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been passed upon him, and because there were three new knights in his mess at Gray’s Inn. The most important reason for seeking this honour he keeps to the last—‘because I have found out an alderman’s daughter, an handsome maiden, to my liking.’ But he desired especially that the honour should be conferred as a real distinction, and that he ‘might not be merely gregarious in a troop.’ On the 23rd of July he gained his wish, but in the company of three hundred others. His ambition for professional advancement was quenched under the new sovereign. In the letter to Cecil which has already been referred to, he says, ‘My ambition now I shall only put upon my pen, whereby I shall be able to maintain memory and merit of the times succeeding.’ James, if not wise, was undoubtedly learned, and in his advent to the throne Bacon saw hopes of at last realizing his magnificent dreams of the regeneration of learning and the extension of the kingdom of man. And it may be that during this year (1603) he wrote the first book of The Proficience and Advancement of Learning. His other literary productions of this period are A Brief Discourse touching the Happy Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, and Certain Considerations touching the better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England. The latter of these may be regarded as the sequel to a tract on the same subject which he had written in 1589. It was partly printed in 1604, but not published, and was evidently composed with direct reference to the subjects discussed at the Hampton Court conference. His Apology for his conduct in the Essex trial, which was addressed to Montjoy, now Earl of Devonshire, belongs to the same year.

The first Parliament of the new reign met on the 19th of March, 1603-4, and Bacon was again returned both by Ipswich and St. Alban’s, still taking the same prominent part in the proceedings of the House. His office as one of the learned counsel was confirmed to him by patent on the 18th of August, coupled with the grant of a pension of 60/. a year for life. His vacation was employed in drawing up Certain