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exposed? The man replied, that he
durft not presume to disturb him.
Then,' faid the lord keeper, by your
civility lofe my life;' and to re-
moved into his bed-chamber, where
he died a few days after *. I have
tranfcribed this flory exactly,' fays Dr.
Campbell, though I think there is
fome reafon to doubt the circumstances
of it; for all our writers agree, that
fir Nicholas Bacon paid his laft debt
to nature, on the 20th of February
1579, and one would imagine, that
the weather could not then be very
fultry. If it had, that must have
been very unusual, and the hiftorians
of thofe times would not have failed
to take notice of itt. However that
matter may be, moft certain it is,
that the lord-keeper Bacon, after a
long, happy, and honourable life,
died, equally lamented by the queen
and her fubjects, as I have faid, on
the 20th of February 1579, and on
the 9th of March following, was
buried with great folemnity, under
a fumptuous monument erected by
himself in St. Paul's church. Cam-
den's character of him is juft and
plain, Vir præpinguis, ingenio
acerrimo, fingulari prudentia, fumma
eloquentia, tenaci memoria, & facris,
conci iis alterum columen. A man
of a grofs body but most quick wit,
fingular prudence, fupreme eloquence,
happy memory, and for judgment
the other pillar of the state.' His fe-
licity was not greater in his fortune
than in his family. His firft w fe was
Jane, daughter of William Fernley,
efq. of Welt Creting in Suffolk; by

whom he had issue three fons and three
dau hters. The fons were, I. fir
Nicholas, II. Nathaniel Bacon, efq.
of Stiffkey in Norfolk, who married
two wives, 1. Anne, daughter of fir
Thomas Gresham of London, by
whom he had three daughters his co-
heirs; 1. Anne, who being married
to fir Roger Townshend of Rainham
in Norfolk, anceflor to the marquis
Townihend; brought the Stiffkey ef
tate into that family; 2. Elizabeth,
married to fir Thomas Knyvet of
Afhwelthorp in Norfolk; and
3. Wi-
nifred, to fir Robert Gawdy of Clax-
ton in Norfolk. Sir Nathaniel's fe-
cond wife was Dorothy, daughter of
fir George Hopton of Suffolk, by
whom he had no iffue. III. Edward
Ba on, efq. of Shrubland-hall in Suf-
folk, in right of his wife Helen,
daughter and heir of Thomas Littel,
efq. of the fame place, from whom is
lineally defcended Nicholas Bacon of
Shrubland-hall, efq. and from younger
fons of the faid Edward, are the Ba-
cons of Ipfwich in Suffolk, and Earl-
ham in Norfolk, descended. The
daughters were, I. Anne, married to
fir Henry Wodehoufe, of Wraxham
in Norfolk; II. Jane, married 1. to
fir Francis Windham, one of the juf-
tices of the common pleas; 2. to fir
Robert Mansfield; and III. Eliza-
beth, married 1. to fir Robert D'Oyly
of Chiflehampton in Oxfordshire; z.
to fir Henry Nevil, and 3. to fir Wil
liam Periam, lord chief baron of the
exchequer. After her decease, he
married Anne, daughter of fir An-
thony Cooke, of Gidea-hall in Effex,

*Mallet's life of the lord chancellor Bacon.

The objection which is made to Mr. Mallet's account, from archbishop Tenifon, of the cause of the lord keeper's death, is not fufficient to invalidate the truth of that account. About mid-day in the month of February, the fun might be very warm; and yet the incident might not be deemed fo extraordinary as to be recorded by hiftorians. It fhould be obferved, that there were not in thofe days either newfpapers or fuch other periodical publications as, in our time, preferve the memory of the minutel; events. We well remember, that, fome years ago, there were two remarkably hot days, earlier in February, than is mentioned with regard to fir Nicholas Bacon. But, though this circumftance is undoubtedly taken notice of in the Magazines and Meteorologica. Journals of the year, we fould fcarcely, if we had been writing a general history of England, have thought of introducing it into fuch a work. Dr. Kippis Note, in the Biog. Brit.

