CCcliv LIFE OF BACON. 



memorable by records and acts mixed of mercy and justice ; 

 yourselves are either nobles (and compassion ever beateth 

 in the veins of noble blood) or reverend prelates, who are 

 the servants of Him that would not break the bruised reed, 

 nor quench smoking flax. You all sit upon one high 

 sta;e: and therefore cannot but be more sensible of the 



O 



changes of the world, and of the fall of any of high place. 

 Neither will your lordships forget that there are vitia 

 temporis as well as vitia hominis, and that the beginning 

 of reformations hath the contrary power of the pool of 

 Bethesda ; for that had strength to cure only him that was 

 first cast in, and this hath commonly strength to hurt him 

 only that is first cast in ; and for my part, I wish it may 

 stay there, and go no further. 



&quot; Lastly, I assure myself your lordships have a noble 

 feeling of me, as a member of your own body, and one 

 that, in this very session, had some taste of your loving 

 affections, which, I hope, was not a lightening before the 

 death of them, but rather a spark of that grace, which now 

 in the conclusion will more appear. 



&quot; And therefore my humble suit to your lordships is, 

 that my penitent submission may be my sentence, and the 

 loss of the seal my punishment ; and that your lordships 

 will spare any further sentence, but recommend me to his 

 majesty s grace and pardon for all that is past. God s 

 holy spirit be amongst you. Your Lordships humble 

 servant and suppliant, FR. ST. ALB AN, Cane.&quot; 



April 22, 1621. 



Although the King and Buckingham hoped that this 

 general submission would be satisfactory, the agitation was 

 too great to be thus easily quieted. It was, after delibera 

 tion, resolved that the Lord Chancellor s submission gave 

 not satisfaction to their lordships, for that his lordship s 



