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
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
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
prudentia summâ eloquentia tenaci memoriâ sacris consiliis alterum columen Of person very corpulent most quick Wit singular Prudence admirable Eloquence special Memory and another Pillar to the Privy-Council Of his Death this is said * This Account is inserted by the Publisher who took it out of a Paper of the Lord Bacon's to be the occasion He had his Barber rubbing and combing his Head And because it was very hot the Window was open to let in a fresh Wind. He fell asleep and awaked all distemper'd and in a great sweat Said he to the Barber Why did you let me sleep Why my Lord said he I durst not wake your Lordship Why then saith my Lord Keeper you have killed me with Kindness So he removed into his Bed-Chamber and within a few days died Whereupon being Interred on the South-side of the Quire in St. Paul's Cathedral within the City of London he had a noble Monument r Hist. of St. Paul's Cath. p. 71. there erected to his Memory with this Epitaph Hic Nicolaum ne Baconem conditum existima illum tam diu Britannici Regni secundum columen Exitium malis Bonis Asylum caeca quem non extulit ad hunc honorem sors sed Aequitas Fides Doctrina Pietas unica Prudentia Neu fortè raptum crede qui unica brevi vitâ perenni emerit duas agit vitam secundam caelites inter animas Fama implet orbem vita quae illi tertia est Hac positum in arâ est Corpus olim animi Domus Ara dicata sempiternae Memoriae That is * This Translation is done by the Publisher for the benefit of the English Reader Think not that this Shrine contains that Nicholas Bacon who was so long the second Pillar of Great Britain the Scourge of the Vicious and the Sanctuary of the Good Whom blind Fortune did not exalt to that height of Honour but his Equity Fidelity Learning Piety singular Prudence Neither believe him to be by chance snatch'd away who by one short Life purchased two in Life Eternal He lives his second Life among the Heavenly Spirits His Fame filleth the World which is his third Life In this Altar is reposed his Body sometime the House of his Soul an Altar dedicated to his perpetual Memory Thus much touching the Parentage of this Francis his Birth s Liâ—e of c. by Dr. Rawley being at York-House in the Strand upon the twenty second day of Ianuary Anno 1560. 2 Eliz. It is observed t Life of c. by Dr. Rawley that in his tender Years his Pregnancy was such as gave great indication of his future high Accomplishments in so much as Queen Elizabeth took notice of him and called him The young Lord-Keeper also that asking him how old he was though but a Boy he answered that he was two years younger than her Majesties most happy Reign As to his Education he was u Ibid. of Trinity College in Cambridg under the tuition of Doctor Iohn Whitgift then Master there but afterwards the renowned Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Where having with great proficiency spent some time he was sent x Ibid. into France with Sir Amias Paulet her Majestie 's Leiger Ambassador and thence intrusted with a Message y Ibid. to the Queen which he performed with much approbation and so returned After this coming from Travail and applying himself to the study of the Common Law he was seated z Ibid. in Grays-Inn Where in short time he became so highly esteemed for his Abilities as that in 30 Eliz. being then but 28 years of Age that honourable Society chose a Orig. Iurid p. 295. a. him for their Lent Reader And in 32 Eliz. was made b Pat. 32 Eliz. p. 11. one of the Clerks of the Council In 42 Eliz. being c Orig. Iu. 295. b. double Reader in that House and affecting much the Ornament thereof he caused d Ib. 272. b. that beautiful Grove of Elms to be planted in the Walks which yet remain And upon the 23 of Iuly 1 Iac. was Knighted e MS. in offic Arm. at White-Hall Shortly after which viz. in 2 Iac. he was made f Pat. 2 Jac. p. 12. one of the King's Council learned having therewith a grant g Pat. 2 Jac. p. 12. of forty Pounds per annum Fee and in 5 Iac. constituted h Pat. 11. Jac. p. 5. his Majestie 's Solicitor General In 9 Iac. he was made i Pat. 9. Jac. p. joynt Judge with Sir Thomas Vavasor then Knight Marshal of the Knight Marshal's Court then newly erected within the Verge of the King's House and in 11 Iac. 27 Octob. being made k Pat. 5 Jac. p. 14. Attorney General was sworn l Annal. R. Jac. per Cambd. of the Privy Council In 14 Iac. he was constituted m lb. in an 1617. Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 7 Martii being then fifty four years of Age. ‖ An Insertion by the Publisher It is said in a * The Court of King James p. 115 116. Libel in which are many other notorious Slanders that the Duke of Buckingham to vex the very Soul of the Lord Chancellour Egerton in his last Agony did send Sir Francis Bacon to him for the Seals and likewise that the dying Chancellor did hate that Bacon should be his Successor and that his Spirit not brooking this usage he sent the Seals by his Servant to the King and shortly after yielded his Soul to his Maker In which few words there are two palpable Untruths For first The King himself sent for the Seal not the Duke of Buckingham And he sent for it not by Sir Francis Bacon a Aulicus â—cquinariae p. 171. but by Secretary Winwood with this Message that himself would be his Under-Keeper and not dispose of the Place of Chancellour while he lived Nor did any receive the Seal out of the King's sight till the Lord Egerton died which soon fell out Next The Lord Chancellour Egerton was willing that Master Attorney Bacon should be his Successor and ready to forward his Succession So far was he from conceiving hatred against him either upon that or any other Account The Lord Egerton was his Friend in the Queen's time and I find Mr. Bacon making his acknowledgements in a Letter to him in these words which I once transcribed from the unpublish'd Original For my placing your Lordship best knoweth that when I was most dejected with her Majestie 's strange dealing towards me it pleased you of your singular favour so far to comfort and encourage me as to hold me worthy to be excited to think of succeeding your Lordship in your second Place Signifying in your plainness that no Man should better content your self Which your exceeding favour you have not since carried from both in pleading the like signification into the hands of some of my best Friends and also in an honourable and