By

By this lady (whofe great litera y character we have mentioned, in our account of Gidea-hall, page 257) fir Nicholas Bacon had likewife two fons, Anthony and Francis; the former, a man of confiderable talents, as appears by his life in the Biographia Britannica; and the latter, the celebrated viscount St. Alban's, fo juftly styled the glory and ornament of his age and nation.

Before Mr. Walpole had obliged the world with his Anecdotes of Painting in England, it was, we believe, very little known, that Nathaniel, the fecond fon of fir Nicholas Bacon, by his first lady, was an eminent proficient in that polite art. < There was one gentleman,' fays Mr. Walpole, in this reign (queen Elizabeth's) who really attained the perfection of a master, fir Nathaniel Bacon.-He travelled into Ita y, and udied painting there; but his manner and colouring approaches nearer to the ftyle of the Flemih school. Peacham on Limning, p. 26, says, "But none, in my opinion, deferveth more refpect and admi ation, for his skill and practice in painting, than mafter Nathaniel Bacon, of Broome in Suffolk (younger fon to the most honourable and bountiful-minded fir Nicholas Bacon) rot inferior, in my judgment, to our skillfulleft mafters.' At Culford, where he lived, are preserved fome of his works; and at Gorhambury, his father's feat, is a large picture in oil by him, of a cook maid with dead fowls, admirably painted,

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with great nature, neatnefs, and luftre of colouring. In the fame house is a whole length of him by himself, drawing on a paper: his fword and pallet hung up, and a half length of his mother by him. At Redgrave-hall in Suffolk, were two more pieces by the fame hand, which afterward paffed into the poffeffion of Rowland Holt, efq. the one, Ceres with fruit and flowers; the other, Hercules and the Hydra. In Tradefcant's museum was a fmall landscape, painted and given to him by fir Nathaniel Bacon. In the chancel of Culford, in Suffolk, are a monument and buft of him, with his pallet and pencils. Another monument was erected to his memory at Stiffkey in Norfolk, the infcription upon which is published by Mr. Masters.

The fame writer informs us, that fir Nathaniel was famed for painting plants, and well killed in their virtues.

Sir Nicholas Bacon's many speeches and letters on flate affairs have induced bishop Tanner to enroll him among the writers of this country. Mr. Mafters, in his Hifto y of Corpus Chrifli College, Cambridge, refers to a comment of this great statesman's on the Twelve Minor Prophets, dedicated to his fon Anthony; and Mr. Strype has printed an excellent Letter of Advice, which was written by him to the queen, a little before his death, on the situation of her affairs. Many of his apothegms are among thofe of viscount St. Alban's.

The CULTIVATION of PHILOSOPHY, or VIRTUOUS SENSIBILITY, neceffary to CONSISTENCY of CHARACTER and CONDUCT: An Effay, illuftrated by an affecting Story, founded on fact: Concluded from page 211.

'I AM, fir,' faid Victima, the eldest daughter of a gentleman in the county of Southampton, by an affectionate woman of fome family and merit, now no more, with whom he received almoft the whole of that little fortune, which, though here it would be ac

counted nothing, is fufficient for independence and refpectability in the little village where he refides but, alas! the boafted fuperiority of mafculine understanding, did not happen to be verified in our family; and I had an early opportunity of obferving, that

in

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in the lofs of my dear lamented mo-
ther, I loft the better half of that pro-
tection and infruction for which the
child has a natural right to look up
to its parents.

But negligent as my father might
be, himself, of performing the part
of a guardian, I found him not a
little unwilling to permit me to choose
for myfelf another protector.

It is true, I was then but little more than fixteen, but the man, in whom I was defirous of placing this confidence, was certainly no very exceptionable object, especially as he was willing to marry me without capitulating for any fortune whatever. He was, in fhort, a young attorney, of very refpectable hopes, in that part of the country; was generally efteemed a handfome, and was certainly a well behaved young man. I do not fpeak this from any blind partiality; for my heart, which was never very deeply engaged to him, has long been in the poffeffion of another.

Pardon me,' continued fhe, after a paufe, and an impaffioned fhower of tears, I was going to obferve, that the offer was undoubtedly far beyond what I could have any right to expect. My father, how ever, feemed to think otherwife; forbade Mr. the house; and told me, in direct terms, that, if I was prudent, with a perfon and a face like mine, I might look for fomething higher than a country attorney. Alas! grief had not then bedimmed the innocent vivacity of my eyes, nor had the feeble attempts of art become neceffary to imitate the rofe of modeft health.

