your Lordship with a work of my vacant time which if it had been more the work had been better It appertaineth to your Lordship besides my particular respects in some propriety in regard you are a great Governor in a Province of Learning and that which is more you have added to your place affection towards Learning and to your affection judgement of which the last I could be content were for the time less that you might the less exquisitely censure that which I offer to you But sure I am the Argument is good if it had lighted upon a good author but I shall content my self to awake better spirits like a bell-ringer which is first up to call others to Church So with my humble desire of your Lordships good acceptation I remain Sir Francis Bacon to the Lord Treasurer Buckhurst upon the same occasion of sending his book of Advancement of Learning May it please your good Lordship I have finished a work touching the advancement or setting forward of learning which I have dedicated to his Majesty the most learned of a Sovereign or temporal Prince that time hath known And upon reason not unlike I humbly present one of the books to your Lordship not onely as a Chancellor of an University but as one that was excellently bred in all learning which I have ever noted to shine in all your speeches and behaviours And therefore your Lordship will yield a gracious aspect to your first love and take pleasure in the adorning of that wherewith your self are so much adorned And so humbly desiring your favourable acceptation thereof with signification of my humble duty I remain A Letter of the like Argument to the Lord Chancellor May it please your good Lordship I humbly present your Lordship with a work wherein as you have much commandment over the Author so your Lordship hath also great interest in the argument For to speak without flattery few have like use of Learning or like judgement in learning as I have observed in your Lordship And again your Lordship hath been a great planter of Learning not only in those places in the Church which have been in your own gift but also in your commendatory Vote no man hath more constantly held Detur digniori and therefore both your Lordship is beholden to Learning and learning beholden to you Which maketh me presume with good assurance that your Lordship will accept well of these my labours the rather because your Lordship in private speech hath often begun to me in expressing your admiration of his Majesties Learning to whom I have dedicated this work and whose vertue and perfection in that kind did chiefly move me to a work of this nature And so with signification of my most humble duty and affection towards your Lordship I remain c. Sir Francis Bacon of like argument to the Earl of Northampton with request to present the book to his Majesty It may please your good Lordship HAving finished a work touching the Advancement of Learning and dedicated the same to his sacred Majesty whom I dare avouch if the records of time erre not to be the learnedst King that hath reigned I was desirous in a kind of congruity to present it by the learnedst Councellor in this Kingdom to the end that so good an argument lighting upon so bad an Author might receive some reparetion by the hands into which and by which it should be delivered And therefore I make it my humble suit to your Lordship to present this mean but well meant writing to his Majesty and with it my humble and zealous duty and also my like humble request of pardon if I have too often taken his name in vain not onely in the dedication but in the voucher of the authority of his speeches and writings And so I remain c. Sir Francis Bacon his Letter of request to Doctor Plafer to translate the book of Advancement of Learning into Latine Mr. Doctor Plafer A great desire will take a small occasion to hope and put in Tryal that which is desired It pleased you a good while since to express unto me the good liking which you conceive of my book of the advancement of Learning and that more significantly as it seemed to me then out of curtesie or civil respect My self as I then took contentment in your approbation thereof so I should esteem and acknowledge not onely my contentment increased but my labours advanced 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 my self 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 erre 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 Gardners use to do by taking their Seeds and Slips and re ring them first into plants and so uttering them in pots when they are in flower and in their best state But for as much as my end was merit of the state of Learning to my power and not glorie and because my purpose was rather to excite other mens wits then to magnifie my own I was desirous to prevent the incertainess of my own life and times by uttering rather seeds then plants nay and further as the Proverb is by sowing with the Basket then with the hand Wherefore since I have onely taken upon me to ring a Bell to call other wits together which is the meanest office it cannot but be consonant to my desire to have that Bell heard as sarre 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 flye abroad that they may the better find and light upon those minds and spirits which are apt to be kindled And therefore the privateness of the language considered wherein it is written excluding so many readers as on the other side the obscurity 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 Latine without manifest loss of the sence and matter For this purpose I could not represent to my self any man into whose hands I do more earnestly desire that work should fall then your self 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 labours whether such as your place and profession imposeth on you or such as your own vertue may upon your voluntary election take in hand But I can lay before you no other perswasions then either the work it self may affect
