Attorneys place p. 20. Sir Francis Bacon to Sir George Cary in France upon sending him his Writing In foelicem memoriam Elizabethae p. 21. A Letter to Sir George Villiers touching the difference between the Courts of Chancery and Kings Bench. p. 22. Sir Francis Bacon to the King concerning the Praemunire in the Kings Bench against the Chancery p. 23. A Letter to the King touching matter of Revenue and Profit p. 27. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney to the King touching the proceeding with Somerset p. 28. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney to Sir George Villiers concerning the proceeding with Somerset p. 30. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney giving account of an Examination taken of Somerset at the Tower p. 32. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney to Sir George Villiers touching the proceeding with Somerset p. 34. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney to Sir George Villiers of Account and Advice to His Majesty touching Somerset's Arraignment p. 35. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney and some great Lords Commissioners concerning the perswasion used to the Lord of Somerset to a frank Consession p. 36. Sir Francis Bacon to the King upon some inclination of His Majesty signified to him for the Chancellors place p. 38. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney returned with Postils of the Kings own Hand p. 39. The Copy of a Letter conceived to be written to the late Duke of Buckingham when he first became a Favourite to King James by Sir Francis Bacon afterwards Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Alban Containing some Advices to the Duke for his better direction in that eminent place of the Favourite Drawn from him at the intreaty of the Duke himself by much importunity p. 43. Sir Francis Bacon to Sir George Villiers of Advice concerning Ireland from Gorambury to Windsor p. 67. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney General to the Master of the Horse upon the sending of his Bill for Viscount sc. p. 69. Sir Francis Bacon to Sir George Villiers upon the sending his Pattent for Uiscount Villiers to be Signed p. 70. Sir Francis Bacon to the King about a Certificate of my Lord Coke's p. 72. A Letter to the King touching the Lord Chancellors place ibid. A Letter to the King of my Lord Chancellors amendment and the difference begun between the Chancery and Kings Bench. p. 75. Sir Francis Bacon the Kings Attorney to the King giving some account touching the Commendams p. 76. Sir Francis Bacon his Advertisement touching an Holy War to the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews Lord Bishop of Winchester and Councellor of Estate to His Majesty p. 78. Sir Francis Bacon to the King about the Pardon of the Parliaments Sentence p. 81. Sir Francis Bacon to King James of a Digest to be made of the Laws of England p. 82. Sir Francis Bacon to the Right Honourabl◠〈◊〉 very good Lord the Earl of Devonshire Lord Lieutenant of 〈◊〉 p. 87. A Discourse touching Helps for the intellectual Powers by Sir Francis Bacon p. 97. Sir Francis Bacon to the King p. 101. C. Certain Copies of Letters written by Sir William Cecil Knight Secretary of Estate to Queen Elizabeth to Sir Henry Norris Knight Ambassador for the said Queen Resident in France Beginning the 10th of February 1566. and ending the 26th of September 15â—0 p. 105. The Lord Coke to King James touching trial of Duels out of England p. 193. H. The History of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary and part of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth p. 194. I. A Copy of a Letter from His Majesty to the Lords read at Board Nov. 21. 1617. touching the abatement of His Majesties Houshold Charge p. 198. A Copy of His Majesties second Letter p. 199. A Letter from the King to his Lordship by occasion of a Book It was the Organon p. 200. To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Thomas Coventry Our Attorney-General ibid. S. A Letter written by Sir Philip Sidney unto Queen Elizabeth touching her Marriage with Mounsieur p. 201. My Lord Sanquir 's Case p. 209. My Lady Shrewsburies Case p. 212. T. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton then Ambassador in France to Queen Elizabeth touching a free Passage for the Queen of Scots through England into Scotland p. 214. Books Printed for and sold by G. Bedell and T. Collins Folio's Compleat AMBASSADOR Letters and Negotiations of the Lord Burleigh and Sir Francis Walsingham in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Collected by Sir Dudly Diggs Bishop Andrews Sermons Halls Politicks Lord Bacons History of King Henry 7th * D'Avila's Civil Wars of France * Bishop Ushers Annals of the World * Titus Livius Roman History in English * Dr. Hammond on the New Testament * Paraphrase on the Psalms * Howe 's Chronicle of England * Lord Hobarts Reports with a large Table by Sir H. Finch * Bulstrodes Reports in Three Parts * Crooks Reports in Three Volumes * Lord Cooks Pleadings in English * Wingats Maxims of the Law * Styles Reports * Leonards Reports Second Part. Quarto's Mountagues Essayes Sennault's Christian Man Potters Number of the Beast 666. Grand Seignieurs Seuaglio Ross against Coparnicus touching the Earths motion French Letters touching His Majesties stedfastness in the Protestant Religion in French and English Character of CHARLES II. Articles or Treaty of Peace betwixt France and Spain Discourse for a King and Parliament Fumi Fugium A Discourse of the Air and Smoak of London by John Evelin Esq Lord Cooks Reading and Denshalls Reading on the Statute of Fines The Judges Arguments on the Liberty of the Subject Three Readings on Wills Jointures and forcible Entry Mr. Durhams Assize Sermon Dr. Thomas his Assize Sermon Playes * D'avenant's Wits * Platonick Lovers * Faithful Shepherdess by Fletcher Marriage of the Arts by Barten Hollyday The Bastard A Tragedy The Martyr A Tragedy The Just General Horratius in English A Tragedy Michaelmas Term. Combate of Love and Friendship Octavo's Gosses Tragedies Lucretius in Latine and English Faushawes La Fida Pastora Duke of Rohans Memoires and Discourses English Hyppolito Isabella Three Romances The Nuptial Lover Triumphant Lady Waterhouse his Apology for Learning Idem His Divine Tracts Idem His Discourse of Arms and Armory Botelers Sermons Compleat on several Subjects Instructions for a Library by Naudeus English Reliquiae Carolinae Dr. Taylors Offices or Liturgy Sheppard of Courts Of Corporations Lambords Archeion White of the Laws Parsons Law the last Edition Claytons Reports Fleetwoods Justice Stones Reading on the Statute of Bankrupts Wingats Body of the Law Noyes Maxims D'avenport's Abridgment of Cook on Littleton Abridgement of Acts. Twelves Compleat Justice Davis's Abridgement of Cooks Reports Tylenus Second Part against Baxter Jacksons Evangelical Temper Of Liberty and Servitude Haywards Edward 6th St. Chrysostom of Education Guuton of External Worship Supplementum Lucani per May. Thuan's Politick Maxims Mayerns Experiments Dr. Stuarts Sermons Ladies Cabinet Gees steps in four and twenties SIR FRANCIS BACON'S Letters c.
