CHAP. CONTENTS PAGE LIII.-Continuation of the Life of Lord Bacon to the end LIV.-Continuation of the Life of Lord Bacon from the LIX. Continuation of the Life of Lord Keeper Williams till his appointment as Archbishop of York, LX.-Conclusion of the Life of Lord Keeper Williams, LXII. Conclusion of the Life of Lord Keeper Coventry, LXVII.-Life of Lord Keeper Lane, . LXVIII.-Lords Keepers of the Parliamentary Great Seal during LXIX.-Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal from the first appointment of Whitelock till the adoption of a new Great Seal bearing the insignia of the Republic, LXX.-Lords Keepers from the adoption of the Republican LXXV.-Continuation of the Life of Lord Clarendon till he was sent to Bristol with the charge of Prince Charles, 347 356 370 394 LIVES OF THE LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER LIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD BACON TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. RANSACTIONS now come upon us, which, though they did not seriously mar Bacon's fortunes, have affixed a greater stain upon his memory than even that judicial corruption by which he was at once precipitated from the height of power and greatness. We have seen how Essex behaved to him with princely munificence, and with more than fraternal affection. Their intimacy continued without abatement till the ill-fated young nobleman had incurred the displeasure of his Sovereign. He steadily supported the interest of his friend at Court by his personal exertions; and when he was to be absent in his expedition to the coast of Spain, he most earnestly recommended him to the Queen, and all over whom he could expect to exercise any influence. Bacon repaid this kindness by the salutary advice he gave him, and above all by cautioning him against going as LordDeputy to Ireland-a service unfit for his abilities, and which, from the errors he was in danger of committing in it, and the advantage to be taken of his absence by his enemies, was likely to lead to his ruin. In spite of Essex's unfortunate campaign and unsuccessful negotiations in Ireland, Bacon stuck by him as a defender, believing that he retained his place in the Queen's heart, and that he would yet have the disposal of the patronage of the Crown. On his sudden return without leave from his command, and his hurrying down to Nonsuch, where the Court lay, Bacon followed him, and had the mortification to find, that, after a gleam of returning favor, the Earl had been ordered into confinement. But, to guard against exaggeration of the misconduct about to be exposed, I most eagerly admit that now, and down to the hour when the unhappy youth expiated his offenses on the scaffold, Bacon showed him as much countenance as was entirely consistent with his own safety, convenience, and hope of advancement. In a short interview with him at Nonsuch, he said, "My Lord, Nebecula est, cito transibit; it is but a mist;" and he wisely advised him "to seek access to the Queen importune, opportune, seriously, sportingly, every way." While Essex was a prisoner in the custody of Lord Keeper Egerton, at York House, as Bacon had frequent interviews with the Queen, which, he says, were only "about causes of her revenue and law business," the rumor ran that he was incensing her against his young patron; and even Robert Cecil mentioned it to him, saying, one day, in his house at the Savoy, "Cousin, I hear it, but I believe it not, that you should do some ill office to my Lord of Essex: for my part I am merely passive, and not active, in this action; and I follow the Queen, and that heavily, and I lead her not. The same course I would wish you to take." Francis justified himself, and we believe truly, from the imputation. According to his own account he did everything in his power to induce her to restore him to favor, resorting for this purpose to rhyme as well as to reason. About the middle of Michaelmas term, 1600, as she intimated her intention to dine with him at Twickenham, "though he professed not to be a poet, he prepared a sonnet, directly tending and alluding to draw on her Majesty's reconcilement to my Lord,"which he presented to her at her departure. He likewise, as he says, strongly dissuaded her from prosecuting Essex, on account of his great popularity; and he adds, "Never was I so ambitious of anything in my lifetime as I was to have carried some token or favor from her Majesty to my Lord, using all the art I had, both to procure her Majesty to send, and myself to be the messenger." Elizabeth mentioning to him one day at Whitehall the nomination 1 Apology. Works, vol. vi. 219. of Lord Mountjoy for Deputy in Ireland, Bacon said to her, "Surely, Madam, if you mean not to employ my Lord of Essex thither again, your Majesty can not make a better choice." "Essex!" said she; "whensoever I send Essex back again into Ireland, I will marry you;—claim it of me." Whereunto, out of zeal for the imprisoned Earl, he said, "Well, Madam, I will release that contract, if his going be for the good of your state." She was so far of fended, that in Christmas, Lent, and Easter term following, when he came to her on law business, her face and manner were not so clear and open to him as usual, and she was entirely silent respecting Essex. After that, she declared that she was resolved to proceed against himby information ore tenus in the Star Chamber, although it should be ad castigationem, et non ad destructionem. Then, to divert her entirely from this purpose, Bacon said, "Madam, if you will have me speak to you in this argument, I must speak to you as Friar Bacon's head spake, that said first Time is, and then Time was, and Time will never be; it is now far too late-the matter is cold, and hath taken too much wind." We have the account of these dialogues only from himself after her death, and it is to be regarded with great suspicion, as there is reason to think that she gave a somewhat different version of them in her lifetime; for, introducing his narrative, and alluding to the stories circulated against him, he says, "I will not think that they grew any way from Majesty's own speeches, whose memory I will ever honor; if they did, she is with God, and miserum est lædi de quibus non possis queri." He takes to himself the entire merit of having the Star Chamber prosecution converted into the extra-judicial inquiry before the Lord Keeper and other Commissioners at York House,' by saying to her, "Why, Madam, if you will needs have a proceeding, you were best have it in some such sort as Ovid spoke of his mistress, est aliquid luce patente minus." It is quite certain, however, that he had never ventured to visit the disgraced favorite during his long captivity, or to give him any public support; and the people (to the honor of England be it spoken), ever shocked by private treachery and ingratitude, were indignant at his conduct, 1 Apology, vol. vi. 200, 221. |