at a miserable loss for want of Learned menin that profession III. I come now to the consideration of those things which concern Councellors of State The Council Table and the great Offices and Officers of the Kingdom which are those who for the most part furnish out the honourable Board 1. Of Councellors there are two sorts The first Consiliarii nati as I may term them such are the Prince of Wales and others of the Kings Sons when he hath more of these I speak not for they are naturally born to be Councellors to the King to learn the Art of Governing betimes 2. But the ordinary sort of Councellors are such as the King out of a due consideration of their worth and abilities and withal of their fidelities to his person and his Crown calleth to be of Councel with him in his ordinary Government And the Councel Table is so called from the place where they ordinarily assemble and sit together and their Oath is the only ceremony used to make them such which is solemnly given unto them at their first admission These honourable persons are from thenceforth of that Board and Body They cannot come until they be thus called and the King at his pleasure may spare their attendance and he may dispence with their presence there which at their own pleasure they may not do 3. This being the quality of their service you will easily judge what care the King should use in his choice of them It behoveth that they be persons of great trust and fidelity and also of wisdom and judgment who shall thus assist in bearing up the Kings Throne and of known experience in publick affairs 4. Yet it may not be unfit to call some of young years to train them up in that trade and so fit them for those weighty affairs against the time of greater maturity and some also for the honour of their persons But these two sorts not to be tied to so strict attendance as the others from whom the present dispatch of business is expected 5. I could wish that their number might not be so over great the persons of the Councellors would be the more venerable And I know that Queen Elizabeth in whose time I had the happiness to be born and to live many years was not so much observed for having a numerous as a wise Councel 6. The duty of a Privy Councellor to a King I conceive is not only to attend the Councel Board at the times appointed and there to consult of what shall be propounded But also to study those things which may advance the Kings honour and safety and the good of the Kingdom and to communicate the same to the King or to his fellow Councellors as there shall be occasion And this sir will concern you more then others by how much you have a larger share in his affections 7. And one thing I shall be bold to desire you to recommend to His Majesty That when any new thing shall be propounded to be taken into consideration that no Councellor should suddenly deliver any positive opinion thereof it is not so easie with all men to retract their opinions although there shall be cause for it But only to hear it and at the most but to break it at first that it may be the better understood against the next meeting 8. When any matter of weight hath been debated and seemeth to be ready for a Resolution I wish it may not be at that sitting concluded unless the necessity of the time press it lest upon second Cogitations there should be cause to alter which is not for the Gravity and Honour of that Board 9. I wish also that the King would be pleased sometimes to be present at that Board it adds a Majesty to it And yet not to be too frequently there that would render it less esteemed when it is become common Besides it may sometimes make the Councellors not to be so free in their Debates in His Presence as they would be in His Absence 10. Besides the giving of Councel the Councellors are bound by their Duties Ex vi termini as well as by their Oaths to keep Councel therefore are they called De Privato Consilio Regis à secretioribus Consiliis Regis 11. One thing I add in the Negative which is not fit for that Board the entertaining of private Causes of Meum Tuum those should be left to the ordinary course and Courts of Justice 12. As there is great care to be used for the Councellors themselves to be chosen so there is of the Clerks of the Councel also for the secreting of their Consultations and methinks it were fit that His Majesty be speedily moved to give a strict Charge and to bind it with a solemn Order if it be not already so done that no Copies of the Orders of that Table be delivered out by the Clerks of the Councel but by the Order of the Board nor any not being a Councellor or a Clerk of the Councel or his Clerk to have access to the councel-Councel-Books And to that purpose that the Servants attending the Clerks of the Councel be bound to Secresie as well as their Masters 13. For the great Offices and Officers of the Kingdom I shall say little for the most of them are such as cannot well be severed from the Councellorship and therefore the same rule is to be observed for both in the choice of them In the general only I advise this let them be set in those places for which they are probably the most fit 14. But in the quality of the persons I conceive it will be most convenient to have some of every sort as in the time of Queen Elizabeth it was one Bishop at the least in respect of questions touching Religion or Church Government one or more skilled in the Laws some for Martial affairs and some for I orreign affairs By this mixture one will help another in all things that shall there happen to be moved But if that should fail it will be a safe way to consult with some other able persons well versed in that point which is the subject of their Consultation which yet may be done so warily as may not discover them in end therein IV. In the next place I shall put you in mind of Forreign Negotiations and Embassies to or with Forreign Princes or States wherein I shall be little able to serve you 1. Only I will tell you what was the course in the happy dayes of Queen Elizabeth whom it will be no dis-reputation to follow she did vary according to the nature of the employment the quality of the persons she employed which is a good rule to go by 2. If it were an Embassy of Gratulation or Ceremony which must not be neglected choice was made of some noble person eminent in place and able in purse and he would take it as a mark of favour and discharge it without any great burthen to the
