage and discouragement; ¹ but exhausting his
troops, consuming his supplies, and getting nothing ef-
fectually done; - insomuch that when he returned to
Dublin on the 3d of July, the season when it had been
agreed that the great business of the campaign was to
begin, though the grass had grown and cattle were in
condition and the means of transport ready, the army
(what with marches, skirmishes, garrisons, disease, and
decimation) was more than half wasted away, and the
remnant greatly discouraged.
—
-
1
1 "But why do I talk of victory or success? Is it not known that from Eng-
land I receive nothing but discomforts and soul's wounds? Is it not spoken of
1598-99.] IRISH CAMPAIGN: MARCH INTO ULSTER.
257
Still as in this matter at least he had taken his own
way entirely, his only complaint being that the way he
had taken was not better liked at home, to plead inabil-
ity now to proceed with the appointed work would have
been to admit his own error. And therefore, all disad-
vantages notwithstanding, - disadvantages to whom at-
tributable he does not say, he professed himself ready
to undertake it. "Albeit the poor men that marched with
me eight weeks together be very weary and unfit for any
new journey, and besides the horsemen so divided that
I cannot draw 300 to an head, yet as fast as I can call
these troops together I will go look upon yonder proud
rebel; and if I find him on hard ground and in an open
country, though I should find him in horse and foot three
for one, yet will I by God's grace dislodge him, or put
the Council to the trouble of choosing a new Lord Jus-
tice." This was written on the 11th of July. So that if
Tyrone should prove fool enough to quit his position of
advantage and risk his cause in a battle on open ground,
something might yet be done towards the accomplishment
of the one object for which Essex had been sent out.
He might be beaten back into his woods and bogs.
This it seems was all: but even for this matters were
not yet quite ripe. For the recommendation of the Irish
Council to employ the interval in making things secure
in Leinster having all this time been utterly neglected,
it now appeared that there was work to be done there
before the Ulster expedition could be commenced. So
before the dispatch of the 11th of July could be answered,
a second had arrived reporting disorders in Ophaly and
Leix which Essex was going in person to subdue.¹ These
do not seem to have been so formidable but that a second
in command might have been trusted to deal with them,
in the army, that your Majesty's favor is diverted from me," etc., and a page
more of the like. Essex to the Queen. June 25.
1 Camden.
VOL I.
17
ï

.258
IRISH CAMPAIGN: MARCH INTO ULSTER.
[BOOK II.
for they were easily suppressed, but they were enough to
cause further delay¹ and to reduce yet more the effective
strength of the army: insomuch that the Earl now de-
clared he could not go against Tyrone without a reinforce-
ment of 2,000 men. If he expected a denial, which might
have served for an excuse, he was disappointed. A rein-
forcement of 2,000 men from England had been sent in
July, and he now received authority to levy 2,000 Irish
besides. And though the Irish Council began now to
dissuade the enterprise altogether, he was resolved to
proceed with it. But first, in order to divide Tyrone's
forces, he ordered Sir Conyers Clifford, Governor of Con-
naught, to make an attack or demonstration upon his
western borders-himself, the better perhaps to throw
him off his guard on the south and east, remaining still in
Dublin. What effect this might have had we cannot
know; for at the end of the second day's march Sir Con-
yers's whole force was, through some of the unaccounta-
ble accidents of war, repulsed in a pass by a party of
rebels not above a third of their number, himself slain,
and the expedition stopped.
By this time August was half spent, and Tyrone had
not yet been so much as harassed or put on his defense.
But now Essex was really determined to do something.
It was time" to pull down the pride of the arch-traitor,
to redeem the late scorn of the Curlews (the scene of
Clifford's disaster), and hold up the reputation of the
army." He must revenge or follow worthy Conyers
Clifford." Ulster was to be invaded at last. And now
the Lords, Colonels, and Knights of the army were called
into Council, to say "in what sort a present journey
66
1 News of the success reached England on the 5th of August. Syd. Pap., ii.,
113.
2 "Besides the supplies of two thousand arriving in July, he had authority to
raise two thousand Irishmen, which he procured by his letters out of Ireland
with pretense to further the northern journey."-Proceedings of the Earl of Ee-
sex. If the date July be correct, the two thousand from England must have
been sent upon a previous requisition.
1598-99.]
IRISH CAMPAIGN: MARCH INTO ULSTER.
259
thither might be made.
could not with duty to her Majesty and safety of this
kingdom advise or assent to the undertaking of any jour-
ney far north;" their reason being in substance this-
that the effective strength of the army being now not
more than 3,500 or 4,000 at the most, it would not be
practicable to secure any of the objects of such a journey.
This report, dated 21st of August, the Earl forwarded
to England, not however as a reason for abandoning
the expedition altogether, but by way of preparation for
the issue of it. For he still meant to "look upon " Ty-
rone, and give him the opportunity of having his pride
pulled down, if he chose to accept it.
Their answer was that "they
How it came that a two months' campaign in summer
without any considerable action had reduced an army of
16,000, lately increased by 2,000 more, to "4,000 at the
most, "does not appear to have been explained. One ex-
planation which suggested itself was that a large portion
had been placed up and down the country in garrisons,
in which case it might be forthcoming for other work,
though not for this. And the whole story was so strange
that the Queen began to suspect some underhand design,
and to speak freely of Essex's proceedings as "unfortu-
nate, without judgment, contemptuous, and not without
some private end of his own." To Bacon among others
she spoke in this strain: whereupon he, who as I have
already observed was not without his own apprehensions
on that head, and was extremely anxious to withdraw
Essex from the means of mischief, took occasion to ask
whether it would not be better to send for him and
satisfy him with honor at home, and to have him at Court
again "with a white staff in his hand as my Lord of
Leicester had; " for, said he, "to discontent him as you
do and yet to put arms and power into his hand may be
a kind of temptation to make him prove cumbersome
and unruly." This advice however whether from
1
1 Apology.
-
¿
M
<

260
IRISH CAMPAIGN: PARLEY AND TRUCE.
[BOOK II.
fear to provoke him further, as Camden suggests, or be-
cause (as I think more likely) she had gone long enough
on the plan of buying off his contumacies with rewards
she did not think fit to follow. She had already
(30th July) forbidden him to leave his post without
license, and now (taking the precaution of putting the
country under arms upon pretense of an apprehended at-
tack from Spain) she resolved to demand from him a strict
account of what he had done and what he meant to do.
He in the mean time, having (as I said) for some rea-
son or other resolved to prove to Tyrone that he was not
afraid of coming within sight of him, though at the cost
of proving that he durst do no more, had taken his usual
precaution against interference.¹ Without waiting for
the effect of his last intelligence, he made his prepara-
tions, and within a week was on his march to fulfill his
promise of "looking on yonder proud rebel;" having
meanwhile merely sent word to England that he could
not spare for the service more than 2,500 men. On the
3d of September he did look upon him; saw him, with a
force twice as large as his own, on a hill a mile and a
half off, across a river and a wood; and drew up his own
army on the opposite hill; next day marched along the
plain, Tyrone marching parallel but keeping the woods;
then halting for supplies, took counsel; was advised by
all not to "attempt trenches" with a force so inadequate,
but to content himself with placing a strong garrison in
some castle thereabouts, and "since they were there," to
draw out one day and offer battle; on the 5th refused an
invitation to parley; on the 6th drew out and offered
battle on the first great hill he came to, then on the next
and the next till he came to the hill nearest the wood;
there waited: in vain: Tyrone would not charge up
hill
1 It must have been at this time that he communicated to Blount and South-
ampton his design of going over to England with his army, — if there be no
mistake in Blount's last examination. See, below, p. 269.
a
1598-99.]
IRISH CAMPAIGN: PARLEY AND TRUCE.
261
(indeed why should he fight at all? had he not by sim-
ply staying where he was already in effect defeated the
greatest army ever seen in Ireland ?), but wanted to
speak with him; on the 7th accepted an invitation to
parley; met the proud rebel at a ford; talked with him
privately for half an hour; and finding him reluctant to
state upon what conditions he would return to obedience,
for fear they should be sent into Spain (!), "was fain
to give his word that he would only verbally deliver
them ; on that condition heard them; next day con-
cluded a truce with him for six weeks, continuable by
periods of six weeks till May-day, and not to be broken
without a fortnight's warning; for the performance of
the covenants received Tyrone's oath in exchange for his
own word; on the 9th "dispersed his army; and went
himself to take physic at Drogheda, while Tyrone re-
tired with all his forces into the heart of his country."
""
""
Such then was the sum of Essex's achievement. He
had not weakened Tyrone by hurting a man or occupy-
ing a place of strength or obtaining an advantage any-
where north of Dublin. But he had heard him " open
his heart learned "where the knot was which being
loosed he protested all the rest should follow; "1 and in
the mean time had gained from him a promise upon his
oath not to renew hostilities without giving a fortnight's
notice.
What more he hoped to effect by negotiation after-
wards, or what success he might have had, we cannot
judge; for Tyrone's promises were not to be committed
to paper, and after this he was not himself allowed to do
what he pleased. But it is important to observe that up
to this point all he had done was both in design and ex-
ecution his own doing. For though many of his pro-
ceedings had been disapproved, he had so contrived that
not one of them could be prevented. There is no dis
1 Essex's own statement. See further on, p. 279.
.

#
262
IRISH CAMPAIGN: PARLEY AND TRUCE.
[BOOK II.
pute about any of the facts which I have related; for I
have confined myself to such as were then known and
were never contradicted. Those which came out after-
wards (when his later actions leading to more diligent
inquiry suggested an interpretation of these which had
not yet been suspected) will be more conveniently no-
ticed hereafter. It is enough here to remark that the
story as it stands is strange-that the course he has
taken requires explanation, and is not at all explained by
the admitted facts of the case compared with the avowed
objects of the campaign. For though I should myself be
inclined to make a good deal of allowance for him on the
ground of natural incapacity — incapacity to resist the
impulse of the moment-and could almost believe that
his campaign in Munster was made in good faith, each
successive move being suggested by the hope of gaining
some prize or the necessity of avoiding some danger near
at hand, without due consideration of the main issue;
and that the exhaustion of his forces before the proper
business of the campaign had begun really came upon
him as a surprise; yet when I consider the avowed pur-
poses with which he set out, and his reputation as a com-
mander not only with the Government but with the cap-
tains of his army (who do not usually like an incompetent
general); and especially when I read his own letters,
which while they complain so piteously of his hard con-
dition in not receiving public and private demonstrations
of confidence, show no trace of dissatisfaction with him-
self or his own proceedings; I certainly find it hard to
believe that an effectual attack upon the stronghold of
the rebellion in the North was ever seriously intended by
him. He did indeed admit afterwards, and by implica-
tion, that the Munster journey was an error; for he ex-
cused it as undertaken by advice of the Irish Council
against his own judgment. But did he oppose it at the
time? I think not. He was not usually so submissive
1598-99.] IRISH CAMPAIGN: PARLEY AND TRUCE.
263
to Councils, and if he had seriously disapproved of the
postponement of the northern action and told the Queen
so, there can be little doubt that the advice of the Irish
Council would have been overruled and he would have
been instructed to proceed. If on the other hand he as-
sented to their advice upon the grounds by them alleged,
he was merely postponing the main service for a month
or two, in order that it might be prosecuted more effect-
ually in June or July; and if he found himself then,
from whatever cause, without the means of doing any-
thing, he must at least have felt that a fatal error had
been committed, that he stood responsible for nothing
less than the utter failure of the whole year's work; and
must have been anxious to explain how this happened.
The conclusion of such a truce, under such circumstances,
he could not possibly regard as anything less than an ac-
knowledgment of defeat. Nobody had ever found any
difficulty in bringing Tyrone to terms of truce, nor had
any truce ever been concluded with him on terms so
much to his advantage. In April, when sixteen thousand
men were ready to take the field, the offer of such terms,
though impolitic, would have passed for lenity on the
part of the government; for the alternative would have
seemed to be war, with the chances of success all on that
side. But in September, when it was evident that no
offensive movement could be attempted, the acceptance
of them was an act of moderation on the part of Tyrone.
The power of England had been put forth in a great
effort, had not succeeded even in distressing him, and did
not now dare to attack him, and yet he was content to
make the truce. Is it conceivable that a man like Essex,
if he really left England in April with an intention to
put an end to the rebellion and "achieve something
worthy of her Majesty's honor," would in September
have condescended to such a conclusion without a sense
of humiliation and an acknowledgment of failure?
2$
264
GENERAL RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN.
[BOOK II.
It is true that in his real designs, whatever they may
have been, he succeeded no better. But any disappoint-
ment on that score (supposing those designs to have been
such as he could not avow) he would of course keep to
himself. He expected, no doubt, to be in a very differ-
ent position from that in which he found himself. A
triumphant progress through the south of Ireland, with
the rebels everywhere submitting, the army flushed with
success and passionately devoted to their favorite General,
all Munster reclaimed to obedience, victory sitting on his
helm and swift unbespoken pomps attending his steps,-
results which he may easily have dreamed of, - would
have made him a dangerous man to contradict, and put
his enemies under his feet; all the more if the head of
rebellion in the North had still to be broken; for in that
case he must have been the man to do it, and must have
had another army to do it with. We shall see hereafter
what sort of power in the state he thought it for the good
of the kingdom that he should possess. We know that
he was all this time in an angry humor of discontent,
and swelling with undigested mortification. And to me
it seems not improbable that to place himself in this
position was his first object in undertaking the service,
to subdue the rebellion his second; and that he had
persuaded himself to regard the one as a necessary step
to the other.
Upon this supposition, his course is at least intelligible.
Upon this supposition I can understand why he objected
to the appointment of Lord Montjoy and forced the
service upon himself; why in England he insisted so
earnestly upon the necessity of making a real end of the
war, and in Ireland yielded so readily to all propositions
for postponing it; why he made a point of taking so large
a force and being trusted with such unlimited power, and
filling the places of importance with such men as Blount
and Southampton; why he hurried his army as fast and
..
1598-99.]
GENERAL RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN.
265
as far as he could away from the proper scene of action
and out of reach of instructions; why in his dispatches
he never explained his plan of operations, but sent home
only meagre journals of each day's proceeding; why he
arranged all his movements so that the government had
no means of checking him; why after he knew and even
avowed that his men were unfit for the northern action,
he continued to talk so confidently of proceeding with it;
why having postponed it till it was too late, he insisted
on making a demonstration of it when it was too late,
and having at the end of August declined to give it up
because nothing could be done, was content to end it on
the 8th of September without attempting to do anything;
and lastly, why from the beginning to the end of this
miserable business he maintained the tone of a much
injured man, doing all that mortal could, and never fail-
ing in anything unless through the fault of his employers
in not trusting, encouraging, and applauding him. In
spite of appearances he must still be believed to be the
only man who could bring Ireland to obedience; for
through this it was that he looked to right himself against
his enemies. And to make people believe this as things
now stood, his best chance was to assert it confidently.
Those who think him incapable of a false pretense and
only unlucky and ill-used, must reconcile these facts with
their theory as they best may; a thing which I have
never seen attempted. For my own part I can find no
point of view from which the true history of his proceed-
ings does not seem incredible, except upon the supposi-
tion that he was playing a double game of some kind.
That he had not played it skillfully is not surprising, for
his virtues as well as his faults stood in his way; and
from this time it became still more difficult. The pause
which followed the truce gave the Queen an opportunity
at last of putting in her own word with effect. Hitherto
he has been managing in his own way a business of his
$
•
•
1
.!
+
...
E
THE QUEEN DEMANDS EXPLANATIONS.
266
[BOOK II.
own undertaking; he now finds himself in a position for
which he was not prepared, and must manage as he can.
A month before, when the Queen heard of the second
postponement of the Ulster expedition, she had forbidden
him (not knowing what in his then temper he might
do next) to leave Ireland without her express warrant.
When she heard in the beginning of September that,
though he had received the reinforcements which he
required for that service, he meant after all to go no
further than the frontiers and with a force avowedly too
weak to do any good, she repeated that prohibition; re-
cited in terms of strong and just remonstrance the his-
tory of his professions and performances; and since it
appeared by his own words that nothing could be done
this year against Tyrone and O'Donnel, commanded him
and the Council to fall into present deliberation and send
over in writing a true declaration of the state into which
they had brought the kingdom; what effect this journey
had produced, and in what kind of war, where, and in
what numbers, they thought the remainder of the year
should be employed; and then to wait for directions.
But Essex was now in a hurry. Her letter to this ef-
fect had scarcely been written, when another messenger
arrived with news of the conference with Tyrone and the
appointment of Commissioners to treat with him. This
intelligence (accompanied with an assurance that noth-
ing would be concluded till her pleasure were known, but
without any particulars either of the conference or the
commission) reached the Court on the 16th of Septem-
ber; and on the 17th the messenger was sent back with
her reply. Since he had not told her what passed on
either side at the conference, or what the Commissioners
had in charge, she did not know what conjecture to make
of the issue: but whatever the conditions might be, if
oaths and pledges from Tyrone were to be the only se-
curity for performance, what would they avail?
+
1598-99.]
THE QUEEN DEMANDS EXPLANATIONS.
267
"Unless he yield to have garrisons planted in his own country
to master him,—to deliver Oneal's sons, whereof the detaining
is most dishonorable,—and to come over to us personally
here, we shall doubt you do but piece up a hollow peace and
so the end prove worse then the beginning. And therefore, as
we do well approve your own voluntary profession, wherein you
assure us that you will conclude nothing till you have advertised
us and heard our pleasure, só do we absolutely command you to
continue and perform that resolution. Pass not your word for
his pardon, nor make any absolute contract for his conditions,
till you do particularly advise us by writing and receive our
pleasure hereafter for your further warrant and authority in
that behalf.”
What was to be done now? Though Essex had taken
care to dispatch his messenger the day before the Com-
missioners met, thinking I suppose that the case being
incomplete the decision would be deferred, — he could
not contrive this time to be involved in a fresh action be-
fore the answer arrived. The truce being concluded and
the army dispersed, he had now no pretext for postpon-
ing explanations. The campaign was over.
The ques-
tion was, what had been done? A question indisputably
fair and reasonable; though to put on paper an answer
to it which had a chance of being considered satisfactory
was no easy matter. For whatever might be said in jus-
tification of this or that item of the account, the totals
must stand thus: Expended, £300,000 and ten or
twelve thousand men received, a suspension of hostil-
ities for six weeks, with promise of a fortnight's notice
before recommencing them, and a verbal communication
from Tyrone of the conditions upon which he was willing
to make peace. The obtaining of this information was
in fact the Earl's great achievement. And if he had in-
deed induced Tyrone to offer conditions really satisfac-
tory, he had deserved well of his country after all, and
for his discharge had only to produce them. But here
268 ESSEX'S PROJECT OF AN ARMED EXPLANATION. [Book II.
was a new difficulty. The Queen required a report in
writing. Now Tyrone, fearing that if the conditions.
were committed to paper they would be communicated
to Spain, had made him promise to deliver them verb-
ally. The evidence of this otherwise incredible fact is
still extant in Essex's own declaration under his own
hand. If the statement had proceeded from anybody
else, or if the words had been less precise, I should have
suspected a mistake: I should have suspected that the
promise was not exacted by Tyrone for what differ-
ence could it make to him whether Essex made a verbal
or a written report of what he had said, or which of the
two were communicated to Spain, so long as he did not
himself sign either? -- but volunteered by Essex himself,
for the very purpose of putting it out of his power to
make a report in writing, and of thereby compelling the
Queen to send for him. But his words can bear only
one meaning. "The conditions demanded by Tyrone I
was fain to give my word that I would only verbally
deliver, it being so required of him before he would open
his heart; his fear being lest they should be sent into
Spain, as he saith the letter with which he trusted Sir
John Norreys was." If the stipulation really proceeeded
from Tyrone, it must have been by way of bravado; and
certainly if he wanted a written record of the fact that he
had negotiated the truce on terms of acknowledged supe-
riority, he could have nothing better than such a state-
ment as this. But however it came about, it served Essex
now as a pretext for going over to England-the Queen's
repeated commands to the contrary notwithstanding.
And since it happened that these mysterious conditions.
amounted to nothing less than what we should now call
"Ireland for the Irish," and were such as the Queen
could not be asked to grant except on the assumption
that Tyrone was master of the situation and must be al-
lowed to make his own terms
a view which it seemed
1598-99.] ESSEX'S PROJECT OF AN ARMED EXPLANATION.
269
""
she was not yet prepared to take it was necessary to
go provided with the means of convincing her. Reason,
in such a case, he could not trust to. It was his old
complaint that he could never do her service but against
her will. The Court and Council were full of "enemies,'
in whose hands he could not safely trust himself. What
should he do? On receipt of the Queen's last letter
(which having been dispatched from Nonsuch on the
17th of September could hardly reach him before the
21st or 22d), he held a consultation with his confiden-
tial friends Blount and Southampton; told them (this is
Southampton's own statement, attested by Nottingham,
Cecil, and Windebank, to whom it was made, published
at the time to all the world, and never contradicted or
retracted, though Southampton lived many years after
with every motive for doing so if he could) “that he
found it necessary for him to go into England, and
thought it fit to carry with him so much of the army as
he could conveniently transport, to go on shore with him
to Wales, and there to make good his landing till he
could send for more: not doubting but his army would
so increase in a small time, that he should be able to
march to London and make his conditions as he desired."1
That he seriously meditated such a design seems mon-
strous: but I find it impossible to doubt the fact; and
the impossibility of either disputing it or reconciling it
with the popular view of his character is implied in all
our modern popular narratives of this business; which
with one accord forget to mention it.¹ To any one, how-
ever, who seriously desires to find the true meaning of
•
1 Appendix to Declaration of Treasons, etc., published by authority in 1601.
There is some doubt, however, about the exact date of the conversation. In the
examination of Blount, signed by himself, which has been printed from the
Hatfield MSS, it is said to have been "some days before the Earl's journey
into the North." But as I suspect some mistake, for it is expressly stated in
the Declaration of Treasons that he was not known to have communicated
his design to anybody before his conference with Tyrone, -I leave my story
as it was.
HIS SUDDEN RETURN AGAINST ORDERS.
270
[BOOK II.
his proceedings and what sort of subject he really was,
it must appear a fact far too significant to be left out of
account. A subject making his own conditions with the
Government at the head of an army is a successful rebel,
and successful rebellion without bloodshed was no doubt
what he wished, — may have been what he hoped. But
knowing as he did that England had been in arms at
very short notice only a month before, civil war is what
he must have expected and been prepared for. Nor was
it that consideration which deterred him from the proj-
ect. He gave it up because the two friends whom he
most trusted, having taken a night to think it over, con-
curred in protesting against it.
They agreed however (at least Blount did) that he
must not go without force enough for his personal protec-
tion. It was foreseen that he would probably be placed
under some restraint. And as they could not tell how
much was known or suspected by the Government of
what was known to themselves, a committal, unless it
were to friendly hands, might prove dangerous. To
guard against this danger, Blount advised him "to take
with him a good train and make sure of the Court, and
then make his own conditions;" or (as he expressed it on
another occasion) "to take a competent number of choice
men, who might have secured him against any commit-
ment, unless it were to the houses of the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Lord Keeper, or Sir W. Knolles." This
advice he followed. And accordingly, on the 24th of Sep-
tember, he surprised the Irish Council by swearing in two
Lords Justices; and at 10 A. M. on the 28th, surprised the
Queen at Nonsuch by appearing in her bedchamber, be-
fore she was dressed for company, full of dirt and mire.
There had come over with him "the most part of his
1 This was written before the appearance of Mr. Hepworth Dixon's Per-
sonal History of Lord Bacon, and of Mr. Bruce's Secret Correspondence of
James VI. of Scotland with Sir Robert Cecil, where the fact has due promi-
nence given to it (Camden Soc., 1861).
1598-99.] HIS SUDDEN RETURN AGAINST ORDERS.
271.
household and a great number of captains and gentle-
men," - though only six accompanied him from London
to Nonsuch.
It is a remarkable proof of the charm which his per-
sonal presence exercised over the Queen, that her first
emotion on seeing him was pleasure. So deeply as she
had been displeased with all he had been doing during
the last half-year, and with such deep cause, his very
latest communication having brought the displeasure to
a climax, one would have thought she would have been
in no humor to pardon this new act of daring disobe-
dience. But so it was that when he went to his room
presently to wash his face and change his dress, he was
observed to be "very pleasant and thanked God that
though he had suffered much trouble and storms abroad,
he found a sweet calm at home." As soon as he was
dressed he had another interview, which lasted an hour
and a half: and still all was well. "He went to dinner,
and during all that time discoursed merely of his travels
and journeys in Ireland, of the goodness of the country,
the civilities of the nobility that are true subjects, of the
great entertainment he had in their houses, of the good
order he found there. He was visited frankly by all
sorts here of lords and ladies and gentlemen; only strange-
ness is observed between him and Mr. Secretary and
that party." What face he had put upon the matter as
yet to make this fair weather we do not know. Perhaps
the Queen let him tell his own story, and postponed ques-
tions and remarks to the afternoon; and he, who had ap-
prehended a different kind of reception, mistook silence
for satisfaction. After dinner she did not seem so well
satisfied: many things had to be explained: the Lords of
the Council must talk to him. He was with them for an
hour that afternoon: the result not known only that
night between ten and eleven he was commanded to keep
his chamber.
·
!
!
272
HIS SUDDEN RETURN AGAINST ORDERS.
[BOOK II.
Bacon not being at Court does not appear to have
heard of his arrival till the next day; for the first news
he had of it was accompanied with the intelligence that
he had been committed to his chamber for leaving Ireland
without the Queen's license. And it must have been on
hearing this that he wrote him the following letter: which
comes from Rawley's supplementary collection, and has
no date. Bacon, it will be remembered, was not at this
time aware of what Essex had been doing, beyond what
everybody knew of the general course and result of the
campaign. He knew that he had done no good, but not
how far he had gone in evil beyond his darkest appre-
hensions. He took his present arrival for one of his rash
and dangerous acts, but of the real nature of it, which
was not known till long after, he had no notion.
TO MY LORD OF ESSEX.
MY LORD, Conceiving that your Lordship came now
up in the person of a good servant to see your sovereign
mistress, which kind of compliments are many times
instar magnorum meritorum, and therefore that it would
be hard for me to find you, I have committed to this poor
paper the humble salutations of him that is more yours
than any man's and more yours than any man. To these
salutations I add a due and joyful gratulation confessing
that your Lordship, in your last conference with me be-
fore your journey, spake not in vain, God making it good,
That you trusted we should say Quis putasset? Which
as it is found true in a happy sense, so I wish you do not
find another Quis putasset in the manner of taking this
so great a service. But I hope it is, as he said, Nubecula
est, cito transibit: and that your Lordship's wisdom and
obsequious circumspection and patience will turn all to
the best. So referring all to some time that I may attend
you, I commit you to God's best preservation.
1598-99.] BACON'S ADVICE: ESSEX'S REAL POSITION.
273
This letter was probably written at Nonsuch, whither
(it being of the first importance to lose no time in put-
ting the Earl in the right way at so critical a juncture)
Bacon immediately repaired. He succeeded in getting a
quarter of an hour's private conversation with him, of
the effect of which we have his own report. " He asked
mine opinion of the course that was taken with him. I
told him, My Lord, nubecula est, cito transibit. It is but
a mist. But shall I tell your Lordship it is as mists are:
if it go upwards it may perhaps cause a shower: if down-
wards, it will clear up. And therefore, good my Lord,
carry it so as you take away by all means all umbrages
and distastes from the Queen: and especially, if I were
worthy to advise you, as I have been by yourself thought,
and now your question imports the continuance of that
opinion, observe three points: First, make not this cessa-
tion or peace which is concluded with Tyrone as a service
wherein you glory, but as a shuffling up of a prosecution
which was not very fortunate. Next, represent not to
the Queen any necessity of estate whereby as by a coer-
cion or wrench she should think herself enforced to send
you back into Ireland; but leave it to her. Thirdly,
seek access, importune, opportune, seriously, sportingly,
every way. I remember my Lord was willing to hear
me, but spake very few words and shaked his head some-
times, as if he thought I was in the wrong—but sure I
am he did just contrary in every one of these three
points.” 1
The truth was that the constitution of Essex's case
was not sound enough to bear this kind of treatment.
The secrets which he had left behind him in Ireland
were not all in such safe custody as that which he had
left with Blount and Southampton. He had come over,
hoping by his personal influence to obtain a sanction for
what he had done (which he could not hope to do by
1 Apology.
VOL. I.
18

L
}.
274
ESSEX'S REAL POSITION.
[BOOK II.
any written communication), and thereupon to be sent
speedily back again, and so to put the breadth of St.
George's Channel between him and the Queen's guard;
within reach of which he could not now have felt easy.
That this was his aim, and what the pretexts were upon
which he hoped to succeed in it, will appear from his
own statement. But this being a new aspect of the
game, I will let it begin a new chapter.


CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1599-1600. ÆTAT. 39-40.
THE gentleness with which the Queen welcomed Essex
on his sudden appearance was probably an impulse of
nature. It was a pleasure to see his face, and the pleas-
ure expressed itself in her behavior. But whether in-
spired by nature or policy, it was a lucky inspiration.
She did not know of the train of "choice men " that had
come over with him, nor of the spirit that animated
them: concerning which an anecdote told by Camden-
and told as in favor of Essex without any hint of doubt
as to its correctness gives some light. On the road
from Lambeth to Nonsuch, the Earl was outridden by
Lord Grey of Wilton, an "enemy," - that is, one of
the other party; who being overtaken by one of the
Earl's company and asked (as on his behalf, though not
by his desire) to let him ride before, replied that he had
business at Court, and pushed on. Upon which (adds
Camden) "Sir Christopher St. Lawrence offered his
services to kill both him in the way and the Secretary in
the Court. But the Earl, hating from his soul all im-
piety, would not assent unto it."
Now though Essex was not prepared to begin with two
murders in cold blood before a finger had been laid or
threatened to be laid upon himself, it does not follow
that he was not prepared to use such services in self-
defense. And the very offer (if the story be true)
implies a spirit in his followers which was not likely,
upon the approach or appearance of danger, to be nice
#
ESSEX'S RECEPTION AND EXPLANATIONS.
[BOOK II.
276
as to modes of rescue. A rough reception at Court
reported in London would have brought back many
swords as ready for business as St. Lawrence's, and made
a hot evening at Nonsuch.
The course which the Queen took avoided this danger.
Friday brought news that he had been received graciously
and all was well. Saturday that he was commanded to
keep his own chamber till the Lords of the Council had
spoken with him. Sunday that he had been heard, and
that his answers were under consideration. Monday
that he was committed to custody; but to the custody
of the Lord Keeper, his principal friend in the Council ;
and removed to York House, where he remained, secluded
from company by his own desire. And it being under-
stood all this while that the Council were satisfied with
his explanations, and that the restraint was a matter of
form used for the sake of example, and likely to be soon
over, there was nothing even for the most reckless of his
friends to ground any violent proceeding upon.
What he might have adventured had his actions been
disapproved and disavowed, and yet himself left free,
must be left to conjecture. The line he took, as matters
stood, was to profess extreme submission and humility,
with a desire to leave wars and council-boards, and betake
himself to a private life. I say to profess; for it was
certainly not a state of mind in which he was going to
rest, and it may be doubted whether it was sincere even
for the time. Perhaps he did not himself know. For
he was now once more in a position which he had not
reckoned upon. Of his conferences with the Council
(which were very private) we have no detailed account:
and the rumors which got abroad cannot be depended on,
being only what the Court wished to be believed at the
time. But the paper which he drew up immediately
after his first examination, and of which I have already
quoted part, proves that he had not then any intention
..
1.
i
1599-1600.] ESSEX'S RECEPTION AND EXPLANATIONS.
277
of retiring, but meant to represent himself as the only
person who could manage the Irish difficulty, and upon
that ground to be sent back immediately. After ex-
plaining what provisions he had made for the govern-
ment of affairs there, he adds, "But I promised to send
over daily advices and directions as soon as I had spoken
with her Majesty and my Lords, and to give directions
also and comfort to such of the Irishry as were principal
instruments for her Majesty in that kingdom, and to
return with all expedition. If only by my coming away
and Tyrone's perfidiousness any disaster had happened,
I would have recovered it or have lost my life: for I have
a party there for her Majesty besides her army. But
now, when they shall hear of my present state, and shall
see no new hopeful course taken, I fear that giddy
people will run to all mischief." In the same spirit, and
no doubt with the same view, he represents himself in
another place as the only man who can do any good with
Tyrone. "With those that have heretofore dealt with
him he [Tyrone] protested he would not deal in this free
manner, nor by his will in any sort whatsoever; since he
had no confidence that they could procure him that which
only would satisfy him, or performance of all that was
agreed on." This is not the language of a man who
means either to admit a failure or to resign to others the
further prosecution of the business. And it agrees well
enough with Sir R. Cecil's account of his avowed object
in coming over (viz. "to acquaint her Majesty not with
the goodness of Tyrone's offers in themselves, but with
the necessity of her affairs, to which the offers were suit-
able") though it leaves one difficulty still in the way.
For what after all were these offers, the best that he
could obtain, and better than could be hoped for by any
one else? A memorandum printed in the Winwood
Papers (an inclosure, I suppose, in Cecil's letter last
quoted), gives the particulars.

278
TYRONE'S PROPOSITIONS, 1599.
[BOOK II.
•
TYRONE'S PROPOSITIONS, 1599.
1. That the Catholic religion be openly preached.
2. That the churches be governed by the Pope.
3. That cathedral churches be restored.
4. That Irish priests prisoners be released.
5. That they may pass and repass the seas.
6. That no Englishmen be churchmen in Ireland.
7. That a university be erected upon the Crown lands.
8. That the governor be at least an earl and called Viceroy.
9. That the Lord Chancellor, Treasurer, Counsel of State,
Justices of Law, Queen's Attorney, Queen's Serjeant, etc., be
Irishmen.
10. That all principal Governors of Ireland, as Connaught,
Munster, etc., be Irish noblemen.
11. That the Master of the Ordnance be an Irishman, and
half the soldiers.
12. That no Irishman shall lose his lands for the fault of his
ancestors.
13. That no Irishman shall be in ward, but that the living
during the minority shall be to the younger brothers or sisters.
14. That all statutes prejudicing the preferment of Irishmen
in England or Ireland shall be repealed.
15. That neither the Queen nor her successors shall enforce
any Irishman to serve her.
16. That Oneale, Odonnel, Desmond, and their partakers,
shall have such lands as their ancestors enjoyed two hundred
years ago.
17. That all Irishmen shall freely traffic as Englishmen in
England.
18. That all Irishmen shall travel freely.
19. That they may use all manner of merchandises whereso-
ever.
20. That they may use all manner of trades.
21. That they may buy all manner of ships and furnish them
with artillery.¹
1 This paper has been pronounced by Dr. Abbott "demonstrably spurious."
I have not however seen any attempt at demonstration except his own; and
this seems to me demonstrably inconclusive. Externally it has as good a title
1599-1600.]
CONDITIONS DEMANDED BY TYRONE.
279
Now can any one believe that Essex came over from
Ireland intending to lay these propositions fairly before
Queen Elizabeth, and hoping to persuade her that the
man who had consented to entertain them was the man
to do her work with rebels? Such terms proposed in an
orderly way in Parliament or by petition in behalf of a
loyal country, might (in these days at least) have much
said for them; though some of the articles-the 16th
for instance could hardly in any circumstances be
thought admissible. But coming from a rebel at the
head of an undamaged army, treating with the remnant
of the army which had been sent out to reduce him to
obedience, what else could they appear than terms im-
posed by a conqueror? That a man of such a spirit as
Essex should have entertained them at all, is strange and
suspicious. That if he was acting simply and sincerely
in the Queen's interest, he would ever have regarded
them as conditions fit to be sanctioned except in the last
resort, or that even then he could have hoped to make
them so easy of digestion to her that she must needs send
him back to carry them out, — is to me incredible. The
truth probably is that he did not intend to lay them
fairly before her. "The conditions demanded by Ty-
rone," he says in his written statement, "I was fain to
give my word that I would only verbally deliver." But
he does not say that he has delivered them verbally: only
that he has "already told her Majesty and the Lords
where the knot is, which being loosed he hath protested
that all the rest shall follow." As yet therefore I imag-
ine that he had refrained, under plea of that promise of
secrecy, from disclosing the particulars. And so long as
he was allowed to keep them out of sight and only state
as any of the other papers in that collection to be accepted as genuine. It must
be supposed that Cecil had heard Essex's verbal statement to the Council of Ty-
rone's demands, and if this was the note be made of them for his own use,
it would most likely be preserved where it was found among the Hatfield
papers.
I
280
CONDITIONS DEMANDED BY TYRONE.
[BOOK II.
in his own way what he chose to represent as the main
difficulty, he might perhaps hope to make out a plausible
case for being sent back to conclude the negotiations
which he had begun. It was but a temporary shift, to be
sure: for the Queen could never have let him go without
hearing the particulars. But men in his position are fain
to shift as they can. And when at last he did state Ty-
rone's propositions in detail-possibly upon a promise
that they should not be divulged (for it is a remarkable
fact that no detailed account of them is to be found in
any of the many public declarations made afterwards by
the Government concerning these matters)-he mani-
festly felt that he had no case left. The time for carrying
his end by violence according to Blount's advice, the
time for making sure of the Court and so making his own
conditions, had been let slip. He could now no longer
hope to carry it by persuasion. His only resource there-
fore, while other projects were ripening (for that he had
other projects on foot I shall show presently), was to as-
sume the tone which was most likely to prevail with the
Queen to set him free. The state of his health also had
its influence, and may possibly through the depression of
his spirits have made his purposes more than usually
changeable. For he seems to have had a fit of real illness.
at this time, long, serious, and depressing: an illness.
which anxiety for the safety of his Irish secrets would
naturally aggravate. At any rate there he remained,
close prisoner, though in friendly hands, seeing (or at
least professing to see) nobody except by special war-
rant, and expressing himself as a man weary of the
world.
But though the danger of a violent rescue was avoided
by the course taken, a danger of another kind was in-
curred. The people were still in the dark as to the whole
matter. Some doubtful rumors had gone abroad as to
the nature of the offenses with which the Earl was
1599–1600.] STRANGE SPEECHES UTTERED BY TYRONE. 281
charged but upon what grounds of evidence they rested,
and what he had to say in his own excuse, they were left
to guess. They saw their favorite under displeasure and
in restraint; and anything being more credible to them
than that he could have given just cause for it, symptoms
of popular dissatisfaction began to show themselves: the
more dangerous because, as the Council were reported to
be using their influence in his favor, the unpopularity of
the proceedings fell upon the Queen herself. And it was
very true that if any one was to blame in the matter, it
was she. She was acting for herself, under no influence
or information except that of her own judgment and
observation. Nor was there any one who had so good
means of judging, or so good a right to be dissatisfied
with the Earl's story. He must have been a much more
skillful dissembler and a much warier politician than he
was, if he could play his new part without falling into
inconsistencies, suggestive of the gravest suspicions to
one who had for so many years been so familiar with
him in all his moods. Formerly his most contumacious
proceedings had been consistent with his professions of
love and loyalty, because the greatness they aimed at
was to come by her favor and be employed in her ser-
vice. But now that he was endeavoring to carry his
ends in spite of her, and by working upon her fears, his
words and actions produced discords to which she could
not be deaf. It must have been clear to her that she did
not yet know all. Nor did the news which presently ar-
rived from Ireland make the case less suspicious. Sir
William Warren had been sent by Essex to confer with
Tyrone. They had met at Blackwater on the 29th of
September; the day after Essex arrived at Nonsuch.
And on the 4th of October his report of the interview
was forwarded from the Council at Dublin to the Coun
cil in London.
"By way of conference with the said Tyrone, and the report
...
་
282
STRANGE SPEECHES UTTERED BY TYRONE.
[BOOK II.
of others, the said Sir William did conceive a disposition in
Tyrone to draw up all the force that he could make to the bor-
ders as near Dundalk as he could, and all his creats to bring
thither with him: which maketh the said Sir William much to
doubt of any good or conformity to be looked for at his hands."
1
So far, if there was nothing to satisfy, neither was
there anything to surprise. It was no more than any-
body who knew the history of previous treaties with
Tyrone must have looked for. But what was the mean-
ing of the next paragraph?
"By further discourse, the said Tyrone told to the said Sir
William and declared it with an oath, that within two months
he should see the greatest alteration and the strangest that he
the said Sir William could imagine, or ever saw in his life; but
what his meaning was thereby, neither did he declare the same
to the said Sir William, nor could he understand it; more than
that Tyrone did say he hoped before it were long that he the
said Tyrone would have a good share in England. These
speeches of the alteration Tyrone reiterated two or three several
times.
""
Some light was thrown upon the meaning of this by
information obtained at a later period; but for the pres-
ent it remained a mystery, and no doubt suggested the
necessity of proceeding warily. But if it was hazardous
to set the Earl free, it was hazardous also, by keeping
him in restraint without apparent cause, to provoke pop-
ular discontent; of which symptoms began already to ap-
pear both in the press and the pulpit. To quiet these,
the Queen resolved after some hesitation and vacillation
that on one of the days when it was usual to issue public
admonitions in the Star Chamber, an official declaration
should be made of the principal faults laid to his charge.
But it is not easy for a Queen, who cannot mix freely
1 Mr. Gardiner informs me that Creaghts, or Criaghts, were the wild home-
less fellows who wandered about the country with their cattle, and with whom
Ulster swarmed at that time. Sir John Davies speaks of "Creaghts or herds
of cattle." Tracts, p. 131.
1599-1600.]
STRANGE SPEECHES UTTERED BY TYRONE. 283
with the people, to understand the conditions of popular
opinion; and she seems to have forgotten that they would
want to hear the Earl's story as well as hers, and that
to publish the charges without the answers would only
increase discontent and excite suspicion of unfair dealing.
Her real motive for choosing this course was probably
tenderness towards the Earl himself, whom she did not
wish to bring before the public as a culprit. But the
effect would be not the less unsatisfactory; and when she
told Bacon what she meant to do, he warned her what
the consequence would be: "told her plainly, that the
people would say that my Lord was wounded upon his
back, and that justice had her balance taken from her,
which ever consisted of an accusation and defense;
with many other quick and significant terms to that pur-
pose.'
Not that he was prepared to recommend the
other course of a formal judicial proceeding; for he
thought the sympathy of the people would be with the
Earl, and the result to the disadvantage of the Govern-
ment.2 His advice therefore was that she should make
matters up with him privately, and "restore him to his
former attendance, with some addition of honor to take
away discontent. She had to admit afterwards that
his objections to the Star Chamber proceeding had been
just; but the freedom of his expostulation offended her
at the time, so that she would hear no more from him on
the subject for some months; and proceeded in the mean-
time to carry out her own plan. A declaration was
"" 1
1 Apology.
2 "I besought her Majesty to be advised again and again how she brought
the cause into any public question. Nay, I went further; for I told her that my
Lord was an eloquent and well-spoken man ; and besides his eloquence of nature
or art, he had an eloquence of accident which passed them both, which was the
pity and benevolence of his hearers; and therefore that when he should come to
his answer for himself, I doubted his words should have so unequal a passage
above theirs that should charge him as should not be for her Majesty's honor.
I remember I said that my Lord in foro fama was too hard for her; and
therefore wished her as I had done before to wrap it up privately.” — Apology.
י
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|-

284
MISPLACED INDIGNATION AGAINST BACON.
[BOOK II.
made in the Star Chamber on the 29th of November, by
the mouths of all the principal councillors. It consisted
of a statement of the leading facts, what the Earl had
been sent out to do, what means had been provided, and
what he had done. And the story they told agrees, as
far as it goes, with that which I have myself told upon
independent evidence; differing only in this - that it con-
tains no allusion to the worst features of the case; some
of which were not yet even suspected, and others were
still doubtful. It was in fact a fair and temperate state-
ment of the grounds which the Queen had for being dis-
satisfied with him; and not being in the nature of a
charge to be followed by a sentence, he was not called to
answer.
The lawyers having no part in the proceeding, Bacon
was not wanted in his place; and popular feeling had in
the meantime taken a turn against him, which, though
due to a mere misapprehension of the facts, made him
prefer to stay away. I have said that the Council did
not share the unpopularity of the proceedings against
Essex, because it was given out that they were using their
influence in his favor; whereby it would naturally have
fallen upon the Queen in person. But she was herself
too much of a popular favorite to be supposed capable of
doing anything unjust or ungracious, unless misled by
sinister influence somewhere. Somebody there must be
upon whom indignation might discharge itself freely and
suspicion in such cases always falls on those who cannot
speak for themselves. Now it happened that Bacon, to
whom his old privilege of access had now for a good
while been fully restored, was at this time much employed
about matters of law and revenue, concerning which he
often had occasion to attend the Queen and was often
admitted to speech with her. And though he had really
been using all his influence to dissuade her from bringing
the Earl's case in question publicly, and induce her to
1
1599-1600.]
ESSEX STILL AT YORK HOUSE.
285
receive him again at Court with such conditions as should
make him content to remain at home, that fact was not
known; and as he could not talk about what passed be-
tween the Queen and himself, rumor might circulate
what stories she pleased: nor did she spare her powers
of invention. It is not necessary to ask how the sus-
picion arose. Such suspicions come of themselves. There
was blame due to somebody. It could not be Essex. It
could not be the Queen. It was not the Council. It
might be Bacon. He stood next; and against him the
popular wrath gathered with a fury proportioned to its
ignorance. There were those who undertook to say what
opinions he had given to the Queen upon the Earl's case:
and indignation ran so high that his friends apprehended
some violent attack upon him.
From this time till the 20th of March, Essex remained
at York House under the same conditions. But though
he was supposed to see nobody, not even his wife, without
the Queen's special leave, he was really in communica-
tion all this time with Southampton, Sir Christopher
Blount, Sir Charles Davers, and others, upon certain proj-
ects which it will be necessary to bring out in more prom-
inence than has been usually given to them. For though
the Government knew nothing of them at the time,
and when they did come to light covered them up
with a discreet silence (in consequence of which they
have almost dropped out of the story as it is commonly
told, though the evidence has been long accessible to
everybody in a well-known book), yet they certainly
formed a very important part of the case which we shall
presently have to consider.
That the necessity of his service in Ireland would
compel the Queen to receive Essex into favor again, was
a hope which, though it continued to prevail among the
people till the middle of November, if not later, he could
hardly entertain himself after the disclosure of Tyrone's
1
..
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•
"
286
ESSEX'S NEGOTIATION WITH SCOTLAND.
-
[BOOK II.
propositions. He began at once therefore to cast about
for other means of rescue; and if those to which he first
inclined seem so inconsistent with his professions of ex-
tinct ambition and desire of private life as to suggest a
doubt whether they were sincere even for the moment,
we must remember that his personal safety was now
every hour in jeopardy; and that to place himself out
of danger of the law may really have been his object;
although the means by which it was to be compassed in-
volved much more, involved in fact the assumption of
a position and a power above the legitimate pretensions
of a subject. The intrigues in which for this purpose
he was engaged were kept secret at the time, for reasons
of state which are sufficiently intelligible. For reasons
equally intelligible, they were but dimly and partially
indicated during the next reign. Nor was it till long
after, when the whole question had passed from the de-
partment of politics to that of history, that they were
fully revealed. The evidence being nevertheless good,
history must not refuse to admit it, and to correct her
conclusions accordingly.
In the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh there is still
to be seen a manuscript in an old handwriting, purporting
to be a declaration made by Sir Charles Davers on the
22d of February, 1600-1. It has every appearance of
being a genuine, though not a very accurate, transcript
of a deposition taken. down from the speaker's mouth by
some one who could not write fast enough, nor is there
anything either in the style, the matter, or the circum-
stances, which would lead me to doubt the veracity of the
deponent. It was first printed by Birch in his "Memoirs
of Elizabeth," from a copy found among the collections
of Dr. Forbes; and I am not aware that its genuineness
has ever been questioned.¹ From this we learn that when
1 Since this was written, a fair copy of this declaration in Sir C. Davers's
own hand, apparently revised and enlarged, has been found among the MSS.
at Hatfield, and printed by Mr. John Bruce for the Camden Society.
ᏥᎨ ;
1599-1600.] ESSEX'S NEGOTIATION WITH SCOTLAND.
287
he was committed to the custody of the Lord Keeper,
Essex entrusted the care of his fortune not to those of
his friends who had best credit with the Queen for loy-
alty and good service, but to those who had been admitted
to his own most dangerous secrets, and engaged them-
selves furthest with him in his most questionable proceed-
ings. How deeply the Earl of Southampton had been pre-
viously admitted into his confidence we have seen. With
Lord Montjoy his latest relation, so far as it was known
to the newsmen of the day, had been that of successful
rivalry for the Irish command, in the autumn of 1598.
But if that difference caused any interruption of in-
timacy for the time, the breach must have been soon and
effectually healed. For in the summer of 1599 Montjoy
had undertaken an office on his behalf which he would
never have ventured on without some concert and private
understanding of the most confidential kind. In the
summer of 1599 he had dispatched a messenger secretly
to Scotland, with some communication on the forbidden
subject of the succession. The terms are not known;
but the general purport was to satisfy the King that Essex
would support his claim to succeed to the crown upon
Elizabeth's death, and to suggest some course of proceed-
ing which might lead to an acknowledgment of that claim
during her life. Now why should Montjoy meddle in
such a matter? "The cause," says Sir Charles, “that
moved my Lord Montjoy to enter into this course with
Scotland was, as he protested, his duty to her Majesty
and his country, for he could not think his country safe
unless by declaration of a successor it were strengthened
against the assaults of our most potent enemies, which
pretended a title thereunto. Neither could he think her
Majesty so safe by any means, as by making her king-
dom by that means safe against their attempts." So far
well. It is easy to believe that he thought such a dec-
laration desirable, with a view to the public interest
I
!
די
288
ESSEX'S NEGOTIATION WITH SCOTLAND.
[BOOK II.
only. Most men would have welcomed it as a measure
important for the safety of the country; and had he
made a speech or published a pamphlet urging the Queen
to adopt it, I should have given him credit for a bold and
patriotic act done at the risk of a censure in the Star
Chamber. But how was such a thing to be brought
about through a secret negotiation between the King of
Scots and a private English subject holding no office or
authority? and how came Montjoy to be the nego-
tiator? "He entered into it the rather at that time,"
Sir Charles adds, "to serve my Lord of Essex, who by
loss of her Majesty was like to run a dangerous fortune,
unless he took a course to strengthen himself by that
means." How again would the procuring of such a dec-
laration by such means have strengthened Essex? It
was certainly not a service which would have inclined the
Queen to like him better. On the contrary, it would
have made the recovery of her favor by fair means for-
ever hopeless. The answer to these questions must
surely be, that the negotiation was undertaken not only
in the interest of Essex, but in concert with him; and
that the object was to arrange some joint action be-
tween the King of Scots and the English army in Ire-
land, for the purpose of compelling the Queen to assent
to a formal declaration of his right to succeed her in the
throne of England. We know that Essex had begun to
contemplate the necessity of resorting, in what he called
self-defense, to some demonstration of force. To any
such demonstration an alliance with the King of Scots in
assertion of his legitimate title would have given the
material support of a Scotch army and the moral support
of a fairer name than rebellion; and would have strength-
ened him by making him more formidable. But I do
not see what other strength either he or his friends could
have hoped from such a course, except strength of arms
in an encounter with the Queen's forces.
1599-1600.]
DANGERS AND FEARS.
289
If this interpretation be objected to as incredible, be-
cause it implies an intention to use the army with which
he had been entrusted against those from whom he had
received the trust, let that objection wait a little till we
see the next phase of the intrigue.
The issue of the negotiation at that time we do not
know. I suppose it was interrupted by the Earl's sudden
return from Ireland and subsequent detention in Eng-
land, which not only made it impossible for him to play
his part in the proposed demonstration, but involved him
in a danger quite different from any he had hitherto had
to fear, and called in his friends to help him by services
more within the legitimate limits of friendship. He was
now in the Queen's power; and though the restraint put
upon him was as gentle as any restraint could be which
was strict enough to keep him within her power, yet no
one knew, and his most confidential friends had most
reason to fear, what might happen next. Reports that
he was to be sent to the Tower were the news of every
week; and those who were deepest in his secrets best
knew how dangerous a place the Tower might prove for
him, if all the truth should by any accident come to light.
How best to provide against this danger was now the
question. And it was to my Lords Southampton and
Montjoy that in this emergency he committed the care
of his fortunes.
66
Sir Charles Davers came up to London about the end
of October and found them in consultation. It seems
that Sir Christopher Blount's former recommendation to
possess the Court with his friends," as well as Essex's
ɔwn project of making his way into Wales (where he
might look for popular support), had been reconsidered
and upon consideration rejected; and that a private
escape into France was agreed upon as the best thing to
attempt. This, however, he himself positively declined,
saying that "he would rather run any danger than lead
VOL. I.
19
L
..
I
290
DANGERS AND FEARS.
[BOOK II.
the life of a fugitive;" by which he must have meant
that the escape he looked for was to some place where he
might make resistance.
Thus matters stood till about the middle of November,
at which time it was decided at Court that Montjoy
should take command of the army in Ireland. This
opened a new chance. Though the parts were changed
the game might still be played. A month before, when
the employment was first offered to Montjoy, he had
tried to excuse himself; out of friendship (it was sup-
posed) for Essex, whom he then believed it would be
thought necessary to send back. This, however, being
out of the question, and the case of Ireland growing
worse and worse, he undertook the service; and at the
end of November the news was that he had orders to be
ready within twenty days. Immediately upon this fol-
lowed the declaration in the Star Chamber concerning
the offenses of the Earl, which I have already mentioned,
and which put an end to all hopes of a present release
for him. And then came a fresh proposition on his be-
half, which will show that to reject my interpretation of
Montjoy's former proceeding on the ground that it im-
plied treachery, would have been premature.
·
The statement in this case is explicit, and admits of no
interpretation but one. I give the words precisely as I
find them.
"Now when that the government of Ireland was put into my
Lord Montjoy's hands, his former motives growing stronger in
him, the danger of my Lord of Essex more apparent, being
earnestly pressed by my Lord of Essex to think of some course
to relieve him, my Lord first swearing, and exacting the like
oaths as I remember from my Lord of Southampton, to defend
her Majesty's person and government over us against all persons
whatsoever, it was resolved to send Harry Leigh again into
Scotland, with offer that if the King would enter into the course,
my Lord Montjoy would leave the kingdom of Ireland defen-
遮
​2
1599–1600.] SECRET NEGOTIATION WITH MONTJOY.
291
sively guarded, and with four or five thousand men assist him:
which with the party that my Lord of Essex would make head
withal, were thought sufficient to bring that to pass that was
intended."
The date of this resolution is not given. But as Mont-
joy was gone before Harry Leigh returned from his mis-
sion, I see no escape from the conclusion that he under-
took the command of the Queen's army in Ireland with
an intention to use a portion of it in encountering the
Queen's army in England. Difficulties occurred which
gave him time to think, and changes intervened which
supplied him with a pretext for refusing to act upon it.
But this is what he must have been prepared for when
he went; and that stain must rest upon his memory.
The answer which Leigh brought back was "dilatory."
A principal point in the plans projected by the Council
for recovering Ireland was the establishment of a strong
garrison at Lough Foyle, a position at the northern angle
of Tyrone's country, accessible by sea; and this garrison
was to furnish the men and shipping with which Montjoy
was to assist the intended movement. But it was not
yet settled there; and until it was settled, the King of
Scots was "not ready to enter into that attempt.
And so that business ended.”
It ended. That is, nothing further was done in it.
But in the meantime it left Essex apparently in a more
perilous condition than ever. For Leigh, immediately
upon his return, was apprehended and imprisoned. And
though the secret had been so well kept that the Govern-
ment had not any notion of what was really going on, it
is easy to understand how uncomfortable Essex must
have felt upon such an accident; especially when a pro-
ceeding against him in the Star Chamber had been
actually resolved on not long before, and the day ap-
pointed. And it was, we may presume, under the pres-
sure of this anxiety that he took the first safe opportunity
292
SECRET NEGOTIATION WITH MONTJOY.
[BOOK II.
of opening fresh negotiations with Montjoy, and urging
him to carry out the original design. Southampton was
going to Ireland, and he was to carry letters to that pur-
pose. But his departure had been put off from week to
week, and before he started (26th April) a change had
taken place in Essex's position. On the 20th of March
he had been allowed to return to his own house; and
though he was not set at liberty, -for he remained in
charge of a keeper, and under strict watch, it was con-
sidered a sign of relenting, and a proof that no severe
proceeding was meditated; and Montjoy, having in the
mean time engaged earnestly in the very serious work
which he had undertaken, and the trust reposed in him
having had its proper effect in making him feel the duty
of fidelity, would now no longer listen to the proposal.
"He thought it more lawful to enter into such a course
with one that had interest in the succession than other-
wise; and though he had been led before, out of the
opinion he had to do his country good by the establish-
ment of the succession, and to deliver my Lord of Essex
out of the danger he was in; yet now his life appeared to
be safe, to restore his fortune only and to save himself
from the danger which hung over him by discovery, and
to satisfy my Lord of Essex's private ambition, he would
not enter into any enterprise of that nature." And so
that project was happily given up; nor did any hint of
the secret get abroad until Essex himself, in the hour of
his remorse, disburdened his conscience of it.
Of all these matters neither the people, nor the Queen,
nor Bacon had any suspicion. The people, regarding
Essex as the greatest captain in the land, were still
wondering and murmuring at the treatment of their
favorite. The Queen, knowing that he had been per-
verse, disobedient, and unfortunate, but refusing to be-
lieve him false, was considering on what terms she might
receive him into favor again, without making one of those
4
1599-1600.]
JUDICIAL PROCEEDING AT YORK HOUSE
293
concessions to his humor which she had tried so often and
with such bad effect. Bacon, still believing that restora-
tion to favor would withdraw him from temptations
fraught with danger to everybody, was endeavoring to
persuade the Queen to let the case rest where it was, and
to send him some gracious message which might open the
way to reconciliation; and at any rate, if she found it
necessary to bring the case to a formal hearing, not to
proceed by information in the Star Chamber (a course
which she had been meditating, off and on, all the spring),
but to confine it to the council-table. This advice she in
the end partly adopted. For though she could not con-
sent to rest under a popular imputation of unjust severity
towards one for whom she well knew that her partiality
had been too strong to leave her judgment free, and was
therefore resolved to do something which should meet
and put it down; yet, that point gained, she was willing
enough to relent. What she wanted was to justify in
the eyes of the people what she had done, without oblig-
ing herself to do more. For this purpose it was necessary
to have a proceeding both in substance and in form judi-
cial, an open accusation and defense; but so distinguished
in its circumstances from ordinary proceedings of the
kind, that the ordinary issue might without inconvenience
be avoided. A public prosecution in the Star Chamber
for such offenses would, if successful, have entailed a
heavy fine and an imprisonment in the Tower. By trans-
ferring it to a private room into which the public should
be admitted by favor and not of right, by varying the
constitution of the tribunal and dispensing with the for-
malities of a record, while the usual forms were in other
respects observed, it would be made public enough to
attain the end (which was the satisfaction of the public),
and at the same time so exceptional as to admit of an
unusual issue. Instead of the Star Chamber, the cause
was to be heard in the Lord Keeper's house, before a
294 JUDICIAL PROCEEDING AT YORK HOUSE. [BOOK II.
special commission, in which certain earls, barons, and
judges were associated with the ordinary members of that
court;¹ the public not to be admitted promiscuously; but
an audience, selected so as to contain representatives of
all professions and degrees and qualities, to be invited to
witness the proceedings, a court resembling in com-
position one of those Great Councils which used formerly
to be summoned to deliberate on great occasions; though
in other respects the form of proceeding, as well as the
function of the Commissioners, was much the same as in
an ordinary Star Chamber case. The members of the
Learned Counsel were to give the information and pro-
duce the evidence; the Earl was to answer for himself;
the Commissioners to give their opinions; and the Lord
Keeper to pronounce the sentence of the Court. And
if it was (as it has been called) an unconstitutional
tribunal, a point which I cannot pretend to decide, for
it is difficult to say what were then the limits of the
power which the Council was understood to possess, —
the variation from constitutional practice was certainly
meant to be in the prisoner's favor, and was so under-
stood and accepted at the time.
The Crown lawyers, who received their directions from
the Council, were specially warned not to press the charge
to any point implying disloyalty; and the main bus-
iness fell of course upon Coke. To Bacon was assigned
a part of the case comparatively unimportant: merely
the countenancing by Essex of a book which had given
offense to the Queen; a part which, though he did not
like it, and though he seems to have thought the intro-
duction of it into the case injudicious, he had no just
ground for refusing, being assigned to him as it was by
1 The Commission consisted of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord
Keeper, the Lord Treasurer, the Lord Admiral, Earls of Worcester, Shrewsbury,
Cumberland, Huntingdon, and Derby, Lord Zouch, Sir W. Knollys, Sir R. Cecil,
Sir J. Fortescue, Sir J. Popham, Sir Edmund Anderson, Sir W. Periam, and
Justices Gawdy and Walmesley.
1599-1600.]
JUDICIAL PROCEEDING AT YORK HOUSE.
295
those who were officially responsible for the business,
and the business being designed (whether judiciously
or not) to clear the government from imputations which
were unjust, arising out of a misapprehension of the
facts, by a course studiously contrived to make the proof
of the offense compatible with indulgence to the of
fender.
This was so well understood to be the object of the
proceeding, that Essex, who knew well enough what he
was to be charged with (for the offenses were the same
which he had been called on to answer before the Coun-
cil, and which had been openly declared in the Star
Chamber), came prepared with a speech of acknowledg-
ment and submission, to be delivered with tears and tear-
moving accents. But though prepared for the substance,
he was not prepared for the style. From the Councillors,
whether friends or enemies, he had always received good
language. In the mouth of Coke the same charges as-
sumed a form so irritating, that he was provoked to alter
his tone and attempt a justification of all his acts point.
by point. This marred the effect, and had almost de-
feated the purpose of the hearing; for an exceptional
indulgence would have been misplaced if the offense were
not admitted. This however being represented to him,
he explained that it was only the charge of disloyalty to
which he could not consent to plead guilty; and being
again assured that nothing of that nature was imputed
to him, he was content to make a general submission
with regard to the rest and throw himself upon the
Queen's mercy. And the Commissioners being all dis-
posed to press as lightly upon him as they could, and
evidently expecting that a reconciliation would follow,
concurred in the sentence pronounced by the Lord
Keeper, that he should be suspended from the execu-
tion of his offices and continue a prisoner in his own
house, “until it should please her Majesty to release both
;
296
ESSEX AT FULL LIBERTY AGAIN.
[BOOK IT.
this and all the rest;" a sentence amounting in effect
merely to a quasi-judicial sanction of what had been al-
ready done.
The business was not over till late in the evening
of the 5th of June. On the 6th Bacon saw the Queen,
and endeavored to convince her that all was now well;
the world reasonably well satisfied, the Earl submis-
sive, and the time come to make an end and receive
him into favor again. She listened with apparent satis-
faction, but it was fit that she should know what had
passed and take time to consider, and she desired him to
draw up an account of it. Within a few days he brought
her a full narrative of the whole proceeding, read it to
her on two several afternoons, and observed with pleas-
ure that she was much touched with the part in which
he had labored to set forth to advantage the Earl's own
answer, — which probably lost nothing by the reporting.
He did not succeed in persuading her to restore him at
once to his former favor; and we who know what pro-
jects he had been meditating just before and what he
engaged in soon after, may easily believe that she had
better grounds than Bacon knew of for suspecting the
sincerity of his submission, and being disappointed with
the result of the proceeding. It has always been reck-
oned among the Earl's virtues that he was a bad dissem-
bler; and if in his present state of mind he could assume
the natural language and bearing of fidelity and loyalty,
he must have been a very good one. Yet after some
hesitation and delay she justified the opinion which had
been conceived with regard to the spirit in which she
was proceeding. Within a month she released him from
his keeper; and about six weeks after gave him liberty
to go where he would, except to Court.
This opens a new chapter in his fortunes. No longer
in danger, no longer under restraint, he cannot henceforth
be supposed to be acting from fear. All that in the life

1599-1600.]
ESSEX AT FULL LIBERTY AGAIN.
297
of a private man is most prized freedom, leisure, pop-
ularity, wealth, gifts of nature, and accomplishments of
education, he possesses in greater abundance than most
other men. If his purposes are good and his aspirations
pure, there seems to be no reason why he may not be
happy in retirement, and earn the right to reappear in
his former, or more than his former, greatness.

*
こ
​CHAPTER V.
A. D. 1600, JULY — 1601, FEBRUARY.
ÆTAT. 40.
OF Bacon's speech in the proceeding at York House
on the 5th of June the report is so meagre that we can-
not judge for ourselves of the spirit in which he executed
his task. We only know that he distinctly disclaimed on
behalf of the government all intention to charge the Earl
with disloyalty, "for if that (he said) had been the
question, this had not been the place," and that after
"considering particularly the journey into Ireland," he
proceeded to the two points on which he had been in-
structed to enlarge by way of admonition, namely, cer-
tain presumptuous expressions contained in the Earl's
letter to the Lord Keeper in 1598, and his patronage of
Dr. Hayward's book, of which part the reporter has only
preserved one or two disconnected sentences. The sub-
ject was not of his own choosing; and for the manner of
treatment, on which in such a case everything depends,
as I do not find that any fault was found with him at this
time by the Earl's partisans, and as it is certain that
during the next three months he was doing his best to
bring about a reconciliation and that his services in that
behalf — services of a very confidential kind were will-
ingly accepted and employed by the Earl himself, I infer
that it was not unfriendly.
1
Those services commenced the next day, as I have
already stated, in a private conversation with the Queen;
1 Dr. Abbott has since found a letter from Sir Gilly Meyrick to the Earl of
Southampton, in which he complains that Bacon was
'very idle."
66
1600-1601.] BACON'S OFFER OF HIS GOOD OFFICES.
299
and were followed up shortly after by a letter to the Earl,
in which he took occasion, as he had so often done before,
to define frankly and clearly the conditions of the service
which he offered.
TO THE EARL OF ESSEX.
MY LORD,- No man can better expound my doings
than your Lordship, which maketh me need to say the
less. Only I humbly pray you to believe that I aspire
to the conscience and commendation first of bonus civis,
which with us is a good and true servant to the Queen,
and next of bonus vir, that is an honest man. I desire
your Lordship also to think that though I confess I love
some things much better than I love your Lordship, as
the Queen's service, her quiet and contentment, her
honor, her favor, the good of my country, and the like,
yet I love few persons better than yourself, both for
gratitude's sake, and for your own virtues, which cannot
hurt but by accident or abuse. Of which my good affec-
tion I was ever and am ready to yield testimony by
any good offices but with such reservations as yourself
cannot but allow; for as I was ever sorry that your Lord-
ship should fly with waxen wings, doubting Icarus' for-
tune, so for the growing up of your own feathers, spe-
cially ostrich's, or any other save of a bird of prey, no
man shall be more glad. And this is the axletree where-
upon I have turned and shall turn; which to signify to
you, though I think you are of yourself persuaded as
much, is the cause of my writing, and so I commend your
Lordship to God's goodness. From Gray's Inn, this 20th
day of July, 1600.
Your Lordship's most humbly,
FR. BACON.
To this letter Essex returned an answer such as Bacon
might himself have dictated.
A
300
ANSWER TO LETTER OF BACON.
[BOOK II.
¡
*:
AN ANSWER OF MY LORD OF ESSEX, TO THE PRECED-
ING LETTER OF MR. BACON.
Mr. BACON,—I can neither expound nor censure your late
actions: being ignorant of all of them save one; and having di-
rected my sight inward only, to examine myself. You do pray
me to believe that you only aspire to the conscience and com-
mendation of bonus civis and bonus vir; and I do faithfully as-
sure you, that while that is your ambition (though your course
be active and mind contemplative) yet we shall both convenire
in eodem tertio; and convenire inter nosipsos. Your profession
of affection, and offer of good offices, are welcome to me. For
answer to them I will say but this: that you have believed I
have been kind to you, and you may believe that I cannot be
other, either upon humor or mine own election. I am a stranger
to all poetical conceits, or else I should say somewhat of your
poetical example. But this I must say, that I never flew with
other wings than desire to merit, and confidence in my Sov-
ereign's favor; and when one of these wings failed me, I would
light nowhere but at my Sovereign's feet, though she suffered
me to be bruised with my fall. And till her Majesty, that knows
I was never bird of prey, finds it to agree with her will and her
service that my wings should be imped again, I have committed
myself to the mue. No power but my God's, and my Sov-
ereign's, can alter this resolution of
Your retired friend
ESSEX.
Words could not describe an attitude of mind more
becoming to the Earl's present position, or one which
Bacon more wished him to maintain; and if he had had
patience to maintain it, it is probable that in spite of all
that had passed the Queen would have once more for-
gotten or forgiven his many offenses and received him
again into favor. Cautious she was, and suspicious, and
distrustful of fair words, as she might well be. But
Bacon, judging from her demeanor, lived in continual
expectation that she would relent. "Having received
1600-1601.] LETTERS DRAWN UP BY BACON FOR ESSEX. 301
from his Lordship a courteous and loving acceptation of
my good will and endeavors, I did apply it in all my ac-
cesses to the Queen, which were very many at that time,
and purposely sought and wrought upon other variable
pretenses, but only and chiefly for that purpose. And on
the other side I did not forbear to give my Lord from
time to time faithful advertisement of what I found and
what I wished. And I drew for him by his appointment
some letters to her Majesty; which though I knew well
his Lordship's gift and style to be far better than mine
own, yet because he required it, alleging that by his long
restraint he was grown almost a stranger to the Queen's
present conceits, I was ready to perform it; and sure I
am that for the space of six weeks or two months it pros-
pered so well, as I expected continually his restoring to
his attendance. And I was never better welcome to the
Queen nor more made of than when I spake fullest and
boldest for him.
"" 1
Of the letters drawn up by Bacon in Essex's name two
have been preserved, which may possibly belong to this
period. The object in both was to bring about what at
this time Bacon most wished to see, namely, a personal
interview; and the motive suggested was a consciousness
on the Earl's part of being in the dark as to her wishes
and feelings, and an earnest desire for explanation and di-
rection, in order that he might in future avoid all courses
that were distasteful, and serve her according to her own
mind. But letters conceived in this spirit, though much
more likely to dispose the Queen to a renewal of personal
intercourse, as well as much more becoming in them-
selves, than the vague language of affected love and de-
spair in which the Earl himself was in the habit of ad-
dressing her, must have been either much modified to
bring them into conformity with the Earl's ordinary
style, or exposed to suspicion of insincerity from the con
1 Apology.
t
+
ד.
24
L
=
2.
F
i.
302 LETTERS DRAWN UP BY BACON FOR ESSEX. [Book II.
trast; and the Queen might be better satisfied as to the
real state of his mind if she knew how he expressed him-
self to other people, -speaking of her, not to her. An-
thony Bacon was the person to whom on such a subject
he would most naturally open himself, and it was accord-
ingly arranged that letters should pass between them
framed for that purpose.
"It was at the self-same time
that I did draw with my Lord's privity and by his
appointment two letters, the one written as from my.
brother, the other as an answer returned from my Lord,
both to be by me in secret manner showed to the Queen ;
the scope of which was but to represent and pic-
ture forth unto her Majesty my Lord's mind to be such
as I knew her Majesty would fainest have had it; which
letters whosoever shall see (for they cannot now be re-
tracted or altered, being by reason of my brother's or his
Lordship's servants' delivery long since come into divers
hands), let him judge, especially if he knew the Queen
and do remember those times, whether they were not the
labors of one that sought to bring the Queen about for
my Lord of Essex his good." 1
Anthony Bacon's letter was to urge the Earl not to
despair of recovering the Queen's favor; to show how in
all her recent dealings with him she had taken care to
allow no step to be taken which should be inconsistent
with his restoration, and that "upon the whole matter,
neither in her Majesty's person, nor in his own person,
nor in any third person, neither in former precedents nor
in his own case," was there "any cause of dry and per-
emptory despair." Essex was to answer, that as far as the
Queen's intention was concerned, he believed it all; but
that as there were people about her who had had influ-
ence enough to overrule her intentions hitherto, they
would still use it; that those who had succeeded against
her wish in bringing his cause to a sentence, would suc
1 Apology.
1600-1601.] LETTERS DRAWN UP BY BACON FOR ESSEX. 303
ceed in preventing his restoration to her favor; and as
he could not hope to serve, he must be content to pray
for her. Such a theory of her proceedings, and such a
temper in Essex, Bacon judged it expedient to present
indirectly to the Queen's mind, as that which would both
stimulate her to prove that she was mistress and revive
her tenderness towards the man; and this was the device
by which he proposed to manage it: a device which has
been censured as immoral because the correspondence
was to be represented to the Queen as spontaneous and
not meant to go further; whereas it was really meant for
her to see. It involved, no doubt, the concealment of
part of the truth. But so does the suppression by a
friend's advice of an angry letter written under a sense
of injury, and the substitution of a courteous one ; a pro-
ceeding which, though contrived for the purpose of con-
cealing from the other party the real state of the writer's
feelings and thereby suppressing part of the truth,
one would call immoral. All the rest of the transaction
was in good faith. The contents of each letter were
known and approved by the party that signed it. An-
thony Bacon really believed for the reasons there as-
signed that the Queen would receive Essex into favor
again, if he would be patient. Essex really believed that
unfriendly counsellors stood between him and her. And
the temper which his letter expressed was not only that
in which Bacon most wished him to be and continue, but
of which he was himself content for awhile at least to
put on the appearance, and see what it would bring.
no
The first thing it brought was liberty. On the 26th
of August he was formally released from all remaining
restraint, except that which still forbade him to appear
at Court without leave. A little patience in the same
course would probably have brought about a complete
reconciliation. But patience implies delay, and when
dangerous secrets are involved, anxiety may make delay
ཚོ,
304
TEMPER IN WHICH HE WAS.
intolerable. As long as his secrets were safe
[BOOK II.
secrets,
be it remembered, of which Bacon had no suspicion,-
Essex had nothing either to bear or to fear worse than
want of power and favor. But what if they should by
any accident come to the Queen's knowledge? In that
case he might well fear for his head, unless he could in
the mean time make himself too dangerous to be attacked.
To make himself so he had two chances: one through
the Queen's favor, which was to be won by the exhibition
of loyal affection; the other through arrangements with
Scotland and the army in Ireland for self-defense. And
it seems that, not able to rely boldly upon either, he
wanted to secure both. To the Commissioners who con-
veyed to him the Queen's order for his liberty, he de-
clared that it was his wish to live a private life in the
country; and only desired permission to see her once
before he went. To the Queen herself he wrote letter
after letter in the language of a man who valued nothing
in the world apart from her favor. His request to see
her being refused, he retired into the country in the be-
ginning of September; remained quiet there for the rest
of the month; and returned to Essex House in October,
where "he lived" (as far as the newsmen of the time
could learn) "very private, his gate shut day and night,"
suing unsuccessfully for a renewal of his monopoly of
sweet wines, but "well, and with great patience endur-
ing the heavy cross of her Majesty's displeasure towards
him."
Such was the aspect he presented to the world
in general, and to those of his friends with whom, as with
the Bacons, he could only venture upon a half-confidence.
To those whom he regarded as assured partisans through
thick and thin, he appeared in a very different light, — a
man restless and impatient; bent on recovering his great-
ness, if not by lawful then by unlawful means; renewing
his invitation to the King of Scots to take more vigorous
measures for the recognition of his title; applying to
1600-1601.]
TEMPER IN WHICH HE WAS.
305
""
Lord Montjoy for a letter of remonstrance, under color
of which, should his suit for the monopoly (the lease of
which was to expire at Michaelmas) be rejected, he might
"by means of his friends present himself to the Queen;
that is, make himself master of the Court; revolving
many half-digested plans for engaging popular sympathy
and support; and betraying in the agitations of uncer-
tainty and anxiety a disorder of mind resembling mad-
ness. "It resteth with me in opinion (writes Sir John
Harington) that ambition thwarted in his career doth
speedily lead on to madness: and herein I am confirmed
by what I learn of my Lord of Essex; who shifteth from
sorrow and repentance to rage and rebellion so suddenly
as well proveth him devoid of good reason or of right
mind. In my last discourse he uttered strange words
bordering on such strange designs, that made me hasten
forth and leave his presence. Thank heaven I am safe
at home, and if I go in such troubles again, I deserve the
gallows for a meddling fool. His speeches of the Queen
become no man who hath mens sana in corpore sano.
He hath ill advisers, and much evil hath sprung from
this source. The Queen well knoweth how to humble
the haughty spirit, the haughty spirit knoweth not how
to yield, and the man's soul seemeth tossed to and fro
like the waves of a troubled sea.”
Of all this Bacon knew nothing. He may have felt
that the Earl's professions of devotion to the Queen did
not spring out of any deep feeling either of love or rever-
ence; but he did not know that his attitude of despairing
affection was deliberately assumed as a mask; that he
wore armor under his gown; and was prepared, if he
could not gain his end by begging, to take it by force.
Had he been aware of this, he would have had no diffi-
culty in accounting for the revulsion he describes as tak-
ing place about Michaelmas in the Queen's feelings. It
was at Michaelmas that Essex's monopoly-patent expired,
VOL. I.
20
..

