lordship, which makes me need to say the less; only I humbly pray you to believe, that I aspire to the conscience and commendation of "bonus civis," and "bonus vir;" and that though I love some things better, I confess, than I love your lordship, yet I love few persons better; both for gratitude's sake, and for your virtues, which cannot hurt but by accident; of which my good affection it may please your lordship to assure yourself; and of all the true effect and offices I can yield. For as I was ever sorry your lordship should fly with waxen wings, doubting Icarus's fortune, so for the growing up of your own feathers, be they ostrich's or other kind, no man shall be more glad. And this is the axletree whereon I have turned and shall turn. Which having already signified to you by some near mean, having so fit a messenger for mine own letter, I thought good also to redouble by writing. And so I commend you to God's protection.

From Gray's-Inn this * 9th day of July, 1600.

LI. AN ANSWER OF MY LORD OF ESSEX, TO THE PRECEDING LETTER OF MR. BACON.+

MR. BACON,

I CAN neither expound nor censure your late actions; being ignorant of all of them save one; and having directed my sight inward only to examine myself. You do pray me to believe, that you only aspire to the conscience and commendation of " bonus civis," and "bonus vir;" and I do faithfully assure you, that while that is your ambition, though your course be active, and mind contemplative, yet we shall both" convenire in eodem tertio;" and "convenire inter nos ipsos." Your profession of affection, and offer of good offices, are welcome to me; for answer to them I will say but this; that you have believed I have been kind to you, and you may believe that I cannot be other, either upon humour or mine own election. I am a stranger to all poetical conceits, or else I should say somewhat of your poetical example. But this I must say, that I never flew with other wings than desire to merit, and confidence in my sovereign's favour; and when one of these wings failed me, I would light no where but at my sovereign's feet, though she suffered me to be bruised with my fall. And till her Majesty, that knows I was never bird of prey, finds it to agree with her will and her service that my wings should be imped again, I have committed myself to the mue. No power but my God's, and my sovereign's, can alter this resolution of

Your retired friend,

LII. TO MY LORD OF ESSEX.

MY LORD,

I AM glad your lordship hath plunged out of your own business wherein I must commend your lordship, as Xenophon commended the state of his country, which was this, that having chosen the worst form of government of all others, they governed the best in that kind. "Hoc pace et venia tua," according to my charter. Now, as your lordship is my witness that I would not trouble you whilst your own cause was in hand, though that I know, that the farther from the term, the better the time was to deal for me, so that being concluded, I presume I shall be one of your next cares. And having communicated with my brother of some course, either to perfect the first, or to make me some other way; or rather, by seeming to make me some other way to perfect the first; wherewith he agreed to acquaint your lordship; I am desirous, for mine own better satisfaction, to speak with your lordship myself: which I had rather were somewhere else than at court; and as soon as your lordship will assign me to wait on you. And so in, &c.

LIII. TO MY LORD OF ESSEX.§

IT MAY PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,

THAT your lordship is in statu quo prius, no man taketh greater gladness than I do; the rather, because I assure myself that of your eclipses, as this hath been the longest, it shall be the least; as the comical poet saith "Neque illam tu satis noveras, neque te illa; hocque fit, ubi non vere vivitur."|| For if I may be so bold as to say what I think, I believe neither your lordship looked to have found her Majesty in all points as you have done, neither her Majesty per case looked to have found your lordship as she hath done. And therefore I hope upon this experience may grow more perfect knowledge, and upon knowledge more true consent; which I, for my part, do infinitely wish, as accounting these accidents to be like the fish remora; which though it be not great, yet hath it a hidden property to hinder the sailing of the ship. And therefore, as bearing unto your lordship, after her Majesty, of all public persons, the second duty, I could not but signify unto you my affectionate gratulation. And so I commend your good lordship to the best preservation of the Divine Majesty. From Gray's-Inn.

lbid.