but by Justice and Sentence as Delinquents and Criminals all three famous Writers Insomuch as the remembrance of their calamity is now as to posterity but as a little Picture of Night-work remaining amongst the fair and excellent Tables of their Acts and Works and all three if that were any thing to the matter fit examples to quench any mans ambition of rising again for that they were every one of them restored with great glory but to their further ruine and destruction ending in a violent death The men were Demosthenes Cicero and Seneca persons that I durst not claim affinity with except the similitude of our fortunes had contracted it When I had cast mine eyes upon these examples I was carried on further to observe how they did bear their fortunes and principally how they did imploy their times being banished and disabled for publick business to the end that I might learn by them and that they might be as well my Counsellors as my Comsorters Whereupon I happened to note how diversly their fortunes wrought upon them especially in that point at which I did most aim which was the employing of their times and pens In Cicero I saw that during his banishment which was almost two years he was so softned and dejected as he wrote nothing but a few womanish Episiles And yet in mine opinion he had least reason of the three to be discouraged for that although it was judged and judged by the highest kind of judgement in form of a Statute or Law That he should be banished and his whole estate confiscated and seized and his houses pulled down and that it should be highly penal for any man to propound his repeal yet his case even then had no great blot of ignominy but it was thought but a tempest of Popularity which overthrew him Demosthenes contrary-wise though his case was foul being condemned for bribery and not simple bribery but bribery in the nature of Treason and disloyalty yet nevertheless he took so little knowledge of his fortune as during his banishment he did much busie himself and intermeddle with matters of State and took upon him to counsel the State as if he had been still at the Helm by Letters as appears by some Epistles of his which are extant Seneca indeed who was condemned for many corruptions and crimes and banished into a solitary Island kept a mean for though his Pen did not freeze ye he abstained from intruding into matters of business but spent his time in writing Books of excellent Arguments and use for all Ages though he might have made better choice sometimes of his Dedications These examples confirmed me much in a resolution whereunto I was otherwise inclined to spend my time wholy in writing and to put forth that poor Talent or half-talent or what it is that God hath given me not as heretofore to particular exchanges but to ranks or Mounts of Perpetuity which will not break Therefore having not long since set forth a part of my Instauration which is the work that in mine own judgement Si nunquam fallit Imago I may most esteem I think to proceed in some few parts thereof And although I have received from many parts beyond the Seas testimonies touching that work such as beyond which I could not expect at the first in so abstruse an Argument yet nevertheless I have just cause to doubt that it flies too much over mens heads I have a purpose therefore though I break the order of time to draw it down to the sense by some patterns of a Natural Story and Inquisition And again for that my Books of Advancement of Learning may be some preparative or Key for the better opening of the Instauration because it exhibits a mixture of new conceipts and old whereas the Instauration gives the new unmixed otherwise then with some little aspersion of the old for tastes sake I have thought to procure a Translation of that Book into the general Language not without great and ample additions and enrichment thereof especially in the second Book which handleth the partition of Sciences in such sort as I hold it may serve in lieu of the first part of the Instauration and acquit my promise in that part Again because I cannot altogether desert the civil person that I have borne which if I should forget enough would remember I have also entred into a work touching Laws propounding a Character of Justice in the middle Term between the speculative and reverend discourses of Philosophers and the writings of Lawyers which are tied and obnoxious to their particular Laws And although it be true that I had a purpose to make a particular Digest or re-compilement of the Laws of mine own Nation yet because it is a Work of assistance and that that I cannot master by my own forces and pen I have laid it aside Now having in the work of my Instauration had in contemplatiō the general good of men in their very being and dowries of nature in my work of Laws the general good of men in Society and the dowries of Government I thought in duty I owed somewhat unto mine own Countrey which I ever loved insomuch as although my place hath been far above my deserts yet my thoughts and cares concerning the good thereof were beyond and over and above my place So now being as I am no more able to do my Countrey service it remained unto me to do it honour which I have endeavoured to do in my Work of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh As for my Essayes and some other particulars of that Nature I count them but as the Recreations of my other Studies and in that sort I purpose to continue them though I am not ignorant that those kind of Writings would with less pains and embracement perhaps yield more lustre and reputation to my Name than those other which I have in hand But I account the use that a man should seek of the publishing of his own Writings before his death to be but an untimely anticipation of that which is proper to follow a man and not to go along with him But revolving with myself my Writings as well those I have published as those which I had in hand methought they went all into the City and none into the Temple where because I have found so great consolation I desire likewise to make some poor oblation Therefore I have chosen an Argument mixt of Religious and Civil Considerations and likewise mixt between Contemplative and Active For who can tell whether there may not be an Exoriere aliquis Great matters especially if they be Religious have many times small beginnings and the Plat-form may draw on the Building This Work because I was ever an enemy to flattering Dedications I have dedicated to your Lordship in respect of our ancient and private acquaintance and because amongst the men of our times I hold you in especial Reverence Sir Francis Bacon to the King about
