Cecil had now the support of sir Walter Ralegh; but Francis Bacon spoke for the exclusive privilege of the commons, and objected to the conference with the lords, which Cecil had proposed. Upon this point the minister was beaten; but he afterwards carried a modified resolution, prepared by Ralegh.* From this time Cecil was a frequent speaker. + I will mention one of his speeches in this parliament, as elucidatory of the system of Elizabeth and her ministers, and of the influence which puritanical or presbyterian doctrines had already obtained. Two bills were introduced for restraining the power of bishops, especially in exacting from their clergy subscriptions to articles of faith, and oaths of canonical obedience. These bills probably arose out of the proceedings of archbishop Whitgift, who had been so active in the assertion of the divine right of bishops, and in the exaction of minute conformity and obedience, as to produce a remonstrance from lord Burleigh. The measure was clearly aimed at the episcopal jurisdiction, if not at episcopacy itself; and particularly at its claim to an origin independent of the crown. The matter was discussed with much freedom; but Cecil ventured not to oppose the bills upon their merits. "It was hard for him," he pretended, "to answer speeches well studied and premeditated on the sudden, and he would suspend his opinion, though the bill seemed to contain things Parl. Hist. i. 885, 886. Bacon, xii. 28. + Parl. Hist. i. 886-900. Strype's Life of Whitgift, ii. 128. Parl. Hist. i. 875. 889. Strype's Whitgift, iii. 81. 104. Martin Mar-prelate was written against this archbishop. There is in Murdin's collection a letter from Burleigh to Cecil, of May 26th, 1593 (p. 666.), from which I extract a passage which belongs rather to the father's biographer than the son's."The allegation of the papist ministers at Paris, noting that her majesty did promise favours, and afterwards did shew extremities to the catholics, is false. For her majesty, at her entry, prohibited all change of the form of religion as she found it by law; and when, by law, it was otherwise ordered by parliament, she did command the observation of the law newly established, punishing only the offenders according to the law; and afterwards offenders of the church did become rebels and traitors, and conspired her majesty's death, and procured invasion of the realm by strange forces. The realm, by parliament, provided more sharp laws against such rebels and traitors; and so her majesty's actions are justified in all times, having never punished any evil subject, but by warrant of law." I believe that this letter has not been adverted to by the historians of Elizabeth's reformation. needful;" but he urged that "the queen had forbidden them to meddle in such cases * "" which she had taken into her own hands: and this princess, to whose reign, by a strange perversion, some friends of liberty are fond of adverting with commendation, made her meaning more plain, by an injunction to the speaker (sir Edward Coke) not to read any bill "touching matters of state, or reformation in causes ecclesiastical."† The mover, Mr. Morice, was committed to the custody of the chancellor of the exchequer.‡ About this time Elizabeth paid a visit to lord Burleigh at Theobalds; when the literary talents of Robert Cecil were taxed, for an oration to be addressed to her majesty by a hermit, who formed a principal part of the entertainment prepared for the queen. "Most gracious sovereign! I humbly beseech you not to impute this my approaching so near to your sacred presence, so rudely at your coming to this house, to be a presumption of a beggar; for I hope, when your majesty shall be remembered by me who I am, and how graciously you have heretofore, on the like occasion, relieved my necessity, your majesty will be pleased to receive my thanks upon my knees with all humility. I am the poor hermit, your majesty's beadman, who, at your last coming hither (where God grant you may come many years), upon my complaint upon your princely favour, was restored to my hermitage, by an injunction, when my founder, upon a strange conceit, to feed his own humour, had placed me, contrary to my profession, in his house, amongst a number of worldlings, and retired himself in my poor cell, where I have ever since, by you only goodness, most peerless and powerful queen, lived in all happiness, spending three parts of the day in repentance, the fourth in praying for your majesty, * p. 878. † p. 889. See Hallam, i. 353. After the dissolution of this parliament, April 10th, 1593, none was called until October 24th, 1597. In that, which lasted only till the 9th of February, 1597-8, Cecil, who still sat for Herts, made no speech which is recorded, though he spake largely for a supply. Parl. Hist. i. 894-905. that, as your virtues have been the world's wonder, so your days may see the world's end. And surely I am of opinion, I shall not flatter myself if I think my prayers have not been fruitless (though millions have joined in the like), in that, since my restitution, not only all your actions have miraculously prospered, and all your enemies been defeated; but that which most amazeth me, to whose long experience nothing can seem strange, with these same eyes do I behold you, the selfsame queen, in the same estate of person, health, and beauty, in which so many years past I beheld you, finding no alteration but in admiration, insomuch I am persuaded, when I look about me on your train, that time, which catcheth every body, leaves only you untouched." He alludes to himself under the description of "my young master: "—"And therefore seeing I hear it of all the country folk I meet with, that your majesty doth use him in your service, as in former time you have done his father, my founder; and that, although his experience and judgment be no way comparable, yet, as the report goeth, he has something in him like the child of such a parent." He concludes with announcing a present of a bell, book, and candle.