The Right Hon ble S r Francis Bacon Baron of Verulam Viscount of S t Albans L d High Chancellor of England BACONIANA Or Certain Genuine REMAINS OF S R. Francis Bacon Baron of VERULAM AND Viscount of St. ALBANS In Arguments Civil and Moral Natural Medical Theological and Bibliographical Now the First time faithfully Published An ACCOUNT of these Remains and of all his Lordship 's other Works is given by the Publisher in a Discourse by way of INTRODUCTION LONDON Printed by I. D. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1679. A TABLE OF THE Contents Baconiana Politico-moralia Under this Head are Contained 1. SIR Francis Bacon 's Charge against Frances Countess of Somerset about poysoning of Sir Tho. Overbury p. 3. 2. His Charge against Robert Earl of Somerset touching the same matter p. 14. 3. His Letter to the Vniversity of Cambridg when he was sworn Privy-Counsellor In Latine p. 37. In English p. 39. 4. His Letter to King James touching the Chancellor's Place p. 41. 5. His Letter to King James for the Relief of his Estate p. 45. 6. His Remaining Apothegms p. 53. 7. A Supply of his Ornamenta Rationalia or Judicious Sentences 1. Out of the Mimi of Publius in Latine and English p. 60. 2. Out of his own Writings p. 65. Baconiana Physiologica Containing I. A Fragment of his Abecedarium Naturae in Latine p. 77. and English p. 84. II. His Inquisition touching the Compounding of Metals p. 92. III. His Articles of Questions touching Minerals 1. Concerning the Incorporation and Union of Metals p. 104. 2. Dr. Meveril's Answers to them p. 110. 3. Concerning the Separation of Metals and Minerals p. 114. 4. Dr. Meverel's Answers to them p. 116. 5. Concerning the Variation of Metals and Minerals p. 118. 6. Dr. Meverel's Answers p. 123. 7. Concerning the Restitution of Metals p. 127. 8. Dr. Meverel's Answer p. 128. IV. The Lord Bacon's Inquisition concerning the Versions Transmutations Multiplications and Effections of Bodies p. 129. V. His Speech about the Recovery of Drown'd Mineral Works p. 131. VI. His Experiments about Weight in Air and Water p. 134. VII His Experiments for Profit p. 138. VIII His Experiments about the Commixâ—ure of Liquors by Simple Composition only p. 140. IX A Catalogue of Bodies Attractive and not Attractive with Observations upon them in Latine p. 145. in English p. 149. Baconiana Medica Under this Head are Contained 1. His Paper about Prolongation of Life called by him Grains of Youth p. 155. 2. A Catalogue of Astringents Openers and Cordials instrumental to long Life p. 161. 3. An Extract by his Lordship out of his Book of the Prolongation of Life for his own use p. 167. 4. His Medical Receipts against the Stone c. p. 171. Baconiana Theologica Under this Head are Contained 1. His Questions of the Lawfulness of a War for the Propagation of Religion p. 179. 2. Two Prayers of his one called the Students the other the Writers Prayer p. 181 182. Baconiana Bibliographica Under this Head are Contained I. Papers written by Himself relating to his Books As 1. His Letter to the Queen of Bohemia to whom he sent his Book of a War with Spain p. 187. 2. A Letter of the Lord Bacon's to the Vniversity of Cambridg upon his sending to them his Book De Augm. Scient in Latine p. 189 in English p. 190. 3. His Letter to the same Vniversity upon his sending to them his Novum Organum in Latin p. 191. in Engl. p. 192. 4. His Letter to Trinity College in Cambridg upon his sending to them his Book of the Advancement of Learning in Latine p. 193. in English p. 194. 5. His Letter to the Bishop of Lincoln about his Speeches c. p. 195. 6. His Letter to Father Fulgentio about all his Writings in English p. 196. 7. To Marquess Fiat about his Essays in French p. 201. in English p. 202. 8. Part of his last Testament concerning his Writings p. 203. II. Papers written by others relating to his Books and Life As 1. A Letter to him from the Vniversity of Oxford in Latine p. 204. in English p. 206. upon his having sent to them his Book De Augmentis Scientiarum 2. A Letter from Dr. Maynwaring to Dr. Rawley about the Lord Bacon's Confession of Faith p. 209. 3. A Letter from Dr. Rawley to Mounsieur Aelius Deodate in Latine p. 214. in English p. 215. concerning his publishing the Lord Bacon's Works 4. Mounsieur Deodate's Answer in Latine p. 217. and English p. 219. 5. Mr. Isaac Gruter's Three Letters to Dr. Rawley in Latine p. 221 231 238. in English p. 225 234 240. concerning the Lord Bacon's Works 6. An Account of the Life and Writings of the Lord Bacon by Sir W. Dugdale together with Insertions by the Publisher p. 242. 7. A Character of the Lord Bacon by Dr. Heylin p. 263. 8. A Character by Dr. Sprat p. 264. 9. A Character of his Philosophy by Mr. Cowley p. 267. Liber cui Titulus Baconiana c. IMPRIMATUR Ex Aedibus Lambethanis Nov. 20. 1678. Geo. Thorp Rev mo in C. P. D. Dom. Gulielmo Archiep. Cant. a Sacris Domesticis ERRATA In the Introduction PAge 6. Line 24. Read Sprang P. 11. l. 12. r. Site l. 28. for that r. the. P. 13. Margent l. 2. for with r. inter P. 15. l. 26. for to r. and. P. 16 l. 9. for to r. for P. 24. l. 18. r. â—nlarged l. 25. for were r. wear P. 27. l. 23. for his r. this P. 40. l. 9. for precious r considerable P. 43. l. 29. r. compare them P. 57. l. 13. for of r. the. P. 59. l. 16. for Edward 3d. r. Edit 3d. P. 60. l. 8. put a period after publish'd P. 62. l. 19. r. Methodical P. 71. l. 24. r. though they In the Book P. 20. l. 11. blot out but. P. 33. l. 4. for in r. is P. 37. l. 23. r. relictum P. 61. l. 21. blot out even P. 79. l. 24. blot out Add. P. 83. l. 12. r. vellâ—cationes P. 85. l. 21. for Impossibility r. in Possibility P. 89. l. 20. for interspect r. intersperse P. 95. l. 19. r. it will P. 119. l. 2. r. Arborescents P. 125. l. 18. r. fittest P. 132. l. 26 27. for the whole Intellects r. your noble Intellects P. 135. l. 29. r. differ P. 139. l. 11. r. rawns P. 146. l. 7. for hewed r. â—eaved P. 148. l. 10. r. ipsam P. 149. l. 10. for Sheaves r. Shivers P. 16. 2 l. 9. r. mullein P. 165. l. 13. r. Cupparus P. 167. l. 2. r. Puls P. 168. l 28. for with juyce r. which I use P. 189. l. 16. r. legitimè P. 192. l. 15. r. it is P. 199. l. 19 20. r. prodromi P. â—01 l. 4. for file r. filz l. 9. for non r. mon. l. 23. for ex r. et P. 208. l. 9. blot out c. P. 215. l. 3. r. generosissime Domine l. 4. r. addictissimus P.
