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Spain;" and this cannot, I think, have been written before March, 1624. I take it, however, to have been a slip of the memory, such as might easily happen in assigning a date which was of no importance; for the date of the plague is certain, while in a letter written from Gorhambury to Mr. Roger Palmer on the 29th of October, which I place next, he reports himself convalescent, and two letters (not preserved) which he wrote to Sir Thomas Coventry, one on the 23rd and one on the 28th, show that he had resumed his correspondence. "The first time," therefore, "that he found any degree of health" cannot be placed much later than this month.

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Though the letters to Coventry have not come down to us, it appears from the reply that the first related to those articles in his petition formerly addressed to King James through Buckingham, upon which he had not received any explicit answer, the reversion of his honours, and the release of his rent due to the Crown for the Farm of the Petty Writs during the years when his pension was not to run; and also to his old suit for the debt claimed for the Crown from his brother Sir Nicholas; which appears to have been granted, though it had not yet borne any fruit; the legal proceedings for the recovery of it having been interrupted by several accidents.

To MR. ROGER PALMER.1

Good Mr. Roger Palmer,

I thank God, by means of the sweet air of the country, I have obtained some degree of health.

2

Sending to the court, I thought I would salute you and I would be glad, in this solitary time and place, to hear a little from you how the world goeth, according to your friendly manner heretofore. Fare you well most heartily.

Your very affectionate and assured friend,

Gorhambury, 29 Oct. 1625.

FR. ST. ALban.

SIR THOMAS COVENTRY, ATTORNEY GENERAL, TO THE LORD VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN.3

My very good Lord,

I received from your Lordship two letters, the one of the 23rd, the

1 Gibson Papers, vol. viii. f. 211. Copy. No fly-leaf. Indorsed, "to Mr. Roger Palmer."

2 Among the entries in Stephens's catalogue to which nothing corresponding has been found, there is one which is especially tantalising. Date, "30 September, 1625," (beginning) "Your servant passing by," (subject) "An account of his country life," (address) "to the Earl of Dorset."

3 Gibson Papers, vol. viii. f. 212. Original.

1625.1

CORRESPONDENCE WITH SIR T. COVENTRY.

535

other of the 28th of this month. To the former, I do assure your Lordship that I have not heard any thing of any suit or motion, either touching the reversion of your honours or the rent of your farm of petty writs; and, if I had heard any thing thereof, I would not have been unmindful of that caveat which heretofore you gave me by former letters, nor slack to do you the best service I might.

:

The debt of Sir Nicholas Bacon resteth as it did for in the latter end of King James his time I exhibited a quo warranto in the Exchequer touching that liberty against Sir Nicholas, which abated by his death; then another against Sir Edmund, which by the demise of the King and by reason of the adjournment of the last term hath had no farther proceeding, but that day is given to plead.

Concerning your other letter, I humbly thank your Lordship for your favourable and good wishes to me; though I, knowing mine own unaptness to so great an employment,' should be most heartily glad if his Majesty had or yet would choose a man of more merit. But if otherwise, humbleness and submission becomes the servant, and to stand in that station where his Majesty will have him.

But as for the request you make for your servant, though I protest I am not yet engaged by promise to any, because I held it too much boldness towards my master and discourtesy towards my Lord Keeper 2 to dispose of places while he had the seal, yet in respect I have some servants and some of my kindred apt for the place you write [of], and have been already so much importuned by noble persons when I lately was with his Majesty at Salisbury as it will be hard for me to give them all denial, I am not able to discern how I can accommodate your servant; though for your sake, and in respect of the former knowledge myself have had of the merit and worth of the gentleman, I should be most ready and willing to perform your desire, if it were in my power. And so, with remembrance of my service to your Lordship, I remain

At your Lordship's commandment,

Kingsbury, Oct. 29, 1625.

THO. COVENTRY.

TO THE QUEEN OF BOHEMIA.3

It may please your Majesty,

I have received your Majesty's gracious letter from Mr. Secretary Morton, who is now a saint in heaven.

It was at a

1 That of the great seal, of which Sir Thomas Coventry was three days after made Lord Keeper, on the 1st of November, 1625. (Note by Birch).

2 Bishop Williams, who had resigned the great seal, on the 25th of October, 1625, to Sir John Suckling, who brought his Majesty's warrant to receive it, dated at Salisbury on the 23rd of that month. (Note by Birch).

3 Baconiana,' p. 187, entitled "The Lord Chancellor Bacon's letter to the Queen of Bohemia [in the year 1625] in answer to one from her Majesty, and upon sending to her his book about a War with Spain."

He died of a fever, 6 Sept., 1625. S. P. Charles I., vol. vi. no. 33.

time when the great desolation of the plague was in the city, and when myself was ill of a dangerous and tedious sickness. The first time that I found any degree of health, nothing came sooner to my mind, than to acknowledge your Majesty's great favour, by my most humble thanks. And because I see your Majesty taketh delight in my writings (and to say the truth, they are the best fruits I now yield) I presume to send your Majesty a little discourse of mine, touching a War with Spain, which I writ about two years since; which the King your brother liked well. It is written without bitterness or invective, as King's affairs ought to be carried; but if I be not deceived, it hath edge enough. I have yet some spirits left, and remnant of experience, which I consecrate to the King's service and your Majesty's; for whom I pour out my daily prayers to God, that he would give your Majesty a fortune worthy your rare virtues; which, some good spirit tells me, will be in the end. I do in all reverence kiss your Majesty's hands, ever resting

Your Majesty's most humble and devoted servant,
FR. ST. ALBAN.

