e could not forget, in spite of what had
happened, that he had been the friend, and not the very generous friend,
of Essex. But, except as to a share of the forfeitures, with which he
was not satisfied, his fortunes did not rise under Elizabeth.

Whatever may have been the Queen's feelings towards him, there is no
doubt that one powerful influence, which lasted into the reign of James,
was steadily adverse to his advancement. Burghley had been strangely
niggardly in what he did to help his brilliant nephew; he was going off
the scene, and probably did not care to trouble himself about a younger
and uncongenial aspirant to service. But his place was taken by his son,
Robert Cecil; and Cecil might naturally have been expected to welcome
the co-operation of one of his own family who was foremost among the
rising men of Cecil's own generation, and who certainly was most
desirous to do him service. But it is plain that he early made up his
mind to keep Bacon in the background. It is easy to imagine reasons,
though the apparent short-sightedness of the policy may surprise us; but
Cecil was too reticent and self-controlled a man to let his reasons
appear, and his words, in answer to his cousin's applications for his
assistance, were always kind, encouraging, and vague. But we must judge
by the event, and that makes it clear that Cecil did not care to see
Bacon in high position. Nothing can account for Bacon's strange failure
for so long a time to reach his due place in the public service but the
secret hostility, whatever may have been the cause, of Cecil.

There was also another difficulty. Coke was the great lawyer of the day,
a man whom the Government could not dispense with, and whom it was
dangerous to offend. And Coke thoroughly disliked Bacon. He thought
lightly of his law, and he despised his refinement and his passion for
knowledge. He cannot but have resented the impertinence, as he must have
thought it, of Bacon having been for a whole year his rival for office.
It is possible that if people then agreed with Mr. Spedding's opinion as
to the management of Essex's trial, he may have been irritated by
jealousy; but a couple of months after the trial (April 29, 1601) Bacon
sent to Cecil, with a letter of complaint, the following account of a
scene in Court between Coke and himself:

"_A true remembrance of the abuse I received of Mr.
Attorney-General publicly in the Exchequer the first day of term;
fo