the utmost of my wits and adventure my fortune with the Queen to have reintegrated his and so continued faithfully and industriously till his last fatal impatience for so I wil call it after which day there was not time to work for him though the same my affection when it could not work on the subject proper went to the next with no ill effect towards som others who I think do rather not know it then not acknowledge it And this I will assure your Lordsh I wil leave nothing untold that is truth for any enemy that I hav to add on the other side I must reserve much which makes for me in many respects of duty which I esteem above my credit and what I have here set down to your Lordsh I protest as I hope to have any part in God's 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 tearm it service of my Lord of Essex which I protest before God I did not making election of him as the likeliest mean of mine own advancement but out of the humor 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 Country more then was answerable to my fortune and I held at that time my L. to be the fitter instrument to do good to the State and therefore I applied my self to him in a manner which I think hapneth rarely among men for I did not onely labour carefully and industriously in that he set me about whether it were matter of advice or otherwise but neglecting the Queens service mine own fortune and in a sort my vocation I did nothing but advise and ruminate with my self to the best of my understanding propositions and memorials of any thing that might concern his Lordships honor fortune or service And when not long after I entred into this course my brother Mr. Anthony Bacon came from beyond the Seas being a Gentleman whose ability the world taketh knowledge of for matters of State specially forraign I did likewise knit his service to be at my L ds disposing And on the otherside I must and will ever acknowledge my Lords love trust and favour towards me last of all his liberality having infeofed me of land which I sold for eighteen hundred pounds to Master Reynold Nicholas and I think was more worth and that at such a time and with so kinde and noble circumstances as the manner was as much as the matter which though it be but an idle digression yet because I am not willing to be short in commemoration of his benefits I will presume to trouble your Lordship with the relating to you the manner of it After the Queen had denied me the Solicitors place for the which his Lordship had been a long and earnest sutor on my behalf it pleased him to come to me from Richmond to Twicknam Park and brake with me and said Mr. Bacon the Queen hath denied me the place for you and hath placed another I know you are the least part of your own matter but you fare ill because you have chosen me for your mean and dependance you have spent your time and thoughts in my matters I die these were his very words if I do not somewhat towards your fortune you shall not deny to accept a peece of Land which I will bestow upon you My answer I remember was that for my fortune it was no great matter but that his Lordships offer made me call to minde what was wont to be said when I was in France of the Duke of Guise that he was the greatest usurer in France because he had turned all his Estate into obligations meaning that he had left himself nothing but onely had bound numbers of persons to him Now my Lo. said I I would not hav you immitate his course nor turn your state thus by great gifts into obligations for you wil find many bad debtors He bad me take no care for that pressed it whereupon I said my Lor. I see I must be your homager and hold land of your gift but do you know the manner of doing homage in law Alwaies it is with a saving of his faith to the King and his other Lords and therefore my L. said I I can be no more yours then I was and it may be with the ancient savings and if I grow to be a rich man you will give me leave to give it back to some of your unrewarded followers But to return sure I am though I can arrogate nothing to my self but that I was a faithful remembrance to his Lordship that while I had most credit with him his fortune went on best And yet in two main points we alwaies directly and contradictorily differed which I will mention to your Lordship because it giveth light to all that followed The one was I ever set this down and that the onely course to be held with the Queen was by obsequiousness observance and I remember I would usually engage confidently that if he would take that course constantly and with choise of good particulars to express it the Queen would be brought in time to Assuerus question to ask What should be done to the man that the King would honour meaning that her goodness was without limit where there was a true concurrence which I knew in her nature to be true My Lord on the otherside had a setled opinion that the Queen could be brought to nothing but by a kinde of necessity and authority and I will remember when by violent courses at any time he had got his will he would ask me Now Sir whose principles be true And I would again say to him My Lord these courses be like to hot waters they will help at a pang but if you use them you shall spoil the stomack and you shall be fain still to make them stronger and stronger and yet in the end they will less their operation with much other variety wherewith I used to touch that string Another point was that I alwaies vehemently disswaded him from seeking greatness by a military dependance or by a popular dependance as that which would breed in the Queen jealousie in himself presumption and in the State perturbation and I did usually compare them to Icarus two wings which were joyned on with wax and would make him venture to soar too high and then fail him at the height And I would further say unto him My Lord stand upon two feet and fly not upon two wings The two feet are the two kinds of Justice Commutative and Distributive use your greatness for advancing of merit and vertue and relieving wrongs and burdens you shall need no other art or fineness but he would tell me that opinion came not from my minde but from my robe But it is very true that
