The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

LIFE OF BACON. lxiii
soon after fatally explained. Although power- 3. Councillors, and the council table, and the
fully attracted by the elegance and gayety of Vil- offices and officers of the kingdom.
liers, yet James had been so harassed by cornm- 4. Foreign negotiations and embassies.
plaints of favouritism, that he would not bestow 5. Peace and war, both foreign and civil, and in
any appointment upon him, until solicited by the that the navy and forts, and what belongs to them.
queen and some of the gravest of his councillors. 6. Trade at home and abroad.
In 1613 Villiers was taken into the king's house- 7. Colonies, or foreign plantations.
hold, and rose rapidly to the highest honours. 8. The court and curiality.
He was nominated cupbearer, received several
lucrative appointments; the successive honours Each of these subjects he explains, with a miof knighthood, of a barony, an earldom, a mar- nuteness scarcely to be conceived, except by the
quisate, and was finally created Duke of Buck- admirers of his works, who well know his exingham. tensive and minute survey of every subject to
From the paternal character of Bacon's protec- which he directed his attention.
tion of the new favourite, it is probable that he In the beginning of the year 1613, Sir Thomas
had early sought his assistance and advice; as a Overbury was poisoned in the Tower by one
friendship was formed between them, which con- Weston, of which crime he was convicted, received
tinued with scarcely any interruption till the sentence of death, and was executed. In the
death, and, indeed, after the death of Bacon: 1 a progress of the trial suspicions having been excited
friendship which was always marked by a series against the Earl and Countess of Somerset, as
of the wisest and best counsels, and was never having been deeply concerned in this barbarous
checked by the increased power and elevation of act; their injudicious friends, by endeavouring
Villiers. to circulate a report that these suspicions were
This intimacy between an experienced states- but an artifice to ruin that nobleman, the King
man and a rising favourite was naturally looked commanded the attorney-general to prosecute in
upon with some jealousy, butitought to have been the Star Chamber Mr. Lumsden, a gentleman of
remembered that there was never any intimacy good family in Scotland, Sir John Hollis, afterbetvween Bacon and Somerset. In the whole of his wards Earl of Clare, and Sir John Wentworth,
voluminous correspondence, there is not one letter who were convicted and severely punished. The
of solicitation or compliment to that powerful speech of Bacon upon this trial is fortunately
favourite, or any vain attempt to divert him from preserved.
his own gratifications to the advancement of the Shortly after this investigation, so many cirpublic good; but in Villiers he thought he saw a cumstances transpired, all tending to implicate
better nature, capable of such culture, as to be the Earl and Countess of Somerset, and so great
fruitful in good works. Whatever the motives an excitement prevailed through the whole counwere in which this union originated, the records try, that the king determined to bring these
extant of the spirit by which it was cemented are great offenders to trial; a resolution which he
honourable to both. In the courtesy and docility could not have formed without the most painful
of Villiers, Bacon did not foresee the rapacity struggle between his duty to the public and his
that was to end in his own disgrace, and in the anxiety to protect his fallen favourite. His sense
violent death of the favourite. of duty as the dispenser of justice prevailed.
About this period, Sir George Villiers, person- Previous to the trial, which took place May, 1616,
ally and by letter, importuned his friend to com- the same course of private consultation with the
municate his sentiments respecting the conduct judges was pursued, and the king caused it to be
which, thus favoured by the king, it would be privately intimated to Somerset, that it would be
proper for him to observe; and, considering these his own fault if favour was not extended to him:
requests as commands, Bacon wrote a letter of favour which was encouraged by Bacon, in a letadvice to Villiers, such as is not usually given in ter to the king, in which he says, "' The great
courts, but of a strain equally free and friendly, downfall of so great persons carrieth in itself a
calculated to make the person to whom it was heavy judgment, and a kind of civil death, aladdressed both good and great, and equally ho- though theirlives should notbe taken. All which
nourable to the giver and the receiver: advice may satisfy honour for sparing their lives."
which contributed not a little to his prosperity In his speech upon the trial, Bacon gave a
in life. It is an essay on the following sub- clear and circumstantial account of the whole conje: ts: spiracy against Overbury, describing the various
practices against his life; but though he fully and
1. Matters that concern religion, and the church fairly executed his duty as attorney-general, it
and churchmen. was without malice or harshness, availing him2. Matters concerning justice, and the laws, self of an opportunity, of which he never lost
and the professors thereof. sight, to recommend mercy; and though the
I See Bacon's will. friends of the new favourite were supposed to iave