PREFACE. 



Xlll 



of Commons, and to preserve this he moved, that now they 

 might proceed herein by themselves apart from their Lord 

 ships. After considerable discussion the question was ultim 

 ately put to the House, that no such conference should be 

 had with the Lords, and was carried by a majority of 217 to 

 128. The point of privilege was yielded, and a motion of Sir 

 Walter Ralegh s for a general conference with the Lords 

 carried unanimously. As the result of this, the original pro 

 position was so far modified that four years instead of three 

 were to be allowed for the payment of the subsidies. Bacon 

 assented to three subsidies, but not to the payment under six 

 years, but he was outvoted and made no further difficulty. 

 Such was the solitary act of patriotism of which Macaulay 

 says Bacon was guilty. And even for this, he adds, he made 

 the most abject apologies. Two letters of Bacon s on this 

 subject have been preserved, one to Lord Burghley, the other 

 probably, as Mr. Spedding conjectures, to Essex. The tone 

 of both is that of manly justification of his conduct ; in neither 

 is there one syllable of apology or regret for what he had 

 done. He is evidently surprised at being misunderstood. The 

 Queen was angry at his speeches, ar.d Bacon expresses his 

 grief that she should retain an hard conceit of them. What 

 follows is very instructive. It mought please her sacred 

 Majesty to think what my end should be in those speeches, 

 if it were not duty, and duty alone. I am not so simple but 1 

 know the common beaten way to please. And whereas popul 

 arity hath been objected, I muse what care I should take to 

 please many, that taketh a course of life to deal with few. 



At this juncture the Attorney-Generalship was vacant, and 

 whatever chance Bacon might have had, through the influence 

 of Essex, of being appointed to the post, was entirely nullified 

 by the Queen s displeasure. For himself he was not anxious 

 for the honour, but he assured Elizabeth, in a letter which was 

 intended to appease her, that he was ready to do that for her 

 service which he would not do for his own gain. My mind, 

 he says, turneth upon other wheels than those of proht. Had 

 it not been for this chance, however, he would probably have 



