in those Times in which himself advanced little either in Profit or Honour For he was hindred from growing at Court by a great Man who knew the slenderness of his Purse and also fear'd that if he grew he might prove Taller than himself d See his Lordship's Letter to Sir R. C. in Câ—ll of Letters in 1st part of Resusc. p. 87. and that in p. 110 111. The little Art used against him was the representing of him as a Speculator though it is plain no Man dealt better and with kinder ways in public Business than himself And it generally ripened under his Hands For the Papers written by others touching his Lordship and his Labours they are these The First is a Letter from the University of Oxford to his Lordship upon his sending to them his Book of Advancement of Learning in its second and much enlarged Edition It should seem by a Passage towards the end of this Letter that the Letter which his Lordship sent to them together with his Book was written like the first to the Vniversity of Cambridg in one of the spare leaves of it and contain'd some wholesome Admonitions in order to the pursuit of its Contents The Second is a Letter from Dr. Maynwaring to Dr. Rawley concering his Lordship's Confession of Faith This is that Dr. Maynwaring whose Sermon upon Eccles. 8. 2. c. gave such high Offence about One and Fifty Years ago For some Doctrines which he noteth in his Lordship's Confession the Reader ought to call to mind the times in which his Lordship wrote them and the distaste of that Court against the proceedings of Barnevelt whose State-faction blemish'd his Creed The rest are Letters of Dr. Rawley Mounsieur Deodate Isaac Gruter touching the Edition of his Lordship's Works An Account of his Lordship's Life and Writings by Sir William Dugdale together with some new Insertions Characters of his Lordship and his Philosophy by Dr. Heylin Dr. Sprat and Mr. Abraham Cowley All these Papers I have put under the Title of Baconiana in imitation of those who of late have publish'd some Remains of Learned Men and called them Thuana Scaligerana Perroniana These then are the particular Writings in which I have labour'd and in setting forth of which I have undertaken the lower Office of a Prefacer And I think it more desireable to write a mean Preface to a good Book than to be Author of a mean Book though graced with a Preface from some excellent Pen As it is more Honour with a plain White Staff to go before the King than being an unpolish'd Magistrate of a mean and antiquated Corporation to be usher'd forth with a Mace of Silver T. T. Novemb. 30. 1678. The Lord Bacon's REMAINS Civil and Moral The Charge ‖ Given May 24. 1616. by way of Evidence by Sir Francis Bacon his Majesties Attourney General before the Lord High Steward * The Lord Chancelor Egerton Lord Ellesmere and the Earl of Bridgwater and the Peers against Frances Countess of Somerset concerning the poysoning of Sir Thomas Overbury IT may please your Grace my Lord High Steward of England and you my Lords the Peers I am very glad to hear this unfortunate Lady doth take this Course to confess fully and freely and thereby to give Glory to God and to Justice It is as I may term it the Nobleness of an Offender to confess and therefore those meaner Persons upon whom Justice passed before confessed not she doth I know your Lordships cannot behold her without compassion Many things may move you her Youth her Person her Sex her noble Family yea her Provocations if I should enter into the Cause it self and Furies about her but chiefly her Penitency and Confession But Justice is the work of this Day the Mercy-Seat was in the inner part of the Temple the Throne is publick But since this Lady hath by her Confession prevented my Evidence and your Verdict and that this Day 's labour is eased there resteth in the Legal Proceeding but for me to pray that her Confession may be recorded and Judgment thereupon But because your Lordships the Peers are met and that this day and to morrow are the Days that crown all the former Justice and that in these great Cases it hath been ever the manner to respect Honour and Satisfaction as well as the ordinary Parts and Forms of Justice the Occasion it self admonisheth me to give your Lordships and the Hearers this Contentment as to make Declaration of the Proceedings of this excellent Work of the King's Justice from the beginning to the end It may please your Grace my Lord High Steward of England this is now the second time within the space of thirteen years Reign of our Happy Sovereign that this high Tribunal Seat ordained for the Trial of Peers hath been opened and erected and that with a rare event supplied and exercised by one and the same Person which is a great Honour unto you my Lord Steward In all this mean time the King hath reigned in his white Robe not sprinkled with any one Drop of the Blood