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him with that sting.'* Strange is it that from the days of such impure and hireling scribblers as Weldon, Peyton, and Oldmixon, the vilest imputations on the memory of James, and the most ridiculous light in which he has been held up to posterity, should have been due to his own countrymen.

But we must draw these observations to a close. Of feeble frame from his youth, worn out by excessive labour, still more by herculean efforts to bring into better order the entangled finances of the Crown-for he had greatly reduced the debt, in spite of the King's inconsiderate liberality-Sir Robert was attacked by rheumatism in the right arm on the 4th December, 1611. He recovered only to fall into a worse relapse at the commencement of the next year. In January he was recommended by the Bishop of Durham to try the Bath waters. Soon after he was attacked by scurvy and dropsy, and towards the close of April visited Bath attended by three physicians. His last letter to his son William, dated from Bath the 8th of May, is preserved at Hatfield. He complains that the swelling of his legs and knees had not been diminished by the use of the waters, and he evidently expected little relief. Preparing for death, he resolved to return to Hatfield, but was taken worse on the road, and died in the parsonage-house at Marlborough, on the 24th of May, between one and two in the afternoon. The corpse was carried to Hatfield and buried without any great pomp, 'by his special appointment,' on Tuesday, the 9th of June. His will, dated 3rd March, 1611 (1612), has a codicil added on the 17th of May, 1612, containing certain bequests to Richard Watson, his surgeon, among others, and to John Dacomb, 'the most diligent and discreet solicitor that ever served any man, protesting that in mine own estate I had been overthrown by large expense and lack of care, if he had not been.' In his will, after confessing himself a grievous sinner' and relying only on the precious blood of Jesus Christ, shed upon the cross for me and all mankind,' he proceeds in the following strain :

Because I would be glad to leave behind me some such testimony of my particular opinion in point of faith and doctrine, as might confute all those who, judging others by themselves, are apt to censure all men to be of little or no religion, which by their calling are employed in matters of State and government, under great kings and princes, as if there was no Christian policy free from irreligion or impiety, I have resolved to express myself and my opinion in manner following. First, concerning the infinite and ineffable Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity, and the mystery of reconciliation in

*Hacket, 'Life of Williams,' p. 226.

Christ Jesus, as it concerns the Church, the saints, their sins, their souls and bodies, and lastly, their retribution in heaven;-in all these points, and every of them, I do assuredly believe in my heart, as I have always made profession with my mouth, whatever is contained in the Apostles' Creed.'

Then proceeding to touch upon the Sacraments, he closes this portion of the will with the following solemn asseveration:—

'Therefore I do here in the sight of God make profession of that faith in which I have always lived, and hope to die in, and fear not to be judged at that great account of all flesh, and purpose to leave it behind me, as full of life and necessary fruit, as I can, for the direction of my children, as their best patrimony, and for the satisfaction of the world as the truest account I can give for myself and my actions.'

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He then directs his executors that his body shall be buried in Hatfield Church, without any extraordinary show or spectacle,' and that a fair monument shall be erected, the charge thereof not exceeding 2007.' The mourners were to be confined to his own servants and intimate friends, for he desires 'to go without noise and vanity out of this vale of misery, as a man that hath long been satiated with terrestrial glory, and now contemplates only heavenly joy.'

In conformity with these directions his son William, the second Earl, erected a chapel in 1618, which now stands on the north side of the chancel of the present church of Hatfield.* The Earl's monument, in black and white marble, consisting of a recumbent figure resting on a slab and supported by four emblematical figures, with a wasted corpse underneath, was the work of Symon Basyll, the predecessor of Inigo Jones, as surveyor of the King's works. His bill is so exceedingly curious that we insert it here without abridgment, for the entertainment of those who are interested in these matters.

'January 4, 1613 (1614).-A note of such stone as is required for the finishing of the intended tomb, according to a model thereof made for the Right Hon. the late Lord Treasurer of England, with an estimate of the workmanship and setting up

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* The builder's estimate for this chapel, including all charges, amounted to 4321. 198. 4d., and is still preserved among the Hatfield Papers; it included a vault underground twelve feet square; and the dimensions of the chapel, which was commenced on the 26th February, 1618, and was completed by the end of the year, were 40 feet by 21 feet.

'The

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The charge of sawing and corving (carving) of the 6) £ figures, if they be done according to art and true 360 proportion, are worth 601. a piece

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The two tables of touch, with sawing, polishing, and
the workmanship of the same

The carriage of the said tomb to Hatfield, setting of it)
up, and finishing

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Sum. tot.

60

40

460

SY. BASYLL.

It is very requisite that there should be models made of the figures first, to see whether they are according to proportion, which if they be made there must be consideration had of that charge.'

As the Earl intimates in his will, he had never been careful of money matters; and though he had parted with portions of his lands, and among the rest with Canterbury Park, he died 37,8677. in debt. As a set-off he had lent money to the amount of 16,4377. to various friends, and, among the rest, 300l. to Sir Francis Bacon. To satisfy his creditors, his executors were directed to sell lands and woods to the required amount. Among those who insulted his memory, after the most fulsome professions of attachment while he was living, was Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, author of the letters in the socalled Cecil Correspondence with James I.;' and with singular ingratitude Sir Francis Bacon, if it be true, as at the time was generally believed, that his Essay on Deformity was pointed at Cecil.*

