ide or light upon an argument of all others the most
obscure--I hold it enough to have constructed the machine, though I
may not succeed in setting it on work.... If, again, any one ask me,
not indeed for actual works, yet for definite premises and
forecasts of the works that are to be, I would have him know that
the knowledge which we now possess will not teach a man even what to
_wish_. Lastly--though this is a matter of less moment--if any of
our politicians, who used to make their calculations and conjectures
according to persons and precedents, must needs interpose his
judgment in a thing of this nature, I would but remind him how
(according to the ancient fable) the lame man keeping the course won
the race of the swift man who left it; and that there is no thought
to be taken about precedents, for the thing is without precedent.

"For myself, my heart is not set upon any of those things which
depend upon external accidents. I am not hunting for fame: I have no
desire to found a sect, after the fashion of heresiarchs; and to
look for any private gain from such an undertaking as this I count
both ridiculous and base. Enough for me the consciousness of
well-deserving, and those real and effectual results with which
Fortune itself cannot interfere."

In 1604 James's first Parliament met, and with it Bacon returned to an
industrious public life, which was not to be interrupted till it finally
came to an end with his strange and irretrievable fall. The opportunity
had come; and Bacon, patient, vigilant, and conscious of great powers
and indefatigable energy, fully aware of all the conditions of the time,
pushed at once to the front in the House of Commons. He lost no time in
showing that he meant to make himself felt. The House of Commons had no
sooner met than it was involved in a contest with the Chancery, with the
Lords, and finally with the King himself, about its privileges--in this
case its exclusive right to judge of the returns of its members. Bacon's
time was come for showing the King both that he was willing to do him
service, and that he was worth being employed. He took a leading part in
the discussions, and was trusted by the House as their spokesman and
reporter in the various conferences. The King, in his overweening
confidence in his absolute prerogative, had, indeed, got himself into
serious difficulty; for the privilege was one