To the Right Honourable his very good Lords, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the Upper House of Parliament assembled.

My very good Lords,-I humbly pray your lordships all to make a favourable and true construction of my absence. It is no feigning or fainting, but sickness both of my heart and of my back, though joined with that comfort of mind that persuadeth me that I am not far from heaven, whereof I feel the first-fruits. And because, whether I live or die, I would be glad to preserve my honour and fame, so far as I am worthy, hearing that some complaints of base bribery are coming before your lordships, my requests unto your lordships are:

which his lordship instantly acknowledged, with the expression of his intention to speak more fully at a future time.

Thus resolved to defend himself, there was some communication between the chancellor and Buckingham; whether it was confined to the favourite must be left to conjecture; but it appears to have had its full effect both upon him and upon the king, who, seeing the untoward events which might yet occur from the discussions of this inquiring parliament, sent a message to the Commons, expressing his comfort that the House was careful to preserve his honour; his wish that the parliament should adjourn to the 10th of April ; and his assurance that the complaints against the lord chancellor should be carefully examined before a committee of six peers and twelve commoners; a proposal not very acceptable to Sir Edward Coke, who thought it might defeat the parliamentary proceedings which he was so anx

First, that you will maintain me in your good opinion, without prejudice, until my cause be heard. Secondly, that in regard I have sequestered my mind at this time in great part from worldly matters, thinking of my account and answers in a higher court, your lordships will give me conve-ious to prosecute. nient time, according to the course of other courts, to advise with my counsel and to make my answer; wherein, nevertheless, my counsel's part will be the least; for I shall not, by the grace of God, trick up an innocency with cavillations, but plainly and ingenuously (as your lordships know my manner is) declare what I know or remember.

Thirdly, that, according to the course of justice, I may be allowed to except to the witnesses brought against me; and to move questions to your lordships for their cross-examinations; and likewise to produce my own witnesses for the discovery of the truth.

And lastly, that if there be any more petitions of like nature, that your lordships would be pleased not to take any prejudice or apprehension of any number or muster of them, especially against a judge, that makes two thousand orders and decrees in a year, (not to speak of the courses that have been taken for hunting out complaints against me,) but that I may answer them according to the rules of justice, severally and respectively.

These requests I hope appear to your lordships no other than just. And so thinking myself happy to have so noble peers and reverend prelates to discern of my cause; and desiring no privilege of greatness for subterfuge of guiltiness, but meaning, as I said, to deal fairly and plainly with your lordships, and to put myself upon your honours and favours, I pray God to bless your counsels and persons. And rest your lordships' humble Fr. St. Alban, Canc.

servant,

March 19, 1620.

On the 20th, the Commons proceeded to the examination of witnesses, and a further complaint was preferred in the cause of Wharton and Willoughby, by the Lady Wharton, against whom the chancellor had decided. It appeared that the presents were made openly at two several times, with the knowledge and in the presence of witnesses.

The cry having been raised, the lowest members of the profession, a common informer and a disgraced registrar were, with their crew, employed in hunting for charges; and, so ready was the community to listen to complaints, that it mattered not by whom they were preferred; "greatness was the mark, and accusation the game.' One of his many faithful friends, Sir Thomas Meautys, rose to resist this virulence. He admonished the House of the misstatements that would be made by such accusers, men without character, under the influence of motives which could not be misunderstood. "I have known," he said, "and observed his lordship for some years: he hath sown a good seed of justice; let not the abandoned and envious choke it with their tares.' He had as much prospect of success as if he had attempted to stop the progress of a volcano. Additional charges, thus collected, and of the same nature, were preferred against him.

On the 26th of March, in conformity with the advice given by Williams, sentence was passed upon Mompesson and Michell, many patents were recalled, and the king, after having addressed the House, adjourned the parliament.

The king's speech abounded with that adroit

This letter, which was delivered by Buckingham, the Lords immediately answered, by assur-flattery to the House, which he so frequently ing the chancellor "that the proceedings should be according to the right rule of justice; that it was the wish of the House that his lordship should clear his honour from the different aspersions, and praying him to provide for his defence;" a courtesy

practised when he had any thing to gain or any thing to fear; he did not name the chancellor directly, and, when he glanced at the charge of bribery, while he cautioned them not to be carried away "by the impertinent discourses of those

who named the innocent as well as the guilty;" | instance of an offering, even to the case of he contrived to praise Buckingham, and to turn Wraynham, who had been punished for his the charge itself into a dexterous commendation scurrilous libel against the chancellor and the both of his favourite and the prince. master of the rolls.