Under pretence of breaking off this connection, I was fent to London, or rather to E- by my father, who promised to pay his brother, an inn-keeper in that delightful little town, a ftipulated fum for my board, till fuch time as it might be deemed prudent for me to return. But the real caufe of his conduct too soon appeared; for, fhortly after my departure,

he married a vulgar young creature, who had lived with him as a fervant during fix or feven previous months, and by whom, in the fourth month of his marriage, he had an heir to all my mother's eftate.

It is eafy to conclude what would be my fate. The first half-yearly payment was all my uncle ever received for my board; and when all hopes were loft of any further remittance, I quickly found myself degraded from the rank of an honoured guest, to that of a fervile dependant. However, as my uncle perceived that I was quite deferted by my father, and as I could be very useful in the house, he kindly condefcended to keep me in the capacity of a bar-maid.

This I could have borne, this I did bear, with patient refignation. But the cruel taunts, the malicious envy of my coufins, who (not confidering that, without the wages, I performed the duties of an upper fervant) looked upon me as an intruder, who fhared a part of that fuftenance and bounty which they confidered as their exclufive property-this, I say, cut me to the foul.

I will not conceal from you, fir, that these were not my only reasons for quitting my uncle. There was a young gentleman of some fashion and figure who frequented the house; and my vain heart was not long before it difcovered from his looks, his deportment, his flattering, yet refpectful whispers, that they were neither the peculiar charms of the surrounding country, nor the excellent accommodations of the house that occafioned his vifits to be fo inceffantly repeated.

• Amenus had found means to learn my ftory, and very readily conjectured that I was not happy in my fituation; he therefore contrived one night to have fome converfation with me alone; and with all thofe arts with which a practifed betrayer knows how to intereft the tender paffions, without appearing directly to appeal to them, lamented my uncomfortable flate of dependence, on beings infenfible to

my

my merit, and envious of my fuperior charms. In fine, he perfuaded me to accept of an offer which he promised to procure me, of exchanging my prefent fituation for that of companion to a lady of rank and benevolence, where his protection and friendship might contribute to my more liberal and eligible provision.

Not to tire you, fir, with my narrative, I fhall briefly observe, that my intended patronefs was brought by the artifices of Amenus, by apparent accident, as they were proceeding on a party of pleasure, to my uncle's houfe. To her, who was, in reality, all benevolence and virtue, I sold my tale, with all the pathos of which I was miftrefs, and concluded, as had been agreed, with foliciting her recommendation to fome creditable fituation, in which I might earn my own livelihood, without feeling every moment the keen reproaches of favour and obligation.

The good old lady was touched with an appeal, fo apparently reafonable, and having fatisfied herself that fo much of my flory as the deemed it effential to enquire into was true, took me, as had been foreseen by Amenus, as her own companion.

Under the roof of this kind and generous patronefs I continued above a year, without ever feeling the pang of dependence; and bleft, by charming ftealth, with the fociety of one to whom my easy heart could refufe no fond request for oh! that heart was full of his idea, I thought myself arrived at the pinnacle of felicity. But the paffion of the dear perjured Amenus grew cold; and the happiness of Victima vanished.

Yet fill my bofom might have recovered its peace; and, as I had no reafon to dread detection, either from any confequences of our intercourfe, or any want of honour in my betrayer, I might still have remained unftigmatifed and refpected beneath the protecting roof of lady Aimwell. But the proud defire of impotent revenge, the attachment I had con

ceived for those pleasures and embellifhments, to which the liberality of my lover had fo amply contributed, and that inclination, of which our sex, perhaps, are as fufceptible as yours, when once the barrier of virgin timidity is thrown down, all prompted me to my ruin; and I yielded to the folicitations of another lover, as fplendid, but not fo aniable as my former; and, as the heart was lefs concerned, and, confequently, the fame caution was not observed, as in my former affignations, my reputation was deftroyed, and I loft the friendship and protection of the amiable lady, to whose kindnefs I had made fuch an inadequate return.

