LETTERS FROM THE CABALA. 65 



the heighth of my lord s fortune might make him secure, I 

 mean, that he was turned proud, or unknowing of himself. 

 Surely, the opinion I have ever had of my lord (whereof 

 your majesty is best witness) is far from that. But my 

 meaning was plain and simple, that his lordship might, 

 through his great fortune, be the less apt to cast and foresee 

 the unfaithfulness of friends, and the malignity of enemies, 

 and accidents of times. Which is a judgment (your majesty 

 knoweth better than I) that the best authors make of the 

 best, and best tempered spirits &quot;ut sunt res humanse ;&quot; 

 insomuch as Guicciardini maketh the same judgment (not 

 of a particular person,) but of the wisest state of Europe, 

 the senate of Venice, when he saith, their prosperity had 

 made them secure, and under-weighers of perils. Therefore 

 I beseech your majesty, to deliver me in this, from any the 

 least imputation to my dear and noble lord and friend. And 

 so expecting, that that sun which when it went from us, 

 left us cold weather, and now it is returned towards us hath 

 brought with it a blessed harvest, will, when it cometh to 

 us, dispel and disperse all mists and mistakings. 



July 31. 1617. I am, etc. 



The Lord Chancellor Bacon to the King. 



It may please your most excellent Majesty, 

 I do many times, with gladness, and for a remedy of my 

 other labours, revolve in my mind the great happiness which 

 God (of his singular goodness) hath accumulated upon your 

 majesty every way, and how complete the same would be, 

 if the state of your means were once rectified, and well 

 ordered; your people military and obedient, fit for war, 

 used to peace ; your church illightened with good preachers, 

 as an heaven of stars ; your judges learned, and learning 

 from you, just, and just by your example ; your nobility in 

 a right distance between crown and people, no oppressors 

 VOL. XI. F 



