How little disposition there was to employ Bacon in the business of the Learned Counsel at this time, is well seen in the fact that his name does not anywhere appear in connexion with that singular conspiracy, or series of conspiracies, which ruffled the otherwise universal quiet of James's entrance into England:-a conspiracy in which so many representatives of different parties-the Catholic priest at open war with the Jesuits, the ordinary Catholic country gentleman, the high-couraged Puritan nobleman, the ambitious disappointed courtier, and (strangest of all) the soldier-sailor-statesman distinguished in peace and war for inveterate enmity to Spain-having no common object to aim at, no pretence to put forward, no injuries to resent, no adherents to rely upon, but drawn, it seems, only by a common hope of profiting in their several ways by the chances of confusion,met together in an insane project for overpowering the government. As Bacon took no part either in the investigation or the trials, as he has not left on record so much as an opinion upon any of the questions at issue, and as the current of affairs was not materially affected either by the attempt or the proceedings which followed, I am happily relieved from the duty of attempting to make the history of it intelligible. It is enough to say here that the main plot— commonly called the 'Priests' plot,' but in which Lord Grey the Puritan was an accomplice-came to the knowledge of the government about midsummer, and fell to pieces at once: that before Christmas the several persons implicated had been tried and found guilty that the Priests, against whom the case was strongest and clearest, were hanged, and the rest, with general consent and applause, respited: and that if it had not been for the manner in which the trial of Ralegh was conducted,-for which I think Sir Edward Coke must be held singly responsible,-the whole thing would have ended there, and produced no further effect, direct or indirect. The trial of Ralegh, however, had one very extraordinary result at the time, and became by a strange accident the cause of a serious embarrassment long after, with which we shall be more particularly concerned; it may be well therefore to add a few words as to the position in which he was left. Ralegh had passed his fiftieth year; had been a brilliant and conspicuous figure in various fields of enterprise from his youth; had never been conspicuously engaged in actions hostile or offensive to the people; had already performed all the deeds (his great literary work excepted) on which his fame rests; and yet he had never been popular; but the contrary. And since his popularity dates from the day on which he was put upon his trial and made his own defence, it is natural to suppose that the cause in which he spoke and suffered was not only good in law but gracious with the people. This however was by no means the case. He went to his trial a man so unpopular that he was hooted and pelted on the road; he came out an object of general pity and admiration, and has held his place ever since as one of England's favourite and representative heroes; and yet, if we except his gallant bearing and splendid abilities, (which were no new revelations,) there was nothing in his case which could have tended either to excite popular sympathy or command popular respect; nor has anything been discovered since that enables us to explain his connexion with the plot in a way at all favourable to his character. By his own showing he had been in intimate and confidential relations with a man whom nobody liked or respected, and who was secretly seeking help from the hated Spaniard in a plot to dispossess James in favour of the Lady Arabella. By his own admission he had at least listened to an offer of a large sum of money,-certainly Spanish, and therefore presumably in consideration of some service to be rendered to Spain. And though it is true that we do not know with what purposes he listened, how much he knew, how far he acquiesced, or what he intended to do, it is impossible to believe that his intentions (whether treasonable or not) were, or were then supposed to be, either popular or patriotic. He did not himself attempt to put any such colour upon his proceedings; declaring only that he did not know of the plot in which his confidential friends were engaged. His blindest advocates have not succeeded in doing it for him. And those who, though partial, have taken pains to examine and felt bound to respect the evidence, have scarcely succeeded even in believing him innocent. Among the students of his life in recent times there has been none more truly desirous to find heroic virtue in all his aims and actions than Mr. Macvey Napier: yet in endeavouring to explain his connexion with Lord Cobham, as disclosed in the course of this trial, he is driven to suspect him of a design so far from heroic in itself that it is hard to understand how it could find place in a mind in which the heroic element predominated. "Old Major Stansby of. . . . Hants," says Aubrey, "a most intimate friend and neighbour and coetanean of the late Earl of Southampton (Ld. Treas.) told me from his friend the Earl, that as to the plot and business about the Ld. Cobham, &c., he [Ralegh] being then governor of Jersey, would not fully or &c. [sic] unless they would go to his island; and that really and indeed Sir Walter's purpose was, when he had gotten them there, to have betrayed them. and the plot, and so have delivered them up to the King, and made his peace." To this report Mr. Napier refers us,2 after an elaborate discussion of the evidence, as containing the explanation of Ralegh's connexion with the plot which he seems inclined to accept as upon the whole most probable. And it must be admitted that of the difficulties which his case presents one at least would be removed by it. Had his case been clear, it is incredible to me that, with such a head, such a heart, and such a tongue, he would have left it so ambiguous that a worshipper of his memory is driven to a conjecture like this. But if the conjecture be true-if it be possible to suppose that he had been really inviting his friend's confidence with the intention of betraying it that difficulty vanishes. Upon that supposition we may say that he purposely left the case dark, because he knew it would not bear the light: and if so, his handling of it so as to produce such a wonderful revolution of popular opinion in his own favour must surely be regarded as one of the most surprising feats of audacity and genius that the wit of man ever achieved. : I quote this however not as an explanation satisfactory to myself, but only as evidence that the case was and is still thought to require explanation for beyond this the report is of little or no value. It proves only that Ralegh's famous defence left people to wonder and guess how far and in what way he was really implicated; and that this was one of the guesses in circulation half a century after. But though the question of his guilt or innocence remains doubtful, and the verdict of the Jury (who were better acquainted with the evidence than their outside critics, whose judgment was formed 3 1 Aubrey's Lives, iii. p. 516. 