of any of his Nobles of this Kingdom Nay such have been the Depths of his Mercy as even those Noble-Mens Bloods against whom the Proceeding was at Winchester Cobham and Grey were attainted and corrupted but not spilt or taken away but that they remained rather Spectacles of Iustice in their continual Imprisonment than Monuments of Iustice in the Memory of their Suffering It is true that the Objects of his Justice then and now were very differing for then it was the Revenge of an Offence against his own Person and Crown and upon Persons that were Male-Contents and Contraries to the State and Government but now it is the Revenge of the Blood and Death of a particular Subject and the Cry of a Prisoner it is upon Persons that were highly in his Favour whereby his Majesty to his great Honour hath shewed to the World as if it were written in a Sun-beam that he is truly the Lieutenant of him with whom there is no respect of Persons that his Affections Royal are above his Affections private that his Favours and Nearness about him are not like Popish Sanctuaries to privilege Malefactors and that his being the best Master in the World doth not let him from being the best King in the World His People on the other side may say to themselves I will lie down in Peace for God the King and the Law protect me against great and small It may be a Discipline also to great Men especially such as are swoln in their Fortunes from small beginnings that the King is as well able to level Mountains as to fill Vallies if such be their desert But to come to the present Case The great Frame of Justice my Lords in this present Action hath a Vault and hath a Stage A Vault wherein these Works of Darkness were contrived and a Stage with Steps by which it was brought to Light
the means of some discreet Divines and the potent Charm of Justice together was cast out neither did this poisonous Adder stop his Ear to these Charms but relented and yeilded to his Trial. Then followed the other Proceedings of Justice against the other Offenders Turnor Helwisse Franklin But all these being but the Organs and Instruments of this Fact the Actors and not the Authors Justice could not have been crowned without this last Act against these great Persons else Weston's Censure or Prediction might have been verified when he said He hoped the small Flies should not be caught and the greater escape Wherein the King being in great straits between the defacing of his Houour and of his Creature hath according as he useth to do chosen the better part reserving always Mercy to himself The time also of Justice hath had its true Motions The time until this Ladies deliverance was due unto Honour Christianity and Humanity in respect of her great Belly The time since was due to another kind of Deliverance too which was that some Causes of Estate which were in the Womb might likewise be brought forth not for matter of Justice but for Reason of State Likewise this last Procrastination of Days had the like weighty Grounds and Causes But my Lords where I speak of a Stage I doubt I hold you upon the Stage too long But before I pray Judgment I pray your Lordships to hear the Kings Papers read that you may see how well the King was inspired and how nobly he carried it that Innocency might not have so much as Aspersion Frances Countess of Somerset hath been indicted and arraigned as accessary before the Fact for the Murder and Impoisonment of Sir Tho. Overbury and hath pleaded guilty and confesseth the Indictment I pray Judgment against the Prisoner The Charge of Sir Francis Bacon his Majesties Attourney General by way of Evidence before the Lord High Steward and the Peers against Robert Earle of Somerset concerning the poisoning of Overbury IT may please your Grace my Lord High Steward of England and you my Lords the Peers You have here before you Robert Earl of Somerset to be tried for his Life concerning the procuring and consenting to the Impoisonment of Sir Thomas Overbury then the King's Prisoner in the Tower of London as an Accessary before the Fact I know your Lordships cannot behold this Nobleman but you must remember his great favour with the King and the great Place that he hath had and born and must be sensible that he is yet of your Number and Body a Peer as you are so as you cannot cut him off from your Body but with grief and therefore that you will expect from us that give in the King's Evidence sound and sufficient matter of Proof to satisfy your Honours and Consciences And for the manner of the Evidence also the King our Master who among his other Vertues excelleth in that Vertue of the Imperial Throne which is Justice hath given us Commandment that we should not expatiate nor make Invectives but materially pursue the Evidence as it conduceth to the Point in question a matter that tho we are glad of so good a