to Sir Robert Cecil, and to his noble friend Lord Essex, to further his suit. To the Lord Keeper Puckering he applied as to a lawyer, having no sympathy with his pursuits or value for his attainments, in the hope of preventing his opposition, rather than from any expectation of his support;(a) and he calculated rightly upon the Lord Keeper's disposition towards him, for, either hurt by Bacon's manner, of which he appeared to have complained, (b) or from the usual antipathy of common minds to intellectual superiority, the Lord Keeper represented to the Queen that two lawyers, of the names of Brograve and Brathwayte, were more meritorious candidates. (c) Of the conduct of the Lord Keeper he felt and spoke indignantly. "If," he says, “it please your lordship but to call to mind from whom I am descended, and by whom, next to God, her Majesty, and your own virtue, your lordship is ascended, I know you will have a compunction of mind to do me any wrong.” (d) To Lord Burleigh he applied as to his relation and patron, and, as a motive to ensure his protection, he intimated his intention to devote himself to legal pursuits, an intimation likely to be of more efficacy to this statesman than the assurance that the completion of the Novum Organum depended upon his success: (e) and he formed a correct estimate of the Lord Treasurer, who strongly interceded with the Queen, and kindly communicated to Bacon the motives by which she was influenced against him. (f) To Sir Robert Cecil he also applied, as to a kinsman; and, during the course of his solicitation, having suspected that he had been bribed by his opponent, openly accused (a) See note HH at the end. (c) See note K K at the end. (e) See note M M at the end. (b) See note II at the end. him; but, having discovered his error, he immediately acknowledged that his suspicions were unfounded. (a) He still, however, maintained that there had been treachery somewhere, and that a word the Queen had used against him had been put into her mouth by Sir Robert's mes senger. Essex, with all the zeal of his noble and ardent nature, endeavoured to influence the Queen on behalf of his friend, by every power which he possessed over her affections and her understanding; (b) availing himself of the most happy moments to address her, refuting all the reasons which she could adduce against his promotion, and representing the rejection of his suit as an injustice to the public, and a great unkindness to himself. Not content with these earnest solicitations, Essex applied to every person by whom the Queen was likely to be influenced. That Bacon had a powerful enemy was evinced not only by the whole of Elizabeth's conduct during this protracted suit, but by the anger with which she met the earnest pleadings of Essex; by her perpetual refusals to come to any decision, and above all, by her remarkable expressions, that "Bacon had a great wit, and much learning, but that in law he could show to the uttermost of his knowledge, and was not deep." Essex was convinced that this enemy was the Lord Keeper, to whom he wrote, desiring "that the Lord Keeper would no longer consider him a suitor for Bacon, but for himself; that upon him would light the disgrace as well of the protraction as of the refusal of the suit; and complained with much bitterness of those who ought to be Bacon's friends. (c) (a) See note OO at the end. (b) See note PP at the end. (c) To the Right Honourable the Lord Keeper, &c.—My very good Lord, The want of assistance from them which should be Mr. Fr. Bacon's friends, makes [me] the more industrious myself, and the more earnest in To the Queen, Bacon applied by a letter worthy them both. He addressed her respectfully, but with full consciousness that he deserved the appointment, an that he had not deserved the reprimand he had receive from her Majesty, for the honest exercise of his duty i parliament. Apologizing for his boldness and plainnes he told the Queen, " that his mind turned upon othe wheels than those of profit; that he sought no great matte but a place in his profession, often given to younger men that he had never sought her but by her own desire, and that he would not wrong himself by doing it at that time when it might be thought he did it for profit; and that i her majesty found other and abler men, he should be glad there was such choice of them. (a) This letter, according to the custom of the times, he accompanied by a present of a jewel. (ƒ) When the Queen, with the usual property of royalty, not to forget, mentioned his speech in parliament which yet rankled in her mind, (b) and with an antipathy, unworthy of her love of letters, said, "he