Page:Essays of Francis Bacon 1908 Scott.djvu/26

Rh was his nephew, the son of his half-sister, Elizabeth Bacon, whose second husband was Sir Henry Neville. Another connection of Bacon's in the Parliament of 1597 and his colleague in the representation for Ipswich was Michael Stanhope, grand-nephew to his mother.

Lady Anne Cooke Bacon, a remarkable woman, was a member of a remarkable family. Her father, Sir Anthony Cooke, tutor to King Edward VI, had five daughters, who received the same careful, thorough education that he gave to his sons. They all became highly educated women and all five made brilliant and happy marriages. Mildred, the eldest, became the second wife of William Cecil, Lord Burghley, the great Lord Treasurer who guided Elizabeth's government so adroitly and so wisely. Elizabeth Cooke, the third daughter, married twice; first, Sir Thomas Hoby, ambassador to France and translator of Il Cortegiano (The Courtier), which Dr. Johnson described as "the best book that ever was written on good breeding," and, second, John, Lord Russell, son of Francis Russell, second Earl of Bedford; Catherine Cooke married Sir Henry Killigrew, of that family of Killigrews of Cornwall which in the time of the Restoration produced the two dramatists, father and son, Thomas Killigrew senior and junior; Margaret Cooke married Sir Ralph Rowlett.

Anne Cooke Bacon is said to have been able to read Latin, Greek, Italian, and French, "as her native tongue." There remain two translations by her, both showing her interest in the Protestant Rh