!
306
TEMPER IN WHICH HE WAS.
[BOOK II.
the renewal or non-renewal of which he had determined
to regard as a decisive test of the Queen's disposition
towards him; and in case of non-renewal to abandon at
once the trial of patience and submission, and resolve
upon some other course. The disposal of the lease re-
mained in suspense till the end of October, when it was
assigned to Commissioners for the Queen's own use; and
Essex took his resolution accordingly. Such a resolu-
tion in such a mind would inevitably produce a change of
manner which would put the Queen upon her guard,
even if we reject as scandal the report that it betrayed
him into expressions of coarse contempt, which were
repeated to her; and though Bacon in his "Apology,'
dealing as tenderly as possible with the Earl's memory,
shrinks from suggesting the true explanation, Montjoy,
to whom it was addressed, and who knew better than
Bacon what Essex had really been about all this time,
would easily supply the omission; which being supplied,
the issue follows naturally enough. "The truth is
(proceeds the " Apology," immediately after the words
last quoted from it) "that the issue of all his dealing
grew to this, that the Queen, by some slackness of my
Lord's, as I imagine, liked him worse and worse, and
grew more incensed towards him. Then she, remember-
ing belike the continual and incessant and confident
speeches and courses that I had held on my Lord's side,
became utterly alienated from me, and for the space of at
least three months, which was between Michaelmas and
New Year's tide following, would not so much as look on
me, but turned away from me with express and purpose-
like discountenance wheresoever she saw me.
""
Thus we see that from the latter part of July to the
end of September Bacon, though treated as a confidential
adviser, had really been kept in the dark as to half the
Earl's case; and that from the end of September his in-
fluence over his conduct and fortunes was entirely at an
1600-1601.] PREPARATIONS FOR SURPRISING THE COURT. 307
end. Thenceforward, the Queen's ear being shut against
him, and Essex following his own course not only against
his advice (as he had long done) but without his knowl-
edge, he had no means of interfering either to guide him
from errors or to protect him from the consequences of
them.
For awhile therefore he retires into the background
and occupies himself about his proper business; which
was partly the business of the Counsel Learned in look-
ing after matters of law and revenue; partly, I suppose
the preparation of his Reading on the Statute of Uses, —
for he had just been chosen Double Reader at Gray's Inn
for the following Lent, and was about to deliver a course
of lectures on that subject; and partly the payment of
debts and clearing of his estate from embarrassment.
The Earl of Essex in the mean time, being left to his
own counsels and the suggestions of bold men who had
already gone too far with him to be safe without going
further, returned to the policy from which accident and
better advice had diverted him, and applied himself to
prepare means of forcing access to the Court in such a
shape that he might make his own conditions. The con-
ditions were of course to be for the general benefit; but
as he had tried in vain to obtain them without force,
there was no help for it — he must use force to obtain
them. With this view he had already for the second
time applied to Lord Montjoy. Two months before the
expiration of his lease of the monopoly of sweet wines,
he had sent Sir Charles Davers over to Ireland to com-
municate his designs and make arrangements for coöp-
eration. But Montjoy, who was now proceeding warily
and prosperously with his proper work, disapproved the
project and would have nothing to do with it. Help
from the army in Ireland, therefore, which he had always
looked to as a principal arm of his enterprise, he was
obliged to dispense with. But he still had hopes of as-

+
1
C
308 PREPARATIONS FOR SURPRISING THE COURT. [Book II.
sistance from Scotland. The legitimate interest which
the King had in the succession gave him a right to watch
with jealousy all movements which bore upon the disposal
of the crown after the Queen's death. And if he could
be persuaded that the guidance of affairs in England was
now in the hands of persons who favored the title of the
Infanta, that the people were on that ground extremely
discontented, and that the object of Essex was merely
to remove and replace them by persons friendly to his
title, he might be induced to countenance and assist the
action. Communications were made accordingly, and
though care was taken to destroy all record of the par-
ticulars, there yet remains a letter of instructions ad-
dressed by James to his ambassadors, from which it may
be probably inferred that this was in fact the general
tenor of them.
His next care was to draw into the enterprise as many
men of note and ability as could be gained. And this
was to be done by working upon the discontents of those
who were already discontented, and exciting discontent
in those who were not. The "strange words bordering
on strange designs" which alarmed Sir John Harington
were probably meant for feelers. And as early as the
beginning of August (about the same time that Davers
was sent to Montjoy) he had certainly made an elaborate
attempt to breed misunderstanding between Sir Henry
Nevill and the Court. Sir Henry Nevill was a kinsman
of Sir Robert Cecil's; was then ambassador in France;
and was returning to England on the business of his em-
bassy, in which something had gone wrong. The first
thing that met him on his arrival was a friendly warn-
ing from the Earl of Essex (left at his lodgings the day
before by Henry Cuffe) that bad offices had been done
him at Court, and that they meant to lay upon him the
blame of the miscarriage: a statement which proved to
be quite groundless. And afterwards during all that
1600-1601.] PREPARATIONS FOR SURPRISING THE COURT. 309
year great pains were taken to draw him into commu-
nication with the Earl's most intimate advisers; nor
altogether without success: for he was betrayed into a
knowledge, though not into participation or approval, of
their designs. By like means and under various pretexts
a great number of considerable persons were drawn in,
more or less deeply, and with more or less knowledge of
what was really going on. The Catholics were flattered
by promises or what they took for promises of toleration;
the Puritans by show of sympathy; stories of Spanish
intrigues were set afloat to alarm the multitude; and all
plausible courses were taken to attract towards Essex
House men of all sorts that were thought likely to favor
the objects or follow the fortunes of the conspirators
when they should be ready for action; the nature and
even the existence of the conspiracy being all the while
carefully concealed from all but a very few persons who
met in secret conclave at Drury House-a house in the
neighborhood, belonging I believe to the Earl of South-
ampton, in which Sir Charles Davers lodged. By the
end of January, 1600-1, all these intrigues and secret
consultations had ripened into a deliberate and deep-laid
plan for surprising the Court, mastering the guard, and
seizing the Queen's person; and so forcing her to dismiss
from her counsels Cecil, Ralegh, Cobham, and others,
and to make such changes in the state as the conspirators
thought fit. By the 4th of February the plan of action
had been agreed upon; the posts and parts of the several
leaders assigned; everything settled except the day and
the secret was still safe. But though the arrangements
were the work of a few heads, the execution required
many hands; and as the time drew near and the forces
gathered, it became impossible to manage matters so as
not to attract attention. On the 7th of February, which
was a Saturday, the stir about Essex House had become
so great that the Council thought it needed looking after;
1
310 PREPARATIONS FOR SURPRISING THE COURT. [BOOK II.
and a son of the Lord Treasurer's was sent thither as
on some ordinary occasion of compliment, that he might
see what was going on. Upon whose report one of the
Secretaries of State was dispatched to summon the Earl
himself to come and speak with them. He, conscious of
his own secrets and imagining that they knew more than
they really did (for as yet they did not in fact know any-
thing, and meant only "to reprove him for his unlawful
assemblies and wish him to retire into the country "), and
fearing an arrest, sent word that he was too ill to go; and
immediately called his fellow-conspirators into council.
What was to be done? The plot was evidently in danger
of discovery, and could not wait the due time. The blow
must be struck at once or it would be intercepted. But
how? Their party was not strong enough to master the
Court except by surprise, and surprise would not be
practicable if alarm had been taken. Their best chance
seemed to be an appeal to the City. The citizens were
for the most part armed and trained, and the Earl hav-
ing always been a favorite with them, a plausible pretext
might bring them to his side in numbers sufficient to
overpower resistance. But what should the pretext be?
For what object could they be called on to arm? For
the name of Essex had not as yet been associated with
any object of popular desire, except victory over foreign
enemies or domestic rebels. It had never meant liberty,
or plenty, or justice, or no-Popery. And an unorganized
multitude, however eager it may be in affection for a
man, will hardly take up arms and follow him into the
field without knowing what for. The story of a plot
among the ministers in favor of the Infanta, which had
been invented to alarm the King of Scots and draw him
into the enterprise, might have served the purpose if it
could have been made credible. But though it had been
already set afloat in London, it was meant, I fancy, to pro-
duce its effect further off. At the other end of the island
1
1600-1601.] PLAN OF ACTION SUDDENLY CHANGED.
311
such a rumor might obtain some credit, and serve to jus-
tify or to stimulate the proposed interference of the King
in behalf of his title. But in London who could believe
it? The best thing they could think of was an appeal
to the affection of the people for Essex himself. Multi-
tudes are always ready to believe that their favorites are
ill used: and if they thought that Essex was in personal
danger they would gather to the rescue fast enough.
With this hope a story was invented on the sudden, and
carefully spread abroad the same evening, of a plot to
murder him ; — coupled sometimes with the unpopular
names of Cobham and Ralegh—sometimes with a vague
rumor of "certain Jesuits to the number of four." This
alarm would certainly bring all his friends about him,
and might prepare the people for an appeal the next
morning. And when this was thought by some too un-
certain a hope to rely on, a message arriving opportunely
from the City to declare their readiness to stand by him.
-a message invented, it was suspected afterwards, by
some of his own party to quicken his resolutions, but be-
lieved at the time to be genuine - satisfied the doubt-
ers and decided the question that way.
Early on Sunday morning his friends arrived from all
sides at Essex House: to the number of "three hundred
gentlemen of prime note." But while he was explaining
to them the pretended danger which hung over him, the
necessity of providing means of self-defense, and what
assurance he had that the citizens would take his part,
there arrived from the Court (for his refusal the day be-
fore to answer the summons of the Council had effectu-
ally awakened their suspicions) his old friend the Lord
Keeper, with three other of the lords (all belonging to
what was considered as his own party), sent by the
Queen to demand the cause of the assembly, to promise
that if he had any complaint to make it should be heard,
and to command them to disperse. Had the hearing of
:I
"
-:
L
<1

312
PLAN OF ACTION SUDDENLY CHANGED.
[BOOK II.
his complaint been offered only on condition of his going
in person to deliver it, there might have been some color
for refusing. But they only asked him to communicate
it to them, — to communicate it privately, if he did not
like to declare it openly; promising that they would
make a faithful report of it to the Queen. What was to
be done now? He knew well enough that he had no
complaint to make that would bear the examining, nor
any demand to prefer which would even bear the stating;
the only thing he wanted being that which, then more
than ever, it would have been ridiculous to ask for, ex-
cept as a condition imposed by a conqueror. However
fair the offer therefore, it was clear that it could not be
accepted. Yet to send the Lords back with a simple re-
fusal would have been almost as great a contumacy as to
detain them. To let them go would only be to give
alarm the sooner; and if he kept them there they might
be of use afterwards in making terms. So he decided
to lock them up in his library; and leaving them there
under guard, set off himself on the instant accompanied
with some two hundred gentlemen to try his fortune in
the City.
The plan of action, as settled the night before, was to
go on horseback, to arrive at Paul's Cross before the end
of the sermon, to explain the pretended case to the Alder-
men and people whom they should find assembled there,
and call on them for help: if they found them ready to
join, then to proceed with the action; if not, to fly to
some place of safety. But the visit of the Councillors,
by precipitating the movement, spoiled the execution.
The horses were not ready, and Essex wanted either the
patience or the courage to wait for them. The party
went on foot. And now everything depended upon his
success in exciting the people and inducing them to take
his part. He was a good speaker, and always sure of
favorable listeners: and it was one of those cases in

3
1600-1601.] PLAN OF ACTION SUDDENLY CHANGED.
318
which rhetoric can sometimes do the work of an army.
A Mark Antony might at that hour have set mischief
on horseback. But Essex had not prepared his speech;
and being no actor, and having nothing to say that could
possibly come spontaneously, he made no attempt to ad-
dress the people — only cried out as he passed along that
his life was in danger, his enemies were going to mur-
der him. Now though his followers were armed only
with their swords, yet at mid-day, in the heart of a pop-
ulous city, all friends, and no enemy in sight, a man
with two hundred swords at his back could not be in any
immediate danger of being murdered. If that was all,
there was time to hear more; and the people in the
streets only followed, wondering what might be the mat-
ter. Thus he passed all through Cheapside and Grace-
church Street, till he came to the house of Sheriff Smith,
who commanded the trained bands, and in whom he
thought he had an interest. But the Sheriff, though a
friend, was not an accomplice; and having heard his
story, withdrew to consult the Lord Mayor. To hesitate
in such a case was to refuse; for time could only make
the absurdity of the pretext and the hopelessness of the
enterprise more apparent. Finding therefore that the
pretense of danger to himself from private enemies (who,
for the present at least, could not possibly hurt him)
brought no armed men to his side, he now bethought
himself of his other fiction, the pretense of danger to
the people from the public enemy; and cried out that
"the crown of England was offered to be sold to the In-
fanta." How, where, or by whom, he does not seem to
have attempted to explain; still less what kind of action
he wanted their help in, with a view to prevent the sale.
Nor indeed was there leisure now for explanations. For
by this time he had been formally proclaimed traitor
through the city, and troops had been collected to op-
pose him. And seeing that not a single new man had
.de
*
---
314 OUTBREAK AND DEFEAT OF THE INSURRECTION. [Book II.
joined his party, while those who came with him were
beginning gradually to steal away, it was evident that all
chance of success was gone.
His best course now (escape into the country being
impracticable for want of horses) would probably have
been to remain where he was with as many men as he
could keep about him, and send some one to negotiate
terms of surrender, before the Government were fully
aware of the helplessness of his position. This was the
advice of Sir Ferdinando Gorge; who went to Essex
House with his authority, released the imprisoned lords,
accompanied them to the Court, and tried to make it
appear that the Earl's power was still formidable, and
that they had better offer him fair terms while they
could. But while he was thus engaged, the Earl himself,
upon what motive must be left to conjecture (for the
authorities of the city had not attempted to lay hands
on him), resolved to return to Essex House. Perhaps
he thought that, if he could maintain himself there for a
few hours, the citizens would take courage and come to
the rescue. Perhaps (which I think more likely) he
remembered that he had left in Essex House a casket of
papers, which if they fell into the hands of the Govern-
ment would be fatal to his hopes, by betraying the real
objects of the conspiracy and the falsehood of the pub-
lished pretense. But it is vain to seek for rational
motives in an action which from first to last was con-
ducted in defiance of reason. Certain it is that he did
make an attempt to force his way back towards Essex
House through Ludgate Hill, that being repulsed by the
troops collected there he went round by the river, entered
with some fifty followers by the watergate, burned certain
papers, saying that "they should tell no tales," and pre-
pared to defend himself. But whatever danger he may
have escaped by destroying those papers, it was at the
cost of placing himself at the mercy of the Government,
1600-1691.] OUTBREAK AND DEFEAT OF THE INSURRECTION. 315
who now knew that he could not escape, and that he
must within a few hours surrender at discretion. The
news was brought to the Council while Gorge was nego-
tiating, and of course settled the question. Essex House
was invested on all sides by an overpowering force, and
about ten o'clock at night they all surrendered, and were
conveyed to prison.
So little had the Government been prepared for such
an outbreak as this, that as late as eleven o'clock that
morning no unusual provision had been made for defense;
since which hour they had had work enough on their
hands in dealing with the immediate danger. They had
now a breathing-while to consider what it was, what it
meant, and what remained behind. That upwards of a
hundred noblemen and gentlemen of birth and quality
had been gathered together in London, ready at an hour's
notice to join in open insurrection, and that they had had
some understanding with the authorities of the city which
encouraged them to expect, though they had not found,
armed aid there; this they now knew; but as yet it was
all they knew. What the conspirators were aiming at,
on what their hopes rested, what was their present bond
of alliance, what other allies they had in reserve, — all
this was a mystery. Not one of them (so far as the
Government was aware) had anything to fear; or any-
thing to complain of, worse than want of Court-sunshine.
No popular grievance was in agitation; no popular
favorite in prison. Yet some principle of combination
there must have been. The project of an armed insur-
rection against a government so firmly planted, had it
been but the sudden thought of Saturday night, could
not have been known, taken up, and put in act on Sun-
day morning, by so many persons of so many qualities
coming from so many places, unless they were prepared
by some previous arrangement or excited by some panic
alarm. Yet what had occurred to create such alarm?
•
816
INVESTIGATIONS BY THE COUNCIL.
[BOOK II.
Nothing more than a civil message, unaccompanied with
force or threat of force, requiring Essex to appear before
the Council! What danger could there be in that, worth
avoiding by so desperate a plunge?
Those who have followed my narrative can already
answer this question. A summons to the Council implied
suspicion; suspicion implied danger of discovery; and
discovery would be as ruinous as defeat. Conscious of
secrets the disclosure of which would itself be fatal to
them, the leaders of the conspiracy were ready to take
alarm upon the first symptom of alarm taken by the
Government, and resort to sudden flight or sudden resist-
ance as the less hazardous alternative. But this, though
known to us, was not known to the Council. To them
on Monday morning, the 9th of February, this only was
apparent that there was
some great undiscovered
treason on foot somewhere, all the more to be dreaded
because there was nothing to show where or of what
nature. The first thing to be done, after securing the
prisoners and providing against riots and rescues, was to
take possession of their houses and papers, to inquire
after strangers and strange doings, to set a watch upon
the ports, and to instruct all persons in authority to be
at their posts and on their guard. These precautions
being taken against its further spreading, the next thing
was to hunt the treason to its source; and now Bacon
(whom we left busy with his private concerns) reappears
upon the public stage, though the part he has to play is
not for the present a conspicuous one.
Since Michaelmas, if he had any communication with
Essex (of which I find no traces), it cannot have been of
a confidential kind. Essex could not deal honestly with
him, and being full of his own work, probably had no
dealings with him at all. With the Queen he had had
one conversation, which was in the beginning of January.
Finding that her growing dissatisfaction with Essex made
1600-1601.]
INVESTIGATIONS BY THE COUNCIL.
317
her look with suspicion upon one who had been so earnest
and assiduous an intercessor for him, he requested an in-
terview; from which, though he succeeded in reassuring
her with regard to himself, he came away with a deter-
mination to meddle no more in a business in which it
was plain that he could do no good, and endeavor to put
his own personal concerns upon a better and sounder
footing.
While he was engaged, as we have seen, in making
arrangements for the payment of his debts, the unex-
pected outbreak on the 8th of February summoned all
well-disposed subjects to their posts; and his post was
among the Counsel Learned. As one of that small body
of practiced and confidential servants whose duty it was
to fight the Queen's battles in the courts of justice, and
serve her as a kind of legal body-guard, he along with
the rest, on the 11th of February, while the whole affair
was still an inexplicable and alarming mystery, received
a commission from the Council to assist in unravelling it.
The quantity of work before them was so great, and the
occasion so urgent, that they arranged to divide their
labor as much as possible, working in separate parties of
not more than three together; and they set to work ac-
cordingly, taking the several prisons in succession. For
seven days the investigation went on without any satis-
factory result; but at last the real secret was discovered.
It seems that the Council had reserved to themselves the
examination of the leaders of the insurrection, leaving
Coke, Bacon, and the rest to pursue the inquiry in other
quarters. From one of these they succeeded (but not
before the 18th of February) in extracting the secret
(known only to seven or eight persons) of the prepara-
tory consultations at Drury House. The others who
were reported to have taken part in those consultations
being thereupon reëxamined, and finding by the ques-
1
1 Bacon was associated with Mr. Wilbraham and Sir Jerome Bowes.
318
INVESTIGATIONS BY THE COUNCIL.
1
[BOOK II.
tions that the truth had come out, were unwilling to
make their case worse by persisting in the falsehood, and
confessed the whole with little or no reserve. Their
several confessions, agreeing as they did in all the main
points, supplied unquestionable proof of deliberate and
premeditated treason; and from that moment the whole
affair was intelligible.
Delay in such a case was not without its dangers.
Already one daring attempt to compel the liberation of
the two Earls by putting the Queen in fear of her life
had been discovered and prevented; and the examination
of the prisoner had suggested the possibility of other
dangers of a more formidable kind in the background;
for it appeared that hopes were in the wind of a com-
bination in their favor between Montjoy and the rebel
chiefs in Ireland. The best security against such move-
ments, the strength of which lay in the popular misappre-
hension of the truth, was to bring the case to public trial
as soon as possible. The new information had been im-
mediately communicated to Coke and Bacon, with in-
structions to spend no more time upon the less conclusive
parts of the evidence but to proceed at once upon this;
and it was determined to arraign the Earls of Essex and
Southampton the next day. What their defense would
be no one could foretell. They had not been themselves
examined, nor were they aware of the confessions which
had been made by their confederates. It was necessary
therefore that the counsel for the prosecution should be
prepared to meet them at all points; and though Coke
was the leader and manager, Bacon was of course to be
in his place, ready to help if his help were wanted. The
sequel will show that for the true and legitimate ends of
justice the part he had to take was not unimportant.
But in order to exhibit the proper effect and significance
of it, I shall have to enter at some length into the history
of the trial.
...!
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
319
Essex had had time enough to consider what story he
should tell. He was prepared to hear several acts proved
against him which in strict construction of law amounted
to treason. When commanded in the Queen's name by
the highest officers in the land to lay down his arms and
disperse his company, he had made no attempt to do so;
but had on the contrary arrested and confined the mes-
sengers. He had called on the citizens to arm and join
him, after being formally proclaimed traitor, and sum-
moned to surrender by a herald. He had charged the
Queen's forces on Ludgate Hill, not being himself at-
tacked. He had defended his house against the Queen's
lieutenant. And in the course of these acts of resistance
to lawful authority, he had caused the death of some of
the Queen's subjects. All this was notorious and could
not be disputed. Still, if all was done in self-defense; if
he really believed that his life was in danger, and that
this was the only way to save it; if he durst not go to
the Council for fear of being shot on the road; durst not
lay down his arms or dismiss his company for fear of
being attacked in his house by armed assassins; went
into the city for help because he feared that the three
hundred friends who were gathered about him were not
enough to defend him against such a force as he was
threatened with; and finally, not finding the help he
sought, attempted to force his way to the palace and the
Queen's presence only as a place of refuge from the sup-
posed danger; there can be no doubt that these acts,
however the law might construe them, had not either
the moral or the political character of treason; morally,
they did not imply the intent; politically, they did not
entail the danger. Such an excuse, if it could have been
made good, might have raised the question whether the
Earl were fit to go at large, but would have acquitted
him of treason and rebellion. It had the advantage of
being the story which he had already told, -the motive
2-
320
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
the
[BOOK II.
which he had publicly alleged for all that he did on Sun-
day; and the acts of that day taken by themselves were
so hard to reconcile with reason upon any motive, that
if what he did on Sunday was all he had to explain,
it might perhaps be thought not absolutely incredible.
The fatal fact which it left utterly unexplained
fact that an attack upon the Court had been under con-
sideration for months, and planned in detail for weeks,
before any apprehension of personal danger had been so
much as rumored, or any fear shown of going abroad
without an armed escort, this fact being known only to
seven or eight persons, every one of whom was by the
nature of the case bound on peril of his life to keep it
secret, he trusted was in no danger of discovery. He
came prepared therefore to take up this position for his
defense.
The opening of the case by the Queen's serjeant con-
tained nothing to alarm him. Though the action was
compared to that of Catiline, the acts recited were only
those which everybody knew of. To the prayer for the
Queen's safety with which the speech concluded he
cheerfully said Amen, and strengthened it with an im-
precation of his own upon the souls of all such as wished
otherwise.
Nor was he less prepared for the law logic of Coke;
who, "suddenly rising," undertook to prove that the
intention of the act was nothing less than "to take away
the prince from the people." By the law, he who usurps
the prince's authority is supposed to purpose the destruc-
tion of the prince; and he who assembles power and
continues in arms against the prince's commandment
he who levies forces to take a town or fort, and hold it
against the prince-usurps the prince's authority. All
this Essex had of course expected. And when the orator
went on to describe the particular mode of usurpation
which he had attempted-how he had intended to take
#
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
321
"not a town, but a city; not a city alone, but London
the chief city; not only London, but the Tower of Lon-
don; not only the Tower of London, but the royal pal-
ace and person of the prince, and to take away her life,"
-though he was treading near dangerous ground, it
might be hoped that he was merely constructing a rhe-
torical climax; that he knew only of the attempt to
obtain help in the city, and that the ascending steps
and crowning conclusion of the charge grew out of it
by the ordinary rules of oratory, without better evidence.
"Wondering and passionate gestures" from the Earl,
as clause rose over clause, breaking forth at the cul-
mination into a vehement protestation that “he never
wished harm to his Sovereign more than to his own
soul," intimated to the audience how extravagant the
imputation was. A hint concerning "a little black bag,
wherein was contained the whole plot," touched nearer;
but the contents of that bag had been destroyed, and
could only be known by guess or by report; any evi-
dence founded upon that might therefore be contradicted
and outfaced. But when Coke came at last to explain in
detail what the plan was- how the Earl "had plotted to
surprise the Court, and had disposed of the several places
thereof to be guarded by special persons about him: how
the gate had been committed to Sir Christopher Blount,
the hall to Sir John Davies, the presence to Sir Charles
Davers; while himself was to take possession of her Maj-
esty's sacred person," and then proceed, among other
things, to call a Parliament; it became evident that he
had by some means or other got at the fatal truth. The
statement was too circumstantial and too exactly true for
a guess. And when he wound all up by promising to
prove all this as clear as the sun by the evidence he had
to show -"being for the most part examinations of such
as were of the confederacy, all severed in prison, but
agreeing in the chief points of their confessions"— it
VOL. L.
21
322
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
was clear that if the promise could be made good, the
proposed defense would not meet the charge.
Not well knowing what to say, yet too uneasy to re-
main silent any longer, the Earl begged here to be allowed
his turn to speak. Their memories, he said, were not
strong enough to retain so many matters: he desired of
their Lordships that they might have leave to answer,
first to the accusations in general, and then to the par-
ticular evidences as they should be delivered: a request
which, though very properly objected to by Coke, whose
objection the Lord High Steward supported, was upon
the advice of the Lord Chief Justice granted; after
which during the whole course of the trial both the
prisoners spoke whenever and whatever they pleased;
with such results as we shall see.
Why Essex should have desired to speak at this junc-
ture to the accusations in general, it is difficult to under-
stand. For not yet knowing what he had to answer, he
could not yet answer to the purpose; and what he had
to say by way of appeal to the feelings of the audience
would have had a better effect in immediate connection
with his reply. But a request to be fairly heard, with a
brave protestation of indifference to the issue, except in
so far as it concerned the fortunes of his friends and his
own reputation for "fidelity and true allegiance towards
her Majesty " (which was all he had to interpose at pres-
ent), gave him for awhile the sympathy of an audience
that way disposed. And then the business began.
Before I proceed to give an account of what followed,
I may as well state that I have taken for my authority
a manuscript report of the trial in the possession of John
Tollemache, Esq., of Helmingham Hall, in Suffolk, who
kindly permitted me to take a copy of it for use in this
work. The original possessor appears to have been
Lionel Tollemache, of Bently, whose name is written on
the title-page; and I am informed that it has always been
-
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
323
in the possession of the family. The Tollemaches were
connected with the Earl of Essex, and it is to him that
the reporter (though nowhere wanting in fairness and
intelligence) has evidently paid especial attention: his
speeches being set forth at greater length than the rest,
and his behavior throughout the trial particularly de-
scribed; a peculiarity which (as the case for the de-
fense is to be found only in the Earl's own speeches at
the trial, of which we have no authorized report, whereas
the case on behalf of the Queen is fully known to us
through an official statement published by her own
authority) gives this manuscript the greater value. As
the production moreover of one who set down only what
he heard and saw, I take it to be a better authority for
the actual order of the proceedings than the report given
in the State Trials; whether in its original shape, or as
reproduced by Mr. Jardine with additions and variations
in the “Library of Entertaining Knowledge.". For in
both those versions there is evidence of patchwork ; doc-
uments not contained in the original manuscript having
been supplied from elsewhere, and their places assigned
according to the compiler's conjecture, without other evi-
dence; whence arise some important differences, not only
in the substance and general effect of many speeches, but
in the very order and connection in which the most im-
portant parts of the evidence were brought forward: an
order which it is necessary in some cases to know before
we can understand the true import of the defense. On
questions of this kind I take this Tollemache MS. to be
the more trustworthy guide, and where my story differs
from the received story, which it will be found to do in
some not unimportant particulars, it is to be understood
that this manuscript is my authority.
The order in which the evidence was brought forward
seemed at first to promise favorably for the defence. The
action having been in fact an enforced and unpremedi-
324
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
tated deviation from the original design, without refer-
ence to which its true character could not be made intel-
ligible, the most natural way of introducing the subject
would have been to begin with the proof of what had
been intended and then to show what was actually done.
But Coke began at the other end; opening the case with
the proceedings at Essex House on the arrival of the
Councillors, and selecting moreover for his opening evi-
dence the very worst witness probably on his list. Mr.
Widdrington of the North was one of the Earl's own
party and had followed him into the city. He stated in
his examination, among other things, that being alarmed
at the violence of the language which he heard used with
respect to the Councillors, he had warned the Earl of it,
who went away from him without giving any answer;
after which "going down amongst the company, he per-
ceived amongst them that order was given that if any
violence was offered to the house, or that the Earl of
Essex miscarried in London, that then the Lord Keeper
and the Lord Chief Justice should be presently killed." 1
That he was the only witness who could speak to this
last point, while it explains the value which Coke at-
tached to this deposition, supplied Essex with a great ad-
vantage in answering it. The charge rested upon the
evidence of a man personally implicated, who was telling
a story favorable to himself, speaking of things of which
there must have been many other witnesses, yet not cor-
roborated by any other, and who moreover was not him-
self at hand to vouch his words or answer questions.
Essex excepted to it on these grounds, and his exception
seems to have been allowed; for nothing more was heard
of this deposition or this charge; and a better and fitter
witness was immediately brought forward.
1 I quote here from the written examination in the State Paper Office. The
Tollemache MS. represents him as saying that "order was left by the Earl that
they should be killed if he should miscarry in London. "
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
325
This was the Lord Chief Justice; whose story, very
simply and quietly told, and confined to what he had
himself seen or heard and what the rest could testify,
fully proved the Earl's refusal to disperse his company or
to explain his grievance, being required to do so by the
Lord Keeper, and the forcible detention of their persons
by his authority while he himself went into the city.
But all this lay within the lines of the Earl's proposed
defense; who without disputing any of the facts hastened
to explain them and show that they implied no disloy-
alty. It was true that he had detained the Councillors;
but it was only for their own security. "Having had
divers advertisements both the night before and that
present morning of preparations by his enemies to assault
him in his own house," he feared that in the tumults
which were likely to ensue they might perish. It was
true that he had not dissolved his company at their bid-
ding; but it was because he could not have done it; for
just at that moment "the people abroad in the street
with a great and sudden outcry said they should all be
slain," at which time they thought their enemies had be-
set the house. It was true that they went to the city
for protection, not to the Council; but it was for a like
reason," they feared they should be intercepted by
their enemies to their uttermost danger. Of his refusal
to communicate his case privately to the Lord Keeper,
which could not have been explained by the same mo-
tive, he does not appear to have offered any explanation.
But the ground of defense implied in all these answers
was distinct and explicit: Everything had been done un-
der the belief that he was in immediate danger, not of
false accusation, not of detraction, not of Court malice,
but of an attack by armed men. And since the clearest
proof that he had no reason for believing such a thing
was no proof that he did not in fact believe it, it is
sible that he might have made a plausible stand upon
pos-
•
•*
..
-

326
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
that ground, had the case against him ended there. But
what if it could be shown that he had himself been mak
ing preparations for an armed attack upon the Court
some weeks before? Such preparations could have no
relation to any such alarm as that to which he imputed
his actions on Sunday. Leaving the excuse therefore (for
which he does not seem to have been prepared) unan-
swered at the moment, Coke proceeded at once to pro-
duce evidence of the preliminary consultations.
First came the examination of Sir Ferdinando Gorge;
in which was revealed, among other things, "the consul-
tation at Drury House, where was moved the taking of
the City, the Tower and the Court; " and where, upon a
debate "how all or some of them might be surprised,"
Sir John Davis had "undertaken to frame a plot to take
the Court; designing Sir Christopher Blunt to make
good the gate; Sir John Davis the hall; Sir Charles
Davers to possess the great chamber and to take hold of
the guards' halberts and to keep the company of the pres-
ence from issuing forth; the Lords themselves to pass
immediately to her Majesty. But" (it was added) “upon
these motions nothing was resolved, but referred to the
Earl of Essex his own ordering."
These disclosures (the substance of which I quote from
the contemporary report in preference to the written ex-
amination, because I do not otherwise know how much of
the written examination was read at this stage in the
proceedings) compelled Essex to take up on the sudden
a new position. It was plain that such a consultation
could not have been forced upon him by fear of being
beset in his house or waylaid at his door. What account
should he give of it? His first impulse was to demand
that Sir Ferdinando should be sent for, as implying that
he would not confirm that evidence face to face, and hop-
ing perhaps that they would not venture to produce him.
But when he saw that no objection was made and Sir
:
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
327
Ferdinando was at once sent for, he began to prepare for
the encounter by a partial admission of the fact. It was
true that something of the kind had been talked of; but
it had never been resolved upon; and if it had, what was
it? only a plan for procuring a personal interview with
the Queen, "that he might utter his plaints; which he
knew were so just that her Majesty upon those allega-
tions which he should urge against his adversaries (the
Lord Cobham, Mr. Secretary, and Sir Walter Ralegh)
would graciously hear him" and consent to remove them
from about her. For it was not his private injuries only
that he had to allege against them, but likewise "many
foreign practices and broils in neighbor states" of which
they were the root. And how desirable it was that such
men should be removed from the Queen's ear, he referred
to their Lordships' own consideration. "If I spake a
wonder," he proceeded, "when I mentioned these mine
enemies should be removed, I should need to strengthen
my assertions with good reasons. But if many of your
Lordships here present have heretofore conceived enough
of it, I need not further at this present time give reasons
for it. But (he added) when I and my company had
procured access to her Majesty, we meant to have sub-
mitted ourselves to the Queen with paper, and not to
have justified our act with sword."
Had Essex been a man to be suspected of subtle tactics,
one might have given him credit here for a daring and
skillful stratagem. One might have thought that, see-
ing the completeness of the evidence with which he was
threatened, and feeling that his best chance was to throw
it into confusion by drawing the Court into hot and per-
sonal discussions away from the point at issue, he had
promptly resolved to throw down this audacious challenge,
although he was throwing away along with it the only
fair plea for which his own admission now left room. If
the attack upon the Court had been merely talked of and

328
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
never taken shape as a formed intention, he might have
asked pardon for the thought on the ground that he had
himself disowned and condemned it. Whereas in thus
justifying it before the Court and confidently claiming
their sympathy and sanction, whatever criminality there
was in the meditation of an enterprise, which if put in
act no man could doubt to be treason, that criminality he
accepted for himself. The truth probably is that he
spoke on the impulse of the moment, out of the abun-
dance of his dislike, without thinking either of nearer or
remoter consequences. But whatever may have been
the intention, the effect followed.
For before Sir Ferdi-
nando arrived, though he was no further off than the
Gatehouse, the Attorney General and the prisoner were
already disputing about matters which had no reference
to the case — about the alleged subornation of a witness
to accuse the Earl of a conspiracy with the King of
Scots concerning the succession, and about a forgery of
his handwriting by a scrivener which had been used to
extort money;-and Lord Cobham had been provoked
to rise in his place and demand an explanation of the
charges just thrown out against himself.
•
The arrival of Sir Ferdinando put a stop for the
moment to these unseasonable digressions, and brought
them back to the business of the day. But it did not
otherwise alter the case. Face to face he simply re-
affirmed what he had stated in his examination, declar-
ing that it was all he knew. Nor was anything new
elicited by the cross-examination, except a virtual admis-
sion by the Earl of Southampton that such conferences
had been held; and a declaration by Sir Ferdinando that
at the conference which he had attended the subject was
spoken of as a thing which had been for three months in
consultation.
Sir Ferdinando being withdrawn, it might have been
expected that the curiosity of the Court would concur
"
"
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
329
with the policy of the prosecution in calling for the evi-
dence (already announced as forthcoming) of the other
confederates who had witnessed what passed at the Drury
House consultations: those consultations being in the
highest degree material, being of a nature not to be es-
tablished by the testimony of a single witness, and hav-
ing for all but a few of the Councillors the interest of
perfect novelty. But it seems that the cheerful confi-
dence with which the Earl had taken his stand upon the
plea of personal danger (which was a story equally new)
had made its impression on the Court. And that alle-
gation having been neither justified nor refuted, they
wished before proceeding further to hear what reason
he had for apprehending any such danger; "for," said
the Lord High Steward, "you speak things without
probability."
This led to another digression, which brought Sir
Walter Ralegh on the stage. For when the vague asser-
tions with which the Earl tried to satisfy them— that he
knew of these preparations “many ways,”
that he had
received "intelligence upon intelligence, " and the like,
-could not be accepted for proof, and some particular
evidence was insisted upon, he at last fell upon this:
that Sir Walter Ralegh having desired to speak with Sir
Ferdinando Gorge, they had met by appointment on the
river that Sunday morning; and that Sir Walter had
"wished him to come from them, or else he were a lost
man and as a person entering a sinking ship; of which
words" (added the Earl), "when we heard them, what
other construction could we make, but that there was
some imminent mischief intended towards us?" So weak
a shift might very well have been left to itself, and ac-
cepted only as an admission that the alarm was a fiction
and an after-thought. But Ralegh desired to explain;
and being sworn (and sworn, for the Earl's better satis-
330
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
faction, on the largest copy of the Testament ¹) proceeded
"with a settled countenance" to relate what had passed.
Being a friend of Sir Ferdinando's, he had advised him
to return to the country, where he had a charge — [he
was Governor of Plymouth]- and whither the Queen
would have him go. Sir Ferdinando thanked him, but
answered, these were no times of going; for the Earl of
Essex stood upon his guard: whereat Ralegh wondered,
not having heard of it before, and answered, "If you re-
turn, then you are a lost man.” Upon this Essex only
observed that "it was told them otherwise."
This then being all that the Earl had to allege in justi-
fication of the apprehension under which he professed to
have been acting, that question might now be considered
as disposed of; and it was time to proceed with the evidence
as to his real design. But the Attorney General himself
seems by this time to have lost the thread of his own ar-
gument; and instead of producing the other examinations,
wandered away into questions concerning the speeches
the Earl had used in the City, the slight regard he had
paid to the herald, the religious belief of his associates,
and other extraneous or collateral matter of that kind;
all which opened to Essex a large field for vague protesta-
tions of his own loyalty and sincerity, and vague com-
plaints of the courses taken by the Government courses
which (he assured the Court) "had made an honorable,
grave, and wise Councillor oftentimes wish himself dead;"
wherein an incidental allusion to an assault which had
been made upon the Earl of Southampton called forth
Lord Grey to defend himself, and led to a lively passage
of sharp words between those two. Which interruption
being over, Coke took up the word again; and still for-
1 "And here Sir W. Ralegh desired on his knees to satisfy for that point; and
having leave was ready to swear, when vehemently the Lord of Essex cried
out, 'Look what book it is he swears on!' And the book being in decimo-
sexto, or the least volume, was looked in and changed to a book in folio of the
largest size."
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
331
getting that he had left the main point only half proved,
called on the Earl to justify his announcement to the peo-
ple in the City that the state was sold to the Spaniards
by Mr. Secretary: a demand which led the way to the
longest, the liveliest, the most exciting, and also I must
add the most irrelevant digression that had yet been
thrown in the way of the rational investigation of the
question on which the Court was assembled to decide.
Essex declared that he had had advertisement of this
practice "many ways;" but the one fact which he
offered by way of evidence was this: himself and South-
ampton "had both been informed how Secretary Cecil
had maintained to one of his fellow-Councillors the title
of the Infanta to be the best after her Majesty's death
and in a manner before." For any bearing which this
had upon the case under trial, it might very well have
been answered-What if he did? But Cecil could
hardly be expected to rest quietly under an imputation
which, however impertinent to the case, might if allowed
to pass uncontradicted be very injurious to himself.
Coming forth from behind the hanging where he
had stood, he fell on his knees and humbly besought the
Lord High Steward that he might be suffered to break
course and clear himself of this slander." Whereupon
followed a long and lively interlude, extremely interest-
ing no doubt to the audience, and narrated very well and
fully by our reporter, but of which I must content myself
with stating the conclusion: which was, that the name of
their informant being demanded, and Sir William Knollys
being at last after much hesitation and many protests
named as the authority, and thereupon at Cecil's earnest
request sent for and questioned, it turned out that Cecil
had indeed once mentioned to him, and offered to show him,
a book wherein that title was preferred before any other.
And this was all the foundation for that story, on the
strength of which the citizens of London had been ex-
66

i
>
332
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
horted to take up arms against the Government in de-
fense of the kingdom.
By this time the argument had drifted so far away
from the point that it must have been difficult for a lis-
tener to remember what it was that the prisoners were
charged with, or how much of the charge had been proved.
And Coke, who was all this time the sole speaker on behalf
of the Crown, was still following each fresh topic that rose
before him, without the sign of an intention or the intima-
tion of a wish to return to the main question and reform the
broken ranks of his evidence. Luckily he seems to have
been now at a loss what point to take next, and the pause
gave Bacon an opportunity of rising. It can hardly have
been in pursuance of previous arrangements; for though
it was customary in those days to distribute the evidence
into parts and to assign several parts to several counsel,
there had been no appearance as yet of any part being
concluded. It is probable that the course of the trial had
upset previous arrangements and confused the parts.
At any rate so it was, however it came to pass, that
when Cecil and Essex had at last finished their expostula-
tion and parted with charitable prayers each that the
other might be forgiven, " Then (says our reporter) Mr.
Bacon entered into a speech much after this fashion."
"In speaking of this late and horrible rebellion which
hath been in the eyes and ears of all men, I shall save
myself much labor in opening and enforcing the points
thereof, insomuch as I speak not before a country jury of
ignorant men, but before a most honorable assembly of
the greatest Peers of the land, whose wisdoms conceive
far more than my tongue can utter; yet with your gra-
cious and honorable favors I will presume, if not for in-
formation of your Honors, yet for the discharge of my
duty, to say thus much. No man can be ignorant that
knows matters of former ages, and all history makes it
plain, that there was never any traitor heard of that durst
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
333
directly attempt the seat of his liege prince, but he always
colored his practices with some plausible pretense. For
God hath imprinted such a majesty in the face of a prince
that no private man dare approach the person of his sov-
ereign with a traitorous intent. And, therefore, they run
another side course, oblique et à latere; some to reform
corruptions of the state and religion; some to reduce the
ancient liberties and customs pretended to be lost and
worn out; some to remove those persons that being in
high places make themselves subject to envy; but all of
them aim at the overthrow of the state and destruction of
the present rulers. And this likewise is the use of those
that work mischief of another quality; as Cain, that first
murderer, took up an excuse for his fact, shaming to out-
face it with impudency. Thus the Earl made his color
the severing some great men and councillors from her
Majesty's favor, and the fear he stood in of his pretended
enemies lest they should murder him in his house. There-
fore he saith he was compelled to fly into the city for
succor and assistance; not much unlike Pisistratus, of
whom it was so anciently written how he gashed and
wounded himself and in that sort ran crying into Athens
that his life was sought and like to have been taken away;
thinking to have moved the people to have pitied him
and taken his part, by such counterfeited harm and dan-
ger; whereas his aim and drift was to take the govern-
ment of the city into his hands, and alter the form
thereof. With like pretenses of dangers and assaults the
Earl of Essex entered the city of London and passed
through the bowels thereof, blanching rumors that he
should have been murdered and that the state was sold ;
whereas he had no such enemies, no such dangers; per-
suading themselves that if they could prevail, all would
have done well. But now magna scelera terminantur in
hæresin; for you, my Lord, should know that though
princes give their subjects cause of discontent, though
+
1
334
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
they take away the honors they have heaped upon them,
though they bring them to a lower estate than they
raised them from, yet ought they not to be so forgetful
of their allegiance that they should enter into any un-
dutiful act, much less upon rebellion, as you, my Lord,
have done. All whatsoever you have or can say in an-
swer hereof are but shadows. And therefore methinks it
were best for you to confess, not to justify."
The Earl's attempts to draw the Court away from the
point by interposing personal charges and exciting per-
sonal altercations had succeeded so well hitherto, that
when this speech of Bacon's threatened to bring them
back to the real question and prepare them to hear the
rest of the evidence, he tried again to effect a diversion
in the same way. If the reader remembers my account
of the letters drawn up by Bacon a few months before,
one as from his brother to the Earl, the other as from
the Earl in answer (see above, p. 302), he remembers
likewise the occasion and purpose of them; and can judge
of the pertinency and propriety of the retort with which
the Earl now replied upon him.
"To answer Mr. Bacon's speech at once," said he, "I
say thus much; and call forth Mr. Bacon against Mr.
Bacon. You are then to know that Mr. Francis Bacon
hath written two letters, the one of which hath been
artificially framed in my name, after he had framed the
other in Mr. Anthony Bacon's name to provoke me. In
the latter of these two, he lays down the grounds of my
discontentment and the reasons I pretend against mine
enemies, pleading as orderly for me as I could do myself.
Much such matter it contains as my sister the Lady Rich
her letter, upon which she was called before your Honors.
If those reasons were then just and true, not counterfeit,
how can it be that now my pretenses are false and in-
jurious? For then Mr. Bacon joined with me in mine
opinion, and pointed out those to be mine enemies and to
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
335
hold me in disgrace with her Majesty, whom he seems
now to clear of such mind towards me; and therefore I
leave the truth of what I say and he opposeth unto your
Lordships' indifferent considerations."
Another report represents him as proclaiming the fact
that these letters were written for the purpose of being
shown to the Queen. And certainly a stroke better
aimed, if the object was to introduce another angry and
irrevelant altercation, — worse, if to offer a serious an-
swer to Bacon's argument, could not well have been de-
vised. But Bacon was not to be so seduced. He merely
replied that "those letters, if they were there, would not
blush to be seen for anything contained in them; and
that he had spent more time in vain in studying how to
make the Earl a good servant to the Queen and state,
than he had done in anything else;" and then sitting
down allowed the business to proceed; which was to
produce the rest of the evidence, first as to the prepar-
atory consultations at Drury House, and then as to the
proceedings of Sunday. Whether this was now brought
in upon Bacon's motion, the report does not enable me
to say; but it is represented as immediately following his
speech. So there was some prospect at last of seeing the
charges in the indictment proved as well as disputed
upon; and though the case was not destined to proceed
in an orderly manner to the end, a considerable step was
certainly made at this point.
I need not recount the particulars of the evidence,
but as Bacon had occasion to interpose once more before
the trial concluded, I must follow the course of it a little
further.
The confessions of Davers, Davis, and Blunt, the three
remaining witnesses who could speak to the consultations
at Drury House, were now read, and fully confirmed the
evidence already given by Gorge. Nor did any material
interruption occur, until Essex began in attestation of his
“
336
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
innocence to appeal to his nightly practices of devotion;
upon which Coke charging him with "hypocrisy in relig-
ion" and "countenancing religious men of all sorts,”
a charge which even if true formed no part of the case,
gave him another occasion-the best he had yet had-of
producing a diversion in his own favor. The imputation
was not only irrevelant, but unjust. His religious belief,
unlike his loyalty, was simple, earnest, and unaffected;
too earnest (in a large and open understanding) to con-
sist with the sectarian prejudices which refused to believe
in the sincerity either of Papists on one side or Puritans
on the other. In creed, his personal sympathy was prob-
ably most with the Puritans; nor had he ever shown
the least personal inclination towards Popery. But I
doubt whether in all his writings a single sentence can be
found implying an illiberal depreciation of any religious
party. It was too serious a subject with him to be trifled
or trafficked with. And if "in his usual talk he was
wont to say that he liked not that any man should be
troubled for his religion," it is not necessary now to ob-
serve that respect for the rights of conscience in other
men does not imply any want of conscience in a man's
self. The tone in which he replied to this charge, and
solemnly affirmed the sincerity of his faith in the religion
which he had all his life professed, contrasted strangely
with the weakness and inconsistency of his answers upon
the questions really at issue, and made a corresponding
impression on the Court; insomuch that when Coke of-
fered to reply and make good his accusation, they refused
to hear him. And thereupon the case was once more re-
sumed and the evidence allowed to go on.
The depositions which were now read concerning the
proceedings in the city on Sunday brought the case home
to the Earl of Southampton, whom the evidence had
hitherto touched only incidentally and indirectly; and
brought out his answer to the charges in general; the
1600-1601.]
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
337
substance of which was, that the object of the consulta-
tions at Drury House was merely to procure for Essex
the means of speaking to the Queen; that the action
which had been suggested with that view, whether trea-
sonable or not, had never taken place, had not even been
resolved upon; while the action which had taken place
was, so far as he understood and was concerned in it, no
treason, but an act of self-defense in a private quarrel.
He declared that he never heard either the message of
the Lord Keeper or the proclamation of the herald; and
in spite of several interruptions from Coke, who tried to
fasten upon him the responsibility for what had passed
in Essex House, succeeded in telling a story plausible
enough to make the Peers hesitate and require the opin-
ion of the Judges upon the point in law. His case was
no doubt very different from that of his fellow-prison-
ers; for he might possibly have believed Essex's story
about his personal danger, though it was not possible to
suppose that Essex believed it himself. The point on
which they desired to be satisfied was this: "Whether
the rising to go to Court with such a company only to
present my Lord of Essex his complaints, without all
manner of purpose of violence to the person of her Maj-
esty or any other, whether this were treason?" The
Judges gave opinion that it was.
And there the case
For it is quite con-
might have been allowed to rest.
ceivable that the conspirators did in fact expect all dif-
ficulties to vanish before them, and did not intend to
hurt anybody, otherwise than in the legal construction,
which supposes to be intended whatever a reasonable
man might expect to follow. Coke, however, was not
satisfied to stop there. They must in their consultations
have counted on resistance, must have foreseen that in
case of resistance there would be violence, must there-
fore have intended violence. "The Earl of Essex replied
that the act was to be judged by the intent in conscience.
VOL. I.
22
15
п
-
።

اد
338
ARRAIGNMENT OF ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
Nay,' said Mr. Attorney, our law judgeth the overt
act.' 'Well,' said the Earl, 'plead you law and we will
plead conscience.'
To conduct an argument clearly in dialogue, which
appears to have been Coke's favorite form, is never easy
unless the same person manages both parts; least of all
before a popular audience; which in this case it was im-
portant to satisfy, as well as the law and the lawyers.
Hence it was again becoming necessary to remind the
Court how the case really stood, what was the real ac-
cusation and what the defense; for more than half the
charges and replies which they had been listening to all
the day lay quite outside the case; and to perform this
office Bacon, with or without the permission of his leader,
now rose once more, and spoke to this effect :
"I have never yet seen in any case such favor shown
to any prisoner; so many digressions, such delivering of
evidence by fractions, and so silly a defense of such great
and notorious treasons. May it please your Grace, you
have seen how weakly he hath shadowed his purpose and
how slenderly he hath answered the objections against
him. But, my Lord, I doubt the variety of matters and
the many digressions may minister occasion of forgetful-
ness, and may have severed the judgments of the Lords;
and therefore I hold it necessary briefly to recite the
Judges' opinions."
That being done, he proceeded to this effect:-
"Now put the case that the Earl of Essex's intent
were, as he would have it believed, to go only as a suppli-
ant to her Majesty. Shall their petitions be presented
by armed petitioners? This must needs bring loss of lib-
erty to the prince. Neither is it any point of law, as my
Lord of Southampton would have it believed, that con-
demns them of treason. To take secret counsel, to exe-
1 The MS. has, that nothing condemns them of the treason. Another report
adds “but it is apparent in common sense:" rightly, I should think.
1600-1601.]
MANAGEMENT OF THE CASE.
339
cute it, to run together in numbers armed with weapons,
what can be the excuse? Warned by the Lord Keeper,
by a herald, and yet persist! Will any simple man take
this to be less than treason?”
The Earl of Essex answered that if he had purposed
anything against others than those his private enemies,
he would not have stirred with so slender a company.
Whereunto Mr. Bacon answered:
"It was not the company you carried with you, but
the assistance which you hoped for in the City which you
trusted unto. The Duke of Guise thrust himself into
the streets of Paris on the day of the Barricados in his
doublet and hose, attended only with eight gentlemen,
and found that help in the city which (thanks be to God)
you failed of bere. And what followed? The King
was forced to put himself into a pilgrim's weeds and in
that disguise to steal away to scape their fury. Even
such was my Lord's confidence too, and his pretense the
same, an all-hail and a kiss to the City. But the end
was treason, as hath been sufficiently proved. But when
he had once delivered and engaged himself so far into
that which the shallowness of his conceit could not ac-
complish as he expected, the Queen for her defense tak-
ing arms against him, he was glad to yield himself; and
thinking to color his practices turned his pretexts, and
alleged the occasion thereof to proceed from a private
quarrel."
"To this" (adds the reporter) "the Earl answered
little." Nor was anything said afterwards by either of
the prisoners, either in the thrust - and - parry dialogue
with Coke that followed, or when they spoke at large to
the question why judgment should not be pronounced,
which at all altered the complexion of the case. They
were both found guilty, and sentence was passed in the
usual form.
It would be rash, perhaps, to criticise the management
-
•
340
MANAGEMENT OF THE CASE.
[BOOK II.
of a trial like this upon the evidence of casual and unau-
thorized reports. There was in those days no regular
system of reporting; and though many detailed narra-
tives of the proceedings were written and circulated, it
is evident upon comparison that the best of them are far
from perfect. Each writer had his own points of interest,
his own periods of attention and inattention, of physical
activity and exhaustion. Imperfect notes were probably
completed afterwards from imperfect recollection; and
the omission or misunderstanding of a few words at a
critical juncture may give a false aspect to all that fol-
lows. From any and from all of them, however, one fact
may be surely inferred, that the case was very badly
managed: most of the time having been occupied in the
discussion of points immaterial or irrelevant, raised one
after another in the most desultory and disorderly man-
ner, and followed on both sides in apparent forgetfulness
of the question really at issue. In part, no doubt, this
was owing to the injudicious indulgence of the Court in
allowing the prisoners not only to say what they liked,
but to interrupt the evidence whenever and to enter into
personal altercations with whom they liked: an irregu-
larity for which Coke was not responsible. But the error
was much aggravated by an infirmity of his own. Inter-
ruptions by the prisoners would have been comparatively
harmless, if the Counsel could have been content merely
to wait till they had done speaking, and then to go on
with their own story. But Coke could not resist the
temptation of replying and disputing; and not being
careful to confine his charges within the limits of his
proofs, he allowed himself not only to be led away from
the point which it was his business to prove and which
he could prove, but to be drawn into discussions in which
he did not seem always to have the best of it.
The re-
sult of all which was that the true aspect of the case
a case of treason as clearly proved, as completely without
1600-1601.] CHAMBERLAIN'S ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL.
341
excuse, and as dangerous, as ever went into a court of
justice was so weakly and confusedly presented to
people's minds, that according to Camden "some called
it a fear, others an error; they which censured it more
hardly termed it an obstinate impatience and desire of
revenge, and such as censured it most heavily called it an
inconsiderate rashness; and to this day few there are who
have thought it a capital crime."
The fact probably is, that those who thought so held
their tongues; for why should any man have cared to
make himself odious for the sake of correcting the popu-
lar judgment of a crime which had paid its penalty? To
men of understanding, however, who were present, the
case, with all its disadvantages in the setting forth, could
wear but one aspect: and it may be worth while to add
a summary account of the trial by a very intelligent and
quite disengaged and dispassionate spectator, written a
few days after.
"The 19th hereof," writes John Chamberlain to Dudley
Carleton, on the 24th of February, 1600-1, "the Earls of
Essex and Southampton were arraigned at Westminster before
the Lord Treasurer, Lord High Steward of England for that
day, and twenty-five of their peers, whereof were nine Earls
and sixteen Barons. The only matters objected were his prac-
tice to surprise the Court, his coming in arms into London to
raise rebellion, and the defending his house against the Queen's
forces. To the two latter he answered that he was drawn for
the safety of his life: to the former that it was a matter only in
consultation and not resolved upon; and if it had taken effect it
was only to prostrate himself at her Majesty's feet and there
manifest such matter against his enemies as should make them
odious and remove them from about her person, and recall him
to her former favor. This was the sum of his answer; but de-
livered with such bravery and so many words, that a man might
easily perceive that as he had ever lived popularly, so his chief
care was to leave a good opinion in the people's minds now at
parting. But the worst of all was his many and loud protesta-
3
.

342
CHAMBERLAIN'S ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL. [Book II.
tions of his faith and loyalty to the Queen and state, which no
doubt caught and carried away a great part of the hearers; but
I cannot be so easily led to believe protestations (though never
so deep) against manifest proof.
"At his coming to the bar his countenance was somewhat un-
settled; but after he was once in, I assure you I never saw any
go through with such boldness, and show of resolution and con-
tempt of death: but whether this courage were borrowed and
put on for the time, or natural, it were hard to judge. But I
hear he begins to relent, and among other faults to be sorry for
his arrogant (or rather as Mr. Secretary well termed it to his
face), his impudent behavior at his arraignment; and, which is
more, to lay open the whole plot and to appeach divers not yet
called in question. His execution was expected on Saturday,
then yesterday, now to-morrow, or on Thursday. Most of the
Council have been with him these three or four days together.
The Earl of Southampton spake very well (but methought
somewhat too much, as well as the other), and, as a man that
would fain live, pleaded hard to acquit himself; but all in vain,
for it could not be: whereupon he descended to entreaty and
moved great commiseration, and though he were generally well
liked, yet methought he was somewhat too low and submiss, and
seemed too loath to die before a proud enemy."
"" 1
1 S. P. O. The whole series of Chamberlain's letters during the reign of
Elizabeth has recently been printed by the Camden Society; carefully and well
edited by the late Miss Williams. I wish some one would go on and edit the
rest in the same style; for the copies contained in the Court and Times of James
I., "edited by the author of the Memoirs of Sophia Dorothea, etc.,
19
are so full
of all kinds of blunders, that to me the book is of no use except for collation.
I can correct the text in less time than I could make a fresh transcript; but I
could not quote anything from it without previous reference either to the origi-
nals or to Dr. Birch's copies.
J
CHAPTER VI.
A. D. 1601.
FEBRUARY TO APRIL.
ÆTAT. 40.
THOSE Who make light of the crime of which Essex
was found guilty make him guilty of one much worse.
What Chamberlain had heard was true: he had begun
not only to confess for himself but "to appeach divers
not yet called in question." The precise import and
spirit of his confessions indeed we shall never know: for
only fragments of them were divulged at the time, and
neither the original record nor any copy of it is now to
be found. Enough, however, has transpired to show that
he not only admitted his own guilt fully and freely, but
disclosed and proclaimed that of his associates; nor of
those alone whose confessions had been fatal to himself,
but of others likewise who had kept his secrets only too
faithfully and would else have passed unsuspected.
Of the occasion of this change two different stories are
told. Sir Robert Cecil seems to have taken it for an act
of retaliation. "Before he went out of the hall," says
he, writing to Winwood on the 7th of March, "when he
saw himself condemned, and found that Sir John Davis,
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Sir Christopher Blount, and Sir
Charles Davers, had confessed all the conferences that
were held at Drury House by his direction for surprising
the Queen and the Tower of London, he then broke out
to divers gentlemen that attended him in the Hall, that
his confederates who had now accused him had been prin-
cipal inciters of him and not he of them, ever since
August last, to work his access to the Queen with force.
And when he was brought to the Tower again, he sent
344
""
ESSEX'S CONFESSIONS.
[BOOK II.
to the Lord Thomas Howard, then Constable of the
Tower, to entreat him to move her Majesty to send unto
him the Lord Keeper, Lord Treasurer, Lord Admiral,
and me the Secretary by name, that he might now dis-
charge his conscience," etc.: a story which is partly con-
firmed by the reporter of the trial, who represents him
as saying, towards the close of the proceedings, "that be-
fore his death he would make something known that
should be acceptable to her Majesty in point of state."
On the other hand, in a letter addressed to Anthony
Bacon, three months after, by some man not known, the
change is imputed entirely to the influence of one Ashton,
a Puritan preacher who attended the Earl in the Tower
by his own particular desire. The story told in this let-
ter, which is very full and circumstantial, professes to
be the same which Ashton himself told to "a worthy
person (not named), from whom, through how many
mouths we are not informed, it came to the writer.
And though an unsigned letter by a practiced penman,
especially when addressed to a man who was not alive at
the time (the letter is dated May 30, 1601, Anthony
Bacon died before May 27), is no very good evidence
in such a case, yet I see nothing improbable on the face
of the narrative as far as it goes. That the Earl did pe-
tition to have "his own preacher" to attend him in the
Tower, we know upon other authority: it was one of his
last requests after receiving sentence. And when it was
answered "that it was not so convenient for him at that
time to have his own chaplain as another," he replied
that “if a man in sickness would not willingly commit
his body to an unknown physician, he hoped it would
not be thought but a reasonable request for him at that
time to have a preacher which had been acquainted with
his conscience, to whom he might more boldly open his
heart." Now a preacher who had stood in that relation
to him was well qualified to judge of the sincerity of his
1601.]
ESSEX'S CONFESSIONS.
345
professions, and, if he found him (as the letter states he
did) "exceeding cheerful and prepared with great con-
tentation for his end," might very well think that that
was not a fit frame of mind for the occasion. Upon which
the rest of the story follows naturally enough: namely,
that having frankly declared that he did not believe his
tale, he succeeded at last, after long, severe, and solemn
expostulation, in convincing him that it was his duty to
make a full confession: which he accordingly agreed to
do: and thereupon admitted that his real end was to get
the succession settled by Act of Parliament upon the
King of Scotland; "and named to him sundry worthy
persons both of religion, honor, and state that had given
their consents and were engaged with him therein.'
This, according to the writer, was all: and to this effect,
at Ashton's instance, who threatened otherwise to reveal
it himself, he made a formal confession.
"
Now that this was the way in which the Earl was in-
duced to begin his confessions does not strike me as im-
probable. The story agrees to a certain extent with a
declaration (from which indeed with the help of a little
invention it might have been constructed) made by Cecil
at one of the subsequent trials; 1 nor is it impossible that
the disclosure which the Earl first made went no further
than the writer of the letter says. But though his in-
trigue with Scotland formed no doubt a principal item in
his revelations, and a very formidable one, seeing that
if he told the worst he must have involved no less a per-
son than Lord Montjoy in a charge of very high trea-
son, — it is certain that they did not stop there. What
passed between Essex and Ashton the writer may have
had means of knowing: but for what he said to the
Lords of the Council when they attended him, we must
seek our information from one of themselves.
"The next day after," proceeds Cecil in his letter to Win-
1 State Trials, i., 1442, ed. 1816.
346
ESSEX'S CONFESSIONS.
[BOOK II.
wood, "being Saturday, when it pleased her Majesty to send
us four unto him, he did with very great penitency confess how
sorry he was for his obstinate denials at the bar; desiring he
might have liberty to set down in writing his whole project of
coming to the Court in that sort: which he hath done in four
sheets of paper, all under his own hand; and even concurring
with Sir Charles Davers, Sir John Davis, Sir Ferdinando
Gorges, and Mr. Littleton's confessions. And acknowledged
that he sent divers articles to Drury House to be considered
of: as namely, whether it were not good at the same time of
coming to the Court to possess the Tower, for to give reputation
to the action, if the City should mislike it. Moreover that Sir
Christopher Blount with a company of armed men should take
the Court Gate; Sir John Davis should master the Hall, and
go up into the Great Chamber, where there should be some
persons who unsuspected one after another should aforehand be
gotten into that room, and have seized upon the halberts of the
guard, which commonly stand piled up against the wall; and
Sir Charles Davers should have been in the Presence, where
some other gentlemen should likewise have made good that
place. Whereby my Lord of Essex with the Earls of South-
ampton, Rutland, and other noblemen should have gone in to
the Queen, and then having her in their possession, to have used
the shadow of her authority for the changing of the govern-
ment; and then to have called a Parliament and have con-
demned all those whom they scandalized to have misgoverned
the state. This is the substance of his confession, which he
both verbally delivered to us, and afterwards set down in writ-
ing. He further asked forgiveness of the Lord Keeper and
those whom he had imprisoned in his house; sorrowing in his
heart that they were put in fear of their lives by his followers.
Then he did most passionately desire in Christian charity forgive-
ness at the hands of those persons whom he had particularly
called his enemies; protesting that when he had resolved of this
rebellious act to come to the Court with force, he saw not what
better pretext he could have than a particular quarrel to those
whom he had at the bar named his greatest adversaries. And
being urged still to say what he knew or could reveal, especially
of that injurious imputation to me, he vowed and protested that
1601.]
ESSEX'S CONFESSIONS.
347
in his own conscience he did freely acquit me of any such mat-
ter, and was ashamed to have spoken it, having no better ground.
He protested also to bear no malice to the Lord Cobham and
Sir Walter Ralegh whom he had named his enemies; and by
whom he knew no other than that they were true servants to
the Queen and the state. After that, he made an humble suit
to the Queen, that he might have the favor to die privately in
the Tower; which her Majesty granted, and for which he gave
her most humble thanks."
Had this been all, no reasonable objection could be
taken, either to the confession itself or to the means
which had been used to induce it. He was merely tell-
ing the truth which he had denied, and relieving the
Government from a false charge of injustice which he
had himself endeavored to fix upon them. The dis-
closure of the correspondence with Scotland was more
questionable; because it involved the betrayal of others
who had entered into it only for his sake, and had them-
selves betrayed nothing. Still, when he came to see it
himself in its true light, it may have seemed a thing
which the Queen had a right to be warned of. But
when we find him volunteering such confessions as these
no man
that Sir Henry Nevill had been a party to the treason
(whose only offense was that he had known of the con-
sultations and not betrayed them): that "no
showed himself more forward in the streets, nor readier
to fight and defend the house after their return against
the Queen's forces, nor more earnest that they should
not have submitted themselves, than the Lord Sandys: "
that Sheriff Smith "had been as far engaged in the
action as any of them," and, being charged with not
performing what he had promised, had excused himself
saying that "in that confusion he could not draw his
regiment together," and had "advised Essex to keep the
streets: " when we find him accusing Henry Cuffe and
Sir Christopher Blunt of "having been his chief insti-
5
T
348
ESSEX'S CONFESSIONS.
[BOOK. II.
gators to all those disloyal courses into which he had
fallen:" with other things of the kind which, whether
true or not, it was no business of his to proclaim,¹ — what
shall we say? Those who think that he had even the
shadow of an excuse for rebelling cannot but think that
in thus turning informer against his associates he sinned
past all excuse. His best apology must be that he was
the same man still. The same want of ballast which had
swayed him so far from his duty on one side now carried
him as far over on the other. In his passion of discon-
tented ambition he could think of nothing but how to
displace his rivals; in his passion of penitence and dis-
may he could think of nothing but how to expiate his
guilt. The sudden collapse of his inflated confidence,
the vision suddenly revealed of his crime in its true
character and proportions, with death, judgment, and
eternity in the immediate background, brought on a fit
of religious terror, and blinded him to all other consid-
1 The Earl of Nottingham, writing to Lord Montjoy on the 31st of May, 1601,
gives the following account of Essex's first communication to the Councillors:
"And thus he did begin to us. 'I do humbly thank her Majesty that it hath
pleased her to send you unto me, and you are both most heartily welcome; and
above all things I am most bound unto her Majesty that it hath pleased her to
let me have this little man, Mr. Ashton, my minister, with me for my soul; for,'
said he, this man in a few hours hath made me know my sins unto her Majesty
and to my God; and I must confess to you that I am the greatest, the most
vilest, and most unthankful traitor that ever has been in the land: and there-
fore, if it shall please you, I shall deliver now the truth thereof. Yesterday, at
the bar, like a most sinful wretch, with countenance and words I imagined all
falsehood.' Then he began to lay open the practices for the surprising of her
Majesty and the Court; who were at the councils at Drury House, the Earl of
Southampton's lodging; that there were these appointed by the Earl to consider
how it should be put in execution, the Earl of Southampton, Sir Charles Davers,
Sir F. Gorges, Sir John Davis, Sir (Henry) Nevill, and Cuffe. Sir Christopher
Blount he ever kept with him. He spared none of these to let us know how
continually they labored him about it. 'And now,' said he, 'I must accuse one
who is most nearest unto me, my sister; who did continually urge me on with
telling me how all my friends and followers thought me a coward, and that I'
had lost all my valor.' And then thus, 'that she must be looked to, for that she
had a proud spirit;' and spared not to say something of her affection to you.
Would your Lordship have thought this weakness and this unnaturalness in this
man ? ” — Tanner MSS. 76, fo. 22: the original letter.
1601.]
CHARGE AGAINST SIR JOHN DAVIS.
349
erations. And so it was to the end. For his behavior
on the scaffold is distinguished from that of almost all
other performers on that stage by being natural and un-
affected. At that hour he had no thought to spare for
relations, friends, or spectators; no consciousness of his
own position as principal figure in a public spectacle:
but bore himself simply like a man who felt that he had
committed a great sin and believed that he was passing
straight to judgment.
Of the remaining prisoners only five were brought to
trial: Blount, Davers, Davis, Merick, and Cuffe. They
were tried on the 5th of March; the only Counsel em-
ployed being Coke, Fleming, and Bacon; and the only
part assigned to Bacon being the charge against Davis.
Of his speech on this occasion the only report, and in-
deed the only notice I have met with, is in the State
Trials, and runs thus:
"Against Sir John Davis Mr. Francis Bacon urged
the evidence, beginning with discourse upon the former
ground of Mr. Attorney's, that every rebellion implied
destruction of the Prince, and that in the precedents of
Edward II. and Henry IV. the pretense in both was, as
in this, against certain subjects; the Spencers in one and
the Treasurer in the other. And this style of protesta-
tion, that no harm was intended to the person of the
sovereign, was common in traitors. Manlius, the lieu-
tenant of Catiline, had that very protestation. But the
proceeding is such in this as no long discoursing needs to
prove it treason: the act itself was treason.
"The principal offenses charged upon Sir John Davis
were two: one, that he was a plotter and of the coun-
cil at Drury House; another, that in the insurrection he
had the custody of the Privy Councillors in Essex House,
which had a correspondence with the action in the street.
"The plot and insurrection entered into was to give
laws to the Queen: the preparation was to have a choice
+
350
CHARGE AGAINST SIR JOHN DAVIS.
[BOOK. II.
band of men for action; men not met together by constel-
lation; but assembled upon summons and letters sent.
For, said Mr. Bacon, I will not charge Sir John Davis,
although he be a man skillful in strange arts, that he sent
spirits abroad; but letters were sent about this matter.
The things to be acted were the matters consulted of,
and then to design fit persons for every action: and for
mutual encouragement there was a list of names drawn
by the Earl; and these counsellors out of them were to
elect fit persons to every office. The second plot was in
taking of the Court,¹ and in this consultation he was
penna philosophi-scribentis; you were clerk of that
council-table and wrote all: and in the detaining of the
Privy Councillors you were the man only trusted. And,
as the Earl of Rutland said, you held it a stratagem of
war to detain pledges, and was (sic) meant to have car-
ried the Lord Keeper with the Great Seal into London,
and to have had with you the Lord Chief Justice, a
man for his integrity honored and well beloved of the
citizens. And this Achitophel plot you thought to have
followed."
This is all that is reported, and may perhaps have
been all that Bacon spoke. For "hereupon," adds the
reporter, "Sir John Davis told Mr. Bacon, If with good
manners I might, I would long since have interrupted
you, and saved you a great part of [your] labor: for my
intent is not to deny anything I have said or excuse that
I have done, but to confess myself guilty of all, and sub-
mit myself wholly to the Queen's mercy. But in that
you
call me clerk of that council, let me tell you that
Sir Charles Davers was writing, but his hand being bad,
I was desired to take the pen and write. But by and by
the Earl said he would speed it himself; therefore we
being together so long and doing so little, the Earl went
to his house and set down all with his own hand, which
1 Sic.
1601.]
OFFICIAL NARRATIVE OF THE TREASON.
351
was formerly set forth, touching the taking and possess-
ing of the Court." 1
The only one of the prisoners who attempted to con-
test the charge was Cuffe, whose case, though he had been
deeply implicated in the conspiracy, was in one respect
different from the others, inasmuch as he had taken no
part in the Sunday tumult, but remained all day in Es-
sex House; but all five were found guilty and sentenced
to death in the usual form.
By this time the Government were satisfied that they
had seen the bottom of the conspiracy. Formidable as it
had seemed at first, from the number and quality of the
persons engaged and the darkness in which it had been
conducted, yet being unconnected with any cause of pub-
lic interest, having, in fact, no object at all but to
further the personal ambition of one man, now that
this one man was gone there was nothing left to conspire
for. It was a great danger escaped; but the escape was
complete. Public security did not require the sacrifice of
more lives; private influence, Cecil's as well as Bacon's,
was used on the side of mercy and with the execution
of Essex himself, of Sir Christopher Blount, Sir Charles
Davers, Sir Gilly Merick, and Henry Cuffe (who had all
been more than followers in the enterprise), the work of
the executioner stopped.
But there was still one thing unprovided for. Popular
feeling having run so strongly in favor of Essex, and the
public exposition of the case having been so confused and
weak, it was still necessary to satisfy the people—the
reading, writing, and talking public-that their favorite
had received no wrong. The freedom with which he had
informed against his associates had indeed incidentally
helped the cause of justice by releasing them on their
parts from all obligations of secrecy, so far as he was con-
cerned. Blunt and Davers were thenceforth at liberty
1 State Trials, i., 1438, ed. 1816.
X
7
:
11

....
852
OFFICIAL NARRATIVE OF THE TREASON.
[Book II.
to reveal what they knew: and being brave men who
had given up all hope of life and did not mean either to
deny what they had done or to justify it, they appear to
have spoken out without any reserve. If any man still
doubted whether treason had been committed, the addi-
tional facts now by them disclosed removed that doubt,
and showed besides that the treason was of longer stand-
ing, of wider reach, of more dangerous and unscrupulous
character, than at the time of the trial it appeared to be.
But these disclosures had been made known as yet only
by fractions, and mostly through the mouth of Coke,
which was not the best medium of communication where
the object was to conciliate opponents or to satisfy dis-
sentients. They had not yet been put together so as to
be seen in their true relation to each other and to the en-
tire case.
For the information and satisfaction of the
public, therefore, a clear, readable, and authentic narra-
tive of the whole proceeding from the beginning to the
end was still wanted; and the Queen resolved to have
one put forth. Who was the fittest man to draw it up,
if she had read any account of the trial, she could have
little doubt; and on the 16th of March, Coke "delivered
to Mr. Solicitor twenty-five papers concerning the Earl
of Essex treasons, etc., to be delivered to Mr. Francis
Bacon for her Majesty's service." 1
This service was no doubt the drawing up of the
"Declaration of the Practices and Treasons attempted
and committed by Robert, late Earl of Essex, and his
Complices: " concerning Bacon's share in which we know
thus much upon his own authority, that he was com-
manded by the Queen to write it: that having received
particular and minute instructions as to the manner of
treatment, he drew it up accordingly; that his draft,
being then submitted "by the Queen's appointment to
1 Memorandum, written in Coke's hand on the cover of a letter addressed to
the Right Worshipful the Attorney-General. S. P. O.
1601.]
OFFICIAL NARRATIVE OF THE TREASON.
353
certain principal Councillors," was "perused, weighed,
censured, altered, and made almost a new writing, ac-
cording to their Lordships' better consideration:" after
which it was "exactly perused by the Queen herself, and
some alterations made again by her appointment," both
in the manuscript and in the first-printed copy.
What the particular alterations were, or how far Ba-
con in his private judgment approved of them, we have
no means of knowing, no part of the original draft being
in existence. But in an official declaration which was to
be put forth in the Queen's name and by her authority,
it was fit that the Queen herself with the advice of her
Council should both prescribe the form and superintend
the execution. Even if Bacon had seriously disapproved
of the proposed alterations, their right to make what
alterations they thought proper in a document for which
not he but they were responsible was too clear and ob-
vious to be questioned. He might advise, warn, expos-
tulate; but it would have been merely ridiculous to insist.
Fortunately, however, differences of this serious kind do
not appear to have arisen. The effect of the alterations.
prescribed by the Queen was apparently to impart to
the composition a somewhat harder and colder tone than
he had given it, or than he liked.¹ But with regard to
the more material changes introduced at the instance of
the Councillors, he distinctly states that "their Lord-
ships and himself both were as religious and curious of
truth as desirous of satisfaction.” 2 In matters of sub-
stance therefore it must be considered as having his per-
1 "Nay, and after it was set to print, the Queen, who, as your Lordship
knoweth, as she was excellent in great matters so she was exquisite in small ;
and noted that I could not forget my ancient respect to my Lord of Essex, in
terming him ever My Lord of Essex, My Lord of Essex, in almost every page of
the book, which she thought not fit, but would have it made Essex, or the late
Earl of Essex: whereupon of force it was printed de novo, and the first copies
suppressed by her peremptory commandment." — Apology.
2 Apology.
VOL. I.
23
OFFICIAL NARRATIVE OF THE TREASON.
354
[BOOK II.
sonal imprimatur as well as that of the Government. It
was sent to the press on the 14th of April, 1601.
Not having met with any contemporary notice of this
publication, I cannot say what impression it made on
popular opinion at the time. It had its effect probably
in satisfying impartial minds of the then living genera-
tion, and in assisting the historian of the reign to relate
that passage truly. But when a question of this kind
has been practically disposed of and ceased to be a matter
of business, then, if the incidents be picturesque, pathetic,
or otherwise exciting enough to attract a popular audi-
ence, it becomes a matter of fiction. Hence when in the
heat of the unpopularity of the Spanish match, some
twenty years after, "Essex's Ghost" was brought on the
political stage to warn and exhort, he reappeared in all
the colors of romance; as the representative hero of the
then popular cause; the invincible captain before whose
face nothing Spanish could ever stand; the true subduer
of the Irish rebellion, of whose work another had merely
inherited the fruit and carried away the credit; the pa-
triotic councillor whose patriotism had brought upon him
the hatred of wicked men, who by malicious intrigues
and false accusations pursued him to death; such a man
in short as people delight to believe in. In this character
he now took his place in our popular mythology; the true
narrative sinking at the same time by necessary conse-
quence into a slanderous libel. Thus the authentic his-
tory was superseded in authority by the unauthentic.
The fiction which had neither evidence nor sponsor to
support it was accepted as a revelation of "truth brought
to light by time;" while the careful official declaration,
framed with studious accuracy, guarded at every step
with attested depositions, resting on the personal credit
of men whom everybody knew, containing not a single
statement that could be fairly disputed, was denounced
as a libel and a fiction. Such was the character it had
1601.]
MR. JARDINE'S CHARGE AGAINST BACON.
355
acquired when Clarendon (for I cannot think that his
judgment was formed upon any serious inquiry of his
own, even in his early life) wrote his remarks on Wot-
ton's "Parallel," and such is the character it still bears;
one writer repeating it after another, though not one has
ever attempted (so far as I know) to point out any clause
of any sentence in it which asserts or implies what is not
true.¹ Nay, the error instead of wearing out with time
seems to be gathering other kindred errors round it: for
within these thirty years a specific charge of dishonesty
bearing personally upon Bacon has grown out of it; and
though this charge breaks down the moment it is looked
into, yet it rests upon authority too respectable, and has
been received without examination or suspicion by too
many subsequent writers, and is indeed when unexam-
ined too specious in itself, to be passed by here without
notice.
When the late Mr. Jardine was preparing his account
of the trial of the Earls of Essex and Southampton for
the "Library of Entertaining Knowledge," he searched
or employed somebody to search the State Paper Office.
There he found many of the depositions which were read
at the trial and published by way of appendix in the
"Declaration of Treasons:" found them in their original
condition, with Coke's memoranda and directions as to
the parts which were to be read, still legible in the mar-
gin. In several places, however, he observed in another
hand, which appeared to be Bacon's, the letters om. writ-
ten: and looking at the printed Declaration for the pas-
sages so marked, he found that they were all omitted.
Upon this he concluded that the passages in question,
though they had been read and proved in Court, were
1 Dr. Abbott has since pointed out twelve places in which he asserts that
the truth is misstated or suppressed. I have carefully examined them all, and
am prepared to maintain that he has not shown a single material circumstance
in which the effect of the original depositions is misrepresented in the narra-
tive.
!
356 MR. JARDINE'S CHARGE AGAINST BACON.
[BOOK II.
struck out after the trial by Bacon himself, to suit the
purposes of the Declaration: and then setting himself to
guess what those purposes might be, fell upon this, that
they must have been omitted because they tended to
soften the evidence against Essex, and to contradict or
qualify in some of its material features the story of the
transaction which the Government thought fit to circu-
late: whence it appeared that Bacon had been personally
guilty of "garbling the depositions" in order to falsify
the history of the case.
A grave charge. To which, however, the answer need
not be long, though it falls into four divisions. First, it
is by no means certain that the marks in question were
made with reference to the Declaration at all. Secondly,
it is quite possible that the passages in question had been
omitted at the trial. Thirdly, whether the omission were
right or wrong, there is no ground for imputing it to Ba-
con personally. Fourthly, the passages omitted do not
in any one particular tend to soften the evidence against
Essex as explained in the narrative part, or to modify in
any way the history of the case, as far as it concerned
him.
That the marks were made with a view to the Decla-
ration I doubt, because, though it be true that none of
the passages so marked are inserted in the appendix, it is
also true that several which are not so marked are never-
theless omitted in the appendix, and that similar marks
are found in other papers of which no part is printed
there; and because they may be easily accounted for in
another way.
Several persons, each of whom had borne
a different share in the action, and whose several cases
required each a separate proof, were to be tried upon evi-
dence contained in these same depositions. Why may
not the marks have been made with a view to some of
these trials, the object of the omissions being to clear
the evidence in those cases of superfluous matter?
1601.]
MR. JARDINE'S CHARGE AGAINST BACON.
357
That the passages in question had been read and
proved at the trial I also doubt. The fact is assumed by
Mr. Jardine only because they had not been marked for
omission by Coke. But why may not Coke have meant
to produce a piece of evidence which he afterwards found
reason to withhold? And why may not Bacon, in a pub-
lication professing to give "such confessions as were given
in evidence at the arraignments," have struck out those
parts which were not given in evidence?
:
That the fact of the marks being in Bacon's handwrit-
ing proves that he was personally responsible for them
I deny because the question what should be published
and what withheld was for the Council to settle, not for
him: and he may have been merely writing down their
directions.
With regard to the general charge of untruthfulness, I
have said that nobody has yet attempted to specify any
particular untruth expressed or implied in the govern-
ment Declaration. And it is singular that Mr. Jardine
himself does not form an exception: for though he does
specify, as contradicted by one of the omitted passages, a
particular statement which he assumes to be contained
in the Declaration, it is certain that there is no such
statement there; but that on the contrary the precise
import of that passage, as Mr. Jardine himself infers it,
is represented in the body of the narrative with delicate
exactness. In the absence of such specification, I can
only oppose to the general charge a general expression of
my own conviction; which is, that the narrative put forth
by the Government was meant to be, and was by its au-
thors believed to be, a narrative strictly and scrupulously
veracious. It is true that it was written under the ex-
citement and agitation of that last and most portentous
disclosure, which, in proving that Essex had been capable
of designs far worse than anybody had suspected him of,
suggested a new explanation of all that had been most
358
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCES.
[BOOK II.
suspicious and mysterious in his previous proceedings;
and it may be that things which before had been rejected
as incredible were now too easily believed. In so dark a
thing as treason it is impossible to have positive evidence
at every step. Many passages must remain obscure and
fairly open to more interpretations than one: and in one
or two of those points which are and profess to be "mat-
ter of inference or presumption," as distinguished from
"matter of plain and direct proofs," there is room prob-
ably, without setting aside indisputable facts, for an in-
terpretation of Essex's conduct more favorable than that
adopted by the Queen and her Councillors. It does
not indeed follow either that such interpretation is the
more probable, or even that it was not known by them
to be inadmissible. Still some mistakes in that direc-
tion are not unlikely to have occurred, and it is fit they
should be exposed by those who can do it. Only it
must be upon such a theory as explains, not ignores, the
facts.
In my own account of the matter so far, I have ab-
stained, in deference to so general a prejudice, from using
the Declaration as an authority; and have assumed as a
fact nothing for which I cannot quote evidence independ-
ent of it. But so far as I can see, the only considerable
correction which it requires tends to confirm the substan-
tial truth of the rest, and to relieve it from the charge of
putting a construction upon Essex's conduct worse than
the facts seemed necessarily to involve. I allude to the
time at which the Earl is said to have communicated to
Blount and Southampton his project of returning to Eng-
land at the head of his army and so bringing the Govern-
ment to conditions. It happens, singularly enough, that
until the discovery of the Hatfield copy of Sir Christo-
pher Blunt's examination, bearing his own signature, for
which we are indebted to Mr. Bruce, none of the reports,
either of his confession or of Southampton's, gave the ex-
1601.]
BACON'S CONDUCT TOWARDS ESSEX.
359
act date of that communication, either directly or by im-
plication. Bacon, it seems, supposed that it took place
after the parley with Tyrone, and that the parley itself
was a preparative towards it. I was myself rather dis-
posed to connect it with the receipt of the Queen's letter
of the 17th of September, and to take it for a sudden
plunge out of a hopeless embarrassment.¹ It now appears,
if there be no error in the signed examination (and Mr.
Bruce assures me, upon a second reference, that the
words of the MS. are clear), that the project was not
only meditated but announced "some days before the
Earl's journey into the North: " some days therefore be
fore the end of August; at which time not one of his req-
uisitions had been refused, nor one of his plans of action
interfered with. He had been forbidden, it is true, to
leave his post without license; but he had received from
England all the reinforcements he had asked for; he had
obtained authority not a month before to raise an addi-
tional force of 2,000 men in Ireland; and he not only
still retained all the unusually large powers with which
he had been sent out, but was at that very time ex-
pected, encouraged, and extremely wished by the Gov-
ernment to make himself as strong as possible for the
coming encounter with Tyrone. That he should have
meditated such a use of these forces at such a time is a
fact which certainly tells formidably in favor of the dark-
est view of the spirit and purposes with which he under-
took the service; and the error (if it be an error) as to
the date of the communication, I can only account for by
supposing that Bacon took his information from a rough
memorandum of Blunt's oral confession, set down by
Coke, and remaining among the other depositions in the
Record Office; and had not seen the copy of his subse-
quent examination preserved at Hatfield. It is easily
conceivable that among so many papers one may have
1 See above, p. 269.

360
BACON'S CONDUCT TOWARDS ESSEX.
[BOOK II.
been mislaid or overlooked, and the existence of another
copy which contained all that was most material in it
(this date excepted) may have prevented the oversight
from being detected.
In Bacon's narrative the correction may be introduced
without disturbing the rest of the story. My own I have
thought better to leave as it was: for in the absence of
Blunt's express statement, I should still think that the
Queen's letter of the 17th of September was the most
probable motive of Essex's resolution; and as all depends
upon the accuracy of a single word in a deposition which
was never subjected to scrutiny or cross-examination, and
does not appear to have been made in the presence of
more than one witness, I cannot help suspecting a mis-
take. A slip of the pen, the tongue, the memory, or
the attention might easily convert "some days after"
into "some days before," or "a journey into England"
into "a journey into the North." Most writers who
have corrected many proof-sheets have been surprised
afterwards by discovering errors more striking than
these, which they must have looked at, yet had failed to
see. If the consultation with Blunt and Southampton
took place some days before the Earl's journey into the
North (which was in the beginning of September), I
think it must have been induced by the Queen's previous
letter of July 30, in which she forbade him to leave his
post without license.
In a note to Dr. Rawley's "Life of Bacon " I said
that I had no fault to find with him for any part of his
conduct towards Essex, and that I thought many people
would agree with me when they saw the case fairly
stated. Closer examination has not at all altered my
opinion on either point. And if I have taken no notice
of what has been said on the other side, it is because I do
not wish to encumber this book with answers to objec-
1 Works, vol. i., Part I., p. 40.
1601.]
BACON'S CONDUCT TOWARDS ESSEX.
361
tions which a competent judgment would not raise; and I
cannot think that any of the objections which have been
urged against Bacon's conduct in this matter would nat-
urally suggest themselves to a reasonable person in read-
ing the story as I have told it.

+
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1601. APRIL-DECEMBER.
ÆTAT. 40.
It is singular that of two men so remarkable in their
several ways as Bacon and Coke, whose fortunes, ob-
jects, tastes, ideas, and dispositions crossed each other at
so many points, and whose business must have brought
them so continually into company and so frequently into
conflict, the personal relations should be so little known.
No anecdotes have been preserved by the news writers of
the day which enable us to form a clear idea of their
behavior to each other when they met, the style of their
conversation, or the temper of their courtesies. Of one
or two collisions on matters of official business occur-
ring at a later time we have Bacon's report; and of one
or two passages of good-humored repartee. But if it
were not for the two letters which come next in order,
we should know nothing of the sort of personal feeling
which, on one side at least, must have lain very near the
surface, and been ready on provocation to break out.
From the fact that Bacon on this occasion thought it
expedient to set down in writing a memorandum of what
passed, while it was fresh, we may infer that the case was
exceptional. But if his report be true, it must be taken
to imply a great deal as to the terms upon which the two
men habitually stood towards each other.
The occasion was a motion made by Bacon in the Ex-
chequer for reseizure of the lands of a relapsed recusant
In what way such a motion was likely to affront the

1601.]
BACON'S LETTER TO CECIL.
363
Queen's Attorney General, who had never shown any ten-
derness for such offenders, I am not sure that I under-
stand correctly. But I suppose that the recusant in
question had been previously discharged from the pen-
alties of recusancy upon submission; and Bacon's argu-
ment for the reseizure may have reflected on the manage-
ment of the case on that occasion in the Queen's behalf.
"Reseiser" (says Cowell) "is a taking again of lands
into the King's hands, whereof a general livery or ouster
le main was formerly missued by any person or persons,
and not according to form and order of law." If such
had been the case here, it may have been through Coke's
fault.
The thing is not elsewhere alluded to, so far as I know;
nor was this report made public at the time, or meant to
be published afterwards. It was addressed privately to
Sir Robert Cecil, and remained among the collections at
Hatfield, where Murdin finding it sent a copy to Birch,
who printed it in his "Letters, Speeches, Charges," etc.,
in 1763.
TO MR. SECRETARY CECIL.
Because we live in
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR HONOR,
an age where every man's imperfections is but another's
fable; and that there fell out an accident in the Ex-
chequer, which I know not how nor how soon may be
traduced, though I dare trust rumor in it, except it be
malicious or extreme partial; I am bold now to possess
your Honor, as one that ever I found careful of my ad-
vancement and yet more jealous of my wrongs, with the
truth of that which passed; deferring my further request
until I may attend your honor; and so I continue
Your Honor's very humble,
And particularly bounden,
GRAY'S INN, this 29th¹ of April, 1601.
FR. BACON.
1 24th in Birch's copy. But as Easter Term in 1601 began on the 29th of
April, there can be little doubt that it is a mistake.
364
ALTERCATION BETWEEN BACON AND COKE. [BOOK III.
A true remembrance of the abuse I received of Mr. At-
torney General publicly in the Exchequer the first day
of term; for the truth whereof I refer myself to all that
were present.
I moved to have a reseizure of the lands of Geo.
Moore, a relapsed recusant, a fugitive, and a practicing
traitor; and shewed better matter for the Queen against
the discharge by plea, which is ever with a salvo jure.
And this I did in as gentle and reasonable terms as might
be.
Mr. Attorney kindled at it, and said, "Mr. Bacon, if
you have any tooth against me, pluck it out; for it will
do
you more hurt than all the teeth in your head will do
you good." I answered coldly in these very words: "Mr.
Attorney, I respect you, I fear you not, and the less you
speak of your own greatness, the more I will think of
it."
He replied, "I think scorn to stand upon terms of
greatness towards you, who are less than little; less than
the least;" and other such strange light terms he gave
me, with that insulting which cannot be expressed.
Herewith stirred, yet I said no more but this: "Mr.
Attorney, do not depress me so far; for I have been your
better, and may be again, when it please the Queen.
""
With this he spake, neither I nor himself could tell
what, as if he had been born Attorney General; and in
the end bade me not meddle with the Queen's business,
but with mine own; and that I was unsworn, etc. I
told him, sworn or unsworn was all one to an honest
man; and that I ever set my service first, and myself
second; and wished to God that he would do the like.
Then he said, it were good to clap a cap. utlegatum
upon my back! To which I only said he could not;
and that he was at a fault; for he hunted upon an old
scent.
1601.]
LETTER OF EXPOSTULATION.
365
He gave me a number of disgraceful words besides;
which I answered with silence, and shewing that I was
not moved with them.
The threat of the capias utlegatum was probably in
reference to the arrest of Bacon for debt in September,
1598.1 What the "further request" may have been, or
what the issue of it, we have no information. But it
appears from an undated letter printed by Dr. Rawley
in the "Resuscitatio" from Bacon's own register, and
suiting this occasion very well though usually placed later,
that Bacon thought it worth while to address some words
of expostulation to Coke himself.
A LETTER OF EXPOSTULATION TO THE ATTORNEY
GENERAL, SIR EDWARD COKE.
MR. ATTORNEY, I thought best, once for all, to let
you know in plainness what I find of you, and what you
shall find of me. You take to yourself a liberty to dis-
grace and disable my law, my experience, my discretion.
What it pleaseth you, I pray, think of me: I am one
that knows both mine own wants and other men's; and
it may be, perchance, that mine mend, and others stand
at a stay. And surely I may not endure in public place
to be wronged, without repelling the same to my best.
advantage to right myself. You are great, and therefore
have the more enviers, which would be glad to have you
paid at another's cost. Since the time I missed the So-
licitor's place (the rather I think by your means) I can-
not expect that you and I shall ever serve as Attorney
and Solicitor together; but either to serve with another
upon your remove, or to step into some other course; so
as I am more free than ever I was from any occasion of
unworthy conforming myself to you, more than general
good manners or your particular good usage shall pro-
1 See ante, p. 231.
366
me.
LETTER OF EXPOSTULATION.
[BOOK III.
voke. And if you had not been shortsighted in your own
fortune (as I think) you might have had more use of
But that tide is passed. I write not this to show
my friends what a brave letter I have written to Mr.
Attorney; I have none of those humors. But that I
have written is to a good end, that is, to the more decent
carriage of my mistress' service, and to our particular
better understanding one of another. This letter, if it
shall be answered by you in deed, and not in word, I sup-
pose it will not be worse for us both. Else it is but a
few lines lost, which for a much smaller matter I would
have adventured. So this being but to yourself, I for
myself rest.
Bacon had many grave objections, no doubt, to Coke's
way of doing his business, and on a fit occasion would
have been ready to state them; but there is no reason
for thinking that he ever provoked this kind of treatment
by speaking of him either publicly or privately with dis-
respect. Among the greatest admirers of Coke in mod-
ern times there is none who has not admitted more to
his disadvantage, both morally and intellectually (out of
his own particular domain), than Bacon ever alleged or
insinuated, and within that domain Bacon never ques-
tioned his preeminence; although he hoped, in the course
of time, to do something in it himself that would raise
the question with posterity. In the mean time the tone
in which he ordinarily spoke of him as a lawyer may be
inferred from a joke preserved in Dr. Rawley's common-
place book; which I insert here, though a little before its
true date. In January, 1602-3, the Queen made eleven
new sergeants-at-law, the last being one Barker, "for
whose preferment (says Chamberlain) the world finds no
other reason but that he is Mr. Attorney's brother-in-
law." 1
"Nay, if he be Mr. Attorney's brother in law,
1 Chamberlain's Letters, temp. Eliz. (Camb. Soc.), p. 177.
1601.]
ANTHONY BACON.
367
he may well be a sergeant," said Bacon, who, according
to Rawley's story, was standing by.¹
It was about this time that Bacon lost his brother.
"Anthony Bacon," says Chamberlain to Carleton, writ-
ing on the 27th of May, 1601, "died not long since, but
so far in debt that I think his brother is little the better
by him." He had been suffering so long and so severely
from gout and stone that his early death requires no
other explanation, though the shock of mind which he
must have felt from the last proceedings of the Earl of
Essex, and the disclosures consequent upon them, would
no doubt hasten the natural work of disease.
This is not the place for an inquiry into his life and
character, which would indeed involve a review of great
part of the foreign policy of England during the last
twenty years of the sixteenth century; for he was so
entirely a man of business that to understand his life it
would be necessary to understand the business first. But
being one of the very few persons who have looked into
the voluminous collection of his correspondence preserved
at Lambeth, having examined much of it carefully and
turned over the leaves of all, and come from the perusal
with a tolerably clear impression of his personal char-
acter, though that was not the immediate object of my
inquiry, I may as well record it here: the rather be-
cause under Dr. Birch's treatment the touches which dis-
close temper, humor, and character are mostly lost in the
process of translation from the first person into the third,
and from the living language of passion into the proprie-
ties of historical narrative. But the correspondence in
its original shape is fresh and lively, contains letters from
1 Lambeth MSS. 1034. Rawley writes "Lo. Coke" instead of “Mr. Attor-
ney: not knowing the date. But there can be no doubt that this was the
time. Rawley's story begins, "When Sergeant Barker was made Sergeant,
my
Lo said there were 11 Biters and one Barker." Chamberlain's ends, or
else (as one said) that among so many biters there should be one barker:"
which sounds like the truer version.
368
SIR HENRY WOTTON'S STORY. -
[BOOK III.
both parties, and ranges over fifteen or sixteen years. It
is of the most various and miscellaneous kind: and
though the collection (never perhaps complete) has suf-
fered from the hand of time while it lay packed out of
the way in bundles, it has evidently suffered nothing from
the hand of selection. Everything seems to have been
kept that was not lost or mislaid. Letters from his
mother, with directions that they should be burned im-
mediately for fear his men should see them; letters from
his steward, with details of receipt and payment; letters
from intelligencers abroad, full of political secrets; letters
from pressing creditors, from wary purchasers, from Pop-
ish fugitives and Protestant preachers, from attached
patron, great acquaintance, familiar friends, kinsmen
more or less familiar, grateful dependants, lawyers, states-
men, doctors, money-lenders; together with his own
rough drafts, written to dictation: all appear to have
been preserved and docketed, and are now bound up to-
gether, not indeed in perfect order, for the arranger has
not attended to the division of the civil year, but in
such order that with a little trouble they may be read
consecutively. On the authority of this correspondence,
in which it would be hard for any salient feature of the
character to hide itself, Anthony Bacon may be confi-
dently described as a grave, assiduous, energetic, relig-
ious man, with decided opinions, quick feelings, warm
attachments, and remarkable power of attaching others;
a gentleman of high strain, open handed and generous
beyond his means; but sensitive and irritable; a little
too apt to suspect, feel, and resent an injury; a little too
hasty to speak of it; and occasionally, I dare say, driven
by the perplexities of pecuniary embarrassment into un-
reasonableness and injustice; but generally fair, tolerant,
and liberal. To anybody who has gone through this cor-
respondence the story told in the "Reliquiæ Wottonianæ,"
of his extorting from the Earl a present of Essex House
1601.]
IMPROBABILITY AND EXPLANATION OF IT.
369
by the "fine carrying" of a dangerous secret, is simply
incredible, and only to be accounted for as having grown
out of some misreport credulously listened to at the time,
as whispered scandal commonly is, imperfectly recol-
lected through the haze of thirty years, and pieced into
a smooth story by a lively imagination driving a ready
pen. That Essex had important secrets with which An-
thony Bacon was acquainted, that he had also extensive
agencies which required money to nourish them, and that
the money was not always ready at hand- this we know.
That in some exigency connected with one of these secret
agencies a large sum of money had to be borrowed in a
hurry; that Essex House was pledged to the lender by
way of security; that the money passed (as it naturally
would) through Anthony Bacon's hand; that nobody
knew what was done with it, but that (some rumor of
the transaction getting abroad) it was supposed by some-
body that he had obtained it for himself - this we can
easily believe: and the rest followed naturally. How he
obtained the money, as no man could know, except him-
self and the Earl and whatever confidential agent passed
between them, every man was the more free to guess.
The secret circumstances would easily be supplied, and a
story made up, which seemed probable enough to Wot-
ton and others who knew no more of the personal rela-
tions of the two men than he appears to have done; and
which was accordingly believed at the time, and repeated
long after,- probably with variations ad libitum, — as
the true history of what passed. In this there would be
nothing strange. But with our means of information,
which are really very much more and better than theirs,
it is easier to believe that Wotton was mistaken than
that the story he tells was true.
As soon as the depth and extent of the Essex conspiracy
had been well ascertained, and the principal leaders, ex-
ecuted, the others were allowed to purchase their pardons.
VOL. I.
24
370
THE QUEEN AND THE MONOPOLIES.
[BOOK III.
"There is a commission," says Chamberlain, 27 May,
1601, "to certain of the Council to ransom and fine the
Lords and gentlemen that were in the action; and have
already rated Rutland at £30,000, Bedford at £20,000,
Sands at £10,000, Mounteagle at £8,000, and Cromwell
at £6,000, Catesby at 4,000 marks," etc.¹ Money thus
falling into the Treasury was usually bestowed upon de-
serving servants or favored suitors in the way of reward;
and Bacon on this occasion came in for a share. Out of
Catesby's fine, £1,200 was assigned to him by the Queen's
order; and on the 6th of August the Attorney General
received directions from the Council to prepare an assur-
ance accordingly- a fact of which we owe the discovery
to Mr. Jardine.2 The fine, it seems, was to be paid by
instalments; and each instalment was to be divided pro
ratâ among the several assignees.
In the following October a new Parliament was called,
which became famous for the popular attack upon Mo-
nopolies, and also as the last public meeting between
Queen Elizabeth and her people.
At the close of the previous Parliament, after the
Speaker had handed in the Subsidy Bill, he proceeded in
a set speech, drawn up for the purpose by a committee,
to thank the Queen in the name of the whole House for
her "most gracious care and favor in the repressing of
sundry inconveniences and abuses practiced by Monop-
olies and Patents of Privilege." To which the Lord
Keeper answered that "Her Majesty hoped that her
dutiful and loving subjects would not take away her
Prerogative, which was the chiefest flower in her gar-
den and the principal and head-pearl in her crown and
diadem, but that they would rather leave that to her
disposition. And as her Majesty had proceeded to trial
1 Chamberlain's Letters, p. 108.
2 Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot (1857), p. 31. The letter from the Council
is printed in Dixon's Personal History of Lord Bacon, p. 125.
1601.]
THE QUEEN AND THE MONOPOLIES.
371
of them already, so she promised to continue that they
should all be examined, to abide the trial and true touch-
stone of the law."
This was on the 9th of February, 1597-8, and was an
answer satisfactory for the time. But even if the Queen
was in her own judgment fully alive to the evil and dan-
ger of these abuses, and in her own inclination really
desirous to be rid of them, she was not likely to pursue
the inquiry very zealously just then. Postponement of
decisive action as long as the matter would bear post-
ponement, which in her youth she had deliberately prac-
ticed as a politic art to keep enemies holding off and
friends holding on, had grown into a habit which she
could hardly overcome when it was most her interest to
do so; and at this time she had businesses on hand of
more pressing importance. Henry IV. of France was
negotiating a separate treaty of peace with Philip, which
would increase the danger of England from Spain, and
she was sending Sir Robert Cecil over to remonstrate.
That treaty being, in spite of her remonstrances, soon
after concluded, the great question of peace or war with
Spain pressed for a resolution, and divided her council
table. In the mean time the condition of Ireland was be-
coming every day more alarming, and threatened to ab-
sorb the most liberal grant ever voted by Parliament as
fast as the money came in. With one "whose nature
was not to resolve but to delay," 1 these cares and alarms
would be enough to keep the monopoly question in the
waiting-room, without supposing any deliberate intention
to evade it. Nor was the removal of the abuse quite so
simple a matter, perhaps, as it seemed to people unac-
quainted with the exigencies of the Government and the
state of the Exchequer. Elizabeth is charged with a dis-
like of spending money. Yet she kept no private hoard:
what she did spend she spent all upon public objects :
1 R. Cecil in a conversation with Lady Bacon.