a Professour of Divinity in the University of Cambridg using amongst others these words to him The x Collect of Letters in Resusc. p. 33 34. privateness of the Language considered wherein the Book 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 than your Self For by that I have heard and read I know no Man a greater Master in commanding Words to serve Matter The Doctor was willing to serve so Excellent a Person and so worthy a Design and within a while sent him a Specimen of a Latine Translation But Men generally come short of themselves when they strive to out-doe themselves They put a force upon their Natural Genius and by straining of it crack and disable it And so it seems it happened to that Worthy and Elegant Man Upon this great Occasion he would be over-accurate and he sent a Specimen of such superfine Latinity that the Lord Bacon did not encourage him to labour further in that Work in the penning of which he desired not so much neat and polite as clear Masculine and apt Expression The whole of this Book was rendred into English by Dr. Gilbert Wats of Oxford and the Translation has been well received by many But some there were who wished that a Translation had been set forth in which the Genius and Spirit of the Lord Bacon had more appeared And I have seen a Letter written by certain Gentlemen to Dr. Rawley wherein they thus importune him for a more accurate Version by his own Hand It is our humble sute to you and we do earnestly solicit you to give your self the Trouble to correct the too much defective Translation of de Augmentis Scientiarum which Dr. Watts hath set forth It is a thousand pities that so worthy a Piece should lose its Grace and Credit by an ill Expositor since those Persons who read that Translation taking it for Genuine and upon that presumption not regarding the Latine Edition are thereby robbed of that benefit which if you would please to undertake the Business they might receive This tendeth to the dishonour of that Noble Lord and the hindrance of the Advancement of Learning This Work hath been also translated into French upon the motion of the Marquis Fiat But in it there are many things wholly omitted many things perfectly mistaken and some things especially such as relate to Religion wilfully perverted Insomuch that in in one place he makes his Lordship to magnifie the Legend A Book sure of little Credit with him when he thus began one of his Essays * Essay of Atheism I had rather believe all the Fables in the Legend and the Talmud and the Alcoran than that this Universal Frame is without a Mind The fairest and most correct Edition of this Book in Latine is that in Folio printed at London Anno 1623. And whosoever would understand the Lord Bacon's Cypher y In l. 6. c. 1. let him consult that accurate Edition For in some other Editions which I have perused the form of the Letters of the Alphabet in which much of the Mysterie consisteth is not observed But the Roman and Italic shapes of them are confounded To this Book we may reduce the first four Chapters of that imperfect Treatise published in Latine by Isaac Gruter z Inter Scripta Philos. fol. 75. and called The Description of the Intellectual Globe they being but a rude draught of the Partition of the Sciences so accurately and methodically disposed in this Book of the Advancement of Learning To this Work also we may reduce the Treatise called Thema Coeli published likewise in Latine by Gruter And it particularly belongeth to the Fourth Chapter and the Third Book of it as being a Discourse tending to an improvement of the System of the Heavens which is treated of in that place the Houses of which had God granted him life he would have understood as well almost as he did his own For the same Reason we may reduce to the same place of the Advancement the Fifth Sixth and Seventh Chapters of the Descriptio Globi Intellectualis above remembred a See Verulam's Scripta Philos. p. 90 c. The Second Part of his Great Instauration and so considerable a part of it that the Name of the whole is given to it is his Novum Organum Scientiarum written by himself in the Latine Tongue and printed also most beautifully and correctly in Folio at London b 1620. and in 2dâ— part Res. part of this Orga. is publ in an Engl. Version This Work he Dedicated to King Iames with the following Excuse That if he had stolen any time for the Composure of it from his Majestie 's other Affairs he had made some sort of Restitution by doing Honour to his Name and his Reign The King wrote to him then Chancellor a Letter of thanks with his own Hand c Dated Octob. 16. 1620. See Collect. of Letters in Resusc. p. 83. and this was the first part of it My Lord I have received your Letter and your Book than the which you could not have sent a more acceptable Present to me How thankful I am for it cannot better be expressed by me than by a firm Resolution I have taken First to read it through with Care and Attention though I should steal some Hours from my Sleep having otherwise as little spare Time to read it as you had to write it And then to use the liberty of a true Friend in not sparing to ask you the question in any Point whereof I stand in doubt Nam ejus est explicare cujus est condere as on the other part I will willingly give a due commendation to such Places as in my Opinion shall deserve it In the mean time I can with comfort assure you that you could not have made choice of a Subject more befitting your Place and your Universal and Methodical Knowledg Three Copies of this Organum were sent by the Lord Bacon to Sir Henry Wotton one who took a pride as himself saith in a certain Congeniality with his Lordship's Studies And how very much he valued the Present we may learn from his own words You Lordship said he * Sir H. Wotton ' s Remains p. 298 299. hath done a great and ever-living Benefit to all the Children of Nature and to Nature her self in her uttermost extent of Latitude Who never before had so noble nor so true an Interpreter or as I am readier to style your Lordship never so inward a Secretary of her Cabinet But of your Work which came but this Week to my hands I shall find occasion to speak
the Laws of England But other Studies together with want of Time and Assistance prevented the ripening of these Thoughts Now his Lordship's Writings in this Argument of Civil Polity are either more General or such as have more Especial respect to the several Dominions of the King of England His Political Writings of a more general Nature are his Apothegms and Essays besides the Excerpta out of the Advancement above remembred Both these contain much of that Matter which we usually call Moral distinguishing it from that which is Civil In the handling of which sort of Argument his Lordship has been esteemed so far to excel that he hath had a Comment written on him as on an Author in Ethics f See V. Placcii Comment in l. 7. Aug. Scient de Philosophiâ Morali augendâ in Octavo Franc. an 1677. and an Advancer of that most useful part of Learning Notwithstanding which I am bold to put these Books under this Head of Matter Political Both because they contain a greater portion of that Matter and because in true Philosophy the Doctrine of Politics and Ethics maketh up but one Body and springeth from one Root the End of God Almighty in the Government of the World The Apothegms of which the first g Apoth printed in Oct. Lon. 1625. is the best Edition were what he saith also h See his Epistle to Bishop Andrews of his Essays but as the Recreations of his other Studies They were dictated one Morning out of his Memory and if they seem to any a Birth too inconsiderable for the Brain of so great a Man they may think with themselves how little a time he went with it and from thence make some allowance Besides his Lordship hath receiv'd much Injury by late Editions i Even by that added but not by Dr. Rawley to the Resuscitatio 〈◊〉 3d. of which some have much enlarged but not at all enriched the Collection stuffing it with Tales and Sayings too infacetiou◠for a Ploughman's Chimney-Corner And particularly in the Collection not long since publish'd k In Octavo Lon. 1669. and call'd The Apothegms of King James King Charles the Marquess of Worcester the Lord Bacon and Sir Thomas Moor his Lordship is dealt with very rudely For besides the addition of Insipid Tales there are some put in which are Beastly and Immoral l Ex. gr Apotheg 183 184. Such as were fitter to have been joyned to Aretine or Aloysia than to have polluted the chaste Labours of the Baron of Verulam To those Apothegms may be referred these now publish'd The Essays or Counsels Civil and Moral though a By-work also do yet make up a Book of greater weight by far than the Apothegms And coming home to Men's Business and Bosomes his Lordship entertain'd this persuasion concerning them m See Epist. Ded. to the D. of Bucks that the Latine Volume might last as long as Books should last His Lordship wrote them in the English Tongue and enlarged them as Occasion serv'd and at last added to them the Colours of Good and Evil which are likewise found in his Book De Augmentis n Lib. 6. c. 3. p. 453. The Latine Translation of them was a Work performed by divers Hands by those of Doctor Hacket late Bishop of Lichfield Mr. Benjamin Iohnson the learned and judicious Poet and some others whose Names I once heard from Dr. Rawley but I cannot now recal them To this Latine Edition he gave the Title of Sermones Fideles after the manner of the Iews who call'd the words Adagies or Observations of the Wise Faithful Sayings that is credible Propositious worthy of firm Assent and ready Acceptance And as I think he alluded more particularly in this Title to a passage in Ecclesiastes * Eccles. 