interessed in the care of future times that as well their Progeny as their people may participate of their merit Your Majesty is a great Master in Justice and Judicature and it were pity the fruit of that your vertue should not be transmitted to the ages to come Your Majesty also reigneth in learned times the more no doubt in regard of your own perfection in learning and your Patronage thereof and it hath been the mishap of works that the less learned time hath sometimes wrought upon the more Learned which now will not be so As for my self the Law was my profession to which I am a debtor some little help I have of my Arts which may give form to matter and I have now by Gods merciful chastisement and by his special providence time and leasure to put my Talent or half Talent or what it is to such exchanges as may perhaps exceed the Interest of an active life Therefore as in the beginning of my troubles I made offer to Your Majesty to take pains in the story of England and in compiling a Method and Digest of your Laws so have I performed the first which rested but upon my self in some part And I do in all humbleness renew the offer of this Letter which will require help and assistance to Your Majesty if it shall stand with your good pleasure to imploy my service therein Sir Francis Bacon to the Right Honourable his very good Lord the Earl of Devonshire Lord Lieutenant of Ireland IT may please your good Lordship I cannot be ignorant and ought to be sensible of the wrong which I sustain Common speech as if I had been false or unthankful to that noble but unfortunate Earl the Earl of Essex and for satisfying the vulgar sort I do not so much regard it though I love a good name but yet as a hand-maid and attendant of honesty and vertue For I am of his opinion that said pleasantly that it was a shame to him that was a Suitor to the Mistress to make Love to the Waiting-woman And therefore to Wooe or Court common fame otherwise then it followeth upon honest courses I for my part find not my self fit nor disposed But on the otherside there is no worldly thing that concerneth my self which I hold more dear then the good opinion of certain persons amongst which there is none I would more willingly give satisfaction unto then to your Lordship First because you loved my Lord of Essex and therefore will not be partial towards me which is part of that I desire next because it hath ever pleased you to shew your self to me an honourable friend and so no baseness in me to seek to satisfie you And lastly because I know your Lordship is excellently grounded in the true rules and habits of duties and moralities which must be they which shall decide this matter wherein my Lord my defence needeth to be but simple and brief namely that whatsoever I did concerning that action and proceeding was done in my duty and service to the Queen and her State in which I would not shew my self falshearted nor faint-hearted for any mans sake alive For every honest man that hath his heart well planted will forsake his King rather than forsake God and forsake his Friends than forsake his King and yet will forsake any earthly Commodity yea and his own life in some cases rather than forsake his Friend I hope the world hath not forgotten his degrees else the Heathen saying amicus usque ad aras shall jndge them and if any man shall say that I did officiously intrude my self into that business because I had no ordinary place the like may be said of all the business in effect that passed the hands of the learned Councel either of State or Revenue these many years wherein I was continually used for as your Lordship may remember the Queen knew her strength so well as she looked her word should be a Warrant and after the manner of the choicest Princes before her did not always tye her trust to place but did sometimes divide private favour from office And I for my part though I was not unseen in the world but I knew the condition was subject to envie and peril yet because I knew again she was constant in her favours and made an end where she began and especially because she upheld me with extraordinary access and other demonstrations confidence and Grace I resolved to endure it in expectation of better But my scope and desire is that your Lordship would be pleased to have the honourable patience to know the truth in some particularity of all that passed in this cause wherein I had any part that you may perceive how honest a heart I ever bare to my Sovereign and to my Countrey and to that Nobleman who had so well deserved of me and so well accepted of my deservings whose fortune I cannot remember without much grief But for any action of mine towards him there is nothing that passed me in my life-time that cometh to my remembrance with more clearness and less check of Conscience For it will appear to your Lordship that I was not only not opposite to my Lord of Essex but that I did occupy the utmost of my wits and adventured my Fortune with the Queen to have redintegrated his and so continued faithfully and industriously till his last fatal impatience for so I will call it after which day there was not time to work for him though the same my affection when it could not work upon the subject proper went to the next with no ill effect towards some others who I think do rather not know it than not acknowledge it And this I will assure your Lordship I will leave nothing untold that is truth for any enemy that I have to add and on the other side I must reserve much which makes for me upon many respects of Duty which I esteem above my Credit And what I have here set down to your Lordship I protest as I hope to have any part in Gods favour is true It is well known how I did many years since dedicate my travels and studies to the use and as I may term it service of my Lord of Essex which I protest before God I did not making election of him as the likeliest mean of my own advancement but out of the humour of a man that ever from the time I had any use of Reason whether it were reading upon good Books or upon the example of a good Father or by Nature I loved my Countrey more then was answerable to my Fortune and I held at that time my Lord to be the fittest instrument to do good to the State and therefore I applied my self wholly to him in a manner which I think happeneth rarely amongst men For I did not only labour carefully and industriously in that he set me about whether it were matter of advice or otherwise but neglecting the
