Her Ma end of our excessive charge, the adventure of our people's lives, and the holding up of our own greatness against a wretch whom we have raised from the dust, and who could never prosper if the charges we have been put to were orderly employed." Her Majesty in her particular letter written to my Lord the jesty to my 30th of July, bindeth still expressly upon the northern prosecuEssex, the tion my Lord ad principalia rerum, in these words:— Lord of 30th of July. Her Ma Lord and "First, you know right well, when we yielded to this excessive charge, it was upon no other foundation than to which yourself did ever advise us as much as any, which was to assail the northern traitor and to plant garrisons in his country; it being ever your firm opinion amongst other our Council to conclude that all that was done in other kind in Ireland was but waste and consumption." Her Majesty in her letter of the 9th of August to my Lord of Essex and the Council of Ireland, when after Munster journey they began in a new tune1 to dissuade the northern journey, in her excellent ear quickly finding a discord of men from themselves, chargeth them in these words: "Observe well what we have already written, and apply your jesty to my counsels to that which may shorten and not prolong the war; the Council seeing never any of you was of other opinion than that all other 9th August. courses were but consumptions, except we went on with the of Ireland, The Lords of the my Lord northern prosecution." The Lords of her Majesty's Council, in their letter of the 10th of August to my Lord of Essex and the Council of Ireland, do in plain terms lay before them the first plot, in these words :"We cannot deny but we did ground our counsels upon this Council to foundation, That there should have been a prosecution of the capital rebels in the North, whereby the war might have been shortened; which resolution, as it was advised by yourself before 10th Aug. your going and assented to by most part of the council of war that were called to the question, so must we confess to your Lordship, that we have all this while concurred with her Majesty in the same desire and expectation." and the Council of Ireland, My Lord of My Lord of Essex and the Council of Ireland, in their letter of the 5th of May to the Lords of the Council, before the Munster journey, write in hæc verba. "Moreover in your Lordships' great wisdom you will likewise of Ireland judge what pride the rebels will grow to, what advantage the the Council foreign enemy may take, and what loss her Majesty shall receive, to the if this summer the arch-traitor be not assailed and garrisons planted upon him." : Lords, 5th May. the Lords, My Lord of Essex, in his particular letter of the 11th of July, to the Lords of the Council, after Munster journey, writeth thus:"As fast as I can call these troops together I will go look The Earl to upon yonder proud rebel, and if I find him on hard ground and 11th July. in an open country, though I should find him in horse and foot three for one, yet will I by God's grace dislodge him, or put the Council to the trouble of," [etc.] The Earl of Essex in his letter of the 14th of August to the Lords of the Council, writeth1 out of great affection as it seemeth in these words :: the Lords, 14th Aug. "Yet must these rebels be assailed in the height of their pride, The Earl to and our base clowns must be taught to fight again; else will her Majesty's honour never be recovered, nor our nation valued, nor this kingdom reduced." Besides it was noted, that whereas my Lord and the Council of Ireland had by theirs of the 15th of July desired an increase of 2000 Irish purposely for the better setting on foot of the northern service; her Majesty, notwithstanding her proportions by often gradations and risings had been raised to the highest elevation, yet was pleased to yield unto it. 1. The first part concerneth my Lord's ingress into his charge, and that which passed here before his going hence. Now followeth in order both of time and matter, what was done after my Lord was gone into Ireland, and had taken upon him the government by her Majesty's commission. Lord did 2. The second part then of the first article was to show, that That my my Lord did wilfully and contemptuously, in this great point of wilfully and estate, violate and infringe her Majesty's direction before re- contemptumembered. ously violate her Majesty's touching the northern jour In delivering of the evidence and proofs of this part, it was laid direction down for a foundation, That there was a full performance on her Majesty's part of all the points agreed upon for this great prosecution; so as there was no impediment or cause of interruption from hence. 