ESSEX S LIBERATION. Ixxvii 



and headstrong violence ; assuring the Queen, &quot; that he 

 kissed her royal hand and the rod which had corrected him; 

 that he could never recover his wonted joy till he beheld 

 her comfortable eyes, which had been his guiding stars, 

 and by the conduct whereof he had sailed most happily 

 whilst he held his course in a just latitude; that now 

 he was determined to repent him of his offence, and to 

 say with Nebuchodonosor, my dwelling is with the beasts 

 of the field, to eat grass as an ox, and to be wet with the 

 dew of heaven, till it shall please the Queene to restore my 

 understanding to me.&quot; (a) 



This abasement gratified Elizabeth, who said, &quot; though 

 she did not expect that his deeds would accord with his 

 words, yet, if this could be brought to pass with the fur- 



(a) Camden, 169. Birch s Elizabeth, 461. One of the letters written by 

 Mr. Francis Bacon for the earl, and printed among the works of the former, 

 beginning with these words, &quot; It were great simplicity in me,&quot; &c. is much 

 inferior to what the earl himself would have written. But there are two 

 others, which appear to have come from his lordship s own hand, and have 

 not yet been seen in print. The first is in these terms : 



&quot; Let me beg leave, most dear and most admired sovereign, to remember 

 the story of your own gracious goodness, when I was even at the mouth of 

 the grave. No worldly means had power to stay me in this world but the 

 comfort which I received from your majesty. When I was weak and full 

 of infirmities, the increase of liberty which your majesty gave, and the gra 

 cious message which your majesty sent me, made me recover in a few 

 weeks that strength, which my physicians in a long time durst not hope for. 

 And now, lastly, when I should be for ever disabled for your majesty s 

 service, and by consequence made unwilling to live, your majesty at my 

 humble supplication granted, that that cup should pass from me. These 

 are deeply engraven in my memory, and they shall ever be acknowledged 

 by my tongue and pen. But yet after all these, without one farther degree 

 of your mercy, your servant perisheth. Indignatio principis mors est. He 

 cannot be said to live, that feels the weight of it. What then can your 

 majesty think of his state, that hath thus long lived under it, and yet sees 

 not your majesty reach out your fair hand to take off part of this weight? 

 If your majesty could know what I feel, your sweet and excellent nature 

 could not but be compassionate. I dare not lift up my voice to speak, but 

 my humble (now exiled, though once too happy) eyes are lifted up, and 