conversant Also to Sum up and Contract is a thing in action of very general use Sir Francis Bacon to the King May it please Your most Excellent Majesty IN the midst of my Misery which is rather asswaged by Remembrance than by Hope my chiefest worldly Comfort is to think That since the time I had the first Vote of the lower House of Parliament for Commissioner of the Union until the time that I was this Parliament chosen by both Houses for their Messenger to Your Majesty in the Petition of Religion which two were my first and last Services I was evermore so happy as to have my poor Services graciously accepted by Your Majesty and likewise not to have had any of them miscarry in my hands Neither of which points I can any wayes take to my self but ascribe the former to Your Majesties Goodness and the latter to Your prudent Directions which I was ever careful to have and keep For as I have often said to Your Majesty I was towards you but as a Bucket and a Cestern to draw forth and conserve and Your Self was the Fountain Unto this comfort of Nineteen years Prosperity there succeeded a Comfort even in my greatest Adversity somewhat of the same Nature which is That in those Offences wherewith I was charged there was not any one that had special Relation to Your Majesty or any Your particular Commandments For as towards Almighty God there are Offences against the first and second Table and yet all against God so with the Servants of Kings there are Offences more immediate against the Sovereign although all Offences against Law are also against the King Unto which Comfort there is added this Circumstance That as my Faults were not against Your Majesty otherwise than as all Faults are so my Fall is not Your Majesties Act otherwise than as all Acts of Justice are Yours This I write not to insinuate with Your Majesty but as a most humble Appeal to Your Majesties gracious Remembrance how honest and direct You have ever found me in Your Service whereby I have an assured Belief That there is in Your Majesties Princely Thoughts a great deal of Serenity and Clearness to me Your Majesties now prostrate and cast-down Servant Neither my most gracious Sovereign do I by this mentioning of my Services lay claim to Your Princely Grace and Bounty though the Priviledge of Calamity do bear that Form of Petition I know well had they been much more they had been but my bounden Duty nay I must also confess That they were from time to time far above my Merit super-rewarded by Your Majesties Benefits which You heaped upon me Your Majesty was and is that Man to me that raised and advanced me Nine times Thrice in Dignity and Six times in Office The places indeed were the painfullest of all Your Service but then they had both Honour and Profit and the then Profits might have maintained my now Honour if I had been wise Neither was Your Majesties immediate Liberality wanting towards me in some Gifts if I may hold them All this I do most thankfully acknowledge and do herewith conclude That for any thing arising from my self to move Your Eye of Pity towards me there is much more in my present Misery than in my past Services save that the same Your Majesties Goodness that may give Relief to the one may give Value to the other And indeed if it may please Your Majesty This Theme of my Misery is so plentiful as it need not be coupled with any thing else I have been some body by Your Majesties singular and undeserved Favour even the prime Officer of Your Kingdom Your Majesties Arm hath been often over mine in Council when You preceded at the Table so near I was I have born Your Majesties Image in metal much more in heart I was never in Nineteen years Service chidden by Your Majesty but contrari wise often overjoyed when Your Majesty would sometimes say I was a good Husband for you though none for my Self Sometimes That I had a way to deal in business suavibus modis which was the way which was most according to Your own heart and other most gracious Speeches of Affection and Trust which I feed on till this day But why should I speak of these things which are now vanished but only the better to express my Downfall For now it is thus with me I am a year and a half old in misery though I must ever acknowledge not without some mixture of Your Majesties Grace and Mercy for I do not think it possible That any you once loved should be totally miserable My own means through miné own improvidence are poor and weak little better than my Father left me The poor things which I have had from Your Majesty are either in Question or at Courtesie My Dignities remain marks of your past Favour but yet burdens withall of my present Fortune The poor Remnants which I had of my former Fortunes in Plate or Jewels I have spred upon poor men unto whom I owed fearce leaving my self bread so as to conclude I must pour out my misery before Your Majesty so far as to say Si deseris tu perimus But as I can offer to Your Majesties Compassion little arising from my self to move You except it be my extream misery which I have truly laid open so looking up to Your Majesty Your Self I should think I committed Cains fault if I should despair Your Majesty is a King whose heart is as unscrutable for secret motions of Goodness as for depth of Wisdom You are Creator like Factive and not Destructive You are a Prince in whom I have ever noted an avertion against any thing that savoured of a hard heart as on the other side Your Princely Eye was wont to meet with any motion that was made on the relieving part Therefore as one that hath had the happiness to know Your Majesties near hand I have most gracious Sovereign faith enough for a Miracle much more for a Grace That Your Majesty will not suffer Your poor Creature to be utterly defaced nor blot that Name quite out of Your Book upon which Your Sacred hand hath been so ost for new Ornaments and Additions Unto this degree of Compassion I hope God above of whose mercy towards me both in my Prosperity and Adversity I have had great Testimonies and Pledges though mine own manifold and wretched unthankfulness might have averted them will dispose Your Princely heart already prepared to all Piety And why should I not think but that Thrice Noble Prince who would have pulled me out of the fire of a Sentence will help to pull me if I may use that homely Phrase out of the mire of an abject and sordid Condition in my last dayes And that excellent Favourite of Yours the goodness of whose Nature contendeth with the greatness of his Fortune and who counteth it a prize a second prize to be a good Friend after that
