Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/349

 Bacon in itself impossible, that of reconciling classes who already stood too far apart to be reconciled.

For the moment Bacon found employment suitable to him. He was chosen as one of the commissioners to discuss with the Scottish commissioners the terms of union. His interest in the matter had gained him the notice of James, and on 18 Aug. 1604 he was confirmed by patent in his office of learned counsel, with a pension of 60l a year. He was soon busy in drawing up papers on the subject of the union. The actual business of discussion between the commissioners began on 29 Oct., and the last meeting was held on 6 Dec. Bacon, who had been an active member of the commission, might have expected to be soon employed in defending its scheme in the House of Commons. As it happened, however, partly through the prorogation of parliament, and partly through the interruption caused by the Gunpowder Plot, the subject was not brought forward till nearly two years later, towards the end of 1606. Bacon had therefore time to devote himself to literary work. About the end of October 1605 he publishedhis 'Advancement of Learning.' In a letter to Sir T. Bodley he gave vent to his feeling of satisfaction in returning to the work in which he was able to do his best in the place of work in which others did not allow him to do his best. 'I think,' he wrote, 'no man may more truly say with the Psalmist, Multum incola fuit anima mea, than myself. For I do confess, since I was of any understanding, my mind hath in effect been absent from that I have done; and in absence are many errors which I do willingly acknowledge, and amongst the rest this great one that led the rest: that knowing myself by inward calling to be fitter to hold a book than to play a part, I have led my life in civil causes, for which I was not very fit by nature, and more unfit by the preoccupation of my mind.' This confession must not be taken too literally. Every man deeply engaged in politics sighs at times for a freer life; and if Bacon had a special reason for longing for it, in order that he might develope his scientific work, it is unnecessary to suppose that, except in moments of weariness, he regarded his political work as unworthy of himself.

In the session of 1605-6, which followed the Gunpowder plot. Bacon was once more immersed in civil causes, contributing to the discussion on purveyance and supply, the chief business of the session, that of providing new laws against the catholics being in other hands. The sense of a common danger to king and people arising from the Gunpowder plot had, however, brought about a more friendly temper, which was shown in the grant of three subsidies with their accompanying fifteenths.

On 27 May parliament was prorogued. On 10 May Bacon had been married to Alice Barnham, whose father had been a sheriff of London [see Barnham, Benedict], and was dead, and whose mother, a 'little violent lady,' as Chamberlain calls her, had mamed Sir John Packington. About the same time Bacon had a prospect of legal promotion. In October 1604 there had indeed been a vacancy in the solicitor-generalship; but as Bacon did not at that time even ask for the place, it is probable that he did not wish to have it as long as the attorney-generalship was held by Coke. On 29 June 1606 this obstacle was removed by Coke's promotion to the bench as chief justice of the common pleas. The attorney generalship, however, was given to Hobart, upon which Bacon wrote to the king, reminding him that promotion had been promised to him, and asking that a suggestion which had been already made, of appointing him solicitor-general and providing for Doderidge, the actual solicitor-general, in another way, might be carried out. In the same way he wrote to Ellesmere and Salisbury. Nothing, however, was done for the present, and it was only in the beginning of 1607 that Bacon received a distinct promise of the place whenever Doderidge should be removed. It is quite possible that the obstacle lay with Cecil, now known as the Earl of Salisbury, who was as profuse in promises as Bacon was in compliments,but no evidence exists on the point. It is possible too, though evidence is here equally wanting, that the king was attracted to Bacon by his energy in supporting the union with Scotland in parliament, and was thus led to overrule Salisbury's objections.

The session which opened on 18 Nov. 1606 was mainly taken up in discussing the proposals of the commissioners for the union. They had suggested, besides measures for the abolition of hostile laws and for the extradition of criminals, to which no serious opposition was offered, one for freedom of commercial intercourse, and another for the naturalisation of Englishmen in Scotland and of Scots in England. To both these latter proposals the sentiment of the House of Commons was incurably hostile. Bacon, who had taken no inconsiderable part as a commissioner in drawing up the plan, now became its warmest champion in the House of Commons. The view taken in the house was the narrow one which was natural to occur to average human intelligence. The commercial rivalry of the poor and hardy Scots was a