Proceeding at York-house and likewise upon some former Declarations which in sormer times by her appointment I put in writing commanded me to pen that Book which was published for the better satisfaction of the World which I did but so as never Secretary had more particular and express directions and instructions in every point how to guide my hand in it and not only so but after that I had made a first draught thereof and propounded it to certain principal Councellors by her Majesties appointment it was perused weighed censured altered and made almost a new Writing according to their Lordships better consideration wherein their Lordships and my self both were as religious and curious of truth as desirous of satisfaction and my self indeed gave only words and form of stile in pursuing their directions And after it had passed their allowance it was again exactly perused by the Queen her self and some alterations made again by her appointment 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 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 And this my Lord to my furthest remembrance is all that passed wherein I had part which I have set down as near as I could in the very words and speeches as were used not because they are worth the repetition I mean those of mine but to the end your Lordship may lively and plainly discern between the face of Truth and a smooth Tale. And the rather also because in things that passed a good while since the very words and phrases did sometimes bring to my-remembrance the matters wherein I refer me to your honourable Judgment whether you do not see the traces of an honest man and had I been as well believed either by the Queen or my Lord as I was well heard by them both both my Lord had been fortunate and so had my self in his Fortune To conclude therefore I humbly pray your Lordship to pardon me for troubling you with this long Narration and that you will vouchsafe to hold me in your good opinion till you know I have deserved or find that I shall deserve the contrary and even so I continue At your Lordships honourable Commandments very humble F. B. A Discourse touching Helps for the Intellectual Powers by Sir Francis Bacon I Did ever hold it for an insolent and unlucky saying Faber quisque fortunas suas except it be uttered only as an hortative or spur to correct sloth For otherwise if it be believed as it soundeth and that a man entreth into an high imagination that he can compass and fathom all Accidents and ascribeth all Successes to his drifts and reaches and the contrary to his errours and sleepings it is commonly seen that the Evening fortune of that man is not so prosperous as of him that without slacking of his industry attributeth much to Felicity and Providence above him But if the Sentence were turned to this Faber quisque ingenii sui it were somewhat more true and much more profitable because it would teach men to bend themselves to reform those imperfections in themselves which now they seek but to cover and to attain those vertues and good parts which now they seek but to have only in shew and demonstration Yet notwithstanding every man attempteth to be of the first Trade of Carpenters and few bind themselves to the second whereas nevertheless the rising in Fortune seldom amendeth the mind but on the other side the removing of the stones and impediments of the mind doth often clear the passage and current to a mans Fortune But certain it is whether it be believed or no that as the most excellent of Metals Gold is of all others the most pliant and most enduring to be wrought so of all living and breathing substances the perfectest Man is the most susceptible of help improvement imprestion and alteration and not only in his Body but in his Mind and spirit and there again not only in his Appetite and Affection but in his powers of Wit and Reason For as to the Body of Man we find many and strange experiences how Nature is over-wrought by custom even in actions that seem of most difficulty and least possible As first in voluntary motion which though it be termed voluntary yet the highest degrees of it are not voluntary for it is in my power and will to run but to run faster than according to my lightness or disposition of body is not in my power nor will We see the industry and practice of Tumblers and Funambulo's what effects of great wonder it bringeth the body of man unto So for suffering of pain and dolour which is thought so contrary to the nature of man there is much example of Penances in strict Orders of Superstition what they do endure such as may well verifie the report of the Spartan Boyes which were wont to be scourged upon the Altar so bitterly as sometimes they died of it and yet were never heard to complain And to pass to those Faculties which are reckoned more involuntary as long fasting and abstinency and the contrary extream voracity the leaving and forbearing the use of drink for altogether the enduring vehement cold and the like there have not wanted neither do want divers examples of strange victories over the body in every of these Nay in respiration the proof hath been of some who by continual use of diving and working under the water have brought themselves to be able to hold their Breath an incredible time and others that have been able without suffocation to endure the stifling breath of an Oven or Furnace so heated as though it did not scald nor burn yet it was many degrees too hot for any man not made to it to breath or take in And some Impostors and Counterfeits likewise have been able to wreath and cast their bodies into strange forms and motions yea and others to bring themselves into Trances and Astonishments All which Examples do demonstrate how variously and to how high points and degrees the body of man may be as it were molded and wrought And if any man conceive that it is some seeret propriety of Nature that hath been in those persons which have attained to those points and that it is not open for every man to do the like though he had been put to it for which cause such things come but very rarely to pass It is true no doubt that some persons are apter than others but so as the more aptness causeth perfection but the less aptness doth not disable so that for Example the more apt Child
March 30. 1663. Let this Collection of Letters and other Discourses be Printed HENRY BENNET SCRINIA CECILIANA MYSTERIES OF State Government IN LETTERS Of the late Famous Lord Burghley And other Grand Ministers of STATE In the Reigns of Queen ELIZABETH and King JAMES Being a further Additional Supplement of the CABALA AS ALSO Many Remarkable Passages faithfully Revised and no where else Published With two exact Tables The one of the Letters The other of Things most Observable LONDON Printed for G. Bedel and T. Collins and are to be sold at their Shop at the Middle-Temple-gate in Fleetstreet 1663. The Stationers To the READER Courteous Reader ALthough it be a received Position That Merit is worthier than Fame yet duly considered they ought to be inseparable the one being the just Guerdon of the other Upon that account we have presumed to make Publick these ensuing Memorials or Letters being Monuments of some late Eminent Patriots and Hero's of this Nation Who whilst they were Actors in such grand Affairs as suited with their high Service under their Sovereigns were deservedly Dignified here and Renowned abroad The first of these Worthies being Sir William Cecil Lord Burghley who was an unparallel'd Minister of State And as we conceive of the longest continuance that any Prince then or ever since with such Success enjoyed a person alwayes peaceable and moderate free from Covetousness or Ambition in the course of his Service rather willing to endure the Burthen than desiring the fruition of Honour or Profit profound in Judgment assisted with great Experience and therefore worthily celebrated both here and abroad as Pater Patriae and an