the continuance of that opinion observe 3. points First make not this cessation or peace which is concluded with Tyrone as a service wherein you glory but as a shuffling up of a prosecution which was not very fortunate Next represent not to the Queen any necessity of estate whereby as by a coercion or wrench she should think her self inforced to send you back into Ireland but leave it to her Thirdly seek accesse importune oportune seriously sportingly every way I remember my Lord was willing to hear me but spake very few words and shaked his head sometimes as if he thought I was in the wrong but sure I am he did just contrary in every one of these three points After this during the while since my Lord was committed to my Lord Keepers I came divers times to the Queen as I had used to do about causes of her revenue and law business as is well known by reason of which accesses according to the ordinary charities of Court it was given out that I was one of them that incensed the Queen against my Lord of Essex These speeches I cannot tell nor I will not think that they grew any way from her Majesties own speeches whose memory I will ever honour if they did she is with God and miserum est ab illis laedi de quibus non possis queri But I must give this testimony to my Lord Cecil that one time in his house at the Savoy he dealt with me directly and said to me Cousin I hear it but I beleeve it not that you should do some ill office to my Lord of Essex for my part I am meerly passive and not active in this action and I follow the Q. and that heavily and I lead her not my Lord of Essex is one that in nature I could consent with as well as with any one living the Queen indeed is my Soveraign and I am her creature I may not lose her and the same cours I would wish you to take whereupon I satisfied him how far I was from any such minde And as sometimes it cometh to pass that mens inclinations are opened more in a toy then in a serious matter A little before that time being about the middle of Michaelmas terme her Majesty had a purpose to dine at my lodge at Twicknam Park at which time I had though I profess not to be a Poet prepared a Sonnet directly tending alluding to draw on her Majesties reconcilement to my Lord which I remember also I shewed to a great person and one of my Lords neerest friends who commended it this though it be as I said but a toy yet it shewed plainly in what spirit I proceeded that I was ready not only to do my L. good offices but to publish and declare my self for him and never was so ambitious of any thing in my life time as I was to have carried some token or favour from her Majesty to my Lord using all the art I had both to procure her Majesty to send and my self to be the messenger for as to the former I feared not to alledge to her that this proceeding toward my Lord was a thing towards the people very implausible and therefore wished her Majesty however she did yet to discharge her self of it and to lay it upon others and therefore that she should intermix her proceeding with some immediate graces from her self that the world might take knowledge of her Princely nature and goodness lest it should alienate the hearts of her people from her which I did stand upon knowing wel that if she once relented to send or visit those demonstrations would prove matter of substance for my Lords good And to draw that employment upon my self I advised her Majesty that whensoever God should move her to turn the light of her favours towards my Lord to make signification to him thereof that her Majesty if she did it not in person would at the least use some such mean as might not intitle themselves to any part of the thanks as persons that were thought mighty with her to work her or to bring her about but to use some such as could not be thought but a meer conduct of her own goodness but I could never prevail with her though I am perswaded she saw plainly whereat I levelled but she plainly had me in jealousie that I was not hers intirely but still had inward and deep respects towards my Lord more then stood at that time with her will and pleasure About the same time I remember an answer of mine in a matter which had some affinity with my Lords cause which though it grew from me went after about in others names For her Majesty being mightily incensed with that book which was dedicated to my Lord of Essex being a story of the first year of King Henry the fourth thinking it a seditious prelude to put into the peoples head boldness and faction said She had an opinion that there was treason in it and asked me if I could not finde any places in it that might be drawn within case of treason whereto I answered for treason surely I found none but for fellony very many And when her Majesty hastily asked me wherein I told her the Author had commited very apparent theft for he had taken most of the sentences of Cornelius Tacitus and translated