1616.

X. 24. protestations of his innocency as he thinks good, and so the matter may come to a regular and just period, wherein Dec. 7. the very reading of the pardon, which shall recite the evidence to be doubtful and conjectural, added to his own protestations, is as much for the reputation of the gentleman as we think convenient, considering how things have formerly passed. Hereupon we have advised with the Lord Chancellor, whom we find of the same opinion. All which, nevertheless, we, in all humbleness, submit to your Majesty's better judgment.

Your Majesty's most humble

and most bounden servants,

FR. BACON,

HENRY YELVERTON.

· 1617.

Feb. 12.

The advice is welcome. A pardon, drawn up in this sense, passes under the Seal. Monson, brought up at the bar of the King's Bench and this paper read to him, declares his innocence once more, protests that his pardon should be read as evidence of his innocence, not of his guilt. Montagu, now Chief Justice, tells him it may be read in this sense, and Monson with a joyful heart goes home from the Tower.

25. Egerton is sick. Though he will not give up the Seals, as Villiers presses him to do, while he can sign his name, he begins to divest himself of the minor offices and responsibilities of the world; among other changes yielding the Stewardship of St. Albans to the friend who now sits by his bed, lightening his pains and cares, and whom he, like all the world, has sealed for his successor in the Court of

25. Add. MSS. 19, 402; Sherborne to Carleton, Feb. 8, 1617, S. P. O.; Council Reg., Feb. 2, 1617.

RUMOURED OFFSPRING OF ARABELLA STUART. 227

1617.

Feb. 12.

Chancery. Among the public affairs in which Bacon is X. 25. employed are, the Disorders in our Trade with Spain, and a Report touching a child supposed to have been left by Lady Arabella Stuart. The first is referred to Bacon alone, with power to collect evidence and to offer remedies for the wrong. The second concerns the King more nearly than the murder of English crews, the confiscation of English goods. This story of a royal child he refers to four commissioners, the highest functionaries of the state-—Abbott, Suffolk, Winwood, and Bacon; Bacon, on whom the burthen of inquiry falls, representing the great lawyer now lying sick at York House.

26. After Lady Arabella's death in the Tower a whisper Feb. 2. flew abroad that her romantic marriage had not been altogether barren; that she had given birth to a child while confined in Sir Thomas Parry's house at Lambeth; and that this heir of the Seymours was still alive. The story has a deep and romantic interest. If there be such a child, it stands very near the throne-uniting, as it must, in one head the rival claims of the Seymour and Lennox lines of descent from Henry the Seventh; therefore a rival, as some folks think, to the King's own children, and one who may become truly formidable should the rickety Prince of Wales not live. Such a birth was not unlikely in itself. The Lady Arabella was only thirty-six when she fell in love and secretly gave her hand to William Seymour. They were married weeks before their amour was discovered. Even when parted by force, their love and wit found means for meeting. Even when Seymour was in the Tower, he so far won upon his jailor by his youth, his misery, or his gold, that he was frequently allowed to go up 26. Council Reg., Feb. 2, 16, 1617.

1617.

X. 26. the river and see his wife. Nothing, therefore, in the tale of a child having been born to all this love appears improbable to men who fear or hate the King, while the motives for concealment, if it has been born, are clear to all. James is profoundly moved. A new Perkin Warbeck menaces his throne.

Feb. 2.

True or false, the story is a serious fact for James and for his dynasty not less grave for them if false than true; unless it can be wholly and for ever rooted out from the minds of men. Hence the commission. For a time the mystery defies even Bacon's subtlety of search and proof. It is always hard to prove a negative-most hard in such a case as this. The commissioners may convince themselves; they have to convince a credulous world, at the risk of leaving that world open to seduction by any knave who may choose to play his head against a crown. They send for Seymour, who knows nothing or will tell them nothing. They send for Sir John Keys and Doctor Mountford, physicians to the royal lady. They question Edward Kirton and Edward Reeves, her body servants. None of these will own to knowledge of the birth of any child. Such evidence is, however, far from decisive. Where are Lady Arabella's waiting-women?

It is known that, while imprisoned in Parry's house, Arabella's waiting-woman was called Ann Bradshaw. Ann has dropped out of sight, though no one thinks that she is dead. Where is she? The Seymours don't know. Her old friends and fellow servants don't know. Such a fact is of itself suspicious. Is the missing maid watching over the missing child? There must be an end of these questions. If alive, and between the four seas, Ann must be found; for on her testimony hang the chances of a civil war.

A search through every shire from Exe to Tweed dis

1617.

Feb. 2.

covers her in Duffield-an obscure village lost among the X. 26. snows of the Peak. Though old, full of aches and pains, her memory is good: she remembers everything about her unhappy mistress, was with her day and night in Parry's house, and is positive she never had a child. The local magistrates dare not jolt her off to London through the winter cold, the doctors saying she would die on the road. A message speeds to Bacon. Not an hour is to be lost; the weal of millions hangs on the words of this sick creature ; so he mounts for Duffield Sir Clement Edmondes, a trusty Clerk of the Privy Council, to see the woman and take her important evidence on oath. Clement sends in his report. The tale sworn by the waiting-woman convinces the commissioners and the Council that the rumour of a young Seymour, born of Lady Arabella, being in existence is a lie. In witness of this inquiry, and of this result, James causes an elaborate statement of the facts to be inserted in the Council Register, signed by George Abbott, Thomas Howard, Ralph Winwood, and Francis Bacon. The search which satisfies the Council seems to satisfy mankind. It is, indeed, amazing that, during all the troubles and illusions of the succeeding forty years, no one ever assumed the character of Lady Arabella's son.

27. Four weeks after closing this delicate inquiry Bacon Mar. 7. receives the Seals. Egerton's love bears fruit; but the risks of failure in his suit have indeed been great, for Buckingham makes no secret of his wish to ruin the old Chancellor and sell his place. While the favourite haggles with aspirants for the office about its price, the King himself puts the Seals into Bacon's hands.

27. Council Reg., Mar. 7, 24, 1617; Grant Book, 200; Chamberlain to Carleton, Mar. 15, 1617, S. P. O.; Commission to Abbott, Bacon, and others, Mar. 17, 1617, S. P. O.

X. 27.

1617.

Mar. 7.

Riding down to York House, he thanks his old friend, and in his Majesty's name presents him with the patent of an Earl. He now turns to the Court of Chancery, not in despair at the long arrears, but with confident sense of his power to conquer the vast accumulation of work. The rules which he lays down, the spirit in which he decides, are beyond all praise. Nor do the labours of his Court, the ceremonial of his rank, and the sittings of the Council, consume his strength. He instructs Buckingham in the arts of government. He toils at his Novum Organum.

Within a week of his investiture the King leaves London Mar. 17. for the Northern Kingdom, calling Bacon to the exercise

of very extraordinary powers. In commission with Pembroke, Suffolk, and a single secretary, he receives power to pardon able-bodied offenders under sentence of death, save only those convicted of rape, burglary, witchcraft, and wilful murder, and send them over sea. In commission with Abbott and others, he is authorised to pass securities for loans, to issue proclamations, to conduct the Irish business, to perfect the ecclesiastical commission, and generally to conduct the government of the realm. Yet, in spite of this enormous addition to his active duties, he clears off the whole arrears of Chancery causes by the end of June.