§ Ibid.

selves not to be unseen in that deep and unscrutable centre of the court, which is her Majesty's mind, do not only toll the bell, but even ring out peals, as if your fortune were dead and buried, and as if there were no possibility of recovering her Majesty's favour; and as if the best of your condition were to live a private and retired life, out of want, out of peril and out of manifest disgrace; and so in this persuasion of their's include a persuasion to your lordship to frame and accommodate your actions and mind to that end: I fear, I say, that this untimely despair may in time bring forth a just despair, by causing your lordship to slacken and break off your wise, loyal, and seasonable endeavours and industry for redintegration to her Majesty's favour; in comparison whereof all other circumstances are but as atomi, or rather as a vacuum without any substance at all. Against this opinion it may please your lordship to consider of these reasons which I have collected, and to make judgment of them, neither out of the melancholy of your present fortune, nor out of the infusion of that which cometh to you by others' relation, which is subject to much tincture, but ex rebus ipsis, out of the nature of the persons and actions themselves, as the trustiest and least deceiving grounds of opinion. For though I am so unfortunate as to be a stranger to her Majesty's eye, and much more to her nature and manners; yet by that which is apparent, I do manifestly discern, that she hath that character of the divine nature and goodness, "quos amavit, amavit usque ad finem;" and where she hath a creature, she doth not deface nor defeat it; insomuch as, if I observe rightly in those persons whom heretofore she hath honoured with her special favour, she hath covered and remitted not only defects and ingratitudes in affection, but errors in state and service. Secondly, if I can spell and scholarlike put together the parts of her Majesty's proceedings now towards your lordship, I cannot but make this construction, that her Majesty in her royal intention never purposed to call your lordship's doings into public question; but only to have used a cloud without a shower, in censuring them by some temporary restraint only of liberty, and debarring from her presence. For, first, the handling the cause in the star-chamber, you not being called, was enforced by the violence of libelling and rumours, wherein the queen thought to have satisfied the world, and yet spared your lordship's appearance; and after, when that means which was intended for the quenching of malicious bruits, turned to kindle them, because it was said your lordship was condemned unheard, and your lordship's sister wrote that piquant letter, then her Majesty saw plainly, that these winds of rumours could not be commanded down without a handling of the cause, by making you a party, and admitting your defence. And to this purpose I do assure your lordship, that my brother Francis Bacon, who is too wise, I think, to be abused, and too honest to abuse; though he be more reserved in all particulars than is needful, yet in generality he hath ever constantly and with asseveration affirmed to me, that both those days, that of the star-chamber, and that at

my lord keeper's, were won from the queen merely upon necessity and point of honour, against her own inclination. Thirdly, in the last proceeding, I note three points, which are directly significant, that her Majesty did expressly forbear any point which was *irreparable, or might make your lordship in any degree uncapable of the return of her favour; or might fix any character indelible of disgrace upon you for she spared the public place of the starchamber, which spared ignominy; she limited the charge precisely not to touch upon any pretence of disloyalty; and no record remaineth to memory of the charge or sentence. Fourthly, the very distinction which was made in the sentence of sequestration from the places of service in state, and leaving to your lordship the place of master of the horse, doth, to my understanding, indicativè, point at this; that her Majesty meant to use your lordship's attendance in court, while the exercises of the other places stood suspended. Fifthly, I have heard, and your lordship knoweth better than I, that now, since you were in your own custody, her Majesty in verbo regio, and by his mouth, to whom she committeth her royal grants and decrees, hath assured your lordship she will forbid, and not suffer, your ruin. Sixthly, as I have heard her Majesty to be a prince of that magnanimity, that she will spare the service of the ablest subject or peer, when she shall be thought to stand in need of it; so she is of that policy, as she will not lose the service of a meaner than your lordship, where it shall depend merely upon her choice and will. Seventhly, I hold it for a principle, that generally those diseases are hardest to cure whereof the cause is obscure; and those easiest, whereof the cause is manifest: whereupon I conclude, that since it hath been your error in your courses towards her Majesty, which hath prejudiced you, that your reforming and conformity will restore you; so as you may be faber fortunæ propriæ. Lastly, considering your lordship is removed from dealing in causes of state, and left only to a place of attendance; methinks the ambition of any man, who can endure no partners in state matters, may be so quenched, as they should not laboriously oppose themselves to your being in court: so as upon the whole matter, I can find neither in her Majesty's person, nor in your own person, nor in any third person, neither in former precedents, nor in your own case, any cause of dry and peremptory despair. Neither do I speak this so, but that, if her Majesty, out of her resolution, should design you to a private life, you should be as willing, upon her appointment, to go into the wilderness, as into the land of promise. Only I wish your lordship will not preoccupate despair, but put trust, next to God, in her Majesty's grace, and not to be wanting to yourself. I know your lordship may justly interpret, that this which I persuade, may have some reference to my particular, because I may truly say, Te stante, not virebo, for I am withered in myself, but manebo, or tenebo; I shall in some sort be, or hold out. But though your lordship's years and health may expect return of grace and fortune; yet your eclipse for a time is an ultimum vale to my *Irrecuperable, Cab.