372
THE QUEEN AND THE MONOPOLIES.
[BOOK III.
and in order to meet those objects, even with a regard
to economy which is now thought unworthy of a Queen,
she was forced to call upon her people for contributions
far beyond all precedent. It should never be forgotten
that during the first twenty-seven years of her reign a
single subsidy had never served for less then four years:
during the next ten it had never served for more than
two: then came three whole subsidies payable in four
years; and now three payable in three; and all likely to
be less than enough. This was not a convenient time
for giving up an independent source of income: for to
depend upon other people for anything which she could
not do without-this she did really dislike. Now, by
granting monopoly-patents she could reward servants
without either spending her own money, or laying her-
self under obligations to Parliament, or exposing herself
to complaints from anybody in particular; whereas to call
in those already granted would bring a host of trouble-
some complainants about her. It is not to be wondered,
therefore, that while the struggle in Ireland, beginning
as it did with a costly failure and still far from its termi-
nation, was drawing upon her resources at the rate of
more than £300,000 a year, the inquiry into these pat-
ents was allowed to wait until the fast approaching ne-
cessity of another Parliamentary grant reminded her of
her parting promise.
This necessity began to be felt in October, 1600: and
in the beginning of Hilary Term (23 January, 1600–1)
she gave orders to Coke and Fleming to "take speedy
and special course" for them.
for them. But before they were
well entered on the business, they were interrupted by
the insurrection of the Earl of Essex and the proceedings
consequent upon it, which kept them busy till the sum-
mer vacation. And before the vacation was over, a crisis
occurred which made it advisable to summon Parliament
without delay. On the 23d of September, Don Juan
1601.]
NEW PARLIAMENT.
373
d'Aquila, with 4,000 men, three parts of them being of
the best soldiers in Spain, landed on the southern coast
of Ireland, occupied Kinsale, and proclaimed the Queen
deprived of her crown by the Pope's sentence, her sub-
jects thereby absolved from their allegiance, and himself
come "to deliver Ireland from the jaws of the Devil:"
a crisis well fitted to stimulate the loyalty of an English
Parliament, and dispose them to vote supplies freely with-
out standing too obstinately upon domestic differences
which could wait for times of more leisure.
The new Parliament met on the 27th of October, and
was opened by the Queen in person with the usual for-
malities, and a speech from the Lord Keeper. To the
Lower House (the members of which during the Lord
Keeper's speech had been by some mismanagement shut
out), the causes of their meeting — which were in fact
nothing more than to provide means of defense against
the present and threatened dangers were set forth at
large by Sir R. Cecil, on the 3d of November: where-
upon, immediately and without any debate, a committee
was appointed to meet on the 7th, to consider the case.
The four intervening days were occupied with bills
brought in or motions made by private members: among
which there are two which still retain, in consideration
of the mover, some little interest for us.
It seems that the House was not disposed to pay much
attention to the business thus brought before it. Several
bills were read and rejected, some read and ordered to be
engrossed; but none discussed: as if the money bill had
been their only serious business. Now in Bacon's opin-
ion it was important to the health of the relation between
Crown and Parliament, that Parliament should never
seem to be called for money only, but always for some
other business of estate besides. And the case being now
much the same as in 1593,¹ he endeavored in the same
1 See ante, p. 75.
1
374 MOTION FOR REPEAL OF SUPERFLUOUS LAWS. [Book III.
way, by interposing a discussion on some topic of popular
and legislative character, to cover the nakedness of the
appeal for pecuniary help. The supply committee was
to meet on Saturday, the 7th, and on Thursday, as we
learn from Townshend, to whose notes we are indebted
for almost all we know of the debates during Elizabeth's
four last Parliaments, "Mr. Bacon stood up to prefer a
new bill."
The next day (November 6), -apparently with the
same object of awakening the House to a due sense of its
proper business, and asserting its position as a legislative
assembly, he made a motion like that which he had
seconded at the beginning of the last Parliament, a mo-
tion for a committee to repeal superfluous laws.
I do not find that these motions had any "better suc-
cess or entertainment" than the others. The last raised
no discussion at the time, and merged ultimately, as the
similar motion in 1597 had done, in an ordinary "con-
tinuance act." The Weights and Measures Bill was
read a second time the next day, and upon some objec-
tions in details summarily thrown out. Upon the ques-
tion for committing, there were, says Townshend, "some
twelve I, I, I, but not one for the engrossing; but all said
No. So it was rejected.
""
The truth is, I fancy, that the House was in as great
a hurry to get the necessary supplies voted, as the Queen
was to receive them; and that they could not attend with
spirit to anything else until they had seen that business
safely through. The Spaniards were besieged, it is true,
in Kinsale by land, and ships had been sent to cut off
their supplies by sea; and "many of our discoursers,”
says Chamberlain, "gave them for lost, and made it a
matter of ease to defeat them by sickness, famine, or the
sword;" but they were still there; and Tyrone was ap-
proaching from the North with a force almost as large as
the besieging army. It may easily be believed, therefore,
زي
1601.]
LARGE SUPPLIES READILY GRANTED.
375
that to provide whatever was necessary for their speedy
capture or expulsion seemed to the House the one busi-
ness to which for the present all others must be post-
poned. It is certain that they acted in the matter as if
they thought so. And as soon as Bacon's Weights and
Measures Bill was disposed of, this was the next business
that came on.
Sir Walter Ralegh led the way, and though the dis-
cussion lasted into the dark, it appears to have turned
entirely upon matters of detail. To the amount of the
grant an amount quite unprecedented
there are no
traces of opposition from any quarter. Opinions differed
upon the mode of distribution, and in particular upon the
question whether the "three-pound men" should be in-
cluded. But a grant of four whole subsidies, with eight
fifteens and tens, the first to be paid all at once next
February, the others each in divided payments at half-
yearly intervals, the whole therefore payable within three
years and a half, was agreed on in Committee that
same Saturday afternoon; and on Monday in the House,
after some further discussion of details, "the Speaker ap-
pointed the Committees for drawing of the Subsidy Bill,
all to hasten it; and so the House arose.
All this time, not a murmur of discontent is to be
traced in the journals; not an allusion to monopolies ;
not a mention of conditions or reciprocal concessions;
but all was going so rapidly and smoothly that one of
the members thought it necessary to remind the House
that they had as yet done nothing else, and to express a
hope "that her Majesty would not dissolve the Parlia-
ment till some acts were passed. On the part of the
Government what little it was necessary to say was said
by Sir R. Cecil: and the only observation of Bacon's
which is reported is in favor of the non-exemption of
"the three-pound men: upon which, concurring with
the majority of the Committee, he concluded "it was
99
""
1
:
1
376
LARGE SUPPLIES READILY GRANTED.
[BOOK III.
dulcis tractus pari jugo: and therefore the poor as well
as the rich not to be exempted."
What makes the unanimity of the House in this mat-
ter the more remarkable is, that their hearts were all the
while full of serious discontent with the Government, on
account of the still growing grievance of monopolies; that
they had come up from all parts of the country charged
with complaint and remonstrance; and that the feeling,
when it found utterance at last, was general enough and
strong enough to silence all expressions of dissent, if any
dissent existed. It is curious also to observe, in an as-
sembly so miscellaneous and not very orderly in its de-
bates, how slow this feeling was in finding a tongue.
After the subsidy question had been settled on the 9th
of November, there was no more lack of debating. Ques-
tions of various kinds - including a point of privilege
which brought them into collision with the Lord Keeper,
and a Bill against Pluralities of Benefices which touched
the Prerogative - were largely and noisily discussed.
But it was not till the 18th that a word seems to have
been uttered about Monopoly-Patents; nor does any ac-
tion on that subject appear to have been expected by
the public outside. "The Parliament," says Chamber-
lain, writing on the 14th, "huddles in high matters:
only they have had a cast at Osborne's office, to correct
and amend it at least; but there is no great hope of suc-
cess. The Alpha and Omega is concluded already. I
mean the grant of four subsidies and eight fifteens.” 1
Now "Osborne's office" was not one of the monopoly-
patents, but the office of Treasurer's Remembrancer in
the Exchequer, in which it seems that abuses had been
found. A bill on the subject had been brought in, and
was then under reference to a Committee, whose report
was brought up by Bacon on the 18th, after which the
bill was read a first time.
1 Camd. Soc. Publ., p. 122.
1601.]
THE COMMONS AND THE MONOPOLIES.
377
So far, everything had been going as sweetly as possi-
ble for the Queen. But shortly after Bacon had delivered
his bill to the sergeant, symptoms of the smothered fire,
the significance of which appears to have been well un-
derstood at headquarters, found their way to the sur-
face.
As the course of proceeding is not very clearly ex-
plained, I give the passage in the very words of Town-
shend, who was no doubt an eye and ear witness of what
took place.
"Mr. Dyott, of the Inner Temple, said: Mr. Speaker, there
be many commodities within this realm, which, being public
for the benefit of every particular subject, are monopolized by
Patent from her Majesty, only for the good and private gain
of one man. To remedy the abuses of those kind of Patents,
which are granted for a good intent by her Majesty, I am, Mr.
Speaker, to offer to the consideration of yourself and this House
an Act against Patents purporting particular power to be given
to sundry Patentees, etc. It hath a very long title.
“Mr. Laurence Hide, of the Middle Temple, said: I would,
Mr. Speaker, only move you to have an Act read, containing
but twelve lines. It is an exposition of the Common Law
touching these kind of Patents, commonly called monopolies."
The move seems to have been unexpected. For, if
Townshend's note may be trusted, it was received at the
time in silence; the House proceeding at once to the dis-
cussion of another bill, on a different subject, a bill
about which there was "much dispute." From what
happened after, it may be suspected that this was con-
trived with the Speaker's concurrence by Cecil, in order
to evade or postpone the dangerous question. But though
it had lain quiet so long, it could not when once raised be
laid again. And (strangely enough) the member who
brought it up afresh was a man officially connected with
the Government. The other bill having been, "after
much dispute,” committed, and the House being engaged

378
THE COMMONS AND THE MONOPOLIES.
[BOOK III.
in naming the Committees, "Mr. Downalde," 1 we are
told, "the Lord Keeper's secretary, stood up, and de-
sired that the Bill which Mr. Hide called for touching
Patents might be read." The Speaker desired him to
wait till the Committees were named: after that, he said,
he might speak. But I suppose Cecil saw in the face of
the House that the question would have to be met, and
felt that he must contrive to get his instructions before
it came on. And therefore, while they were proceeding
with the naming of the Committees, he "spake some-
thing in Mr. Speaker's ear:" who, as soon as the time
and place of commitment were named, immediately rose,
"without further hearing Mr. Downalde:" and so the
House adjourned. Whether Cecil's whisper had any-
thing to do with it, I do not know; but some irregularity
there clearly was. And that may be the reason why
D'Ewes (not understanding perhaps how it could have
happened according to the usages of the House) omits
this whole passage, as related in that private journal of
which he otherwise makes such large use, and gives
merely the entries from the "original journal-book of
the House," which contain no hint of it. Neverthe-
less, when we read further that Mr. Downalde took the
Speaker's conduct "in great disgrace, and told him he
would complain of him the next sitting; to which the
Speaker answered not one word, but looked earnestly on
him, and so the press of people parted them," we need
not doubt that the note was taken from the life.
Neither need we doubt that Elizabeth knew that same
evening what had passed, and made up her mind for
what was coming. For Elizabeth, though she often
seemed to venture into dangerous positions and to run
great risks, knew how to measure her own forces, and
always kept some course in reserve upon which she might
fall back in an emergency. If her ministers could hold
1 George Downhall, I presume, member for Launceston.
dr
!
1601.]
BILL DECLARING MONOPOLIES ILLEGAL.
379
the ground for her, it was best. If not, she could still
come herself.
On this occasion she had a day's respite. Thursday,
the 19th, was occupied with matters in which the House
always took an eager interest, and spoke with many
tongues. A burgess elect, being stopped on his way up
to London, had "sent up his solicitor to follow his causes
in law," etc. The solicitor had been arrested at the
suit of a tailor, and carried prisoner to Newgate; where
"after a discharge gotten because he said he served a
Parliament-man, he was no sooner discharged, but straight
he was again arrested and carried to the Compter, and
there lay all night, until he sent to the Sergeant-at-arms,
who fetched him out and kept him in his custody." The
question was whether this were a breach of privilege;
inasmuch as the master had not taken the oaths; and it
was not till after much examination, reëxamination, dis-
cussion, and consultation, that the solicitor was ordered
to be discharged, and the tailor and his officers to pay all
fees, and undergo three days' imprisonment. Immedi-
ately upon this came a report of proceedings in another
privilege question of higher interest,-the question pend-
ing between the House and the Lord Keeper. Mr. Sec-
retary Herbert had delivered their message to his Lord-
ship, who had replied that upon consideration of "the
weightiness of divers businesses now in hand,” etc., “he
would not now stand to make contention," but "would
be most ready and willing to perform the desire of the
House."
All this was satisfactory; but it consumed time; and
nothing more was said about the monopolies that day. On
Friday, however, the 20th, though not till after a long
debate on a Bill against willful absence from Church,
and the hearing of another complaint from a member
whose man had been arrested on his way up to London,
the great question at last forced its way into the front.
"
**

880
BILL DECLARING MONOPOLIES ILLEGAL. [BOOK IIL
"The Speaker," says Townshend, "gave the Clerk a
Bill to read. And the House called for the Checquer
Bill: some said Yea, and some said No, and a great noise
there was.
"At last Mr. Laurence Hide said: To end this con-
troversy, because the time is very short, I would move
the House to have a very short bill read; entituled An
Act for Explanation of the Common Law in certain cases
of Letters Patents.' And all the House cried I, I, I."
The long silence being at length broken, the cry of
grievance found no want of tongues, and seems to have
been felt from the first to be irresistible: for though some
of the members must have been personally interested in
the monopolies, not a voice was raised in defense of them.
A difference of opinion no doubt there was; but it turned
wholly upon the form of the proposed proceeding for re-
dress. In the object of the measure, namely, to obtain
relief from the grievance, all parties were prepared to
concur. Nor was the disputed point of form material to
that object, though very material in other ways. For
the remedy proposed by the Bill was to declare these
Patents illegal by the Common Law. Now since they
had been granted in virtue of a Prerogative which was at
that time confidently assumed, asserted, and exercised, as
indisputably belonging to the Crown; which, though not
perhaps wholly undisputed, was freely allowed by a large
body of respectable opinion; and which had not as yet
been disallowed by any authority that could claim to be
decisive; it was now no longer the monopolies, but the
Prerogative itself, that was in question. It was like one
of the cases of privilege with which the House had just
been dealing. As the arrest of a debtor, though by a
process strictly legal, was a breach of privilege if the
debtor was servant to a member, so the taking away of
Patents by Act of Parliament was an invasion of Prerog-
ative if they had been granted by a right constitution-

1601.1
LETTERS PATENTS.
381
ally belonging to the Crown. And as the House would
certainly have denied the right of the tailor to dispute
the legality of their privilege, so might the Queen deny
the right of the House to dispute the constitutionality of
her Prerogative. Nor indeed except by implication was
such a right now asserted. The question was not wheth-
er the House might meddle with the Prerogative, but
whether this Bill did. And it is a notable fact that as
the stoutest champions of the Prerogative disclaimed all
wish to uphold monopolies, so the most eager assailants
of monopoly disclaimed all intention of questioning the
Prerogative.
Cecil said nothing. He had been excused the day be-
fore from going up with a Bill to the Lords, "because he
was troubled with a cold: " and perhaps he had not re-
covered his voice. But after a speech from the member
for Warwick, which was not so much against the legal-
ity of the Patents as against the proceedings of the Pat-
entees' deputies; and against those proceedings, rather
as transgressing the commission than as taken in virtue
of it, Bacon rose to speak against the Bill. And for a
note of the tenor of his speech we are again indebted to
Townshend.
SPEECH IN THE HOUSE AGAINST A BILL FOR THE
EXPLANATION OF THE COMMON LAW IN CERTAIN
CASES OF LETTERS PATENTS.
"The gentleman that last spake coasted so for and
against the Bill, that for my own part, not well hearing
him, I did not well understand him. The Bill, as it is,
is in few words; but yet ponderous and weighty.
"For the prerogative royal of the Prince, for my own
part I ever allowed of it: and it is such as I hope I shall
never see discussed. The Queen, as she is our Sovereign,
hath both an enlarging and restraining liberty of her
Prerogative: that is, she hath power by her Patents to

382
BACON ON THE MONOPOLY QUESTION.
[BOOK III
set at liberty things restrained by statute law or other-
wise: secondly, by her Prerogative she may restrain
things that are at liberty.
"For the first: she may grant non obstantes contrary
to the penal laws; which truly, in my conscience (and so
struck himself on the breast), are as hateful to the sub-
ject as monopolies.
"For the second: if any man, out of his own wit, in-
dustry, or endeavor, find out anything beneficial to the
Commonwealth, or bring any new invention which every
subject of this kingdom may use; yet in regard of his
pains and travel therein, her Majesty perhaps is pleased
to grant him a privilege to use the same only by himself
or his deputies for a certain time. This is one kind of
monopoly. Sometimes there is a glut of things, when
they be in excessive quantity, as perhaps of corn; and
perhaps her Majesty gives license of transportation to
one man. This is another kind of monopoly. Some-
times there is a scarcity or a small quantity; and the like
is granted also.
"These, and divers of this nature, have been in trial,
both at the Common Pleas upon action of trespass;
where, if the Judges do find the privilege good and bene-
ficial for the Commonwealth they will then allow it,
otherwise disallow it; and also I know that her Majesty
herself hath given commandment to her Attorney Gen-
eral to bring divers of them, since the last Parliament,
to trial in her Exchequer. Since which time at least fif-
teen or sixteen, of my knowledge, have been repealed;
some upon her Majesty's own express commandment,
upon complaint made unto her Majesty by petition; and
some by quo warranto in the Exchequer.
"But, Mr. Speaker (said he, pointing to the Bill), this
is no stranger in this place; but a stranger in this vest-
ment. The use hath been ever by petition to humble
ourselves to her Majesty, and by petition desire to have
1601.]
BACON ON THE MONOPOLY QUESTION.
383
our grievances redressed; especially when the remedy
toucheth her so nigh in point of Prerogative. All can-
not be done at once; neither was it possible since the
last Parliament to repeal all.
"If her Majesty make a patent, or, as we term it, a mo-
nopoly, unto any of her servants, that must go and we cry
out of it: but if she grants it to a number of burgesses
or a corporation, that must stand; and that forsooth is
no monopoly.
"I say, and I say again, that we ought not to deal or
judge or meddle with her Majesty's Prerogative. I wish
every man therefore to be careful in this point; and
humbly pray this House to testify with me that I have
discharged my duty in respect of my place in speaking
on her Majesty's behalf; and protest I have delivered
my conscience in saying that which I have said."
The question, therefore, was reduced simply to this:
Should they proceed by Bill or by Petition? In the
course of the warm and very free-spoken debate which
followed, two or three members expressed a decided
opinion for proceeding by Bill, on the ground that the
proceeding by Petition had been tried last Parliament
and done no good; others expressed a decided opinion
against it. But the general feeling of the House seems
to have been in favor of committing the Bill, "in order
to devise a course: the question as to the mode of pro-
ceeding being therefore left open. So it was agreed that
they should go into Committee on it the next afternoon.
One point, however, this first debate had settled. It
had revealed the temper of the House and the Country
on the subject, and showed the Queen that if her Prerog-
ative was to continue unquestioned she must not allow it
to be approached in that temper from that side. As yet
she stood personally disengaged; not having committed
herself in the matter, except in professing intentions
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BACON ON THE MONOPOLY QUESTION.
[BOOK III.
which she had neglected to carry out. She had no diffi-
culty, therefore, in taking the position which the time
required; and made her arrangements at once, I suppose,
with that view. The Prerogative was not to be meddled
with: upon that point she was not going to make any
concession. But the Patents themselves might every
one, if necessary, go overboard; and that would be
enough, if handsomely done.
On Saturday afternoon, November 21, the Committee
met according to appointment. Cecil was still silent;
and Bacon was again the chief speaker on the side of the
Government. The general objection, which he had al-
ready urged, and which would have applied to any bill
for such a purpose, he repeated; adding a particular ob-
jection applicable to this particular bill, which nobody
seems to have attempted to answer; and which was in
fact, I should think, unanswerable. The note of his
speech, which contains all we know about it, does not
read like a very good report; but the argument is intel-
ligible enough.
SPEECH IN COMMITTEE AGAINST A BILL FOR EXPLA-
NATION OF THE COMMON LAW IN CERTAIN CASES
OF LETTERS PATENTS.
"The Bill is very injurious and ridiculous: injurious,
in that it taketh or rather sweepeth away her Majesty's
Prerogative; and ridiculous, in that there is a proviso
that this statute should not extend to grants made to
Corporations. That is a gull to sweeten the Bill withal;
it is only to make fools fain. All men of the law know
that a Bill which is only expository to expound the Com-
mon Law doth enact nothing: neither is any proviso
good therein. And therefore the proviso in the statute
of 34 Hen. VIII. of Wills (which is but a statute expos-
itory of the statute of 32 Hen. VIII. of Wills), touching
Sir John Gainsford's will, was adjudged void. Therefore
1601.1
TOWNSHEND'S MOTION.
385
I think the Bill unfit, and our proceedings to be by Pe-
tition."
Here again the true question was proposed in its sim-
ple terms; but the Committee could not keep within it.
An attempt on the part of the Solicitor General to make
the Queen's case clearer, by explaining what she had
done in the matter since the last Parliament, what she
had intended to do, and why she had done no more,
roused one of the members for Middlesex to produce a
long list of Patents granted since the last Parliament; the
reading of which provoked the famous question "whether
Bread was not among them," and was followed by a
state of excitement tending to no definite resolution,—
when Townshend himself, "seeing that the Committees
could agree upon nothing," came forward with a motion:
a motion which received from Bacon an approval so em-
phatic that the exposition of his policy and proceedings
in this matter (which have been much misrepresented)
would not be complete without describing it.
The proposition was in effect this: That the Com-
mittee should draw up a speech to the Queen, humbly
petitioning, not only "for the repeal of all monopolies
grievous to the subject," — with a view to which every
member of the House was to be invited to put in his
complaints in writing, - but likewise for leave to make
an Act that they might be of no more force, validity, or
effect than they are at the Common Law, without the
strength of her Prerogative, a thing which, though
they might do it now, yet, in a case so nearly touching
her Prerogative, they would not, as loyal and loving sub-
jects, offer to do without her privity and consent, — and
that as soon as this address was drawn up the Speaker
should be sent at once (not at the end of the session, as
on the last occasion) to speak it to her; and at the same
time to deliver with his own hand the lists of monopolies
complained of.
VOL. I.
25
•
386
TOWNSHEND'S MOTION.
[BOOK III.
This motion, which was quite in accordance with Ba-
con's idea of the proper way of proceeding, was seconded
by him in "a long speech," of which, however, all we
know is that it "concluded thus in the end:
66
""
Why, you have the readiest course that possibly can
be devised. I would wish no further order to be taken but
to prefer the wise and discreet speech made by the young
gentleman, even the youngest in this assembly, that last
spake. I'll tell you, that even ex ore infantium et lac-
tantium the true and most certain course is propounded
unto us."
After which speech of Bacon's the Committee sepa-
rated without deciding upon anything except that they
would meet again on Monday.
It seems, however, that there was an obstruction some-
where. For on Monday the debate fell away from the
point again. Nor did Cecil, who came forward at last,
succeed in giving it a better direction; unless indeed his
object were (as I rather suspect it was) to introduce an
element of disagreement for the purpose of postponing the
decision. For after giving his opinion at large upon most
of the topics which had been discussed, but without draw-
ing towards any conclusion, he ended, very strangely,
with recommending "a new commitment, to consider
what her Majesty might grant and what not; and what
course they should take, and upon what points," etc.:
a recommendation which, proceeding from him, it is dif-
ficult to understand, except as a device to keep the wa-
ters troubled; for it seemed to import a discussion of the
Prerogative itself; and which was met by a counter-
recommendation, coming (to make the matter stranger)
from the popular side, for it was moved by one of the
members who in the first debate had spoken most decid-
edly in favor of proceeding by Bill, and seconded by the
member who had spoken most vehemently and power-
fully against the monopolies, much to the effect of
1601.]
CECIL'S INTERFERENCE.
387
Townshend's proposition of Saturday evening; namely,
"that they should be suitors unto her Majesty that the
Patentees should have no other remedies than by the laws
of the realm they might have, and that their Act might
be drawn accordingly." This motion "the House seemed
greatly to applaud;" and might, one would think, have
passed at once, but that Cecil, for some reason or other,
was not disposed to withdraw his own; and the conclu-
sion was that both motions should be determined upon by
the Committees that afternoon. Yet in the afternoon, un-
less Townshend's notes are strangely imperfect, neither
of them was put to the question; nor indeed was any
question put at all. But the old ground was beaten over
again: lists of monopolies were handed about privately:
and one of these, containing nearly forty titles of Pa-
tents granted within the last twenty-eight years, was
read out openly by Cecil himself: after which they again
separated without concluding upon anything,—to meet
in the afternoon of the next day.
These repeated adjournments with no result naturally
excited dissatisfaction and suspicion; and on Tuesday
morning, "after some loud confusion in the House touch-
ing some private murmur concerning monopolies," Cecil
had to come forward again; his "zeal to extinguish mo-
nopolies making him to speak, to satisfy their opinions
that thought there should be no redress of them." He
said "he had been a member of the House in six or
seven Parliaments, and yet never did he see the House
in so great confusion. They had had speeches, and
speech upon speech, without either order or discretion.
One would have had them proceed by Bill, and see if the
Queen would have denied it. Another that the Pat-
ents should be brought there before them and cancelled:
and this were bravely done. Others would have them
proceed by way of petition," etc. "But I wish," he con-
cluded, "every man to rest satisfied until the Commit-
388
CECIL'S INTERFERENCE.
[BOOK III.
tees have brought in their resolutions, according to your
commandments."
And what was it then that hindered the Committees
from coming to a resolution-seeing that there was no
difference at all among them in their ends, no material
difference about the means, and a general inclination in
favor of one of the two courses proposed? The answer,
I think, must be that the Queen was going to lay the
waves herself, and they were not to subside till she ap-
peared. The extraordinary disorder and confusion which
had reigned in the Committee ever since Cecil took a
prominent part in the proceedings, and which was lead-
ing to an embarrassment from which they could not ex-
tricate themselves, was a condition (whether natural or
artificial) necessary to give full effect to the scene which
followed; and which, as Bacon had no part in it except
as a deeply interested spectator, I must be content to de-
scribe less at large than I should otherwise wish.
Such a petition from the Commons as Bacon recom-
mended would have opened a fair passage out of the diffi-
culty. But the Queen knew of a more excellent way.
The draught of the Subsidy Bill had been proceeding
without any check: not a murmur had escaped during all
this excitement to show that anybody regretted the grant
or wished to hold it back and she bethought herself
(being, though not formally apprised, yet known to be
aware of what had passed) that it would be no less than
gracious, in a case so unusual, to make some acknowl-
edgment. Thus it came to pass that on that very after-
noon, when the Committee on Hide's Bill was to have
met again for the fourth time, the Speaker was sent for
to convey her hearty thanks to the House for the care
they had shown of her state and kingdom in agreeing to
so large a subsidy at the very beginning of the session.
He was to tell them from her how highly she valued this
evidence of their affection; how their love was her dear-
4
1601.]
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LAST APPEARANCE.
389
est possession, and to repay it by defending them from
all oppressions, her chief and constant care. In token of
which he was to inform them further, that having lately
understood, partly from her Council and partly by peti-
tions delivered to her as she went abroad, that certain
Patents which she had granted had been abused and
made oppressive by the substitutes of the Patentees, she
had given order to have them reformed: some should
be presently revoked, and all suspended until tried and
found good according to law; and the abusers should be
punished.
Such was the substance of the message which the
Speaker, "to his unspeakable comfort," had to deliver to
the House the next morning; and in which, coming to us
as it does at the second reflexion, a report of a report,
some image may still be traced of that majesty of de-
meanor, that “art and impression of words," with which
Elizabeth so well knew how to rule the affections of a
people. The Speaker having concluded his report with
a congratulation upon this happy solution of their diffi-
culties, Cecil — now quite himself again, and in high spir-
its-explained at length what was to be done: the sum
of which was shortly this: It had been found that some
of the Patentees had been in the habit of extorting
money from ignorant and helpless people by threatening
them with proceedings which the Patents themselves did
not justify; therefore a proclamation was to go forth im-
mediately, suspending the execution of all these Patents
without exception, and referring them to the decision of
the common law.
This being all that anybody proposed either to ask for
or to do without asking, the House was overcome with
delight. One of the most vehement speakers on the pop-
ular side,¹ even he who had declared only five days be-
fore that “there was no act of the Queen's that had
1 Francis Moore, member for Reading.
.
390
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LAST APPEARANCE. [Book III.
""
been or was more derogatory to her own Majesty, or more
odious to the subject, or more dangerous to the common-
wealth, than the granting of these monopolies," was the
first to express his entire satisfaction; and immediately
moved that the Speaker should be sent to the Queen, not
only to thank her for what she had done, but to apologize
for what they had said, and "humbly to crave pardon
for "divers speeches that had been made extravagantly
in that House." And though the second clause of his
motion was rejected, on the ground that "to accuse
themselves by excusing a fault with which they were not
charged were a thing inconvenient and unfitting the wis-
dom of that House," the first was carried unanimously.
A dozen members were immediately chosen to accompany
the Speaker, and the Privy Councillors were requested
to obtain leave for them to attend her.
But she knew how to keep her state. Cecil came back
the next day with a short answer in these words:
"You
can give me no more thanks for that which I have prom-
ised you than I can and will give you thanks for that
which you have already performed." "You shall not
need,” he added, " (your good will being already known),
use any actual thanks: neither will she receive any, till
by a more actual consummation she hath completed this
work. At that time she will be well pleased to re-
ceive your loves with thanks, and to return you her best
favors."
This was on Thursday. On Saturday, the promised
proclamation being published "and in every man's
hand," they were informed that she would receive them
on Monday afternoon, — forty, fifty, or one hundred of
them. But when they were proceeding to select the
hundred, there rose a cry at the lower end of the House
of all, all, all: which being reported to the Queen, she
gave leave for all to come. She received them in state;
and having heard the address of thanks, delivered by the
*
T
1601.]
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S LAST APPEARANCE.
391
Speaker in a style which reminds one of the Liturgy,
replied in a style peculiar to herself. If she had known
that it was her last meeting with her people, and studied
to appear that day as she would wish to be remembered
ever after, she could not have done it better. Gracious,
grateful, affectionate, familiar; seated high above the
reach of injury or offense, and filled with awful confi-
dence in the authority deputed to her, yet descending to
exchange courtesies, accept benefits, acknowledge and ex-
cuse errors,
"She bowed her eminent top to their low ranks,
Making them proud of her humility;"
and I suppose never appeared so unquestionably and un-
approachably sovereign as then when she spoke to them
most freely, feelingly, and touchingly, in the tone of a
woman and a friend.
So ended an exciting and rather critical ten days' work,
to the full satisfaction of everybody; the monopoly ques-
tion being effectually disposed of for the time, and the
Queen seated more firmly than ever in the admiration
and affection of her people.
CHAPTER II.
A. D. 1601-1603.
ÆTAT. 41-43.
WHEN a man is afflicted with chronic disease of the
purse, his worst friend is a too liberal lender. In June,
1594, Anthony Bacon, in thanking his mother for assent-
ing to some arrangement for the satisfaction and assur-
ance of Mr. Nicholas Trott, described him as a friend
who had shown more real confidence and kindness"
towards himself and Francis than "all their brothers
and uncles put together would have performed, if they
had been constrained to have had recourse to them in
the like case." But in June, 1594, Francis was in con-
tinual expectation of being made Solicitor General, and
was beginning to be actually employed in business of the
learned counsel. Before the end of 1596 the hope of the
Solicitor Generalship was extinct, his other prospects dim,
his credit at a discount, and the kind and confident friend
turned into the aggrieved and complaining creditor. As
it usually happens in such cases, either story taken by
itself sounds reasonable: and the evidence is not com-
plete enough to give us the means of judging between
them. Abuse of confidence is complained of on both.
sides; by the creditor, in the shape of promises unper-
formed; by the debtor, in the shape of usurious interest
demanded; and on both sides, I dare say, the complaint
was sincere; though in a transaction between friends the
presumption is commonly against the borrower, because
the lender can always behave like a gentleman if he will,
whereas the borrower has not perhaps the means of doing
1601-1603.]
BACON'S ACCOUNT WITH TROTT.
393
so. Bacon, not being able to repay what he had bor-
rowed, was forced at last to mortgage Twickenham Park;
and it seems that the deed gave Trott a right of entry if
the debt were not paid before November, 1601. To avoid
this, Bacon now owner of all that his brother had left,
and with some ready money from Catesby's fine to help
-resorted to his friends Maynard and Hickes, who
endeavored to negotiate a settlement of Trott's claims.
The matters in dispute were referred to the Lord Treas-
urer, and the result appears to have been that Bacon was
to pay Trott £1,800,-a sum which, as far as I can make
out, must have been equal to the principal with inter-
est at ten per cent., and that by the 22d of January,
1601-2, Bacon's forty-first birthday, the money was paid
and Twickenham Park redeemed.
The prosperous proceeding and gracious parting with
her last Parliament was not the only contribution brought
by the Christmas of 1601 to the felicities of Queen Eliza-
beth. On Christmas Eve, an attempt by Tyrone, with
the largest rebel army ever brought together in Ireland,
acting in combination with two or three thousand newly-
landed Spaniards, to relieve the troops in Kinsale, was
anticipated and defeated by Montjoy, and the relieving
force so completely broken that the Spanish general, find-
ing his enterprise hopeless, the rather because the ships
sent from Spain with fresh provisions of war had been at
the same time attacked and destroyed in the harbor of
Castlehaven by Sir Richard Leveson, — prepared to capit-
ulate. The news of this decisive victory reached London
on 2d of January, 1601-2, and was followed on the 20th
by a report of the terms of capitulation; the sum of which
was that the Spaniards should surrender all the places
they held, and be allowed to go away with all they
brought with them, and help to transport it. The blow
was fatal to the rebellion. Montjoy, pressing his advan-
tage with judicious assiduity, and planting garrisons as
394 LETTER TO CECIL ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK III.
he proceeded, gradually established himself in military
possession of the whole country.
But military possession, though indispensable as a prep-
aration for the work that had to be done, was not the
work itself. How to cure the disease out of which this
great rebellion—a rebellion of eight years' duration ----
had sprung was the great problem of estate which now
pressed for solution; and much depended upon the right
treatment being adopted, and adopted immediately, at
this conjuncture. Sir Robert Cecil was now the leading
man at the English Council-board; and to him Bacon
volunteered a memorial on the subject, which he thought
worth preserving in his own collection. It appears to
have been composed in the summer vacation of 1602, and
treated of the reduction of Ireland "to civility and justice
as well as to obedience and peace" (which things, as
affairs then stood, he held to be inseparable), under four
heads: "1. The extinguishing of the relics of the war.
2. The recovery of the hearts of the people. 3. The re-
moving of the root and occasions of new troubles. 4.
Plantations and buildings."
What might have been done in this matter if Elizabeth
had lived, it is vain to inquire. She lived only to see
the first part of the work accomplished-the rebellion
effectually subdued.
As yet indeed she showed no sign of decaying powers,
and it was only the number of her days that warned her
councillors to prepare for a successor.
On the 7th of
September, 1602, she completed her sixty-ninth year;
yet her administration was never more active, vigorous,
and prosperous, nor ever more her own. Reinforcements
were dispatched to the army in Ireland in sufficient num-
bers and with sufficient speed to complete the pursuit
and defeat of the scattered rebels. A naval force was
fitted out to keep the Spanish navy in employment or in
check, and so cut off all hope of further assistance from
܂
1601-1603.]
SUBMISSION OF TYRONE.
395
that quarter. And besides active negotiations carried on
through her ambassador with Henry IV. to secure com-
mon action in the immediate exigencies, she was in secret
personal correspondence with him about his great design
for the settlement of Europe, an enterprise in which
he and his great minister were still reckoning upon her
individual coöperation as a condition almost indispensa-
ble. The year was a year of plenty. Her health con-
tinued good. Every packet brought news of some head
of rebellion coming in. And at last Tyrone himself, find-
ing all overtures of conditional submission summarily re-
jected, offered, "without standing upon any terms or
conditions, both simply and absolutely to submit himself
to her Majesty's mercy.'
This offer was contained in a letter to Montjoy, dated
22d December, 1602. But though, to save appearances,
and to give the overture a chance of being entertained,
it was made nominally unconditional, it was not to be ex-
pected that Tyrone would really give himself up without
some assurance of life and liberty; and the question
which Montjoy seems to have referred to the Queen was
what assurance he might give. It has been said that her
dealing with this question betrayed the infirmity of age;
and it is true that she did not go exactly at the pace her
councillors desired. In that, however, it cannot be said
that she was unlike herself: and to me it seems that she
was never more like herself than in the management of
the whole matter. For as the time which passed before
Montjoy received his answer represents the strength of
her reluctance to make any conditions with such an
offender, a reluctance which she would have felt at any
time of her life, so the answer which he received at
last represents the victory of good sense and policy over
personal inclination, in which such struggles always ended.
The exact date at which she received Tyrone's offer of
submission I have not been able to ascertain; but, as it
=
396
SUBMISSION OF TYRONE.
[BOOK III.
had to go round by Galway, it would reach her proba-
bly about the middle of January. On the 2d of March
Montjoy received a packet containing three letters: two
from herself, dated respectively the 16th and 17th of
February, and one from Cecil, dated the 18th; the effect
of which, taken all together, was this. As an induce-
ment to Tyrone to come in, he might in the first instance
promise him his life and "such other conditions as should
be honorable and reasonable for the Queen to grant him.”
If that were not enough, he might promise him his liberty
likewise liberty to "come and go safe, though in other
things they did not agree." When he came, he might
pass him a pardon upon certain specified conditions, of
which it is enough to say here that they were similar in
all the main points to those which had been required in
March, 1597-8:1 upon these conditions, if they could be
got. If, however, he could not be brought to accept them
all, then, "rather than send him back unpardoned to be
a head still of rebellion," Montjoy was to use his discre-
tion, and get such "other reasonable conditions" as he
could.
Whatever may have been the anxiety of her councillors,
the event proved that the commission was both ample
enough and speedy enough for the occasion. For Mont-
joy, following her own example, showed himself in no
hurry, but waited for another petition from Tyrone; who
as late as the 20th of March, which was nearly three
weeks after the letters from England had arrived, wrote
once more to remind him that he was still without
answer, and to press urgently for an interview. By the
time this petition reached him, however (which was on
the 23d), he had heard that the Queen was dangerously
ill and seeing the importance of getting the business.
concluded before the prospect of a new reign or a dis-
puted succession should beget new hopes, he seized the
1 For which see p. 221.
1601-1603.]
DEATH OF ELIZABETH.
397
occasion at once and changed his pace. On the 24th he
commissioned two gentlemen to confer with Tyrone, and
sent out at the same time the necessary letters of protec-
tion; on the 27th, received news that he had consented
to come; the next day, having just heard (privately and
not officially) that the Queen was dead, wrote to hasten
him keeping his intelligence in the mean time secret ;
on the 30th, gave him audience in a style as stately and
imperial as Elizabeth herself could have desired; on the
31st, received his written submission upon the conditions.
prescribed; thereupon promised him in the Queen's name
pardon, with restoration of title and (with some excep-
tion) of lands, etc.; on the 4th of April, brought him to
Dublin; on the 5th, received official news of the Queen's
death; and on the 6th caused him to make a new sub-
mission in the same form to the new King. So that the
last act of Elizabeth's administration was as successful as
any, and nothing lost by the delay.
She died on the 24th of March, after an illness of
about three weeks; and as her complaint did not take
any acute form, or answer to any name more definite
than "melancholy," the discoursers of the time busied
themselves in inventing causes to account for it. Half a
dozen possible or probable causes of mental mortification
were easily assigned, out of which those who think that
the death of a woman in her seventieth year requires
any extraordinary explanation may take their choice.
But the fact is that she had removed from London to
Richmond on the 21st of January in very foul and wet
weather, which was suddenly followed by a very severe
frost;¹ and if we suppose that she then caught a bad
cold, which attacked some vital organ; and that (like
most people of strong minds in strong bodies, unused to
illness) she was at once impatient of the sensation of
weakness, unwilling to have it seen, distrustful of rem-
1 Chamberlain to Carleton, 27th January, 1602–3; p. 174.

!--
398
DEATH OF ELIZABETH.
[BOOK III.
edies, intolerant of expostulation, and secretly apprehen-
sive of the worst, we shall need no other explanation of
all the incidents of her illness which rest upon good evi-
dence. "No doubt" (says Chamberlain) "but you shall
hear her Majesty's sickness and manner of death diversely
related: for even here the Papists do tell strange stories,
as utterly void of truth as of all civil honesty or humanity.
I had good means to understand how the world went,
and find her disease to be nothing but a settled and un-
removable melancholy, insomuch that she could not be
won or persuaded, neither by the counsel, divines, physi-
cians, nor the women about her, once to taste or touch
any physic; though ten or twelve physicians that were
continually about her did assure her with all manner of
asseverations of perfect and easy recovery if she would
follow their advice. . . Here was some whispering
that her brain was somewhat distempered, but there was
no such matter; only she held an obstinate silence for the
most part, and because she had a persuasion that if she
once lay down she should never rise, could not be gotten
to bed in a whole week till three days before her death;
so that after three weeks' languishing, she departed the
24th of this present," etc.
""
"I dined with Dr. Parry in the Privy Chamber,'
writes Manningham in his diary, on the 23d of March,
"and understood by him, the Bishop of Chichester, the
Dean of Canterbury, the Dean of Windsor, etc., that her
Majesty hath been by fits troubled with melancholy some
three or four months, but for this fortnight extreme op-
pressed with it; insomuch that she refused to eat any-
thing, to receive any physic, or admit any rest in bed,
till within these two or three days. She hath been in a
manner speechless for two days. Very pensive and silent
since Shrovetide; 1 sitting sometimes with her eye fixed
on one object many hours together. Yet she always had
1 Shrove Tuesday fell on the 5th of March in 1602–3.
1601-1603.]
DEATH OF ELIZABETH.
399
her perfect senses and memory, and yesterday signified
by the lifting up of her hands to heaven (a sign which
Dr. Parry entreated of her) that she believed that faith
which she hath caused to be professed, and looked faith-
fully to be saved by Christ's merits and mercy only,
and no other means. She took great delight in hearing
prayers, would often at the name of Jesus lift up her
hands and eyes to heaven; she would not hear the Arch-
bishop speak of hope of her longer life, but when he
prayed or spake of heaven or those joys, she would hug
his hand. It seems she might have lived if she would
have used means; but she would not be persuaded, and
princes must not be forced. Her physicians said she had
a body of firm and perfect constitution likely to have
lived many years."
The next day he adds that about three o'clock in the
morning she "departed this life mildly, like a lamb:
easily, like a ripe apple from the tree: cum leni quadam
febre, absque gemitu."
The consciousness or apprehension that she was no
longer mistress of her own powers is quite enough to
account for the melancholy which oppressed her. It is
easy to believe that, whatever her physicians might say,
she felt her faculties failing, and did not choose to outlive
them.
As a matter of policy, there was perhaps no part of
Elizabeth's proceedings more questionable from first to
last, in the judgment of her best councillors, than her
refusal to let the question of succession be settled, or even
discussed. Yet here again, if the event be accepted as
judge, it is hard to say that she was wrong. Her own
authority endured to the last without diminution, and her
successor took her place at once, without contention or
disturbance.
“The Proclamation," writes Manningham, on the
night of the 24th, "was heard with great expectation
400
DEATH OF ELIZABETH.
[BOOK III.
and silent joy: no great shouting; I think the sorrow for
her Majesty's departure was so deep in many hearts that
they could not so suddenly show any great joy; though
it could not be less than exceeding great for the succes-
sion of so worthy a King. And at night they showed it
by bonfires and ringing. No tumult; no contradiction;
no disorders in the city; every man went about his busi-
ness as readily, as peaceably, as securely, as though there
had been no change, nor any news ever heard of compet-
itors."
Nor did this outward calm in any respect belie the fact.
And yet to statesmen the crisis was not the less an anx-
ious one, for public as well as private reasons. The dan-
ger of a competition for the Crown was indeed past; and
the sensation is described by Bacon as like that of wak-
ing from a fearful dream.¹ But the very absence of com-
petition implied the existence of expectations or hopes
in different parties, whose interests being opposite their
hopes could not all be fulfilled. No policy could prevent
the growth of discontents, but whether they should grow
to be dangerous would depend upon the position which
the new King took up among the contending parties and
conflicting interests.
With such questions Bacon was familiar, and he could
not but feel that he had matter in him which would be
of service. His professional ambition had always aspired
to employment in the business of the state, and his
chances of personal success in life and of recovery from
the embarrassments with which he had been so long
struggling, and from which he was not yet free, lay all
in that direction. On all accounts, therefore, it was a
prime object with him to obtain the favorable regard of
the new King; and he lost no time in using such oppor-
tunities as he had. The most important person in Eng-
land was his cousin, Sir Robert Cecil; and next to him
1 Beginning of a History of Great Britain: Works, ii., Part I., p. 408.
1601-1603.]
LETTER TO THE KING.
401
perhaps (at that time) the Earl of Northumberland, who
had been engaged for some years, together with Cecil and
Lord Henry Howard, in a secret and confidential corre-
spondence with James; and had within the last few days
been invited by the Council to assist them; and who,
being besides a man of letters and learning, was qualified
to appreciate Bacon's value and sympathize with his
tastes in that department also. He was acquainted like-
wise, more or less, with several persons about the Scotch
Court, who had been in correspondence with his brother
in the service of the Earl of Essex, and were likely on
that account to be regarded with favor. To all these,
knowing that a man may be forgotten merely for want
of a reminder, he now addressed himself, - directly or
indirectly, as seemed most becoming or most discreet in
each case,
and to one of them he inclosed the follow-
ing letter, for delivery to the King himself.
AN OFFER OF SERVICE TO HIS MAJESTY K. JAMES
UPON HIS FIRST COMING IN.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
It is observed upon a place in the Canticles by some, Ego
sum flos campi et lilium convallium, that, à dispari, it is
not said, Ego sum flos horti, et lilium montium; because
the majesty of that person is not inclosed for a few, nor
appropriate to the great. And yet notwithstanding, this
royal virtue of access, which nature and judgment have
planted in your Majesty's mind as the portal of all the
rest, could not of itself (my imperfections considered)
have animated me to make oblation of myself immedi-
ately to your Majesty, had it not been joined with an
habit of like liberty, which I enjoyed with my late dear
Sovereign Mistress; a Prince happy in all things, but
most happy in such a successor. And yet further and
more nearly, I was not a little encouraged, not only upon
a supposal that unto your Majesty's sacred ears (open
VOL. I.
26

402
LETTER TO THE KING.
[BOOK III.
to the air of all virtues) there might perhaps have come
some small breath of the good memory of my father, so
long a principal counsellor in this your kingdom; but
also by the particular knowledge of the infinite devo-
tion and incessant endeavors (beyond the strength of
his body, and the nature of the times) which appeared
in my good brother towards your Majesty's service; and
were on your Majesty's part, through your singular be-
nignity, by many most gracious and lively significations
and favors accepted and acknowledged, beyond the merit
of anything he could effect. All which endeavors and
duties for the most part were common to myself with
him, though by design (as between brethren) dissembled.
And therefore, most high and mighty King, my most
dear and dread sovereign lord, since now the corner-stone
is laid of the mightiest monarchy in Europe; and that
God above, who is noted to have a mighty hand in brid-
ling the floods and fluctuations of the seas and of people's
hearts, hath, by the miraculous and universal consent
(the more strange because it proceedeth from such diver-
sity of causes) in your coming in, given a sign and token
what he intendeth in the continuance; I think there is
no subject of your Majesty's, who loveth this island, and
is not hollow and unworthy, whose heart is not set on
fire, not only to bring you peace-offerings to make you
propitious, but to sacrifice himself a burnt-offering to
your Majesty's service: amongst which number no man's
fire shall be more pure and fervent than mine. But how
far forth it shall blaze out, that resteth in your Majesty's
employment. For since your fortune in the greatness
thereof hath for a time debarred your Majesty of the
princely virtue which one calleth the principal, "Prin-
cipis est virtus maxima nosse suos," because your Maj-
esty hath many of yours which are unknown to you, I
must leave all to the trial of further time, and so thirst-
ing after the happiness of kissing your royal hand, con-
tinue ever, etc.
1601-1603.] DRAFT OF PROPOSED PROCLAMATION.
403
Having despatched these personal matters, his next
care was to consider what help he could give in smooth-
ing the King's path to the hearts of the people. To
touch the right vein at first was a matter by no means
easy for a stranger, and a rub the wrong way might do
much mischief. Addressing himself therefore to the
Earl of Northumberland, by whom his recent offer of
service seems to have been favorably entertained, he sent
him a draft of a Proclamation, such as he thought fit for
the time; and which, being an entirely voluntary per-
formance of his own suggestion, may be taken as em-
bodying the advice which he would have given to the
King at this conjuncture, if he had been in a position to
advise. It is taken from a copy preserved and corrected
by himself, and shows, among other things, that if de-
preciation of Elizabeth was really the fashion at Court
during the first few months of James's reign, a fact
which I find it hard to believe, though resting on the
respectable evidence of Sully,-it was a mistake for which
Bacon, at any rate, was not responsible; and its drift
and purpose are sufficiently explained in the letter which
accompanied it.
A LETTER TO MY LORD OF NORTHUMBERLAND MEN-
TIONING A PROCLAMATION DRAWN FOR THE KING
AT HIS ENTRANCE.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP, I do hold it a
thing formal and necessary for the King to forerun his
coming (be it never so speedy) with some gracious dec-
laration, for the cherishing, entertaining, and preparing
of men's affections. For which purpose I have conceived
a draft, it being a thing familiar in my Mistress' times
to have my pen used in public writings of satisfaction.
The use of this may be in two sorts: first properly, if
your Lordship think convenient to show the King any
such draft; because the veins and pulses of this state
404
DRAFT OF PROPOSED PROCLAMATION.
[BOOK III.
cannot be but best known here; which if your Lordship
should do, then I would desire you to withdraw my name,
and only signify that you gave some heads of direction
of such a matter to one of whose style and pen you had
some opinion. The other collateral; that though your
Lordship make no other use of it, yet it is a kind of por-
traiture of that which I think worthy to be advised by
your Lordship to the King,¹ and perhaps more compen-
dious and significant than if I had set them down in ar-
ticles. I would have attended your Lordship but for
some little physic I took. To-morrow morning I will
wait on you. So I ever, etc.
A PROCLAMATION DRAWN FOR HIS MAJESTY'S FIRST
COMING IN, PREPARED BUT NOT USED.
Having great cause at this time to be moved with di-
versity of affections, we do in first place condole with all
our loving subjects of England for the loss of their so
virtuous and excellent Queen; being a prince that we
always found a dear sister, yea, a mother to ourself, in
many her actions and advices; a prince whom we hold
and behold as an excellent pattern and example to imi-
tate in many her royal virtues and parts of government;
and a prince whose days we could have wished to have
been prolonged; we reporting ourselves not only to the
testimony of our royal heart, but to the judgment of all
the world, whether there ever appeared in us any am-
bitious or impatient desire to prevent God's appointed
time. Neither are we so partial to our own honor, but
that we do in great part ascribe this our most peaceable
and quiet entrance and coming to these our crowns, next
under the blessing of Almighty God and our undoubted
right, to the fruit of her Majesty's peaceable and quiet
government, accustoming the people to all loyalty and
1 The copy in the Remains adds, "to express himself according to those
points which are therein conceived.”
1601-1603.]
DRAFT OF PROPOSED PROCLAMATION.
405
obedience. As for that which concerneth ourselves, we
would have all our loving subjects know that we do not
take so much gladness and contentment in the devolving
of these kingdoms unto our royal person, for any addi-
tion or increase of glory, power, or riches, as in this that
it is so manifest an evidence unto us (especially the man-
ner of it considered) that we stand (though unworthy)
in God's favor, who hath put more means into our hands
to reward our friends and servants, and to pardon and
obliterate injuries, and to comfort and relieve the hearts
and estates of our people and loving subjects, and chiefly
to advance the holy religion and church of Almighty
God, and to deserve well of the Christian commonwealth.
And more especially we cannot but gratulate and re-
joice in this one point, that it hath pleased God to make
us the instrument and as it were the corner-stone, to
unite these two mighty and warlike nations of England
and Scotland into one kingdom. For although these two
nations are situate upon the continent of one island, and
are undivided either by seas or mountains, or by diver-
sity of language; and although our neighbor kingdoms
of Spain and France have already had the happiness to
be reunited in the several members of those kingdoms
formerly disjoined; yet in this island it appeareth not in
the records of any true history, no nor scarcely in the
conceit of any fabulous narration or tradition, that this
whole island of Great Brittany was ever united under
one sovereign prince before this day: which as we cannot
but take as a singular honor and favor of God unto our-
selves; so we may conceive good hope that the kingdoms
of Christendom standing distributed and counterpoised
as by this last union they now are, it will be a founda-
tion of the universal peace of all Christian princes, and
that now the strife that shall remain between them shall
be but an emulation who shall govern best and most to
the weal and good of his people.
•
+
406
DRAFT OF PROPOSED PROCLAMATION.
[BOOK III.
Another great cause of our just rejoicing is the as-
sured hope that we conceive, that whereas our kingdom
of Ireland hath been so long time torn and afflicted with
the miseries of wars, the making and prosecuting of which
wars hath cost such an infinite deal of blood and treasure
of our realm of England to be spilt and consumed there-
upon; we shall be able through God's favor and assist-
ance to put a speedy and an honorable end to those wars.
And it is our princely design and full purpose and resolu-
tion not only to reduce that nation from their rebellion
and revolt, but also to reclaim them from their barbarous
manners to justice and the fear of God; and to populate,
plant, and make civil all the provinces in that kingdom;
which also being an action that not any of our noble
progenitors kings of England hath ever had the happi-
ness thoroughly to prosecute and accomplish, we take so
much to heart, as we are persuaded it is one of the chief
causes for the which God hath brought us to the imperial
crown of these kingdoms.
Further, we cannot but take great comfort in the state
and correspondence which we now stand in of peace and
unity with all Christian princes, and otherwise of quiet-
ness and obedience of our own people at home; whereby
we shall not need to espouse that our kingdom of Eng-
land to any quarrel or war, but rather have occasion to
preserve them in peace and tranquillity, and openness of
trade with all foreign nations.
Lastly and principally, we cannot but take unspeakable
comfort in the great and wonderful consent and unity,
joy and alacrity, wherewith our loving subjects of our
kingdom of England have received and acknowledged us
their natural and lawful king and governor, according to
our most clear and undoubted right, in so quiet and set-
tled manner, as if we had been long ago declared and
established successor, and had taken all men's oaths and
homages, greater and more perfect unity and readiness
1601-1603.]
DRAFT OF PROPOSED PROCLAMATION.
107
could not have been. For considering with ourselves that
notwithstanding difference of religion, or any other fac-
tion, and notwithstanding our absence so far off, and not-
withstanding the sparing and reserved communicating of
one another's minds, yet all our loving subjects met in
one thought and voice, without any the least disturbance
or interruption, yea, hesitation or doubtfulness, or any
show thereof; we cannot but acknowledge it is a great
work of God, who hath an immediate and extraordinary
direction in the disposing of kingdoms and flows of peo-
ple's hearts.
Wherefore after our most humble and devout thanks to
Almighty God, by whom kings reign, who hath estab-
lished us king and governor of these kingdoms, we return
our hearty and affectionate thanks unto the Lords spirit-
ual and temporal, the knights and gentlemen, the cities
and towns, and generally unto our Commons, and all es-
tates and degrees of that our kingdom of England, for
their so acceptable first-fruits of their obedience and loy-
alties offered and performed in our absence; much com-
mending the great wisdom, courage, and watchfulness
used by the Peers of that our kingdom (according to the
nobility of their bloods and lineages, many of them min-
gled with the blood royal, and therefore in nature affec-
tionate to their rightful king); and likewise of the coun-
sellors of the late Queen, according to their gravity and
oath, and the spirit of their good Mistress (now a glorious
saint in heaven), in carrying and ordering our affairs with
that fidelity, moderation, and consent which in them hath
well appeared; and also the great readiness, concord, and
cheerfulness in the principal knights and gentlemen of
several countries, with the head officers of great cities,
corporations, and towns; and do take knowledge by name
of the readiness and good zeal of that our chiefest and
most famous city, the city of London, the chamber of
that our kingdom; assuring them that we will be unto

408
DRAFT OF PROPOSED PROCLAMATION.
[BOOK III.
that city, by all means of confirming and increasing their
happy and wealthy estate, not only a just and gracious
sovereign lord and king, but a special and bountiful pa-
tron and benefactor.
And we on our part, as well in remuneration of all
their loyal and loving affections as in discharge of our
princely office, do promise and assure them that as all
manner of estates have concurred and consented in their
duty and zeal towards us, so it shall be our continual
care and resolution to preserve and maintain every sev-
eral estate in a happy and flourishing condition, without
confusion or overgrowing of any one to the prejudice,
discontentment, or discouragement of the rest; and gen-
erally, in all estates we hope. God will strengthen and
assist us not only to extirpate all gross and notorious
abuses and corruptions, of simonies, briberies, extortions,
exactions, oppressions, vexations, burdensome payments
and overcharges, and the like; but further to extend our
princely care to the supply of the very neglects and omis-
sions of anything that may tend to the good of our
people; so that every place and service that is fit for the
honor or good of the commonwealth shall be filled, and
no man's virtue left idle, unemployed, or unrewarded;
and every good ordinance and constitution for the amend
ment of the estate and times be revived and put in ex-
ecution.
In the mean time, minding by God's leave (all delay
set apart) to comfort and secure our loving subjects in
our kingdom of England by our personal presence there,
we require all our loving subjects joyfully to expect the
same; and yet so, as we signify our will and pleasure to
be, that all such ceremonies and preparations as shall be
made and used to do us honor, or to express gratulation,
be rather comely and orderly than sumptuous and glo-
rious; and for the expressing of magnificence, that it be
rather employed and bestowed upon the funeral of the
1601-1603.]
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL.
409
late Queen, to whose memory we are of opinion too much
honor cannot be done or performed.
The chief inconvenience which actually resulted from
the want of an acknowledged successor to the Crown was,
that authority derived from the Queen dying with her,
and James being four hundred miles away, there must be
an interval of at least a week during which none of the
officers of state could be formally authorized to execute
his functions. The only disorder, however, which arose
from this cause appears to have been confined within
the walls of the council-chamber itself, and to have been
kept so well within bounds that our only knowledge of
it comes from the report of a French ambassador at the
time, and a collector of gossip in the next generation.
On the authority of the French ambassador, we are told
that the right of the Council to act was formally dis-
puted by the Earl of Northumberland, and that the Lord
Keeper offered, on behalf of himself and such of the
Councillors as were not members of the Upper House,
to resign to the Lords their seats at the head of the
table.¹ On the authority of Aubrey, we learn that "at
a consultation at Whitehall, after Queen Elizabeth's
death, how matters were to be ordered and what ought
to be done, Sir Walter Ralegh declared his opinion that
'twas the wisest way for them to keep the government in
their own hands, and set up a commonwealth, and not be
subject to a needy and beggarly nation." 2 The author-
1 Gardiner, i. 54. An English narrative, apparently official, represents the
Lord Keeper as offering, on behalf of himself and the Councillors who were not
peers, to take the lower place at the table, but says nothing of any dispute about
their authority. "But as they began to sit in Council in the Privy Chamber at
Whitehall, the Lord Keeper, Sir Thomas Egerton, and the rest of the Council
that were no Barons, offered to sit at the lower end of the Council table, and not
above any of the meanest nobility; but the noblemen, in respect of their former
authority, called them to the higher end of the table, and wished them to keep
their places."—Add. MSS. 1786, 5, b. The ambassador's story would easily
grow out of this.

2 Aubrey, ii., p. 515.
410
BACON AND SOUTHAMPTON.
[BOOK III.
ity is not worth much in either case; but if anything of
this kind really occurred,—and it does not appear that
any Englishman of the time had heard of it, Ralegh's
proposal could only be meant and taken as a jest, and the
Lord Keeper's offer was of course declined. The Coun-
cil continued not only to act during the interregnum, but
to act with vigor; and the King made the interval as
short as possible by immediately directing that all per-
sons in office at the Queen's death should so continue
till his further pleasure were known; a direction which
appears to have included everybody concerned, except
Bacon.
Bacon had for some years been employed and described
as one of the Learned Counsel; but it was by the verbal
order of the Queen; he had never been sworn in, and
had no written warrant. Not being now mentioned by
name in the King's letters, and not coming properly un-
der the description of a person "in office at the Queen's
death," he was in effect left out. The omission, however,
was altogether accidental, and, as soon as the King was
informed of it, was supplied at once.
Of Bacon's personal relations with the Earl of South-
ampton, whose release was one of the first acts of the
new reign, we know little or nothing. The intimate con-
nection of both with the Earl of Essex must, no doubt,
have brought them together; but no letters had passed
between them that I know of, nor has any record been
preserved of any other communication. In drawing up
the "Declaration of Treasons," Bacon had mentioned his
name as slightly as it was possible to do without misrep-
resenting the case in one of its most material features;
and there is some reason to believe that he had used his
private influence with the Queen after the trial, as Cecil
and Nottingham had certainly done,¹ to mitigate her dis-
1 "Was it anybody else," wrote the Earl of Northumberland to James, in the
secret correspondence, speaking of Cecil, "that saved Southampton?" - Corre-
1601-1603.]
BACON AND SOUTHAMPTON.
411
pleasure. Yet considering the circumstances under which
they had last seen each other, it was too much to expect
that Southampton (who did not know what had passed
since) was prepared to regard him as a friend; and there
were two ways in which Bacon might easily commit an
error. Others were visiting him with congratulations
upon his approaching liberation. It was natural that he
should do the same; for there can be no doubt that he
was really glad of it; and if Southampton was disposed
to take a true view of the case and to be friends, it would
seem churlish and unfriendly to stand aloof. But if, on
the contrary, he saw the case with the eyes of his former
associates, and regarded Bacon as the ungrateful and un-
generous enemy of his friend and himself, then it would
seem indelicate and unfeeling to intrude on him. He
thought it best therefore to begin with a letter, excusing
his non-attendance and explaining the reasons of it. The
letter which he wrote is preserved in his own collection
and runs thus: —

A LETTER TO THE EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON, UPON THE
KING'S COMING IN.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP, — I would have
been very glad to have presented my humble service to
your Lordship by my attendance, if I could have foreseen
hat it should not have been unpleasing unto you. And
herefore, because I would commit no error, I choose to
write; assuring your Lordship (how credible soever it
nay seem to you at first, yet it is as true as a thing that
God knoweth) that this great change hath wrought in
he no other change towards your Lordship than this,
hat I may safely be now that which I was truly before.
pondence, etc., Camd. Soc., p. 68. "Those that would deal for him," writes
ecil to Sir G. Carew "(of which number I protest to God I am one as far as I
are), are much disadvantaged of arguments to save him."
"For the Earl of Southampton," writes Nottingham to Montjoy, “though he
e condemned, yet I hope well for his life; for Mr. Secretary and myself use all
ar wits and power for it."
412
BACON AND SOUTHAMPTON.
[BOOK III.
And so craving no other pardon than for troubling you
with this letter, I do not now begin, but continue to be
Your Lordship's humble and much devoted.
Southampton was released from the Tower on the 10th
of April; which determines within a few days the date
of the last letter. Of the reception which it met with,
I find no account anywhere.
Meanwhile the news which Bacon received from his
friends in the Scotch Court appears to have been favor-
able; sufficiently so, at least, to encourage him to seek a
personal interview with the King. I cannot find the exact
date, but it will be seen from the next letter that, before
the King arrived in London, he had gone to meet him,
carrying a despatch from the Earl of Northumberland;
and that he had been admitted to his presence. The
copy of this letter in the British Museum MS. is in the
same hand as the rest of the volume, but is distinguished
from the others by having a few corrections and inter-
lineations in another hand, which I believe to be Bacon's
own; though I cannot speak with perfect confidence.
His handwriting varied very much, according, I sup-
pose, to pens, attitudes, moods, and times, and a few
words inserted here and there are often difficult to iden-
tify. But it is certainly not the hand of the transcriber ;
the alterations are of a kind which it is not likely that
anybody else would have made (no alteration being ap-
parently required by the sense or grammar); and it is
likely enough, considering his subsequent relations with
James, that he may have looked back some time in his
later life with great curiosity and interest to this fresh
record of his first impressions of him, and made the cor
rections either from memory or taste, or from a better
copy of the original which may have accidentally turned
up. They are not at all material in substance, but are
just such changes as he would naturally have made in

1601-1603.] BACON'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE KING. 413
writing a fair copy from a first draft. The text repre-
sents the letter as corrected; the notes as it stood in the
original transcript.
A LETTER TO THE EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND AFTER
HE HAD BEEN WITH THE KING.
9
8
6
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP,—I would not
have lost this journey, and yet I have not that for which
I went.¹ For I have had no private conference to any
purpose 2 with the King; and³ no more hath almost any
other English. For the speech his Majesty admitteth
with some noblemen is rather matter of grace than of
business. With the Attorney he spake, being 5 urged by
the Treasurer of Scotland, but yet no more than needs
must. After I had received his Majesty's first welcome,
I was promised private access; but yet, not knowing
what matter of service your Lordship's letter might
carry (for I saw it not), and well knowing that prime-
ness in advertisement is much, I chose rather to deliver
it to Sir Thomas Erskins, than to cool it in my hands,
upon expectation of access. Your Lordship shall find a
prince the farthest from the appearance of vain-glory 10
that may be, and rather like a prince of the ancient form
than of the latter time. His speech is swift and cursory,
and in the full dialect of his country; and in point 1 of
business, short; in point 12 of discourse, large. He affect-
eth popularity by gracing such as he hath heard to be
popular, and not by any fashions of his own. He is
thought somewhat general in his favors, and his virtue
of access is rather because he is much abroad and in
press, than that he giveth easy audience about serious
things.13 He hasteneth to a mixture of both kingdoms
1 that I went for.
5 being, om.
9 carried.
2 to purpose.
6 but no more.
X
10 from vain-glory.
18 about serious things, om.
8 and, om.
rand.
11 speech.
11
▲ matter of.
8 but, om.
12 speech.
414 BACON'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE KING. [BOOK III.
and nations, faster perhaps than policy will conven-
iently 1 bear.
I told your Lordship once before, that
(methought) his Majesty rather asked counsel of the
time past than of the time to come. But it is early yet
to ground any settled opinion. For the particularities I
refer to conference, having in these generals gone further
in so tender an argument than I would have done, were
not both the reader and the bearer assured.2
66
James's arrival in England brought no immediate pros-
pect of improvement in Bacon's fortunes. Nor was it
likely that it should. "Every new King," James thought,
ought at least to let a year and a day pass before he
made any innovation ;" and he naturally left the admin-
istration of affairs in the hands in which he found it.
He made two or three new councillors; gave the Mas-
tership of the Rolls, which was still vacant, to Edward
Bruce, Abbot of Kinloss; removed Sir Walter Ralegh
(probably not without what seemed the best advice)
from the Captaincy of the Guard, putting in his place
Sir Thomas Erskine (his own Captain of the Guard),
but giving him at the same time a considerable pecuniary
compensation; placed two or three of his Scotch friends
immediately about his person; but made no more changes
of importance.
Bacon was for the present to "continue to be of the
Learned Counsel in such manner as before he was to the
Queen." But though this seemed like leaving his posi-
tion unchanged, the practical effect was to give him a pros-
pect of more leisure. For his place among the Learned
Counsel being an irregular one without any ordinary du-
ties belonging to it as of course, his employment de-
pended upon the pleasure of those who had the laying
out of the business. In this the Queen herself had been
used to take a part, and by her direction he had in this
2 were not the bearer hereof so assured. So I continue、
1 well.
1601-1603.]
MONEY MATTERS.
415
irregular way been continually employed for many years.
It would not be so now. James, to whom the business
and the persons were alike new, would naturally leave
such arrangements, at least for a while, to Coke, who was
not at all likely to want Bacon's help; nor is there any
reason to think that Cecil, who kept the lead in council,
and soon left the Earl of Northumberland in the shadow,
would go much out of his way to put him forward.
What he had to do therefore was merely to hold himself
in readiness in case he were wanted; to recommend him-
self to the King by such services or advices as he could
offer without impropriety; to make the most of the in-
terval of leisure for the great purpose to which all his
leisure had long been dedicated; and before all, if not
above all, to clear off all remains of debt and bring his
living within his income.
The last-mentioned object was first in importance, and
was (not perhaps unfortunately) first forced upon him
by an accident of which the general character may be
gathered from the next letter, though none of the partic-
ulars are otherwise known.
We have seen that he had been occupied since his
brother's death in endeavoring to settle some of his prin-
cipal debts. It seems, however, that he had not pro-
ceeded fast enough. For in the summer of 1603 he had
to apply to Cecil for help in some scrape; similar, appar-
ently, to that of 1598, when he was arrested on his way
from the Tower by Sympson, the goldsmith.¹ Something
had been done to him which he conceived to be an inva-
sion of the privilege of his office, and therefore an affront
to the King's service; and it had relation to some money
transaction. And this is all we know about it. The let-
ter itself, however, which reveals the fact (and which
comes from the Hatfield collection, where it was found
by Murdin, who sent a copy to Birch) is unusually inter-
1 Ante, p. 231.
416
MONEY MATTERS: HELP FROM CECIL. [BOOK III.
esting, as showing how his private affairs stood at the
time, and what he was now doing to set them straight;
and also as throwing further light on his relations with
Cecil; who, on this occasion at least, was giving some-
thing more substantial than words, — preferring possibly
a way of obliging him which deserved his gratitude with-
out risking his rivalry.
TO ROBERT, LORD CECIL.
They say
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP,
late thanks are ever best. But the reason was, I thought
to have seen your Lordship ere this. Howsoever, I shall
never forget this your last favor amongst others; and
it grieveth me not a little, that I find myself of no use to
such an honorable and kind friend.
For that matter, I think I shall desire your assistance
for the punishment of the contempt; not that I would
use the privilege in future time, but because I would
not have the dignity of the King's service prejudiced in
my instance. But herein I will be ruled by your Lord-
ship.
It is fit likewise, though much against my mind, that I
let your Lordship know that I shall not be able to pay
the money within the time by your Lordship under-
taken, which was a fortnight. Nay, money I find so hard
to come by at this time, as I thought to have become an
humble suitor to your Honor to have sustained me with
your credit for the present from urgent debts, with tak-
ing up £300 till I can put away some land. But I am so
forward with some sales, as this request I hope I may
forbear.
For my estate (because your Honor hath care of it), it
is thus: I shall be able with selling the skirts of my
living in Hertfordshire to preserve the body; and to
leave myself, being clearly out of debt, and having some
money in my pocket, £300 land per annum, with a fair
1601-1603.1
HELP FROM CECIL.
417
house, and the ground well timbered. This is now my
labor.
For my purpose or course, I desire to meddle as little
as I can in the King's causes, his Majesty now abounding
in counsel; and to follow my private thrift and practice,
and to marry with some convenient advancement. For
as for any ambition, I do assure your Honor mine is
quenched. In the Queen's, my excellent Mistress's, time
the quorum was small; her service was a kind of free-
hold, and it was a more solemn time. All those points
agreed with my nature and judgment. My ambition
now I shall only put upon my pen, whereby I shall be
able to maintain memory and merit of the times suc-
ceeding.
Lastly, for this divulged and almost prostituted title
of knighthood, I could without charge, by your Honor's
mean, be content to have it, both because of this late
disgrace, and because I have three new knights in my
mess in Gray's-Inn commons; and because I have found
out an alderman's daughter, an handsome maiden, to my
liking. So as if your Honor will find the time, I will
come to the court from Gorhambury upon any warning.
How my sales go forward, your Lordship shall in a few
days hear. Meanwhile, if you will not be pleased to
take further day with this lewd fellow, I hope your
Lordship will not suffer him to take any part of the
penalty, but principal, interest, and costs.
So I remain your Lordship's most bounden
FR. BACON.
3 July, 1603.
Cecil's answer to this letter has not been preserved.
But it may be inferred from Bacon's reply (which comes
from the same collection) that it was not only friendly
as regarded the particular case, but contained also some
1 Of Bacon's marriage with the alderman's daughter, see post, p. 483.
VOL. I.
27

ミ
​418
PRIVATE AFFAIRS.
[BOOK III.
general intimation that his professional services would be
wanted.
TO THE SAME.
In answer
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP,
of your last letter, your money shall be ready before your
day; principal, interest, and costs of suit. So the sheriff
promised, when I released errors; and a Jew takes no
more. The rest cannot be forgotten; for I cannot for-
get your Lordship's dum memor ipse mei; and if there
have been aliquid nimis, it shall be amended. And, to
be plain with your Lordship, that will quicken me now,
which slackened me before. Then I thought you might
have had more use of me, than now I suppose you are like
to have. Not but I think the impediment will be rather
in my mind than in the matter or times. But to do you
service, I will come out of my religion at any time.
For my knighthood, I wish the manner might be such
as might grace me, since the matter will not; I mean,
that I might not be merely gregarious in a troop. The
coronation is at hand. It may please your Lordship to
let me hear from you speedily. So I continue
Your Lordship's ever much bounden
From GORHAMBURY, this 16th of July, 1603.
FR. BACON.
Bacon obtained his title, but not in a manner to distin-
guish him. He was knighted at Whitehall, on the 23d
of July, two days before the coronation, but had to share
the honor with three hundred others.
After this I find no more letters for a good while; nor
indeed (until the meeting of Parliament on the 19th of
March, 1603-4) any further news of his proceedings. I
imagine, however, that the intervening months were
among the busiest and most exciting that he ever passed.
For this is the time when I suppose him to have con-
ceived the design of throwing his thoughts on philosophy
1601-1603.]
THE KINGDOM OF MAN.
419
and intellectual progress into a popular form, and invit-
ing the coöperation of mankind.
His old idea of finding a better method of studying
the laws of Nature, having no doubt undergone in the
endeavor to realize it many modifications, had at last
taken the shape of a treatise in two parts. The first part
was to be called Experientia Literata, and was to con-
tain an exposition of the art of experimenting; that is,
of proceeding in scientific order from one experiment to
another, making the answer to one question suggest the
question to be asked next. The second part was to be
called Interpretatio Naturæ, and was to explain the
method of arriving by degrees at axioms, or general
principles in nature; thence by the light of those axioms
proceeding to new experiments; and so finally to the dis-
covery of all the secrets of nature's operation, — which
would include the command over her forces. This great
speculation he had now digested in his head into these
two parts, and "proposed hereafter to propound." And
being a man whose mind found relief in utterance,
though it were only to a piece of paper in his cabinet,
he drew up (either at, or about, or at any rate with refer-
ence to this time) a short prefatory address; which, had
the work itself been then completed according to the
design, would, I suppose, have stood as the introduction.
As an exposition of the design it was superseded by
completer prefaces of later date, and was therefore not
included among the philosophical works selected for trans-
lation. But as bearing upon the history of his own career
it has a peculiar value; revealing as it does an authentic
glimpse of that large portion of his life which, though to
him as real as the rest and far more profoundly interest-
ing, scarcely shows itself among these records of his career
as a man of business, and is in danger of being forgotten.
And I do not know how I can better help my readers to
conceive the thing and to give it its due prominence
420
THE KINGDOM OF MAN.
[BOOK III.
among his purposes and performances, than by inserting
a translation of it in this place. Of the practicability of
the enterprise and the reasonableness of the expectation,
I say nothing; that question has been discussed in its
proper place, and need not concern us here. What we
have to understand and remember is the nature of the
enterprise, and the fact that he believed it practicable.
He believed that he had by accident stumbled upon a
thought which duly followed out would in the course of
generations make man the master of all natural forces.
The "Interpretation of Nature" was, according to his
speculation, the "Kingdom of Man."1 To plant this
thought in men's minds under such conditions that it
should have the best chance of growing and bearing its
proper fruit in due season was the great aspiration of his
life; and though diverted, interrupted, and baffled by a
hundred impediments, internal and external, — by in-
firmities of body and of mind, by his own business and
other people's, by clients, creditors, and sheriff's officers,
by the impracticability (say the wise) of the problem
itself, owing to a fundamental misconception of the case,
by an imperfection (as I think) in his own intellectual
organization, which placed him at a disadvantage in deal-
ing with many parts of it, he never doubted that the
thing might be done if men would but think so, and that
it was his mission to make them think so and point out
the way. And though many and many a day must have
closed without showing any sensible progress in the
work, I suppose not a single day went down in which he
did not remember with a sigh, or a resolution, or a prayer,
that the work was still undone. On one of these days,
his imagination, wandering far into the future, showed
him in vision the first installment ready for publication,
and set him upon thinking how he should announce it to
1 Indicia vera de Interpretatione Naturæ, sive de Regno Hominis. Title of
the Novum Organum.
1601-1603.] PREFACE FOR DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURÆ. 421
the world. The result of this meditation he fortunately
confided to a sheet of paper, which, being found long
after in his cabinet, revealed the secret which it had kept.
The original is written in stately Latin, but for our pres-
ent purpose the following translation, though in spirit
and effect a poor copy, may serve sufficiently well.
OF THE INTERPRETATION OF NATURE.
Proem.
Believing that I was born for the service of mankind,
and regarding the care of the commonwealth as a kind
of common property which like the air and the water
belongs to everybody, I set myself to consider in what
way mankind might be best served, aud what service I
was myself best fitted by nature to perform.
Now among all the benefits that could be conferred
upon mankind, I found none so great as the discovery of
new arts, endowments, and commodities for the bettering
of man's life. For I saw that among the rude people in
the primitive times the authors of rude inventions and
discoveries were consecrated and numbered among the
gods. And it was plain that the good effects wrought
by founders of cities, law-givers, fathers of the people,
extirpers of tyrants, and heroes of that class, extend but
over narrow spaces and last but for short times; whereas
the work of the inventor, though a thing of less pomp and
show, is felt everywhere and lasts forever. But above
all, if a man could succeed, not in striking out some
particular invention, however useful, but in kindling a
light in nature, — a light which should in its very rising
touch and illuminate all the border-regions that confine
upon the circle of our present knowledge; and so spread-
ing further and further should presently disclose and
bring into sight all that is most hidden and secret in
the world, that man (I thought) would be the bene-
factor indeed of the human race, the propagator of man's
422 PREFACE FOR DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURE. [Book III.
empire over the universe, the champion of liberty, the
conqueror and subduer of necessities.
For myself, I found that I was fitted for nothing so
well as for the study of Truth; as having a mind nimble
and versatile enough to catch the resemblances of things
(which is the chief point), and at the same time steady
enough to fix and distinguish their subtler differences;
as being gifted by nature with desire to seek, patience to
doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness
to reconsider, carefulness to dispose and set in order ;
and as being a man that neither affects what is new nor
admires what is old, and that hates every kind of impos-
ture. So I thought my nature had a kind of familiarity
and relationship with Truth.
Nevertheless, because my birth and education had
seasoned me in business of state; and because opinions
(so young as I was) would sometimes stagger me; and
because I thought that a man's own country has some
special claims upon him more than the rest of the world;
and because I hoped that, if I rose to any place of honor
in the state, I should have a larger command of industry
and ability to help me in my work,- for these reasons I
both applied myself to acquire the arts of civil life, and
commended my service, so far as in modesty and honesty
I might, to the favor of such friends as had any influence.
In which also I had another motive: for I felt that those
things I have spoken of- be they great or small-reach
no further than the condition and culture of this mortal
life; and I was not without hope (the condition of Re-
ligion being at that time not very prosperous) that if I
came to hold office in the state, I might get something
done too for the good of men's souls.
When I found, however, that my zeal was mistaken for
ambition, and my life had already reached the turning-
point, and my breaking health reminded me how ill I
could afford to be so slow, and I reflected moreover that
·
Lic
1601-1603.] PREFACE FOR DE INTERPRETATIONÉ NATURÆ. 423
in leaving undone the good that I could do by myself
alone, and applying myself to that which could not be
done without the help and consent of others, I was by no
means discharging the duty that lay upon me, I put
all those thoughts aside, and (in pursuance of my old de-
termination) betook myself wholly to this work. Nor am
I discouraged from it because I see signs in the times of
the decline and overthrow of that knowledge and erudi-
tion which is now in use. Not that I apprehend any
more barbarian invasions (unless possibly the Spanish
empire should recover its strength, and having crushed
other nations by arms should itself sink under its own
weight); but the civil wars which may be expected, I
think (judging from certain fashions which have come
in of late), to spread through many countries-together
with the malignity of sects, and those compendious arti-
fices and devices which have crept into the place of solid
erudition seem to portend for literature and the sci-
ences a tempest not less fatal, and one against which the
printing-office will be no effectual security. And no
doubt but that fair-weather learning which is nursed by
leisure, blossoms under reward and praise, which cannot
withstand the shock of opinion, and is liable to be abused
by tricks and quackery, will sink under such impedi-
ments as these. Far otherwise is it with that knowledge
whose dignity is maintained by works of utility and
power. For the injuries therefore which should proceed
from the times, I am not afraid of them; and for the in-
juries which proceed from men I am not concerned. For
if any one charge me with seeking to be wise overmuch,
I answer simply that modesty and civil respect are fit for
civil matters; in contemplations nothing is to be re-
spected but Truth. If any one call on me for works, and
that presently, I tell him frankly, without any impos-
ture at all, that for me, a man not old, of weak health,
my hands full of civil business, entering without guide or

ご
​424 PREFACE FOR DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURÆ. [Book III.
light upon an argument of all others the most obscure,
I hold it enough to have constructed the machine,
though I may not succeed in setting it on work. Nay,
with the same candor I profess and declare that the In-
terpretation of Nature, rightly conducted, ought in the
first steps of the ascent, until a certain stage of generals
be reached, to be kept clear of all application to works.
And this has in fact been the error of all those who have
heretofore ventured themselves at all upon the waves of
experience, that being either too weak of purpose or
too eager for display, they have all at the outset sought
prematurely for works, as proofs and pledges of their
progress, and upon that rock have been wrecked and cast
away. If again any one ask me, not indeed for actual
works, yet for definite promises and forecasts of the works
that are to be, I would have him know that the knowl-
edge which we now possess will not teach a man even
what to wish. Lastly-though this is a matter of less
moment if any of our politicians, who use to make
their calculations and conjectures according to persons
and precedents, must needs interpose his judgment in
a thing of this nature, I would but remind him how
(according to the ancient fable) the lame man keeping
the course won the race of the swift man who left it;
and that there is no thought to be taken about prece-
dents, for the thing is without precedent.

