of the great mass of the people, had now lost their power; and the nation, awakened by the dawning intelligence of the age, seemed to rouse herself, like a strong man after sleep.' The grievance and abuses of wardship, monopolies, and purveyance, were vehemently exclaimed against. Committees of inquiry were appointed, in which Bacon took an active part, and the Commons, so gracious was he with the house, entrusted him with their celebrated petition to the king against purveyors.*

About this period, Bacon, by a warrant of the king, was appointed his Counsel

* See Bacon's Works, vol. 6, p. 3, and Hallam's Constitutional History, vol. 1, p. 414. 'A spirit of liberty,' says Hume, 'had now taken possession of the House. The leading members, men of an independent genius and large views, began to regulate their opinions more by the future consequences which they foresaw, than by the former precedents which were set before them; and they less aspired at maintaining the ancient constitution than at establishing a new one, and a freer and a better.'-Hist. vol. 6, p. 45. Oxford ed.

learned extraordinary, an office which he had also held under Elizabeth; and, on the 25th of August, 1604, this appointment was confirmed by letters patent, which settled upon him for life a salary or fee of forty pounds a-year. By another patent of the same date, he received a yearly pension of sixty pounds for special services rendered by himself and his deceased brother Anthony to the king before he had ascended the English throne.*

In 1605, Bacon published his splendid treatise on the Proficiency and Advancement of Learning, but our account of this book we shall reserve until we come to speak of the Instauration, of which it forms the first part. In thus delivering to the world, as a detached work, what may be considered as the porch of the magnificent temple that he was engaged in rearing, Bacon foresaw

*

Rymer's Fœdera, vol. 16, pp. 596, 597. See Note (A.)

that it would lessen, in some measure, the lustre of his labours, though not their use. 'I have this opinion,' he said,* 'that if I had sought my own commendation, it had been a much fitter course for me, to have done as gardeners use to do, by taking their seeds and slips, and rearing them first into plants, and so uttering them in pots, when they are in flower, and in their best state. But forasmuch as my end was merit of the state of learning, to my power, and not glory; and becasue my purpose was rather to excite other men's wits, than to magnify my own, I was desirous to prevent the incertainness of my own life and times, by uttering rather seeds than plants; nay, and further, as the proverb is, by sowing with the basket than with the hand,'

In the following year, (1606,) Bacon presented to the king Certain Considerations

* Bacon's Works, vol. 12, p. 80.1

E

admiration; and, on the other hand, their opposites were no less pleased with a piece from which they thought they could demonstrate, that the sagacity of modern genius had found out much better meanings for the ancients than ever were meant by them.'*

In August, 1610, Bacon lost his accomplished mother. Writing, on the 27th of this month, to his kind friend, sir Michael Hickes, he says, 'It is but a wish, and not any ways to desire it to your trouble, but I heartily wish I had your company here at my mother's funeral, which I purpose on Thursday next, in the forenoon. I dare promise you a good sermon, to be made by Mr. Fenton, the preacher of Gray's Inn; for he never maketh other feast: I make none; but if I might have your company for two or three days at my house, I should pass

* Biog. Brit. art. Bacon, vol. 1, p. 383; Shaw's Preface to his Abridgment of Bacon's Works.

over this mournful occasion with more comShe was buried in St. Michael's

fort.'*

Church, St. Albans.

About this time, Bacon was made one of the judges of the Knight-Marshal's Court, then lately erected by letters patent, within the verge of the king's palace; and, on the 9th of June, 1616, he was sworn one of the king's Privy Council, having, about three years before, succeeded sir Henry Hobart as Attorney-General,† upon which occasion he was permitted, contrary to all precedent, (so popular was he with the Commons,) to retain his seat in the lower House, although, by virtue of his office, an attendant upon the lords.‡

* Bacon's Works, vol. 12, p. 481. This letter and the affectionate allusion to his mother in his will, are the only notices of lady Bacon that a diligent search has discovered in the works of her illustrious son.

↑ Dugdale has erroneously stated, that Bacon was Attorney-General to Queen Elizabeth.—Orig. Jurid. p. 61.

Rawley's Life.