* All the letters of this period show Robert Cecil rising in favour and influence. We now find an introduction to him sought by Adam Loftus †, archbishop of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland. However much it may be usual, in our days, for suitors, even of the highest rank, to solicit directly and circuitously the favour of ministers of state, there is something in the tone, and in the channel of the prelate's solicitation, which induces me to record it. The archbishop, who was under an accusation of which I know not the purport, thus concludes a long and humble appeal to the lord treasurer Burleigh: "My good lord, I have none other to rely upon, being unknown to all the rest of their lord The hermit's oration at Theobalds, 1593-4, penned by sir Robert Cecil. Nicholls's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, iii. 421. † Ancestor of the marquis of Ely. ships. Hitherto, under God and her majesty, I never had dependency upon any but the earl of Sussex and your lordship. Neither do I mean to seek a new friend so long as you do live: most humbly beseeching your honourable lordship to be a mean for me unto your son sir Robert Cecil, that under you I may depend upon his honourable favour in my just and honest causes. To which end I have purposely sent over this bearer, my servant, with my letters for him, humbly craving your lordship's good furtherance of this my suit. And I promise of your lordship hereby, upon my honesty and credit, I will never seek his favour in any bad or dishonest cause. "'* Other letters of this period illustrate the method in which official suits were in those days recorded. They also introduce Robert Cecil, though still ostensibly without office, as the object of such applications. † After mentioning the application which had been made on the part of sir Robert Sidney, for a short leave of absence from his diplomatic duties in Holland, the queen's characteristic hesitation, and the requests made for the interests of Burleigh, Essex, and Cecil, Rowland Whyte writes thus: My lord of Essex, and my lord treasurer, have their bore-pies; and this day the rest are presented; my lady (Sidney) reserving none for herself; bestowing her two upon sir Robert Cecil, in hope he will be careful for your leave." Again: "The bore-pies are all delivered, and specially much commended for their well seasoning. Sir Robert Cecil, as I was twice credibly informed, refused the present sir Edward Uvedale § sent him, and hath denied to meddle in the business for his accounts, which maketh him much to marvel." || Subordinate * 27th of May, 1594, Strype's Annals, iv. 291. In one letter of this period, I find Cecil informing his correspondent, that the queen is apt to mislike if any the least thing swerve from her majesty's directions, in form as well as substance. May 6. 1594. Harleian, 6996. art. 75. 16th of November, 1595. Collins's Sydney Letters, i. 361-2. Contrast this with the conduct of Bacon. See Edin. Rev. lvi. 55. functionaries were not inaccessible. Their rapacity even intercepted the grace of their superiors. We have a letter in which archbishop Hatton distinctly tells lord Burleigh that the pardon of a convicted priest could only be got through the Court of Requests by the means of a present of "20 crowns," which he furnished from his private purse, as a small remembrance of a poor man's pardon, and was thankfully accepted of. "Your lordship," he adds, "would do well, in mine opinion, to move Mr. secretary Cecil to deal often in these works of mercy; it will make him beloved by God and man." It would appear that in those days almost every arrangement was a matter of private solicitation. Cecil had obtained a favour for some connection of his friend Michael Hicks. After requesting that his part in it may not be known. he says, "For it will disable me to do him or others pleasure hereafter, by my access to her majesty's ear, which now I so use as her majesty cannot suspect that I look to any thing but her service, which as I profess and protest, I did and do most of anything in all my recommendations: so do I not deny to myself the liberty that, when other things concur, my friends are now nearest to me in my wishes and honest endeavours." Certainly if, as the well-informed Strype conjectures, this favour consisted in an advantageous match, Cecil cannot be blamed for preferring his friend to a stranger. Cecil found it difficult to satisfy the suitors of the crown; and, amongst others (as we have already seen), the eccentric Essex. Another ornament of the court of Elizabeth, bette known to the world than Essex or Ralegh, contributea to the estrangement between Cecil and Essex. Francis Bacon was the cousin-german of Cecil, and had been from early life accustomed to correspond with him ; sometimes in terms of that flattering deference to which |