them into English and put them into his text And another time when the Qu. would not be perswaded that it was his writing whose name was to it but that it had some more mischievous Author and said with great indignation that she would have him racked to produce his Author I replyed Nay Madam he is a Doctor never rack his person but rack his stile let him have pen ink and paper and help of books and be enjoyned to continue the Story where it breaketh off and I will undertake by collecting the stiles to judge whether he were the Author or no. But for the main matter sure I am when the Qu. at any time asked mine opinion of my Lords case I ever in one tenor said unto her that they were faults which the Law might terme Contempts because they were the transgression of her particular directions and instructions but then what defence might be made of them in regard of the great interest the person had in her Majesties favour in regard of the greatness of his place and the ampleness of his Commission in regard of the nature of the business being action of war which in common cases cannot be tyed to strictness of instructions in regard of the distance of the place having also a sea between that demands and commands must be subject to winde and weather in regard of a councel of State in Ireland which he had at his back to avow his actions upon and lastly in regard of a good intention that he would alledge for himself which I told her in some religions was held to be a sufficient
reason to know whether your Majesty like of the stuff before it be otherwise trimmed For my self as I will then only love my opinions when your Majesty liketh them so will I daily pray That all opinions may be guided with as much Faith as I have Zeal to your Majesties Service and that they may be followed with infinite success Finis TO THE Ld. BACON THEN FALING FROM FAVOUR DAZEL'D thus with height of place Whilst our hopes our wits beguile No man markes the narrow space 'Twixt a Prison and a smile Then since Fortune's favors fade You that in her Arms do sleep Learn to swim and not to wade For the hearts of Kings are deep But if greatness be so blinde As to trust in Towers of Air Let it be with goodness lin'd That at least the fall be fair Then though darkned you shall say When friends fail and Princes frown Vertue is the roughest way But proves at night a bed of down To my Reverend Friend Doctor A. SIR AMongst consolations it is not the least to represent to a mans self like examples of Calamity in others For examples give a quicker impression then Arguments and besides they certifie us that which the Scripture also tenders for satisfaction That no new thing is hapned unto us This they do the better by how much the examples are liker in circumstances to our own case and more especially if they fall upon persons that are greater and worthier then our selves For as it savoureth of vanity to match our selves highly in our own conceit so on the other side it is a good sound conclusion That if our betters have sustained the like events we have the less cause to be grieved In this kind of consolation I have not been wanting to my self though as a Christian I have tasted through Gods great goodness of higher remedies Having therefore through the variety of my reading set before me many examples both of ancient and latter times my thoughts I confess have chiefly staid upon three particulars as the most eminent the most resembling All three persons that had held chief places of Authority in their Countries all three ruined not by war or by any other disaster 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 faire 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 beare their fortunes and principally how they did imploy their times being banished and disabled for publick businesse to the end that I might learn by them and that they might be as well my Counsellors as my Comforters Whereupon I hâ—pned 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 that he wrote nothing but a few Womanish Epistles And yet in mine own 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 hee should be banished and his whole Estate confiscated and seised and his houses puld down and that it should be highly penal for any man to propound his Repeale Yet his Case even then had no great blot of ignominy but it was thought but a tempest of popularity which overthrew him Demost henes contrariwise though his case was foule being condemned for bribery and not simple bribery but bribery in the nature of Treason and Disloyalty yet nevertheles took so little knowledge of his Fortune as during his banishment hee did much busie himselfe and entermedle with matters of State and took upon him to counsel the State as if he had been stil 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 though his pen did not freeze yet he abstained from intruding into matters of business but spent his time in writing Books of excellent argument and use for all Ages though hee might have made better choyce sometimes of his Dedications These Examples confirmed mee much in a resolution whereunto I was otherwise inclined to spend my time wholly in writing to put forth that poor talent or half talent or what it is that God hath given me But revolving with my self my Writings as wel those which I have publisht as those I have in hand me thought they all went into the City and none into the Temple where because I found so great consolation I desire to make some poor oblation Therefore I have chosen an Argument mixt of Reliligious and Civill Considerations