6.

The only work which Bacon published during this year was the third and last edition of the Essays; a copy of which he sent to the Marquis d'Effiat with the following letter:

A LETTER OF THE LORD BACON'S IN FRENCH, TO THE
MARQUIS FIAT, RELATING TO HIS ESSAYS.1

Monsieur l'Ambassadeur mon Fils,

Voyant que vostre Excellence faict & traite mariages, non seulement entre les Princes d'Angleterre & de France, mais aussi entre les langues (puis que faictes traduire mon livre de l'Advancement des sciences en Francois), j'ai bien voulu vous envoyer mon livre dernierement imprimé que j'avois pourveu pour vous; mais j'estois en doubte de le vous envoyer, pour ce qu'il estoit escrit en Anglois. Mais à cest' heure pour la raison susdicte je le vous envoye. C'est un Recompilement de mes Essays Morales & Civiles; mais tellement enlargiés & enrichiés, tant de nombre que de poix, que c'est de fait un œuvre nouveau. Je vous baise les mains, & reste

Vostre trés affectionée ami, & très humble serviteur.

1 'Baconiana,' p. 201.

1625.] ESSAYS, TRANSLATIONS, SYLVA SYLVARUM.

537

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Which of his posthumous writings were composed in 1625, it is not possible to determine: for Rawley, who enumerates them as near as he can in the just order wherein they were written," does not attempt to give the dates, and does not speak with certainty. His list, if exact in itself, and exactly considered, would imply that the Fable of the New Atlantis came before the De Augmentis; which was published in the autumn of 1623: in which case one would have expected to find some mention of it in the letter to Father Fulgentio; being, though not a part of the 'Instauration,' yet a representation in vision of the state of things which the Instauration' was to bring about or make possible. But even without that, there remains enough to account for a year of very active literary occupation. The translations into Latin (upon which we have seen that in the summer of 1623, "his labours were most set ") are enough of themselves to fill a volume of 400 pages: while the Essays and the Sylva Sylvarum make another about as large.

7

Towards the end of this year the Government met with another great military mishap. The indifference of the House of Commons to the war, and their unreadiness to provide means for carrying it on, had not been accepted by the King as a reason for declining it. An expedition had been planned and a fleet prepared; and it was hoped that a brilliant action and an abundant spoil would re-awaken the warlike spirit of the people and make the government popular. It was intended apparently to be a repetition with improvements of the fortunate action of the Earl of Essex in 1596. The shipping in the harbour of Cadiz was again to be surprised and destroyed; while the homeward-bound fleet from the Indies was to be intercepted and (this time) not let slip. There does not seem to have been any reason for doubting the success on this occasion more than on that, except the want (consequent on a long peace) of practice and proof in such enterprises. Such a success would no doubt have made a vast improvement in the position and prospects of the government. But it was not to be. The expedition returned in two months with the loss of a thousand men, having effected nothing except a landing of the troops without opposition, followed by a precipitate re-embarkation before a stroke had been struck or an enemy seen; and without a single prize from the homeward-bound fleet, which sailed by in the night unobserved. The deaths had all been from pestilence. It must have been about the time of their

1 See Works, vol i. p. 9.

2 Letter to Matthew, 26 June, 1623.

return that Bacon wrote to Buckingham the following letter of congratulation on the birth of a son and heir; at the close of which I seem to perceive a hint, shyly and delicately conveyed, that his experience and advice might yet be of use to him.

The letter bears no date, and I should have inferred from the postscript that it was written about the 1st of January, 1625-6 : but as the boy was born on the 17th of November, 1625, it seems rather late for congratulations; and perhaps he thought the new year already near enough to be remembered;-the rather because he was not likely to have an excuse for writing again when it was

nearer.

TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.2

Excellent Lord,

I could not but signify unto your Grace my rejoicing, that God hath sent your Grace a son and heir, and that you are fortunate as well in your house as in the state of the kingdom. These blessings come from God, as I do not doubt but your Grace doth with all thankfulness acknowledge, vowing to him your service. Myself, I praise his divine Majesty, have gotten some step into health. My wants are great; but yet I want not a desire to do your Grace service, and I marvel that your Grace should think to pull down the monarchy of Spain without my good help. Your Grace will give me leave to be merry, however the world goeth with me. I ever rest,

Your Grace's most faithful

and obliged servant, &c.

I wish your Grace a good new year.

8.

About this time the troubles of Bacon's own house were aggravated by a new and unexpected calamity. His wife, with whom he had lived for twenty years without any reproach that we know of on either side, gave him some grave offence. The nature of it is not known; for he never specified it himself, and Dr. Rawley in his biography makes no mention of any domestic difference, but speaks of their married life in terms which almost exclude the supposition of any.3 But that she had in some way incurred his serious displeasure is a fact not to be disputed, being recorded by himself in his will, as a reason for revoking dispositions previously made in her

1 Laud's diary, quoted by Birch. 2 Gibson Papers, vol. viii. f. 208. Copy. None of Bacon's letters to his wife have been preserved; which is not surprising; for they would not be such as he would make drafts or keep copies of;

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