Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 145
their powers to perform it according to their minds. And so for
the present I humbly take my leave, resting
" Your L. J s very humbly
" and much bounden
"Fk. Bacon."
The Lord Chamberlain was the Earl of Suffolk, who was the
bride's father; so that everything seems to fit. But though
Bacon speaks of it as a compliment from Gray's Inn, Gray's
Inn was in reality to furnish only the performers and the composers.
The care and the charges were to be undertaken by
himself, as we learn from a news letter of Chamberlain's, whose
information is almost always to be relied upon. Writing on the
23d of December, 1613, he says:
" Sir Francis Bacon prepares a masque to honour this marriage,
which will stand him in above £2,000; and though he have
been offered some help by the House, and especially by Mr.
Solicitor, Sir Henry Yelvertou, who would have sent him £500,
yet he would not accept it, but offers them the whole charge
with the honour. Marry! his obligations are such, as well to
his Majesty as to the great Lord, and to the whole house of
Howards, as he can admit no partner."
The nature of the obligation considered, there was judgment
as well as magnificence in the choice of the retribution. The
obligation (whether real or not) being for assistance in obtaining
an office, to repay it by any present which could be turned
into money would have been objectionable, as tending to countenance
the great abuse of the times (from which Bacon stands
clear) — the sale of offices for money. There was no such objection
to a masque. As a compliment, it was splendid, according
to the taste and magnificence of the time; costly to the giver,
not negotiable to the receiver; valuable as a compliment, but as
nothing else. Nor was its value in that kind limited to the parties
in whose honour it was given. It conferred great distinction
upon Gray's Inn, in a field in which Gray's Inn was ambitious
and accustomed to shine.
The piece performed was published shortly after, with a dedication
to Bacon, as " the principal, and in effect the only person
that doth encourage and warrant the gentlemen to shew
their good affection in a time of such magnificence; wherein"