12. 10 11. where the Preacher saith that he sought to find out Verba Delectabilia as Tremellius rendreth the Hebrew pleasant Words that is perhaps his Book of Canticles and Verba Fidelia as the same Tremellius Faithful Sayings meaning it may be his Collection of Proverbs In the next Verse he calls them Words of the Wise and so many Goads and Nails given Ab eodem Pastore from the same Shepherd of the Flock of Israel In a late Latine Edition of these Essays there are subjoyned two Discourses the one call'd De Negotiis the other Faber Fortunae But neither of these are Works newly publish'd but Treatises taken out of the Book De Augmentis o Lib. 8. c. 2. p. 585 c. To this Book of Essays may be annexed that Fragment of an Essay of Fame which is extant already in the Resuscitatio p Resusc p. 281. His Lordship 's Political Writings of a more special Nature as relating to the Polity and various Affairs of the several Dominions of the King of England are very many though most of them short As First a Discourse of the Union of England and Scotland q In Resusc. p. 197. Secondly Articles and Considerations touching the Union aforesaid r Page 206. Thirdly Considerations touching the Plantation in Ireland s Pag. 255. Fourthly Considerations touching the Queen's Service in Ireland t P. 16. Of Coll. of Letters Fifthly Considerations touching a War with Spain u Pub. in the Mis. works in Quarto An. 1629. reprinted in 2d part of Resusc. then the Over-match in this part of the World though now in meaner Condition Sixthly His several Speeches by which I mean not only those which go under that Name but likewise his several Charges they being much of the same Nature though deliver'd ex Officio which the other were not always These Speeches and Charges are generally Methodically Manly Elegant Pertinent and full of Wise Observations as those are wont to be which are made by Men of Parts and Business And I shall not pass too great a Complement upon his Lordship if I shall say That 't was well for Cicero and the honour of his Orations that the Lord Bacon compos'd his in another Language Now his Speeches and Charges are very many and I set them down in the following Catalogue His Speeches in Parliament to the Lower House are Eight The First 39 Elizabeth upon the Motion of Subsidy w Resusc p. 1. of D. R's Edition The Second 5 Iacobi concerning the Article of General Naturalization of the Scotish Nation x P. 10. The Third concerning the Union of Laws y P. 24. The Fourth 5 Iacobi being a Report in the House of Commons of the Earls of Salisbury and Northampton concerning the Grievances of the Merchants occasioned by the Practice of Spain z P. 29. The Fifth 7 Iacobi persuading the House of Commons to desist from further Question of receiving the King's Messages by their Speaker and from the Body of the Council as well as from the King's Person a P. 45. The Sixth 7 Iacobi in the end of the Session of Parliament persuading some Supply to be
For the former of these I will not lead your Lordships into it because I will engrieve nothing against a Penitent neither will I open any thing against him that is absent The one I will give to the Laws of Humanity and the other to the Laws of Justice for I shall always serve my Master with a good and sincere Conscience and I know that he accepteth best Therefore I will reserve that till to morrow and hold my self to that which I called the Stage or Theater whereunto indeed it may be fitly compared for that things were first contained within the Invisible Judgments of God as within a Curtain and after came forth and were acted most worthily by the King and right well by his Ministers Sir Thomas Overbury was murthered by Poison Septemb. 15. 1613. This foul and cruel Murder did for a time cry secretly in the Ears of God but God gave no answer to it otherwise than by that Voice which sometime he useth which is Vox Populi the Speech of the People For there went then a Murmur that Overbury was poisoned and yet the same submiss and low Voice of God the Speech of the Vulgar People was not without a Counter-tenor or Counter-blast of the Devil who is the common Author both of Murder and Slander for it was given out that Overbury was dead of a foul Disease and his Body which they had made Corpus Iudaicum with their Poisons so as it had no whole part must be said to be leprosed with Vice and so his Name poisoned as well as his Body For as to Dissoluteness I have not heard the Gentleman noted with it his Faults were of Insolency Turbulency and the like of that kind Mean time there was some Industry used of which I will not now speak to lull asleep those that were the Revengers of the Blood the Father and the Brother of the Murdered And in these terms things stood by the space of two years during which time God did so blind the two great Procurers and dazle them with their Greatness and blind and nail fast the Actors and Instruments with security upon their Protection as neither the one looked about them nor the other stirred or fled or were conveyed away but remained here still as under a privy Arrest of God's Judgments insomuch as Franklin that should have been sent over to the Palsgrave with good store of Money was by God's Providence and the Accident of a Marriage of his diverted and stayed But about the beginning of the Progress the last Summer God's Judgments began to come out of their depths And as the revealing of Murder is commonly such as a Man said à Domino hoc factum est it is God's work and it is marvellous in our eyes so in this particular it was most admirable for it came forth first by a Complement a matter of Courtesy My Lord of Shrewsbury that is now with God recommended to a Councellor of State of special Trust by his place the late Lieutenant * Called in Sir H. Wotton 's Reliq p. 413. Elvis In Sir A. Welden 's Court of K. Iames p. 107. Elwaies In Aulic Coquin p. 141. Ellowaies In Sir W. Dugdales Baron of Eng. Tom 2. p. 425. Elways In Baker Yelvis p. 434. Helwisse only for Acquaintance as an honest and worthy Gentleman and desired him to know him and to be acquainted with him That Councellor answered him civilly That my Lord did him a favour and that he should embrace it willingly but he must let his Lordship know that there did lie a heavy imputation upon the Gentleman Helwisse for that Sir Tho. Overbury his Prisoner was thought to have come to a violent and an untimely Death When this Speech was reported back by my Lord of Shrewsbury to Helwisse percussit iliâ—ò animum he was strucken with it and being a politick Man and of likelihood doubting that the matter would break forth at one time or other and that others might have the start of him and thinking to make his own Case by his own Tale resolved with himself upon this occasion to discover unto my Lord of Shrewsbury and that Councellor that there was an Attempt whereunto he was privy to have poisoned Overbury by the hands of his Underkeeper Weston but that he checked it and put it by and disswaded it But then he left it thus that it was but as an Attempt or an untimely Birth never executed and as if his own Fault had been no more but that he was honest in forbidding but fearful of revealing and impeaching or accusing great Persons And so with this fine point thought to save himself But that Councellor of Estate wisely considering that by the Lieutenant's own Tale it could not be simply a Permission or Weakness for that Weston was never displaced by the Lieutenant notwithstanding that Attempt and coupling the Sequel by the beginning thought it matter fit to be brought before his Majesty by whose appointment Helwisse set down