Warrant yet we should have done of our selves for far be it from us by any strains of Wit or Art to seek to play Prizes or to blazoâ— our Names in Blood or to carry the Day otherwise than upon just Grounds We shall carry the Lanthorn of Justice which is the Evidence before your Eyes upright and be able to save it from being put out with any Winds of Evasions or vain Defences that is our part not doubting at all but that this Evidence in it self will carry that force as it shall little need Vantages or Aggravations My Lords The Course which I shall hold in delivering that which I shall say for I love Order is this First I will speak somewhat of the nature and greatness of the Offence which is now to be tried and that the King however he might use this Gentleman heretofore as the Signet upon his Finger to use the Scripture Phrase yet in this Case could not but put him off and deliver him into the hands of Justice Secondly I will use some few words touching the Nature of the Proofs which in such a Case are competent Thirdly I will state the Proofs And lastly I will produce the Proofs either out of the Examinations and Matters in Writing or Witnesses viva voce For the Offence it self it is of Crimes next unto High-Treason the greatest it is the foulest of Fellonies And take this Offence with the Circumstances it hath three Degrees or Stages that it is Murder that it is Murder by Impoisonment that it is Murder committed upon the Kings Prisoner in the Tower I might say that it is Murder under the Colour of Friendship but that is a Circumstance moral I leave that to the Evidence it self For Murder my Lords the first Record of Justice which was in the World was a Judgment upon Murder in the person of Adam's first born Cain And though it were not punished by Death but with Banishment and mark of Ignominy in respect of the primogeniture or of the population of the World or other points of God's secret Will yet it was adjudged and was as I said the first Record of Justice So it appeareth likewise in Scripture that the murder of Abner by Ioab though it were by David respited in respect of great Services past or Reason of State yet it was not forgotten But of this I will say no more It was ever admitted and so ranked in God's own Tables that Murder is of offences between Man and Man next to Treason and Disobedience of Authority which some Divines have referred to the First Table because of the Lieutenancy of God in Princes and Fathers the greatest For Impoisonment I am sorry it should be heard of in this Kingdom It is not nostri generis nec sanguinis It is an Italian Crime fit for the Court of Rome where that Person that intoxicateth the Kings of the Earth with his Cup of Poison in Heretical Doctrine is many times really and materially intoxicated and impoisoned himself But it hath three Circumstances which make it grievous beyond other Murders Whereof the first is That it takes a Man in full Peace in God's and the King's Peace He thinks no harm but is comforting Nature with Refection and Food So that as the Scripture saith His Table is made a Snare The second is That it is easily committed and easily concealed and on the other side hardly prevented and hardly discovered For Murder by violence Princes have Guards and private Men have Houses Attendants and Arms Neither can such Murders be committed but cum sonitu and with some overt and apparent Act that may discover and trace the Offender But for Poison the said Cup it self of Princes will scarce serve in regard of many Poisons that neither discolour nor distast and so passeth
Affairs better but yet he was fit to have kept them from growing worse The King said On my So'l Man in the first thou speakest like a True Man and in the latter like a Kinsman 10. King Iames as he was a Prince of great Judgment so he was a Prince of a marvellous pleasant humour and there now come into my mind two instances of it As he was going through Lusen by Greenwich he ask'd what Town it was they said Lusen He ask'd a good while after What Town is this we are now in They said still 't was Lusen On my So'l said the King I will be King of Lusen 11. In some other of his Progresses he ask'd how far 't was to a Town whose name I have forgotten they said Six miles Half an hour after he ask'd again one said Six miles and an half The King alighted out of his Coach and crept under the Shoulder of his Led Horse And when some ask'd his Majesty what he meant I must stalk said he for yonder Town is shie and flies me 12. Count Gondomar sent a Complement to my Lord St. Albans wishing him a good Easter My Lord thank'd the Messenger and said He could not at present requite the Count better than in returning him the like That he wished his Lordship a good Passover 13. My Lord Chancellor Elsmere when he had read a Petition which he dislik'd would say What! you would