that we could not long suffer such attempts unrevenged and being somewhat amazed with the charge he denyed the things very flatly and promised to write very earnestly therein to the King his Master And for conclusion we said that we would write unto you to move the King to make restitution and to prohibit the going to the Seas of any other but of those that were good Merchants in this time of peace according to the Treaty of which our negotiation you shall hear more shortly by Letters from the Council although I thought it good by this my private Letter somewhat to touch it unto you This speech with the Ambassador was on Saturday the fourth of this present and upon importunity of the Ambassador he had Audience of the Queens Majesty this day to whom he shewed a Letter from the King that Percivall coming over with Letters of late thither was stayed at Deip and the King hearing that he had Letters from the Queens Majesty ordered to dismiss him and willed the Ambassador to pray the Queen to think no offence in it for the said Percivall was to be Arrested in France for great debts which he ow'd there besides that as the Ambassador saith he is to be charged there with a murther After he shewed this Letter to her Majesty she called the Lord Chamberlain and me to her in his presence being no more of her Council then and in very round speeches told the Ambassador that she did not take the French Kings answer for the matter of Callis in good part and so much the worse because the Queen Mother by her Letters sent by Mr. Smith wrote that her Son had given very benign Audience and so reasonable an answer as ought well to content her Majesty In which manner of speech she saith she is not well used considering the answer was altogether unjust and unreasonable and if hereof the Ambassador shall make any sinister report you may as you see cause well maintain the Queens answer to be very reasonable as having cause to mislike the manner of writing of the Queen thereon which nevertheless you may impute to the unadvisedness of the Secretaries for so the Queens Majesty here did impute it Upon Sunday last I received Letters from Barnaby your Secretary who therein did very well advertise me of the staying of Percival at Deip and indeed I do finde that the cause hath grown from the Ambassador here either of displeasure or of suspition that he hath against the State Ro. Condulphe for whom he knew Percival was specially sent and finding this day the Ambassador very earnest in private speech with my Lord of Leicester and my self that Percivall would be Arrested in France after that he had delivered the Queens Letters I advised him to write to the contrary for otherwise he might provoke us to do the like with his Messengers and surely if I may be suffered so will I use them I have no more to write unto you But I can assure you that the Queen of Scots was married the 15. of this May and the Nobility therewith so offended as they remain with the Prince and keep apart from her what will follow I know not My Lady your Wife is safely arrived and was long with the Queen on Sunday I thank you for the little French Book which she brought me the like whereof I had before Yours assuredly W. Cecil May 27. 1567. To the right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France SIR THe matters of Scotland grow so great as they draw us to be very careful thereof I think not but you do hear of them by the reports but briefly these they be The best part of the Nobility hath confederated themselves to follow by way of Justice the condemnation of Bothwell and his Complices for the murther of the King Bothwell defends himself by the Queens maintenance and the Hambletons so as he hath some party though it be not great The 15. of this moneth he brought the Queen into the field with her power which was so small as he escaped himself without fighting and left the Queen in the field and she yielding her self to the Lords flatly denyed to grant Justice against Bothwell so as they have restrained her in Lothleven untill they may come unto the end of their pursuit against Bothwell The French Ambassador and Villeroy who is there pretend to favour the Lords with very great offers and it may be they do as much on the other side At this time I send unto you certain Packets of Letters left here by Mr. Melvin who lately came hither from the Queen of Scots the sending of those to my Lord of Murray requireth great haste whereof you may not make the Scotish Ambassador privy but I think you may make Robert Steward privy with whom you may confer for the speedy sending away of the same letters His return into Scotland is much desired of them and for the Weal both of England and Scotland I wish he were here and for his manner of returning touching his safety I pray require Mr. Steward to have good care Our Wars in Ireland are come to a good pass for the Arch-Traytor Shane-Oneale is slain by certain Scots in Ireland of whom he sought aid one murtherer killed by many murtherers hereby the whole Realm I trust will become quiet I pray you of those things that our Ambassador in Spain by your letters may be advertised whereof I cannot at this time make anyspecial letter unto him for lack of leisure and so I pray advertise him from me I am pitifully overwhelmed with business Sir Nicholas Throckmorton is shortly to pass into Scotland to negotiate there for the pacification of those troubles Yours assuredly W. Cecil Richmond 26. June 1567. To the right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France SIR THis your Lackquey brought me letters from you and also from your servant Mr. whom he left at Rye for such business asby his letter he hath certified me whereof I have informed the Queens Majesty wherein she also well alloweth of your circumspection and I wish all to succeed as you advise for otherwise the peril were great Sir Nicholas Throckmorton hath been somewhat long in going into Scotland and entred by Berwick on Munday last I think the two Factions of the Hambletons and the Lenox's shall better accord then your neighbors where you now live would if Bothwell might be apprehended I think the Queen there shall be at good liberty for the Nobility My Lord of Pembrooke perceiving likelihood of troubles there in that Country would gladly have his Son Mr. Edward Herbert to return home and so I pray with my hearty commendations to him declare my Lord his Fathers minde and if my Lord of Murray should lack credit for money my Lord Steward would have his Son give him such credit as he hath for my Lord alloweth well of his friendship I am
