CCCxliv LIFE OF BACON. 



cessor, &quot; They who will strike at your chancellor will strike 

 at your crown. &quot;(a) 



There was not any suggestion by Williams that the 

 Chancellor could not have anticipated, except the monstrous 

 fact that the King and Buckingham were consenting to 

 his downfall. Once convinced that his weak and cowardly 

 master was not only willing but anxious to interpose him 

 between an enraged people and his culpable favourite, his 

 line of conduct became evident : he was as much bound to 

 the stake as if already chained there ; and, when the fate 

 of Essex and of Somerset recurred to him, he must have 

 felt how little dependence could be placed upon court 

 favour, and how certain was the utter ruin of a man who 

 attempts to oppose a despotic prince. He might well say, 

 &quot; he was become clay in the King s hand.&quot;(&) He who is 

 robbed of all that constitutes a man, freedom of thought 

 and action, which is the breath of his nostrils, becomes 

 nothing but a lifeless statue. 



Interview Before the 16th of April the King sent for the Chancellor, 

 Kin tn( W ^ ms * an ^y prepared minutes for their conference, (c) in 



() See postea, account by Bushel. 



(6) See postea, p. cccxlvi. 



(c) Memoranda of what the Lord Chancellor intended to deliver to the 

 King, April 16, 162 1, upon his first access to his Majesty after his 

 troubles. 



That howsoever it goeth with me, I think myself infinitely bound to his 

 majesty for admitting me to touch the hem of his garment; and that, 

 according to my faith, so be it unto me. That I ought also humbly to 

 thank his majesty for that, in that excellent speech of his, which is printed, 

 that speech of so great maturity, wherein the elements are so well mingled, 

 by kindling affection, by washing away aspersion, by establishing of 

 opinion, and yet giving way to opinion, I do find some passages which I 

 do construe to my advantage. 



And lastly, that I have heard from my friends, that notwithstanding 

 these waves of information, his majesty mentions my name with grace and 

 -favour. 



In the next place, I am to make an oblation of myself into his majesty s 