The parliament was then adjourned to the 17th of April, with the hope that, during the recess, the favourite or his master might contrive some expedient to delay or defeat investigation; and that time might mitigate the displeasure which, in both Houses, seemed strong against the chancellor.

The proceedings within the House were suspended, but the chancellor's opponents, unchecked or secretly encouraged by his pretended friends, | continued their exertions, actuated either by virtuous indignation at the supposition of his guilt, or by motives less pure,-the hope of gaining by his fall, or envy of the greatness which overshadowed them.

an end to

Of this virulence the chancellor thus complained to Buckingham: "Your lordship spoke of purgatory. I am now in it; but my mind is in a calm; for my fortune is not my felicity. I know I have clean hands and a clean heart, and I hope a clean house for friends or servants. But Job himself, or whosoever was the justest judge, by such hunting for matters against him, as hath been used against me, may for a time seem foul, especially in a time when greatness is the mark, and accusation is the game. And if this be to be a chancellor, I think if the great seal lay upon Hounslow Heath, nobody would take it up. But the king and your lordship will I hope put these my straits, one way or other." And in a The state of the chancellor's mind during this subsequent letter he said, "I perceive, by some storm has been variously represented; by some speech that passed between your lordship and of his contemporaries he is said to have been de- | Mr. Meautys, that some wretched detractor hath pressed by others that he was merry, and not told you, that it were strange I should be in debt; doubting that he should be able to ride safely for that I could not but have received a hunthrough the tempest. His playfulness of spirit | dred thousand pounds gifts since I had the seal, never forsook him. When, upon the charge be- which is an abominable falsehood. Such tales ing first made, his servants rose as he passed as these made St. James say that the tongue is a through the hall, "Sit down, my friends," he said, fire, and itself fired from hell, whither when these "your rise has been my fall;" and when one of tongues shall return, they will beg a drop of his friends said, "You must look around you," water to cool them. I praise God for it, I never he replied, "I look above me." Playfulness in took penny for any benefice or ecclesiastical affliction is, however, only an equivocal test living; I never took penny for releasing any of cheerfulness; in a powerful mind grief rests thing I stopped at the seal; I never took penny itself in the exercise of the antagonist feelings, for any commission, or things of that nature: I and, by a convulsive effort, throws off the load never shared with any servant for any second or of despair. inferior profit.”

About the same period he thus wrote to the king, in a letter which he intrusted to the discretion of Buckingham to withhold or deliver:

Difficult as it may be to discover the real state of his mind, it cannot be supposed, accustomed as he was to active life, and well aware of the intrigues of courts, that, in this moment of peril, his sagacity slumbered, or that he was so It may please your most excellent majesty,— little attentive to his own interests, as to be shel-Time hath been when I have brought unto you tered in the shades of Gorhambury, all meaner things forgotten, watching the progress of some chymical experiment, or wandering with Hobbes in the mazes of metaphysics.

His enemies, who were compassing his ruin, might imagine that he was thus indulging in the day-dreams of philosophy, but, so imagining, they were ignorant of his favourite doctrine, that “ Learning is not like some small bird, as the lark, that can mount and sing, and please herself, and nothing else, but that she holds as well of the hawk, that can soar aloft, and at the right moment can stoop and seize upon her prey.' The chancellor retired to prepare for his defence, to view the nature of the attack, and the strength of his assailants.

The charges, which were at first confined to Aubrey and Egerton, were now accumulated to twenty-three in number, by raking up every VOL. I.-(12)

"Gemitum Columbæ" from others, now I bring it from myself. I fly unto your majesty with the wings of a dove, which, once within these seven days, I thought would have carried me a higher flight. When I enter into myself, I find not the materials of such a tempest as is come upon me. I have been (ås your majesty knoweth best) never author of any immoderate counsel, but always desired to have things carried “ suavibus modis." I have been no avaricious oppressor of the people. I have been no haughty, or intolerable, or hateful man in my conversation or carriage: I have inherited no hatred from my father, but am a good patriot born. Whence should this be; for these are the things that use to raise dislikes abroad.

For the House of Commons, I began my credit there, and now it must be the place of the sepulture thereof. And yet this parliament, upon the message touching religion, the old love revived. (H 2)

and they said, I was the same man still, only | vocate that the presents were made on behalf of honesty was turned to honour.