sorry that at present I am unfurnished to help you with a Secretary my servant Windebanke is sick Mr. Sommers will not be induced to leave his place So as nevertheless if I can procure you any other meet person by the next Messenger you shall hear I thank you for the Chart of Paris and for a written Book to the Queens Majestie whereof her Majesty would gladly know the Author And so I end Yours assuredly W. Cecil Richmond 14. July 1567. To the right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France SIR AT my last writing by Master Jenny I did not make any mention of answer to your request for the provision of a Secretary Because I heard that you meant to place one Molenenx if he might be recommended by me and truly if he be meet for the place I do well allow thereof for howsoever he did in times past misuse me I have remitted it and wish him well My Lord Keeper prayeth you to use some good means to inquire by the way of Orleans of Sir Ralph Pawlet what is become of him and where he is and how he doth It is certain on the 29. of July the Prince of Scotland was Crowned King at Sterling with all the Ceremonies thereto due and with a general applause of all sorts the Queen yet remaineth where she was Yours assuredly W. Cecil Windsor 5. Aug. 1567. To the right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France SIR YOu shall perceive by the Queens Majesties Letter to you at this present how earnestly she is bent in the favor of the Queen of Scots and truely since the beginning she hath been greatly offended with the Lords and howsoever her Majesty might make her profit by bearing with the Lords in this Action yet no councel can stay her Majestie from manifesting of her misliking of them So as indeed I think thereby the French may and will easily catch them and make their present profit of them to the damage of England and in this behalf her Majesty had no small misliking of that Book which you sent me written in French whose name yet I know not but howsoever I think him of great Wit and acquaintance in the affairs of the world It is not in my power to procure any reward and therefore you must so use the matter as he neither be discouraged nor think unkindness in me When all is done I think my Lord of Murray will take the Office of Regency and will so band himself with the rest as he will be out of peril at home And as for External power to offend them I think they are so skillful of other Princes causes and needs as I think they will remain without fear We are occupied with no news greater then this of Scotland We begin to doubt of the King of Spains coming out of Spain finding it more likely for his Son to come In Ireland all things proceed smoothly to make the whole Realm obedient the Deputie hath leave to come over to confer with the Queens Majesty upon the affairs My Lord of Sussex wrot from Augusta the 24. of July that he meant to be at Vienna the last of July and also that the Emperor meant to be there at the same time I must heartily pray you to bear with my advice that in your expences you have consideration not to expend so much as by your Bills brought to me by your servant Cartwright it seemeth you do for truely I have no Warrant to allow such several Fees as be therein contained neither did I know any of the like allowed to any of your predecessors and in the paying for your intelligences if you be not well ware you shall for the most part have counterfeited ware for good money In matters of importance or when you are precisely commanded to prosecute matters of weight it is reason your extraordinary charges be born but as to the common Advisees of the Occurrents abroad they are to be commonly had for small value and many times as news for news for at this day the common Advisees from Venice Rome Spain Constantinople Vienna Geneva Naples yea and from Paris are made so currant as every Merchant hath them with their letters from their Factors If I did not know your good Nature I would not thus plainly write and yet if I should not hereof warn you your expences might increase and I know not how to procure your payment and yet hereby I mean to do my best at all times to help you to allowance for all necessary expences and so take my leave Yours assuredly W. Cecil From the Mannor of Guilford 19. Aug. 1567. To the right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France SIR I Have had no good Messenger of good time to write unto you the Queens Majesty hath been abroad from Windsor these twenty dayes and returned on Saturday very well Lignerolls is come out of Scotland with very small satisfaction as I think he could not speak with the Queen no more then Sir Nicholas Throckmorton who also is returning The Hambletons hold out the Earl of Murray is now Regent the Queens Majesty our Sovereign remaineth still offended with the Lords for the Queen the example moveth her In Ireland all things prosper and be quiet Sir Henry Sydney shall come onely to confer and shall return to keep a Parliament in Ireland My Lord of Sussex was honorably received the fifth of August lodged and defrayed by the Emperor had his first Audience on the eight the Arch-Duke Charles was looked for within five days and now we daily look for Sir Henry Cobham to come in Post at the least within these ten days All things are quiet within this Realm thanked be Almighty God I have presently a paper sent me from Antwerp in French very strange containing an Edict to compell all Judges Governors all Officers and Councellors to give Attestation of the Catholick Faith if it should be true it should be a hazard to make a plain civil war My Lady your Wife came this night hither to Windsor whom I have warned to write to you by this bearer Yours assuredly W. Cecil Septem 3. 1567. To the Right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France SIR YOu may perceive by the Queens letter how this noble man is partly of his own minde partly by perswasion stayed and surely if either the French King or the Queen should appear to make any force against them of Scotland for the Queens cause we finde it credibly that it were the next way to make an end of her and for that cause her Majesty is loth to take that way for avoiding of standers that might grow thereby I had provided a young man for you which could have served very well for writing and speaking of French and English but I durst not allow him to serve you in your