and likewise mixt between Contemplative and Active This work because I was ever an enemy to flattering Dedications I have dedicated to you in respect of our ancient and privat acquaintance And because amongst the men of our times I held you in especiall Reverence Your loving Friend Fra. St. Alban IN Obitum Incomparabilis FRANSCI DE VERULAMIO c. DUM moriens tantam nostris Verulamius Heros Tristitiam Musis luminaque uda facit Credimus heu nulluÌ„ fieri post fata beatum Credimus Samium desipuisse senem Scilicet hic miseris felix nequit esse Camaenis Nec se quam Musas plus amat iste suas At luctanteÌ„ animaÌ„ Clotho imperiosa cöegit Ad coelum invitos traxit in astra pedes Ergone Phoebeias jacuisse putabimus artes Atque herbas Clarii nil valuisse Dei Phoebus ideÌ„ potuit nec virtus abfuit herbis Hunc artem atque illas vim retinere putes At PhoebuÌ„ ut metuit ne Rex foret iste Camaenis Rivali medicam crede negasse manum Hinc dolor est quod cum Phoebo Verulamius Heros Major erat reliquis hac foret arte minor Vos tameÌ„ ô tantuÌ„ manes atque umbra Camaenae Et poenae inferni pallida turba Jovis Si spiratis adhuc non lucistis ocellos Sed neque post illum vos superesse putem Si vos ergo aliquis de morte reduxerit Orpheus Istaque non aciem fallit imago meam Discite nunc gemitus lamentabile carmen Exoculis vestris Lacryma multa fluat En quam multa fluit Veras agnosco Camaenas Et lacrymas Helicon vix satis unus erit Deucalionaeis qui non mersus inundis Pernassus mirum est hisce latebit aquis Scilicet hic periit per queÌ„ vos vivitis qui Multâ Pierias nutriit artes Deas Vidit ut hic artes nulla radice retentas Languere ut summo semina sparsa solo Crescere Pegaseas docuit velut Hasta Quirini Crevit exiguo tempore Laurus erat Ergo Heliconiadas docuit cuÌ„ crescere divas Diminuent hujus secula nulla decus Nec ferre ulterius generosi pectoris aestus ContemptuÌ„ potuit Diva Minerva tuum Restituit calamus solituÌ„ divinus honorem Dispulit nubes alter Apollo tuas Dispulit tenebras sed quas obsusca vetustas Temporis prisci lippasenecta tulit Atque alias methodos sacrum instauravit acumen Gnossiaque eripuit sed sua fili dedit Scilicet antiquo sapientum vulgus in aevo Tam claros oculos non habuisse liquet Hi velut Eoo surgens de littore Phoebus Hic velut in mediâ fulget Apollo die Hi veluti Typhis tentarunt aequora primum At vix deseruit littora prima ratis Pleiadas hic Hyadasque atque omnia sydera noscens Syrtes atque tuos improba Sylla canes Scit quod vitandum est quo dirigat aequore navem Certius cursum nautica monstrat acus Infantes illi Musas hic gignit adultas Mortales illi gignit at iste Deas Palman ideo reliquis Magna instauratio libris Abstulet cedunt squalida turba sophi Et vestita novo Pallas modo prodit amictu Anguis depositis ut nitet exuviis Sic Phoenix cineres spectat modo nata paternos Aesonis rediit prima juventa senis Instaurata suos sic Verulamia muros Jactat antiquum sperat ab inde decus Sed quaÌ„ta effulgeÌ„t plus quaÌ„ mortalis ocelli Lumina dum regni mystica sacra canat Dum sic naturae leges arcanaque Regum Tanquam à secretis esset utrisque canâ—t DuÌ„ canat HenricuÌ„ qui Rex idemque sacerdos Connubio stabili junxitutramque Rosam Arqui haec sunt nostris longe majora Camaenis Non haec infaelix Granta sed Aula sciat Sed cum Granta labris admoverit ubeâ—a tantis Jus habet in laudes maxime Alumne tuas Jus habet ut moestos Lacrymis extingueret ignes Posset ut è medio diripuisse rogo At nostrae tibi nulla ferant encomia Musae Ipse canis laudes canis inde tuas Nos tamen laudes quâ possumus arte canemus Si tamen ars desit laus erit iste dolor FINIS Page 412. of Wotton's Letters
THE FELICITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH And Her Times With other Things By the RIGHT HONORABLE FRANCIS L d BACON Viscount S t Alban LONDON Printed by T. Newcomb for George Latham at the Bishops Head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1651. TO the READER Reader HERE is presented to thy view certain Tracts containing divers Arcana Imperii by two in their times eminent Councellors of Estate The one is the Felicity of Queen ELIZABETH and her Times by that Noble and learned Gentleman the Lord BACON Viscount St. Alban one of the standing Honors of the Law in general and of Grayes Inn in particular The other is the Advices to Queen ELIZABETH by that well weigh'd States-man the Lord BURLIEGH then Lord Treasurer a man beyond expression excellent whom it much availed Queen Elizabeth to have for Minister as appears by that Favour shewed to him the Queen alwaies making him to sit in the presence by reason of the Gout in his Feet and telling him My Lord We make much of you not for your bad Legs but for your good Head And as for the Lord Bacon certain of whose Epistles are annexed to this book if it were expected we must heap up abundant Testimonies We will select some few out of many omitting the for-rain of Mersennus and Mr. Pierre D'Amboise and others who have Translated and Commented upon him and confine our selves to those worthy men that are of our own Nation and begin with the Testimony of Sir Hennry Wotton The Lord Bacon hath done a great and everliving Benefit to the Children of Nature and to Nature her self in her uttermost Latitude and Extent who never before had so Noble and True an Interpreter and as I am ready to stile his Lordship never so inward a Secretary of her Majesties Cabinet and he did determine to have his Lordships work of Novum Organon read peice by piece at certain hours in his Domestick Colledge Eaton as an Ancient Author Mr. George