Elizabeth survived Sir Thomas Hobby, and married John, Lord Russel. There is a portrait of her at Mr. Vansittart's, Bisham Abbey, enamelled by Bone. Sir Anthony Cooke died June 11, 1576, and is buried in the chapel at Romford.-Birch's Elizabeth, 11. Portrait of Lady Cooke, wife of Sir Anthony, by Holbein, at Woburn, enamelled by Bone. Sir Nicholas Bacon was a man full of wit and wisdom: was a gentleman and a man of law and of great knowledge therein. He had the deepest reach into affairs of any man that was at the council table: the knottiest head to pierce into difficulties: the most comprehensive judgment to surround the merits of a cause the strongest memory to recollect all circumstances of a business at one view the greatest patience to debate and consider: and the clearest reason to urge any thing that came in his way in the court of chancery. His favour was eminent with his mistress, and his alliance strong with her statesmen. He was lord keeper of the great seal during the time of Elizabeth. He was, in a word, a father of his country and of Sir Francis Bacon. Lloyd. He was a moderate man: "Mediocria firma" was his principle and practice. He is described by Camden as "Vir præpinquis, ingenio acerrimo, singulari prudentia, summa eloquentia, tenaci memoria, et sacris conciliis alterium columen.' Sir Nicholas Bacon, a most eloquent man, of as sound learning and wisdom as England had in many ages, with the old Lord William Burghley, lord treasurer, have above others been admired and commended in their public speeches in parliament. Peacham, Cent. 44. Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper, ob. 1579, February 20: in him was united for the first time the office of lord chancellor and that of lord keeper, but in 1564, being suspected of having favoured the succession of the house of Gray, he fell into disgrace and was forbad to appear at court, or to interfere in any public affairs except those of chancery, where he continued to preside, with an unblemished reputation, till his death. Lodge, I. 306. Sir Nicholas Bacon, keeper in the reign of Elizabeth, died lamented by her and the nation, 20th February, 1578-9. He was interred in the cathedral of St. Paul's, where a monument was erected to him, which was destroyed by the fire of London, 1666. Sir Nicholas had much of that penetrating genius, solidity of judgment, persuasive eloquence, and comprehensive knowledge of law and equity, which afterwards shone forth with so great a lustre in his son, who was as much inferior to his father in point of prudence and integrity, as his father was to him in literary accomplishments. He was the first lord keeper that ranked as lord chancellor. Promoted 1558-9: ob. 20th February, 1578-9. It is interesting to see the resemblance between the minds of Sir Nicholas and of his son. Sir Nicholas was an eminent statesman, with the refinement of a courtier: a learned lawyer, eloquent, and devoted to science, with a passion for building qualities by which his son was distinguished through life. Queen Elizabeth told him his house was too little for him," Not so, madam," returned he, "but your majesty has made me too great for my house." When Elizabeth asked Francis in his childhood how old he was, he answered that he was two years younger than her majesty's happy reign. In that court, and in the star-chamber, he made use, on proper occasions, of set speeches, in which he was happier than most men, pleasing the people by their sound, and charming the wisest men of that age with their sense, whence he attained the reputation of uniting two opposite characters, viz. of a witty and a weighty speaker. Ben Jonson says nearly the same of Lord Bacon. There happened in my time one noble speaker, who was full of gravity in his speaking. His language (where he could spare or pass by a jest) was nobly censorious. No man ever spake more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, p. 43. suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of its own graces. His hearers could not cough, or look aside from him without loss. He commanded where he spoke; and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more in his power. The fear of every man that heard him was, lest he should make an end. The devotion of Sir Nicholas to science may be seen in inscriptions in different parts of his seat at Gorhambury. Over a gate leading into the orchard, which had a garden on one side and a wilderness on the other, under the statue of Orpheus, stood these verses: Horrida nuper eram aspectu latebrææque ferarum, Ruricolis tantum numinibusque locus. This too was the favourite image of Francis. In Orpheus's Theatre all beasts and birds assembled, and forgetting their several appetites, some of prey, some of game, some of quarrel, stood all sociably together, listening to the airs and accords of the harp; the sound whereof no sooner ceased, or was drowned by some louder noise, but every beast returned to his own nature; wherein is aptly described the nature and condition of men who are full of savage and unreclaimed desires of profit, of lust, of revenge, which, as long as they give ear to precepts, to laws, to religion, sweetly touched with eloquence, and persuasion of books, of sermons, of harangues; so long is society and peace maintained; but if these instruments be silent, or sedition and tumult make them not audible, all things dissolve into anarchy and confusion. In the orchard was a little banquetting-house, adorned with great curiosity, having the liberal arts beautifully depicted on its walls, over them the pictures of such learned men as had excelled in each, and under