MR. BACON,

:

you say the queen never forsook utterly, where she inwardly favoured: but I know not whether the hour-glass of time hath altered her mind; but sure I am the false glass of others' informations must alter her, when I want access to plead my own cause. I know I ought doubly to be her Majesty's; both jure creationis, for I am her creature; and jure redemptionis, for I know she hath saved me from overthrow. But for her first love, and for her last protection, and all her great benefits, I can but pray for her Majesty and my endeavours are now to make my prayers for her Majesty and myself better heard. For, thanks be to God, they that can make her Majesty believe I counterfeit with her, cannot make God believe that I counterfeit with him; and they which can let me from coming near unto her, cannot let me from drawing near unto him, as I hope I do daily. For your brother, I hold him an honest gentleman, and wish him all good, much rather for your sake. Yourself I know hath suffered more for me and with me than any friend I have: yet I cannot but lament freely, as you see I do; and advise you not to do that which I do, which is to despair. You know letters what hurt they have done me, and therefore make sure of this: and yet I could not, as Rawley's Resuscitatio.

+ Therefore this was wrote, 1603,

LVIII. A LETTER TO MR. SECRETARY CE

CIL, AFTER THE DEFEATING OF THE
SPANISH FORCES IN IRELAND; INCITING
HIM TO EMBRACE THE CARE OF RE-
DUCING THAT KINGDOM TO CIVILITY,
WITH SOME REASONS ENCLOSED.‡

IT MAY PLEASE YOUR HONOUR,

As one that wisheth you all increase of honour ; and as one that cannot leave to love the state, what interest soever I have, or may come to have in it; and as one that now this dead vacation time hath some leisure ad aliud agendum; I will presume to propound unto you that which though you cannot but see, yet I know not whether you apprehend and action of importation to yourself, of sound honour esteem it in so high a degree; that is, for the best ventosity and popularity, that the riches of any occaand merit to her Majesty and this crown, without sion, or the tide of any opportunity, can possibly minister or offer and that is the causes of Ireland, if they be taken by the right handle. For if the crudency by new foreign succours, I think that no wound be not ripped up again, and come to a 5 redeclinatione morbi; but will intend to purge and physician will go on much with letting of blood, in opinion, without labour of words, in the enclosed; corroborate. To which purpose I send you mine according to the vivacity of your own spirit, nothing and sure I am, that if you shall enter into the matter can make unto you a more gainful return. For you shall make the queen's felicity complete, which now, show yourself as good a patriot as you are thought as it is, is incomparable: and for yourself, you shall a politic, and make the world perceive you have not less generous ends, than dexterous delivery of yourself towards your ends; and that you have as well and felicity of practice and negotiation; and that true arts and grounds of government, as the facility you are as well seen in the periods and tides of which, I suppose, nothing can be a better addition estates, as in your own circle and way: than the and accumulation of honour unto you. This, I hope, I may in privateness write, either as a kinsman, that discourse, without committing any absurdity. But may be bold; or as a scholar, that hath liberty of if it seem any error in me thus to intromit myself, jesty and the state, and now love yourself; and there I pray your honour to believe, I ever loved her Mais never any vehement love without some absurdity, as the Spaniard well says: "desuario con la calentura." So desiring your honour's pardon, I ever continue.

and justice, as to obedience and peace, which things, | as affairs now stand, I hold to be inseparable, consisteth in four points:

