Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/54



the death of the queen, Bacon had every thing to expect from the disposition of her successor, who was a lover of letters, was desirous to be considered the patron of learning and learned men, was well acquainted with the attainments of Bacon, and his reputation both at home and abroad, and was greatly prepossessed in his favour by his brother Anthony, who was much esteemed by the king.

But neither the consciousness of his own powers or of the king's discernment rendered Bacon inert or passive. He used all his influence, both in England and in Scotland, to insure the protection of James. He wrote to the Earl of Northumberland, and to Lord Southampton, who was imprisoned and tried with Essex, using these remarkable words, "I may safely be that to you now, which I was truly before." Upon the approach of the king he addressed his majesty in a letter written in the style of the times: and he submitted to the Earl of Northumberland, for the king's consideration, a proclamation, recommending "the union of England and Scotland; attention to the sufferings of unhappy Ireland; freedom of trade and the suppression of bribery and corruption; with the assurance, that every place and service that was fit for the honour or good of the commonwealth should be filled, and no man's virtue left idle, unemployed, or unrewarded, and every good ordinance and constitution, for the amendment of the estate and times, be revived and put in execution." Soon after the arrival of James, which was on the 7th of May, Bacon having had an audience, and a promise of private access, thus describes the king to the Earl of Northumberland: "Your lordship shall find a prince the farthest from vain glory that may be, and rather like a prince of the ancient form than of the latter time. His speech is swift and cursory, and in the full dialect of his country; in speech of business, short; in speech of discourse, large. He affecteth popularity by gracing such as he hath heard to be popular, and not by any fashions of his own. He is thought somewhat general in his favours; and his virtue of access is rather, because he is much abroad and in press, than that he giveth easy audience. He hasteneth to a mixture of both kingdoms and occasions, faster perhaps than policy will well bear. I told your lordship once before, that methought his majesty rather asked counsel of the time past, than of the time to come; but it is yet early to ground any settled opinion."

The title of knighthood had hitherto been considered an especial mark of royal favour; but the king, who perceived that the English gentry were willing to barter their gold for an empty honour, was no less ready to barter his honours for their gold. A general summons was, therefore, issued for all persons possessing £40 a year in land either to accept this title, or to compound with the king's commissioners; and on the 23d, the day of his coronation, not less than three hundred gentlemen received the honour of knighthood, amongst whom was Sir Francis Bacon, who thought that the title might gratify the daughter of Alderman Barnham, whom he soon after married.

In the opening of the year 1604, (Æt. 44,) it was publicly announced that a parliament would be assembled early in the spring; and never could any parliament meet for the consideration of more eventful questions than at that moment agitated the public mind. It did not require Bacon's sagacity to perceive this, or, looking forward, to foresee the approaching storm. Revolutions are sudden to the unthinking only. Political disturbances happen not without their warning harbingers. Murmurs, not loud but portentous, ever precede these convulsions of the moral world: murmurs which were heard by Bacon not the less audibly from the apparent tranquillity with which James ascended the throne. "Tempests of state," he says, "are commonly greatest when things grow to equality; as natural tempests are greatest about the equinox: and as there are certain hollow blasts of wind and secret swellings of seas before a tempest, so are there in states:

These secret swellings and hollow blasts, which arise from the conflicts between power, tenacious in retaining its authority, and knowledge, advancing to resist it, are materials certain to explode, unless judiciously dispersed. Of this Bacon constantly warned the community, by recommending the admission of gradual reform. "In your innovations," he said, "follow the example of time, which innovateth greatly, but quietly." The advances of nature are all gradual; scarce discernible in their motions, but only visible in their issue. The grass grows and the shadow moves upon the dial unperceived, until we reflect upon their progress.

These admonitions have always been disregarded or resisted by governments, and, wanting this safety-valve, states have been periodically exposed