f a loyal and
unpolluted heart, of an unfeigned affection, of an earnest desire ever
to perform to her majesty the best service which his pool abilities
would permit; and that, if this sentiment were allowed by the council,
he willingly acquiesced in any condemnation or sentence which they
could pronounce against him. This submission was uttered with so much
eloquence, and in so pathetic a manner, that it drew tears from many of
the audience.[**] All the privy counsellors, in giving their judgment,
made no scruple of doing the earl justice with regard to the loyalty of
his intentions. Even Cecil, whom he believed his capital enemy, treated
him with regard and humanity. And the sentence pronounced by the lord
keeper, (to which the council assented,) was in these words: "If this
cause," said he, "had been heard in the star chamber, my sentence must
have been for as great a fine as ever was set upon any man's head in
that court, together with perpetual confinement in that prison which
belongeth to a man of his quality, the Tower. But since we are now in
another place, and in a course of favor, my censure is, that the earl
of Essex is not to execute the office of a counsellor, nor that of earl
marshal of England, nor of master of the ordnance; and to return to his
own house, there to continue a prisoner till it shall please her majesty
to release this and all the rest of his sentence."[***] The earl of
Cumberland made a slight opposition to this sentence; and said, that if
he thought it would stand, he would have required a little more time
to deliberate; that he deemed it somewhat severe; and that any
commander-in-chief might easily incur a like penalty.

* Sidney's Letters, vol. ii. p. 200.

** Sidney's Letters, vol. ii. p. 200, 201.

*** Birch's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 454. Camden, p 626, 627.

"But however," added he, "in confidence of her majesty's mercy, I agree
with the rest." The earl of Worcester delivered his opinion in a couple
of Latin verses; importing, that where the gods are offended, even,
misfortunes ought to be imputed as crimes, and that accident is no
excuse for transgressions against the Divinity.

Bacon, so much distinguished afterwards by his high offices, and still
more by his profound genius for the sciences, was nearly allied to the
Cecil family, being nephew to Lord Burleigh, and cousin-german to the
secretary: but notwithstanding his extraordinary talents, he had met
with so litt