have my hand to this now And the Party answering yes He would say further Well so you shall Nay you shall have both my hands to 't And so would with both his hands tear it in pieces 14. I knew a * See this also in his Essay of Dispatch p. 143. Wise Man that had it for a by-word when he saw Men hasten to a Conclusion Stay a little that we may make an end the sooner 15. Sir Francis Bacon was wont to say of an angry Man who suppressed his Passion That he thought worse than he spake and of an angry Man that would chide That he spoke worse than he thought 16. He was wont also to say That Power in an ill Man was like the Power of a black Witch He could do hurt but no good with it And he would add That the Magicians could turn Water into Blood but could not turn the Blood again to Water 17. When Mr. Attourney Cook in the Exchequer gave high words to Sr. Francis Bacon and stood much upon his higher Place Sir Francis said to him Mr. Attourney The less you speak of your own greatness the more I shall think of it and the more the less 18. Sir Francis Bacon coming into the Earl of Arundel's Garden where there were a great number of Ancient Statues of naked Men and Women made a stand and as astonish'd cryed out The Resurrection 19. Sir Francis Bacon who was always for moderate Counsels when one was speaking of such a Reformation of the Church of England as would in effect make it no Church said thus to him Sir The Subject we talk of is the Eye of England And if there be a speck or two in the Eye we endeavour to take them off but he were a strange Oculist who would pull out the Eye 20. The same Sir Francis Bacon was wont to say That those who left useful Studies for useless Scholastic Speculations were like the Olympic Gamsters who abstain'd from necessary Labours that they might be fit for such as were not so 21. He likewise often used this Comparison * See the Substance of this in Nov. Org. Ed. Lugd. Bat. p. 105. inter Cogitata visa p. 53. The Empirical Philosophers are like to Pismires they only lay up and use their Store The Rationalists are like to Spiders they spin all out of their own Bowels But give me a Philosopher who like the Bee hath a middle faculty gathering from abroad but digesting that which is gathered by his own virtue 22. The Lord St. Alban who was not overhasty to raise Theories but proceeded slowly by Experiments was wont to say to some Philosophers who would not go his Pace Gentlemen Nature is a Labyrinth in which the very hast you move with will make you lose your way 23. The same Lord when he spoke of the Dutchmen used to say That we could not abandon them for our safety nor keep them for our profit And sometimes he would express the same sense on this manner We hold the Belgic Lion by the Ears 24. The same Lord when a Gentleman seem'd not much to approve of his Liberality to his Retinue said to him Sir I am all of a Piece If the Head be lifted up the inferiour parts of the Body must too 25. The Lord Bacon was wont to commend the Advice of the plain old Man at Buxton that sold Beesoms A proud lazy young Fellow came to him for a Beesom upon Trust to whom the Old Man said Friend hast thou no Mony borrow of thy Back and borrow of thy Belly they 'l ne're ask thee again I shall be dunning thee every day 26. Solon * See this in his Essay of the true Greatness of Kingdoms p. 171. said well to Craesus when in ostentation he shewed him his Gold Sir if any other come that has better Iron than you he will be master of all this Gold 27. Iack Weeks said of a great Man just then dead who pretended to some Religion but was none of the best livers Well I hope he is in Heaven Every Man thinks as he wishes but if he be in Heaven 't were pity it were known Ornamenta Rationalia A supply by the Publisher of certain weighty and elegant Sentences some made others collected by the Lord Bacon and by him put under the above-said Title and at present not to be found A Collection of Sentences out of the Mimi of Publius Englished by the Publisher 1. A Leator quantò in Arte est melior tantò est nequior A Gamster the greater Master he is in his Art the worse Man he is 2. Arcum intensio frangit Animum remissio Much bending breaks the Bow much unbending the Mind 3. Bis vincit qui se vincit in Victoriâ He conquers twice who upon Victory overcomes himself 4. Cùm vitia prosint peccat Qui rectè facit If Vices were upon the whole matter profitable the virtuous Man would be the sinner 5. Benè dormit qui non sentit quòd malè dormiat He sleeps well who feels not that he sleeps ill 6. Deliberare utilia mora est tutissima To deliberate about useful things is the safest delay 7. Dolor decrescit ubi quò crescat non habet The flood of Grief decreaseth when it can swell no higher 8. Etiam Innocentes cogit mentiri dolor Pain makes even the Innocent Man a Lyar. 9. Etiam celeritas in desiderio mora est 〈◊〉 in desire swiftness it self is delay 10. Etiam capillus unus habet umbram suam The smallest Hair casts a
