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.

E

The

touching the Plantations in Ireland.'* unhappy state of that country had long troubled the English government; and until the reign of James, Ireland had been unjustly and unwisely treated either as a colony or a conquered country, according to the dominant views of the ministers of the crown. It was the wise policy of James to adopt more liberal and pacific principles of government; and it redounds much to his honour, that of the forfeited lands in Ulster he set apart large estates for the endowment of places of education, now known by the

* Bacon's Works, vol. 5, p. 169. 'This island being another Britain, as Britain was said to be another world, is endowed with many dowries of nature, considering the fruitfulness of the soil, the ports, the rivers, the fishings, the quarries, the woods, and other materials; and especially the race and generation of men, valiant, hard, and active, as it is not easy to find such confluence of commodities, if the hand of man did join with the hand of nature.'-Ib. 174.

name of schools of royal foundation.* The territories of this great province which had escheated to the crown were, under the advice of lord Bacon, aided by the practical prudence and judgment of sir Arthur Chichester, effectually colonized; and from being the most barbarous, became the best cultivated of the Irish provinces.† To recommend this project, Bacon composed the tract we have just mentioned, in which, having considered the excellency, honour, policy, safety, and utility of the work, he then proceeds to point out the means by which it might be best effected.

We have already observed, that the prejudices of the Queen, the policy or jealousy of her ministers, and the enmity of Coke, had conspired to exclude Bacon from any promotion during the preceding reign.

* As to these schools, see Malte Brun, vol. 9, p. 557, English edition.

+ Hallam's Constitutional History, vol. 3, p. 505.