Sands in his Coment on Ovid professes himself to be much assisted by our Author whom he calls The Crown of the latter Age the Lord Viscount St. ALBAN Mr. Howel in his Vocal Forest of him thus The Flexanimous and Golden Tongued Orator and Chancellor of the Kings Conscience The Prefacer to Lessius Hygiasticon The Lo. Bacon the great Lo. Chancellor of Learning aswell as Law Dr. Gilbert Watts The L. Bacon a learned man happily the learnedst that ever lived since the decay of the Grecian and Roman Empires when learning was at an high pitch Aud for a further testimony we refer you to those Copious and Elegant Verses made by M. Geo. Herbert somtime Orator of the Vniversity of Cambridg upon this Author and lately Printed in a Book called Herberts Remains THE FELICITY Of Queen ELIZABETH Writ By Sir Francis Bacon QUEEN Elizabeth in regard both of Nature and Fortune the Pattern of Princes and wonder of her Sex of whose vertues and glories thereof Monks that live in the shade of Cloysters tart in stile loose in judgment and not forgetful of themselves would be no sufficient avowchers this testimony belongs to men of note such as have stood at the helm of State and been acquainted with the depth and tydes of Civil affairs In all Antiquity the rule of a woman hath been very rare in that rule the Felicity rarer and the continuance of that Felicity rarest of all yet this Lady raigned full four and fourty years and overlived not her Felicity of which happiness I purpose to speak a little without running into praises for praises are given by men but happiness is the gift of God I say the first stept of her Felicity in that she was raised to the top of all from a private fortune for customarily so run the opinions of men to esteem that most happy which happeneth most beyond hope and expectation But this is not all I mean my aim reacheth further that Princes brought up in Regal houses to hope of succession not uncertain are often depraved with soft and licentious breeding and become immoderate in their raign From hence we finde the best and most excellent Kings were taught in Schooles of either fortune such as with us was Henry the seventh and Lewis the twelfth among the French both of which about the same time as the memory yet remaineth obtained a Kingdom not from privacy only but onely from adversity whereof the latter flourished in justice and the former in wisdom Like to theirs was the condition of this Prince whose hopes and beginnings Fortune brauled but was thence forward constant to her till her ending For first By birth she had her turn by succession then she was disinherited and at last laid aside and forgotten in the raign of her brother her fortune was propitious and fair which in her Sisters grew dark and dangerous But yet she was not suddenly taken from prison to the Crown least that fret of remembrance might perhaps make her swell but being first restored to liberty she afterwards obtained her claim without stir or competition of whom God intending to make so rare a Prince it seemeth he prepared her mind and made her ascend by the steps of her discipline to the Crown of her own inheritance neither ought the calamity of her mother blast the dignity of her birth especially it being certain that Henry the eight was rather led with love towards another then indignation against her The nature of which King light in his loves apt to suspition and in them hasty to blood cannot avoid the note of posterity As for the accusations made against her person in themselves improbable and leaning upon slight conjectures they were not onely detested by the silent murmurers of those times but by Queen Anne her self in that memorable and heroical speech which she used at the instant of her death whereas preparing her self to leave this world and having gotten as she thought a loving and trusty messenger she bids him deliver this message to the King that well she saw his Majesty would not give over his old wont in heaping new honours upon her First from a Gentlewoman he had made her a Marquess from thence his consort and a Queen and now finding no higher pitch of honour upon the earth he was pleased to advance her in her innocency to the Crown of Martyrdom which though that messenger durst not relate to the King burning in new desires yet Fame preserver of truth hath kept it safe for after ages Moreover I put no small part of her Felicity in the measure and compass of her raign not so much for being long as beeause it took up that space of age which is most fit to hold the raynes of publick government for at five and twenty yeers when tuition beginneth to cease she began and raigned till threescore and whereby she neither felt the wrongs of a pupil under anothers arbitration nor yet the inconveniences of an old decrepit age private men feel miseries enough in old
