His early proffers of attachment and service were favourably received by the new sovereign, by whom he was knighted, at Whitehall, January the 23d, 1604. Being first appointed one of his majesty's counsel learned in the law, with the fee of £40 a year, on the 24th of Aug. 1604, he obtained a grant of £60 yearly, in acknowledgment of special services rendered to the crown by him and his brother Anthony. In 1605 was published the first part of that great work, "The two Books of Francis Bacon, of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human: to the King." This performance received considerable advantage from the pen of the learned Bishop Andrews, who eminently facilitated the literary labours of the author.

Notwithstanding these indications of approaching prosperity, Sir Francis had found, on the whole, but little reason for exultation. Prophetic, as it were, of the misfortunes which eventually succeeded, "I see well," he observes, in a letter to Lord Burleigh, "that the bar will be my bier: I must and will use it rather than my estate or reputation

shall decay."

Disappointed, therefore, in

the hope of present emolument, he was compelled to resume his hymeneal project. What he had in vain solicited within the circle of the court, he at length obtained in the city; and, at the age of forty, was married to Alice, daughter of Benedict Barnham, Esq. alderman of London, with whom he received a plentiful fortune. This union, it appears, had been effected under the auspices of Egerton, the chancellor; who, probably, used similar representations, and held out similar inducements on this occasion, to those made by the Earl of Essex, when a marriage treaty was in contemplation between Mr. Bacon and Lady Hatton. Instructed thus to consider their new relation as a rising man, but perceiving his advancement by no means answerable to the expectations which had been excited in their minds, the friends of Lady Bacon, unable to conceal their mortification, remonstrated in a manner not calculated to promote the welfare of her for whom they mostly affected solicitude; especially as she was now allied to a man who never seems to have been fully susceptible of the endearments arising in domestic inter

course, and who, it must not be forgotten, had engaged in this connection under circumstances which are not believed to contribute to the warmth of reciprocal attachment. Contracted on principles and views generally unpropitious to mutual felicity, it cannot be surprising if his marriage, far from multiplying the sources of gratification, embittered his accustomed enjoyments.

Unremitting diligence in the service of the crown, with incessant application to friends in power, raised him, at last, to the post of solicitor-general, with a positive assurance that he should succeed, on the first opportunity, to the office of attorney-general, and that his advancement to higher situations should no longer be impeded. Amidst, however, this professional career, his ardour for literature remained unabated, and his attention undiverted: in 1610 appeared his treatise "Of the Wisdom of the Ancients." On the 27th of October, 1613, Sir Francis was appointed attorney-general. He possessed, at this period, an income of £5000 a year; enjoyed a reputation that could not be

b

contested; and was rapidly advancing in favour with the sovereign. Such was the degree of estimation in which he was held by the commons, and so heartily did that house approve his promotion, that they allowed him to retain his seat among them, as a testimony of their personal respect.

However unpopular in their exertion, the duties of an attorney-general necessarily ensure the approbation and patronage of the government, if ably and faithfully discharged. Of this circumstance no one was better apprized than Sir Francis, nor any one more qualified to avail himself of it to the fullest extent. The part allotted him in the trial of the Earl of Somerset appears to have been highly confidential; and he acquitted himself so much to the satisfaction of James, as to become almost indispensable with that monarch. When, therefore, he applied himself to Villiers, afterwards Duke of Buckingham, who succeeded Somerset in the reign of favouritism, it was not that Sir Francis thought himself compelled to obtain the patronage of the new statesman, in order

to establish his own interest at court. His advice to Villiers, which will remain an indelible evidence of his candour and magnanimity, had more of instruction than supplication; it spoke the language of one who knew his own importance in the commonwealth, not of him who felt solicitous to have that consequence ascertained and acknowledged; it exhibited, on terms honourable to both parties, the tender of assistance which inexperience and insecurity could never too highly have valued, nor too amply repaid. Since circumstances demonstrated that a favourite was necessary to the happiness of his sovereign, it only remained for enlightened patriotism to consider how such an engine might be rendered subservient to the interests of the community which it seemed destined to regulate, and skilfully to direct its operations. Wisdom will always exert itself to alleviate those evils which ignorance is contented to arraign, and to deplore.

Sir Francis Bacon was sworn a member of the Privy Council, June the 9th, 1616. Perhaps his progress was not a little accelerated, as his spirits were invigorated, on the disgrace