Again, the old, "rare and unaccustomed suit" of which the Queen could
have had no experience! Either the persuasive powers of Burghley had
failed or he had not exerted them. Probably the latter, because the
troublesome, determined young man is now worrying Walsingham and Hatton
to urge its acceptance with the Queen. The purport of the foregoing
extract effectually precludes the possibility of this suit referring to
his advancement at the bar. For five years it has been proceeding--he
has been indulging in hopes which have been unfulfilled. Now he will
wait no longer, but he will adopt a course which, if her Majesty like
not his suit, by the leave of God he must and will follow, not for any
necessity of making money but because he feels impelled to it by a
sense of responsibility which he must fulfil. Walsingham and Hatton do
not appear to have helped the matter forward. There was little
probability of them succeeding in influencing the Queen where Burghley
had failed. There was still less probability of them attempting to
influence her if Burghley objected. Had this suit referred to
advancement in the law it would have been granted with the aid of
Burghley's influence years before. Had it referred to some ordinary
office of State, friends so powerful as Burghley, Walsingham and Hatton
could and would have obtained anything within reason for this brilliant
young son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, for there was no complication with
Essex until after 1591. But this rare and unaccustomed suit of which
there had been no experience was another matter.
Six more years pass, and although there is now no suit to the Queen
there is the same idea prevailing in the letter to Burghley--a seeking
for help to achieve some great scheme upon which Bacon's mind was so
fixed "as it cannot be removed," "whether it be curiosity, vainglory or
nature, or (if one take it favourably) philanthropia." Still he required
the command of more wits than of a man's own, which is the thing he did
greatly affect. Still his course was not to get. Still the determination
to achieve the object without help, if help could not be obtained--to
achieve it by becoming some sorry bookmaker or a pioneer in that mine of
truth which Anaxagoras said lay so deep. This is emphasised. These are
"thoughts rather than words, being set down without all art, disguising
or reservation."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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