them, verses expressive of the benefits derived from the study of them. GRAMMAR. Lex sum sermonis linguarum regula certa, LOGICK. MUSICK. RHETORICK. GEOMETRY. ASTROLOGY. Astrorum lustrans cursus viresque potentes, So, too, Francis had his banquetting-house and fish-ponds, as will be explained in a subsequent part of this work. They may now be seen at Gorhambury, in a field called the Ponyard-the Pondyard. His passion for building appeared in his mansion and gardens at Gorhambury, near St. Albans, and in his New Atlantis are the statues of eminent men. Sir Nicholas's first wife was Jane Fernly, of West Creting, in Suffolk, by whom he had six children. His second wife was Anne, the daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Giddy Hall, Essex, by whom he had two sons, Anthony and Francis, who was the celebrated Lord Verulam. His death is said to have been occasioned by accident, on the 20th of February, 1579; and, on the 9th of March, he was buried with great solemnity, under a sumptuous monument erected by himself in St. Paul's church, with the following inscription by Buchannan : Hic Nicolaum nè Baconum conditum, Vitam secundam cælites inter animus, Hac positum in ara est corpus olim animi domus, There are various pictures of the lord keeper; there are two in Gorhambury House; a print in Musgrave's collection, lord keeper, æt. 68, 1579. Picture in Euston House, Suffolk. Picture by Zucchero in Lennerd House, Norfolk. Picture in Brome Hall, Suffolk-motto, Mediocria Firma. Picture at Bennet College, Cambridge. Picture in King's Weston House, Gloucestershire. Knowle House, Kent. By Zucchero, at Woburn. See Walpole's Painters. Pennant's Journey. In the Horologia, 8vo. a Vandenwooffe, 1559. Vertue sc. large 4to. Vertue, &c. a small oval engraving, with other heads, in the frontispiece to Burnet's Abridgment of the History of the Reformation. Portrait of Anne, wife of Sir Nicholas, lord keeper, at Gorhambury, enamelled by Bone. His bust and of his wife Anne, and of their son, Francis, when twelve years old, are at Gorhambury. I saw them in April, 1825. They are of terra cotta, and coloured after the life. The bust of Francis is, as to the shape of the head, barrel like. Biographia Adversaria, vol. i. British Museum : Ŝir N. Bacon, lord keeper of the great seal, autograph, 1562, 1565, 1566. A great part of the furniture which belonged to the lord keeper is still carefully preserved. The purse which was delivered with the great seal to Sir Nicholas Bacon, by the queen, is now in the possession of the Rev. John Long, rector of Coddenham, Suffolk, to whom it was bequeathed by the will of the Rev. Nathaniel Bacon, his predecessor in the living, and last male descendant of Nicholas, eldest son of Edward Bacon, esq. of Shrubland, the third son of Sir Nicholas by his first wife. The following is the pedigree of the lord keeper. Nathaniel, the second son, was, to use the words of Sir Nicholas his father, of best hope in learning. This appears from the following letter from the lord keeper, written when Francis was only eight years old. Harleian MS. 287, fo. 280.-" I have receyved yor gentill and courteous lettre, and thank you hartely for it. And albeit my sonne hath begged this benefice of you, wch indeed was yor by my promyse, yet I trust or it be long to provide some other of better value for you, in parte of satisfaction of this that is paste, ye shal be sure to have the first, and the best that I may gyve in eyther bothe shires. And in good faythe I am sory you have not this for yor advertisement concerning Mr. Dopledick. I have great cause to thinke myself much beholden unto you, but herein (I thank you) I fynd by soundry weyes you do but as you are wonte, I should be much to blame if any tyme shall make me forgetfull of it, and remembring it I muste be unthankfull if I requyte it not, if it lye in my power. My desyer is that if you be acquaynted wth Mr. Dopledick, that you will of yo'self lett hym understand that I have told you my intention is to have my second sonne married in Suff., and wth all that I have requyered you, if you should understand of any convenient mariage for him to advertise me of it, and so furthe as you shall think moste meet. In deed of all my children he is of best hope in learning, and thereupon to feele his disposycion howe he is inclyned that waye, whereof I gladly wold be advertised wth some speed. And besyde I praye you signifie unto me th' age of the mayde, wth whome she hath ben brought up, and who maye be the meetest meanes to bring the same to passe, yf upon yor significacyon I shall have cause to lyke of it, and of the other syde if you for want of a quayntaince wth hym be not meete to begyne to breake this matter (whereof I wold be very sory) then I wold gladly be enformed from you who were meet to do it. I have written to my sonne that he shall see you lettres conveyed with speed, whensoever you are disposed to writt unto me, for in thies causes protracting of tyme may verye muche hinder, my meaning is not to have many acquainted wth this matter, till I knowe what will come of it. Thus wishing to you as to myself I bid you hartely farewell, from my house at Gorhambury the xxvijth of July, 1568. To my verye frend Robert Asshfeild, esquyer, geve these. Yor verey frynd, N. BACON, C. S. At Whatever may have been the promise of him when a youth, all which we now know of him is, that he was an artist of some merit. Grimstone, in his History of St. Albans, says, "He had a great talent for painting, and travelled into Italy to improve himself in that art." Lord Orford, in his History of Painting, ranks him very high in reputation, amongst