answerable Commendation of me to her Majesty Wherein I hope your Lordship if it please you call to mind did find me neither overweening in presuming too much upon it nor much deceived in my opinion of the Event for the continuing of it still in your self nor sleepy in doing some good Offices to the same purpose This favour of the Lord Egerton's which began so early continued to the last And thus much Sir Francis Bacon testified in a Letter to Sir George Villiers of which this is a part b Resuscit p. 65. of the Collect. of Letters My Lord Chancellor told me yesterday in plain terms that if the King would ask his opinion touching the Person that he would commend to succeed him upon Death or Disability he would name me for the fittest Man You may advise whether use may not be made of this Offer And the like appears by what Master Attorney wrote to King Iames during the sickness of my Lord Chancellor Amongst other things he wrote this to the King * Ibid. p. 50. It pleased my Lord Chancellor out of his ancient and great Love to me which many times in Sickness appeareth most to admit me to a great deal of Speech with him this Afternoon which during these three Days he hath scarcely done to any In the same * Court of K. James p. 119. Libel my Lord Bacon is reproach'd as a very necessitous Man and one for that Reason made Keeper by the Duke to serve such Turns as Men of better Fortunes would never condescend to And this also is a groundless and uncharitable Insinuation He had now enjoy'd a good while many profitable Places which preserv'd him from Indigence though his great Mind did not permit him to swell his Purse by them to any extraordinary Bigness And in the Queen's time when he was in meaner Circumstances he did not look upon himself as in that estate of Necessity which tempteth generous Minds to vile things Hear himself representing his Condition no Man knew it better or could better express it Thus he states his Case in the aforesaid unpublish'd Letter to the Lord Chancellor Egerton of the whole of which I sometime had the perusal though now much of it is lost and as I believe beyond all recovery My Estate said he I confess a truth to your Lordship is weak and Indebted and needeth Comfort For both my Father though I think I had greatest part in his Love of all his Children in his Wisdom served me in as a last Comer And my self in mine own Industry have rather referred and aspired to Vertue than to Gain whereof I am not yet wise enough to repent me But the while whereas Salomon speaketh That Want cometh first as a Wayfaring Man and after as an Armed Man I must acknowledg my self to be in primo gradu for it stealeth upon me But for the second that it should not be able to be resisted I hope in God I am not in that case For the preventing whereof as I do depend upon God's Providence all in all so in the same his Providence I see opened unto me three not unlikely expectations of Help The one my Practice the other some proceeding in the Queen's Service the third the Place I have in Reversion which as it standeth now unto me is but like another Man's Ground buttalling upon my House which may mend my Prospect but it doth not fill my Barn This Place he meaneth was the Registers Office in the Star-Chamber which fell to him in the time of King Iames and was worth about 1600 l. by the Year But to return from this Digression When Sir Francis Bacon was constituted Lord-Keeper the King admonisht him that he should Seal nothing rashly as also that he should Judg uprightly and not extend the Royal Prerogative too high After which viz. upon the seventh Day of May which was the first Day of Easter Term next ensuing he made his solemn proceeding c Ibid. to Westminster-Hall in this order First The Writing Clerks and inferiour Officers belonging to the Court of Chancery Next the Students of the Law Then the Gentlemen of his own Family After them the Sergeant at Arms and bearer of the Great Seal on foot Then himself on Horsback in a Gown of Purple Satin riding betwixt the Lord-Treasurer and Lord Privy-Seal Next divers Earls Barons and Privy-Councellors Then the Judges of the Courts at Westminster whose place in that proceeding was assigned after the Privy-Councellors And when he came into the Court the Lord-Treasurer and Lord Privy-Seal gave him his Oath the Clerk of the Crown reading it Upon the fourth of Ianuary 16 Iac. he was made Lord Chancellor d Claus. 