himself; but he had thus come to have some degree of access to the
Queen, which he represents as being familiar and confidential, though he
still perceived, as he says himself, that she did not like him. At the
first news of Essex's return to England, Bacon greeted him--

"MY LORD,--Conceiving that your Lordship came now up in the person
of a good servant to see your sovereign mistress, which kind of
compliments are many times _instar magnorum meritorum_, and
therefore it would be hard for me to find you, I have committed to
this poor paper the humble salutations of him _that is more yours
than any man's, and more yours than any man_. To these salutations
I add a due and joyful gratulation, confessing that your Lordship,
in your last conference with me before your journey, spake not in
vain, God making it good, That you trusted we should say _Quis
putasset_! Which as it is found true in a happy sense, so I wish
you do not find another _Quis putasset_ in the manner of taking
this so great a service. But I hope it is, as he said, _Nubecula
est, cito transibit_, and that your Lordship's wisdom and
obsequious circumspection and patience will turn all to the best.
So referring all to some time that I may attend you, I commit you
to God's best preservation."

But when Essex's conduct in Ireland had to be dealt with, Bacon's
services were called for; and from this time his relations towards Essex
were altered. Every one, no one better than the Queen herself, knew all
that he owed to Essex. It is strangely illustrative of the time, that
especially as Bacon held so subordinate a position, he should have been
required, and should have been trusted, to act against his only and most
generous benefactor. It is strange, too, that however great his loyalty
to the Queen, however much and sincerely he might condemn his friend's