Xll PREFACE. 



his retirement from active life.* In a letter to the 

 king, dated 20th of March, 1621, he says, 

 &quot; To the King s most excellent Majesty. 



&quot; May it please your Majesty, 

 &quot; I acknowledge myself in all humbleness infi- 

 &quot; nitely hounden to your majesty s grace and good- 

 &quot; ness, for that, at the intercession of my noble and 

 &quot; constant friend, my lord marquis, your majesty 

 &quot; hath been pleased to grant me that which the 

 &quot; civilians say is res inasstimabilis, my liberty. So 

 &quot; that now, whenever God calleth me, I shall not 

 e die a prisoner. Nay, farther, your majesty hath 

 &quot; vouchsafed to cast a second and iterate aspect of 

 &quot; your eye of compassion upon me, in referring the 

 e( consideration of my broken estate to my good lord 

 &quot; the treasurer ; which as it is a singular bounty in 

 &quot; your majesty, so I have yet so much left of a late 

 &quot; commissioner of your treasure, as I would be sorry 

 &quot; to sue for any thing that might seem immodest. 

 &quot; These your majesty s great benefits, in casting 



&quot; * His historical works are these: the first is the history 

 &quot; of Henry the Seventh, written elegantly, by his lordship in the 

 &quot; English tongue, and addressed -to his Highness the Prince of 

 &quot; Wales ; and turned afterwards into Latin. An history which 

 &quot; required such a reporter : those times being times both of 

 &quot; great revolution, and settlement, through the division and 

 &quot; union of the roses. 



&quot; This was the first book which he composed after his re- 

 &quot; tirement from an active life. Upon which occasion he wrote 

 &quot; thus to the Bishop of Winchester. Being (as I am) no more 

 &quot; able to do my country service, it remaineth unto me, to do it 

 honour: which J have endeavoured to do in my work of the 

 &quot; reign of King Henry the Seventh.&quot; Baconiana. 