the like Declaration in writing Upon this Ground the King playeth Salomon's part gloria Dei celare rem gloria Regis investigare rem and sets down certain Papers of his own hand which I might term to be Claves Iustitiae Keys of Justice and may serve both for a Precedent for Princes to imitate and for a Direction for Iudges to follow And his Majesty carried the Ballance with a constant and steady hand evenly and without prejudice whether it were a true Accusation of the one part or a Practice and factious Scandal of the other Which Writing because I am not able to express according to the worth thereof I will desire your Lordships anon to hear read This excellent Foundation of Justice being laid by his Majesties own hand it was referred unto some Councellors to examine further who gained some Degrees of Light from Weston but yet left it imperfect After it was referred to Sir Ed. Cook Chief Justice of the Kings Bench as a Person best practised in Legal Examinations who took a great deal of indefatigable pains in it without intermission having as I have heard him say taken at least three hundred Examinations in this Business But these things were not done in a Corner I need not speak of them It is true that my Lord Chief Justice in the dawning and opening of the Light finding the matter touched upon these great Persons very discreetly became Suitor to the King to have greater Persons than his own Rank joined with him whereupon your Lordships my Lord High Steward of England my Lord Steward of the King's House and my Lord Zouch were joined with him Neither wanted there this while Practice to suppress Testimony to deface Writings to weaken the Kings Resolution to slander the Justice and the like Nay when it came to the first solemn Act of Justice which was the Arraignment of Weston he had his lesson to stand mute which had arrested the whole Wheel of Justice but this dumb Devil by
without noise or observation And the last is Because it containeth not only the destruction of the maliced Man but of any other Quis modo tutus erit For many times the Poison is prepared for one and is taken by another So that Men die other Mens Deaths Concidit infelix alieno vulnere and it is as the Psalm calleth it Sagitta nocte volans The Arrow that flies by night it hath no aim or certainty Now for the third Degree of this particular Offence which is that it was committed upon the King's Prisoner who was out of his own Defence and meerly in the King's protection and for whom the King and State was a kind of Respondent it is a thing that aggravates the Fault much For certainly my Lord of Somerset let me tell you this That Sir Tho. Overbury is the first Man that was murdered in the Tower of London since the murder of the two young Princes For the Nature of the Proofs your Lordships must consider that Impoisonment of Offences is the most secret So secret as if in all Cases of Impoisonment you should require Testimony you were as good proclaim Impunity I will put Book-Examples Who could have impeached Livia by Testimony of the impoisoning of the Figs upon the Tree which her Husband was wont for his pleasure to gather with his own hands Who could have impeached Parisatis for the poisoning of one side of the Knife that she carved with and keeping the other side clean so that her self did eat of the same piece of Meat that the Lady did that she did impoison The Cases are infinite and indeed not fit to be spoken of of the secrecy of Impoisonments But wise Triers must take upon them in these secret Cases Solomon's Spirit that where there could be no Witnesses collected the Act by the Affection But yet we are not to come to one Case For that which your Lordships are to try is not the Act of Impoisonment for that is done to your hand all the World by Law is concluded â—â—t to say that Overbury was impoisoned by Weston But the Question before you is of the procurement only and of the abetting as the Law termeth it as accessary before the Fact Which abetting is no more but to do or use any Act or Means which may aid or conduce unto the Impoisonment So that it is not the buying or making of the Poison or the preparing or confecting or commixing of it or the giving or sending or laying the Poison that are the only Acts that do amount unto Abetment But if there be any other Act or Means done or used to give the opportunity of Impoisonment or to facilitate the execution of it or to stop or divert any impediments that might hinder it and this be with an intention to accomplish and atchieve the Impoisonment all these are Abetments and Accessaries before the Fact I will put you a familiar Example Allow there be a Conspiracy to murder a Man as he journies by the ways and it be one Man's part to draw him forth to that Journey by invitation or by colour of some business and another takes upon him to disswade some Friend of his whom he had a purpose to take in his Company that he be not too strong to make his defence And another hath the part to go along with him and to hold him in talk till the first blow be given All these my Lords without scruple are Abetters to this Murder though none of them give the Blow nor assist to give the Blow My Lords he is not the Hunter alone that lets slip the Dog upon the Deer but he that lodges the Deer or raises him or puts him out or he that sets a Toyle that he cannot escape or the like But this my Lords little needeth in this present Case where there is such a Chain of Acts of Impoisonment as hath been seldom seen and could hardly have been expected but that Greatness of Fortune maketh commonly Grossness in offending To descend to the Proofs themselves I shall keep this course First I will make a Narrative or Declaration of the Fact it self Secondly I will break and distribute the Proofs as they concern the Prisoner And thirdly according to that distribution I will produce them and read them or use them So that there is nothing that I shall say but your Lordship my Lord of Somerset shall have three thoughts or cogitations to answer it First when I open it you may take your aim Secondly when I distribute it you may prepare your Answers without confusion And lastly when I produce the Witnesses or Examinations themselves you may again ruminate and readvise how to make your defence And this I do the rather because your Memory or Understanding may not be oppressed or overladen with length of Evidence or with confusion of order Nay more when your Lordship shall make your Answers in your time I will put you in mind when cause shall be of your omissions First therefore for the simple Narrative of the Fact Sir Tho. Overbury for a time was known to have had great Interest and great Friendship with my Lord of Somerset both in his meaner Fortunes and after Insomuch as he was a kind of Oracle of Direction unto him and if you will believe his own vaunts being of an insolent Thrasonical disposition he took upon him that the Fortune Reputation and Understanding of this Gentleman who is well known to have had a better Teacher proceeded from his Company and Counsel And this Friendship rested not only in Conversation and Business of Court but likewise in Communication of Secrets of Estate For my Lord of Somerset at that time exercising by his Majesties special favour and trust the Office of the Secretary provisionally did not forbear to acquaint Overbury with the King's Packets of Dispatches from all parts Spain France the Low Countries c. And this not by glimpses or now and then rounding in the Ear for a favour but in a setled manner Packets were sent sometimes opened by my Lord sometimes unbroken unto Overbury who perused them copied registred them made Tables of them as he thought good So that I will undertake the time was when Overbury knew more of the Secrets of State than the Council Table did Nay they were grown to such an inwardness as they made a Play of all the World besides themselves So as they had Ciphers and Iargons for the King the Queen and all the great Men things seldom used but either by Princes and their Embassadours and Ministers or by such as work and practise against or at least upon Princes But understand me my Lord I shall not charge you this day with any Disloyalty only I say this for a foundation That there was a great communication of Secrets between you and Overbury and that it had relation to Matters of Estate and the greatest Causes of this Kingdom But my Lords as it is a principle in Nature that
