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FRANCIS BACON (BARON VERULAM, VISCOUN...
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See also:FRANCIS See also:
On the 27th of See also:June 1576 he and his brother Anthony were entered de societate magistrorum at See also:
The See also:constant striving after these three ends is the See also:
The See also:office was See also:worth about £1600 a See also:year; but it did not become vacant for nearly twenty years
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A considerable period of his life thus slipped away, and his affairs had not prospered
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He had written on the See also:condition of parties in the church; he had set down his thoughts on philosophical reform in the lost See also:tract, Temporis Partus See also:Maximus; but he had failed in obtaining the position which he looked upon as an indispensable condition
r See Nic
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Eth. iv
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3
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3
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1123b
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of success
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A See also:long and eloquent letter to Burghley2 throws additional See also:light upon his character, and gives a hint as to the cause of his uncle's slackness in promoting him
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Some time before this, perhaps as early as 1588, Bacon appears to have become acquainted with the See also:earl of See also:Essex, See also: The See also:special occasion for which the House had been sum- moned was the discovery of one of the numerous popish' plots that distracted Elizabeth's reign .. As Bacon's conduct in this emergency seriously affected his fortunes and has been much misunderstood, it is necessary to state, as briefly as possible, the whole facts of the See also:case . The House having been duly informed of the state necessities, assented to a See also:double See also:subsidy and appointed a See also:committee to draw up the requisite articles . Before this was completed, a See also:message arrived from the House of Lords requesting a See also:conference, which was granted . The committee of the See also:Commons were then informed that the crisis demanded a triple subsidy to be collected in a shorter time than usual, that the Lords could not assent to less than this, and that they desired to confer on the See also:matter . This proposal of the Lords to discuss See also:supply infringed upon the privileges of the Commons; accordingly, when the See also:report of committee was read to the See also:Lower House, Bacon spoke against the proposed conference, pointing out at the same time that a communication from the Lords might be received, but that the actual deliberation on it must be taken by themselves alone . His See also:motion, after some delay, was carried and the conference was rejected . The Lords upon this lowered their demands, and desired merely to make a communication, which, being legitimate, was at once assented to . The House had then before them the proposal for a triple subsidy, to be collected in three, or, as the motion ultimately was shaped, in four years, instead of in'six, as the See also:ordinary See also:custom would have been . Bacon, who approved of the increased subsidy, was opposed to the See also:short period in which it was proposed to raise it . He suggested that it would be difficult or impossible for the See also:people to meet such heavy demands, that discontent and trouble would arise, and that the better method of See also:procedure was to raise money by See also:levy or See also:imposition . His motion appears to have received no support, and the four years' subsidy was passed unanimously . Bacon, as it turned out, had been mistaken in thinking that the country would be unable to meet the increased See also:taxation, and his conduct, though prompted by a pure desire to be of service to the queen, gave deep and well-nigh ineradicable offence . He was accused " I See also:wax now somewhat See also:ancient ; one-and-See also:thirty years is a great See also:deal of See also:sand in the See also:hour-See also:glass ... .I ever See also:bare a mind (in some middle See also:place that I could See also:discharge) to serve her See also:majesty; novas a See also:man born under Sol, that loveth See also:honour; nor under See also:Jupiter, that loveth business (for the contemplative See also:planet carrieth me away wholly) ; but as a man born under an excellent See also:sovereign, that deserveth the See also:dedication of all men's abilities .... Again, the meanness of my estate See also:cloth somewhat move me; for though I cannot accuse myself that I am either prodigal or slothful, yet my health is not to spend, nor my course to get . Lastly, I confess that I have as vast contemplative ends as I have moderate See also:civil ends; for I have taken all knowledge to be my See also:province; and if I could purge it of two sorts of rovers, whereof the one with frivolous disputations, confutations and verbosities, the other with See also:blind experiments and auricular traditions and impostures, hath committed so many spoils, I See also:hope I should bring in industrious observations, grounded conclusions and profitable inventions and discoveries—the best state of that province . This, whether it be curiosity, or vain-See also:glory, or nature, or (if one take it favourably) philanthropia, is so fixed in my mind as it cannot be removed . And I do easily see, that place of any reasonable commandment doth bring commandment of more wits than of a man's own . . .. And if your lordship shall find now, or at any time, that I do seek or affect any place whereunto any that is nearer to your lord-See also:ship shall be convenient, say then that I am a most dishonest man . And if your lordship will not carry me on, . . .this I will do, I will sell the See also:inheritance that I have, and purchase some See also:lease of quick See also:revenue, or some office of gain that shall be executed by See also:deputy, and so give over all care of service, and become some sorry bookmaker, or a true See also:pioneer in that mine of truth."—Spedding, Letters and Life, i . 108-109 .