2 Edin. Rev., April, 1840, p. 63. Napier's own version of Aubrey's story is, "that Ralegh's intention really was to inveigle Cobham to Jersey, and then, having got both him and his Spanish treasure in his power, to make terms with the King." upon very imperfect reports-for no official statement was published) may for anything we know have been substantially just, the conduct of the trial cannot be defended. The unfair advantages insisted on by the Attorney General on behalf of the Crown, and allowed by the Judges, turned by a natural reaction to the great disadvantage of the Crown in the court of popular opinion, and left a blot in the tables which imperilled the whole game, and the effect of which was felt long afterwards-as we shall see in due time. For the present, Ralegh remained a prisoner in the Tower; respited, not pardoned; still under attainder for High Treason, and therefore, as the Law phrased it, "civilly dead"—a man who, being alive in fact, was still capable of committing new crimes and offences, but being dead in law, was not capable of being "drawn in question judicially" for any crime or offence he might afterwards commit: a man, in short, to whom Justice was thenceforward forbidden by Law. In all this, Bacon, though no doubt an earnest and anxious observer, had no part as actor, adviser, or reporter. He came in for a share in the subsequent embarrassment, but was no way concerned in preparing the materials out of which it grew. Neither do I find that he had anything to do with the negotiations which ended not long after in the treaty of peace with Spain : a treaty of which the policy was and is disputed, but the consideration does not concern my subject. 2. To this period however belongs one other paper of great importance, to which I have already had frequently to refer ;—a paper very interesting to me, as being one of those by which I was first attracted long ago to the study of Bacon's personal character and history, and which grows in interest as the case is better understood. The exact date of the composition I do not know; further than that the earliest printed copy bears 1604 on its title-page. If printed early in 1604, here is its proper place; and here at any rate it will come in most conveniently. If the popular disapprobation excited at the time by Bacon's conduct towards the Earl of Essex was as great and as universal as it is usually assumed to have been by modern writers, it seems strange that proofs of the fact should not be more abundant. I believe however that the only contemporary witness who can be cited to 1 Draft, in Coke's hand, of a letter to the King concerning the form and manner of proceeding against Sir Walter Ralegh: Oct. 18, 1618. Lambeth MSS. Gib. Pap. viii. 21. prove the existence of any disapprobation at all, is Bacon himself; and though his evidence proves conclusively that disapprobation had been expressed, the absence or silence of other witnesses proves almost as conclusively that it had not been expressed very generally or very loudly. 66 Now a Such as it was, it had grown out of misinformation as to the part which he had really taken in the matter. For when Essex on his return from Ireland was committed to custody, those of his friends who, not knowing the circumstances, could not otherwise account for his loss of favour, naturally imputed it to the influence of some enemy at Court; and as the news ran that "all the Lords were in this matter his friends, for all spoke for him," while of Bacon it was only known that he was at that time frequently admitted to speech with the Queen, their suspicion not unnaturally fell upon him; and a suspicion in such cases soon becomes a rumour. rumour of this kind could not be satisfactorily met without the disclosure of confidential conversations in which others were concerned. It was allowed accordingly to prevail, and produced its natural effect. Pity in the common people, if it run in a strong stream, doth ever cast up scandal and envy ;" and the pity which ran so strongly in favour of Essex had cast up scandal and envy against Bacon. From the duty of bearing it in silence he was now by the death of the Queen partly released: he could now judge for himself what and how much he was at liberty to disclose of that which had passed between them. Whether any particular occasion impelled him to speak at this time-any revival of the calumny (such as James's supposed partiality for Essex and his open favour towards the surviving members of the party would naturally encourage), or some expression which may possibly have fallen from the Earl of Southampton upon his offer of congratulation-or whether it was merely that he wished to take the earliest opportunity of clearing himself from a painful and undeserved imputation-I cannot say for no record remains to shew what was said of him, or when, or by whom, except what may be collected from the terms of his answer. But the time was in one respect very convenient. For Lord Montjoy, who was cognisant of the whole case-those parts of it which could not yet be made public as well as the rest-was now in England and in high reputation, newly created Earl of Devonshire and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He had been deeply involved in some of Essex's most secret intrigues,3 and had only escaped the consequences 1 Sydney Papers, ii. 156. 2 Hist. of Hen. VII. Works, VI. p. 203. 3 See Vol. II. pp. 167, 170. The fact that Montjoy had been implicated to an extent which he felt to be dangerous, is fully confirmed by Fynes Moryson's |