the best things are in their corruption the worst And the sweetest Wine makes the sharpest Vinegar So fell it out with them that this excess as I may term it of Friendship ended in mortal Hatred on my Lord of Somerset's part For it fell out some twelve months before Overbury's imprisonment in the Tower that my Lord of Somerset was entred into an unlawful love towards his unfortunate Lady then Countess of Essex which went so far as it was then secretly projected chiefly between my Lord Privy Seal and my Lord of Somerset to effect a Nullity in the Marriage with my Lord of Essex and so to proceed to a Marriage with Somerset This Marriage and Purpose did Overbury mainly oppugn under pretence to do the true part of a Friend for that he counted her an unworthy Woman but the truth was that Overbury who to speak plainly had little that was solid for Religion or Moral Vertue but was a Man possessed with Ambition and vain Glory was loth to have any Partners in the favour of my Lord of Somerset and specially not the House of the Howards against whom he had always professed hatred and opposition So all was but miserable Bargains of Ambition And my Lords that this is no sinister construction will well appear unto you when you shall hear that Overbury makes his brags to my Lord of Somerset that he had won him the love of the Lady by his Letters and Industry So far was he from Cases of Conscience in this Matter And certainly my Lords howsoever the tragical misery of that poor Gentleman Overbury ought somewhat to obliterate his Faults yet because we are not now upon point of Civility but to discover the Face of Truth to the Face of Justice And that it is material to the true understanding of the state of this Cause Overbury was nought and corrupt the Ballades must be amended for that point But to proceed When Overbury saw that he was like to be dispossessed of my Lord here whom he had possessed so long and by whose Greatness he had promised himself to do wonders and being a Man of an unbounded and impetuous spirit he began not only to disswade but to deter him from that Love and Marriage and finding him fixed thought to try stronger Remedies supposing that he had my Lord's Head under his Girdle in respect of communication of Secrets of Estate or as he calls them himself in his Letters Secrets of all Natures and therefore dealt violently with him to make him desist with menaces of Discovery of Secrets and the like Hereupon grew two streams of hatred upon Overbury The one from the Lady in respect that he crossed her Love and abused her Name which are Furies to Women The other of a deeper and more Mineral Nature from my Lord of Somerset himself who was afraid of Overbury's Nature and that if he did break from him and fly out he would mine into him and trouble his whole Fortunes I might add a third stream from the Earl of Northampton's Ambition who desires to be first in favour with my Lord of Somerset and knowing Overbury's malice to himself and his House thought that Man must be removed and cut off So it was amongst them resolved and decreed that Overbury must die Hereupon they had variety of Devices To send him beyond Sea upon occasion of Employment that was too weak and they were so far from giving way to it as they crost it There rested but two ways Quarrel or Assault and Poison For that of Assault after some proposition and attempt they passed from it It was a thing too open and subject to more variety of chances That of Poison likewise was a hazardous thing and subject to many preventions and cautions especially to such a jealous and working Brain as Overbury had except he were first fast in their hands Therefore the way was first to get him into a Trap and lay him up and then they could not miss the Mark. Therefore in execution of this Plot it was devised that Overbury should be designed to some honourable Employment in Foreign Parts and should under-hand by the Lord of Somerset be encouraged to refuse it and so upon that contempt he should be laid Prisoner in the Tower and then they would look he should be close enough and Death should be his Bail Yet were they not at their end For they considered that if there was not a fit Lieutenant of the Tower for their purpose and likewise a fit under-keeper of Overbury First They should meet with many Impediments in the giving and exhibiting the Poison Secondly They should be exposed to note and observation that might discover them And thirdly Overbury in the mean time might write clamorous and furious Letters to other his Friends and so all might be disappointed And therefore the next Link of the Chain was to displace the then Lieutenant Waade and to place Helwisse a principal Abetter in the Impoisonment Again to displace Cary that was the under-Keeper in Waade's time and to place Weston who was the principal Actor in the Impoisonment And this was done in such a while that it may appear to be done as it were with one breath as there were but fifteen days between the commitment of Overbury the displacing of Waade the placing of Helwisse the displacing of â—ary the under-Keeper the placing of Weston and the first Poison given two days after Then when they had this poor Gentleman in the Tower close Prisoner where he could not escape nor stir where he could not feed but by their Hands where he could not speak nor write but through their Trunks then was the time to execute the last Act of this Tragedy Then must Franklin be purveyour of the Poisons and procure five six seven several Potions to be sure to hit his Complexion Then must Mris Turner be the Say-Mistris of the Poisons to try upon poor Beasts what 's present and what works at distance of time Then must Weston be the Tormenter and chase him with Poison after Poison Poison in Salts Poison in Meats Poison in Sweetmeats Poison in Medicines and Vomits until at last his Body was almost come by use of Poisons to the state that Mithridate's Body was by the use of Treacle and Preservatives that the force of the Poisons were blunted upon him Weston confessing when he was chid for not dispatching him that he had given him enough to poison twenty Men. Lastly Because all this asked time courses were taken by Somerset both to divert all means of Overbury's Delivery and to entertain Overbury by continual Letters partly of Hopes and Projects for his Delivery and partly of other Fables and Negotiations somewhat like some kind of Persons which I will not name which keep Men in talk of Fortune-telling when they have a fellonious meaning And this is the true Narrative of this Act of Impoisonment which I have summarily recited Now for the Distribution of the Proofs there
are four Heads of Proofs to prove you guilty my Lord of Somerset of this Impoisonment whereof two are precedent to the Imprisonment the third is present and the fourth is following or subsequent For it is in Proofs as it is in Lights there is a direct Light and there is a reflexion of Light or Back-Light The first Head or Proof thereof is That there was a root of Bitterness a mortal Malice or Hatred mixed with deep and bottomless Fears that you had towards Sir Thomas Overbury The second is That you were the principal Actor and had your hand in all those Acts which did conduce to the Impoisonment and which gave opportunity and means to effect it and without which the Impoisonment could never have been and which could serve or tend to no other end but to the Impoisonment The third is That your hand was in the very Impoisonment it self which is more than needs to be proved that you did direct Poison that you did deliver Poison that you did continually hearken to the success of the Impoisonment and that you spurred it on and called for dispatch when you thought it lingred And lastly That you did all the things after the Impoisonment which may detect a guilty Conscience for the smothering of it and avoiding punishment for it which can be but of three kinds That you suppressed as much as in you was Testimony That you did deface and destroy and clip and misdate all Writings that might give light to the Impoisonment and that you did fly to the Altar of Guiltiness which is a Pardon and a Pardon of Murder and a Pardon for your Self and not for your Lady In this my Lord I convert my speech to you because I would have you attend the Points of your Charge and so of your Defence the better And two of these Heads I have taken to my self and left the other two to the King 's two Serjeants For the first main part which is the mortal Hatred coupled with Fear that was in my Lord of Somerset towards Overbury although he did palliate it with a great deal of hypocrisie and dissimulation even to the end I shall prove it my Lord Steward and you my Lords and Peers manifestly by matter both of Oath and Writing The root of this Hatred was that that hath cost many a Man's Life that is Fear of discovering Secrets Secrets I say of a high and