indefatigable Votary to the Crown And for the matters and designs in the Letters themselves we shall be silent hoping the Fame of the person will be motive sufficient for you to purchase this Jewel Concerning the Times they were wheeled about with new and great Revolutions and Divisions not only at Home but also in France Scotland the Low Countries and generally in most of the other Kingdoms and States abroad Forâs Pugnae intus Timores Conspiracies Invasions and Insurrections amongst our selves War Devastations and Massacres amongst our Neighbours for the most part shadowed with the Vaile of Religion many Princes of the Blood and persons of great Authority being sacrificed on either part turbulent Times and of great mutations proper to try the Ability and Fidelity of a State Atlas wherein with what Wisdom he acquitted himself is referred to you to determine The next is Sir Nicholas Throckmorton Ambassador in France for Queen Elizabeth in the Infancy of her Reign we have nothing here of his remains but only his Letter to Her Majesty touching a free passage for the Queen of Scots through England wherein you will find variety of Politick Reasons pressed on each part with smart Judgment In the third place is Sir Philip Sidney that choice Darling of the Muses whom we suppose you will freely grant to have been Tam Marti quam Mercurio in whom England Netherland the Heavens and the Arts the Souldiers and the World did emulate a share here we have only a dissuasive Letter to the Queen touching Her Marriage with Mounsieur of France fortified with many pressing and effectual Reasons against that match and penned with a Politick and Ingenuous Stile And in the last place we present you with some Pieces of the inimitable Viscount St. Alban some in the Reign of the late glorious Queen and others in the Halcyon dayes of the late King James never before to our best knowledge made Publick deck't with many grateful Flowers of Philosophy History and Policy the Fall of the Earl of Somerset and the immediate Advance of the Duke of Buckingham with many other passages of moment and here you may observe the memorials of other worthy persons although the Title point only at Sir William Cecil for we conceive it not imaginable That such experienced and sure Masters of Knowledge would employ their thoughts in any thing sleight or superficial However we dare not assume that boldness as to write Encomiasticks of such great Personages that Right we suppose is much better performed by more quaint Pens already Lunae Radiis non maturescit Botrus And their Names and Honour still live in fresh memory Here you may safely turn Necromancer and consult with the dead or rather with the living for such Monuments as these survive Marble Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori These are not like Augustus his two infamous Daughters or his unworthy Nephew Posthumus Agrippa Impostumes as he termed them that broke from him but pure and legitimate Issue of the nobler part which is with care exposed to publick View for the better accomodation of those that have been pleased to purchase the two former Volumes of the like Nature and Quality Temple-gate June 18. 1663. G. B. T. C. A TABLE of the LETTERS contained in this COLLECTION B. SIR Francis Bacon to the Lord Treasurer Burghley Pag. 1. Sir Francis Bacon to the Lord Treasurer Burghley p. 2. Sir Francis Bacon in recommendation of his Service to the Earl of Northumberland a few dayes before Queen Elizabeths death p. 4. Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. Robert Kempe upon the death of Queen Elizabeth p. 5. Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. David Foules in Scotland upon the entrance of His Majesties Reign ibid. Sir Francis Bacon to the King upon presenting his Discourse touching the Plantation of Ireland p. 6. Sir Francis Bacon to the Lord Chancellor touching the History of Britain p. 7. Sir Francis Bacon to the King upon the sending unto him a beginning of a History of His Majesties time p. 9. Sir Francis Bacon to the Earl of Salisbury upon sending him one of his Books of Advancement of Learning ibid. Sir Francis Bacon to the Lord Treasurer Buckhurst upon the same occasion of sending his Book of Advancement of Learning p. 10. A Letter of the like Argument to the Lord Chancellor ibid. Sir Francis Bacon of like Argument to the Earl of Northampton with Request to present the Book to His Majesty p. 11. Sir Francis Bacon his Letter of Request to Dr. Plafer to Translate the Book of Advancement of Learning into Latine ibid. Sir Francis Bacon to Sir Thomas Bodley upon sending him his Book of the Advancement of Learning p. 13. Sir Francis Bacon to the Bishop of Ely upon sending his Writing intituled Cogitata visa ibid. Sir Francis Bacon to Sir Thomas Bodley after he had imparted to him a Writing intituled Cogitata visa p. 14. Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. Matthew upon sending him part of Instauratio Magna p. 15. Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. Matthew touching Instauratio Magna p. 16. A Letter to Mr. Matthew upon sending his Book De Sapientia Veterum p. 17. Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. Savill ibid. Sir Francis Bacon to the King touching the Sollicitors place p. 18. Sir Francis Bacon to the King his Suit to succeed in the
accompt my thankfulness the less for that my disability is great to shew it but to sustain me in her Majesties grecious opinion whereupon I onely rest and not upon any expectation of desert to proceed from my self towards the contentment thereof But if it shall please God to send forth an occasion whereby my faithful affection may be tried I trust it shall save me melibour for ever making more protestation of it hereafter In the mean time howsoever it be not made known to her Majesty yet God knoweth it through the daily sollicitations wherewith I address my self unto him in unfeigned Prayer for the multiplying of her Majesties prosperities to your Lordship also whose recommendation I know right well hath been material to advance her Majesties good opinion of me I can be but a bounden servant So much may I safely promise and purpose to be seeing publick and private bonds vary not but that my service to her Majesty and your Lordship draw in a line I wish therefore to shew it with as good proof as I can say it in good faith c. Your Lordships c. Sir Francis Bacon in recommendation of his service to the Earl of Northumberland a few days before Queen Elizabeths death It may please your good Lordship AS the time of sowing of seed is known but the time of coming up and disclosing is casual or according to the season So I am a witness to my self that there hath been covered in my mind a long time a seed of affection and zeal towards your Lordship sown by the estimation of your vertues and your particular honours and favours to my brother deceased and to my self which seed still springing now bursteth forth into this profession And to be plain with your Lordship it is very true and no winds or noyses of civil matters can blow this out of my head or heart that your great capacity and love towards studies and contemplations of an higher and worthier nature then popular