1. The extinguishing of the relicks of the war. 2. The recovery of the hearts of the people.

3. The removing of the root and occasions of new troubles.

4. Plantations and buildings.

and

For the first; concerning the places and times, and particularities of farther prosecution, in fact I leave it to the opinion of men of war; only the difficulty is, to distinguish and discern the propositions, which shall be according to the ends of the state here, that is, final and summary towards the extirpation of the troubles, from those, which though they pretend public ends, yet may refer indeed to the more private and compendious ends of the council there: or of the particular governors or captains. But still, as I touched in my letter, I do think much letting blood, in declinatione morbi, is against method of cure; and that it will but induce necessity, and exasperate despair; and percase discover the hollowness of that which is done already, which now blazeth to the best show. For Iaglia's proscriptions of two or three of the principal rebels, they are, no doubt, jure gentium, lawful: in Italy usually practised upon the banditti; best in season when a side goeth down; and may do good in two kinds; the one, if they take effect; the other, in the distrust which may follow amongst the rebels themselves. But of all other points, to my understanding, the most effectual is, the well expressing or impressing the design of this state, upon that miserable and desolate kingdom; containing the same between these two lists or boundaries; the one, that the queen seeketh not an extirpation of that people, but a reduction; and that, now she hath chastised them by her royal power and arms, according to the necessity of the occasion, her Majesty taketh no pleasure in effusion of blood, or displanting of ancient generations. The other, that her Majesty's princely care is principally and intentionally bent upon the action of Ireland; and that she seeketh not so much the ease of charge, as the royal performance of the office of protection, and reclaim of those her subjects: and in a word, that the case is altered so far as may stand with the honour of the time past: which it is easy to reconcile, as in my last note I showed. And again, I do repeat, that if her Majesty's design be ex professo to reduce wild and barbarous people to civility and justice, as well as to reduce rebels to obedience, it makes weakness turn christianity, and conditions graces; and so hath a fineness in turning utility upon point of honour, which is agreeable to the humour of these times. And besides, if her Majesty shall suddenly abate the lists of her forces, and shall do nothing to countervail it in point of reputation, of a politic proceeding, I doubt things may too soon fall back into the state they were in. Next to this; adding reputation to the cause, by imprinting an opinion of her Majesty's care and intention upon this action, is the taking away of reputation from the contrary side, Al Taglaes.

by cutting off the opinion and expectation of foreign succours; to which purpose this enterprise of Algiers, if it hold according to the advertisement, and if it be not wrapped up in the period of this summer, seemeth to be an opportunity cœlitus demissa. And to the same purpose nothing can be more fit than a treaty, or a shadow of a treaty of a peace with Spain, which methinks shall be in our power to fasten at least rumore tenus, to the deluding of as wise people as the Irish. Lastly, for this point; that which the ancients called "potestas facta redeundi ad sanitatem;" and which is but a mockery when the enemy is strong, or proud, but effectual in his declination; that is, a liberal proclamation of grace and pardon to such as shall submit, and come in within a time prefixed, and of some farther reward to such as shall bring others in; that one's sword may be sharpened by another's, is a matter of good experience, and now, I think, will come in time. And percase, though I wish the exclusions of such a pardon exceeding few, yet it will not be safe to continue some of them in their strength, but to translate them and their generations into England; and give them recompence and satisfaction here, for their possessions there, as the king of Spain did, by divers families of Portugal. To the effecting of all the points aforesaid, and likewise those which fall within the divisions following, nothing can be in priority, either of time or matter, better than the sending of some commission of countenance, ad res inspiciendas et componendas; for it will be a very significant demonstration of her Majesty's care of that kingdom; a credence to any that shall come in and submit; a bridle to any that shall have their fortunes there, and shall apply their propositions to private ends; and an evidence that her Majesty, after arms laid down, speedily pursueth a politic course, without neglect or respiration: and it hath been the wisdom of the best examples of government.

Towards the recovery of the hearts of the people, there be but three things, in natura rerum. 1. Religion.

2. Justice and protection. 3. Obligation and reward.

For religion, to speak first of piety, and then of policy, all divines do agree, that if consciences be to be enforced at all, wherein yet they differ, two things must precede their enforcement; the one, means of instruction; the other, time of operation; neither of which they have yet had. Besides, till they be more like reasonable men than they yet are, their society were rather scandalous to the true religion than otherwise; as pearls cast before swine: for till they be cleansed from their blood, incontinency, and theft, which are now not the lapses of particular persons, but the very laws of the nation, they are incompatible with religion reformed. For policy, there is no doubt but to wrestle with them now, is directly opposite to their reclaiming, and cannot but continue their alienation of mind from this government.

Besides, one of the principal pretences, whereby the heads of the rebellion have prevailed both with the people, and with the foreigner, hath been the defence of the catholic religion and it is