Note 53 — Front matter (continued 4)

A brilliant entertainment given at York House in 1620 was attended by Ben Jonson, who said that all things seemed to smile about the old house—"the fire, the wine, the men"; he speaks of Bacon as:—

"England's high Chancellor, the destin'd heir, In his soft cradle, to his father's chair, Whose even thread the Fates spin round and full, Out of their choicest and whitest wool."

A few months later, the Committee of the House of Lords waited upon the Chancellor at York House in order to enquire personally whether the confession of guilt which he had sent them was really his. "My Lords," he replied, "it is my act, my hand, my heart; I beseech your Lordships to be merciful to a broken reed."