-
Now for my plan of publication: those parts of the
work which have it for their object to find out and bring
into correspondence such minds as are prepared and dis-
posed for the argument, and to purge the floors of men's
understandings, I wish to be published to the world and
circulate from mouth to mouth; the rest I would have
passed from hand to hand, with selection and judgment.
Not but I know that it is an old trick of impostors to
keep a few of their follies back from the public, which are
indeed no better than those they put forward; but in
1601-1603.] PREFACE FOR DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURE. 425
cern.
this case it is no imposture at all, but a sober foresight,
which tells me that the formula itself of interpretation,
and the discoveries made by the same, will thrive better
if committed to the charge of some fit and selected minds,
and kept private. This, however, is other people's con-
For myself, my heart is not set upon any of those
things which depend upon external accidents. I am not
hunting for fame; I have no desire to found a sect,
after the fashion of heresiarchs; and to look for any pri-
vate gain from such an undertaking as this, I count both
ridiculous and base. Enough for me the consciousness
of well-deserving, and those real and effectual results
with which Fortune itself cannot interfere.
L
Such then was the project with which Bacon was all
this time laboring in secret; such, and no less, the issues
which he believed to be involved in it. But though his
faith in the principle never failed, he knew that it could
not be fairly tried without the coöperation of many men
and of more than one generation; and when he came to
sound men's opinions in the matter, he discovered that he
had a preliminary difficulty to encounter in finding any
who would listen to him.¹
Now if he could get the King to take an interest in it,
a great part of this difficulty would be removed; and to
bring this about, the best chance would be to produce
some practical and notable proof of proficiency in mat-
ters of which the King was already qualified to judge.
For experimental philosophy James had not as yet shown
any taste; and having been trained in the ancient learn-
ing, he was not likely to be attracted by a proposal to set
aside all received doctrines and begin afresh from the be
ginning; but a general survey and criticism of the exist-
1 "Et quos socios habes? Ego certe (inquam) profecto nullos; quin nec
quenquam habeo quocum familiariter de hujusmodi rebus colloqui possim, ut
me saltem explicem et exacuam." - Philosophical Works, vol. iii., p. 559.
i
"!
426 PREFACE FOR DE INTERPRETATIONE NATURE. [Book III.
ing stock of knowledge was a work which few men then
living were better qualified to appreciate, and in which
he was almost sure to take a lively interest; and such
a survey being the natural and legitimate foundation of
any attempt at a large and general reform, it seems to
have occurred to Bacon that this was the thing to begin
with, and this the very time for it. Here was a King,
still in the prime of life, devoted to peace, sympathizing
largely with the interests of mankind, eminent even
among learned men in a learned age for proficiency in all
kinds of learning, coming out of straits and troubles into
a great fortune, his imagination raised, his habits un-
fixed, his direction not yet taken; why should he not be
excited to seek his greatness in a work like this? Ac-
cordingly, when Bacon told Cecil, on the 3d of July,
1603, that he should put his ambition only upon his pen,
it seems to me probable that he had newly conceived the
design of writing his work on the "Proficience and Ad-
vancement of Learning." I say newly, for it was cer-
tainly not the same work on which he had been engaged
before, nor any part of it; nor was it till some years after
that he determined to include it in the general design.
If so, the first book—which may be described as a kind
of inaugural lecture on the dignity and merit of learning
as a work for the kings and potentates of the earth-
must apparently have been written during this year;
and we need seek no further for an account of the way
in which his time during the remainder of it was chiefly
spent.
It was not, however, his only occupation. Though he
had little or nothing to do this year as a member of the
King's Learned Counsel, there were one or two subjects
of such pressing importance in the political department,
that he made bold to offer his opinion upon them.
1 See my preface to the Advancement of Learning: Bacon's Works, vol. i.
Part III., p. 80.
1
1601-1603.]
K.
UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
427
The first that had to be dealt with was the union of
England and Scotland. We have seen that he had come
away from his first interview with the King with an im-
pression that he was "hastening to a mixture of both
kingdoms and nations, faster perhaps than policy would
conveniently bear." Now as much haste as was compat-
ible with good speed, no man could wish for more than
Bacon himself; for no man saw sooner or more clearly
that England, well united with Scotland, had all natural
requirements for becoming the greatest monarchy in the
world. But he knew that things would not unite by
being merely put together, and that perfect mixture re-
quired many conditions, of which time was one of the
most indispensable. And I suppose it was in the hope,
not merely of drawing a little attention to his own pre-
tensions as a scholar and a thinker (though that was
something), but also of tempering the King's impatience
and reconciling him to the cautious pace at which it
would be necessary to go, that he took leave to present
him with a short philosophical treatise concerning the
conditions under which perfect union takes place in
nature, — an essay still interesting, both as a specimen
of the Philosophia Prima, applied to a particular busi-
ness in the details and practical management of which
he was soon to be deeply engaged, and as showing that
it was not as a member of the Learned Counsel, but as a
scholar, a student, and a man of contemplation, that he
chose to make his first approaches: a fact agreeing very
well with my supposition that he regarded this as (for
the present at least) his proper vocation and most prom-
ising career. And yet his aim is not the less practical,
and bearing on the immediate business; for the conclu-
sion is that Nature and Time must be left to do the work,
and that artificial forcing will only spoil the operation;
the very warning which the King stood most in need of.
With regard to the policy to be pursued in Ireland,
428 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTIES IN THE CHURCH. [Book III.
which was perhaps the next question in immediate ur-
gency, so impossible it was to stand still and yet so
much depended upon the step taken,— Bacon had com-
municated his thoughts not long before to Cecil; and as
Montjoy was now in England and a Councillor, he had
no pretense for interposing further in the matter at this
time.
But there was another question, if not so immediately
urgent, yet of a far more vital character, which forced
itself upon James's attention, and upon the answer to
which hung consequences beyond all estimate or predic-
tion; a question turning indeed upon arguments which
lay within his own province and which he was well qual-
ified to handle, but involving issues which it was hardly
possible for him to appreciate. This was the dispute
between the High Churchmen and the Puritans; which
Elizabeth had bequeathed to him still unsettled, but yet
(for a new King coming to it unembarrassed by personal
antecedents, able to understand the fact, and willing to
accept and make the best of it) in a condition apparently
very favorable for settlement.
Elizabeth had made up her mind at the beginning of
her reign how much innovation she would allow Prot-
estantism was to go so far, and no farther. Nor had she
miscalculated her own position. To the last, when a
wave threatened to encroach, she could rebuke it and it
would go back. But the tide was coming in, neverthe-
less; and had she reigned a few years longer, and in
security from foreign enemies, she would have had to
choose between making terms with the non-conformists
and suffering from the want of subsidies. How she
would have dealt with them, it is of course vain to con-
jecture. But I suppose her principal difficulty would
have lain in her own mind and declared resolution. She
would have had to retract a policy to which she stood
publicly committed; and though I dare say she would
1601-1603.] DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTIES IN THE CHURCH. 429
have known how to do it and would have got it done, the
difficulty would have been considerable. To James the
thing was comparatively easy. He was not as yet per-
sonally committed to either side in the controversy. He
was not naturally disposed to sectarianism, in matters of
opinion and doctrine, on any side. His tolerance towards
Popery had no superstition in it; it arose not from an
inclination to agree, but from a liberal admission of the
right to differ. His objection to the Puritans was rather
political than theological, and was in fact a legitimate
counterpart of his objection to Popery; he took them for
a party which aimed to make the Church supreme over
the King, and themselves supreme in the Church. But
apart from the political tendency of their opinions, I do
not find that he had any horror of the particular opinions
which they held : for he was naturally a Protestant, aware
that Truth had many aspects, and willing to have all
questions referred to reason and argument. There was
nothing, therefore, to prevent him from taking the course
which seemed most politic and prudent. His difficulty was
to know what was the prudent course; for that depended
upon the tendencies of popular opinion and the relative
strength of parties; of which he had not yet the means
of judging personally, and his advisers would no doubt
tell him very different stories.
This was a question upon which Bacon, having been
an active member of the House of Commons for nearly
twenty years, had had good opportunities of forming a
judgment. He had been (as we saw) by no means satis-
fied with the course formerly taken by the authorities in
the matter; and being well aware of the weight of it,
could not but be anxious that the chance should not be
missed of taking up the right position now, when every-
thing lay so fair and open for it; for as in differences
between neighbors the question whether two families
shall be friends or enemies for years to come will often

:
430 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTIES IN THE CHURCH. [BOOK III.
depend upon the temper of the first answer, so in the
larger theatres of the world the manner of entertaining
the first motion for reform may decide whether there
shall be peace or war half a century after.
The right position no doubt was to treat the reformed.
Church as a living and therefore a growing body, subject
to the condition of all growth, which is change; to dis-
pose it to take in and digest into its own system as much
as possible of all that was good in all that was new; not
to attempt to fix it in the shape which appeared to the
wisest men then living to be the most perfect, but to
leave it open to receive new impressions from the wis-
dom of other men and other times; and therefore to ad-
mit as disputable within its precincts all questions which
were among well instructed and earnest men really mat-
ter of dispute; allowing as much liberty to each as was
compatible with the liberty of all, and trusting to the
natural authority of reason in a fair field to make good
the truth against all assailants. In any subject except
theology this would undoubtedly be allowed as the only
rational way of proceeding. If a commission were ap-
pointed to frame rules for a school of natural science or
profane history, no one would think of prohibiting the
promulgation of theories inconsistent with those at pres-
ent accepted and approved; or if any such thing were
done, the result might easily be foretold.
The new
schools which would not the less inevitably arise would
come as enemies and antagonists of the old, and they
would spend their time in quarrelling instead of inquir-
ing. Now when the Scriptures were once accepted (as
by all varieties of Protestantism they then were) for the
supreme authority in matters of religion, the interpreta-
tion and application of them became a work of human
science, subject to like conditions. To be pursued suc-
cessfully it must be pursued freely. It is true that this
was not a view which could then be taken by any party
#
1601-1603.] DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTIES IN THE CHURCH. 431
in the Church or out of it. They all believed in ortho-
doxy, and each held it for a first duty to establish its own
creed and exclude every other-if possible, forever. Not
the less, however, was it the wisdom of the Protestant
Church to make room for as many varieties of honest
opinion as were not incompatible with each other; and it
seems probable that the manifestation even of a tend-
ency in that direction would have sufficed to draw to-
wards it all that was most learned, weighty, and influential
in the religious opinions of the time. For though the
change of masters, joined with the general uncertainty
as to the policy which would find favor with the new
King, had awakened all hopes and set all discontents
free to express themselves, and James was greeted at
his entrance with many petitions for reformation in the
orders of the Church, it is impossible to look through the
list of particular alterations proposed without feeling
that most of the points in question might have been left
open without either danger or disturbance to the estab-
lishment. Where authority does not interfere, general
opinion keeps order; and there can be little doubt that
the great majority of churchmen, if left to themselves,
would have followed the fashion, and so established as
much uniformity in practice as was desirable.
The danger was in giving it to be understood that
nothing would be conceded; for opposition to a govern-
ment which threatens dissatisfaction to all alike is the one
thing in which all varieties of dissatisfaction can agree.
On the other hand, the indication of a willingness on
the part of the Church to tolerate differences to allow
more liberty for clergymen to think freely and to say
freely what they thought—would to a certain extent have
satisfied them all, and united them in a common support
of the government. And this course, which a wise states-
manship would surely have prescribed, appeared to Ba-
con to be prescribed by reason and religion as well. "A

432 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARTIES IN THE CHURCH. [Book III.
man that is of judgment and understanding shall some-
times hear ignorant men differ, and know well within
himself that those which so differ mean one thing, and
yet themselves would never agree. And if it come so
to pass in that distance of judgment which is between
man and man, shall we not think that God above, that
knows the heart, doth not discern that frail men in some
of their contradictions intend the same thing, and ac-
cepteth of both?"1 To "accept of both," therefore, was
the course which he would have recommended to the
Church in cases where religious men, intending accept-
able service, brought different gifts; and now was the
time when such a course might be most happily inau-
gurated.
It was under these circumstances that (having received
some gracious acknowledgment of his discourse touching
the Union of the Kingdoms) he made bold to present the
King, in a paper entitled "Certain Considerations touch-
ing the better Pacification and Edification of the Church
of England," with his opinion as to the best method of
reconciling the prevailing dissensions.
—
This papera worthy sequel to the "Advertisement
touching Church Controversies" written in 1589 - was
presented to the King "at his first coming in ;" and was
not (I presume) meant to be published at that time.
There exists, however, a printed copy with the date 1604
-the same, probably, which Dr. Rawley mentions in his
commonplace book as having been "called in." In 1641,
when there was a great demand for all Bacon's political
tracts, it was reprinted. And it was afterwards included.
in the "Resuscitatio."
What the King thought of Bacon's suggestions we are
not directly informed, but, judging from his subsequent
proceedings, I gather that he generally approved, and
was for his own part disposed to act in the spirit of them.
1 Essay of Unity in Religion.
1601-1603.]
CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON COURT.
433
He began by treating the questions at issue as matters
deserving grave consideration; showed himself ready to
allow any alterations which could be proved to be req-
uisite and fit; and with that view invited the leaders of
the party which desired alteration to appear and state
their case for themselves. If he had stopped there, play-
ing the part of listener only, and reserving the expression
of his own opinion for after-consideration, I suppose he
could not have done better. His error a characteristic
error, and springing out of what was best in him, con-
sidered as a man was in allowing himself to be drawn
personally into disputation. Even if the case of his
opponents had been one which admitted of a refutation
conclusive and unanswerable in itself, it would have been
better not to urge it. The old proverb tells us to "let
losers have their words," and upon the same principle the
authority which can overrule in action should not be too
solicitous to defeat in argument. But in this case there
was no hope of convincing the opponents that they were
wrong, and the attempt was sure to invite opposition and
aggravate disappointment. And yet to let an answerable
argument pass unanswered was a piece of forbearance to
which the scholar-King was not equal; and in comparing
the second day of the Hampton Court conference with
the first, the consequences are traceable very distinctly.
On the first day, when he was taking order with his
councillors what changes should be made, and had only
his own Bishops to dispute with, he seems to have gone
altogether in the direction which Bacon advised, and to
have been disposed to go a good way. Before he had got
through the second, when he was engaged in argument
with the dissentient doctors, he had committed himself
to a position which Bacon would certainly not have ap-
proved. "This (said he, in answer to a question how
far the Church had authority to prescribe ceremonies) is
like Mr. John Black, a beardless boy, who told me, the
VOL. I.
28
+

!
434
CONFERENCE AT HAMPTON COURT.
[BOOK III.
last conference in Scotland, that he should hold con-
formity with his Majesty in matters of doctrine; but
every man, for ceremonies, was to be left to his own
liberty. But I will have none of that; I will have one
doctrine, one discipline, one religion, in substance and
ceremony. Never speak more on that point - how far
you are bound to obey."1 Now ceremonies, in them-
selves indifferent, were precisely what the dissentient
party most strained at; and such declarations as this,
though intended to procure quiet, did in fact warn them
that they must either abandon what they took for points
of conscience or seek for relief elsewhere, and thereby
undid the tranquillizing effect of the concessions which
the King was willing to make, and which were not incon-
siderable. What they were it may be convenient to set
down here. This was the last occasion on which Bacon
went out of his way to interpose in the quarrel; being
ever after against all attempts to unsettle these ques-
tions, when they had once been by the legitimate au-
thority "determined and ordered."
How little disposition there was to employ Bacon in
the business of the Learned Counsel at this time is well
seen in the fact that his name does not anywhere appear
in connection with that singular conspiracy, or series of
conspiracies, which ruffled the otherwise universal quiet of
James's entrance into England; a conspiracy in which so
many representatives of different parties, the Catholic
priest at open war with the Jesuits, the ordinary Catholic
country gentleman, the high-couraged Puritan nobleman,
the ambitious disappointed courtier, and (strangest of all)
the soldier-sailor-statesman distinguished in peace and war
for inveterate enmity to Spain,-having no common object
to aim at, no pretense to put forward, no injuries to re-
sent, no adherents to rely upon, but drawn, it seems, only
by a common hope of profiting in their several ways by
1 Fuller.
Be
1601-1603.]
RALEGH'S TRIAL AND DEFENSE.
435
the chances of confusion, met together in an insane proj-
ect for overpowering the government. As Bacon took
no part in either the investigation or the trials, as he has
not left on record so much as an opinion upon any of the
questions at issue, and as the current of affairs was not
materially affected either by the attempt or by the pro-
ceedings which followed, I am happily relieved from the
duty of attempting to make the history of it intelligible.
It is enough to say here that the main plot-commonly
called the “Priests' plot," but in which Lord Grey the
Puritan was an accomplice-came to the knowledge of
the government about midsummer, and fell to pieces at
once; that before Christmas the several persons impli-
cated had been tried and found guilty; that the Priests,
against whom the case was strongest and clearest, were
hanged, and the rest, with general consent and applause,
respited; and that if it had not been for the manner in
which the trial of Ralegh was conducted, for which I
think Sir Edward Coke must be held singly responsible,
-the whole thing would have ended there, and produced
no further effect, direct or indirect. The trial of Ralegh,
however, had one very extraordinary result at the time,
and became by a strange accident the cause of a serious
embarrassment long after, with which we shall be more
particularly concerned; it may be well therefore to add
a few words as to the position in which he was left.
Ralegh had passed his fiftieth year; had been a brill-
iant and conspicuous figure in various fields of enter-
prise from his youth; had never been conspicuously en-
gaged in actions hostile or offensive to the people; had
already performed all the deeds (his great literary work
excepted) on which his fame rests; and yet he had never
been popular; but the contrary. And since his popularity
dates from the day on which he was put upon his trial
and made his own defense, it is natural to suppose that
the cause in which he spoke and suffered was not only
..
436
RALEGH'S TRIAL AND DEFENSE.
[BOOK III.
good in law but gracious with the people. This, however,
was by no means the case. He went to his trial a man
so unpopular that he was hooted and pelted on the road;
he came out an object of general pity and admiration,
and has held his place ever since as one of England's
favorite and representative heroes; and yet, if we except
his gallant bearing and splendid abilities (which were
no new revelations), there was nothing in his case which
could have tended either to excite popular sympathy or to
command popular respect; nor has anything been discov-
ered since that enables us to explain his connection with
the plot in a way at all favorable to his character. By
his own showing he had been in intimate and confidential
relations with a man whom nobody liked or respected,
and who was secretly seeking help from the hated Spaniard
in a plot to dispossess James in favor of the Lady Ara-
bella. By his own admission he had at least listened to
an offer of a large sum of money, certainly Spanish,
and therefore presumably in consideration of some serv-
ice to be rendered to Spain. And though it is true that
we do not know with what purposes he listened, how
much he knew, how far he acquiesced, or what he in-
tended to do, it is impossible to believe that his intentions
(whether treasonable or not) were, or were then sup-
posed to be, either popular or patriotic. He did not him-
self attempt to put any such color upon his proceedings;
declaring only that he did not know of the plot in which
his confidential friends were engaged. His blindest ad-
vocates have not succeeded in doing it for him. And
those who, though partial, have taken pains to examine
and felt bound to respect the evidence, have scarcely suc-
ceeded even in believing him innocent. Among the stu-
dents of his life in recent times there has been none more
truly desirous to find heroic virtue in all his aims and
actions than Mr. Macvey Napier; yet in endeavoring to
explain his connection with Lord Cobham, as disclosed in
1601-1603.]
RALEGH'S TRIAL AND DEFENSE.
437
the course of this trial, he is driven to suspect him of a
design so far from heroic in itself that it is hard to under-
stand how it could find place in a mind in which the
heroic element predominated.
"Old Major Stansby of . . . . Hants,"
Hants," says Aubrey,
"a most intimate friend and neighbor and coetanean of
the late Earl of Southampton (Ld. Treas.), told me from
his friend the Earl, that as to the plot and business about
the Ld. Cobham, etc., he [Ralegh], being then governor
of Jersey, would not fully or etc. [sic], unless they would
go to his island; and that really and indeed Sir Walter's
purpose was, when he had gotten them there, to have
betrayed them and the plot, and so have delivered them
up to the King, and made his peace. "1
To this report Mr. Napier refers us,² after an elaborate
discussion of the evidence, as containing the explanation
of Ralegh's connection with the plot which he seems in-
clined to accept as upon the whole most probable. And
it must be admitted that of the difficulties which his case
presents, one at least would be removed by it. Had his
case been clear, it is incredible to me that, with such
a head, such a heart, and such a tongue, he would have
left it so ambiguous that a worshipper of his memory is
driven to a conjecture like this. But if the conjecture
be true, if it be possible to suppose that he had been
really inviting his friend's confidence with the intention
of betraying it,³ that difficulty vanishes. Upon that
supposition we may say that he purposely left the case
dark, because he knew it would not bear the light; and
if so, his handling of it so as to produce such a wonder-
ful revolution of popular opinion in his own favor must
surely be regarded as one of the most surprising feats of
audacity and genius that the wit of man ever achieved.
1 Aubrey's Lives, iii., p. 516.
2 Edinburgh Review, April, 1840, p. 63.
8 Napier's own version of Aubrey's story is, "that Ralegh's intention really
was to inveigle Cobham to Jersey, and then, having got both him and his
Spanish treasure in his power, to make terms with the King."
438
RALEGH'S TRIAL AND DEFENSE.
[BOOK III.
I quote this, however, not as an explanation satisfac-
tory to myself, but only as evidence that the case was
and is still thought to require explanation; for beyond
this the report is of little or no value. It proves only
that Ralegh's famous defense left people to wonder and
guess how far and in what way he was really implicated;
and that this was one of the guesses in circulation half
a century after.
But though the question of his guilt or innocence re-
mains doubtful, and the verdict of the jury (who were
better acquainted with the evidence than their outside
critics, whose judgment was formed upon very imperfect
reports, for no official statement was published) may for
anything we know have been substantially just, the con-
duct of the trial cannot be defended. The unfair ad-
vantages insisted on by the Attorney General on behalf
of the Crown, and allowed by the Judges, turned by a
natural reaction to the great disadvantage of the Crown
in the court of popular opinion, and left a blot in the
tables which imperilled the whole game, and the effect
of which was felt long afterwards, as we shall see in
due time. For the present, Ralegh remained a prisoner
in the Tower; respited, not pardoned; still under attain-
der for High Treason, and therefore, as the Law phrased
it, "civilly dead,"-a man who, being alive in fact, was
still capable of committing new crimes and offenses, but,
being dead in law, was not capable of being "drawn in
question judicially" for any crime or offense he might
afterwards commit, a man, in short, to whom Justice
was thenceforward forbidden by Law.
In all this, Bacon, though no doubt an earnest and
anxious observer, had no part as actor, adviser, or reporter.
He came in for a share in the subsequent embarrassment,
but was no way concerned in preparing the materials
out of which it grew.
Neither do I find that he had anything to do with the
1601-1603.]
BACON'S APOLOGY.
439
negotiations which ended not long after in the treaty of
peace with Spain: a treaty of which the policy was and
is disputed, but the consideration does not concern my
subject.
1
To this period, however, belongs one other paper ¹ of
great importance, to which I have already had frequently
to refer, a paper very interesting to me, as being one
of those by which I was first attracted long ago to the
study of Bacon's personal character and history, and
which grows in interest as the case is better understood.
The exact date of the composition I do not know; fur-
ther than that the earliest printed copy bears 1604 on its
title-page.
If the popular disapprobation excited at the time by
Bacon's conduct towards the Earl of Essex was as great
and as universal as it is usually assumed to have been by
modern writers, it seems strange that proofs of the fact
should not be more abundant. I believe, however, that
the only contemporary witness who can be cited to prove
the existence of any disapprobation at all is Bacon him-
self; and though his evidence proves conclusively that
disapprobation had been expressed, the absence or silence
of other witnesses proves almost as conclusively that it
had not been expressed very generally or very loudly.
Such as it was, it had grown out of misinformation as
to the part which he had really taken in the matter. For
when Essex on his return from Ireland was committed to
custody, those of his friends who, not knowing the cir-
cumstances, could not otherwise account for his loss of
favor, naturally imputed it to the influence of some
enemy at Court; and as the news ran that "all the
Lords were in this matter his friends, for all spoke for
him," while of Bacon it was only known that he was at
1 Sir Francis Bacon his Apologie, in certaine Imputations concerning the late
Earle of Essex. Written to the Right Honorable his very good Lord, the Earle
of Devonshire, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
i-
1
440
BACON'S APOLOGY.
[BOOK III.
that time frequently admitted to speech with the Queen,
their suspicion not unnaturally fell upon him; and a sus-
picion in such cases soon becomes a rumor. Now a rumor
of this kind could not be satisfactorily met without the
disclosure of confidential conversations in which others
were concerned. It was allowed accordingly to prevail,
and produced its natural effect. Pity in the common
people, if it run in a strong stream, doth ever cast up
scandal and envy ;" and the pity which ran so strongly
in favor of Essex had cast up scandal and envy against
Bacon. From the duty of bearing it in silence he was
now by the death of the Queen partly released; he could
now judge for himself what and how much he was at
liberty to disclose of that which had passed between them.
Whether any particular occasion impelled him to speak at
this time, any revival of the calumny (such as James's
supposed partiality for Essex and his open favor towards
the surviving members of the party would naturally en-
courage), or some expression which may possibly have
fallen from the Earl of Southampton upon his offer of
congratulation, — or whether it was merely that he wished
to take the earliest opportunity of clearing himself from
a painful and undeserved imputation, I cannot say;
for no record remains to show what was said of him, or
when, or by whom, except what may be collected from
the terms of his answer. But the time was in one re-
spect very convenient. For Lord Montjoy, who was
cognizant of the whole case, those parts of it which
could not yet be made public as well as the rest, was
now in England and in high reputation, newly created
Earl of Devonshire and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He
had been deeply involved in some of Essex's most secret
intrigues, and had only escaped the consequences through
a bold connivance on the Queen's part; who wanted hist
service and felt that she could trust him, and made him
1 History of Henry VII.: Works, ii., Part I., p. 303.
1601-1603.] APOLOGY CONCERNING THE EARL OF ESSEX. 441
understand that she meant to be ignorant of what had
passed. No man could be less suspected of an inclination
to judge Bacon's conduct too favorably. No man was so
little likely to be deceived by a false story; nor was any
man, on the other hand, so well qualified to understand
the full meaning of the true story in those parts where
the meaning could not yet be fully explained. To him,
therefore, as to the best and fairest representative of the
party by whom he was censured or suspected, Bacon now
addressed a letter of explanation; of which the object is,
not to justify himself for neglecting the duties which in
the common understanding of the world a man owes to
his benefactor, but to show that he had to the best of
his judgment and ability discharged them, up to the
time when it became impossible to take his part further
without betraying duties still more sacred. And if he
does not enter into a formal vindication of the part he
took at and after the trial, his motive may be easily con-
jectured. He could not have done it without repeating
the story of Essex's offense, at a time when it would
have served no higher object than the clearing of his
own reputation.1
This letter was published in a small volume very con-
venient for circulation; and as another impression was
issued in the following year, we may infer that it was
circulated widely. It would have been very interesting
to know what was thought and said of it then; but I can
find no news of its reception. I do not remember to have
met with a single allusion to it by any one living and
forming his impressions at the time; a fact which does
not countenance the notion that it was at the time felt to
be unsatisfactory; for an ineffectual attempt to defend
himself against a popular outcry is pretty sure to make
the man more unpopular and the outcry louder.
1 Frequent references to the Apology appear in the course of the narrative of
Essex's adventures.

442
APOLOGY CONCERNING THE EARL OF ESSEX. [Book III.
Positive evidence, therefore, as to its effect upon those
to whom it was addressed I cannot produce. But the neg-
ative evidence is significant. "It is not probable," says
Lord Macaulay, "that Bacon's defense had much effect
upon his contemporaries. But the unfavorable impres-
sion which his conduct had made appears to have been
gradually effaced." From this I infer that Lord Macau-
lay's reading furnished no expression or anecdote which
implied, or could be made to seem to imply, that the un-
favorable impression continued after the explanation had
been heard. And as this is exactly what would have
happened on the supposition that his defense did produce
its natural effect upon his contemporaries, and is very
hard to explain upon any other supposition (seeing that
Bacon's course of life, as a rising man in Court favor, in
the House of Commons, and in his profession, exposed
him to envy and free criticism in a world which was in
this matter prejudiced against him), I think we may
fairly leave it there.
CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1604. ÆTAT. 44.
THE resolution to call a Parliament, having been post-
poned from month to month in consequence of the sick-
ness then prevailing in London, was at length aunounced
by Proclamation on the 11th of January, 1603-4. The
session began on the 19th of March, and was opened by
the King in person with a gracious and judicious speech,
explaining his views on peace, on the union of the king-
doms, on the limits of toleration in religion, and on the
general duties of government; in all which there seems
to be nothing to find fault with; and if he had not called
the devil "a busy bishop," upon which one of the
Bench is said to have remarked that "his Majesty might
have chosen another name,”—I am not aware that any
exception would have been taken to it.
But a clause in the Proclamation, introduced it seems
by the Lord Chancellor, had sown the seed of a difficulty
which threatened to spoil the concert; and of which the
history is worth telling at large, not only for the part
which Bacon took in it, but also for the light which might
have been taken from it as to the true method of arrang-
ing those disputes between Privilege and Prerogative
which were destined to be the trouble of the times.
The Proclamation had notified that all returns and
certificates of Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses were to
be brought to the Chancery, and there filed of record;
and if any were found to have been made contrary to the
Proclamation "the same was to be rejected as unlawful
2
A
:
.
444 PRIVILEGE v. PREROGATIVE: SIR F. GOODWIN. [Book III.
and insufficient." A previous clause had forbidden the
election of bankrupts or outlaws. Sir Francis Goodwin,
who was returned for Buckinghamshire, was objected to
as having been outlawed; the return was accordingly re-
fused by the Clerk of the Crown; and a new writ being
issued from the Chancery, Sir John Fortescue, a Privy
Councillor, was elected instead. This was before the
meeting of Parliament; and the very first motion made
in the Lower House after the election of the Speaker was
for an examination of the return and the admission of Sir
F. Goodwin as a member. The motion was approved;
the Clerk of the Crown was summoned to appear the
next morning with the writs, returns, indentures, etc.;
and Sir Francis Goodwin was ordered to attend in person
and explain his case; a select committee being at the
same time appointed (as usual at the beginning of a ses-
sion) to examine all questions touching privileges and
returns. Upon a full consideration and discussion of the
case (in which Bacon appears to have taken a prominent
part; for though there is no report of what was said, his
name heads the list of members named as speakers), it
was resolved that Goodwin was not an outlaw, and had
been duly elected; upon which the Clerk of the Crown
was ordered to file the first return, and Goodwin took the
oaths and his seat.
This was on Friday, March 23, and thus the House
was brought into collision with the Court of Chancery
upon the question of jurisdiction-to which of them it
belonged to judge of the validity of the return; a point
of Privilege important in the highest degree; for if the
judgment of the Court of Chancery was conclusive, the
Chancery could control the composition of the House.
On the following Tuesday the dispute was further com-
plicated by a message brought by the Attorney General
from the Lords, desiring a conference on the subject; to
which the Commons replied that "it did not stand with
1604.]
PRIVILEGE v. PREROGATIVE: SIR F. GOODWIN.
445
the honor and order of the House to give account of any
of their proceedings." This brought them into collision.
with the Lords. And worse was behind. For thus far
the King had not been implicated; but when the At-
torney General returned presently with another message
signifying that the Lords had acquainted his Majesty
with the matter, who "conceived himself engaged and
touched in honor that there might be some conference
of it between the two Houses, and to that end signified
his pleasure unto them, and by them to this House,"
they were fairly in collision with all three: the Chancery
whose judgment they had reversed, the Lords with whom
they had refused to confer, and the King who had taken
part with the Lords.
Upon this they moved for access to the King himself;
which was granted for the next morning. A committee
was immediately named (Bacon's name the first on the
list) "to set down the effect of that which Mr. Speaker
was to deliver from the House to the King." And on
Wednesday at eight o'clock in the morning he went, ac-
companied by a select committee; explained their whole
proceeding, and the grounds of it; heard the King's an-
swer to the several points, and received his "charge," —
which was that they should first resolve amongst them-
selves, then confer with the Judges and report to the
Council. All which he related to the House the next day.
And now came a grave difficulty. For the King had
argued the case himself, and (as he could not easily re-
frain from giving an answer when he had it ready) had
personally committed himself to the legal doctrine which
had been laid down, I suppose, by the Lord Chancellor
and the Judges. "By the law (he said) this House
ought not to meddle with returns, being all made into
the Chancery; and are to be corrected and reformed by
that Court only into which they are returned. In 35
Hen. VI., it was the resolution of all the Judges that
446 BACON'S ADVICE ON SIR F. GOODWIN'S CASE. [Book III.
matter of outlawry was a sufficient cause of the dismission
of any member out of the House. The Judges have now
resolved that Sir Francis Goodwin standeth outlawed ac-
cording to the laws of the land." Not merely therefore
upon the question whether they should confer with the
Lords, but upon the entire constitutional question in-
volved in the case, and upon each several point of it,
they were now engaged in a direct dispute with the King
himself. Prerogative and Privilege found themselves
suddenly face to face in a narrow passage: one must
stand aside to let the other pass, or each must be content
with half the pathway. What was to be done?
Their immediate resolution was to postpone the further
consideration of the question till the next morning. In
the debate which then took place, it appeared that upon
one point they were at once and unanimously resolved,-
to stand fast by the principle that they were judges of
their own returns, sole and unaccountable. On that point
no one talked of a compromise. But upon the question
how they should proceed in asserting it, opinions were
much divided. And here it was that Bacon became, as
I take it, an important actor in the matter.
His advice amounted to this: Establish the privilege;
settle, and offer (if necessary) to amend, the law; but
avoid a dispute upon the particular case. The King has
desired that we should argue the question before the
Judges; let us consent to do so; and in the mean time
prepare for the argument by considering and resolving
upon the "material questions " which it will raise.
Others, however, were strongly against yielding to the
conference; as upon a matter which they had already
decided; and the debate ended in the appointment of a
committee to set down in writing the reasons of their
proceeding, and in a resolution - directly against Ba-
con's recommendation not to confer with the Judges.
These reasons
- which were drawn up in the form of an
",
1604.] BACON'S ADVICE ON SIR F. GOODWIN'S CASE. 447
address to the King, setting forth in order all the objec-
tions made "by his Majesty and his reverend Judges,
and answering them point by point—having been read
and approved, a committee was appointed to take them
up to the Lords, and the same afternoon (April 3) they
were delivered by the hands of Bacon; whose report of
what passed is thus recorded in the Journals:
"Sir Francis Bacon, having the day before delivered
to the Lords, in the Council Chamber at Whitehall, ac-
cording to the direction of the House, the reasons in
writing, penned by the committee touching Sir Francis
Goodwin's case, maketh report of what passed at the
time of the said delivery: First, that though the com-
mittees employed were a number specially deputed and
selected, yet that the Lords admitted all Burgesses with-
out distinction: That they offered it with testimony of
their own speed and care in the business, so as, they said,
no one thing had precedency, but only the Bill of Recog-
nition: That they had such respect for the weight of it,
as they had not committed it to any frailty of memory,
or verbal relation, but put it into writing for more per-
manent memory of their duty and respect to his Maj-
esty's grace and favor: That in conclusion they prayed
their Lordships, sithence they had nearer access, they
would coöperate with them for the King's satisfaction;
and so delivered the writing to the hands of the Lord
Chancellor; who, receiving it, demanded whether they
should send it to the King or first peruse it. To which
was answered, That since it was the King's pleasure they
should concur, they desired their Lordships would first
peruse it. The Lord Cicell demanded, Whether they
had warrant to amplify, explain, or debate any doubt or
question made upon the reading: To which it was said,
they had no warrant. And so the writing was read, and
no more done at that time.”
The writing in question was drawn up in a style very
448
CONFERENCE WITH THE JUDGES.
[BOOK III.
well suited to the purpose; being clear and conclusive,
and yet temperate and respectful; and including an in-
timation that they had already, in deference to the King's
remarks, prepared an act disabling all outlaws thence-
forth to serve in Parliament; and it seems probable that
the difference would have been arranged without fur-
ther difficulty, had it not been for that formal resolution
against consenting to a conference with the Judges which
had been passed so shortly before. The King had pro-
fessed to have no personal interest in the dispute, and
treated it merely as a question of constitutional law,
upon which he had been guided by the opinion of the
Judges. The argument of the Commons went directly
in the teeth of that opinion; and he would naturally
wish to hear what the Judges had to say in reply, and
what the Commons might have to say in reply to them
again. And as they had voluntarily waived their right
of refusing to give an account of their proceedings to
anybody, there seemed to be no reason why they should
insist upon doing it in the absence of those with whom
the dispute really was.
Their answer to the King's and Judges' objections had
been delivered to the Lords on the afternoon of the 3d of
April, without any intimation of their resolution (passed
the evening before) against a conference with the Judges.
On the morning of the 5th, the King-perhaps not
knowing, certainly not having been formally apprised of
that resolution-sent for the Speaker; told him that
"he had seen and considered of the manner and the mat-
ter; he had heard his Judges and Council, and that he
was now distracted in judgment. Therefore for his
further satisfaction he desired and commanded as an ab-
solute King, that there might be a conference between
the House and the Judges; and that for this purpose
there might be a select committee of grave and learned
persons out of the House, and that his Council might be
1604.]
!
CONFERENCE WITH THE JUDGES.
-
3
449
present, not as umpires to determine, but to report in-
differently on both sides.”
If there was any doubt before as to the expediency of
the former resolution, there could be none now; for upon
receiving this "unexpected message," they consented at
once, and very judiciously, to abandon it. They were in-
deed involved in a dilemma, out of which the only escape
lay backwards; and the same member who had before
been most vehement not only against conference, but ap-
parently against compromise of any kind, was now fore-
most to retreat. "The Prince's command," said Yelver-
ton (for it was he who first broke the silence), “is like a
thunderbolt; his command upon our allegiance is like the
roaring of a lion. To his command there is no contradic-
tion. But how or in what manner we should now pro-
ceed to perform obedience, that will be the question."
Another suggested that the King should be present him-
self at the conference, to hear, judge, and moderate the
cause in person. And a select committee was thereupon
appointed "to confer with the judges of the law touch-
ing the reasons of proceeding in Sir Francis Goodwin's
case, . . . . in the presence of the Lords of his Majesty's
Council; according to his Majesty's pleasure signified by
Mr. Speaker this day to the House;" the committee to
"insist upon the fortification and explaining of the rea-
sons and answers delivered unto his Majesty; and not
proceed to any other argument or answer, what occasion
soever moved in the time of that debate."
The next day being Good Friday, the House was ad-
journed for a week and did not meet again till the 11th
of April. In the course of that day, upon the return
(I suppose) of the committees from the conference, ― Ba-
con, who had been spokesman, was called on for a report
of what had passed; and when he replied that "he was
not warranted to make any report,
and tantum per-
missum quantum commissum," it was ordered that the
VOL. I
29
450
COMPROMISE SUGGESTED BY THE KING.
[BOOK III.
committees should have another meeting for conference
amongst themselves, and that he should then make his
report.
The notes of the report which he made, like most of
those in the Commons' Journals, are not abstracts of what
was spoken, but merely disjointed fragments, made to
look continuous by the simple process of writing them
out in sequence. The note-taker seems to have set down
as much as he could follow; sometimes the beginning of
a sentence, sometimes the end; leaving gaps of all sorts
and sizes; so that it is often difficult to assign the sev-
eral sentences to the several speakers, or to make out so
much as the general course of the argument.
In this case, however, we may gather that the King
began by maintaining that the Court of Chancery and
the House of Commons being both courts of record, with
power to judge of returns, neither of them could be called
in question by the other, and therefore that the first judg-
ment must stand; to which Bacon answered on behalf of
the Commons, that the Chancery was a judge of the re-
turns only for the purpose of making the House, which
as soon as it was made became itself the judge; for
otherwise, if the Chancery were governed by the Sheriff's
return, and the House might not call the return in ques-
tion, the Sheriff's return did in effect bind the Parlia-
ment. It may be gathered further that upon this point
(which was the material one), though the Judges were
still prepared to contest it, the King was prepared to
yield; but, in order to settle the difference more hand-
somely, proposed that the two Courts should meet each
other half-way; and therefore that both returns should
be set aside, a new writ be issued, and a new election
proceed; that to this proposal (which was in accordance
with his own former advice, namely, to content them-
selves with establishing their privilege, and avoid a con-
test with the King about the particular case) Bacon made
1604.]
COMPROMISE SUGGESTED BY THE KING.
451
no objection; but reported it to the House and recom-
mended them to accede to it.
If in thus entertaining the question of a compromise
he a little exceeded his commission (and exception was
taken to his report on that ground by some members, as
"drawing upon the House a note of inconsistency and
levity "), it was a wise liberty and well accepted by the
great majority; for "the acclamation of the House was,
that it was a testimony of their duty, and no levity;
and it was forthwith resolved (Sir Francis Goodwin's
formal consent having been first obtained) to issue a
writ for a new election and to send a message of thanks
to the King; which was delivered accordingly on the
12th of April, and accepted very graciously. And so
that business ended.
It was a good example to show how such differences
might be successfully and satisfactorily arranged. For
the Privilege was never afterwards called in question;
and in the mean time the concession, which was in itself
quite immaterial, satisfied the King; who, though jealous
of his Prerogative, does not appear to have had any in-
tention of interfering with their liberties; but would have
been ready, I think, to settle all such questions almost as
they would, so long as he was allowed to feel that in as-
senting to their petitions he was using his Prerogative
and not abandoning it.
This and other disputes, though not without their im-
portance in the development of our Parliamentary consti-
tution, were serious and vexatious interruptions to the
great businesses of the time, upon which the House had
shown every disposition to enter promptly and earnestly.
The greatest of these was no doubt that which the King
had especially recommended to them, and to which his
own aspirations were at this time almost exclusively di-
rected, the Union of England and Scotland; a national
work of which it was hardly possible to overrate the im-

452
UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
[BOOK III.
portance. But it was full of difficulties and had to be
approached with caution. In the mean time there were
other questions which stood much in need of settlement
and might be proceeded with at once; and though the
results attained were not destined to be considerable for
the present, the subsequent history of the reign, and es-
pecially of Bacon's political career, cannot be properly
understood without careful observation of the first move-
ments.
1. The law which gave to the Crown the wardship of
minors, springing originally out of the obligations of the
feudal system, had ceased to be fit for the existing con-
dition of society, and began to be felt as a burden and a
grievance to the subject. Being nevertheless a source of
considerable revenue to the Crown, the legality of which
was not disputed, it was a fit subject for Parliament to
deal with by way of bargain.
2. The officers whose duty it was to provide food, car-
riage, and other necessaries for the Court in its journeys
had of old been in the habit of abusing their authority
and many acts had been passed to keep them in order;
but the abuses still continued, and formed another serious
grievance.
3. The popular clamor against monopolies had been
allayed for the time by Queen Elizabeth, as we have
seen; and one of James's first acts was to carry out her
intentions, by a Proclamation prohibiting the use of any
monopoly-license ("except such grants only as had been
made to any corporation, or company, of any art or
mystery, or for the maintenance or enlargement of any
trade or merchandise ") till it had been examined and
allowed of by the King, with the advice of his Council,
"to be fit to be put in execution without any prejudice
to his loving subjects." But the true state of the law
with regard to these patents, and to the power exercised
by the Crown of granting dispensations from penalties

1604.]
WARDSHIP, PURVEYANCE, MONOPOLIES, ETC.
453
imposed by statutes, which was part of the same ques-
tion, was still doubtful, and it was a fit time to settle
it.
4. Since the Hampton Court Conference, a new edition
of the Book of Common Prayer had been put forth by
authority, with some alterations and explanations; and
a confirmation of it by Act of Parliament was thought
expedient.
All these questions, with one or two others of less im-
portance, were brought under consideration of the House
on the first day (23d March), and being immediately
referred to a committee (of which Bacon was a member,
and I suppose an active one, since he was selected to
make their first report to the House) were proceeded
with at once.
The three last came within the powers of the House
in its ordinary course of legislation. For the abuses of
Purveyors and Car-takers, a sub-committee was appointed
to peruse the former statutes concerning them, and to
draw a Bill for their restraint. With respect to dispen-
sations from Penal Statutes, a Bill was reported ready
drawn, which was to be offered for the consideration of
the whole House. For Monopolies, all persons aggrieved
were invited to bring in their complaints in writing, that
the committee might consider them and frame a law ac-
cording to the cause. For the Book of Common Prayer
a sub-committee (in the list of which Bacon's name
stands first) was appointed to "capitulate the altera-
tions" and lay them before the committee in writing,
together with their own opinion of the said book."
66
But the question of Wardship was of a different char-
acter. Being a matter of arrangement, which would re-
quire the concurrence beforehand of both the King and
the Lords, who had a personal and legal interest in it,
they judged it necessary to begin with a conference.
The Lords were quite ready to confer, and only de-
454 PETITION TO THE KING TOUCHING PURVEYORS. [Book III.
sired that some other things of the same kind
as Res-
pite of Homage, License of Alienation, and the general
abuse of Purveyors and Car-takers - might be included
in the consultation. To this the Commons readily
agreed, and the proper number of committees being ap-
pointed, the Conference took place the same afternoon.
·
Bacon, who was employed to make the report, will re-
appear hereafter in a more prominent position in connec-
tion with this question of Wardship; but in the subse-
quent proceedings during the present session I do not find
any notice of the part he took, or whether he took any
part. The cause appears to have been under the special
charge of Sir Edwyn Sandys, one of the ablest of the in-
dependent members; but it made no further way. Many
accidents intervened to postpone the proposed Confer-
ence; and by the time it took place (which was not be-
fore the end of May) tempers were altered, and the re-
sult was unsatisfactory. But of this I shall have occasion
to speak further on, in connection with the circumstances
which brought the session to a somewhat sullen and
cloudy end.
The movement against the Purveyors, in the mean
time, had fared a little better. Though the Commons
had readily assented to the proposal of the Lords that
this subject among others should be discussed at the Con-
ference, they would not allow it to be put into the same
boat with Wardship and Tenures, but resolved to deal
with it separately. Instead, however, of dealing with it
directly by a Bill—which was their first intention—they
concluded upon further consideration that it would be
more prudent to feel and prepare their way by a petition.
to the King, to be delivered "with some speech of intro-
duction and explanation," and that speech to be made by
Bacon.
This speech was delivered on the 27th of April, while
the King was eagerly urging on the settlement of the

1604.] CONFERENCE WITH LORDS TOUCHING PURVEYORS. 455
Union, a measure which was proceeding slowly through
a variety of obstructions, very trying to his patience,
though they had not yet prevailed over it. He was not
at all in a humor to make any new difficulty, and in this
case he had no temptation. He had no sympathy with
extortionate Purveyors, whom he was always ready to
hand over to the Lord Chief Justice in case of com-
plaint; and having committed himself to no opinion
which the motion threatened to assail, he was quite ready
with a gracious answer and allowance. There can be no
doubt that the movement, thus gracefully and judiciously
conducted, was so far quite successful. The Commons
had his full consent to proceed with their professed ob-
ject, and were only desired to confer with the Privy
Council about it.
In a subsequent conference with the Lords an annual
payment of £50,000 by way of composition was pro-
posed; which was more then the Commons were prepared
to give. But difficulties were found as to both matter
and manner, and their consultations amongst themselves
(in which I find no further traces of Bacon except in a
recommendation to be content with the substance, if they
could get it, and not to stand upon the form, "That
we be not in Tantalus' case, Spectat aquas in aquis et
poma fugacia captat: since it is to be hoped that his
Majesty will give us satisfaction in the matter, let us
give him satisfaction in the manner ") ended at last in
a resolution (2d June) to postpone all further proceeding
till the next session, and to send a message to the Lords
to that effect.
The truth was that other misunderstandings had arisen,
which made smooth proceeding at present more and more
difficult. And, to explain these, we must now follow the
great Union question through its first stages.
The proceedings in relation to the Union began on the
14th of April, with a message from the Lords inviting the


456
THE QUESTION OF UNION.
·
[BOOK III.
Commons to a conference. Their proposition (announced
by the Lord Chancellor as "the King's purpose") was to
agree first upon a union in Name, and proceed afterwards
to the consideration of laws and government, their reason,
I suppose, being that the Name appeared to be a simple
thing which might be settled at once; while the other
would be a long business.
It soon appeared, however, that an alteration by Act of
Parliament of the name and style of the two kingdoms.
was not so simple a thing as it seemed to be. And the
question being after much discussion and many confer-
ences referred to the Judges, who all agreed that it would
involve the extinction of all the laws then in force, it
was settled that the name and style should not be med-
dled with, and they should confine themselves to the ap-
pointment of Commissioners to consider the other ques
tions incident to a complete union and incorporation of
both laws and kingdoms.
This was on the 30th of April. On the 12th of May
Bacon delivered in "a draft of the Act for the Author-
izing of Commissioners."
On the same day the House proceeded to the choice of
the persons who were to be trusted with the Commission
and having first agreed that the list should include two
Privy Councillors, two Ambassadors, four Common Law
yers, two Civilians, four Merchants, and sixteen Country
Gentlemen, they had the names proposed one by one, and
a several question put upon every name; and so the num
ber was filled up. The names were marshalled afterwards
according to rank; but it seems that they were proposed
in order of importance; for the first vote was given for
Bacon.¹ It now remained only to agree with the Lords
upon the frame of the Act, which led to two or three
1 "And that myself was by the Commons graced with the first vote of all the
Commissioners selected for that cause." Certain Articles or Considerations
touching the Union of the Kingdoms, etc.
•

1604.]
LETTER TO THE COMMONS FROM THE KING.
457
additional conferences, but to no material disagreement;
and the Bill, being sent down from the Upper House on
the 30th of May, went as fast as possible through its
regular stages, and was passed by the Commons on the
2d of June. Which was as much as could be done in
the matter, to any good purpose, for the present.
Thus far the King had in fact conceded all that was
necessary easily enough, and in time enough; insomuch
that if he had only kept his thoughts and feelings to him-
self, his acts would have appeared wise, prudent, and tem-
perate. But though good sense and good nature had pre-
vailed with him in action, he was in his heart a good deal
disappointed and mortified at finding so many difficulties
made, in a work from which he had looked for nothing
but applause and congratulation and everlasting honor;
and this mortification, unfortunately, he could not help
betraying. On the 21st of April he had told a Com-
mittee of the Commons that "he wished his heart were
of crystal, that all might see his cogitations; " and on the
1st of May he wrote a letter to the House, which showed
that his wish had been granted, a letter of which the
business and practical errand was merely to say that the
point to which they demurred was withdrawn, and that
they were free to deal with the question in their own
way; but in which the personal sensibilities of a man
who felt that his affection had been ill-requited, his words
ill-weighed, his intentions misunderstood, his hopes dis-
appointed, showed through in every line, and in its turn
so hurt the feelings of his faithful Commons — for the
House (strange to say) had feelings almost as jealous and
sensitive as his own-that they were hardly dissuaded
from making a formal grievance of the letter, and peti-
tioning for access, that they might give him what they
called "satisfaction," which always meant an argument-
ative demonstration that they were right and he was
wrong. This danger was happily avoided for the present
458
AN UNEXPECTED CAUSE OF QUARREL. [BOOK III.
by another message, intimating his gracious acceptance
of both the intention and the forbearance. But wounded
hearts remain tender; and there were several businesses
in progress which could hardly be handled without danger
of fresh irritation. The Committee was still engaged in
collecting evidence of the abuses of Purveyance. The
composition for Wardship-a money-bargain for relief
from an oppressive prerogative—was still under discus-
sion. The struggle with the Warden of the Fleet over
the body of Sir Thomas Shirley¹ was at its hottest. A
series of conferences with the Lords and Bishops was
bringing them nearer and nearer to points of inevitable
and irreconcilable disagreement. Not a word had been
said as yet about Supply. And in the middle of all this
there sprung up a new and unexpected cause of quarrel,
in a book just published by one of the Bishops; a book
tending (according to the description given by the member
who brought it under notice) "to the derogation and
scandal of the proceedings of the House in the matter of
the Union; answering the objections made against the
union in Name; and taking knowledge of many other
passages of the House touching that matter; unmeet to
be questioned by any, much less by any member of the
Higher House."
Here again their first impulse was "to go to his Majesty
and express their grief, because it seemed to be done cum
privilegio;" meaning (I suppose) that as a published
book it must be held as authorized by the King. But
being reminded that the Bishop was a member of the
Upper House, they determined to make their complaint
first to them; and it turned out, fortunately for the peace
of the time, that he had no friends there; for after an
exchange of one or two preliminary messages, it was
answered in conference by Lord Cecil that he had been
1 A Member of Parliament who had been arrested for debt, leading to a dis
pute regarding the authority of the House of Commons.
cal
3.
1604.] PROTEST FROM THE CONVOCATION HOUSE.
459
rebuked and made to own his fault and express his
regret.
At the same time a more legitimate cause of remon-
strance was given by a protest from the Convocation
House against the pretensions of the House of Commons
to "deal in any matters of religion; " accompanied with
a threat that if the Bishops would not desist from con-
ferring with them, "they would appeal to the King, who
had given them authority to deal only in such matters."
This protest, having been publicly read by a Bishop at a
conference, put them upon searching for "precedents,"
-a search which is sure to end favorably to the stronger
party, and would undoubtedly have raised a storm, had
either the King or the Lords taken part with Convoca-
tion. As it was, a declaration from the Bishop of Lon-
don that "they conceived the privilege of Parliament to
stand upright" was accepted as sufficient.
All these incidental troubles must have been very an-
noying to the King, if only as delays and interruptions,
though he had the prudence to keep personally clear of
them;
and there were other measures coming on, in
which it was hardly possible to avoid a direct disagree-
ment. He had settled the Church question to his own
satisfaction at the Hampton Court Conference; and now
the Commons were urging a large measure of reform, in
the interest of the non-conforming clergy. He had taken
order for the revocation of all monopolies which should
appear to himself and Council prejudicial to the subject;
and now they were preparing a large measure for the
liberation of trade, aimed at the monopolies of the great
companies. The discussion of the terms of the proposed
composition for Wardship and Tenures led inevitably
to inquiries into the true state of the Crown revenue,
which was then reckoned one of the arcana imperii,
no fit subject for popular criticism.
Under these various trials, the scanty measure of pa
+
460
TOUCHING WARDSHIP AND TENURES.
[BOOK III.
tience with which he was endowed by nature had begun
to fail, and the distastes against which he had hitherto
been struggling, to reassert themselves, encouraged no
doubt by the sympathy they were sure to meet with from
the conservatism which prevails in all Upper Houses,
whether temporal or spiritual; when this same Ward-
ship and Tenure question, which had been opened under
Bacon's management at the beginning of the session with
fair words and prospects, came at last (30th May) to be
discussed in a conference managed by Sir Edwin Sandys,
and found the weather quite changed. Not that the
Commons had changed their ground. What they desired
was no more than the Lords had already in a general
way and with seeming alacrity agreed to, namely, that
they would join with them in a petition to the King for
leave to treat; the particulars being to be arranged in
conference. But they now discountenanced the proposi-
tion altogether; and besides answering the reasons urged
by the Commons, went on to expostulate with them on
the manner in which they had spent their time; all
speaking in the same sense. Sensi ex composto rem geri,
said Sir E. Sandys in concluding his report. And to
make matters worse, no sooner had the conference broken
off on these unsatisfactory terms, than the King, by a
coincidence which if undesigned was unlucky, desired
the attendance of the whole House, that he might speak
to them. And his speech, being (as we gather from
what followed, for I find no report of it) a review of all
their proceedings during the session in a tone of censure
and dissatisfaction, had the usual effect of hurting their
feelings and provoking them to reply, and "instantly to
advise of such a form of satisfaction, either by writing or
otherwise, as might in all humility inform his Majesty in
the truth and clearness of the actions and intentions of
the House from the beginning,"—and so on.
A proceeding like this — entailing as it must a per-
THE KING'S APOLOGY TO THE COMMONS.
461
1604.]
sonal controversy with the King on points to which he
had thus publicly committed himself - could not be ex-
pected to have a satisfactory result. But it would take
time. Time would allow feelings to cool on both sides:
and meanwhile they could give satisfaction of a more
promising kind by making haste with what remained to
be done. The Union Act, which had just been sent down
from the Lords, had been read once. It was now read a
second time, committed, reported, passed, and sent back
to the Lords, by whom it was received with great ap-
plause, — all in a day: the day after the King's speech.
And it was agreed at the same time that all further pro-
ceedings in the matter of Purveyors should be allowed to
sleep till the next session. Measures which were not lost
upon the King: as may be seen by the message which he
sent to the House only three days after.
Mr. Speaker delivereth from the King a message of three
parts:
The motives of his Majesty's unkindness:
Matter of his relation to us:
Of his princely satisfaction.
When he looked into the gravity and judgment of this House,
and of the long continuance of the Parliament; so few matters
of weight passed, and that matter of Privilege had taken much
time (which, notwithstanding, he was as careful to preserve as
we ourselves); he was moved with jealousy that there was not
such proceeding as, in love, he expected. This the cause of un-
kindness.
That we should not think this declaration to us was any
condemnation of our ingratitude or forgetfulness of him; but by
way of commemoration and admonition, as a father to his chil-
dren; neither did he tax us; but only remember us of expedi-
tion, omitted and desired.
Lastly, that he is resolved, we have not denied anything
which is fit to be granted. That he had divers arguments of
our good affections:
1. Our doubt of his displeasure.
462
APOLOGY OF THE COMMONS.
[BOOK III.
2. Our desire to give him satisfaction; which he accepteth as
a thing done, because desired by us.
3. He observeth the difference of our proceeding, sithence
his speech unto us, with greater expedition in those things de-
sired to be effected by him, than before: He giveth us thanks,
and wisheth we would not trouble ourselves with giving him
satisfaction.
And he giveth what time we desire for finishing the matters
of importance depending.
In spite, however, of this message, which may be re-
garded as the King's Apology to the Commons, the com-
mittee appointed to prepare the threatened Apology of
the Commons to the King went on diligently with their
work; and at the end of a fortnight laid the result before
the House, a grave and important document, in which
all their proceedings that had been found fault with were
recapitulated and justified, point by point; and which,
though not formally placed on record, remains to this
day a notable landmark in the progress of constitutional
liberty. The question was, what to do with it. I do
not know that any exception was or could be taken
to either the substance of it or the style. But seeing
that the positions which it maintained were threatened
only in words and by implication, that the Commons re-
mained masters of the field in fact, that there was no
pretense for a serious declaration of hostilities, and that
the formal delivery of such an argument could have led
to nothing but an angry altercation and a quarrel in the
honey-moon, which would have been bad for all parties,
those who wished to preserve harmony could not wish
that it should be pressed further. Bacon was certainly
among those who spoke against presenting it, though we
have no account of what he said. And as the Journals
contain no notice of the final resolution, we may conclude
that it was in favor of letting the dispute rest; and that
the document was not officially brought under the King's
notice.
1604.]
APOLOGY OF THE COMMONS.
463
Nevertheless, as it had been twice read in the House,
we may be sure that he heard of it: and that unluckily
at a time when he was endeavoring to digest a fresh dis-
appointment. At the beginning of the session, hoping to
please everybody and wishing to avoid everything that
might cast a shadow over the general satisfaction, he had
resolved that no demand should be made on his subjects
for money; and in this resolution he had persevered so
constantly and so long that I have no doubt it was a true
intention of his own. For full three months he had re-
frained both his tongue and his pen from all allusion to
the subject, had not said so much as that he meant to
say nothing, but maintained on all occasions a politic
and dignified reserve which was very unusual with him.
Now, however, that the prorogation was near at hand, it
was represented to him by some who thought they under-
stood the Lower House, that a session closing without
any vote of supply would have a bad appearance, and
be subject to unfavorable construction. Upon which it
seems to have been arranged that, the Lords having or
making occasion to confer with the Commons upon a
Tonnage and Poundage Bill, the opportunity should be
taken to give them some information about the financial
condition of the kingdom, with a hint that an offer of
subsidy would not be unwelcome.
Simultaneously with this a motion was made in the
House of Commons for a committee to consider of some
sort of gratuity to be offered to the King. But whoever
advised it, it was an unlucky motion. Though introduced
by two of the most independent and popular members
Sir Francis Hastings and Sir Edward Hoby — in the in-
terest of national honor, harmony, and reputation abroad,
it was received so doubtfully that the King thought it
best to avoid the risk of a refusal by making it his per-
sonal request a request conveyed in a letter too trans-
parent to allow a doubt of its sincerity - that they would
not meddle any further in the question.
3
#
464
PENSION FOR LIFE.
[BOOK III.
This of course was not the issue which had been in-
tended or anticipated, and (coming upon him at the same
time with rumors of the "Apology") proved more than
he could comfortably digest. And though the Speaker, by
a lavish profession of affection, admiration, and loyalty,
made in the name of all the Commons,-together with a
liberal offer of all they had whenever it was wanted, did
as much as words could do to make the parting pleasant,
the King could not bring himself to repay the flattery in
kind, but frankly told them exactly what he felt. And
so Parliament was prorogued on the 7th of July, and
they parted for the present, each with better means of
knowing what was to be expected of the other.
The King, having now had a taste of Bacon's disposi-
tion and abilities, was not long in marking his apprecia-
tion of them. On the 18th of August, 1604, he granted
him by patent the office of Learned Counsel, which he
had hitherto held only by verbal warrant: and at the
same time conferred on him a pension for life of £60.
For a man of Bacon's abilities and long service, it was
not much; but it was a beginning; and it came at a time
when he had a very good opportunity to show how well
it was deserved. For the Commissioners for the Union
were to meet in October, and his vacation's work was to
prepare for the conference by taking a survey of all the
questions which would fall under consideration.
The first fruit of these studies and conferences was a
concise but complete analysis of the whole subject, drawn
up for the King's information: in which all the particular
questions that would have to be dealt with questions
which it took a hundred years to adjust—were enumer-
ated and explained. What use was made of it at the
time, besides submitting it to the King, and to what extent
it was circulated, I do not know.
In it the question of the style and name, which it had
been thought too dangerous to alter by Act of Parlia-
* 4
1604.] PROPOSED PROCLAMATION OF THE KING'S STYLE. 465
ment, is recommended to be dealt with by Proclamation:
and it is not impossible that a draft of a Proclamation
for that purpose accompanied this paper. Such a draft
Bacon did at any rate prepare, and a proclamation to
this effect probably founded upon it, though almost
wholly re-written was published on the 20th of Octo-
ber, the day on which the Commissioners for the Union
were to meet. The kingdoms were thenceforth united in
the King's style and title, without any contestation, diffi-
culty, or inconvenience and so remained.
:
The rest of the work was not so easily accomplished;
though it began with fairer auspices than could have been
looked for. A council of forty-eight Englishmen and
thirty-one Scotchmen, meeting on terms of perfect equal-
ity to make a bargain, — a bargain involving interests so
vast and so various, — might have seemed to have no easy
task before them: yet in less than six weeks they had
come to an agreement all but unanimous; and the work,
so far as it depended upon them, was prosperously con-
cluded.
The reputation which Bacon brought with him from
the House of Commons, as the man in whose hands any
business of delicacy or difficulty was always found to
prosper best, would naturally give him great influence
and authority in the Commission; and the order of pro-
ceeding, to which the harmonious progress of their delib-
erations was probably in great part due, was probably in
great part due to him. Twenty years after, in revising
his Essay on Counsel, he referred to this Commission as
an example of good order. "The counsels at this day in
most places" (he says) "are but familiar meetings,
where matters are rather talked on than debated. And
they run too swift to the order or act of counsel. It were
better that in causes of weight the matter were pro-
pounded one day, and not spoken to till the next day :
In nocte consilium. So was it done in the Commission
VOL. I.
30
E
466 COMMISSIONERS FOR ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. [Book III.
for Union between England and Scotland; which was a
grave and orderly assembly."
The charge of digesting the articles of the resolutions
into their ultimate form was intrusted (on the English
side) to Bacon; but the composition of the preamble or
prefatory introduction was undertaken by Cecil in con-
junction with Lord Fivye. It appears, however, that
Bacon had made provision for this part of the work also,
had it been wanted. For among the papers left by him,
and by himself thought worth preserving, is a draft of
precisely such a preface as was wanted for the occasion;
and whatever reasons there may have been (personal or
other) for preferring the production of the two great
officers of state, there can be no doubt that for the mod-
ern purpose of throwing light upon the meaning and his-
tory of the business, Bacon's is much to be preferred. It
is indeed a page of history ready written, and makes it
unnecessary to offer in this place any further explanation
of the results of the Commissioners' deliberations; the
disputed points in which will not fail to force themselves.
upon our notice at a later time.
This was first printed in Stephens's second collection
(1734), from a copy with a few interlineations in Bacon's
own hand, now in the British Museum: from which copy
it is here taken.
THE MOST HUMBLE CERTIFICATE OR RETURN OF THE
COMMISSIONERS OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND, AU-
THORIZED TO TREAT OF AN UNION FOR THE WEAL
OF BOTH REALMS. 2 JAC. I. PREPARED, BUT AL-
TERED.1
We, the commissioners for England and Scotland re-
spectively named and appointed, in all humbleness do
signify to his most excellent Majesty, and to the most
1 These words are inserted in Bacon's hand. In the left-hand corner, at the
top, is written in the same hand, "prepared not used."
7
..
1604.]
PREFACE TO REPORT, AS PREPARED BY BACON. 467
honorable high Courts of Parliament of both realms, that
we have assembled ourselves, consulted and treated ac-
cording to the nature and limits of our commission; and
forasmuch as we do find that hardly within the memory
of all times, or within the compass of the universal world,
there can be showed forth a fit example or precedent of
the work we have in hand, concurring in all points ma-
terial, we thought ourselves so much the more bound
to resort to the infallible and original grounds of nature
and common reason, and freeing ourselves from the lead-
ing or misleading of examples to insist and fix our con-
siderations upon the individual business in hand, without
wandering or discourses. It seemed therefore unto as a
matter demonstrative by the light of reason, that we were
in first place to begin with the remotion and abolition of
all manner hostile, envious, or malign laws on either side,
being in themselves mere temporary, and now by time
become directly contrary to our present most happy es-
tate; which laws, as they are already dead in force and
vigor, so we thought fit now to wish them buried in ob-
livion; that by the utter extinguishment of the memory
of discords past, we may avoid all seeds of relapse into
discords to come. Secondly, as matter of nature not
unlike the former, we entered into consideration of such
limitary constitutions as served but for to obtain a form
of justice between subjects under several monarchs,
and did in the very grounds and motives of them pre-
suppose incursions and intermixture of hostility; all
which occasions, as they are in themselves now vanished
and done away, so we wish the abolition and cessation
thereof to be declared.¹ Thirdly, for so much as the
principal degree to union is communion and participation
of mutual commodities and benefits, it appeared to us to
follow next in order, that the commerce between both
nations be set open and free, so as the commodities and
1 The words "as they" and the last clause are inserted in Bacon's hand.

468 PREFACE TO REPORT, AS PREPARED BY BACON. [Book III.
provisions of either may pass and flow to and fro without
any stops or obstructions into the veins of the whole
body, for the better sustentation and comfort of all the
parts; with caution, nevertheless, that the vital nourish-
ment be not so drawn into one part as it may endanger
a consumption and withering of the other. Fourthly,
after the communion and participation by commerce,
which can extend but to the transmission of such com-
modities as are movable, personal, and transitory, there
succeeded naturally that other degree, that there be made
a mutual endowment and donation of either realm to-
wards other of the abilities and capacities to take and en-
joy things which are permanent, real, and fixed; as namely
freehold and inheritance, and the like; and that as well
the internal and vital veins of blood be opened from in-
terruption and obstruction in making pedigree and claim-
ing by descent, as the external and elemental veins of
passage and commerce; with reservation nevertheless
unto the due time of such abilities and capacities only,
as no power on earth can confer without time and educa-
tion. And lastly, because the perfection of this blessed
work consisted in the union, not only of the solid parts
of the estate, but also in the spirit and sinews of the same,
which are the laws and governments, which nevertheless
are already perfectly united in the head, but require a
furder time to be united in the bulk and frame of the
whole body; in contemplation hereof we did conceive
that the first step thereunto was to provide that the jus-
tice of either realm should aid and assist, and not frus-
trate and interrupt, the justice of the other, specially in
sundry cases criminal; so that either realm may not be
abused by malefactors as a sanctuary or place of refuge
to avoid the condign punishment of their crimes and of-
fenses. All which several points, — as we account them,
summed up and put together, but as a degree or middle
term to the perfection of this blessed work, so yet we
1604.] PREFACE TO REPORT, AS PREPARED BY BACON. 469
conceived them to make a just and fit period for our pres-
ent consultation and proceeding. And for so much as
concerneth the manner of our proceedings, we may truly
make this attestation unto ourselves, that as the mark
we shot at was union and unity, so it pleased God in the
handling thereof to bless us with the spirit of unity, in-
somuch as from our first sitting unto the breaking up of
our assembly (a thing most rare, the circumstances of the
cause and persons considered) there did not happen or
intervene, neither in our debates or arguments, any man-
ner altercation or strife of words, nor in our resolutions
any variety or division of votes, but the whole passed with
an unanimity and uniformity of consent; and yet so as
we suppose there was never in any consultation greater
plainness and liberty of speech, argument and debate,
replying, contradicting, recalling anything spoken where
cause was, expounding any matter ambiguous or mistaken,
and all other points of free and friendly interlocution and
conference, without cavillations, advantages, or overtak-
ings: a matter that we cannot ascribe to the skill or
temper of our own carriage, but to the guiding and con-
ducting of God's holy providence and will, the true au-
thor of all unity and agreement; neither did we, where
the business required, rest so upon our own senses and
opinions, but we did also aid and assist ourselves as well
with the reverend opinion of Judges and persons of great
science and authority in the laws, and also with the wis-
dom and experience of merchants, and men expert in com-
merce. In all which our proceedings notwithstanding, we
are so far from pretending or aiming at any prejudication,
either of his royal Majesty's sovereign and high wisdom,
which we do most dutifully acknowledge to be able to
pierce and penetrate far beyond the reach of our capaci-
1
1 The words "used, permitted, or allowed; and not only so, but in all loving
manner called for, provoked, wished, and required," which followed in the
MS., are struck out.
470
CONCLUSION OF THE CONSULTATIONS.
[BOOK III.
ties, or of the solid and profound judgment of the high
Courts of Parliament of both realms, as we do in all hum-
bleness submit our judgments and doings to his sacred
Majesty and to the Parliaments, protesting our sincerity,
and craving gracious and benign construction and accep-
tation of our travails.
We therefore with one mind and consent have agreed
and concluded that there be propounded and presented
to his Majesty and the Parliament of both realms these
articles and propositions following.
If this introduction had been adopted it would have
required in one place, and I suppose in one place only, a
slight correction.
The "unanimity and uniformity of consent" with which
all the resolutions are said to have passed must of course
be understood as referring to the conclusion of the whole
business not that there were no differences of opinion
among the Commissioners, but that they all agreed in
what was ultimately recommended to be done. And such
was no doubt the result which Bacon anticipated from
the tenor of the deliberations. The anticipation was not,
however, destined to be strictly fulfilled. One of the
English Commissioners, Sir Edward Hoby,- for some
reason which he declined publicly to explain, — refused
at the last to subscribe his name to the Instrument. The
solitary exception, however, rather illustrates than throws
doubt upon the substantial accuracy of the report: which,
after all due correction has been made, remains a notable
record of a piece of business very effectually and prosper-
ously dispatched. The history of its progress through
Parliament will be a very different one, but belongs to a
later time. Parliament was to have met in February,
and the consideration of the measures recommended by
the Commissioners was expected to be its principal busi-
ness. Apprehensions of a return of the Plague, of which

1604.]
CONCLUSION OF THE CONSULTATIONS.
471
some premonitory symptoms showed themselves in many
parts of the country before Christmas, induced a further
prorogation till the autumn: at which time the Gunpow-
der Plot came in the way and supplied business enough
for the succeeding session: so that it was not till the
winter of 1606 that the Instrument of the Union came
under consideration. The prorogation till autumn left
Bacon with the best part of a year comparatively free
from business, and available for the prosecution of the
great literary work which I suppose him to have been so
anxious at this time not only to go on with, but to bring
before the world as soon as possible: and of which the
progress must have been much interrupted, if not com-
pletely suspended, by the heavy business which the last
Parliament threw upon him. For the next ten months
we have very little news of him. What there is shall
begin a new chapter.


CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1605-1607. ÆTAT. 45-46.
THE importance of the part which had fallen to Bacon
in the business of the last session, and that not through
official patronage or private favor, but merely from ex-
perience of his ability and the necessities of the time call-
ing for help, followed as it was by such happy success
in his latest service, might have seemed to promise a
speedy rise in his fortunes, had no opportunity occurred
of making the promise good. But it so happened that on
the 28th of October, 1604 (the day after the first meeting
of the Commissioners for the Union), the Solicitor Gen-
eral was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer, thereby
vacating the very place to which a man in Bacon's posi-
tion would naturally and reasonably aspire. It was given,
however, on the same day to Sergeant Doderidge; a law-
yer of good reputation, but no further conspicuous than
as holding the office of Sergeant to the Prince of Wales.
And the neglect of so fair an opportunity to raise Bacon
looked almost like an intention to leave him below. I do
not find traces, however, either of any application from
him at the time for the place, or any complaint of having
been passed over. And the truth perhaps is that (as he
had formerly said that "he could not expect that Coke
1 Unless the following expression, in a letter to the Lord Chancellor two years
after, be taken to include an allusion to this appointment: "Otherwise for mine
own private comfort it were better that.. I should turn my course to en-
deavor to serve in some other kind, than for me to stand thus at a stop; and to
have that little reputation which by my industry I gather to be scattered and
taken away by continual disgraces, every new man coming above me.”
1605-1607.]
ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.
473
and himself should ever serve as Attorney and Solicitor
together "1) he really felt the relation which subsisted
between them to be a valid objection to his appointment,
and would not himself have asked for or recommended it.
However that may be, the experience of the past year
proved that, whether the King or Cecil or Coke wanted
his help or not, his country had work for him to do; and
that he must not reckon upon having his time to himself,
but, if he meant to reform philosophy, must make the
most of all intervals of leisure. The present interval-
the longest and least interrupted which he was destined
to enjoy for many years—came very seasonably to enable
him to finish the "Advancement of Learning :" which
with due allowance made for time consumed in the duties
of courtship and the other business which a treaty of mar-
riage with an alderman's daughter would naturally in-
volve, supplied work enough for nine or ten months.
The "two books of the Proficience and Advancement
of Learning, divine and human," were published in a sin-
gle volume. But an examination of the signatures of the
sheets shows that the first book must have been printed
off before the second was sent to the press: from which
I infer that some considerable interval occurred in the
composition of them. And it seems very probable, as I
have already intimated, that the first book, which, though
less important in its argument than the other, is very full
and elaborate in composition, was written in 1603, when
he expected an abundance of leisure for such work; and
that the second, which has many marks of haste both in
the writing and the printing, and is in several parts pro-
fessedly unfinished, was hurried through in 1605; when
he foresaw that his times of leisure were not likely to
come often or last long. I speak of course only of the
composition, — the arrangement of the matter, the word-
ing, and the putting into shape,—for the matter itself
1 See above, p. 365.

474
GUNPOWDER PLOT.
[BOOK III.
was the accumulation of his life, and many portions of it
had been already digested, no doubt, in notes and essays.
The appearance of such a book by such a man was not
likely in those days to make so much talk in the world as
it would now; though the publication of "Sir F. Bacon's
new book on Learning" was not forgotten by Chamber-
lain in reporting to Carleton the news of London on the
7th of November, 1605. But its appearance happened
to coincide with an event which at any time would have
drawn public attention away from everything else.
In sending a copy to Toby Matthew, who had left
England about the end of April, and was now in Italy,
Bacon inclosed a "relation," which was apparently a
short account drawn up by himself of the discovery of the
Gunpowder Plot. But as I have not been able to find.
any paper answering the description, and Bacon does not
appear to have had any part in either the investigation
of the conspiracy or the trials of the conspirators, and as
the general history of it is sufficiently notorious, it will
not be necessary for me to go further into the particu-
lars.
The letter which inclosed the lost "relation" comes
from Matthew's collection, and has the following head-
ing: "Mr. Bacon to a friend and servant of his; by way
of advertisement concerning some books and writings of
his own." It has no date, and the title "Mr." would
suggest a wrong one. But the matters alluded to prove
that to be an error, and point clearly enough to the early
part of November, 1605, as the time when it must have.
been written. And I suppose there is no reason to doubt
that the "friend and servant" was Matthew himself.
TO MR. MATTHEW.
SIR, -I perceive you have some time when you can
be content to think of your friends; from whom since
you have borrowed yourself, you do well, not paying the
1
1605-1607.]
DR. LAUNCELOT ANDREWES.
475
principal, to send the interest at six months day. The
relation which here I send you inclosed carries the truth
of that which is public; and though my little leisure
might have required a briefer, yet the matter would have
endured and asked a larger.
I have now at last taught that child to go, at the
swaddling whereof you were. My work touching the
Proficiency and Advancement of Learning I have put
into two books; whereof the former, which you saw, I
count but as a Page to the latter. I have now published
them both; whereof I thought it a small adventure to
send you a copy, who have more right to it than any
man, except Bishop Andrews, who was my inquisitor.
The death of the late great Judge concerned not me,
because the other was not removed. I write this in an-
swer to your good wishes; which I return not as flowers
of Florence, but as you mean them; whom I conceive
place cannot alter, no more than time shall me, except it
be to the better.
Dr. Launcelot Andrewes, who had been Dean of West-
minster since 4th July, 1601, was made Bishop of Chich-
ester on the 3d of November, 1605. He was a friend of
Bacon's student-days, being then preacher at St. Giles's;
and a man whom throughout his life he held in special
reverence. The nature of the inquisitorial office which
he performed for the "Advancement of Learning" may
be partly inferred from a letter of later date asking him
to perform a similar office for the “ Cogitata et Visa.”
"Now let me tell you" (Bacon writes) "what my desire
is: If your Lordship be so good now as when you were
the good Dean of Westminster, my request to you is that
not by pricks, but by notes, you would mark unto me
whatsoever shall seem unto you either not current in
the stile, or harsh to credit or opinion, or inconvenient
for the person of the writer; for no man can be judge
*

:
1-
2:
12
476
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
[BOOK III.
and party; and when our minds judge by reflexion on
ourselves they are more subject to error. And though
for the matter itself, my judgment be in some things
fixed, and not accessible by any man's judgment that
goeth not my way, yet even in those things the admoni-
tion of a friend may make me express myself diversely."
He had consulted him, no doubt, upon the "Advancement
of Learning" in the same way, when he was "the good
Dean of Westminster;" and sent him a presentation-
copy shortly after he became Bishop of Chichester.
The light allusion to the "death of the late great
Judge" as not concerning him because "the other" was
not removed (in which I strongly suspect that the names
have been suppressed by the editor) covers a fact which
did really concern Bacon a good deal. In August, 1605,
Sir Edmund Anderson, Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas, died. It was another opportunity for advancing
Bacon, had the authorities wished to do it. If Coke had
been promoted to the Common Pleas, and Doderidge
succeeded him as Attorney, Bacon might have been made
Solicitor. But Coke kept his place; Sir Francis Gawdy,
one of the puisne Judges of King's Bench, succeeded
Anderson; and Bacon remained where he was. In this
case, as in the last, we hear of no application and no com-
plaint; but unless there was some better reason against
the arrangement than we know of, he could not but feel
it as a discouragement.
Parliament met on the 5th of November, according to
the summons. The Commons, having read a few bills,
and talked a little about the great deliverance, adjourned
till the 9th, when they heard the King's account of the
discovery of the plot, and were again adjourned to the
21st of January. Meditation upon the danger which
the kingdom had so narrowly escaped had put them into
a humor of great severity against the Papists, and warm
1605-1607.]
PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT.
477
personal affection for the King; and though the griev-
ances which had been left unsettled in the last session
were still to be dealt with, and not even allowed to sleep
through this, they felt the danger of urging them so as
to risk a rupture. Measures for security and for demon-
stration of internal harmony took precedence, leaving the
questions upon which the two Houses could not agree in
such a position that they could be postponed without ob-
structing the general business of government. An Act
for public thanksgiving every year on the 5th of Novem-
ber passed at once and unanimously. A very unconstitu-
tional motion for making a special retrospective law for
the trial and punishment of the "miners" was opposed
by the new Solicitor General, now the principal repre-
sentative of the Government in the Lower House, and
negatived by the good sense of the majority. Measures
"for the timely and severe proceeding against Jesuits,
Seminaries, and other Popish Agents and Practicers, and
for the preventing and suppressing of their plots and prac-
tices," which was their first care, took more time,
and led to many conferences, but met with no opposi
tion. The appointment of a committee "to consider of
the fittest course to provide for the general planting of a
Learned Ministry, and for the meeting with non-resi-
dence in ministers already placed," passed without re-
monstrance. Upon the question of Purveyance, in which
a smooth passage could hardly be hoped for, they re-
solved to proceed not by conference or petition, but by
bill: a course which had the effect of postponing the
critical period of the discussion; while, at the same time,
they showed no disposition to keep back the question of
supply, and make it wait upon the question of Griev-
ances (though they intended that the two should go on
together); but as early as the 10th of February agreed
to grant a double subsidy - with the full assent of all
the independent members who spoke, and without any

478
TEMPER OF PARLIAMENT.
[BOOK III.
dispute, except upon the question (if I understand it cor-
rectly) whether the proposal should be referred to a
committee in the regular way, or passed at once.
"The
Commons of the Lower House," writes the Earl of
Shrewsbury, on the 12th, "are much more temperate
than they were at the first session; and now spend all
their spirits and endeavors in devising laws tending to
his Majesty's safety, and suppressing of the dangerous
members of the state. I heard not any one transcendant
speech uttered there as yet." It seemed, therefore, that
the attempt to overthrow Protestantism had only issued
in a suspension of those disputes and jealousies between
the Commons and the Crown in which its chief weak-
ness and danger lay.
Bacon, though his name appears as usual in all the
principal committees, and though he was occasionally
employed to bring up a report or assist in managing a
conference, does not appear to have taken a prominent
part in the proceedings during this session. The Solic-
itor, the Recorder, the Attorney of the Wards, and the
second Secretary of State, were all of the House; and in
ordinary circumstances the leading part would naturally
fall to one or other of them. Nor did any difficulties
arise, important enough to induce a departure from the
ordinary course. In the matter of Papists and recusants,
the zeal of all parties on the side of severity needed no
enforcing, and a voice in favor of gentler measures would
not easily have obtained a hearing. In granting lib-
eral supplies without standing upon terms of bargain,
the principal popular members concurred with the major-
ity; and the few murmurs of dissent which were heard
during the heat of the later debates might be safely left
to be answered by the general vote on the question; and
would be disposed of in that way more effectually than
by argument. The question of the Union of the King-
doms was postponed by common consent to the next
1605-1607.]
PASSAGE OF THE SUBSIDY BILL
479
session. With regard to grievances in general, Bacon
approved of the course which the House was pursuing :
which was, first to hear the counsel of parties interested,
and then to proceed by way of petition to the King. And
if in the particular grievance of Purveyance — which was
to be dealt with by a Bill and was in hot hands there
was danger of their going faster and further than seemed
prudent, a sufficient remedy would be found in the ob-
structive power of the Upper House, which encountered
the shock, and could count on the help of Sir Edward
Coke in criticising the legal bearings of the law they pro-
posed to pass.
Of the part which he did take, something may be
learned from a careful study of the notes in the Com-
mons' Journals (though they are rather more fragment-
ary than usual); but it would not be possible to present
it in a narrative at once simple and intelligible; nor
would such a narrative throw any additional light on his
character or opinions. He was not called upon either to
support or to prevent any questionable transaction; and
the general result of the session must have been satis-
factory to him; for the prevalent feeling of the House
towards the King was one of affectionate loyalty, and
though they were careful to keep the Subsidy Bill in
their own hands until they had presented the petition of
Grievances, yet immediately upon hearing from Bacon
(who had been appointed to "read them to the King")
a report of his answer, which appears to have been in
effect only an assurance that their complaints should be
favorably considered and attended to, they sent it up
to the House of Lords, being a grant of three subsidies
and six fifteenths and tenths, the largest, I believe, that
had ever been voted in one session in a time of peace,
in a manner which implied, and was probably meant to
demonstrate, the reverse of dissatisfaction. "The Bill
of Subsidy of the Temporalty," says the Journal of the
480
RUMOR OF PROMOTIONS IN THE LAW.
[BOOK III.
15th May, 1606, "sent up by Mr. Secretary Herbert,
with the whole House attending him, not one man left
but Speaker, Clerk, Sergeant. Never seen before."
In a letter to Salisbury, written apparently the 27th
of March, 1606, Bacon says, "I cannot as I would express
how much I think myself bounden to your Lordship for
your tenderness over my contentment." It would seem,
therefore, that at that time Salisbury had been showing
some interest in Bacon's fortunes. And though we do
not know precisely either what he had promised, or how
much his promises meant, there is reason to believe that
he had favored a proposed arrangement by which Bacon
might have been advanced at last to the Solicitorship.
Sir Henry Neville, writing to Winwood on the 11th of
March in that year, says, "We are in some expectation
of a creation of four Barons: viz. the Lord Chief Justice,
Mr. Attorney, who is designed Chief Justice in Gaudie's
room, Sir John Fortescue, and Sir Thomas Knevett,” etc.
The words which I have printed in italic are conclusive
of the fact that a rumor to that effect was in circulation
at that time; and as the same rumor is distinctly al-
luded to in the following letter, we need not hesitate to
date it within a few days before or after the 11th of
March; nor is there much room for doubt that Salis-
bury's demonstration of "tenderness over Bacon's con-
tentment” was subsequent to and consequent upon this
letter. For if anything of the kind had passed between
them before, it would have been impossible to avoid some
reference to it on such an occasion.
This letter was first printed in the "Remains" (1648)
with this heading: "A Letter to the Earl of Salisbury
touching the Solicitor's place, at what time he stood but
in doubtful terms of favor with his Lordship." Al-
though not to be found in the "Resuscitatio," it appears
to have been contained in Bacon's own collection, and is
here taken from the copy in the British Museum, which
1605-1607.]
RUMOR OF PROMOTIONS IN THE LAW.
481
differs from the other in one or two places, and is evi-
dently more correct.
TO THE EARL OF SALISBURY.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,—I am not privy to
myself of any such ill deserving towards your Lordship,
as that I should think it an impudent thing to be suitor
for your favor in a reasonable matter, your Lordship be-
ing to me as (with your good favor) you cannot cease
to be, but rather it were a simple and arrogant part in
me to forbear it. It is thought Mr. Attorney shall be
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. In case Mr. Solici-
tor rise, I would be glad now at last to be Solicitor,
chiefly because I think it will increase my practice,
wherein God blessing me a few years, I may amend my
state, and so after fall to my studies and ease, whereof
one is requisite for my body, and the other sorteth with
my mind. Herein if I may find your Lordship's favor, I
shall be more happy than I have been, which may make
me also more wise. I have small store of means about
the King, and to sue myself is not so fit. And therefore
I shall leave it to God, his Majesty, and your Lordship.
For if I must still be next the door, I thank God in
these transitory things I am well resolved. So beseech-
ing your Lordship not to think this letter the less humble,
because it is plain, I remain,
At your Lps. service very humbly,
FR. BACON.
The week before and the fortnight after the 11th of
March was a period of some anxiety for the Government
the Lower House having been engaged all the time in
warm debates, first, on the Purveyance Bill and after-
wards on the question of a third subsidy, the report of
the Committee on the other two subsidies not having
yet been brought in, and the collection of general
VOL. I.
31
482
RUMOR OF PROMOTIONS IN THE LAW.
[BOOK IIL
Grievances being diligently proceeded with meanwhile.
It was a time in which Bacon's help in the House, where
the representatives of the Government were not other-
wise strong, could not be conveniently dispensed with.
And though I do not find that any of his former disap-
pointments and discouragements had on any occasion
either altered his course or slackened his industry, it was
not a time when Salisbury would have thought it prudent
to neglect him, or hesitated to hazard words of promise.
Nor have I any reason to doubt in this case the sincerity
of his professions. The position in which a man like
Bacon was still left, at the age of forty-six, while his
cousin (though always friendly "secundum exterius ")
had been in a position of such high influence for seven or
eight years, makes it hard to believe that he had been
really anxious to advance him in the service of the Crown.
But the fact that on this occasion nothing followed the
promises of favor, which (it seems) were his answer to
the foregoing letter, may be sufficiently accounted for by
the fact that the arrangement talked of was not carried
into effect; and we do not know where or with whom
the obstruction lay. All we know is that Gawdy, Coke,
and Doderidge all kept their places, and Bacon still re-
mained "next the door."
In his private affairs, however, Salisbury had not been
wanting (as we have already seen ¹) in giving Bacon
substantial help; and we know on Bacon's own authority
that he had done something for him, though we are
not told exactly what it was, in furtherance of an im-
portant domestic enterprise which was successfully ac-
complished in the middle of this very session.
Marriages in those days were treated more openly as
matters of business than they are now.
Fathers pro-
posed to fathers; and when the father was dead, great
men were called in to countenance and recommend the
1 See p.
415.
1
I
1605-1607.]
BACON'S MARRIAGE.
483
suitor. It is true that in the Order of the Helmet, in-
stituted by the Prince of Purpoole in 1594,¹ this practice
was strictly forbidden. “Item. No Knight of this Or-
der shall procure any letters from his Highness to any
widow or maid, for his enablement or commendation to
be advanced in marriage; but all prerogative, wooing set
apart, shall for ever cease as to any of these Knights, and
shall be left to the common laws of this land, declared
by the Statute, Quia electiones libera esse debent." But
in a satire on the fashions of the time, the prohibition of
a practice is proof of its prevalence. What obstructions
Bacon met with on his way to matrimony, we do not
know. But they would probably be such as a man who
had the key of so many good places as Salisbury had,
might well help to smooth.
e;
The lady was no doubt the same to whom he had al-
luded in 1603, "an alderman's daughter," "an hand-
some maiden," and "to his liking." Alderman Barn-
ham, her father, had been dead for fifteen years or more.
Her mother, by a second marriage, had been Lady Pack-
ington since November, 1598, a "little violent lady,"
according to Chamberlain. She herself was co-heir to
her father with three sisters; and her name was Alice
which is nearly all we know about her; unless a remark
referring to a much later time, and recorded more than
twenty years after, be thought to imply that which if
true in 1620 must have been true also in 1606, namely,
that she inherited some portion of her mother's weakness
in the government of the unruly member. "One asked "
(writes Dr. Rawley in his commonplace book) "how my
La. Darby came to make so good use of her time whilst
her husband 2 was Chancellor, and my La. St. Alban's
made so little. The other answered, because my La.
Darby's wit lay backward, and my La. St. Alban's lay
forward: viz. in her tongue."
1 See p. 142.
2 Lord Ellesmere.
?
7.
:
484
BACON'S MARRIAGE.
[BOOK III.
The date of Bacon's marriage was not known, nor was
there anything to be found in any printed book (so far
as I am aware) by which it could be fixed within less
than a year, until the appearance of Mrs. Everett Green's
Calendar of State Papers; from which it appeared that
there was a letter there from Dudley Carleton to John
Chamberlain, mentioning the marriage as fresh news on
the 11th of May, 1606. It had in fact taken place the
day before, and in a very busy time; the Lower House
having just passed the Subsidy Bill, and being that very
day engaged in passing the second Purveyance Act and
in arranging a fresh conference with the Lords about the
Recusants. As we know no particulars from any other
source (for I do not gather from Mr. Dixon's story that
he had any independent information), Carleton shall give
the news in his own words:
"Sir Francis Bacon was married yesterday to his young
wench in Maribone Chapel. He was clad from top to toe in
purple, and hath made himself and his wife such store of fine
raiments of cloth of silver and gold that it draws deep into her
portion. The dinner was kept at his father-in-law Sir John
Packington's lodging over against the Savoy, where his chief
guests were the three knights, Cope, Hicks, and Beeston; and
upon this conceit (as he said himself) that since he could not
have my L. of Salisbury in person, which he wished, he would
have him at least in his representative body."
1
When the domestic relations of a man so conspicuous
as Bacon attract no notice, it may be inferred that they
are peaceable and quiet; and twenty years of married
life in which the gossips and scandal-mongers of the time
1 Sir Michael, no doubt; whom we know: one of Salisbury's secretaries: not
Sir Baptist, as Mr. Dixon calls him. Sir Walter Cope and Sir Hugh Beeston
had also been long in the confidential employment of Salisbury. (See Cham-
berlain's letters (Camd. Soc.), p. 151.) All three were Members of Parliament.
It is scarcely worth while to inquire on what ground Mr. Dixon describes them
as "hard drinkers and men about town." It is probably a mere development
of the fact that he knew them to have been once the chief guests at a wedding
dinner, and knew no more.
1605-1607.]
COKE MADE A JUDGE.
485
found nothing to talk about have a right to remain exempt
from intrusion. In outward circumstances it appears to
have been a very suitable match: the wife's fortune be-
ing a little less than the annual value of the husband's
inherited estate, and her social rank a little lower, but
not much. Taking his position and prospects into ac-
count, it was certainly a good match for her, nor was it
a bad one for him. And I do not know why it should
not be allowed to pass with as little remark now as it did
then, or as any similar match would do in the present
day.
No change was made among the Law Officers during
the session of Parliament. But shortly after the proro-
gation, Sir Francis Gawdy died; and on the 29th of June
Coke succeeded him as Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas, thenceforward to be no longer the champion of
Prerogative in its encounters with Parliaments and
Judges, but the champion of the Bench in its encounters
with Prerogative and Privilege.
A new Attorney General had now to be chosen. The
right of the Solicitor General to the refusal of the office
was not yet established by custom. Since 1461, of twen-
ty-three Solicitors only nine had become Attorneys. And
though it is true that three cases in succession had oc-
curred in the last years of Elizabeth; and Fleming might
possibly have made a fourth, had he not been removed
by promotion before a vacancy occurred; yet the long
delays and disputes in the appointment of Coke himself
(who was the last of the three), are a sufficient proof
that the custom was not then settled. It did not follow
therefore that "Mr. Solicitor would rise;" and if he did
not (since he still, I believe, held his office quamdiu se
bene gesserit), he could not be compelled to vacate it.
And here it must be owned that the sincerity of Salis-
bury's professed desire to raise Bacon falls under just
suspicion. At any rate there was another man in whose
K

