Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/94

lxxxvi all classes of society who were connected with Buckingham. Amongst the patentees were the Lord Harrington and the Countess of Bedford. Christopher Villiers, and Sir Edward Villiers, half-brother of the lord marquis, received £1,800 annually between them; and from one single patent the king's annual profit was £10,000.

These rumours reached and alarmed the king, who instantly caused a communication to be made to the lords, that the patent was sanctioned by divers of the judges for the point of law, and by divers lords for point of convenience.

Reform was now the universal cry of the nation. It was one of those periodical outcries, which ever has been and ever will be heard in England, till, by admitting the gradual improvement which the progress of knowledge requires, the current, instead of being opposed, is judiciously directed. The streams which for centuries roll on, and for centuries are impeded, at last break down or rush over the barriers and carry every thing before them. When in this deluge the ark itself is in danger, the patriot endeavours to confine the torrent within its proper banks, and to resist or direct its impetuosity, while the demagogue joins in the popular clamour, visiting on individuals the faults of the times, and sacrificing, as an atonement to injured feeling, the most virtuous members of the community.

When the complaints of the people could no longer be resisted, and public inquiry became inevitable, Buckingham, insensible to all other shame, appeared fully conscious of the infamy of exposure. The honour of a gentleman and the pride of nobility slept at ease upon the money bags extorted from the sufferers, but he and his noble colleagues endured the utmost alarm at the prospect of discovery.

Conscious of his peril, disquieted, and robbed of all peace of mind, admonished "That the arrow of vengeance shot against his brother grazed himself," he consulted one of the ablest men in England, Williams, then Dean of Westminster, who, well versed in matters of state, soon saw the position in which all parties were placed. He recommended that Villiers should, without a moment's delay, be sent upon some foreign embassy; and, his guilt being less enormous or less apparent than of the other offenders, he was thus protected by the power of his brother. Villiers being safe, Williams advised compliance with the humour of the people, and suggested that in this state tempest Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir F. Michell "should be thrown overboard as wares that might be spared," quoting a wise heathen as a precedent, well knowing that his breviary contained no such doctrine: advice which was gratefully received by the marquis, who declared that, for the future, he would attend to no other counsellor.

It may, at first sight, appear remarkable, that, in matters of such moment, Buckingham should apply for counsel to Williams rather than to Bacon, by whose advice he professed to be always guided: it is, however, certain that he not only communicated privately with Williams, but that he carried him to the king, whom they found closeted with the prince, in much distress and perplexity, when the dean read to his royal master a document prepared at the suggestion of Buckingnam, or the fruit of his own politic brain.

It is to be hoped that the fiend ambition did not so far possess him, as to recommend the greater sacrifice of Bacon, should Mompesson and Michell be deemed insufficient to allay the storm; but if ambition did influence this politic prelate, if the vision of the seals floated before him, and induced him to plot against the "gracious Duncan," he could not but foresee that the result of the inquiries would only convince the parliament that Mompesson and Michell were mere puppets moved for the profit and advantage of others, and that Buckingham, or one as highly placed, might be demanded.

On the 15th of March, 1620, Sir Robert Phillips reported from the committee appointed to inquire into the abuses of courts of justice, of which he was chairman, that two petitions had been presented for corruption against the lord chancellor, by two suitors in the court of chancery, the one named Aubrey, the other Egerton.

Aubrey's petition stated, "That having a suit pending before the lord chancellor, and being worn out by delays, he had been advised by his counsel to present £100 to the chancellor, that his cause might, by more than ordinary means, be expedited, and that in consequence of this advice he had delivered the £100 to Sir George Hastings and to Mr. Jenkins, of Gray's Inn, by whom it was presented to his lordship; but notwithstanding this offering, the chancellor had decided against him." Egerton's complaint was, that "To procure my lord's favour, he had been persuaded by Sir George Hastings and Sir Richard Young, to make some present to the chancellor; and that he accordingly delivered to Sir George and to Sir Richard £400, which was delivered by them to the chancellor as a gratuity, for that my lord, when attorney-general, had befriended him: and that, before this advice, Egerton had himself, either before or after the chancellor was intrusted with the great seal, presented to his lordship a piece of plate worth fifty guineas; but that, not withstanding these presents, the lord chancellor, assisted by Lord Chief Justice Hobart, had decided against him.

If Bacon, instead of treating the charge with contempt, and indulging in imaginations of the friendship of Buckingham and of the king, thinking, as they were, only of their own safety, had