For the Upper House, even within these days, before these troubles, they seemed as to take me into their arms, finding in me ingenuity, which they took to be the true, straight line of nobleness, without crooks or angles.

And for the briberies and gifts wherewith I am charged, when the book of hearts shall be opened, I hope I shall not be found to have the troubled fountain of a corrupt heart, in a depraved habit of taking rewards to pervert justice; howsoever I may be frail, and partake of the abuses of the times.

And therefore I am resolved, when I come to my answer, not to trick my innocency (as I writ to the lords) by cavillations or voidances, but to speak to them the language that my heart speaketh to me, in excusing, extenuating, or ingenuous confessing; praying God to give me the grace to see to the bottom of my faults, and that no hardness of heart do steal upon me, under show of more neatness of conscience, than is cause.

But not to trouble your majesty any longer, craving pardon for this long mourning letter, that which I thirst after, as the hart after the streams, is, that I may know by my matchless friend that presenteth to you this letter, your majesty's heart (which is an abyssus of goodness, as I am an abyssus of misery) towards me. I have been ever your man, and counted myself but a usufructuary of myself, the property being yours. And now making myself an oblation, to do with me as may best conduce to the honour of your justice, the honour of your mercy, and the use of your service, resting as clay in your majesty's gracious hands, FR. ST. ALBAN, Canc.

March 25, 1620.

To the preparation of his defence he now proceeded a preparation which could scarcely to any advocate have been attended with difficulty, whether considering the general nature of the complaints, or the weight due to each particular charge.

There are circumstances attending these accusations, by which at this time the judgment may be warped, that did not exist two centuries since. We may be misled by transferring the opinions of the present to past times, and by supposing that the accusations were preferred by some or all of thes uitors whose names are mentioned, and on whose behalf the presents were offered after the termination of their causes; but it was then well known, that these suitors reluctantly attended, in bedience to the summons obtained in consequence of the petitions presented by the two discontented persons against whom the chancellor had decided, notwithstanding their supposition that his judg nent was to be purchased.

the suitors, by men of character, counsellors, and members of parliament, Sir George Hastings, Sir Richard Young, Sir Henry Holmes, Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Thelwall, Mr. Toby Matthew, and Sir Thomas Perrott; and that they were made openly, with the greatest publicity, both from the nature of the presents themselves, and from the manner in which they were presented; so openly, that even Sir Edward Coke admitted the fact, that they were delivered in the presence of witnesses; and the chancellor, in answer to the 21st charge, that, "upon a dispute between three public companies of the apothecaries and grocers, he had received presents from each of the companies," instantly said, "Could I have taken these presents in the nature of a bribe, when I knew it could not be concealed, because it must needs be put to the account of the three several companies, each of whom was jealous of the other?"

Who can suppose that, if secrecy had been the object, presents of articles constantly in sight would have been selected; gold buttons, tasters of gold, ambergrease, cabinets, and suits of hangings for furniture; they were made, as was notorious, according to the established custom, in this, and in all countries, a custom which, as the Chancellor l'Hôpital endeavoured to abolish in France, the Chancellor Bacon would most gladly have abolished in England, and demanded from the country a proper remuneration for the arduous labours of his high office.

No man felt more deeply the evils which then existed, or the interference by the crown and by statesmen to influence judges. How beautifully did he admonish Buckingham, regardless as he proved of all admonition, "By no means be you persuaded to interpose yourself, either by word or letter, in any cause depending, or like to be depending, in any court of justice, nor suffer any other great man to do it where you can hinder it; and by all means dissuade the king himself from it, upon the importunity of any for themselves or their friends. If it should prevail, it perverts justice; but if the judge be so just and of such courage, as he ought to be, as not to be inclined thereby, yet it always leaves a taint of suspicion behind it; judges must be chaste as Cæsar's wife, neither to be, nor to be suspected to be unjust: and, sir, the honour of the judges in their judicature is the king's honour, whose person they represent."

Thus did he raise his voice in opposition to an inveterate practice. The first mode of correcting error, whether in individuals or in the community, is by proclaiming its existence; the next is, when ripe for action, by acting.

That the presents influenced the judgment of the chancellor was never for a moment supposed It could not have escaped the notice of any ad- [ by any man. Fourteen out of the twenty-two

charges related to presents made long after the | easy would it have been to have examined each causes were terminated, and the complaints of his particular charge, by separating the bundle, and accusers were, not that the gratuities had, but that breaking it stick by stick? they had not influenced his judgment, as he had decided against them.