of seeking popularity, and was for a time excluded from the court
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His letter to Burghley,' who had told him of the queen's displeasure with his speech, offers no See also:apology for what he had said, but expresses regret that his motives should have been misunderstood
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He soon See also:felt that the queen's anger was not to be appeased by such a See also:justification
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The See also:attorney-generalship had fallen vacant and Bacon became a See also:candidate for the office, his most formidable See also:rival being his life-long antagonist, Edward See also:Coke, who was then See also:solicitor
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Essex warmly espoused Bacon's cause and earnestly pressed his claims upon the queen; but his impetuous, pettish See also:pleading tended to retard the cause
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Burghley, on the other See also:hand, in no way promoted his See also:nephew's See also:interest; he would recommend him for the solicitorship, but not for the attorney-generalship; and it is not improbable that Sir See also:Robert See also:Cecil secretly used his influence against his See also:cousin
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The queen delayed the See also:appointment, and Bacon's fortunes, as they then stood, could See also:ill See also:brook delay
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He was harassed with debt and at times so disheartened that he contemplated retirement from public life
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In See also: Essex, to compensate in some degree for Bacon's disappointment, insisted on presenting him with a piece of See also:land, worth about £1800, and situated probably near See also:Twickenham See also:Park . Nor did his kindness cease there; before sailing on the expedition to See also:Cadiz, in the beginning of 1596, he addressed letters to Buckhurst, See also:Fortescue and See also:Egerton, earnestly requesting them to use their influence towards procuring for Bacon the vacant office of See also:master of the rolls . Before anything came of this application, the Cadiz expedition had resulted in a brilliant success, and Essex became the idol of the See also:army and the people . Bacon saw clearly that such a reputation would assuredly alienate the affections of the queen, who loved not to have a subject too powerful or too popular . He therefore addressed an eloquent and imploring letter to the earl, pointing out the dangers of his position and urging upon him what he judged to be the only safe course of See also:action, to seek and secure the favour of the queen alone; above all things dissuading him from the See also:appearance of military popularity . His advice, however, was unpalatable and proved ineffectual . The earl still continued his usual course of dealing with the queen, depending solely upon her supposed See also:affection for him, and insanely jealous of any other whom she might seem to favour . His unskilful and unlucky management of the See also:sea expedition to See also:Ferrol and the See also:Azores in no way lowered his popularity with the people, but undoubtedly weakened his influence with the queen . Bacon's affairs in the meantime had not been prospering . He had increased his reputation by the publication in 1597 of his Essays, along with which were the See also:Colours of Good and Evil and the Meditationes Sacrae; but his private fortunes were in a See also:bad condition . No public office apparently could be found for him; a See also:scheme for retrieving his position by a See also:marriage with the wealthy widow, See also:Lady Elizabeth See also:Hatton, failed, and in 1598 he was arrested for debt . He seems, however, to have been growing in favour with the queen .