1 hee writeth in MS. 2 an in MS. ney. The Earl of of Ireland, This is proved by a letter from my Lord of Essex and the Council of Ireland to the Lords of the Council here, dated 9 May, which was some three weeks after my Lord had received the sword, by which time he might well and thoroughly inform himself whether promise were kept in all things or no, and the words of the letter are these: "As your Lordships do very truly set forth, and we do very the Council humbly acknowledge her Majesty's chargeable magnificence and to the Lords royal preparations and transportations of men, munition, apparel, money, and victuals, for the recovery of this distressed kingdom;" where note, the transportations acknowledged as well as the preparations. of the Council, 9th May. The Earl of of Ireland of the Council, Next, it was set down for a second ground, that there was no natural nor accidental impediment in the estate of the affairs themselves against the prosecution upon Tyrone, but only culpable impediments raised by the journey of Munster. This appeared by a letter from my Lord and the Council of the Council Ireland to the Lords of the Council here, dated the 28th of April, to the Lords whereby they advertise, that the prosecution of Ulster, in regard of lack of grass and forage, and the poorness of cattle at that time 28th April. of year, and such-like difficulties of the season and not of the matter, will in better time and with better commodity for the army be fully executed about the middle of June or beginning of July, and signify that the Earl intended a present prosecution should be set on foot in Leinster: to which letters the Lords make answer by theirs of the 8th of May, signifying her Majesty's toleration of the delay. Here the manuscript unfortunately stops. It stops in the middle of the page without any mark of ending; as if it had been left unfinished: and for the continuance and termination of the proceedings our best evidence is a report which having been sent by some friend to Lord Montjoy (whom it so deeply concerned to know what passed) came into the hands of Fynes Moryson, who printed it in his 'Itinerary.' .12. Bacon did not succeed in persuading the Queen to restore Essex at once to his former favour; and we who know what projects he had been meditating just before and what he engaged in soon after, may easily believe that she had better grounds than Bacon knew of for suspecting the sincerity of his submission, and being disappointed with the result of the proceeding. It has always been reckoned among the Earl's virtues that he was a bad dissembler; and if in his present state of mind he could assume the natural language and bearing of fidelity and loyalty, he must have been a very good one. Yet after some hesitation and delay she justified the opinion which had been conceived with regard to the spirit in which she was proceeding. Within a month she released him from his keeper; and about six weeks after gave him liberty to go where he would,-except to Court. This opens a new chapter in his fortunes. No longer in danger, no longer under restraint, he cannot henceforth be supposed to be acting from fear. All that in the life of a private man is most prized -freedom, leisure, popularity, wealth, gifts of nature, and accomplishments of education, he possesses in greater abundance than most other men. If his purposes are good and his aspirations pure, there seems to be no reason why he may not be happy in retirement, and earn the right to reappear in his former, or more than his former, greatness. CHAPTER VIII. A.D. 1600.-JULY TO DECEMBER. 1. ÆTAT. 40. Or Bacon's speech in the proceeding at York House on the 5th of June the report is so meagre that we cannot judge for ourselves of the spirit in which he executed his task. We only know that he distinctly disclaimed on behalf of the government all intention to charge the Earl with disloyalty" for if that (he said) had been the question, this had not been the place”—and that after "considering particularly the journey into Ireland," he proceeded to the two points on which he had been instructed to enlarge by way of admonition, —namely, certain presumptuous expressions contained in the Earl's letter to the Lord Keeper in 1598, and his patronage of Dr. Hayward's book; of which part the reporter has only preserved one or two disconnected sentences. The subject was not of his own choosing: and for the manner of treatment, on which in such a case everything depends, as I do not find that any fault was found with him at this time by the Earl's partisans, and as it is certain that during the next three months he was doing his best to bring about a reconciliation and that his services in that behalf-services of a very confidential kind-were willingly accepted and employed by the Earl himself, I infer that it was not unfriendly. Those services commenced the next day, as I have already stated, in a private conversation with the Queen; and were followed up shortly after by a letter to the Earl, in which he took occasion, as he had so often done before, to define frankly and clearly the conditions of the service which he offered. My Lord,1 TO THE EARL OF ESSEX. No man can better expound my doings than your Lordship, which maketh me need to say the less. Only I humbly pray you 1 Lansd. MSS. lxxxvii. fo. 210, original, or fair copy, in Bacon's own hand. There is another copy in Add. MSS. 5503, dated 19th July, 1600; probably a copy of |