CCclxX LIFE OF BACON. 



shew him the said confession ; and tell him, that the lords 

 do conceive it to be an ingenuous and full confession, and 

 demand whether it be his own hand that is subscribed to 

 the same; and their lordships being returned, reported, 

 that the Lord Chancellor said, &quot; It is my act, my hand, 

 my heart. I beseech your lordships, be merciful unto a 

 broken reed.&quot; 



May 2. On the 2nd of May, the seals having been sequestered, 

 the house resolved to proceed to judgment on the next 

 day. (a) 



Letter to In this interval, on the evening of the 2nd of May, the 

 the Kmg. Chancellor wrote to the King, &quot; to save him from the 

 sentence, to let the cup pass from him ; for if it is reforma 

 tion that is sought, taking the seals will, with the general 

 submission, be sufficient atonement.&quot; (b) 



(a) Agreed to proceed to sentence the Lord Chancellor to-morrow 

 morning; wherefore the gentleman usher and the Serjeant at arms, attend 

 ants on this house, were commanded to go and summon him the Lord 

 Chancellor to appear here in person to-morrow morning, by nine of the 

 clock ; and the serjeant was commanded to take his mace with him, and 

 to shew it unto his lordship at the said summons. They found him sick in 

 bed; and being summoned, he answered that he was sick, and protested 

 that he feigned not this for any excuse ; for if he had been well, he would 

 willingly have come. The Lords resolved to proceed notwithstanding 

 against the said Lord Chancellor ; and therefore, on Thursday, the third of 

 May, their lordships sent their message unto the Commons to this purpose. 



(#) The following is the letter : 



It may please your Majesty, It hath pleased God for 

 these three days past, to visit me with such extremity 

 of headach upon the hinder part of my head, fixed in one 

 place, that I thought verily it had been some imposthu- 

 mation ; and then the little physic that I have told me that 

 either it must grow to a congelation, and so to a lethargy, 

 or to break, and so to a mortal fever or sudden death; 

 which apprehension, and chiefly the anguish of the pain, 

 made me unable to think of any business. But now that 

 the pain itself is assuaged to be tolerable, I resume the care 