I declared my self fully according to her minde at that time which could not do my Lord any manner of prejudice I should keep my credit with her ever after whereby to do my Lord service Hereupon the next news that I heard was that we were all sent for again and that her Majesties pleasure was we all should have parts in the business and the Lords falling into distribution of our parts it was allotted to me that I should set forth some undutiful carriages of my Lord in giving occasion and countenance to a seditious Pamphlet as it was termed which was dedicated unto him which was the book before mentioned of K. Henry the fourth Whereupon I replyed to that allotment and said to their Lordships that it was an old matter and had no manner of coherence with the rest of the charge being matters of Ireland and therfore that I having been wronged by bruits before this would expose me to them more and it would be said I gave in evidence mine own tales It was answered again with good shew that because it was considered how I stood tyed to my Lord of Essex therefore that part was thought fittest for me which did him least hurt for that whereas all the rest was matter of charge and accusation this onely was but matter of caveat and admonition Wherewith though I was in mine one minde little satisfied because I knew well a man were better to be charged with some faults then admonished of some others yet the conclusion binding upon the Queens pleasure directly volens nolens I could not avoid that part that was laid upon me which part if in the delivery I did handle not tenderly though no man before me did in so clear tearms free my Lord from all disloyalty as I did that your Lordship knoweth must be ascribed to the superiour duty I did ow to the Queens fame and honour in a publick proceeding and partly to the intention I had to uphold my self in credit and strength with the Queen the better to be able to do my Lord good offices afterwards for assoon as this day was past I lost no time but the very next day following as I remember I attended her Majesty fully resolved to try and put in ure my utmost endeavor so far as I in my weaknes could give furtherance to bring my Lord again speedily into Court and favour and knowing as I supposed at least how the Queen was to be used I thought that to make her conceive that the matter went well then was the way to make her leave off there and I remember well I said to her you have now Madam obtained victory over two things which the greatest Princes in the world cannot at their wills subdue the one is over Fame the other is over a great minde for surely the world is now I hope reasonably well satisfied for my Lord he did shew that humiliation towards your Majesty as I am perswaded he was never in his life time more fit for your favor then he is now therefore if your Majesty will not marre it by lingring but give over at the best and now you have made so good a full point receive him again with tenderness I shall then think that all that is past is for the best Whereat I remember she took exceeding great contentment and did often iterate and put me in minde that she had ever said that her proceedings should be ad reparationem and not adruinam as who saith that now was the time I should well perceive that that saying of hers should prove true And further she willed me to set down in writing all that passed that day I obeyed her commandment and within some few daies brought her again the narration which I did read unto her at 2 several afternoons and when I came to that part that set forth my Lords own answer which was my principal care I do well bear in mind that she was extrordinarily moved with it in kindness and relenting towards my Lord and told me afterwards speaking how well I had expressed my Lords part that she perceived old love would not easily be forgotten wherto I answered suddenly that I hoped she meant that by her self But in conclusion I did advise her that now she had taken a representation of the matter to her self that she would let it go no further for Madam said I the fire blazeth well already what should you tumble it and besides it may please you keep a convenienc with your self in this case for since your express direction was there should be no register nor clarke to take this sentence nor no record or memorial made up of the proceeding why should you now do that popularly which you would not admit to be done judicially Whereupon she did agree that that writing should be suppressed and I think there were not persons that ever saw it But from this time forth during the whole latter end of that summer while the Court was at Nonsuch and Otlands I made it my task and scope to take and give occasions for my Lords reintegration in his fortune which my intention I did also signifie to my Lord assoon as ever he was at his liberty whereby I might without peril of the Queens indignation write to him and having received from his Lordship a courteous and loving acceptation of my good will and indeavours I did apply it in all my accesses to the Queen which were very many at that time and purposely sought and wrought upon other variable pretences but onely and chiefly for that purpose And on the otherside I did not forbear to give my Lord from time to time faithful advertisement what I found and what I wished And I drew for him by his appointment some letters to her Majesty which though I knew well his Lordships gift and stile was far better then mine own yet because he required it alledging that by his long restraint he was grown almost a stranger to the Queens present conceipts I was ready to perform it and sure I am that for the space of six weeks or two months it prospered so well as I expected continually his restoring to his attendance And I was never better welcom to the Queen nor more made of then when I spake fullest and boldest for him in which kinde the particulars were exceeding many whereof for an example I will remember to your Lordship one or two as at one time I call to minde her Majesty was speaking of a fellow that undertook to cure or at least to ease my brother of his gout and asked me how it went forwards and I told her Majesty that at the first he received good by it but after in the course of his cure he found himself at a stay or rather worse the Queen said again I will tell you Bacon the error of it the manner of these Physitians and especially these Empericks is to continue one kinde of medicine which at the first