Some years previously (perhaps about 1594), he had begun to be employed by her in See also:crown affairs, and he gradually acquired the See also:standing of one of the learned counsel, though he had no See also:commission or See also:warrant, and received no See also:salary
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At the same time he was no longer on the former friendly terms with Essex, a certain estrangement
' Spedding, Letters and Life, i
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234-235, cf. i
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362
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This letter, with those to Puckering or Essex and the queen,i
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240-241, should be compared with what is said of them by See also:Macaulay in his See also:Essay on Bacon, and by See also: A violent See also:quarrel took place between the queen and Essex, who for some months retired from court and refused to be reconciled . At last he came forth from his seclusion, and it was soon understood that he was in See also:person to undertake the subjugation of the rebels in Ireland, with a larger force than had ever before been sent into that country . Into the obscure details of this unhappy See also:campaign it is unnecessary to enter; one fact stands out clearly, that Essex endeavoured to carry out a treasonable See also:design . His See also:jealousy and ill-See also:temper had been so roused that the only course open to him seemed to be the obtaining a powerful military force, the See also:possession of which would compel the queen to reinstate him in her favour . Whether or not this See also:plan was in contemplation before he undertook the Irish expedition is not evident, though even outsiders at that time entertained some suspicions, but there can be no doubt of the treasonable character of the negotiations carried on in Ireland . His plans, probably not very definite, were disturbed by an imperative message from the queen, ordering him not to return to England without her permission . He at once set off, and, trusting apparently to her affection for him, presented himself suddenly before her . He was, for the moment, received kindly, but was soon afterwards ordered to keep his chamber, and was then given into the custody of the lord keeper at York House, where he remained till March 1600 . His great popularity, and the general See also:ignorance of the reasons for his imprisonment, stirred up a strong feeling against the queen, who was reported to be influenced by Bacon, and such indignation was raisgd against the latter that his See also:friends feared his life would be in danger . It was at last felt necessary that the queen should in some way vindicate her proceedings, and this she at first did, contrary to Bacon's advice, by a See also:declaration from the Star Chamber . This, however, gave little or no See also:satisfaction, and it was found expedient to do what Bacon had always recommended, to have a See also:fair trial, yet not one in which the sentence must needs be damaging to the earl . The trial accordingly took place before a See also:body of her majesty's councillors, and Bacon had a subordinate and unimportant See also:part in the See also:accusation .
Essex does not seem to have been at all hurt by his action in this matter, and shortly after his See also:release they were again on friendly terms, Bacon See also:drawing up letters as if to or from the earl with the design of having them brought before the queen
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But Bacon did not know the true character of the transactions in which Essex had been engaged
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The latter had been released from all custody in See also:August, but in the meantime he had been busily engaged in treasonable See also:correspondence with See also: He was thereupon interrupted by the earl, who proceeded to defend himself, by declaring that in one of the letters See also:drawn up by Bacon, and purporting to be from the earl to Anthony Bacon, the existence of these rumours, and the dangers to be apprehended from them, had been admitted; and he continued, "If these reasons were then just and true, not counterfeit, how can it be that now my pretences are false and injurious?" To this Bacon replied, that " the letters, if they were there, would not blush to be seen for anything contained in them, and that he had spent more time in vain in studying how to make the earl a good servant to the queen than he had done in anything.else." It seems to be forgotten in the general accounts of this matter, not only that Bacon's letters See also:bear out what he said, but that the earl's excuses were false . A second time Bacon was compelled to interfere in the course of the trial, and to recall to the minds of those present the real question at issue . He animadverted strongly upon the puerile nature of the See also:defence, and in See also:answer to a remark by Essex, that if he had wished to stir up a See also:rebellion he would have had a larger See also:company with him, pointed out that his dependence was upon the people of London, and compared his attempt to that of the See also:duke of See also:Guise at Paris . To this the earl made little or no reply . Bacon's use of this See also:illustration and of the former one of Peisistratus, has been much commented on, and in general it seems to have been thought that had it not been for his speeches Essex might have escaped, or, at all events, have been afterwards pardoned . But this view of the matter depends on the supposition that Essex was guilty only of a rash outbreak.' That this was not the case was well known to the queen and her council . Unfortunately, prudential motives hindered the publication of the whole evidence; the people, consequently, were still ignorant of the magnitude of the See also:crime, and, till recently, biographers of Bacon have been in a like ignorance.' The earl himself, before See also:execution, confessed his See also:guilt and the thorough See also:justice of his sentence, while, with singular lack of magnanimity, he incriminated several against whom accusations had not been brought, among others his See also:sister Lady See also: |