16 Jac. in dorso p. 15. of England On the eleventh of Iuly next ensuing created e Pat. 16. Jac. p. 11. Lord Verulam and on the 27th of Ianuary 18 Iac. advanced f Pat. 18 Jac. p. 4. to the dignity of Vicount St. Alban his solemn Investiture g Annal. R. Jac. in an 1621. being then performed at Theobalds his Robe carried before him by the Lord Carew and his Coronet by the Lord Wentworth Whereupon he gave the King sevenfold thanks h Annal. R. Jac. in an 1621. first for making him his Solicitor secondly his Attorney thirdly one of his Privy Council fourthly Lord-Keeper of the Great Seal fifthly Lord-Chancellor sixthly Baron Verulam and lastly Vicount St. Alban But long he enjoyed not that great Office of Lord-Chancellor for in Lent 18 Iac. Corruption in the exercise thereof being objected i Orig. Iurid in Chr. p. 102. against him of which 't is believed his Servants were most guilty and he himself not much accessory the Great Seal was taken k This is inserted by the Publisher from him This Fall l Ibid. he foresaw yet he made no shew of that base and mean Spirit with which the Libel before remembred does unworthily charge him m Court of K. James 122 123. The late King of blessed Memory then Prince made a very differing observation upon him Returning from Hunting n Aul. Coqu p. 174. he espied a Coach attended with a goodly Troop of Horsemen who it seems were gathered together to wait upon the Chancellor to his House at Gorhambury at the time of his Declension The Prince smiling said Well! Do we what we can this Man scorns to go out like a Snuff And he commended his undaunted Spirit and excellent Parts not without some Regret that such a Man should be falling off It is true that after the Seal was taken from him he became a great example of Penitence and Submission But it was a Submission which both manifested his just sense of his Fault and the more Venial Nature of it as arising from Negligence rather than Avarice and Malice He shewed by it that there was not in his Heart that stiffness of Pride which openly denies or justifies those Crimes of which it self is
Accurate and Judicious performed by Doctor Rawley r Publ. in Resusc. p. 181 c. who was pleased to take that Labour upon him because he understood the value his Lordship put upon this Work for it was such that I find this Charge given concerning it in his last Will and Testament In particular I wish the Elogie which I writ in Felicem Memoriam Elizabethae may be published For the Occasion of it his Lordship telleth it thus in a Letter to Sir George Carey s Resusc p. 45. then in France to whom he sent it Because one must begin I thought to provoke your remembrance of me by a Letter And thinking to fit it with somewhat besides Salutations it came to my mind that this last Summer-Vacation by occasion of a factious Book that endeavour'd to verifie Misera Faemina the Addition of the Pope's Bull upon Queen Elizabeth I did write a few Lines in her Memorial which I thought you would be pleased to reade both for the Argument and because you were wont to bear affection to my Pen. Verum ut aliud ex alio If it came handsomely to pass I would be glad the President de * Thuanus Thou who hath written an History as you know of that Fame and Diligence saw it Chiefly because I know not whether it may not serve him for some use in his Story Wherein I would be glad he did right to the Truth and to the Memory of that Lady as I perceive by that he hath already written he is well inclined to do The Fourth is the Beginning of the History of Great Britain This was an Essay sent to King Iames whose Times it considered A Work worthy his Pen had he proceeded in it seeing as he t See Collect. of Letters in Resusc. p. 30. Letter to King James And p. 28 29 30. the Letter to the Lord Chancellor Egerton concerning this Subject saith he should have written of Times not only since he could remember but since he could observe and by way of Introduction of Times as he further noteth of strange Variety the Reign of a Child the offer of an Usurpation by the Lady Iane though it were but as a Diary Ague the Reign of a Lady married to a Forreigner and the Reign of a Lady solitary and unmarried His Lordship who had given such proof of his Skill in writing an History of England leaving the World to the unspeakable loss of the learned part of it his late Majesty a great favourer of that Work and wise in the choice of fit Workmen encourag'd Sir Henry Wotton to endeavour it by his Royal Invitation and a Pension of 500 l. per annum This Proposal was made to that Excellent Man in his declining Years and he died after the finishing some short Characters of some few Kings which Characters are publish'd in his Remains u Reliqu Wotton p. 100. But this new Undertaking diverted him from a Work in which he had made some considerable Progress the Life of Luther and in it the History of the Reformation as it was begun and carried on in Germany Of which Work the Papers they say are lost and in a Current of Time of no great depth sunk beyond all possible Recovery The Fifth is the Imago Civilis Iulii Caesaris The Sixt Imago Civilis Augusti Caesaris Both of them w Among the