you profit by it, and all shall be well. And you the Justices of Peace in particular, let me say this to you; Never King of this realm did you so much honour as the King hath done you in his speech, by being your immediate director, and by sorting you and your service with the service of ambassadors, and of his nearest attendants. Nay more, it seems his Majesty is willing to do the state of Justice of Peace honour actively also; by bringing in, with time, the like form of commission into the government of Scotland, as that glorious King, Edward the third, did plant this commission here in this kingdom. And therefore you are not fit to be copies, except you be fair written without blots or blurs, or anything unworthy your authority. And so I will trouble you no longer for this time. 10. It was about this time that Bacon had the pleasure of welcoming his old friend Toby Matthew back into England. He had always kept up a correspondence with him, and there are several of his letters among the papers at Lambeth, which, having been first printed by Birch in his "Letters, etc., of the Lord Chancellor Bacon," and afterwards included in his edition of the entire works, have been retained by all succeeding editors. In this collection I do not include letters addressed to Bacon by other people, except where they help to throw light upon his own, or upon himself,— upon his letters or his life,—which I have not hitherto found to be the case with Toby Matthew's, otherwise than as showing the continuance on both sides of a very warm interest and affection, stimulated by common studies and mutual services. The services had been hitherto from the nature of the case all on Bacon's side. For Matthew was still an exile, longing to return; and as there was no reason for keeping him in exile except the supposed necessity of making him take the oath of allegiance, (for though inexorably faithful to his new religion, he appears to have continued perfectly loyal to England), all the influence that Bacon had was used in his favour. This by itself was not very much, I fancy. But in 1616 fortune presented Matthew, who was then at Brussels, with a new chance. After his banishment from England in February 1607-8 (see Vol. IV. ch. i. § 4) he had gone into France and there made the acquaintance of Mr. Villiers. Mr. Villiers, who was then nobody, had suddenly become the most powerful instrument in England for Note from Dr. Neligan's MS. overcoming a scruple in the King's mind; and Matthew took advantage of the opportunity to press his suit. As a mediator both with Villiers and the Archbishop and the King, Bacon could be of great use; and though the complimentary phrases used by a fine and ingenious writer in expressing his obligations to such a man. are not to be quoted as historical evidence, it is plain that Matthew really attributed the success of the mediation (so far as it was successful) in great part to Bacon's zeal and judgment. A letter which he certainly received from him about the middle of August 1616 would have given us better information; but the copy which was once among his papers' has unfortunately disappeared; and all we know of it is gathered from the terms in which it was acknowledged. These therefore I give in full. "I have been made happy by your Honour's noble and dear lines of the two and twentieth of July, and the joy that I took therein was only kept from excess by the notice they gave me of some intentions and advices of your Honour which you had been pleased to impart to other of my friends with a meaning that they should acquaint me with them, whereof they have entirely failed. And therefore (if still it should import me to understand what they were) I must be enforced to beg the knowledge of them from yourself. Your Honour hath by this short letter delivered me otherwise from a great deal of laborious suspense. For (besides the great hope you give me of being so shortly able to do you reverence) I am come to know that by the diligence of your favour towards me my Lord of Canterbury hath been drawn to give way, and the Master of the Horse hath been induced to move. That motion I trust will be granted howsoever, but I should be out of fear thereof if, when he moves the King, your Honour would cast to be present; that if his Majesty should make any difficulty, some such reply as is wont to come from you in such cases may have power to discharge it."2 The difficulty seems now to have been entirely with the King. Chamberlain, who had an interest in Matthew as a friend of Carleton's, spoke to Winwood in favour of his suit on the 11th of October, who told him plainly "that the King would not hear of it; and yet he had both moved it himself, and got the Lord Villiers, for the acquaintance he had abroad with Mr. Matthew, to move it likewise; but with the like success. Yet he says that if he could be brought to take the oath of allegiance he would not leave urging till he had effected it." In the beginning of December Bacon was again em See entry of a letter in Stephens's catalogue; date "23 July 1616," beginning you might have assured:" subject, "touching his return:" address "Mr. Matthews." 2 Gibson Papers, vol. viii. f. 46, dated 1 September 1616, new style. 