At an early period in their career the two Bacons had attached themselves to the party of Essex, in opposition to their uncle and cousin, the Cecils. Dazzled, like many others, by the brilliant and imperious qualities of the Earl, and totally misunderstanding the Queen's temper and disposition, the Bacons expected that the Cecils would be driven from their long tenure of office, and Essex be installed in their place. In the gross flattery addressed by Anthony Bacon to his patron, the Earl, it would appear as if he were carrying into practice the maxim commended by his more celebrated brother, that the ears of great men are in their feet,' such is its obsequiousness and extravagance. But Anthony had the credit of remaining faithful to the last. Francis, more cautious and more cold, withdrew himself in time from the fall in Siloam. That the suspicions of both against the Cecils were

Sir Francis Bacon hath set out new Essays, where in a chapter of Deformity, the world takes notice that he paints out his little cousin to the life.' (Chamberlain to Carleton, December 17, 1612. Court of James I.)

unfounded,

unfounded, especially in the greatest matter of all, the Solicitorship, is certain from the letters of Burghley and his son written in Bacon's favour.* It is confirmed by Bacon's own admission to Burghley. With singular want of good feeling and discretion, Bacon, on the authority of a wise friend,' had repeated a gross accusation of corruption against his cousin. Then finding that he was mistaken, he retracted the imputation against his right honourable kinsman and good friend, Sir Robert Cecil,' confessing he was too credulous, almost with the same ease, not to say levity, with which he had repeated the calumny. But a keen moral sensibility was not an eminent characteristic of Bacon's conduct, as will appear by the following letter, preserved in the Hatfield Collection :

Lady Dorothy Pakington to Lord Salisbury.

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'MY VERY GOOD LORD,-Whereas I have understood of your Lordship's late favour and care had of two of my daughters, in taking them from the place of danger, and putting them into safe keeping, at what time one of their sisters was, by the practice of Sir Francis Bacon, in marriage with one Cunstabell, cast away, I thought it my duty, by some few lines, to testify my thankfulness to your Lordship for the same. And where I have also heard that your honor, together with some other Lords of his Majesty's Privy Council, examining the manner of his proceedings in contracting my daughter to Cunstabell, she being but twelve years of age, and finding her age abused, and how carelessly and slenderly she was provided for, without jointure or other provision for her, taking pity of her estate your Lordships were pleased to take some further care for her, which forasmuch as I have endeavoured by sending unto the said Bacon to know what is done for her, and instead of satisfaction, have received an insolent letter of contempt, penned after his proud manner of writing, my husband nor my brother knowing nothing, as being secluded and thrust out from all privity of dealing therein,-I am forced to beseech your Lordship to let me know what order is taken for her. And thus being sorry I have such cause to complain of his bad dealing, whom your Lordship heretofore recommended to me, and whose folly hath lately more abounded in procuring the said Cunstabell to be knighted, being of himself a man of very mean estate,-whereby he hath taken all ordinary means of thriving from him, craving pardon for my boldness, I humbly take my leave. From Drury Lane, this 28th of November, 1607.

"Your Lordship's poor well willer to my best power,
'DOROTHE PAKINGTON.'

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*See Spedding's Life, &c. of Bacon,' i. 257, 296, 355; and Cecil's letter to Egerton, thanking him for his efforts in favour of Bacon: 'I have no kinsman,' he says, 'living, my brother excepted, whom I hold so dear;' and adds, that there was no likelier to deserve it' (the Solicitorship). (Birch, i. 165.) It is strange that this letter should have been so overlooked.

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In these remarks we have endeavoured to clear the fame of Lord Salisbury from the groundless imputations cast upon it by the biographers and admirers of Essex, Raleigh, and the Bacons. In the absence of all evidence to the contrary, it has been found an easy task to account for the failings and misfortunes of these eminent men by attributing them to the intrigues and the selfishness of Cecil. It has been presumed that, in the collection of his papers at Hatfield, proofs might be found to confirm these imputations, though Dr. Haynes, who edited a portion of them, had distinctly stated, more than a century ago, that the noble Lord, who gave him free access to these manuscripts and leave to publish them, had never desired him to suppress unfavourable statements, and was as far from requiring any such management of the character of his great ancestor, as his ancestor was from standing in need of it.' The remark is strictly true, whether applied to the father or the son; and historians may disabuse themselves of the notion, so freely indulged in, that the papers at Hatfield contain evidence unfavourable to the first Earl. The correspondence is full, minute, and explicit. It reveals the whole life of the man, velut in tabula, from day to day and from year to year, without interruption. No portion of it has been suppressed or mutilated to conceal awkward facts, or make the worse appear the better cause. So far from confirming the imputation of selfishness, envy, and secret intrigue in preventing the advancement of his rivals, real or supposed, the whole evidence points the other way. The letters addressed to Sir Robert by those who required his good offices, even when they had done little to deserve his kindness, the continual appeals made to his generosity by his political rivals, their friends, their relatives, and their associates, point him out as a man who was both gentle and forgiving, ready to interpose in behalf of those who needed his interposition, open and accessible to pity. Elizabeth, towards the close of her reign, did not grow less exacting of obedience; she was not more inclined to overlook political offences—a severity which might well be forgiven, considering the numerous plots against her life and her reputation, the ingratitude of many, the conspiracies of not a few. If the closing years of her reign were free from bloodshed; if out of those who joined in the treason of Essex-and among them were the Earls of Rutland, Bedford, and Southampton, Lord Sandys, Lord Monteagle, Lord Cromwell, and a hundred and fifty more of the best blood of England-none forfeited their lives except the Earl and a few inferior agents, that result was due to the wisdom and moderation of Cecil. It was the same in the Gunpowder and other plots, during the reign of her successor-plots in which more were im

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