have been made acquainted with this service, it hath | alleged she was then to resolve with the council

upon her places of law. But this resolution was
ut supra; and note, the rest of the counsellors were
persuaded she came rather forwards than otherwise;
for against me she is never peremptory but to my
lord of Essex. I missed a line of my lord keeper's ;
but thus much I hear otherwise. The queen seem-
eth to apprehend my travel. Whereupon I was
sent for by Sir Robert Cecil in sort as from her
Majesty; himself having of purpose immediately
gone to London to speak with me; and not finding
me there, he wrote to me. Whereupon I came to
the court, and upon his relation to me of her Ma-
jesty's speeches, I desired leave to answer it in
writing; not, I said, that I mistrusted his report,
but mine own wit; the copy of which answer I send.
We parted in kindness secundum exterius. This
copy you must needs return; for I have no other;
and I wrote this by memory after the original was
sent away.
The queen's speech is after this sort.
Why? I have made no solicitor. Hath any body
carried a solicitor with him in his pocket? But he
must have it in his own time, (as if it were but yester-
day's nomination,) or else I must be thought to cast
him away.
Then her Majesty sweareth thus ;
"If

I continue this manner, she will seek all England
for a solicitor rather than take me. Yea, she will
send for Heuston and Coventry § to-morrow next,”
as if she would swear them both. Again she enter-
eth into it, that "she never deals so with any as
with me, (in hoc erratum non est,) she hath pulled
me over the bar, (note the words, for they cannot be
her own,) she hath used me in her greatest causes.
But this is Essex; and she is more angry with him
than with me." And such like speeches so strange
as I should lose myself in it, but that I have cast
off the care of it. My conceit is, that I am the
least part of mine own matter. But her Majesty
would have a delay, and yet would not bear it her-
self. Therefore she giveth no way to me, and she
perceiveth her council giveth no way to others; and
so it sticketh as she would have it. But what the
secret of it is, oculus aquilæ non penetravit. My
lord || continueth on kindly and wisely a course wor-
thy to obtain a better effect than a delay, which to
me is the most unwelcome condition.

Now to return to you the part of a brother, and to render you the like kindness, advise you, whether it were not a good time to set in strongly with the queen to draw her to honour your travels. For in the course I am like to take, it will be a great and necessary stay to me, besides the natural comfort I shall receive. And if you will have me deal with my lord of Essex, or otherwise break it by mean to the queen, as that, which shall give me full contentment, I will do it as effectually, and with as much good discretion, as I can. Wherein if you This aid me with your direction, I shall observe it. as I did ever account it sure and certain to be accomplished, in case myself had been placed, and therefore deferred it till then, as to the proper op

been my hap to stumble upon somewhat unseen,
which may import the same, as I made my lord
keeper acquainted before my going. So leaving it
to God to make a good end of a hard beginning, and
most humbly craving your Majesty's pardon for pre-
suming to trouble you, I recommend your sacred
Majesty to God's tenderest preservation.

Your sacred Majesty's in most humble obe-
dience and devotion,
FR. BACON.

From Huntingdon, this 20th of July, 1594.

MR. FRANCIS BACON TO HIS BROTHER
ANTONY.

MY GOOD BROTHER,

ONE day draweth on another; and I am well pleased in my being here; for methinks solitariness collecteth the mind, as shutting the eyes doth the sight. I pray you therefore advertise me what you find, by my lord of Essex, (who, I am sure, hath been with you,) was done last Sunday; and what he conceiveth of the matter. I hold in one secret, and therefore you may trust your servant. I would be glad to receive my parsonage rent as soon as it cometh. So I leave you to God's good preservation. Your ever loving brother, FR. BACON.

From Twickenham-Park, this
Tuesday morning, 1594.
Indorsed, 16 Oct. 1594.

