LETTERS AFTER SENTENCE. CCclxxiH 



By observing his words in moments of agitation the 

 state of his mind is manifest. 



When imprisoned in the Tower, he instantly wrote to Letter from 

 Buckingham, saying, &quot; However I have acknowledged the Tovver - 

 that the sentence is just, and for reformation sake fit, I 

 have been a trusty and honest, and Christ-loving friend to 

 your lordship, and the justest chancellor that hath been 

 in the five changes since my father s time.&quot; (b) 



In another letter, &quot; God is my witness that, when 1 

 examine myself, I find all well, and that I have approved 

 myself to your lordship a true friend both in the watery 

 trial of prosperity and in the fiery trial of adversity :&quot;(c) 

 &quot; I hope his majesty may reap honour out of my adversity, 

 as he hath done strength out of my prosperity.&quot; (d) 



&quot; For the briberies and gifts wherewith I am charged, Letter to 

 when the book of hearts shall be opened, I hope I shall the Kmg&amp;lt; 

 not be found to have the troubled fountain of a corrupt 

 heart, in a depraved habit of taking rewards to pervert 

 justice; howsoever I may be frail,, and partake of the 

 abuses of the times/ was his expression in the midst of 

 his agony, (e) 



see Tiberius, upon a stinging and incensing speech of Agrippina, came a 

 step forth of his dissimulation, when he said, You are hurt, because you 

 do not reign ; of which Tacitus saith, l Audita hsec raram occulti pectoris 

 vocem elicuere, correptamque Graeco versu admonuit : ideo laedi, quia non 

 regnaret/ And therefore the poet doth elegantly call passions, tortures, 

 that urge men to confess their secrets : 



1 Vino tortus et ira. 



And experience sheweth, there are few men so true to themselves, and so 

 settled, but that, sometimes upon heat, sometimes upon bravery, sometimes 

 upon kindness, sometimes upon trouble of mind and weakness, they open 

 themselves; specially if they be put to it with a counter-dissimulation, 

 according to the proverb of Spoin, l Di mentira, y sacaras verdad : tell a 

 lie, and find a truth.&quot; 



(6) See postea, page ccclxxix. (c) See postea, page ccclxxxiii. 



(d) See postea, p. ccclxxxiv. (e) See ante, p. cccxxxii. 



