The question was not whether Essex was guilty. The question for Bacon
was, whether it was becoming in him, having been what he had been to
Essex, to take a leading part in proceedings which were to end in his
ruin and death. He was not a judge. He was not a regular law officer
like Coke. His only employment had been casual and occasional. He might,
most naturally, on the score of his old friendship, have asked to be
excused. Condemning, as he did, his friend's guilt and folly, he might
have refused to take part in a cause of blood, in which his best friend
must perish. He might honestly have given up Essex as incorrigible, and
have retired to stand apart in sorrow and silence while the inevitable
tragedy was played out. The only answer to this is, that to have
declined would have incurred the Queen's displeasure: he would have
forfeited any chance of advancement; nay, closely connected as he had
been with Essex, he might have been involved in his friend's ruin. But
inferior men have marred their fortunes by standing by their friends in
not undeserved trouble, and no one knew better than Bacon what was
worthy and noble in human action.
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