Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/509

 HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII. of stomach, and hardened by liis former troubles, refused to pay a mite; and belike used some un toward speeches of the proceedings, for which he was sent to the Tower, and there remained till the king s death. Knesworth likewise, that had been lately Mayor of London, and both his sheriffs, were for abuses in their offices questioned, and im prisoned, and delivered upon one thousand four hundred pounds paid. Hawis, an alderman of London, was put in trouble, and died with thought and anguish before his business came to an end. Sir Lawrence Ailmer, who had likewise been Mayor of London, and his two sheriffs, were put. to the fine of one thousand pounds. And Sir Lawrence, for refusing to make payment, was committed to prison, where he stayed till Empson Ir.mself was committed in his place. It is no marvel, if the faults were so light, and the rates so heavy, that the king s treasure of store, that he left at his death, most of it in secret places, under his own key and keeping, at Rich mond, amounted, as by tradition it is reported to have done, unto the sum of near eighteen hundred thousand pounds sterling; a huge mass of money even for those times. The last act of state that concluded this king s temporal felicity, was the conclusion of a glorious match between his daughter Mary, and Charles, Prince of Castile, afterwards the great emperor, both being of tender years : which treaty was per fected by Bishop Fox, and other his commission ers at Calais, the year before the king s death. In which alliance, it seemeth, he himself took so high contentment, as in a letter which he wrote thereupon to the city of London, commanding all possible demonstrations of joy to be made for the same, he expressed himself, as if he thought he had built a wall of brass about his kingdom : when he had for his sons-in-law, a king of Scot land, and a prince of Castile and Burgundy. So as now there was nothing to be added to this great king s felicity, being at the top of all world ly bliss, in regard of the high marriages of his children, his great renown throughout Europe, and his scarce credible riches, and the perpetual con stancy of his prosperous successes, but an oppor tune death, to withdraw him from any future blow of fortune ; which certainly (in regard of the great hatred of his people, and the title of his son, being then come to eighteen years of age, and beinga bold prince and liberal, and thatgained upon the people, by his very aspect and presence) had not been impossible to have come upon him. To crown also the last year of his reign, as well as his first, he did an act of piety, rare, and worthy to be taken into imitation. For he granted forth (i general pardon: as expecting a second corona tion in a better kingdom. He did also declare in his will, that his mind was, that restitution should Ke made of those sums which had been unjustly taken by his officers. Ami thus this Sol.-mon of Knijl.mil, for Soli, UK, n also was too heavy upon his people in exactions, having lived two-and-lifty years, and thereof reigned three-and-twenty years, and eight months, being in perfect memory, and in a most blessed mind, in a great calm of a consuming sickness, passed to a better world, the two-and-twentieth of April, 1508, at his palace of Richmond, which he himself had built. This king, to speak of him in terms equal to his deserving, was one of the best sort of won ders; a wonder for wise men. He had parts, both in his virtues and his fortune, not so fit for a commonplace, as for observation. Certainly he was religious, both in his affection and obser vance. But as he could see clear, for those times, through superstition, so he would be blinded, now and then, by human policy. He advanced church men : he was tender in the privilege of sanctua ries, though they wrought him much mischief. He built and endowed many religious founda tions, besides his memorable hospital of the Savoy : and yet was he a great alms-giver in se cret; which showed, that his works in public were dedicated rather to God s glory than his own. He professed always to love and seek peace; and it was his usual preface in his treaties, that when Christ came into the world peace was sung; and when he went out of the world peace was bequeathed. And this virtue could not pro ceed out of fear or softness : for he was valiant and active, and therefore, no doubt, it was truly Christian and moral. Yet he knew the way to peace was not to seem to be desirous to avoid wars ; therefore would he make offers and fames of wars, till he had mended the conditions of peace. It was also much, that one that was so great a lover of peace, should be so happy in war. For his arms, either in foreign or civil wars, were never unfortunate; neither did he know what a disaster meant. The war of his coming in, and the rebellions of the Earl of Lincoln, and the Lord Audley, were ended by victory. The wars of France and Scotland, by peaces sought at his hands. That of Britain, by accident of the duke s death. The insurrection of the Lord Lovel, and that of Perkin at Exeter, and in Kent, by flight of the rebels before they came to blows. So that his fortune of arms was still inviolate ; the rather sure, for that in the quenching of the commotions of his subjects, he ever went in per son : sometimes reserving himself to back and second his lieutenants, but ever in action; and yet that was not merely forwardness, but partly distrust of others. He did much maintain and countenance his laws; which, nevertheless, was no impediment to him to work his will : for it was so handled, that neither prerogative nor profit went to dimi nution. And yet as he would sometimes strain up his laws to his prerogative, so would he als&amp;lt;*