the carriage of my self in that service I have many honorable witnesses that can tel that the next day after my Lords arraignment by my diligence and information touching the quality and nature of the offendors six of nine were stayed which otherwise had been attainted I bringing their Lordships letter for their stay after the Jury was sworn to pass upon them so neer it went and how careful I was and made it my part that whosoever was in trouble about that matter assoon as ever his case was sufficiently known and defined of might not continue in restraint but be set at liberty and many other parts which I am well assured of stood with the duty of an honest man But indeed I will not deny for the case of Sir Thomas Smith of London the Q. demanding my opinion of it I told her I thought it was as hard as many of the rest but what was the reason because at that time I had seen only his accusation and had never been present at any examination of his and the matter so standing I had been very untrue to my service if I had not delivered that opinion But afterwards upon a re-examination of som that charged him who weakned their own testimony especially hearing himself viva voce I went instantly to the Q. out of the soundness of my conscience not regarding what opinion I had formerly delivered told her Majesty I was satisfied and resolved in my conscience that for the reputation of the action the plot was to countenance the action further by him in respect of his place then they had indeed any interest or intelligence with him It is very true also about that time her Majesty taking a liking of my pen upon that which I had done before concerning the proceeding at York house and likewise upon some other declarations which in former 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 perticular and express directions and instructions in every point how to guide my hand in it and not onely 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 and made almost anew 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 onely words and form of stile in pursuing their direction 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 interming him ever my Lo. of Essex my Lord of Essex almost in 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 the first copies suppressed by her peremptory commandment And this my good Lord to my furthest remembrance is all that passed wherein I had part which I have set down as neer as I could in the very words and speeches that were used not because they are worthy the repetition I mean those of mine own 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 report me to your honorable judgement whether you do not see the traces of an honest man and had I been as well beleeved either by the Queen or by 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 finde that I shall deserve the contrary and even so I continue At your Lordships Honorable commandments very humbly THE Ld. BACON HIS LETTER TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND most Excellent Prince CHARLS Prince of Wales Duke of Corn-Wal Earl of Chester c. It may please your Highness IN part of my acknowledgement to your highness I have endevoured to do honor to the memory of the last King of England that was Ancestor to the King your Father and your self and was that King to whom both unions may in a sort refer that of the Roses being in him consummate and that of the Kingdoms by him begun besides his times deserve it for he was a wise man and an Excellent King and yet the times very rough and full of mutations and rare accidents and it is with times as it is with wayes some are more up hill and down hill and some are more flat and plain and the one is better for the liver and the other for the writer I have not flattered him but took him to life as well as I could sitting so far of and having no better light it is true your Highness hath a living patern incomparable of the King your Father but is not amiss for you also to see it one of these Ancient Pieces God preserve your Highness Your Highness most humble and devoted Servant Francis S t Alban FINIS THE Lord Treasurer BUR LEIGH HIS Advice to Queen ELIZABETH in matters of Religion and State Most Gratious Soveraign CARE one of the true bred Children of my unfained affection awaked with the late wicked and barbarous attempts would needs exercise my pen to your sacred Majesty not onely encouraging me that it would take the whole fault of boldness upon it self but also that even the world should not doubt to appear in your Highness presence in their kindly rudeness For that if your Majesty with your voice did but read them your very reading would grace them with eloquence Therefore laying aside all self guilty conceits of ignorance knowing that the Sign is not angry with the well meaning Astronomer though he hap to miss his course I will with the same sincerity display my humble conceits wherewith my life shall be amongst the foremost to defend the blessings which God in you hath bestowed upon us So far then as can be perceived by my humane judgment Dread Soveraign you may judge that the happiness of your present Estate can no ways be encumbred with one of these two means viz Either by your 1 Factious Subjects or 2 Forraign Enemies Your strong and Factious Subjects are the Papists strong I account them both in number and nature