that Business 28. 29. 30 31 32 33 c. His advice to Sir George Villiers concorning Ireland wherein three Propositions are acutely scan'd 1. Touching the Recusant Magistrates of Towns there 2. About roducing the Number of the Council from Fifty to twenty 3. That a means may be found to re-enforce the Army by 500. or 1000. men without increase of Charge 67 68 69. From him to the Duke when he first became a Favourite with somo directions or his demeanor in that eminent place ranked into eight material Heads with an ample and quaint gloss upon each of them most elegantly pen'd 43 44. Again to him upon sending his Pattent for Viscount Villiers with several Avisoes and incidently a Censure of the Cecils the Father and the Son Pag. 70 71. Sends the King a Certificate from the Lord Coke 72. Sends to the King an Essay of History of His Majesties time 9. Desires the History of Brittain may be written for three Observations 7 8. Sixty four years old in Age and three years and five months in misery desires neither means place nor imployment but a total remission of the sentence of the Upper House by the example of Sir John Bennet 81. To the King touching the Plantation of Ireland as formerly of the Union as being Brother thereunto 6. To the Earl of Salisbury touching his Book of the advancement of Learning saying He is but like a Bell-ringer to awake better spirits 9 10. Several Letters to great Personages in sending unto them his Book of advancement of Learning and the presenting of it to the King 10 11. To Dr. Plafer touching the Translating of it into Latine with many excellent Reasons to that Inducement 11 12. To Sir Thomas Bodley upon sending the same Book 13. To divers Friends upon sending unto them some other of his Books 13. 14 15 16. To Mr. Savil touching the Education of Youth and the improving the Intellectual Powers Pag. 17. A Factious Book stiling the Queen Misera Faemina the addition of the Popes Bull. 21. The business of the Commendams and the carriage of the Judges therein related to the King 76 77. Three Examples of great Calamity Demosthenes Cicero and Seneca A Discourse concerning his own Books 78 79 80. A learned and ample Discourse touching a Digest to be made of the Laws of England from 82. to 86. To the Earl of Devonshire a Letter Apologetical touching a common fame as if he had been false or ungrateful to the Earl of Essex something long but exquisitely pen'd from 87. to 104. A discourse touching Helps for the Intellectual Powers by Sir Fran. Bacoa Faber quisque fortunae suae an insolent saying except it be interpreted as an hortative to correct slâ—th and not as it soundeth an high imagination for any man to fathom all Accidents Faber quisque Ingenii sui more true and more profitable Divers manner of instances in Improvements not only in the body of man but in his mind and spirit and therein not only in his Appetite and Affection but in his Powers of Wit and Reason The Will most manageable and admitteth most Medicines for Cure The first is Religion 2. Opinion and Apprehension 3. Example 4. When one affection is corrected by another And lastly a Confirmation of all by custom and habit Five Rules for exercises Pag. 97 98 99 100 Sir Francis Bacon to the King modestly Apologetical intimating his former services and his present low condition after the sentence pronounced against him by the Lords Implores the King that he that hath born a bag may not in his age be forc'd to bear aWallet nor he that desired to live to study may not be driven to study to live 101 102 103 104 C. CEcil Sir William to Sir Henry Norris Ambassadour in France about his Entertainment there being Extraordinary and what the Reason should be Sha'ne Oneal sues to be received into the Queens favour 105 106. Taxes Mounsieur de Foix for breach of promise in not delivering Lestrille The News of the death of the King of Scots and the manner of it Earl Bothwell suspected 107 108. Callice demanded to be restored to the Queen according to the Treaty of Cambray More of the business of the murder of the King of Scots words which touch't that Queen but fit to be supprest Pag. 109 111. If Callice be not delivered 50000 l. is to be forfeited 110. Matters in Flanders go hard against the Protestants 111. Those of the Order of France if life or honour be touched to be tried by Kings and others of the same Order ibid. Marriage of the Queen of Scots to Bothwell the prime of the Nobility against it 112. The French Kings Letter touching Callice ill resented by the Queen The Queen of Scots married the 15th of May. 113. Bothwell prosecuted for the murder defended by the Queen and the Hambletons the Queen under restraint Sha'ne Oneal slain in Ireland by certain Scots 114. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton sent into Scotland to Negotiate a Pacification The two Factions of the Hambletons and Lenox's 115. The Prince of Scotland Crowned at Sterling the 29th of July 116. Queen Elizabeth offended with the Scotch Lords Murray like to be made Regent Advice to Sir Henry Norris touching his Expences 117. Murray made Regent my Lord of Sussex with the Emperour all Judges Officers c. At Antwerp compelled to attest the Catholick Faith 118. Bothwell reported to be taken at Sea 119 120. Dunbar rendred to the Regent the Keeper thereof adjudged to a new Punishment Pag. 120. Expectation of Marriage between the Queen and the Archduke Charles 121. Troubles in France between the Prince of Conde and the King 121 122. The Queen of Scots noted by the Parliament there to be privy to the murder of her husband 123. The Earl of Desmond and his brother in the Tower 125. Fishermen of Diepe taken at Rye with unlawful Nets 126. The Popes Ministers preferre the State of their corrupt Church before the Weal of any Kingdom 128. The Earl of Sussex his return The Prince of Orange his Son to be sent into Spain and doubted Egmond and Horn must follow ibid. Emanuel Tremelius sent into England by the Elector Palatine The Prince of Orange refuseth to be judged by the Duke of Alva The Hambletons continue their Faction The death of Sir Ambrose Cave 129. Beaton sent from Scotland into France for 1000. Harquebusiers Money and Ordnance 131. Devilish practice against the Queen The Scots Queen removed to Bolton Castle her demands of the Queen denied 133. The Queen of Scots submits her Cause to be heard and determined in England 134 135 136 c. What preparations in France intended for Scotland Great expectation of the success of matters in the Low Countries Pag. 137. Unhappy but incredible News out of Flanders The Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Sussex and Sir Walter Mildmay Commissioners in the North about the Queen of Scots business 138. She makes Arguile and Huntley Lieutenants and the
