MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. XXV 11 



any immediate value; for, not falling into possession till 

 after the lapse of twenty years, he said that &quot; it was like 

 another man s ground buttailing upon his house, which 

 might mend his prospect, but it did not fill his barns.&quot; (a) 



In the parliament which met on February 19, 1592, and 1592. 

 which was chiefly called for consultation and preparation 

 against the ambitious designs of the King of Spain, (b} 

 Bacon sat as one of the knights for Middlesex, (c) On the 

 25th of February, 1592, he, in his first speech, earnestly 

 recommended the improvement of the law, an improvement 

 which through life he availed himself of every opportunity 

 to encourage (d) not only by his speeches, but by his works; 

 in which he admonishes lawyers, that although they have 

 a tendency to resist the progress of legal improvement, 

 and are not the best improvers of law, it is their duty 

 to visit and strengthen the roots and foundation of their 

 science, productive of such blessings to themselves and to 

 the community; and he submitted to the king that the 

 most sacred trust to sovereign power consisted in the 

 establishing good laws for the regulation of the kingdom, 

 and as an example to the world. 



To assist in the improvement which he recommended, 

 he, in after life, prepared a plan for a digest and amend 

 ment of the whole law, and particularly of the penal law 

 of England, and a tract upon Universal Justice ; the one 

 like a fruitful shower, profitable and good for the latitude 

 of ground on which it falls, the other like the benefits of 

 heaven, permanent and universal, (e) 



In another debate on the 7th of March, Bacon forcibly 

 represented, as reasons for deferring for six years the pay 

 ment of the subsidies to which the house had consented, 



(a) See note Z Z at the end. (6) See note 2 Z at the end. 



(c) See note A A at the end. (d} See note B B at the end. 



e See note C C at the end. 



