In the early period of his career, Buckingham had owed much to the countenance, and more to the advice, of Bacon. The author of the _Novum Organum_ seems to have been among the first to discern that remarkable association of personal and mental qualities in Villiers, which promised to secure him an ascendancy over James. Bacon lent the lustre of his name to shine upon the young courtier, and expected in return that aid which Buckingham, he soon perceived, would have it in his power to bestow. A mutual dependence was established; Buckingham existed on the capital of Bacon’s intellect; Bacon throve on the inferiority of the youth, conscious of his defects, and wise enough to remedy his own weakness by the strength of another. No greater proof of confidence in a friend can be given than to seek his advice, and Villiers paid Bacon that tribute. He requested him “to instruct him how to fulfil his high station, how to serve the King, how to conciliate the people.” In consequence of this, Bacon had addressed to the Favourite a letter of advice,[337] “such,” observes the biographer of Bacon, “as is not usually given in courts, but of a strain equally free and friendly, calculated to make the person to whom it was addressed good and great, and equally honourable to the giver and the receiver; advice which contributed not a little to his prosperity in after life.”[338] Footnote 337: The essay or letter treated of the following subjects:—1. Matters that concern religion, and the Church, and Churchmen. 2. Matters concerning justice, and the laws, and the professions thereof. 3. Councillors, and the council-table, and the great offices and officers of the kingdom. 4. Foreign negotiations and embassies. 5. Peace and war, both foreign and civil, and in that the navy and forts, and what belongs to them. 6. Trade at home and abroad. 7. Colonies, or foreign plantations. 8. The court and curialty. Footnote 338: Life of Lord Bacon, by Basil Montague, p. 181. This manual of a courtier’s duty, it must be owned, was sadly at variance with the practice that followed these nobly conceived instructions on the part of him who gave them.