a Nature rare in the world and in a person of your Lordships quality almost singular is to me a great and chief motive to draw my affection and admiration towards you and therefore good my Lord if I may be of any use to your Lordship by my Head Tongue Pen Means or Friends I humbly pray you to hold me your own and herewithal not to do so much disadvantage to my good mind nor partly to your own worth as to conceive that this commendation of my humble service proceedeth out of any streights of my occasions but meerly out of an election and indeed the fulness of my heart And so wishing your Lordship all prosperity I continue Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. Robert Kempe upon the death of Queen Elizabeth Mr. Kempe This alteration is so great as you might justly conceive some coldness of my affection towards you if you should hear nothing from me I living in this place It is in vain to tell you with what a wonderful still and calme this wheel is turned round which whether it be a remnant of her felicity that is gone or a fruit of his reputation that is coming I will not determine for I cannot but divide my self between her memory and his name Yet we account it but as a fair morn before Sun rising before his Majesties presence though for my part I see not whence any weather should arise The Papists are conteined with fear enough and hope too much The French is thought to turn his practice upon procuring some disturbance in Scotland where Crowns may do wonders But this day is so welcome to the Nation and the time so short as I do not fear the effect My Lord of Southampton expecteth release by the next dispatch and is already much visited and much well wished There is continual posting by men of good quality towards the King the rather I think because this Spring time it is but a kinde of sport It is hoped that as the State here hath performed the part of good Attorneys to deliver the King quiet possession of his Kingdom so the King will re-deliver them quiet possession of their places rather filling places void than removing men placed So c. Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. David Foules in Scotland upon the entrance of His Majesties Reign SIR The occasion awaketh in me the remembrance of the constant and mutual good offices which passed between my good brother and your self whereunto as you know I was not altogether a stranger though the time and design as between brethren made me more reserved But well do I bear in mind the great opinion which my brother whose Judgment I much reverence would often express to me of the extraordinary sufficiency Dexterity and temper which he had found in you in the business and service of the King our Sovereign Lord. This latter bred in me an election as the former gave an inducement for me to address my self to you and to make this signification of my desire towards a mutual entertainment of good affection and correspondence between us hoping that some good effect may result of it towards the Kings service and that for our particulars though occasion give you the precedence of furthering my being known by good note unto the King so no long time will intercede before I on my part shall have some means given to requite your favours and to verifie your commendation And so with my loving commendations good Mr. Foules I leave you to Gods goodness From Graies Inne this 25th of March. Sir Francis Bacon to the King upon presenting his discoursetouching the Plantation of Ireland It may please your excellent Majesty I know no better way how to express my good wishes of a New-year to your Majesty then by this little book which in all humbleness I send you The stile is a stile of business rather then curious or elaborate And herein I was encouraged by my experience of your Majesties former Grace in accepting of the like poor field-fruits touching the Union And certainly I reckon this action as a second brother to the Union For I assure my self that England Scotland and Ireland well united is such a Trifoil as no Prince except your self who are the worthiest weareth in his Crown Si Potentia reducatur in actum I know well that for me to beat my brains about these things they be Majora quam pro fortuna but yet they be Minora quam pro studio voluntate For as I do yet bear an extream zeal to the memory of my old Mistriss Queen Elizabeth to whom I was rather bound for her trust than for her favour so I must acknowledge my self more bound to your Majesty both for trust and favour whereof I will never deceive the one as I can never deserve the other And so in all humbleness kissing your Majesties Sacred hands I remain Sir Francis Bacon to the Lord Chancellor touching the History of Britain It may please your good Lordship SOme
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
you with or the honour of his Majesty to whom it is dedicated or your particular inclination to my self who as I never took so much comfort in any labours of my own so I shall never acknowledge my self more obliged in any thing to the labour of another then in that which shall assist this Which your labour if I can by my place profession means friends travel word deed requite unto you I shall esteem my self so straitly bound thereunto as I shall be ever most ready both to take and seek occasions of thankfulness And so leaving it nevertheless Salva amicitia as reason is to your own good liking I remain c. Sir Francis Bacon to Sir Thomas Bodley upon sending him his Book of the advancement of Learning SIR I Think no man may more truly say with the Psalmist Multum incola fuit anima mea For I do confess since I was of any Understanding my mind hath in effect been absent from that I have done and in absence Errors are committed which I do willingly acknowledge and amongst the rest this great one that led the rest that knowing my self by inward Calling to be fitter to hold a Book than to play a part I have led my life in civil Causes for which I was not very fit by nature and more unfit by the pre-occupation of my mind Therefore calling my self home I have now for a time enjoyed my self where likewise I desire to make the World partaker My labours if so I may term that which was the comfort of my other labours I have dedicated to the King desirous if there be any good in them it may be as fat of a Sacrifice incensed to his Honour and the second Copy have I sent unto you not only in good Affection but in a kind of Congruity in regard of your great and rare desert of Learning For Books are the Shrines where the Saint is or is believed to be And you having built an Ark to save Learning from deluge deserve in propriety any new instrument or engine whereby Learning should be improved or advanced So c. Sir Francis Bacon to the Bishop of Ely upon sending his writing intituled Cogitata visa My very good Lord NOW your Lordship hath been so long in the Church and the Palace disputing between Kings and Popes me-thinks 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 men And because you are wont to make me believe you took liking to my writings I send you some of this Vacation fruits and thus much more of my mind and purpose I hasten not to publish perishing I would prevent