'
"To this" (adds the reporter) "the Earl answered little. Nor was
anything said afterwards by either of the prisoners, either in the
thrust-and-parry dialogue with Coke that followed, or when they
spoke at large to the question why judgment should not be
pronounced, which at all altered the complexion of the case. They
were both found guilty and sentence passed in the usual form."
Bacon's legal position was so subordinate a place that there must have
been a special reason for his employment. It is difficult to avoid the
conclusion that, on the part of the Government, Bacon was thus used for
the very reason that he had been the friend of Essex. He was not
commonly called upon in such prosecutions. He was not employed by Cecil
in the Winchester trials of Raleigh, Grey, and Cobham, three years
afterwards, nor in those connected with the Gunpowder Plot. He was
called upon now because no one could so much damage Essex; and this last
proof of his ready service was required by those whose favour, since
Essex had gone hopelessly wrong, he had been diligently seeking.
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