James.

In the cause of Worth and Mainwaring, it was alleged that the chancellor had been bribed by £100. Upon examination it appeared, that some | months after the decree, which was for a great inheritance, the successful party presented £100 to the chancellor.

In the case of Hody and Hody, the charge was, that £100 or £200 was presented to the chancellor. The fact was, that some time after the suit was terminated, Sir Thomas Perrot and Sir Henry Holmes presented the chancellor with some gold buttons, worth forty guineas.

In the case of Holman and Young, it was alleged that £1000 had been given to the chancelSuch topics would have occurred to any advo- lor by Young. Upon investigation it appeared, cate. With what force would they have been on this charge of a discontented suitor, that instead urged by the chancellor? In his Novum Or- of £1000 having been advanced, the sum was ganum, which he had published in the previous | £100, which was presented on behalf of Young year, he had warned society, that "at the entrance after the decree, either by Young or Mr. Toby of every inquiry our first duty is to eradicate any Matthew, a son of the Archbishop of York, idol by which the judgment may be warped; as through life an intimate friend and correspondent the kingdom of man can be entered only as the of the chancellor's, and in 1623 knighted by King kingdom of God, in the simplicity of little child- | ren. How powerfully, then, would he have called upon the lovers of truth and of justice to divest their minds of all prejudice; to be, when sitting in judgment upon a judge, themselves impartial. Knowing the nature of the high tribunal before whom he was to appear, there could, inúeed, have been scarcely any necessity for such an appeal. He knew the joy which they "would feel, if he could clear his honour." He knew that, however grateful it may be to common minds to indulge in the vulgar pleasure of imaginary self-importance from the depression of superiority, a disinclination to condemn, even if truth call for conviction, is an attribute of every noble mind, always afflicted at the infirmities of genius. Knowing that, amongst the peers, many valued themselves upon ancient learning, he would have reminded them, that "the tree scathed with lightning, was with them of the olden time ever held sacred. Sure no tree of the forest, under Jove's favour, ever flourished more than myself; witness for me all those who, while the dews of heaven rested on me, were rejoiced to shelter under my branches: and I the In the cause of Barker and Hill, the charge more readily, my lords, remind you of an ensample of heathen piety, because I would not in the was, that the chancellor had been bribed by a presence of some of you speak of Christian cha-present made by Barker. The fact was, that the rity, which, if it were not recorded by one who sum was presented some time after the decree cannot lie, I have found so cold that I might sup- had been made. pose it to be only painted forth in books, but, indeed, without life, or heat, or motion.'

He could not have thought it necessary to warn the lords, as he had apprized the king, that "when from private appetite it is resolved that a creature shall be sacrificed, it is easy to pick up sticks enough from any thicket whither it hath strayed, to make a fire to offer it with ;" nor to have said to the lords, as he had said to the king, “For the briberies and gifts wherewith I am charged, when the book of hearts shall be opened, I hope I shall not be found to have the troubled fountain of a corrupt heart, in a depraved habit of taking rewards to pervert justice: howsoever I may be frail, and partake of the abuses of the times." For such appeals there would not, before such a tribunal, have been any necessity.

Passing from these general observations, how

In the case between Reynell and Peacock, the charge was, that there was much money given on The facts both sides, and a diamond ring. turned out to be that presents were given on both sides; that Sir George Reynell was a near ally of the chancellor's, and presented a gratuity as a new year's gift for former favours, when the great seal was first delivered to the lord keeper, and when presents were, as of course, presented by various persons; and that, by the intervention of a friend and neighbour at St. Alban's, he borrowed a sum of Peacock.

In the case of Smithwick and Wyche, the charge was, that Smithwick had presented £600 to the chancellor, but he had decided against him, and the money was repaid. The fact was, that Smithwick had paid £200 to Hunt, one of the chancellor's servants, unknown to the chancellor; that the decision was against Smithwick, and that the chancellor, when he saw an entry of the sum in his servant's account, had defalced it, and ordered it to be returned.