And I am sorced 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 my self 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 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 currant in the stile 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 reflexion on our selves they are more subject to error And though for the matter it self my judgment be in some things fixed and not accessible by any mans judgment that goeth not my way yet even in those things the admonition of a friend may make me express my self diversly I would have come to your Lordship but that I am hastning to my house in the Country And so I commend your Lordship to Gods goodness Sir Francis Bacon to Sir Thomas Bodley after he had imparted to him a Writing intituled Cogitata visa SIR in respect of my going down to my house in the Countrey I shall have miss of my Papers which I pray you therefore return unto me You are I bear you witness sloathful and you help me nothing so as I am half in conceit that you affect not the Argument I or my self I know well you love and affect I can say no more to you but Non canimus surdis respondent omnia silvae If you be not of the Lodgings chaulked up whereof I speak in my Preface I am but to pass by your door But if I had you but a Fortnight at Gorambury 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 you send me some good news of Sir Thomas Smith and commend me very kindly to him So I rest Sir Francis Bacon to Mr. Matthew upon sending him part of Instauratio Magna Mr. Matthew I plainly perceive by your affectionate writing touching my work that one and the same thing affecteth us both which is the good end to which it is dedicated For as to any ability of mine it cannot merit that degree of approbation For your Caution for Church-men 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 calme 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 troth 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 magnified with the Scholemen and is also allyed as I take it to the Jesuits by Faber who was a companion of Loyola and a great Aristotelian I send you at this time the only part which hath any harshness and yet I framed to my self an opinion that whosoever allowed well of that Preface which you so much commend will not dislike or at least ought not dislike this other speech of Preparation For it is written out of the same spirit and out of the same necessitie Nay it doth more fully lay open that the question between me and the Ancients is not of the vertue 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 discretion other matters I
Bill of Attainders of Tresham and the rest in the matter of Purveyance in the Ecclesiastical Petitions in the Grievances and the like as I was ever careful and not without good success sometimes to put forward that which was good sometimes to keep back that which was not so good so Your Majesty was pleased to accept kindly of my Services and to say to me such Conflicts were the wars of Peace and such Victories the Victories of peace And therefore such servants that obtained them were by Kings that Reign in Peace no less to be esteemed than services of Commanders in the Wars In all which nevertheless I can challenge to my self no sufficiency but that I was diligent and reasonably happy to execute those directions which I received either immediately from Your Royal Mouth or from my Lord of Salisbury At which time it pleased Your Majesty to promise and assure me that upon the remove of the then Attorney I should not be forgotten but brought into ordinary place And this was after confirmed to me by many of my Lords and towards the end of the last Term the manner also in particular was spoken of that is that Mr. Sollicitor should be made Your Majesties Serjeant and I Sollicitor for so it was thought best to sort with both our gifts and faculties for the good of your Service And of this resolution both Court and Countrey took knowledge Neither was this any invention or project of mine own but moved from my Lords and I think first from my Lord Chancellor Whereupon resting Your Majesty well knoweth I never opened my mouth for the greater place though I am sure I had two Circumstances that Mr. Attorney that now is could not alledge The one nine years service of the Crown The other being Cousin-German to the Lord of Salisbury whom Your Majesty esteemeth and trusteth so much But for the less place I conceived it was meant me But after that Mr. Attorney Hubbert was placed I heard no more of my Preferment but it seemed to be at a stop to my great disgrace and discouragement For graciousSovereign if still when the waters are stirred another shall be put before me Your Majesty had need work a Miracle or else I shall be still a lame man to do Your Majesty Service And therefore my most humble Suit to Your Majesty is That this which seem'd to me was intended may speedily be performed And I hope my former Service shall be but beginnings to better when I am better strengthned For sure I am no mans heart is fuller I say not but many have greater hearts but I say not fuller of Love and Duty towards Your Majesty and Your Children as I hope time will manifest against Envy and Detraction if any be To conclude I most humbly crave pardon for my boldness and rest Sir Francis Bacon to the King his suitc to succeed in the Atturneys place It may please your Majesty YOur great and Princely favours towards me in advancing me to place and that which is to me of no less comfort your Majesties 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 my self in not asking then find your Majesties goodness wanting to me in any my reasonable and modest desires And therefore perceiving how at this time preferments of Law fly about mine ears to some above me and to some below me I did conceive your Majesty may think it rather a kinde of dulness or want of Faith than Modestie if I should not come with my Pitcher to Jacobs 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 setling of my minde being sometimes assayled with this Cogitation that by reason of my slowness to sue and apprehend sudden occasions keeping on one plain course of painful service I may in fine dierum be in danger to be neglected and forgotten And if that should be then were it much better for me now while I stand in your Majesties good opinion though unworthy and have some reputation in the world to give over the Course I am in and to make Proof to do you some honour by my Pen either by writing some faithful Narrative of your happy though not untraduced times or by recompiling your Laws which I perceive your Majesty laboureth with and hath in your head as Jupiter had Pallas or some other the like work for without some endeavour to do you honour I would not live then to spend my wits and time in this laborious place wherein now I serve if it shall be deprived of those outward ornaments and inward comforts which it was wont to have in respect of an assured succession to some place of more dignitie and rest which seemeth now to be a hope altogether casual if not wholly intercepted Wherefore not to hold your Majesty long my suit then the which I think I cannot well go lower is that I may obtain your