favourite; and it is a most characteristic and worldly-wise summary of
the ways which Bacon would have him take, to cure the one and escape the
other. Bacon had, as he says, "good reason to think that the Earl's
fortune comprehended his own." And the letter may perhaps be taken as an
indirect warning to Essex that Bacon must, at any rate, take care of his
own fortune, if the Earl persisted in dangerous courses. Bacon shows how
he is to remove the impressions, strong in the Queen's mind, of Essex's
defects; how he is, by due submissions and stratagems, to catch her
humour--

"But whether I counsel you the best, or for the best, duty bindeth
me to offer to you my wishes. I said to your Lordship last time,
_Martha, Martha, attendis ad plurima, unum sufficit_; win the
Queen: if this be not the beginning, of any other course I see no
end."

Bacon gives a series of minute directions how Essex is to disarm the
Queen's suspicions, and to neutralize the advantage which his rivals
take of them; how he is to remove "the opinion of his nature being
_opiniastre_ and not rulable;" how, avoiding the faults of Leicester and
Hatton, he is, as far as he can, to "allege them for authors and
patterns." Especially, he must give up that show of soldier-like
distinction, which the Queen so disliked, and take some quiet post at
Court. He must not alarm the Queen by seeking popularity; he must take
care of his estate; he must get rid of some of his officers; and he must
not be disquieted by other favourites.

Bacon wished, as he said afterwards, to see him "with a white staff in
his hand, as my Lord of Leicester had," an honour and ornament to the
Court in the eyes of the people and foreign ambassadors. But Essex was