Diftrefs and mifery quickly followed: and it was in vain that, feeing the dreadful precipice before me, I wrote repeated letters to my uncle, full of the fincereft profeffions of repentance; entreating him to receive me again into his house, upon any terms, and fave me from the guilt, and my family from the shame of public prostitution.

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Such, fir, is my ftory; and though I cannot pretend that it ought to place me even among that rank of unhappy females, whofe imprudence and fufceptibility have been the only fources of their ruin, yet furely, if mankind could judge, as they must wish to be judged themselves, I fhould not, thus unpitied, be caft to everlafling infamy and distress.

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Save me! O fave me, heaven!" the exclaimed with frantic voice, and let not the tears of my repentance accompany me to ftill blacker fcenes of horror and of guilt.'

Thus faying, the flung herself, in an agony of tears, upon the couch, and abandoned herself to despair.

The feelings of Appetentius were, however, too deeply interefted to leave her in this condition. He kindly afforded her all the confolation in his power; and after exacting from her a promife that he would apply to her difhonourable calling no more, till the fhould fee him again, he made her a

liberal,

liberal prefent, and retired to ponder in his mind the means of her effectual relief; and, after a variety of different projects, he found that the only probable expedient his reftlefs pillow could fuggeft, was that of endeavouring to awaken the compaffion of her father, and to get him to receive her into his houfe, where her fhame might be unknown, and the might yet be reftored to virtue and to peace.

Full of this project, he repaired the next evening, according to promife, to meet the unhappy penitent, and was not a little pleased to find, as an earneft of her fincerity, that, with the money he had given her, fhe had difcharged the debt; by means of which, according to the general artifices of thefe tyrants, the mistress of the house had held her in a kind of captivity; and that she was determined and prepared to fhift her lodgings to the humble, but honeft habitation of a poor woman, to whom the had formerly been a benefactress, and who was the only perfon to whom, in her prefent fituation, he could venture to make herself known.

Eager to escape entirely from the environs of neceffity and temptation, the freely accorded with the propofal of her prefent deliverer, and conjured him to exert every power of language to awaken her father to the feelings of fympathy and nature. She then gave him the requifite direction; and after repaying with thanks and prayers a fecond exertion of his liberality, the departed for her new habitation, full of the pleafing profpects of returning innocence, and he to his own home, planning, as he went, a thoufand pathetic arguments, which he determined to tranimit, in an epiftolary form, on the next day, to the heedlefs, but he hoped not entirely unfeeling father.

Unhappily, he was prevented from executing this refolution in the early part of the day, by unavoidable bunefs; and, before this was well over, he received a preffing invitation from a whole body of his ufual companions

to join them in a convivial meeting for fo thofe affociations, in which intellect and enjoyment are alike drowned in debauchery, are generally called.

This was an invitation of a nature, which, as he had never been in the habit, it was not now in his power, to refift, and as an unlucky propofition was made in the course of the evening, for a frolicfome excurfion of a week or ten days in the country, Appetentius yielded, as ufual, to his inclinations, promifing himself to find an interval between the important avocations of pleasure for the difcharge of thofe engagements, to which his benevolence had pledged him. In fhort, engagement after engagement was thus fuffered to poftpone the execution of his mind; and when roufed at last by the reproaches of a friend, to whom he had at first communicated the affair, he began to liften again to the admonitions of the cherub Senfibility, he still suffered his better feelings to be over-ruled by the habitual tyranny of appetite, and filenced the importunities of confcience, which disturbed his enjoyments, by fimply fending a fhort letter, accompanied with a fmall prefent, to the anxious magdalen, informing her, that if she still adhered to her resolution, he would on the next, or any other morning fhe would appoint, meet her at the ftage, and pay for her paffage down.

With these terms, abrupt as they were, Victima readily complied, and as the fhorteft period feemed that which was most to be depended on, returned for answer, by the messenger, that he would meet her kind benefactor the next morning, according to appointment. But Appetentius was again feduced into neglect by his convivial attachments; and when he should have been putting the last finishing hand to his benevolent defign, was dofing away the fumes of recent inebriation, forgetful of his promife, and incapacitated for putting it into execution; and as, a few days after, he

was

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