the British artists. Culford he left some few pieces of fruit and fish, but they are lost or destroyed, and the only remaining specimens of his works are preserved at Gorhambury, these are a full length portrait of himself, a cook supposed to have been a representation of Lady Bacon, with a great variety of dead game in the foreground, part of which appears unfinished, but the remainder has been greatly admired. There is also a small portrait of his mother. He is thus mentioned in Pennant's Journey from Chester. Near him is his accomplished kinsman, his half-brother, Sir Nathaniel Bacon, knight of the Bath, leaning back in his chair, in a green jacket laced, yellow stockings, a dog by him, and sword and pallet hung up. "In the art of painting, none," says Peacham, "deserveth more respect and admiration than Master Nathaniel Bacon, of Brome, in Suffolk; not inferior, in my judgment, to our skillfullest masters." He improved his talent by travelling into Italy; and left in this house, as a proof of the excellency of his performances, this portrait, and a most excellent one of a cook, a perfect Venus, with an old game-keeper; behind is a variety of dead game, in particular a swan, whose plumage is expressed with inimitable softness and gloss. Sir Nath. Bacon se ipse p. Chambers se 4to. in the anecdotes of painting. Sir Nathaniel Bacon, second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, painted his own portrait and a cook maid, with large and small fowls, in a masterly manner. Both these pictures are at Gorhambury. He was ancestor to the present Lord Townshend. Mr. Nathaniel Bacon, younger son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, knight and eldest baronet, deserveth great respect and admiration for his skill and practice in painting, and not inferior to our most skilful masters. Peachum Gent. 106. See, for a further account of Nathaniel, Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, 316. Sir Nathaniel Bacon, knight of the Bath, younger son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Wheeler. Picture, Gorhambury, by himself. Walp. Paint. i. 177. Sir Nathaniel Bacon, knight, brother of Viscount St. Albans. Print in Musgrave's Collection, ii. Grimstone's History of Gorhambury, page 69. Sir Nathaniel, the second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, married the daughter. of Sir Thomas Gresham, and by her had three daughters, Anne, Elizabeth, and Winifred. Sir Nathaniel died in the lifetime of Lord St. Albans, at his seat at Culford, in the county of Suffolk, and was buried in the chancel of the church at Culford, where a monument was erected to his memory; and another at Stiffkey, in Norfolk, where he had also an estate and mansion. Anne, his eldest daughter, married first Sir Thomas Meautys, who died without issue, and now lies by his friend in St. Michael's church, at St. Albans. I, in 1830, traced his epitaph. It is partly covered by one of the pews. The inscription is as follows: Upon removing the pew, which now is upon part of the stone, there would no doubt appear on the first line and in the second line, HERE LIE THOMAS so that the inscription will be plain: "Here lieth the body of Sir Thomas Meawtys K'." Grimstone's History of Gorhambury, page 62. Lord St. Albans had in his lifetime conveyed his estate and manor of Gorhambury to Sir John Constable and Sir Thomas Crewe, as trustees, by whom it was after his death conveyed to Sir Frances Leigh and others, in trust for the sole use of Sir Thomas Meautys, his relation and friend, who had married Anne, the only surviving daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon. Sir H. Grimstone bought Gorhambury of Sir Thomas Meautys. After the death of Sir Thomas Meautys, Anne married Sir Harbottle Grimstone, he having, as it seems, previously bought Gorhambury of Sir Thomas Meautys. Account of Sir Harbottle Grimstone and his wives: his second wife having been Anne, the daughter of Nathaniel, the second son of the lord keeper, and widow of Sir Thomas Meautys. Burnet, in his History of his Own Times, says, "And I applied myself to my studies, and my function being then settled preacher at the Rolls, and soon after lecturer of St. Clements. I lived many years under the protection of Sir Harbottle Grimstone, Master of the Rolls, who continued steady in his favour to me, though the King sent Secretary Williamson to desire him to dismiss me. He said he was an old man, fitting himself for another world, and he found my ministry useful to him, so he prayed he might be excused in that. This broke me quite with the court, and in that respect proved a great blessing to me : it brought me out of many temptations; the greatest of all being the kindness that was growing toward me from the Duke, which might have involved me in great difficulties, as it did expose me to much censure; all which went off upon this. He was a long and very kind patron to me. I continued ten years in that post, free from all necessities: and I thank God that was all I desired : but, since I was so long happy in so quiet a retreat, it seems but a just piece of gratitude, that I should give some account of that venerable old man. He was descended from a long-lived family; for his great grandfather lived till he was ninety-eight, his grandfather to eighty-six, and his father to seventy-eight, and himself to eighty-two. He had to the last a great soundness of health, of memory, and of judgment. He was bred to the study of the law, being a younger brother. Upon the elder brother's death he threw it up; but falling in love with Judge Croke's daughter, the father would not bestow her on him |