late act of his Majesty referred to some former speech which I have heard from your Lordship bred in me a great desire and by strength of desire a boldness to make an humble Proposition to your Lordship such as in me can be no better than a wish but if your Lordship should apprehend it it may take some good and worthy effect The Act I speak of is the order given by his Majesty for the erection of a Tomb or Monument for our late Sovereign Queen Elizabeth wherein I may note much but this at this time That as her Majesty did alwayes right to his Majesties hopes so his Highness doth in all things right to her memory a very just and Princely retribution But from this occasion by a very easie ascent I passed further being put in mind by this representative of her person of the more true and more perfect representative which is of her Life and Government For as Statues and Pictures are dumb Histories so Histories are speaking Pictures wherein if my affection be not too great or my reading too small I am of this opinion That if Plutarch were alive to write Lives by Parallels it would trouble him for Vertue and Fortune both to find for her a parallel amongst Women And though she was of the Passive Sex yet her Government was so active as in my simple opinion it made more impression upon the several States of Europe than it received from thence But I confess unto your Lordship I could not stay here but went a little further into the consideration of the times which have passed since King Henry the Eighth wherein I find the strangest variety that in so little number of Successions of any hereditary Monarchy hath ever been known the Reign of a Child the offer of an Usurpation though it were but as a diary Ague the Reign of a Lady married to a Forreigner and the Reign of a Lady solitary and unmarried So that as it cometh to pass in massive bodies that they have certain trepidations and waverings before they fix and settle so it seemeth that by the Providence of God this Monarchy before it was to settle in his Majesty and his Generations in which I hope it is now established for ever hath had these preclusive changes in these barren Princes Neither could I contain my self here as it is easier for a man to multiply than to stay a wish but calling to remembrance the unworthiness of the History of England in the main continuance thereof and the partiality and obliquity of that of Scotland in the latest and largest Author that I have seen I conceived it would be honour for his Majesty and a work very memorable if this Island of great Britain as it is now joined in Monarchy for the Ages to come so it were joined in History for the times past and that one just and compleat History were compiled of both Nations And if any man think it may refresh the memory of former discord he may satisfie himself with the Verse Olim haec meminisse juvabit For the case being now altered it is matter of comfort and gratulation to remember former troubles Thus much if it may please your Lordship was in the Optative Mood and it was time that I should look a little into the Potential wherein the hope that I received was grounded upon three Observations The first of these times which flourish in Learning both of Art and Language which giveth hope not only that it may be done but that it may be well done Secondly I do see that which all the World sees in his Majesty a wonderful Judgment in Learning and a singular Affection towards Learning and Works which are of the mind and not of the hand For there cannot be the like honour sought in building of Galleries and planting of Elms along High-wayes and the outward ornaments wherein France now is busie things rather of Magnificence than of Magnanimity as there is in the uniting of States pacifying of Controversies nourishing and augmenting of Learning and Arts and the particular action appertaining unto these of which kind Cicero judged truly when he said to Caesar Quantum operibus tuis detrahet vetustas tantum addet laudibus And lastly I called to mind that your Lordship at some times hath been pleased to express unto me a great desire that something of this matter should be done answerable indeed to your other noble and worthy courses and actions joining and adding unto the great services towards his Majesty which have in small compass of time been performed by your Lordship other great deservings both of the Church and Commonwealth and particulars So as the opinion of so great and wise a man doth seem to me a good warrant both of the possibility and worth of the matter But all this while I assure my self I cannot be mistaken by your Lordship as if I sought an Office or employment for my self for no man knows better than your Lordship that if there were in me any faculty thereunto yet neither my course of life nor profession would permit it But because there be so many good Painters both for hand and colours it needeth but encouragement and instructions to give life unto it So in all humbleness I conclude my presenting unto your Lordship this wish which if it perish it is but a loss of that which is not And so craving pardon that I have taken so much time from your Lordship I remain c. Sir Francis Bacon to the King upon the sending unto him a beginning of a History of his Majesties time It may please your Majesty HEaring that you are at leisure to peruse story a desire took me to make an experiment what I could do in your Majesties times which being but a leaf or two I pray your pardon if I send it for your recreatiou considering that love must creep where it cannot go But to this I add these petitions First that if your Majesty do dislike any thing you would conceive I can amend it upon your least beck Next that if I have not spoken of your Majesty encomiastically your Majesty will be pleased only to ascribe it to the Law of an History which doth not clutter together praises upon the first mention of a name but rather disperseth them and weaveth them throughout the whole Narration And as for the proper place of commemoration which is in the period of life I pray God I may fiever live to write it Thirdly that the reason why I presumed to think of this oblation was because whatsoever my disability be yet I shall have that advantage which almost no writer of History hath had in that I shall write the times not only since I could remember but since I could observe And lastly that it is only for your Majesties reading Sir Francis Bacon to the Earl of Salisbury upon sending him one of his books of advancement of Learning It may please your Good Lordship I present