The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

TRACTS RELATING TO COMMENDAMS. 489
And, if I fail not in memory, my Lord Coke re- to the judges, as for the secretary to signify the
ceived from your majesty's self, as I take it, a same to the privy-council; and so it hath ever
precedent commandment in Hilary term, that been.
both in the "6 rege inconsulto," and in the com- These things were a little strange, if there came
mendams, your attorney should be heard to speak, not so many of them together, as the one maketh
and then stay to be made of farther proceedings, the other seem less strange: but your majesty
till my lord had spoken with your majesty. hath fair occasions to remedy all with small aid;
Nevertheless, hearing that the day appointed I say no more for the present.
for the judges' argument held, contrary to my ex- I was a little plain with my Lord Coire in these
pectation, I sent on Thursday, in the evening, matters; and when his answer was, that he knew
having received your majesty's commandment all these things, I said he could never profit too
but the day before in the afternoon, a letter to my much in knowing himself and his duty. God
Lord Coke; whereby I let him know, that upon preserve your majesty.
some report of my Lord of Winchester, who, by
your commandment, was present at my argument
of that which passed, it was your majesty's express pleasure, that no farther proceedings should A MEMORIAL FOR HIS MAJESTY, CORRECTED
be, until you had conferred with your judges: WITH SIR FR. BACON'S OWN HAND, 1616.
which your majesty thought to have done at your this ye
being now last in town; but by reason of your IT seemeti this year of the fourteenth of his
many and weighty occasions, your princely times majesty's reign, being a year of a kind of majority
would not serve; and that it was your pleasure he in his government, is consecrated to justice; "
should signify so much to the rest of the judges, which, as his majesty hath performed to his subwhereof his lordship might not fail. His answer jects in this late memorable occasion, so he is now
by word to my man was, that it were good the to render and perform to himself, his crown, and
rest of thejudges understood so much from myself: posterity
whereupon, I, that cannot skill of scruples in mat- his council shall perceive by that -hich
ter of service, did write, on Friday, three several his majesty shall now communicate with them,
letters of like content, to the judges of the com- that the mass of his business is continually premon pleas, and the barons of the exchequer, and pared in his own royal care and cogitations, howrthe other three judges of the king's bench men- soever he produceth the same to light, and to act
tioninug in that last my particular letter to my lord per opera dierum."t
chief jusice. lThat his majesty shall make unto them now a
This wfas all I didl, and thought all had been declarative of two great causes,-whereof he doubtsure; insomuch as, the same day being appointed eth not they have heard by glimpses; the one conin chancery for your majesty's great cause, fol- cerning his igh court of chancery, the other conlowed by my Lord lulnsden, I writ two other cerning the church and prelacy; but both of them
letters to both the chief justices, to put them in deeply touching his prerogative and sovereignty,
mind of assisting my lord chancellor at the hear- and the flowers of his crown.
oin. And when my lord chancellor himself took That about the end of Hilary term last, there
some notice upon that occasion, openly in the came to his majesty's ears, only by conmon voice
chancery, that the commendams could not hold and report, not without great rumour and wonder,
presently after, I heard the judges were gone that there was somewhat done in the iing's
about the commendarns; which I thought at first Bench the last day of that term, whereby his
had been only to adjourn the court, but I heard chancery should be pulled down, and be brought
after that they proceeded to argument. in question for Cprmmunire;" being the most
In this their doing, I conceive they must either heinous offence after treason, and felony, and misexcept to the nature of the commandment, or to prision of treason; and that the time should be
the credence thereof; both which, I assure myself, when the chancellor lay at the point of death.
your majesty will maintain. That his majesty was so far from hearing of this
For if they should stand upon the general
ground, " Nulli negabimus, nulli differemus jus- * By the laws, several ages are assigned to persons for
titiam,"~ it receivetlh two answers. The one, that several purposes; land by the common law, the follteenthu
iyear is a kind of majority, and accounted an age of discrereasonable and mature advice may not be con- tion. At that time a man may agree or disagree to a preee
founded with delay; and that they can well dent marriage: the heir in socage may reject the goardian
allege when it pleaseth them. The other is, that appointed by law, and choose a new one: and tle woial at
that age shall be out of ward, etc.-Stephens.
there is a great difference between a case merely f" Per opera dierum," alludingto the gradatioos Almighty
between subject and subject, and where the king's God was pleased to observe in the creating of the world. Int
interest is in question directly or by consequence. this paragraph, Sir Francis Bacon insinuates what he ex
As for the attorney's place and commission, it is ~pressly declares, Vol. i. Essay XLVII. p. 52, that in all negotiations of difficulty a man must first prepare busilessoanr
as proper for him to signify the king's pleasure so ripen it by degrees.-Stephens.
VOLi. II.- 2