Page images
PDF
EPUB

principes. Ut verbo concludamus, si rex iste res majores non gessit, in causa ipse fuit sibi; quicquid enim suscepit, perfecit.

Corpore erat Henricus decoro, statura justa paulo procerior, erectus, et membrorum compage bona, sed gracilis. Vultus erat talis quæ reverentiam incuteret, et aspectum viri ecclesiastici aliquantum referret. Et sicut minime erat obscurus aut superciliosus, ita neque blandus aut conciliator: sed tanquam facies hominis animo compositi et quieti: sed non commoda pictori; gratiosior scilicet facta cum loqueretur.

Hujus regis dignitas præcellens pati possit, ut memorentur narrationes quæpiam quæ ei divinum aliquid imponant. Cum matris ejus Margaretæ, fœminæ raris virtutibus ornatæ, nuptias multi proci ambirent; visa est videre in somniis virum quendam episcopo similem, habitu pontificali, tradere ei in manum Edmundum Comitem Richmondiæ, Henrici patrem, pro marito. Neque illa liberos unquam alios concepit, præter regem, licet tribus maritis nupta. Quodam etiam die festo, cum Henricus sextus (cui innocentia sanctitatem astruebat) a prandio lavaret, oculosque in Henricum, tunc adolescentulum, conjiceret, dixit: Adolescens iste coronam, pro qua nos confligimus, pacifice tandem possidebit. Sed quod vere in eo divinum censeri possit, hoc fuit; quod non minus fortunam boni Christiani quam magni regis sortitus sit; vita exercitata, morte pœnitenti. Ita ut non magis in mundanis quam spiritualibus victor triumphaverit; et militia ei in conflictibus tam peccati quam crucis prospere cesserit.

Natus est apud castrum Pembrochiæ, sepultus apud Westmonasterium, in monumento inter opera Europæ pulcherrimo et elegantissimo, sive capellam spectes sive sepulchrum. Adeo ut magnificentius jam in sepulchri sui monumento habitet mortuus, quam vivus aut Richmondiæ aut in alio quopiam palatio suo habitaverat. Optaverim ut idem ei contigisset in hoc famæ suæ monumento.

THE

BEGINNING OF THE HISTORY OF THE REIGN

OF

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

PREFACE.

THE history of Henry the Eighth was undertaken by desire of Prince Charles, to whom the history of Henry the Seventh was dedicated. The undertaking did not suit very well with Bacon's plans at that time; for it must have been a long business, owing to the quantity of original letters and other documents that had been preserved and must have been consulted, and he was now anxious to make the most of his time in pushing on his philosophical inquiries. He seems to have entered upon it without appetite and proceeded somewhat reluctantly. He had some difficulty also in obtaining free use of the requisite materials. Answering a letter from Tobie Matthew (then with the Prince and Buckingham in Spain) dated 26th of June, 1623, he writes, " Since you say the Prince hath not forgotten his commandment touching my history of Henry the Eighth, I may not forget my duty. But I find Sir Robert Cotton, who poured forth what he had in my former work, somewhat dainty of his materials in this." And in sending the Prince a copy of the De Augmentis Scientiarum, then newly published (22nd of October, 1623), he says, "For Henry the Eighth, to deal truly with your Highness, I did so despair of my health this summer, as I was glad to choose some such work as I might compass within days: so far was I from entering into any work of length." How far he proceeded in gathering materials, or at what time this opening paragraph was written, we are not informed. But we know from Dr. Rawley that this was all he ever did of it.

It was published by Dr. Rawley in 1629, in a small volume entitled "Certain Miscellany works of the Right Hon. Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban." But I have preferred to take the text from a manuscript copy in the British Museum (additional MSS. 5503, f. 120 b.): which I suspect to be a more original authority.

« PreviousContinue »