THE CHARGE GIVEN BY SIR FRANCIS BACON, 



KNIGHT, HIS MAJESTY S ATTORNEY 

 GENERAL, AGAINST MR. OLIVER ST. JOHN, FOR 

 SCANDALISING AND TRADUCING IN THE PUBLIC 



SESSIONS, LETTERS SENT FROM THE 



LORDS OF THE COUNCIL TOUCHING THE 



BENEVOLENCE. 



MY LORDS, 



I SHALL inform you &quot; ore terms,&quot; against this gentle 

 man Mr. I. S. a gentleman, as it seems, of an ancient 

 house and name ; but, for the present, I can think 

 of him by no other name, than the name of a great 

 offender. The nature and quality of his offence, in 

 sum, is this : This gentleman hath, upon advice, not 

 suddenly by his pen, nor by the slip of his tongue ; 

 not privately, or in a corner, but publicly, as it were, 

 to the face of the king s ministers and justices, 

 slandered and traduced the king our sovereign, the 

 law of the land, the parliament, and infinite par 

 ticulars of his majesty s worthy and loving subjects. 

 Nay, the slander is of that nature, that it may seem 

 to interest the people in grief and discontent against 

 the state ; whence might have ensued matter of 

 murmur and sedition. So that it is not a simple 

 slander, but a seditious slander, like to that the poet 