Opuscula p. 195. short personal Characters and not Histories of their Empire And written by his Lordship in that Tongue which in their Times was at its height and became the Language of the World A while since they were translated into English and inserted into the First Part of the Resuscitation x See Resusc. Edw. 3d. p. 214. In the Seventh Place I may reckon his Book De Sapientiâ Veterum written by him in Latine y See his Letter to Mr. Matthews in Resusc. p. 38. and set forth a second time with Enlargement and translated into English by Sir Arthur Gorges z This Translation is lately added to the Essays in Octavo A Book in which the Sages of former Times are rendred more Wise than it may be they were by so dextrous an Interpreter of their Fables It is this Book which Mr. Sandys means in those words which he hath put before his Notes on the Metamorphosis of Ovid * Pag. 18. Of Modern Writers I have received the greatest Light from Geraldus Pontanus Ficinus Vives Comes Scaliger Sabinus Pierius and the Crown of the latter the Vicount of Saint Albans It is true the design of this Book was Instruction in Natural and Civil Matters either couched by the Ancients under those Fictions or rather made to seem to be so by his Lordship's Wit in the opening and applying of them But because the first ground of it is Poetical Story therefore let it have this place till a fitter be found for it For his Lordship 's Political Writings they are such as relate either to Ecclesiastical or Civil Polity His Writings which relate to Ecclesiastical Polity for he was not willing a See his Epistle to Bishop Andrews that all his Labours should go into the City and none into the Church are the three following The First is a Discourse b In Resusc. p. 233. it was published before without his Lordship's Name in Quarto 1640. bearing the Title of Certain Considerations touching the better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England and dedicated to King Iames. The Second c In Resusc. p. 162. is an Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church of England The Third is a Dialogue touching an Holy War All written at first in English by his Lordship The First of these toucheth the Settlement of Doctrine The Second the Settlement of Discipline amongst the Christians in England The Third of Propagation of the Faith amongst Vnbelievers In all which it is plain that his Lordship dealt in the Affairs of the Church as he was wont to do in Civil Matters Suavibus Modis and in the Mean Accordingly he was wont to compare himself to the Miller of Granchester a Village by Cambridg Of him his Lordship telleth that he was wont to pray for Peace among the Willows For whilst the Winds blew the Wind-mills wrought and his Water-mill was less Custom'd d See Letter to Mr Matthew in Resusc. p. 36. His Lordship was for pacifying Disputes knowing that Controversies of Religion would hinder the Advancement of Sciences His Writings which relate to Civil Polity are very considerable and yet they fall much short of that which he had sometimes in design For he aimed at the complete Model of a Commonwealth though he hath left only some preparation towards it in his Doctrine of Enlarging the bounds of Empire and in a few Abhorisms concerning Vniversal Iustice e In Augm. Scient l. 8 c. 3. p. 668. to p. 690 c. He also made a Proposal to King Iames of a Digest of
actae protinus Gratiae significarunt si curam amici qui hìc operam suam non frustra requiri passus est haud luserit fortuna trajectus varia è causa saepe dubij Nunc tantò majus mihi istud beneficium est quantò insigniorem frugem praestitit lectio non ignava par cum quibusdam ex officina Baconiana à me editis collatio aucticrem enim tibi debemus Historiam densi rari sed alia isto contenta Volumine priusquam non conspecta Vnum mirabar non exstare ibi caeteris aggregatam Verulamii Epistolam ad Henricum Savilium de adjumentis facultatum Intellectualium si ex literis olim tuis non vanè mihi recordanti subjicit Titulum appellata memoria saltem inscriptione non longè dissimili Si per oblivionem ibi forte non comparet scriniis tamen vestris inerrat optem videre Apographum in cujus usu bonam fidem non desiderabis nisi Anglicano Sermone scripta locum invenerit in majori opere quod vernacula duntaxat complectitur Id si nos scire patiaris an obtinendi Libri in quo Oratoria fo rs Epistolica digeruntur maternae Linguae partus spes ex promisso fuerit non immodesta animo meo consecrariâ— tui memoriam in cujus veneratione nunquam defatigabitur segnesceâ—â— alacritas obstrictissimi affectus Vale. Trajecti ad Mosam unde post duos trésve menses Novomagum migro Batavis futurus propior Per Smithaeum tamen transmittere ad me perges si quid volueris Kal. Julii St. N. CIO IOC LIX The same in English by the Publisher To the Reverend and most Learned William Rawley