-
486
HOBART ATTORNEY.
[BOOK III.
behalf the same desire worked more effectually. When
the Attorney of the Court of Wards (of which Salisbury
was Master) died, the King had left to him the choice of
a successor, and he chose Sir Henry Hobart. Now that
an Attorney General had to be chosen
whether it were
that Doderidge had been found on trial to be inefficient,
or that Hobart was more particularly suited to his own
tastes and purposes- so it was that Doderidge remained
Solicitor, and within a week after Coke's promotion, Ho-
bart became Attorney; Bacon being still left outside.
It is true that another arrangement was in contempla-
tion, by which this would have been avoided. It appears
to have been the wish and the intention, certainly of the
Lord Chancellor, probably of the King, and possibly of
Salisbury himself, to make way for Bacon's advance-
ment by promoting Doderidge to the office of King's
Serjeant, an office of higher dignity, and so vacating
the Solicitorship. Why this was not done, we do not
know. It may be (as Mr. Gardiner has suggested) that
it was thought necessary to wait for a vacancy among the
King's serjeants; though it appears from the account of
the office in Cowell's "Interpreter," a contemporary work,
that the number of them was not limited. But at any
rate it was not done; and Bacon thought it time at last.
to come to some distinct understanding as to his own
prospects. He had had fair words enough, and upon
them he had rested patiently until fair opportunities
turned up of giving them effect. But a fairer opportu-
nity than the present was not likely to come again; and it
was fit he should know, with a view to the ordering of
his own life and labors, whether he might reasonably ex-
pect to advance any further in his present career. He
wrote, therefore, to the King, to the Lord Chancellor,
and to Salisbury, reminding them of his position and his
claims to the Solicitorship.
What answer he received to these letters, or what was
1605-1607.]
PROMISES OF PROMOTION.
487
thought of them, we do not know. We know only that
the proposed arrangement did not go forward at that
time, and that he continued as he was for half a year
longer; when he appears at last to have received a dis-
tinct promise of promotion to the Solicitorship whenever
Doderidge should be removed.
About this time he lost a private friend, for whom he
appears to have had a great regard,- Jeremiah Betten-
ham, a Reader of Gray's Inn. We hear of it by mere
accident; for having been appointed one of the executors,
and had occasion to write a letter to Sir Thomas Hobby,
upon whom it seems that the estate had some claim, the
distinction of his own name has had virtue to preserve
the letter; which being some years since carried by the
chances of time into the possession of the late Mr. Pick-
ering (publisher of Mr. Montagu's edition of Bacon's
works), he very kindly, when he heard what I was about,
showed it to me and allowed me to take a copy for in-
sertion in this collection. The original, which is all in
Bacon's own hand, has been sold, I believe, since I saw
it; and in whose possession it now remains I do not
know. It is printed here from my own copy; but as it
was a copy taken by myself and collated with the origi-
nal by Mr. Pickering and myself together, it may be de-
pended upon for accuracy as much as any other in the
book.
It is the more valuable as belonging to a class of letters
which would not in ordinary cases be kept, and of which
therefore we have few specimens. And it is one of those
which are of great use to a biographer, as helping him
to form a notion of the ordinary manners and familiar
behavior of the man in his private relations: of which
as it is impossible to endeavor to follow a man closely
through his life without making some kind of picture to
one's self, it is of no small importance that the picture
shall be something like the original.

r
*
488 DEATH OF MR. BETTENHAM OF GRAY'S INN. [Book III.
"Like men, like manners: like breeds like, they say.
Kind nature is the best: those manners next
That fit us like a nature, second hand :
Which are indeed the manners of the great."
Judging from this and other letters of the same kind
that have come down to us, I imagine Bacon's manners
to have been "the best.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL HIS VERY LOVING COUSIN,
SIR THOMAS POST. HOBBY.¹
GOOD COUSIN, -No man knoweth better than your-
self what part I bear in grief for Mr. Bettenham's de-
parture. For in good faith I never thought myself at
better liberty than when he and I were by ourselves to-
gether. His end was Christian and comfortable, in par-
fite memory and in parfite charity, and the disposition of
that he left wise, just, and charitable.
For your bonds or bills, I take it they be three,
amounting to about nine score pounds; I left them with
Mr. Peccam, because of your nearness to me. But I
shall be able and will undertake to satisfy your desire
that you may take time till Allhallow tide. But then
we shall need it, lest we subject ourselves to importunity
and clamor. Your privy seal is forthcoming; but no
money was by Mr. Bettenham by it received; and if the
conduit run, we will come with our pitcher, as you
write.
Your loving congratulation for my doubled life, as you
call it, I thank you for. No man may better conceive
the joys of a good wife than yourself, with whom I dare
not compare. But I thank God I have not taken a thorn
out of my foot to put it into my side. For as my state
is somewhat amended, so I have no other circumstance
of complaint. But herein we will dilate when we meet;
which meeting will be much more joyful if my Lady
1 Youngest son of Bacon's aunt Elizabeth (now Lady Russell) by her first
marriage.
1605-1607.] DEATH OF MR. BETTENHAM OF GRAY'S INN. 489
bear a part to mend the music: to whom I pray let me
in all kindness be commended. And so I rest
Yours assured,
This 4th of August, 1606.
FR. BACON.
Sir Thomas, I suppose, had borrowed money of Mr.
Bettenham upon bond, and delivered to him as part of
the security his privy seal, that is, his claim upon the
Exchequer for money lent to the King. If "the conduit
ran," that is, if repayment of such loans was obtainable,
the executors would apply it towards the liquidation of
the debt.
Bacon afterwards erected a memorial to his friend; a
seat under the elms, where they had been used to walk
and talk together.
"There was still standing in 1774," says Pearce in
his "History of the Inns of Court," "an octagonal seat
covered with a roof, within the circle of trees on the
west side of Gray's Inn Gardens, with the following
inscription :
Franciscus Bacon,
Regis Solicitor generalis,
Executor testamenti Jeremiæ Bettenham,
nuper Lectoris hujus hospitii,
viri innocentis, abstinentis, et contemplativi,
hanc sedem in memoriam ejusdem Jeremiæ
extruxit. An. Dom. 1609."
The inscription is given in Seward's "Anecdotes of
Distinguished Persons," vol. iv., p. 332, but not in the
lapidary form, and I am not aware that the original
shape has been preserved. It is a pity that somebody
did not think of taking a sketch of the octagonal seat be-
fore it was removed.
Bacon's temperate estimate of the result of his recent
"experiment solitary" touching matrimony, I take
•
2
•
:

3.
•
490 TRANSLATION OF ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [Book III.
rather as evidence that "his wisdom likewise remained
with him," than that the experiment had been unsuccess-
ful, so far.
I am not aware of any other writing of his that seems
to belong to the summer vacation of 1606 (in which
much time would probably be spent in preparations for
the debates on the Union that were to be the special
business of the coming session, and his leisure would be
sufficiently occupied with his "Experientia Literata"
and “Interpretatio Naturæ," a work which he had an-
nounced as in progress), unless it be a letter to Dr. Play-
fere about the translation into Latin of the "Advance-
ment of Learning." The letter has no date; nor is the
date of much consequence; but it was certainly written
some while" after November, 1605, when the book
was published, and certainly not after July, 1608; and
August or September, 1606, being as likely a date as any,
I will place it here.
66
Dr. Playfere was Margaret Professor of Divinity at
Cambridge, and a distinguished preacher and Latinist;
and if it be remembered that in those days all scholars
could read Latin, and few except Englishmen could read
English, the letter (which was preserved by Bacon him-
self in his Register-book, and first printed in the "Resus-
citatio ") may be left to speak for itself without further
introduction.
A LETTER OF REQUEST TO DR. PLAYFERE, TO TRANS-
LATE THE “ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING" INTO LATIN.
MR. DOCTOR PLAYFER, A great desire will take a
small occasion to hope and put in trial that which is de-
sired. It pleased you a good while since to express unto
me the good liking which you conceived of my book of
the Advancement of Learning; and that more signifi-
cantly (as it seemed to me) than out of courtesy or civil
respect. Myself, as I then took contentment in your ap-
1
1605-1607.] TRANSLATION OF ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 491
probation thereof so I should esteem and acknowledge
not only my contentment increased, but my labors ad-
vanced, if I might obtain your help in that nature which
I desire. Wherein, before I set down in plain terms my
request unto you, I will open myself what it was which
I chiefly sought and propounded to myself in that work;
that you may perceive that which I now desire to be
pursuant thereupon. If I do not err (for any judgment
that a man maketh of his own doings had need be spoken
with a Si nunquam fallit imago), I have this opinion,
that if I had sought my own commendation, it had been
a much fitter course for me to have done as gardeners
use to do, by taking their seeds and slips, and rearing
them first into plants, and so uttering them in pots, when
they are in flower, and in their best state But for as
own;
much as my end was merit of the state of learning to my
power, and not glory; and because my purpose was
rather to excite other men's wits than to magnify my
I was desirous to prevent the incertainness of my
own life and times, by uttering rather seeds than plants:
nay and furder (as the proverb is) by sowing with the
basket, than with the hand. Wherefore, since I have
only taken upon me to ring a bell to call other wits to-
gether (which is the meanest office), it cannot but be
consonant to my desire, to have that bell heard as far as
can be. And since that they are but sparks, which can
work but upon matter prepared, I have the more reason
to wish that those sparks may fly abroad, that they may
the better find and light upon those minds and spirits
which are apt to be kindled. And therefore the private-
ness of the language considered wherein it is written, ex-
cluding so many readers, (as, on the other side, the ob-
scurity of the argument in many parts of it excludeth
many others), I must account it a second birth of that
work, if it might be translated into Latin, without mani-
fest loss of the sense and matter. For this purpose I
་།
1

492
DR. PLAYFERE.
[BOOK III.
could not represent to myself any man into whose hands
I do more earnestly desire that work should fall than
yourself; for by that I have heard and read, I know no
man a greater master in commanding words to serve
matter. Nevertheless, I am not ignorant of the worth of
your labors, whether such as your place and profession
imposeth on you, or such as your own virtue may, upon
your voluntary election, take in hand. But I can lay
before you no other persuasions than either the work it-
self may affect you with, or the honor of his Majesty, to
whom it is dedicated, or your particular inclination to
myself; who, as I never took so much comfort in any
labors of my own, so I shall never acknowledge myself
more obliged in any thing to the labor of another, than
in that which shall assist this. Which your labor if I
can by my place, profession, means, friends, travel, word,
deed, requite unto you, I shall esteem myself so straitly
bound thereunto, as I shall be ever most ready both to
take and seek occasions of thankfulness. So leaving it
nevertheless salva amicitia (as reason is) to your own
good liking, I remain.
Dr. Playfere appears to have undertaken the task with
alacrity. But nothing came of it; whether because his
way of doing it did not suit Bacon's taste, or because of
his own failing health, is uncertain. Tenison, who had
means of knowing through Dr. Rawley, gives the follow-
ing account of the matter. "The Doctor was willing to
serve so excellent a person and so worthy a design; and
within a while sent him a specimen of a Latin transla-
tion. But men generally come short of themselves when
they strive to outdo themselves. They put a force upon
their natural genius, and in straining of it crack and dis-
able it. And so it seems it happened to that worthy and
elegant man. Upon this great occasion he would be
over-accurate; and he sent a specimen of such superfine
•
1605-1607.]
THE INSTRUMENT OF UNION.
493
Latinity, that the Lord Bacon did not encourage him to
labor further in that work, in the penning of which he
desired not so much neat and polite, as clear, masculine,
and apt expression."
99
On the other hand there is a memorandum in the
"Commentarius Solutus," dated 25th July, 1608,-
"Proceeding with the translation of my book of Ad-
vancement of Learning: hearkening to some other, if
Playfere should fail,” — which proves that at that time
Dr. Playfere was still engaged upon the translation,
though Bacon had begun to doubt whether he would get
it done. And as he died only half a year after, at the
age of 47; and I gather from Fuller's short notice of him
among the worthies of Kent, that during the last year or
two he was not the man he had been; it seems probable
that the apprehension of failure was suggested by the
state of his health or faculties, and the failure caused by
his death.
Parliament met again, according to appointment, on
the 18th of November; and the Commons, having heard
the King's speech and received a written answer to their
petition of Grievances an answer quite in accordance
with the King's previous promise, and in which if there
was anything unconstitutional, all the recognized con-
stitutional authorities (Coke included) were as much im-
plicated as the King― addressed themselves at once to
the business of the Union.
The "Instrument of Union" (agreed upon by the
Commissioners in December, 1604) having been laid be-
fore the House and read, the question was how to proceed.
Bacon was for proceeding by conference between the two
Houses.
But the immediate resolution of the House was not
exactly in accordance with this recommendation. They
resolved not only to distribute the subject into branches,
but to divide the branches between the two Houses; pro-
491
HOSTILE LAWS: ESCUAGE: COMMERCE.
[BOOK III.
posing to leave matters concerning Naturalization and
the Borders to the Lords, and reserve to themselves
matters concerning Commerce and Hostility. This pro-
posal being however declined by the Lords, and on recon-
sideration immediately withdrawn, the ultimate conclu-
sion was according to Bacon's suggestion. The two
Houses were to meet and confer upon the whole ques-
tion; and for this conference the former Committee, with
some new members added, was instructed (29th Novem-
ber) to prepare.
The Committee began with the hostile laws; in which
they met with no material difficulty, until they came
across the point of Escuage; which being "a kind of
Knight's service, called service of the shield, whereby the
tenant holding was bound to follow his Lord into the
Scottish or Welsh wars at his own charge," a question
was raised whether this should not now cease; no such
wars being any longer possible. The difficulty, I sup-
pose, lay in this: that Escuage was one of "the flowers
of the Crown," closely allied to Wardship, and did actu-
ally perhaps give a right of wardship in the case of such
tenants; and it was considerable enough to suggest the
expediency of a special conference upon it with the Lords.
What part Bacon had taken on it in the Committee the
notes in the Journals are not full enough to explain; but
the House had so much confidence in him as a represent-
ative, that he was selected, along with the Attorney, the
Solicitor, and the Recorder, "to propound and maintain
argument at the Conference," and though he asked to be
excused, as being unprepared, he was nevertheless ordered
to stand. In the mean time, however, another division of
the Committee had been discussing the article of Com-
merce, which presented more formidable difficulties; and
had not been able to come to any conclusion. On this
point their reporter declared (9th December) that he had
"nothing to report but confusion and disorder."
At a
$
1605-1607.] DEBATE ON GENERAL NATURALIZATION.
495
subsequent conference on the subject with the Lords
(17th December), some sharp speeches passed, and the
merchants of London having set down in writing their
reasons against community of trade with the Scots, "were
roundly shaken up by the Lord Chancellor." And as it
was now close upon Christmas, the Houses were ad-
journed on the 18th, and further proceeding postponed
till after the recess.
Time, which is the best medicine for some kinds of
discontent, aggravates others by giving the discontented
more opportunities of talking them over and knowing
one another's minds. And when the House met again
on the 10th of February, these minor arrangements,
bearing upon the relations of two separate nations under
the same crown, were set aside for awhile to make room
for a protest against the project for making those two
nations one; towards which the first step was a general
naturalization.
The Commissioners of Union appointed in 1604 had
agreed to recommend the passing of two acts: one for
the Post-nati, the other for the Ante-nati. For the Post-
nati, an act declaring "that all the subjects of both the
realms born since the decease of Elizabeth. . . . and
that shall be born hereafter.
...
are by the common
law of both realms, and shall be for ever, enabled to ob-
tain, succeed, inherit, and possess all lands, goods, chat-
tels, honors, dignities, offices, liberties, privileges and
benefices, ecclesiastical or civil, in Parliament and all
other places of the said Kingdoms, and in every one of
the same, in all respects and without any exception
whatever, as fully and amply as the subjects of either
realm respectively might have done or may do in any
sort within the Kingdom where they were born." For
the Ante-nati, a new law, enacting "That all the subjects
of both realms, born before the decease of the late Queen,
may be enabled and made capable to acquire, purchase
.
•
*
**
L
496 DEBATE ON GENERAL NATURALIZATION.
[Book III.
inherit succeed use and dispose of all lands, inheritances,
goods, offices, dignities, liberties, privileges, immunities,
benefices, and preferments whatsoever, each subject in
either kingdom with the same freedom and as lawfully
and peaceably as the very native and natural born sub-
jects of either realm, where the said rights states and
profits are established; notwithstanding whatsoever law
statute or former constitution heretofore in force to the
contrary other than to acquire possess succeed or inherit
any office of the Crown, office of Judicature, or any voice
place or office in Parliament: all which to remain still
free from being claimed, held or engaged by the subjects
of the one kingdom within the other, born before the de-
cease aforesaid. . . . until there be such a perfect and
full accomplishment of the Union as is mutually desired
by both realms;" it being nevertheless understood that
the proposed act was not to interfere with the prerogative
of the Crown "to denizate, enable, and prefer to such
offices, etc., all English and Scottish subjects born before
the decease of the late Queen as freely, as sovereignly
and absolutely, as any his M. royal progenitors Kings of
England and Scotland might have done at any time here-
tofore."
The meditations of the recess had conjured up a host
of terrors at the prospect of thus opening the gate and
letting the lean kine into the fat pasture. And those
who had been so little alarmed by the proposition during
the first week after it was laid before them, that they de-
sired to leave it entirely to the consideration of the other
House, were now disposed to set all the rest aside and
make their special stand upon this. The feeling broke
out first on the 13th of February, in a vehement invec-
tive from the member for Bucks against Scotland and
Scotchmen in general; which, though received "with a
general amazement," was allowed at the time to pass
without reply or remark. Next day "the article of the
1
1605-1607.] QUESTION OF LAW AS TO THE POST-NATI.
497
instrument concerning Naturalization was read" in the
House by the Speaker; and the debate opened with a
speech against it from Nicholas Fuller, who seems to
have been recognized as leader of the opposition, in so
far as that office can be said to have been recognized in
those days; in which the apprehensions that so readily
suggest themselves to Englishmen when invited to alter
anything found fluent and forcible utterance. England,
it seems, was already full to overflowing in all her de-
partments; there was no room for a Scotchman any-
where. The universities had more men who deserved
preferment than could find it. London was so pestered
with new buildings, that they had a bill then before the
House to restrain them. The merchants had made no
profit for three years past. Trades were all overstocked.
And so forth. His argument appears to have occupied
the whole day, and it was not till the 17th that it re-
ceived a reply; when Bacon delivered a speech, in which
he took strong ground in favor of general naturalization.
What was the exact form of the question before the
House when this speech was made, the Journals do not
distinctly explain. Bacon evidently wished to turn it
upon the consideration of general policy, — or "conven-
iency" as it was called,-which was indeed the proper
province of the Legislature; for upon the question what
the existing law was, they had no authority to decide.
And if they were satisfied that a general naturalization
was expedient, though not prepared to affirm that the
Post-nati were naturalized already, there was no need to
meddle with the question. It would have been easy to
frame the Act so as either to include them under the
new law or leave them to the operation of the old. But
the truth was that they were not prepared to admit any
of the Scots to the benefits of naturalization, except upon
conditions; and therefore it was necessary to put a veto,
if possible, upon the doctrine that the Post-nati were en-
VOL. I.
32
498
QUESTION OF LAW AS TO THE POST-NATI. [Book III.
titled to admission as the law stood. Hence, as the de-
bate went on, it shifted more and more from the point of
"conveniency" towards the point of law; and ended at
last on the fifth day in an instruction to the Committee
to discuss it among themselves and "report their opinion
on that point only." Their opinion was that the Post-
nati were not naturalized de jure; and upon their report
to that effect (23d February) — the House having in the
mean time passed a resolution (21st February) that it
was not fit to handle the point of conveniency before
the point of law were determined, — they were again in-
structed "to collect and set down in writing the heads
of the arguments. . . . touching the point of law," and
to consider who should be deputed to maintain each of
the heads at the conference with the Lords, which was
to be the next step.
""
The object of the conference being to establish a po-
sition which Bacon had just declared to be in his opinion
"contrary to reason of law, contrary to form of pleading
in law, and contrary to authority and experience of law,'
he could not be asked to take a part in maintaining it by
argument. But he was not the less fit to set forth the
state of the question at issue, and to explain the proposed
method of discussion; and accordingly the part assigned
to him by the House was, "to make the entrance, by way
of preamble and insinuation of the order of argument
appointed to the Committee;" to which was added the
duty (which proved a very heavy one) of making report
of the proceedings to the House the next morning.
It seems that at these conferences between the Lords
and the Commons, the rule was that the Commons should
stand all the time, bareheaded; which was found "a
great hurt and danger to the health of their bodies, and
almost impossible for the strongest body to endure, con-
sidering the length of conferences and the crowding and
thronging there." On this occasion, the conference hav-
1605-1607.]
DISTINCTION OF POST-NATI AND ANTE-NATI. 499
ing lasted very long and been continued through two
successive days, the fatigue appears to have been too
much for Bacon's constitution, and on the next morning
he was ill and unable to appear in the House. But on
Saturday, the 28th of February, he began his report;
which "being,” says the Journal, "very long, consisting
of many divisions and particulars, and interlaced with
much variety of argument and answer of both parts, the
time would not allow him to finish, and so was deferred
till Monday morning." On that day he reported
"the
answer of my Lords the Judges" to the reasons advanced
by the Commons for concluding that Scots born since the
King came to the Crown were not naturalized in Eng-
land; the Judges holding that they were.
They had now had their conference upon the point of
law, and received their answer; which left them in a dif-
ficulty. For upon the question what the law was, though
they might dispute, the Judges must decide. It was now
plain that the Judges would decide against them; and
what more could they do? To do nothing, would be to
leave all the Post-nati in unconditional possession of the
privileges to which, except upon conditions, they thought
it dangerous to admit them. To alter the law by an Act
of Parliament would be the constitutional remedy; but
it would require the consent of the Lords and the King,
which was more than they could expect. To proceed to
a conference on the "conveniency" of naturalization,
would seem to imply acquiescence in the decision on the
point of law. Long debates followed both in the House
and in the Committee, and some fine fencing with the
Upper House as to the terms on which the next confer-
ence should be held; the Lords pressing for a conference
"concerning naturalization in general," the Commons
trying to commit them to an interpretation of the words
which should imply not only that the discussion was to
be confined to the question of "conveniency and limita-
500
THE DISTINCTION IN COMMON LAW.
[BOOK III.
tions," but that the cases of the Ante-nati and the Post-
nati were not to be treated as distinct; failing in which,
they proceeded to instruct their own Committee to de-
cline the discussion if such distinction were insisted on.
And on these terms a conference was held on the 14th of
March; at which nothing could be concluded because of
that restriction.
Of this proceeding it is easier to understand the motive
than the justification; for the distinction which they in-
sisted upon ignoring was, upon any view of it, wide and
important. The question was, under what "limitations "
it was 66 convenient "that the Scotch should be admitted
to the privileges of naturalization. Now the Post-nati
had, and the Ante-nati had not, a claim by the common
law to be admitted to those privileges without any limi-
tation; and though the claim might be disputable, it was
not one which the House of Commons had any authority
to decide. Whatever privileges therefore they bestowed
upon the one, with whatever limitations accompanied,
were a benefit and free gift; whatever limitations they
imposed upon the other, with whatever privileges ac-
companied, were a disfranchisement.
Had they consented to recognize the distinction of the
cases, they might have had much to say upon the incon-
veniences involved in the interpretation of the law upon
which the distinction rested. One consequence it certainly
had which might on some other occasion have proved
very mischievous, and against which it might have been
judicious to provide then by legislation; for if true in
this, it would be true in all cases of union under the
same crown without distinction. And if that had been
the point at which they aimed, it does not seem probable
that they would have met with any obstruction. But
that was a remote and contingent evil, which (though
used to reinforce other objections) was not, I think, the
real motive of their opposition. It was the second objec-
1605-1607.]
THE END SOUGHT IN ANOTHER WAY.
501
tion touched in Bacon's speech,¹ namely, that the Scotch
not being subject to the English laws, it was unfair that
they should be endowed with English privileges and liber-
ties, which really stood in the way; and this objection
was even stronger as against the Post-nati, who in another
generation would be all, than against the Ante-nati, who
had only a life interest in the matter. When they found
therefore that the authorized interpreters of the law con-
sidered the Post-nati to be in actual possession of all the
privileges belonging to naturalization, and that the Up-
per House was too wary to engage in a proceeding by
which they might seem to commit themselves to an oppo-
site opinion, they tried to get at their end another way.
Many were in favor of some action to be taken by the
Lower House for the purpose of invalidating or counter-
acting the Judges' opinion on the point of law; and for
a few days after the abortive conference on the 14th of
March, Salisbury was so apprehensive of some such issue,
that (the Speaker being luckily unwell at the time) he
contrived to prevent the formation of a House by advis-
ing him to be too ill to attend. The delay, or the diffi-
culty, or reflection upon the many mischiefs which such a
course might bring, gave an advantage to more prudent
counsels; and another solution of the problem, which
appears to have been already suggested by Sir Edwin
Sandys, began to find favor.
The objection was good only as against an imperfect
union. “The cause of this imperfectness," said Sandys
to the Lords at the last conference, was "in the Scottish
nation; by inserting this clause into the body of their
Act, that their fundamental laws or privileges should not
be altered, and that therein they have expressed their
meaning to be, to stand a free monarchy."
The desire of the Commons of England, he added,
was for "a perfect union; which with consent of the
1 On the 17th of February, in favor of general naturalization.
502
MOTION FOR UNION OF LAWS.
[BOOK III.
Scottish nation might be effected; and by the direction
and aid of their Lordships such an one might be set
down as would be both honorable and profitable to both
nations."
Let the two nations, in short, be united under the same
law, and the objection to naturalization would disappear.
The suggestion (though to any one who had fairly
considered the number and the nature of the questions.
that would have to be encountered it could not but ap-
pear equivalent to an indefinite postponement of the
whole thing) had a fair sound and show; and the de-
bates drew gradually nearer and nearer to this solution
of the present difficulty; till at last, on the 28th of
March, upon occasion of a new and pressing message
from the Lords, inviting them to a free discussion “ on
the point of conveniency only, without reference to any-
thing that had been said before, or that might be said, in
point of law," it took the shape of a distinct motion.
Upon which Bacon, who, I need hardly say, had no
part assigned him in the last abortive conference, and
does not indeed appear to have taken any share in the
discussions since his long report on the 2d of March,-
came forward to oppose it.
This was on Saturday, on which day the House separ-
ased once more without coming to any conclusion; and on
Monday, while they were still in dispute upon the answer
they should send to the proposal of conference, for which
the Lords were still waiting, they were informed that the
King desired to speak to the House the next day; upon
which further proceeding was of course suspended.
The next Sunday was Easter Day, and the King being
well informed as to the tenor of the debates, both in the
Houses and the Committees, thought it expedient, before
they separated for the usual recess, to review the state of
the question, to explain once more his own views and
wishes, and to answer the objections that had been urged
བསྶཾ
THE KING'S SPEECH TO THE COMMONS.
503
1605-1607.]
on the other side. His speech is given at full length in
the Commons' Journals, and though long is well worth
reading, if it were only that we may understand why the
men of his own time formed so different an estimate of
his character and abilities from that which is now popular.
His audience, looking forward into an uncertain future
peopled with the phantoms of danger which the English
imagination is so quick in inventing, would be much less
disposed to assent to his conclusions than we are, who
know by experience that those dangers were not sub-
stantial. But no man of judgment could have listened
to that speech without great respect both for the ability
and the temper of the speaker; and I think no man can
read it now without feeling that wherever he was at va-
riance with the popular judgment of his own time, it was
by being in advance of it. It may be well doubted in-
deed whether it is ever prudent in a King to come for-
ward as a disputant in a matter which must be decided
by votes: but the very disposition to put it upon the
issue of reason and fair argument was an evidence of
simplicity and humanity, and could not but give a favor-
able impression of the personal character of the man.
His object, of course, was to persuade them to pass at
once an Act of general naturalization, by way of prepar-
ation for the more perfect union which he hoped would
follow in due season; and the adjournment of Parliament
for three weeks immediately after, gave time for the
speech to make its impression. But though it was well
received, and though there was a general desire on all
sides to avoid anything which would discontent the King,
the dislike which was felt to the proposition itself could
not be got over so. It was not the Crown they were jeal-
ous of, but their fellow-subjects. When they met again
they took the business up where they had left it, and
opinion still ran so strongly in favor of a union of laws
as an indispensable preliminary to a general naturaliza-
504
CLOSE OF THE SESSION.
[BOOK III.
tion, that it was found impracticable to proceed further
with the measure. Once more the King tried the effect
of a speech to remove misunderstandings; but it was not
so well considered as the last; and having too much of
complaint and remonstrance in it, it touched the feelings
of the House in a tender place, provoked remonstrance
in return, and led again to further explanations. And
upon these terms the project was allowed for the present
to drop.
But though naturalization, so far as the House of Com-
mons could forbid it, was indefinitely postponed, laws
made for a state of hostility between the two kingdoms
might be repealed; and there being now no hope of good
from further Conferences, a bill was next brought in
"for the continuance and preservation of the blessed
union of the Realms of England and Scotland, and for
the abolishing and taking away of all hostile laws, stať-
utes, and customs that might tend to disturb or hinder
the same.
""
It was not, however, till the 30th of June that this Bill
was finally passed by both houses; several questions hav-
ing been raised which led to much dispute, especially
concerning the provision to be made for the trial of of-
fenders on either side of the border; but though Bacon
had a good deal to do with them, both as reporter and as
actor in the subsequent proceedings, I do not find any
record of the part he took personally on the points dis-
puted. I shall only add therefore that the act was set-
tled at last to the general satisfaction of both houses, and
took its place in the Statute-book- the principal fruit of
the long session.
For his own personal fortunes, the most important
event of the session was his promotion at last to the
Solicitorship, which took place silently on the 25th of
June. Croke, who was King's serjeant, was made a
Puisne Judge of the King's Bench. Doderidge became
"!
-
*
1605-1607.]
"THE GREAT INSTAURATION.”
505
King's serjeant in his place; and Bacon succeeded as
Solicitor, an office which he reckoned to be worth
£1,000 a year.
It was probably about this time that Bacon finally
settled the plan of his "Great Instauration," and began
to call it by that name. In 1605, he had (as I have
already mentioned) digested the subject in his head into
two parts: 1st, the art of experimenting, that is, of fol-
lowing an investigation with intelligence from one experi-
ment to another, which is in fact the art that Science
has been practicing ever since, and by means of which
she has achieved all her successes; and 2dly, the art of
what he called "Interpretation of Nature," which was
to furnish the key of the cipher, and in revealing the
secret of all natural operations to give command of all
natural forces.
This last, as he came to look into it more closely, he
proposed to distribute into three books: the first to pre-
pare the way for the reception of the new method by
removing the impediments which he anticipated in the
state of opinion and the errors of the mind; the second,
to expound the method itself; the third, to exhibit the
results of the method applied.
Further consideration (with reference, however, not
merely to the exposition of the argument, but also to the
better preservation of his own various philosophical writ-
ings) led him to enlarge the plan still further. A review
of the existing stock of human knowledge of which
the "Advancement of Learning" was a sketch, and the
"Descriptio Globi Intellectualis" was meant, I think, for
the beginning—was to form the first part. The second
was to include a complete exposition of the new method
or organum; together with all the preliminary matter
designed to prepare the way for it. The third was ap-
propriated to the collection of natural and experimental
history, Phenomena Universi, - the observed and as-
1
506
IDOLS OF THE TRIBE, ETC.
[BOOK III.
certained facts of nature, upon which the new method
was to work. A fourth was to exhibit examples of the
application of the new method in certain selected sub-
jects, — examples of a true induction carried through all
its processes, from the observation of the facts to the dis-
covery of the "form." A fifth was to contain certain
provisional speculations, suggested by the way, on sub-
jects to which, for want of completer knowledge, the true
method could not yet be applied. The sixth and last
was to set forth the new philosophy itself, the book of
Nature laid open and explained, -Natura illuminata,
sive Veritas Rerum.
How much of this he expected to execute or see ex-
ecuted, it would be vain to conjecture. But though the
accomplishment of the last part seemed to him, even in
his most sanguine moods, remote beyond all definite an-
ticipation, a thing reserved for "the fortune of the
human race" to achieve in some future century, there
is no doubt that (given workmen enough and time
enough) he believed the whole to be practicable by
human means, and himself to be capable of making a
beginning which would lead in due course to the accom-
plishment of the whole. The difficulty was to find the
workmen, the first step towards which was to find hearers
and believers. And upon this point the taste he had
taken of men's opinions during the last year or two ap-
pears to have given him some new light. It had shown
him that besides the "fallacies or false appearances
enumerated in the "Advancement of Learning"-illu-
sions inseparable from our mental condition, and after-
wards distinguished as Idols of the Tribe, the Cave, and
the Market-place- there was another class of idols to be
dealt with, which, though not inherent in the constitu-
tion of the mind itself, nor inseparable from the condition
of man's life, were nevertheless extant and potent in fact,
and stood more obstinately in the way. These were the
..
।་
1605-1607.]
"COGITATA ET VISA."
507
received systems, in the belief of which men had been
brought up; the doctrines taught in the schools; the
orthodoxies, in short, of philosophy. To clear the way
for the reception of his own views, it was requisite in the
first place to shake men's faith in these: and it was at
this time that the "pars destruens" was designated for
the foremost place in the great argument, and the re-
dargutio philosophiarum (afterwards called the caution
against the Idols of the Theatre) for the foremost place
in the pars destruens. Of this he made two or three
different sketches, in different forms and styles; experi-
ments, I think, as to the most effective manner of treat-
ing the subject; the dates and even the order of which
we have no means of ascertaining with precision. But
there is one which I am inclined to regard as represent-
ing at once the earliest and the latest form in which this
part of the argument was set forth; the form in which,
as being most natural to him, he probably began, and in
which for the same reason, after making trial of the
others, he certainly rested: although the copy in which
it has been preserved may be very different from the
first draft, which would naturally be altered and enlarged
in successive revisions. This however is only a guess.
What we know is, that some time before February,
1607-8, he had shown to Sir Thomas Bodley a treatise
entitled "Cogitata et Visa;" containing (according to
Sir Thomas)
many rare and noble speculations," and
"abounding with choice conceits of the present state of
learning and worthy contemplations of the means to pro-
cure it ; " the general purport of which was to "condemn
our present knowledge of doubts and incertitudes," to
recommend the "disclaiming of all our axioms and max-
ims, and general assertions, that are left by tradition
from our elders unto us;" "and lastly to devise, being
now become again as it were abecedarii, by the frequent
spelling of particulars to come to the notice of the true
66
?
}
508
",
"COGITATA ET VISA."
[BOOK III.
generals, and so afresh to create new principles of
sciences," and "a knowledge more excellent than now
is among us (I quote Bodley's own expressions, though
not the aptest that might be devised), and that among
the pieces published by Gruter in 1653 there is one en-
titled "Cogitata et Visa de Interpretatione Naturæ, sive
de Inventione Rerum et Operum," consisting of a series
of meditations upon the various causes which had hin-
dered man in acquiring the command of nature; among
which the incompetency of the received systems of phi-
losophy and the received methods of demonstration and
inquiry, hold a prominent place: a treatise to which all
Bodley's remarks apply well enough, as far as they go.
The letter which contains them, and which was printed
in the "Remains" (1648), is dated February 19, 1607;
that is, 1607-8; and helps to date the following letter
from Bacon to Bodley, which, being evidently written
before he had heard from him, and at the beginning of
a vacation, must be referred either to July or December,
1607. It does not much matter which, for the inference
on either supposition must be that the "Cogitata et Visa "
represents substantially the state of his philosphical en-
terprise in the summer of that year, and the part of the
task upon which he was then at work. I say substan-
tially because the allusion to "the lodgings chalked up,
whereof I speak in my preface," implies either that the
treatise was not then exactly in the shape in which it
has been preserved, for it has no preface, nor is there
anything in it about the chalked lodging, or that it
had been accompanied with other papers on the same
subject: which indeed seems very probable: and that
one of them was the "Partis Instaurationis Secundæ
Delineatio et Argumentum," in which (as printed by
Gruter) such a passage does occur.
1605-1607.]
LETTER TO SIR THOMAS BODLEY.
509
A LETTER TO SIR THO: BODLEY, AFTER HE HAD IM-
PARTED TO SIR THO: A WRITING ENTITULED COGI-
TATA ET VISA.
SIR, - In respect of my going down to my house in
the country, I shall have miss of my papers; which I
pray you therefore to return unto me. You are, I bear
you witness, slothful, and you help me nothing; so as I
am half in conceit that you affect not the argument; for
myself I know well you love and affect. I can say no
more to you but non canimus surdis, respondent omnia
sylva. If you be not of the lodgings chalked up (whereof
I speak in my preface) I am but to pass by your door.
But if I had you but a fortnight at Gorhambury, I would
make you tell me another tale; or else I would add a
Cogitation against Libraries, and be revenged on you that
way. I pray send me some good news of Sir Thomas
Smith, and commend me very kindly to him. So I rest.
Bodley might help Bacon with supply of books; but,
for ideas, it must have been manifest from the moment
his answer came that no light could be looked for from
that quarter; not even the light which is given by in-
telligent opposition. Nothing can be weaker or more
confused than his reasons for dissent, unless it be his ар-
prehension of the question at issue.
Bacon had the more leisure for the prosecution of
these studies at this time, because Salisbury, though he
had consented at last to help him to the Solicitorship,
showed no disposition to use him (as he would no doubt
have been very willing to be used) in higher matters
than those immediately belonging to his office. It might
have been supposed that as his services in the House of
Commons had been found so valuable to the government,
his advice and assistance in all measures which were
likely to come under discussion in the House of Commons
=
་བ
510
PROCLAMATIONS DRAWN BY BACON.
[BOOK III.
would have been sought and prized. But whether it
was that Salisbury preferred the service of men who
could not be suspected of being more than servants; or
that he knew Bacon's modes of proceeding (and his ends,
perhaps, likewise) to be different from his own; or that
he feared to admit such an eye too near the secrets of
his purposes and policy (for he was at this time privately
receiving an annual pension from the King of Spain)¹ —
certain it is that no traces of confidential consultation on
matters of general policy are to be found among the
papers of either; no memorials or letters of advice ad-
dressed by Bacon to Salisbury, like those "Considerations
touching the Queen's Service in Ireland" which he
volunteered in 1601; but only a few letters and drafts
on matters falling directly within the duty of the So-
licitor General.
Among these, however, there are two drafts of Proc-
lamations, which, though not included in Bacon's own
collection, or otherwise acknowledged as compositions of
his own, have marks of his hand upon them, sufficient, I
think, to entitle them to a place here. They are pre-
served among the State Papers now at the Rolls House;
where, if they were drafts submitted to Salisbury for
consideration, they would naturally be. They are both
written in the hand of a scribe known to have been
in Bacon's employment about this time: both are cor-
rected here and there, and both are docketed, in his own
hand; and one of them is largely corrected in the hand
of Salisbury. The presumption, therefore, is that the
papers in their original form were of Bacon's own com-
position. Whether of his own suggestion also, or drawn
up by direction of the government, it is not possible to
say.
The first bears upon a question of considerable interest
in the history of the struggle between the Royal Prerog-
1 Gardiner, ii., p. 356.
I
1605-1607.]
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING JURORS.
511
ative and the Courts of Law, the question as to the
Jurisdiction of the Provincial Council in Wales.
The other relates to a subject of more general interest,
and looks to me very much like an original suggestion of
Bacon's own, appreciated and acted on by the King, but
(like many of his ideas) too far in advance to take effect
upon popular opinion. The "British jury" is one of our
most venerated institutions, and has done and continues
to do an incalculable amount of good service. Yet it can-
not be said that on a disputable question of fact the de-
cision of a jury carries much authority in men's opin-
ions; or that our veneration for the institution protects it
from ridicule, when the verdict is distasteful. This could
hardly be, the gravity of the office considered, — if
the capacity of the men to whom it is usually committed
were not felt to be somewhat below the general level.
And it is very difficult to say why a business of such im-
portance should be thought below the dignity of the best
instructed classes, or entrusted to any below the best
procurable. The truth, I suppose, was simply that the
service being troublesome and unattractive, the higher
classes used their influence to be relieved from it; and
fashion is too strong for kings and laws. The following
draft, written in a hand known to have been in Bacon's
employment about this time, and corrected and docketed
in his own, was an attempt to introduce a better fashion ;
which, had it succeeded, would have greatly raised the
value of a jury's verdict, and produced effects, direct and
indirect, more than can be easily estimated, and cer-
tainly beneficial. The form in which it was originally
drawn being that which best represents Bacon's idea (if
I am right in supposing it to be of his composition), I
print it from the manuscript as it stood before Salisbury
touched it.
R
:
:.

512
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING JURORS.
[BOOK III.
A PROCLAMATION FOR JURORS.
As it is a principal part of our kingly office to admin-
ister justice to our people, by which also our throne and
sceptre is established and confirmed; so we conceive that
we may truly and justly thus far reap the fruit of a good
conscience, as to be witness to ourselves, and likewise to
report ourselves not only to our Privy Council, which are
acquainted with our more secret cares and cogitations,
and our Judges and Learned Counsel, with whom we
have had more frequent conference than princes formerly
have used, but generally also to all others our loving sub-
jects (in regard of some our public actions), whether in
these few years of our reign (notwithstanding we could
not be at our first entrance so well informed as now we
are in the laws and customs of this our realm) we have
not exercised and employed our princely care, power, and
names for the furtherance and advancement of justice
duly and speedily to be administered to all our loving
subjects. For it appeareth that we have increased the
number of our Judges in our principal benches, to avoid
the delay of the subject by equality of voices; and we
have moderated and appeased some differences and con-
tentions amongst our Courts in point of jurisdiction, to
avoid double vexation of suits; and have from time to
time in person given more strait charge to our Judges
before their circuits and visitations, and received again
from them more strait accounts and reports at their re-
turns, than heretofore hath been accustomed. And as
we have been thus careful of our Courts and Judges of
the Law, so may we nowise omit to extend our princely
care to another sort of judges (though they be termed
by another name) upon whom lieth a principal part of
judicature, which are the Judges of the Fact, and by the
custom of the realm called Jurors, which try and decide
the issues and points of fact in all controversies and
1605-1607.]
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING JURORS.
513
causes; a matter no less important to the sum of jus-
tice than the true and judicious exposition of the laws
themselves. For even that judgment which was given
by a King in person, and is so much commended in the
Scriptures, was not any learned exposition of the law, but
a wise sifting and examination of the fact, where testi-
mony was obscure and failed: unto which sort of Judges
also the law of this our realm doth ascribe such trust
and confidence, as it neither ties them to the evidence
and proofs produced, neither disableth any witness (ex-
cept in case of perjury) to be used; but leaveth both
supply of testimony and the discerning and credit of tes-
timony wholly to the Juries' consciences and understand-
ing, yea, to their private knowledge. But herewithal we
consider with ourselves that this proceeding by Jury,
which is one of the fundamental laws and customs of
this our island of Britanny, and almost proper and sin-
gular unto it in regard of other nations, as it is an ex-
cellent institution in itself (as that which supplieth in-
finite delays which grow upon exceptions to witnesses;
spareth rigorous examination by torture in cases capital;
and doth not accumulate upon the same persons the
trust and confidence to the Judges both of law and fact);
so nevertheless it is then laudable and good when those
persons which serve upon the said Juries are men of
such quality, credit, and understanding, as are worthy
to be trusted with so great a charge as to try men's lives,
good names, lands and goods, and whatsoever they hold
dear in this world. Wherein we cannot but observe and
highly commend the wisdom of the laws of this our realm
(taking them in their own nature before abuses crept in)
which have in this point so well provided. For as in the
trial of any Peer of this realm, the law doth not admit
any to pass upon him but Peers, so in the trial of any of
the Commons (which the law beholdeth but as one body)
there is no person whatsoever (were he of our Counsel of
VOL. I.
33
井
​S
514
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING JURORS.
[BOOK III.
Estate) by rule of law exempted, in respect of his quality
and degree only, from the service upon Juries; whereas
on the contrary part the law hath limited that none serve
except he have a certain proportion of freehold; and yet
notwithstanding time and abuse have so embased the es-
timation of this service, and altered the use thereof, as
sheriffs, under sheriffs, and bailiffs do not only spare gen-
tlemen of quality in a kind of awe and respect; but do
likewise for lucre, gain, and reward, forbear to return
many of the ablest and fittest persons; so that the ser-
vice oftentimes resteth upon such as are either simple
and ignorant, and almost at a gaze in any cause of dif-
ficulty; or else so accustomed and inured to pass and
serve upon Juries, as they have almost lost that tender-
ness of conscience which in such cases is to be wished,
and make the service as it were an occupation or prac-
tice. Upon these grounds, therefore, and upon advice.
taken with our Privy Counsel and conference with our
Judges and Counsel Learned, we have resolved to give
remedy to these abuses, and to restore the trial of this
our realm of England to the ancient integrity and credit.
And therefore we do hereby publish and declare to all
our loving subjects, that they take light from us of the
greatness of this service; and that the gentlemen of the
best quality do put away that vain and untrue conceit
that they are any ways disgraced or disesteemed, if they
be called upon or used in this part of Justice to be Judges
of the fact; knowing that all judgment is God's princi-
pally, and by him committed unto us within the precinct
of our kingdoms as his minister upon earth, to whom like-
wise they are subordinate; and we do likewise charge and
command all our Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Undersheriffs,
Bailiffs, and others to whom it may appertain, to take
knowledge that it is our express will and pleasure that
all persons which have freehold according to the law
(other than such as we shall by our express letters patents
1605-1607.]
PROCLAMATION CONCERNING JURORS.
515
privilege and discharge, which we mean to do moderately,
and but upon special circumstances, and upon a reason-
able fine as hath been used) shall be returned to serve
upon Juries as occasion shall require; foreseeing also that
they use a respect that the same persons be not too oft
returned and troubled; but that the service may rest
more equally and indifferently upon the whole body of
freeholders in every county, the one to ease and relieve
the other; wherein nevertheless our intention is not but
that there be a discretion retained in returning the more
principal persons upon the greatest causes. And above
all we do strictly admonish and prohibit our said sheriffs
and the undersheriffs and bailiffs, that they presume not
at their uttermost peril directly or indirectly to take any
manner of reward, profit, or gratification whatsoever for
sparing or forbearing any person whom the law doth
allow to be returned upon the service aforesaid, upon
pain to be punished with all severity according to our
laws, and also as contemners of this our Royal prohibi-
tion.
The idea was approved by the Government, and the
proposed Proclamation, with many additions, omissions,
and alterations, chiefly by Salisbury, but without sub-
stantial variation, so far as I can see, was published by
authority on the 5th of October, 1607. The seed fell
upon soil too hard trodden by custom to nourish and
make it grow; and it is not likely that it will ever bear
fruit in old England. But reason does not die, and it
may be that in some younger community the principle
may yet be taken up by "the common sense of most,"
and the function of the petty Jury may come to be re-
garded as equal in dignity to any.

BOOK IV.
7
ま
​CHAPTER I.
A. D. 1607-1609.
ÆTAT. 47-49.
THOUGH the King's bounty flowed much more freely to
those about him, where he could see and share the pleas-
ure it gave, than to those who were doing his heavy work
in their chambers or in the Courts, yet the working-men
came in for some of the crumbs. Near the end of a list
of "fees granted by his Majesty" before the 5th of
August, 1607, I find the following entries:-
"A Baron of the Exchequer increased 1131 6, 8d
"A Judge of the King's Bench increased
“A Judge of the Common Pleas increased
"Sir Francis Bacon
188' 6ª 8ả
188' 6º 8ª
1002
But it was one thing to obtain a grant of the money, and
another to obtain the money itself. For the King him-
self must get it before he can give it, and the royallest
mind of bounty cannot make it come forth from the
place where it is not. The Exchequer not being able to
answer all such demands, questions necessarily arose which
should be answered first, and these would naturally lead
to disputes with the officers. It was probably this grant
of £100, or some other grant of the same kind, that led
to the "letter of expostulation" which comes next, and
which gives us an opportunity of seeing Bacon a little out
of temper.
Sir Vincent Skinner was an officer of the receipts of
the Exchequer, whose duty, I suppose, it was to pay out
of those receipts such sums as were claimed upon due
1607-1609.]
DELAYS IN THE EXCHEQUER.
517
warrant. It seems that some objection had been made
to Bacon's claim, but that being referred to the Lord
Treasurer it had been overruled in his favor: and when,
in spite of this, the payment was still delayed, he thought
himself ill-used, and wrote to remonstrate: with what
effect I cannot say the letter itself (which comes from
his own collection) containing all I know of the matter.
A LETTER OF EXPOSTULATION TO SIR VINCENT SKINNER.
-
SIR VINCENT SKINNER, I see that by your needless
delays this matter is grown to a new question; wherein
for the matter itself, if it had been stayed at the begin-
ning by my Lord Treasurer and Mr. Chancellor, I should
not so much have stood upon it; for the great and daily
travels which I take in his Majesty's service either are
rewarded in themselves, in that they are but my duty, or
else may deserve a much greater matter. Neither can I
think amiss of any man, that in furtherance of the King's
benefit moved the doubt, that know not what warrant
you had. But my wrong is, that you having had my
Lord Treasurer's and Mr. Chancellor's warrant for pay-
ment above a month since, you, I say, making your pay-
ments belike upon such differences as are better known
to yourself, than agreeable with due respect and his Maj-
esty's service, have delayed it all this time, otherwise than
I mought have expected either from our ancient acquaint-
ance, or from that regard which one in your place may
own to one in mine. By occasion whereof there ensueth
to me a greater inconvenience, that now my name, in
sort, must be in question amongst you, as if I were a man
likely either to demand that that were unreasonable (or
be denied that which is reasonable); and this must be,
because you may pleasure men at pleasure. But this I
leave with this; that it is the first matter wherein I had
occasion to discern of your friendship, which I see to fall
to this; that whereas Mr. Chancellor the last time, in my
Į
..
1
·
.4
•
518
TOBY MATTHEW'S CONVERSION.
[BOOK IV.
man's hearing, very honorably said that he would not dis-
content any in my place, it seems that you have no such
caution. But my writing unto you now is to know of
you where now the stay is, that I may do that which is
fit for me without being any more beholding unto you,
to whom indeed no man ought to be beholden in these
cases in a right course. And so I bid you farewell.
24th Dec. 1607.
FR. BACON.
It must have been about this time that Bacon made
acquaintance with a new kind of mortification. His
young friend, Toby Matthew, for whom he seems to have
had a strong personal affection, heightened by sympathy
in intellectual pursuits and respect for his judgment and
abilities, had left England in April, 1605, to travel in
Italy; where, falling into the company of Roman Cath-
olics, and seeing some of the miracles of the Church,
he became a convert, was absolved from his heresies, and
reconciled. Though he continued to correspond with
Bacon while the process of conversion was going on, he
does not appear to have consulted him or admitted him
into his confidence in that matter. But on his return to
England, apparently in the summer of 1607, when his
license to travel expired, Bacon was the first person of
note with whom he sought communication. What passed
between them we are not told; but the advice he received
would probably be that he should lay his case before the
Archbishop of Canterbury, as the man who had authority
to deal with such cases; and, accordingly, the next thing
we hear is, that he visited Dr. Bancroft. The result of
this visit was, that he was "committed to prison;" by
which I understand that he was detained in safe custody
lodged probably in Lambeth Palace, with somebody to
keep watch over him—while his case was under consider-
ation. And this was in August, 1607; for I find it stated
!
1607-1609.]
TOBY MATTHEW'S CONVERSION.
519
in a letter from Carleton to Chamberlain, of the 27th of
that month, that "Tobie Matthew hath leave to go as
often as he will with his keeper to Sir Francis Bacon,
and is put in good hope of further liberty.'
A letter in Matthew's collection (p. 22), entitled
"Sir Francis Bacon to a friend, about reading and giv-
ing judgment upon his writings," was no doubt addressed
to himself, and belongs probably to this period. It seems
that Bacon had been expecting a visit from him, and,
being called away on business, wrote to put him off.
What the "writing" was, to which it refers, it is impos-
sible to infer from the terms. It may have been the
"Cogitata et Visa" in some of its shapes; or it may
have been a first sketch of the "In Felicem Memoriam
Elizabethæ" (which we know that Bacon did show to
Matthew when he was in England on this occasion), or
the "Imago Civilis Julii Cæsaris," or both. But that
which is interesting in it to us is equally interesting
upon any of these suppositions.
SIR, Because you shall not lose your labor this after-
noon, which now I must needs spend with my Lord
Chancellor, I send my desire to you in this letter, that
you will take care not to leave the writing, which I left
with you last, with any man, so long as that he may be
able to take a copy of it; because first it must be cen-
sured by you, and then considered again by me. The
thing which I expect most from you is, that you would
read it carefully over by yourself; and to make some
little note in writing, where you think (to speak like a
critic) that I do perhaps indormiscere; or where I do
indulgere genio; or where, in fine, I give any manner of
disadvantage to myself. This super totam materiam,
you must not fail to note; besides, all such words and
phrases as you cannot like; for you know in how high
account I have your judgment."
520
MATTHEW IMPRISONED FOR RELIGION.
[BOOK IV.
Matthew's case being in the mean time laid before the
King, it was thought expedient to offer him "the oath,"
which the King thought he would not refuse to take.
This it seems he could not do: whereupon he was com-
mitted to the Fleet prison by the Archbishop, and there
visited by various people of various kinds, among the rest
by Bishop Andrewes, with a view, I suppose, to his re-
conversion.
It must have been during this imprisonment, which
lasted till the 7th of February, that the next letter was
written, which comes from the principal collection in
Rawley's "Resuscitatio," and is the first I have found in
that collection which is not also contained in the British
Museum MS. (Additional, 5503). It had been printed
before in the “Remains; " but I infer from Rawley's in-
cluding it among those which profess to come from his
"Lordship's Register Book of Letters," that a copy had
been preserved by Bacon himself.
TO MR. MATTHEW, IMPRISONED FOR RELIGION.
MR. MATTHEW, Do not think me forgetful or al-
tered towards you. But if I should say I could do you
any good, I should make my power more than it is. I
do hear that which I am right sorry for; that you grow
more impatient and busy than at first; which maketh me
exceedingly fear the issue of that which seemeth not to
stand at a stay. I myself am out of doubt, that you
have been miserably abused, when you were first seduced;
but that which I take in compassion, others may take in
severity. I pray God, that understandeth us all better
than we understand one another, contain you (even as I
hope He will) at the least within the bounds of loyalty
to his Majesty, and natural piety towards your country.
And I intreat you much, sometimes to meditate upon the
extreme effects of superstition in this last Powder Trea-
son; fit to be tabled and pictured in the chambers of med-
15:
1607-1609.]
MATTHEW RELEASED.
521
itation, as another hell above the ground; and well jus-
tifying the censure of the heathen, that superstition is far
worse than atheism; by how much it is less evil to have
no opinion of God at all, than such as is impious towards
his divine majesty and goodness. Good Mr. Matthew,
receive yourself back from these courses of perdition.
Willing to have written a great deal more, I continue-
Such power, however, as Bacon had, he used, it seems;
and with better effect than he had ventured to promise.
For I find from the note of the contents of Dr. Nelligan's
manuscript, that before Matthew was delivered out of
the Fleet prison, "Sir Francis Bacon interceded for him."
With whom he had used his influence, and how much
his intercession had to do with what followed, the note
does not say. But of the circumstances and conditions
of his liberation we have the following account in a
letter from Chamberlain to Carleton, dated 11th Febru-
ary, 1607-8:
"Your friend, Tobie Matthew, was called before the Council-
table on Sunday in the afternoon, and, after some schooling,
the Earl of Salisbury told him that he was not privy to his im-
prisonment, which he did no ways approve, as perceiving that
so light a punishment would make him rather more proud and
perverse. But in conclusion they allotted him six weeks' space
to set his affairs in order and depart the realm; and in the mean-
time willed him to make choice of some friend of good account
and well affected, where he may remain. He named Mr. Jones,
who has accepted, and is not a little proud of his prisoner."
We shall often hear of him again, for during the whole
term of his banishment a correspondence by letter was
kept up and it was in the last year of Bacon's life that
he added to his Essays, at Matthew's special request, an
Essay on Friendship, in commemoration of an intimacy
which had been tried by adversity and prosperity on both
sides, and endured to the end without cloud or interrup-
tion on either.
522
BACON AND SALISBURY.
[Book IV.
Unless Bacon's intercession on behalf of Matthew was
made through Salisbury (which there is no reason to
suppose), he had not at this time any particular favor to
seek or expect at his cousin's hands. He had been made
Solicitor General only half a year before, and there was
no prospect at present of any vacancy to which he would
have aspired. A letter therefore addressed "to the Earl
of Salisbury upon a new year's tide," on the first occa-
sion of the kind "when he stood out of the person of a
suitor," must be referred to the 1st of January, 1607-8.
It is difficult to understand the true import of letters
of compliment, without an acquaintance (more familiar
than, at the distance of three centuries, it is easy to at-
tain) with the fashions of the time in such matters. The
style of courtesy is as much a matter of fashion as the
style of dress; and forms which in one generation it
would be unmannerly to omit, in the next it would be
vulgar to use. But comparing this with other letters of
Bacon's own on similar occasions, we may gather some-
thing as to the peculiar relation which subsisted be-
tween the two men. Bacon was two years older than
Robert Cecil, and when they were both boys must have
seemed his superior: but the position and influence to
which the younger of the cousins succeeded so early had
long ago altered that, and entitled him to be addressed
as the greater man: which Bacon understood perfectly
well, and did not fail to remember. But what he did not
understand was how far his cousin was really his friend.
For Cecil had that frank, easy, unceremonious manner,
which, when used as a disguise, is of all disguises the most
impenetrable. More than once Bacon had seen reason
to think that he was secretly acting against him, and
once at least had told him so. But Cecil never allowed
himself to take offense about words; and the temper of
his answer, if it did not satisfy Bacon, at least disarmed
him. Nevertheless, though he continued to study his
1607-1609.] LETTER TO THE EARL OF SALISBURY.
523
humors and watch his times, with a strong desire to win his
confidence, he never succeeded in acquiring any real inti-
macy. Always on the alert to offer help, always prompt
and cordial in acknowledging such favors as he received,
always addressing him as a kinsman naturally interested
in his fortunes, he never seems to have been on easy
terms or a clear understanding with him, but to have
felt always that he was treading on doubtful ground and
must advance with caution. At this time he not only
stood for the first time "out of the person of a suitor,"
—that is, in a position in which he had not any particular
favor to ask or expect, but he had for the first time
received from Salisbury substantial help in his profes-
sional advancement. This might be the sign of a change
of disposition, and if rightly responded to, the beginning
of a more cordial intercourse. Might, or might not.
And I suppose it was the doubt felt by Bacon on that
point which guided him into the peculiar mixture of
familiarity and formality which distinguishes this letter:
an overture of service and affection, which, if acceptable,
might help to bring on the intimacy he desired; if not,
might pass for a New Year's compliment.¹
It comes from Bacon's own collection.
A LETTER TO THE EARL OF SALISBURY, OF COURTESY
UPON A NEW YEAR TIDE.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP, Having no
gift to present you with in any degree proportionable to
my mind, I desire nevertheless to take the advantage of
a ceremony to express myself to your Lordship; it being
the first time I could make the like acknowledgment,
when I stood out of the person of a suitor. Wherefore
I most humbly pray your Lordship to think of me, that
never
1 "Salisbury," said Ben Jonson to Drummond of Hawthornden,
cared for any man longer than he could make use of him." B. J.'s Convers.
with W. D., edited by D. Laing for Shaksp. Society, 1842, p. 24.

"
524
CASE OF THE POST-NATI.
[Book IV.
now it hath pleased you, by many effectual and great
benefits, to add the assurance and comfort of your love
and favor to that precedent disposition which was in me
to admire your virtue and merits, I do esteem whatsoever
I have or may have in this world but as trash, in compar-
ison of having the honor and happiness to be a near and
well accepted kinsman to so rare and worthy a counsel-
lor, governor, and patriot. For having been a studious
if not curious observer, as well of antiquities of virtue
as late pieces, I forbear to say to your Lordship what I find
and conceive; but to any other I would think to make
myself believed. But not to be tedious (in that which
may have the show of a compliment) I can but wish.
your Lordship many happy years; many more than your
father had; even so many more as we may need you
more. So I remain.
Parliament did not meet again in 1608, having been
further prorogued upon apprehension or pretense of the
"sickness" then prevalent in London; and Bacon's prin-
cipal public services were performed in the Courts and
belong to the professional department.
Of these the most considerable was his argument in
the case of the Post-nati, delivered before the Lord Chan-
cellor and all the Judges, assembled in the Exchequer
Chamber. It was a great case, and arose in this way.
The proceedings in the last session had left the question
of Naturalization not only unsettled, but subject to a
grave doubt in point of law: the Judges having, as ad-
visers of the Upper House, given opinion that the Post-
nati were already ipso jure naturalized; while the Lower
House had resolved that they were not, and declined to
naturalize them by Statute, until other measures had
been passed which must necessarily have taken a long
time. This doubt affected the rights of all persons born
in Scotland within the five years last past, and to be born
1607-1609.]
CASE OF THE POST-NATI.
525
hereafter; and as neither an extra-judicial declaration of
the Judges nor a mere resolution of the House of Com-
mons was competent to settle it, it was a matter of great
importance to obtain an authoritative and conclusive
decision. To procure this, a grant of lands in England
was made to an infant born in Scotland since the King's
accession, of which a disseizin having been effected, an
action of common law was brought by his guardians to
recover possession, together with a suit in Chancery for
the discovery of evidence. The decision in both cases
turned upon the question whether he were an alien or
no; and in both, after hearing, was "adjourned into the
Exchequer Chamber, to be argued openly there; first by
the Counsel learned of either party, and then by all the
Judges of England." Bacon's argument, probably the
greatest of his forensic speeches, certainly the most inter-
esting to non-professional readers, appears to have been
delivered some time before Easter Term (which began
on the 13th of April), 1608.
The result was a judgment in favor of the plaintiff,
delivered by the Lord Chancellor and twelve of the
Judges, two only dissenting; a judgment very satisfac-
tory to those who thought with Bacon that there could
be no secure union between the two countries without
naturalization, and that the sooner it took place the
better; for it settled that part of the question which was
most important. The remaining marks of separation
might retard the union between the English and Scotch
of that generation, but in the next generation they would
have disappeared altogether. With those who wanted
no such union and apprehended evil to England from this
communication of privileges, the decision was of course
unpopular; for it imposed upon their children the very
state of things which they had refused for themselves,
and from which they would have saved their posterity if
they could. That this unpopularity was so great and so
526
FOREIGN POLICY.
[BOOK IV.
general as to make it from that time "useless to call upon
Parliament to consider any measure connected with the
union," is an imputation upon the patriotism of the Com-
mons of those days which I hope is unjust. But even if
the result of the proceeding did involve so grave an in-
convenience, it is difficult to see how the Government
could have avoided it. To say that a doubtful question
of law, involving the private rights of innumerable per-
sons, ought not to have been referred to the highest legal
tribunal in the land, is to say that the forms of judicial
procedure ought to have been regarded as useless, and
the Judges as incompetent for their function. And as it
was never suspected that any undue influence was used
to limit the freedom of the defense, or to bias the de-
cision, it is strange that in these times, when nobody
wishes the decision reversed or regrets the effects of it,
any doubt should be felt as to the propriety of the pro-
ceeding through which it was obtained.
"Never any
case," says Coke, "was adjudged in the Exchequer
Chamber with greater concordance and less variety of
Et sic determinata et terminata est ista
opinion..
quæstio."
There is another writing of Bacon's which appears to
have been composed about this time, and (though its
form and the use to which he turned it afterwards caused
it to be classed among the literary works) might perhaps
with as much propriety have been placed here; for there
can be little doubt that it was closely connected with the
business of this particular time, and meant to bear upon
the solution of the most important state-problem with
which the statesmen of the time had to deal.
The day had come when the ordinary revenues of the
Crown were no longer adequate to the ordinary require-
ments of government. And the day was fast coming
when it would not be possible any longer to disguise that
fact. Now if the King could not carry on the Govern-
1607-1609.]
FOREIGN POLICY.
527
ment constitutionally without help from the House of
Commons which the House might constitutionally refuse,
it followed that the House of Commons had potentially
a veto upon all the proceedings of the Government. If
this be done (they might say), or if that be not done,
we shall stop the supplies. The transfer of so great a
power to new hands, coming suddenly, and coming (as
it probably would) with a struggle, was a revolution
which could not be anticipated without serious apprehen-
sion: for in a constitution like the English there was no
knowing how much disturbance it would cause. The
best chance of averting or postponing the discovery
would be to engage the country in some action which
would carry the sympathies of the people with it. Now
the pacific character of James's government was probably
up to this time the most unpopular thing about it; and
though the time was happily past when
To win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier as he lived a King," 1
could be approved by sane men as a fit object of royal
ambition, yet there were many questions still alive,
questions concerning religion, trade, colonization, etc.,-
in which the English people would have been proud to
see their Government asserting a foremost position among
the nations, and an English House of Commons would
have heartily supported them. And had Bacon been
called into council at this time, he would apparently have
advised a bolder foreign policy—a policy aiming, not
indeed at direct aggression, but at an assertion of influ-
ence and of a right to interfere in the settlement of Euro-
pean questions. The occasion and the manner would of
course depend upon the course of events, which could not
be foreseen. But the prudence of a general inclination
of the national policy in that direction would depend
upon the measure of forces, and upon the question
1 Richard III., act iii., sc. 1.
528
FOREIGN POLICY.
""
[BOOK IV.
whether England had the means of carrying it out suc-
cessfully. To show that she might safely aspire to such
a position, Bacon now commenced an elaborate treatise,
to be submitted to the King, upon the conditions of na-
tional greatness; tending to prove- and it will not be
thought that our subsequent history has discredited his
judgment — that England, Scotland, and Ireland, united
under one Crown, possessed all those conditions in a
higher degree than any of the great monarchies of the
world did at the beginning of their career; and that the
vision of "a sun rising in the west was as likely to be
verified in Britain as in any other kingdom of Europe.
Though this treatise was never finished according to the
design (probably because the idea was not taken, and the
measures shortly after adopted by Salisbury were at vari-
ance and incompatible with it), I do not find that Bacon
ever lost his own faith in the opinion which suggested it.
As the internal disputes which threatened to divide the
kingdom against itself grew more formidable, and exter-
nal accidents offered chances of taking up the policy
which he had indicated, we shall find him now and then
recurring to it; and whoever cares to understand how he
would have endeavored to bring about a reconciliation
between the conflicting interests of the Crown and the
Commons, would do well to turn to his fragment "On the
True Greatness of Britain," and read it in connection.
with the Parliamentary proceedings of the last session.
That it had a real connection with them, will appear from
some remarkable memoranda in the paper which comes
next in order of date; a paper to which I have made many
references already.
To avoid loss of time and opportunity from not remem-
bering things at the moment they were wanted, Bacon
appears to have been in the habit of reviewing all his
businesses from time to time, and setting down in a note-
1 Works, vol. ii., Part III., p. 51.
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
529
book or on a sheet of paper whatever he wished to have
ready for recollection. These books or sheets he would
again from time to time revise, striking out such notes
as were obsolete, and transferring the others to a fresh
book. Such at least was his plan of action. How early
he began, or how regularly and how long he persevered
in it, we have no means of knowing. The old books
would naturally be destroyed as they were superseded by
the new, their contents being presumably of too private
and confidential a nature in many parts for other people's
reading. One of them, however (probably because it
contained among other things notes for a philosophical
investigation, which was never finished), was preserved
among his papers, and coming into the hands of Arch-
bishop Tenison, found a resting-place in his library in St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields, where I found it. Of its authen-
ticity there can be no question, being written throughout
in his own hand. It appears to have been the work of
seven consecutive days (Saturday omitted) at the begin-
ning of the long vacation of 1608; the first page being
dated July 25, and the last (except a page or two added
afterwards) July 31. The occasion which led him at
this time to take so complete a survey of all his affairs
was probably the falling in of a considerable addition to
his fortune. On Saturday, July 16, 1608, William Mylle,
Clerk of the Star Chamber, died, and Bacon, who had
held the reversion since October, 1589, was sworn in the
same day. He reckoned the place as worth £2,000 a
year. This, added to the profit derived from his Solici-
torship and his wife's fortune (both accessions of the
year before), trebled his income, and made it a fit time
to settle his arrangements for the future in accordance
with his increased means. As the pages all bear a run-
ning title of Transportata, that is, notes transferred from
a former note-book, I suppose that he had looked through
all the memoranda of this kind that he had by him, and
VOL. I.
34
K
=
1
530
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
gathered whatever he judged worth keeping into this
volume. He would probably alter and add while he
transcribed, as well as omit; and therefore, though many
of the notes may have been of older date, we cannot dis-
tinguish the old from the new, and must treat them gen-
erally as belonging to this period. He calls the collection
Commentarius Solutus, which may be translated "A book
of loose notes: ""
and describes it as "like a merchant's
waste-book; where to enter all manner of remembrance
of matter, form, business, study, touching myself, service,
others; either sparsim or in schedules, without any man-
ner of restraint; only this to be divided into two books:
The one Transportata ex commentario vetere, containing
all manner notes already taken in several paper books fit
to be retained (except it be such as are reduced to some
more perfect form); The other Commentarius novus."
What we have here belongs to the first book only. Of
the other I have not found any traces anywhere.
He appears to have devoted the first day to the setting
down of everything he could think of for the husbanding
of his income, the improvement of his fortunes, and the
arrangement of his business; how to have command of
ready money in case he wanted it; how to maintain and
increase his credit with the King and the Earl of Salis-
bury (now Lord Treasurer) by acceptable service; what
subjects to attend to, what advices to offer, what cases to
be prepared in; how to increase his practice, and draw
business to his own office; what suits to move for him-
self, and how to give evidence of his superiority to com-
petitors in diligence, zeal, and capacity; how to improve
his personal acquaintance with the King and the great
councillors, and especially how to make himself useful
and agreeable to Salisbury; what arrangements to make
for the better administration of his new office, and how
to meet anticipated objections; what preparations to
make for the next Parliament; what measures to take
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
531
for the improvement of his lands and leases, and for the
regulation of his household; what houses to think of for
his dwelling (being now in want of a dwelling-place in
the neighborhood of London, fitter for his new condition
than his chambers in Gray's Inn), and other matters of
the same kind. After which he proceeds to review the
contents of his cabinet, and reconsider the distribution
and order of his various books and papers; namely, five
books of compositions, four of notes relating to the same,
nine on matters connected with his profession, four on
matters connected with his office, five relating to his per-
sonal affairs. And this appears to have been his first
day's work, Monday, — 25th July.
On Tuesday, after suggesting to himself a more con-
venient arrangement of some of his note-books, he turns
his attention to the fortunes of the Great Instauration ;
but this also in the way of business and management.
The great object being to get help of able and influential
persons in the furtherance of the work, he begins by con-
sidering who are likely to take an interest in it, and how
they may be attracted. The King he had already ap-
pealed to in the "Advancement of Learning," and as
there is no allusion to him here in connection with it, I
suppose he had satisfied himself that there was no hope
of effectual help from that quarter. The Prince was still
a boy, but something might perhaps be made of him in
due time. Now Sir David Murray was keeper of his
privy purse, and Sir Thomas Chaloner had the charge of
his person and household. Sir Thomas was an old ac-
quaintance of Bacon's own, and though he does not ap-
pear to have known Sir David, he knew a man of the
name of Russell who depended upon him,'
skilled in distillations, separations, and "mineral trials,
who, if he could be interested in the cause, might be a
means of interesting the others. Then there was Sir
Walter Ralegh, whose activity, confined within the walls
66
""
a man
99
532
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
of the Tower, found exercise in experiments of chemis-
try; and along with him the Earl of Northumberland, a
professed patron of learning; both of them intimately
connected with Thomas Harriot, the great mathemati-
cian; valuable allies all, if they could be procured. Who
else? The men whose profession brought them most
into contact with natural science were the physicians;
though for the most part they kept the beaten way, and
stood by the received rules of their art. William Har-
vey, a young man of thirty, had been elected the year
before a fellow of the College of Physicians, and was ris-
ing into distinction. But the great discovery which has
made his name so famous was of much later date, and
if Bacon was acquainted with him at this time, of which
I find no evidence, he could not hope for much help
or sympathy from so orthodox an Aristotelian. The
likeliest he could think of that day were Paddy and
Hammond, the Court physicians, whose names will per-
haps be remembered hereafter in connection with that
note; though I do not find that anything came of it.
Meantime Russell (the man of distillations and separa-
tions already mentioned) and Poe (who was Salisbury's
physician) might help him with collections of experi-
ments in their art, and (being judiciously cultivated)
with information as to the tastes of such great persons as
they attended. Then for men of general learning, there
was the Archbishop of Canterbury," single," there-
fore a man whose means were available for public ob-
jects; "glorious," therefore one who might be attracted
by the greatness of the enterprise, and " believing the
sense," that is (I suppose) willing to learn from nature
and experience as well as from the schools. Could any
impression be made upon him? Bishop Andrewes had
already shown himself interested in Bacon's general spec-
ulations, and was to some extent, it seems, a believer in
experiment. He had wealth to bestow, and being single
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
533
might bestow it on mankind; was obviously, therefore,
a man to be engaged if possible in the great work.
"Learned men beyond seas were also to be thought of,
but no name is suggested. Nor does he appear to have
been able to think of any one else in particular, upon
whom he could count as yet for effectual assistance by
wit or purse or power or sympathy, unless it were his
own nephew Edmund Bacon, eldest son of his half-
brother Sir Nicholas, who seems to have shown a taste
for science, and whose acquaintance he begins by remind-
ing himself to cultivate.
So far, the prospect did not seem very encouraging.
The bell he had rung "to call other wits together" had
attracted but a small company. Yet the work, though
it might be designed by one man, could not be accom-
plished, nor even materially advanced, without the co-
operation of many; and means must be thought of to
find them, and draw them in. This was to be done in
two ways: one, by appealing to men's reason and imag-
ination through a general exposition of the grounds of
hope, and a general indication of the results that might
be hoped for; the other, by exhibiting (if possible) a
sample of the work itself, in some one positive and sub-
stantial discovery, made out by patiently following the
true method of inquiry through all its processes to its
legitimate conclusion.
With a view to the first of these, he had already com-
posed his "Cogitata et Visa," which traverses all the
ground, and he must think of the fittest persons to whom
he should "impart" them. Upon which thought follows
a page of notes for points to be remembered in treating
that argument, and queries as to the best way of setting
it forth; in which it is easy to trace the germ of several
subsequent writings, which, passing through various in-
termediate forms, developed at last into the first book of
the "Novum Organum." But the "
But the "Cogitata et Visa"
534
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
was designed to be an introduction to a specimen of the
true method applied, and resulting in some "axiom;"
and for this purpose he had selected three special sub-
jects of investigation: Motion, Heat and Cold, and Sound.
The appearance of vibration perceptible in the common
actions of heat and sound had probably suggested to him
that they were modes of motion; and that if we could
thoroughly understand the nature of motion itself we
should have the master-key to all such mysteries. Of
these three subjects he had begun to make what he called
"tables;" that is, collections of phenomena classified ac-
cording to his idea of the true method - the Filum Laby-
rinthi. And it would be well to postpone his attempt to
draw in the Bishops till one or other of these were "in
some forwardness.”
But this was only for an example of the way in which
the work must be done; the way in which the materials
when gathered must be used. How to procure help to-
wards the collection of the materials was to be thought
of. Two portions, as of most value for his purposes, ap-
pear to have been uppermost in his mind that day: 1st,
a history of marvels, that is of nature erring or varying
from her usual course; for "from the wonders of na-
ture is the nearest passage and intelligence towards the
wonders of art," and "it is no more but by following,
and as it were hounding, nature in her wanderings, to be
able to lead her back to the same place again;
"1 and
2d, a history of the observations and experiments of all
mechanical arts; for "like as a man's disposition is never
well known till it be crossed, nor Proteus ever changed
shapes till he was straitened and held fast, so the pas-
sages and variations of nature cannot appear so fully in
the liberty of nature as in the trials and vexations of
art." 2 But how were such histories to be obtained? Not
without "command of wits and pens." Could he himself
1 Advancement of Learning.
2 Ibid.
I
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
535
get transferred to some office which would give it? Some
office of authority, for instance, in some place devoted to
learning. And then he thought of Westminster, Eton,
Winchester, Trinity or St. John's in Cambridge, Mag-
dalen in Oxford; and of bespeaking some appointment
of the kind betimes, with the King and the chancellors
of the two universities, namely, Archbishop Bancroft
and Salisbury. Could he in the mean time, by his per-
sonal authority, awaken a hope and zeal in that direction,
inspiring confidence in others by assuming it himself,
like a prophet who comes in his own name? Could he
do anything with the young scholars in the universities?
for "it must be the post-nati," and not the grown-up
generation, from whom his help should come. How if
pensions could be assigned to a certain number of per-
sons, that they might devote themselves to the work?
Or how if a college could be erected for the special study
of the art of invention?-a college furnished with all
the requisite appliances, books, engines, vaults, furnaces,
terraces, workshops, allowances for travelling and experi-
ments, arrangements for intelligence and correspond-
ence with the universities abroad, orders and regulations
("mixed with some points popular, to invite many to
contribute and join "), honors and rewards to excite am-
bition; as, for instance, galleries "with statues of in-
ventors past, and spaces or bases for inventors to come,
waiting for the deserver; a rudiment, in short, of Solo-
mon's House?
""
But all these things depended on coöperation, and the
immediate business was to get on with that part of the
work which one man could do. And then he proceeded
to set down the scheme of a complete investigation, In-
quisitio legitima. "Inquisitio legitima de Motu," he had
written first; but thinking it better to begin with the
plan of a true inquiry in general, the general form to
be used in all inquiries alike, he struck out de Motu,
536
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[Book IV.
and finished his day's work with a list set out in order, of
the titles of the several sections and articles into which
such an inquiry distributed itself.
On Wednesday he addresses himself to the particular
subject of Motion, and sets down all the heads of inquiry
he can think of; which fill eleven pages of the manu-
script; a curious piece of labor, and interesting as a
specimen of his manner of proceeding at that time in
such investigations, and as an evidence of the hopefulness
of his nature, which could look without despair upon the
problem which presented itself; but otherwise, I sup-
pose, not now of any value.
Having thus devoted Monday to his own fortunes,
Tuesday and Wednesday to the fortunes of the human
race, he turns on Thursday to the consideration of the
fortunes of his country. Among the subjects which he
had noted on the first day as to be borne in mind in cor-
responding with Salisbury, one was (if I have interpreted
the abbreviated words rightly) the twofold policy to be
pursued in regard to "empty coffers and alienation of
the people;" how to find means to replenish the ex-
chequer without entering on courses which would excite
popular odium. And this appears to have been the sub-
ject of his meditation on Thursday morning. It was, no
doubt, the Sphinx's riddle of the day, upon the solution
of which followed sovereignty, upon the failure to solve
it civil war.
His meditations took the form of notes for
some memorial of advice, but of so private and confiden-
tial a nature that he seems to have been unwilling to
confide it even to his private note-book. For whereas
the notes of the last day and the day before, though
short, are written so as to be intelligible to anybody, the
notes for this political memorial or meditation or what-
ever it was to be, are set down so obscurely that their
import can only be guessed at here and there, and I sup-
pose nobody but himself could have supplied a full inter-
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
537
pretation. Thus much, however, may be collected from
them, that the problem he was considering was how best
to avoid the danger which threatened the Crown from the
poverty of the exchequer; and that the particular danger
which he apprehended was a revolt in Scotland. He
then proceeds to note "the greatness of some particular
subjects" or bodies, including the Privy Council, the
Lower House in Parliament, and the nobility of Scot-
land; but whether as elements of the danger, or resources
for encountering it, does not clearly appear. He thinks
of the office of Lieutenant-Constable, in connection ap-
parently with the possible "absence of the Prince, if he
come to the Crown, by wars." He speculates upon "con-
federacy and more strait amity with the Low Countries,"
with an aim, I imagine, to prepare for a bolder and more
active foreign policy. Then he turns to internal reforms:
the "limitation of jurisdictions," with a view, no doubt,
to quiet the disputes between the several courts of jus-
tice, which in this season of peace were disturbing the
tranquillity of the country; the compounding and col-
lection of new laws; the "restoration of the Church to
the true limits of authority since Henry VIII.'s con-
fusion; all measures fit to occupy the attention of Par-
liament, and divert it from the struggle with the Crown
for power.
It seems also as if he had thought of recom-
mending some abatement of the pretensions of the Crown
itself, and inspiring the King with an ambition to seek
his greatness in establishing a more popular form of gov-
ernment; for he speaks of "books in commendation of
monarchy mixed, or aristocracy," and of "persuading the
King in glory, Aurea condet sæcula." Then follows
something about the choice of fit persons to be assured,
something which I think must refer to an aspiration he
had conceived of succeeding himself to Salisbury's late
office of Secretary; and something about winning Salis-
bury "to the point of policy" meaning, probably, the
+
.
538
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
policy for avoiding popular disaffection ("Surdis mo-
dis," he adds, "cave aliter"). But the meditation con-
cludes with a memorandum to "finish his treatise of the
greatness of Britain, with aspect. ad Pol." (which means,
I suppose, with reference to the policy which the time
required), and with the two following notes, which seem
to explain intelligibly enough what that policy was. The
letters within brackets are inserted by conjecture.
"The fairest, without dis[order] or per[il] is the gen-
cr[al] persuad [ing] to K. and peop[le] and course of in-
fusing everywhere the foundat[ion] in this Isle of a
Mon[archy] in the West, as an apt seat, state, people for
it. So civilizing Ireland, furder coloniz[ing] the wild of
Scotl[and], Annexing the Low Countries.
"If anything be questio[ned] touch [ing] Pol[icy] to
be turned upon the ampliation of a mon[archy] in the
Royalty."
The best way, in short, to avoid the danger of popular
discontent, concurring with dependence of the Crown
upon popular support, was for the Crown to put itself at
the head of some movement which should carry the sym-
pathy and ambition of the people along with it. The
wars with Spain in Elizabeth's time, and the bountiful
loyalty which rushed to James's assistance upon the dis-
covery of the Gunpowder Plot, had proved how rapidly
distastes and disputes could be forgotten under the ex-
citement of a common passion; and a few years more
showed, in the ready opening of the national purse upon
the promise of a war for the recovery of the Palatinate,
that even when the disease had advanced much further
the efficacy of that remedy might still be trusted.
Having concluded his meditations upon the political
difficulty, he appears to have rested for a while. Return-
ing presently to his work, and having first set down a
few "forms," as he called them thoughts neatly ex-
pressed, which had, perhaps, occurred to him in the in-
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
539
terval and a few memoranda concerning his business
and the improvement of his fortunes, similar to those
which occupied him on Monday, he turns to the condi-
tion of his own dwelling at Gorhambury, which since his
father's death had been allowed, owing to his brother's
long absence and absorbing occupations and want of more
than all his money for other things, to fall out of repair.
Having now a fair prospect of an ample income, he could
afford to commence the trimming of his grounds accord-
ing to his taste; and he begins with "directions for a
plot to turn the pond-yard into a place of pleasure," by
enclosing and laying it out in broad walks and terraces,
with banks and borders set with choice trees and flowers,
and a lake in the middle with several islands in it, vari-
ously furnished and adorned for rest, exercise, and refresh-
ment, and pleasure of eye, ear, smell, taste, and spirits.
The design (which is written out without any abbrevi-
ations or obscurities, and in minute detail) appears to
have been, in part at least, carried out; for it was in the
neighborhood and view of these ponds that he afterwards
built Verulam House, his favorite residence for summer.
After a few more memoranda of improvements to be
made or thought of, which (with one exception to be no-
ticed afterwards) I need not particularize, he proceeds to
Memoria Valetudinis, - remembrances and observations
concerning his own health: a curious and minute record
of a contest with indigestion, and of the effects of it,
bodily and mental. These also are written out quite
fully and intelligibly, and may be read in the original
without help. To medical men they may probably be
interesting as a record of symptoms according to the pa-
tient's own interpretation of his own sensations, and as
revealing, through the better light of modern science, the
real state of Bacon's case and constitution. Unprofes-
sional readers will be content with inferring that he suf-
fered much from what we now call dyspepsia, accom-
|:
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2
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540
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
panied with a very sensitive nervous system, through
which it affected the imagination. Knowing to what the
disturbance was due, he did not yield to the delusion;
but the disorder to which he continually refers under the
name of "his symptom," is described as "melancholy,"
"doubt of present peril," "strangeness in beholding
and darksomeness," "inclination to superstition," "cloudi-
ness,” etc.; and must, I think, have been an affection
of the same kind as that from which Sir Walter Scott,
after his great troubles came upon him, suffered occasion-
ally. The resemblance of the description in the two cases
is indeed in some respects so striking that it may be
worth while to place them side by side.
"I have hinted in these notes" (writes Scott in his
Diary, March 13, 1826) "that I am not entirely free
from a sort of gloomy fits, with a fluttering of the heart
and depression of spirits, just as if I knew not what was
going to befall me. I can sometimes resist this success-
fully, but it is better to evade than combat it." Again,
on the 14th, "What a detestable feeling this fluttering of
the heart is! I know that it is nothing organic and that
it is entirely nervous; but the sickening effects of it are
dispiriting to a degree. Is it the body that brings it to the
mind, or the mind that inflicts upon the body?" And
again, later in the same day apparently, "It was the
fiddle, after all, was out of order, not the fiddlestick. I
walked out. . . Since I had scarce stirred to take ex-
ercise for four or five days, no wonder I had the mulli-
grubs. It is an awful sensation though, and would have
made an enthusiast of me if I had indulged my imagina-
tion on devotional subjects. I have been always careful
to place my mind in the most tranquil posture which it
can assume during my private exercises of devotion.”
Though Bacon does not mention any "fluttering of the
heart," the effect on the mind and spirits, the "inclina-
tion to superstition, and doubt of present peril," seems
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
541
to have been the same. But in one respect there is
a singular and unexpected contrast between the cases.
The attack which led Scott to mention it came upon
him when he was surrounded with melancholy circum-
stances, his fortune going backward, his wife dying,
his preparations for removal from Abbotsford; whereas it
was upon the amendment of his fortune that Bacon seems
chiefly to have experienced these sensations. "I have
found (he writes) now twice upon amendment of my
fortune, disposition to melancholy and distaste, especially
the same happening against the long vacation when com-
pany failed and business both; for upon my solicitor's
place, I grew indisposed and inclined to superstition.
Now, upon Mill's place, I find a relapse unto my old
symptom, as I was wont to have it many years ago, as
after sleeps, strife at meats, strangeness, clouds,” etc.
""
66
I am not sure that I know what he means by "after
sleeps," but there is another note concerning a habit of
sleeping out of season, which affords a striking illustra-
tion (though few people, I suppose, will think it a strange
one) of the tyranny of the body over the mind, even
where the desire to resist it is unquestionably sincere. "I
do find (he says) nothing to induce stopping more, and to
fill the head and to induce languishing and distaste and
feverous disposition, more, I say, than any manner of
offer to sleep at afternoon, either immediately after din-
ner or at four of clock. And I could never yet find res-
olution and strength in myself to inhibit it.” 1
The Memoriæ Valetudinis being finished, he proceeds-
still on the same day to draw up a complete inventory
of his property, real and personal, with all particulars, —
land, woods, houses, fees, offices, plate and jewels, debts,
expectations, — everything; each item separately valued
by estimate or by actual return, both as to its present
1 Sir W. Scott also mentions in his Diary the falling asleep for a few min-
utes in his chair, as a habit which grows upon him more than he could wish.
i
E
542
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
selling value and as to its annual proceeds. At the end
property of all kinds worth
£24,155, and in annual rev-
of the account he finds his
(“as in pretio to be sold ")
enue £4,975. To be set off against which, he further
finds that his debts of all kinds amount to
which those bearing interest rise to £2,925.
interest is not stated, nor is any estimate set
£4,481, of
The rate of
down of the
annual charge with which his income was burdened on
But at 10 per cent. it would be a little
that account.
under £300.
Having thus made out the present state of his property
as exactly as he could, he returns once more to politics
and business. One of the first memoranda which he had
set down on the 25th, was the "being prepared in the
matter of prohibitions," — which was a dispute of con-
siderable constitutional importance between the Courts
at Westminster and the Provincial Councils in Wales and
the North, as to their several jurisdiction. On this sub-
ject, and some others, especially the course to be taken
with Papists and Recusants, the King had held a special
conference with some of the judges as long ago as the
15th of February, 1607-8; of the effect of which Bacon
(who attended no doubt as Solicitor General and one of
the Learned Counsel) had made a note at the time. This
note he now transcribes at length, and as the report of a
more than ordinarily competent eye-witness on matters
which history still discusses with eager interest, it has a
historical value.
After this follow some notes of the same kind as those
with which he occupied himself on Monday: remem-
brances of points to be observed in his course of official
service, with a view not only to get the work effectually
done, but to make it show to the best advantage, and
recommend him personally to favor and advancement.
Now, upon some of the practices which he here suggests
and prescribes to himself, a question may be justly raised
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA
543
how far such an intention is consistent with a sound mo-
rality. And though my office is to report facts and not
to deliver censures, and I prefer for my own part to post-
pone judgment until the case is all before me, it may be
well perhaps to interpose a caution or two for the consid-
eration of those who cannot wait so long.
It must not be forgotten then, that we see here not
only thoughts and intentions half formed and imperfectly
explained, but we see the seamy side of them, which in
other cases is kept out of view. Bacon liked to call
things by their true names; and if he ever thought fit to
deceive his neighbor, did not think fit to deceive himself
by disguising the real nature of the act under a euphe-
mism. Now, most of the little arts of social intercourse
which are practiced generally and with general approba-
tion under the gracious names of tact, good-breeding, and
the like, are in fact modes of concealing truth or convey-
ing falsehood. A man who pretends to be listening with
earnest interest to a story which does not interest him at
all, and to which he is in fact not listening, means no
doubt to deceive the story-teller. A man who affects to
be sorry that he cannot do a thing which he is at the very
time delighted to find a plausible excuse for refusing to
do, means no doubt to deceive the proposer. The inter-
course of a civilized man with those whom he wishes to
stand well with is rarely free from acts, deliberately in-
tended and executed, which cannot be truly described
without epithets which no man likes to hear applied to
any acts of his own. The consequence is that they never,
or very rarely, are truly described. When such things
are done purely for the sake of others—to avoid giving
others pain- they are not called or thought wrong at all,
but counted among the minor virtues. Even when done
for a man's own benefit, if it be for an end which is itself
fair and reputable and unattainable otherwise, such as
a seat in the House of Commons, they are at least
•
#