royal promise to succeed if I live into the Atturneys place whensoever it shall be void in being but the natural and immediate step and rise which the place I now hold hath ever in sort made claim to and almost never failed of In this suit I make no friends to your Majesty but relie upon no other motive than your Grace nor any other assurance but your word whereof I had good experience when I came to the Solicitors place that they were like to the two great Lights which in their motions are never Retrograde So with my best prayer for your Majesties happiness I rest Sir Francis Bacon to Sir George Cary in France upon sending him his writing In foelicem memoriam Elizabethae 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 then 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 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 fir it with somewhat besides salutations it came to my mind that this last summer by occasion of a factious Book that endeavoured to verifie Misera Foemina the addition of the Popes 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 handsomly to pass I would be glad the President de Thou who hath written a History as you know
such directions or significations of Your pleasure as this advertisement may induce and that with speed because the time cometh on Well remembring who is the person whom Your Majesty admitted to this secret I have sent this Letter open unto him that he may take Your Majesties times to report it or shew it unto You assuring my self that nothing is more firm than his Trust tyed to Your Majesties Commandments Your Majesties most humble and most bounden Subject and Servant April 28. 1616. The Copy of a Letter conceived to be written to the late Duke of Buckingham when he first became a Favourite to King James by Sir Francis Bacon afterwards Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Alban Containing some Advices unto the Duke for his better direction in that eminent place of the Favourite Drawn from him at the intreaty of the Duke himself by much importunity Noble SIR WHAT you requested of me by word when I last waited on you you have since renewed by your Letters Your requests are commands unto me and yet the matter is of that nature that I find my self very unable to serve you therein as you desire It hath pleased the King to cast an extraordinary eye of favour upon you and you express your self very desirous to win upon the Judgment of your Master and not upon his Affections only I do very much commend your noble ambition herein for Favour so bottomed is like to be lasting whereas if it be built upon the sandy foundation of personal respects only it cannot be long-lived Yet in this you have erred in applying your self to me the most unworthy of your servants to give assistance upon so weighty a subject You know I am no Courtier nor vers'd in State-affairs my life hitherto hath rather been contemplative then active I have rather studied Books then Men I can but guess at the most at these things in which you desire to be advised Nevertheless to shew my obedience though with the hazard of my discretion I shall yield unto you Sir In the first place I shall be bold to put you in minde of the present condition you are in you are not only a Courtier but a Bed-Chamber man and so are in the eye and eare of Your Master but you are also a favourite The Favourite of the time and so are in his bosome also The world hath so voted you and doth so esteem of you for Kings and great Princes even the wisest of them have had their friends their Favourites their Privadoes in all ages for they have their affections as well as other men of these they make several uses sometimes to communicate and debate their thoughts with them and to upon their judgments thereby sometimes to ease their cares by imparting them and sometimes to interpose them between themselves and the envy or malice of their people for Kings cannot erre that must be discharged upon the shoulders of their Ministers and they who are neerest unto them must be content to bear the greatest load Truly Sir I do not believe or suspect that you are chosen to this eminency out of the last of these considerations for you serve such a Master who by his Wisdom and Goodness is as free from the malice or envy of His Subjects as I think I may say truly ever any King was who hath sate upon His Throne before him But I am confident his Majesty hath cast His eys upon you as finding you to be such as you should be or hoping to make you to be such as he would have you to be for this I may say without flattery your out-side promiseth as much as can be expected from a Gentleman But be it in the one respect or other it belongeth to you to take care of your self and to know well what the name of a Favourite signifies If you be chosen upon the former respects you have reason to take care of your actions and deportment out of your gratitude for the Kings sake but if out of the latter you ought to take the greater care for your own sake You are as a new-risen starre and the eys of all men are upon you let not your own negligence make you fall like a Meteor The contemplation then of your present condition must necessarily prepare you for action what time can be well spar'd from your attendance on Your Master will be taken up by suitors whom you cannot avoid nor decline without reproach for if you do not already you will soon find the throng of suitors attend you for no man almost who hath to do with the King will think himself safe unless you be his good Angel and guide him or at least that you be not a Malus Genius against him so that in respect of the King Your Master you must be very wary that you give him true information and if the matter concern him in his Government that you do not flatter him if you do you are as great a Traytor to him in the Court of Heaven as he that draws his sword against him and in respect of the suitors which shall attend you there is nothing will bring you more honour and more ease then to do them what right in justice you may and with as much speed as you may for believe it Sir next to the obtaining of the suit a speedy and a gentle denial when the case will not bear it is the most acceptable to suitors they will gaine by their dispatch whereas else they shall spend their time and money in attending and you will gaine in the ease you will find being rid of their importunity But if they obtain what they reasonably desired they will be doubly bound to you for your favour Bis dat qui cito dat it multiplies the courtesie to do it with good words and speedily That you may be able to do this with the best advantage my humble advice is this when Suitors come unto you set apart a certain hour in a day to give them Audience If the business be light and easie it may by word only be delivered and in a word be answered but if it be either of weight or of difficulty direct the Suitor to commit it to writing if it be not so already and then direct him to attend for his Answer at a set-time to be appointed which would constantly be observed unless some matter of great moment do interrupt it when you have received the Petitions and it will please the Petitioners well to have access unto you to deliver them into your own hand let your Secretary first read them and draw lines under the material parts thereof for the matter for the most part lies in a narrow room The Petitions being thus prepared do you constantly set apart an hour in a day to peruse those Petitions and after you have ranked them into several Files according to the subject matter make choice of two or three Friends whose judgments and fidelities you believe you may