dangerous nature wherein the course that I will hold shall be this First I will shew that such a Breach and Malice was between my Lord and Overbury and that it burst forth into violent Menaces and Threats on both sides Secondly That these Secrets were not light but of a high nature for I will give you the Elevation of the Pole They were such as my Lord of Somerset for his part had made a Vow That Overbury should neither live in Court nor Country That he had likewise opened himself and his own fears so far that if Overbury ever came forth of the Tower either Overbury or himself must die for it And of Overbury's part he had threatned my Lord That whether he did live or die my Lord's shame should never die but he would leave him the most odious Man of the World And farther that my Lord was like enough to repent it in the place where Overbury wrote which was the Tower of London He was a true Prophet 〈◊〉 that So here in the height of the Secrets Thirdly I will shew you that all the King's Business was by my Lord put into Overbury's Hands So as there is work enough for Secrets whatsoever they were And like Princes Confederates they had their Ciphers and Iargons And lastly I will shew you that it is but a Toy to say that the Malice was only in respect he spake dishonourbly of the Lady or for doubt of breaking the Marriage For that Overbury was a Coadjutor to that Love and the Lord of Somerset was as deep in speaking ill of the Lady as Overbury And again it was too late for that Matter for the Bargain of the Match was then made and past And if it had been no more but to remove Overbury from disturbing of the Match it had been an easy matter to have banded over Overbury beyond Seas for which they had a fair way but that would not serve their turn And lastly Periculum periculo vincitur to go so far as an Impoisonment must have a deeper malice than flashes For the Cause must bear a proportion to the Effect For the next general Head of Proofs which consists in Acts preparatory to the middle Acts they are in eight several points of the Compass as I may term it First That there were devices and projects to dispatch Overbury or to overthrow him plotted between the Countess of Somerset the Earl of Somerset and the Earl of Northampton before they fell upon the Impoisonment For always before Men fix upon a course of Mischief there be some rejections but die he must one way or other Secondly That my Lord of Somerset was principal Practicer I must speak it in a most perfidious manner to set a Train or Trap for Overbury to get him into the Tower without which they never durst have attempted the Impoisonment Thirdly That the placing of the Lieutenant Helwisse one of the Impoisoners and the displacing of Waade was by the means of my Lord of Somerset Fourthly That the placing of Weston the under-Keeper who was the principal Impoisoner and the displacing of Cary and the doing of all this within fifteen days after Overbury's Commitment was by the means and countenance of my Lord of Somerset And these two were the active Instruments of the Impoisonment And this was a Business that the Ladies power could not reach unto Fifthly That because there must be a time for the Tragedy to be acted and chiefly because they would not have the Poisons work upon the sudden And for that the strength of Overbury's Nature or the very custom of receiving Poison into his Body did overcome the Poisons that they wrought not so fast therefore Overbury must be held in the Tower And as my Lord of Somerset got him into the Trap so he kept him in and abused him with continual hopes of Liberty and diverted all the true and effectual means of his Liberty and made light of his Sickness and Extremities Sixthly That not only the Plot of getting Overbury into the Tower and the devices to hold him and keep him there but the strange manner of his close keeping being in but for a Contempt was by the device and means of my Lord of Somerset who denied his Father to see him denied his Servants that offered to be shut up close Prisoners with him and in effect handled it so that he was close Prisoner to all his Friends and open and exposed to all his Enemies Seventhly That the Advertisement which my Lady received from time to time from the Lievtenant or
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
fruendo emolumentum transit usque in Posteros Quin ergo si Gratiarum talioni impares sumus juncto robore alterius saeculi Nepotes succurrant qui reliquum illud quod tibi non possunt saltem nomini tuo persolvent Felices illi nos tamen quà m longè feliciores quibus honorificè conscriptam tuâ manu Epistolam quibus oculatissima lectitandi praecepta Studiorum Concordiam in fronte voluminis demandâsti Quasi parum esset Musas de tuâ penu locupletare nisi ostenderes quo modo ipsae discerent Solenniori itaque Osculo acerrimum judicij tui Depositum excepit frequentissimus Purpuratorum Senatus exceperunt pariter minoris ordinis Gentes quod omnes in publico Librorum Thesaurario in Memoriâ singuli deposuerunt Dominations vestrae Studiosissima Academia Oxoniensis E Domo nostrâ Congregationis 20. Decem. 1623. The Superscription was thus To the Right Honourable Francis Baron of Verulam and Vicount of St Alban our very good Lord. The same Letter in English by the Publisher Most Noble and most learned Viscount YOur Honour could have given nothing more agreeable and the Vniversity could have received nothing more acceptable than the Sciences And those Sciences which She formerly sent forth Poor of low Stature Unpolished she hath received Elegant Tall and by the supplies of your Wit by which alone they could have been Advanced most rich in Dowry She esteemeth it an extraordinary favour to have a return with Usury made of that by a Stranger if so near a Relation may be call'd a Stranger which She bestows as a Patrimony upon her Children And She readily acknowledgeth that though the Muses are born in Oxford they grow elsewhere Grown they are and under your Pen who like some mighty Hercules in Learning have by your own Hand further advanced those Pillars in the Learned World which by the rest of that World were supposed immoveable We congratulate you you most accomplish'd Combatant who by your most diligent Patronage of the Vertues of others have overcome other Patrons and by your own Writings your self For by the eminent heighth of your Honour you advanced only Learned Men now at last O ravishing Prodigie you have also advanced Learning it self The ample Munificence of this Gift lays a Burthen upon your Clients in the receiving of which We have the Honour but in the enjoying of it the Emolument will descend to late Posterity If therefore we are not able of our selves to return sufficient and suitable Thanks our Nephews of the next Age ought to give their Assistance and pay the Remainder if not to your Self to the Honour of your Name Happy they but we how much more happy c. To whom you have pleas'd to do the honour of sending a Letter written by no other than by your own Hand To whom you have pleas'd to send the clearest Instructions for reading your Work and for concord in our Studies in the Front of your Book As if it were a small thing for your Lordship to inrich the Muses out of your own Stock unless you taught them also a Method of getting Wealth Wherefore this most accurate Pledg of your Understanding has been with the most solemn Reverence received in a very full Congregation both by the Doctors and Masters and that which the common Vote hath placed in our Public Library every single Person has gratefully deposited in his Memory Your Lordships most devoted Servant The Vniversity of Oxford From our Convocation-house Decemb 20. 