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them was overwhelming. Bacon took his place among the counsel. ‘The office he had to perform was none of his seeking: it was laid upon him with the rest of his fellows. The time had come when he was obliged to choose between his Queen and one to whom he had tried his utmost to be a friend. Essex’s defence was, as before, that his life was in danger, that he took up arms for his own protection, and that the kingdom was betrayed to Spain. Bacon spoke twice, on both occasions recalling the attention of the Court to the true nature of the case, and showing that the private quarrel which had been alleged was a mere pretext. The defence broke down on all points, and the two Earls were condemned. Even those who blame Bacon for taking any part in the trial have nothing to urge against the manner in which he acquitted himself. Birch (Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, ii. 499) says, ‘Mr. Francis Bacon’s behaviour towards the Earl at his trial was perhaps less exceptionable than his submitting to any share in it.’ Essex himself uttered no word of reproach. He was too conscious that Bacon had stood by him in evil report and in good report, and how wise all his counsels had been. After a careful review of this strange eventful history, the whole course of which must have been inexpressibly painful to Bacon, it is difficult to see how, as a good citizen, whose first duty was to his country, he could have acted otherwise. His contemporaries passed no censure upon him. Essex, who laid the blame of his own treason upon his personal enemies, did not reckon Bacon among them. And these things being so, we may confidently expect at the hands of posterity a verdict not only of ‘not proven,’ but of ‘not guilty.’

So much misapprehension has existed as to the real nature of the offence of Essex, and of Bacon’s share in his trial and condemnation, that it has been necessary to discuss it somewhat in detail. With the Earl’s execution, however, Bacon’s part in the transaction did not terminate. Though the evidence was crushing and irresistible, the conduct of the trial had been slovenly, and the impression left by it confused. It was