was rather a man of study, than of practice and experience ;" he reminded her of his father, who was made solicitor of the Augmentation Office when he was only twenty-seven years old, and had never practised, and that Mr. Brograve, soliciting mine own friends. Upon me the labour must lie of his establishment, and upon me the disgrace will light of his being refused. Therefore I pray your lordship, now account me not as a solicitor only of my friend's cause, but as a party interested in this; and employ all your lordship's favour to me, or strength for me, in procuring a short and speedy end. For though I know it will never be carried any other way, yet I hold both my friend and myself disgraced by this protraction. More I would write, but that I know to so honourable and kind a friend, this which I have said is enough. And so I commend your lordship to God's best protection, resting, at your Lordship's commandment,—Essex. (b) See note SS at the end. (a) See note QQ at the end. (f) See note RR at the end. who had been recommended by the Lord Keeper, was without practice. (a) This contest lasted from April 1594 till November 1595; and what at first was merely doubt and hesitation in the Queen's mind, became a struggle against the ascendency, which she was conscious Essex had obtained over her, as she more than once urged that "if either party were to give way it ought to be Essex; that his affection for Bacon should yield to her mislike. (7) Of this latent cause Essex became sensible, and said to Bacon, "I never found the Queen passionate against you till I was passionate for you.” (m) Such was the nature of this contest, which was so long protracted, that success could not compensate for the trouble of the pursuit; of this, and of the difficulties of hist situation, he bitterly complained. "To be," he said, "like a child following a bird, which when he is nearest flieth away and lighteth a little before, and then the child after it again. I am weary of it, as also of wearying my good friends." (n) On the 5th of November, 1596, (o) Mr. Serjeant Fleming was appointed Solicitor-General, to the surprise of the public, and the deep-felt mortification of Bacon, and of his patron and friend, Lord Essex. The mortification of Essex partook strongly of the extremes of his character; of the generous regard of wounded affection, and the bitter vexation of wounded pride: he complained that a man, every way worthy had "fared ill, because he had made him a mean and dependence;" but he did not rest here: he generously undertook the care of Bacon's future (a) See note TT at the end. (1) See note P P, letter beginning "I went yesterday." (m) See note P P, letter beginning "I have received." (n) See note V V at the end. VOL. XV. (0) See Dug. Orig. Jud. d 1596. Et. 36. Fleming Solicitor. fortunes, and, by the gift of an estate, worth about £1800. at the beautiful village of Twickenham, endeavoured to remunerate him for his great loss of time and grievous disappointment. (a) How bitterly Bacon felt the disgrace of the Queen's rejection is apparent by his own letter, where he says, that rejected with such circumstances, he could no longer look upon his friends, and that he should travel, and hoped that her majesty would not be offended that, no longer able to endure the sun, he had fled into the shade.” (b) His greatest annoyance during this contest had arisen from the interruption of thoughts generally devoted to higher things. After a short retirement, "where he once again enjoyed the blessings of contemplation in that sweet solitariness which collecteth the mind, as shutting the eyes does the sight," during which he seems to have invented an instrument resembling a barometer, (c) he resumed his usual habits of study, consoled by the consciousness of worth, which, though it may at first embitter defeat from a sense of injustice, never fails ultimately to mitigate disappointment, by ensuring the sympathy of the wise and the good. This cloud soon passed away; for, though Bacon had stooped to politics, his mind, when he resumed his natural position, was far above the agitation of disappointed ambition. During his retirement he wrote to the Queen, expressing his submission to the providence of God, which he says findeth it expedient for me "tolerare jugum in juventute mea ;" and assuring her majesty that her service should not be injured by any want of his exertions. (d) His forbearance was not lost upon the Queen, who, satisfied with her victory, soon afterwards, with an expression of (a) See note W W at the end. (b) See note X X at the end. (c) See note YY at the end. (d) See note ZZ at the end. |