He might, in the same manner, have decomposed all the charges. He might have selected the fourteen cases in which the presents were made after, and many of them long after judgment had been pronounced. He might have taken each particular case where the presents were before judgment, and the decrees against the donors He might have explained that, in some of the

cases, he acted only as arbitrator; and in others that the sums received were not gifts, but loans, and that he had decided against his creditor; and in others that the sums offered were refused and returned. And to the twenty-eighth charge, “that the lord chancellor hath given way to great exactions by his servants," he surely might have admitted that he was negligent in not looking better to his servants. Standing on a cliff, and surveying the whole intellectual world, he did not see every pebble on the shore.

Can it be doubted, that the prudent course will be the chancellor's submission, as an atonement for all who are under popular suspicion ? The only difficulty will be to prevail upon him to submit. He has resolved to defend himself, and in speech he is all-powerful; but he is of a yielding nature, a lover of letters, in mind contemplative, although in life active; his love of retirement may be wrought upon; the king can remit any fine, and, the means once secured to him of learned leisure for the few remaining years

Some defence of this nature could not but have of his life, he will easily be induced to quit the occurred to the chancellor ? paradise of earthly honours."

Whatever doubt may exist as to the state of his mind, there is none with respect either to the king or Buckingham. The king was disquieted, and Buckingham robbed of all peace. This was the very state of mental fusion favourable for experiment by a shrewd politician. "It is the doctrine of philosophy that to be speculative into another man, to the end to know how to work him, or wind him, or govern him, proceedeth from a heart that is double and cloven, and not entire and ingenuous." This is not the politician's creed.

The king's fears, notwithstanding his pecuniary distresses, disposed him to dissolve the parliament, to which he had been advised, though by this measure he should lose his two subsidies. Williams dissuaded him from such an expedient. "There is," he said, "no colour to quarrel at this general assembly of the kingdom, for tracing delinquents to their form: it is their proper work, and your majesty hath nobly encouraged them to it. Your lordship," he said, turning to Buckingham, "is jealous, if the parliament continue imbodied, of your own safety. Follow it, swim with the tide: trust me and your other servants that have some credit with the most active members, to keep you clear from the strife of tongues; but if you break up this parliament, in pursuit of justice, only to save some cormorants who have devoured that which they must disgorge, you will pluck up a sluice which will overwhelm you all."

The king listened to the advice of Williams; and his determination not to dissolve the parliament was followed, of course, by the consideration how the charges were to be met, by resistance or by submission.

There cannot be any difficulty in following the train of Williams's reasoning in this conclave. "Resistance will be attended with danger to your lordship and to his majesty. These popular outcries thrive by opposition, and when they cease to be opposed, they cease to exist. The chancellor has been accused. He cannot escape unheard. He must be acquitted or convicted. He cannot, in this time of excitement and prejudgment, expect justice. His mind will easily be impressed by the fate of other great men, sacrifices to the blind ignorance of a vulgar populace, whom talent will not propitiate or innocence

So spoke the prelate; and the voice that promised present immunity to the king and his humbled favourite, seemed to them the voice of an angel: but the remedies of a state empiric, like those of all empirics, are only immediate relief; "they help at a pang, but soon leese their operation."

The king fatally resolved upon this concession, and Bacon's remarkable prediction fell upon him and his successor, "They who will strike at your chancellor will strike at your crown."

There was not any suggestion by Williams that the chancellor could not have anticipated, except the monstrous fact that the king and Buckingham were consenting to his downfall. Once convinced that his weak and cowardly master was not only willing but anxious to interpose him between an enraged people and his culpable favourite, his line of conduct became evident: he was as much bound to the stake as if already chained there; and, when the fate of Essex and of Somerset recurred to him, he must have felt how little dependence could be placed upon court favour, and how certain was the utter ruin of a man who attempts to oppose a despotic prince. He might well say, "he was become clay in the king's hand." He who is robbed of all that constitutes a man, freedom of thought and action, which is the breath of his nostrils, becomes nothing but a lifeless statue.

Before the 16th of April the king sent for the chancellor, who instantly prepared minutes for their conference, in which he says, "The law of nature teaches me to speak in my own defence. With respect to this charge of bribery, I am as innocent as any born upon St. Innocent's day: I never had bribe or reward in my eye or thought when pronouncing sentence or order. If, however, it is absolutely necessary, the king's will shall be obeyed. I am ready to make an oblation of myself to the king, in whose hands I am as clay, to be made a vessel of honour or dishonour."

That an interview between the king and Bacon took place is clear, from the following entry in the journals of the House of Lords of April 17:

"The lord treasurer signified, that in the interim of this cessation, the lord chancellor was an