1623. A Letter written by Dr. Roger Maynwaring to Dr. Rawley concerning the Lord Bacon's Confession of Faith SIR I Have at your Command surveigh'd this deep and devout Tract of your deceased Lord and send back a few Notes upon it In the first Page Line 7 a That is in Resuscit p. 117. l. 8. to for ever in P. 118. are these words I believe that God is so Holy Pure and Jealous that it is impossible for Him to be pleased in any Creature though the Work of his own Hands So that neither Angel Man nor World could stand or can stand one moment in his Eyes without beholding the same in the Face of a Mediator And therefore that before Him with whom all things are present the Lamb of God was slain before all Worlds Without which eternal Counsel of his it was impossible for Him to have descended to any work of Creation but he should have enjoyed the blessed and individual Society of Three Persons in Godhead only for ever This Point I have heard some Divines question Whether God without Christ did pour his Love upon the Creature And I had sometimes a Dispute with Dr. Sharp * The same I think who was committed to the Tower having taught Hoskins his Allusion to the Sicilian Vespers See Reliqu Wotton p. 434. of your University who held that the Emanation of the Father's Love to the Creature was Immediate His Reason amongst others was taken from that Text So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Something of that Point I have written amongst my Papers which on the suddain I cannot light upon But I remember that I held the Point in the Negative and that St. Austin in his Comment on the Fifth Chapter to the Romans gather'd by Beda is strong that way In Page 2 line the 9th to the 13th b That is in Resusc p. 118. l. 9. to refer are these words God by the Reconcilement of the Mediator turning his Countenance towards his Creatures though not in equal Light and Degree made way unto the Dispensation of his most holy and secret Will whereby some of his Creatures might stand and keep their State others might possibly fall and be restored and others might fall and not be restored in their Estate but yet remain in Being though under Wrath and Corruption all with respect to the Mediator Which is the great Mystery and perfect Center of all God's Ways with his Creatures and unto which all his other Works and Wonders do but serve and refer Here absolute Reprobation seems to be defended in that the Will of God is made the Reason of the Not-restitution of some At least-wise his Lordship seems to say that 't was God's will that some should fall Unless that may be meant of Voluntas Permissiva his will of Permission In Page the 2d at the end c That is in Resusc p. 118. l. 24. c. where he saith Amongst the Generations of Men he Elected a small Flock if that were added of fallen Men it would not be amiss lest any should conceive that his Lordship had meant the Decree had passed on Massa incorrupta on Mankind considered before the Fall In Page the 4th lines the 13th and 14th d That is in Resusc p. 119. l. 36. c. are these words Man made a total defection from God presuming to imagine that the Commandments and Prohibitions of God were not the Rules of Good
from the Hague had occasioned so late an Answer to it He deserves pardon who offends against his will And who will endeavour to make amends for this involuntary delay by the study of such kindness as shall be vigilant in Offices of Friendship as often as occasion shall be offer'd The Design of him who translated into French the Natural History of the Lord Bacon of which I gave account in my former Letters is briefly exhibited in my Brother's Preface which I desire you to peruse as also in your next Letter to send me your Judgment concerning such Errors as may have been committed by him That Edition of my Brother's of which you write that you read it with a great deal of Pleasure shall shortly be set forth with his Amendments together with some Additions of the like Argument to be substituted in the place of the New Atlantis which shall be there omitted These Additions will be the same with those in the Version of the formentioned Frenchman put into Latine seeing we could not find the English Originals from which he translates them Unless you when you see the Book shall condemn those Additions as adulterate For your Observations on those Places either not rightly understood or not accurately turned out of the English by you published which from one not a Native in his first Essay and growing in Knowledg together with his Years if they be many no Man needs wonder at it who understands the Physiological variety of an Argument of such extent and rendred difficult by such an heap of things of which it consists and for the expressing of which there is not a supply of words from the Ancients but some of a new stamp and such as may serve for present use are required I intreat you not to deny me the sight of them That so I may compare them with the Corrections which my Brother now with God did make with a very great deal of pains But whether the truth of them answers his diligence will be best understood by your self and those few others by whom such Elegancies can be rightly judged of I send you here a Catalogue of those writings a These were the Papers which J. Gruter afterwards publish'd under the title of Scripta Philosophica which I had in MS. out of the study of Sir William Boswel and which I now have by me either written by the Lord Bacon himself or by some English Amanuensis but by him revised as the same Sir Willam Boswel who was pleased to admit me to a most intimate familiarity with him did himself tell me Among my Copies as the Catalogue which comes with this Letter shews you will find the History of rare and dense Bodies but imperfect though carried on to some length I had once in my hands an entire and thick Volume concerning Heavy and Light Bodies but consisting only of a naked delineation of the Model which the Lord Bacon had framed in his Head in titles of Matters without any description of the Matters themselves There is here enclosed a Copy of that Contexture b This Letter came to my hands without that Copy See in lieu of it Topica de Gravi Levi in lib. 5. cap. 3. de Augm. Scien containing only the Heads of the Chapters and wanting a full handling from that rude Draught which supplement I dispair of For the Book of Dense and Rare Bodies which you have by you perfected by the Author's last Hand as likewise the Fragments which are an Appendix to it I could wish that they might be here publish'd in Holland together with those hitherto unpublish'd Philosophical Papers copied by me out of M S S. of Sir William Boswel seeing if they come out together they will set off and commend one another I have begun to deal with a Printer who is a Man of great Diligence and Curiosity I will so order the matter that you shall have no reason to complain of my Fidelity and Candor if you leave that Edition to me Care shall be taken by me that it be not done without honourable mention of your self But be it what it will you shall resolve upon it shall abate nothing of the offices of our Friendship which from this beginning of it shall still further be promoted upon all occasions Lewis Elzevir wrote me word lately from Amsterdam that he was designed to begin shortly an Edition in Quarto of all the Works of the Lord Bacon in Latine or English But not of the English without the Translation of them into Latine And he desir'd my advice and any assistance I could give him by Manuscripts or Translations to the end that as far as possible those Works might come abroad with advantage which have been long receiv'd with the kindest Elogies and with the most attested Applause of the Learned World If you have any thing in your Mind or your Hands whence we may hope for assistance in so famous a Design and conducing so much to the Honour of those who are Instrumental in it pray let me know it and reckon me henceforth amongst the devout Honourers of the name of the Lord Bacon and of your own Vertues I expect from you what you know about the Ancestors of the Lord Bacon especially concerning his Father Nicholas Bacon concerning his Youth his Studies in Cambridg his Travels his Honours his Office of Chancellour and his deposal from it by Sentence of Parliament The former I will undertake in a more florid and free Style expatiating in his just Praises the latter with a wary Pen lest out of my Commentary of the Life of this most Learned Man matter be offered of pernicious Prating to Slanderers and Men of dishonest Tempers From the Hague May 29. 1652. The second Letter of Mr. Isaac Gruter to Dr. Rawley concerning the Writings of the Lord Bacon V. R. Gulielmo Rawlejo S. S. Theologiae Doctori S. P. D. Isaacus Gruterus Vir Reverende DE responsi tui tarditate queri non licet cùm difficultas trajectûs facile moram injiciat ex anno in hiemem declivi dum tuas dares atque abunde in iis inveniat quo se pascat desiderium tantò uberiori accessione quantò cunctantius ad manus nostras fortassis pervenisse dici potest Et quamvis pauxillum erat quod praeter gratias proindiculo reponerem ejus tamen id momenti visum est ut supprimere diutius noluerim praesertim cùm nefas mihi haberetur Smithum responso carere virum amicissimum cujus in Res nostras studio quicquid in me est curae debetur affectúsque nihil imminuti parte in quam sane non levem Rawleius venit ut in Trigam coäluisse dici queat optimè consentientes animos Illustrissimi Herois Verulamii quà m sancta apud me sit existimatio etsi perquam sollicitè ostendisse me putabam faciam tamen ut in posterum religiosius me operam dedisse quo hoc literato orbi innotesceret