ing
herself robbed of her daughter, Lady Elizabeth hastened to London to
seek the assistance of her friend Bacon. In driving thither her coach
was "overturned." We saw that it had "held" in the heavy roads when
she was chasing her husband in it, and very likely its wheels may have
become loosened in some ruts on that occasion. An upset in a carriage,
however, was a common occurrence in those days, and, nothing daunted,
Lady Elizabeth managed to complete her journey to the house of Bacon
in London.

When she reached it, she was told that the Lord Keeper was unwell and
in his room, asleep. She persuaded "the door-keeper" to take her to
the sitting-room next to his bedroom, in order that she might be "the
first to speak with him after he was stirring." The "door-keeper
fulfilled her desire and in the meantime gave her a chair to rest
herself in." Then he most imprudently left her, and she had not been
alone long when "she rose up and bounced against my Lord Keeper's
door." The noise not only woke up the sleeping Bacon, but "affrighted
him" to such an extent that he called for help at the top of his
voice. His servants immediately came rushing to his room. Doubtless he
was relieved at seeing them; but his feelings may have been somewhat
mixed when Lady Elizabeth "thrust in with them." He was on very
friendly terms with her; but it was disconcerting to receive a lady
from his bed when he was half awake and wholly frightened, especially
when, as the correspondent describes it, the condition of that lady
was like that of "a cow that had lost her calf."

The upshot of this rather unusual visit was that Lady Elizabeth got
Bacon's warrant, as Lord Keeper, and also that of the Lord Treasurer
"and others of the Council, to fetch her daughter from the father and
bring them both to the Council."

At that particular time Bacon had just made a blunder. He was well
aware of Buckingham's high favour with the King; but he scarcely
realised its measure. Indeed, since he had seen him last, and during
the time that the King had been in Scotland, Buckingham's influence
over James had increased enormously. It is true that Bacon had
enlisted the services of Buckingham to defeat Coke, and that he had
used him as a tool to secure the office of Lord Keeper: but, as the
occupier of that exalted position, he considered himself secure enough
to take his own line, and even to offer Buckingham some fatherly
advice, as will presently appear.

Baco