.
544
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
freely allowed: a man is not thought worse of for being
known to have done such things, and probably would be
thought worse of, at least by one party, if he lost his
election through a conscientious determination to abstain
from them, a conscientious determination, for instance,
to exhibit in his canvass or on the hustings no emotion
which he did not feel. But in all these cases society
makes a compromise between its interests and its princi-
ples by looking only at the outside of the transaction and
ignoring its true name and real nature. If, therefore, we
are to make a just comparison between Bacon's morality
and other men's or our own, we must do one of two
things. We must either look only at the outward face
of his actions, without reference to the true names which
he gave them in his note-book, or we must supply the
true names of our own and not look at the outward face
only. It does not much matter which we do; and upon
a comparison made either way, I doubt whether it will
appear from any evidence supplied by this book that in
such matters he permitted himself a greater license in
practice than is still the fashion among respectable men
of business, or than he was himself in theory prepared to
avow and justify. His theory he has himself explained
in a book which was meant to last and bear witness.
Speaking in the "Advancement of Learning" of certain
courses imputed to some learned men which he admits to
be "base and unworthy," he makes a special reservation
in favor of one class, and into that class the practices.
revealed in these notes which will probably be selected as
most questionable will be found to fall.
"Not (he says) that I can tax or condemn the morig-
eration or application of learned men to men in fortune.
For the answer was good that Diogenes made to one that
asked him in mockery How it came to pass that philos-
ophers were the followers of rich men, and not rich men
of philosophers? He answered soberly and yet sharply,
7.
му
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
545
Because the one sort knew what they had need of and the
other did not. And of the like nature was the answer
which Aristippus made, when, having a petition to Dio-
nysius and no ear given to him, he fell down at his feet,
whereupon Dionysius stayed and gave him the hearing
and granted it; and afterward some person tender on the
behalf of philosophy reproved Aristippus that he would
offer the profession of philosophy such an indignity as for
a private suit to fall at a tyrant's feet: but he answered
That it was not his fault but it was the fault of Dionysius,
that had his ears in his feet. Neither was it accounted
weakness, but discretion, in him that would not dispute
his best with Adrianus Cæsar; excusing himself, That it
was reason to yield to him that commanded thirty legions.
These and the like applications and stooping to points.
of necessity and convenience cannot be disallowed; for
though they may have some outward baseness, yet in a
judgment truly made they are to be accounted submis-
sions to the occasions, and not to the person."
The notes which implicate Bacon himself in this kind
of "morigeration," though if collected and set out by
themselves they would make a considerable show, are so
few in proportion to the whole that in seeking for illus-
trations it is not easy to light upon them. But here is
one which will answer the purpose as well, perhaps, as
any. I may assume, I suppose, that there is no immoral-
ity in a Solicitor General wishing to become Lord Chan-
cellor. The choice of his Lord Chancellor lay in those
days with the King, and the King's choice would naturally
be influenced by the opinions and wishes of those about
him. The Earl of Suffolk was Lord Chamberlain of the
Household, and a man considerable enough to be selected
a few years after for Lord Treasurer. There was no
great harm in wishing to be the man whom the Earl of
Suffolk would recommend, and if he shared the common
infirmity of thinking highly of those who thought highly
VOL. I.
35
#
546
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
of him, a Solicitor General would, under those circum-
stances, naturally wish to show him as much respect as
he could. I have not met with any letter or speech or
anecdote which represents the manner in which Bacon
was in the habit of expressing his respect to this Earl,
nor do I remember to have met with any which repre-
sents the manner in which he was addressed by Coke
or Doderidge or Hobart. But if anything of the kind
should turn up, I should expect to find it conceived in
a spirit of great respect and deference. Such would be
the outward face of a transaction which would scarcely
be censured as unbecoming, even by those who did not
believe that the Earl deserved all the deference that
was expressed. And yet if we were permitted to look
behind and see the seamy side, we should probably find
that it proceeded rather from a desire to make him be-
lieve that he was an object of reverence than from any
genuine overflow of that emotion, a desire, in fact, as
Bacon frankly expresses it in his private meditation, to
“make him think how he should be reverenced by a Ld.
Chr, if I were." Such would be the same transaction
seen from within a transaction which Bacon would have
excused as "a submission to the occasion," and which
(whether excused or not) is one of a very numerous
family, still flourishing in all departments of civilized
society. I do not myself, however, recommend it for
imitation; and if it be true that no man can be known to
do such a thing in these days without forfeiting his
reputation for veracity, I am glad to hear it.
After this it is needless to say anything about devices
for drawing the great councillors into private conversa-
tion in public places, and for making conspicuous his
own care and diligence in his service and profession;
these being merely arts of politic ostentation, involving
no breach of any moral law. But there are one or two
other passages that are likely to catch careless eyes, and
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
547
to be alleged in support of a charge in the opposite di-
rection, a charge of saying, not what he did not think,
but what he did think; and upon them I wish to say a
few words.
In my account of the subjects of his meditation on
Monday I mentioned the giving evidence of his supe-
riority to competitors in diligence, zeal, and capacity.
The note I was more particularly thinking of was one
which begins, "To have in mind and use the Attorney's
weaknesses," and proceeds to enumerate various cases
which Bacon thought the Attorney General had mis-
managed, and certain qualities in which he found him
deficient. To this subject he recurs on the 29th in a
note headed "Hubbard's disadvantage," in which the
criticism is repeated with additions and improvements,
and hints are set down for a very lively, and I have no
Now an un-
doubt a very true description of the man.
favorable opinion of one artist delivered or conceived by
another artist in the same line is, for some reason or
other, always accounted an offense and a trangression.
In that relation, to speak the truth seems to be consid-
ered wrong. Though an artist in the same line is, of
all other men, the best qualified to see, and the least
capable of overlooking, the defects of an artist's work, he
is the one man who is forbidden to take notice of any
defect in it whatever; and criticisms upon an Attorney
General, which in any other mouth would be thought
just, sagacious, and discriminating, coming from the
mouth of a Solicitor General, must expect no better
name than detraction. But though I am prepared to
hear the censure, I am not prepared to admit the justice
of it. Bacon had served with Sir Henry Hobart in
Council and in Parliament for more than two years.
He had been familiar with the business of a law-officer
of the Crown for nearly twenty. No man had had bet-
ter opportunities of knowing what an Attorney General
T
然
​548
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
[BOOK IV.
ought to be and what Hobart was: and if he thought he
did his work badly, I cannot see what should have for-
hidden him to say so, especially being ready at any
moment not only to show how it might be done better,
but to take it in hand and do it. Of the external ac-
tion, however, in which these private meditations issued,
-of the use he actually made of the list of weaknesses
which he had collected, no record remains. All we
know is that he succeeded six years after in getting Sir
H. Hobart transferred to a place of higher dignity for
which he thought him less unfit; which was so far well,
and would have been better if it had been sooner.
",
Another note which, though very short in itself, and
the interpretation very doubtful, is pretty sure to be seen
and interpreted, will probably suggest an imputation of
another kind: and as it is one from which Bacon's reputa-
tion has not hitherto suffered, it is worth while to inquire
concerning this also, how much it comes to. The old
Lord Treasurer Dorset had died suddenly at the coun-
cil-table about three months before; and there are two
memoranda in this note-book relating to his widow. The
first is merely to send her "a message of compliment;
and being entered in company with religious reflections
suited for consolation upon the death of the old and emi-
nent, would not by itself be taken to indicate anything
more than a proper attention to an old lady who had lost
her husband, and with whom he was probably more or
less acquainted. But when, two days after, we find
another memorandum in these words, " Applying myself
to be inward with my Lady Dorset, per Champners ;
ad utilit. testam.," we cannot avoid the inference that
among his motives for desiring to improve his acquaint-
ance with her, one was the hope of influencing in some
way the disposal of her property after her death; and the
question is how much we are to infer from that. In
what way,—with a view to "utility" in what sense,
1607-1609.]
PRIVATE MEMORANDA.
549
he wished to use his influence, we are left to conjecture.
That he was thinking of a legacy for himself, — unless
we suppose, what is not probable, that he stood in some
relation to her which gave him a right to expect it, -
though it is the interpretation of the words which will
occur to everybody at first, will seem, I think, less likely
the more it is considered. Had he been already "in-
ward"—that is, intimate with Lady Dorset, he might
perhaps have been suspected upon this evidence of a
design to improve the intimacy for his own benefit;
though we have no other evidence that be ever either
sought or received any legacy from anybody, except his
father. But to apply himself, through the mediation of
another person, to become intimate with a lady who can-
not have been less than seventy years old, in the hope of
obtaining a legacy for which he could allege no ostensi-
ble claim on the ground of kindred, service, custom, or
humanity, seems to me an enterprise too unpromising to
be so much as thought of: it was so very late in the
day to start. Nor is it at all necessary to suppose that
the "utility" intended was of this kind. Bequests for
objects of general beneficence were the fashion of that
time. Whenever money is to be left, there are better
and worse ways of disposing of it; and Bacon may have
wished to guide the beneficence into right channels. We
have already seen how he proposed to utilize the union
of riches and single life in the Archbishop of Canter-
bury and Bishop Andrews: he hoped to engage it in the
service of the "Great Instauration.” We shall see here-
after how much he busied himself (near about this time)
to mend the conditions of the great Charter-house char-
ity, commonly described as "Sutton's will," a public
bequest in which he had no private interest whatever,
merely because he thought it unwise and a mistake.
And he may have thought that the widow of a chancellor
of a university, herself well left and her family abund-
=
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A
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550 MEMORIAL ON THE FELICITY OF ELIZABETH.
[BOOK IV.
antly provided, might be disposed or disposable to bestow
part of her wealth upon some measure for the advance-
ment of learning, — pensions, for instance, to compilers
of natural history, or the foundation of a college for in-
ventors. Not that I suppose if he had any reasonable
prospect of a legacy for himself, he would have thought
it either wise or virtuous to throw away the chance for
want of a little civility and attention; but the other
supposition seems to me more probable.1
If we could know the dates at which the several parts
and rudiments of the "Instauratio Magna" were com-
posed, we should probably find that this vacation was one
of its most fruitful seasons. But of those writings which
can be referred with certainty to the summer of 1608,
the most important to posterity is the Latin treatise “In
Felicem Memoriam Elizabethæ." It is an accident that
enables us to date it, but the evidence is, I think, con-
clusive. Chamberlain, writing to Carleton on the 16th of
December, 1608, mentions it as a new thing which he has
just been reading; and from the letter which comes next
we learn that it was written "this last summer vacation."
The severe laws passed by the Parliament of 1606
against the Roman Catholics, which were the natural
consequence of the Gunpowder Plot, had, by a conse-
quence no less natural, provoked vehement remonstrances
and recriminations on their part, and given rise to a great
war of the pen. The Pope had issued his Breves forbid-
ding the faithful to take the proposed oath of allegiance.
The King had written a book in vindication of it. Other
pamphleteers, great and small, had entered into the con-
troversy; and all old scandals against Protestant Princes
and Parliaments had been revived and brought into ac-
1 It has been suggested to me, as a simpler explanation, that the utilitas re-
ferred to was merely some professional employment connnected with Lord Dor-
set's will, which would no doubt give work to lawyers. But I am not well
enough acquainted with the practice of the time in such matters, to judge
whether this was likely.
1607-1609.] MEMORIAL ON THE FELICITY OF ELIZABETH.
551
tion. Among the rest there appeared at Paris in 1607 a
book entitled "Examen Catholicum Edicti Anglicani,
quod contra Catholicos est latum, Auctoritate Parliamenti
Angliæ, Anno Domini M. D. C. VII. Auctore Stanislao
Cristanovic. I. Co.," five or six pages of which in the
introductory part are occupied with a collection of all
the evil that had ever been uttered against Queen Eliza-
beth; with additions of the writer's own, gathered dur-
ing a visit to England the year before. This, or some
other book of the same kind, suggested to Bacon the ex-
pediency of setting down in some permanent form his
own impressions of her character and government. He
knew that the falsehood of a story will not prevent it
from keeping its place in history, if it once get admitted
with a good introduction and without audible protest.
And as so eminent a man as the President De Thou
was known to be engaged in writing a history of his
own times (a portion of it had been printed at Paris
three or four years before), it was very desirable that
he should be supplied with true information about Eliza-
beth, and thereby guarded against impressions derived
from the floating literature of Paris, and such anecdotes
as this Parisian Jurisconsult was ready to accept for his-
torical. Accordingly, without noticing the particular
calumnies which he meant to explode (for so the very
repetition of them would have kept their memory alive),
he took for his ground the conspicuous and indisputable
fact that Elizabeth reigned full forty-four years in diffi-
cult times, without any reverse or decline of fortune; and
by way of indirect retort to the Pope's description of her
as misera fæmina, proceeded to number up the particu-
lars in which her life and government were to be re-
garded as remarkable for felicity; taking occasion at the
same time to correct by anticipation or by implication
such misconceptions of her character as had obtained
currency in respectable quarters; and with regard to the
A
552
LETTER TO SIR GEORGE CARY.
[BOOK IV.
Roman Catholics especially, entering into a formal and
detailed vindication of her policy and proceedings;—a
vindication which was indeed substantially a repetition of
what he had twice before taken pains to put forward:
first, in the letter addressed by Walsingham to a Secre-
tary of France, in 1589; and afterwards, in his "Observa-
tions on a Libel," in 1592.1 The correction of these mis-
conceptions being more wanted abroad than at home, he
now wrote in Latin: but though he thought well enough
of the work to name it in one of his wills as a thing
which he particularly wished to be published, he con-
tented himself for the present with circulating manuscript
copies among his personal acquaintance. One of these he
sent to Sir George Cary, then ambassador at Paris, with a
letter which sufficiently explains his purposes and wishes.
The memorial itself-a grave and weighty testimonial,
deserves the serious consideration of every one who wishes
to understand Elizabeth; for Bacon had particularly good
means of knowing the truth of what he tells, and no mo-
tive in telling it except a desire to bear witness to the
truth — will be found in Bacon's Works, Vol. II., Part I.,
p. 413; translated, with a preface in which I have told
what I know about it.
The letter comes from Bacon's own collection.
TO SIR GEORGE CARY, IN FRANCE, UPON SENDING HIM
HIS WRITING "IN FELICEM MEMORIAM ELIZABETHÆ.
MY VERY GOOD LORD, Being asked the question by
this bearer, an old servant of my brother Anthony Bacon,
whether I would command him any service into France,
and being at better leisure than I would, in regard of
sickness, I began to remember that neither your business
nor mine (though great and continual) can be upon an
exact account any just occasion why so much good will
as hath passed between us should be so much discontinued
1 See pp. 42, 67.

1607-1609.]
LETTER TO SIR GEORGE CARY.
558
as it hath been. And therefore, because one must begin,
I thought to provoke your remembrance of me by my
letter. And thinking how to fit it with somewhat besides
salutations, it came to my mind that this last summer
vacation, by occasion of a factious book that endeavored
to verify Misera Fœmina (the addition of the Pope's
Bull) upon Queen Elizabeth, I did write a few lines in
her memorial, which I thought you would be well pleased
to read, both for the argument, and because you were
wont to bear affection to my pen. Verum, ut aliud ex
alio, if it came handsomely to pass, I would be glad the
President De Thou (who hath written a history, as you
know, of that fame and diligence) saw it; chiefly because
I know not whether it may not serve him for some use
in his story¹; wherein I would be glad he did right to
the truth, and to the memory of that Lady, as I perceive
by that he hath already written he is well inclined to do.
I would be glad also it were some occasion (such as ab-
sence may permit) of some acquaintance or mutual notice
between us. For though he hath many ways the preced-
ence (chiefly in worth), yet this is common to us both,
that we serve our sovereigns in places of law eminent:
and not ourselves only, but that our fathers did so before
us; and lastly, that both of us love learning and liberal
sciences, which was ever a bond of friendship in the
greatest distances of places. But of this I make no
further request than your own occasions and respects
(to me unknown) may further or limit; my principal
purpose being to salute you, and to send you this token:
whereunto I will add my very kind commendations to my
Lady; and so commit you both to God's holy protection.
The records of Bacon's official work are unusually
scanty during the year 1609; but we have, on the other
hand, more news than usual of a work which is as much
1 De Thou did make large use of it.
Y
+

554 TO MATTHEW, CONCERNING THE "INSTAURATIO.” [Book IV.
·
more interesting to us now, as it was to himself then.
Owing to the banishment of his friend Toby Matthew,
by which a personal intercourse which would have passed
unrecorded was turned into an intercourse by letters,
some of which have been preserved, we get this year a
little information as to the progress of the "Great In-
stauration." Most of the letters are unluckily without
date, and the writings inclosed or referred to are not al-
ways recognizable by the description. But the allusions
are intelligible enough to justify a conjecture as to the
order in which they were written.
Some of them come from his own collection, and some
from Sir Toby Matthew's; and I have arranged them in
the order which seems to me most probable. As to the
particular dates of each, there is scarcely enough to hang
a conjecture on. Toby Matthew, as I have already had
occasion to observe, appears to have purposely obliter-
ated or disguised names and particulars; and if the head-
ings were inserted by himself (which is doubtful — for
the collection was not published till after his death) we
must conclude that he had either forgotten the dates or
intended to confuse and conceal them.
The first letter comes from Bacon's collection; and
must have been written late enough in 1609 to allow
time for the news of Duke Ferdinand's death (17 Feb.,
1608-9) to have reached England; and probably not
much later; because it carried a copy of the "In Felicem
Memoriam Elizabethæ;" of which there were copies in
circulation as early as December, 1608.
A LETTER TO MR. MATTHEW, TOUCHING "INSTAU-
RATIO MAGNA.”
MR. MATTHEW,-I heartily thank you for your letter
of the 10th of February, and am glad to receive from you
matter both of encouragement and advertisement touch-
ing my writings. For my part I do wish that since there
1607-1609.] TO MATTHEW, CONCERNING THE “INSTAURATIO." 555
is almost no lumen siccum in the world, but all madi-
dum and maceratum, infused in affections and bloods or
humors, that these things of mine had those separations
that might make them more acceptable; so that they
claim not so much acquaintance of the present times, as
they be thereby the less like to last. And to show you
that I have some purpose to new-mould them, I send you
a leaf or two of the Preface, carrying some figure of the
whole work; wherein I purpose to take that which I
count real and effectual of both writings; and chiefly
to add pledge if not payment to my promise. I send
you also a memorial of Queen Elizabeth, to requite your
elogy of the late Duke of Florence's felicity. Of this,
when you were here, I showed you some model; though
at that time methought you were more willing to hear
Julius Cæsar than Queen Elizabeth commended. But
this which I send is more full, and hath more of the nar-
rative: and further, hath one part that I think will not
be disagreeable either to you or that place; being the
true tracks of her proceedings towards the Catholics,
which are infinitely mistaken. And though I do not
imagine they will pass allowance there, yet they will
gain your excuse. I find Mr. Le Zure to use you well
(I mean his tongue of you), which shows you either hon-
est or wise. But this I speak merrily. For in good faith
I do conceive hope that you will so govern yourself, as
we may take you as assuredly for a good subject and
patriot, as you take yourself for a good Christian; and
so we may again enjoy your company, and you your con-
science, if it may no otherwise be. For my part, assure
yourself that (as we say in the law) mutatis mutandis,
my love and good wishes to you are not diminished.
And so I remain
The next letter comes from Sir Toby Matthew's col-
lection, where it is printed with the following heading:
556 TO MATTHEW, CONCERNING THE "INSTAURATIO." [Book IV.
"Mr. Bacon, by way of advertisement of several things
in a familiar way, to the same friend and servant of his.”
This, if correct, would imply that it was written before
the 23d of July, 1603, when Mr. Bacon became Sir
Francis but that cannot be; for the "Advancement of
Learning" was not then in existence. The evidence of
the heading being set aside therefore as inadmissible, we
are left free to choose the date which seems likeliest. And
the terms in which Matthew's state of mind is spoken of,
in connection with "loyalty," "honesty," "native coun-
try," and "trust with the state," seem to me to carry a
silent allusion to his change of religion: in which case
it cannot be placed earlier than 1608. How much later
I find no means of determining.
TO MR. MATTHEW.
SIR, Two letters of mine are now already walking
towards you; but so that we might meet, it were no
matter though our letters should lose their way. I make
a shift in the mean time to be glad of your approaches,
and would be more glad to be an agent for your presence,
who have been a patient by your absence. If your body
by indisposition make you acknowledge the healthful air
of your native country, much more do I assure myself
that you continue to have your mind no way estranged.
And as my trust with the state is above suspicion, so my
knowledge both of your loyalty and honest nature will
ever make me show myself your faithful friend without
scruple. You have reason to commend that gentleman
to me, by whom you sent your last, although his having
travelled so long amongst the sadder nations of the world
make him much the less easy upon small acquaintance to
be understood. I have sent you some copies of my book
of the "Advancement," which you desired; and a little
work of my recreation, which you desired not. My "In-
stauration " I reserve for our conference; it sleeps not.
~
1607-1609.] TO MATTHEW, ON THE MEMORIAL OF ELIZABETH. 557
Those works of the Alphabet are in my opinion of less
use to you where you are now, than at Paris; and there-
fore I conceived that you had sent me a kind of tacit
countermand of your former request. But in regard that
some friends of yours have still insisted here, I send them
to you; and for my part, I value your own reading more
than your publishing them to others. Thus, in extreme
haste, I have scribbled to you I know not what, which
therefore is the less affected, and for that very reason
will not be esteemed the less by you.
What those "works of the alphabet" may have been,
I cannot guess; unless they related to Bacon's cipher;
in which by means of two alphabets, one having only
two letters, the other having two forms for each of the
twenty-four letters, any words you please may be so
written as to signify any other words, provided only that
the open writing contains at least five times as many let-
ters as the concealed. It is not impossible that a man in
Matthews's position may have needed a safe cipher, and
may have needed it more at Paris than in Italy or Spain.
The next letter, which is from the same collection, is
headed "Mr. Francis Bacon to a dear friend, concerning
some of his works in writing." And here again the
"Mr." must be wrong. The allusion to "that of Queen
Elizabeth," coupled with the report he had received of it
from "the Leiger at Paris," leaves no room for doubt
that this letter was written while Sir George Cary was
still embassador in France; therefore before October,
1609: and though it contains no particulars which enable
us to fix the exact date, I see nothing to prevent us from
assigning it to the summer of that year; which, suppos-
ing the letter which conveyed the "In Felicem Memoriam
Elizabethæ " to have been despatched in March or April,
would allow time enough for the arrival of Matthew's
answer.
1
558 TO MATTHEW, ON THE MEMORIAL OF ELIZABETH. [Book IV.
TO MR. MATTHEW.
SIR, -I thank you for your last, and pray you to
believe that your liberty in giving opinion of those writ-
ings which I sent you, is that which I sought, which I
expected, and which I take in exceeding good part; so
good as that it makes me recontinue, or rather continue,
my hearty wishes of your company here, that so you
might use the same liberty concerning my actions which
now you exercise concerning my writings. For that of
Queen Elizabeth, your judgment of the temper and truth
of that part which concerns some of her foreign proceed-
ings concurs fully with the judgment of others, to whom
I have communicated part of it; and as things go, I sup-
pose they are likely to be more and more justified and al-
lowed. And whereas you say, for some other part, that
it moves and opens a fair occasion and broad way into
some field of contradiction: on the other side it is written
to me from the leiger at Paris, and some others also, that
it carries a manifest impression of truth with it, and that
it even convinces as it goes. These are their very words;
which I write not for mine own glory, but to show what
variety of opinion rises from the disposition of several
readers. And I must confess my desire to be, that my
writings should not court the present time, or some few
places, in such sort as might make them either less gen-
eral to persons, or less permanent in future ages. As for
the "Instauration," your so full approbation thereof I
read with much comfort, by how much more my heart is
upon it; and by how much less I expected consent and con-
currence in a matter so obscure. Of this I can assure you,
that though many things of great hope decay with youth
(and multitude of civil businesses is wont to diminish the
price, though not the delight, of contemplations), yet the
proceeding in that work doth gain with me upon my af-
fection and desire, both by years and businesses. And
.
1607-1609.] THE "INSTAURATIO" AND THE CHURCHMEN. 559
therefore I hope, even by this, that it is well pleasing to
God, from whom and to whom all good moves. To Him
I most heartily commend you.
At last we come to a letter with a date: a date which
may
be taken as conclusive of the time when it was writ-
ten; and as no question that I know of depends upon the
time when it was received, it will serve our purpose as well
as if it had been despatched and delivered in due course.
It is addressed to Toby Matthew, and was meant to ac-
company another piece of the "Instauratio Magna.” Al-
ready in a former letter, as we have seen, he had sent
him "a leaf or two of the Preface, carrying some figure
of the whole work; wherein he purposed to take what he
counted real and effectual of both writings." This may
perhaps have been the very Præfatio which introduces
the Distributio Operis (Vol. I., p. 199),¹ which was de-
signed to stand as Preface to the whole "Instauratio," and
the argument of which is thus announced: De statu sci-
entiarum, quod non sit felix aut in majorem modum auc-
tus; quodque alia omnino quam prioribus cognita fuerit
via aperienda sit intellectui humano, et alia comparanda
auxilia, ut mens suo jure in rerum naturam uti possit.
“That_the_state of knowledge is not prosperous nor
greatly advancing: and that a way must be opened for
the human understanding entirely different from any
hitherto known; and other helps provided; in order that
the mind may exercise over the nature of things the
authority which properly belongs to it." Whatever it
was, it seems that Matthew highly approved and ap-
plauded it, taking exceptions however to some other parts
of the work, as likely to offend the Churchmen. Bacon
which is sup-
now proposed to send him another piece,
posed by M. Bouillet2 to have been the "Redargutio Phi-
losophiarum." And certainly the terms in which it is
¹ Complete Works.
2 Euvres Philosophiques de Bacon, vol. ii., p. 46.
F

፡፡
560 THE "INSTAURATIO" AND THE CHURCHMEN. [Book IV.
spoken of are exactly applicable to that fine composi-
tion; the most perfect piece, perhaps, for form and exe-
cution that Bacon left behind him: in which, under the
form of a speech supposed to be addressed by a philoso-
pher in Paris to an assembly of sages, the whole subject
of what he afterwards called the Idols of the Theatre
is fully and finely handled.
The letter which was to have accompanied it comes
from Bacon's own collection, and runs thus:
A LETTER TO MR. MATTHEW, UPON SENDING TO HIM
PART OF" INSTAURATIO MAGNA.”
MR. MATTHEW, I plainly perceive by your affec-
tionate writing touching my work, that one and the same
thing affected us both; which is the good end to which
it is dedicate; for as to any ability of mine, it cannot
merit that degree of approbation. For your caution for
churchmen and church matters, as for any impediment it
might be to the applause and celebrity of my work, it
moveth me not; but as it may hinder the fruit and good
which may come of a quiet and calm passage to the good
port to which it is bound, I hold it a just respect; so as
to fetch a fair wind I go not too far about. But the
truth is, I shall have no occasion to meet them in my way,
except it be as they will needs confederate themselves.
with Aristotle, who, you know, is intemperately magni-
fied with the schoolmen; and is also allied (as I take it)
to the Jesuits, by Faber, who was a companion of Lo-
yola, and a great Aristotelian. I send you at this time
the only part which hath any harshness; and yet I framed
to myself an opinion, that whosoever allowed well of that
preface which you so much commend, will not dislike, or
at least ought not to dislike, this other speech of prepara-
tion; for it is written out of the same spirit, and out of
the same necessity. Nay, it doth more fully lay open that
the question between me and the ancients is not of the
1607-1609.]
BISHOP ANDREWES AND BELLARMIN.
561
virtue of the race, but of the rightness of the way. And
to speak truth, it is to the other but as palma to pugnus,
part of the same thing more large. You conceive aright
that in this and the other you have commission to impart
and communicate them to others according to your dis-
cretion. Other matters I write not of. Myself am like
the miller of Huntingdon, that was wont to pray for
peace amongst the willows; for while the winds blew,
the wind-mills wrought, and the water-mill was less cus-
tomed. So I see that controversies of religion must hin-
der the advancement of sciences. Let me conclude with
my perpetual wish towards yourself, that the approbation
of yourself, by your own discreet and temperate carriage,
may restore you to your country, and your friends to your
society. And so I commend you to God's goodness.
GRAY'S INN, this 10th of October, 1609.
All this time the great pen-and-ink-war between the
King and the Pope had been growing hotter and spread-
ing wider. The King's book in defense of the oath of
allegiance against the Pope's breve had been answered
by Cardinal Bellarmin; and as it was not according to
the laws of the duello that a Cardinal should be answered
by a King, some champion of inferior rank had to be ap-
pointed to meet him, and the man chosen was Bishop
Andrewes one of many things which ought to be re-
membered to the credit of James's judgment and taste,
better than they are.
"We say," says Chamberlain, writing to Carleton on
the 21st of October, 1608, "that the Bishop of Chichester
is appointed to answer Bellarmin about the oath of alle-
giance; which task I doubt how he will undertake and
perform, being so contrary to his disposition and course
to meddle with controversies." And again on the 11th
of November, "I thank you for your remonstrance of
the French clergy, which will give me occasion perhaps
VOL. I.
36
562 TO BISHOP ANDREWES: "COGITATA ET VISA." [Book IV.
to visit the good Bishop of Chichester; though I doubt
he be not at leisure for any bye matters, the King doth
so hasten and spur him on in this business of Bellar-
min's; which he were likely to perform very well (as I
hear by them that can judge) if he might take his own
time, and not be troubled nor entangled with arguments
obtruded to him continually by the King."
In this warfare Bacon took no part, and apparently
not much interest. He was in eager pursuit of an ob-
ject to which he regarded such disputes as impediments.
He saw that "controversies of religion hindered the ad-
vancement of the sciences;" and as the miller of Hun-
tingdon prayed for peace among the willows, he prayed
for peace among the theologians. I am not called upon
therefore to enter further into that famous dispute, and I
mention it chiefly for its bearing upon the date of the
next letter. We hear of Bishop Andrewes's book being
in the press in June, 1609. On the 22d of September
he was translated from Chichester to Ely. If we sup-
pose that about that time Bacon sent him a copy of the
"Cogitata et Visa" with the last additions and amend-
ments (for though we have heard of a work with that
title being in circulation two years before, we must think
that the copy which has come done to us was the fruit
of more vacations than one), the letter which follows will
need no further explanation or introduction. It comes
from Bacon's own collection.
A LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF ELY, UPON SENDING HIS
WRITING ENTITLED "COGITATA ET VISA.
""
MY VERY GOOD LORD,-Now your Lordship hath
been so long in the church and the palace, disputing be-
tween kings and popes, methinks you should take pleasure
to look into the field, and refresh your mind with some
matter of philosophy, though that science be now through
age waxed a child again, and left to boys and young
1607-1609.]
"DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM."
563
men; and because you were wont to make me believe
you took liking to my writings, I send you some of this
vacation's fruits; and thus much more of my mind and
purpose. I hasten not to publish; perishing I would
prevent. And I am forced to respect as well my times
as the matter. For with me it is thus, and I think with
all men in my case: if I bind myself to an argument,
it loadeth my mind; but if I rid my mind of the present
cogitation, it is rather a recreation. This hath put me
into these miscellanies; which I purpose to suppress, if
God give me leave to write a just and perfect volume
of philosophy, which I go on with though slowly. I
send not your Lordship too much, lest it may glut you.
Now let me tell you what my desire is. If your Lord-
ship be so good now, as when you were the good Dean of
Westminster, my request to you is, that not by pricks,
but by notes, you would mark unto me whatsoever shall
seem unto you either not current in the style, or harsh
to credit and opinion, or inconvenient for the person of
the writer; for no man can be judge and party; and
when our minds judge by reflection of ourselves, they
are more subject to error. And though for the matter
itself my judgment be in some things fixed, and not ac-
cessible by any men's judgment that goeth not my way:
yet even in those things, the admonition of a friend may
make me express myself diversely. I would have come
to your Lordship, but that I am hastening to my house
in the country. And so I commend your Lordship to
God's goodness.
Another of the fruits of this year was his little book
"De Sapientia Veterum;" one of the most elegant of
his works, and, in his own and the next generation, one
of the most popular. It appears to have grown out of a
thought dropped with much hesitation in the "Advance-
ment of Learning;" where, speaking of "Poesy Para
*-

564
"DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM."
[BOOK IV.
bolical,” — and that one of its uses is "when the secrets
and mysteries of religion, policy, or philosophy are in-
volved in fables or parables," he goes on, "In heathen
poesy we see the exposition of fables doth fall out some-
times with great felicity, as in the fable that the Giants
being overthrown," etc.
"Nevertheless in many
the like encounters I do rather think that the fable was
first and the exposition devised, than that the moral was
first and thereupon the fable framed. . . . . But yet that
all the fables and fictions of the poets were but pleasure
and not figure, I interpose no opinion. Surely of those
poets which are now extant, even Homer himself (not-
withstanding he was made a kind of Scripture by the
later school of the Grecians), yet I should without any
difficulty pronounce that his fables had no such inward-
ness in his own meaning; but what they might have upon
a more original tradition, is not easy to affirm; for he
was not the inventor of many of them.'
From the manner in which it is expressed, I imagine
the thought to have been at this time in the first stage of
digestion. But following out the hint in the last sen-
tence, he came afterwards to the conclusion that, long
before the days of Homer and Hesiod, a generation of
wise men had flourished on the earth who taught the
mysteries of nature in parables; that after they and what
they taught had alike passed away and been forgotten,
the names and incidents of these parables still floated in
tradition; but that they were then taken merely for tales
of old times, and falling into the hands of poets and min-
strels were altered, adorned, and added to at pleasure,
without regard to the original meaning, till they settled
into the shape in which we find them. The problem,
therefore, was to get rid of the overgrowths, and to re-
cover and interpret the original parable; and Bacon, hav-
ing already made the trial upon three or four, followed
it up in others, collecting the incidents from a com-
1607-1609.]
"DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM.”
565
parison of all extant traditions, and adding what he sup-
posed to be the interpretations, — until he had enough
to make a little volume. This he now published. His
motive for doing so at this time—it came out about the
end of 1609 — was not, I think, merely that it was a
very pretty book showing reading and scholarship, setting
forth certain favorite speculations of his own in a strik-
ing and attractive shape, and likely to raise his reputa-
tion among scholars; though that may seem motive suffi-
cient; for it had never been his practice to publish small
pieces. Old as he was and much as he had written, he
had appeared as an author in print only twice before, and
only once willingly; the "Essays" having been sent to
the press as they were, only to rescue them from pirates.
But he was now busily considering how the new ideas of
the "Instauratio" might be introduced into the world
with the best chance of favorable entertainment; and it
occurred to him that if presented as treasures recovered
from antiquity they would be more respectfully regarded
than if propounded as his own. When among other
measures for preparing men's minds to receive them, he
suggested to himself the "discoursing scornfully of the
philosophy of the Grecians, with some better respect to
the Ægyptians, Persians, Caldes, and the utmost antiq-
uity, and the mysteries of the poets," he was probably
thinking of these fables: and from a passage in the
"Cogitata et Visa," where he observes how easy it would
be to make out that the sages who flourished before the
Greeks had a deeper knowledge of nature than they,
and as new-risen men seek to ennoble themselves by
adopting ancient pedigrees to father these ideas upon
them, we know that he had in fact considered the point
with the thought of making this use of it. He concluded,
indeed, that the argument was too doubtful to be fairly
employed in that way; yet he had still too strong a
fancy for it himself to be content that it should be thrown
566
"DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM.”
[BOOK IV.
aside as worthless; and as the inquiry supplied him at
any rate with a handsome occasion for announcing ideas
of his own for which he wished to bespeak a hearing, he
resolved to cast his bread upon the waters, trusting that
the world would find it in due time.
The value of the book to us does not depend upon our
acceptance of the theory on which it is constructed. If
it did, it would hardly rise above the price of a curiosity.
That a state of high intellectual cultivation may have
existed on the earth, and disappeared with all its fruits
and all its traditions, leaving no record of itself behind,
is not altogether inconceivable, if we suppose that the
art of writing, or of preserving writing in some durable
material, was not among its inventions. If the preser-
vation of any knowledge depend upon an unbroken suc-
cession of oral teachers, one or two unlucky generations
might lose it beyond recovery. But it is harder to con-
ceive that any such state could have existed without pro-
ducing works of some kind, that could not have been so
easily obliterated. A war might interrupt the succession
of teachers, but it would take a convulsion of nature to
bury all evidence of works accomplished. The solution
of the problem which modern inquirers, studying it with
greater advantages, have arrived at, avoids this difficulty.
Admitting and so far agreeing with Bacon-that the
existence of many of these fables cannot be satisfactorily
accounted for without supposing that they grew out of
earlier stories which contained an allegorical meaning of
some kind, they look for the meaning which they did
contain in the very opposite direction. Instead of seek-
ing in those earlier stories for shadows of profound sci-
ence, they take them to have been the simplest expres-
sions of the simplest conceptions of an age when abstract
thought had not yet formed for itself a language to speak
in, and all speech was metaphor, to have represented
in fact not the secrets and mysteries of nature, but her
ན
A
1607-1609.]
LETTER TO MATTHEW.
567
most obvious and ordinary phenomena; and had Bacon
lived into the days of comparative philology and com-
parative mythology, I have little doubt that he would
have accepted this solution as far easier and more prob-
able than his own, and forth with renounced all claim to
have his ideas regarded as the property of a forgotten
generation. To us, however, the ideas themselves are
not the less valuable on that account: and I doubt
whether any one of his works can be mentioned which
contains within the same compass a greater variety of
fine and original observation upon the various businesses
and conditions of human life, more agreeably delivered,
or more available for the instruction of modern men.
This is the little work of which he sent Toby Matthew
a copy with the following letter; which comes from his
own collection.
A LETTER TO MR. MATTHEW, UPON SENDING HIS BOOK
"DE SAPIENTIA VETERUM.'
""
MR. MATTHEW, -I do heartily thank you for your
letter of the 24th of August from Salamanca; and in
recompense thereof, I send you a little work of mine.
that hath begun to pass the world. They tell me my
Latin is turned into silver, and become current. Had
you been here, you should have been my inquisitor be-
fore it came forth: but I think the greatest inquisitor in
Spain will allow it. But one thing you must pardon me
if I make no haste to believe, that the world should be
grown to such an ecstasy as to reject truth in philosophy,
because the author dissenteth in religion; no more than
they do by Aristotle or Averroes. My great work goeth
forward; and after my manner, I alter ever when I add.
So that nothing is finished till all be finished. This I
have written in the midst of a term and parliament;
thinking no time so precious but that I should talk of
these matters with so good and dear a friend. And
1.6
1.
=
568
LETTER TO CASAUBON.
[Book IV.
so with my wonted wishes I leave you to God's good-
ness.
From GRAY'S INN, the 17th of February, 1610.
66
Among Bacon's memoranda of the 26th of July 1608,
one runs thus: Q. of learned men beyond the seas to
be made, and hearkening who they be that may be so
inclined." "To be made means of course to be per-
suaded to take an interest in the “Great Instauration.”
In the course of the next year a chance presented itself,
which he did not neglect, though I am not aware that
anything came of it. Isaac Casaubon, the famous scholar,
was then at Paris, invited by a pension from Henry IV.
and hopes of a professorship. He had there become ac-
quainted with some of Bacon's writings, probably through
Sir George Cary, and perhaps at the instance of Bacon
himself; and had written to Sir George to express his
admiration of them. Bacon took hold of the occasion to
invite a correspondence, as we learn from the following
letter; which comes from the collection at Lambeth. It
is only a draught, and may probably therefore be the
record of an intention only, which was not fulfilled. But
for our purposes the intention is enough. The date is
not in this case of much consequence; except that if the
letter was sent to Casaubon in 1609, we might have ex-
pected to hear of some further communication between
them after he arrived in England; which he did the next
year. Birch, by whom this letter was first published,
observing that Casaubon had written to Sir George Cary,
appears to have inferred that they could not have been
both in France or both in England; and as Sir George
returned from his embassy in France in October, 1609,
and Casaubon arrived in England in October, 1610, con-
cluded that the letter must have been written between
those dates. But as it is obvious that Casaubon might
have sent a letter to Sir George when they were both in
:.
#1
1607-1609.]
LETTER TO CASAUBON.
569
Paris or both in London, there is not really any ground
for that conclusion. All that can be said is that this is
as likely a date as any other, and that the letter comes
in here more conveniently than it would anywhere else.
Only it must be understood that any speculation which
depends upon the assumption of this date as a fact, ought
to be rejected as wanting evidence. Casaubon came to
England after the death of Henry IV., and was well en-
tertained by James, both with attentions and preferments,
till 1614, when he died; but I find no traces of any fur-
ther correspondence between him and Bacon; which, if
they had come into personal communication, could hardly
have failed to be found in the "Ephemerides."
“Understanding from your letter to the Lord Cary that
you approve my writings, I not only took it as a matter
for congratulation with myself, but thought I ought to
write and tell you how much pleasure it had given me.
You are right in supposing that my great desire is to
draw the sciences out of their hiding-places into the light.
For indeed to write at leisure that which is to be read at
leisure matters little; but to bring about the better order-
ing of man's life and business, with all its troubles and
difficulties, by the help of sound and true contemplations,
- this is the thing I aim at. How great an enterprise
in this kind I am attempting, and with what small helps,
you will learn perhaps hereafter. In the meantime you
would do me a very great pleasure if you would in like
manner make known to me what you are yourself revolv-
ing and endeavoring and working at. For I hold that
conjunction of minds and studies has a greater part in
friendships than civil ties and offices of occasion. Surely
I think no man could ever more truly say of himself with
the Psalm than I can, My soul hath been a stranger in
her pilgrimage.' So I seem to have my conversation
among the ancients more than among these with whom
6
$

!
570
LETTER TO CASAUBON.
[Book IV.
I live. And why should I not likewise converse rather
with the absent than the present, and make my friendships
by choice and election, rather than suffer them, as the
manner is, to be settled by accident? But to return to
my purpose. If in anything my friendship can be of use
or grace to you or yours, assure yourself of my good and
diligent service: and so biddeth you farewell
"Your friend, etc."


CHAPTER II.
ÆTAT. 50.
A. D. 1610.
THE great political problem which the times of James
the First had to solve had been kept waiting hitherto by
other business, but could not be kept waiting much lon-
ger. During the last two sessions the Union and the
Gunpowder Plot had prevented the question how the
Crown should be supplied with a revenue adequate to its
wants from being pushed to a crisis; the discussion of the
Union having occupied the time of the Lower House,
and the horror of the conspiracy having disposed them to
be liberal. But even in 1606, when their excited loyalty
showed itself in so large a grant a grant without any
precedent in a time of peace-the pertinacity with
which they insisted that the petition of grievances should
be presented to the King before the bill of the three sub-
sidies went up to the Lords,¹ gave sure sign of a struggle
The truth was that the business of government
had outgrown the provision for carrying it on. The or-
dinary income of the Crown was no longer equal to the
ordinary demands upon it. Even Elizabeth, with all her
power of obtaining zealous service without paying for it
in money, and with a practice of economy in all depart-
ments which every modern historian condemns (in re-
spect to the particular departments which he happens
himself to favor) as parsimony, — parsimony in the reward
of servants, in the provisioning of armies, in the keep-
ing up of national defenses, in the subsidizing of allies,
to come.
1 See p. 479.
1.
<..
*A
572
STATE OF THE EXCHEQUER.
[BOOK IV.
even Elizabeth could not carry on the government in
her later years without calling upon Parliament for
annual contributions far beyond all former precedent,
nor even then without borrowing money to the amount
of a whole year's income and selling land to the value of
as much more. The cause was simple enough. Large
estates are costly to manage. The nation had increased
greatly in wealth and population; the business and cost
of government had increased along with it: but the fund
out of which the cost was to be defrayed was compara-
tively stationary. As the kings of England were never
merchants, the patrimony of the Crown could not be ex-
pected to grow with the growth of a nation whose com-
mercial activity was bringing honey to the hive from
every land over every sea; while prices were rising from
the influx of gold into Europe; and the value of the
Parliamentary subsidy, in which (as being a direct tax
upon real and personal property) a proportionate increase
might have been looked for, was, for some reason which
I do not clearly understand, gradually diminishing.
Whatever may have been the cause, there is no doubt
about this fact: and it is important enough to be worth
exhibiting in detail. The following statement, authen-
ticated by a note in the handwriting of the Earl of
Salisbury, is preserved among the State Papers.
A comparison of Subsidies and Fifteenths drawn down from
the first year of Q. Eliz. to the present 10th of Feb. 1609.
Decrease
Decrease
from the
viz. in
every
subsidy.
first.
1558 1º 1 Subsidy and 2 15ths 194326
1562 5°
191566 .
2760
2760
1565 8°
1 15th
155794
15772
15772
1570 13°
2 15ths
175690
15900
18636
1575 18°
169192
6494
25134
1580 23°
167876
1316
26450
1584 27°
163546
4330
30780
1610.]
viz. in
1587 29°
1589 31°
1593 35°
1597 39°
1601 43°
3º Jac.
STATE OF THE EXCHEQUER-
573
Decrease
Decrease
every
subsidy.
from the
first.
163130
416
31196
160545
2585
33781
152790
7755
41536
141000
11790
53226
=
134471
124000
6530
59855
•
10471
•
70326
Note that all these decrease rise from the diminution of the
Subsidies of the Laity, because the clergy subsidy and the fif-
teenths of the Laity are certain.
Thus we see that three subsidies in the beginning of
James's reign did not bring so many pounds into the
Exchequer as two did in the beginning of Elizabeth's,
and yet three subsidies still passed for much the more
liberal grant.
This state of things James inherited: and though he
inherited along with it a portion of Elizabeth's last sub-
sidies, they were not more than enough to repay the
money which she had been forced to borrow. If I un-
derstand correctly the financial tables which Mr. Gardiner
has collected with such diligence, the ordinary expendi-
ture of the government during the last five years of Eliza-
beth must have exceeded the ordinary receipts by more
than half their amount. And though the expenditure
was considerably reduced by the conclusion of peace with
Spain and the suppression of the rebellion in Ireland, Mr.
Gardiner himself admits that for a few years an annual
deficiency of not less than £30,000 (about onetenth of
the whole) was inevitable. Whether he is right in sup-
posing that an Elizabethan economy steadily pursued
during those years, together with judicious measures for
improving the Crown patrimony, would have brought
the ordinary charges and the ordinary receipts to an
equality, it is not necessary for my purposes to inquire.
The contingency was not on the cards. Even if James
·
·
·
>
•
574
SALISBURY'S FINANCIAL POLICY.
[BOOK IV.
had been ever so much disposed to take Elizabeth for his
model in spending money, it may be fairly doubted
whether it would have been possible for him to endure
the unpopularity which it would have entailed. Elizabeth
could do many things which another in her place, even
if he had possessed her qualities, could not have done.
The whole Protestant population of England then living
had been bred in devotion to her. Her age, her renown,
her demeanor, her genius, combined to give her an au-
thority which she could use without offense even in
courses of which the people are commonly very intoler-
ant. Had James entered upon his kingdom with a res-
olution to imitate her, to be as strict in accounts, as
exigent of service, as sparing in rewards, he would
have incurred more dislike for his parsimony than he
ever did for the opposite, nor is it by any means certain
that he would have been the richer. But it is vain to
ask what might have been the consequences of such a
thing; the thing itself could not have been. A man
cannot alter his nature, and it was not in James's nature
to be an economist. He was a man who could not easily
deny himself any pleasure, and unfortunately one of his
chief pleasures was to give to those whom he liked what-
ever they wished to have. With this infirmity he had
reigned for six years, when on the 19th of April, 1608,
his Lord Treasurer, the old Earl of Dorset, died, leaving
the Exchequer in such a condition as might have been
expected. The ordinary expenditure exceeded the ordi-
nary income by £83,000. The debt had risen to a million.
And this at a time when the regular revenue of the
Crown was expected to meet all its ordinary occasions
without assistance from Parliament.
Salisbury, who was immediately made Lord Treasurer,
lost no time in setting his brains to deal with the diffi-
culty; and if diligence, subtlety, activity, and finesse had
been enough for the task, perhaps no man was more
1610.]
SALISBURY'S FINANCIAL POLICY.
575
likely to succeed. But he had here a new case to deal
with; and it would appear from the manner in which he
began that he did not at first understand it. Had it been
possible to cure the complaint without calling in the
House of Commons, it would perhaps have been prudent
to abstain from inviting their coöperation; for it is not to
be denied that a public admission of the true state of the
case was not without its dangers. But if the coöperation
of the House of Commons was or might become indis-
pensable, it was of prime importance to avoid all proceed-
ings likely to alarm them for their privileges. One of
these proceedings was the laying on of Impositions,-
the imposition of duties, by authority of the Crown alone
without the sanction of Parliament, upon goods exported
and imported. The question whether the King had a
right to do this had been disputed in the House of Com-
mons, and though it is true that a case involving that
question had been recently argued in the Court of Ex-
chequer, and that the Judges had decided it in the King's
favor, it is also true that in the last Parliament that very
decision had been complained of and controverted, and it
was plain that it had by no means set the question at
rest. It was one of those stretches of Prerogative of
which the Commons were most jealous; and with most
reason for to concede the claim in its full extent would
have been to make over the commerce of the nation to
be taxed at pleasure and without check. Yet the very
first thing Salisbury did after he was made Lord Treas-
urer was to stretch this very power further than it had
ever been stretched before, to lay on at one clap, by
the sole virtue of this disputed right, duties to the amount
of £60,000 a year. Whether it was done in inconsider-
ate haste, as the readiest shift to make the ordinary re-
ceipts equal to the ordinary expenditure, and stop the ac-
cumulation of debt; or whether he had some further reach
in it—as thinking perhaps to enhance the value of a pre-
F
576
SALISBURY'S FINANCIAL POLICY.
[BOOK IV.
rogative which he meant to sell, or by increasing the bur-
den to make the Commons more eager for the removal
of it; or whether it was merely to magnify the value
of his own services in the King's eyes, make him feel
that he could not spare so diligent and so profitable a
minister, and thereby establish himself in his new seat;
I cannot say.
But so it was. There is a curious paper
in the British Museum, drawn up by Sir Julius Cæsar,
who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer. It contains.
a journal record of Salisbury's services during the first
two months of his treasurership; and seems to have been
drawn up for the express purpose of magnifying to the
King the merits of his new Lord Treasurer. The par-
ticular business of the Impositions is thus recorded:-
"On Saturday 11 Junii, the Lord Treasurer, attended by the
Chancellor and Barons of the Exchequer, went to the Custom
House, and there in the assembly of the chief merchants of
England, assembled from all the principal parts of the land, did
make an excellent speech to prove that Impositions might law-
fully be imposed by sovereign kings and princes on all merchan-
dises issuing out or coming into their ports that no king or
prince, living or dead, doth or ever did deserve better the con-
tinuance of that liberty and privilege than our sovereign King
James, who in his excellent virtues, natural, moral, and polit-
ical, surmounteth all other kings living or dead; that his
present necessities, occasioned for the use of the public, espe-
cially for Ireland, contrary to his own will and the admirable
sweetness of his own natural inclination, have occasioned him
to use this lawful and just means of profit; which speech he
had no sooner knit up with a particular repetition of Impositions
now seeming burdensome and ordered by his Majesty for the
ease of his subjects to be lightened, and likewise most things of
necessary important use to the poor to be excepted from any
imposition, than every man, after some little contradiction, con-
sented to this general imposition now established; which will
prove the most gainful to the King and his posterity of any one
day's work done by any one Lord Treasurer since the time of
King Edward III.”
1610.]
SALISBURY'S FINANCIAL POLICY.
577
The whole journal of Salisbury's services during these
two months is summed up in these words:
"He hath moreover to the King's great honor lessened the
Impositions upon the commodities of currants, sugars, and to-
bacco. And hath to the King's great profit and the benefit of
his posterity, increased his revenue by new impositions general
upon other merchandises to the value of £60,000 a year. And
likewise hath raised a like benefit of £10,000 a year increase
upon ale-houses licensed.
"So that, besides his other continual employments both in this
high place and other his important and great places, he hath in
the space of two months and twenty days directed and signed
2,884 letters, and gotten to the King in money £37,455, and in
yearly revenues £71,100; which I dare confidently affirm was
never done by any Lord Treasurer of England in two years.
God's name be glorified for it, and honored be our gracious
Sovereign, who made the choice of so diligent and faithful
a servant, and recommended be that servant who hath a con-
science to discharge his duty to so gracious a sovereign, whose
long experienced judgment can rightly deem of men's deserts,
and wisely distinguish between truth and falsehood.”
All this was done; but all was not enough, nor nearly
enough. The Crown still labored under a debt of
£400,000, and a large annual deficiency. And Salis-
bury now saw, not only that the remedy must come
from Parliament, but that since the precedents of Par-
liament showed no instance of a supply at all adequate
to the emergency, some new occasion must be created
that should lie out of the region of precedents.
The scheme which he devised with this view was a
large and imposing, and (had it been wisely digested and
prudently carried) might have proved a very happy one.
The revenue of the Crown was in those days drawn from
many sources besides its patrimonial property; chiefly
from certain tenures and privileges, such as Ward-
ships, Knight's service, Purveyance, and others, rem-
VOL. I.
37
578
THE GREAT CONTRACT.
[BOOK IV.
nants of the feudal system, which the times were fast
outgrowing; privileges which had come to be burden-
some to the people in a degree much greater, I fancy,
than they were valuable to the Crown, and what was
worse (the system and occasions out of which they orig-
inally grew being forgotten), had come to be looked on
and felt as grievances. Yet that these rights did belong
to the Crown, and formed a regular and legitimate source
of revenue, was not disputed. Here therefore were all
the essential elements of a just and advantageous ar-
rangement for both parties. A fixed revenue of equal
amount derived from taxation would have been better for
the King; and even a considerably larger revenue so
supplied would have been much better for the people.
There remained only the old difficulty incident to all the
bargains that are made under the sun, -the difficulty
of inducing the contracting parties to deal frankly and
openly, with just and reasonable desires on both sides;
instead of higgling and trying above all things to over-
reach one another, or (which is almost as bad) taking
care above all things not to be overreached. It must be
admitted, however, that this difficulty was in this par-
ticular case unusually great. The Commons, jealous,
ambitious, conscious of their advantage, many, and full
of lawyers; the King, -irritable, impatient, loose-
tongued, conscious of his disadvantage and struggling to
face it out, his heart full of anxiety about his estate, his
mouth full of prerogative and divine right; — how were
two such parties to come to an understanding on such a
subject? Everything would of course depend upon the
discreet opening and conducting of it by those ministers
who stood between the two and had influence with both.
The history of the negotiation is the history of the next
session of Parliament.
In making a bargain, to be known to be in distress for
money is a great disadvantage, and therefore it seems
J
1610.]
THE GREAT CONTRACT.
579
strange that so old a politician as Salisbury, in negotiat-
ing a money-bargain with the Commons on behalf of the
King, should have begun with a public and official proc-
lamation of the King's pecuniary embarrassments, and
his utter inability to extricate himself without a very
liberal supply from the benevolence of his people. There
could not be any necessity for proceeding so. Whatever
might be the causes in which the proposition originated,
the proposed arrangement both professed to be and was
for the good of the state. It was to establish the neces-
sary powers and revenues of the Crown upon a founda-
tion less inconvenient for the people. In the days of the
strong hand the Crown had been used to take the lion's
share of everything. As arbitrary power was gradually
brought under regulation and restricted by limitations
and definitions, the customs which had thus grown up
were left within the line and allowed as lawful. The
share which the lion had claimed was secured to him, not
on the original ground that he was strong enough to take
what he pleased, but as being the share which properly
belonged to the lion and was sanctioned by law. Hence
it came that in inheriting the Crown King James had in-
herited a great many rights, royalties, immunities, and
unfair advantages, which belonged to it and formed part
of its regular income. These rights, royalties, etc., though
they affected only a few persons, were troublesome and
vexatious to those on whom they fell, and the money
which they yielded could have been supplied much more
conveniently to the people at large by a general tax,
which lying equally on all would not have lain heavily
on any. There could have been no difficulty in submit-
ting to the House of Commons, as a measure for the good
of the commonwealth without any reference to the neces-
sities of the Crown, the expediency of relieving the peo-
ple from these liabilities on condition of providing other-
wise for the revenue they brought. The terms of the
580
THE GREAT CONTRACT.
[Book IV.
bargain would still have been open; and the less the
Commons knew of the straits in which the King was
placed, the better would have been the chance of settling
them favorably.
Salisbury, however, for some reason or other, took the
opposite course; and it is plain that he took it advisedly ;
for he had everything ready, he made the first move, and
he began at once.
The Houses met on the 9th of February, 1609-10; and
the Commons had scarcely found time to ventilate the
uppermost grievances, when they were invited by the
Lords to a conference, "for consideration to be had for
some necessary supplies to be yielded unto his Majesty.'
""
The conference took place on Thursday the 15th, and
the proceedings were reported to the House on the Satur-
day following. It seems they consisted entirely of a
speech from Salisbury, which divided itself into three
parts. The first, which related merely to the coming
creation of the Prince of Wales, and seems to have con-
tained nothing but stories out of the Chronicles, was re-
ported by the Attorney General. The second, which was
the main business, and a very delicate one to deal with
-being nothing less than an exhibition of the balance-
sheet, for the purpose of showing that the King could not
support his position without help — was undertaken by
Bacon. We have no report of what he said sufficiently
full to show how he presented it to the House; but it
appears that Salisbury concluded his exposition of the
King's need of help from Parliament, with "a preoccupa-
tion of some silent objections" and a suggestion of some
"matters of enforcement to excite them to yield unto
the King's desire." These last related to apprehended
disturbances on the continent, and especially "the com-
petition for the Duchy of Cleves, wherein the Emperor,
taking upon him to be judge, had, without hearing the
cause, sent the Bishop to take possession for the House of
!
1610.]
CONTRIBUTION AND RETRIBUTION.
NTRIBUTIO
581
Austria; and on this side the French King and our King
joined to take part with the other, not because of his re-
ligion only, for that his right and religion concurred to-
gether;"—an enterprise which, on the ground of policy
as well as charity, deserved their support.
now
66 com-
We have seen that Bacon, meditating a year and a half
before on the dangers of an empty exchequer, looked to
some enterprise of this kind as the best remedy; and if
he had set down his notes in December, 1609, instead of
July, 1608, he would probably have pointed to this "suc-
cession controversy to the Cleve Duchies,"
ing to be a very high matter, mixing itself up with the
grand Protestant-Papal controversy, the general armed-
lawsuit of mankind in that generation," in the decision
of which "Kaiser, Spaniard, Dutch, English, French
Henri IV., and all mortals were getting concerned," 1
for the likeliest solution of the difficulty he was consid-
ering the offer of an enterprise in which the Crown
might engage with assurance of carrying the sympathy
and ambition of the people along with it; only I think
he would have put it in the front rather than in the rear;
and instead of using it to enforce a demand for supplies,
would have treated the proposed supply as a mere inci-
dent of the enterprise, and necessary condition of success.
Salisbury preferred to put the demand for money upon
the simple ground that the King had need of it. For
when he came to speak of "retribution," which was the
third and remaining part of his statement to the confer-
ence, he appears to have been studiously vague. The
notes that remain of the report made by Sir Edwin
Sandys of this part of his speech leave the nature of his
proposal altogether indefinite and obscure: and so it seems
to have been found by those who heard it. "The retri-
bution to proceed from his Majesty" was "a general re-
dress of all just grievances." But what kind of things
1 Carlyle, Hist. of Frederic the Great, vol. i., p. 308, Eng. ed.
+
1
582
CONTRIBUTION AND RETRIBUTION.
[BOOK IV.
were admitted to be grievances, and what kind of redress
was to be looked for, remained doubtful. Insomuch that
when the whole subject of "contribution and retribu-
tion" was referred to the General Committee of Griev-
ances (a reference inevitable, as the thing was carried,
though of no good omen), they found they could make no
advance without first knowing what they were at liberty
to treat for. Tenures and Wardships had indeed been
mentioned in Salisbury's speech; but it was in a manner
so ambiguous that "that motion was conceived by some
to be but as a lure to the subject, to draw him on to a
greater contribution:" and therefore it was resolved
(February 21) in the first place to ascertain from the
Lords in another conference "what those things were
which his Majesty intended to give to his subjects by
way of retribution ;" and if Wardships and Tenures were
not named, then to inquire particularly whether or no they
were to be considered as among them.
The first question being proposed first, Salisbury began
by expressing surprise at the proceeding. The King had
summoned the Parliament avowedly because he was in
want; and they replied by asking what he had to give!
He was ready, however, to explain more particularly what
was wanted; and after recounting again the various oc-
casions which had exhausted the Exchequer, he told them
plainly that "the demand of the King was double; Sup-
ply, to discharge his debt; and Support, to maintain his
estate:" and namely, for the first, £600,000; for the sec-
ond, £200,000 per annum. And here, it seems, with-
out offering any answer to the question which they had
come to ask, — he stopped and awaited their reply.
Their reply was in effect a repetition of the question.
Until "they knew the King's pleasure, what he were
willing to depart withal to the subject," they could not
"determine of any yearly contribution:" and for the
demand now made, it was "in nature transcendent, and
1610.]
PROPOSED CONCESSIONS.
583
in precedent very rare," and they could say nothing with-
out further instruction from the House.
After this we are told that there was a pause of silence:
whether because Salisbury still hoped to commit them to
the price before he showed the goods, or because he had
not quite made up his mind how far to go, may remain a
question. But after waiting a little and finding that no
further answer was forthcoming, they proceeded to the
second part of their commission: "Would it please his
Majesty that they might treat concerning the discharge
of Tenures?"
To this Salisbury replied, that he must consult the
rest of the Lords before he could give them an answer on
that point: but meanwhile (having now, I suppose,
had
time enough to consider his course) he proceeded to give
them a tolerably full reply to their first question.
He told them that for matters of sovereignty inherent
in him, such as the calling of Parliament, the stamping
of coin, the proclaiming of war, with these the King
could not part: that for matters of justice, and protec-
tion of his subjects, and redress of all just grievances,
for these he could not bargain: he had already taken an
oath to give them freely: but that there remained some
other points of prerogative which, being burdensome to
the people and yet belonging of right to the Crown, “he
might haply be persuaded upon good consideration to
yield unto his subjects:" and of these he gave the follow-
ing examples: -
1. To be bound by the statute of limitation of 32 H. 8 as
subjects are, and to give away that part of his prerogative, Nul-
lum tempus occurrit Regi. What a jewel were this, said he, if
the King would part with it?
2. Right of purveyance, which were a great ease and content-
ment to the subject, if it were extinguished.
3. The changing of a maxim of the law Intentio Regis est reg-
ula legis. And that all the King's grants should be taken in a

:
:
584 SUPPRESSION OF COWELL'S LAW DICTIONARY. [Book IV.
favorable construction to the subject. As if the King grant
the manor of Dale, and he have two manors there, this now is a
void grant, etc.
4. Informers to be taken away (which are all beggars and
knaves) and to proceed by way of indictment.
5. Remission of old debts from 1 H. 7 until 30 Eliz., and
since then also upon good consideration.
6. Forfeitures not to be taken by the King for nonpayment
of rents reserved.
7. No injunction for possession to be granted upon an infor-
mation in the Exchequer, and the general issue pleaded.
8. The friends of every ward to have the wardship at certain
reasonable rates. And the Committee to receive no more than
he pays.
9. License of alienation to be granted at certain reasonable
rates, viz. 3 years rent after the old rent, for 20 pence in times
past was as much as 5 shillings is now.
10. Respect of homage to be taken in the country before
commissioners, without such charge and trouble as now is.
All these he told them that they were at liberty to
deal with by way of bargain: for the main matter of
Tenures and Wardships they would send an answer as
soon as they had learned the King's pleasure.
Such was the result of the conference: and it was a
step gained for they could now begin to calculate the
value of the ten points which were offered. But though
it took place on the 25th of February, it was not reported
to the House till the 27th. This was owing to a lively
interlude with which they were occupied in the interval;
and which, though unimportant (as it turned out) in its
bearing upon the present question, is too important in its
bearing upon other questions which we shall have to deal
with hereafter, to be passed by without notice.
The Committee of Grievances, which in the absence
of other matters for negotiation was very busy all this
time in inviting and investigating matters of complaint
from all quarters, had received information that a law
1610.]
SUPPRESSION OF COWELL'S LAW DICTIONARY.
585
dictionary, published two years before by the Regius
Professor of Civil Law in the University of Cambridge,
contained some opinions derogatory to Parliament and
dangerous to liberty. Finding the information to be cor
rect, they brought the matter before the House. Where-
upon all other business was suspended; and if they had
met with any opposition in their course, the further
consideration of Supply and Support might have been
postponed indefinitely. Fortunately, however, for the
progress of business (and perhaps for himself, too), Dr.
Cowell, like the Bishop of Bristol on a former very sim-
ilar occasion,¹ had no friends. The Lords were ready
to join in censure: the King to issue a Proclamation,
prohibiting "the buying, uttering, or reading" of his
book; commanding all persons who possessed copies to
take them presently to the Lord Mayor, the Sheriff of
the County, the Chancellor or Vice Chancellor of the
University (which ever was nearest), "that further order
might be given for the utter suppression thereof: " and
"because there should be better oversight of books of all
sorts before they come to the press," announcing a resolu-
tion to "make choice of Commissioners that shall look
more narrowly into the nature of all those things that
shall be put to the press either concerning our authority
royal, or concerning our government, or the laws of our
kingdom; from whom a more strict account shall be
yielded unto us than hath been used heretofore." Which
proclamation, being read in the House by Mr. Speaker on
the 27th of March, gave such satisfaction to the guardians
of liberty, that they immediately passed the following
resolutions:
"The Committee for Privileges to prepare an order
touching this Proclamation: For ever to remain here.
"Mr. Chancellor to go and give thanks presently to
his Majesty."
1 See ante, p. 458.
586
INQUIRIES AND ANSWERS.
[BOOK IV.
These resolutions, which should not be forgotten when
the Proclamation is remembered, were passed on the
27th of March; a full month after the first discovery of
the offending sentences and the shock of alarm which it
produced. It must not, however, be supposed that noth-
ing else was done during that month. The unanimity
of Commons, Lords, and King in the censure of Dr.
Cowell was in fact so perfect from the first that as early
as the afternoon of the 27th of February, the Lower
House was at leisure to hear the report of Salisbury's
answer to their last inquiries, and to consider what they
should do. The report being delivered, a long debate
followed, in the course of which Bacon made a speech:
his aim being (for the notes are too fragmentary to con-
vey more than the general purport) to recommend some
course which without committing them prematurely in the
matters of contract, would leave no doubt of their inten-
tion to be liberal in subsidies, after the ancient pattern;
and to remind them of the interest they all had in the rep-
utation of harmony between King and people, and of the
dangers which "noise of want" might entail. And the
conclusion of the debate was in accordance with this view:
for the final resolution was simply to inform the Lords
that for supply they knew of no way but subsidy, which
they would take into consideration in due time and do
therein that which should become loving and dutiful sub-
jects; and for support they must wait for their Lordships'
answer to their inquiry whether Tenures were among the
things in treaty.
The answer when it came (it was given on the 2d of
March and reported by Bacon to the House on the 5th),
was indecisive, and was met by a message desiring a
further conference on the matter of Tenures: the object
being "to urge reasons that might remove obstructions,"
and the task being assigned to Bacon. The conference
took place on Thursday the 8th of March, 1609-10, and

-
1610.]
TERMS PROPOSED BY THE COMMONS.
587
Bacon's part was to persuade the Lords to join with the
Commons in petition to the King for liberty to treat of a
composition for Wards and Tenures.
The Lords assented, and the joint petition procured
a very gracious answer; which was delivered by the Earl
of Northampton on the 12th of March, and reported to
the House on the 14th; and was understood as giving
them "liberty to treat concerning the discharge of Ten-
ures and all dependencies thereof." To which work they
accordingly addressed themselves at once; and with so
good a will that by the 26th of March they were ready
with their proposition: which was shortly this: that
Knights' service generally should be turned into free and
common socage; in return for which "they offer to the
King an hundred thousand pounds yearly; wherein they
do include all the esse and the posse which the King ever
had of the matter afore desired to be compounded for."
If the King had not been known to be in such urgent
need of money, there might have been good policy in
making difficulties and proceeding slowly. The Com-
mons being really desirous to conclude an arrangement
such as seemed to be proposed, an affectation of indiffer-
ence on the other side might in that case have induced
them to make haste lest they should lose their chance.
But the difficulties of the King having been not only
proclaimed but demonstrated by figures the intolerable
and inextricable embarrassments of the Crown having
been laid as the ground of the whole proceeding - while
the people could hold on well enough as they were
there could be no doubt that delay was more inconven-
ient to him than to them. It is true that historians speak
of people "groaning" under exactions, as if all the pop-
ulation were miserable when a few are unjustly taxed;
and I suppose there never was a time in any country
when many respectable witnesses were not ready to show
that all things were going to ruin. But that in the year
+
..
.
:
!
588
TERMS PROPOSED BY THE COMMONS.
[Book IV.
1610 the people of England were generally either in dis-
tress or in fear of distress is certainly not true. Purvey-
ors and informers and farmers of Crown revenues were
harassing many particular persons and causing a great
deal of general annoyance and irritation; but the burdens
from which the people were crying to be relieved were by
no means so intolerable as to drive them to purchase relief
at an extravagant price. The whole nation was growing
richer: the Lower House was becoming every year more
powerful, and was sure to win if it had patience to wait.
Not so the King. To him delay was dangerous in more
ways than one. Salisbury, when he first called upon the
Commons for so large a grant of money, had promised on
the King's part, by way of retribution, the redress of all
just grievances. It followed of course that they imme-
diately set about collecting their grievances: and every
day's delay not only added to the list and inflamed dis-
contents, but brought them nearer to a question which
lay inevitably in the way and threatened an irreconcil-
able quarrel. That a Committee of Grievances could get
through such an inquiry in such circumstances without
falling upon the question of Impositions, was not to be
hoped. Salisbury's vaunted day's work had made that
impossible for until it were determined whether so large
and indefinite a power as that of setting duties upon im-
ports and exports at his own will belonged to the King
or not, it was impossible to estimate the value of any
grant they might agree upon. And yet to this inquiry,
so manifestly unavoidable, no provision whatever seems
to have been made for securing a peaceable issue. How
Salisbury expected to give it the slip, it is difficult to
guess. But it is clear that the game did not go as he had
planned it, and he had to shift his ground more than once.
My own conjecture is that he had counted on carrying
the vote of supply before the discussion of grievances
could be brought to a crisis, and thereby getting money
1
1610.]
TERMS PROPOSED BY THE COMMONS.
589
enough to go on with for a while; so that a Parliament-
ary difficulty might, if necessary, be got rid of by a
dissolution. He was constitutionally sanguine and bold;
and having seen on more occasions than one that the
Commons were apt to be very forward and liberal in vot-
ing supplies when any accident tending to bring them into
passionate sympathy with the Government had warmed
their loyalty, he may perhaps have hoped that in their
first glow of gratitude for the concessions which the King
promised they would be eager to express it by a liberal
contribution: which being once secured, the Crown would
have been relieved from its immediate difficulty and able
to conclude the rest of the negotiation with advantage,
or to throw it overboard without fear of the immediate
consequences. To suppose, indeed, that at the com-
mencement of a negotiation which was avowedly in the
nature of a bargain they would deliberately relieve the
King from the very difficulty which was avowedly his
motive for proposing it, was to give them credit either
for greater dullness or for more reckless generosity than
could well be expected from a body of that character.
But cunning is apt to overreach itself, and Salisbury's
genius was not long-sighted. At any rate we shall find
that they understood their advantage and did not mean
to throw it away.
They had submitted their offer to the Lords on the
26th of March, a few days before the Easter recess, and
were already busy again with their collection of griev-
ances, when on the 19th of April they were invited to a
conference to hear the answer. The Lords had consid-
ered the proposition, and had communicated it to the
King, whose decision they reported in these words: —
"He would upon no terms depart with any part of his sov-
ereign Prerogative, whereof the tenure in capite of his person,
which is all one as of his Crown, is no small branch: But,
touching the dependents upon such Tenures, videlicet Ward-
£
2
Į
-A
590
UNEXPECTED ANSWER FROM SALISBURY. [Book IV.
ships, Marriage, Primier Seizin, Relief, Respect of Homage, and
the like, which be the only burdens of these Tenures (the honor
and Tenures reserved) His Majesty is pleased when he shall
have understood what recompense will be therefor offered unto
him, with convenient speed, to give further answer for contract-
ing for the same.”
To this the Commons assented at once, without any
difficulty. They were content that the King should re-
tain the honor: the recompense they were prepared to
offer for relief from the burdens incident to the Tenures
was the same which they had already offered for relief
from the Tenures themselves, - £100,000 per annum.
What did he say to this offer?
The question was asked at a conference on the 26th
of April, and answered by Salisbury in a long speech, of
which (though it was felt at the time to be so important
that a sub-committee was specially appointed to "con-
sider of the report and assign a reporter," the notes in
the Commons' Journals are not complete enough to be
intelligible, while (singularly enough) the Journals of
the Lords contain no record of it at all. It so happens,
however, that an unusually full report of the speech of
Sir Edwin Sandys (who was chosen by the sub-committee
for their spokesman) is preserved among the Harleian
MSS.; and from this we learn what the next move in
the game was a move quite unlooked for at the time,
very difficult to explain even now.
and
It will be remembered that when the Commons were
asked for their answer to the King's demand of £200,000
annual support, they replied that they could give no
answer until they knew "what those things were which
His Majesty intended to give his subjects by way of
retribution," and in particular whether Wardship was
among them: implying of course that when they offered
the money they offered it in consideration of the remis-
sion of those burdens, and particularly of Wardships,
1.
1610.]
UNEXPECTED ANSWER FROM SALISBURY.
591
The same understanding was implied in Salisbury's first
answer (21 February) when he enumerated ten points
of prerogative which "his Majesty might haply be per-
suaded upon good consideration to yield unto his sub-
jects,”—that is, for which they might deal by way of
bargain, but distinctly reserved the question whether
Wardships were to be included. It was implied again
in the rejoinder to that reply (27 February), when the
Commons intimated that they could say nothing as to
the matter of "support" until that question were an-
swered. It was implied throughout Bacon's speech to
the Lords (8 March) moving them to join in petition for
liberty to treat of a composition with the King for Wards
and Tenures, with a view to "invest the Crown with a
more ample, more certain, and more loving dowry than
this of Tenures;" which could only mean to provide such
a dowry in exchange for the revenue they now yielded.
It was implied in the answer to that petition delivered
by the Earl of Northampton on the 12th of March, which
was accepted and immediately acted on as granting them
the liberty they asked. It was implied in the terms of
their first offer (26 March) and in the first answer to
that offer (20 April), when the King, in refusing to part
with the Tenures, signified his readiness to contract for
the discharge of the burdens incident to them (Wardship
being specially named as one) when he should have un-
derstood what recompense would be offered.
But now
on the 26th of April it appeared that there had been
some misapprehension. For after reminding them that
they had "offered for the tenures and wardships, with
all other their incidents, £100,000 by the year, not
reserving that benefit which the Crown now maketh by.
them," Salisbury proceeded to "crave pardon that he
was somewhat too curious not to mistake them: for he
feared lest some want in himself in conveying those
things to them which the King propounded had made
!
592
CONDITIONS DEMANDED BY THE KING.
[BOOK IV.
them more obscure than they would have been if they
had been rightly and exactly delivered." He feared (it
seems) that when he told them that the King was ready
to part with those ten points of prerogative by way of
"retribution" for the £200,000 per annum which he
demanded, and when they were afterwards told that they
might include Wardships with them, they had supposed
him to mean that the King was ready to part with them
in exchange for £200,000 per annum; - that £200,000
per annum was to be the price of them. But it was not
so. The sum originally demanded was not meant to form
any part of the price of these prerogatives; it was to be
merely a negative condition - a sine quá non-of nego-
tiation; the price of the concession, not of the prerogative
itself, but of the liberty to offer money for it. Let them
vote £600,000 supply and assure to the King £200,000
annual support, and the King would then be willing to
part with Wardships and the like, upon payment of a fur-
ther sum equal to what he would lose by giving them up.
Whether the King had changed his mind, or whether
Salisbury had persuaded him to keep it to himself till
now, but could persuade him no longer,—or whether he
had not been correctly informed of what had passed be-
fore — or however it came about—I cannot understand
the words in any other sense than this. "When demand
of £200,000 per annum and £600,000 was made, there
was no thought (saith the King) that he should part
with the Wards. Nay (saith the King) and so say we,
there was no thought of divers charges which since
seemed necessary.
And if we thought then with-
out Tenures that demand to be just, shall we now, cast-
ing in the Wards, think it enough?
He saith not
£100,000 is too much or too little for the Wards; but
the Wards is too much for anything that shall come short
of the King's first demand. . . . . The conclusion there-
fore was that unless we offered that which might give
•
•

