260 SIR FRANCIS BACON S APOLOGY 



am, when the queen at any time asked mine opinion 

 of my lord s case, I ever in one tenour said unto her; 

 That they were faults which the law might term 

 contempts ; because they were the transgression of 

 her particular directions and instructions : but then 

 what defence might be made of them, in regard of 

 the great interest the person had in her majesty s 

 favour ; in regard of the greatness of his place, and 

 the ampleness of his commission ; in regard of the 

 nature of the business, being action of war, which in 

 common cases cannot be tied to strictness of instruc 

 tions ; in regard of the distance of the place, having 

 also a sea between, that his demands and her com 

 mands must be subject to wind and weather ; in re 

 gard of a council of state in Ireland, which he had 

 at his back to avow his actions upon ; and lastly, in 

 regard of a good intention, that he would allege 

 for himself; which, I told her, in some religions was 

 held to be a sufficient dispensation for God s command 

 ments, much more for princes : in all these regards, 

 I besought her majesty to be advised again and again, 

 how she brought the cause into any public question. 

 Nay, I went farther ; for I told her, my lord was an 

 eloquent and well-spoken man; and besides his elo 

 quence of nature or art, he had an eloquence of ac 

 cident which passed them both, which was the pity 

 and benevolence of his hearers ; and therefore, that 

 when he should come to his answer for himself, I 

 doubted his words would have so unequal a passage 

 above theirs that should charge him, as would not 