EARL OF ESSEX TO MR. FRANCIS BACON.†
SIR,

I WILL be to-morrow night at London. I pur-
pose to hear your argument the next day. I pray
you send me word by this bearer of the hour, and
place, where it is.
Of your own cause I shall give
better account when I see you, than I can do now;
for that which will be done, will be this afternoon,
or to-morrow.

I am fast unto you, as you can be to yourself,
ESSEX.

Indorsed, 23 Oct. 1594.

MR. FRANCIS BACON TO HIS BROTHER
ANTONY.‡

GOOD BROTHER,

SINCE I saw you this hath passed. Tuesday, though sent for, saw not the queen. Her Majesty

Among the Papers of Antony Bacon, Esq. vol. iv. fol. 197, n the Lambeth library. Ibid. fol. 28.

Ibid. fol. 195.

§ Thomas Coventry, afterwards one of the justices of the common pleas, and father of the lord keeper Coventry. Essex.

THE SQUIRE'S SPEECH.

MOST excellent and most glorious queen, give me fourth was his own follower to whom the other three imparted much of their purpose before the earl came in. "Another," adds Mr. Whyte," devised with him, persuading him to this and that course of life, according to their inclinations. Comes into the tilt-yard, unthought upon, the ordinary post-boy of London, a ragged villain, all bemired, upon a poor lean jade galloping and blowing for life, and delivered the secretary a packet of letters, which he presently offered my lord of Essex. And with this dumb show our eyes were fed for that time. In the after-supper, before the queen; they first delivered a wellpenned speech to move this worthy knight to leave his following of love, and to betake him to heavenly meditation; the secretary's all tending to have him follow matters of state; the soldier's persuading him to the war: but the squire answered them all, and concluded with an excellent, but too plain, English, that this knight would never forsake his mistress's love, whose virtue made all his thoughts divine; whose wisdom

leave, I beseech your Majesty, to offer my master's complaint and petition; complaint, that coming hither to your Majesty's most happy day, he is tormented with the importunity of a melancholy dreaming hermit, a mutinous brain-sick soldier, and a busy tedious secretary. His petition is, that he may be as free as the rest; and, at least, whilst he is here, troubled with nothing but with care how to please and honour you.

the muses is above tempests, always clear and calm
a hill of the goodliest discovery that man can have
being a prospect upon all the errors and wanderings
of the present and former times. Yea, in some cliff
it leadeth the eye beyond the horizon of time, and
giveth no obscure divinations of times to come. So
that if he will indeed lead vitam vitalem, a life
that unites safety and dignity, pleasure and merit;
if he will win admiration without envy; if he will
be in the feast, and not in the throng; in the light,
and not in the heat; let him embrace the life of
study and contemplation. And if he will accept of
no other reason, yet because the gift of the muses
will enworthy him in love, and where he now looks
on his mistress's outside with the eyes of sense,
which are dazzled and amazed, he shall then behold
her high perfections and heavenly mind with the
eyes of judgment, which grow stronger by more
nearly and more directly viewing such an object.

THE HERMIT'S SPEECH IN THE PRESENCE.