D. D. Isaac Gruter wisheth much Health Reverend Sir and my most dear Friend HOw much I hold my self honour'd by your Present of the Lord Bacon's Posthumous Works published lately by you in Latine my thanks immediately return'd had let you understand if ill Fortune in the Passage which is for divers causes uncertain had not deluded the care of a Friend who did here with much readiness undertake the Conveyance of them Now the Gift is by so much the greater by how much the more benefit I reap'd by diligent reading of those Papers and by comparing them with some of the Lord Bacon's Works which I my self had formerly published For to you we owe the more enlarged History de Denso Raro as also many other things contain'd in that Volume which saw not the Light before One Paper I wonder I saw not amongst them the Epistle of the Lord Bacon to Sir Henry Savil about the Helps of the Intellectual Powers spoken of long ago in your Letters under that or some such Title if my Memory does not deceive me If it was not forgotten and remains among your private Papers I should be glad to see a Copy of it in the use of which my Faithfulness shall not be wanting But perhaps it is written in the English Tongue and is a part of that greater Volume which contains only his English Works If you will please to let me understand so much and likewise give me assurance of obtaining that Book in which the Speeches and it may be the Letters of the Lord Bacon written by him in English are digested you will render your Memory sacred in my Mind in the veneration of which the chearfulness of a most devoted affection shall never be weary Farewel From Maestricht from whence after two or three Months I remove to Nimmeghen nigher to Holland But you may convey to me any thing you desire by Mr. Smith Iuly 1st New Style 1659. A brief Account of the Life and particularly of the Writings of the Lord Bacon written by that learned Antiquarie Sir William Dugdale Norroy King of Arms in the second Tome of his Book entituled The Baronage of England * Pag. 437. 438 439. together with divers Insertions by the Publisher Francis Lord Verulam Vicount St. Alban 16 Iac. COnsidering that this Person was so Eminent for his Learning and other great Abilities as his Excellent Works will sufficiently manifest though a short Narrative a Impr. Lond. an 1670. of his Life is already set forth by Doctor William Rawley his domestique Chaplain I am not willing to omit the taking notice of such particulars as are most memorable of him and therefore shall briefly recount partly from that Narrative and partly from other Authorities what I have observed in order thereto As to his Parentage he was b Ibid. the youngest of those two Male Children which Sir Nicholas Bacon of Redgrave in Com. Suff. Knight had by Anne his Wife one of the six Daughters of Sir Anthony Cook of Giddy-Hall in Com. Essex Knight a person much honoured for his Learning and being Tutor to King Edward the Sixth all those Daughters being exquisitely skilled c Annal. Eliz. per Cambd. in an 1576. in the Greek and Latine Tongues Which Nicholas having been a diligent Student of the Laws in d Life of c. by Dr. Rawley Grays-Inn was made e Pat. 38 H. 8. p. 6. the King's Attorney in the Court of Wards in 38 H. 8. and upon the death of that King which soon after happened had his Patent for the same trust renewed f Pat. 1 E. p. 3. m. 36. by his Son and Successor King Edward the Sixth In the sixth year of whose Reign he was constituted g Orig. Iucrid p. 298. Treasurer for that Noble Society of Grays-Inn whereof he had been so long a Member And being grown famous for his Knowledg was shortly after viz. in 1 Eliz. made h Pat. 1 â— p. 3. Lord Keeper of the great Seal of England and Knighted i M. 6. in offic Arm. f. ib. 67. b. which Office in his time was by Act of Parliament made equal in Authority with the Chancellours What I have otherwise observed of this Sir Nicholas Bacon is k Annal. Eliz. ut supra in â—n 1564. that being no friend to the Queen of Scots then Prisoner in England he was l Annal. Eliz. ut supra in â—n 1564. privy and assenting to what Hales had publisht in derogation to her Title as next and lawful Successor to Queen Elizabeth asserting that of the House of Suffolk before it for which Hales suffered m Ibid. Imprisonment and had not Cecil stood his faithful friend n Ibid. so might he nothing being more distastful to Queen Elizabeth than a dispute upon that point Next that in 14 Eliz. upon those Proposals made by the Nobility of Scotland for her enlargement he opposed o Ibid. in an 1571. it alleadging p Ibid. in an 1571. that no security could ballance the danger thereof Lastly That upon his death which happened in April An. 1579. 21 Eliz. this Character q Ib. in an 1579. is given of him by the learned Cambden viz. that he was Vir praepinguis ingenio acerrimo singulari