matter, but he needed not to be so hot in an ill cause.' To which Sir Francis replied, 'In several matters of debate a man may speak often so I take it is the order. He (pointing to Mr. Bacon) talks of heat. If I be so hot as he was yesterday, then put me out

of doors.""

And again in the afternoon, when two bills were to be debated, and there was some dispute which should have precedence, Townshend tells us that "Mr. Francis Bacon kept such a quoil to have the bill concerning Charitable Uses put to the question," that the other bill "was clean hushed up."

Nothing, however, remains to show what the points in dispute were: and in the end a new Act was passed for precisely the same purpose as the former-only with several new provisoes and some limitation of the power confided to the bishops-under the title of "An Act to redress the misemployment of lands, goods, and stocks of money, heretofore given to Charitable Uses;" whether satisfactory to Bacon or not, I cannot say.

1

Townshend, p. 297. Harl. MSS. 2283, fo. 97 b.

2 Ib. p. 298, fo. 98.

40

CHAPTER II.

A.D. 1601-1603. DECEMBER-APRIL.

1.

ETAT. 41-43.

WHEN a man is afflicted with chronic disease of the purse his worst friend is a too liberal lender. In June, 1594, Anthony Bacon, in thanking his mother for assenting to some arrangement for the satisfaction and assurance of Mr. Nicholas Trott, described him as a friend who had shown more real confidence and kindness" towards himself and Francis, than "all their brothers and uncles put together would have performed, if they had been constrained to have had recourse to them in the like case."1 But in June, 1594, Francis was in continual expectation of being made Solicitor-General, and was beginning to be actually employed in business of the learned counsel. Before the end of 1596 the hope of the Solicitor-Generalship was extinct, his other prospects dim, his credit at a discount, and the kind and confident friend turned into the aggrieved and complaining creditor.2 As it usually happens in such cases, either story taken by itself sounds reasonable: and the evidence is not complete enough to give us the means of judging between them. Abuse of confidence is complained of on both sides; by the creditor, in the shape of promises unperformed; by the debtor, in the shape of usurious interest demanded; and on both sides, I dare say, the complaint was sincere; though in a transaction between friends the presumption is commonly against the borrower, because the lender can always behave like a gentleman if he will, whereas the borrower has not perhaps the means of doing so. Bacon, not being able to repay what he had borrowed, was forced at last to mortgage Twickenham Park; and it seems that the deed gave Trott a right of entry if the debt were not paid before November, 1601. To avoid this, Bacon,-now owner of all that his brother had left, and with

1 Vol. I., 323, note.

2 See Trott's letter to Anthony Bacon, 7 Aug. 1597. Lambeth MSS. 661, 170. And Anthony's to Francis, 7 Dec. 1596. Add. MSS. Br. Mu. 4122, 186.

some ready money from Catesby's fine to help,-resorted to his
friends Maynard and Hickes, who endeavoured to negociate a set-
tlement of Trott's claims. The matters in dispute were referred
to the Lord Treasurer. And I suppose it was either with a view
to that reference, or to some subsequent question arising out of it,
that the following statement was drawn up by Bacon. The original
is preserved among the Lansdowne MSS., but is not in Bacon's own
handwriting, and has no date. The docket, written in another hand,
which I take to be Hickes's, merely describes it as "The state of the
cause betwixt Mr. Fra. Bacon and Mr. Trott."

The state of the account between Mr. Trott and
me, as far as I can collect it by such remem-
brances as I find; my trust in him being such
as I did not carefully preserve papers; and my
demands upon the same account.1

by my
brother's means
But this was ever in doubt between my bro-
ther and me; and my brother's conceit
was ever it was twice demanded, and that
he had satisfied it upon reckonings be-
tween Mr. Trott and him.

About a twelvemonth after, I borrowed of

him, first upon communication of mort-
gage of land, and in conclusion upon bond 12007.
But then upon interest and I know not what
reckonings (which I ever left to his own
making) and his principal sum, amounting
to 1700 7. was wrapped up to 2000 l., and
band given according as I remember.
And about August xliido Rnæ I borrowed of
him upon the mortgage of Twicknam pk
So as all the monies that Mr. Trott
lent at any time amount to the
total of .

1 Lansd. MSS. lxxxviii. fo. 50.

950 l.

The total

of Trott's principal.

2650 l.

Mr. Trott's receipts at several

times.

Trott's receits.

Of this sum he hath received, about 5 years
since, upon sale of certain marshes in.
Woolwich

He received about 4 years since, upon sale of
a lease I had of the parsonage of Red-
bourne

He received about 3 years since, upon sale of
the manor of Burstone
He received about 2 years since, of Mr.
Johnson of Gr. Inn, being my surety for
2007. principal .

He received of my cousin Kemp, another of
my sureties, at the least

He hath received in divers small sums of 40,
30, 107., upon computation of interest

300 l.

4507.

800 l.

233 l.

100 7.

2107.

So as the sums which he hath re-
ceived amount to the total of. 2093 7.

He hath now secured unto him, by mortgage
of Twicknam Park.

Upon my cousin Cooke's band
Upon Mr. Ed. Jones's band

Upon mine own band

12597. 12s

2107.

2081.

2207.

Deduct out of this the principal, viz.. 26507.

Remaineth in interest grown

Upon this account I demand the abatement of some part of the interest, considering he hath been beholding to me, and his estate good and without charge, and mine indebted. And this I demand because upon every agreement and renew of assurance he made faithful promise (as himself confessed before my Lord Treasurer) that he would submit the interest to arbitrament of

friends. And divers of my creditors that made no such promise, and are less able and more strangers to me, have in friendly mauner made me round abatements.

But absolutely I demand the abatement of interest upon interest, which no creditor that ever I [had]1 did so much as offer to require. And this cannot be so little as 400b: for his manner was upon every new account to cast up interest and charges, and to make it one principal, as appeareth by his last account and other writings.

Thirdly, I demand the abatement of 400 which he hath no conscience to demand, for his colour is that because my Brother sold him land charged with a rent of 4b (as I remember by the year) more than he sayeth he intended, therefore I should pay the value of the inheritance of this Rent.

Fourthly, I demand the abatement of 100, by his own agreement to be defalked upon his mother's death (as by his indenture appeareth), and though it were conditional if I paid it by a day, yet it is all one, for if I paid not, it is accounted for.

So as I will make him this offer, if he will discharge the three bonds and the interest since, I will pay him down his 1259.12s for the redemption of Twicknam Park.

How far this offer was equitable it is not possible to judge without knowing what was the rate of interest agreed upon, what were the exact dates of the payments on either side, and whether any items in the account were disputed-points which we have no means of ascertaining; for though there are in the same volume 2 two letters from Trott to Hickes, dated the 18th and 19th of December, 1601, and written after the Lord Treasurer had made his award, I do not find any counter-statement of the account on his side, or any copy or note of the award itself. Assuming however, in the absence of all evidence to the contrary, that the sums and dates are correct as far as they go, it may be roughly estimated as equivalent to the repayment of the principal with compound interest at 10 per cent. For I find that if the payments on either side had been made at Midsummer, and a fresh account opened each year, the balance against Bacon (interest being calculated at 10 per cent.) would have amounted at Midsummer, 1601, to £1247. And though this may not have been according to the terms of the bargain, in which a high 1'had,' omitted in MS.

2 fo. 43 and 54.