NOTE EEE. 



anding, as to lose those abilities, and by my miscarriage to so noble a patron, 

 cast myself headlong from the top of that honor to the very bottome of con- 

 *mpt and scorn 1 Surely my lord cannot think so meanly of me. The 

 entleman replied, I deliver you nothing from myself, but the words are put 

 ito my mouth by his lordship, to which I neither add nor diminish ; for had it 



sn left to my discretion, surely, though I might have given you the substance, 

 ;t should I have apparelled it in a more modest attire ; but as I have faith 

 fully delivered my lord s to you, so will I as faithfully return yours to his 

 lordship. 



&quot; You must understand the reason of this message was his ungratefulness to 

 Essex, which every one could remember ; for the earle saved him from starving, 

 and he requited him so as his apology must witness ; were there not a great 

 fault there needed no apology : nor could any age, but a worthless and corrupt, 

 in men and manners, have thought him worthy such a place of honor.&quot; 



Such is a specimen of falsehoods at that time in circulation. It is thus 

 noticed in the Life of Lord Bacon in the Biographia Britannica. 



&quot; There is perhaps no country in the world in which exalted fortune does not 

 beget envy, but at the same time, I believe, it may be truly said that kind of 

 envy rises no where higher, or manifests itself with more violence and bitterness 

 than with us in England. The Lord Keeper Bacon felt this very severely, for 

 no sooner was he advanced to this high point of preferment in his profession, 

 than all tongues were opened against him, that either from interest or inclina 

 tion, wished to have seen some other person seated in that high post. How 

 ever, very little evil was publicly divulged of him during his lifetime, when it 

 might have afforded room for apology or defence, but has discovered itself in 

 libels, penned indeed by such as lived in his days, but not such as were most 

 likely to be well acquainted with him, or the points of which they so confidently 

 wrote. Sir Anthony Weldon, in his Court and Character of King James, 

 asserts,&quot; &c. as stated supra. The biographer in the Biographia Britannica 

 adds, &quot; But this account contains two egregious falsities: for, in the first 

 place, though, as we have seen in the text, Camden says, the Chancellor 

 resigned to the King himself; other authors agree that it was the King sent for 

 the seals, and not the Duke of Buckingham ; and he sent for them, not by Sir 

 Francis Bacon, but by Secretary Winwood, with this message, that himself 

 would be his under-keeper, and not dispose of them while he lived to bear the 

 name of Chancellor ; nor did any person remove the seal out of the King s 

 sight till the Lord Egerton died, which happened soon after. In the next 

 place, the Lord Chancellor Egerton, as Dr. Tennison observes, was willing 

 that the Attorney General, Bacon, should be his successor, and ready to pro 

 mote it : so far was he from conceiving any hatred against him either upon that 

 or any other account. In the same volume we have likewise his speech at the 

 taking his place in Chancery, in performance of the charge his majesty had 

 given him, when he received the seals in 1617. Sir Anthony Weldon has 

 upon this occasion introduced another scandalous story with regard to Sir 

 Francis Bacon, and tells us that this great favourite (Buckingham) sent a 

 noble gentleman and of much worth to him with this message, That he knew 

 him,&quot; &c. ut supra. He then adds, &quot; Very hard language this of a man so 

 eminent and well known, and this from a person of no character at all, or, 

 which is worse, of a very bad one. At present it shall suffice that we observe 

 there is not the least degree of probability in the story which he relates, at 

 the same time that he pretends not to the least shadow of evidence ; so that we 

 are to take a fact, which would scarcely deserve credit, though supported by 

 ever so good witnesses, without any witness at all, and this against the light of 

 one s own reason, and of a multitude of facts which may be alleged to discredit 

 it ; for whereas this is made to have been a sudden promotion, in consequence 

 of a bargain with Buckingham, we have seen that it was so far from being 

 such a promotion, that it was long before in agitation with the King himself, 

 upon whom it is evident enough Sir Francis Bacon chiefly depended. This 

 story makes Buckingham, even before he had acquired that title, an insolent 

 and overbearing favourite, which is directly contrary to what all the historians 



VOL. xv. 19 