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THOUGH Our ends be diverse, and therefore may be one more just than another; yet the complaint of this Squire is general, and therefore alike unjust against us all. Albeit he is angry, that we offer ourselves to his master uncalled, and forgets we come not of ourselves, but as the messengers of selflove, from whom all that comes should be well taken. He saith, when we come, we are importunate. If he mean, that we err in form, we have that of his master, who being a lover, useth no other form of soliciting. If he will charge us to err in matter, I for my part will presently prove, that I persuade him to nothing but for his own good. For I wish him to leave turning over the book of fortune, which is but a play for children; when there be so many books of truth and knowledge, better worthy the revolving; and not fix his view only upon a picture in a little table, when there be so many tables of histories, yea to life, excellent to behold and admire. Whether he believe me or no, there is no prison to the prison of the thoughts, which are free under the greatest tyrants. Shall any man make his conceit, as an anchorite, mured up with the compass of one beauty or person, that may have the liberty of all contemplation?.Shall he exchange the sweet travelling through the universal variety, for one wearisome and endless round or labyrinth ? Let thy master, Squire, offer his service to the muses. It is long since they received any into their court. They give alms continually at their gate, that many come to live upon; but few they have ever admitted into their palace. There shall he find secrets not dangerous to know; sides and parties not factious to hold; precepts and commandments not penal to disobey. The gardens of love, wherein he now placeth himself, are fresh to-day, and fading to-morrow, as the sun comforts them, or is turned from them. But the gardens of the muses keep the privilege of the golden age; they ever flourish, and are in league with time. The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power. The verses of a poet endure without a syllable lost, while states and empires pass many periods. Let him not think he shall descend; for he is now upon a hill, as a ship is mounted upon the ridge of a wave: but that hill of taught him all truc policy; whose beauty and worth were at all times able to make him fit to command armies. He showed all the defects and imperfections of all their times; and therefore thought his course of life to be best in serving his mistress." Mr. Whyte then mentions, that the part of the old hermit was performed by him, who at Cambridge played that of Giraldi; that Morley acted the secretary, and that the soldier was represented by him, who acted the pe

It is the war that giveth all spirits of valour, not only honour, but contentment. For mark, whether ever you did see a man grown to any honourable commandment in the wars, but whensoever he gave it over, he was ready to die with melancholy? Such a sweet felicity is that noble exercise, that he, that hath tasted it thoroughly, is distasted for all other. And no marvel; for if the hunter takes such solace in his chace; if the matches and wagers of sport pass away with such satisfaction and delight; if the looker on be affected with pleasure in the representation of a feigned tragedy; think what contentment a man receiveth, when they, that are equal to him in nature, from the height of insolency and fury are brought to the condition of a chased prey; when a victory is obtained, whereof the victories of games are but counterfeits and shadows; and, when in a lively tragedy, a man's enemies are sacrificed before his eyes to his fortune.

Then for the dignity of military profession, is it not the truest and perfectest practice of all virtues? of wisdoms in disposing those things, which are most subject to confusion and accident of justice, in continual distributing rewards: of temperance, in exercising of the straitest discipline: of fortitude, in toleration of all labours, and abstinence from effeminate delights of constancy, in bearing and dant, and that Mr. Tobie Matthew was the squire. "The world," says Mr. Whyte," makes many untrue constructions of these speeches, comparing the hermit and the secretary to two of the lords; and the soldier to Sir Roger Williams. But the queen said, that if she had thought there had been so much said of her, she would not have been there that night; and so went to bed."

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THE SOLDIER'S SPEECH.

SQUIRE, the good old man hath said well to you; but I dare say, thou wouldst be sorry to leave to carry thy master's shield, and to carry his books: and I am sure thy master had rather be a falcon, a bird of prey, than a singing bird in a cage. The muses are to serve martial men, to sing their famous actions; and not to be served by them. Then hearken to me.

digesting the greatest variety of fortune. So that when all other places and professions require but their several virtues, a brave leader in the wars must be accomplished with all. It is the wars that are the tribunal seat, where the highest rights and possessions are decided; the occupation of kings, the root of nobility, the protection of all estates. And lastly, lovers never thought their profession sufficiently graced, till they have compared it to a warfare. All, that in any other profession can be wished for, is but to live happily; but to be a brave commander in the field, death itself doth crown the head with glory. Therefore, Squire, let thy master go with me; and though he be resolved in the pursuit of his love, let him aspire to it by the noblest means. For ladies count it no honour to subdue them with their fairest eyes, which will be daunted with the fierce encounter of an enemy. And they will quickly discern a champion fit to wear their glove, from a page not worthy to carry their pantofle. Therefore, I say again, let him seek his fortune in the field, where he may either lose his love, or find new argument to advance it.

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THE STATESMAN'S SPEECH.

