Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/411

 EDITOR S PREFACE. 283 n&amp;lt;te, that in our times it lieth much waste and that therein there is a deficience. This deficiencw with respect to Elizabeth he was anxious to supply by the publication of his sentiments, &quot; in ! . -li- cem Memoriam Elizabethae :&quot; but this publication seems to have required some caution, and to have been attended with some difficulty. In 1G05, Bacon thus spoke: &quot;But for a tablet, or picture of smaller volume, (not presuming to speak of your majesty that liveth,) in my judgment the most excellent is that of Queen Elizabeth, your immediate predecessor in this part of Britain; a princess that, if Plutarch were now alive to write lives by parallels, would trouble him, I think, to find for her a parallel amongst women. This lady was indued with learning in her sex singular, and rare even amongst masculine princes; whether we speak of learning, language, or of science, modern, or ancient, divinity or humanity: and unto the very last year of her life she was accustomed to appoint set hours for reading; scarcely any young student in any university more daily, or more duly. As for her government, I assure myself, I shall not exceed, if I do affirm that this part of the island never had forty-five years of better times; and yet not through the calmness of the season, but through the wisdom of her regimen. For if there be considered of the one side, the truth of religion established, the constant peace and security, the good administration of justice, the temperate use of the prerogative, not slackened, nor much strained, the flourishing state of learning, sortable to so excellent a patroness, the convenient estate of wealth and means, both of crown and subject, the habit of obedience, and the moderation of discontents; and there be considered, on the other side, the differences of religion, the troubles of neighbour countries, the ambition of Spain, and opposition of Rome: and then, that she was solitary and of herself: these things, I say, considered, as I could not have chosen an instance so recent and so proper, so, I suppose, I could not have chosen one more remarkable or eminent to the purpose now in hand, which is concerning the con junction of learning in the prince with felicity in the people.&quot; So he wrote in the year 1605; but, about the year 1612, &quot;The king,&quot; says Wilson, &quot;cast his thoughts towards Peterborough, where his mother lay, whom he caused to be translated to a magnificent tomb, at Westminster. And (somewhat suitable to her mind when she was living) she had a translucent passage in the night, through the city of London, by multitudes of torches : the tapers placed by the tomb and the altar, in the cathedral, smoking with them like an offertory, with all the ceremonies, and voices their quires and copes could express, attended by many prelates and nobles, who paid this last tribute to her memory.&quot; 1 Before this time Bacon had written his essay &quot; in Felicem Memoriam Elizabethse.&quot; which he sent to Sir George Carew, whose death M. De Thou laments, in a letter to Mr. Camden, in the year 1613. The following is the letter to Sir George Carew. 3 &quot; Being asked a question by this bearer, an old servant of my brother Anthony Bacon s, whether I would command him any thing into France ; and being at better leisure than I would, in regard of sickness, I began to remember that neither your business nor mine, though great and continual, can be, upon an exact account, any just occasion why so much good-will as hath passed between us should be so much discontinued as it hath been. And therefore, because one must begin, I thought to provoke your remembrance of me by a letter: and thinking to fill it with somewhat besides salutations, it came to my mind, that this last summer vacation, by occasion of a factious book that endeavoured to verify Misera Fcemina, the addition of the pope s bull,, upon Queen Elizabeth, I did write a few lines in her memorial, which I thought you would be pleased to read, both for the argument, and because you were wont to bear affection to my pen. Verum, ut aliud ex alio, if it came handsomely to pass, I would be glad the president De Thou, who hath written a history, as you know, of that fame and diligence, saw it; chiefly because I know not whether it may not serve him for some use in his story; wherein I would be glad he did write to the truth, and to the memory of that lady, as I perceive by that he hath already written he is well inclined to do. I would be glad also, it were some occasion, such as absence may permit, of some acquaintance or mutual notice between us. For though he hath many ways the precedence, chiefly in worth, yet this is common to us both, that we serve our sovereigns in places of law eminent: and not ourselves only, but that our fathers did so before us. And lastly, that both of us love learning and liberal sciences, which was ever a bond of friendship in the greatest distance of places. But of this I make no farther request, than your own occasions and respects, to me known, may further or limit; my principal purpose being to salute you, and to send you this token : whereunto I will add my very kind commendations to my lady ; and so commit you both to God s holy protection.&quot; It seems probable that this tract was intended for publication during the life of the king. It says, i Wilson. a &quot;Sir George Carew, of Cornwall, was Master in Chancery in the time of Queen Elizabeth; and in 1597 sent ambassador into Poland ; and in 1606 went to the court of France with the like character. After about three years continuance, he was rncalled by the king to make use of his services at home: but he survived not many years. M. De Thou, in a letter to Mr. Camden In 1613, very much laments his death; as losing a friend he much valued, and an assistant in the prosecution of hw history: having received helps from him in that part which relates to the dissensions between the Poles and the Swedes in ihe year 1598, as appears before the contents of book cxxi.&quot; Sup hent.