3 Court and Times of James I. vol. i. p. 428. : ployed in the negotiation; as I gather from another entry in Stephens's catalogue; but in what way and with what success we do not know. All we know is that Matthew obtained leave to return (though subject to some conditions of restraint)2 in May, and that in the middle of July he arrived. On the 18th Chamberlain saw him at Winwood's house who "used him," he says, "kindly, and dealt earnestly with him to take the oath of allegiance; but as far as I could perceive it was lost labour; though he told him without doing it he was verily of opinion the King would not endure him long here."3 Bacon, I imagine, had undertaken to be answerable for his behaviour. For it was as his guest that he remained in England. "Perhaps (adds Chamberlain) he presumes upon my Lord Keeper's favour, which indeed is very great now at first, if it continue; for he lodgeth him in York House, and carries him the next week along with him to Gorhambury by St. Albans." So great indeed was the favour he showed him, that people began to think it too much. For writing 115 again three weeks after, Chamberlain reports him still at Gorhambury; "being so exceedingly favoured and respected by that Lord that it is thought aliquid nimium, that a man of his place should give so much countenance to one so affected. And some stick not to say that former private familiarity should give place to public respects.' It could not be expected that when all papists were so much suspected and disliked as they then were, attentions of this kind to a pervert and a recusant would escape popular censure. But they were open to no just objection, and were of important service to a valued friend; whose society we leave Bacon to enjoy during the short interval of fair weather which preceded the squall to be described in the next chapter. 1 Date "9 Dec. 1616." Beginning "The only cause why." Subject "About suing for his return." Address "Mr. Matthews." 2 Chamberlain to Carleton, 10 May, 1617. 3 Id. 19 July 1617. S. P. vol. xcii. no. 96. 4 "Toby Matthew is received with great grace by the Lord Keeper and lodged in his house, and resides a kind of prisoner with him until the return of the King." George Gerrard to Sir D. Carleton, 22 July, 1617. Id. ibid. no. 101. 5 9 Aug. 1617. Id. vol. xciii. no. 15. EARLY in July Bacon received a letter from a friend1 who had been to the Court in Scotland, giving a favourable report of the progress of business in the session of Parliament which had just closed. The business I need not meddle with, as it does not concern any part of his correspondence. But the concluding paragraph seems to imply some apprehension of trouble in store for Bacon himself. "I have made good profit," he says, " of my journey hither; for I have gotten a transcript of the speech which your Lordship did deliver at your first and happy sitting in the Chancery; which I could not gain in England. It hath been shewed to the King, and received due approbation. The God of Heaven, all-wise and all-sufficient, guard and assist your Lordship in all your actions; for I can read here whatsoever your Lordship doth act there; and your courses be such as you need not to fear to give copies of them. But the King's ears be wide and long, and he seeth with many eyes. All this works for your honour and comfort. I pray God nothing be soiled heated or cooled in the carriage. Envy sometimes attends virtues and not for good; and these bore certain proprieties and circumstances inherent to your Lordship's mind, which men may admire, I cannot express. But I will wade no further herein lest I should seem eloquent," etc. Whatever these vague hints meant, it was true that Bacon's favour with the King and Buckingham was in great danger at this time; and the danger had arisen in an unsuspected quarter. We left Sir Edward Coke last November preparing to follow the counsel of his anonymous adviser and "learn of the unjust steward to make friends of the 1 Dated June 28, 1618. S. P. vol. xcii. no. 103 I. unrighteous Mammon." It was a new part for him, and the harder to play because he could not altogether lay aside his old character. But the force, and perhaps I should add the coarseness, of his nature carried him through, and he succeeded in the end in getting what he wanted. His youngest daughter was a fit match in point of age for Sir John Villiers, Buckingham's brother; and he had the means of making it a desirable match in point of wealth. Buckingham, who had never come into personal collision with him and was always eager to advance his own kindred, took him into favour at once; and the King, who in spite of continual collisions and many causes of irritation and not unreasonable displeasure, seems to have retained a respect and even a kind of liking for the man, could not be long at enmity with one whom Buckingham favoured. Within less than a month from the time when Coke received his supersedeas we find symptoms of returning grace. "Sir Edward Coke," writes Edward Sherburn to Carleton on the 7th of December 1616, "was the last week with the King at Newmarket, and kissing his M. hands he received some kind promises also, which was to this effect: That although his M. had removed him from the place of Chief Justice for some special ends, as holding him not altogether so fit a man to do his M. service in that office, yet his meaning was not to lose so good a servant, but that he would have him in remembrance and employ him in some other condition. Which whether it may content Sir Edward, I know not: but I am sure the generality will be much affected to see him restored to honour." Again on the 14th,— "Sir Edward Coke hath been again with his M. since my last to your Lp. and it is generally reported that his M. will create him a Baron, sometime these holidays; for either his friends (whereof the Queen and Prince are two) or else his money, or both together, hath so turned the current, as your Lp. may see which way the tide begins to run." To the same effect, Chamberlain, writing a week later, reports,— "The Lo. Coke was twice with the King at Newmarket, so well and graciously used that he is as jocund and jovial as ever he was. It is generally said he shall shortly be made a Baron: but some interpret this kindness to be but for the compassing of a match for the L. Villiers' brother with one of his daughters."2 But though the way seemed smooth, there were obstructions both in himself and in his house. For himself, he could not, when it came 1 S. P. Dom. James I. vol. lxxxix. no. 69. |