But what, Squire, is thy master's end? If to make the prince happy he serves, let the instructions to employ men, the relations of ambassadors, the treaties between princes, and actions of the present time, be the books he reads: let the orations of wise princes, or experimented counsellors, in council or parliament, and the final sentences of grave and learned judges in weighty and doubtful causes, be the lecturers he frequents. Let the holding of affection with confederates without charge, the frustrating of the attempts of enemies without battles, the entitling of the crown to new possessions without show of wrong, the filling of the prince's coffers without violence, the keeping of men in appetite without impatience, be the inventions he seeks out. Let policy and matters of state be the chief, and almost the only thing he intends. But if he will believe Philautia, and seek most his own happiness, he must not of them embrace all kinds, but make choice, and avoid all matter of peril, displeasure, and charge, and turn them over to some novices, that know not manacles from bracelets, nor burdens from robes. For himself, let him set for matters of commodity and strength, though they be joined with envy. Let him not trouble himself too laboriously to sound into any matter deeply, or to execute any thing exactly; but let himself make himself cunning SQUIRE, my advice to thy master shall be as a rather in the humours and drifts of persons, than in token wrapped up in words: but then will it show the nature of business and affairs. Of that it sufficeth itself fair when it is unfolded in his actions. To to know only so much, as may make him able to wish him to change from one humour to another, make use of other men's wits, and to make again a were but as if, for the cure of a man in pain, one smooth and pleasing report. Let him entertain the should advise him to lay upon the other side, but proposition of others, and ever rather let him have not enable him to stand on his feet. If from a sanan eye to the circumstances, than to the matter itguine delightful humour of love, he turn to a meself; for then shall he ever seem to add somewhat lancholy retired humour of contemplation, or a tur- of his own and besides, when a man doth not forget bulent boiling humour of the wars; what doth he so much as a circumstance, men do think his wit but change tyrants? Contemplation is a dream; doth superabound for the substance. In his counlove, a trance; and the humour of war is raving. sels let him not be confident; for that will rather These be shifts of humour, but no reclaiming to make him obnoxious to the success; but let him reason. I debar him not studies nor books, to give follow the wisdom of oracles, which uttered that him stay and variety of conceit, refresh his mind, which might ever be applied to the event. And to cover sloth and indisposition, and to draw to him ever rather let him take the side which is likeliest from those that are studious, respect and commend- to be followed, than that which is soundest and best, ation. But let him beware, lest they possess not that every thing may seem to be carried by his ditoo much of his time; that they abstract not his rection. To conclude, let him be true to himself, · judgment from present experience, nor make him and avoid all tedious reaches of state, that are not presume upon knowing much, to apply the less. merely pertinent to his particular. And if he will For the wars, I deny him no enterprise, that shall needs pursue his affection, and go on his course, be worthy in greatness, likely in success, or necessary what can so much advance him in his own way ? in duty; not mixed with any circumstance of jea- The merit of war is too outwardly glorious to be lousy, but duly laid upon him. But I would not have inwardly grateful: and it is the exile of his eyes, him take the alarm from his own humour, but from which looking with such affection upon the picture, the occasion; and I would again he should know an cannot but with infinite contentment behold the life. employment from a discourting. And for his love, But when his mistress shall perceive, that his enlet it not disarm his heart within, as to make him deavours are become a true support of her, a distoo credulous to favours, nor too tender to unkind- charge of her care, a watchman of her person, a nesses, nor too apt to depend upon the heart he knows scholar of her wisdom, an instrument of her opernot. Nay in his demonstration of love, let him ation, and a conduit of her virtue; this, with his not go too far; for these seely lovers, when they diligences, accesses, humility, and patience, may profess such infinite affection and obligation, they move her to give him further degrees and approaches tax themselves at so high a rate, that they are to her favour. So that I conclude, I have traced ever under arrest. It makes their service seem him the way to that, which hath been granted to nothing, and every cavil or imputation very great. some few, amare et sapere, to love and to be wise.

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