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
be there kept The fond Lord Morley without any cause offered him is gone like a noddy to Lorrein SIR I Stayed this bearer two days longer then first I intended because the French Ambassador required Audience affirming that he had answer from the French King wherewith the Queens Majesty would be satisfied and yesterday he was here and shewed her Majesty the French Kings letters to him and thereof gave her Majesty a copy which I have and do send to you herewith an extract of a clause tending to the matter the letter being of it self long and full of good words purporting his desire to have the Scotish Queen restored and concord established betwixt the two Queens the letter is dated the 10. of June and I note that your letter is dated the 15. and by his aforesaid letter King writeth that he will within two days speak with you at Alansen Now how the Kings promise will be kept a short time will declare or how if he break it there shall be some â—avillations found wherein I doubt that they will seek illusions for that we do yet keep Hume Castle and Fast Castle which are kept with not past fourscore men and being the houses of the Lord Hume the Warden who aided our Rebels with his Forces to invade burn and spoil England and therefore is by the Laws of the Borders answerable to the subjects of England it is reason they be kept untill he will return or authorize some for him to make answer or to take order with the complainants which being done the Queen Majesty will readily restore them Thus much I have thought meet to impart Yours assuredly W. Cecil Oatlands 25. Inne 1570 To the right honorable Sir Henry Norris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador c. SIR I Am thrown into a Maze at this time that Iknow not how to walk from dangers Sir Walter Mildmay and I are sent to the Scotish Queen as by the Queens Majesties letters you may see God be our guide for neither of us like the Message I trust at my return when Mr. Walsingham shall be returned to help you home your sufficient is sufficient to impart unto you all our Occurrents and so I end Your assured friend W. Cecil Reading 26. Sept. 1570. To the right honorable Sir Henry Notris Knight the Queens Majesties Ambassador Resident in France The Lord Coke to King James touching trial of Duels out of England May it please your most excellent Majesty I Have received a commandment by Mr. Sollicitor from your Majesty consisting upon two parts First to answer whether I informed not your Majesty that if two of your Subjects should go over beyond Sea to fight in a Forreign Kingdom and there in fight the one killeth the other that in this case the same might be punished by appeal before the Constable and Marshal of England Secondly if I made any such information what authority and reason I had to maintain it To the first the truth is that I did inform your Majesty so and I well remember I said then that it was Dowties Case your Majesty then speaking of Duels To the second this is by authority of an Act of Parliament made in the first year of King Henry the Fourth the 14th Chapter in these words For many Inconveniencies and Mischiefs that have oftentimes happened by many Appeals made within the Realm before this time It is ordained and established from henceforth That all Appeals to be made of things done within the Realm shall be tryed and determined by the good Laws of this Realm made and used in the time of the Kings noble Progenitors And that all Appeals to be made of things done out of the Realm shall be tryed before the Constable and Marshal of England for the time being And that no Appeals be from henceforth made or in any wise pursued in Parliament in any time to come In the late Queens time a Case fell out upon this Statute Sir Francis Drake having put Dowtie to death beyond Sea the Brother and Heir of Dowtie sued by Petition to the Queen that she would be pleased to appoint a Constable hac vice to the end he might have an Appeal against Sir Francis Drake for the death of his Brother This Petition the Queen referred to Sir Thomas Bromley and the two chief Justices and others And it was resolved of by them which I being of Council with Dowtie set down briefly for my Learning That if two Englishmen go beyond Sea and in Combate the one killeth the other this offence may be determined before the Constable and Marshal of England and so was the Statute of 1 Henr. 4. to be intended But after upon the true circumstance of the Case the Queen would not constitute a Constable of England without whom no Proceeding could be And I take this resolution to be well warranted by the Statute and no small inconvenience should follow and a great defect should be in the Law if such bloody offences should not be punished and Your Majesty should lose a flower of Your Crown in losing this Power to punish these growing and dangerous offences I shewed to Mr. Sollicitor my Report and Memorial of Dowtie's Case and I shall ever remain Your Majesties Loyal and Faithful Subject Edw. Coke 19. Febr. 1616. The History of the Reign of King Henry the Eighth King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary and part of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth THE books which are written do in their kinds represent the faculties of the mind of man Poesie his Imaginations Philosophy his Reason and History his Memory of which three facuities least exception is commonly taken to memory because Imagination is often times idle and Reason litigious So likewise History of all writings deserveth least taxation as that which holdeth least of the Author and most of the things themselves Again the use which it holdeth to mans life if it be not the greatest yet assuredly it is the freest from ill accident or quality For those that are conversant much in Poets as they attain to greater variety so withall they become concieted and those that are brought up in Philosophy and Sciences do wax according as their nature is some of them too stiff and opinionative and some others too perplexed and confused whereas History possesseth the mind with conceits which are nearest allied unto action and imprinteth them so as it doth not alter the complexion of the minde neither to irresolution nor pertinacity But this is true that in no sort of writings there is a greater distance between the good and the bad no not between the most excellent Poet and the vainest Rimer nor between the deepest Philosopher and the most frivolous School-men then there is between good Histories and those that unworthily bear the same or the like title In which regard having purposed to write the History of England from the beginning of the Reign of King H. 8. of that name near unto the present time