1610.]
CONDITIONS DEMANDED BY THE KING.
593
the King a complete satisfaction, not reddendo singula
singulis, but sub tota materia, £200,000 a year above
whatsoever we defalked from him by our contract, the
Wards will not be had. And if that may be made up,
then take (quoth his Lordship) Wards, Purveyance, and
those other incidents, with what else the Parliament shall
think fit." Take them (that is to say); but take them
at their estimated value.
If this offer was made at Salisbury's instigation, or
with his approval, it is hard to believe that it was made
with any other intention than to provoke a refusal and
bring the negotiation to an end. During the last seven
years of Elizabeth's reign, the amount of supply granted
by Parliament had risen to nearly £140,000 in the year.
But that was in the time of war with Spain and rebellion
in Ireland. It was granted by two several Parliaments,
with special reference to the occasion, and for three or
four years only, each time. And far from being the pro-
vision then required by the Crown from this source in
ordinary times, it was nearly four times as much as the
average of the first twenty-seven years of that reign, and
nearly twice as much as the average of the next ten.
The proposal now made was to secure to the Crown, in
a time of peace both with subjects and neighbors, -to
secure to it, not for three or four years, but forever,-
without reference to circumstances, and without interven-
tion of Parliament—an annual supply greater by at least
a fourth than the greatest that any Parliament had ever
granted or been asked to grant. Was it conceivable that
the House would listen to such a proposal for a moment
after they had been fairly told what it was? To ask the
House of Commons first to free the Crown from debt and
then to settle upon it such an income what was it but
to ask them to make the King independent of Parlia-
ment, to deprive themselves of all legal power in the
state, to turn petitions of right and complaints of griev-
VOL. I.
38
ji
+
·
594 MOTIVES FOR THE CHANGE OF PROCEEDING. [Book IV.
ance into empty forms, dangerous to the movers, but
powerless for their objects? And this at a time when
they were more than usually alive to the value of the
privilege they had established of dealing with money
bills by themselves, and keeping questions of supply en-
tirely in their own hands. Give the King money enough,
and what need would he have to call any more Parlia-
ments? or what should hinder him from calling them
only to do his work and dissolving them the moment
they began to do any work for themselves? And what
would concessions, promises, or even laws, be good for,
from that moment? The fear of Parliaments being
taken away, even the best devised laws for securing the
liberties of the people could no longer have been trusted
to do their work. The lawyers would have made the
laws mean what they liked.
Yet if it is hard to believe that Salisbury made such
an offer with any hope that it would be accepted, it must
be admitted that it is also hard to understand what ob-
ject he could have had in provoking a refusal. Though
the Commons had been too wary to give away their ad-
vantage before they had made their bargain, they had
shown no disinclination to the bargain itself, nor any
disposition to deal illiberally in it. The proposal had
undoubtedly been advised and deliberate: why should
the proposer wish it to miscarry? A docket which I
find in the calendar of State Papers, dated April 25,
1610 (the day before Salisbury delivered the King's an-
swer), may perhaps have something to do with it. Ọn
the 25th of April a bond for £150,000 was given by the
King to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Recorder of
London, "in part security for £100,000 to be lent by
them." Now we learn from a news-letter of Chamber-
lain's (2 May) that just about this time there were
privy seals ready printed to be sent abroad." And the
true history of the matter may possibly be, that seeing
66
1610.]
MOTIVES FOR THE CHANGE OF PROCEEDING.
595
the House of Commons could not be persuaded to vote
the supply before they proceeded with the bargain, and
the City was not ready to lend without better security
than the Crown had to offer, and yet money must be
got, the Government had expected to be driven to the
expedient of Privy Seals, that is, of requisitions for loans
of money in small sums from those who were supposed
to have money to spare. It would have been inconven-.
ient at such a time for the Crown to be known to be at
variance with the Commons on a money question and
therefore the answer to their offer (which might have
been given the next day) was postponed for nearly a
month; and when given was so contrived as not to touch
the point, but to include a new question, which required
an answer, and caused the delay of a few days more.
But by the time the answer came the King had suc-
ceeded in borrowing from the Mayor and Aldermen
£100,000 in a lump; and, being rich again while it
lasted, he could afford (or Salisbury could afford on his
behalf,- for we cannot tell which was moving the other)
to assume that air of independence and superiority, which
would have been politic, if the hollowness of it had not
been so fatally betrayed and so ostentatiously proclaimed.
He thought perhaps that if he set his demand high
enough, and spoke big enough, he might still recover the
position from which he had descended, and make the
Commons believe that they were bargaining with one
who could afford to wait.
If so, he was mistaken. It was too late to produce
such an impression by several weeks. When Salisbury's
speech was reported to the House on the 1st of May,
Nicholas Fuller (whose popular sympathies had not been
chilled by his submission to the archbishop sixteen months
before) began the debate with a motion which must
have been for a flat and peremptory rejection of the
King's demand. And according to a letter writer who
2
596 MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
[BOOK IV.
appears to have been well informed, the first impulse of
the House was to "give no answer at all, but remain
silent till the King should be pleased to make some more
reasonable proposition unto them, or break absolutely
the bargain; wherefrom they do not seem now much
averse: thinking to have done enough," etc. This course
was opposed, however, by Sir Edwin Sandys among
others; and after two days debate they agreed upon a
message. But though in form and tone it was more ac-
cording to Bacon's advice that it should be "decent,
modest, and respective," the substance of it was a plain
refusal to offer better terms. Nor did they think fit to
trust the language to the discretion of the messenger,
but reduced it to writing: and much to the dissatisfac-
tion of the Lords (who had particularly desired “that
the Committees might have liberty to hear propositions
and questions, and to make answers, as also to ask ques-
tions,") they expressly restrained them to the delivery of
the message, forbidding them to "answer or dispute."
According to the report made by Salisbury to the
Lords, it was to this effect:
"That where the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of the
nether House had offered to give for the matter of Wards,
Tenures, and dependents thereon, £100,000, and had by us re-
ceived answer, that his Majesty as then advised would not
accept thereof, nor saw reason to depart from his first demand
of £200,000 support and £600,000 supply, his occasions being
in all appearance now greater than before, and especially the
Wards being now by them desired, which before was not spoken
of nor included in the King's demand: That they have since
entered into reëxamination of the matter, and do find no reason
to alter their offer: That their purpose was to have laid the
burden on the Landsmen: where it was moved unto them that
they should think of some course to make up the King's de-
mand, etc.: they answered that they cannot now find how so
huge a sum may be levied without grieving a multitude of his
Majesty's poor subjects: Howbeit, in all reasonable matters
1610.]
DISAPPOINTMENT OF SALISBURY.
597
they will be ready to give his Majesty satisfaction. Lastly,
they acknowledged their great obligation to his Majesty, who
hath given them a further leave to treat than ever was granted
to any of their predecessors; and further they would not go."
If the object of the government was to break the nego-
tiation off, the matter now stood very well for them. But
Salisbury's great annoyance and disappointment at the
refusal of the Commons to allow their Committees to
enter into discussion (of which I find lively traces in both
Journals) seems to show that this was not his object.
Indeed he not only remonstrated and argued, but hung
out signs of accommodation. "Perceiving," says Beau-
lieu in a letter to Trumbull, "that they were altogether
cooled in the bargain, and willing to go back from their
offer, he told them that those sums which had been pro-
pounded unto them had been tendered rather by way of
estimation than of demand; and desired them to be well
advised how they let go such an opportunity as they had
now in their hands, to free themselves of that yoke of
the Wardships and of the rest of their grievances, which
they should not always recover; showing unto them the
importance and inconveniences growing unto them out
of every one of those grievances. But they are not like
(he adds) to trouble themselves much further in the mat-
ter, until the King shall have modified and reformed his
propositions." It appears also from the Commons' Jour-
nals that the annoyance was not confined to Salisbury;
three other Lords had expressed dissatisfaction “and
taxed the proceedings of the House."
The truth was that Salisbury had overshot himself
both ways; first in making the essential weakness of his
position too apparent, and now in setting his demands too
high. Nor was that the worst. If the redress of griev-
ances was all the recompense they were to look for
and they were now told that whatever else was given
must be paid for at its full value- the least that could
598
SEARCH FOR RECORDS AS TO IMPOSITIONS. [Book IV.
•
be expected was that they would make as much of their
grievances as they could. Their Committee had been
busy in the inquiry for two months, and reports were
beginning to come in fast. On the 24th of April "the
great matter of Impositions" had come before them. On
the 30th (in spite of a warning in the interval from
Salisbury that to "flatter themselves in their private opin-
ions, when cases had been judged in a court proper to de-
termine them were but to bark against the moon,
the Speaker had been directed to "take order for the
view of the Parliament Records in the Tower," the
King's Counsel "to give direction for precedents which
they vouched," and "Sir Robert Cotton to assist." On
the first of May they had appointed nine of their body to
"search records touching Impositions, and fixed a day for
discussing the question in the House. The discussion was
likely to be particularly inconvenient at that time; and
as the day drew near another attempt was made to inter-
cept it. Unfortunately the means used constituted a
fresh grievance, which, in the temper to which they had
now been brought, seemed likely to breed fresh troubles.
On the 11th of May, when "the Grievances were called
for," the Speaker delivered a message, as from the King,
warning them that the question as to his right to impose
duties upon merchandise exported and imported had been
settled judicially, and was not to be disputed in the
House. Now as the King had been absent from London
all the week, a question arose, whence the Speaker re-
ceived this message: "wherein he, excusing himself for
a long time, in the end did confess that he received this
message from the body of the Privy Council." That
their Speaker should receive communications in this way
through the Privy Council was held to be against order,
and it was resolved after warm debate "That the same
message, coming not immediately from his Majesty, should
not be received as a message: and that in all messages
1610.]
QUESTION OF DISCUSSING THE KING'S POWERS. 599
from his Majesty, the Speaker before he delivered them
should first ask leave of the House, according as had an-
ciently been accustomed."
Whether the King had anything to do with this par-
ticular message is doubtful; but the general terms of the
resolution imported a limitation of his liberty of action
in which he could hardly have been expected to ac-
quiesce. As soon as it was reported to him, he sent
again to inquire whether, if a message were sent to them
by their Speaker, and the Speaker declared that it came
by warrant from the King in word or writing, or from
the body of his Privy Council, they would refuse it?
The question was immediately referred to the Committee
of Grievances (14 May) and the result was a report that
with respect to messages sent by the Speaker immedi-
ately from the King himself, whether in word or in writ-
ing, they were ready to say that they would receive them
as usual, "being delivered unto them according to the an-
cient order of the House.” But "concerning the latter
part of the question, which touched the Council, the gen-
eral resolution of the Committee was to make answer
that they would receive no messages coming from the
Council as messages sent from his Majesty."
If this was all that could be got, it was better to let
the matter rest where it was: and the King sent word in
the morning that they need not trouble themselves to
answer his question. But what was to be done with the
resolution of the House which had led him to ask it?
Upon that resolution the Committee of Privileges had
framed an order, which had been allowed, and should
have been entered in the records. As long as this re-
mained among the precedents it was useless to withdraw
the question, for it contained the answer. By this time,
however, a disposition had come over them to relent and
make the matter up; and when in the course of further
discussion it was found that the clerk had not yet entered
**
600 QUESTION OF DISCUSSING THE KING'S POWERS. [Book IV.
the order, they had the sense to leave it there; follow-
ing Bacon's advice in not standing upon the point —
("Sovereignty and Liberty to pass in silence: not to be
textual:" is the note that remains of what he said)
as they might now see it would have been better to do
five days before, when he advised them not to contest it.
“But in the end," says Chamberlain, "they saw that
motos præstat componere fluctus, and with a moderate an-
swer pacified his Majesty."
""
A difficulty which ought never to have been made was
thus easily disposed of: a few fair words and the with-
drawal of a needless scruple set it at rest, and no further
trouble was to be apprehended from it. But unfortu-
nately it left the real difficulty behind. The scruple
about the form of the message had merely postponed
the question, what should be done with the message it-
self; "which was," says the reporter, "to command the
House not to dispute of the King's power and prerogative
in imposing upon merchandises exported or imported.
This was a point in which it was not so easy to give way
on either side. It was the old dispute between Preroga-
tive and Privilege, aggravated by the fact that the ques-
tion at issue was one of incalculable importance. It is
scarcely too much to say that it involved the whole ques-
tion whether the Commons were to be thenceforth at the
mercy of the Crown, or the Crown at the mercy of the
Commons. If the King had the power of laying duties
at will upon exports and imports, he could carry on the
government without the aid of Parliament; if not, the
help or consent of the House of Commons being indis-
pensable, they could always control the government by
stopping the supplies. The King (who, to do him jus-
tice, was always ready to give reasons for what he did,
and to believe that if he might but state them in his own
way he could convince everybody that he was right)
thought to remove the difficulty by a speech. And on

1610.] QUESTION OF DISCUSSING THE KING'S POWERS.
601
this occasion it must be admitted that he had that to say
which was much to the purpose, and might if properly
managed have done a great deal to clear the way. He
was prepared to make some substantial concessions. He
was prepared not only to concede to the House of Com-
mons without reserve the right of discussing particular
impositions in respect of conveniency, or inconveniency,
and of complaining of them as grievances (which for
practical purposes was almost the same as discussing the
right itself of imposing); but also to put a limit upon
the exercise of the power which he assumed, by engaging
himself not to use it without consulting Parliament. If he
could but have confined himself in speech to an intima-
tion of what he would concede, and let silence say for
him what he would not concede, such a declaration from
his own mouth might have done much to conciliate opposi-
tion. But silence was a gift which had not been given to
him. He could not say what he would do, without also say-
ing what he would not do: could not promise to forego the
exercise of a right, without first proving that he had it:
could not admit that a liberty went so far, without deny-
ing that it went further. The consequence was, that
meaning to tell the Commons that their right to "com-
plain of any just grievance," and therefore to inquire of
"the burden and inconvenience" of impositions, was not
questioned, he began by warning them not to dispute the
King's power to impose; and meaning to put an impor-
tant restriction upon himself in the exercise of that
power, he began with an argument in justification of it,
which (followed to its logical consequences) implied a
pretension to tax not imports and exports only, but all
other property. And the general impression which his
speech produced may be gathered from the report sent
by Chamberlain to Winwood two or three days after.
“The 21st of this present he made another speech to both the
houses, but so little to their satisfaction that I hear it bred gen-
602 QUESTION OF DISCUSSING THE KING'S POWERS. [Book IV.
erally much discomfort to see our monarchical power and royal
prerogative strained so high, and made so transcendent every
way, that if the practice should follow the positions, we are not
like to leave our successors that freedom which we received
from our forefathers, nor make account of anything we have
longer than they list that govern. Many bold passages have
been since in the Lower House, and amongst the rest a wish
that this speech might never come in print.
""
Instead of appeasing one dispute, the King had in fact
(without at all meaning it) raised another of larger dimen-
sions—a dispute involving the entire relation between
Sovereignty and Liberty; which it was so important (as
Bacon could have told him) to maintain in silence, with-
out coming to exact definitions. The effect was imme-
diate; though to him, I believe, quite unexpected. The
first business of the House the next morning was the ap-
pointment of a Committee "to devise upon some course
to be taken to inform his Majesty how much the liberties
of the subject and the privilege of the Parliament was
impeached by this inhibition to debate his Prerogative."
In the notes of the debate which ended in the appoint-
ment of this Committee Bacon's name does not appear.
But in Committee he tried hard, as he had invariably
done on like occasions, to turn the discussion from the
general question of the right to the particular question
of the grievance. It had begun with strong assertions
of the right of Parliament to debate freely of all things
that concern the Commonwealth, including the Preroga-
tive of the Crown, which was alleged to have been sub-
ject in all ages to inquiry both in Parliament and in the
Courts of Justice. His course in such cases had always
been, not to deny the right, but if possible to prevent
the question. And such was his course now. He
cited precedents in support of the King's position, and
advised the House "to present these matters of imposi-
tions as grievances to the Commonwealth (which the
1610.]
A PETITION OF RIGHT.
603
King had given them leave to do), but not to question
his power or prerogative to impose."
It does not appear that these precedents were met by
any precedent on the other side, later than the reign of
Edward III., where a debate in Parliament concerning
the limits of the prerogative had been permitted. But it
was easy to find distinctions between each of the cases
alleged and the case of the new Impositions, and to show
that they were not exactly in point; and the result was
a resolution to remonstrate. A petition of Right was ac-
cordingly drawn up, setting forth in temperate but firm
language the right of Parliament to debate freely of all
matters which concern the right and state of the subject,
and the impossibility of examining the case of the new
Impositions as it affected the subject without inquiring
how it stood in law: and ending with a petition that they
might "according to the undoubted right and liberty of
Parliament proceed in their intended course of a full ex-
amination of these new Impositions; that so they might
cheerfully pass on to his Majesty's business, from which
this stop had by diversion so long withheld them."
This paper was very skillfully worded to avoid offense,
and as I think the King had never meant to put any re-
straint upon the liberty of their proceeding, but fancied
on the contrary that he was offering them a very large
and unusual indulgence, he was the more disposed to re-
ceive it graciously. It was presented to him at Green-
wich on the 24th of May at eleven in the morning. The
messengers were received with unusual courtesy, and
having been "extraordinarily entertained at dinner, were
summoned into the withdrawing chamber at three to hear
his answer: the substance of which was shortly that they
had mistaken his meaning, both in his message and in
his speech. In his message he had not meant to prohibit
absolutely a discussion of the question, but only to sus-
pend it, in order that he might understand their inten-
604
THE ASSASSINATION OF HENRY IV.
[BOOK IV.
tions: and in his speech when he explained what powers
a King of England had by law, he never meant that he
was going to use them for the abridgment of any of their
liberties. He begged them to distinguish between his
reasons and his conclusions," "granted their petition as
themselves had set it down," and desired that “mistak-
ing might no more hinder their business."
With which answer the House being well satisfied,
proceeded to their business without further delay.
The message and speech which had given rise to all
these doubts and explanations were the more unlucky,
because an accident had just happened which tended to
bring the King and the Commons into harmonious action.
The assassination of Henry IV., which was announced to
the Lower House by Salisbury on the 8th of May, had
rekindled their zeal against Papists, alarmed them for
the safety of the King's person, and made them look up
the laws against Recusants. Nothing reconciles dissen-
sions between allies like the report of an enemy advan-
cing; and if it had not been crossed by that unfortunate
message, the news of the murder would very likely have
been followed by a vote of supply,- immediate, liberal,
and unconditional. Salisbury tried to get that fruit out
of it on the first announcement. "After he had repre-
sented unto them " (writes Beaulieu on the 9th) “the
importance of that accident, and the loss which this state
did suffer by it, his Lordship exhorted them to be
watchful for the safety and good of their prince, and as-
sist him with those means which were requisite for it;
seeming to insinuate unto them that this accident would
put the King in need of a greater assistance from them
than was before required at their hands." And when
this hint failed to produce its effect, he made another
attempt to bring it about by a more elaborate proceed-
ing. But it was his ill luck throughout this session that
every attempt he made to deliver the King from his em-
1610.] NEGOTIATION OF THE GREAT CONTRACT RESUMED. 605
barrassments acted as a reminder to the Commons that
as soon as he was delivered they would lose all their hold
upon him. Their disposition was indeed for the time
more favorable. The temper of the King's answer to
their remonstrance, and the anxiety to take securities
against the Jesuits which he shared with both the Houses,
had sweetened their feelings; and the question of Supply
and Support, which had been shut up by their message
of the 3d of May and remained in abeyance ever since,
the Lords making no further motion in it, was on the
25th-immediately after the report of the King's answer
brought forward again. But in proposing to re-open
it, they did not forget to stipulate that the question of
Impositions, the investigation of which had been going
on in the mean time with activity, should not be left be-
hind, but proceed pari passu. Salisbury felt, I suppose,
that, if that was to be the consequence, further delay
would only lead to further difficulty; and immediately
made a fresh attempt to get the negotiation resumed and
pushed forward. The very next day after the passing of
that resolution in the Lower House, messengers arrived
from the Upper to desire a conference between the Com
mittees "formerly employed in the matter of Tenures;
at which it was intimated that the King was prepared to
lower his terms, and they were invited to renew the nego-
tiation, not in a "dry meeting," such as the last was,
but "in a free conference," where the committees on
both sides should come prepared to debate and argue.
Which, it seems, was agreed to, and the Commons be-
gan forthwith to prepare themselves.
That the subject of discussion was to be the contract
which had been under discussion before, and that more
favorable terms were now to be offered, appears dis-
tinctly from the note in the Lords' Journals of what the
Lord Treasurer was to say to the Committees. That
in insisting so earnestly that the Conference should be
606
NEGOTIATION OF THE GREAT CONTRACT.
[BOOK IV.
"free" and the Committees 'authorized to debate ques-
tions, their motive was to save time and get the terms
settled before the case of the Impositions could come
on I infer from the dates. And the business might no
doubt have been despatched quicker in that way. But
the Commons knew well enough which party could least
afford to wait, and they were not to be hurried. If their
Committees were to debate the terms of the contract,
they must have their instructions beforehand; and in-
structions required time. That the same time served to
collect the records concerning Impositions, was an acci-
dent no way inconvenient to them. But to Salisbury, if
I am right in supposing that his object was to get the
contract concluded before the other difficulty came on,
it threatened to spoil his whole game. Unless he could
hurry the preparations for the Conference, Support and
Impositions would go together pari passu after all. Ac-
cordingly, when nearly a fortnight had passed without
bringing any news of their progress, another message
was sent to remind them of the time of the year, and
express a hope that "all protraction, in this so great and
necessary a business, might be avoided." And when
reply came "that they were preparing for the matters
in question; that therein they had slacked no time; and
so soon as they were prepared the Lords should hear
further from them;" Salisbury seems to have felt that
he should lose at that game; and thereupon suddenly
changed his tactics, and tried to get at his main end-
which was money to go on with — by a nearer way. The
answer to the last message urging expedition was received
on Friday the 8th of June. On Monday the 11th another
was sent, desiring an immediate Conference (with the
same Committees who had been employed before) "touch-
ing some things which were to be imparted to them by
his Majesty's late commandment."
To this they assented at once, without any remark;
1

1610.]
•
PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS.
607
and the Conference was to take place the same after-
noon. But the short interval was passed in anxious con-
sultation upon a point of form, which, as illustrating the
temper of the House and the wary distance at which
they held their honor, would be worth notice, even if
Bacon had not been called to take a part in it. The
point was this. They were to hear something which
the King had commanded the Lords to impart to them.
Were the Lords then a body interposed between the
King and his subjects? They had objected to receive
messages from him by his Council: were they to receive
them by the Upper House? The matter was thought
grave enough for a Committee.
"Whereupon a Committee was chosen to consider what was
fittest to be done; who shortly after resolved that one of our
House who was appointed, namely, Mr. Solicitor, should before
the Lords spake, desire to say something unto the Lords on the
behalf of the House; and that then he should say that which
the House directed him; which he did with some amplification."
The office naturally fell to Bacon because he was to be
reporter of the proceedings at the Conference. But there
can be no doubt that he was the very best man to whom
they could have entrusted it; and the little "amplifica-
tion" which he ventured on may have had something to
do with the smooth passage of it. The following is given
as the substance of what he said:
"They had received a message from their Lordships,
desiring a meeting, whereunto they had yielded. But
that whether it were in the expressing of it or in the con-
ceiving of it, or both, there were some mistakes which
had left an impression in the minds of the hearers, which
did beget this resolution, which by their commandment
he was to intimate to their Lordships, which was this:
that if their Lordships did desire this meeting upon in-
tent only to communicate unto them their own conceits
or anything which they had received from his Majesty,
3.
3.
#
608
PRELIMINARY EXPLANATIONS.
[BOOK IV.
they were come hither with all willing readiness to re-
ceive it. But that if their Lordships were employed
herein as messengers only to the House of Commons
from his Majesty, who is like the sun which shines di-
rectly as well upon the lowest valleys as upon the highest
hills, then they were to signify to their Lordships that
this course was contrary to the ancient orders, liberties,
privileges, and graces of this House. And therefore we
are to entertain it as it shall please the House to direct
us.”
*
Salisbury was not a man to sacrifice the matter to a
scruple about the words. He easily explained that they
had desired a meeting, in consequence of something which
they had heard from the King, in order that they might
take counsel together what should be done. And so the
Conference proceeded.
And now it appeared that, though it had been ex-
pressly desired by the Lords that the Committees might
be the same who had been employed before, the object of
the conference was quite different. The business con-
sisted solely of a speech from Salisbury; the object of
which was, not to explain how much the King would
abate of his former demand and to propose terms for dis-
cussion, but simply to urge a present vote of "supply
by subsidies," and for that purpose the suspension of all
other business, including "Support" as well as "Griev-
ances," till their next meeting in October, when the
negotiation of the contract would be resumed. There
was no discussion, nor any invitation to discuss it was a
perfectly "dry" meeting.
:
The motion was one which indicated rather the extrem-
ity of the case than the skill of the mover. For except
some additional uncertainty as to the course of affairs
abroad, and some vague apprehension of the coming as-
cendancy of Popery in Christendom, consequent upon
the removal of Henry IV., he does not appear to have
-
1610.]
SUBSIDIES PROPOSED BUT POSTPONED.
609
had anything new to communicate which should have
induced the Commons to descend from their vantage-
ground. He had indeed some fresh acts of popularity on
the King's part to announce; some remissions of duty to
the merchants, a promise to impose no more duties before
their next meeting, and permission to the Lower House
"to dispute of his power to impose, in radice." But as
things had been managed, these concessions had been so
manifestly the consequence of his necessity, that as long
as other and more important concessions remained to be
got, they formed the worst of all arguments for taking
that necessity away. Salisbury explained frankly enough
what he wanted. "For the point of Supply, he wished
we would give his Majesty so much as might disengage
himself and pay his debts; and that something might
remain in deposito (in what place or whose hands we
pleased) tanquam thesaurus sacer, as a dry and standing
stock, not to be touched but upon urgent necessity." But
he can hardly have expected the House of Commons to
overlook the probable consequence of making such a
grant in June—namely, that their grievances when pre-
sented in October would have so much the less chance of
respectful consideration.
Such, however, was the proposition to be submitted to
them. Being reported by Bacon, I presumed that it was
presented in the fairest light which it would bear; but
the result was what might have been anticipated. A
motion for a grant of two subsidies was debated for two
days, and after several amendments and fresh proposi-
tions and conciliatory messages from the King, ended at
last in the postponement by general consent of the whole
question. "A message to his Majesty, by Mr. Chancel-
lor, and that we will lay all other business aside and
endeavor within a short time to give his Majesty satis-
faction," was proposed at last by Sir Edwin Sandys, and
"assented unto by the voice of the House." To which
VOL. I.
39
.
•
(..
610
SUBSIDIES PROPOSED BUT POSTPONED.
[BOOK IV.
the King replied that he did not "misjudge the proceed-
ings of the House in not giving him a subsidy, and was
indifferent whether any other motion were made con-
cerning any supply, till they should receive a full answer
to their grievances." What better could have been ex-
pected? The common sense of the House told them,
and each successive move of the government confirmed
the impression, that in relieving the King from his own
wants they would relieve him from the necessity of con-
sidering theirs. Bacon seems to have felt that he had no
ground to work upon. In the two days' debate which fol-
lowed his report, the only record which remains of what
he said is this note; from which I can only gather that
he spoke in favor of supply:-
SIR FR. BACON. I will not blast the affections of
this House with elaborate speech. Great hope in the
heart. Upon that to proceed.
The failure of this last attempt to obtain a present
The Commons had
supply left matters where they were.
been going on with their preparations for the "free Con-
ference" concerning Tenures to which they had been in-
vited by the Lords, as well as with the search for records
touching Impositions, and were now ready to deal with
both questions. On the 18th of June they opened com-
munications with the Lords, which resulted in a confer-
ence on the 26th; and on the 23d they began to debate,
in committee of the whole House, the great question,
"whether the King have power to set impositions upon
merchandises without assent of Parliament." The debate
appears to have occupied five days — the 23d, 27th, 28th,
and 29th of June, and the 2d of July; on one of which
days — probably the 27th- Bacon made a great speech
in defense of the King's right.
"All this debate," says Carleton, writing to Sir

1610.]
NEW OFFER IN THE GREAT CONTRACT.
611
–
Thomas Edmunds, "was at Grand Committees, the
Speaker being in the House but not in his chair; and
when the powder was all spent on both sides, we grew
in the end to this peaceable conclusion, not to put the
question of the right, to condemn thereby the judgment
of the Exchequer in the matter of currants: whereof all
this is the consequence: but to frame a petition by way
of grievance implying the right, though not in express
terms; which was accordingly done."
The conclusion therefore, whatever may be thought of
the arguments, was in accordance with Bacon's motion,
who had from the beginning, as we have seen, advised
this very course; and was presently to be employed in
presenting the petition itself.
"
The result then of this long debate was the appoint-
ment of a Committee (3d July)" to consider of the frame
of a petition to be offered to the King touching Imposi-
tions.' But in the mean time the question of Support
had been re-opened and made a step in advance. In a
conference between the two Houses on the 26th of June,
Salisbury had informed the Committee of the Commons
how much the King would now consent to abate of his
former demand for the concessions proposed he would
take for them £140,000 per annum, above the annual
revenue which they now yielded;¹ which appears to
have been estimated at £80,000. This was an abatement
of £60,000 per annum in his demand for Support; and as
nothing was said about Supply, his other demand of
£600,000 as a preliminary condition of the bargain may
be considered as having been withdrawn. This new and
much improved offer, being reported to the House the
next day, had been immediately referred to a Committee.
But the answer had to wait for the Grievances, which
"I crave £140,000 per annum, in retribution of such things as I mean to
bargain for at this Parliament, clear in addition to that I formerly received by
the natures of those things that are now to be bargained for. "—– Parliamentary
Debates, 1610, p. 121.
F
י
་
612
THE PETITION OF GRIEVANCES.
[Book IV.
were to proceed pari passu, and were now a little be-
hind.
The delay, however, was not long. The Committee
appointed on the 3d of July (of which Bacon was a
member) brought up their report on the 4th. The pe-
tition concerning Impositions was then immediately read
in the House and passed: and the collection of Griev-
ances being now complete, the preamble was agreed to
and ordered to be engrossed. Bacon, accompanied by
twenty of the House, was appointed to present them:
which he did on the 7th, with the following speech, as
reported by himself.
A SPEECH USED TO THE KING BY HIS MAJESTY'S SO-
LICITOR, BEING CHOSEN BY THE COMMONS AS THEIR
MOUTH AND MESSENGER, FOR THE PRESENTING TO
HIS MAJESTY OF THE INSTRUMENT OR WRITING OF
THEIR GRIEVANCES. IN THE PARLIAMENT 7 jac.
MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN, - The knights, citizens,
and burgesses assembled in Parliament, in the house of
your commons, in all humbleness do exhibit and present
unto your sacred Majesty, in their own words though by
my hand, their Petitions and Grievances. They are
here conceived and set down in writing, according to an-
cient custom of Parliament. They are also prefaced
according to the manner and taste of these later times.
Therefore for me to make any additional preface, were
neither warranted nor convenient; especially speaking
before a King, the exactness of whose judgment ought
to scatter and chase away all unnecessary speech, as the
sun doth a vapor.
This only I may say: Since this session of Parliament
we have seen your glory, in the solemnity of the creation
of this most noble Prince. We have heard your wisdom,
in sundry excellent speeches which you have delivered
amongst us. Now we hope to find and feel the effects
1610.] SPEECH ON PRESENTING PETITION OF GRIEVANCES. 613
of your goodness, in your gracious answer to these our
petitions. For this we are persuaded, that the attribute
which was given by one of the wisest writers to two of
the best emperors; Divus Nerva et divus Trajanus (saith
Tacitus) res olim insociabiles miscuerunt, Imperium et
Libertatem; may be truly applied to your Majesty. For
never was there such a conservator of regality in a crown,
nor ever such a protector of lawful freedom in a subject.
Only this (excellent Sovereign): Let not the sound
of grievances (though it be sad) seem harsh to your
princely ears: it is but gemitus columbæ, the mourning
of a dove, with that patience and humility of heart which
appertaineth to loving and loyal subjects. And far be it
from us, but that in the midst of the sense of our griev-
ances we should remember and acknowledge the infinite
benefits, which by your Majesty next under God we do
enjoy; which bind us to wish unto your life fullness of
days; and unto your line royal, a succession and con-
tinuance even unto the world's end.
It resteth that unto these petitions here included I do
add one more that goeth to them all: which is, that if in
the words and frame of them there be any thing offensive,
or that we have expressed ourselves otherwise than we
should or would, that your Majesty would cover it and
cast the veil of your grace upon it, and accept of our good
intentions and help them by your benign interpretation.
Lastly, I am most humbly to crave a particular pardon
for myself that have used these few words, and scarcely
should have been able to have used any at all, in respect
of the reverence which I bear to your person and judg-
ment, had I not been somewhat relieved and comforted
by the experience which in my service and access I have
had of your continual grace and favor.
The answer to this petition was given on Tuesday the
10th of July, both Houses attending by command. The
+
*
F
#
614 THE KING'S ANSWER TOUCHING IMPOSITIONS. [Book IV.
length of the paper and the shortness of the time was
alleged with very good show as a reason for not dealing
with all the articles at that time. An obvious distinction
of character suggested the separation of those which con-
cerned matters of government from those which concerned
matters of profit, and the selection of the last (which all
related to impositions of one kind or another, and went
naturally with the great question which had been so long
under debate) to be answered at once. But before he
proceeded further, the King called upon Salisbury to de-
clare "both what occasion had moved his Majesty to
lay the late Impositions, and how he (as his officer) had
observed his direction in the distribution of the same.
Who thereupon made" (says Carleton) "a long and
good narration, showing the reasons of those impositions
with all the circumstances; excusing himself for the
invention of this means to raise money, upon the last
Lord Treasurer; for the occasion, upon the Irish wars
in Odohartie's rebellion; for the ratings upon the mer-
chants, who being assembled from all parts of the
kingdom gave their assents; and for the warrantise upon
the Judges, — who had confirmed the proceedings in the
general by a partial judgment: So as wherever the fault
lay (if it were a fault) my Lord stood rectus in curiâ.”
"Of which he had no sooner made an end" (says
another reporter) "but the King (well approving his
relation, and adding thereunto many things that were
material) commanded the Clerk of the Higher House to
read openly some such answers as he had caused to be
put in writing to some part of the grievances which had
been exhibited by the Lower House, with promise to
give answer to the rest before the session ended. The
substance whereof was this which followeth :
"First, that the payment upon ale-houses should cease.
"That the impost upon coals shipped from the river of
Blith should be taken away.
!
1610.] THE KING'S ANSWER TOUCHING IMPOSITIONS.
615
“That the new Drapery should be referred absolutely
to the law.
"And for the Impositions upon merchandise, he pro-
nounced this answer with his own mouth: that now they
had heard the cause and manner of his proceeding in
them, his Majesty would make them see that he would
be so far from giving his people cause to fear any preju-
dice by using too severe a hand in that matter, as al-
though he knew that the Lower House was not a place
to determine the laws in a case of a private man, much
less concerning a Prince's right, yet he was pleased out
of his own mere grace to assure them (besides the great
abatement which he had made during this session of
divers imposts to his great loss) that he would be will-
ing to assent to an act by which his power should be
suspended from imposing any more upon merchandises,
without consent of Parliament."
To "let losers have their words " is excellent advice to
the winner, and might well have been acted on in this
case by the House of Commons. Whatever lawyers
might think of the justice of the judgment in Bates's
case, there could be no doubt it was a very strong point
in favor of the government. Possession is nine points
of the law, and till that judgment was reversed, it could
not be denied that the Government was in possession.
66
"Though I am no professor of the law," said Salisbury,
(and therefore mean not to make lawyers sport by put-
ting cases) yet so far as my weak logic will help me to
make a formal and a binding argument, I will make use
of it rather than to suffer any imputation upon the jus-
tice of his Majesty's actions.
"First, I say that whatever is done by the warrant of
a legal judgment, and in his proper seat of justice, is not
unlawful.
"The new impositions were laid upon merchandises in
the port after a legal judgment, whereby his Majesty's
<
2
1
10
=

•
+
616 THE KING'S ANSWER TOUCHING IMPOSITIONS. [Book IV.
right was declared in open Court, judicially argued, and
sentenced, in the case of currants.
"And therefore the new Impositions were not unlaw-
ful."
As against the charge of illegality, the argument seems
to me unanswerable. The judgment might be reversed,
or the law might be altered; but until one or other were
done, I do not see how the conclusion could be resisted.
And therefore if the King, having so strong a point in his
favor, was willing to compromise the dispute by volun-
tarily divesting himself of the disputed power for the
future, I think the Commons would have done wisely
to leave the dispute and take the offer. It was a great
surrender; and there was no chance of getting the thing
done so quickly, cheaply, and quietly, in any other way.
ment.
But if the loser should always be allowed to have his
words, it is only because they can do him no good; and
we want another proverb to warn him for his own sake
not to indulge in them. If Bacon had been employed to
draw up the answer to this article as well as the rest, I
think he would have left to Salisbury the assertion of the
right in law, and made the King say no more than that
he was willing to divest himself of it by Act of Parlia-
As it was, the implied assumption that he did
legally possess the power which the House had just voted
contrary to law, and therewithal the implied censure of
their whole proceeding, marred the effect of a concession
which should have been accepted with mere gratitude
and joy. How it was accepted we learn from Dudley
Carleton, who appears to have been a very dispassionate
though a very attentive and intelligent observer. The
questions relating to matters of profit (he says) the King
"presently resolved to the satisfaction of that house in
all particulars; save only in the new Impositions: in
which, though he promised to give way to a bill that
never any hereafter should be laid but with the assent
1610.]
PROGRESS OF THE GREAT CONTRACT.
617
of Parliament, yet because he did not as freely take away
all which were last imposed, they went away ill satisfied:
which they testified in their next day's meeting, when as
subsidies were proposed, and no more could be obtained
but one subsidy and a single fifteen: which a knavish
burgess said (but in the hearing of few) would do the
King much good, and serve as a subpoena ad melius re-
spondendum."
That knavish remark, though made in the hearing of
few, probably expressed the thoughts of many. The
King's last demand for his Tenures was still under con-
sideration; and it was not perhaps the reception of the
petition so much as the thought of the impending bar-
gain that suggested that cautious vote. The most dis-
creet and gracious answer could hardly have made them
forget that an ampler subsidy would have made the King
harder to deal with.
He had asked, in exchange for the things he had con-
sented to part with, £220,000. On the 13th of July, the
Commons agreed among themselves to offer £180,000:
a sufficient proof that they at least were really desir-
ous of concluding the bargain. Whether the Government
were equally in earnest appears to have been a question
with some; though, considering that the Crown had cer-
tainly the greater need and apparently the greater gain,
it is hard to imagine why. "Now we are come so near a
bargain," writes Carleton on the same day, "we shall be
able to make judgment at our next conference with the
Lords, whether this contract which hath been so long en-
tertained, was from the beginning de veras, as the Lords
would have us believe, or de burlas, as some of our wise
men still suspect.'
If the question were to be decided by the result of that
conference, the answer must undoubtedly have been, de
"Yesterday," writes Carleton again on the 17th,
"we had a conference with the Lords, and nothing con-
véras.
..
-
618
PROGRESS OF THE GREAT CONTRACT.
[BOOK. IV.
cluded in the matter of contract, by reason of the King's
absence, but much art used on both sides: on ours to
value our offer, which was performed by Sir Edwyn
Sandys, and at large you will not doubt; on the Lords'
side, pour encherir la merchandise, and this by my Lord
Treasurer, who came upon some disadvantage, because
our men were prepared, but did so well acquit himself ex
re nata, and so clearly open all the particularities of the
contract, that he gave very extraordinary contentment;
though for the issue of it we know no more than before
what judgment to make, for it is wrapped up in the
clouds, and either we shall have it in a sweet shower or
a storm the last day of the session. Yet there is likeli-
hood of another conference before that day, when mat-
ters will be brought nearer to a point."
Though the year was too far advanced to allow of their
following the business to its full conclusion, there was
every appearance (so far) of earnestness and good faith
on both sides; and before they parted formal memorials
were exchanged between the two Houses, setting forth
the state of the negotiation, and binding themselves to go
on with it at their return. But there was one important
business which still remained to be transacted, and upon
the issue of which the fate of the bargain might still
depend. Thus far, the Commons had made good their
resolution that Grievances and Supplies should proceed
together with equal steps, and had found the fruit of it.
But the steps could only be alternate. It was in this
case the last step that gave the advantage; and Salisbury
won it for the King. By dividing the Grievances into
matters of government and matters of profit, and taking
the last first, he contrived after all to extract a definitive
assent from the Commons to the proposed terms of con-
tract, before they had heard the King's answer to the
most important articles in their petition. The memori-
als of the contract were exchanged on Saturday the 21st
→
1610.]
BALANCE OF LOSS AND GAIN TO THE PEOPLE. 619
of July, and on Monday the 23d his Majesty's gracious
answer to the remaining grievances was read openly by
the Clerk; after which the Parliament was immediately
prorogued till the 16th of October. Now these remain-
ing grievances included all those (the new Impositions
only excepted) upon which the Government and the pop-
ular party were most at variance, — Deprived and si-
lenced ministers, Pluralities and non-residents, abuse of
Excommunication, authority of the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission, Prohibitions, Proclamations, and Jurisdiction of
Provincial Councils, and although the answers when
they came were put in as gracious a shape as could be
devised, it was not possible to make them satisfactory
to those with whom the complaint originated. To give
them an opportunity of talking all these matters over
in the House, while the contract remained unconcluded,
would no doubt have been inconvenient. But would it
have been less inconvenient than that they should be
sent to talk them over for three months in the country,
where the case on behalf of the government was not
likely to be so well represented? I think not. The
Memorial of the Contract drawn up by the Commons
contains their answer to a question which had been pro-
posed to them by the Lords- who would seem therefore
not to have been without their apprehensions on this head
- namely, "What matter of content in the interim, shall
be brought down into the country?" Their answer is
'1. To the meaner sort, the assuring them that nothing shall
be levied upon their ordinary victual; videlicet, Bread, Beer,
and Corn, nor upon their handy labors.
"2. To the bettter sort, the view of those things, which in
lieu of that sum we shall receive from his Majesty: whereof
copies to be taken down by such as please.
"3. In general, to all, his Majesty's gracious answer to our
Grievances.
But this was written before the gracious answer to the
•
620 BALANCE OF LOSS AND GAIN TO THE PEOPLE. [Book IV.
last articles had been delivered, and it must have seemed
doubtful, when it came, whether it was gracious enough
for the purpose.
To "the meaner sort" indeed, the as-
surance offered would probably be sufficient. But it was
not with the meaner sort that the difficulty would lie.
"The better sort," in balancing the cost against gain,
would compare the taxes to which they had been accus-
tomed with those which were now threatened. Those
who were old enough to have paid taxes for twenty years
would remember what they had had to pay in 1593 and
1594, when for the first time a whole subsidy (which
then yielded £152,790) was levied within the year, and
this for two years in succession. That was the heaviest
taxation that had ever been before or since, while it
lasted but the case was altogether exceptional, and in
the two years which followed, only half the amount was
paid — which was then the ordinary rate. After this
followed seven consecutive years in which they had had
to pay a whole subsidy each year; £141,000 being the
average of the first three, and £134,471 the average
of the last four. Since which time the sums annually
received by the Government on account of the Fifteenths
and Subsidies of the Laity, had been as follows: —
:
In 1605-6
.£29,539
1606-7
1607-8
1608-9
1609-10.
99,005
126,560
81,763
76,899
""
Such being the experiences of taxation then fresh in
memory, the "matter of content which the members
of the Lower House had to carry down to their constitu-
ents in the country was that, in consideration of being
relieved from certain burdens the value of which in
money was estimated at £80,000 per annum, they were
to be burdened thenceforth with a perpetual tax of
£200,000, to be secured to the Crown "by Act of Parlia-
1610.]
BALANCE OF LOSS AND GAIN TO THE PEOPLE.
""
621
ment in as strong sort as could be devised: which
would be much the same thing as paying a whole subsidy
every year, Parliament or no Parliament, with the addi-
tion of such subsidies as every Parliament would there-
after have to grant as the price and condition of being
continued. For if without Parliament the Crown was
to be assured of a larger annual income than it had ever
had yet in times of peace, and almost as large as it had
ever had for many years together in times of war, it
would always be able to settle a dispute by a dissolu-
tion.
And if this was to be their position and prospect with re-
gard to taxation, what would be their position and pros-
pect with regard to grievances? The fate of the Griev-
ances — I do not say under which the people were then
groaning, because I do not know that anybody groaned;
but for the redress of which the House of Commons had
just been petitioning - could not fail to suggest the an-
swer. Except in the matter of Impositions, the Govern-
ment, though it promised to use its authority justly, did
not talk of parting with any authority. Suppose any of
the powers which it retained should be abused; suppose
the favorite preacher should be silenced, the parish church
left without a minister, fines illegally exacted, penalties
imposed by Proclamations and enforced by the Star
Chamber; - what was to be done? They could peti-
tion again; and if their petition produced no effect, they
could refuse to grant any additional supply. But as
they would not be able to suspend the £200,000 per
annum which was now to be made certain and perpetual,
the refusal could be borne. They could pass Acts, and
send them to the Upper House. But if those Acts were
rejected, or returned with amendments, what could they
do more? It seems to me that a member trying to ex-
plain to "one of the better sort" how, upon " the view
of those things which in lieu of that sum they should re-
¿

622 BALANCE OF LOSS AND GAIN TO THE PEOPLE. [Book IV.
ceive from his Majesty," they had reason to rejoice in
the bargain, must have had a hard task before him; and
if we find that after three months spent in discussing the
merits of the bargain with those whom it most concerned,
members came back less in love with it, the fact will not
be thought to need any curious explanation.

CHAPTER III.
A. D. 1610-11.
ÆTAT. 50-51.
""
THE latest mention which I have met with of Bacon's
mother was in a letter to the Queen, dated 12 March,
1599, where he spoke of her "health" being "worn,
and the silence about her since then is so complete that
it has been supposed that she died soon after. That we
have no letters of later date from her or to her, is indeed
not surprising. Those of earlier date, of which we have
such a great number in the Lambeth collection, would
probably never have been heard of but for Anthony Ba-
con's habit of keeping all his correspondence without dis-
tinction and consequently leaving behind him so many
bundles of imperfectly arranged papers, the valuable and
the worthless mixed confusedly together, that they were
probably never either sorted or examined during his
brother's life. Any correspondence which passed after-
wards with her or about her would naturally be kept
separate, and so destroyed or lost all together. But
though the disappearance of all letters is easily accounted
for, the absence of all casual mention of her, through so
many years, is not so: especially in such a thing as the
“Commentarius Solutus," where if she had been still liv-
ing in the enjoyment of her dower, either at Gorhambury
or elsewhere, the very inventory of the estate could not
have been complete without reference to her. The fact
that there is not a single allusion to her throughout that
note-book would certainly, but for the evidence of the
next letter, have satisfied me that she died before the
624
DEATH OF BACON'S MOTHER.
[Book IV.
date of it; and (the evidence of the next letter proving
conclusively that she was still alive) we are left to account
for it as we can. The supposition which seems to me
most probable is, that she lost the command of her
faculties some years before her death, that the manage-
ment of her affairs was taken out of her hands, and that
somebody was employed to take care of her. There are
symptoms in her earlier correspondence of an excitement
and irritability which might easily end in that way, and
if it did, the silence would be accounted for. The only
allusion to her later years which I have met with is in
Bishop Goodman's "Court of King James the First, "and
is in these words: "But for Bacon's mother, she was
but little better than frantic in her age." There were
times between 1593 and 1597 when almost the same
thing might have been said of her. But if her frantic
moods took the same form and became more frequent,
it is hard to imagine how they could have escaped all
notice. It seems more likely that the morbid irritability
was the precursor of decay, and that she grew helpless
as she grew older. Her exact age I have not been able
to learn, but she was the second of five daughters and her
eldest sister would have been 87 if she had lived: so that
we may presume she was above 80.
TO SIR MICHAEL HICKES.
SIR MICHAEL HICKS,It is but a wish and not any
ways to desire it to your trouble. But I heartily wish
I had your company here at my Mother's funeral, which
I purpose on Thursday next in the forenoon. I dare
promise you a good sermon to be made by Mr. Fenton,
the preacher of Gray's Inn; for he never maketh other.
Feast I make none. But if I mought have your com-
pany for two or three days at my house I should pass
over this mournful occasion with more comfort. If your
son had continued at St Julian's it mought have been an
1
1610-11.] DISSATISFACTION WITH THE GREAT CONTRACT. 625
adamant to have drawn you; but now if you come I
must say it is only for my sake. I commend myself to
my Lady, and commend my wife to you both, and rest
yours ever assured
This Monday the
the 27th of August, 1610.
FR. BACON.
The three months' consideration and discussion in the
country of the terms of the Great Contract had not
tended to smooth its way with either party. And though
it might seem that an arrangement so advantageous to
the Crown should have had all the help which the Court
party could give, this does not appear to have been the
case. Take the figures as given in the Journals of the
House of Commons, and it seems impossible to doubt
that as a financial arrangement the Crown would receive
by it a great deal more than it gave; and would be made
more independent of Parliament than it had ever been
before, or was ever likely to be as long as old precedents
were held sacred. But the Commons would naturally in-
cline to abate the price of that which they were going to
buy; and in estimating the revenue derived from Ward-
ships and Purveyance at £80,000 it is likely enough that
they undervalued it. Another calculation, attributed to
no less a man than Sir Julius Cæsar, then Chancellor of
the Exchequer and in close alliance with Salisbury, es-
timates the rights to be parted with as worth £115,000 a
year as then administered, and as capable of improve-
ments which would yield £85,000 a year more.
Now if
in exchange for the £200,000 yearly support the Crown
was to give up £115,000 a year in esse, and £85,000 a
year in posse, together with the authority, influence, and
reputation which went along with the existing tenures,
and at the same time all hope of occasional assistance
from Parliament, if a man so well informed on such
matters as the Chancellor of the Exchequer could make
VOL. I.
40

626 DISSATISFACTION WITH THE GREAT CONTRACT. [BOOK IV.
it appear by figures that the King was in fact giving up
of his own the full equivalent in money of that which
he was bargaining to receive, and a good deal more in
money's worth, and that his present necessities would
remain unrelieved, it could not have been difficult to
distaste him with the proposed arrangement. And there
were many about him who from principle or interest
would naturally labor to deter him from concluding it.
What the people were to gain by the remission of these
dues of the Crown was what the middlemen through
whom they were collected had to lose. The whole host
of suitors, high and low, would be interested against the
change. And if there were not also many most respect-
able and disinterested persons who saw in the abandon-
ment of immemorial customs the ruin of the constitution
of which they had been the bulwarks, the gentlemen of
England must have undergone a greater change since
James's time than nature seems ever to permit in the
same race and climate. It is true, that the House of
Lords, so far as we can gather their proceedings from the
Journals, supported Salisbury throughout with unanim-
ity: "the little beagle had run a true and perfect scent
which brought the rest of the great hounds to a perfect
tune." But the loyalty which forbade them publicly to
obstruct a policy which the King had been persuaded
publicly to adopt, could not prevent them from secretly
disliking and deploring, and privately warning the King
against it. It was reported about this time that Salis-
bury was falling out of favor, and (though rumors to
that effect would naturally be suggested by the rise of
Carr, and might have no other ground) I am inclined to
believe from Bishop Goodman's remarks upon what he
calls his "fall," that there was some truth in it.
:
(C
"The true cause of his fall," says the Bishop, was this:
a great peer of the kingdom lying upon his death-bed sent the
King word he was desirous to speak with him. The King, as

UNIV
OF
MICH
Anno
Dri
1620
FRANCIS BACON.
Atatis, Sux 60
From an Engraving after a miniature by Peter Oliver, belonging to His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch.
1610-11.] CHANGE OF FEELING AS TO THE GREAT CONTRACT. 627
his manner was, desiring that no notice might be taken of his
coming, sent the Earl of Dunbar to visit the sick man, excusing
himself for not coming, and desiring him to impart to the Earl
what he would speak unto him, and he would take it very
kindly. Here the sick man did express great affection and duty
to the King, and desired him not to lose any part of his prerog-
ative, especially the Court of Wards and other great royalties
which his predecessors had, for if he should part with these he
should hardly be able to govern; that the subject was more
obedient and did observe the King more for these than for any
other laws or other respects whatsoever; that the subject was
bound to relieve him and to supply his occasions without any
such contractings; and therefore he did desire him, for the ne-
cessary support of his own government, not to put his lands
unto fee-farms; and whereas at this time some did endeavor to
engross and monopolize the King, and kept other able men out
of his service, that the King, as God had blessed him with wis-
dom and judgment, would take such able men into his service
as might from time to time be faithful to him and to his succes
When the Earl of Dunbar had delivered this message to
the King, the King wished that, if it might stand with God's
will [that] he were £10,000 in debt to save his life; and ever
after the Earl of Salisbury, who had been a great stirrer in that
business, and was the man aimed at, began to decline.
sors.
Who this dying peer may have been I do not know,
nor how much credit may be due to Bishop Goodman's
report. But I have little doubt that there were many
people who took this view of the question, and that it
was one which would find easy entrance into the King's
mind. Now if the King feared that the Contract would
deliver him bound into the hands of the people, and the
people feared that it would deliver them bound into the
hands of the King, and Salisbury foresaw that instead
of the establishing him in the King's favor it would dis-
credit and defeat him, it is easy to understand why (in
spite of the formal acceptance of it in substance by the
two Houses) the chances were against its being carried
:
628 CHANGE OF FEELING AS TO THE GREAT CONTRACT. [Book IV.
through. If all parties had been eager to conclude it, the
difficulties would have been great: for they had still to
agree upon the manner of raising the money and upon
the securities for performance of the contract on either
side. If all were afraid of it, it was sure to break upon
one or other of those difficulties.
The Houses met again on the 16th of October accord-
ing to the order, and if their feeling with regard to the
Contract had been the same as when they exchanged
memorials in July, they had only to go on with it. It
seems, however, as if neither party had been disposed to
take the first step. What was said on the subject in
either House we have no means of knowing, for the
Journals of the Lords give no notes of the debates, the
Journals of the Commons for that session have been lost,
and the private Journal discovered by Mr. Gardiner con-
tains no notice of what passed during the first fortnight.
But more than a week had gone by without anything
done by either, when the Lords invited the Commons to a
Conference. What happened at that Conference (which
took place on the 25th of October) we do not know. We
know only that the next act of the Commons was to send
for a true copy of the King's answer to their petition of
Grievances; and that their entertainment of the question
was so dubious or so dilatory that the King thought it
necessary to expostulate with them, and require a "reso-
lute and speedy answer, whether they would proceed
with the Contract, yea or no."
The note which remains of the proceedings that fol-
lowed, though it is but a scrap, enables us to understand
where the difficulty really lay, and why the Contract,
having advanced so far, could advance no further. Both
parties, when they came to look at it close, were afraid of
it. The Commons felt that if they made the Crown in-
dependent of Parliament, they could have no security for
what they were to get. The King felt that unless his
1670-11.] CHANGE OF FEELING AS TO THE GREAT CONTRACT. 629
debt were once fairly cleared off, the Commons would
still have a hold upon him, by means of which they might
bring him to a worse condition than he had been in be-
fore. Neither party durst risk it, unless it were guarded
with conditions which the other durst not accept.
It was on Wednesday, the last of October, that the
King had spoken to them and asked for their "resolute
and speedy answer." The tone of his speech almost
invited them to answer now. He should be beholden
unto them," he said, "though they did deny to proceed;
because then he might resolve upon some other course
to be taken for the supply of his wants; for he said he
was resolved to cut his coat according to his cloth, which
he could not do till he knew what cloth he should have
to make it of."
Though no particulars have been preserved of the de-
bate which followed, we may presume that it ended in
the appointment of a Committee to prepare the answer;
and that they brought up their report on Saturday;
when a discussion took place of which we have the fol-
lowing note:
3 November 1610.
An answer to the King framed and offered by Sir Maurice
Berkley, which being read was disliked as too ceremonious and
complimentical, and not real and actual. The answer was to ex-
cuse our slowness by want of competent number. And that if
our demands be granted, and no more shall be imposed upon the
land, his Majesty shall perceive that we now are as constant to
persevere with the contract as we were forward to undertake it.
The objection taken by the House to the proposed
answer was the more significant, because Sir Maurice
Berkley was not an adherent of the Court, but one of the
leaders of the popular party. What their idea of a "real
and actual" answer was, may be gathered from the notes
of a speech by Sir Roger Owen- the only speech de◄
livered that day of which any record remains.
i
630
FRESH STIPULATIONS ON BOTH SIDES.
[BOOK IV.
Divers things to be provided for, otherwise he was unwilling
the contract should proceed.
1. Our security to be provided for by a full answer to our
grievances. No gap to be left open for the King to impose
upon his subjects.
2. Means to levy it to be such as it may be least burdensome
to the subject.
3. Provision to be made that this £200,000 be not doubled
nor trebled by enhancing of the coin by the King.
4. Provision that the explanation of doubts may be by Par-
liament; and that we may have Parliaments hereafter though
the King's wants be fully supplied.
5. Provision that this £200,000 per annum may not be alien-
ated from the Crown.
As nothing is said of any final resolution I conclude
that the debate was adjourned till Monday. But the
tone of the discussion having sufficiently indicated what
he had to expect from them, the King took occasion in
the mean time to remind them of what they were to ex-
pect from him. And when they met on Monday the
Speaker had a message to communicate which quite al-
tered the case.
5 November.
A message from His Majesty by the Speaker.
His Majesty, having by speech in person, upon just and ap-
parent reasons drawn from his necessities, required our resolu-
tion concerning the contract, thinks fit to omit nothing that may
further our proceeding without mistaking, etc., or loss of time.
He is pleased to represent unto us the clear mirror of his
heart, and to set before us the essential parts of the contract,
lest the taking of things by parts might induce any oblivion or
distraction in the contemplation of the whole.
1. He declareth that it never was his intention, much less his
agreement, to proceed finally with the contract, except he might
have as well supply as support, to disengage himself from his
debts. In reason his debts must be first paid.
His first demand [was] for the supply of his wants; and after
!
1610-11.]
FRESH STIPULATIONS ON BOTH SIDES.
631
the point of tenures and the distinction of support and supply
came in by our motion.
For his supply he expected to receive £500,000, though it will
be less than will pay his debts and set him clear.
The Subsidy and 15th last given not to be taken as part of
that sum, by reason of his great charges since for the safety and
honor of the State, and the increase of his wants.
He desireth to know our meanings clearly what we mean to
do in the supply.
His pur-
2. Upon what natures the support may be raised.
pose is that it may be certain, firm, and stable, without the
meaner sort, and without diminution of his present profit.
The recompense of the present officers to proceed from us,
but not from his Majesty — which is no great matter, consider-
ing it depends upon their lives, and that it is not warranted by
the clause which gives us power to add or diminish, because it
takes profit from his Majesty.
And therefore he expects £200,000 de claro, etc.
If they were in doubt before whether to proceed with
the Contract or not, they could be in no doubt after the
delivery of this message. Nor could the King himself, I
think, have expected or intended it to have any other
effect than that of hastening the resolution to give the
Contract up. He knew that his original demand of
£600,000 supply and £200,000 annual support (in addi-
tion to the estimated annual value in money of the pro-
posed concessions) had been peremptorily declined, and
that when it was insisted on the negotiation had been
broken off distinctly upon that ground. He knew also
that the Commons had only been tempted to take it up
again by an offer from the Government of more favor-
able terms: and he knew that those terms contained no
allusion whatever to any demand for Supply. If he be-
lieved that when he authorized Salisbury to say that he
would take £200,000 in exchange for the specified con-
cessions, it was understood that his debts would be paid
off at the same time, he must have been deceived by his
.
す
​632 THE NEGOTIATION FINALLY BROKEN OFF. [Book IV.
ministers. It is impossible to suppose that so large an
item could be understood to form part of the bargain and
not mentioned in the memorial. It may be, however, that
Salisbury had got leave to make that offer by persuading
him that Supply would follow: but at present disputes
about the Contract and excitement about Grievances in-
terfered with Subsidies: but that if the Commons were
gratified with a gracious answer in the one case and a
good bargain, or what they took for such, in the other,
they would be in a more liberal humor and would feel
the propriety of paying off his debts. And it may be
that when he saw that hope in danger of disappointment,
he resolved to make sure of one thing or the other,
either to be free of the Contract or to have it coupled
with a grant of £500,000.
It is impossible to say who was answerable for the
shifting and inconstant proceeding of the Government
throughout this transaction. It may be that the King
shrank, when it came to the point, from a policy which
he had been persuaded to sanction. It may be that Sal-
isbury offered, or pretended to offer, more than he had
authority to do. It may be that the negotiation was set
on foot with a view to some other end, and was meant
to break when it had served its purpose. What is cer-
tain is that the proceeding on the part of the Government
was both indirect and inconsistent from beginning to
end; and that the final breach was distinctly their choice
and act. The Commons on the other hand acted through-
out openly, honestly, consistently, and liberally; and with
no more circumspection than the case required. And
though, if the negotiation had proceeded, it would prob-
ably have broken upon some demand of theirs which they
could not in prudence have foregone and the King could
not in prudence have allowed, it is clear that, as it was,
the responsibility for the breach did not at all lie with
them. A unanimous resolution not to proceed with the
633
1610-11.] THE NEGOTIATION FINALLY BROKEN OFF.
contract upon these conditions was the inevitable result
of the last communication: and after a day or two of de-
liberation the following answer was agreed upon: -
"Nevertheless, having entered into due consideration of the
whole business, and that with as great deliberation as your Maj-
esty's desire touching a speedy answer could permit, we have
resolved that we cannot proceed in the contract according to
your Majesty's last declaration delivered by our Speaker: which
our answer we hope shall in no wise offend your Majesty.”
That an answer to this effect was expected by the
King may be inferred from the tone of his reply, which
is thus given in Mr. Gardiner's manuscript :—
"To this his Majesty sent an answer by the Speaker on
Wednesday, 14th November, that sith we could not proceed ac-
cording to his last declaration, which was agreeable to his first
intention, he did not see how we should go further in that busi-
ness.
"9
So ended the great project, from which so much had
been promised and hoped, leaving all parties in a worse
humor than before. But so did not end the great politi-
cal difficulty which it had been invented to overcome.
That difficulty was as great as ever, and now more than
ever intractable. The debt of the Crown had increased,
the expenditure had not been reduced, the inducements
which had been held out to the Commons in the hope
of obtaining from them a contribution adequate to the
emergency, having proved insufficient, had been with-
drawn, and the problem of November was the same as
the problem of February, with all its difficulties aggra-
vated. The contract being abandoned as a failure, there
was nothing left but an appeal to the House of Commons
in the ordinary way, with an offer of popular benefits,
and a representation of the need of supplies. But after
all that had passed it was no easy matter to make such
an appeal other than a very flat affair. The need of sup-
634
NEW PROPOSITIONS FROM SALISBURY.
[BOOK IV.
ply had been matter of notoriety for the last nine months,
and all the particulars had been disclosed and discussed.
And the longest list of benefits that could be offered to
the people, could not but seem poor by the side of those
with the promise of which they had been so long tanta-
lized, and by the sudden withdrawal of which they had
been so recently surprised and disappointed. But no
other course was left: and on the same day on which the
King declared the contract at an end, the Commons by
invitation met the Lords in conference, to hear some new
proposition.
The new plan of operation appears to have been this.
The Lords were to invite the Commons to join them in
petitioning the King for certain measures of relief to the
people; which being promised, it was hoped that they
would see the expediency of relieving the King's wants.
The Conference was opened by Salisbury in a speech
which was reported to the House by Bacon concluding
with an enumeration of the things to be desired by both
Houses.
1. Sixty years possession a bar against the King.
2. No lease to be avoided for defect of security or con-
ditions broken.
3. Upon outlawries the creditor to be first satisfied be-
fore the King.
4. Respite of homage to be taken away.
5. Penal laws to be reformed.
6. All obsolete laws to be taken away.
7. Power to make laws in Wales to be repealed.
8. No imposition to be hereafter set but by Parliament,
and those that are to be taken as confirmed by
Parliament.
The measures of relief which it was proposed to peti-
tion for were (it will be seen) of considerable value; and
had such a proposal been made, and made sincerely, at
the opening of the previous session before the state of the
•
1610-11.]
RESOLUTION TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT.
635
Exchequer had been laid so bare, and before the recipro-
cal obligations of Kings and subjects had been put upon
the basis of a money bargain, the plan might have been
very successful. After such a course of promises, expec-
tations, misunderstandings and disappointments as they
had gone through since February, the effect was very
different. The discussion of them in the Lower House
was postponed by another explanatory message from the
King and proceeded through interruptions which it is not
necessary to particularize, but the result of all was that
though it may have helped to divert them from a flat re-
fusal of all supply, it did not prevent other speeches from
being made which were almost as fatal to harmony as
such a refusal would have been: and though the debate
ended in a resolution to send the King a message of
thanks and explanations, the accounts he heard of what
had been said in the course of it satisfied him that there
was no chance of agreement and that his only course was
to dissolve the Parliament. The following letter, written
to Salisbury from the Court at Royston on the 25th of
November, gives a lively picture of the King's state of
mind, and makes all that followed quite intelligible :
"He hath received by Sir Roger Aston a copy of the order
set down against the next meeting of the House; which his
Majesty doth collect into three points. First, to give reasons
why they should yield to no supply; secondly, to examine the
answers to the grievances, and wherein they are not satisfactory;
and thirdly, to consider what further immunities and easements
are to be demanded for the people. His Majesty doth also per-
ceive, both by my Lord of Montgomery and by Sir Roger
Aston, that you could wish that his Majesty and your Lord-
ships might have a meeting to consult of his affairs in Parlia-
ment.
your
late
"To both these his Majesty willeth this to be written:
"That he maketh no doubt but that the cause of
advice to adjourn the House was for that you foresaw they
would do worse on Saturday than they had done on Friday,
+
2.
•
1
الات
:
636
RESOLUTION TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT.
[BOOK IV.
and how you are now assured that when they meet again on
Thursday they will not be in the same mood, his Majesty would
be glad to know. For he assureth himself that if your Lord-
ships thought the House would follow the same humor, you
would not advise their meeting. His Highness wisheth your
Lordships to call to mind that he hath now had patience with
this assembly these seven years, and from them received more
disgraces, censures, and ignominies, than ever Prince did en-
dure. He followed your Lordships' advices in having patience,
hoping for better issue. He cannot have asinine patience; he
is not made of that metal that is ever to be held in suspense and
to receive nothing but stripes; neither doth he conceive that
your Lordships are so unsensible of those indignities, as that
you can advise any longer endurance. For his part he is re-
solved, though now at their next meeting they would give him
supply were it never so large, and sauce it with such taunts and
disgraces as have been uttered of him and of those that apper-
tain to him (which by consequence redound to himself), nay
though it were another kingdom, he will not accept it.
"Therefore touching the other point of his meeting with your
Lordships, either by his coming nearer to you or any of your
coming to him, his Highness thus answereth. That no man
should be more willing to take pains than he, when there is
hope of good to come by it. But as things now stand in appear-
ance, for him to put either himself or you to the labor of an un-
pleasant journey without likelihood of comfort, but on the con-
trary when you meet together to find the pains of your bodies
aggravated with vexation of spirit, or to part irresolute as at the
last conference you did, — his Majesty doth not see to what end
such a meeting should be. But for aught he seeth in his own
understanding, he taketh no other subject of consultation to be
left, than how the Parliament may end quietly, and he and his
subjects part with fairest show; which he conceiveth must begin
with some new adjournment until Candlemas term or the end
thereof in regard of the nearness of Christmas. And in the
mean time your Lordships and he may advise both how to dis-
solve it in best fashion, and fall to other consultation about his
affairs."
...
1
1610-11.]
RESOLUTION TO DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT.
637
The rest, so far as it concerns us, may be told in the
words of the private Journal: -·
"On Saturday the Speaker received a letter from his Majesty
signifying that he had offered divers things of grace for the
good of his subjects, but the more he was desirous to give them
contentment, he did perceive the less it was regarded, and that
new grievances and complaints were raised to his dishonor.
And therefore he commanded him to adjourn the House and
all Committeess till Thursday following. At what time we
should hear further from him.
"And so accordingly the Parliament was adjourned, aud
from thence adjourned by Commission to some of the Lords,
usque 9 Febr., the King being at Royston."
These adjournments had been so timed (by the care
of Salisbury, I think, rather than the King) as to prevent
the House from doing any business after the 24th of
November, and on the 29th February the Parliament was
dissolved. So that Salisbury's second project failed (as
might indeed have been expected) more signally than
the first. And a very great failure it was, whoever was
to blame for it. That he failed to get what he first de-
manded was no great matter: the demand was exorbi-
tant, and the chance of winning (though small) might
have been good enough to make it worth the trial, if the
only consequence of not winning had been to go without
But that was far from being the case.
The long negotiation opened, carried on, and broken
off as it had been left the discontents of the House of
Commons aggravated and exasperated by discussion and
disappointment, and the King's finances worse embar-
rassed than ever; because the notoriety of his necessities
and the utter failure of this great effort to relieve them,
from which so much had been expected, left him not only
without money but without credit. So that the terms
on which they parted, though displeasing alike to both,
were infinitely to the disadvantage of the King. The
the money.
"
638
STRAITS OF THE KING IN FINANCE.
[BOOK IV.
Commons had lost nothing; nothing at least that touched
their particular pockets or feelings (for of the general
evils of a distracted government they came in of course
for their share): in spite of their unredressed grievances,
they could make money, build houses, feed themselves,
clothe themselves, marry and give in marriage, as merrily
as ever. But the King could not borrow £100,000 of
the Aldermen, to pay his most pressing debts with. The
emptiness of the Exchequer, the shifts and perplexities
of the Lord Treasurer, became the common talk of the
Town. Ambassadors were told that they must wait for
their salaries. Pensioners were forced to turn duns.
The Paul's-walkers entertained themselves with wonder-
ing how Salisbury would scrape together money enough
to provide the usual Christmas festivities. And though
the House of Commons had not intended to try the
effect of absolutely refusing the supplies, they had now
an opportunity of seeing what the effect was.
What Bacon thought of all this while it was going on,
must be left to conjecture: except as a reporter of other
men's speeches, or an occasional intercessor to moderate
rash counsels, he appears to have had no part in it. Of
what he though about it afterwards, and what conclu-
sions he drew from the history of it, we shall hear a
good deal presently; and then it will be seen why I
thought it necessary to enter so fully into the particulars
of a transaction with which he had so little to do.
The prorogation and subsequent dissolution of the
Parliament left Bacon with another season before him of
political inactivity: for while Salisbury lived he had no
room for action beyond the ordinary business of his place,
except in the House of Commons; nor much there,
except as a supporter of measures which were not of his
own advising. To this period we owe the new essays
published in 1612; - an addition to the very small collec-
tion printed fifteen years before so considerable that it ·
1610-11.]
NEW EDITION OF BACON'S ESSAYS.
639
may be said to have made the work which was destined
to make him the personal and familiar acquaintance of all
future generations of Englishmen. Further additions at a
later time greatly increased its value, but its character
was henceforth established and its immortality secure.
The edition of 1612, had it been the last, would undoubt-
edly have held the same position in literature which the
edition of 1625 does now. To this period also we owe
the revision and collection of those speeches and writings
of business which belong to this division of his works, and
represent the most important part of his active life. And
though we have not the means of dating accurately the
several stages in the progress of the "Great Instaura-
tion," there can be little doubt that this was one of its
most fertile seasons. The revelations of Galileo's tele-
scope an invention "et fine et aggressu nobile quoddam
et humano genere dignum
were the fresh news of the
time, and in the "Descriptio Globi Intellectualis," the
"Thema Cœli," the speculation on the ebb and flow of
the sea, and other essays on the philosophy of the uni-
verse, we may see traces of the interest which they had
excited in him.
""
Unfortunately the same time which promised to throw
so much new light upon the kingdom of nature portended
much trouble to the kingdom of England. The relation
between the Crown and the Commons as it remained
after the dissolution must have been a matter of great
anxiety to any one who understood it, and foresaw the
consequences; and must have convinced Bacon, who
certainly did understand it very clearly, that if ever he
had an opportunity of assisting in setting it right, it was
in that work that his first duty now lay. A few years
before, he had professed a desire to withdraw from active
business of state and devote himself to the prosecution of
the work which he had selected for himself in his early
youth as worthiest in its object and best suited to his
•
12
•
.
640
BACON'S POLITICAL VIEWS.
[BOOK IV:
capacity; nor is there any reason to suppose that, at that
time, he would not have done so if he could have af-
forded it. He would now, I think, have qualified the
desire with an important condition, namely, that the
relation between the King and the people should be first
placed on a safer footing.
For the present indeed he could do nothing towards
the remedy. Salisbury had played his great card and
lost the game; and I do not find that he had any other
device in store which had even a show of being suffi-
cient: only shifts and temporary expedients. But he
held his place; and Bacon could only continue to do as
he had done before, — give him such help as he would
accept, and insinuate his readiness to give more. How
scanty the opportunities were which he could take hold
of, may be inferred from the small number and unim-
portant nature of the papers belonging to the period
between the dissolution of Parliament and Salisbury's
death, which have come down to us.
The first of these is a letter to the King in behalf of
his own particular fortunes. The Speaker of the last
House of Commons, who had always been in confidential
correspondence with Salisbury and done his best to help
the King's business through on some critical occasions,
had been rewarded with the Mastership of the Rolls;
and Sir Julius Cæsar, another earnest and admiring ally,
had received a grant of the reversion of the office. Bacon,
who had good reason to know that if the choice of an
Attorney General were left to Salisbury, he could not
count upon succeeding to the place himself in the event
of a vacancy, began to fear that the lines of his own
promotion would be all cut off; and thought it prudent
to secure his chance by obtaining directly from the King
a promise of the reversion.
If I am right in connecting the application with the
grant of the reversion of the Mastership of the Rolls to
#
1610-11.] SUIT FOR REVERSION OF THE ATTORNEY'S PLACE. 641 ·
Sir Julius Cæsar which was the "preferment of law"
most likely to interfere with Bacon's prospects - it must
have been written early in 1611.
TO THE KING, DESIRING TO SUCCEED IN THE ATTOR-
NEY'S PLACE.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, Your great and
princely favors towards me in advancing me to place,
and that which is to me of no less comfort, your Maj-
esty's benign and gracious acceptation from time to time
of my poor services, much above the merit and value of
them, hath almost brought me to an opinion, that I may
sooner perchance be wanting to myself in not asking,
than find your Majesty's goodness wanting to me in any
my reasonable and modest desires. And therefore per-
ceiving how at this time preferments of the law fly about
mine ears, to some above me and to some below me, I
did conceive your Majesty may think it rather a kind of
dullness, or want of faith, than modesty, if I should not
come. with my pitcher to Jacob's well, as others do.
Wherein I shall propound to your Majesty that which
tendeth not so much to the raising of my fortune, as to
the settling of my mind: being sometimes assailed with
this cogitation, that by reason of my slowness to sue and
apprehend occasions upon the sudden, keeping one plain
course of painful service, I may in fine dierum be in dan-
ger to be neglected and forgotten. And if that should
be, then were it much better for me, now while I stand
in your Majesty's good opinion (though unworthy), and
have some little reputation in the world, to give over the
course I am in, and to make proof to do you some honor
by my pen, either by writing some faithful narrative of
your happy though not untraduced times; or by recom-
piling your laws, which I perceive your Majesty labor-
eth with and hath in your head, as Jupiter had Pallas;
or some other the like work (for without some endeavor
VOL. I.
41
642
LETTERS TO THE KING.
[BOOK IV.
to do you honor I would not live); than to spend my
wits and them in this laborious place wherein I serve, if
it shall be deprived of those outward ornaments and in-
ward comforts which it was wont to have, in respect of
an assured succession to some place of more dignity and
rest ;
which seemeth to be an hope now altogether casual,
if not wholly intercepted. Wherefore, not to hold your
Majesty long, my humble suit to you is that which I
think I should not without suit be put by, which is, that
I may obtain your assurance to succeed (if I live) into
the Attorney's place, whensoever it shall be void; it be-
ing but the natural and immediate step and rise which
the place I now hold hath ever in a sort made claim to,
and almost never failed of. In this suit I make no friends
to your Majesty, though your Majesty knoweth that I
want not those which are near and assured, but rely upon
no other motive than your grace; resting your M. most
humble subject and servant.
The King gave him, it seems, the assurance which he
asked for in the course of the following summer or au-
tumn the Attorney General had a serious illness; and
Bacon writing to the King in acknowledgment of some
favorable remembrance of himself which had been re-
ported to him, alludes to his "royal promise touching the
Attorney's place." The letter comes from his own col-
lection. The date I suppose to be October or there-
abouts; for on the 21st of that month I find John Murray
expressing a hope that "if Mr. Attorney's sickness
should not permit him to come abroad," some cause in
which he was interested might be put off till the next
Thursday, "by which time he hoped he would be well.”
A LETTER OF THANKS TO THE KING, UPON MR. ATTOR-
NEY'S SICKNESS.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
I do understand by some of my good friends, to my great
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S ILLNESS.
643
1810-11.]
comfort, that your Majesty hath in mind your Majesty's
royal promise (which to me is anchora spei), touching
the Attorney's place. I hope Mr. Attorney shall do well.
I thank God I wish no man's death; nor much mine own
life, more than to do your Majesty service. For I ac-
count my life the accident, and my duty the substance.
But this I will be bold to say; if it please God that I
ever serve your Majesty in the Attorney's place, I have
known an Attorney Cooke, and an Attorney Hubberd,
both worthy men and far above myself; but if I should
not find a middle way between their two dispositions
and carriage, I should not satisfy myself. But these
things are far or near, as it shall please God. Meanwhile
I most humbly pray your Majesty accept my sacrifice of
thanksgiving for your gracious favor.
God preserve
your Majesty. I ever remain
The following letter has no date, but must have been
written, I think, on the 1st of January 1611-12. We
know that in the autumn of 1611 the Attorney General
had an illness, serious enough to raise the question who
should succeed him if he did not recover. We have seen
what Bacon wrote to the King on that occasion, and it is
to be presumed that either by letter or word he made
some communication to Salisbury. If he received a favor-
able answer, and it is not likely that he received any
other, for Salisbury was seldom otherwise than friendly
secundum exterius, this is exactly the kind of letter he
might have been expected to write to him when the sea-
son of compliments came round. And though we shall
see hereafter that there lay under it a deep disapprobation
of his recent proceedings, and even a devout wish in the
interests of the country that he were out of the way, it
was probably true that as long as he held his place and
nothing could be done without his concurrence, Bacon
desired nothing more than to obtain influence with
him.
644
LETTER TO SALISBURY.
[BOOK IV.
A LETTER TO MY LORD TREASURER SALISBURY, UPON
A NEW YEAR'S TIDE.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD LORDSHIP,—I would
intreat the new year to answer for the old, in my humble
thanks to your Lordship, both for many your favors, and
chiefly that upon the occasion of Mr. Attorney's infirmity
I found your Lordship even as I would wish. This doth
increase a desire in me to express my thankful mind to
your Lordship; hoping that though I find age and decays
grow upon me, yet I may have a flash or two of spirit
left to do you service. And I do protest before God,
without compliment or any light vein of mind, that if I
knew in what course of life to do you best service, I
would take it, and make my thoughts, which now fly to
many pieces, be reduced to that centre. But all this is
no more than I am, which is not much, but yet the entire
of him that is
Another letter of friendly compliment to one whom
Bacon had often in former times found a friend in need,
belongs to the beginning of this new year, and affords an
agreeable proof that the relation of borrower and lender
does not necessarily end in estrangement. The occasion
must be inferred from the letter itself. It is plain that
in some emergency, a good while before, Bacon had been
obliged to borrow a pair of stockings from Lady Hickes
or her daughter, and had neglected to return them. He
takes advantage of a new year's tide to confess the fault
and repay the obligation.
The first sentence implies a fact which it is pleasant
to know: for I take it that the debts which Bacon had
owed to Sir Michael Hickes were heavy ones.
TO MY VERY GOOD FRIEND SIR MICHAEL HICKES,
KNIGHT.
SIR MICHAEL, I do use as you know to pay my
F
645
•
1810-11.]
THE WILL OF THOMAS SUTTON.
debts with time. But indeed if you will have a good
and parfite color in a carnation stocking it must be long
in the dyeing. I have some scruple of conscience whether
it was my Lady's stockings or her daughter's, and I
would have the restitution to be to the right person, else
I shall not have absolution. Therefore I have sent to
them both, desiring them to wear them for my sake, as I
did wear theirs for mine own sake. So wishing you all
a good new year, I rest
Yours assured,
GRAYS INN,
this 8th of Jan. 1611.
FR. BACON.
We now come to a paper for which Bacon must be re-
garded as altogether answerable; and it is the rather de-
serving of attention because some severe censures have
been passed upon him for writing it. Being a purely
voluntary performance, not in any way connected with
the business of his office, and having been carefully pre-
served among his papers by himself, it may be justly
treated as an act of his own; and whatever blame it
merits rests with him. But I think the censures have
been passed without due attention to the circumstances;
of which a sufficient record has fortunately, though acci-
dentally, been preserved.
Thomas Sutton, having in a long life of various enter-
prise amassed a great fortune, proposed to bestow the
bulk of it after his death upon some great public charity,
for which he had been long engaged in making provision
and preparation. He died on the 12th of December,
1611, leaving a will of which we have the following con-
temporary report, written a few days after:-
"I cannot yet learn many particulars of his will, but thus
much hath been told me from the mouth of auditor Sutton one
of his executors, that he hath given £20,000 ready money to
charitable uses, to be disposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Bishop of Ely, and the Bishop of London. He hath left
·
+
•
646
THE WILL OF THOMAS SUTTON.
[BOOK IV.
£8,000 lands a year to his college or hospital at the Charterhouse
(which is not bestowed on the Prince, as was given out), to the
maintenance of eight score soldiers [gentle]men (?), who are to
have pensions according to their degree, as they have borne
places of captains, lieutenants, or ancients, or the like. There
is a school likewise for eight score scholars, with £100 stipend
for the schoolmaster, and other provision for ushers; with 100
marks a year wages for a gardener, to keep the orchard and
gardens in good order. Many other legacies I hear of, which
you shall have together if I can get them. I cannot learn of
much that he hath left to his poor kindred: not above the value
of £400 a year."
So much we may suppose Bacon knew of the matter at
this time, being the news of the day; and I do not
know that he had other special means of information.
But the will was not destined to pass unquestioned. On
the 15th of January, 1611-12, Chamberlain writes again:
"Rich Sutton's will is called in question, and will come sub
judice. A certain tanner, pretending to be his heir at common
law, goes about to overthrow it, and wants not abettors. He
was called to the council table on Sunday and there bound in
£100,000 (if he do evict the will) to stand to the King's award
and arbitrement.”
Of this also we may presume that Bacon was informed,
though there is no reason to suppose that up to this time.
he had anything else to do with it. At any rate he must
have known all about it soon after, for he was one of the
law officers appointed by the Privy Council to hear and
report upon the cause. And I conclude it was at this
time, and with a view to the possible issue of this pro-
ceeding, that he drew up the following paper of advice to
the King: advice of which the wisdom may possibly be
disputed, though I rather think that the history of chari-
table institutions in England would supply more exam-
ples in approval than in disapproval of it; but which cer-
tainly, as long as he himself believed it to be good, he
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE.
1610-11.]
647
cannot reasonably be censured for offering. Faithful
alumni of the Charterhouse may indeed be excused for
protesting vehemently against an argument which assails
the principles of their foundation, and for finding Bacon
guilty of an error in judgment. But those who accuse
him of advising a violation of the law must surely have
overlooked the second paragraph, in which it is expressed
as distinctly as possible that the intentions of the testator
are not to be interfered with as long as the bequest is
either held good in law or can be made good by equity.
And his ideas concerning the conditions under which
charities of this kind may be made to do most good may
still be studied with advantage.
ADVICE TO THE KING, TOUCHING SUTTON'S ESTATE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, -I find it a posi-
tive precept of the old law, that there should be no sac-
rifice without salt: the moral whereof (besides the cere-
mony) may be, that God is not pleased with the body of
a good intention, except it be seasoned with that spiritual
wisdom and judgment, as it be not easily subject to be
corrupted and perverted: for salt, in the scripture, is a
figure both of wisdom and lasting. This cometh into my
mind upon this act of Mr. Sutton, which seemeth to me
as a sacrifice without salt, having the materials of a good
intention, but not powdered with any such ordinances
and institutions as may preserve the same from turning
corrupt, or at least from becoming unsavory and of little
use. For though the choice of the feoffees be of the best,
yet neither they can always live, and the very nature of
the work itself, in the vast and unfit proportions thereof,
being apt to provoke a mis-employment, it is no diligence
of theirs (except there be a digression from that model)
that can excuse it from running the same way that gifts
of like condition have heretofore done. For to design the
Charterhouse, a building fit for a Prince's habitation, for
1
J
12
648
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE. [BOOK IV.
an hospital, is all one as if one should give in alms a rich
embroidered cloak to a beggar; and certainly a man may
see, tanquam quæ oculis cernuntur, that if such an edifice,
with six thousand pounds revenue, be erected into one
hospital, it will in small time degenerate to be made a
preferment of some great person to be master, and he to
take all the sweet, and the poor to be stinted, and take
but the crumbs; as it comes to pass in divers hospitals of
this realm, which have but the names of hospitals, and
are but wealthy benefices in respect of the mastership;
but the poor, which is the propter quid, little relieved.
And the like hath been the fortune of much of the alms
of the Roman religion in their great foundations, which
being begun in vain glory and ostentation, have had their
judgment upon them to end in corruption and abuse.
This meditation hath made me presume to write these
few lines to your Majesty; being no better than good
wishes, which your Majesty's great wisdom may make
something or nothing of.
Wherein I desire to be thus understood, that if this
foundation (such as it is) be perfect and good in law,
then I am too well acquainted with your Majesty's dis-
position to advise any course of power or profit that is
not grounded upon a right: nay further, if the defects
be such as a court of equity may remedy and cure, then
I wish that as St. Peter's shadow did cure diseases, so
the very shadow of a good intention may cure defects of
that nature. But if there be a right and birthright
planted in the heir, and not remediable by courts of
equity, and that right be submitted to your Majesty,
whereby it is both in your power and grace what to do;
then I do wish that this rude mass and chaos of a good
deed were directed rather to a solid merit and durable
charity than to a blaze of glory, that will but crackle a
little in talk and quickly extinguish.
And this may be done, observing the species of Mr.

