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constituted him by patent one of his counsel learned in the law, with a fee of forty pounds per ann.* He granted him the same day, by another patent, a pension of sixty pounds for additional special services received from his brother and himself. Having now gained a firm footing at court, he made it his next endeavour to recover his lost popularity.

In the preceding reign, the country people had been greatly oppressed by the royal purveyors, and had complained of their exactions as an intolerable grievance. This affair had been laid before the Queen, and some measures had been adopted with a view to redress it; but they had proved ineffectual. The House of Commons, therefore, took the business in hand, in the first session of the first parliament of James; and selected Bacon, as the person most competent to explain to his Majesty their opinion upon this weighty matter. This trust he discharged to the entire satisfaction of both prince and people, and received the thanks of the House in return. Cecil, however, still opposed his advancement; and in this he was supported by Sir Edward Coke, the AttorneyGeneral, who dreaded the developement of Bacon's professional and political powers. This accounts for his not having obtained the promotion, which he had so ardently expected, till 1607, when upon the elevation of Sir John Doderidge to a higher post, he was appointed Solicitor-General.

From the date of his entering upon this office, he may be considered as a courtier devotedly attached to his royal master; constantly favouring his views

This is said to have been the first act of royal power of that

nature.

in opposition to his own better judgement, and to that spirit of patriotism, which his country had a right to claim from him in the cause of civil liberty.

In breach of the fundamental maxim of nature and nations, that no man is bound by laws, to which he has not previously either actually or virtually consented, and that laws so sanctioned cannot be abrogated or altered except by the same consent which made them,' he most unconstitutionally contended, that it was an inseparable prerogative of the Crown to dispense with political statutes.' He, likewise, exercised his subtilest rhetoric to reconcile parliaments to impositions by prerogative, which if acquiesced in, would speedily have superseded those assemblies altogether; exasperating the mildness of our limited monarchy into the austerity of a despotism, and corrupting legal government into the capricious cruelties of a tyranny. Unfortunately for this time-serving lawyer, and his assertions (they never could be his opinions) we know the origin of these arbitrary claims, we have sorely felt their progress, and we have witnessed we trust their final and complete extinction at the Revolution: a period, which with the memory of all it's patrons and supporters will be ever dear to England, as the epoch of her present liberties, and her consequent civil and religious blessings.

The accomplishment of the foundation of the Charter-House Hospital, begun by Sir Thomas Sutton and continued by his executors, took place while Bacon was Solicitor-General; and in consequence of some discreditable object on his part, that noble institution had to encounter every obstacle, which

so powerful a public functionary could throw in it's

way.

From Bacon's own letters it appears that James, whenever he had the success of a prosecution (particularly, in criminal and capital cases) deeply at heart, with an interference most unbecoming the majesty of the crown was accustomed to issue his special instructions to his Attorney-General upon the occasion; and that officer, obsequiously obedient to the royal orders, meanly submitted to the drudgery of sounding the opinion of the Judges upon the point of law before it was thought advisable to risk their decision in an open trial, recommended the early sifting of them before they could have opportunities of mutual conference, and even undertook by dark insinuations, with a view of obtaining his concurrence, to practise upon the Chief Justice Coke. To enhance the ignominy of a Sovereign thus insidiously forestalling the judgement of a court, in a case of blood then depending, it must be farther recollected that Judges were at that time removeable at the pleasure of the Crown.

In farther proof of his subserviency to the mandates of his Monarch, who anxiously wished to effect the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland upon a plan extremely detrimental to the former, Sir Francis to his indelible disgrace strained every nerve in the House of Commons in support of the measure: but that assembly was already too well convinced of the arbitrary tendency of his Majesty's views, to adopt the project laid be

fore them.

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Baffled once more in his ambitious career, he plied with increased earnestness to the business of his

profession; appeared frequently in Westminster-Hall, and, from his high reputation as a lawyer, was engaged in most of the principal causes there agitated.

In justice to his character it ought to be remarked, that whenever his advancement at court was out of question, he zealously served the interests of the people. Thus, at a conference held with the Lords, to persuade them to concur with the Commons in an application to the throne for abolishing the ancient tenures under the crown, and for allowing a certain revenue in lieu thereof, Sir Francis (as manager for the latter) set the matter in so clear a light, that it occasioned the dissolution of the Court of Wards, which was justly esteemed an important point carried in favour of the public liberties.

In 1611, he was appointed, in conjunction with Sir Thomas Vasavour, a Judge of the Marshal's-Court. Under this designation he presided, though for a very short time, in the court newly erected under the title of the Palace Court in the verge of the King's house, and has left in his works a learned and methodical charge, which he delivered to the King upon a commission of Oyer and Terminer. He now derived, partly from his estates and partly from his professional emolument, an income of nearly five thousand pounds a year: and although he was even profuse in his mode of living, yet as his public appointments involved no necessary display of official magnificence, he could have little temptation to avail himself of the opportunities of aggrandisement, which the royal favour must have afforded. It was not till the promotion of Sir Henry Hobart to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas, in 1613, that he succeeded to the office of Attorney-General.

In the ensuing session of Parliament, an objection was raised against his retaining his seat among the Commons, as his public function required his frequent attendance in the Upper House; but it was urged without effect. To his high honour, while he held the attorney-generalship, he exerted all his efforts to suppress the horrid custom of duelling; and on an information exhibited in the Star-Chamber,* he delivered so excellent a charge upon that subject, that the Lords of the Council, contrary to their usual practice, ordered it to be published with the decree of the Court upon the cause before them.

His private affairs appear now to have been in a more prosperous situation, than at any ensuing period of his life. His Office brought him in 6000/. per ann.; he had succeeded to his reversionary appointment of Registrar to the Star-Chamber, and by the death of his elder brother the family-estates had fallen into his possession.

The death of Cecil Earl of Salisbury, and the disgrace of Car Earl of Somerset, removed the two grand obstacles of his farther promotion; and the vigour, with which he prosecuted the latter, joined to a due appreciation of his great abilities, strongly recommended him to Sir George Villiers (afterward Duke of Buckingham) the new favourite. In cultivating a strict friendship with the Duke, however, it appears that he had the service of his country principally at heart; as may be inferred from his Letter of Advice to him (still extant in his works) upon the duties of his high station.

About this time a contest taking place, on a question

Against Priest and Wright.

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