1610-11.]
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE.
649
Sutton's intent, though varying in individuo. For it ap-
: pears that he had in notion a triple good; an hospital,
and a school, and maintaining of a preacher: which indi-
viduals resort to these three general heads; relief of poor,
advancement of learning, and propagation of religion.
Now then if I shall set before your Majesty, in every of
these three kinds, what it is that is most wanting in your
kingdom, and what is like to be the most fruitful and
effectual use of such a beneficence, and least like to be
perverted; that, I think, shall be no ill scope of my labor,
how meanly soever performed; for out of variety repre-
sented, election may be best grounded.
Concerning the relief of the poor, I hold some number
of hospitals with competent endowments will do far more
good than one hospital of an exorbitant greatness. For
though the one course will be the more seen, yet the
other will be the more felt. For if your Majesty erect
many, besides the observing the ordinary maxim, Bonum
quo communius eo melius, choice may be made of those
towns and places where there is most need, and so the
remedy may be distributed as the disease is dispersed.
Again, greatness of relief accumulate in one place doth
rather invite a swarm and surcharge of poor, than relieve
those that are naturally bred in that place; like to ill-
tempered medicines, that draw more humor to the part
than they evacuate from it. But chiefly I rely upon the
reason that I touched in the beginning; that in these
great hospitals the revenues will draw the use, and not
the use the revenues; and so through the mass of their
wealth they will swiftly tumble down to a mis-employ-
ment. And if any man say that in the two hospitals in
London there is a precedent of greatness concurring with
good employment, let him consider that those hospitals
have annual governors; that they are under the superior
care and policy of such a state as the city of London;
and chiefly, that their revenues consist not upon certain-
لاد
*

650
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE. [Book IV.
ties, but upon casualties and free gifts, which gifts would
be withheld if they appeared once to be perverted; so as
it keepeth them in a continual good behavior and awe to
employ them aright; none of which points do match with
the present case.
The next consideration may be, whether this intended
hospital, as it hath a more ample endowment than other
hospitals, should not likewise work upon a better subject
than other poor; as that it should be converted to the
relief of maimed soldiers, decayed merchants and house-
holders, aged and destitute churchmen, and the like;
whose condition, being of a better sort than loose people
and beggars, deserveth both a more liberal stipend and
allowance, and some proper place of relief, ´not inter-
mingled or coupled with the basest sort of poor. Which
project, though specious, yet in my judgment will not an-
swer the designment in the event, in these our times.
For certainly few men in any vocation, which have been
somebody, and bear a mind somewhat according to the
conscience and remembrance of that they have been,
will ever descend to that condition as to profess to live.
upon alms, and to become a corporation of declared beg-
gars; but rather will choose to live obscurely, and as
it were to hide themselves with some private friends: so
that the end will be of such an institution, that it will
make the place a receptacle of the worst, idlest, and
most dissolute persons of every profession, and to become
a cell of loiterers, and cast serving-men, and drunkards,
with scandal rather than fruit to the commonwealth.
And of this kind I can find but one example with us,
which is the alms knights of Windsor; which particular
would give a man small encouragement to follow that
precedent.
Therefore the best effect of hospitals is to make the
kingdom if it were possible capable of that law, that there
be no beggar in Israel: for it is that kind of people that
1610-11.]
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE.
651
is a burden, an eye-sore, a scandal, and a seed of peril
and tumult in a state. But chiefly it were to be wished
such a beneficence towards the relief of poor were so
bestowed, as not only the mere and naked poor should
be sustained, but also that the honest person which hath
hard means to live, upon whom the poor are now charged,
should be in some sort eased: for that were a work gen-
erally acceptable to the kingdom, if the public hand of
alms might spare the private hand of tax: and therefore
of all other employments of that kind I commend most
houses of relief and correction which are mixt hospitals,
where the impotent person is relieved, and the sturdy
beggar buckled to work, and the unable person also not
maintained to be idle, which is ever joined with drunken-
ness and impurity, but is sorted with such work as he can
manage and perform, and where the uses are not distin-
guished, as in other hospitals, whereof some are for aged
and impotent, and some for children, and some for cor-
rection of vagabonds, but are general and promiscuous,
that may take off poor of every sort from the country
as the country breeds them. And thus the poor them-
selves shall find the provision, and other good people the
sweetness of the abatement of the tax. Now if it be ob-
jected that houses of correction in all places have not
done the good expected (as it cannot be denied but in
most places they have done much good), it must be re-
membered that there is a great difference between that
which is done by the distracted government of justices of
peace, and that which may be done by a settled ordi-
nance, subject to a regular visitation, as this may be;
and besides the want hath been commonly in houses of
correction of a competent and certain stock for the ma-
terials of the labor, which in this case may be likewise
supplied.
Concerning the advancement of Learning, I do sub-
scribe to the opinion of one of the wisest and greatest
652
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE. [Book IV.
men of your kingdom: That for grammar schools there
are already too many, and therefore no providence to add
where there is excess. For the great number of schools
which are in your Highness realm, doth cause a want
and doth cause likewise an overflow, both of them in-
convenient, and one of them dangerous. For by means
thereof they find want in the country and towns, both
of servants for husbandry, and apprentices for trade;
and on the other side there being more scholars bred
than the state can prefer and employ, and the active
part of that life not bearing a proportion to the prepara-
tive, it must needs fall out that many persons will be
bred unfit for other vocations, and unprofitable for that
in which they are brought up; which fills the realm full
of indigent, idle, and wanton people, which are but mate-
ria rerum novarum.
Therefore, in this point, I wish Mr. Sutton's intention
were exalted a degree, that that which he meant for
teachers of children, your Majesty should make for
teachers of men. Wherein it hath been my ancient
opinion and observation, that in the universities of this
realm (which I take to be of the best endowed universi-
ties of Europe) there is nothing more wanting towards
the flourishing state of learning than the honorable and
plentiful salaries of readers in arts and professions. In
which point, as your Majesty's bounty already hath
made a beginning, so this occasion is offered of God to
make a proceeding. Surely readers in the chair are as
the Parents in sciences, and deserve to enjoy a condition
not inferior to their children that embrace the practical
part; else no man will sit longer in the chair than till
he can walk to a better preferment: and it will come to
pass as Virgil says,
Ut patrum invalidi referant jejunia nati.
For if the principal readers through the meanness of their
entertainment be but men of superficial learning, and
...
:
1610-11.]
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE.
653
that they shall take their place but in passage, it will
make the mass of sciences want the chief and solid dimen-
sion, which is depth; and to become but pretty and com-
pendious habits of practice. Therefore I could wish that
in both the universities, the lectures as well of the three
professions, Divinity, Law, and Physic, as of the three
heads of science, Philosophy, arts of speech, and the
Mathematics, were raised in their pensions unto £100
per annum apiece. Which though it be not near so great
as they are in some other places, where the greatness of
the reward doth whistle for the ablest men out of all
foreign parts to supply the chair, yet it may be a portion
to content a worthy and able man, if he be likewise con-
templative in nature, as those spirits are that are fittest
for lectures. Thus may learning in your kingdom be ad-
vanced to a further height; learning (I say) which under
your Majesty, the most learned of kings, may claim some
degree of elevation.
Concerning propagation of Religion, I shall in few
words set before your Majesty three propositions; none
of them devices of mine own, otherwise than that I ever
approved them; two of which have been in agitation of
speech and the third acted.
The first a college for controversies, whereby we shall
not still proceed single, but shall as it were double our
files, which certainly will be found in the encounter.
The second a receipt for (I like not the word Seminary
in respect of the vain vows and implicit obedience and
other things tending to the perturbation of states involved
in that term) converts to the reformed religion, either of
youth or otherwise. For I doubt not but there are in
Spain, Italy, and other countries of the Papists, many
whose hearts are touched with a sense of those corrup-
tions and an acknowledgment of a better way; which
grace is many times smothered and choked through a
wordly consideration of necessity; men not knowing
654
ADVICE CONCERNING SUTTON'S ESTATE.
[BOOK IV.
where to have succor and refuge. This likewise I hold a
work of great piety and a work of great consequence,
that we also may be wise in our generation, and that the
watchful and silent night may be used as well for sow-
ing of good seed as of tares.
The third is, the imitation of a memorable and relig-
ious act of Queen Elizabeth; who, finding a part of Lan-
cashire to be extremely backward in religion, and the
benefices swallowed up in impropriations, did by decree
in the Duchy erect four stipends of £100 per annum
apiece, for preachers well chosen to help the harvest,
which have done a great deal of good in the parts where
they have labored; neither do there want other corners
in the realm that would require for a time the like ex-
traordinary help.
Thus have I briefly delivered unto your Majesty my
opinion touching the employment of this charity; whereby
that mass of wealth, that was in the owner little better
than a stack or heap of muck, may be spread over your
kingdom to many fruitful purposes, your Majesty plant-
ing and watering, and God giving the increase.
The legal question was tried afterward in 1613 before
all the Judges in the Exchequer; and Bacon appeared
as counsel for the pretended heir. But that was only in
the ordinary practice of his profession: and judgment
being given in favor of the will, the advice (whatever the
King thought of it) of course fell to the ground, there
being no opportunity to act upon it.
CHAPTER IV.
A. D. 1612-1613. ÆTАt. 52–53.
THE consultation about the King's affairs which was
to succeed the dissolution of the last Parliament had not
thus far brought forth much fruit. Neither the raising
of the price of gold pieces, nor the erection of the new
order of Baronets, can have afforded any material relief
to the Exchequer; for the first did not involve a fresh
coinage, and the fruits of the other were appropriated to
the colonization of Ulster. Privy seals and loans from
the City were merely borrowings for the present at the
expense of the future: and the total result of Salisbury's
financial administration appears to have been the halving
of the debt at the cost of almost doubling the deficiency.
He died on the 24th of May, after a few months' illness,
leaving the debt £500,000 and the ordinary annual ex-
penditure in excess of the ordinary annual revenue by
£160,000.
Bacon felt that the occasion was a critical one.
It was
plain that everything had been going wrong of late. But
Salisbury had had so much to do with everything, that
his death, which though not sudden had been preceded
by no retirement from business or transfer of power to
other hands, left a large space clear for a thorough re-ar-
rangement. The place of Secretary as well as Treasurer
was now vacant; and there was no man (with the ex-
ception perhaps of Coke on the Bench) whose personal
qualities, combined with his position, gave him an over-
ruling power even in his own department. But this
:
1
656 STATE OF AFFAIRS AT SALISBURY'S DEATH. [BOOK IV.
state of things could not be expected to last long. The
new streams would soon find new channels from which it
would again be difficult to divert them. To rectify the
relation between the King and his people, which the dis-
solution of the late Parliament had left quite out of joint,
it was necessary to have another Parliament with which
he could proceed in harmony. And to make this pos-
sible, it was necessary not only that he should present
himself in a new character to his subjects, but that they
should feel that the new character was his own, and that
that in which he had last appeared was not his own. If
he could but have been persuaded, and been able, to
seize the moment of Salisbury's death for an entire
change in his own ways,― if he could from that moment
have laid his former character aside and shown himself a
new man, — he might I think have succeeded. It would
have been thought that his true nature had been obscured
till then by his minister, and appeared now in its natural
lustre. Nor is it impossible that a successful experiment
of that kind might really and permanently have changed
him. For certainly his untaught sympathies and natural
impulses were always with the people and human nature,
and I cannot help thinking that if he had once tried the
experiment of wearing his prerogative a little more care-
lessly, he would have found it so much more comfortable
and becoming that he would have continued the fashion.
But if this was to be done, it must be done suddenly. It.
is in times of change that new impressions are wrought
in so as to last: when they have been allowed to settle,
the new will hardly incorporate with the old.
Now therefore was the time: and now once more Bacon
was tempted to step out of his course. Hitherto the
very
few (and I hope I may now say the very modest) appli-
cations which he had made to the King on his own behalf
had been merely for ordinary advancement in the regular
course of his profession. But upon Salisbury's death it
1612-18.] STATE OF AFFAIRS AT SALISBURY'S DEATH.
657
could not but occur to him that the King might have
much more important use of him as a councillor of State
than merely as a State lawyer. The King had in fact to
choose a new prime minister; which in this case was al-
most as much as forming a new administration. Whom
had he to choose from? He had in his Council the Lord
Chancellor ; a man bred under Elizabeth, but now nearly
worn out, chiefly occupied with the business of his Court,
and never much of a politician. He had the Earl of
Northampton; a man in high repute for learning and
talent, especially as a writer (being indeed a great artist
with his pen according to the fashionable taste of the
day), but unpopular, from a suspected leaning to Popery,
and not a man of any real judgment or ability (so far as
I can make him out), nor patriotic in his ends, nor scru-
pulous in his methods of pursuing them. He had Robert
Carre, now Lord Rochester; an inexperienced and unin-
structed youth, given to pleasure, greedy of gain, intoxi-
cated by his sudden elevation, disliked by the people be-
cause he was a Scotchman and getting all the good things,
and having an interest in the King's affections which gave
him an influence over his counsels greater probably than
the King was aware of. He had the Earl of Suffolk; a
great courtier, and a magnificent sort of person, but of
whose ideas (if he had any) we know nothing. The rest
were either instruments, or ciphers, or quiet people who
minded only their own business and did not affect to in-
terfere with the management of the State. By far the
best head (I take it) in James's Council was his own:
and a very sufficient head it would have been if it had
been applied steadily to its work. But he was far too
easy a master both to himself and to those about him.
He was forever excusing himself from following his own
judgment—from doing what he would have advised any
one else to do in the same situation when it was op-
posed by his favorites or disagreeable to himself; and on
VOL. I.
42
די
658 STATE OF AFFAIRS AT SALISBURY'S DEATH. [Book IV.
that account, in such times as he had fallen upon,—with
a debt of £500,000, an annual deficiency of £160,000,
and a House of Commons newly awakened to a sense as
well of his necessities as of their own powers, and deter-
mined to make the most of their advantage, he was no
fit man to be his own prime minister.
What course Bacon actually took in this exigency, I
cannot certainly say: for in a matter which requires del-
icate walking a man will sometimes draw up a letter in
due form by way of experiment, to see how it looks on
paper, and keep it back if he does not like the look of it:
but the course he meditated and wished to take may be
gathered from the following letters, two of them cer-
tainly written at this time, and the third probably not
long after, and all found among the drafts and copies
preserved in his own cabinet. That none of the three
was included in. his "register-book of letters," may be
sufficiently explained perhaps by their private and confi-
dential character, without supposing that they were ulti-
mately withheld. And if they were withheld, it may
have been only because he had had an opportunity in the
mean time of speaking to the King in private; which it
would appear from one of the "apophthegms" that he
really had upon this very occasion. But however that
may be, his private thoughts and intentions are what we
are chiefly concerned with, and of these they afford the
best evidence.
The first is evidently the beginning of a letter, with
the progress of which he was so ill satisfied that he laid
it by and began another. It is a rough draft, written in
his own hand and partly in Greek characters a precau-
tion which he took occasionally when he wished to keep
a writing more private; and has the following docket,
also in his own hand.
1612–18.] LETTERS TO THE KING UPON SALISBURY'S DEATH. 659
THE BEGINNING OF A LETTER TO THE KING IMMEDI-
ATELY AFTER MY LORD TREASURER'S DECEASE.
May 29, 1612.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, If I shall seem in
these few lines to write majora quam pro fortuna, it may
please your Majesty to take it to be an effect not of pre-
sumption but of affection. For of the one I was never
noted; and for the other I could never show it hitherto
to the full; having been as a hawk tied to another's fist,
that mought sometimes bait and proffer but could never
fly. And therefore if, as it was said to one that spake
great words, Amice, verba tua desiderant civitatem, so
your Majesty say to me, "Bacon, your words require a
place to speak them;" I must answer, that place or not
place is in your Majesty to add or refrain: and though
I never go higher but to Heaven, yet your Majesty
The next is probably the letter which he substituted;
and either sent, or wrote with the intention of sending.
Whether sent or not, it is one of the most important in
the collection; for it proves unquestionably that the only
remedy for the King's difficulties which Bacon would at
this time have advised him to seek was to be sought
through Parliament.
This is only a copy; but it is a contemporary copy,
made by one of his own scribes. It has no flyleaf: and
the indorsement, which is in a comparatively modern
hand, was probably copied from the original docket. It
runs thus:
31 MAY: LETTER TO THE KING, IMMEDIATELY AFTER
THE LORD TREASURER'S DEATH.
I can-
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
not but endeavor to merit, considering your preventing
graces, which is the occasion of these few lines.
ľ
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I
·
660 LETTER TO THE KING UPON SALISBURY'S DEATH. [Book IV.
Your Majesty hath lost a great subject and a great
servant. But if I should praise him in propriety, I
should say that he was a fit man to keep things from
growing worse but no very fit man to reduce things to be
much better. For he loved to have the eyes of all Israel
a little too much upon himself, and to have all business
still under the hammer and like clay in the hands of the
potter, to mould it as he thought good; so that he was
more in operatione than in opere. And though he had
fine passages of action, yet the real conclusions came
slowly on. So that although your Majesty hath grave
counsellors and worthy persons left, yet you do as it were
turn a leaf, wherein if your Majesty shall give a frame
and constitution to matters, before you place the persons,
in my simple opinion it were not amiss. But the great
matter and most instant for the present, is the consider-
ation of a Parliament, for two effects: the one for the
supply of your estate; the other for the better knitting
of the hearts of your subjects unto your Majesty, accord-
ing to your infinite merit; for both which, Parliaments
have been and are the antient and honorable remedy.
Now because I take myself to have a little skill in that
region, as one that ever affected that your Majesty
mought in all your causes not only prevail, but prevail
with satisfaction of the inner man; and though no man.
can say but I was a perfect and peremptory royalist, yet
every man makes me believe that I was never one hour
out of credit with the lower house: my desire is to know
whether your Majesty will give me leave to meditate
and propound unto you some preparative remembrances
touching the future Parliament.
Your Majesty may truly perceive, that, though I can-
not challenge to myself either invention, or judgment, or
elocution, or method, or any of those powers, yet my
offering is care and observance: and as my good old mis-
tress was wont to call me her watch-candle, because it
1612-13.]
BACON WISHES TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE. 661
pleased her to say I did continually burn (and yet she
suffered me to waste almost to nothing), so I must much
more owe the like duty to your Majesty, by whom my
fortunes have been settled and raised. And so craving
pardon, I rest
Your Majesty's most humble servant devote,
F. B.
The exact date of the third is uncertain. It is a
rough draft in Bacon's own handwriting, and whether it
ever proceeded further we have no means of knowing:
for it is quite exceptional, and points to a project to
which I have found no other allusion anywhere. It is
quite possible that it was only a thought which perished
in the setting down. But the meaning cannot be mis-
taken, and the date cannot be far removed from where
we now are.
As the only remedy for the King's affairs was to be
sought from Parliament, so his principal difficulty lay in
the Lower House. Salisbury had had long experience
as a member of the Commons before he was raised to
the Peerage, and had a party there of personal adherents
afterwards. Yet even in his time the Government was
but weakly represented. "I must tell you," writes Sir
Edward Hoby to Sir Thomas Edmunds, 7 March, 1605–6,
“that I think the State scorneth to have any privy coun-
sellors of any understanding in that house." And after
Salisbury's death it would be difficult to name any mem-
ber either of the Council or of Parliament whose position
in the government combined with his personal weight
would have enabled him to conduct the Government busi-
ness in the Lower House with effect. I suppose Sir
Julius Cæsar would have been considered the highest
representative of the Council in the last house, but he
does not appear to have had any personal influence in
debate. What was wanted was some man who could fill
•
最
​662 BACON WISHES TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE. [Book IV.
the position which Salisbury had filled in Elizabeth's two
last Parliaments: - a principal secretary of state, quali-
fied to lead the Lower House. And though, among the
many candidates for the vacant secretaryship, there was
more than one who might have done well enough, the
difficulties of one kind or another in the choice were so
great, that the appointment remained still, and seemed
likely to remain, in suspense. That rumor never sug-
gested the name of Bacon, was owing probably to the
fact that the office lay out of the ordinary line of promo-
tion for a lawyer. And yet there can hardly be a doubt
that he would have been the fittest man: nor was there
any apparent objection to his being transferred to that
department, if he were himself willing. It was this con-
sideration, I suppose, which prompted him about this
time to write the following letter.
TO THE KING.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENT MAJESTY, My
principal end being to do your Majesty service, I crave
leave to make at this time to your Majesty this most
humble oblation of myself. I may truly say with the
psalm, Multum incola fuit anima mea; for my life hath
been conversant in things wherein I take little pleasure.
Your Majesty may have heard somewhat that my father
was an honest man, and somewhat you may have seen of
myself, though not to make any true judgment by, be-
cause I have hitherto had only potestatem verborum, nor
that neither. I was three of my young years bred with an
ambassador in France, and since I have been an old tru-
ant in the school-house of your council-chamber, though
on the second form; yet longer than any that now sitteth
hath been on the head form. If your Majesty find
any aptness in me, or if you find any scarcity in others,
whereby you may think it fit for your service to remove
me to business of state; although I have a fair way be
..
31
Z
I
}
1612-13.] BACON WISHES TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE.
663
fore me for profit (and by your Majesty's grace and fa-
vor for honor and advancement), and in a course less ex-
posed to the blasts of fortune, yet now that he is gone,
quo vivente virtutibus certissimum exitium, I will be ready
as a chessman to be wherever your Majesty's royal hand
shall set me. Your Majesty will bear me witness, I
have not suddenly opened myself thus far. I have
looked on upon others, I see the exceptions, I see the
distractions, and I fear Tacitus will be a prophet, magis
alii homines quam alii mores. I know mine own heart,
and I know not whether God that hath touched my
heart with the affection may not touch your royal heart
to discern it. Howsoever, I shall at least go on honestly
in mine ordinary course, and supply the rest in prayers
for you, remaining, etc.
If the King could have taken courage to accept this
offer, to make Bacon his principal Secretary of State
and uphold him firmly in the office, making him to
himself what the first Cecil had been to Elizabeth in the
beginning of her reign, it is possible that the after
history of England would have run in another course.
But perhaps it would have required the spirit of Eliza-
beth to do it. James could not have done it without
giving deep offense to all the great people with whom he
lived, and encountering a great deal of direct and indi-
rect opposition from them: and he was not forced to re-
solve by the necessity of immediate action. For upon
the question of calling a new Parliament (in which case
the obvious necessity of having a competent man to man-
age his business in the House of Commons must have
hastened decision) there were divisions in the Council.
The Earl of Northampton, who from his age, his rank,
his reputation, his abilities, and especially from his influ-
ence with Rochester (an influence natural enough in it-
self and greatly increased by Rochester's interest in his
664
PARLIAMENT NOT YET CALLED.
[Book IV.
niece—for that unhappy business was already on foot),
was now become one of the most powerful men in the
kingdom, is known to have been strongly against it. Sir
Julius Cæsar, who (now that Salisbury was gone) was
the greatest official authority in matters of the Exchequer,
appears (if he was really the author of the dialogue on
the Great Contract) to have countenanced the opinion
that the powers which the King possessed were sufficient
without the help of Parliament, to deliver him from his
embarrassments. Rochester cannot be supposed to have
had many ideas of his own on so difficult a subject. The
King had ideas enough; but with a Council so constituted
he had very imperfect opportunities of knowing the
truth, and with so fresh a recollection of recent disap-
pointments and disgusts, would naturally incline to the
opinion of those who promised to set his affairs straight
without risking an appeal to that troublesome assembly.
In such circumstances one cannot wonder that he re-
solved not to try a Parliament, or at least put off the
resolution to try one, till all other means of rectifying
his estate should be put in force. It happened that his
case could ill bear any such delay. Delay itself was bad;
and perhaps the manner in which the interval was em-
ployed made it still worse. But so it was to be. The
consideration of a Parliament was suspended for the
present. The appointment of a Secretary of State was
postponed. The Treasurership was put in commission.
The Counsel was set hard at work to find all possible
means of abating the expenditure and improving the
revenue: Northampton taking the lead in Council, and
Bacon being one of the most active of the sub-commis-
sioners appointed to assist.
His letters, however, had not been altogether thrown
away. Though the King did not make him a Councillor,
he encouraged him to offer counsel upon the most im-
portant affairs of state; listened to him; and was I think
1612-13.]
BACON IN THE KING'S COUNSELS.
665
generally disposed to act (I say disposed to act, for be-
tween the disposition to do a thing and the doing of it
there was in his case a great gap) upon his suggestions.
So that from the moment of Salisbury's death Bacon be-
came a much more important person. Of this we have
evidence not only in the more frequent mention of his
name in Northampton's reports of council business, and
the kind of work in which he was employed, — such as
the drawing up of instructions to the commissioners for
collecting the "aid" on the marriage of the Princess
Elizabeth, which both for form and substance were left
entirely to him, the "account of the committees for
the repair of the King's state and raising of moneys," in
which he seems to have had a principal hand; and the in-
vestigation of certain frauds practiced against the Crown
by the farmers of the Customs and Wines, in which his
skillful pursuit of the mysterium iniquitatis is specially
reported, but chiefly in a letter of his own to the King,
from which we learn how the experiment of bringing the
ordinary receipts nearer to an equality with the ordinary
expenditure by better management of the Crown prop-
erty was succeeding, and what he thought of the case.
We have already seen that it was not in this direction
that he himself expected to find an effectual remedy:
the remedy, in his opinion, must come from Parliament.
But as it had been decided to try this course first, it was
not the less important that it should be tried out; and
the very expectation that it would fail would be a motive
with him for exhausting all the possibilities of suc-
cess, and thereby depriving its advocates of all plausible
ground for wasting more time in the attempt. The letter
is docketed in his own hand, "My letter to the King,
touching his estate in general. September 18th, 1612.”
-
*
3
▸
11
I
666
LETTER TO THE KING ON HIS ESTATE.
[BOOK IV
TO THE KING.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENT MAJESTY, I have
with all possible diligence, since your Majesty's progress,
attended the service committed to the sub-commissioners
touching the repair and improvement of your Majesty's
means; and this I have done not only in meeting and
conference and debate with the rest, but also by my sev-
eral and private meditation and inquiry. So that be-
sides the joint account which we shall give to the Lords,
I hope I shall be able to give your Majesty somewhat ex
proprio. For as no man loveth better consulere in com-
muni than I do, neither am I of those fine ones that use
to keep back anything wherein they think they may win
credit apart, and so make the consultation almost inutile;
So nevertheless, in case where matter shall fall in upon
the bye, perhaps of no less worth than that which is the
proper subject of the consultation, or where I find things
passed over too slightly, or in case where that which I
should advise is of that nature as I hold it not fit to be
communicated to all those with whom I am joined, these
parts of business I put to my private account; not be-
cause I would be officious (though I profess I would do
works of supererogation if I could), but in a true dis-
cretion and caution. And your Majesty had some taste
in those notes which I gave you for the wards (which it
pleased you to say were no tricks nor novelties, but true
passages of business), that mine own particular remem-
brances and observations are not like to be unprofitable.
Concerning which notes for the wards, though I might
say sic vos non vobis, yet let that pass.
•
I have also considered fully of that great proposition,
which your Majesty commended to my care and study,
touching the conversion of your revenue of land into
a multiplied present revenue of rent; wherein I say, I
have considered of the means and course to be taken, of
1612-13.]
LETTER TO THE KING ON HIS ESTATE.
667
the assurance, of the rates, of the exceptions, and of the
arguments for and against it. For though the project it-
self be as old as I can remember, and falleth under every
man's capacity, yet the dispute and manage of it asketh
a great deal of consideration and judgment; projects be-
ing like Æsop's tongues, the best meat and the worst, as
they are chosen and handled. But surely, ubi deficiunt
remedia ordinaria, recurrendum est ad extraordinaria.
Of this also I am ready to give your Majesty an account.
Generally upon this subject of the repair of your Maj-
esty's means, I beseech your Majesty to give me leave to
make this judgment; that your Majesty's recovery must
be by the medicines of the Galenists and Arabians, and
not of the Chemists or Paracelsians. For it will not be
wrought by any one fine extract or strong water, but by
a skillful compound of a number of ingredients, and those
by just weight and proportion, and that of some simples
which perhaps of themselves or in over-great quantity
were little better than poisons, but mixed and broken and
in just quantity are full of virtue. And secondly, that
as your Majesty's growing behind hand hath been the
work of time; so must likewise be your Majesty's com-
ing forth and making even. Not but I wish it were by
all good and fit means accelerated, but that I foresee that
if your Majesty shall propound to yourself to do it per
saltum, it can hardly be without accidents of prejudice
to your honor, safety, or profit.¹
Lastly, I will make two prayers unto your Majesty, as
I use to do to God Almighty, when I commend to him
his own glory and cause; so I will pray to your Majesty
for yourself.
The one is, that these cogitations of want do not any
1 Here the fair copy, which has begun to grow less fair in the course of the
last few lines, ends in mid page without any mark of ending. The draft, of
which the beginning will be found in the same volume, fo. 232, and the end at
fo. 8, goes on as in the text. I presume that Bacon made a fresh copy of the
whole and sent it to the King.
+
+
r
1
►
.
668
LETTER TO THE KING ON HIS ESTATE.
[BOOK IV.
ways trouble or vex your M.'s mind. I remember Moses
saith of the land of promise, that it was not like the land
of Egypt that was watered with a river, but was wa-
tered with showers from heaven; whereby I gather, God
preferreth sometimes uncertainties before certainties, be-
cause they teach a more immediate dependence upon his
providence. Sure I am, nil novi accidit vobis. It is no
new thing for the greatest kings to be in debt; and if a
man shall parvis componere magna, I have seen an Earl
of Leicester, a Chancellor Hatton, an Earl of Essex, and
an Earl of Salisbury, all in debt; and yet was it no man-
ner of diminution to their power or greatness.
My second prayer is, that your Majesty in respect of
the hasty freeing of your state would not descend to any
means, or degree of means, which carrieth not a sym-
metry with your majesty and greatness. He is gone
from whom those courses did wholly flow. To have
your wants and necessities in particular as it were hanged
up in two tablets before the eyes of your lords and
commons, to be talked of for four months together: To
have all your courses to help yourself in revenue or profit
put into printed books, which were wont to be held ar-
cana imperii: To have such worms of aldermen to lend
for ten in the hundred upon good assurance, and with
such . . .¹ as if it should save the bark of your for-
tune: To contract still where mought be had the
readiest payment, and not the best bargain: To stir a
number of projects for your profit, and then to blast
them, and leave your Majesty nothing but the scandal of
them : To pretend even carriage between your Majesty's
rights and the ease of the people, and to satisfy neither:
These courses and others the like I hope are gone with
the deviser of them; which have turned your Majesty to
inestimable prejudice.2
1 I could not make out this word.
"Entreaty"?
2 The passage which followed here is struck through with Bacon's pen.
1612-13.]
DEATH OF PRINCE HENRY.
669
I hope your Majesty will pardon my liberty of writing.
I know these things are majora quàm pro fortunâ; but
they are minora quam pro studio et voluntate. I assure
myself, your Majesty taketh not me for one of a busy
nature; for my state being free from all difficulties, and
I having such a large field for contemplations, as I have
partly and shall much more make manifest to your
Majesty and the world, to occupy my thoughts, nothing
could make me active but love and affection. So pray-
ing my God to bless and favor your person and estate,
etc.
I have mentioned the enlarged edition of Bacon's
"Essays as being probably one of the fruits of the
period before Salisbury's death, when his services were
not wanted except in the ordinary business of his place..
The book was entered at Stationer's Hall on the 12th of
October, 1612, and was meant to be dedicated to the
Prince of Wales: and though the Prince's death on the
6th of November prevented this, the dedicatory letter
which he had written is preserved in a manuscript copy
of these "Essays," now in the British Museum.
Birch had printed it, but at the request of Lord Hardwick cancelled the leaf
and filled up the space with a note of his own, containing a kind of protest
against the foregoing censure of Salisbury. Whatever reason there may have
been for suppressing the passage at that time- and I do not myself see any
(for it does but tell us of something which Bacon felt, but thought it better to
leave unsaid) there can be no doubt now, since the publication of Lord
Hardwick's letter to Birch (Life of L. Ch. Hardwick, vol. iii., p. 437), the terms
of which would lead any one to suppose that the cancelled leaf contained some-
thing very discreditable to Bacon, that it ought to be published. The words are
-"I protest to God, though I be not superstitious, when I saw your M.'s book
against Vorstius and Arminius, and noted your zeal to deliver the majesty
from the vain and indign comprehensions of Heresy and degenerate philosophy,
as you had by your peu formerly endeavored to deliver Kings from the usur-
pation of Rome, perculsit illico animum that God would set shortly upon you
some visible favor, and let me not live if I thought not of the taking away of
that man.”
Bacon's judgment of Salisbury's financial policy may have been wrong; but
there can be no reason now why we should not know what it was; and we
could not have better evidence of what he really felt than the setting down and
then striking out of a passage like this.
670
ཁྐྲ ་
DEDICATION OF THE "ESSAYS."
[BOOK IV.
ť
TO THE MOST HIGH AND EXCELLENT PRINCE, HENRY,
PRINCE OF WALES, DUKE OF CORNWALL, AND EARL
OF CHESTER.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR HIGHNESS, Having divided
my life into the contemplative and active part, I am de-
sirous to give his Majesty and your Highness of the fruits
of both, simple though they be.
To write just treatises requireth leisure in the writer,
and leisure in the reader, and therefore are not so fit,
neither in regard of your Highness' princely affairs, nor
in regard of my continual services; which is the cause
that hath made me choose to write certain brief notes, set
down rather significantly than curiously, which I have
called Essays. The word is late, but the thing is an-
cient. For Seneca's epistles to Lucilius, if one mark
them well, are but Essays, that is, dispersed meditations,
though conveyed in the form of epistles. These labors
of mine I know cannot be worthy of your Highness, for
what can be worthy of you? But my hope is, they may
be as grains of salt, that will rather give you an appetite
than offend you with satiety. And although they handle
those things wherein both men's lives and their pens are
most conversant, yet (what I have attained I know not)
but I have endeavored to make them not vulgar, but of
a nature whereof a man shall find much in experience,
and little in books; so as they are neither repetitions nor
fancies. But howsoever, I shall most humbly desire your
Highness to accept them in gracious part, and to con-
ceive, that if I cannot rest, but must show my dutiful
and devoted affection to your Highness in these things
which proceed from myself, I shall be much more ready
to do it in performance of any your princely command-
ments. And so wishing your Highness all princely felic-
ity I rest,
Your Highness's most humble servant.
1612-13.]
REMEMBRANCE OF PRINCE HENRY.
671
The Prince himself being removed beyond the reach of
essays and dedications and all human services, it remained
for Bacon to do a small service to his memory (in which
the surviving world had an interest) by setting down a
remembrance of his character. As he wrote it in Latin,
and made no other use of it so far as we know, it has
been conjectured with great probability that he meant it
for De Thou to use in his history. It is a careful study
of the man an attempt to describe or make out what
he was worth and what he was, by diligent examination
of such personal traits as had come within Bacon's obser-
vation or knowledge; and though short, contains all that
we can be said to know about him. We have no account
of him from any of his familiars, if he had any. The
sayings or doings which have been recorded of him are
few and of no great significance. And the vague and
featureless eulogies in which his memory was celebrated
at the time, and with which history seems to be still con-
tent, tell us nothing but that people of all classes hoped
great things of him: which was an inevitable incident
of his position. From a well conducted and personable
prince of nineteen, who had never had an opportunity of
engaging in any public action that could give either
satisfaction or offense, every man could hope what he
pleased, and each hoped what he wished. If his brother
Charles had died before he was twenty, I have little
doubt that he would have died with as general regret,
and that the fairest hopes of the country would as gen-
erally have been thought to have died with him. Bacon
was never in any intimate relation with Prince Henry,
but he had of course studied him diligently and curiously
according to his opportunities, and in this paper we have
a full, and to all appearance a candid and unreserved,
report of the result of his study. It will be found among
the Literary Works,¹ with a translation and a preface.
1 Bacon's Works, vol. ii., Part II., p. 9.
i
672 QUESTION OF CALLING A NEW PARLIAMENT. [Book IV.
:
The marriage of the princess, which was celebrated as
soon after the Prince's death as the customs of the time
permitted, supplied Bacon with an occasion of exercising
his taste in a department for which, alien as it was from
his pursuits both of business and recreation, he always
had a fancy; the preparation of the first masque pre-
sented by the gentlemen of Gray's Inn and the Inner
Temple as their contribution to the festivities of which
(the subject being the marriage of the Thames and the
Rhine), we are told that he was the chief contriver.
After this, we hear no more of him except in a trial for
contempt in disputing the legality of a Royal Commission
for reforming abuses in the Navy, where he appeared as
one of the counsel for prosecution, until the following
summer, when the question of calling a Parliament came
again under consideration.
A twelvemonth had now passed since the Council was
set to work in earnest to find means of raising the income
of the Crown, without help from Parliament, to an equal-
ity with its expenditure: a thing which the author of
the dialogue on the Great Contract (supposed to be Sir
Julius Cæsar) had represented as practicable. It is now
time to inquire what success they had had; for upon the
issue of the experiment the policy of the coming years
would mainly depend. A rough draft in Sir Julius
Cæsar's own hand of a report upon the proceedings of
the Commissioners gives a full and clear account of the
whole case.
Four ways had been thought of. 1. Spend-
ing less. 2. Improvement of our present revenue. 3.
New means of gain by projects, etc. 4. Parliament.
these the third was thought "dangerous before Parlia-
ment," and the fourth "very uncertain."
very uncertain." We need not
trouble ourselves with the details; but the general result
was that they had "abated and improved respectively to
the King's profit, since my late Lord Treasurer's death,
to the sum of £35,776," and that "there had been
Of
1612-13.]
QUESTION OF CALLING A NEW PARLIAMENT.
673
brought in, or would have been into the receipt, if it
had not been otherwise disposed of by his Majesty, to-
gether with that which was to come in before the end of
December next in extraordinary to bear some part of the
ordinary wants, £309,681." Now an increase in the or-
dinary revenue of £35,776 and a collection of £309,681
extraordinary, was not enough to supply an annual defi-
ciency of £160,000 and pay a debt of £500,000. It was
clear therefore that the last of the four ways to prevent
ruin, though very uncertain” a year ago, and more un-
certain now, must be tried: and before the end of June
the question of calling a Parliament was again formally
referred to the Council for consideration.
66
Bacon- considering the extreme importance which
he attached to this measure, the confidence with which
he had volunteered his opinion in favor of it immediately
after Salisbury's death, when he asked leave to propound
to the King "some preparative remembrances touching
the future Parliament," as "taking himself to have a
little skill in that region," and the much more promi-
nent position as an assistant in council-matters which he
occupied now than then, was not likely to let an occa-
sion of this kind go by without some effort to lend a help-
ing hand. I conceive therefore that certain undated
papers of his which quite answer the description of "pre-
parative remembrances touching a future Parliament,
and which were certainly written when the question was
brought up or about to be brought up again for consul-
tation, and before any resolution had been taken, belong
in point of date to the summer of 1613. Mr. Gardiner
puts them half a year later: but that is only because he
assumes them to be subsequent to another letter of later
date, which it is clear to me they preceded. The date,
however, is in this case of little importance, in so far as
it is doubtful; the matter (which is of great importance)
not being affected by it. Whether written in January,
VOL. I.
43

+
674
QUESTION OF CALLING A NEW PARLIAMENT. [BOOK IV.
1614, or in June, 1613, they contain the results of Ba-
con's meditations upon the question of calling a Parlia-
ment, and the manner in which it was to be dealt with in
order to bring the session to a successful issue. Seldom,
I suppose, has there been a measure of State which re-
quired more boldness and yet more delicacy in the hand-
ling; seldom a Council of State less favorably constituted
for handling it well. For it was as easy to go wrong
through too great an anxiety to further it as through too
much obstinacy in opposing it. Too much faith and too
little might be equally fatal. On one side there was
Northampton, who had so little hope from a Parlia-
ment, that he seems to have been not only against its
being tried, but desirous that it should miscarry. On
the other side were a party of Parliament men, who
out of confidence in their own experience and influence
with the Lower House were rash enough to undertake
the management of it, and to engage that if the King
would follow their advice, his business should be car-
ried to his satisfaction. At the head of these was Sir
Henry Neville, an able and public-spirited man, with
large and just views as to the state of the times, with
sympathies well balanced between the people and the
Crown, earnest for the redress of grievances, yet hop-
ing to be made secretary of state, and possessing, it
would seem, much influence over Rochester, which was
the best opening for influence over the King. Several
memorials and advices of his are extant which refer to
this period; and it cannot be doubted, I think, that his
ends were wise and patriotic. But the case was new and
difficult, and the event proved that he did not thoroughly
understand his ground. He knew the harbor which was
to be steered for, and in which it would be good for all
parties, and satisfactory to all parties, to arrive; but he
had not thoroughly fathomed the depths and shallows of
popular judgment in such an assembly as the House of
1612-13.]
QUESTION OF CALLING A NEW PARLIAMENT.
675
Commons had now become. The sands at the bottom
were rapidly and secretly shifting, and the currents at
the top were shifting with them. It was not either an-
cient experience or recent experience that could tell a
man where the safe course now lay; but only the com-
bination of experiences both old and new with that pro-
phetic sagacity which is derived from a profound insight
into the nature of man, and reserved for original genius of
the highest order. It was no great blame to him, there-
fore, and his associates, if they ran the vessel aground;
nor any great blame to James that he took them for
his pilots. But I think he had the choice of a better.
That Bacon, had he been prime minister, could have
carried the business through successfully, it is of course
impossible to say. But the papers of which I am now
speaking — and which though they have been accessible
to everybody ever since the catalogue of the Cotton
MSS. was open to inspection, have never been printed
-enable me to say thus much: that though aiming at
the very same ends (for I do not know that he would
have objected to any one of the measures which Sir
Henry Neville proposed to carry) he would have pro-
ceeded in a different manner; and that too from an ap-
prehension of danger in the very quarter where the event
proved that it really lay. We have seen how strongly
he disapproved of the contract-policy which was pursued
with the last Parliament, and how strongly he advised
that no time should be lost in calling another. We are
now to see what course he would have had the King take
with it, in order to recover the ground which he had lost.
Two of these papers contain only his private medita-
tions upon the questions to be considered, the result of
the consideration not being recorded. But so much as
he was then ready to offer in the shape of practical ad-
vice he proceeded to explain in a confidential letter ad-
dressed to the King himself.
་
676
BACON'S ADVICE TO THE KING.
[BOOK IV.
TO THE KING.
Be-
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
fore your Majesty resolve with your Counsel concerning
a Parliament, mine incessant care and infinite desire that
your Majesty's affairs may go well have made me in the
case of Elihu who, though he was the inferior amongst
Job's counsellors, yet saith of himself that he was like
a vessel of new wine, that could not but burst forth in
uttering his opinion. And this which I shall write I
humbly pray your Majesty may be to yourself in private.
Not that I shall ever say that in your Majesty's ear
which I will be either ashamed or afraid to speak openly;
but because perhaps it might be said to me after the
manner of the censure of Themistocles, Sir, your words
require a city;" so to me: "You forerun: your words
require a greater place." Yet because the opportunity
of your Majesty's so urgent occasion flieth away, I take
myself sufficiently warranted by the place I hold, joined
with your Majesty's particular trust and favor, to write
these lines to your Majesty in private.
The matter of Parliament is a great problem of estate,
and deserveth apprehensions and doubts. But yet I pray
your Majesty remember that saying, Qui timide rogat
docet negare. For I am still of the opinion (which I
touched in general in my former letter to your Majesty),
that above all things your Majesty should not descend be-
low yourself; and that those tragical arguments and (as
the schoolmen call them) ultimities of persuasions which
were used last Parliament should for ever be abolished,
and that your Majesty should proceed with your Parlia-
ment in a more familiar, but yet a more princely manner.
All therefore which I shall say shall be reduced to two
heads.
First, that the good or evil effect like to ensue of a
Parliament resteth much upon the course which
1612-13.]
BACON'S ADVICE TO THE KING.
677
your Majesty shall be pleased to hold with your
Parliament; and that a Parliament simply in
itself is not to be doubted.
Secondly, what is the course which I would advise
were held, as safest from inconvenience, and most
effectual and likely to prevail.
In both which parts your Majesty will give me leave
to write not curiously, but briefly; for I desire that what
I write in this argument may be nihil minus quam verba.
For the first my reasons are :
1. I do not find since the last Parliament any new ac-
tion of estate amongst your Majesty's proceedings that
hath been harsh or distasteful: and therefore seeing the
old grievances (having been long broached) cannot but
wax dead and flat, and that there hath been no new mat-
ter either to rub up and revive the old or to give other
cause of discontent, I think the case much amended to
your Majesty's advantage. It is true there have been
privy seals, but it is as true they were never so gently
either rated or pressed. And besides, privy seals be ever
thought rather an attractive than a repercussive to sub-
sidies.
2. The justice upon my Lord Sanquir hath done your
Majesty a great deal of right, showing that your Majesty
is fixed in that resolution,
Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur :
which certainly hath rectified the spleen-side, howsoever
it is with the liver.
3. Let it not offend your Majesty if I say that the
Earls of Salisbury and Dunbarre have taken a great deal
of envy from you and carried it into the other world,
and left unto your Majesty a just diversion of many dis-
contents.
4. That opposition which was the last Parliament to
your Majesty's business, as much as was not ex puris
naturalibus, but out of party, I conceive to be now much
678
BACON'S ADVICE TO THE KING.
[BOOK IV.
weaker than it was, and that party almost dissolved.
Yelverton is won; Sandes is fallen off; Crew and Hyde
stand to be serjeants; Brocke is dead; Nevell hath
hopes; Barkeley I think will be respective; Martin hath
money in his purse; Dudley Digges and Holys are yours.
Besides, they cannot but find more and more the vanity
of that popular course; specially your Majesty having
carried yourself in that princely temper towards them,
as not to persecute or disgrace them, nor yet to use or
advance them.
5. It was no marvel the last Parliament, men being
possessed with a bargain, if it bred in them an indisposi-
tion to give; both because the breaking left a kind of
discontent, and besides, Bargain and gift are antitheta, as
the Apostle speaketh of Grace and Works; and howso-
ever they distinguished Supply and Support in words,
yet they were commixed in men's hearts, and the enter-
taining of the thoughts of the one did cross, and was a
disturbance and impediment to the other.
6. Lastly, I cannot excuse him that is gone of an arti-
ficial animating of the Negative; which infusion or in-
fluence now ceasing I have better hope.
For the course I wish to be held, I most humbly be-
seech your Majesty to pardon the liberty and simplicity
which I shall use, I shall distribute that which I am to
say into four propositions.
The first is
1. That your Majesty do for this Parliament put off
the person of a merchant and contractor, and rest upon
the person of a King. Certainly when I heard the over-
tures last Parliament carried in such a strange figure and
idea, as if your Majesty should no more (for matter of
profit) have needed your subjects' help, nor your subjects
in that kind should no more have needed your graces
and benignity, methought, besides the difficulty (in
next degree to an impossibility), it was animalis sapientia,
--
1612-13.]
BACON'S ADVICE TO THE KING.
679
and almost contrary to the very frame of a monarchy,
and those original obligations which it is God's will
should intercede between King and people.
Besides, as things now stand, your Majesty hath re-
ceived infinite prejudice by the consequence of the new
Instructions for the Court of Wards: for now it is almost
mnade public that the profits of the Wards being hus-
banded to the best improvement (which is utterly un-
true) yet amounteth to a small matter; 1 and so the sub-
stance of your bargain extremely disvalued.
2. My second proposition is that your Majesty make
this Parliament but as a coup d'essay, and accordingly
that your Majesty proportion your demands and expec-
tation. For as things were managed last Parliament,
we are in that case, optima disciplina mala dediscere.
Until your Majesty have tuned your instrument you will
have no harmony. I, for my part, think it a thing ines-
timable to your Majesty's safety and service, that you
once part with your Parliament with love and reverence.
The proportions I will not now descend unto; but if the
payments may be quickened, there is much gotten.
And if it be said, his Majesty's occasions will not en-
dure these proceedings gradatim; yes, surely. Nay I am
of opinion that what is to be done for his Majesty's good,
as well by the improvement of his own as by the aid of
his people, it must be done per gradus and not per sal-
tum; for it is the soaking rain and not the tempest that
relieveth the ground.
3. My third proposition is that this Parliament may
be a little reduced to the more ancient form (for I ac-
count it but a form), which was to voice the Parliament
to be for some other business of estate, and not merely
for money; but that to come in upon the bye, whatso-
ever the truth be. And let it not be said that this is but
dancing in a net, considering the King's wants have been
1 Estimated at £20,000 only,
i
er
:
!
=:
680
BACON'S ADVICE TO THE KING.
[BOOK IV.
made so notorious; for I mean it not in point of dis-
simulation but in point of majesty and honor; that the
people may have somewhat else to talk of and not wholly
of the King's estate; and that Parliament-men may not
wholly be possessed with those thoughts; and that if
the King should have occasion to break up his Parlia-
ment suddenly, there may be more civil color to do it.
What shall be the causes or estate given forth ad popu-
lum; whether the opening of increase of trade (wherein
I meet with the objection of Impositions, but yet I con-
ceive it may be accommodate), or whether the planta-
tion of Ireland, or the reducement and recompiling of
laws, throwing in some bye-matters (as Sutton's es-
tate,¹ or the like)-it may be left to further considera-
tion. But I am settled in this, that somewhat be pub-
lished besides the money matter; and that in this form
there is much advantage.
Lastly, as I wish all princely and kind courses held
with his Majesty's Parliament, so nevertheless it is good
to take away as much as is possible all occasions to make
subjects proud, or to think your Majesty's wants are re-
mediless but only by Parliament. And therefore I could
wish it were given out that there are means found in his
Majesty's estate to help himself (which I partly think is
true), but that, because it is not the work of a day, his
Majesty must be beholding to his subjects: but as to
facilitate and speed the recovery of himself rather than
of an absolute necessity. Also that there be no brigues
nor canvasses, whereof I hear too much; for certainly
howsoever men may seek to value their service in that
kind, it will but increase animosities and oppositions;
and besides will make whatsoever shall be done to be in
evil conceit amongst your people in general afterwards.
Thus have I set down to your Majesty my simple opin-
1 That is, I suppose, in case the will were evicted. Judgment was finally
given in favor of the will on 23d June, 1613.
i
1612-13.]
BACON'S ADVICE TO THE KING.
681
ion, wherein I make myself believe I see a fair way
through the present business, and a dimidium totius to
the main. But I submit all to your Majesty's high wis-
dom, most humbly desiring pardon, and praying the
highest to direct you for the best.
Your Majesty's most humble and true servant,
FR. BACON.
These papers, though they had been seen by Mr. Hal-
lam and have since been largely commented upon by Mr.
Gardiner, have not in my opinion received the attention
they deserve, whether as illustrations of Bacon's political
career, or as evidence concerning the history of the time.
The confidential character of the letter to the King gives
it a peculiar value, as containing Bacon's own private
and original opinion. What a man writes or speaks con-
cerning matters in which a resolution has already been
taken by others or in concert with them, does not neces-
sarily indicate his own personal opinion. He may be
only making the best of a course which has been chosen
against his judgment and advice; and there are many
passages in Bacon's official and Parliamentary career
which are to be read with that qualification. But where
a man goes out of his way to offer his opinion in private
upon matters which are still under consultation, and that
too with a view to influence the decision, there we may
be sure we have his own genuine views. There is noth-
ing to restrain him from recommending exactly what he
thinks best. It is worth while therefore to examine this
piece of advice a little more closely, that we may be the
better prepared to see how far it was attended to, and
what were the consequences of neglecting it.
The course recommended by Sir Henry Neville was no
doubt much simpler, and if we might assume that the
success of it was as certain as he himself took it to be,
might justly be preferred. It seems indeed to have been
682
ADVICE GIVEN BY SIR H. NEVILLE.
[BOOK IV.
framed for an age of innocence, when people had nothing
to do but to be good. Let the King suspend for the
present all projects for raising money independently of
Parliament; make up his mind to grant to his subjects,
as of grace, the things they desire; forbear any speech
that may irritate; seem confident of their affection;
speak graciously to the people during progress; take
notice of the principal gentlemen and let them kiss his
hand; "give order to the Archbishop to prohibit all
books and invective sermons against the Parliament, so
as notice may be taken of his Majesty's commandment
before the meeting; " peruse the grievances last exhib-
ited, see that all promises have been performed, and
"if he would please to be gracious" in any of the others,
"do it of himself before he be pressed:" Having sum-
moned his Parliament to meet at Michaelmas, let him
begin by announcing to them such favors and graces as
he is ready to bestow, and inviting a deputation to confer
with him about their further demands; let him "be gra-
cious to his people in the points proposed, or any other
of the like nature which may be thought of by the House
when they meet (for beforehand no man can precisely
say these things would be demanded and no other):
Let him do all this, and Sir Henry Neville is ready to
answer for it, that "in a month or five weeks this point
of supplying the King and of his retribution will be easily
determined, if it be proposed betimes and followed close
afterwards," "that his Majesty shall receive as much
contentment of this next Parliament as he received dis-
taste of the former, and that all things will end in that
sweet accord that will be both honorable and comfortable
for his Majesty and happy for the whole realm." After
which—"when his Majesty hath made use of his people's
affections to put him out of want, any fit projects that
shall be offered may be the boldlier entertained to fill his
coffers."
1612-13.]
ADVICE GIVEN BY SIR H. NEVILLE.
683
What could be simpler or more delightful? But was
he quite sure that nothing would be desired by the House
of Commons but what the King, before he knew what it
was, might safely engage to concede? Because if such a
thing should happen, the whole castle would tumble.
Upon this extremely important point, the only satis-
faction which Sir H. Neville had to offer was his own
conviction that there was no danger. He had lived and
conversed intimately with the leaders of the opposition in
the last Parliament, "knew their inwardest thoughts on
that business," and "durst undertake for most of them,
that the King's Majesty proceeding in a gracious course
towards his people should find those gentlemen exceeding
willing to do him service, and to give him such content-
ment as might sweeten all the former distastes, and leave
both his Majesty and the world fully satisfied of their
good intentions and of the general affection of his sub-
jects." He could not say exactly what concessions would
satisfy them but he had made "a collection of such
things as had been by several men desired to be obtained
of his Majesty for the good of his people," and from this
it would be seen that they did not aim at anything unjust
or unreasonable.
Perhaps not. But though the things asked for up to
this time may have been reasonable, and the leaders may
(like Neville himself) have been willing to rest there,
who could answer for the followers? Moderate men may
continue to lead as long as they continue to advance. But
as soon as the party which they have created has learned
its strength and the secret of it, their leadership is held
thenceforward upon condition of going as far and as fast
as their followers want to go. If they stop short, they
are run over, and the lead is taken by whoever goes fore-
most. In this case Neville knew what concessions he was
himself prepared to insist on as the conditions of a vote
of supply, and knew them (we will suppose) to be just,
...
한
​684 BACON'S ADVICE AND NEVILLE'S COMPARED. [Book IV.
safe, and expedient. But how could he know that Hos-
kyns or Wentworth or Chute would not insist upon ex-
torting by the same means some concession which he
would think unjust, unsafe, or inexpedient? How could
he know that they would not carry a majority of the
House with them? If they did, what could he and his
friends do to prevent it? And if they could not prevent
it, in what case did they leave the King? Of any pro-
vision, either for encountering an unreasonable opposition
or securing in case of repulse an honorable retreat, there
is no hint in any part of his paper.
Bacon's advice, though proceeding upon the same
grounds and aiming at the same ends (for such a conclu-
sion as Neville promised would have been all he wished
for), differs in several points which are material. That
a gracious meeting and parting between the King and
the Parliament was a thing absolutely necessary; that
no time was to be lost; and that he should proceed
towards the Lower House with confidence, as having no
doubt of their good affection: so far they agree. But at
this point they part.
If the King followed Neville's advice, he would begin
at once with an offer of his bills of grace, and an invita-
tion to confer with the Lower House upon their desires
and grievances; he would then have the question of
supply and retribution proposed at once, and followed
closely, so that the whole business might be concluded
within a month or five weeks: he would make it in fact
ostensibly and merely a money Parliament. If he fol-
lowed Bacon's, this was the very thing which he would
specially avoid. On the contrary, he would endeavor to
bring the Parliament back to the ancient form. He
would let it be understood that it was called for the con-
sideration of some great question of State, such as the
opening of trade, the colonization of Ireland, or the re-
compilement of the laws; and say nothing about supply
1612-18.] BACON'S ADVICE AND NEVILLE'S COMPARED.
685
or retribution; but leave such matters to come up by the
way. He would have measures in readiness for the con-
tentment and comfort of the people; but instead of in-
viting the Lower House to discuss with him their desires
and complaints (a sure way of teaching them to extend
the list), he would endeavor so to occupy their attention
that the collecting and discussing of grievances should be
kept back till his own business were well advanced.
Again: If he followed Neville's advice, he would bring
the popular demand for concessions and his own demand
for supply into such close proximity, that they would in-
evitably take the form of a bargain, and be weighed one
against the other, value to be bestowed in concessions
against value to be received in subsidies. If he followed
Bacon's he would endeavor to avoid all appearance of
bargaining in such matters, not merely because to dispute
about bargains with his people would entail a loss of
majesty in their eyes, a price at which, even if it had
been the readiest way to disembarrass the Exchequer, the
disembarrassment would have been dearly purchased,
but because the nature of the reciprocal concessions did
not admit of that kind of valuation. To conclude such a
bargain as would have made the Crown and the people
independent of each other for the future was a thing not
to be wished, even if it had been practicable; and to
teach them to expect in return for each vote of supply
some particular boon from the Crown of corresponding
value, was to lead them away from the consideration of
their true function, which was to furnish the government
with the means of governing well; so to maintain the
Crown that the Crown might maintain the people. For
certainly the duties which the King owed to his subjects
were not of a nature to be appraised and reduced to a
value in money.. What they were worth was not what
they might be sold for, but what it might cost to get
them done. Therefore, however it might be desirable to
686 BACON'S ADVICE AND NEVILLE'S COMPARED. [Book IV.
bestow largely upon the people particular boons of pecu-
niary or other relief, the better to quicken their affection
and strengthen their confidence, yet to offer these by way
of equivalents for subsidies was utterly wrong and tended
to defeat its own purpose.
Again: If the King followed Neville's advice, though
he would assume that his people were willing to help
him, he would make no secret of the fact that he could
not do without their help, and that it rested with them
whether they would give it or not. For the price he was
to be prepared to give for it was "the being gracious to
his people in the points proposed, or any other of the like
nature which might be thought of," which was nothing
less than the concession of everything which had been or
might be demanded. If he followed Bacon's he would
endeavor to avoid all appearance, not merely of misgiv-
ing as to the affection of the Commons, but of solicitude
as to the event. He would let it be understood that he
had the means of disembarrassing himself without their
help, though it would take more time.
Once more: If he followed Neville's advice he would
stake all on the issue, and if he lost would be left in a
condition as bad or worse than the time before: for the
parting could hardly be without another quarrel. If he
followed Bacon's he would treat the thing as an experi-
ment, and be prepared to meet a disappointment without
discomposure or show of irritation. The growing de-
pendence of the Crown upon the Commons was indeed a
fact which it behoved the Crown to accept and under-
stand and remember. The tendency in that direction
was inevitable. It is probably no exaggeration to say
that the Crown was already dependent upon the Com-
mons; that is, they had it in their power to withhold
from the King the means of carrying on, the government,
and thereby to bring him to their own terms: not indeed
absolutely, or at once: but if they chose to persevere in
.
!
1812-13.] BACON'S ADVICE AND NEVILLE'S COMPARED.
687
refusing supplies until the conditions they demanded
were complied with, to those conditions he must have
come at last. But though this was the fact, it was a fact
not yet declared; and most desirable it was that for the
present it should be disguised from popular observation.
It was fit therefore that the King should act as if that
condition were not necessary to him which the Commons
might constitutionally refuse. He must in fact be pre-
pared to do without it, and let it be seen that he was so
prepared. Bacon saw that to produce this impression
was now the King's first object; a sine qua non: that if
he succeeded in that it would be enough, though he
succeeded in nothing else; and therefore that his true
policy was to carry matters so that the hope of contribu-
tion might not seem to be a principal motive for calling
the Parliament, nor any disappointment in that respect a
motive for proroguing it; but to treat it as a thing com-
paratively immaterial, which was not essential to his pur-
poses and did not affect his proceedings: and left him
free "to part with his Parliament with love and rever-
ence "—for once: "a thing inestimable to his safety
and service."
Finally, if the King followed Neville's advice, he
would trust absolutely and implicitly to the good faith
and persuasive powers of the opposition leaders, who un-
dertook that if he did what they bid him do, he should
have what he wanted. If he followed Bacon's (who had
seen many more Parliaments than they), he would en-
deavor to prevent all canvassing to form a party for him
in the House, as that which would be sure to “increase
animosities and oppositions; " but would at the same
time neglect no fair means of conciliating the support or
averting the hostility of the several parties of which the
House was composed.
We shall see hereafter what course was followed, and
with what results. For the present, the question was
688
DEATH OF SIR THOMAS FLEMING.
[BOOK IV.
again postponed. On the 4th of July, Lord Northampton
reported to Sir Thomas Lake (who was with the court)
that the Council were busy with the care of the King's
estate: "only of the Parliament, or reasons either to
move or remove the same, they had hitherto foreborne
to speak; because it was consequent to precedent ques-
tion or disputes which the Lords of the Commission had
now in hammering."
About the time that these things were under discussion,
a vacancy in the Bench gave Bacon a chance of promo-
tion in the natural line of his progress. On the 7th of
August, 1613, Sir Thomas Fleming, Chief Justice of the
King's Bench, died. It was a fair opportunity for re-
moving Sir Henry Hobart from the place of Attorney,
for which Bacon, as we have seen, thought him very ill
suited; but who, having recovered from his illness was
likely to hold it until he could change it for a better.
Bacon's first thought seems to have been to get him made
Chief Justice in Fleming's place, upon which his own
succession to the Attorneyship could hardly have failed
to follow, his claim being so undeniable and his help so
much wanted: and as it is not to be supposed that he
would lose any time in such a matter, we may safely con-
clude that the following letter to the King was written
on or about the 7th of August, 1613.
TO THE KING.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
Having understood of the death of the Lord Chief Jus
tice, I do ground in all humbleness an assured hope, that
your Majesty will not think of any other but your poor
servants, your attorney and your solicitor (one of them),
for that place. Else we shall be like Noah's dove, not
knowing where to rest our foot. For the places of rest
after the extreme painful places wherein we serve have
used to be, either the Lord Chancellor's place, or the
i
ご
​C
689
=1
1612-13.]
DEATH OF SIR THOMAS FLEMING.
mastership of the Rolls, or the places of the two chief
justices whereof, for the first, I would be almost loth to
live to see this worthy counsellor fail. The mastership of
the Rolls is blocked with a reversion. My Lord Coke is
like to outlive us both. So as if this turn fail, I for my
part know not whither to look. I have served your
Majesty above a prenticehood, full seven years and more,
as your solicitor, which is, I think, one of the painfulest
places in your kingdom, specially as my employments
have been; and God hath brought mine own years to
fifty-two, which I think is older than ever any solicitor
continued unpreferred. My suit is principally that you
would remove Mr. Attorney to the place; if he refuse,
then I hope your Majesty will seek no furder than my-
self, that I may at last, out of your Majesty's grace and
favor, step forwards to a place either of more comfort or
more ease. Besides, how necessary it is for your Majesty
to strengthen your service amongst the Judges by a
Chief Justice which is sure to your prerogative, your
Majesty's knoweth. Therefore I cease furder to trouble
your Majesty, humbly craving pardon, and relying wholly
upon your goodness and remembrance, and resting in all
true humbleness,
Your Majesty's most devoted
and faithful subject and servant,
FR. BACON.
Upon further reflection it occurred to him that still
better use might be made of the occasion. The Chief
Justice of the King's Bench, though not the best paid
among the Judges, was the highest in dignity; and as
the causes with which that court had to deal consisted
of offenses against the Crown, I suppose it supplied fewer
occasions for inquiring into the limits of the Prerogative
than the Court of Common Pleas, which (dealing with
civil suits) was continually called upon to adjudicate in
VOL. I.
44
690
LEGAL PROMOTIONS.
[BOOK IV.
disputes between the subject and the King. To a man
of Coke's temper, the position of champion and captain
of the Common Law in its battles with Prerogative was
a tempting one. His behavior as Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas, though accompanied with no alteration
in himself, had entirely altered his character in the esti-
mation of the people; transforming him from the most
offensive of Attorney Generals into the most admired
and venerated of Judges, and investing him with a popu-
larity which has been transmitted without diminution to
our own times, and is not likely to be questioned. For
posterity, having inherited the fruits of his life and being
well satisfied with what it has got, will not trouble itself
to examine the bill, which was paid and settled long ago.
To us, looking back when all is over, the cost is nothing.
To the contemporary statesmen, however, who were then
looking forth into the dark future and wondering what
the shock of the contending forces was to end in, his
triumphs were of more doubtful value. To some of them,
even if they could have foreseen exactly what was going
to happen, the prospect would not have been inviting.
A civil war, a public execution of a King by his subjects
for treason against himself, a usurpation, a restoration,
and a counter-revolution, all within one generation, —
would have seemed to one looking forward very ugly
items in the successful solution of a national difficulty,
and those who saw in Coke's judicial victories the be-
ginning of such an end might be pardoned if they de-
sired to find some less dangerous employment for his
virtues. Now if he could be raised from the Common
Pleas (the ordinary duties of which could be well enough
discharged by Sir Henry Hobart) to the King's Bench,
he would meet with fewer opportunities of collision with
the Crown, and a quieter time might be hoped for. And
Bacon who, whether he saw to the end or not, was obliged
by his professional duty to see enough of the other side
1612-13.]
LEGAL PROMOTIONS.
691
of all these disputed questions to satisfy him that Coke's
activity was not all for good, recommended this arrange-
ment to the King. Such at least is the motive for it
which seems to me most probable. I know it has been
commonly assumed that Bacon's reason for recommend-
ing, as well as Coke's for deprecating, the change was
merely or chiefly that it would cause a loss of income.
But if a reduction of income had been the only difference,
I doubt whether Bacon would have thought it a politic
move. In so wealthy a man as Coke the difference of
income could have made no difference in reputation;
while the rise in dignity would make him a greater man
than he was before. And though to Coke himself, as a
man who took pleasure in growing rich, the change might
be on that account unwelcome, both the reluctance with
which he consented to his elevation and the emotion with
which he underwent it, seem (if they have not been
very much exaggerated in the description) to have been
stronger and deeper than so trivial a cause would natu-
rally explain. That he was not so well qualified for a
Judge in criminal as in civil causes, would have been a
worthier ground of objection, if one could suppose that
he was aware of the fact. But for an ambitious man
with a firm belief in himself and his own virtue to leave
a post in which he acted as a counterpoise to the mon-
archy, and was continually brought into personal collis-
ion with the King himself, on terms of advantage and in
the interest of what he believed to be the constitution
this might well be a matter of deep and serious regret.
While on the other hand, to a man who thought, as Ba-
con did, that he was upsetting the constitution on the
other side, his removal from such a post would naturally
seem to be a piece of good service to the country as well
as to the King; nor was there any objection to his being
made greater, if at the same time he were made more
harmless.
.
:
692 PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND.
[BOOK IV.
In this case, Bacon's advice was adopted in all points
but one. Coke was made Chief Justice of England: Ho-
bart Chief Justice of the Common Pleas : himself Attor-
ney General, and Yelverton Solicitor. Only instead of
hanging out the hope of a Privy Councillor's place as an
inducement to Coke to be more conformable (“My Lord
Coke," he had said to the King, "will think himself
near a Privy Councillor's place, and therefore turn ob-
sequious"), the King made him a Privy Councillor at
once, which had a very different effect.
While the Government in England was thus struggling
with the difficulties incident to the Parliamentary system
at home, a great experiment was in progress for the in-
troduction of Parliamentary government into Ireland;
an experiment very remarkable, when the condition of
things and the state of opinion in both countries is con-
sidered, and very creditable in my judgment both to the
advisers and to those who adopted the advice.
If the Reformation had taken the same hold of the
native population in Ireland as in England and Scotland,
the case would have been manageable. But while of two
religions mutually intolerant and aggressive, the govern-
ment professed one and the people the other, a Parlia-
ment which fairly represented the people was not an in-
strument by means of which government could have been
carried on. Protestants still hoped that with the help of
the English and Scotch colonists the nation would ulti-
mately be brought round to the true faith. But until
that were accomplished, a truly representative Parliament
in Ireland would be in effect a Roman Catholic Par-
liament; between which and the Puritan Parliament
of England what could be expected but discord? But
though the Catholic party could not be allowed to have
a Parliamentary majority (seeing that the Government
could not be other than Protestant, and constitutional
government with a majority against it is an impossibil-
1612-13.] PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND.
693
ity), there was no reason why they should not have
Parliamentary representation. An opposition may have
much influence in a legislative assembly, although it be
in a minority and it was better for Ireland to be gov-
erned by a Parliament in which the Catholics had a con-
siderable though not an overruling voice, than to be
governed without any Parliament at all; which was the
alternative. For that Ireland should be governed by
England was a necessity imposed by the nature of things;
it being her misfortune to be so placed in the world as
to form a military position, which England was obliged
for her own security to take and hold. And if she was
to have the benefit of a Parliament, it must be one in
which England could command a majority.
In some respects the state of things was favorable for
the experiment. The existing Parliamentary constitution
of Ireland was, upon any view of the case, inadequate to
the existing condition of the population. At the acces-
sion of Elizabeth there were some fifteen counties, each
sending two knights to the Lower House, and containing
among them some thirty boroughs, each of which sent
its two burgesses. In the course of her reign the rest of
the island was converted into "shire-ground," as it was
called, and the represented counties were increased by
seventeen; but in these there was no borough representa-
tion at all. When James took the business in hand, he
found that among the representatives of the counties, old
and new together, the government could reckon upon a
small majority; but that the old boroughs (being mostly
in the South, where English colonization had not pros-
pered) turned the balance against them. The natural
and apparently the fair remedy for this was to erect
within the new counties of the North, where lay the
present strength and future hopes of Protestantism, their
fair proportion of new boroughs. And this remedy he
now resolved to try. His right to erect boroughs where
1
694 PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND.
[Book IV.
he pleased does not appear to have been disputed, and I
do not think he can be justly charged with making an
intemperate use of it. The selection of the places was
left to Sir Arthur Chichester, who best understood the
state of the country; and though care was of course.
taken to make such a selection as would secure the re-
turn of a Protestant majority, yet the fact that upon the
first fair trial of strength between the two parties the op-
position mustered 97 in a house of 224, proves that the
Catholic party was by no means reduced to insignificance.
That they would be satisfied with a constitution which
placed them in a minority at all, was not indeed to be
expected; they would have preferred no doubt to govern
themselves for themselves, without reference to England.
But that could not be. In the mean time they had a
stroke in the management of their affairs which was not
to be despised. Compare the numbers, and it will be
seen that the native element had a voice in the national
counsels very much more powerful than we allow to it
now. At this day, if all the Irish members were to vote
as one man against a bill in the House of Commons, it
might nevertheless be carried against them by a majority
of five to one.
Under the constitution as thus reformed
by James, the Irish party (even if we assume that not a
single Irish member, properly so called, voted with the
government) could not be defeated by a majority of
more than seven to three.
In the spring of 1613, all things were at length ready
for the experiment; the bills prepared, transmitted to
England, revised by the Council, and returned under the
Great Seal; license granted to summon and hold Parlia-
ment; members elected, and the meeting fixed for the
18th of May. "I wish," said Chichester, writing to
Sir John Davies in the previous August, "we might
carry it, and prevail in the matters to be handled in this
Parliament, as is behoveful for his Majesty's service and
E
1612-13.] SECESSION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MEMBERS. 695
good of the kingdom; but I doubt there will be great
opposition to all that is good, and we must encounter
them the best we may." A quiet start was hardly to be
hoped for, and it was perhaps lucky that the opposition
made a false one, which put them unmistakably in the
wrong. The first business was to elect a Speaker. Sir
John Davies, having been recommended by the Deputy,
was duly proposed in the House, and (the motion being
opposed) was elected on a division by 127 to 97. But
the Noes, who remained in the House while the Ayes
went out, took the opportunity of their absence to elect
their own man and seat him in the chair; from which
the majority, when they returned, had some difficulty in
dislodging him. Being, however, a majority, they suc-
ceeded by the use of natural forces in removing the in-
truder and planting Sir John Davies bodily in his place,
and so settled that question, leaving to the dissentients
no choice but submission or secession. They chose seces-
sion. Acting in concert with the members of their party
in the Upper House, they refused to take their places
unless the members for the new boroughs should be se-
questered from the House until their elections had been
examined. And as that could not be, they requested that
the matter might be referred to the King and that they
might send a deputation to plead their cause before him.
The request, upon the recommendation of Chichester,
was granted, and in July, 1613, the case was heard be-
fore the King and Council with extraordinary patience
and indulgence. The complainants were not limited to
matters which bore upon the justification of the act in
question, such as the character of the new boroughs, the
mode of the elections, the constitution of the House, or
the order of proceeding in it: but were allowed to put in
budget after budget of miscellaneous grievances, extend-
ing over the whole field of Irish government. Nor were
any of these set aside as irrelevant. Every kind of alle-
ན
1:
696
INVESTIGATION OF THE IRISH TROUBLES.
[Book IV.
gation was received and listened to which would have
been fit to bring before a committee appointed to inquire
into the general grievances of the Commonwealth; and
so far was the indulgence carried that the discussions
ended in a resolution to send four Commissioners over to
Ireland with instructions to investigate them all upon the
spot.
I do not find that Bacon had anything to do either
with the project of calling this Irish Parliament or with
the measures taken by way of preparation; nor do I re-
member in any of his own papers of advice about Ireland
any allusion to an Irish Parliament as a convenient in-
strument for the cure of existing evils. I have no doubt,
however, that when the King had gone so far, he would
have advised him to go through with it; and it may
have been in consequence of his remarks upon these in-
structions (as originally drawn in his absence by the
Attorney General), that they were afterwards divided
into two distinct sets, the first "concerning matters of
Parliament,” the second "concerning the general griev-
ances of the kingdom. On the 12th of November the
Commissioners sent in their report."
Undue elections in two cases, a few members re-
turned by boroughs erected subsequently to the issue of
the writs, or otherwise not duly entitled, and consider-
able oppressions on the part of the soldiers (though with-
out the countenance or knowledge of the Government),
seem to have been the sum of what they found sub
stantiated. And since for all such complaints redress.
might have been sought in an orderly way, the complain-
ants remained without any plausible justification of their
late proceeding, and were obliged to submit. The seat
of the disorder was indeed beyond the reach of argument
or conciliation, and the present settlement was far from
being a cure; but the Government so far prevailed for
the time as to maintain their ground and try their ex-
1612-18.] ORDERS TAKEN UPON COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 697
periment. The patience with which the remonstrants
had been heard and the concessions which they had ob-
tained, in the very stronghold of the enemy, had shown
them that to be in a minority was not to be powerless,
and reconciled them to a trial of their strength in fair
Parliamentary debate. It was not till the 12th of April
1614, that the King gave his formal answer to their com-
plaints, and some months more had to pass before the
directions were issued which the report of the Commis-
sioners rendered necessary. But all was done in time.
Eight of the new boroughs had been erected subse
quently to the writs of summons to the Parliament;
from two others there had been false returns: and there
were three besides which had no title to be represented
at all. Orders were accordingly issued that none of the
burgesses returned from any of these should take their
seats in the present House. And at the same time a bill
for the banishment of Catholic priests (which was to
have been proposed, and the apprehension of which is
believed to have been the real cause of the commotion)
was withdrawn. On these conditions the seceding mem-
bers consented to take their places when the Parliament
should be re-assembled, to admit the representatives of
the new boroughs as lawful members of the House, and
(I suppose) to withdraw the objection which they had
originally made against the boroughs themselves, as be-
ing too small and poor to furnish either constituencies or
representatives of decent quality. For it is to be ob-
served that this part of the grievance, though it held the
most prominent place in the first complaints and was in
itself (if truly alleged) by far the weightiest and most
serious, for the others were functional and temporary,
whereas this was organic and permanent, was left un-
redressed, and yet no more noise was made about it. To
conclude from this that the objection had been with-
drawn as unfounded would perhaps be too much. But
7
698 ORDERS TAKEN UPON COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. [Book IV.
in the absence of all evidence as to the fact, other than
sweeping assertions by parties who were not always care-
ful to weigh their words (for the question was not in-
cluded among those referred to the Commissioners for
investigation), it is but fair to place by the side of the
complaint the answer which the King gave to it; from
which it will be seen that though the places may have
been poor, the selection of them for boroughs may nev-
ertheless have been politic, as tending to draw wealth
and population towards the parts where it was wanted.
"Because the eye of the master doth make the horse
fat" (said the King), "I have used mine own eyes in
taking a view of those boroughs, and have seen a list of
them all. God is my judge, I find the new boroughs,
except one or two, to be as good as many of the old
boroughs, comparing Irish boroughs new with Irish
boroughs old, for I will not speak of the boroughs of
other countries: and yet besides the necessity of making
them, I find them like to increase and grow better daily.
I find besides, but few erected in each county, and in
many counties but one borough only; and those erected
in fit and convenient places, near forts and passages for
the safety of the country. Methinks you that seek the
good of the kingdom should be glad of it. I caused Lon-
don also to erect boroughs there, which when they are
thoroughly planted will be a great security for that part
of the kingdom; therefore you quarrel at that which
may bring peace to the country."
The reluctance of Coke to be promoted to the Chief
Justiceship of England was at length overcome, and the
other changes followed according to Bacon's suggestion.
"On Monday," says Chamberlain, writing to Carleton
on Wednesday the 27th of October, "the Lord Coke
(though never so loth) was called up into the King's
Bench, and there sworn Chief Justice. He parted dole-
fully from the Common Pleas, not only weeping himself,
1612-13.]
BACON MADE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
699
but followed with the tears of all that Bench, and most
of the officers of that Court. The next day Sir H. Ho-
bart was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir
Francis Bacon Attorney, and Yelverton Solicitor. There
is a strong apprehension that little good is to be expected
by this change, and that Bacon may prove a dangerous
instrument."
It was probably at this time that Bacon wrote the fol-
lowing letter to the King; which comes from the col-
lection at Lambeth. It is a copy or draft very hastily
written in his own hand, and has no date. But it evi-
dently refers to some promotion, and the word “procura-
tion" is most proper to the place of Attorney General.
TO THE KING.
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR MA.,— A full heart is like a
full pen; it can hardly make any distinguished work.
The more I look into mine own weakness the more I must
magnify your favors, and the more I behold your favors
the more I must consider mine own weakness. This is
my hope, that God who hath moved your heart to favor
me will write your service in my heart. Two things I
may promise; for though they be not mine own yet they
are surer than mine own, because they are God's gifts;
that is integrity and industry. And therefore whenso-
ever I shall make my account to you, I shall do it in
these words, ecce tibi lucrifeci, and not ecce mihi lucrifeci.
And for industry, I shall take to me in this procuration
not Martha's part, to be busied in many things, but
Mary's part, which [is] to intend your service; for the
less my abilities are the more they ought to be contracted
ad unum. For the present I humbly pray your Majesty
to accept my most humble thanks and vows as the fore-
runners of honest services which I shall always perform
with a faithful heart.
Your Majesty's most obedient servant,
FR. BACON.
•
700
COKE MADE PRIVY COUNCILLOR.
[BOOK IV
To reconcile Coke to his elevation, the King had been
obliged to promise that "if he would accept it, he should
do it with as much honor as ever any one went to that
place; " which was understood to be a promise of a
councillorship at the least. And accordingly on the 7th
of November, as we learn from the same authority, “the
Lord Coke (with many good and gracious words) was
sworn a Privy Councillor; which honor no man envies
him, if he keep in his right course, and turn not to be At-
torney again."
The occasion on which he received this last distinction
was the ceremonial of creating Viscount Rochester Earl
of Somerset ; in preparation for his marriage with Lady
Essex, whose divorce from her husband had at last been
legally accomplished. The proceedings in this case had
kept both the Commissioners and the King very busy
during the whole summer; but as Bacon had no part in
them, either direct or indirect, I am happily relieved from
the duty of saying more about them. Such a case could
not be known to be going on without giving rise at the
time to much discussion, many rumors, and strong feel-
ings; and the curiosity of posterity has been gratified
by abundant details. But what the outside world knew
about it at the time, was only that after long investiga-
tion and argument before judges whose character and
competency were not disputed, the majority had pro-
nounced the previous marriage null and void. Not hav-
ing heard the case, the public had not the means of crit-
icising the judgment; and therefore even if it would
have been otherwise their duty to judge the judges, it
could not be their duty in this case at this time.
"The
marriage twixt the Earl of Essex and the Lady Frances
Howard is dissolved" (writes Chamberlain on the 14th of
October), "and pronounced a nullity, by the Bishop of
Winchester, who with the Bishop of Rochester were only
supernumerary to the first commissioners, and so cast the
1612-13.]
BACON'S RELATIONS WITH SOMERSET.
701
balance by weight of numbers, being seven to five. The
morning that the matter was to be decided, the King sent
express commandment that in opening they should not
argue nor use any reasons, but only give their assent or
dissent; and in the sentence there is no cause expressed
but in these terms; propter latens et incurabile impedi-
mentum."
It is but fair to the world of rank, wealth, fashion, and
business, which hastened soon after to congratulate the
bride and bridegroom with gifts unprecedented in number
and value, to remember that this was the result of the
inquiry as far as it was made known to them. It does
not follow that they would have done the same if they
had known what we know.
The marriage took place on the 26th of December,
and the festivities continued until Twelfth Night, when
they were wound up with a complimentary offering from
Bacon: an offering so costly, considering how little he
owed to Rochester and how superficial their intercourse
had been, and at the same time so peculiar, that it re-
quires explanation.
The sort of terms upon which Bacon stood with Roch-
ester may be inferred from the single letter which is
known to have passed between them, a remembrance of
his claims to the Mastership of the Wards, then vacant
by the death of Sir George Cary,—which is chiefly re-
markable for the absence of everything that, according to
the common view of his character, might have been ex-
pected on such an occasion in a letter to the man who
had been the King's personal favorite for many years
and had greater influence with him then than ever be-
fore. "If it should, in a middle region, go to lawyers,
then I beseech your lordship have some care of me.
It is not possible, indeed, to suppose that there had ever
been any intimacy between them any confidential cor-
respondence or any interchange of services. Such a rela
""
『s”4
: ¿
"
702
BACON'S RELATIONS WITH SOMERSET.
[BOOK IV.
tion could not have subsisted between so considerable a
man as Bacon and so great a person as Rochester, whom
everybody was talking of and looking at, without being
observed and remembered. If Bacon had had any influ-
ence with the man who for the last five or six years had
kept the gate of the King's affections, he must have had
very frequent occasions to use it—and to use it in a way
which was sure to leave traces. The one letter about the
Mastership of the Wards would have been one of many
such. But there is no trace of anything of the kind. On
the contrary, when he wants the King's favorable ear, he
writes to the King himself, and begs that it may be in
private. It seems, however, that in his recent promotion.
to the Attorney Generalship, Rochester had put himself
forward as his patron. "I must never forget," says Ba-
con, writing to the King about two years after, "when I
moved your Majesty for the Attorney's place, it was your
own sole act; more than that Somerset, when he knew
your Majesty had resolved it, thrust himself into the
business for a fee." Now if, as I suppose, he stood on
terms of courtesy with Somerset, though not of affection,
respect, or confidence, it must have been unpleasant to
owe even a seeming and pretended obligation to him.
The approaching marriage gave him an opportunity to
pay it off. While all the world were making presents,
-one of plate, another of furniture, a third of horses,
a fourth of gold, he chose to present a masque: for
which (if I have succeeded in filling up the blanks in the
story correctly) an accident supplied him with a hand-
some opportunity. The year before, on occasion of the
marriage of the Lady Elizabeth, two joint-masques had
been presented by the Inns of Court, -one by the Mid-
dle Temple and Lincoln's Inn, the other by Gray's Inn
and the Inner Temple. On the present occasion it had
been proposed that all the four Inns of Court should join
in getting up a masque. But it could not be managed:
-
1612-18.]
BACON'S RELATIONS WITH SOMERSET.
703
whereupon Bacon offered on the part of Gray's Inn to
supply the place of it by a masque of their own.
All this, except the date (which must be matter of
conjecture), appears from a letter which, though the
direction has been torn off with the flyleaf, I have no
doubt was addressed to Somerset on this occasion. It is
a single leaf, and contains only the following words writ-
ten in Bacon's hand :
IT MAY PLEASE YOUR GOOD L., - I am sorry the joint
masque from the four Inns of Court failed; wherein I
conceive there is no other ground of that event but im-
possibility. Nevertheless, because it falleth out that at
this time Gray's Inn is well furnished of gallant young
gentlemen, your L. may be pleased to know that rather
than this occasion shall pass without some demonstration
of affection from the Inns of Court, there are a dozen
gentlemen of Gray's Inn that out of the honor which
they bear to your Lordship and my Lord Chamberlain,
to whom at their last masque they were so much bounden,
will be ready to furnish a masque; wishing it were in
their powers to perform it according to their minds.
And so for the present I humbly take my leave, resting
Your Ls very humbly
and much bounden
FR. BACON.
The Lord Chamberlain was the Earl of Suffolk, who
was the bride's father: so that everything seems to fit.
But though Bacon speaks of it as a compliment from
Gray's Inn, Gray's Inn was in reality to furnish only
the performers and the composers. The care and the
charges were to be undertaken by himself; as we learn
from a news-letter of Chamberlain's, whose information
is almost always to be relied upon. Writing on the 23d
of December, 1613, he says:-
*
1
1
704
"THE MASQUE OF FLOWERS."
"Sir Francis Bacon prepares a masque to
[BOOK IV.
honor this mar-
And though he
riage, which will stand him in above £2,000.
have been offered some help by the House, and specially by Mr.
Solicitor, Sir Henry Yelverton, who would have sent him £500,
yet he would not accept it, but offers them the whole charge
with the honor. Marry his obligations are such, as well to his
Majesty as to the great Lord and to the whole house of How-
ards, as he can admit no partner."
The nature of the obligation considered, it will be
seen that there was judgment as well as magnificence in
the choice of the retribution. The obligation (whether
real or not) being for assistance in obtaining an office, to
repay it by any present which could be turned into
money would have been objectionable, as tending to
countenance the great abuse of the times (from which
Bacon so far stands quite clear) — the sale of offices for
money. There was no such objection to a masque. As
a compliment, it was splendid, according to the taste and
magnificence of the time; costly to the giver, not nego-
tiable by the receiver; valuable as a compliment, but as
nothing else. Nor was its value in that kind limited to
the parties in whose honor it was given. It conferred
great distinction upon Gray's Inn, in a field in which
Gray's Inn was ambitious and accustomed to shine.
The piece performed was published shortly after, with
a dedication to Bacon, as "the principal and in effect the
only person that did both encourage and warrant the
gentlemen to show their good affection towards so noble
a conjunction in a time of such magnificence; wherein "
(they add) "we conceive, without giving you false attri-
butes, which little need where so many are true, that
you have graced in general the Societies of the Inns of
Court, in continuing them still as third persons with the
Nobility and Court in doing the King honor; and partic-
ularly Gray's Inn, which as you have formerly brought
to flourish both in the ancienter and younger sort, by
1612-13.]
"THE MASQUE OF FLOWERS.”
705
countenancing virtue in every quality, so now you have
made a notable demonstration thereof in the lighter¹ and
less serious kind, by this, that one Inn of Court by itself
in time of a vacation, and in the space of three weeks,
could perform that which hath been performed; which
could not have been done but that every man's exceed-
ing love and respect to you gave him wings to overtake
Time, which is the swiftest of things." The dedicators
(whom I suppose to be the authors) sign themselves J.
G., W. D., and T. B.: and from an allusion to their
"graver studies" appear to have been members of the
Society. It is entitled "The Masque of Flowers," and
may be seen in Nichols's "Progresses," - a very splendid
trifle, and answering very well to the general description
in Bacon's Essays of what a Masque should be, — with
its loud and cheerful music, abundance of light and color,
graceful motions and forms, and such things as "do nat-
urally take the 'sense," but having no personal ref-
erence to the occasion, beyond being an entertainment
given in honor of a marriage, and ending with an offer-
ing of flowers to the bride and bridegroom.
Of serious business, the first piece that Bacon found
waiting for him in his new office was an attempt to put a
stop to the practice of duelling, which had become alarm-
ingly fashionable. "Though there be in show a settled
peace in these parts of the world," writes Chamberlain
on the 9th of September, "yet the many private quar-
rels among great men prognosticate troubled humors,
which may breed dangerous diseases, if they be not
purged and prevented. I doubt not but you have heard
the success of the combat 'twixt Edward Sackville and
the Lord Bruce (or Kinlos), 'twixt Antwerp and Lille,
wherein they were both hurt, the Lord Bruce to the
death, so that Sackville was driven to take sanctuary,
whence by corruption or connivance I hear he is escaped.
1 Printed "later.”
VOL. I.
45
}
706
THE SUPPRESSION OF DUELS.
[BOOK IV.
Here is speech likewise that the Lord Norris and Sir
Peregrine Willoughby are gone forth for the same pur-
pose, and that the Lord Chandos and the Lord Hay are
upon the same terms. There was a quarrel kindling
'twixt the Earls of Rutland and Montgomery: but it was
quickly quenched by the King, being begun and ended in
his presence. But there is more danger 'twixt the Earl
of Rutland and the Lord Davers, though I heard yester-
day it was already, or upon the point of compounding.
But that which most men listen after, is what will fall
out 'twixt the Earl of Essex and Mr. Henry Howard,
who is challenged and called to account by the Earl
for certain disgraceful speeches of him. They are both
gotten over, the Earl from Milford Haven, the other
from Harwich, with each of them two seconds.
The last news of them was that the Earl was at Calais
and the other in Zealand. The King hath sent a post
to Calais to the Governor, to stay them or either of them,
and young Gib of the bed-chamber is sent with com-
.mandment from the King to them both, if he come in
time."
On this last occasion the King published a Proclama-
tion of his own composition, and then took advice with
his lawyers as to the measures which should be taken to
put a stop to this practice. An undated paper, printed
in the first edition of Dalrymple's "Memorials and Let-
ters," from an original in Bacon's handwriting, belongs I
suppose to this time and occasion. Whether it was be-
fore or after the King's proclamation (which came out
near the end of October) I cannot determine, for I do
not know where a copy of that proclamation is to be
found. Nor does it much matter, for this paper evidently
contains either Bacon's answer to the King's question,
what should be done for the prevention of the practice
generally, or a suggestion of his own to the same effect.
1612-13.] PROPOSITION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF DUELS. 707
A PROPOSITION FOR THE REPRESSING OF SINGULAR
COMBATS OR DUELS.
First, for the ordinance which his Majesty may estab-
lish herein, I wish it may not look back to any offense
past, for that strikes before it warns.
I wish also it may
be declared to be temporary, until a parliament; for that
will be very acceptable to the parliament; and it is good
to teach a parliament to work upon an edict or proclama-
tion precedent.
For the manner; I should think fit there be published
a grave and severe proclamation, induced by the overflow
of the present mischief.
For the ordinance itself: first, I consider that offense
hath vogue only amongst noble persons, or persons of
quality. I consider also that the greatest honor for sub-
jects of quality in a lawful monarchy, is to have access
and approach to their sovereign's sight and person, which
is the fountain of honor; and though this be a comfort
all persons of quality do not use; yet there is no good
spirit but will think himself in darkness, if he be de-
barred of it. Therefore I do propound that the princi-
pal part of the punishment be, that the offender (in the
cases hereafter set down) be banished perpetually from
approach to the courts of the King, Queen, or Prince.
Secondly, That the same offender receive a strict
prosecution by the King's attorney, ore tenus, in the
Star-Chamber; (for the fact being notorious, will always
be confessed, and so made fit for an ore tenus). And
that this prosecution be without respect of persons, be
the offenders never so great; and that the fine set be ir-
remissible.
Lastly, For the cases, that they be these following: -
1. Where any singular combat, upon what quarrel so-
ever, is acted and performed, though death do not ensue.
2. Where any person passeth beyond the seas, with
708
THE SUPPRESSION OF DUELS.
[BOOK IV.
purpose to perform any singular combat, though it be
never acted.
3. Where any person sendeth a challenge.
4. Where any person accepteth a challenge.
5. Where any person carrieth or delivereth a chal-
lenge.
6. Where any person appointeth the field, directly or
indirectly, although it be not upon any cartel or chal-
lenge in writing.
7. Where any person accepteth to be a second in any
quarrel.
This advice was substantially acted upon.
“His Maj-
esty's edict and severe censure against private combats
and combatants," etc. (which seems to have been meant
for such a "grave and severe proclamation" as Bacon
recommended), was published in the course of the au-
tumn, and contained an explanation of the intentions of
the Government much in accordance with his sugges-
tions. The composition, however, having been left to the
care and taste of the Earl of Northampton, it is difficult
to get at the matter for the art, and it can hardly have
taken effect upon popular opinion. It was probably
from a perception of this (though such a motive could
not be declared) that Bacon took another course to make
the determination of the Government in the matter
known and respected. Sir Henry Hobart, when he was
raised to the Bench, had in his hands a case of duelling.
In what shape it came before him and how he proposed
to treat it, we are not informed; but it was a case in
point and ready for hearing. A challenge had been sent
and refused. The persons were obscure, and there does
not appear to have been anything in the circumstances
to aggravate the offense, but it would serve the purpose
of an example and (properly handled) of a proclamation.
Bacon accordingly brought it before the Star Chamber at
1612-13.]
THE SUPPRESSION OF DUELS.
709
the first sitting of the Court in Hilary Term (26 Jan-
uary, 1613-14), and handled it so that the publication of
his speech with the decree of the Court annexed (which
was part of the order) formed an excellent declaration
both of the state of the law with regard to challenges
and the resolution of the Government to enforce it.
•
NOTE ON THE TERMS SUBSIDY AND FIFTEENTH.
·
•
"An aid to be levied of every subject of his lands or goods, after the rate of
48. in the pound for lands and 2s. 8d. for goods, to such ends,
and to be
paid at such times, as by the Acts thereof do appear." "A fifteen is a tempo-
rary aid granted to the King by Parliament, which without further inquiry is
certain.
Of ancient time, the fifteenth part of goods movable; but in
8 Ed. III., all the cities, boroughs, and towns in England were rated certainly
at the fifteenth part of the value at that time generally upon the whole town."
"There is a decima pars of the laity, and for the most part of cities and
boroughs, by their goods, which proportionably is secundum decimam quintam
partem."
"In former times
the Commons never gave above one
subsidy of this kind and two fifteens (and sometimes less); one subsidy amount-
ing to £70,000, and each fifteen to £29,000, or near thereabouts. Nor above
one subsidy, which did rise to £20,000, the clergy gave not.
In 31 Eliz.
the Commons gave two subsidies and four fifteens, which first brake the circle."
(Coke's Inst., part iv., c. 1.)

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